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PRINCETON.     N.    J. 

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EXPOSITION 


THE  SECOND   EPISTLE   GENERAL 


ST.    PETER. 


BY  THE  REV.  THOMAS  "aDAMS, 

RECTOR  OF  ST.  GREGORY'S,  LONDON. 

A.  D.  um. 


V.ILWSKD    ANIi    COBBECTEn 

BY    JAMES    SHERMAN, 

MINISTER   OF    SrilKEY   CHAPKL. 


EDINBURGH:   JAMES  NICHOL. 

LONDON:  JAMES  NISBET  &  CO. 

MDCCC.LXIL 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THK 


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TRULY  NOBLE  AND  WORTHILY   HONOURED 


SIR  HENRY  MARTEN,  KNIGHT, 


JUDGE  OF  HIS  MAJESTY'S  HIGH  COURT  OF  ADMIRALTY,  AND  DEAN  OF  THE  ARCHES  COURT 

OF  CANTERBURY. 


Noble  Sir, 

The  merchant  that  hath  once  put  to  sea,  and  made  a  prosperous  voyage,  is  hardly 
withheld  from  a  second  adventure.  It  hath  been  my  forwardness,  not  without  the  instinct 
of  our  heavenly  Pilot,  the  most  blessed  Spirit  of  God,  to  make  one  adventure  before ;  for 
he  that  publisheth  his  meditations,  may  be  well  called  an  adventurer.  God  knows  what 
return  hath  been  made  to  his  own  glory ;  if  but  little,  (and  I  can  hope  no  less,  though  I 
have  ever  prayed  for  more,)  yet  that  hath  been  to  me  no  little  comfort.  I  am  now  put  forth 
again,  upon  the  same  voyage,  in  hope  of  better  success.  For  my  commission  I  sue  to 
you  ;  who  have  no  small  power,  both  in  the  deciding  of  civil  differences,  and  in  the  dispo.sing 
of  naval  aifairs,  and  matters  of  such  commerce  ;  being  known  well  worthy  of  that  authority 
in  both  these  ecclesiastical  and  civil  courts  of  judicature  ;  that  you  would  be  pleased  to  bless 
my  spiritual  trafBc  with  your  auspicious  approbation.  I  dare  not  commend  my  own  mer- 
chandise ;  yet,  if  I  had  not  conceived  somewhat  better  of  it  than  of  my  former,  I  durst  not 
have  been  so  ambitious  as  to  present  it  unto  you  ;  of  whose  clear  understanding,  deep  judg- 
ment, and  sincere  integrity,  all  good  men  among  us  have  so  full  and  confessed  an  experience. 
Yet  besides  your  own  candid  disposition,  and  many  real  encouragements  to  me  your  poor 
servant,  this  may  a  little  qualify  my  boldness,  and  vindicate  me  from  an  over-daring  pre- 
sumption :  that  my  aim  is  your  patronage,  not  your  instruction ;  not  to  inform  your  wisdom, 
which  were  to  hold  a  taper  to  the  sun  ;  but  to  gain  your  acceptation  and  fair  allowance  :  that 
under  your  honoured  name,  it  may  find  the  more  free  entertainment,  wheresoever  it  arrives; 
which  (I  am  humbly  persuaded)  your  goodness  will  not  deny.  That  noble  favour  of  yours, 
shining  upon  these  my  weak  endeavours,  will  encourage  me  to  publish  some  maturer  thoughts, 
which  otherwise  have  resolved  never  to  see  the  light.  The  sole  glory  of  our  most  gracious 
God,  the  edification  and  comfort  of  his  church,  with  the  true  felicity  of  yourself  and  yours, 
shall  be  always  prayed  for,  by 

Your  ever  honoured  Virtue's 
humble  and  thankful  servant, 

THOMAS  ADAMS. 


PUBLISHER'S  ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  following  Works  are  offered  to  Subscribers  for  the  Three  Volumes  at  25s.  6d.,  and  separate  volumes 
at  10s.  ;  after  publication  the  price  of  each  volume  will  be  raised  to  12s.  : — 

I. 

A  COMMENTARY  ON  THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST  PETER, 

By  the  Kov.  Thojias  Adams,  Rector  of  St  Gregory's,  London,  (1633,)  (in  October  18*32.) 

II. 

A  COMMENTARY  ON  THE  PROPHECY  OF  HOSEA, 

By  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  BuRRoroHs,  Rector  of  Tivetshall,  (1043,)  (in  January  1803.) 

III. 

A  COMMENTARY  ON  THE  GENERAL  EPISTLE  OF  JUDE, 

I'ly  ihtj  llcv.  William  Jenkyx.  Itcctur  of  Blackfriars",  (1G.")3.) 

A  COMMENTARY  ON  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  PHILiPPIANS  AND 
COLOSSIANS, 

By  the  Rev.  .Jeak  D.\ille,  Minister  of  the  French  Reformed  Church  at  Charenton,  (1039,) 

(in  April  1863.) 


Is  publishing  a  new  edition  of  the  above  important  Works  at  little  more  than  one-third  of  the  pre- 
\-ious  cost,  it  is  only  due  to  the  memory  of  the  late  Mr  Sheema>",  by  whom  they  were  ably  edited, 
and  whose  property  they  were,  to  give  publicity  to  the  following  letter : — 

12  Pakagos,  Blackheath,  Ju/i/  1861. 

Dear  Sir, — I  am  very  much  delighted  with  your  Prospectus  for  a  Series  of  the  Writings  of  the 
Puritan  Divines.  You  are  aware  that  I  republished  several  volumes  of  their  writings  some  years 
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this  comes  from  what  I  believe  is  my  dying  bed,  what  you  do  must  be  done  promptly. — I  am.  dciir 
Sir,  yours  truly, 

JAMES  SHERMAX. 

J.  NiCHOL,  Esq. 

It  was  stated  in  the  original  Prospectus  of  the  "  Series  of  Standard  Divines,"  that  it  was  not 
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students  of  theology,  were  esteemed  of  great  value.  The  Commentaries  edited  by  Mr  Sherman  were 
in  consequence  not  regarded  by  the  Publisher  as  being  within  his  range ;  but  on  the  receipt  of  the 
above  letter,  he  gladly  expressed  his  readiness  to  bring  out  a  new  edition  of  them  at  as  che;ip  a  rate 
as  the  "  Standard  Di^•ines."  He  has  endeavoured  to  fulfil  ilr  Sherman's  wish,  and  though  the  Works 
are  already  in  the  possession  of  many  pastors,  he  trusts  that  Mr  Sherman's  generosity  will  enable  many 
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The  Publisher  embraces  tliis  opportunity  of  stating,  that  so  soon  as  the  unhappy  struggle  which 
exists  in  America  is  brought  to  a  termination,  and  the  usual  business  relations  with  that  country  are 
restored,  it  is  his  intention  to  carry  out  his  plan  of  reproducing  the  Commentaries  of  the  Puritan 
period,  uniform  with  the  "  Standard  l)i\-ines."  The  almost  total  arrest  on  the  sale  of  books  wliich 
has  taken  plate  in  the  States  of  America  renders  it  necessjirj-  to  postpone  any  important  undertaking 
regarding  which  it  might  fairly  be  estimated  that  in  ordinary  circumstances  the  demand  would  be  as 
great  on  the  one  side  of  the  Atlantic  as  on  the  other.  It  is  hoped  that  the  time  is  not  far  dist;uit 
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relations  which  hitherto  have  led  to  results  so  iniiH>rt;int. 

EmSBfRGH,  OcroBEB  lMi2. 


EXPOSITION? 


THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  GEXEE.IL  OF  THE  HOLY  APOSTLE 


SAINT    PETER. 


CHAPTER  I. 


.'ERSE   1.    SiMOX    PETtn,  A   SERVANT   AND  AN    APOSTLE  OF  JESCS    CHRIST,  TO  THEM   THAT   HAVE  OBTAINED    LlKi 
PKECIOIS    FAITH    WITH    IS    THROVGH    THE   RIGIITEOrSNESS    OF    GOD    AND    OIR    SAVIOUR   JESCS    CHRIST. 


The  hooks  of  the  New  Testament  have  been  dis- 
tinguished into  three  kinds ;  Historical,  Doctrinal, 
and  Prophetical.  1.  Historical ;  such  as  contain 
the  birth,  life,  death,  and  resurrection  of  our 
blessed  Saviour,  with  his  divine  sermons,  and  mira- 
culous actions,  written  by  the  four  evangelists : 
seconded  by  the  memorable  and  famous  story  of 
the  Acts  of  his  Apostles.  2.  Doctrinal;  such  as 
concern  our  instruction  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ, 
and  teach  us  the  way  of  salvation.  Tliese  are  the 
holy  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  St.  James,  St.  Peter,  St. 
John,and  St.  Jude.  3.  Prophetical;  such  as  foretell 
the  estate  and  condition  of  the  church  militant  to  the 
end  of  the  world :  of  which  kind  is  the  Revelation  of 
St.  John  the  Divine.  Yet  doth  not  this  distinction 
debar  the  history  from  altogether  meddling  with  pro- 
phecy, nor  the  prophetical  part  from  touching  upon 
hisforj',  nor  the  doctiinal  part  fiom  the  use  of  both 
the  former.  So  the  evangelists,  that  WTOte  the  stoiy 
of  Christ,  do  nevertheless  abound  with  heavenly 
doctrines,  containing  in  them  the  life-giving  of  that 
supreme  Bishop  of  our  souls.  Neither  are  they  with- 
out plentiful  predictions ;  as  of  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem, and  the  end  of  the  world.  So  the  holy  apos- 
tles in  their  epistles,  together  with  their  doctrines, 
by  which  they  build  up  tlie  church,  do  also  prophesy 
of  future  things  :  as  St.  Paul  doth  of  the  calling  of 
the  Jews,  and  of  the  coming  of  antichrist ;  and  the 
last  chapter  of  this  present  epistle  hath  been  aptly 
called  St.  Peter's  prophecy. 

Concerning  which,  there  have  arisen  two  ancient 
doubts,  like  clouds  to  obscure  the  light  of  truth. 
Some  have  questioned  the  authority  of  this  epistle; 
others,  the  author.  1.  For  those  that  have  contra- 
dicted the  autliority  of  it,  excluding  it  out  of  the 
number  of  canonical  books,  Eusebius,  (Hist.  3.  cap. 
'25.)  Kicephorus,  (Lib.  2.  Hist.  3.  cap.  4C.)  Hierome, 
(De  Yiris  lUustr.  in  Petro.)  and  Gregory,  (Horn.  IS. 
in  Ezck.)  make  mention  of  them.  They  tell  us  of 
some  such  quarrellers :  they  tell  us  not  their  names  : 
such  there  were,  but  who  they  were  they  do  not  say. 
Therefore,  let  their  opinion  be  buried  in  the  dust 


with  them ;  fur  this  book  lives  while  tht■^-  ai-e  dead. 
2.  For  the  author:  some  have  denied  it  to  be  St. 
Peter's ;  and  to  this  error  the  supposed  diversity  of 
the  style  hath  induced  them.  As  if  the  same  author 
might  not  diversify  his  style  upon  due  occasion,  ac- 
cording to  the  difference  of  the  matter  or  argument 
upon  which,  or  difference  of  the  person  to  whom,  he 
writes.  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  of  a  more  ac- 
curate style  than  St.  Paul's  other  epistles :  yet  by  a 
universal  consent  it  is  agreed  upon  to  be  St.  Paul's. 
Certainly  the  author  of  this  must  be  some  grand  im- 
postor, if  he  were  not  one  of  those  three  apostles  that 
were  present  at  Clirist's  transfiguration  upon  the 
mount,  Matt.  xvii.  1,  where  he  solemnly  professeth 
himself  to  have  been.  The  three  witnesses  of  Christ's 
clarification  there,  were  Peter,  and  James,  and  John : 
no  man  affirms  James  or  John  to  be  the  author  of 
this  epistle,  therefore  it  must  be  Peter.  And  if 
he  were  not  the  author  of  it,  with  what  impudence 
should  another  secretaiy  call  himself,  "  Simon  Peter, 
a  servant  and  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ ! "  To 
allege  that  Paul,  writing  to  the  Galatians,  doth 
plainly  testify,  that  he  withstood  Peter  to  the  face, 
and  that  he  was  to  be  blamed.  Gal.  ii.  11,  there- 
fore it  is  not  likely  that  Peter  would  Anite  so  fair 
an  encomium  of  Paul,  2  Pet.  iii.  15  ;  such  critics 
are  far  from  the  sanctified  spirit  of  an  apostle ;  for 
they,  without  respect  for  their  private  affections, 
or  particular  praises,  sought  only  th.e  truth  of 
the  gospel,  and  the  glory  of  their  Master  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  majesty  of  the  Holv  Ghost  appears  in  every 
line  of  it,  therefore  the  authority  is  indubitate.  The 
name  prefixed  warrants  it  to  be  St.  Peter's,  therefore 
we  cannot  deny  the  author.  It  remains  only  that  we 
directly  come  to  the  matter:  in  which  proceeding, 
the  Spirit  of  illuminaticm  direct  me  to  write,  and  the 
Spirit  of  sanctificaiion  direct  you  to  read ;  that  all  of 
us,  believing  and  living  according  to  the  holy  doc- 
trine delivered,  the  name  of  God  may  be  glorified, 
and  our  dear  souls  everlastingly  saved,  tluough  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.    Amen. 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


Simon  Peter,  a  servant  and  an  apostle  of  Jeaus 
Christ,  ^c. 

Wherein  we  find  a  double  description:  1.  Of  tlic 
author,  who  sends ;  "  Simon,"  &c.  2.  Of  the  per- 
sons to  whom  tlie  salutation  is  sent;  '■  To  them 
that  have  obtained,"  &c. 

I.  The  autlior  dcscrilies  himself  by 

His  name,  Simon  Peter. 

Mis  condition,  A  servant. 

His  office.  An  apostle. 

His  Master,  Jesus  Christ. 

His  name  shows  him  humble,  his  condition  holy, 
his  office  gracious,  by  his  Master  who  is  glorious. 

"  Simon"  was  his  proper  name,  given  him  at  his  cir- 
cumcision. It  is  observable,  that  this  Simon  was 
commonly  a  happy  name  in  the  Scriptures.  There 
was  Simon  Zelotes,  a  zealous  man ;  Simon  a  tanner, 
this  Simon's  host,  a  charitable  man ;  Simon  of 
Cyrene,  that  helped  Christ  to  bear  his  cross,  a  com- 
passionate man;  and  Simon  Peter,  a  sanctified  man. 
Not  that  grace  is  tied  to  names;  for  there  was  a 
Siiiinn  Magus,  a  sorcerer,  a  witch,  little  other  than  a 
devil :  but  the  favour  of  God  makes  any  name  as 
liappy.  No  man  hath  now  the  mystery  of  his  fortune 
written  in  his  name.  Names  are  not  prophetical, 
much  less  magical.  The  civil  use  of  names  is  for 
distinction,  nomen  quasi  notumen :  the  religious  use 
hath  by  good  antiquity  been  observed  at  our  baptism. 

So  oft  as  thou  liearest  thy  own  name,  call  to  mind 
the  covenant  between  God  and  thyself  in  holy  bap- 
tism ;  when  God  promised  on  his  part  to  be  thy  God, 
thou  on  thy  part  to  forsake  his  enemies,  and  to  dedi- 
cate thyself  to  his  sen-ice.  It  is  a  wretched  forgct- 
fulness  not  to  remember  thy  own  name.  What  can 
he  remember  that  forgets  himself?  It  is  jiity  the 
sacramental  water  was  ever  spilt  on  such  a  face,  as 
forgets  himself  to  be  a  Christian. 

Whatsoever  thy  name  be,  let  thy  heart  be  Simon's. 
It  is  said  to  signify,  hearing,  or  obeying:  so  do  thou 
confess,  profess,  love  thy  Master  and  ^laker.  Con- 
fess him  with  thy  mouth  ;  profess  him  with  thy 
life  ;  love  him  with  thy  heart.  So  thou  shalt  have 
Simon's  omen,  thougli  not  Simon's  nomen.  Albeit 
thou  be  not  called  Peter,  thou  shalt  be  saved  with 
Peter.  Thus  shall  Christ  bless  thy  name  with  a 
good  report  upon  earth,  "  The  memory  of  the  just  is 
l)lessed,"  Prov.  x.  7 ;  with  better  reward  in  lieaven, 
by  writing  it  "  in  the  book  of  life,"  Luke  x.  20. 

"  Peter "  was  his  surname,  given  him  by  Christ 
himself,  who  was  in  this  sense  his  Godfather. 
"  When  Jesus  beheld  him,  he  said,  Thou  art  Simon 
the  son  of  Jona  ;  thou  shalt  be  called  Cepha.s,  which 
is  by  interpretation,  A  stone,"  or  Peter,  John  i.  42. 
Si.  Matthew  seems  to  insinuate  that  Christ  gave  him 
that  name  in  allusion  to  that  rock  of  his  confession, 
"  Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my 
<hurch,"  Matt.  xvi.  18.  But  then  Peter  seems  to 
be  that  rock  on  which  the  church  is  built.  Not  so  : 
Peter,  in  making  this  confession,  "  Thou  art  Christ, 
the  Son  of  tlie  living  God,"  either  spake  before  the 
rest,  as  Ambrose;  or  for  the  rest,  as  Augustine:  ho 
was  prolocutor,  or  mouth  of  the  rest.  Therefore  what 
was  promised  to  Peter,  pertained  to  the  whole  college 
of  the  apostles.  To  this  exposition  mns  the  stream 
of  the  fathers.  If  thou  confess  with  Peter,  if 
thou  be  Christ's  disciple,  thou  art  Peter,  thou  art 
a  rock.  (Origen,  Hum.  1.  in  Malt.)  Peter  is  derived 
from  the  rock,  not  Ihc  rock  from  Peter;  as  Christ 
fetchelh  not  his  name  from  a  Christian,  but  a  Chris- 
tian from  Christ.  (Aug.  Tract.  124.  in  John.)  Put 
We  "  are  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles 


and  prophets,  Jesus  Clmst  himself  being  the  chief 
conier-stone,"  Eph.  ii.  20.  Our  foundation  is  in 
heaven.  Aristotle  said,  that  a  man  is  a  tree  growing 
with  the  root  Jipward :  so  the  church  is  a  house  turned 
upside  down;  for  the  foundation  is  above.  "Other 
foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  winch  is 
Jesus  Christ,"  1  Cor.  iii.  II.  Peter  in  this  kind  is 
not  the  rock  of  the  church;  time  was  he  seemed 
rather  to  be  a  wave  than  a  rock,  when  Christ  said  to 
him,  "Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan:  thou  art  an 
olfence  unto  me,"  Matt.  xvi.  23.  Let  Peler  have  his 
desire,  and  his  Master  shall  not  die  ;  so  Peter  himself 
and  the  whole  world  had  been  lost.  This  defeats  the 
pope  of  his  infallibility  of  judgment. 

Thus  Peter  is  a  name  of  addition,  imposed  by  our 
Saviour  on  Simon.  Divers  of  the  papists  have  de- 
rived the  authority  of  changing  the  jjopes'  names 
from  hence,  because  the  two  chief  a^iosllcs  had  their 
names  changed ;  Saul  into  Paul,  Simon  into  Peter. 
But  Lorinus  the  Jesuit  denies  this  to  be  the  ground 
of  their  mutation.  Indeed  there  is  a  double  difTer- 
ence  : — for  authoiily,  the  apostles  changed  not  their 
own  names,  but  God;  for  efTect.s,  their  natures  were 
changed  with  their  names,  a  privilege  that  few 
popes  had  the  happiness  to  demonstrate.  Though 
Sylvius,  elected  pope,  could  disclaim  his  wanton  and 
idle  books,  and  seem  to  promise  future  gravity. 
Forget  JEneas,  and  receive  me  a  pious  father ;  yet  the 
new  names  have  not  altered  the  old  conditions,  they 
have  jiroved  the  same  men  still.  The  first  altcrer  of 
popes'  names  is  held  to  be  Sergius  II.  whose  proper 
name  was  Us  porci,  a  swine's  countenance  :  the  name 
would  have  served,  had  he  separated  his  swinish  pro- 
perties. Divers  others  followed,  but  they  lost  not 
their  former  vices.  One  of  their  own  brings  a  testi- 
mony against  them ;  that  of  all  Christians  Italians 
are  the  worst;  of  all  Italians,  the  Romans;  of  all 
Romans,  the  priests;  of  all  priests,  the  cardinals; 
and  commonly  the  most  lewd  cardinal  is  chosen 
pope:  yea,  some  have  objected,  and  they  stick  not  to 
grant,  that  a  man  that  is  not  a  member  of  Christ, 
may  yet  be  head  of  his  church. 

Though  change  of  names  import  an  excellency 
of  grace,  yet  not  a  singularity.  James  and  John 
were  sons  of  thunder;  were  none  so  but  they? 
Barnabas,  son  of  consolation  ;  none  so  but  he  ?  Peter, 
a  rock;  no  rock  but  Peter?  Israel,  called  so  be- 
cause he  was  strong  with  God ;  yet  so  was  Abra- 
ham and  Moses.  Whereas  some  observe,  that  our 
apostle  puis  in  two  words  into  the  epigraph  of  this 
epistle,  which  he  left  out  in  the  former,  "  Simon" 
and  "servant;"  and  that  our  Saviour  did  usually 
chide  him  by  the  name  of  Simon,  but  commend  him 
by  the  name  of  Peter;  whence  they  obscr\"e,  it  was 
Simon  that  erred,  not  Peter,  his  person,  not  his 
office.  So,  "Simon,  sleepest  thou?"  Mark  xiv.  37. 
And  in  his  confirmation,  "  .Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest 
thou  me  more  than  these?"  John  xxi.  15;  repeating 
that  word  Simon  thrice.  But  they  forget  that,  "  Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan,"  Matt.  xvi.  23;  not  Simon, 
but  Salan.  Indeed  Peter's  name  was  not  changed, 
but  only  he  had  one  added  :  he  was  still  Simon, 
but  W'ithal  Peter.  Abraham  was  not  afterward 
called  Abram,  but  Abraham;  but  Peter  still  was 
called  Simon.  So  here  he  slyles  himself,  Simon 
Peter.  The  Jesuits  say,  he  Wiis  always  after  called 
Peler.  I  cannot  call  them  the  fathers  of  lies,  that 
were  to  do  the  devil  wrong;  but  the  sons  of  lying. 
I  am  sure  he  is  many  limes  after  called  Simon. 

But  will  they  now  disjoin  these  two  names  in  one 
man  ?  I  wonder,  when  Simon  sinned,  whether  Peter 
was  guillless?  \i Os  porci  had  been  damned,  what 
would  havp  become  of  Sergius  sectmdus  *  Thus  I  he 
poor  shepherd  said  to  the  great  bishop  of  Coleine ; 


Ver.  1. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


admiring  his  pomp  as  a  prince,  when  his  calling  was 
but  a  bishop.  Some  replied,  that  he  wore  not  such 
robes  as  he  was  bishop,  Imt  as  he  was  prince.  Aye 
but,  quoth  the  shepherd,  if  the  duke  should  go  to  hell 
for  pride,  what  would  become  of  the  humble  bishop  ? 
Their  names  cannot  secure  their  persons,  not  though 
they  were /If  t  MommiV.  And  yet  as  their  lives  have 
commonly  been  ungodly,  so  the  name  of  piety  hath 
been  least  usurped  among  them;  for  there  nave  been 
but  five  PH.     Here  observe  three  circumstances. 

1.  The  apostles  did  prefix  their  names  to  their 
epistles.  Indeed  neither  did  Moses  set  his  name 
before  his  book,  nor  the  evangelists,  Matthew,  Mark, 
Luke,  and  John,  before  their  Gospels  ;  because  they, 
writing  to  those  that  were  present,  had  no  cause 
to  put  to  their  names :  but  the  apostles,  writing  to 
those  that  were  far  off,  could  not  well  avoid  it  in 
their  epistles.  (Chrys.)  But  why  then  did  Paul 
suppress  his  name  writing  to  the  Hebrews?  That 
apostle  was  not  in  their  books,  they  had  no  good 
alfection  toward  him ;  so  that  finding  his  name  in 
the  frontispiece  they  might  haply  have  rejected  the 
Epistle,  and  not  vouchsafed  to  read  it.  The  apostles 
could  not  always  instruct  men  by  sermons,  as  did  the 
prophets  ;  nor  by  commentaries,  as  the  evangelists ; 
nor  by  dialogue,  as  Job:  but  writing  to  remote  per- 
sons and  places,  they  were  compelled  to  signify  their 
mind  by  letters ;  and  the  form  of  an  epistle  requires  a 
prescription  of  his  name  that  sent  it.  They  prefixed 
their  names,  therefore,  that  it  might  be  kno\TO  by 
what  authority  such  letters  were  Avritten,  and  with 
what  certainty  of  credit  they  are  to  be  received. 
For  as  no  prophecy,  so  no  epistle  of  the  Scripture  is 
of  any  private  motion,  2  Pet.  i.  20.  The  pen  a  quill, 
the  writer  an  apostle,  but  the  inditer  the  Holy 
Ghost.  This  binds  us  to  believe  and  obey  these 
sacred  writings.  He  that  will  not  believe  what  is 
written  shall  feel  what  is  written.  Read  the  historj', 
lest  thyself  be  made  a  historj',  and  an  ensample 
to  the  reading  of  after-times. 

2.  The  apostles  did  prefix,  not  suffix,  their  names, 
according  to  our  custom  in  our  familiar  letters.  Let 
no  man  herein  tax  them  with  a  proud  prelation,  for 
where  God's  Spirit  is  the  dictator  we  must  look  for 
no  compliments.  And  though  in  themselves  they 
were  the  most  humble  men  upon  earth,  yet  being  to 
write  in  apostolic  right,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  to  signify  themselves  such  as  he  had  chosen  to  lay 
the  foundation  of  the  evangelical  church,  it  was  fit 
and  necessary  they  should  premention  their  names 
and  office.  Paul  endured  all  reproach  to  his  own 
person  patiently,  yet  did  still  magnify  his  office, 
lest  the  contempt  of  the  apostle  should  prejuchce  the 
majesty  of  the  gospel. 

3.  They  prefixed  their  names,  though  upon  them 
stuck  some  blemishes :  to  show  that  albeit  themselves 
were  guilty  of  manifold  infirmities,  yet  the  gospel 
they  delivered  was  pure  from  all  imperfection.  The 
blots  of  the  writers  were  no  blots  to  the  things  writ- 
ten. Paul  was  a  great  sinner;  Peter,  a  greater. 
Apostaey  in  Peter  was  greater  than  persecution  in 
Paul ;  the  one  a  sin  after  knowledge,  the  other  be- 
fore ;  the  one  was  done  of  ignorance,  the  other 
against  conscience  :  yet  Peter  still  speaks  his  name. 
Human  pens  are  dipped  in  the  oil  of  ostentation,  not 
Scriptural  pens  ;  they  spit  in  iheir  own  faces.  Moses 
wrote  his  own  incredulily ;  David,  his  own  bloodiness ; 
Jonah,  his  own  repining  at  that  mercy  without  which 
he  had  been  most  miserable  :  as  if  they  acknowledged 
themselves  not  only  to  have  erred  after  the  manner 
of  men,  but  even  to  have  sinned  after  the  manner  of 
evil  men.  This  they  did,  that  none  of  God's  glon,' 
might  cleave  to  their  earthen  fingers.  Let  this  teach 
botn  you  and  us. 


You  of  tlie  laity,  not  to  patronize  your  sins  upon 
the  example  of  others ;  as  if  you  would  fortify  your 
profaneness  from  the  infirmities  of  your  teachers. 
The  falls  of  the  saints  are  recorded,  not  as  warrants 
to  encourage  our  wantonness,  but  as  cautions  to  pre- 
vent and  retard  our  precipices.  1.  Wicked  men  love 
that  in  the  saints,  which  the  saints  never  loved  in 
themselves,  -Nices :  and  shall  a  man  make  their  foil 
his  jewel,  their  shame  his  glory  ?  2.  Thou  speakest 
of  their  sins,  but  not  of  their  repentance.  When 
Theodosius  excused  a  foul  fact,  because  David  had 
done  the  like,  St.  Ambrose  makes  this  answer  ; 
Thou  that  hast  followed  Da^ad  in  his  exorbitance, 
follow  him  also  in  his  repentance.  Hath  thy  mouth 
denied  with  Peter,  let  thine  eyes  weep  with  Peter. 

3.  They  look  on  the  evil  of  good  men,  whereas  they 
should  rather  look  on  the  good  even  of  evil  men. 
Noah's  virtues  are  not  Ham's  admiration,  but  liis 
drunkenness  is  his  sport.  Like  flies,  that  skip  over 
all  the  soimd  parts  of  the  body,  and  light  upon  sores 
and  ulcers.  The  cloud  that  waited  on  the  camp  of 
Israel,  was  light  towards  themselves,  dark  towards 
their  enemies;  it  saved  them,  drowned  the  Egyp- 
tians. Let  every  Christian  follow  the  light  part ; 
that  shall  guide  him,   the  other  will   deceive   him. 

4.  By  disregard  of  the  minister's  person  they  evacuate 
the  force  of  this  doctrine.  Therefore  God  usually 
plagueth  the  contempt  of  his  preachers,  by  the 
invalidity  of  his  own  ordinance  upon  their  souls. 
"  When  ye  come  into  an  house,  salute  it.  And  if  the 
house  be  worthy,  let  your  peace  come  upon  it :  but 
if  it  be  not  worthy,  let  your  peace  return  to  you," 
Matt.  X.  12,  13.  Let  us  rather  take  the  best,  than 
make  the  worst,  of  good  men's  lives. 

Us  of  the  ministry,  to  preserve  zeal  and  humility. 
"  Take  heed  unto  thyself,  and  unto  the  doctrine," 

1  Tim.  iv.  16.  To  thyself,  how  thoulivest;  to  thy 
doctrine,  how  thou  teachest.  But  still,  after  our 
best  endeavours,  to  ourselves,  weakness  and  shame, 
to  God,  the  blessing  and  glory.  He  hath  a  pulpit  in 
heaven,  that  teacheth  the  soul,  that  touchetn  the 
conscience.  It  is  he  only  that  mellows  the  heart, 
and  softens  it  with  fitness  for  the  impression  of  an^ 
sermon.     Thus  for  his  name,  now  for 

His  condition,  "  a  servant."  Hugo  obser\'CS,  that 
he  doth  omit  this  title  in  his  former  epistle,  which 
he  inserts  here :  but  I  do  not  like  his  reason.  Be- 
cause, saith  he,  there  he  spake  of  persecutions  and 
troubles,  which  ought  not  to  be  borne  with  slavish 
cowardice,  being  rather  honours  than  miseries.  In- 
deed Christ's  cross  must  be  borne  \v\ih  a  courageous 
mind :  but  still  this  sufferance  rather  insinuates  than 
exempts  service ;  for  they  properly  belong  to  all 
those  tliat  faithfully  serve  God.  "  All  that  virill 
live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus  shall  suffer  persecution," 

2  Tim.  iii.  12.  They  are  laid  on  them  as  it  were 
by  a  fatal  kind  of  destiny,  because  they  are  the 
Lord's  servants.  For  outwardly  there  are  generally 
in  tbe  world  poor  saints,  and  prosperous  sinners. 
Neither  is  filial  service  a  thing  tliat  does  hinder  pa- 
tience, but  beautify  it  and  help  it.  This  reason  then 
wants  the  weight  to  be  received. 

Yet  I  confess  there  may  be  something  in  it,  and  a 
cause  may  be  rendered  why  the  apostle  here  useth 
that  formerly  omitted  title.  True  it  is,  that  when 
God  dictates,  the  will  of  the  writer  is  a  sufficient 
reason  for  the  scription.  But  in  the  holy  Scriptures 
nothing  is  done  by  chance:  every  word,  syllable, 
point,  hath  the  efficacy:  no  blot  ever  fell  from  the 
pen  of  the  Holy  Gliost.  There  be  reasons,  though 
our  shallow  understandings  cannot  reach  them. 

I.  Perhaps  this  may  be  a  reason:  our  blessed 
apostle  wrote  this,  knowing  his  dissolution  to  be  at 
hand ;  as  he  confesseth,  "  Knowing  that  shortly  I 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


CUAP.    I. 


must  put  off  this  my  tabernacle,  as  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  hath  showed  me,"  ver.  14.  Therefore  he 
comforts  his  own  soul  in  this  title,  as  old  Hilarion 
did  after  him  :  These  seventy  years  and  upwards  thou 
hast  scr\'cd  the  Lord,  therefore  now  go  forth,  my 
soul,  with  joy,  &c.  Thou  hast  served  the  Lord  in 
life,  in  death  he  will  crown  thee.  "  Lord,  now  lettest 
thou  thy  scrs-ant  depart  in  peace,  according  to  thy 
word,"  Luke  ii.  29. 

'2.  Perhaps  in  regard  of  others  he  useth  it :  for  he 
writes  of  the  coming  of  Clirist  to  judgment;  which 
shall  be  a  blessed  day  to  those,  whose  consciences 
can  witness  with  them  that  they  have  served  God. 
When  rebels  shall  be  cast  to  the  prison  of  rebels ; 
then.  Come,  thou  good  and  faithful  sen-ant,  enter 
thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord,  Matt.  xxv.  21.  Tlien 
all  hearts  shall  confess,  It  was  not  in  vain,  nor  with- 
out profit,  that  we  have  served  the  Lord,  Mai.  iii. 
14 :  for  "  they  shall  be  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
in  that  day  when  I  make  up  my  jewels;  and  I  will 
spare  them,  as  a  man  spareth  his  o\ni  son  that  serveth 
him.  Then  shall  ye  return,  and  discern  between 
him  that  sci-veth  God  and  him  that  scrveth  him 
not,"  ver.  17.  Man  servetli  God;  God  saveth  man. 
"When  the  wicked  shall  acknowledge  the  godly,  with 
groaning  and  anguish  of  spirit :  "  We  fools  accounted 
his  life  madness,  and  his  end  to  be  without  honour: 
how  is  he  numbered  among  the  children  of  God,  and 
his  lot  is  among  the  saints ! "  Wisd.  v.  3 — 5.  Thus,  as 
on  earth  the  sergeant  at  law  is  often  made  a  judge ; 
so,  "  That  yc  which  have  followed  me,  in  the  regene- 
ration when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  in  the  throne 
of  his  glorj-,  ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones, 
judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,"  Matt.  xix.  2S. 

3.  Perhaps  because  tlie  time  of  his  scr\ice  was 
now  almost  ended,  and  therefore  he  might  more 
boldly  style  himself,  the  scnant  of  Christ ;  for,  let 
not  him  that  puts  on  his  armour  boast,  but  he  that 
puts  it  olT.  He  may  now  look  sweetly  both  ways, 
with  comfort  to  his  life  past,  with  joy  to  his  reward 
to  come.  It  is  good  for  a  man  to  accomplish  his 
life  before  he  ends  it.  The  young  man  is  hajipy  that 
lives  well,  but  the  old  man  is  blessed  that  hatli  lived 
well.  Praise  the  mariner  that  brings  the  vessel  safe 
into  the  haven.  Blessed  .soul,  that  hath  passed  the 
apprenticeship  of  ser\ncc,  and  is  now  gone  to  be 
made  free  in  glor>-.  There  are  two  special  observa- 
tions in  this  title,  "ser^'ant;"  Christ's  excellency, 
and  the  apostle's  humility. 

1.  This  extols  the  dignity  of  Christ,  that  so  famous 
an  apostle  creeps  to  him  on  the  knees  of  lowliness; 
Lor(f,  I  am  thy  servant.  The  world  esteemed  him 
without  form  or  comeliness;  and  when  they  see 
him,  withoul  beauty,  that  they  should  desire  him, 
Isa.  liii.  2.  Tlie  psalmist  speaks  in  his  person  :  "  I 
am  a  worm,  and  no  man ;  a  reproach  of  men,  and  de- 
spised of  the  people,"  Psal.  xxii.  G.  To  the  Jews  a 
slumblingblock,  to  the  Greeks  foolishness,  1  Cor.  i. 
23.  But  Peter  styles  himself,  the  seiTant  of  him 
that  was  crucified.  Indeed,  the  ser\iee  of  Christ  is 
the  honour  of  the  Christian.  Our  Saviour  admitted 
and  accepted  this  ji-.st  honour :  "  Yc  call  me  Master, 
and  Lord ;  and  yc  say  well,  for  so  I  am,"  John  xiii. 
14.  Many  in  the  world  arrogate  great  dignity  to 
themselves,  because  so  famous  men  arc  their  servants. 
Ahasuerus  might  vaunt  of  his  viceroys;  the  Turk  of 
his  bashaws :  but  let  all  sceptres  be  laid  down  at  the 
foot  of  the  Lamb:  all  sheaves  bow  to  the  sheaf  of 
Joseph ;  all  crowns  be  subjected  to  Ilim  that  is 
crowned  with  unspeakable  glory  for  ever. 

2.  This  is  a  clear  rcmonstnnice  of  St.  Peter's  hu- 
mility :  a  famous  apostle ;  some  have  given  him 
more,  the  primacy  of  the  apostles;  yet  what  is  his 
cMTi  title  ?  "  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ."    The  godly 


are  no  further  ambitious,  than  to  belong  to  Christ. 
There  is  a  great  suit  to  be  retained  in  the  service  of 
princes ;  but  the  best  is,  to  sen-e  the  Prince  of 
princes.  AVhat  need  he  wait  upon  a  channel,  that 
may  dwell  bv  a  whole  river?  or  serve  him  that 
serN'cs,  when  he  may  serve  him  that  reigns  ?  A  poor 
estimation  of  ourselves,  gives  us  the  richest  estima- 
tion with  God.  AVhen  thou  wast  little  I  then  made 
thee  great,  1  Sam.  xv.  17.  Abraham  .says,  I  am  not 
worthy,  &c.  God  dignifies  him  to  be  the  father  of 
them  that  believe.  AVhen  the  lot  was  to  be  cast  for 
an  apostle  to  sujiply  Judas's  room,  two  were  ap- 
pointed, Joseph  and  Matthias,  Acts  i.  2.3.  Joseph, 
of  three  appellations  :  Joseph,  the  son  of  rest ;  Bar- 
sabas ;  and  Justus,  sumamed  so  for  his  equity.  Yea 
more,  he  was  the  Lord's  brother;  "  Are  not  his 
brethren,  James  and  Joses,"  &c.  Matt.  xiii.  55 ; 
that  is,  Christ's  near  kinsmen.  Matthias,  but  twice 
named  in  the  Scriptures,  both  times  in  that  one 
chapter.  Acts  i. ;  yet  the  lot  fell  upon  Mattliias. 
Matthias  signifies,  A  little  one :  so  the  gospel  ap- 
pointed for  the  daj'  of  his  feast  and  memorj',  com- 
mends little  ones ;  "  Thou  hast  hid  these  things  from 
the  wise,  and  hast  revealed  them  to  babes,"  to  little 
ones.  Matt.  xi.  25.  Notwithstanding  the  great 
titles  and  privileges  of  the  other,  God  sent  the  lot 
upon  the  little  one,  it  fell  upon  Matthias.  He  that 
seems  little  in  his  own  eyes,  is  the  greatest  in  God's 
account.  It  hath  been  the  humble  and  blessed  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  saints,  that  they  are  seri-ants. 
Though  we  be  new-bom  to  our  Father's  inheritance, 
yet  now  we  are  in  our  nonage.  "  The  heir,  as  long 
as  he  is  a  child,  differcth  nothing  from  a  servant, 
though  he  be  lord  of  all,"  Gal.  iv.  1.  Men  make 
difference  of  their  ser\-ants,  children,  and  friends ; 
God  none.  His  friends  must  serve :  "  Ye  are  my 
friends,  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  command  yo>i,"  John 
XV.  14.  children  must  serve;  even  the  Son  must 
serve  him,  ^lark  iii.  11.  Everj-  Christian  soldier's- 
scutcheon  must  be,  Patience,  and  liis  motio,  1  serv'e- 
Yea,  not  only  saints,  but  angels  are  glad  of  this  title ; 
"  Are  they  not  all  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to 
minister  for  them  who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation?" 
Heb.  i.  14.  When  St.  John  would  have  wor- 
shipped before  the  feet  of  the  angel,  he  replied, 
"  See  thou  do  it  not,  for  I  am  thy  fellow-ser\-ant." 
Rev.  xxii.  9.  And  let  me  go  yet  higher;  the 
natural  Son  of  God,  and  that  by  an  eternal  genera- 
tion, ptit  on  him  a  serviceable  nature ;  he  "  took  upon 
him  tne  form  of  a  scrv-ani,"  Phil.  ii.  7-  He  was  so 
formed,  so  habited  to  service,  that  he  endured  all 
sorrow,  and  fulfilled  all  righteousness.  Art  thovi 
better  than  aposflcs,  better  than  angels,  better  than 
the  Son  of  God  himself,  O  proud  dust,  that  thou  de- 
spised the  title  of  a  servant  ? 

I  cannot  so  briefly  pass  over  that,  wherein  we 
must  dwell  all  our  lives,  the  service  of  God;  let  me 
consider  in  it  three  things ;  the  liberty,  the  dignity, 
I  lie  reward. 

The  liberty  must  be  weighed,  both  in  the  will  of 
the  agent,  and  in  the  frccdimi  of  the  action. 

It  is  a  voluntary  service :  constrained  obedience  is 
not  worth  a  thanfc-you.  The  wickedest  reprol>ales, 
yea,  the  very  devils,  must  needs  serve  God;  but  can 
expect  no  wages  but  hell.  We  know  there  is  a  ne- 
cessity, that  shall  draw  him  against  his  will,  whom 
command  cannot  lead  with  his  will.  Either  God's 
will  shall  be  done  by  thee,  or  be  done  on  thec;  but 
howsoever,  it  shall  lie  done  in  thee.  Therefore  the 
noMe  disposition  is  led,  not  forced.  They  are  slaves, 
wluim  the  fear  of  plagues  only  terrifies  from  rebellion. 
But  this  servant  willingly  puts  his  neck  into  Chrisl|s 
yoke :  he  denies  his  own  lusts,  his  own  gains,  his 
own  pleasures,  his  own  self.   "Behold,  we  have  for- 


Veb.  I. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


saken  all,  and  followed  thee,"  Matt.  xix.  27.  A  good 
servant  hath  these  properties ;  a  quick  eye,  a  listening 
ear,  a  ready  foot,  a  working  hand,  an  honest  heart. 

A  quick  eye ;  attending  the  least  beck  of  his  com- 
mander. "  As  the  eyes  of  senants  look  to  the  hands 
of  their  masters;  so  our  eyes  wait  upon  the  Lord 
our  God,"  Psal.  cxxiii.  2.  Paul  speaks  of  eye- 
service,  "  SerA'ants,  obey  your  masters,  not  with 
eye-ser\ncc,  as  men-pleasers,"  Col.  iii.  22.  This  is  a 
fault  with  men :  but  let  us  serve  our  God  no  longer, 
no  fiirther,  than  he  sees  us;  it  is  enough,  his  eye  is 
never  off  our  hands,  our  hearts.  "  Whither  shall  I 
go  from  thy  spirit  ?  or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy 
presence  ?  If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art 
there :  if  I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art 
there.  If  I  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea ; 
even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me.  If  I  say,  The  dark- 
ness shall  cover  me ;  even  the  night  shall  be  light 
about  me,"  Psal.  cxxxix.  7 — 1 1-  Heaven  hath  the  pre- 
sence of  his  glor)',  earth  of  his  providence,  the  sea  of 
his  wonders,  the  darkness  of  his  light,  hell  of  his 
power ;  no  where  to  avoid  his  sight.  Heaven,  earth, 
sea,  hell ;  all  places  named  but  purgatory ;  perhaps 
God  is  not  there.  If  he  fills  all  iilaces,  and  not  pur- 
gator)',  rather  than  doubt  his  omnipresence,  I  will 
believe  there  is  no  purgatory. 

A  listening  ear ;  sucli  a  one  as  Eli  taught  Samuel 
to  find,  when  God  calleth ;  "  Speak,  Lord,  for  thy 
servant  heareth." 

A  ready  foot :  an  obedient  servant  makes  no  de- 
lays. God's  Spirit  often  useth  the  phrase  of  rising 
early  :  Abimeleeh  rose  early  to  tell  his  dream,  Gen. 
XX.  8.  Abraham  rose  early  to  sacrifice  his  son, 
chap.  xxii.  3.  Elkauah  and  Hannah  rose  early  to 
worship  God,  1  Sam.  i.  19.  Job  rose  early  to 
sanctify  his  children,  Job  i.  5.  We  say  with  the 
sluggard,  By  and  by,  Lord :  this  same  dilation  hath 
no  measure.  The  sen'ice  shall  find  no  thanks,  that 
found  no  readiness.  A  good  work,  the  longer  it  sticks 
in  our  fingers  the  less  acceptable. 

A  working  hand :  the  life  of  service  is  work,  the 
work  of  a  Christian  is  obedience.  The  centurion  de- 
scribing his  good  servant,  said  no  more  but  thus,  I 
bid  him  do  this,  and  he  doth  it.  Matt.  viii.  He 
that  worketh  not,  is  not  God's  labourer,  but  his  own 
loiterer.  We  are  all  masters  of  servants,  or  servants  of 
masters ;  or  servants  to  the  state  and  commonwealth, 
or  commanders  of  such  sen-ants :  some  may  be  all  of 
these,  all  are  some  of  these.  We  know  what  we  re- 
quire of  our  ser\-ants,  what  our  masters  required  of  us. 
It  were  an  easy  thing  to  be  a  servant,  if  service  con- 
sisted only  in  kissing  our  hands,  in  making  courtesies, 
in  taking  wages,  and  wearing  liveries.  Many  wear 
Christ's  livery,  all  live  upon  Christ's  trencher,  but 
most  have  gouty  fingers,  they  will  do  no  work  in 
God's  ser^-ice.  There  is  an  habitu.il  service ;  so  tlie 
slave  while  he  eats  or  sleeps  is  in  service  still.  But 
the  actual  service  pleaseth  God,  which  consists  in 
holiness  and  righteousness  before  him,  Luke  i.  75. 
Many  thus  call  themselves,  but  God  doth  not  call 
them  so.  It  is  an  everlasting  nile.  Ye  are  his  ser- 
vants to  whom  ye  obey,  Rom.  vi.  16.  There  is  much 
senice  in  the  world,  but  it  is  to  a  wrong  master ;  but 
such  can  God  point  out,  and  put  out ;  and  order  it, 
like  Jehu,  when  he  inflicteth  vengeance  on  the  world, 
not  one  servant  of  the  Lord  be  among  them,  2  Kings 
X.  23.  If  any  think  to  pass  in  the  crowd,  and  press 
among  God's  servants,  without  their  cognizance,  the 
wedding  garment,  a  question  shall  be  asked  them 
whereat  they  shall  stand  speechless ;  How  came  you 
in  hither?  Matt.  xxii.  12. 

An  honest  heart :  and  to  make  up  this  is  requirable 
the  accession  of  two  things,  sanctity  and  resolution. 

For  sanctity :  God  that  hath  given  thee  a  whole 


heart  will  not  be  served  with  a  piece  of  it.  Some 
make  show  servire,  when  indeed  tney  study  swiire ; 
as  Herod,  Let  me  come  to  worship  the  child,  when 
he  meant  to  worry  the  child.  They  are  like  the  Phi- 
listines' temple  ;  there  is  the  ark,  but  Dagon  too.  Or 
like  the  temples  of  Egypt,  fair  without,  but  within 
full  of  crocodiles.  The  eye  is  in  the  pulpit,  the  heart 
in  the  warehouse.  Rotten  kernels  under  fair  shells : 
full  of  Herod's  and  Naaraan's  exccptives.  In  this  for- 
bear us.  W^hat  show  soever  be  made,  there  must  be 
some  hidden  good  within.  The  oak  that  is  rotten  at 
the  heart,  will  never  be  good  for  building.  Say  to 
the  hypocrite,  as  Simon  Peter  did  to  Simon  Magus, 
Thou  hast  no  part  nor  lot  in  this  comfort :  for  thy 
heart  is  not  right  in  the  sight  of  God,  Acts  viii.  21. 

For  resolution  :  there  must  be  no  reasoning,  no  dis- 
puting ;  let  no  man  dare  to  "  speak  to  the  Almighty," 
or  "  desire  to  reason  with  God,"  Job  xiii.  3.  It  is  too 
far,  if,  \\ith  Jeremiah,  any  man  put  him  to  his 
Wherefore  ;  "  Wherefore  doth  the  way  of  the  wicked 
prosper?  "  Jer.  xxii.  1.  Abraham  told  not  his  wife, 
when  he  went  to  olTer  Isaac.  Paul  conferred  not 
with  flesh  and  blood,  when  he  went  to  preach  among 
the  heathen.  Gal.  i.  16.  The  Jesuits  commend 
blind  obedience ;  and  call  the  novices  that  examine 
theirimpositions.  Searchers.  They  exact  a  condition  of 
their  inferiors,  as  Nahash  did  of  the  Gileadites,  that 
they  may  thrust  out  their  right  eyes,  1  Sam.  xi. 
2  ;  otherwise  allow  them  no  covenant  of  peace :  yea, 
they  put  out  both  the  eyes  of  their  people.  To  God 
this  blind  obedience  is  good,  taken  in  that  sense, 
without  asking  a  reason.  When  man  commands, 
inquire  what  is  bidden,  not,  who  bids.  AVhen 
God  commands,  consider  who  charges,  not  what 
is  imposed.  Believe  what  God  saith,  though  in 
our  thought  impossible ;  do  what  he  commands, 
though  in  our  judgment  imreasonable.  Galerius 
Maximus,  seeking  to  pervert  that  blessed  Cyprian 
to  idolatiy,  wished  him  before  sense  of  punish- 
ment to  bethink  himself;  Take  heed  you  do  not  cast 
away  yourself.  His  answer  was  short,  but  resolute  ; 
The  case  is  so  clear  that  it  refuses  deliberation.  Say 
goods,  liberty,  life  itself  is  hazarded,  yet  God  can 
reward  all.  'The  apostles  were  cited  by  Clirist  to 
Jerusalem,  and  commanded  not  to  depart  thence,  but 
to  wait  for  the  promise  of  the  Father,  to  receive  the 
Hilly  Ghost,  Acts  i.  14.  They  never  allege.  Is  not 
this  that  Jerusalem  which  was  a  provocation  to 
anger  from  the  first  building ;  the  slaughter-house  of 
the  prophets  ;  the  common  sink  or  sewer  of  all  sins  ; 
yet  wet  with  the  blood  of  our  Master  Christ  ?  Why 
Jeiiisalem  ?  Is  not  any  other  jilace  fitter  ?  No,  they 
dispute  not,  but  go  thither  with  joy ;  what  danger  or 
unlikelihood  soever  might  affront  them,  they  put 
on  the  resolution  of  Esther,  If  I  perish,  I  perish. 
But  there  can  nothing  be  lost  that  we  piously  trust 
God  withal. 

For  the  liberty  of  this  service :  know  that  God's  ser- 
vant is  the  greatest  free-man.  He  that  is  called  in 
the  Lord,  being  a  senant,  is  the  Lord's  free-man, 
1  Cor.  vii.  22.  The  good  man  is  fiee,  though  he 
ser\es ;  the  evil  is  bond,  though  he  reigns.  (Aug.  de 
Civit.  10.  lib.  4.)  Nor  is  the  vicious  person  the  slave 
of  one  man ;  but,  which  is  more  grievous,  he  hath  so 
many  masters  as  he  hath  vices.  Wouldst  thou  have 
thy  flesh  sei-ve  thy  soul,  let  thy  soul  ser\-e  God ;  thou 
owest  to  thy  King  the  right  of  government.  Sen-e 
therefore  willingly,  and  be  free  continually. 

For  the  dignity  of  this  office  :  the  saints  have  ever 
had  a  holy  pride  in  being  God's  servants  ;  there  can- 
not be  greater  honour  than  to  serve  such  a  Master 
as  commands  heaven,  earth,  and  hell.  Do  not  think 
thou  dost  honour  God  in  serving  him ;  but  think  how 
God  honours  thee,  in  vouchsafing  thee  to  be  liis  ser- 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


vant.  David  could  not  study  to  give  himself  a  greater 
style  than,  "O  Lord,  truly  I  am  thy  servant ;  I  am  thy 
servant,  and  the  son  of  t'liine  handmaid,"  Psal.  cxvi. 
16  :  and  this  he  spake,  not  in  the  phrase  of  a  human 
compliment,  but  in  the  humble  confession  of  a  Chris- 
tian. Yea,  so  doth  our  apostle  commend  this  excel- 
lency, that  (if  we  note  it)  he  sets  the  title  of  scr\ant 
before  that  of  an  apostle  ;  first  serwint,  then  apostle. 
Great  was  his  office  in  being  an  apostle,  greater  his 
blessing  in  being  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ :  the  one 
is  an  outward  calling,  the  other  an  inward  grace. 
There  was  an  apostle  condemned,  never  any  servant 
of  God.  Judas  preached  to  others,  not  to  his  own 
heart ;  he  healed  their  bodies,  not  his  own  soul ; 
wrought  miracles  upon  others,  not  upon  himself;  cast 
out  devils,  yet  himself  was  cast  out  as  a  devil.  All 
which  justifies  that  of  Samuel, "  To  obey  is  better  than 
sacrifice,  and  to  hearken  than  the  fat  of  rams,"  1 
Sam.  XV.  22.  Prophets  have  been  excluded :  many 
say,  Lord,  Lord,  we  have  prophesied  in  thy  name ;  to 
whom  it  is  answered,  I  never  knew  you ;  depart  from 
me,  ye  that  work  iniquity.  Matt.  vii.  22, 23.  But  never 
were  servants  excluded.  For  the  other,  their  book  and 
clergy  cannot  save  them  :  it  will  be  demanded  of 
them  at  that  day,  not  what  books  they  have  read,  but 
what  life  they  have  led ;  not  what  they  have  taught 
others  to  do,  but  what  they  have  done  themselves. 
(Bern.)  God  by  this  title  commends  Job,  the  great- 
est man  of  the  east :  "  Hast  thou  considered  my  ser- 
vant Job  ?  "  Job  i.  8.  Paul  calls  James  the  Lord's 
brother;  "Other  of  the  apostles  saw  I  none,  save 
James  the  Lord's  brother,"  Gal.  i.  19.  James  calls 
himself  the  ser\'ant  of  Christ;  "  James,  a  sen'ant  of 
God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  James  i.  1  ; 
quite  leaving  out  the  remembrance  of  that  other 
style.  If  it  were  such  a  noble  pri\'ilege  to  be  a  ser- 
vant to  Ca!sar,  and  free  of  the  Roman  state,  that  the 
captain  confessed,  with  a  great  sum  of  money  he  ob- 
tained that  freedom,  Acts  xxii.  28,  what  an  honour 
is  it  to  serve  the  King  of  kings  !  The  good  emperor 
Theodosius  held  it  more  noble  to  be  a  member  of  the 
church,  than  head  of  the  empire.  It  is  better  to  be 
God's  sei-vant,  than  lord  of  all  the  world.  This  is 
the  dignity ;  now  for 

The  reward :  it  is  immense  and  glorious.  "  Bread, 
correction,  and  work,  are  for  a  servant,"  Ecelus.xxxiii. 
24.  For  bread ;  God  gives  us  our  daily  bread ;  we 
are  all  at  his  keeping.  For  con-ection ;  he  chastiseth 
us,  because  he  loveth  us,  Heb.  xii.  For  work  ;  he 
sends  us  to  work  in  his  vineyard,  Matt.  xxi.  We 
have  from  him  protection  and  provision.  For  pro- 
tection ;  If  God  be  with  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ? 
Rom.  viii.  31.  For  provision;  Even  the  hired  ser- 
vants of  my  father's  have  bread  enough  and  to  spare, 
Luke  XV.  17.  But  what  is  all  this  to  that  future 
glory,  which  was  from  everlastingness  ])reparcd  for 
those  servants  ?  I  know,  they  do  not  ever  speed  best 
in  this  world.  Out  of  a  related  story  let  me  draw 
this  conclusion  in  earnest.  A  ser\'ant  con^^cted  of 
some  misdemeanour  before  a  magistrate,  besought 
some  favour  for  his  master's  sake.  Why,  whom  do 
you  serve,  said  the  magistrate  ?  I  serve  God,  said  the 
delinquent.  With  that  his  mittimus  was  quickly 
made;  Away  with  liim,  he  scofls  at  authority.  Not 
long  after  a  great  lord  sends  for  enlargement  of  this 
his  servant.  The  magistrate,  upon  the  receipt  of  the 
letters,  sends  in  all  haste  for  the  jnisoner;  of  whom 
he  frettingly  demands,  why  he  told  him  not  that  he 
scr\'cd  such  a  lord  ?  The  servant  answered.  Because 
I  thought  you  cared  more  for  the  I^ord  of  heaven. 
You  say  this  is  but  a  fable ;  you  count  him  a  fool 
that  makes  it  a  moral.  Would  to  God  it  w-cre  but  a 
tale,  and  that  our  courses  did  not  justify  it.  Well, 
though  our  reward  be  short  on  earth,  let  us  look  for 


it  witli  comfort  in  heaven.  Ambrose  said  on  his 
death-bed.  We  are  happy  in  this,  we  serve  a  good 
M;uster.  "Where  I  am,"  saith  Christ,  "there  shall 
also  my  scr\'ant  be  :  if  any  man  serve  me,  him  will  my 
Father  honour,"  John  xii.  26.  If  we  have  done  good 
and  faithfiil  service  to  him,  we  shall  hear  him  say  to 
us,  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  ser^'ants  ;  enter  into 
the  joy  of  your  Lord,  Malt.  xxv.  21  :  and  this  joy  be 
to  us  all. 

"  An  apostle."  Here  he  specifies  his  office ;  where 
obser\-c  two  things. 

First,  He  joins  together  service  and  apostleship ; 
and  that  for  two  reasons.  1.  To  distinguish  and  ex- 
emplify his  calling;  for  every  man  that  is  a  ser\'ant 
of  God,  is  not  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ.  "No  man 
taketh  this  honour  to  himself,  but  he  that  is  called  of 
God,"  Heb.  v.  4.  There  must  be  a  calling ;  or  else  sin 
will  answer  when  it  is  questioned,  as  Satan  did  when  he 
was  conjured,  "  Jesus  I  know,  and  Paul  I  know ;  but 
who  are  ye  ?"  Acts  xix.  15.  Christ  himself  did  not 
preach  publicly,  till  he  was  declared  by  God  to  be 
the  great  Prophet  of  the  world ;  and  had  his  confirm- 
ation from  heaven,  with,  Hear  ye  him.  Neither  is  it 
enough  to  say  we  are  all  priests.  Rev.  i.  6 ;  so  we 
might  say  we  are  all  kings,  and  turn  rebels.  There 
must  proceed  a  mission  and  commission ;  or  else 
whosoever  runs  abroad  had  better  have  stayed  at 
home.  2.  To  show  that  apostleship  was  a  matter  of 
sen'ice  ;  as  an  honour,  so  a  burden.  None  are  called 
into  God's  harvest,  but  "labourers,"  Matt.  ix.  33: 
Christ  never  bade  us  pray  for  loiterers  and  lookers- 
on.  As  earthly  kings  have  some  servants  in  ordinary, 
olh(frs  extraordinary  ;  all  Christians  are  God's  sworn 
scnants  extraordinary,',  so  vowed  in  holy  baptism,  to 
scr\-e  him  all  the  days  of  our  life.  By  )u-ofessing  the 
tnie  faith  we  wear  Christ's  liver}',  and  by  exercise  of 
charity,  the  cognizance  of  that  livery.  "By  this 
shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye 
have  love  one  to  another,"  John  xiii.  .35.  I'rinccs 
and  preachers  are  God's  ser\-ants  in  ordinary  :  the 
magistrate  is  (as  it  were)  a  finger  of  God's  hand ;  the 
minister,  a  steward  in  his  house.  Though,  in  a  large 
sense,  all  arc  the  Lord's  ministers;  and  it  is  usually 
said  to  those  three  states,  Tu  supplex  era.  In  protege, 
tuque  labora.  The  prince  must  govern  all,  the  priest 
pray  for  all,  the  people  work  for  all ;  yet  strictly  this 
office,  as  it  hath  especially  the  name  of  ministry,  so 
it  hath  the  nature,  for  it  consists  in  service. 

Secondly,  It  was  the  custom  of  the  apostles  to  mag- 
nify their  office.  So  Paul  to  the  Romans.  "Inasmucll 
as  I  am  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  I  magnify  mine 
office,"  Rom.  xi.  13.  And  this  they  did  the  rather 
to  weaken  the  credit  of  false  intruders.  "  Am  I  not 
an  apostle  P  am  1  not  free  ?  have  I  tiot  seen  Jesus 
Christ?"  1  Cor.  ix.  1.  Our  Saviour  himself  accepted 
this  honour.  "  Ye  call  me  Master  and  Lord :  and  ye 
say  well  ;  for  so  I  am,"  John  xiii.  1.3.  Is  the  term 
(minister)  contemptible  to  any  ?  That  Christ  who 
nuist  save  you,  or  you  shall  never  be  saved,  calls  him- 
self a  minister.  "The  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be 
ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,"  Matt.  xx.  28.  If 
therefore  men  are  bound  to  glorify  the  good  master 
even  in  the  evil  servant ;  and  not  only  to  "  know 
them,"  but  "  to  esteem  them  very  highly  in  love  for 
their  work's  sake,"  I  Thess.  v.  12,  13;'  then  much 
more  "let  the  elders  that  nile  well  be"  (yes,  they 
arc.  but  also  be)  "  counted  worthy  of  double  honour," 
1  Tim.  V.  17. 

"  Of  Jesus  Christ."  Here  he  declares  liis  Ma-stcr ; 
where  three  collections  arise. 

1 .  They  were  apostles  of  Christ ;  for  none  ever  called 
themselves  apostles  of  God  the  Father,  because  Christ 
himself  only  was  the  Father's  A]H)stlc.  He  had  other 
pastors  under  him,  but  he  was  that  great  Shepherd 


Ver.  1. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


and  Bishop  of  our  souls.  He  sent  others,  hut  him 
liath  the  FiUhcr  sent. 

2.  Christ  only  hatli  authority  to  make  apostles:  he 
chose  lliem  to  the  work,  that  could  enable  them  to 
the  work.  Therefore  none  ought  to  take  this  eliarge 
upon  them,  unless  they  he  either  mediately  or  immc- 
(hately  called  of  God. 

Some  have  no  calling  either  of  God  or  men,  hut 
nm  on  their  own  errand.  "I  have  not  sent  these  pro- 
phets, yet  they  ran :  I  have  not  spoken  to  them,  yet 
they  prophesied,"  Jer.  xxiii.  21.  Let  them  that  set 
them  on  work  pay  them  their  wages.  "  He  that 
cnfereth  not  in  by  the  door  into  the  shccpfold,  but 
climbeth  up  some  other  way,  the  same  is  a  thief  and 
a  robber,"  John  x.  1.  Either,  like  the  Sodomites, 
they  cannot  find  the  door ;  or,  like  the  Jesuits,  they 
will  not  find  the  door.  These  latter  have  run  as  far 
as  the  Indies ;  but  who  sent  them  ?  These  merchants 
went  not  to  fetch  sheep  to  Christ's  fold,  but  to  shear 
their  wool  and  flay  their  skins.  They  were  not  apos- 
tles, but  alehymists ;  they  went  to  fetch  gold.  I 
have  heard  much  talk  of  their  miracles  ;  if  I  had  all 
faith,  even  to  remove  mountains,  I  could  not  believe 
them.  But  whatsoever  their  miracles  were,  I  am  sure 
their  morals  were  naught.  The  ]ioor  Indian  refused 
(after  all  their  commendations  of  celestial  glory)  to 
go  to  heaven  if  the  Spaniards  should  be  there. 

Some  are  called  of  God  without  man,  by  an  imme- 
diate vocation.  So  were  the  twelve  apostles  by  Christ 
in  his  state  mortal,  Paul  in  his  state  immortal.  Acts  ix. 

Some  arc  sent  of  men  without  God.  So  Jason  and 
Menclaus  sought  the  priesthood  by  unlawful  means 
of  Antiochus  :  so  Jeroboam  made  his  priests.  Alli- 
ance, favour,  simony,  have  brought  men  of  bad  learn- 
ing and  worse  living  into  the  ministiy  ;  which  made 
one  to  say,  that  horses  were  more  miserable  than  asses, 
in  that  horses  went  post  to  get  asses  preferment. 

Others  are  sent  of  God  by  man.  So  Joshua  was 
ordained  of  God  by  Moses,  Timothy  and  Titus  by 
Paul,  the  bishops  in  Crete  by  Titus.  For  "  how 
shall  they  preach,  except  they  be  sent?"  Rom.  x. 
15.  They  that  in  these  days  go  without  this  warrant 
climb  in  at  the  window;  and  that  we  know  is  no 
fair  possession  of  the  house.  He  that  enters  in  at 
the  windows  shall  be  cast  out  at  the  doors.  God  seals 
his  approbation  of  the  church's  calling,  and  answers 
it  in  the  conversion  of  many  souls.  So  that  an  in- 
dustrious pastor  may  say  to  his  people,  "  If  I  be  not 
an  apostle  unto  others,  yet  doubtless  I  am  to  you ; 
for  the  seal  of  mine  apostleship  are  ye  in  the  Lord," 

1  Cor.  ix.  2. 

3.  They  came  not  in  their  own  name,  but  in 
Christ's;  "an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ."  We  are 
ambassadors  for  Christ,  and  God  doth  beseech  you 
by  us,  2  Cor.  v.  20.  We  are  tutors,  not  for  ourselves, 
but  for  him  ;  desiring  to  espouse  you  to  one  Husband, 
and  to  present  you  pure  and  chaste  virgins  to  Christ, 

2  Cor.  xi.  2. .  We  preach  not  ourselves,  but  Christ : 
neither  our  own  glory,  nor  our  own  gain.  Not  our 
own  glory  :  God  is  glorified  in  our  infirmities.  Woe 
onto  us  if  we  arrogate  that,  whereof  God  is  so  jealous 
that  he  will  not  give  it  to  another!  Not  our  o^\-n 
gain  :  we  would  then  take  any  profession  rather  than 
this.  There  is  no  calling  wherein  a  man  may  not 
live  better,  and  grow  rich  sooner.  A  cluster  of  law 
is  worth  a  whole  vintage  of  any  other  profession. 
Indeed  in  Rome,  and  throughout  the  papal  jurisdic- 
tion, where  respect  of  gains,  not  of  pains,  guides  men's 
dispositions;  where  little  learning  and  less  honesty 
will  serve  to  hear  up,  and  to  bear  out,  much  worship, 
more  wealth ;  there  great  riches  is  in  clerical  hands. 
It  is  their  main  policy,  by  blowing  up  other  states  to 
enlarge  their  own.  Like  the  floods  that  made  war 
against  the  woods;    Let  us  subdue  them  all,  and 


make  us  more  countries,  2  Esd.  iv.  15.  But  for  con- 
science, not  a  pope  preached  these  nine  hundred 
years;  yet  I  hope  they  have  not  been  poor.  They 
have  not  Petcx-'s  net  to  catch  the  souls,  but  Peter's 
hook  to  take  all  the  fishes  that  have  silver  in  their 
mouths.  It  was  said  of  Leo  X.  that  whereas  others 
were  only  popes  but  while  they  lived,  he  was  pope 
many  years  after  he  was  dead. 

Sacra  sub  eilrcma  si  forle  reqtiirili's  lioru, 
Cur  Leo  non  poluit  suiiiere ;  vendiderat . 

John  XXII.  left  behind  him  two  hundred  and  fifty 
tons  of  gold :  so  that  one  wrote  of  him,  Erat  ponli- 
fex  nmximus,  si  lion  inrtutc,  pecu7iid  tamen  maoiimui; 
Whatsoever  he  was  in  piety,  he  was  the  chief  priest  in 
money.  They  inveigh  against  us  for  providing  for  our 
own  lawful  wives  and  children ;  yet  admire  themselves 
for  providing  for  their  harlots,  and  bastards,  and 
minions.  They  come  into  the  church,  as  it  were  to 
a  golden  harvest.  The  friars  were  so  long  wilful 
beggars;  that  they  had  beggared  all  the  Christian 
world.  The  Jesuits  hate  all  other  orders  but  the 
Capuchin  ;  because  the  Capuchin  asks  nothing,  the 
Jesuit  would  have  all.  Their  artillery  hath  been 
thus  wittily  described;  the  Capuchin  friars  shooting 
from  the  purse,  the  Franciscans  a  little  wide  of  it, 
the  Jesuits  hitting  it  in  the  midst.  I  know  who 
said,  "  If  we  have  sown  unto  you  spiritual  things,  is  it 
a  great  thing  if  we  shall  reap  your  carnal  things?" 

1  Cor.  ix.  11.  Yet  let  us  win  your  souls,  though  we 
never  have  your  purses :  the  gain  of  one  soul  is 
greater  than  the  Indies.  "  For  what  is  our  hope,  or 
joy,  or  crown  of  rejoicing?  Are  not  even  ye  in  the 
presence  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  at  his  coming  ? " 
Ye.s,  "  ye  are  our  glory  and  joy,"  1  Thcss.  ii.  19,  20. 

II.  "  To  them  that  have  obtained  like  precious  faith 
\y\{)\  us  through  the  righteousness  of  God  and  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  Here  he  comes  to  the  per- 
sons to  whom  this  Epistle  is  written ;  wherein  con- 
sider six  circumstances : 

The  generality  of  the  persons.  To  them,  all  them. 

The  qualifications  of  this  generality,  "That  have 
faith. 

The  excellency  of  this  qualification.  Precious  faith. 

The  equality  of  this  excellency,  Like  with  us. 

The  means  of  this  equality,  Have  obtained  it. 

The  ground  of  this  means,  Through  the  righteous- 
ness of  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

"  To  them,"  all  them  ;  heix'  is  the  generality  of 
the  persons,  for  the  word  is  indefinite.  This  is  called 
a  "general  epistle,"  not  in  a  metaphorical  sense,  as 
Paul  calls  the  Corinthians,  "  Ye  are  our  epistle  writ- 
ten in  our  hearts,  known  and  read   of  all  men," 

2  Cor.  iii.  2 ;  or  as  one  calls  Christ,  an  epistle  sent  us 
from  God  the  Father ;  or  as  August,  (in  Psal.  xc. 
cone.  2.)  calls  the  Scripture,  God's  letter  or  epistle 
sent  us  hither,  from  that  city  to  which  we  travel.  But 
in  a  proper  and  usual  meaning ;  a  letter  of  a  friend 
sent  to  his  friends.  It  is  called  a  "general  epistle," 
not  only,  1.  Because  the  doctrine  contained  in  it  is 
nrthodoxal  and  catholic  ;  2.  Nor  because  the  use  of 
it  is  general ;  even  to  us,  as  well  as  to  those  to  whom 
it  was  written  ;  but,  3.  Because  it  was  not  directed 
to  any  one  man  ;  as  those  of  Paul  to  Timothy,  Titus, 
Philemon ;  of  John,  to  the  elect  lady,  and  Gaius ; 
no,  nor  to  one  particular  church,  as  those  of  Paul  to 
the  Romans,  Corinthians,  Sec. ;  but  to  all  the  saints 
and  worshippers  of  Jesus  Christ,  howsoever  distress- 
ed, wheresoever  dispersed,  or  whensoever  despised ; 
to  all  them  that  with  humble  faith  and  sincere  re- 
pentance seek  our  Mediator. 

For  with  God  is  no  respect  of  persons.  Behold 
that  Lamb,  which  takes  away  the  sins  of  the  world, 
John  i.  29.   "  Men  and  brethren,  children  of  the  stock 


8 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


of  Abraham,  and  whosoever  among  you  fearethGod, 
to  you  is  the  word  of  this  salvation  sent,"  Acts  xiii.  26. 
There  is  no  difference  of  countiy,  of  condition,  of 
estate.  All  which  are  cxcniidificd  hy  our  Sa\-iour 
Christ,  Matt.  viii.  n\mn  the  Jew  and  the  Gentile,  the 
leper  and  the  centurion.  For  countiy,  the  leper  was  a 
Jew,  the  centurion  a  Gentile.  For  condition,  the 
leper  a  man  of  ))eacc,  the  ccnturicn  a  man  of  w  ar. 
For  estate,  the  leper  poor,  the  centurion  rich.  J 
know  the  greater  danger  is  to  the  rich,  and  the 
sweeter  promises  are  made  to  the  i)oor ;  yei  let  not  tl'.e 
poor  presume,  nor  the  rich  despair.  The  one  may  be 
poor  in  money,  poorer  in  grace :  the  other  may  be 
rich  for  this  world,  yet  richer  for  the  world  to  come. 
"  There  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  there  is  neither 
bond  nor  free,  there  is  neither  male  nor  female  :  for 
ye  are  all  one  in  Jesus  Christ,"  Gal.  iii.  2^^.  "  To 
them  all ;"  let  no  man  deny  his  soul  this  comfort. 

"  That  have  faith."  Here  is  the  qualification. 
The  definition  and  excellency  of  this  grace  I  refer 
a  Httle  further.  Here,  that  we  may  a  little  conceive 
the  nature  of  it,  we  find  it  often  called  a  "  hand;" 
and  that  for  two  reasons:  1.  As  the  hand  fastens 
hold  upon  the  object,  to  which  the  heart  directs  it ; 
so  faith  apprehends  Christ,  with  his  blessed  merits, 
whereby  only  we  are  saved.  2.  As  the  hand  is  fittest 
for  operation,  and  doth  execute  that  Imsiness  which 
no  other  member  of  the  body  can ;  so  faith  worketh 
godliness,  and  produceth  those  effects  which  no 
other  grace  in  the  soul  can.  For  this  purpose  it  hath 
an  instrument,  "  Faith  worketh  by  love,"  Gal.  v.  6. 
The  hand  can  receive  a  gift  of  itself,  but  it  cannot 
cut  a  jiicce  of  wood  without  an  instmmcnt ;  but  by 
the  help  of  that  it  can  divide  or  fashion  it  to  pleasure. 
So  faith  can  receive  Christ  into  the  heart,  that  most 
excellent  "gift  of  God"  the  Father,  John  iv.  10; 
but  for  the  duties  of  the  law,  faith  of  itself  cannot 
produce  them.  Join  love  to  it,  and  then  it  can;  for 
faith  working  by  love  performs  all  duties  to  God  and 
man.  NuW  of  this  hand  there  Ijc  five  fingers,  which 
for  method's  sake  we  may  order  according  to  the 
letters. 

There  is  fraitfulness,  it  is  not  barren ;  for  "  faith 
without  woi'ks  is  dead,"  James  ii.  20 :  nudifidians 
are  nuUifidians.  We  will  never  take  her  for  a  tnic 
lady,  that  hath  not  her  gentleman  usher  liefore,  and 
her  servants  following  after.  If  you  see  not  repent- 
ance going  before  faith,  nor  works  attending  on  her, 
know  it  is  not  .she.  Good  deeds  do  batten  faith. 
(Luther.)  Faith  hath  the  appellation  from  doing. 
(August.)  Two  syllables  sound  when  we  pronounce 
Jides:  the  one  is  derived  fiom  fact,  the  other  from 
God.  (Bem.)  Dost  thou  believe  ?  Yes,  I  believe. 
Do  what  thou  sayest,  and  that  is  faith.  We  may  call 
faith  a  vine,  virtues  the  branches,  woi-ks  the  grapes, 
devotion  the  wine.  False  faith  is  like  a  sandy  earth : 
rain  it  never  so  much,  no  fruit  arisetli. 

There  is  appropriation  of  Christ :  by  faith  he  is 
made  ours,  by  love  we  an!  made  his.  It  was  a  piece 
of  the  philosophers  meditation,  that  that  man  hath 
all  in  himself  that  hath  himself:  the  believer  adds, 
he  hath  himself  that  hath  Christ,  and  he  hath  Christ 
that  hath  time  faith.  "  This  is  the  victory  that 
overeometh  the  world,  even  our  faith,"  1  John  v. 
4 :  yea  more,  it  overcomes  Christ  himself.  The 
world  is  overcome  by  faith,  because  it  cannot  wilh- 
.stand  it ;  Christ  is  overcome  by  faith,  because  he 
will  not  withstand  it.  Christ  in  a  duel  overcame 
the  devil.  Matt.  iv.  A  Canaanitish  woman  so  over- 
came Christ  himself.  He  yielded,  "0  woman,  great 
is  thy  faith:  be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt," 
Matt.  XV.  2S.  This  is  able  to  smooth  his  counte- 
n;mee,  though  it  be  frowning;  to  tie  his  hands, 
though  thev  be  strikin,--     Tlie  lion  of  this  world 


raged  long,  and  still  rageth,  '■  seeking  whom  lie  may 
devour,"  I  Pet.  v.  8.  "  The  Lion  of  the  tribe  of 
Juda"  conquered  him.  Rev.  v.  5.  Now  faith  con- 
quers tlie  conqueror.  How  great  is  the  power  of 
fiiith,  that  overcomes  him  who  overcame  all!  Thus 
is  God  pleased  to  let  faith  have  a  holy  victory  over 
himself:  he  loves  this  sanctified  violence,  and  bids 
faith  wrestle  courageously  with  him,  like  Jacob; 
permitting  his  Almighty  self  to  be  conquered,  and 
manacled  from  executing  deserved  vengeance.  So 
Ji;b,  Albeit  thou  kill  me,  yet  I  will  trust  in  thee; 
and  because  (saith  God)  thou  dost  trust  in  me,  I  will 
not  kill  thee.  It  were  honour  enough  for  faith  to 
"  subdue  kingdoms,"  Heb.  xi.  33,  but  to  achieve  the 
kingdom  of  heaven ;  enough  to  "  stop  the  moutlis 
of  lions,"  but  to  vanquish  that  roaring  lion,  and  to 
resist  him,  1  Pet.  v.  9 ;  enough  to  "  quench  the 
violence  of"  elementaiy  "  fires,"  but  to  deliver  from 
the  eternal  fire  of  hell ;  enough  to  "  escape  the  edge 
of"  men's  swords,  but  to  escajje  the  sword  of  God's 
justice  ;  oh  the  matchless  virtue  of  faith  ! 

There  is  imitation  of  Christ.  Faith  hath  two 
eyes ;  one  looks  to  Christ's  merits,  that  we  may  be 
saved ;  the  other  to  his  righteousness,  that  we  may 
be  sanctified.  In  imitation  there  be  two  things, 
action  and  affection.  Action ;  for  it  is  not  enough 
to  commend  and  admire  the  pattern,  but  we  must 
follow  it.  Affection;  for  it  is  not  enough  to  forgive 
because  we  cannot  revenge.  (Zanch.)  This  is  no  suf- 
ficient imitation  of  Christ's  love;  for  he  can,  if  he 
please,  bruise  sinners  to  pieces,  and  "  break  them 
with  a  rod  of  iron,"  Psal.  ii.  9.  But  we  must  forgive 
«ith  a  mind  to  forgive,  and  give  alms  with  the  mind 
of  charity.  Faith  doth  not  think  that  heaven  will 
fall  into  the  lap,  but  endeavours  to  work  out  salva- 
tion, not  without  fear  and  trembling;  and  seeks  to 
follow  Christ  to  blessedness,  the  same  way  that  he 
went  thither. 

There  is  trust  in  Christ ;  for  there  can  be  no  faith 
in  him  without  trust  and  de;)endence  on  him.  This 
point,  thoroughly  examined,  would  call  in  question 
many  men's  faith.  The  covetous  worldling  dares 
Irubt  Clu'ist  to  raise  his  body,  and  to  save  his  soul, 
and  to  give  him  the  kingdom  of  glory  hereafter ;  but 
he  dares  not  trust  him  for  his  daily  bread  here.  The 
fowls  are  fed  and  the  flowers  are  clothed  by  him: 
and  will  ye  vex  your  souls  with  solicitous  cares  ?  If 
ye  do,  may  not  Christ  say  trulv,  that  ve  are  "of  little 
faith  ?  "  Matt.  vi.  30.  Shall  we  trust  God  with  our 
jewels,  and  not  with  the  box?  As  if  thou  durst  not 
commit  thy  children  to  his  protection,  thou  scrapest 
up  wealth  with  the  hazard  of  heaven  and  eternal 
peace ;  yet  if  thou  be  (luestioned  concerning  thy 
salvation,  thou  answerest,  thy  trust  is  in  Christ. 
This  is  a  false  and  deceiving  faith  :  take  heed,  lest 
«  hiles  he  doth  grant  thee  that  wherein  thou  dost  not 
ti-ust  him,  worldly  riches,  he  take  away  that  wherein 
tlimi  dost  trust  him,  everlasting  joy. 

There  is  honouring  of  Christ :  no  man  ever  be- 
lieved on  him,  but  he  desired  to  honour  him.  It  is 
fit  he  should  look  for  glor)-  from  ns,  ;is  well  as  we 
look  for  gloiy  from  him."  We  honour  the  king  under 
whom  we  enjoy  our  own  with  peace  ;  we  honour  the 
physician  that  preserves  the  liealth  of  our  bodies ; 
we  honour  the  soldier  that  defends  us  from  our 
enemies :  oh  how  much  more  should  we  honour  him 
that  saves  our  souls !  We  are  bought  with  a  jirice. 
therefore  let  us  glorify  him  both  in  our  bodies  and 
spirits,  for  thev  are  his,  1  Cor.  vi.  20.  These  be  the 
five  fingers  of' faith.  Let  us  lay  hold  on  Christ  in 
life,  tliat  he  may  lay  hold  on  us  in  death,  and  bear  us 
up  in  his  holv  hand  to  everlasting  gloiy. 

"  Precious' faith."  Here  is  the  excellency  of  this 
qualification.  As  Athens  was  called  Greece  of  Greece, 


\E8.  1. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


so  faitli  may  lie.  e;illed  the  grace  of  grace.  It  is 
V  precious  in  regard  of  the  object,  the  subject,  the  act, 
\he  effect,  the  use. 

,1.  In  respect  of  the  object;  which  in  a  larger  ac- 
cejtation  is  the  whole  Scriptiu'c,  wlicrcof  eveiy 
parcel  must  be  believed,  without  diminution  or  ad- 
dition. Strictly,  this  is  Christ,  who  is  not  only  the 
Word  of  God,  but  God  himself  in  the  word.  "  I  am 
the  way,  the  tnith,  and  the  life."  Lord,  how  shall 
we  go  ?  Thou  art  our  way.  Whither  sliall  we  go  ? 
Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life.  (Aug.  Tract.  22. 
in  Joh.  cap.  vi.)  There  is  no  way  but  by  him,  no 
light  but  from  him,  no  life  but  in  him.  Christ  is  a 
mutual  hand;  to  the  Father  one,  another  to  us.  A 
hand  to  the  Father,  by  which  he  reacheth  us ;  a 
hand  to  us,  by  which  we  reach  the  Father.  The 
Father's  mouth,  whereby  he  speaks  to  us ;  our  mouth, 
whereby  we  speak  to  him :  our  eye  to  sec  by,  foot  to 
go  liy ;  our  pillar  of  fire  by  night,  and  cloud  by  day, 
guiding  us  through  the  desert  of  this  world.  It  is  a 
precious  faith  that  lays  hold  on  this  precious  ob- 
ject. "  If  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the 
Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  believe  in  thine  heart  that  God 
hath  raised  him  up  from  the  dead,"  (not  only  dead, 
for  so  the  Jews  believe  him,  but  risen  again,  for  that 
is  the  faith  of  Christians ;  if  thou  have  this  faith,)  I 
tell  thee  from  Paul,  and  Paul  from  God,  to  the  com- 
fort of  thy  soul,  thou  art  presently  justified,  and  shalt 
be  everlastingly  saved.  "  For  the  Scripture  saith," 
(it  is  not  the  promise  of  man,  but  the  assurance  of 
God,)  "Whosoever  bclieveth  on  him  shall  not  be 
ashamed,"  Rom.  x.  9,  11.  God  forbid  I  should  re- 
joice in  any  thing,  "  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,"  Gal.  vi.  14.  There  is  nothing  wherein 
men  usually  rejoice,  but  the  faithful  find  it  in  Christ. 
Doth  any  man  gloiy  in  knowledge  ?  I  desire  to 
know  noiliing  among  you,  but  Jesus  Christ,  and  him 
cnicified,  1  Cor.  ii.  2.  This  is  the  blessed  know- 
ledge ;  for  it  is  eternal  life,  John  xvii.  3.  Doth  any 
man  glory  in  honours  ?  It  is  Christ  that  hath  made 
us  kings.  Rev.  i.  C.  Doth  another  glory  in  riches  ? 
Christ  is  a  treasure  never  failing,  and  "  of  his  fiilness 
liave  all  we  received,"  John  i.  16.  In  liberty  ? 
('hrist  hath  delivered  us  out  of  the  hands  of  all  our 
enemies,  Luke  i.  74.  In  princes'  favours  ?  The  King 
of  kings  accepts  us  in  him  ;  "  He  made  us  accepted 
in  the  beloved,''  Eph.  i.  6.  All  good  things  are  to 
be  found  in  him;  therefore  he  is  a  precious  object, 
and  this  a  "  precious  faith." 

2.  In  respect  of  the  subject :  the  seat  of  faith  is  in 
the  heart  ;  "  with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto 
righteousness,"  Rom.  x.  10.  It  is  not  placed  in  the 
mind  and  understanding  only,  but  in  the  will  and 
aTFeclions.  Faith,  as  a  knowledge,  resides  in  the 
mind ;  as  an  assured  persuasion,  in  the  w'ill.  It  is 
not  a  prattle  of  the  tongue:  Herod's  tongue  belies 
his  soul.  Men  say  what  they  believe,  do  not  always 
do  what  they  say.  (Heming.)  Nor  is  it  a  floating 
opinion  of  the  brain,  a  contemplative  speculation  of 
mysteries ;  but  a  certain  persuasion  of  the  heart. 
There  is  a  forged  faith,  and  a  forced  faith  ;  forged,  in 
heretics,  who  will  believe  no  God  but  one  of  their  own 
making.  They  believe  all  that  they  do  believe  with 
a  f^iith  of  their  own,  not  with  the  faith  of  the  elect, 
of  the  church.  No  oracle,  no  article  of  holy  faith, 
but  they  will  conceive  it,  and  receive  it,  their  own 
way,  or  not  at  all.  This  is  rather  an  art  of  treacherv 
than  of  faith.  Forced,  in  devils  ;  they  acknowledge 
from  their  own  horror,  and  against  their  wills,  that 
there  is  a  God.  It  was  the  relation  of  a  reverend 
di\-ine  concerning  an  atheist  in  England ;  A  young 
man  was  a  papist,  but  soon  fell  in  dislike  of  their 
superstition.  He  became  a  protestant,  but  that  did 
not  please  him  long.     England  could  not  content 


him;  he  reels  to  Amsterdam.  There  he  fell  from 
one  sect  to  another,  till  he  lighted  upon  the  Familists. 
The  first  principle  they  taught  him  was  this.  There 
is  no  God :  as  indeed  they  had  need  sear  up  their 
conscience,  and  dam  up  all  natural  light,  that  turn 
Familists.  Hereon  he  fell  to  a  loose  life,  committed 
a  robber)-,  was  convicted,  condemned,  and  brought 
to  die.  At  the  execution  he  desired  some  stay,  utter- 
ing these  words,  "  Say  what  you  will,  surely  there  is 
a  God ;  loving  to  his  friends,  terrible  to  his  enemies." 
Even  the  lewdest  reprobates,  that  spit  in  the  face  of 
Heaven,  and  wade  as  deep  as  Jesuits  in  blood,  yet 
they  shall  have  a  forced  faith.  Though  perhaps 
they  say  for  the  time,  as  Nero,  J'ereior  esse  cum 
faciam,  Deum  ?  When  Seneca  reproved  him  for  his 
vices,  and  bad  him  live,  that  God  might  approve  his 
actions ;  he  answered,  Stulle,  vcrehor  esse,  cum  Ikbc 
faciam,  deos  ?  Thou  silly  man,  shall  I  fear  there  is 
a  God,  when  I  go  about  my  villanies  ?  But  they 
shall  one  day  believe  and  feel.  There  may  be  atheists 
on  earth;  there  are  none  in  hell:  no  sooner  come 
thither,  but  they  know,  to  their  endless  soitow,  that 
there  is  a  God.  Bellarmine  saith,  that  the  faith  of 
reprobates  and  devils  is  a  right  and  true  faith  in  re- 
gard of  the  object.  (De  Justif.  lib.  1.  cap.  15.)  And 
Augustine,  comparing  Peter's  confession,  "  Thou  art 
the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,"  Matt.  xvi.  16, 
with  the  devil's  acknowledgment,  "  I  know  thee  who 
thou  art,  the  Holy  One  of  God,"  Mark  i.  24 ;  saith, 
that  though  Peter  for  this  was  commended,  and 
Satan  expelled  ;  albeit  the  same  confession  was 
beneficial  to  the  one,  and  not  to  the  other;  yet 
the  faith  in  both  was  not  false,  but  true;  not  to  be 
denied,  but  acknowledged ;  not  to  be  detested,  but 
approved.  (De  unieo  Bapt.  eontr.  Petil.  cap.  10.) 
Let  this  faith  be  granted  true,  so  far  as  it  goes  ;  yet 
as  it  hath  many  other  difl'erences,  so  this  one  espe- 
cially. The  faith  of  reprobates  and  devils  is  com- 
pelled by  the  demonstration  of  the  signs;  faith  of 
the  elect,  by  the  exadence  of  the  Spu-it.  Theirs 
against  their  wills,  oiu's  from  the  ground  of  our  hearts  ; 
for  that  is  the  seat  and  subject  of  all  approved  faith. 
3.  In  respect  of  the  act :  it  believes  on  Cluist. 
There  be  three  degrees  or  faculties  of  faith,  as  the 
school  speaks  out  of  Augustine.  First,  to  believe 
there  is  a  God ;  and  this  is  a  faith  incident  to  devils. 
Next,  to  believe  God ;  to  credit  the  histor)-  of  the 
gospel,  and  to  assent  that  what  God  saith  is  tiaie. 
This  is  called  an  historical  faith,  and  ma)'  be  in  repro- 
bates. Last,  to  believe  on  God,  which  ariseth  from 
both  the  fonner,  and,  as  Chemnitius  says,  doth  pre- 
suppose and  comprehend  both  the  former.  The  faith 
of  a  reprobate  is  a  true  faith  specifically.  A  spark 
of  fire  is  true  fire,  though  it  be  not  able  to  warm :  a 
drop  of  water  is  titie  water,  though  it  be  not  able  to 
carry  a  vessel :  a  little  sprig  may  be  a  true  cedar, 
though  it  be  not  yet  fit  for  timber.  That  fig  tree 
which  our  Lord  ciu-sed,  though  it  bare  no  fruit,  was 
a  true  fig  tree.  As  the  Israelites  required  to  go  three 
days'  journey  in  the  wilderness,  before  they  did  offer 
sacrifice,  Exod.  iii.  18 ;  so  faith  hath  three  degrees 
before  it  come  to  that  perfection  as  may  justify  the 
soul.  Saving  faith  in  a  man  hath  this  precious  act, 
to  rely  on  God's  mercy  in  Christ  for  his  salvation. 
He  disclaims  not  his  part  in  Christ,  as  the  devils, 
"  What  have  we  to  do  with  thee,  thou  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth?" Mark  i.  24;  nor  loseth  it,  as  reprobates, 
"  He  that  bclieveth  not  is  condemned  already,"  John 
iii.  18.  But  he  challcngcth  his  portion  in  the  blood 
of  Christ.  "  I  am  my  Beloved's,  and  my  Beloved  is 
mine,"  Cant.  \-\.  3.  His  body  is  in  heaven,  there  I 
shall  find  it  mine ;  his  divinity  on  earth,  there  I  do 
find  it  mine ;  his  gospel  in  my  ear,  to  beget  him 
mine ;    his  sacrament,  in  my  eye,  to  confirm  him 


10 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


mine :  liis  Spirit  in  my  heart,  to  assure  him  mine. 
Angels  are  mine,  to  light  for  nie ;  prince  mine,  to 
rule  for  me  ;  church  mine,  to  pray  for  me  ;  preacher 
mine,  to  feed  mc.  "  NVIicthcr  Paul,  or  ApoUos,  or 
Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  pre- 
sent, or  things  to  come;"  all  are  ours,  and  we  are 
Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's,  1  Cor.  iii.  22. 

This  fuitli  doth  not  only,  with  reprobates,  believe 
the  major  of  the  gospel,  that  Christ  is  salvation ;  but 
the  minor,  with  Mary,  that  he  is  my  Saviour.  The 
devils  believe  much;  but  they  cannot  believe  their 
o\ni  reconcilement.  (Bucer.)  Therefore,  saith  James, 
they  "  believe  and  tremble,"  Jam.  ii.  19.  Fear  is 
the  child  of  unbelief,  saith  Basil,  in  Psal.  xxxiii. 
"  Why  are  ye  fearful,  O  ye  of  little  faith  ?  "  Matt. 
via.  26.  Why  are  the  apostles  called  timorous,  but 
because  they  were  of  little  faith  ?  But  "  being  justi- 
fied by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God  through  Jesus 
Christ,"  Rom.  v.  I.  "  In  whom  we  have  boldness 
and  access  with  confidence  by  the  faith  of  him," 
Eph.  iii.  12.  A  traitor  condemned  to  death,  knows 
the  king,  and  his  prerogative  royal,  that  he  is  able 
to  pardon  ;  his  disposition,  that  it  is  mild  and  merci- 
ful ;  yea,  he  knows  that  the  king  hath  forgiven 
many  sucli  offenders.  But  now  for  himself,  he  hath 
no  friends  to  the  king;  no  word  from  the  king  to 
warrant  his  pardon ;  no  hope,  if  he  should  entreat 
favour,  that  himself  was  a  fit  subject  for  this  exercise 
of  mercy.  Still  he  trembleth ;  he  feels  himself  miser- 
able, though  he  know  the  king  to  be  merciful.  So 
the  reprobate  knows  God's  omnipotency;  "  Lord,  if 
thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  clean,"  Matt.  viii.  2: 
he  knows  his  infinite  mercy,  that  it  reaeheth  unto 
the  heavens,  and  his  faithfulness  unto  the  clouds, 
Psal.  xxxvi.  5 :  he  knows  God  hath  forgiven  many, 
Da^id  for  adultery,  Solomon  for  idolatry,  Peter  for 
aposlacy,  Paul  for  blasphemy.  But  for  his  ov\ti  part, 
he  hath  no  friend  to  God,  no  mediator  betwixt  God 
and  him,  no  Christ  to  speak  for  mercy ;  he  hath  no 
word  whereby  he  can  apply  this  mercy;  no  hope 
that  mercy  would  come  upon  his  submission  and 
seeking.  He  wants  that  justifying  faith,  to  do  this 
precious  act  of  application.  A  man  is  deeply  in 
debt,  in  no  case  to  pay  ;  he  hears  and  believes,  that 
his  creditor  is  an  honest  man,  that  he  hath  dealt 
mercifiilly  with  others;  remitted  a  third,  half,  the 
whole  debt  ;  but  he  hath  neither  promise  from  his 
creditor,  nor  persuasion  in  himself,  that  he  will  deal 
so  kindly  with  him :  for  all  this,  he  fears  arrest  and 
imjirisonment,  without  bail,  mainprize,  or  any  hope 
of  deliverance.  The  wicked  is  deeply  run  into  God's 
debt  by  his  sins,  (yea,  every  man  is  taught  to  pray, 
"  Forgive  us  our  debts,"  Matt.  vi.  12,)  for  which  he 
is  subject  to  convention,  conviction,  condemnation. 
He  knows  how  this  Creditor  dealt  with  a  servant. 
Matt,  sviii.  27 ;  because  he  had  not  to  pay,  the  Lord 
was  moved  with  compassion,  and  forgave  him  the 
debt.  But  tliis  reprobate,  through  want  of  applying 
faith,  hath  no  promise,  no  security,  no  hope  tnat  he 
shall  be  freed :  but  he  fears  the  prison,  where  if  he 
be  once  clapped  under  the  hands  of  that  cruel  jailer, 
the  devil,  he  cannot  depart  thence  till  he  hath  paid 
the  uttermost  farthing.  It  is  then  a  "  precious 
faith,"  that  hath  this  powerful  art  to  believe  a  man's 
own  reconciliation. 

4.  In  respect  of  the  effect,  because  it  liath  precious 
consequents.  Amongst  many,  consider  five  sweet 
fruits. 

(I.)  Peace  with  God,  which  is  produced  by  that 
faith  which  justifies  us.  Receive  peace,  and  be  bless- 
ed; believe,  and  thou  hast  received  it.  Upon  our 
ap])rehension  of  Christ  by  faith,  follows  his  satisfac- 
tion for  us ;  upon  this  satisfaction,  we  luve  remission  ; 
upon  remission,  reconciliation  :  upon  reconciliation, 


peace.  There  is  no  quarrel  against  us  in  heaven ; 
notliing  but  peace  and  joy,  because  we  h&ve  truly 
believed. 

(2.)  Peace  with  our  own  conscience.  When  that 
stern  sergeant  shall  take  thee  by  the  throat,  and 
arrest  thee  upon  God's  debt,  Pay  that  thou  owest; 
let  thy  faith  plead,  I  have  paid  it.  How  ?  Pro- 
duce thy  acquittance,  that  bloody  acquittance,  sealed 
in  the  wounds  of  thy  Saviour,  and  given  to  thy  faith. 
This  shall  turn  the  £ro\nis  of  thy  conscience  into 
smiles ;  and  that  hand  which  was  ready  to  hale  thee 
to  prison,  shall  now  embrace  thee  with  joy,  encourage 
thee  with  kindness,  and  fight  for  thee  with  conquest. 

(3.)  Victory :  faith  knows  no  other  language  but 
victor)-.  I  have  kept  the  faith,  now  is  laid  up  for  me 
a  crown,  2  Tim.  iv.  7.  8.  It  "  subdued  kingdoms," 
even  the  kingdom  of  the  devil,  there  is  victory; 
"  wrought  righteousness,"  though  the  world  and  sin 
withstood  it,  there  is  victor)' ;  raised  strength  out  of 
weakness,  there  is  victory  over  nature ;  "  turned  to 
flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens,"  there  is  victor)'  over 
malice  and  hostility ;  raised  the  dead,  there  is  vic- 
tory over  the  grave ;  with  patience  and  greatness  of 
spirit,  it  endured  mockings,  scourgings,  &:c.  miseries 
worse  than  death,  there  is  glorious  victoiy,  Heb.  xi. 
33 — 35.  It  "overcomes  the  world,"  I  John  v.  4;  it 
overcomes  the  prince  of  tliis  world ;  "  Whom  resist 
stedfast  in  the  faith,"  I  Peter  v.  9.  It  quencheth 
all  the  "  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked,"  Eph.  vi.  16. 
They  are  darts  in  I'espect  of  their  sharpness,  and  fier)' 
for  their  violence ;  one  sin  kindling  another,  dnmk- 
cnness  adult  en',  adulter)'  murder.  The  whole  world 
lieth  ill  wickedness,  set  on  fire  of  tlie  devil.  Yet 
faith  quencheth  all :  though  they  were  as  fiery  as 
the  gunpowder  treason,  yet  this  shall  bear  them  off, 
beat  them  ofl",  and  infatuate  their  malice.  It  is  a 
shield,  this  faith :  this  shield  covers  all,  head  and 
heart,  understanding  and  will,  that  neither  the  mind 
be  confounded,  nor  the  affection  amazed.  (Royard.) 
Yea,  faith  overcomes  the  King  of  heaven  himself; 
appealing  from  God  justly  ofl'ended  for  sin,  to  God 
sweetly  pleased  for  Christ.  (Diez.)  It  is  able  to  re- 
move mountains  ;  the  great  hills  of  distrust,  the  great 
heaps  of  iniquities;  therefore  "precious." 

(4.)  Good  report :  all  those  saints  through  faith  ob- 
tained a  good  report,  Heb.  xi.  39.  They  say, 
A^on  patitur  ludum  fania,Jides,  octilux,  A  man's  credit, 
faith,  and  his  eye,  endure  no  jest.  Yet  let  thy  faith 
be  sound ;  and  though  injury  wound  thy  eye,  igno- 
miny thy  fame,  yet  tny  faith  shall  make  all  whole. 
That  man's  righteousness,  through  all  clouds,  shall 
break  forth  as  the  sun,  and  his  integrity  shine  like 
tile  noon-day.  All  unjust  aspersions  are  but  as  rub- 
bish; they  may  seem  to  sully  him  for  a  while,  that 
he  may  shine  bright  for  ever.  How  little  is  that 
man  hurt,  whom  malice  condemns  on  earth,  and  God 
commends  in  heaven  !  Let  the  world  accuse  us,  so 
long  as  our  God  doth  acquit  vis.  I  suffer  these 
things,  and  am  not  ashamed ;  "  for  I  know  whom  I 
have  believed,"  2  Tim.  i.  12.  "  For  not  he  that 
eommendeth  himself  is  approved,  but  whom  the  Lord 
commendeth,"  2  Cor.  x.  18.  Let  God  justify',  and 
let  all  the  fiends  on  earth  or  in  hell  accuse. 

(5.)  It  blesselh  to  us  all  other  blessings  :  "  He  that 
putteth  his  trust  in  the  Lord  shall  be  made  fat," 
Prov.  xxviii.  25.  Without  this  faith,  we  are  accountant 
for  ever)'  thing  we  receive,  to  a  bit  of  bread.  There 
is  no  right  to  tne  creatures  but  by  Christ,  no  right  to 
Christ  but  by  faith.  Without  this,  as  much  horror 
as  honour ;  no  less  wretchedness  than  wealthiness. 
But  faith  makes  thy  dignity  comfortable,  thy  wealth 
helpful,  thy  wife,  children,  friends,  delightful  ;  bc- 
causr  what  thou  uscst  in  the  world,  thou  enjoyest  in 
the  Lord.     Yea,  it  blesseth  even  crosses  and  curses. 


Vbb.  I. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETEE. 


11 


(Fulgent.)  Thou  wantest  a  gaitncnt  for  thy  hody ; 
faith  gives  thy  soul  a  rich  one,  the  righteousness  of 
Christ :  thou  lackest  a  house  to  dwell  in  ;  thou  dwcll- 
cst  by  faith  even  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  he  dwells  in 
thee.  If  thou  want  bread,  it  reacheth  thee  the 
bread  of  life ;  if  friends,  it  assures  thee  the  favour  of 
God,  and  the  inseparable  company  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  if  health,  it  performs  to  thee  everlasting  life. 
Let  me  say  with  Seneca  in  another  sense,  I  had 
rather  want  fortune  than  want  faith.  Whatsoever 
worldly  thing  be  lacking,  faith  can  supply  it ;  but  if 
faith  be  lacking,  who  can  supply  that  ?  Faith  keeps  us 
for  ever  from  that  mourning  note,We  have  been  happy. 

5.  In  respect  of  the  use ;  faith  clears  our  ways  as  we 
go,  cheers  our  hearts  as  we  work,  perfumes  the  places 
■where  we  rest,  and  refines  our  actions  from  that  dross 
and  feculency,  which  would  else  make  them  odious 
in  God's  sight.  For  "  whatsoever  is  not  of  failh  is 
sin,"  Rom.  xiv.  23.  Faith,  like  John  the  Baptist, 
pointeth  to  the  "  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world,"  John  i.  "29.  Without  this, 
God  is  no  hearing  God,  no  helping  God,  no  saving 
God,  no  loving  God  at  all.  The  Spirit  shall  convince 
the  world  "  of  sin,"  saith  Christ,  "  because  they  be- 
lieve not  in  me,"  John  xvi.  9.  All  sins  are  retained 
to  unbelief,  remitted  to  faith.  Faith  is  the  nest  of 
good  works,  saith  our  church  (Homil.  1.  of  Good 
Works)  :  let  our  birds  be  never  so  fair,  our  actions 
never  so  glorious,  they  will  be  lost,  except  they  be 
brought  forth  in  faith.  This  is  the  nest,  where  the 
sparrow  and  swallow  maj-  lay  their  young,  to  keeji 
them  safe ;  even  faith,  which  is  close  by  "  thine 
altars,  0  Lord  of  hosts,"  Psal.  Ixxxiv.  3.  Heretics 
and  hypocrites  may  produce  many  goodly  acts  and 
honourable  deeds;  but  wanting  this  nest  of  faith, 
they  have  no  where  to  lay  their  young.  Therefore, 
as  the  lawyers  speak,  their  works  are  damnable  with 
their  persons.  A  recusant  in  coming  to  church 
against  his  conscience,  rather  to  satisfy  the  law  than 
to  sanctify  his  soul,  is  guilty  before  God,  because  tliat 
work  was  not  done  in  faith. 

Now  a  short  corollary,  or  recollection  of  all 
these  scattered  branches  to  their  root.  Faith  is 
precious.  Conceive  it  some  precious  jewel :  "  Thy 
cheeks  are  comely  with  rows  of  jewels,  thy  neck  with 
chains  of  gold,"  Cant.  i.  10.  Gregorj-  Nyssen  makes 
one  of  those  chains  to  be  sound  and  religious  faith, 
w-hicli  is  made  of  the  pure  gold  of  divine  knowledge. 
(Orat.  3.  in  Cant.)  And  to  this  pure  and  golden 
chain  he  applies  Prov.  i.  9,  "  They  shall  be  an  orna- 
ment of  grace  unto  thy  head,  and  chains  about  tliy 
neck."  This  is  the  richest  collar  that  can  adorn  any 
sotil.  It  is  an  ornament  to  all  trimmings,  for  nothing 
is  so  garnishing  and  gracing,  that  it  can  become  us 
without  this.  (Salvian.)  It  is  a  jewel  given  us  out  of 
God's  own  treasury.  Though  faith  be  not  itself 
eternal,  yet  it  shall  make  all  those  blessedly  eternal 
that  have  it.  It  is  brought  by  the  best  messenger, 
God's  Spirit :  not  the  wortliiest  man  on  earth,  not  an 
angel  from  heaven,  is  dignified  to  bring  this  treasure  ; 
but  only  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  laid  up  in  the  best 
coffer,  in  the  sanctified  heart :  no  treasure-house  is 
good  enough  for  this  jewel,  no  cabinet,  but  the  heart. 
Lastly,  it  gives  us  the  place  it  came  fiom :  it  came 
froni  heaven,  and  it  brings  heaven  with  it.  It  is 
Christ's  wedding  ring ;  to  whomsoever  he  gives  it,  he 
gives  himself  with  it.  It  is  beyond  all  estimation 
precious  ;  it  brought  us  more  lands  and  revenues 
than  the  whole  Indies.  This  is  Marj-'s  choice,  tliat 
belter  part  that  shall  never  be  taken  from  us. 

"Like  precious  faith  with  us."  I  come  to  the 
equality,  or  rather  parity,  of  this  excellence  ;  "Like 
with  us."  The  faith  of  the  poorest  believer  is-as  pre- 
cious as  the  richest.    Peter  is  above  them  in  office : 


in  the  cflfect  and  fruit  of  his  office  they  are  like  him. 
But  Peter  was  thrice  confirmed,  and  that  by  the  mouth 
of  Christ  himself,  to  make  him  strong :  how  then 
could  they  have  faith  like  him  ?  The  compai'ison  is 
not  of  the  quanrity,  but  of  the  quality  of  faith :  nor 
doth  he  say,  they  had  obtained  the  same  measure  and 
degree  of  faith  which  he  had  himself,  but  the  same 
kind  of  faith ;  not  so  much,  but  such  faith.  The  act 
of  faith  is  to  apply  Christ  to  the  soul ;  and  this  the 
weakest  faith  can  do  so  well  as  the  strongest,  if  it  be 
true.  A  child  can  hold  a  staff  as  well,  though  not  so 
strongly,  as  a  man.  The  prisoner  through  a  Yiole  sees 
the  sun,  though  not  as  perfectly  as  they  in  the  open 
air.  They  that  saw  the  brazen  serj-jcnt,  though  a 
great  way  off,  yet  were  healed.  The  poor  man's  "  I 
believe"  saved  him;  though  he  was  fain  to  add, 
"  Lord,  help  my  unbelief."  So  that  we  may  say  of 
faith,  as  the  poet  of  death ;  that  dominos  servta,  et 
icepira  tigombus  cequat,  it  makes  lords  and  slaves, 
apostles  and  common  persons,  all  alike  acceptable  to 
God,  if  they  have  it. 

I  confess,  that  this  excludes  not  the  degrees  of 
faith:  thereis  a  little  faith.  Matt.  vi.  30;  and  there  is 
a  great  faith ;  "  O  woman,  great  is  thy  faith,"  Matt. 
XV.  28.  God  deals  in  spiritual  proceedings,  as  in 
natural,  to  extremes  by  the  mean.  We  are  not  bom 
old  men ;  but  first  an  infant,  then  a  man,  then  old. 
We  are  conceived  of  immortal  seed,  bom  of  the  Spi- 
rit, so  go  on  to  perfection.  There  is  first  a  seed,  then 
a  plant,  then  a  tree.  We  get  not  at  one  jump  into 
heaven,  nor  at  one  stroke  kill  the  enemy.  A  little 
faith  doth  not  a  little  good  at  some  times ;  as  in  the 
beginning  of  conversion,  or  in  the  storm  of  an  afflict- 
ed conscience.  Peter  was  strong,  when  he  resolutely 
protested  his  infallible  adlierence  to  Christ ;  "  Lord, 
to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal 
life,"  John  vi.  68.  Peter  was  weak,  when  he  sat  by  the 
fire  in  the  high  priest's  hall,  and  denied  his  Master; 
and  when  he  dissuaded  Christ  from  sufl'ering  for  us, 
"  Be  it  far  from  thee.  Lord,"  Matt.  xvi.  22.  But  where 
God  gives  great  means,  he  looks  for  great  measure ;  ac- 
cording to liis  portion  of  grace,  he  expects  our  propor- 
tion of  goodness.  It  is  enough  for  them  that  see  only  a 
glimmering  of  the  gospel,  to  be  but  dwarfs  in  belief :  we 
have  the  sunshine,  and  therefore  must  have  growth ; 
and  be  higher  by  the  head,  as  Saul,  if  not  than  all  the 
children  of  Israel,  yet  than  all  the  sons  of  Rome, 
whose  faith  is  so  hoodwinked  with  enforced  igno- 
rance, that  they  cannot  see  further  than  their  popish 
doctors  will  give  them  leave.  Thus  there  may  be 
degrees  of  faitn  :  Lord,  increase  our  faith.  "  Him  that 
is  weak  in  the  faith  receive  ye,"  Rom.  xiv.  I.  En- 
deavour that  your  faith  be  increased,  2  Cor.  x.  15. 
Grow'  from  faith  to  faith ;  yea,  from  one  measure  of 
faith  to  another.  Yet  the  least  faith  (shield  it  from 
weakness  of  tmth,  though  it  have  truth  of  weakness) 
is  as  precious  to  the  the  believer's  soul,  as  Peter's  or 
Paul's  faith  was  to  themselves ;  for  it  lays  hold  upon 
Christ,  and  brings  eternal  salvation.  In  this  simili- 
tude of  faith,  we  find  three  observations. 

1.  The  universality  of  God's  mercy  without  differ- 
ence of  persons ;  that  admits  all  sorts  of  men,  without 
any  acception  or  exception  of  sex,  state,  nation,  or 
condition,  into  the  same  covenant  of  mercy,  and  pre- 
cious object  of  faith,  that  the  glorious  apostles  had. 
Here  the  unspeakable  goodness  of  God  is  commended 
to  oui-  meditation  :  whereas  he  might  in  justice  have 
left  us  in  our  superstitions  and  infidelity,  of  his  infinite 
goodness  he  hath  called  us  to  the  same  profession  of 
the  gospel ;  and  to  a  faith  of  the  same  price  and  reward 
with  his  own  choice  servants :  "  In  every  nation  he  that 
fcareth  God,  and  worketh  righteousness,  is  accepted 
with  him,"  Acts  x.  35.  Other  lords  cannot  reward 
all  their  followers,  as  being  poor  and  unable  j  or  will 


12 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPOX  THE 


Chap.  I. 


not,  as  being  base  ancT  illiberal ;  but  our  Lord  is  im- 
:niense  in  majesty,  and  proi)ense  in  mercy ;  good  in 
greatness,  and  great  in  goodness,  of  great  goodness. 
Poor  Bartima'us  begging,  rich  Zacclieus  climbing, 
old  Simeon  in  the  temple,  young  John  in  tlie  womb, 
covetous  Matthew  at  the  receipt  of  custom,  the  loving 
centurion  buikhng  a  synagogue,  the  people  watching 
under  the  cross,  the  thief  hanging  on  the  cross ;  "  This 
day  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  paradise."  For,  whoso- 
ever believeth  on  him  shall  not  perish,  John  iii.  IG;  no, 
not  although  they  were  of  the  number  of  his  cruciiiers. 

2.  The  apostle's  humility  and  charity :  he  ac- 
knowledgeth  the  poorest  saints  to  have  "  like  pre- 
cious faith"  with  himself.  Many  Miriams  are  i)roud 
of  the  Spirit,  despising  their  poor  brethren :  St. 
Peter  matcheth  tlicm  with  himself.  They  are  as 
dear  in  the  Master's  blood,  therefore  as  dear  in  the 
sen-ant's  love.  "  Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens," 
Gal.  vi.  2.  In  other  buildings,  one  stone  lies  upon 
another,  all  upon  the  foundation :  so  let  us  support 
the  weight  one  of  another ;  and  the  foundation,  Christ, 
support  us  all.  The  pebble  must  not  envy  the  marble, 
nor  the  marble  despise  the  pebble :  the  pin  in  the  tem- 
ple seiTes  for  use,  as  well  as  the  pinnacle.  "The 
members  should  have  the  same  care  one  for  another," 
1  Cor.  xii.  25 :  Christian  shoulders  should  bear  the 
weakness  of  others.  The  rich  and  the  i)oor  are  piled 
together  in  God's  house :  the  burden  of  the  poor  is 
beggar)',  the  burden  of  the  rich  his  superfluous  estate. 
Now  if  the  poor  lie  upon  the  rich,  and  the  rich  be 
contented  to  sustain  the  poor ;  here  the  rich  hath  his 
burden  lessened  by  giving,  and  the  jioor  hath  his 
burden  cased  by  receiving.  (August.)  If  a  brother  be 
fallen,  do  not  you  tratnple  him  down,  but  help  him  up  ; 
i-elieve  and  "  restori-  such  a  one  in  the  spirit  of  meek- 
ness," Gal.  vi.  I.  When  thou  hearest  thy  brother 
to  have  lapsed  into  some  grievous  fault,  pity  him, 
l)ray  for  him,  recollect  him,  saying.  He  fell  yesterday, 
I  may  fall  to-day.  As  Augustine,  when  he  saw  a  poor 
miserable  man,  took  occasion  to  admonish  himself  and 
the  company ;  ylut  sitmus,  autfuimus,  velpossuinus  es-ic 
quod  hie  est,  We  have  been,  or  may  be,  as  wretched 
as  he. 

3.  This  comforts  our  fainting  hearts :  there  are 
many  gusts,  and  storms,  and  floods,  that  attempt  the 
overthrow  of  our  faith  ;  be  our  house  founded  on  the 
rock,  it  shall  never  be  demolished,  Matt.  vii.  25. 
Sense  of  sin  may  be  often  sjreat,  and  more  felt  than 
grace ;  yet  not  to  be  more  than  grace.  A  man  feels 
the  ache  of  his  finger  more  sensibly  than  the  health 
of  his  whole  body  ;  yet  he  knows  that  the  ache  of  a 
finger  is  nothing  so  much  as  the  health  of  the  whole 
body.  The  sun  under  the  clouds  is  still  a  sun  ;  the 
fire  in  embers,  still  fire ;  the  sap  is  shut  up  in  the 
root,  and  confined  thither  liy  the  cold  of  winter,  that 
it  cannot  show  itself  in  production  of  leaves  and  fniits, 
as  in  the  spring,  yet  is  there  still  life  in  the  tree.  So 
in  the  distressed  heart,  during  the  storm  of  affliction, 
there  is  still  some  hidden  grace,  some  spark  of  fire  in  the 
smoking  flax,  whicli  the  Lord  Jesus  will  not  quench. 
Though  thou  be  wounded  with  God's  own  arrows, 
Ihat  seem  to  drink  up  thy  blood;  although  thy  own 
.sins  be  presented  to  the  eye  of  thy  soul ;  thougli  the 
serpent  (to  increase  thy  terror)  put,  forth  his  dismal 
countenance;  yet,  canst  thou  believe?  take  comfort, 
there  is  more  health  in  the  Seed  of  the  woman,  than 
there  can  be  venom  in  the  head  of  the  serpent. 

"  That  have  obtained  like  precious  faith :"  here 
is  the  means  of  this  eciualily,  tliey  have  obtained  it. 
Not  by  our  own  merits;  there  was  no  congniily  of 
nature  to  receive  this  i)recious  treasure  :  we  arc  not 
bom,  but  new-bom.  Christians.  It  is  indeed  natural 
to  every  one,  like  Simon  Magus,  to  think  himself 
some  great  man,  Acts  viii.  9 ;   cither  the  man,  or 


somebody.  Luther  was  wont  to  say,  that  ever)'  man 
by  nature  hath  a  pope  bred  in  his  belly,  too  great 
an  opinion  of  his  own  worth :  we  are  Narcissus-like, 
enamoured  of  our  own  shadows.  Righteousness  is 
almost  the  only  cause  of  imrighteousness;  righteous- 
ness in  opinion,  of  unrighteousness  in  deed:  we  think 
ourselves  so  just,  that  we  make  little  reckoning  of 
Christ,  for  want  of  whom  we  remain  unjust  still. 
But  the  highest  mountebank  in  his  proffei-s,  is  the 
lowest  dwarf  in  his  merits.  Not  by  our  ow7i  pur- 
chase: many  have  so  obtained  lordships  and  manors; 
as  the  captain  bought  his  burgess-shii),  with  a  great 
sum  of  money.  Acts  xxii.  2S.  Wert  thou  as  glorious 
as  an  angel,  thy  meat  as  good  as  manna,  tliy  gar. 
mcnts  richer  than  Aaron's  ephod,  and  thy  breath 
sweeter  than  the  perfume  of  the  tabernacle ;  yet  all 
this  could  not  get  thee  faith,  nor  give  thee  title  to 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  "  Thy  money  perish  with 
thee,"  that  thinkest  the  gifts  of  God  may  be  bought 
with  money,  Acts  viii.  20. 

But  we  obtain  it  by  God's  mercy ;  for  it  is  given 
us  for  Christ's  -sake  to  believe,  Phil.  i.  29.  Faith  is 
the  fair  gift  of  God  ;  not  only  the  grace  of  faith,  but 
the  very  will  of  belie\'ing  is  God's  work  in  us.  If  any 
ask,  saith  Augustine,  Why  this  man  is  converted  to 
believe,  that  man  not  convinced  to  believe.  I  answer 
with  St.  Paul,  "  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the 
wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God!"  Rom.  xi.  33.  If 
any  man  dislike  this  answer,  let  him  seek  better ;  but 
beware  lest  he  find  worse.  "  By  the  grace  of  God  I 
am  what  I  am,"  1  Cor.  xv.  10.  All  the  good  we 
have,  is  either  God  himself,  or  what  comes  from 
him.  (August.)  All  my  goods,  0  Lord,  are  thy  gifts. 
He  that  shall  reckon  to  thee  his  merits,  doth  no 
more  but  reckon  thy  mercies. 

"  Have  obtained  :"  they  have  obtained  it  by  lot, 
so  the  original  imports ;  so  it  is  said  of  Zachiirias, 
"  his  lot  was  to  burn  incense,"  ^c.  Luke  i.  9.  So 
that  we  read,  '•  He  made  us  meet  to  be  partakers  of 
the  inheritance,"  unto  the  part  of  the  lot  "of  the 
saints  in  light,"  Col.  i.  12.  Not  that  we  draw  these 
blessings  by  a  lotteiy,  or  imaginaiy  fortune,  but  by 
the  ordination  of  God;  for  though  the  lot  be  cast 
into  the  lap,  yet  the  whole  disjiosition  thereof  is  of 
the  Lord.  It  is  therefore  called  our  lot,  because  the 
Lord  hath  destinatcd  it  to  be  our  portion.  Though 
the  land  of  Israel  were  divided  by  lot,  yet  the  Lord 
had  decreed  in  himself,  and  told  Joshua,  what  lot 
and  iiortion  cvcit  tribe  should  have.  There  is  a 
threefold  lot  belongs  to  the  faithful.  1.  The  lot  of 
the  saints  is  the  suflerings  of  the  saints.  "  The  rod 
of  the  wicked  shall  not  rest  upon  the  lot  of  the  right- 
eous," Psal.  exxv.  3.  It  is  their  lot  to  have  the  rod, 
not  the  rod  of  the  wicked;  or  if  it  salute  them,  it 
shall  not  dwell  with  them.  "  All  that  will  live  godly 
in  Christ  Jesus  shall  sufler  persecution,"  2  Tim.  iii. 
12 :  it  is  their  inevitable  lot  to  be  chastised  on  earth ; 
it  is  their  lot  to  be  saved  in  heaven.  2.  The  lot  of 
the  saints  is  not  only  that  light  and  happine-ss  they 
have  in  this  world.  '  The  lot  is  "  fallen  to  me  in  plea- 
sant places,  yea,  I  have  a  goodly  heritage,"  Psal.  xvi. 
(i.  When  David  sat  at  the  sheepfold,  the  kingdom  of 
Israel  was  given  him  by  lot  from  God.  But  more 
si)ccially  faith,  grace,  andsanctification :  which  gives 
them  just  right  and  title  to  the  inheritance  of  glorj-. 
Thus  heaven  is  their  lot  now,  a  lot  drawn  out  of  the 
bloody  side  of  Christ ;  though  not  in  pos.scssion,  yet 
in  succession.  They  have  the  earnest  of  it ;  let  them 
grow  up  to  stature  and  perfection,  and  take  it.  The 
inheritance  is  the  eldest  son's  lot,  even  while  he  is 
a  child.  3.  Lastly,  they  have  the  lot  of  faith,  that 
thcv  may  have  the  lot  of  salvation.  Hell  is  the  lot 
of  the  wicked:  "Behold  at  evening-tide  trouble; 
and  before  the  morning  he  is  not.     This  is  the  per- 


Yri!.  I. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


13 


tion  of  them  that  spoil  us,  and  the  lot  of  them  that 
rob  us,"  Isa.  xvii.  14.  Therefore  it  is  said  of  Judas, 
that  he  went  "  to  his  own  place,"  Acts  i.  25.  "  Upon 
the  wicked  God  shall  rain  snares,  fire  and  brimstone, 
and  an  horrible  tempest :  this  shall  be  the  portion  of 
their  cup,"  Psal.  si.  6.  But  the  lot  of  the  righteous 
is  faith,  and  the  end  of  their  faith  the  salvation  of 
their  souls.  God  gives  them  heaven,  not  for  any 
foreseen  worthiness  in  the  receivers,  for  no  worthi- 
ness of  our  own  can  make  us  our  fathers'  heirs ;  but 
for  his  own  mercy  and  favour  in  Christ,  preparing 
heaven  for  us,  hnd  us  for  heaven.  So  that  upon  his 
decree  it  is  allotted  to  us  ;  and  unless  heaven  could 
lose  God,  we  cannot  lose  heaven. 

Here  then  consider  how  the  lottery  of  Canaan 
may  shadow  out  to  us  that  blessed  land  of  promise 
whereof  the  other  was  a  type.  The  allusion  may  be 
led  on  through  three  principal  passages;  the  pre- 
paration, the  qualification,  the  possession. 

1.  For  the  preparation :  Canaan  was  not  a  new-made 
country,  out  of  baiTen  and  uninhabitable  deserts ; 
but  was  already  famished  to  their  hands :  nature  had 
enriched  it  with  commodities,  and  industry'  beautified 
it  with  buildings  and  maturities  ;  which  were  not 
done  by  the  Israelites.  They  came  to  goodly  cities, 
which  they  builded  not ;  to  houses  full  of  all  good 
things,  which  they  filled  not ;  to  wells  digged,  which 
they  digged  not ;  and  to  vineyards,  which  they  plant- 
ed not,  Deut.  vi.  II.  So  heaven  was  prepared  of  old ; 
"  Inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,"  Matt.  xxv.  34.  That  glori- 
ous city,  whose  wall  was  of  jasper,  and  the  fabric 
pure  gold,  the  foundations  of  precious  stones.  Rev. 
xxi.  18, 19,  was  neither  formed  nor  furnished  by  the 
saints  ;  but  the  builder  and  maker  was  God,  Heb.  xi. 
10.  So  Paul ;  It  is  the  "  building  of  God,  an  house  not 
made  with  hands,"  2  Cor.  v.  1.  God  made  it  for  his 
chosen ;  and  as  the  Canaanites  were  cast  out,  that 
the  Israelites  might  enter,  so  the  Lord  hath  throMii 
the  devils  out  of  heaven,  that  elect  men  might 
dwell  there. 

2.  For  the  qualification :  as  none  had  right  to 
Canaan  but  the  children  of  Abraham  according  to 
flesh,  so  none  have  right  to  heaven  but  the  children 
of  Abraham  according  to  faith.  This  qualification 
stands  in  our  Captain,  and  in  our  combat.  For  the 
captain,  they  had  Joshua,  we  have  Jesus.  Thougli 
there  were  a  Canaan,  there  would  have  been  no  lot 
without  a  Joshua  :  though  there  be  a  heaven,  there 
would  have  been  no  room  for  us  in  it  without  a  Jesus. 
The  lot  of  every  tribe  was  known  to  Joshua  ;  the  por- 
tion of  every  saint  is  purchased  by  Jesus.  Joshua 
had  the  city  which  he  asked  for  himself.  Josh.  xix. 
.W.  Jesus  obtains  whatsoever  he  asketh  for  us ;  "  Aslc 
of  me,  and  I  .shall  give  thee,"  though  thy  demand 
be  more  than  Herod's  ofier,  half  my  kingdom, 
though  it  be  "the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance,  and 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  possession," 
Psal.  ii.  8.  For  the  combat ;  Canaan  was  given  to 
Israel  by  promise,  yet  they  could  not  enter  it  with- 
out a  combat ;  they  fought  many  sore  battles,  before 
they  were  settled  in  a  victorious  rest.  So  must  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  suffer  violence,  before  it  afford 
residence  ;  and  we  must  be  content  to  war  with 
greater  giants  than  the  sons  of  Anak,  even  with 
principalities  and  powers,  before  we  triumpli.  Let 
us  bear  the  country  in  our  minds,  and  we  shall  find 
courage  in  our  hearts.  Caleb  dares  fight  with  the 
Anakims,  if  Joshua  give  him  Hebron,  Josh.  xiv.  13 : 
and  complaining  Ephraim  enlarge  his  territories,  if 
Joshua  promise  them  the  wood  countri.',  chap.  xvii. 
m.  If  Dan  complain  of  too  little  room,  let  him  fight 
it  out  for  more ;  let  him  conquer  Leshem,  and  possess 
it,  chap.  xix.  47.  Christians  must  not  pine  and  repine, 


that  others  exceed  them  in  graces ;  but  buckle  on  the 
arms  of  faith,  and  with  a  reverent  courage  strive  for 
more.  Nor  is  it  a  good  argument  that  we  share  the  lot 
of  faith,  if  we  strive  only  for  ourselves ;  Christians  thus 
truly  qualified  seek  also  the  salvation  of  others.  The 
Reubenites,  Gaditcs,  and  half  the  tribe  of  Manasseh 
had  their  lot  allowed  already  ;  yet  were  they  not 
suffered  so  to  rest,  but  to  pass  before  their  brethren 
armed,  all  the  mighty  men  of  valour,  and  to  help 
them.  Josh.  i.  14.  Nor  is  it  enough  for  Peter  and 
Paul  to  comfort  themselves  in  the  security  of  their 
own  salvation,  but  they  must  labour  the  conversion 
and  confirmation  of  their  brethren.  Thus  are  they 
qualified,  to  whom  the  lot  of  faith,  and  of  eternal  life 
by  faith,  is  ordained.  Heaven  is  not  for  every  one, 
but  for  the  saints :  would  any  man  have  a  lot  in  Ca- 
naan, let  him  be  sure  he  be  a  true  Israelite.  It  is 
not  the  bare  hope  and  probability  of  a  little,  that  can 
give  the  soul  the  satisfaction  of  comfort.  For  a  man 
to  stand  to  the  courtesy  of  his  minister,  for  all  the 
knowledge  which  he  requires  in  heavenly  blessings, 
had  been  for  an  Israelite  to  take  it  upon  trust  of  the 
spies,  who  were  sent  to  view  and  report  the  goodness 
of  the  land,  and  never  to  enter  it  himself. 

3.  For  the  possession  itself,  no  mortal  eye  hath  seen 
it,  nor  ear  hath  heard  it ;  blessed  souls,  whose  lot  it 
shall  be  to  enjoy  it !  But  I  leave  this  point  to  your 
meditation  ;  for  our  apostle  speaks  here  of  the  pre- 
paring lot,  not  of  the  possessing  lot.  Let  us  get  the 
lotteiy  of  grace,  and  we  shall  be  assured  the  lot  of 
glon,-.  But,  alas,  how  slowly  do  we  go  about  this  holy 
business  !  Joshua  was  fain  to  chide  the  seven  tribes, 
for  neglect  of  their  inheritance  ;  "  How  long  are  ye 
slack  to  go  to  possess  the  land,  which  the  Lord  God 
of  3-our  fathers  hath  given  you  ?  "  Josh.xviii.  3.  We 
may  be  all  thus  justly  reproved;  how  long  defer  we 
to  make  sure  our  election,  and  to  get  the  earnest  of 
everlasting  life  ? 

Thus  we  have  considered  this  precious  jewel  of 
faith,  and  how  we  have  obtained  it :  by  no  worthi- 
ness of  our  0MT1,  but  by  lot ;  that  is,  the  free  gift  and 
disposition  of  God,  who  gives  it,  <w  denies  it,  accord- 
ing to  his  own  good  pleasure.  If  he  have  given  thee 
this  lot  of  believing,  the  thanks  be  to  him :  if  thou 
draw  a  blank  and  dost  not  obtain  it,  yet  he  hath 
done  thee  no  wrong :  who  shall  command  that  inde- 
pendent Proprietary  to  give  away  his  own  ? 

"  That  have  obtained"  it :  here  is  matter  of  cor- 
rection, of  direction. 

First,  This  corrects  the  error  of  two  sorts. 

I.  Such  as  have  not  obtained  faith;  who  think 
that  they  may  believe  when  they  list :  respecting 
only  the  sufficiency  and  indulgence  of  God ;  not  re- 
garding the  obduration  of  their  o\ni  hearts,  and 
their  indisposition  to  receive  it.  Whatsoever  is 
received,  is  received  according  to  the  measure  and 
capableness  of  the  thing  which  receives.  Stones  and 
sand  will  not  be  leavened,  but  meal.  There  is  mat- 
ter in  the  rock  to  build  a  house  of;  not  form  and 
proportion,  till  it  be  hewed  out.  Those  five  foolish  vir- 
gins. Matt.  xxv.  thought  they  might  get  oil  at  their 
pleasure ;  but  because  their  lamps  were  out,  them- 
selves could  not  be  let  in.  Many  think,  wheresoever 
they  lost  their  faith,  they  shall  find  it  on  their 
death-bed.  But  let  no  man  promise  himself  that, 
which  the  gospel  doth  not  promise  him.  If  they 
cannot  find  it  in  the  church,  they  will  hardly  find  it 
in  the  chamber  :  if  the  ordinary  means  to  beget  faith 
have  not  wrought  it,  how  shall  it  be  taken  wnen  it  is 
not  offered  ?  But  saith  Augustine,  Faith  is  in  a  man's 
power :  but  that  father  never  meant  that  an  infidel 
can  believe  when  he  list,  but  when  God  gives  him 
that  list  man's  will  is  not  compelled.  As  he  adds, 
When  a  man's  v.ill  is  to  believe,  he  does  believe.   But 


14 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


rthence  hath  he  that  will  ?  The  finger  of  God  moves 
his  will.  Faith  is  a  voluntary  persuasion  of  absent 
things,  saith  another.  But  "it  is  not  of  him  that 
^vilk•th,  nor  of  him  that  runneth,  but  of  God  that 
showeth  mercy,"  Horn.  ix.  16.  God  must  give  the 
will,  act,  effect,  and  all.  The  fathers  never  averred, 
that  an  unbeliever  can  make  himself  a  believer  by  his 
own  ijower ;  but  when  God  hath  given  liim  the  power 
of  faith,  he  can  then  believe.  "Without  me  ye  can 
do  niithing,"  saith  Christ,  John  xv.  5:  not  a  very 
little,  but  nothing  at  all.  The  members  must  be  set 
in  the  body,  before  they  can  execute  any  offices  for 
the  body;  neither  are  they  members  because  they 
are  working,  but  arc  therefore  working  because  they 
are  members.  The  tree  brings  forth  the  fi-uit,  the 
fruit  doth  not  bring  forth  the  tree.  Papists  in  their 
congruities,  and  libertines  in  their  potentials,  run  too 
much  upon  a  veiy  base  figure,  the  cart  before  the 
horse;  merit  before  mercy.  Do  not  think  to  believe 
so  easy  a  matter:  the  death  of  Christ  darkened  the 
sun,  shook  the  earth,  clave  the  rocks,  opened  the 
graves,  and  raised  the  dead;  yet  did  not  put  faitli 
into  the  Jews'  hearts.  It  was  a  great  miracle  fin- 
God  to  be  bom  of  woman ;  a  great  miracle,  for  a  vir- 
gin to  bear  a  child,  and  still  to  remain  a  virgin  ;  but 
the  greatest  miracle  of  all  is,  fora  man's  faith  to  believe 
these  things.  Bernard  makes  this  to  be  the  most  won- 
derful mixture  and  composition  of  the  three.  First, 
God  and  man,  a  strange  union  ;  that  he  should  begin 
tobcman,  whois  God  without  beginning,  without  end- 
ing ;  Divinity  and  humanity  in  one  individual  person  ; 
this  is  vcr)'  mystical.  Next,  a  mother  and  a  virgin  ; 
that  she  should  be  a  virgin  still,  whicli  was  now  a 
mother  ;  that  she  should  be  a  mother,  which  remain- 
ed a  pure  virgin ;  this  was  singularly  admirable : 
maternity  and  virginity  at  once  in  the  same  individual 
person.  Lastly,  man's  heart  and  faith ;  a  natural 
understanding,  and  supernatural  objects  mixed  to- 
gether. Fire  and  water  would  sooner  be  reconciled 
then  these  two,  without  the  supernatural  combining 
work  of  God's  Spirit.  This  is  the  most  wondcrfiil 
mixture  and  mystery.  This  faith  is  no  easy  thing  to 
obtain.  Tho\i  mayst  fall  off"  from  thyself,  not  recover 
thyself:  he  only  that  made  thee  can  restore  thee. 
(August.)  Faith  is  God's  gift ;  no  man  can  obtain  it, 
if  he  detain  it. 

2.  Such  as  have  obtained  it,  that  they  be  not  proud 
of  it.  "  What  hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not  receive  ? 
now  if  thou  didst  receive  it,  why  dost  thou  gloiy, 
as  if  thou  hadst  not  received  it?"  I  Cor.  iv.  7-  Let 
not  the  most  famous  disdain  the  meanest,  nor  the 
meanest  repine  at  the  mightiest:  insultation  and 
malice  are  enemies  to  grace  and  faith.  "Be  not 
high-minded,  but  fear,"  Rom.  xi.  "iO.  Pride  was  the 
first  sin  that  ever  was  in  the  world,  and  it  shall  be 
the  last.  As  other  infirmities  decrease  in  us,  so  pride 
doth  increase.  Though  he  abounded  with  many  vir- 
tues, yet  he  lost  all  by  his  self-conceitedness,  sail  h 
Chiysost.  on  that  Pharisee,  Luke  xviii  11.  "God,  I 
thank  thee,"  (for  he  was  not  a  petitioner,  but  a  jiro- 
claimer, )  "  t  hat  I  am  not  as  other  men  are,  extort  ioners, 
unjust,  adulterers,  or  even  as  this  ))ublican."  Yet  he 
was  all  these  :  an  extortioner,  for  in  relying  on  his  own 
merits,  he  did  rob  God  of  his  glory,  and  extort  that 
from  him  which  he  will  not  give  to  another.  Unjust, 
in  condemning  the  publican  without  due  proof;  so 
being  himself  a  guilly  person  worthy  to  be  condemn- 
ed, he  usurps  the  oflice  of  a  judge,  and  censures 
another.  An  adulterer,  in  being  wedded  to  vain- 
gloiT,  and  enamoured  of  popular  apjdause  :  leaving 
the  humble  and  chaste  love  he  owes  lo  Ciod,  lie  runs 
a  whoring  after  his  own  proud  inventions.  St.  James 
calbi  tllem  adulterers  that  emliraee  the  friendship 
of  the  world,  Jam.  iv.  4.    Thus  he  was  like  a  bad 


mill,  that  keeps  a  great  clacking  and  grinds  little. 
(Jerome.)  Howsoever  all  sins  may  be  said  to  be  in 
the  devil,  in  respect  of  guiltiness;  yet  only  pride  is 
in  him,  in  respect  of  his  desire,  saith  Thomas.  His 
darling  sin,  his  character,  is  pride.  Hens  use  to 
cackle  as  soon  as  they  liave  laid  their  eggs,  and  by 
this  means  they  are  instantly  taken  from  them.  The 
jiroud  man  may  do  some  good  works,  but  by  his 
clacking  and  boasting  he  looseth  them.  The  phari- 
saical  papists  have  haply  laid  some  eggs,  but  they 
so  cackle  them  that  tliey  quite  mar  their  market. 
Poor  men  advanced,  and  growing  proud,  are  like 
clouds  drawn  up  on  high  by  the  sun  ;  and  when  they 
are  there,  they  darken  the  sun  that  drew  them  up. 
God  may  say  to  them,  as  Sarah  spake  to  Abraham 
concerning  Hagar,  I  have  given  thee  my  handmaid, 
and  now  I  am  despised  in  thine  eyes.  But  it  is  cer- 
tain, they  have  least  faith  that  think  they  have  all 
faith.  Men  that  make  themselves  so  sure  of  heaven, 
that  they  will  scarce  change  places  with  the  departed 
saints,  may  perhaps  wish  themselves  one  day  in  the 
poor  publican's  case  and  place  ;  "  I^ord,  be  merciful 
to  me  a  sinner." 

Thus  much  for  the  reproof  of  those  two  errors ; 
one  in  the  defect,  the  other  in  the  excess ;  neither 
whereof  have  indeed  obtained  faith.  Now  for  direc- 
tion to  those  that  have  obtained  it ;  this  twofold. 

1 .  Learn  to  acknowledge  the  Author.  Hast  thou 
obtained  that  precious  jewel  denied  to  thousands,  be 
the  more  thankful.  As  Thales  Milesius  asked  no 
other  reward  of  his  readers,  but.  Where  thou  readest 
nie,  acknowledge  me ;  so  God  requires  of  his  crea- 
tures, that  where  they  find  the  benefits,  (hey  thank- 
fully acknowledge  the  Benefactor,  (iod  halh  kept 
nothing  to  himself  but  his  glor>-,  and  this  lie  will  not 
give  to  another;  as  Pharaoli  gave  all  to  Joseph,  only 
excepting  the  throne ;  yet  in  this  gloiy  we  are  too 
forward  to  be  sharers.  When  the  Babylonians  heard 
the  music,  comet,  flute,  harp,  &c.  they  fell  down  and 
worshipped  the  idol,  Dan.  iii.  7-  So  men,  wlien  they 
hear  the  music  of  their  own  praises,  idolize  them- 
selves, and  worship  a  golden  calf.  The  wife  is  bound 
to  be  chastely  reserved  to  her  own  husband,  and  not 
with  a  tempting  dress  to  invite  adulterers.  Vain- 
glorj-  tricks  us  up,  not  for  God  our  Husband,  but  for 
strange  lovers ;  ne  will  acknowledge  no  such  wife. 
Joab  sent  messengers  to  David,  that  he  should  bring 
in  his  forces  and  take  Rabbah  ;  his  reason  was,  "  lest 

1  take  the  city,  and  it  be  called  after  my  name," 

2  Sam.  xii.  2S :  not  Joab  thy  servant,  but  David  the 
king,  must  have  this  honour.  So  God  cannot  endure 
that  his  creature  should  divide  the  glory  with  him- 
self: give  him  all  willingly,  or  he  will  have  all  in 
despite  of  thee.  Let  thy  thankful  acknowledgment 
go  up.  that  his  great  bounty  may  come  down. 

2.  Learn  to  preserve  what  thou  hast  gotten.  "That 
which  ye  have  already  hold  fast  till  I  come,"  Rev.  ii. 
25.  This  was  St.  Paul's  happiness,  that  having 
finished  his  course,  yet  he  had  still  "  kept  the  faith," 
2  Tim.  iv.  7-  The  loss  of  faith  is  a  dangerous  shijv 
wreck,  1  "Tim.  i.  19:  if  it  be  possible,  save  your 
vessels,  save  your  goods,  save  your  wares,  save  your 
bodies;  but  though  you  lose  all,  save  your  faith, 
save  your  souls.  Imagine  thyself  a  vessel ;  the  sea 
this  world,  thy  freight  faith.  There  is  a  man  of  war 
against  thee:'  the  bark  is  diffidence;  the  soldiers, 
atheism,  heresy,  schism,  profaneness;  the  charged 
cannons  and  ordnance  are  pride,  lust,  hypocrisy,  to 
which  drunkenness  is  the  master-gunner,  and  gives 
fire.  The  arch-pirate  is  the  devil,  who  so  violently 
assaults  us,  and  boards  us  with  his  temptations,  that 
often  we  are  fain  to  blow  up  our  docks,  lose  some  of 
our  necessary  appurtenances;  glad,  like  the  young 
man  in  the  gospel,  to  save  ourselves,  though  we  leave 


Ver  1 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


15 


our  case  behind  us.  There  be  also  rocks  of  persecu- 
tions, and  gulfs  of  errors ;  horrible  gulfs  in  the  sea 
of  Rome,  dangerous  swallows  about  Amsterdam. 
When  opinion  goes  before  us,  it  is  a  great  question 
whether  truth  \vi\\  follow  us.  Look  to  thy  faith. 
Shipwreck  thy  faith,  and  drowii  thy  soul.  Cast 
Judas  out  of  the  ship,  and  take  Jesus  in.  That  ship 
is  troubled  that  harbours  a  traitor :  the  ship  is  safe 
that  hath  in  it  the  Saviour  ;  now  he  hath  Christ  that 
hath  faith.  If  therefore  by  faith  thou  be  freed  from 
the  bondage  of  Satan,  take  heed  lest  by  laying  down 
this  refuge  thou  be  again  captivcd.  Let  not  the 
world,  like  a  crafty  thief,  steal  away  thy  faith :  look 
to  your  faith,  ye  covetous ;  forsake  not  the  word  to 
embrace  the  world.  Be  not  like  plaices,  which  have 
a  black  side  as  well  as  a  white  :  w'hen  their  turns  are 
once  served  by  the  white,  they  instantly  show  you 
the  black.  Though  the  faith  of  Christ  be  in  their 
mouths,  the  love  of  the  world  is  in  their  hearts.  Let 
no  extremity  of  sorrows  or  sufferings  enen'ate  thy 
faith.  When  a  lewd  malefactor,  being  condemned  to 
die  \sath  just  Phocion,  railed  at  the  judge,  the  law, 
his  enemies,  and  looked  on  death  with  terror  and 
amazedness,  he  thus  cheered  him  with  encourage- 
ment. Dost  thou  grudge  to  die  with  Phocion  ?  O  thou 
faint-hearted  profrssor,  dost  thou  grudge  to  die  with 
Christ,  or  for  Christ  ?  Keep  thy  shield  of  faith,  and 
thou  shalt  victoriously  march  with  the  saints  on 
earth,  and  triumphantly  sing  wnth  the  angels  in 
heaven.  Faith  obtained,  faith  retained,  shall  with- 
out fail  advance  thy  soul  to  eternal  glory. 

"  Through  the  righteousness  of  God  and  our 
Saviour  Christ."  Here  is  the  ground  of  this  means, 
tlie  justice  of  our  Redeemer.  Some  read  these  words 
by  disjoining  them  ;  of  God,  and  of  our  Saviour.  This 
reading  may  stand  where  righteousness  is  referred  to 
God,  as  to  the  cause  efficient,  and  to  Christ,  as  to  the 
cause  meritorious.  Augustine  admonisheth  us  of 
the  Trinity  here,  and  teacheth  us  to  collect  it  from 
such  places.  By  the  name  of  God  he  understands 
the  Father,  by  Saviour  the  Son,  by  grace  and  peace 
the  Holy  Ghost.  But  with  St.  Ambrose,  they  are 
better  read  together;  and  this  is  plain  from  the 
Greek  context,  where  all  are  contained  under  one 
article.  Aquinas  thus :  of  God,  that  is,  of  Christ, 
secundum  divinilalem  effective :  of  our  Saviour,  that 
is,  of  Christ,  secundum  humanilnlem  vierilorie.  But 
I  leave  that  as  too  curious,  and  take  the  words  to  be 
construed  only  copulatively ;  answerably  to  that  of 
Paul,  "  Looking  for  the  glorious  appearing  of  the 
great  God,  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,"  Tit.  ii.  13. 
Here  can  be  no  distinction  of  persons  thought  on : 
for  it  is  the  great  God  that  appears  in  judgment ;  but 
no  person  of  the  Deity  properly  appears  in  judgment 
at  tne  last  day,  but  Jesus  Christ.  "  For  the  Father 
judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all  judgment 
unto  the  Son,"  John  v.  22 :  therefore  Christ  is  there 
called  the  great  God.  For  the  Mediator  betwixt 
God  and  man,  is  perfect  God  and  perfect  man ; 
and  yet  not  two,  but  one  Christ  :  one  not  by 
conftision  of  substance,  but  by  unity  of  person,  as 
Afhanasius. 

Here  is  then  fidl  testimony  that  Christ  is  God, 
against  the  Arians.  But  when  I  read  that  Fevarden- 
tius  reports  ;  how  many  of  the  Polonians  have  dero- 
gated from  this  eternal  Deity  of  Christ,  and  that  from 
the  writings  of  Cahnn,  and  other  Reformed  Catho- 
lics ;  I  must  sigh  with  Polycarpus,  Good  God,  what 
times  do  I  live  in,  to  read  and  hear  such  impious  and 
impudent  slanders  !  Let  any  indifferent  man  judge, 
whether  they  or  wc  derogate  more  from  our  Saviour 
Christ  J  we  in  resting  our  whole  salvation  upon  him, 
or  they  in  joining  other  saviours  with  him.  They 
say,  that  if  God  will  bear  half  the  charges  in  co-oper- 


ation, we  may  merit  our  own  glory,  fulfil  the  law, 
have  works  to  spare  for  our  neighbours ;  whereol 
Rome  hath  such  store,  that  she  can  spare  England 
some  out  of  her  superfluity,  if  we  will  pay  for  them. 
But  that  we  think,  as  when  one  boasted  how  fair  a 
she-slave  he  had  bought  for  a  pound,  another  answer- 
ed that  she  was  too  dear  of  a  groat ;  so  if  we  should 
bestow  our  moneys  on  such  supercrogatoiy  stuff,  every 
pennyworth  would  be  worse  than  other.  We  teach 
that  our  best  actions  are  full  of  sin,  our  satisfactions 
debts ;  that  no  merit  can  do  us  good,  but  the  merits  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Whether  of  us  more  wrongs  our  Sa- 
viour? No,  let  them  take  their  own  egg  out  of  our 
nest ;  we  never  laid  it,  we  will  never  hatch  it.  He  is 
"over  all,  God  blessed  for  ever.  Amen,"  Rom.  ix. 
.").  He  is  the  God  of  salvation,  and  he  shall  be  found 
a  God  in  judgment.  They  that  have  denied  it  in 
their  mortal  flesh,  shall  acknowledge  it  in  immortal 
fire.  I  cannot  say  logical!}',  what  he  is,  but  who  he 
is  :  there  is  no  logic  sufficient  to  express  Christ.  No 
man  can  speak  of  the  light,  but  by  the  light.  (August.) 
The  best  apprehension  of  him  is  negative  :  he  cannot 
lie,  he  cannot  die,  he  cannot  deny  himself.  He  is 
God  of  the  Father,  as  a  branch  from  the  root,  as  fra- 
grance from  the  pomander,  as  words  from  the  soul, 
as  light  from  the  sun.  Man  of  the  \nrgin,  by  over- 
shadowing of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  withal  halh  cast 
a  shadow  over  this  mysteiy.  Man,  not  by  taking 
man's  nature  into  his  own  nature,  but  by  taking 
man's  nature  into  his  own  person.     But  in  all   this, 

1  will  rather  humbly  acknowledge  my  ignorance, 
than  proudly  profess  my  knowledge.  Therefore,  as 
the  philosopher  sitting  on  the  bank  of  a  river,  and 
observing  it  to  ebb  and  flow  seven  times  a  day  ;  be- 
cause he  could  not  by  philosophy  find  out  the  hidden 
cause,  he  threw  himself  headlong  into  it,  with  these 
words.  Because  I  cannot  conceive  thee,  do  thou  receive 
me.  So  I  offer  myself  in  all  humility  to  Christ,  God 
and  man,  my  blessed  Saviour ;  O  Lord,  I  cannot  com- 
prehend thee,  do  thou  therefore  comprehend  me  for 
ever. 

"Through  the  righteousness,"  &c.  Upon  this 
ground  let  me  build  five  instructions,  or  conclusions, 
which  are  naturally  deduced  from  it. 

1.  All  grace  to  our  souls,  all  good  to  our  bodies,  all 
peace  that  may  concern  this  life  or  that  to  come, 
is  derived  to  us  through  the  righteousness  of  Christ. 
Whatsoever  good  descends  from  God  to  us,  is  granted 
through  Christ;  what  good  ascends  from  us  to  God, 
is  accepted  through  Christ.  We  are  elected  in 
Christ,  redeemed  by  Christ,  ingrafted  to  Christ, 
saved  for  Christ.  God  gives  to  all  gifts ;  but  they 
are  only  true  comforts  to  those  that  enjoy  them 
through  Christ.  David  out  of  the  great  love  he  bore 
to  Jonathan,  which  was  "  passing  the  love  of  women," 
was  also  loving  to  Mephibosheth  the  son  of  Jonathan, 

2  Sam.  ix.  7 ;  he  set  him  at  his  own  table,  and  re- 
stored him  all  the  land  of  Saul  his  father.  Mephi- 
bosheth was  lame  and  decrepit,  yet  David  loved  nim 
for  Jonathan's  sake.  Infinite  is  the  love  of  God  to  his 
own  Son,  therefore  he  is  called,  the  Son  of  his  love, 
Col.  i.  1.3,  in  whom  he  is  well  pleased.  We  are 
lame  and  deformed,  warped,  wicked,  wretched ;  there 
is  nothing  in  us  that  he  should  desire  us ;  yet  he  re- 
stores us  all  the  lands  our  father  Adam  lost,  yea,  and 
ten  thousand  limes  more  than  ever  he  was  owner  of; 
and  will  one  day  set  us  at  his  own  table,  yea,  in  his 
very  throne.  Rev.  iii.  21,  and  make  us  partakers  of 
his  glory.  So  did  David  to  Mephibosheth  for  Jona- 
than his  father's  sake ;  so  doth  God  to  us  for  Jesus 
his  Son's  sake.  Consider  man  in  a  four-fold  estate ; 
confeclionis,  as  he  was  made ;  infeclioni.s;  as  he  was  mar- 
red ;  refeclionis,  as  he  was  repaired ;  perfectionis,  as 
he  shall  be  "accomplished ;  and  see  how  all  mercy  still 


IG 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


fame  to  us  through  Christ.  First,  God  made  man 
hapjiy,  because  holy ;  without  misery,  because  witli- 
out  iniquity.  Tllis  I  have  found,  that  God  made  man 
rigliteous,  Eecl.  vii.  29  j  and  in  that  righteousness 
he  had  the  image  of  God,  Ejih.  iv.  24.  If  a  glorious 
lioaven  above  him,  a  fruitful  earth  under  him,  com- 
mand of  the  creatures  below  him,  the  guard  of  angels 
iibdut  him,  the  peace  of  conscience  witnin  him  ;  if  r.ll 
this  could  make  him  happy,  he  was  not  scanted,  lie 
was  created  thus  through  Christ.  ''By  him  were  all 
things  created,  that  are  in  heaven,  and  that  are  in 
earth,  visible  and  invisible,"  kc.  Col.  i.  IC.  Second- 
ly, Man  stood  not  thus  long ;  he  fell  from  his  holi- 
ness, so  from  his  happiness ;  he  lost  the  favour  of  the 
Creator,  the  service  of  the  creature  ;  a  curse  fell  upon 
him  for  his  sins.  Lo,  now  he  lies  welteinng  in  his  own 
gore,  who  shall  heal  him  ?  God  redeems  him  through 
Christ :  he  "  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son,"  John  iii.  16;  he  sent  him  to  doit. 
Behold  him  hanging,  bleeding,  dying  upon  the  cursed 
cross  to  save  us.  Thirdly,  A  Redeemer  is  come  ;  what 
is  man  the  better  for  it,  if  he  hath  not  power  to  be- 
lieve on  him  ?  Faith  he  can  have  none,  if  it  be  not 
given  him  through  Christ.  It  is  given  to  you  in  the 
behalf  of  Christ  to  believe,  Phil.  i.  29.  Again,  Lord, 
help;  for  Christ's  sake  grant  us  a  third  mercy  ;  make 
us  believers,  or  we  are  never  the  better;  we  had  as 
good  have  no  Saviour,  as  not  have  him  our  Saviour ; 
and  ours  he  cannot  be,  unless  himself  make  us  his. 
Lastly,  For  the  state  of  perfection  and  immortal  bless- 
edness, it  is  through  Christ.  There  is  laid  up  for  me, 
saith  Paul,  a  crown  of  righteousness ;  and  not  fnr  me 
only,  but  for  all  those  that  love  his  appearing.  2  Tim. 
iv.  8.  Who  shall  give  this  to  us  ?  "  The  righteous 
Judge;"  and  that  is  Jesus  Christ.  Thus  all  good 
comes  to  us  through  Christ. 

Again,  all  our  good  is  accepted  only  through  the 
righteousness  of  Christ.  Our  very  persons  arc  "  ac- 
cepted in  the  beloved,"  Eph.  i.  6.  If  our  persons, 
then  our  good  actions.  If  we  pray,  he  chargcth  us  to 
do  it  "in  my  name;"  then  we  are  sure  to  speed; 
God  will  give  it  you,  John  xvi.  23.  He  praycth  for 
us,  as  our  Advocate ;  he  praycth  in  us,  by  his  Holy 
Spirit ;  is  prayed  to  of  us,  ns  our  "everlasting  Father," 
Isa.  is.  6.  (August,  in  Psal.  Ix.xxv.)  We  pray  unto 
him,  we  pray  by  him,  we  pray  in  him.  "  I  am  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life,"  John  xiv.  G.  I  am  the 
way,  you  come  by  me ;  I  am  the  truth,  you  come  unto 
me ;  I  am  the  life,  you  shall  dwell  for  ever  in  me. 
He  is  the  beginning  of  salvation,  therefore  the  way  ; 
the  midst  of  salvation,  therefore  the  tnith;  the  end 
of  salvation,  therefore  the  life,  saith  Ferus.  The 
way  of  them  that  begin,  the  tmth  of  them  that  go 
forward,  and  the  life  of  them  that  are  perfect.  In 
matter  of  disputation  with  atheists  or  heretics,  con- 
cerning God's  wisdom,  majesty,  power,  &c.  exercise 
all  thy  wit  and  industiy,  to  convince  the  adversary. 
But  when  thou  comest  into  another  school,  to  wrestle 
with  the  devil,  with  the  law,  with  sin  and  death,  in 
the  matter  of  thy  justification ;  then  fix  thy  eye  upon 
no  god,  but  the  person  of  the  Godhead  incarnate; 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  takes  away  the  sin 
of  the  world."  God's  scat  is  said  to  be  compassed 
about  with  a  rainbow.  Rev.  iv.  ,3.  The  rainbow  was 
a  sign  of  his  covenant  made  with  man;  here,  doth 
signify  his  perpetual  mercy  to  us  in  Christ.  If  he 
should  marK  what  is  done  amiss,  who  is  able  to 
stand?  If  he  enter  into  judgment  with  us,  no  flesh 
living  shall  be  justified.  But  here  is  our  comfort, 
there  is  a  rainbow  about  the  throne:  he  can  look 
r.o  way  upon  his  church,  but  through  the  rainbow, 
through  Jesus  Christ.  Hence  it  is  not  to  ns  a  ter- 
rible throne  ;  but  a  throne  of  grace,  so  fidl  of  mercy, 
that  v.c  may  boldly  come  unto  it,  Heb.  iv.  IG.  Though 


out  of  the  throne  proceed  lightnings,  and  thunder- 
ings,  and  terrible  voices;  though  there  be  seven 
lamps  of  fire  burning  before  it.  Rev.  iv.  5;  yet  all  is 
well  so  long  as  there  is  a  rainbow  about  it.  Thus 
all  good  things  come  to  us  in  Christ ;  that  we  may 
humbly  acknowledge,  and  heartily  sing  with  Paul, 
"  Of  him,  and  through  him,  and  to  nim,  are  all 
things :  to  whom  be  glorj-  for  ever.  Amen,"  Rom. 
xi.  3(J. 

2.  The  faith  of  a  Cliristian  is  well-grounded,  upon 
the  righteousness  of  Christ.  "  For  other  foundation 
can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus 
Christ,"  1  Cor.  iii.  II.  That  house  of  faith  only 
shall  stand,  that  is  built  on  this  rock.  Matt.  vii.  25. 
Neither  the  rain  that  falls  in  whole  showers  of  pros- 
perity, nor  the  voluminous  floods  that  roar  out  perse- 
cutions, nor  the  adverse  winds  that  blow  with  the 
loudest  violence  of  opposition,  shall  overthrow  that 
house,  because  it  is  founded  on  a  rock.  "  Thou  art 
Peter,  and  upon  this  rock"  (which  thou  hast  ac- 
knowledged to  be  the  Son  of  the  liWng  God)  "  I 
will  build  my  church ;  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall 
not  prevail  against  it,"  Matt.  xvi.  18.  Though 
Stephen  Gardiner,  apostatized,  did  read  that  text 
with  the  pope's  spectacles,  in  the  days  of  Queen 
Mary,  and  made  the  pope  supreme  founder  of  faith; 
yet  formerly,  in  the  days  of  King  Edward  the  sixth, 
he  preached  it  othenvise,  that  the  rock  was  only 
Christ.  Saith  Augustine,  The  foundation  of  God's 
house  in  man's  heart,  is  faith.  First  place  the 
foundation,  then  rear  up  the  building;  the  instru- 
ments of  which  edifice  are  the  word  and  sacraments. 
Here  is  no  place  for  traditions  of  men,  or  constitu- 
tions of  popes;  the  ground  of  faith  is  the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ,  not  our  own  merits.  If  in  thy  garden 
any  grace  or  good  works  spring  over  the  wall,  and 
saucily  challenge  to  itself  a  prerogative  of  merit; 
deal  with  it  as  the  gardener  doth  ^vith  sujierfluous 
branches,  prune  it  off;  or  as  Torquatus  with  his  over- 
venturous  son;  cut  it  down  ^nth  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit  for  daring  beyond  the  commission.  The  justice 
of  Christ  is  the  sole  compass  of  faith  :  our  adversaries 
oppose  this  both  with  pens  and  tongues,  violently  in 
the  schools,  invectively  in  the  pulpits:  but  come 
they  to  their  death-beds,  to  argue  it  between  God 
and  their  own  souls;  then  grace,  and  grace  alone; 
mercy,  and  only  mercy ;  Jesus,  and  none  but  Jesus. 
This  their  great  bclwether  is  driven  to  confess : 
By  reason  of  the  uncertainty  of  our  own  righteous- 
ness, and  the  danger  of  vain-glory,  the  safest  course 
is  to  put  our  whole  trust  and  confidence  in  the  only 
goodness  and  mercy  of  God.  (Dc  Justif.  lib.  v.  cap,  7.) 
But  perhaps  Bellarmine  spake  this  as  a  mere  Jesuit  ■ 
and  afterwards  being  made  papable,  he  was  willing 
to  retract  and  unsay  it. 

God  threatens  to  destroy  the  world  with  a  flood, 
because  the  imaginations  of  man's  heart  were  evil 
continually,  Gen.  vi.  5:  and  God  promiseth  no  more 
to  curse  the  ground  for  man's  sake,  because  the 
imaginations  of  man's  heart  are  evil  from  his  youth, 
(ten.  ^ii.  21.  The  same  reason,  that  is  alleged  why 
God  will  not  spare  the  world,  is  also  alleged  why  he 
will  spare  the  world.  It  ser\-cs  to  prove,  that  not 
man's  merit,  but  God's  mercy,  is  the  cause  why  con- 
fusion is  withholden.  "  I  am  the  Lord,  I  change  not ; 
therefore  ye  sons  of  Jacob  are  not  consumed,  Mai. 
iii.  G.  Let  them  trust  in  their  o\ni  works  ;  our  souls 
believe  on  this  ground,  the  righteousness  of  Jesus 
Christ.  This  is  the  faith,  and  thus  grounded,  that 
our  church  commends,  that  God  requires:  in  this 
we  live,  in  this,  and  for  this,  (if  need  be,)  let  us  die, 
that  we  may  live  for  ever.  Let  the  memon,-  of  her 
be  blessed,  even  that  our  Deborah,  whereof  all  tnie- 
hcartcd  English  are  glad  to  hear.     She  was  tnily 


Veb.  1. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


17 


the  defender  of  this  true,  ancient,  catholic,  and  apos- 
tolic faith  :  she  reared  up  the  preaching  of  this  faith, 
she  maintained  this  faitn,  she  lived  in  this  faith,  in 
this  faith  she  died;  applying  to  her  own  soul  the 
mercies  of  God  through  the  righteousness  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

Let  this  teach  every  soul  humbly  to  cast  himself 
down  at  the  feet  of  Christ,  and  to  be  beholden  to 
him  only  for  liis  salvation.  Our  best  works  are  but 
blanks,  and  when  they  come  before  him  shall  blush 
for  shame.  Let  us  then  go  out  of  ourselves,  and 
know  that  we  are  only  saved  by  the  righteousness  of 
our  Lord  Jesus. 

3.  We  collect  hence,  that  it  is  not  faith  which 
properly  saves  us,  but  the  righteousness  of  Christ 
whereon  it  is  grounded.  "  For  by  grace  are  ye  saved^ 
through  faith,"  Eph.  ii.  8 ;  by  grace  effectually, 
through  faith  instmmentally.  The  hand  is  said  to 
nourish  the  body,  not  of  its  own  nature  and  \-irtue, 
but  because  it  is  an  instrument  to  reach  meat  to  it. 
It  was  the  blood  of  the  paschal  lamb,  for  which  the 
destroying  angel  passed  over  the  Israelites'  houses ; 
faith  only  sprinkles  the  posts.  We  are  not  justified 
only  for  the  act  and  quality  of  belic\-ing;  it  is  the 
justice  of  Jesus  that  justifies  us,  which  faith  appre- 
hends. Faith  brings  the  cripple  to  the  Beautiful 
gate  of  the  temple,  Ac's  iii.  to  the  word  and  promises 
of  the  gospel ;  and  there  it  is  able  to  receive  (though 
with  a  sick  hand,  yet  with  a  hand)  the  arms  of  grace, 
Christ's  merits  and  mercies.  It  was  the  brazen  ser- 
pent that  healed,  noi  the  eye  that  looked  on  it ;  yet 
without  a  looking  eye,  there  was  no  help  to  the 
wounded  party  by  the  promised  \-irtue. 

4.  Obser^-e,  that  faith  had  need  of  a  good  founda- 
tion, for  it  is  a  heavy  and  weighty  building.  All 
other  virtues  lie  upon  faith,  as  their  basis.  Hope 
upon  faith,  for  no  man  hopes  for  that  which  he  be- 
lieves not :  as  patience  is  the  daughter  of  hope,  so 
hope  is  the  daughter  of  faith.  Repentance  lies  upon 
faith ;  for  how  should  contrition  for  sin  be  admitted, 
if  remission  of  sin  were  not  believed  ?  Charity  upon 
faith ;  why  should  we  part  with  our  goods  for  God's 
tause,  if  we  believe  not  that  God  would  with  ever- 
lasting charity  embrace  us  ?  Faith  bears  a  great 
weight ;  yet  the  righteousness  of  Clirist  bears  that 
and  all.  How  great  is  faith,  that  is  able  to  bear  up 
such  a  burden !  how  much  greater  is  Christ,  that  is 
able  to  bear  up  faith  ! 

Our  sins  are  of  infinite  number  and  pressure.  Doth 
any  man  extenuate  them  with  a  self-flattering  miti- 
gation ;  think  that  he  hath  but  a  few,  and  few  shall 
not  bring  him  to  judgment  ?  No  ;  they  are  infinite 
in  number,  heinous  in  nature,  swelling  in  measure  ; 
the  sands  of  the  sea,  hairs  of  our  heads,  stars  of 
heaven,  are  sooner  reckoned.  No  soul  of  itself  is  able 
to  stand  under  them  :  the  wncked  shall  one  day  find 
them  so  heavy,  that  they  will  think  rocks  and  moun- 
tains far  lighter ;  eiying  to  the  rocks,  Fall  on  us, 
and  to  the  mountains.  Cover  us.  Rev.  vi.  16.  Now 
faith  takes  all  this  burden  upon  her  shoulders ;  she 
brings  it  to  Christ,  and  he  takes  it  upon  his  shoulders  ; 
being  confident  of  his  fidelity,  that  it  shall  answer  the 
invitation  and  promise  of  his  mercy :  "  Come  unto 
me,  all  yc  that  labour  and  are  hea^-y  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest,"  Matt.  xi.  28. 

Our  miseries  are  many  and  mighty,  dejecting  us 
under  the  load ;  we  know  not  how  to  bear  them.  We 
bring  this  burden  also,  and  lay  it  upon  faith,  and  faith 
lays  it  upon  Christ.  Some  are  afflicted  in  reputation, 
as  Susanna  ;  others  in  children,  as  Eli :  some  by 
enemies,  as  David;  others  by  friends,  as  Joseph: 
some  in  body,  as  Lazams ;  others  in  goods,  as  Job ; 
others  in  liberty,  as  John.  In  all  extremities  let  us 
send  a  messenger  to  Christ  for-  ease,  faitliful  prayer. 


If  faith  can  but  carry  the  burden  to  him,  he  will  carry 
it  for  us  and  from  us  for  ever. 

Our  cares  are  many  and  mighty ;  loo  great  a  load 
for  ourselves  to  bear.  Fear  of  what  may  come,  ex- 
pectation of  what  will  come,  desire  of  what  will 
not  come ;  no  redress  of  all  these  in  ourselves  :  what 
flesh  and  blood  can  support  this  burden  ?  None ; 
therefore  faith  takes  Christ's  word,  and  lays  all  these 
doubts  or  sorrows  upon  his  righteousness,  that  who- 
soever hath  found  trouble  in  the  world,  may  find  rest 
in  the  Lord. 

Our  sicknesses,  our  pains,  our  departures,  are 
heavy.  Christ  hath  borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our 
sorrows.  We  have  all  erred  like  sheep,  and  the 
Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all,  Isa  liii. 
4,  6.  When  death,  that  proud  champion,  comes  in 
his  fearfullest  shape  to  affront  and  affright  us,  faith 
hath  recourse  to  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  and 
beseecheth  him  to  help  us  with  this  burden,  to  ease 
the  pangs  and  sweeten  the  bitterness  of  death,  and 
he  doth  it. 

5.  Lastly,  we  infer,  that  our  salvation  stands  sure 
in  the  Lord,  because  it  hath  this  ground,  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ.  God  doth  not  trust  us  with  our 
ovvn  life,  but  hides  it  in  his  Son  Jesus.  "  Ye  are 
dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God,"  Col. 
iii.  3.  Otherwise,  if  it  were  in  our  own  hands,  we 
should  easily  be  tempted  to  sell  it ;  as  Adam  did  for 
an  apple,  and  Esau  for  a  mess  of  pottage.  But  po~ 
vilur  in  tiilo,  quia  reponitur  in  Christo,  it  cannot  but 
be  safe,  which  the  Lord  keeps.  Happy  soul,  whose 
treasure  is  thus  laid  up,  where  no  nist  or  moth  can 
coiTupt  it,  no  thief  break  through  to  steal  it !  An 
English  merchant  that  trades  in  Turkey,  does  not 
build  or  plant  in  Turkey,  but  transports  all  for  Eng- 
land. The  burgesses  of  heaven  may  admit  some 
slight  traffic  in  this  world,  but  they  lay  up  all  for  their 
own  countrv".  What  folly  is  tliis  for  a  man,  to  hoard 
up  his  treasure  there,  where  he  is  sure  he  must  not 
continue ;  and  not  to  convey  it  thither,  where  is  con- 
tinuance for  ever !  (Chiys.)  If  earth  should  vanish 
and  nature  dissolve ;  yea,  if  heaven  pass  away  with 
a  noise,  and  the  elements  melt  with  heat,  mat  or- 
cus,  et  ortus,  I  will  look  to  the  righteousness  of  my 
Saviour  Christ,  and  stand  upright.  Let  all  our  ene- 
mies do  their  worst,  the  devil  tempt,  the  world  afllict, 
sin  menace,  death  affright ;  yet  faith  shall  vanquish 
all  through  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ.  He 
is  righteous  that  hath  promised.  "  It  is  a  righteous 
thing  with  God  to  recompense  tribulation  to  them 
that  trouble  you ;  and  to  you  who  are  troubled  rest 
with  us,  wiien  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from 
heaven  with  his  mighty  angels,"  2  Thess.  i.  6, 7-  Let 
no  man  dare  to  call  the  righteousness  of  Clvrist  into 
question:  woe  unto  him  that  shall  make  God  a  liar! 
Shall  he  say,  Whosoever  believes  shall  be  saved,  and 
shall  we  doubt  ?  Shall  we  annihilate  his  cross, 
evacuate  his  blood,  ran  into  the  fire  from  whence 
we  are  ransomed,  and  die  past  hope  ?  God  forbid  it, 
and  the  faith  of  our  own  souls  forbid  it ;  there  is  as- 
surance of  salvation  tlu-ough  the  righteousness  of 
Christ. 


Verse  2. 

Grace  and  peace  be  multiplied  unto  you  through  the 
knowledge  of  God,  and  of  Jesus  our  Lord. 

The  person  saluting,  and  the  persons  saluted,  are 
considered ;  the  salutation  itself  follows,  "  Grace  and 
peace,"  &c.  This  form  of  salutation  is  usual  with 
the  apostles,  and  useful  for  us.    Whereby  they  ex- 


18 


AN  EXPOSITION   UPON  THE 


Chap.  1. 


press  tne  trae  exercise  of  their  office,  to  bring  grace 
and  peace  in  their  mouths.   In  the  salutation  consider, 

I.  The  mailer,  Grace  and  peace. 

II.  The  measure,  Be  multiplied  unto  you. 

III.  The  manner,  Tlu-ough  the  knowledge  of 
God,  &c. 

I.  "  Grace  and  peace ;"  this  is  the  matter.  It  liath 
been  an  ordinary  custom  in  the  Jewish,  pagan,  and 
Christian  world,  to  begin  their  letters  with  saluta- 
tions ;  and  in  tlicse  to  wish  their  friends  that  they 
thought  the  best  good.  Some  wished  prosperity, 
others  health  and  jovisance,  others  summed  up  all 
in  a  contented  mind.  Some  wrote,  Cura  ut  bene 
Vttleas ;  others,  Cuia  ut  bene  vivas.  One  wishcth 
soundness  to  their  bodies,  another  integrity  to  (heir 
lives.  All  those  were  far  short  of  that  true  blessed- 
ness, which  the  apostles  saw  to  be  in  Christ  Jesus : 
therefore,  Grace  and  peace  be  to  you ;  this  salius,  and 
satis :  this  was  so  good  there  could  be  no  better; 
this  was  so  much  there  need  be  no  more.  This  is  a 
short,  but  effectual  prayer  frequently  used  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  not  seldom  in  our  liturgy.  Such  are, 
The  Lord  be  with  you,  &c.  Those  over-devout  and 
factious  Pharisees,  that  love  long  prayers  and  short 
good  deeds,  call  these  short  ejaculations,  shreddings. 
But  one  well  answers  them,  that  these  shreddings 
and  lists  arc  of  more  value  tlian  their  northern  broad- 
cloth that  shrinks  in  the  wetting. 

Wp  are  here  taught  the  Christian  use  of  salutings, 
blessings,  and  gratnlations  :  such  godly  compliments 
are  not  to  be  neglected.  It  is  the  brand  of  the 
church's  enemies,  "  Neither  do  they  which  go  by- 
say.  The  blessing  of  the  Lord  be  upon  you,"  nor,  "  We 
bless  you  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  Psal.  exxix.  8 : 
therefore  (hey  are  cursed;  "Let  them  all  be  con- 
founded that  hate  Zion,"  ver.  5.  Good  men  have 
ever  used  them :  Boaz  to  the  reapers,  "  The  Lord  be 
with  you.  And  they  answered  him.  The  Lord  bless 
thee,"  Ruth  ii.  4.  A  glorious  angel  thus  saluted 
Gideon,  "  The  Lord  is  with  thee,  thou  mighty 
man  of  valour,"  Judg.  vi.  12.  An  archangel  to  a  poor 
virgin ;  "  Hail,  thou  that  art  highly  favoured,  the  Lord 
is  with  thee  :  blessed  art  thou  among  women,"  Luke  i. 
28.  St.  Paul  spends  a  whole  chapter  in  salutations  ; 
Romans,  the  last.  What  people  had  not  their  own 
forms  of  saluting  ?  the  Uunu^axi?,,  Dominun  vobiscum  ; 
the  Ethiopians,  Pax  vobis  ;  the  Hebrews,  v-lve :  the 
Romans,  Salve.  Superiors  must  perfonn  this  duty  to 
inferiors;  inferiors  in  reverence  to  superiors;  all  in 
love  one  to  another.  There  is  a  generation  of  men 
that  teach  it  is  unlawful  to  salute  men  with,  Good 
day,  God  be  with  you,  or,  Peace  be  to  you.  They 
will  salute  none  with  a  good  wish  xmless  they  know 
his  business.  As  if  every  man's  business  required  so 
little  haste,  as  to  tarry  the  leisure  of  their  acquaint- 
ance. If  all  men  shouhl  jdedge  them  in  tlieir  own 
cup,  they  might  pass  their  whole  life  without  a  God 
speed.  They  say,  We  cannot  tell  whither  he  goes,  or 
about  what;  it  may  be  he  is  going  to  the  tavern  to 
be  drunk.  It  is  but  a  peradventure  that  he  is  going 
to  be  drunk,  but  without  all  peradventure  thou  art  not 
sober,  that  darest  so  rashly  judge  thy  brother.  It  is 
andc  in  law  and  love.  Every  man  is  to  be  reputed 
honest  till  he  be  disproved.  "  Charity  thinketh  no 
evil,"  1  Cor.  xiii.  5.  In  Friesland  there  was  a  false 
prophet,  one  George  David,  who  called  himself  God's 
ncpnew  ;  and  said,  heaven  was  empty,  and  that  he 
was  sent  to  choose  some  to  fdl  it.  We  have  some 
separatists  such  mad  prophets,  that  will  elect  and 
damn  whom  they  please.  But  as  themselves  say,  (he 
pope  hath  no  aM(hority  to  make  saints;  so  we  .say, 
they  have  tio  aulhority  to  make  devils.  As  many  (if 
the  pope's  8ain(s  are  reproba(es  in  hell,  so  many  of 
their  reprobates  are  saints  in  heaven. 


But  they  object,  that  Christ  for  greeting  taxed  the 
Pharisees;  "They  love  greetings  in  the  markets,'' 
Matt,  xxiii.  J.  I  answer,  he  taxed  their  ambi- 
tion, not  their  gratulation ;  he  blamed  not  their 
affection,  but  (heir  affectation.  It  was  the  direct 
charge,  "  When  ye  come  into  an  house  salute  it," 
Matt.  X.  12.  But  St.  John  forbiddeth  the  elect 
lady  to  give  some  men  the  God  speed;  "  For  he 
that  biddelh  him  God  speed  is  partaker  of  his  evil 
deeds,"  John  ii.  11.  The  answer  is  easy.  The  apostle 
si)ake  of  some  notorious  apostates  and  dangerous 
lieretics  :  now  to  salute  such  might  induce  some 
familiar  conference,  which  he  would  not  have  the 
good  lady  admit.  So  Cyprian,  Let  there  be  no  com- 
merce with  them ;  but  receive  them  not  to  thy  private 
house,  that  will  not  communicate  with  thee  in  God's 
house.  She  might  be  weak  and  simple,  they  strong 
and  subtle.  For  there  are  some  that  "  creep  into 
houses,  and  lead  captive  silly  women  laden  with  sins, 
led  away  with  divers  lusts,"  2  Tim.  iii.  6;  and  then 
the  best  way  is  to  shut  them  out  of  doors.  But  is 
every  man  a  heretic,  that  we  should  so  blanch  him  ? 
But  they  plead  further.  We  know  not  every  passenger 
to  be  a  brother.  The  greater  their  pride,  that  think 
themselves  too  good  to  brother  witn  them  that  are 
baptized  into  Jesus  Christ.  Charity  would  presume 
all  those  that  are  washed  in  the  same  sacramental 
water  with  ourselves,  to  be  our  brothers.  Indeed,  to 
declare  tliem  truly,  they  think  no  man  their  brother 
that  holds  with  ceremony,  decency,  and  discipline. 
But  St.  Paul  tells  them,  that  the  true  bond  of 
unity  is  not  one  ceremony,  nor  one  policy,  nor  one 
discipline ;  but  "  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism," 
kc.  Eph.  iv.  4.  There  is  dilference  between  another 
discipline  and  another  doctrine.  But,  lastly,  (hey 
allege,  that  in  these  short  passages  men  talk  of  God, 
but  think  not  of  him,  and  so  take  his  name  in  vain. 
Nay,  but  is  not  this  rather  to  take  God's  name  in 
vain,  to  avouch  so  uncouth  an  error  ?  Why  shouldst 
thou  think  that  men  think  not  of  God.  "  For  what 
man  knoweth  tlie  things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of 
man  which  is  in  him?"  ICor.ii.  II.  Yield  that  there 
is  sometimes  less  intention  in  these  short  blessings 
than  in  settled  devotions  :  what  then,  shall  we  forbid 
men  to  pray,  because  their  minds  are  often  wander- 
ing ;  or  children  to  say  grace,  because  they  do  not 
perfectly  understand?  Certainly  it  is  good  to  inure 
the  mouth  (o  gracious  speeches.  Thus  Elisha  dis- 
missed Naaman,  "  Go  in  peace  :"  though  he  did  not 
approve  his  fact,  yet  he  bids  him  farewell ;  "  Go  in 
peace,"  2  Kings  v.  19.  If  thou  dost  wish  this  good 
to  an  evil  man,  thovi  art  never  the  worse,  (hough  he 
be  never  the  better.  "  First  say.  Peace  be  to  this 
house.  And  if  the  son  of  peace  be  there,  your  peace 
shall  rest  upon  it :  if  not,  it  shall  (urn  to  you  again," 
Luke  X.  5,  (5.  So  David  prayed  and  mourned  for  his 
enemies;  and  though  he  could  not  be  heard  for  them, 
he  was  heard  (or  himself,  "  My  prayer  returned  into 
mine  own  bosom,"  Psal.  xxxv.  1,'3.  If  the  saluted  be 
going  about  some  bad  enterprise,  yet  our  blessing 
hath  more  likelihood  to  reclaim  the  error  of  our 
brother,  than  (o  proclaim  any  error  of  our  own.  If 
God  be  with  him,  his  bad  purpose  will  be  diverted 
from  the  execution:  our  prayers  shall  not  further, 
but  hinder,  his  intended  wickedness. 

We  are  further  (aught  here  (o  use  good  forms  in 
sahuing.  "  Grace  and  peace,"  gracious, not  grievous; 
holy,  no(  hollow;  blessings,  not  curses;  not  an  exe- 
cration instead  of  a  benedicrion.  There  be  idle,  pro- 
fane, and  unrelishing  complimen(s :  either  (hrough 
curiosi(y  or  curiali(y.  Christian  salutations  arc  (bought 
gross.  Instead  of,  God  be  with  you,  I  kiss  your 
hand,  I  am  your  slave,  &-c. :  these  arc  the  elegancies 
of  our  times.     Indeed  there  is  one  salutation  left  us, 


Ver.  2. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


19 


and  frequent  with  us,  good  in  itself,  if  it  had  the  luck 
to  light  into  good  men's  months ;  it  is,  God  save  you. 
But  as  it  hath  been  satirically  observed,  these  days 
are  not  altogether  uncharitable ;  for  whereas  God 
chargeth  men  to  love  others  as  themselves,  many  love 
others  belter  than  themselves.  You  shall  have  a 
ruffian  .salute  another  with,  God  save  you,  sir ;  but 
after  some  strange  attestations,  swear  away  himself 
with,  God  damn  me,  sir:  so  he  wishes  his  friend 
saved,  himself  damned.  How  wretched  is  it,  and 
unbecoming  the  tongue  of  a  Christian,  when  a  curse 
comes  instead  of  a  blessing !  When  a  master  shall 
curse  his  servants ;  as  if  God's  curse  could  not  come 
to  his  house,  but  through  his  own  lips  !  But  when  it 
comes  to  this,  that  parents  curse  their  children,  oh 
fearful !  The  child  kneels  for  a  blessing,  the  fether 
gives  it  a  curse.  If  we  wish  the  plague  and  such 
noisome  diseases  to  them  that  live  with  us,  how 
should  we  escape  it  ourselves  ? 

Let  us  always  therefore  wish  well  to  our  friends, 
Grace,  peace,  and  salvation  ;  yea,  to  our  veiy 
enemies,  "Bless  them  that  curse  you,"  Matt.  v.  44. 
For  if  grace  comes,  though  before  they  were  evil 
enemies,  now  they  shall  be  neither  evil  nor  enemies. 
You  see  now  the  sweetness  of  the  apostle's  benedic- 
tion :  Origen  thinks  no  whit  inferior  to  the  blessings 
Sronounccd  by  the  patriarchs  ;  as  the  blessing  of 
foah  upon  Shcm  and  Japheth,  Melchisedek's  upon 
Abraham,  Isaac's  upon  Jacob ;  because  they  blessed 
by  the  same  Spirit.  For  St.  Peter  might  say  with 
St.  Paul,  "I  think  also  that  I  have  the  Spirit  of 
God,"  1  Cor.  vii.  40.  Only  it  was  not  usual  in  the 
Old  Testament  to  use  this  blessing  of  grace ;  "  for 
the  law  was  given  by  Moses,  but  grace  and  tnith 
came  by  Jesus  Christ,"  John  i.  17. 

"  Grace  and  peace  ;"  this  is  the  voice  of  the  minis- 
ters of  the  gospel :  so  Christ  directed  them.  Peace 
be  to  you,  Luke  x.  The  prophets  began  with  woe  : 
Woe  to  a  sinful  nation,  Isa.  i.  The  Lord  hath  a  con- 
troversy with  the  land,  Hos.  iv.  For  three  trans- 
gressions, and  for  four,  &c.  Amos  i.  But  the  gospel 
begins,  Fear  not,  for  I  bring  you  tidings  of  great  joy 
that  shall  be  to  all  people,  Luke  ii.  10.  We  have  not 
received  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to  fear,  but  the 
Spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  Abba,  Father, 
Bom.  viii.  15.  They  come  not  with  bitter  violence, 
like  those  two  hot  disciples,  whom  nothing  could' 
content  but  fire  from  heaven.  But  is  there  not  a 
time  to  reprove,  as  well  as  to  comfort  ?  Yes,  there  is 
a  season  wlien  that  still  voice  that  came  to  Elijah, 
the  voice  that  thou  hearest  behind  thee,  Isa.  xxx. 
21,  those  low  whisperings,  can  do  no  good.  And  then 
God  is  content  we  should  derive  from  his  throne 
thunderings,  and  lightnings,  and  louder  sounds,  Rev. 
iv.  5.  When  Israel  in  Moses's  absence  had  turned 
beasts,  and  carved  an  idolatrous  image,  Moses  did 
not  dance  after  tkcir  pipe,  and  laugh  at  their  super- 
stitious merriment ;  but  with  great  zeal  reproved 
their  folly,  and  with  indignation  confoimded  their 
idol.  "Behold,  all  the  earth  sittcth  still,  and  is  at 
rest,"  Zcch.  i.  11.  The  people  sit  down  to  cat  and 
drink,  and  rise  tip  to  play,  1  Cor.  x.  7.  If  this  be  the 
worhi's  state,  we  should  be  false  prophets  to  cry  no- 
thing but  peace.  If  your  lives  proclaim  wars  against 
God,  we  must  denounce  God's  wars  against  you. 
We  would  fain  at  every  sermon  say  nothing  but 
peace  to  this  audience,  but  our  God  says,  "  There  is 
no  peace  to  the  wicked."  We  would  sing  with  the 
angels,  "  Peace  on  earth,  and  good  will  towards 
men  j"  but  "how  shall  we  sing  the  Lord's  songs  in 
a  strange  land?"  Psal.  cxxxvii.  4.  We  have  preached 
honour,  and  peace,  and  salvation,  and  an  incorruptible 
crown  of  glory,  and  were  not  regarded.  AVhat  remains 
then,  but  to  preach  fire  from  heaven,  mists,  and  clouds, 


and  darkness,  and  torments  for  days  and  nights,  and 
eternal  generations  of  years?  We  have  sung,  "With 
thee,  O  Lord,  is  mercy,  that  thou  mayst  be  feared :" 
now  we  change  our  note.  With  thee  is  vengeance, 
that  thou  mayst  be  feared.  If  the  spirit  of  gentle- 
ness can  do  no  good,  a  rod  must  come.  If  the  songs 
of  Zion  cannot  mollify,  the  thunders  of  Sinai  must 
terrify.  A  man  is  desperately  sick;  another  tells  him 
of  great  riches,  of  lordships,  and  manors,  and  fair 
purchases;  alas,  this  is  an  unseasonable  speech :  he 
answers,  First  restore  me  to  health,  then  talk  to  me 
of  wealth.  Men's  souls  are  sick  of  sin,  and  at  death's 
door ;  never  tell  them  of  heaven  and  an  immortal 
kingdom,  till  they  be  first  recovered  from  the  jaws  of 
hell,  and  delivered  out  of  the  snare  of  the  devil :  first 
humble  them  by  the  law,  then  revive  them  with 
the  gospel.  Let  us  see  your  humiliation,  your  re- 
pentance ;  let  us  hear  your  groans,  we  will  tiien  give 
you  comforts :  we  dare  not  apply  the  oil  of  consola- 
tion, till  we  have  scoured  your  festered  wounds  with 
the  sharp  wine  of  reprehension.  When  we  behold 
your  cheeks  blul)bered  vnth  tears,  your  hands  beat- 
ing your  breasts,  your  cries  resounding  at  heaven- 
gates  for  mercy ;  then  is  the  time  to  say,  Grace  and 
peace  unto  you. 

"  Grace."  To  omit  the  divers  acceptations  of  grace, 
by  it  is  generally  meant,  the  receiving  of  the  sinner 
into  the  covenant  of  mercy,  into  God's  favour  by 
Christ.  It  is  our  second  birth  :  our  first  was,  of  the 
lust  of  the  flesh ;  our  second,  of  water  and  blood  by 
the  Holy  Ghost.  Thus  are  we  changed  into  other 
men.  As  in  the  resurrection  we  shall  be  the  same 
and  not  the  same ;  the  same  in  substance,  and  not  in 
quality  :  so  in  our  first  resurrection  by  grace,  a  man 
is  the  same  and  not  the  same ;  the  same  for  constitu- 
tion, not  the  same  for  disposition.  For  before  our 
hearts  were  proud,  now  they  are  made  humble ;  be- 
fore covetous,  now  charitable ;  before  set  on  worldly 
delights,  now  on  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  and 
the  invaluable  riches  of  a  good  conscience. 

Christian  virtues  are  not  natural ;  a  man  is  not  more 
bom  with  grace  in  his  soul,  than  with  apparel  on  his 
back.  "There  is  none  righteous, no,  not  one,"  Rom. 
iii.  10.  If  there  were,  what  need  was  there  of  a  new 
creation  ?  The  philosophers  said  that  nature  had  the 
sparks  and  seeds  of  virtue  in  it.  But  St.  Paul  says, 
"  I  know  that  in  me  (that  is,  in  my  flesh)  dwelleth 
no  good  thing,"  Rom.  vii.  18 :  but  if  there  be  any 
good  in  me,  "by  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am," 
1  Cor.  XV.  10.  The  Rhemists  quarrel  with  St.  Paul 
for  calling  concupiscence  a  sin,  which  he  proves  to 
be  a  breach  of  the  last  commandment.  "  For  I  had 
not  known  concupiscence,  except  the  law  had  said, 
Thou  shah  not  covet,"  Rom.  vii.  7-  They  have  in 
their  catechisms  put  out  one  of  the  former  precepts, 
and  to  make  up  again  the  decalogue,  and  number  of 
ten,  they  have  cut  the  last  precept  into  twain.  There, 
to  serve  their  turns,  they  make  of  the  last  command- 
ment two  ;  here,  to  serve  their  turns,  they  make  of 
it  none.  They  are  great  patrons  of  nature  in  their 
doctrines,  and  enemies  of  grace ;  yet  nature  is  not 
so  much  beholden  to  them  neither:  for  they  take 
children  from  mothers,  obedience  of  subjects  from 
kings,  care  of  preservation  from  a  man's  self;  hurry 
them  into  damageable,  yea,  damnable  precipices ; 
and  dissolve  all  natural  combinations.  Their  Jupiter 
Capitolinus  must  drink  nothing  but  human  blood. 
Yet  they  are  all  for  nature,  as  if  they  cared  not  for 
grace. 

There  is  a  grace  that  works  freely,  but  not  effectu- 
ally ;  which  may  be  had,  and  lost ;  and  this  is  short 
of  the  apostle's  wisli.  There  is  a  grace  that  makes 
him  acceptable  to  God  that  hath  it ;  this  the  apostle 
wisheth,  and  it  can  never  be  lost.     It  is  the  uvmg 


ao 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


fire  of  the  Spirit,  that  can  never  be  quenched.  I 
will  send  you  a  Comforter,  that  shall  abide  with  you 
for  ever,  John  xiv.  16.  But  how  did  the  grace  of 
this  S|)irit  abide  in  David  and  Peter,  in  the  midst  of 
those  fearful  lapses,  which  might  be  called  in  respect 
of  manners,  plain  apostacies  ?  The  grace  was  shaken 
in  them,  not  shaken  out  of  them :  it  was  moved,  not 
removed.  Tliere  was  a  weakening,  not  annihilation 
of  grace.  This  is  that  grace,  which  makes  our 
bodies  the  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  whereas  sin 
renders  them  the  devil's  kitchens. 

"  Grace : "  what  need  the  apostle  wish  this  to  them 
that  already  had  it  ?  for  all  tney  that  have  received 
the  gospel,  have  also  received  grace.  To  this  we 
answer  diversly  :  1.  By  grace  in  these  aposlolical 
benedictions,  Ambrose  only  understands  the  remis- 
sion of  sins  ;  a  certain  gift  of  the  soul  which  makes 
men  acceptable  to  God:  but  no  gift  of  the  soul  can 
make  it  acceptable  to  God,  but  only  his  favour  in 
Christ.  The  poets  took  grace  for  a  delectable 
beauty,  sightliness,  or  trimness  of  behaviour.  But 
divinity  teacheth  us,  that  it  is  the  favour  of  God 
towards  us  in  his  Son  Jesus  ;  "  By  whom  also  we 
have  access  by  faith  into  this  grace  wherein  we 
stand,"  Rom.  v.  2;  that  is,  the  favour  of  God.  It  is 
his  "grace  wherein  he  hath  made  us  accepted  in  the 
Beloved."  And  "  we  have  redemption  through  his 
blood,  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  according  to  the  riches 
of  his  grace,"  Eph.  i.  G,  7-  In  a  word,  grace  is  bi- 
frons,  like  John  Baptist,  it  looks  two  ways ;  and  is 
taken  so  especially,  first,  for  God's  favour,  whereby 
we  are  made  just ;  then  for  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit, 
whereby  we  are  made  holy  :  that  is  the  mother,  these 
the  daughters ;  that  x'^P'Sj  these  x'lP'i'^'"""-  Now 
then  here  is  grace  taken  in  the  efl'ects :  as  Paul, 
"  Grace  bo  witn  all  them  that  love  our  Lord  Jesus," 
Eph.  vi.  24.  Now  all  they  that  love  the  Lord  Jesus, 
have  the  mother  grace,  that  is,  the  favour  of  God ; 
therefore  the  apostle  wisheth  the  multiplication  and 
confirmation  of  the  daughters,  the  blessed  elTects  of 
this  favour.  If  any  man  object,  What  needs  man  more 
than  the  grace  of  God  ?  I  answer,  the  grace  of  God 
that  justifies  hath  neither  more  nor  less,  admits  no 
latitude,  as  being  absolute  and  perfect  in  itself;  for  a 
man  cannot  be  more  than  justified.  But  the  grace  of 
God  that  sanctifies,  needs  continual  increasing.  The 
talents  intrusted  by  the  Lord  to  his  sen-ants,  !Matt. 
-XXV.  15,  are  graces  given  ;  the  husbanding,  trafficking, 
and  thriving  with  those  talents,  is  the  improvement 
of  those  graces.  I  hope  there  is  no  man  hath  so 
much  grace  in  his  opinion,  tliat  he  will  scorn  or  re- 
fuse another's  appreciation.  The  grace  of  Jesus 
Christ  be  with  thee. 

This  is  one  answer ;  that  grace  may  be  veiy  well 
wished  to  them  that  already  have  it.  But,  2.  That 
distinction  which  St.  Paul  himself  implies,  Rom.  vi. 
betwixt  being  in  grace,  and  being  under  grace,  doth 
yet  more  contcntfuUy  satisfy.  For,  as  Augustine 
said,  it  is  one  thing  to  walk  in  the  law,  another  thing 
to  walk  under  the  law  ;  so  it  is  one  thing  to  be  under 
grace,  and  another  to  be  in  grace.  To  live  inidcr 
grace  is  opposed  to  the  state  of  the  law :  "  Ye  are 
not  under  the  law,  but  under  grace,"  Rom.  vi.  14. 
To  live  in  grace  is  opposed  to  the  state  of  sin.  How 
shall  we,  that  l;j-  grace  are  dead  to  sin,  live  any 
longer  therein  ?  ver,  2.     There  arc  four  (hfTcrences : 

Some  are  in  grace,  but  not  under  grace. 

Some  are  under  grace,  but  not  in  grace. 

Some  are  neither  in  grace  nor  under  grace. 

Some  arc  both  in  grace  and  under  grace. 

1.  Many  prophets  and  holy  men  of  the  first  times 
lived  in  grace,  but  not  under  grace.  They  desired 
to  see  the  day  of  Christ,  and  to  hear  such  things  as 
we  have  heard,  and  were  not  suffered,  Luke  x.  24 ; 


yet  were  they  saved  by  faith  j\.  the  redemption  to 
come,  and  led  their  lives  in  the  grace  of  Christ. 

2.  Many  in  our  times  live  under  grace,  but  they 
live  not  in  grace;  hearing  the  gospel,  and  receiving 
the  grace  of  God  in  vain,  2  Cor.  vi.  1.  They  have 
nvrmam  gratiw  in  their  heads,  anHformam  graliiB  in 
their  dissembling  professions,  but  not  the  truth  of 
grace  in  their  hearts.  They  are  in  the  light,  but 
the  light  is  not  in  them.  They  have  accepted  the 
show,  but  denied  the  power  of  godliness.  They  say 
they  are  grace's,  but  grace  is  none  of  theirs. 

3.  The  unbelieving  Gentiles  were  neither  in  grace 
nor  imder  grace.  Not  in  it,  for  they  walked  after 
their  own  lusts.  Not  under  it,  for  they  were  "  with- 
out Christ,  and  strangers  from  the  covenants  of 
promise,"  Eph.  ii.  12.  The  sun  was  not  risen  to 
them,  they  could  not  see  it. 

4.  They  that  now  believe  are  both  under  grace 
and  in  it.  Under  it,  as  released  from  the  damning 
power  of  sin ;  for  there  is  no  damnation  to  them 
that  arc  in  Christ,  Rom.  viii.  I.  In  it,  as  delivered 
from  the  reigning  power  of  sin ;  that  they  no  more 
obey  it  in  the  lusts  thereof.  The  God  of  all  mercy 
be  blessed,  that  hath  given  us  this  grace;  and  may 
our  thankful  hearts  ever  acknowledge  it.  For  we 
"  are  no  more  strangers  and  foreigners,  but  fellow- 
citizens  with  the  saints,  and  of  the  household  of 
God,"  Eph.  ii.  19.  Christ  now  speaks  to  us  by  the 
mouth  of  his  ministers,  Come,  ser^■ant,  enter  into  thy 
Master's  grace :  one  day  he  will  speak  by  his  own 
mouth.  Enter  into  thy  Master's  g\ov\. 

"Peace"  is  also  diversly  accepted:  here  I  take 
it  specially  for  the  tranquillity  of  conscience  ;  that 
which  follows  righteousness.  For  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  eoi  sists  in  "  righteousness,  and  peace,  and 
joy  in  the  K^ly  Ghost,"  Rom.  xiv.  17.  "Being  justi- 
fied by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God,"  Rom.  v.  1. 
In  the  latitude  it  may  comprehend  all  those  things 
that  conduce  to  our  well-being.  It  is  a  sweet  nature ; 
pacem  le poscuims  onmes,  who  loves  not  peace?  If 
any  man  hate  peace,  his  neighbourhood,  his  com- 
pany, his  breath,  liis  very  sight  is  offensive  to  men. 
"  My  soul  hath  long  dwelt  with  him  that  hatcth 
peace,"  Psal.  cxx.  6.  If  some  particulars  be  divided, 
and  lose  their  peace,  the  general  mourns.  "  For  the 
divisions  of  Reuben  there  were  great  thoughts  of 
heart,"  Judg.  v.  15.  Let  it  be  the  epitaph  of  anti- 
christ. Discord's  ccmmon  ineendiarj-;  as  of  Pope 
Sixtus, 

Non poluit  stpvum  ris  iilla  eaitinmiere  Sijilum  : 
AMdito  tandem  nomine  pads,  obit. 

No  war,  no  contention,  could  kill  Sixtus  ;  but  when 
he  heard  the  name  of  peace,  he  swooned  and  died. 
But  let  it  be  a  Simeon's  song.  Lord,  let  thy  ser\-ant 
depart  in  peace.  There  is  peace  external,  peace 
internal,  peace  eternal.  An  outward  peace  of  the 
world.  "  If  it  be  possible,  as  much  as  lieth  in  you, 
live  peaceably  with  all  men,"  Rom.  xii.  18.  An  in- 
ward peace  of  the  mind,  consisting  in  the  tranquillity 
of  well-ordered  affections,  and  in  the  conscience  of 
a  man's  own  innocency ;  mens  sancia,  pax  sancita. 
An  everlasting  peace  of  God;  when  the  Holy  Ghost 
dwelleth  with  us,  and  in  us,  John  xiv.  17.  This 
comes  not  alone,  but  hath  before  it.  Take  up  my  yoke, 
and  you  shall  find  peace.  Matt.  xi.  29;  and.  Take 
up  my  cross,  and  you  shall  have  peace  ;  and.  He  mu>t 
be  my  senant,  Luke  ii.  29,  and  follow  my  word, 
and  then  he  shall  have  my  peace.  And  so  I  come 
from  considering  this  sweet  pair  of  graces  asunder, 
to  join  them  again  together,  as  I  found  them; 
whence  derive  we  three  obser\'ations. 

1.  It  is  not  enough  to  wish  grace  to  the  souls  of 
our  friends,  but  also  peace;  that  is,  health  to  their 


Vtp.  'i. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


21 


bodies,  and  other  temporal  blessings.  Nothing  but 
grace  ?  Yes,  doubtless.  Paul  begins  his  Second 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  with  grace  and  peace,  and 
ends  it  with  a  farewell,  2  Cor.  xiii.  11.  Which 
demonstration  of  love  extends  as  far  as  all  manner 
of  prosperity,  for  heaven  or  earth,  for  soul  or  body. 
Our  Saviour's  prayer  was  not  only  for  grace,  "  Thy 
kingdom  come,"  but  also  for  "  daily  bread."  St. 
John  to  his  well-beloved  Gaius,  wished  above  all 
things  that  he  might  prosper,  and  be  in  health,  as 
his  soul  prospered,  3  John  2.  He  that  wisheth  not 
well  to  his  brother's  body,  never  wished  well  to  his 
soul.  The  good  man's  desire  is  for  both,  that  there 
may  dwell  a  sound  soul  in  a  sound  body.  And  this 
not  in  a  formal  compliment,  but  an  inward  hearti- 
ness. For  there  are  some  that  "  speak  peace  to 
their  neighbours,  but  mischief  is  in  their  hearts," 
Psal.  xxviii.  3.  And  Judas  had  a  "  Hail,  Master,"  as 
well  as  Gabriel  a  "  Hail,  Mary."  We  pray  for  you, 
only  do  you  wish  well  to  yourselves ;  cross  not 
another's  prayers  for  your  own  good. 

2.  The  apostle  puts  ijrace  before  peace  :  so  nature 
told  us  in  the  mouth  of  tier  great  secretary,  Aristotle, 
that  justice  is  the  elder  sister  to  peace.  Agreement 
in  evil  is  not  love,  but  conspiracy :  such  men  have 
only  the  terror  and  guilt  of  conscience  for  their  com- 
bination. The  Scripture  tells  us,  that  "  righteous- 
ness and  peace  have  kissed  each  other,"  Psal.  Ixxxv. 
10.  Live  righteously,  and  thou  shalt  have  peace. 
(August.)  "Depart  from  evil,  and  do  good;  seek 
peace,  and  pursue  it,"  Psal.  xxxiv.  14  :  nay,  thou 
shalt  not  need  to  follow  it,  for  it  shall  follow  thee ; 
peace  \(nll  come  of  itself  to  seek  righteousness.  On 
(he  contrarj-,  where  is  no  love  of  goodness,  there  can 
be  no  goodness  of  love.  We  ask  our  watchman,  as 
Joram  did  Jehu,  "  Is  it  peace  ?"  2  Kings  ix.  22.  He 
nnist  answer,  Alas,  what  peace,  when  there  is  no 
grace  ?  There  is  many  a  Dives  dreaming  of  nothing 
Imt  ease  and  peace  in  his  life ;  "  Soul,  take  thine 
ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  meny,"  Luke  sii.  19.  There 
is  many  a  Balaam  desiring  nothing  but  peace  in  his 
death ;  but  he  must  live  in  gi'ace,  that  would  die  in 
peace.  It  is  a  vulgarism.  Such  a  man  died  like  a 
lamb,  though  perhaps  lie  lived  like  a  wolf.  As 
though  consumptions  migiit  not  spend  men's  choleric 
humours,  apoplexies  stop  the  passages,  which  other- 
wise would  not  be  fuller  of  pains  than  rcluctations ; 
as  though  palsies  might  not  take  away  speech, 
lethargies  dull,  and  dropsies  drown,  the  vital  spirits. 
There  be  many  causes  in  nature  to  make  men  die 
Huietly,  not  sanctifiedly.  Sisera  after  a  draught  of 
milk  was  no  more  sensible  of  Jael's  hammer,  than 
Holoferncs  after  a  tun  of  wine  was  of  Judith's  sword. 
But  tnie  peace  will  not  sup  where  grace  hath  not 
broken  her  fast.  Our  peace  below  is  a  continual 
war  against  Satan ;  shall  be  above,  an  eternal  victory 
over  Satan.  "  Be  diligent  that  ye  may  be  found  of 
(iod  in  peace,  without  spot,  and  blameless,"  2  Pet. 
iii.  14.  You  see  the  way  to  be  found  of  God  in  peace ; 
it  is  to  be  furnished  with  grace,  to  be  without  spot, 
and  blameless. 

3.  The  apostle  wisheth  to  us  the  best  things,  grace 
and  peace.  There  be  two  fiends  that  torment  us, 
sin  and  a  bad  conscience.  Now  grace  delivers  from 
sin,  and  peace  doth  quiet  the  conscience.  By  these 
two  mentioned,  may  all  graces  and  blessings  be 
synecdochically  understood  :  howsoever,  where  these 
are  truly,  the  rest  caintot  be  ^\■anting.  Jehoshaphat 
gave  all  his  children  portions  and  legacies,  silver  and 
gold;  but  he  gave  the  kingd(mi  to  Jehoram.  God 
gives  the  best  to  the  best.  Spiritual  things  from 
God  in  Christ  are  most  to  be  desired  of  us,  and  they 
love  us  best  that  wish  us  theSe  things.  It  is  not 
jdeasure  our  apostle  wished  them ;  pleasures  are  like 


Jairus's  minstrels,  music  in  a  house  of  mourning : 
there  is  more  need  of  weeping  and  lamentations  for 
our  sins.  Not  security ;  for  a  wicked  man's  secure 
and  untroubled  mind  is  like  the  Dead  sea,  smooth 
and  even  at  the  top,  but  deep  and  deadly  in  the 
bottom.  Not  honour  and  advancement :  this  builds 
up  many  like  Babel's  tower,  that  their  end  might  be 
confusion.  Not  riches  :  they  are  often  like  Absa- 
lom's hair,  an  ornament  to  hang  himself;  or  an  un- 
ruly jade,  that  knocks  out  his  master's  brains,  when 
he  hath  once  east  him  out  of  the  saddle.  No,  nor 
an  outward  pomp,  and  glorious  pride  of  state  and 
ceremonies :  thus  Rome  hath  lost  the  blood  of  her 
heart  to  paint  her  garments.  These  outward  things 
may  swarm  together  like  those  idolaters  to  the  house 
of  Baal,  2  Kings  x.  But  if  you  ask,  as  Jehu  did 
there.  Is  there  not  a  sei-vant  of  the  Lord  amongst 
them  ?  is  there  not  one  grace  among  all  that  rabble 
and  throng  ?  No,  never  a  grace  :  then  must  all  the 
rest  perish,  as  the  worshippers  of  Baal  fell  by  the 
sword  of  Jehu.  None  of  these  things  our  apostle 
wisheth;  but  that  which  truly  makes  happy,  and 
brings  with  it  enough  of  other  comforts,  grace  and 
peace.  This  makes  men  equal  to  angels,  and  the 
want  thereof  casts  down  to  devils.  That  which 
causcth  a  man  to  stand  before  princes,  is  noble  birth, 
honourable  valour,  abundant  wealth,  oraculous  wis- 
dom, eminent  jilace  and  offices.  But  that  which  makes 
a  man  stand  boldly  before  the  judgment-seat  of  God, 
is  only  grace  and  peace,  the  free  and  eternal  favour 
of  the  Deity  in  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ.  To  con- 
clude this ;  as  we  say  we  have  grace,  let  us  lead 
gracious  lives ;  as  we  would  have  peace,  let  us  de- 
cline unrighteousness  which  dissolves  it.  And  then 
God  shall  fulfil  in  your  hearts  St.  Peter's  wish ;  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  shall  be  with  you,  and  the  peace 
of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding  shall  pre- 
serve your  hearts  and  minds  in  Jesus  Christ. 

II.  "  Be  multiplied  unto  you."  I  come  from  the 
matter  to  the  measure  of  his  wish,  the  increase  and 
multiplication  of  these  blessings.  For  the  goods  of  this 
world,  the  best  point  of  arithmetic  is  division  :  It  is  a 
better  thing  to  give  than  to  receive,  said  our  Lord 
Jesus.  But  for  heavenly  and  unperishing  graces,  the 
best  point  is  multiplication.  As  he  that  for  worldly 
riches  doth  not  divide  whilst  he  lives,  shall  find  an 
empty  quotient  when  he  is  dead  ;  so  he  that  for  hea- 
venly gifts  doth  not  multiply  in  life,  shall  find  his 
summa  totalis  in  death,  poverty,  vanity,  vacuity.  Here 
observe  two  inferences. 

1.  That  there  is  no  plenary  perfection  in  this  life, 
for  we  must  still  be  in  multiplying  our  graces.  AVho 
cares  to  thrive,  that  thinks  he  liath  sufficient  ?  (Bern.) 
The  highest  saint  on  earth  is  but  like  the  ark  of  the 
covenant,  a  cubit  and  a  half  high  ;  perfectly  imper- 
fect when  he  begins,  imperfectly  perfect  when  he 
ends.  When  we  have  done  all  that  is  commanded 
us,  we  are  not  only  confined  to  be,  but  also  charged 
to  call  ourselves,  unprofitable  servants,  Luke  xvii. 
10.  There  was  a  sect  of  puritans  that  thought  them- 
selves so  fidl  of  grace,  that  they  refused  one  petition 
in  the  Lord's  prayer,  "  Forgive  us  our  trespasses." 
And  Philip  Nerius  conceited  himself  so  full  of  God, 
that  he  used  to  say.  Depart  further  from  me,  Lord, 
for  I  am  holy  enough  :  perhaps  he  thought,  if  God 
slwuld  pour  in  more  wine  of  grace,  it  would  burst  the 
vessel ;  and  that  he  was  full  before.  He  spake  not 
with  Peter's  intention,  "Depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a 
sinful  man ;"  but  out  of  a  plethory  of  pride.  Depart, 
for  I  am  sufficiently  righteous.  Nor  as  Elias,  It  is 
enough ;  take  away  my  life  from  me,  for  I  am  no 
better  than  my  fathers,  1  Kings  xix.  4:  but.  It  is 
enough,  take  away  thy  hand  from  me,  for  I  am  bet- 
ter than  all  my  fathers ;  cease  thy  bounty,  stay  thy 


22 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


hand  firom  giving,  I  need  no  more.  As  Cain  with 
Ikis  migor  iniquilwi,  confessed  his  sin  greater  than  God 
could  forgive ;  so  this  man  with  his  minor  iniquilas, 
esteemed  his  sin  less  thiin  God  need  to  consider.  But 
as  there  is  (hat  makdh  himself  poor,  yet  hath  much 
riches  ;  so  (here  is  tliat  maketh  himself  rich,  yet  is 
Teiy  poor.  There  is  not  a  poorer  wretch  than  Lao- 
dicea,  that  bragged  she  had  need  of  nothing,  Rev. 
iii.  17.  They  that  think  to  overcome  God  with  a 
thousand  of  their  good  works,  God  will  come  against 
them  with  ten  thousand  of  their  sins  ;  a  huge  amiy  ; 
and  one  thousand  sins  will  beat  down  ten  thousand 
good  works.  "  \Vc  will  mSke  thee  borders  of  gold 
with  studs  of  silver,"  Cant.  i.  1 1.  The  world's  fashion 
is  to  gild  silver  with  gold,  and  to  put  the  best  side 
outward  ;  but  the  manner  of  the  saints  is  to  overlay 
gold  with  silver,  and  to  be  like  the  king's  daughter, 
most  glorious  within,  Psal.  xlv.  13.  Moses  had  a 
glorious  countenance,  but  he  covered  it  with  a  veil : 
these  have  base  and  deformed  minds,  yet  boast  a 
shining  perfection. 

2.  That  we  seek  to  multiply  our  grace  and  peace. 
He  hath  nothing,  that  thiuKs  he  hath  enougli.  If 
Christ  have  healed  thee  of  the  palsj-,  he  chargeth 
thee  not  to  stand  still,  but,  Take  up  thy  bed,  and 
walk.  Matt.  ix.  C.  We  must,  like  the  Israelites, 
every  day  gather  manna  till  the  sabbath  comes;  be 
multiplying  graces  until  our  eternal  sabbath  in  hea- 
ven. "  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions," 
John  xiv.  2 ;  thither  must  a  Christian  arrive,  before 
he  can  sue  out  his  discharge.  Every  tiring  now  is 
either  a  chain  or  a  chariot,  a  hindcrancc  or  a  further- 
ance. 0  happy  soul,  that  can  make  his  thwarters 
that  cross  him,  become  his  porters  to  carry  him  to 
the  place  of  his  rest ;  and  can  climb  up  by  the  rag- 
ged rocks  of  alTlietions,  to  the  victorious  garrison  of 
of  heaven.  As  God  said  to  the  man  and  to  the 
woman  when  he  put  them  into  the  world,  "  Increase 
and  multiply;"  so  he  blessetli  liis  graces  when  his 
Holy  Spirit  sows  them  iu  our  hearts.  He  that  rests 
in  the  time  of  labour,  shall  labour  in  the  time  of 
rest.  Let  them  both  grow  together,  saith  God,  of 
the  com  and  tares,  until  the  harvest.  Matt.  xiii.  30. 
Now  if  the  lares  grow  so  fast  for  the  fire,  let  the 
good  com  grow  faster  for  the  bam.  The  vessels 
whereinto  Christ  miraeulated  wine,  were  fdled  up 
to  the  brim,  John  ii.  7.  The  vessels  of  God's  grace, 
which  by  a  greater  miracle  are  made  to  hold  a  celes- 
tial nature,  must  be  full  up  to  the  brim.  It  is  said 
of  Stephen,  that  he  was  "  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost," 
Acts  vii.  55.  Full  ?  so  was  Clirist  only.  The  school 
answers.  There  are  three  degrees  of  fulness:  1.  An 
apt  or  fit  and  meet  fulness ;  as  when  a  house  is  well 
furnished,  we  say  it  is  full.  2.  An  equal  or  measur- 
able fulness,  when  it  is  even  with  the  content  of  the 
receiver ;  so  a  vessel  is  full  to  the  brim.  3.  A  cu- 
mulate or  heaped  fulness,  when  it  overflows  the  con- 
tinent :  such  a  fulness  in  Christ,  in  whom  "  dwelletli 
all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,"  Col.  ii.  9. 
This  filled  his  humanity  with  fulness  of  grace,  the 
oil  of  gladness,  above  all  his  fellows,  and  for  all  his 
members :  "  and  of  his  fulness  have  all  we  received, 
and  grace  for  grace,"  John  i.  16.  Our  fulness  then  is 
sufficient,  his  superabundant.  Now  this  same  apt 
plinilude  we  may  have  in  this  life,  but  that  cjual 
pUiiiiude  is  only  to  be  expected  in  heaven. 

Seeing  this  multiplying  to  fulness  is  required,  let 
us  not  content  ourselves  with  a  vacuity,  or  with  little 
more  than  will  cover  the  bottom.  There  are  some 
utterly  empty,  and  void  of  the  Spirit,  Jude  19.  "What 
nn  emptiness  of  grace  is  iu  many  men's  hearts! 
There  are  some  that  turn  this  grace  into  wantonness; 
as  if  God  were  bound  to  fill  the  vessel  as  fast  as  they 
empty  it,  or  to  multiply  their  peace  when  they  spend 


it  in  riot.  You  shall  see  every  where  a  fulness  of 
iniquity;  a  measure  so  heaped,  and  pressed,  and 
thrust  together,  and  yet  running  over,  that 

Aon  habel  ullerius  quod  eorum  nwn'bus  addat 
Poaleritas, 

no  after-generations  can  exceed  them.  Where  is  a 
vacuity  of  grace,  must  needs  be  a  plenitude  of  sin. 
Inopem  me  copia  fecit,  Too  much  fulness  keeps  them 
en)i)ty.  They  have  hands  full,  eyes  full,  mouths  full, 
houses  full,  hearts  full.  Hands  full  of  blood  and 
bribes,  Isa.  i. ;  eyes  full  of  adultery  and  coveticc; 
mouths  full  of  cursing  and  bitterness,  Rom.  iii.  14; 
houses  full  of  spoils ;  hearts  full  of  impiety :  they 
multiply  sins  like  the  sands,  but  diminish  graces. 
Two  sorts  are  here  reprovable. 

1.  Temporizers,  that  never  multiply,  but  stand  at 
a  stay ;  neither  ebb  nor  flow,  but  just  standing  water 
between  religion  and  profaneness;  neither  hot  nor 
cold,  but  lukewarm.  Heat  and  cold  have  their  uses, 
but  between  both  is  good  for  nothing  but  to  trouble 
the  stomach.  They  go  about  many  things,  but 
bring  about  nothing.  They  are  all  for  the  time, 
nothmg  for  the  truth.  (Optat.)  Like  a  top,  that  goes 
always  round,  but  never  goes  forxvard  unless  it  be 
whipped.  Like  a  mill-horse,  that  runs  about  in  a 
circle  all  day,  at  night  you  take  him  out  where  you 
1  ut  him  in.  Or  like  a  door,  that  rides  all  day  on 
the  hinges,  and  keeps  out  or  lets  in  visitants,  but 
itself  is  never  the  nearer  home  at  night.  "  Ephraim 
is  a  cake  not  turned,"  Hos.  vii.  8 :  their  cake  is  dough, 
it  ■Bill  never  serve  for  bread  at  God's  board.  One 
propounded  to  Athenaus  this  riddle,  How  a  man 
and  no  man,  with  a  stone  and  no  stone,  should  kill  a 
bird  and  no  bird,  sitting  on  a  tree  and  no  tree  ?  He 
resolved  it.  That  the  man  was  a  euimch,  the  stone 
a  pumice,  the  bird  a  bat,  the  tree  a  fennel.  The 
temporizer  expounds  that  riddle  in  himself;  for  he 
is  a  Christian  and  no  Christian,  like  that  man  and  no 
man;  his  courage  is  no  courage,  like  the  pumice, 
which  is  a  stone  and  no  stone ;  liis  profession  is  no 
profession,  like  that  bat,  which  is  a  bird  and  no  bird ; 
(wherefore  let  him  cast  away  either  his  wings  or  his 
teeth,  and  so  become  either  a  bird  or  a  beast;)  liis 
conscience  no  conscience,  like  the  fennel,  a  tree  and 
no  tree.  His  whole  religion  is  like  adulterated  wine, 
some  of  the  bastards  ;  when  the  guest  asks  the 
drawer  what  wine  it  is,  he  presently  replies.  Sir, 
what  would  you  have  it  to  be?  his  religion  is  the 
same  you  would  have  it.  The  mustard  hath  the  least 
seed,  but  grows  up  to  the  greatest  tree;  this  man 
you  would  take  to  be  the  greatest  tree,  but  his  fruit 
is  so  small  you  can  scarce  see  it.  These  time-servers 
love  to  prey  upon  novelties,  as  Atalanta  on  the  golden 
apples,  and  lose  the  prize.  Among  the  unclean  fowls 
forbidden.  Lev.  xi.  one  is  the  sea-mew,  which  we 
call  the  gull.  Unclean,  saith  one,  because  it  flics 
like  a  fowl,  and  swims  like  a  fish.  Not  unlike  the 
Syriphian  frog,  jl/i'/ii"  terra  lacusque.  We  have  such 
fowls  and  unclean  gulls,  that  lly  in  England  with 
the  wings  of  hypocrisy,  and  swim  in  the  sea  of  Rome 
with  the  fins  of  idolatr)-.  These  stragglers  be  far 
from  hitting  the  mark  of  salvation.  AVhen  Diogenes 
saw  a  bungling  archer  about  to  shoot,  he  ran  sis  fast 
as  he  could  to  the  mark.  The  lookers-on  demanded 
the  reason.  He  answered,  I  stand  here  to  make 
sure  work  that  he  may  not  hit  me;  for  this  fellow 
never  means  to  come  near  the  mark.  It  will  be 
hard  for  him  that  observes  the  time,  to  preser\-e  the 
truth. 

2.  Revolters,  that  do  not  multiply,  but  subtract ; 
growing  worse  and  worse;  so  far  from  acquiring 
graces  they  liad  not,  that  they  lost  them  they  had. 
Like  Nebuchadnezzar's  dreamed  image,  the  head 


Vkr.  2. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


23 


might  be  of  gold,  but  the  feet  were  of  clay  or  dirt ; 
they  have  a  muddy  ending.  In  the  Roman  indic- 
tions,  the  first  year  they  paid  gold  as  to  the  crown; 
the  second  year  silver,  for  the  soldiers'  pay ;  the  third 
year  brass,  for  armour.  So  some  have  been  in  per- 
secution golden  saints,  in  peace  silver  professors,  at 
last  brazen  or  lea.den  worldlings.  I  have  read  of 
certain  trees,  that  on  the  Monday  have  been  gro\ving 
in  the  forest,  and  before  Sunday  following  under  sail 
on  the  sea.  Near  to  Calipolis  there  are  by  report 
certain  trees,  that  shoot  up  apace,  and  grow  in  a 
short  time  to  such  height,  as  a  man  may  from  their 
tops  ace  the  city  Ilium ;  and  then  they  presently 
witlier.  These  men  spring  fast  at  first,  and  seem  tall 
cedars  in  profession  ;  but  when  once  they  come  to 
the  sight  of  the  city  of  God,  then  they  waste  away  : 
not  like  the  good  tree,  Psal.  i.  that  brings  forth  his 
fruit  in  due  season ;  but  rather,  when  the  season 
comes  wherein  fruit  is  to  be  gathered,  they  elude  the 
Master's  expectation.  Rome,  that  was  once  so 
famous  for  tlie  faith,  yet  apostatized  ;  How  is  that 
faithfiil  city  become  a  harlot !  It  is  a  fearful  saying, 
It  is  impossible  for  them  who  have  been  made  par- 
fakers  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  &c.  if  they  fall  away,  to 
be  renewed  again  by  repentance,  Hcb.  vi.  4 — IS.  I 
suppose  he  means  a  moral  impossibility ;  so  great  a 
difficulty,  that,  setting  aside  the  almighty  power  of 
the  Spirit,  they  cannot  be  recovered. 

Let  us  then  be  like  the  sun  and  the  moon,  without 
rctrogradations.  There  was  an  ordinance  for  the 
Israelites  concei-ning  their  entry  into  God's  house, 
"  He  that  entereth  in  by  the  way  of  the  north  gate 
to  worship  shall  go  out  by  the  way  of  the  south 
gate:  and  he  that  entereth  by  the  way  of  the  south 
gate  shall  go  forth  by  the  way  of  the  north  gate :" 
no  man  sJiall  go  out  the  same  way  he  came  in,  Ezek. 
xlvi.  9.  So  the  ivise  men  were  charged  to  depart 
into  their  own  country  another  way,  Matt.  ii.  12; 
teaching  us  a  straight  course,  to  go  continually  for- 
ward. It  is  but  a  poetical  fiction,  liow  Orpheus  went 
to  fetch  his  wife  Euridice  from  hell ;  which  was 
granted  him  on  this  condition,  that  he  should  not 
look  back  upon  her  till  he  had  brought  her  to  heaven. 
But,  Flexit  amans  ocutos,  et  protivus  ilia  relapsa  est, 
he  looked  back,  and  lost  her.  It  is  a  Scriptural 
truth,  that  Lot's  wife,  for  looking  back  to  her  desired 
Sodom,  wa.s  turned  into  a  pillar  of  salt.  Therefore, 
Remember  that  woman,  saith  Christ :  that  pillar  of 
.salt,  that  it  may  season  thee,  saith  Augustine.  It  is 
observable,  that  Paul  describing  the  whole  armour 
of  God,  Eph.  vi.  and  numbering  all  the  pieces, 
makes  no  mention  of  a  back  curet  for  the  Christian 
soldier.  There  is  a  helmet  for  the  head,  a  corselet 
for  the  breast,  a  shield  for  the  foreparts;  but  no 
guard,  no  regard  of  the  back.  It  is  a  panoply,  a 
complete  armour,  yet  no  defence  for  the  back.  Teach- 
ing us  that  we  must  never  show  our  back  in  God's 
wars  :  we  must  rather  die  than  fly ;  continuing  faith- 
ful to  the  end';  not  leaving  the  banner  of  Christ,  till 
we  have  gotten  the  full  victory.  AVhen  Bias  fell  into 
'he  hands  of  his  enemies,  his  soldiere  flying,  and 
crj'ing,  What  shall  we  do?  he  answered  with  noble 
resohition.  Tell  ye  the  living,  that  I  die  fighting ; 
and  I  will  tell  the  dead,  that  ye  did  escape  fl>-ing. 
■\yhen  William  the  Conqueror  landed  his  amiy  in 
Sussex,  he  presently  caused  his  ships  to  be  sunk, 
'.hat  there  might  remain  no  hopes  of  running  back 
again ;  they  must  stand  to  it.  Let  us  all  learn  to 
multiply  our  graces :  he  that  spends  of  the  stock 
and  never  incrcaseth,  shall  come  to  beggar)'.  Be 
not  enticed  with  eveiy  vanity,  to  forsake  your  first 
love.  In  temporal  lendings,  you  think  it  scarce 
enough  to  have  the  surplusage  often  in  the  hundred ; 
in  spiritual  things  you  think  it  enough  and  enough 


again  to  hold  your  own.  You  lend  one  money ;  if 
he  comes  and  tenders  the  principal  without  interest, 
you  grudge  at  it :  yet  God  lends  you  grace,  and  you 
come  at  last,  with,  Lord,  behold  thine  own.  You 
know  the  i-cward.  Cast  that  unprofitable  sen-ant  into 
outer  darkness,  Matt.  xxv.  30.  No,  but  let  him  that 
is  righteous  be  righteous  still ;  and  let  him  that  is 
holy  be  more  holy.  Rev.  xxii.  11.  Let  us  go  from 
strength  to  strength,  till  we  all  appear  before  God 
in  Zion,  Psal.  Ixxxiv.  7- 

III.  "  Through  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  of  Jesus 
our  Lord."  I  liave  done  with  the  matter,  and  the 
measure ;  now  come  to  the  manner.  'Ev  intyvioau  tov 
eiov.  Which  intends  not  a  mere  and  simple  know- 
ledge, but  an  acknowledgment,  a  refiective  and 
doubling  knowledge.  By  yvuiaic  they  understand 
such  a  Knowledge  of  God,  as  was  in  the  philoso- 
phei-s,  poets,  and  naturalists ;  ri  natiir<B  congenita, 
acquired  by  the  light  of  nature.  "  That  which  may 
be  known  of  God,"  &c.  Rom.  i.  19.  But  this  (jri'yvumf 
is  such  a  knowledge,  as  comes  Ijy  God's  word,  which 
makes  us  wise  to  salvation.  The  word  is  accepted 
and  read  three  ways.  Ordinarily  for  knowledge. 
Sometimes  for  acknowledgment ;  "  Acknowledge 
ye  them  that  are  such,"  1  Cor.  svi.  18.  Sometimes 
for  knowing  again.  There  is  knowledge  mental, 
sacramental,  experimental.  The  first  is  by  the  light 
of  nature  ;  the  second  is  by  the  power  of  grace ;  the 
third  by  the  practice  of  life,  and  continual  proving 
the  favour  of  God.  Of  this  knowledge  more  largely 
hereafter:  here  only  observe  two  things. 

1.  The  means  of  multiplying  grace  and  peace  in 
our  hearts  is  knowledge  of  God.  This  is  eternal 
life,  to  know  God,  and  whom  he  hath  sent,  Jesus 
Christ,  John  xvii.  3.  "  They  that  know  thy  name 
will  put  their  trust  in  thee,"  Psal.  ix.  10.  The  cause 
of  sin  and  ruin  is  want  of  knowledge :  swearing, 
and  lying,  and  killing,  and  stealing  abound,  because 
there  is  no  knowledge  of  God  in  the  land,  Hos.  iv.  1, 2. 
Therefore  Christ  shall  come  "  in  flaming  fire,  taking 
vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God,"  2  Thess.  i. 
8.  The  want  of  the  sun  is  the  cause  of  darkness, 
the  privation  of  knowledge  the  ])osition  of  all  ungod- 
liness. Though  it  be  true,  that  llic  knowing  offender 
shall  be  scourged  \rith  sharpest  rods ;  (August.)  yet 
many  aflect  an  ignorance  not  necessary,  that  they 
may  sin  with  the  more  security.  (Bern.)  Will  they 
not  know?  they  shall  feel. 

2.  There  is  something  in  grace  and  knowledge 
still  wanting,  that  must  be  multiplied  and  increased ; 
for  we  know  but  in  part.  Therefore  a  man  should 
be  often  perusing  and  looking  over  his  own  evidence, 
as  we  review  our  assurances  of  worldly  possessions, 
that  he  may  be  sure  of  the  whole  and  every  part  of 
it :  for  it  is  dangerous  to  have  any  flaw  or  defect  in 
our  conveyance  of  salvation ;  which  albeit  it  be  ever 
sound  on  God's  part,  is  not  so  on  ours.  The  falls 
of  a  regenerate  man  much  darken  his  knowledge: 
therefore  when  we  have  sinned,  it  is  not  enough  to 
renew  our  repentance,  but  we  must  rub  over  and 
polish  our  knowledge.  Men  may  know  much  in 
their  understandings  by  thinkino'  of  it ;  but  we  must 
double  this  knowledge  in  our  affections  and  hearts, 
by  feeling  it.  For  there  is  no  knowledge  so  com- 
fortable, as  the  experimental  certainty  of  God's  fa^ 
vour.  Man's  heart  is  like  a  vessel ;  the  means  of 
conveying  knowledge  to  it  is  like  a  pipe ;  the  Spirit 
of  God  like  the  wheel  that  pours  the  water  into  the 
pipe ;  the  minister  is  the  servant  that  opens  the  cock. 
Now  the  reason  why  our  knowledge  is  so  small,  is 
either  because  the  cock  always  runs  not,  or  not  in  that 
measure,  or  rather  because  our  vessels  be  stopped, 
or  it  runs  out  by  leakage,  or  it  runs  over  by  reason  of 
the  former  fulness,  and  repletion  with  the  lusts  of 


24 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


L'bap.  1. 


this  world :  man's  heart  is  so  full  of  cracks  and  flaws, 
that  it  cannot  hold  the  water  of  life. 

"  And  of  Jesus  our  Lord."  There  is  no  knowing 
of  God  with  comfort,  hut  through  Jesus  Christ. 
"  No  man  knowcth  the  Father  but  the  Son,  and  he 
to  whomsoever  the  Son  will  reveal  him,"  Matt.  xi. 
27.  Otherwise  we  may  know  him  a  just  and  omnipo- 
tent Avenger;  in  Christ  only,  "the  Father  of  mer- 
cies, and  God  of  all  comfort,"  2  Cor.  i.  3.  "  There 
shall  no  man  see  me,  and  live,"  saith  God  to  Moses, 
Exod.  xxxiii.  20.  Woe  to  that  man,  who  removing 
Christ,  will  attempt  to  comprehend  God  in  his  ma- 
jesty !  Without  him,  he  that  incrcaseth  knowledge, 
increaseth  his  own  sorrow,  his  own  torment,  Eccles. 
i.  18.  In  him  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom 
and  knowledge,  Col.  ii.  3.  By  the  Son  is  the  Father 
known :  "  If  ye  had  known  me,  ye  should  have  known 
my  Father  also,"  John  xiv.  7.  Other  religions  begin 
at  the  highest,  the  Christian  at  the  lowest,  God 
manifested  in  the  flesh.  He  that  will  climb  to 
heaven,  must  ascend  by  this  ladder :  begin  therefore 
as  Christ  began,  in  the  womb  of  the  virgin,  at  the 
manger;  then  get  uj)  to  the  crossj  and  lastly  mount 
up  to  the  crown.  Wouldst  thou  know  God?  run 
iirst  to  the  cradle,  embrace  the  infant ;  behold  him 
sucking,  growing,  roaring,  crying,  dying ;  and  thou 
shalt  thus  arise  from  knowing  God  in  Christ  by  faith, 
to  know  him  in  himself  by  glor)% 

It  is  observable,  that  our  apostle  often  gildeth  his 
Epistle  with  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  Christ.  Twice  in 
the  first  verse,  once  again  in  the  second,  four  times  after 
in  the  chapter.  He  nms  upon  this  note,  as  David  did 
upon  mercy,  Psal.  cxxxvi.  Little  difference  ;  for  no 
mercy  but  through  Jesus,  and  Jesus  is  all  mercy.  It 
is  the  sweetest  music  ;  angelical  melody  in  the  ear, 
evangelical  harmony  in  the  heart.  St.' Paul  in-his 
epistles  ment,ions  the  name  of  Jesus  four  hundred 
and  sixty  times  and  upwards.  Neither  is  this  repe- 
tition only  of  love,  but  of  necessity  ;  for  it  is  impos- 
sible that  grace  and  mercy  should  be  to  us,  but  by 
Jesus  Christ.  If  thou  writest,  I  like  not  thy  letters, 
unless  I  find  them  beautified  with  Jesus:  if  thoueon- 
ferrest,  thy  discourse  is  without  relish,  if  it  be  without 
Jesus.  (Bern.)  I  had  rather  not  be  at  all,  than  be 
without  Jesus.  (Ansclm.)  A  reverend  father  was  so 
ravished  with  the  sweetness,  and  transported  with 
the  zeal,  of  this  name,  that  he  professed,  I  had  rather 
be  out  of  heaven  with  Christ,  than  in  heaven  without 
Christ.  But  our  heart  is  far  too  narrow  to  compre- 
hend this  infinitely  sweet  Saviour,  therefore  I  will 
end  with  that  end  of  a  divine  sonnet :  O  Christ,  I 
would  fain  receive  thee  ;  but 

"  Now  I  want  space,  now  grace,  to  ease  all  smart ; 
Since   my  heart  holds  not  thee,   hold  thou  my 
heart." 

Now  as  all  grace  and  peace  is  from  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  so  let  us  ascribe  all  honour  and  glory  to  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


Verse  3. 

■According  ns  his  diiitie  potcer  halh  giren  unto  us  all 
things  that  pertain  unto  life  and  godliness,  through 
the  knowledge  of  him  that  halh  called  us  to  glori/ 
and  virtue. 

The  connexion  shall  be  forbom  a  little,  and  give 
way  to  the  distribution.     The  whole  verse  mav  be 
(listin™islied  into  two  generals  : 
I.  The  fountain;  wherein  observe, 


1.  The  hope  of  the  petitioner,  According  as  he  hath. 

2.  The  ability  of  the  giver,  Divine  power. 

3.  The  liberty  of  the  action,  Hath  given. 

4.  The  necessity  of  the  receivers,  Lnto  us. 

5.  The  universality  of  the  gift,  All  things  that 
pertain  unto  life  and  godliness. 

II.  The  cistern  ;  wlierein  observe, 

1 .  The  water  of  life ;  wherein  consider, 
(I.)  Who,  God. 

(2.)  What,  Hath  called. 

(3.)  Whom,  Us. 

(4.)  Whither,  To  glory  and  viitue. 

2.  The  pipe  or  bucket  to  draw  and  derive  all  to  us. 
Through  tlie  knowledge  of  him. 

The  whole  being  thus  let  fall  into  parts,  let  us 
Jiroceed  orderly  to  take  up  the  first,  and  view  it. 
This  is,  the  hope  of  the  petitioner ;  which  with  a  re- 
markable dependence  knits  this  verse  wth  the 
former,  and  Ijegetteth  this  doctrine  from  the  cohe- 
rence :  The  experience  of  former  mercy  works  a  per- 
suasion of  future  mercy.  The  apostle  desired  the 
multiplying  of  their  grace  and  peace  ;  and  he 
grounds  it  on  this  hope,  because  the  Lord  hath 
already  given  them  much.  He  hath  bcgim,  there- 
fore he  trusts  that  he  will  finish.  There  is  no 
stronger  argument  of  God's  infallible  readiness  to 
grant  our  requests,  than  the  experience  of  his  former 
concessions.  So  David  reasons,  "  The  Lord  that 
delivered  me  out  of  the  paw  of  the  lion,  and  out  of 
the  paw  of  the  bear,  he  will  deliver  me  out  of  the  hand 
of  this  Philistine,"  1  Sam.  xvii.  37.  This  is  the  argu- 
ment a  prio);',  thevoiceofastrongfaith,that  persuades 
the  conscience  God  will  be  gracious  to  him,  because  he 
hath  been  gracious.  The  prophet  thus  often  com- 
forted his  soul:  "Thou,  O  God,  hast  enlarged  me 
when  I  was  in  ihstress;"  therefore,  "have  mercy 
upon  me,  and  hear  my  prayer,"  Psal.  iv.  1.  So, 
"  Thou  hast  delivered  my  soul  from  the  lowest  hell ;" 
therefore,  "  O  turn  unto  me,  and  have  mercy  upon 
me,"  Psal.  Ixxxvi.  1.3,  Ifi.  Let  the  justiciaries  deduce 
arguments  from  their  own  present  merits,  my  soul 
from  God's  former  mercies.  Thou,  O  Lord,  madest 
me  good,  restoredst  me  when  I  was  evil ;  therefore 
have  mercy  upon  me,  miserable  sinner,  and  give  me 
thy  salvation.  Thus  Paul  grounded  his  assurance : 
because  the  Lord  had  stood  with  him,  and  delivered 
him  out  of  the  lion's  mouth ;  therefore  the  Lord 
shall  deliver  me  still  from  every  evil  work,  and  pre- 
serve me  unto  his  heavenly  kingdom,  2 Tim.  iv.  1/,  18. 
Hence  was  his,  "  I  know  whom  I  have  believed."  The 
prophet's  distressed  soul  cried,  "Will  the  Lord  cast  oflf 
for  ever  ?  Is  his  mercy  clean  gone  for  ever  ?  Hath  God 
forgotten  to  be  gracious?"  Psal.  Ixxvii.  7 — '•■  No, 
he  recollects  himself  with  the  memory  of  precedent 
favours ;  "  I  will  remember  the  yeare  of  the  right 
hand  of  the  Most  High.  I  will  remember  the  works 
of  the  Lord:  surely  I  will  remember  thy  wonders  of 
old,"  ver.  10,  II.  Man  useth  to  reason  thus;  I  have 
been  good  to  such  a  one,  therefore  he  need  not  exact 
upon  me,  and  over-burden  my  kindness.  God  thus  ; 
I  nave  been  liberal,  therefore  I  will  be  liberal.  To 
him  shall  be  given  ;  because  the  good  he  hath  is  but 
an  earnest  of  God's  greater  bounty.  He  takes  up 
man's  seul  as  a  poor  beggar  at  his  door,  strips  off  her 
tattered  rags,  gives  her  a  suit  out  of  his  own  ward- 
robe, adorns  her  with  rich  jewels;  and  then,  as  if  all 
this  were  too  little,  loves  her  still  better  and  belter  ; 
lastly,  marries  her  to  his  own  Son,  and  so  interests 
her  to  the  inheritance  of  gloiy.  You  sec  the  founda- 
tion of  the  apostle's  pr.iyer,  the  experience  of  God's 
sweet  nature,  who  midtiplies  his  graces.  Let  not  this 
point  part  with  us  till  it  hath  taught  us  two  things; 
to  pray  faithfully,  and  to  live  thankfully. 

I.  Let  us  pray  in  confidence  that  God  will  hear  us 


Ver.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLK  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


25^ 


because  he  hath  heard  us.  Come  we  boldly  to  the 
throne  of  grace,  that  we  may  obtain  mercy,  Heb.  iv. 
16.  God's  facility  in  his  wonted  grants  gives  us 
strong  consolation.  A  noble  princess  asked  a  cour- 
tier, when  he  would  leave  begging  :  he  answered, 
when  she  left  giving.  God  never  ceaseth  to  give  ; 
let  us  never  cease  to  beg.  Who  can  go  with  more 
courage  to  the  king,  than  the  man  experienced  of  his 
goodness  ?  But  if  we  be  so  confident,  how  comes  it  to 
pass  that  we  sometimes  fail  of  our  suits,  and  return 
denied  ?  I  answer,  the  defect  is  in  om-selves ;  God  is 
the  same  in  bovmty,  but  we  are  not  the  same  in  duty. 
We  ask  either  bad  things  to  a  good  purpose,  or  good 
things  to  a  bad  purpose. 

Evil  tilings,  either  e^l  in  themselves,  or  to  the 
petitioners.  In  themselves.  One  calls  prayer,  a  re- 
quest of  convenient  things.  What  a  good  father  will 
not  give,  let  a  good  son  not  ask ;  not  a  serpent  in- 
stead of  a  fish,  nor  a  stone  for  bread.  Matt.  vii.  9,  10. 
We  must  not  beg  a  serpent,  lest  it  should  hurt  our- 
selves ;  nor  a  stone,  lest  we  should  hurt  others. 
That  is  not  requested  in  the  name  of  our  Saviour,  that 
is  requested  against  the  rule  of  salvation.  (August.) 
The  disciples  asked  many  things,  and  had  them  ;  but 
when  they  asked  fire  from  heaven,  they  had  it  not, 
Luke  ix.  54.  If  it  be  not  fit  for  God  to  give,  it  is  not 
fit  for  us  to  ask.  If  our  will  be  not  according  to  our 
weal,  God  denieth  the  form  of  our  requests,  and  gives 
us  the  end ;  he  withholdeth  the  worse,  and  alTordeth 
(he  better.  Paul  besought  the  Lord  thrice  that  the 
thorn  in  the  flesh  might  depart  from  him.  God  did 
not  hear  him  in  that  particular,  but  heard  him  in  the 
general ;  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee :  for  my 
strength  is  made  perfect  in  weakness,"  2  Cor.  xii.  8,  9. 
He  was  not  quite  delivered  from  the  temptation  in  him- 
self, but  he  was  fortified  with  the  sufficiency  of  God. 
The  man  sick  of  the  burning  fever  cries  to  his  physi- 
cian for  drink :  he  pities  him,  but  does  not  satisfy  him ; 
he  gives  him  proper  physic,  but  not  drink.  So  God, 
saith  Augustine,  does  not  give  us  what  we  would 
have,  but  what  we  should  have.  Perhaps  he  crosseth 
us  in  our  affection,  but  blesscth  us  in  our  salvation. 
The  younger  brother  shall  not  have  all  his  portion, 
lest  he  nin  to  riot ;  nor  the  gallant  ever  enjoy  health, 
lest  he  be  too  proud.  Thus  a  man  is  afflicted  that  he 
maybe  humbled;  and  many  sores  are  on  the  flesh 
that  fewer  sins  may  be  in  the  soul. 

Or  when  we  ask  good  things,  but  to  an  evil  pur- 
pose. So  the  envious  begs  lionour,  that  he  may 
revenge  himself  on  his  enemies.  Young  men  ask 
health,  that  they  may  be  strong  for  licentiousness. 
Others  require  great  places  and  offices,  and  to  have 
somewhat  to  do  about  the  fire,  that  they  may  warm 
their  own  fingers.  As  if  a  man  should  be  ambitious 
of  the  pretorship  in  the  city,  that  so  with  mulcts, 
amercements,  warrants,  and  bribes,  he  may  maintain 
his  family,  and  never  go  to  his  cotfers  for  money. 
Some  desire  learning,  that  they  may  be  factious ; 
others  riches,  not  to  ser\-e  God,  prcscr\-e  the  state, 
nor  relieve  the  poor,  but  to  grow  fat  with  idleness, 
and  domineer  over  their  neighbours.  "  Ye  fight  and 
war,  yet  ye  have  not,  because  ye  ask  not,"  James  iv. 
2.  Ask  not !  alas,  we  beg  continually,  yet  cannot 
speed  :  the  error  is  not  in  the  want  of  asking. 
Where  is  it  then  ?  "  Ye  ask,  and  receive  not,  because 
ye  ask  amiss,"  ver.  3  :  you  fail  in  your  manner  of 
requesting,  therefore  God  doth  not  satisfy  your  de- 
sires. You  ask  and  miss,  because  you  ask  amiss. 
No,  we  pray  as  earnestly,  and  with  as  devout  affec- 
tion, as  others,  yet  speed  not.  Look  a  little  fiirther 
into  the  apostle's  words,  and  your  own  hearts :  ye 
ask,  "  that  ye  may  consume  it  upon  your  lusts." 
Here  is  the  reason,  you  beg  good  things  to  be  wanton 
with  them ;   silver  and   gold   to   give   unto  Baal ; 


com  and  wine  to  riot.  Perhaps  you  may  faintly 
pray  against  that  sin  which  you  would  be  loth  to 
lose.  Tliis  is  to  pray  in  jest ;  as  Augustine  speaks 
of  his  unconverted  estate,  that  he  desired  God  to  cool 
the  fire  of  his  concupiscence  ;  but  his  tongue  besought 
an  extinction,  his  heart  desired  a  satisfaction ;  he  had 
rather  have  it  pleased,  than  expelled.  He  prayed  in- 
deed, but  as  if  he  were  afraid  lest  God  should  hear  him.. 

2.  Seeing  that  God  gives  more  where  he  hath 
given  much,  let  us  be  thankful ;  for  how  should  God 
bless  us  with  that  we  have  not,  if  we  do  not  bless 
him  for  that  we  have  ?  Let  me  be  a  little  bold  to 
enlarge  this  point  of  praising  God.  There  is  a  six- 
fold manner  of  praising  him ;  mental,  monumental, 
chordal,  cordial,  vocal,  and  actual. 

There  is  a  mental  praise,  when  we  bear  m  our 
minds  the  favoiu-s  of  God:  "I  will  remember  the 
works  of  the  Lord,"  Psal.  IxxWi.  II.  It  was  the 
wretchedness  of  Israel  to  forget  his  wonders :  "  They 
soon  forgat  his  works,"  Psal.  cvi.  13.  What  can  he 
remember,  that  forgets  the  mercies  of  God  ? 

Monumental,  when  we  erect  trophies,  pillars,  and 
monuments,  to  continue  the  memory  of  God's  deliver- 
ances :  "  This  shall  be  written  for  the  generation  to 
come  :  and  the  people  which  shall  be  created  shall 
praise  the  Lord,"  Psal.  cii.  18.  Thus  Abraham  and 
Jacob  reared  divers  pillars,  which  were  dumb  cate- 
chisms to  the  posterities  unborn;  answering  the 
charge  of  God,  and  the  practice  of  Israel :  "  Our 
fathers  have  told  us.  We  will  not  hide  them  from 
their  children,  showing  to  the  generation  to  come 
the  praises  of  the  Lord,"  Psal.  Ixxviii.  3.  4. 

Chordal,  I  call  that  praise  which  is  framed  to  God 
upon  instruments.  "  Praise  him  with  the  sound  of 
the  trumpet :  praise  him  with  the  psaltery  and  harp  : 
praise  him  with  stringed  instruments  and  organs," 
Psal.  el.  For  this  cause  musical  insti-uments  are  re- 
tained in  our  churches,  that  they  may  elevate  our 
drooping  affections  to  bless  God.  Let  all  our  music, 
like  David's  harp,  resound  his  praises. 

Cordial  praise,  is  that  which  enlivens  all  the  rest, 
and  comes  out  of  a  pure  heart ;  not  hypocritically 
for  fashion,  but  sincerely  for  devotion.  This  is  that 
form  of  thankfulness  God  requires.  If  a  man  look 
into  a  pure  fountain,  he  shall  see  there  a  reflection 
of  his  own  image  :  in  the  pure  heart  God  beholds  an 
image  of  himself.  If  Cicsar  require  his  own  image 
in  his  coin,  shall  not  God  expect  his  image  in  thy 
soul?  He  loves  little,  that  can  tell  how  much  lie 
loves.  Let  all  thy  powers  of  body  and  soul  do  their 
best  to  bless  God ;  but  let  thy  heart  exceed  all,  and 
what  they  want  in  expression,  let  that  make  up  in 
affection.  "  Bless  the  Lord,  all  that  is  within  me :" 
all  that  is  within  me,  and  all  that  is  without  me  ;  but 
especially  that  within  me.  "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my 
soul,"  Psal.  ciii.  1,  2. 

Vocal :  let  our  lips  praise  him,  and  let  not  our 
tongues  lie  still.  Sing  to  the  Lord  a  new  song  ,- 
show  forth  his  loving-kindness  in  the  morning,  and 
his  faithfulness  every  night,  Psal.  xcii.  2.  God's 
glory  will  make  a  good  man  speak,  even  when  terror 
itself  hath  commanded  silence.  Our  Saviour  cast 
out  a  dumb  devil,  and  when  the  devil  was  cast  out, 
the  dumb  spake,  and  the  people  wondered,  Luke  xi. 
14.  Many  are  possessed  with  this  dumb  devil ;  their 
mouths  open  not  to  sound  forth  God's  praises ;  to 
hear  one  of  them  speak  in  Christ's  cause,  would 
make  all  the  people  wonder.  I  know  that  Satan's 
children  are  talkative  enough:  there  are  gaping- 
devils;  like  Demetrius,  that  think  to  carry  it  away, 
with  "  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians."  For  this 
cause,  1  think,  they  were  first  called  Roarers,  whom 
Christ  may  well  conjure,  as  he  did  that  devil,  "  Hold 
thy  peace,  and  come  out,"  Mark  i.  2.5.    But  Gregory 


'J6 


AN  EXPOSITION  IPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


answers,  He  that  sins  horribly,  and  confesseth  not 
heartily,  though  he  roars  much,  yet  holds  his  peace. 
To  hear  blasphemers  wound  :ind  tear  the  sweet  and 
sacred  name  of  Christ  would  make  a  dumb  man 
speak.  Herodotus  writes  of  Croesus'  son,  being  bom 
dumb,  yet  seeing  his  father  end.ingercd  in  a  battle, 
on  a  sudden  cried  out,  O  spare  him,  he  is  the  king. 
So  when  God's  glory  is  in  question,  what  a  numbness, 
what  a  dumbness  is  it,  not  to  say,  O  spare  him,  he  is 
the  Lord !  The  tongue  that  yields  not  this  defence,  is 
tied  by  Satan,  not  loosed  by  God. 

Actual,  is  when  our  lives  praise  God.  Let  your 
conversation  be  lioncst,  that  they,  beholding  your 
good  works,  may  glorify  God  in  the  day  of  visitation, 
1  Pet.  ii.  12.  So  the  Master  had  taught  the  disciple, 
Matt.  V.  16,  as  the  ihsciple  taught  us.  We,  like  blind 
Isaac,  cannot  sec  your  hearts,  therefore  we  say,  "  Let 
me  feci  thee,  my  son."  If  your  lives  be  rugged,  like 
the  hands  of  Esau,  we  will  not  trust  your  voices  for 
the  voice  of  Jacob.  Have  you  righteousness  ?  Seal 
it,  and  deliver  it  as  your  act  and  deed.  Never  say  you 
praise  God  with  your  words,  when  you  dispraise  him 
with  your  works.  (August.)  "  Honour  the  Lord  wntli 
thy  substance,"  Prov.  iii.  9;  this  is  substantial  honour. 
God  gave  Samuel  to  Hannah,  Hannah  gave  Samuel 
back  again  to  God.  Return  part  of  thy  riches  to 
him,  that  gave  all  to  thee.  David  loved  Mephibo- 
sheth  for  Jonathan's  sake.  Is  Jonathan  gone?  yet 
wc  have  many  Mephibosheths.  The  Lord  dispos'eth 
his  part  of  thy  substance  to  his  ministers,  to  his  poor 
members  :  he  incrcaseth  thy  part,  for  .shame  do  not 
thou  diminish  his. 

"  His  divine  power."  We  come  to  the  next  cir- 
cumstance, the  ability  of  the  Giver.  Here  is  power, 
yea,  divine  power ;  not  only  great,  but  good.  For 
mercy  and  majestj-  must  meet  together  in  the  dona- 
tion of  all  things  that  pertain  to  life  and  godliness. 

It  is  power:  God  is  almighty.  "Whatsoever  the 
Lord  pleased,  that  did  he  in  heaven,  and  in  earth, 
in  the  seas,  and  in  all  deep  places,"  Psal.  cxxxv.  6. 
But  is  there  nothing  that  God  cannot  do  ?  Yes,  he  can- 
not lie,  he  cannot  die,  he  cannot  deny  himself.  He  is 
for  potent,  not  for  impotent  works.  Hisalmightiness 
consists  in  doing  what  he  will,  not  in  suffering  what  he 
will  not.  (August.)  The  doing  of  some  things  were  an 
argument  of  weakness,  not  of  power.  For  herein  is  a 
remonstrance  of  our  might,  not  that  we  have  able- 
ness  to  sin,  but  to  withstand  sin.  Therefore  Augus- 
tine wisheth,  that  no  man  bad  any  strength,  but 
against  wickedness.  Let  every  man  desire  such 
power,  that  he  may  be  strong  in  himself,  and  (after 
a  strange  manner)  against  hiniself,  for  his  owti  good. 
For  a  dominion  over  oneself  is  greater  than  the 
grand  seigniory  of  Turkey.  To  be  strong  to  sin  is 
no  cre(ht  for  man  ;  as  it  is  no  discredit  for  God  that  he 
cannot  sin.  Woe  to  them  that  are  strong  to  drink  ! 
Isa.  V.  22.  Dost  thou  pride  thyself  in  this  strength  ? 
thou  shalt  howl  for  that  glory.  This  power  is  the 
greatest  inlirmity.  There  are  that  oppress  a  man 
and  his  heritage,  because  it  is  in  the  power  of  their 
hand,  Micah  ii.  1,  2.  This  strength  to  sin,  is  to  be 
strong  to  go  to  hell.  Commonly  to  beasts  of  the 
greatest  power,  is  given  the  least  immanity,  and  to 
those  of  the  greatest  immanity  the  least  power.  The 
ox  hath  strength,  but  tameness;  the  bee  wHldness, 
but  weakness.  Either  they  have  power  to  Imrt,  and 
not  will ;  or  will  to  hurt,  and  not  power.  This  is 
happy  for  us,  but  it  would  be  more  happy  in  respect 
of  our  sins,  if  God  should  take  away  from  us  either 
our  will  or  our  ability  to  do  mischief.  They  say 
lions  do  not  prey  on  yielding  things.  That' thou 
canst  do  harm,  and  wilt  not,  is  the  praise  of  l)iy 
innocence;  that  thou  wouldst  do  hai-m,  and  canst 
not,  is  the  praise  of  God's  providence.     Saul  would 


kill  David,  and  could  not;  David  could  kill  Saul, 
and  would  not.  The  two  disciples  would  command 
fire  from  heaven,  but  could  not ;  Christ  could  com- 
mand fire  from  heaven,  but  would  not.  Posse  et 
nolle  nobile. 

It  is  divine  power,  as  for  the  mightiness,  so  for  the 
mercifulness  ;  his  goodness  doth  sweetly  temper  his 
greatness.  Not  oiuy  a  power,  but  a  good,  gracious, 
divine  power.  "  He  abideth  faithful,  he  cannot  deny 
himself,"  2  Tim.  ii.  13.  If  we  desire  worldly  wealth, 
he  may  deny  us,  for  that  is  not  himself.  If  we  de- 
sire preferment,  he  may  deny  us,  for  that  is  not  him- 
self. If  we  desire  revenge,  ne  may  deny  us,  for  that 
is  not  himself.  But  if  we  desire  grace,  goodness, 
sanctity,  mercy,  he  will  not  deny  us,  for  that  is  him- 
self, and  he  cannot  deny  himself.  "  No  good  thing 
will  he  withhold  from  them  that  walk  uprightly," 
Psal.  Ixxxiv.  1  \.  Against  this  divine  power  there  is 
no  resistance  :  he  is  able  to  do  whatsoever  he  will, 
yea,  he  is  able  to  do  more  than  he  will.  "  Our  God 
is  in  the  heavens  :  he  hath  done  whatsoever  he  hath 
iileased,"  Psal.  cx\-.  3.  He  can  do  more  than  ever 
lie  was  or  will  be  pleased  to  do.  His  divine  power 
could  have  made  many  worlds,  his  di\-ine  will  hath  de- 
creed but  one.  The  passengers  in  mockerj-  bad  Christ 
come  downi  from  the  cross,  Matt,  xx^'ii.  40:  he  was 
able  to  descend,  and  let  the  work  of  redemption  alone  ; 
but  he  would  not  lose  them  to  save  himself,  but 
rather  lose  himself  to  save  them.  The  Father  was 
able  to  have  given  him  more  than  twelve  legions  of 
angels  for  his  rescue.  Matt.  ssyi.  53;  but  he  would 
not,  but  rather  delivered  up  his  Son  to  his  enemies, 
to  save  his  friends.  So  Jolui  Baptist  to  the  bragging 
Jews,  that  pretended  the  fatherhood  of  Abraham; 
"  God  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up  children 
unto  Abraham,"  Matt.  iii.  9.  His  power  is  without 
limits,  as  his  will  is  without  injustice.  His  power 
teacheth  us  to  fear  bim;  his  divine  and  gracious 
power,  to  love  him ;  both  together  make  for  our 
nimiility  and  comfort. 

The  knowledge  of  God's  power  will  humble  the 
proudest  heart.  Was  he  able  to  make  thee  of  no- 
thing, to  bring  thee  back  to  worse  than  nothing;  how 
darest  thou  displease  him  ?  "  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God,"  Hcb.  x.  31 : 
yet  there  is  no  way  to  avoid  it,  but  by  falling  into  it. 
Strive  not  to  ran  from  him  by  wickedness,  but  to  run 
to  him  by  repentance.  "  Humble  yourselves  under 
the  mighty  hand  of  God,"  1  Pet.  v.  (> :  it  is  a  mighty 
hand,  humble  yourselves  under  it,  lest  you  be  hum- 
bled by  it.  His  power  is  so  mighty,  that  it  boots  not 
a  man  to  strive  with  him,  for  he  was  never  yrt  over- 
mastered. The  wrath  of  a  king  is  like  messengers 
of  death,  and  man  quakes  at  his  anger  that  can  but 
kill  the  body ;  yet  how  little  do  we  fear  him  that  can 
destroy  both  body  and  soul  in  hell !  Matt.  x.  28. 
"  Do  we  provoke  the  Lord  to  anger  ?  are  we  stronger 
than  he?"  sailh  the  apostle.  Do  we  challenge  him 
that  can  confound  us?  We  are  like  to  get  little  by 
such  bargains.  "  Let  him  t.ike  away  his  rod  from 
ine,  and  let  not  his  fear  terrify  me:  then  would  I 
speak,"  Job  ix.  34,  35.  As  if  Job  should  say.  There 
is  no  meddling  with  him  so  long  as  his  sword  is  by 
him.  First,  Lord,  take  away  thy  weapons,  and  then 
let  us  talk  together.     It  might  be  said  of  Jove, 

5i'  qtiolies  peccent  homines,  sua  fulmina  mitlat 
Jupiter,  t\iigiio  tempore  inermts  erit, 

If  for  every  sin  of  men  he  should  send  down  n  thun- 
derbolt, either  Vulcan's  one-eyed  Cyclops  would  be 
soon  weaiT,  or  his  stock  of  thmider  soon  empty. 

Mars  ultor  galeam  qiioqiie  perdidit,  et  re* 
^'on  poluil  scnare  xtiax. 


V'i:u.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


27 


Mare's  sword  miglit  be  wrung  out  of  his  hand,  and 
himself  disarmed.  But  who  hath  resisted  the  Lord  ? 
Rom.  ix.  19;  who  hath  entered  the  lists  with  this 
divine  power,  and  not  measured  his  length  on  the 
ground  ?  It  is  time  for  the  poor  child  to  quake, 
when  he  sees  his  angry  father  come  with  the  rod. 
There  is  no  struggling  with  it;  the  best  way  is  to 
yield  ourselves,  and  be  silent :  "  I  was  dumb,  I 
opened  not  my  mouth ;  because  thou  didst  it,"  Psal. 
xxxix.  9.  God  tells  revolted  Israel,  that  in  quietness 
they  should  be  saved,  Isa.  nxx.  15 ;  not  by  sight,  nor 
by  tliglit.  Aaron  was  sorry  for  his  two  perished  sons ; 
but  when  Moses  told  him  that  God  would  be  glorified 
before  all  the  people,  Aaron  held  his  peace,  Lev. 
X.  3.  Peter  was  accused  by  the  apostles  for  going 
in  to  the  Gentiles ;  but  when  he  made  his  defence, 
and  rehearsed  the  matter  from  the  beginning,  proving 
that  he  was  directed  to  that  course  by  a  vision, 
they  held  their  peace,  and  glorified  God,  Acts  xi. 
4,  18. 

The  knowledge  of  this  divine  and  giving  power 
may  comfort  the  most  dejected  heart.  It  gives  us 
many  consolations:  I.  Concerning  the  salvation  of' 
others  and  ourselves :  how  desperate  soever  we  judge 
their  estates,  by  reason  of  their  continual-  habit  of 
sinning,  yet  this  divine  power  is  able  to  convert  them. 
No  man  can  seem  to  be  further  lost  than  the  Jews, 
who  are  cut  off  from  Christ  through  infidelity,  upon 
whom  the  wrath  of  God  is  come  to  the  uttermost,  and 
a  malice  of  sixteen  hundred  years  burning  is  not 
wa.sted  in  them ;  yet,  saith  Paul,  even  they  may  be 
grafted  into  the  ohve  again,  if  they  abide  not  still 
in  unbelief:  and  his  reason  is,  because  "  God  is  able 
to  giaft  them  in  again,"  Eom.  xi.  23.  But,  alas,  I 
have  been  frozen  many  years  in  the  dregs  of  worldly 
lusts,  and  I  do  not  find  my  heart  yet  thawed.  I  know 
this  is  a  fearful  ease  for  a  man  to  lie  so  long  under 
the  tyranny  of  the  devil ;  yet  despair  not,  apply  the 
means  of  thy  deliverance,  strive  to  extricate  and 
unwind  thy  soul  from  this  maze  of  destruction,  break 
thy  heart  with  compunction  for  thy  iniquities ;  this 
divine  power  is  able  to  implant  thee  to  the  true  Vine, 
and  make  thee  a  member  of  Jesus  Christ.  Thou 
shall  feel  the  "  working  of  his  mighty  power,  which 
he  wrought  in  Christ,  when  he  raised  lum  from  the 
dead,  and  set  him  at  his  own  right  hand  in  heaven," 
Eph.  i.  19,  20.  What  was  the  power  which  he 
wrought  in  Christ  ?  When  malice  had  spent  itself 
upon  him  on  the  cross,  and  insulting  death  began  to 
triumph  over  him  in  the  grave,  even  then  this  mighty 
power  raised  him  up.  We  are  as  dead  in  sin  naturally, 
as  any  man  in  the  grave  corjiorally ;  c.in  neither 
move  hand  nor  foot :  there  was  a  power  that  raised 
him,  there  is  a  power  that  can  revive  us.  All  our 
care  must  be  to  find  in  ourselves  the  "  power  of  his 
resurrection,"  Phil.  iii.  10.  2.  This  comforts  us  in 
the  midst  of  all  afflictions :  we  are  weak  in  ourselves, 
unable  to  stand  under  the  lightest  cross ;  but  there 
is  a  divine  power  that  strengthens  us.  Though  it 
doth  not  nullify  our  sorrows,  yet  it  doth  fortify  our 
patience ;  we  are  "  strengthened  with  all  might, 
according  to  his  glorious  power,  unto  all  patience 
and  long-suffering  with  joyfulness,"  Col.  i.  11.  3. 
This  comforts  us  in  prayer.  There  is  no  speeding 
prayer  but  what  is  made  in  faith,  and  it  is  no  easy 
matter  to  pray  in  faith:  now  the  foundation  of  our 
faith  is  this  divine  power  of  Christ.  Let  us  speak 
confidently  with  the  leper,  "  Lord,  if  thou  wilt  thou 
canst  make  me  clean,"  Matt.  viii.  2.  After  the  wis- 
dom of  Heaven  had  abridged  all  our  necessities  into 
six  petitions,  he  binds  up  our  faith  with  a  reason, 
and  bids  us  wait  confidently  for  the  blessings  craved 
heartily;  "for"  (or  because)  '-' thine  is  the  king- 
dom, tne  power,  and"  to  thee  be  "  the  glory  for 


ever."  4.  This  comforts  us  against  all  oppositions, 
even  those  principalities  that  wrestle  against  us;  the 
assurance  of  this  divine  power.  Let  not  him  fear  a 
strong  enemy  against  him,  that  hath  a  stronger 
Friend  with  him.  If  God  be  on  our  side,  who  can  be 
against  us  ?  Let  their  force  and  malice  strive  which 
shall  be  greater,  we  shall  overcome  them  all  "  by 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb,"  Rev.  xii.  11.  "Ye  are  of 
God,  and  have  overcome  them."  Whom  ?  All  the 
adversaries  of  your  faith  and  manners.  How  ?  "  Be- 
cause greater  is  he  that  is  in  you,"  that  is,  Jesus 
Christ  by  his  divine  power,  "  than  he  that  is  in  the 
world,"  1  John  iv.  4,  tliat  is,  the  malignant  spirit  of 
temptation.  Though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death,  a  place  full  of  horror  and 
amazedness,  yet  will  I  not  fear.  Why  so  ?  Because 
thou,  0  Lord,  art  with  me ;  thy  rod  and  ihy  staff 
do  comfort  me,  Psal.  xxiii.  4.  Lastly,  let  this 
hearten  us  to  cheerful  liberality ;  because  whatso- 
ever we  lack  or  lose,  there  is  a  divine  power  able  to 
require  it.  Thus  Paul  encourageth  the  Corintliians' 
bounty ;  because  God  is  able  to  make  all  grace 
abound  toward  them,  that  they  having  all-sufficiency 
in  all  tilings,  may  abound  to  every  good  work,  2  Cor. 
ix.  8. 

"  Hath  given."  I  come  from  the  faculty  of  the 
Agent  to  the  libert)'  of  the  action :  he  gives.  He 
doth  not  set,  nor  let,  nor  sell,  nor  lend,  but  give. 
The  covetous  landlord  sets  his  tenements,  the  griping 
usurer  lets  his  money,  the  wasting  prodigal  sells  his 
estate,  the  charitable  neighbour  lends  his  goods ; 
but  the  most  liberal  God  gives.  Thus  doth  God, 
Satan,  and  man,  dispose  their  things.  God  gives, 
Satan  sells,  and  man  restores.  God  and  Satan  have 
two  several  warehouses.  A\'e  come  to  the  devil's 
warehouse,  look  on  his  wares,  like  them  well ;  they 
have  a  fair  gloss.  The  gloss  of  drunkenness  is  good 
fellowship;  the  gloss  of  adulteiy  is  good  affection; 
the  gloss  of  covetousness  is  good  husbandry ;  the  gloss 
of  murder  is  good  courage  ;  the  gloss  of  sedition  is 
good  reformation  ;  the  gloss  of  treason  is  good  reli- 
gion. To  make  good  this  gloss,  his  shop  hath  two 
false  lights ;  man's  law,  and  man's  example.  First, 
human  laws;  .so  we  shall  neverbe  able  to  prove  sin  to  be 
sin,  unless  we  have  an  act  of  parliament  for  it.  Next, 
human  examples ;  and  by  that  reason  we  shall  never 
prove  sin  to  be  sin,  till  all  great  men  become  good 
men,  and  that  ndll  not  be  this  two  days.  Well,  men 
thus  liking  the  wares,  they  come  to  the  price;  that 
is  everlasting  torment :  dear,  very  dear  !  The  devil 
is  no  such  frank  chapman,  to  sell  his  commodities  for 
nothing.  No ;  did  he  not  offer  Christ  kingdoms 
upon  free  gift  ?  No,  they  had  a  price  set  on  them ; 
it  must  be  a  crouch  of  his  knee,  he  must  worship  the 
devil  for  it,  Matt.  iv.  9.  He  makes  show  of  Robin 
Hood's  pennyworths,  and  may  forbear  his  debt- 
ors until  death  ;  but  then  lays  a  heavy  execution  on 
them,  and  condemns  them  to  an  everlasting  prison. 
Munera  magna  quidem  ■prabet,  sed  jtrtpbet  in  lianio,  He 
puts  forth  large  baits,  but  there  be  damnable  hooks 
hid  in  them.  A  worldling  is  beset  with  exigents,  he 
complains  his  wants.  Satan  promiseth  ready  help; 
Judas  shall  have  money  in  his  nurse,  Gehnzi  new 
suits  to  his  back,  Nero  a  crown  on  his  head ;  but  thus 
he  possesseth  their  wretched  hearts,  from  whence  he 
is  hardly  ever  untenanted. 

In  God's  warehouse  we  find  Wisdom  at  the  door, 
crying  for  customers  :  Come  ye  to  the  waters,  come, 
buy  ■wine  and  milk  ivithout  money,  Isa.  Iv.  I ;  yea, 
bread  and  fatness,  ver.  2.  Let  us  see  the  wares. 
First  is  water.  Water !  alas,  a  poor  and  pUntifiil 
commodity ;  cheap  enough ;  every  channel  affords  it. 
No  ;  for  first,  literally,  water  was  of  great  use  in 
Palestine,  a  diy  country.     Poor  Hagar  with  her  little 


28 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.   I. 


boy  were  almost  lost  with  thirst.  How  did  her  heart 
leap  when  "  God  ojjcncd  her  eyes,  and  she  saw  a 
well  of  water!"  Gen.  xxi.  19.  Isaac's  herd-men 
strove  with  the  herti-men  of  Gei-ar  about  waters  ; 
therefore  he  called  the  name  of  the  well  Esek,  that 
is,  Contention.  Israel  murmured  for  water,  and  were 
plagued  for  it.  Water  hath  a  manifold  use;  it  scr^•es 
for  drink,  for  medicine,  for  washing,  for  purging,  for 
hoiling,  for  quenching,  for  fructifying.  Water  was 
held  liy  some  the  beginning  of  all  other  tilings  ;  wpia, 
quasi  a  aua  omnia.  It  was  esteemed  a  principal  pre- 
scrver  01  life,  therefore  called  living.  Gen.  xxvi.  19. 
Isaac's  sen-ants  found  a  well  of  living  water:  it  is 
translated,  springmg,  but  the  original  gives  it,  /(Vino- 
water.  But  it  must  be  here  understood  in  a  .spiritual 
sense:  so  the  water  that  God  gives  is  grace.  "With 
joy  shall  ye  draw  water  out  of  the  wells  of  salva- 
tion," Isa.  xii.  ,3.  "  I  will  pour  water  upon  him  that 
is  thirsty "  (which  he  expounds  of  grace):  "  I  will 
pour  my  Spirit  upon  thy  seed,"  Isa.  xliv.  3.  "  Who- 
soever is  athirst,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life 
freely,"  Rev.  xxii.  17.  Next  is  wine.  Is  this  so 
goodp  Wine  is  the  nourishment  of  lust ;  the  Mani- 
checs  called  it,  the  gall  of  the  prince  of  darkness. 
No;  wine  is  good,  hath  manifold  benefits;  it  helps 
the  stomach,  nourisheth  the  body,  wliets  the  wit, 
rherisheth  the  heart,  and  cheers  the  whole  man. 
Christ's  first  miracle  in  Galilee  mentioned,  was  turn- 
ing water  into  wine;  and  the  last  thing  he  used  in 
the  sacrament  was  wine.  It  is  said  to  cheer  God  and 
man,  Judg.  ix.  13.  Thirdly,  bread :  this  is  called 
the  strength  of  man's  life.  It  was  a  great  curse  God 
tlireatencd  to  Israel,  "  I  will  break  their  staff  of 
bread. I'  Lastly,  milk.  The  Tartarians  were  said  to 
live  with  milk  :  Canaan  is  praised  to  flow  with  milk  : 
therefore,  "  Desire  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word," 
1  Pet.  ii.  2.  Bread  necessarv-  for  life,  oil  for  oma- 
mcnt,  water  for  use,  milk  for'  nourishment,  wine  for 
delight.  These  are  good  wares.  The  water  of  re- 
generation, the  wine  of  compunction,  the  bread  of 
life,  the  oil  of  gladness,  the  milk  of  the  gospel ;  who 
would  desire  better  purchase  ?  AVe  like  tliem  well ; 
what  is  the  price  ?  Nothing;  a  very  easy  reckoning. 
The  Lord  gives,  and  that  lietter  things  "for  nothing 
than  Satan  will  sell  us  for  our  souls.  Those  thrifty 
men,  that  try  all  shops  for  the  cheapest  pennyworths, 
why  refuse  they  those  rich  blessings  which  God  gives 
for  nothing,  and  pay  such  a  hard  price  for  vanity 
and  vexation  ?  Men  might  pay  nothing  for  the  best 
of  things;  they  do  pay  the  best' of  things  for  nothing. 
In  vain  doth  foolish  man  exchange  good  for  evil, 
wlicn  he  may  exchange  evil  for  good. 

You  perceive  how  God  gives,  Satan  sells ;  now  see 
how  man  restores;  for  that  bounteous  hand  which 
bestows  much  on  us,  requires  some  restitution  of  us. 
lilan  .should  not  sell,  as  Satan  ;  he  cannot  give, 
as  God ;  but  he  ought  to  restore,  that  is  his  part  : 
this  he  may  do,  this  he  must  do.  To  whom  ?  To 
God  for  his  own  s;ike,  to  man  for  God's  sake.  To 
God;  what  is  that  ?  Thanks.  "  What  shall  I  ren- 
der unto  tlie  Lord  for  all  his  benefits?"  Psal.  cxvi. 
12.  I  will  magnify  and  bless  his  name.  That  is, 
not  to  m;ike  his  name  great,  but  to  declare  it  great. 
"  Sing  fiirlh  the  honour  of  his  name:  make  his 
liraise  glorious,"  Psal.  Ixvi.  2.  How  can  man  make 
his  praise  glorious  ?  By  singing  forth  the  honour 
of  his  name.  This  is  a  plain  restitution,  yet  goes 
under  tlie  name  of  a  contribution.  So  willing  is  God 
to  accept  man's  duly,  that  he  takes  it  as  his  bountv. 
The  giver  is  more  blessed  than  the  receiver:  in  all 
other  things  we  are  the  receivers,  and  he  is  the 
giver;  only  in  thankfulness  we  are  the  givers,  and 
he  is  the  receiver.  Respiration  and  expiration  are 
in  their  vicissitudes  alike;    we  can  draw  in  air  no 


longer  than  we  send  it  out.  If  we  return  no  grace, 
we  receive  no  grace. 

To  man :  and  tliis  in  matters  either  of  equity  or 
charity.  Of  equity :  "  If  I  have  taken  any  tfiing 
from  any  man  by  false  accusation,  I  restore  him 
four-fold,"  Luke  xix.  8.  This  necessity  Nehemiah 
imposed  on  Israel  :  first,  by  entreaty  :  "  I  pray  you, 
let  us  leave  off  this  usur\\"  Next,  by  command, 
Restore  to  them  their  lands  and  vineyards,  and  the 
monies  of  your  exactions.  Then  by  an  oath ;  he  took 
an  oath  of  them  to  perform  this.  Lastly,  by  a  sacra- 
mental curse  to  the  refusers,  shaking  the  lap  of  his 
garment ;  "  So  God  shake  out  every  man  from  his 
house,  that  performeth  not  this  promise,  even  thus 
be  he  shaken  out,  and  emptied.  And  all  the  congre- 
gation said,  Amen,"  Neh.  v.  10 — 13.  The  very  bar- 
b.irians  abhor  the  neglect  of  restitution.  A  great 
lady,  being  a  widow,  called  to  her  an  English  mer- 
chant, trafficking  in  those  parts,  with  whom  she  knew 
her  husband  liad  some  commerce,  and  asked  him  if 
there  were  nothing  owing  to  him  from  her  deceased 
lord.  He,  after  her  much  importunity,  acknowledged 
what,  and  showed  the  particulars.  She  tendered 
him  satisfaction,  yea,  (and  after  his  many  modest  re- 
fusals, as  being  greatly  benefited  by  the  dead  barba- 
rian,) she  forced  him  to  take  of  her  hand  the  uttermost 
penny  ;  saying  thus,  I  would  not  have  my  husband's 
soul  go  to  seek  your  soul  in  hell,  to  pay  his  debts. 
Here  was  a  fire  in  a  dark  vault,  great  zeal  in  blind 
ignorance  ;  they  saw  by  the  candle-light  of  nature, 
what  St.  Augustine  delivers  for  doctrinal  tioith. 
Where  is  no  restitution  of  things  unjustly  gotten, 
there  sins  shall  never  be  forgiven.  Of  charity ;  for 
even  this  is  but  a  restitution.  Give  me,  saith  God, 
of  that  I  have  given  thee :  I  ask  not  for  tliine,  but 
for  mine  own.  Give  and  restore ;  Pelimusque  damus- 
ijtie  vicissim,  If  we  do  not  give  alms  according  to 
our  power,  God  will  sue  us  of  an  action  of  detiny. 
Why  did  you  not  give  things  that  were  mine  by 
right,  yours  only  by  use  and  dispensation ;  whereof 
you  were  not  proprietaries  and  lords,  but  accountant 
stewards?  Matt.  xxv.  Reprobates  will  part  witli 
many  things  for  a  tormenting  devil,  and  shall  we  re- 
store nothing  for  our  sanng  God  ?  (Cyjirian.)  Most 
men  think  when  they  give,  that  God  and  man  is 
beholden  to  tliem.  Not  so ;  they  do  not  give  of 
their  own,  but  restore  some  of  that  God  hath  given 
them.  For  restoring  they  shall  have  recompcnce, 
for  detaining  vengeance. 

I  am  fallen  upon  a  point  of  giving;  therefore,  me- 
tliinks,  I  should  not  be  niggardly  in  it.  God  give 
me  a  tongue  to  declare  it,  and  give  us  all  hearts  to 
practise  it.     Two  things  it  readily  feacheth  us. 

I.  How  to  judge  of  all  we  have;  as  the  Lord's 
gifts,  not  our  own  merits.  It  is  a  wretched  thing,  to 
use  those  things  that  are  added  to  us,  as  if  they  had 
been  bred  in  us.  "  What  hast  thou,  that  thou  didst 
not  receive  ?  If  thou  didst  receive  it,  why  dost  thou 
glory,  as  if  thou  hadst  not  received  it  ?"  1  Cor.  iv.  7- 
God,  saith  Bernard,  is  the  Aulllor  of  merit ;  for  he 
both  applieth  the  will  to  the  work,  and  disposeth  the 
work  to  the  will.  Thou  dost  good  works ;  so  much 
as  is  good  in  them  is  not  thine,  but  God's.  Man, 
for  these  things,  is  rather  a  debtor  to  God,  than  God 
to  man.  Thou  canst  not  so  much  as  give  God 
thanks,  unless  God  first  give  thee  the  grace  of  thank- 
fulness. Thou  canst  not  be  patient  under  his  hand, 
except  his  hand  give  thee  patience.  Why  do  we 
boast  then,  seeing  that 

Qu<p  }ion  fccimus  tpii, 
J'ix  ea  nostra  roco. 

We  cannot  call  those  deeds  ours  which  we  have  not 
done  ourselves?    "  I  laboured  more  abundantlv  than 


Ver.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


29 


they  all :  yet  not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God  which  was 
with  me,"  1  Cor.  xv.  10.  Still  if  we  do  good,  we  are 
beholden  to  God  for  it,  not  God  to  us. 

2.  To  follow  God's  example,  in  being  evermore 
giving  good  things.  Beneficence  is  a  royal  office.  It 
is  a  poor  degree  of  comfort  wherein  many  bless  them- 
selves, to  do  no  ill ;  for  goodness  consists  in  the 
effect,  not  in  the  defect;  nor  is  virtue  glorious  in 
being  innocent  from  harm,  but  in  being  beneficial  for 
good.  I  wonder  what  hope  the  oppressor  hath  to  be 
saved  j  seeing  he  doth  not  imitate  God  in  giving,  but 
the  devil  in  extorting.  There  are  that  give  some- 
thing to  the  poor,  that  they  may  take  away  more  : 
this  is  not  a  chaiitable  giving,  but  a  subtle  hunting  ; 
it  is  to  put  a  good  turn  to  usury.  But  give  ;  this  is 
God's  precept,  and  must  be  thy  precedent.  Yea, 
though  thou  have  little,  give  of  that  little.  God 
esteems  the  little  gift  of  a  poor  righteous  man  above 
the  great  alms  of  a  wicked  rich  man.  And  that  for 
two  reasons.  First,  because  it  is  of  that  which  is 
justly  gotten :  so  Zaecheus,  Half  my  goods  I  give  to 
the  poor,  and  restore  to  them  I  have  wronged  four- 
fold, Luke  xix.  8.  Observe  his  words ;  I  restore 
other  men's  goods,  but  I  give  mine  o^^ii.  Secondly, 
because  he  gives  of  a  little ;  as  the  poor  widow  did 
her  two  mites,  even  all  her  substance.  When  the 
monks  complained  of  want,  and  that  their  revenues 
fell  too  short  for  their  maintenance,  the  abbot 
replied,  that  two  companions  came  once  together  to 
sojourn  in  their  monastery ;  they  were  entertained  : 
their  names  were  Date,  and  Dabitur ;  Give,  and  It 
shall  be  given  you.  Whilst  these  two  lived  amongst 
you,  you  all  thrived :  now  you  have  thrust  out  Date, 
■Give  ;  and  Dabitur,  It  shall  be  given,  will  not  stay 
behind. 

"  Unto  us."  I  come  from  the  bounty  of  the  Giver, 
to  the  need  of  the  receivers  :  to  us,  that  were, 

1.  Worth  nothing. 

2.  Worthy  of  notliing. 

1.  To  us,  that  had  nothing;  miserable  beggars. 
And  indeed  what  should  be  the  object  of  mercy,  but 
miserj-  ?  Present  thyself,  0  poor  soul !  a  miserable 
creature  before  a  merciful  Creator.  Say  not  with 
Laodicca,  Rev.  iii.  17,  "I  have  need  of  nothing," 
but,  I  have  nothing.  God  doth  not  only  forgive  us, 
because  we  have  nothing  to  pay,  ISIatt.  xviii.  23 ;  but 
he  gives  us,  because  we  have  nothing  to  live  on. 
There  are  three  sorts  of  poor  and  miserable  men  ; 
some  sing  and  are  miserable,  some  cry  and  are 
miserable,  some  curse  and  are  miserable.  As  the 
Italian  says.  Thus  go  a  begging  ;  the  Germans 
singing,  the  Frenchmen  weeping,  the  Spaniards 
cursing.  Some  are  poor  in  the  world,  yet  sing 
care  away.  When  Augustus  heard  that  a  gen- 
tleman in  Rome,  concealing  his  broken  estate,  died 
so  far  in  debt,  he  sent  to  buy  the  pillow  whereon  he 
slept.  They  do  not  take  care  how  to  come  out  of 
debt,  but  how  to  come  into  debt.  Thus  poor  are 
many  ;  yet  they  sing  in  taverns,  and  dance  in  thea- 
tres, though  wretched  beggars  in  heavenly  graces. 
As  it  is  in  this  world  for  temporal  things,  so  for  the 
world  to  come  in  spiritual  things  ;  poor  men  sing, 
and  rich  men  cry.  Who  is  so  melancholy  as  the 
rich  worldling  ?  And  who  sings  so  merrj*  a  note,  as 
lie  that  cannot  change  a  groat  ?  So  thev  that  have 
store  of  grace,  mourn  for  want  of  it ;  and  they  that 
indeed  want  it,  chant  their  abundance.  Others  arc 
poor  and  cry :  so  did  Esau,  because  he  could  not  re- 
cover the  "  blessing,  though  he  sought  it  carefully 
with  tears,"  Heb.  xii.  17.  These  mad  dogs  bite  the 
stone,  without  regard  to  him  that  threw  it.  Sorrow, 
like  a  needle,  runs  through  their  hearts,  but  hath  no 
thread  of  faith  in  it,  to  sow  the.m  to  Jesus  Christ. 
Thpy  aie  worse  in  the  state  of  this  world,  yet  not 


better  in  the  state  of  grace.  If  God  touch  a  Pharaoh, 
he  will  roar;  you  sliall  have  him  howl  to  his  ending, 
not  to  his  mending.  The  cloud  of  a  corrupt  heart, 
when  it  is  squeezed  and  crushed  with  adversity,  will 
haply  pour  down  some  drops ;  but  to  shed  repent- 
ant tears  in  the  midst  of  prosperity,  this  is  like  rain 
in  sunshine.  He  that  mourns  for  the  cause  of  his 
punishment,  shall  mourn  but  a  while :  he  tha*  mourns 
only  for  the  punishment,  and  not  for  the  cause, 
shall  mourn  for  ever.  Lastly,  others  curse  and  are 
miserable,  as  Job's  wife  counselled  him,  "  Curse  God, 
and  die."  This  is  a  desperate  poverty,  when  men 
defy  him  that  should  make  them  rich.  They  answer 
God,  as  Daniel  did  Belshazzar,  Keep  thy  reward  to 
thyself,  and  give  thy  gifts  to  another,  Dan.  v.  17. 
They  have  along  festered  ulcer  ;  the  Physician  offers 
to  cure  it :  but  they  madly  thrust  their  nails  into  it ; 
no,  it  shall  not  be  healed.  Such  was  our  estate  by 
nature  ;  some  were  poor  and  insensible,  others  sen- 
sible but  disconsolate,  others  sensible  and  desperate. 
We  were  all  poor  beggars,  and  had  notliing,  therefore 
had  need  of  a  giver. 

2.  To  us,  that  deserved  nothing.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  God  loved  the  angels,  for  they  obey  him  ;  that 
he  loved  the  irrational  and  insensible  creatures,  for 
they  do  not  contradict  him :  but  that  he  should  be 
good  to  us,  neither  receiving,  nor  conceiving,  nor  de- 
siring grace  ;  that  had  not  only  a  rebellion  of  will, 
but  a  will  of  rebellion  ;  this  was  the  wonder.  This 
was  not  a  love  to  us  because  we  first  loved  him ;  but 
a  love  to  us  though  we  hated  him.  He  loved  us,  be- 
cause he  loved  us,  in  our  creation,  when  we  could  not, 
in  our  redemption,  when  we  would  not,  love  him. 

"  All  things  that  pertain  unto  life  and  godliness." 
I  come  from  the  necessity  of  the  receivers,  to  the 
universality  of  the  gift.  "  All  things  that,"  &c. 
This  is  that  extent  and  latitude  of  his  donation  ;  who 
^ives  "  to  all  life,  and  breath,  and  all  things,"  Acts 
xvii.  25.  No  silver  in  Benjamin's  sack,  till  Joseph  put 
it  in  :  no  good  in  man,  till  God  infuse  it.  WorkUings 
ascribe  things  to  the  goodness  of  their  skill,  or  great- 
ness of  their  pains.  "  Is  not  this  great  Babylon,  that 
I  have  built  by  the  might  of  my  power  ?  "  Dan.  iv. 
30.  They  sacrifice  to  their  nets,  Hab.  i.  16.  But 
indeed  every  good  and  perfect  gift  comes  from 
above,  even  from  the  Father  of  liglits.  Jam.  i.  17. 
It  is  in  vain  that  you  rise  up  early,  and  go  to  bed 
late  :  for  so  he  givetli  his  beloved  sleep,  Psal.  cxxvii. 
2.     All  that  pertain 

"  Unto  life."  Where  we  may  cither  by  life  under- 
stand our  natural  life,  together  with  all  things  that 
may  presei-ve  it.  He  put  a  soul  to  our  flesh, 
gave  birth  to  the  child,  nourishment  after  birth ; 
bread  when  we  were  hungry,  drink  when  we  were 
thirsty,  &c.  To  the  wise  man  his  wisdom,  to  the 
strong  man  his  might,  to  the  wealthy  man  his 
riches,  Jer.  ix.  23 :  wisdom,  the  good  of  the  mind ; 
strength,  the  good  of  the  body  ;  nches,  the  goods  of 
fortune.  He  gives  all,  let  us  give  him  praise  for  all. 
He  "giveth  us  richly  all  things  to  enjoy,"  1  Tim.  vi. 
17.  This  is  a  large  field  to  sur\ey,  let  your  medita- 
tions supply  the  defect  of  my  speech.  Who  cannot 
say,  "  Thou  art  he  that  toolc  me  out  of  the  womb  : 
thou  didst  make  me  hope  when  I  was  upon  my  mother's 
breasts?"  Psal.  xxii.  9.  And  because  life  is  not 
only  to  live,  but  to  live  in  health ;  therefore  Job  calls 
God,  the  Preserver  of  men.  Bless  him  in  all,  for  all, 
that  gives  all  ;  he  gives  us  all  things  that  pertain 
to  life,  and  resen-es  only  this  quit-rent.  But  by  life 
here  I  rather  understand  our  spiritual  life ;  whereby 
we  live  to  him,  and  in  him,  and  whereby  he  lives 
in  us. 

To  "  godliness  ;"  whatsoever  conduceth  to  grace 
and  glory.    By  his  grace  we  come  to  godlmess,  and 


30 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Crap.  I. 


jy  godliness  to  life.  He  provides  not  only  tem- 
porally for  us,  that  we  may  live  here  ;  hut  eternal- 
ly, that  we  may  live  for  ever.  The  things  here- 
to belonging  are  the  graces  and  gifts  of  the  Spi- 
rit. Some  think  that  these  principal  graces  are  but 
seven  :  because  it  is  said,  "  There  were  seven  lamps 
of  fire  burning  before  the  throne,  which  are  the  seven 
Spirits  of  God,"  Rev.  iv.  5 :  prefigiued  by  the  stone 
with  seven  eyes,  Zcch.  iii.  9 ;  by  the  seven  lamps  of 
one  candlestick,  Zech.  iv.  2 ;  by  the  seven  horns  of 
one  lamp,  which  are  the  seven  Spirits  of  God,  Rev. 
iv.  5.  Some  have  numbered  and  deduced  tliem  from 
Isa.  xi.  12;  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  of  understanding, 
of  counsel,  of  might,  of  knowledge,  and  of  the  fear  of 
the  Lord.  But  to  make  up  the  number,  they  put  in 
the  spirit  of  piety  ;  for  it  is  not  there  expressed ; 
there  are  but  six  accortbng  to  our  account :  we  may 
say  of  them,  as  of  the  seven  stars,  Qiias  seplem  dicunt, 
sex  tamen  esse  Solent,  Men  say  there  are  seven,  but 
they  are  wont  to  be  but  six.  But  it  is  certain,  this 
seven-fold  number  is  put  for  an  infinite  number,  all 
graces  that  belong  to  life  and  godliness.  "  No  good 
thing  will  he  -withhold  from  them  that  walk  upright- 
ly," Psal.  Ixxxiv.  II.  This  is  an  immense  fountain  ; 
the  Lord  fill  all  the  buckets  of  our  hearts  at  tliis 
spring,  and  give  us  capable  souls,  as  he  hath  a 
liberal  hand. 

But  now  is  there  such  a  receipt,  and  must  there  not 
be  an  account?  Yes,  "  To  whomsoever  much  is  given, 
of  him  shall  be  much  required,"  Luke  xii.  48.  If 
there  be  a  receipt,  there  must  follow  a  return :  and 
that  both  in  portion,  the  same ;  and  in  proportion, 
something  answerable  to  it.  If  the  thing  given  be 
much,  the  thing  required  is  not  little  ;  and  this  shall 
be  exacted  in  obedience,  or  extorted  in  vengeance. 
"  After  a  long  time  the  lord  of  those  servants  cometh, 
andreckoneth  with  them,"  Matt.  xxv.  19 ;  though  it  be 
long,  yet  at  last  to  a  reckoning.  Whether  the  talent 
be  hid  in  idleness,  or  wasted  in  riot,  it  shall  be  spoken 
■for :  "  Give  account  of  thy  stewardship,  for  thou  must 
be  no  longer  steward."  God  is  not  like  Pharaoh  and 
his  task-masters,  that  allow  no  straw,  yet  exact  the 
fidl  tale  of  bricks.  He  is  unjustly  taxed,  to  reap 
where  he  hath  not  sown,  and  to  gather  where  he 
hath  not  strewed.  Matt.  xxv.  24.     No,  but  if  he  hath 

Elanted  a  vineyard,  and  dressed  it  with  careful  cost, 
e  looks  for  gi-apes.  If  God  fill  Joshua's  heart  with 
his  Spirit,  he  will  fill  his  hands  with  business.  If 
St.  Paul  have  abundant  grace,  he  must  have  abun- 
dant labours.  Every  gift  is  obligatory  ;  and  whatso- 
ever benefits  us,  ipso  facto  binds  us.  Now  what  shall 
we  answer  for  the  interest,  that  have  misspent  the 
principal  ?  Have  we  received  all,  and  shall  we  ac- 
count for  nothing?  Yes,  the  books  shall  be  opened, 
and  there  are  set  down  all  the  particulars  of  our  re- 
ceipts and  expenses.  There  is,  Item,  received 
strength,  and  laid  out  oppression.  Item,  received 
riches,  and  laid  out  covetousness.  Item,  received 
health,  and  laid  out  riot  and  drunkenness.  Item,  re- 
ceived garments,  laid  out  pride.  Item,  received 
speech,  laid  out  swearing  and  lying.  Item,  received 
sight,  laid  out  lusting ;  or  perhaps  your  layings  out 
are  niore.  Item,  so  many  score  pounds  laid  out  in 
malice  and  suits  at  law  ;  so  many  liundreds  in  lusts 
and  vanities;  so  many  thousands  in  building  great 
houses.  Item,  to  the  poor  in  our  will  to  be  paid  at 
our  death,  forty  shillings  ;  to  the  preacher  for  a 
fimcral  oration  to  commend  us,  half  a  sovereign. 
Will  this  bill  go  current  when  God  comes  to  cast  it 
up  ?  No,  if  these  accounts  be  not  mended  in  this  life, 
we  shall  never  have  our  quietus  in  the  life  to  come. 
Let  us  then  be  good  in  our  office,  and  make  our 
reckonings  even,  that  it  may  T)e  said  to  every  one 
of  us,  "Well  done,  good  and  fditMul  servant;  enter 


thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord,"  Matt.  xxv.  2.3.  Thus 
he  that  gives  us  all  things  that  belong  to  temporal 
life  and  godliness  on  earth,  will  also  give  us  all 
things  that  belong  to  eternal  life  and  gloiy  in  heaven. 
"  Through  the  knowledge  of  him  that  hath  called 
us  to  gloiy  and  virtue."  We  have  considered  the 
fountain,  let  us  come  now  to  the  conduit,  the  means 
or  meritorious  cause,  through  wliich  all  these  pre- 
cious gifts  are  bestowed  on  us.  This  ever-flowing 
and  over-flowing  conduit  is  Christ,  in  whom  dwells  all 
fulness.  Col.  i.  I9.  Now  for  us,  the  more  capacious  a 
vessel  of  faith  we  bring,  the  greater  measure  of  gnice 
we  shall  receive.  In  this  conduit  obser^-e  two  generals : 
the  water  of  life,  which  is  our  effectual  calling  to 
glory  and  virtue ;  and  the  pipe  or  bucket  to  draw 
and  derive  it  to  us,  the  knowledge  of  Christ.  In  the 
fonner  consider  four  circumstances ;  the  Mover,  the 
motion,  the  moved,  and  the  term  ;  who,  what,  whom, 
and  whither, 

1. "Who  hath  called  us.  Christ:  he  only  can  call 
home  sinners.  I  came  to  call  sinners  to  repentance  : 
I,  not  man,  nor  angels.  Matt.  ix.  1.3;  Luke  xix.  10. 
God  only  can  of  stones  raise  up  chiUben  to  Abraham. 
He  that  could  turn  stones  into  bread,  can  turn  a 
.stony  heart  into  that  mercy  to  give  bread.  He  (hat 
could  fetch  water  from  a  rock,  can  di-aw  tears  from 
our  flinty  hearts.  Man  may  imprint  a  conceit,  God 
only  can  work  a  consent.  The  preacher  may  unfold 
the  mysteries  of  the  gospel,  and  effect  a  knowledge 
in  the  brain ;  but  he  hath  a  pulpit  in  heaven,  that  - 
preacheth  to  the  conscience.  To  resign  ourselves  to 
the  truth,  here  is  the  finger  of  God.  You  will  say. 
It  is  ea.sy  to  think.  No,  we  cannot  think  a  good 
thought  of  ourselves.  Thought  is  free.  No,  the 
thought  is  God's  bond-servant.  It  is  easv  fo  believe. 
No,  for  foith  is  the  fair  gift  of  God,  Phil.'i.  29.  Yet, 
it  is  easy  to  will.  No,  it  is  he  that  workelh  in  us, 
both  to  will  and  to  do,  at  his  good  pleasure,  Phil,  ii, 
13.  ]Man'swill  is  a  fugitive  Oncsimus  ;  God  must  call 
home  that  runagate,  subdue  that  rebel.  Yet  when 
we  have  begim,  it  is  easy  to  continue.  No,  he  that 
begun  a  good  work  in  us,  will  perform  it,  Phil.  i.  6. 
Jesus  is  the  founder  and  the  finisher  of  oar  faith, 
Heb.  "xii.  2.  But  we  can  suflVr  for  him  at  our  ]  leu- 
sure.  No,  it  is  given  to  us  to  sufler  for  his  sake, 
Phil.  i.  29.  "  Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing,"  John 
XV.  5;  notlitlle.hul7iotliing.  But  in  him  and  through 
him  all  things:  "  I  can  do  all  things  through  Chnst 
which  strengtheneth  me,"  Phil.  iv.  1.3.  In  ourselves 
we  are  w'eak  captives  ;  in  him  more  than  conquerors, 
Rom.  viii.  37.  "  If  ye  be  willing  and  obedient,  ye 
shall  eat  the  good  of  the  land,"  Isa.  i.  19.  Yet  is  it 
neither  of  the  wilier,  nor  of  the  runner,  but  of  God 
(hat  shows  mercy,  Rom.  ix.  IG.  "With  my  whole 
heart  have  I  sought  thee."  Did  he  bend  his  own 
heart  to  it?  No,  but  prays,  "Olet  me  not  wander 
from  thy  commandments,"  Psal.  cxix.  10.  "  I  will 
run  the  way  of  thy  commandments  ;"  but  when  ? 
"  when  thou  shalt  enlarge  my  heart,"  ver.  .32.  "  My 
son,  keep  thy  heart :"  yet  it  is  the  peace  of  God  that 
keeps  the  heart  in  Christ  Jesus,  Phil.  iv.  7-  God's 
imperative  infers  no  potential,  but  an  optative  :  Lord, 
give  what  thou  biddest,  and  bid  what  thou  wilt. 
The  law  chargeth  obedience,  but  faith  obtains  for- 
giveness. "  Turn  us,  good  Lord  ;  so  shall  we  be 
turned."  None  comes  to  the  Son,  unless  the  Father 
draw  him  ;  and  if  the  Father  hath  once  given  us  into 
his  hands,  no  devils  in  hell  shall  ever  be  able  to 
pluck  us  out. 

2.  What  is  the  action.  "  Hath  c.illed."  There  was 
a  time  when  Christ  came  personally  to  call ;  he 
"  went  out  early  in  the  morning  to  hire  labourers 
into  his  vinej-ard,"  Matt.  xx.  1.  He  went  out  of  him- 
self, that  he  might  come  into  thee,  that  he  miglit 


Ver.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


31 


convert  thee  into  liimself.  (Pontan.)  He  went  out 
from  his  majesty  that  is  invisible,  to  his  mercy  that 
is  manifested  in  his  works.  Now  he  callcth  at  divers 
times,  in  divers  places,  and  after  divers  mannere. 

At  divers  times.  All  hours  of  the  day  he  is  call- 
ing ;  at  tlie  first  hour,  the  third,  the  sixth,  tlie  ninth, 
the  eleventh,  Matt.  xx.  In  all  ages  of  the  world. 
Before  the  law  he  called  Abel,  Enoch,  Noah,  Abra- 
ham. Under  the  law,  Moses,  David,  Isaiah,  &-c. 
Under  the  gospel,  apostles,  martyrs.  Sec.  And  now 
us,  "  upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  world  are  come," 
1  Cor.  X.  II.  This  is  the  eleventh  hour  at  the  least, 
1  John  ii.  1>^.  He  called  some  at  the  first  hour; 
Samuel,  John  Baptist,  sanctifying  them  from  the 
womb.  Others  in  the  third  hour,  their  youth;  as 
young  Daniel,  St.  John  the  evangelist.  That  little 
disciple  Christ  greatly  loved.  (Hieron.)  Others  in 
the  sixth  hour;  as  Peter  and  Andrew.  Others  in 
the  eleventh;  as  Gamaliel,  Joseph  of  Arimathea. 
Some  not  only  at  the  last  hour,  but  the  last  minute, 
as  that  one  malefactor  upon  the  cross  :  one,  so  that 
no  man  should  despair;  but  one,  so  that  no  man 
should  presume.  Thus  all  the  day  long  he  stretcheth 
forth  his  hand  to  call  us,  Rom.  x.  21.  Woe  imto  us, 
if  none  of  these  hours  can  reclaim  us  !  for  then  the 
night  follows,  wherein  is  no  more  calling  to  grace, 
but  to  judgment. 

In  divers  places ;  some  from  their  ships,  others 
from  their  shops  ;  Peter  and  Andrew  fishing  on  the 
sea,  Matthew  fishing  on  the  land.  It  is  a  great  mat- 
ter to  convert  a  mariner  forth  of  his  ship,  but  a 
greater  wonder  to  convert  a  publican  forth  of  his 
shop.  Some  from  the  market,  Matt.  xx.  .3;  some 
from  the  hedges,  Luke  xiv.  23.  Paul  in  his  finy, 
"  breathing  out  threatenings  and  slaughter,"  Acts 
ix.  I.  Henry  VIII.  in  his  discontent  :  the  pope 
denies  his  just  divorce,  hereon  he  justly  denies  the 
pope.  Let  none  despair;  he  can  call  gallants  at  the 
court,  ruffians  at  the  tavern,  covetous  merchants  at 
their  warehouses ;  yea,  he  can  call  usurers  at  their 
banks.  But  indeed  these  last  he  seldom  does  call ; 
those  baptized  Jews  seldom  repent.  You  have  seen 
drunkards,  thieves,  and  adulterers  weep  at  a  seimon ; 
you  never  saw  a  usurer  shed  a  tear. 

After  divers  manners.  First,  by  the  preaching  of 
the  word ;  and  herein  he  useth  two  bells  to  ring  us 
to  church,  the  treble  of  mercy,  and  the  tenor  of 
judgment.  "  Out  of  the  throne  proceeded  light- 
nings, and  thunderings,  and  voices,"  Rev.  iv.  5. 
Lightnings,  that  illuminate  the  dark  air  of  the 
world  ;  thunderings,  the  menaces  against  corruption 
and  vices ;  lastly,  the  sweet  voices  of  comfort  that 
preacheth  liberty  to  captives,  and  proclaims  "the 
acceptable  year  of  the  Lord,"  Isa.  Ixi.  2.  One  said.  Our 
hearts  are  all  of  sin,  but  our  ears  are  all  of  mercy  :  he 
that  will  please  us  with  a  song,  must  set  it  (o  the  tune 
of  the  gospel ;  we  can  hear  nothing  Vmt  Pax  vobii; 
and  see  nothing  but  Ecce  Jlgnus  ;  as  if  the  law  were 
of  no  further  use,  like  an  old  almanac  out  of  date. 
But  we  know  that  Moses  and  Christ  met  upon  the 
mount.  Matt.  xvii. ;  not  the  law  alone,  nor  the  gospel 
alone,  but  Moses  and  Christ,  the  law  and  the  gospel, 
are  conjoined.  Next  he  calls  by  his  judgments: 
thus  he  heats  our  iron  hearts  in  the  fiirnace  of  afflic- 
tions; that  nocumcnia  might  be  docitmenla,  men's 
sufferings  their  instructions.  That  which  makes  the 
body  smart,  makes  the  soul  wise.  Doth  God  afflict 
us  ?  he  calls  us  to  repentance  ;  for  "  tribulation 
workcth  patience,"  Rom.  v.  3.  Whilst  we  are  thus 
exercised,  either  with  sorrows  inflicted,  or  wjth  hopes 
delayed,  God  calls  us  home  to  himself.  He  often 
conveys  holiness  through  the  wounds  of  afflictions : 
the  iiersecuted  church  flies  like  a  dove  to  the  clefts 
of  the  rock,  Cant.  ii.    14;    nestles   herself  in  the 


wounds  of  Jesus  Christ.  Trouble  is  a  messenger 
that  speaks  thus  to  us.  Make  your  peace  with  God. 
Thou  complainest  that  thou  art  afflicted  on  every 
side,  groancst  under  thy  burden,  after  many  changed 
sides  criest  out  of  unremedied  pain ;  alas,  thou  re- 
pentest  not.  Trouble  came  on  this  message,  to  teach 
thee  repentance :  give  the  messenger  Iiis  errand, 
and  he  will  be  gone.  Lastly,  by  mercies.  Thus  we 
have  him  frequently  calling  ;  he  sows  mercy  upon  us 
with  a  liberal  hand.  Now  the  patience  and  long- 
suffering  of  God  lead  us  to  repentance,  Rom.  ii.  4. 
God  spares  the  sinner,  but  let  not  the  sinner  spare 
his  sin.  We  have  hard  hearts,  if  the  lilood  of  the 
Lamb  cannot  soften  them  ;  stony  bowels,  if  so  many 
mercies  cannot  melt  us.  What  was  Pharaoh's  great- 
est plague  ?  Not  the  murrain  on  his  beasts,  nor  the 
hail  on  his  fruits,  nor  the  blood  in  his  waters,  nor  the 
blains  on  his  fiesh,  nor  the  first-bom  slain  in  his 
families  ;  but  a  hard  heart.  They  write  of  a  northern 
fountain,  that  turns  all  things  it  recei\"es  into  stones ; 
and  a  choleric  stomach  converts  all  meats  into  choler ; 
so  a  hard  heart  turns  even  God's  softest  mercies  into 
hardness. 

Thus  God  calls.  For  Christ's  sake  let  us  go.  It 
is  "  the  voice  of  my  Beloved,"  Cant.  ii.  8  ;  let  us  mn 
to  him.  In  the  last  and  great  day  of  the  feast,  Jesus 
stood  and  cried,  S:c.  John  vii.  37 :  stood  up,  that  he 
might  be  seen ;  cried,  that  he  might  be  heard.  He 
is  audible  in  his  word,  visible  in  liis  sacraments ;  in 
both  he  calls.  "  I  stand  at  the  door,  and  knock," 
Rev.  ii).  20 :  he  that  is  our  door  of  entrance,  knocks 
at  our  door  for  entrance.  It  is  fit  we  should  knock  at 
his  door,  not  he  at  ours.  But  if  he  does  knock,  let 
him  not  stand  without,  till  his  head  be  filled  with 
dew,  and  his  locks  with  the  di'ops  of  the  night,  Cant, 
v.  2.  He  is  the  way  in  the  truth,  and  the  tnxth  in 
the  way,  and  in  both  the  life.  He  calls,  yet  com- 
plains, "  Ye  will  not  come  to  me,  that  ye  might 
have  life,"  John  v.  40.  Go  we  then  to  him.  Come  to 
him  and  live,  depart  from  him  and  perish.  (August.) 
Let  not  Christ  call  in  vain,  nor  his  ministers  say, 
We  have  laboured  in  vain,  and  spent  our  strength 
for  nought,  Isa.  xlix.  4.  Faith  and  repentance  are 
two  short  lessons,  yet  Israel  was  forty  years  before 
they  could  learn  them.  If  God  call  upon  us,  and  men 
will  not  answer,  they  shall  call  upon  him  when  he 
will  not  answer,  Prov.  i.  2S.  God  shall  say  to  the 
reprobates.  Be  it  to  you  according  to  your  deserts. 
To  sin,  is  to  depart  from  God;  therefore,  "Depart" 
from  me  :  you  loved  cursing,  therefore,  depart,  "ye 
cursed:"  the  fire  of  anger,  of  malice,  of  lust,  hath 
burned  in  your  hearts,  therefore,  depitrt  "into  fire:" 
you  wouldhave  sinned  everlastingly,  therefore,  depart 
into  "  everlasting  fire  :"  you  have  hearkened  to  the 
devil's  temptations,  you  nuist  feel  the  devil's  tor- 
ments ;  into  fire  "  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his 
angels,"  Matt.  xxv.  41.  Abuse  not  his  calling,  lest 
he  swear  in  his  wrath  that  thou  shalt  never  enter  into 
his  rest,  Heb.  iii.  11.  He  sends  for  us  friendly, 
freely,  frequently ;  let  us  make  no  excuses,  lest  he 
vow  that  none  of  those  bidden  guests  shall  taste  of 
his  supper,  Luke  xiv.  24.  Many  cry,  O  Lord,  why 
hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  to  whom  he  replies,  O  man, 
why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  They  say  to  the 
Almighty,  "  Dep;irt  from  us  ;  for  we  desire  not  the 
knowledge  of  thy  ways,"  Job  xxi.  14;  therefore  God 
shall  say  to  them,  "  Depart  from  me,  ye  that  work 
iniquity,"  Matt.  vii.  23.  They  that  forget  God  call- 
ing on  them  in  health,  shall  be  rejected  calling  on 
him  in  sickness.  The  groaning  reprobate  shall  say, 
Come,  Lord,  to  comfort ;  but  God  to  him,  Come, 
sinner,  to  judgment.  Then,  as  iEneas  for  his  lost 
wife,  Creusa,  Nee  quicquam  ingeminans  ilerumque  ite- 
rumque  vocabis ;  thou  doubling  thy  cries,  shalt  call 


82 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


for  him  that  will  not  hear.  But  to  the  faithful  and 
obedient  shall  be  a  sweet  voice :  "  Come,"  for  you 
desired  to  come  :  "  ye  blessed ; "  you  loved  blessing, 
and  it  shall  be  unto  you ;  you  have  sensed,  you  shall 
xeign :  "  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you," 
Matt.  XXV.  34. 

3.  Whom  hath  he  called  ?  "  Us  : "  us  miserable 
sinners;  that  were  deaf,  and  could  not  hear  him; 
lame,  and  could  not  meet  him ;  blind,  and  could 
not  see  him ;  dead,  and  could  not  answer  him.  Us ; 
far  enough  olT,  without  God,  without  hope  in  the 
world.  It  was  not  sufficient,  that  he  paid  himself 
our  debt  in  the  blood  of  his  own  Son,  and  made  a 
glorious  treasury  of  his  inestimable  merits ;  but  he 
must  also  call  us  to  the  participation :  otherwise 
Christ  might  have  been  rich  enough  in  merits,  and 
God  in  mercies,  and  yet  we  still  beggars. 

4.  To  what  ?  "  To  glory  and  virtue."  Some  read, 
h/  glory  and  virtue ;  others,  to  glory  and  virtue. 
The  sense  is  good  and  receivable  either  way  :  a  word 
or  two  of  them  both. 

If  we  take  it,  hj  glory  and  virtue,  the  sum  is  this, 
Christ's  calling  is  so  effectual,  when  he  joins  with 
the  word  of  his  grace  the  grace  of  his  word,  that  it 
shall  work  without  control,  it  shall  take  virtual  and 
glorious  effects.  God  had  a  purpose  to  call  the 
Gentiles  ;  there  were  bars  against  it.  "  Go  not  into 
the  way  of  the  Gentiles,"  Matt.  x.  5.  "  It  is  not 
meet  to  take  the  children's  bread,  and  to  cast  it  to 
dogs,"  Matt.  XV.  26.  Yet  when  those  children  put 
from  them  the  gospel,  and  judged  themselves  un- 
worthy of  everlasting  life,  it  came  to  the  Gentiles, 
Acts  xiii.  46 :  God  did  effect  it  l>y  glory  and  virtue. 
God  promised  that  all  Israel  shall  be  saved,  Rom.  xi. 
26.  There  were  obstacles  enough  against  it ;  the 
blood  of  Christ  on  their  heads,  they  revile  and  curse 
him  in  their  synagogues,  they  are  wanderers  on  the 
face  of  the  earth ;  yet  they  shall  be  brought  to  the 
fold,  by  glory  and  virtue.  So  it  was  with  us.  God 
had  purposed  the  gospel  to  England,  sealed  up 
many  souls  there  to  eternal  redemption.  Were  there 
no  impediments  ?  Yes ;  Queen  Mary  made  a  stop, 
put  out  the  light,  smote  the  shepherds,  scattered 
the  sheep,  bunied  the  professors,  leagued  with  the 
Spaniard,  yielded  all  to  the  pope  :  all  is  now  bunged 
up  in  ignorance,  the  devil  is  jocund,  men's  perdition 
just  as  sure  as  he  would  wish  it,  saving  only  he 
must  stay  the  time  of  their  coming  to  hell.  Yet 
shall  there  be  no  elusion  of  God's  will ;  even  then 
the  i)atroness  of  superstition  died ;  Queen  Elizabeth 
of  blessed  memory  was  advanced  into  the  throne  ; 
all  the  clouds  of  error  were  dispersed.  God  now 
lifts  his  church  out  of  her  swoon,  dilates  his  king- 
dom, to  save  our  souls,  our  fathers  before  us,  our 
children  after  us;  which  the  mercy  of  God  continue 
to  us  and  ours,  so  long  as  the  sun  and  moon  endure  : 
fill  this  by  glory  and  virtue. 

To  glorj'  and  virtue,  according  to  the  common 
reading.  How  hath  God  already  called  us  to  glory 
and  virtue  ?  In  two  respects ;  in  present  being, 
and  in  hope.  First,  for  our  i)rcsent  estate  we  must 
understand  by  "  glory,"  the  honour  of  being  Chris- 
tians ;  by  "  virtue,"  the  good  life  that  becometh 
Christians:  to  both  these  we  are  called. 

To  glory.  Is  there  any  glory  in  this  world  be- 
longing to  a  saint  ?  any  account  of  a  man  so  mortified 
to  temporal  things?  Are  we  not  the  refuse  and  off- 
scouring  of  all  things  ?  I  Cor.  iv.  13.  Well,  we  have 
Still  a  great  glory  by  our  calling,  albeit  carnal  eyes 
cannot  see  it,  or  will  not  take  notice  of  it.  For  if 
there  were  ignominy  in  thraldom,  then  is  there  glorj- 
in  freedom.  "  Stand  fast  therefore  in  the  liberty 
wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free,"  Gal.  v.  1. 
We  arc  not  boni  free,  but  new-born  free.     It  is  great 


glor)-  for  us  (naturally)  slaves,  to  be  made  by  Christ 
free-men  ;  but  greater  glor}'  to  be  made  kings,  Rev. 
i.  6.  So  we  that  believe  are  tndy  noble,  brethren 
and  sisters  to  Christ,  and  so  of  the  blood-roval  of 
God.  To  as  many  as  receive  him,  he  gives  right  and 
privilege  to  be  the  sons  of  God,  John  i.  12.  O  happy 
Christians !  let  others  boast  their  generation,  we  our 
regeneration.  This  is  the  best  ornament  of  blood,  the 
noblest  part  of  the  scutcheon,  the  fairest  flower  in  the 
gentleman's  garland.  The  youngest  brother  bears 
the  arms  of  the  eldest ;  so  we  of  our  elder  Brother 
Christ.  Not  my  blood,  but  my  Christianity,  makes 
me  noble,  said  that  noble  martyr.  Now  this  great- 
ness is  got  by  our  littleness ;  the  greatest  glory 
comes  by  humility.  If  thou  desirest  glory,  despise 
it ;  so  thou  shalt  be  most  glorious.  (Chrj's.)  The 
world  hath  the  godly  in  derision,  and  a  proverb  of 
reproach  ;  count  their  life  to  be  madness,  and  their 
end  without  honour,  Wisd.  v.  3,  4;  as  the  filth  of 
the  world,  and  the  off-scouring  of  all  things,  1  Cor. 
iv.  13.  But  no  man  is  miserable  because  another 
so  thinks  him,  but  because  he  so  feels  himself.  But 
the  Lord  hath  called  us  to  glorj-,  and  made  us  sons 
to  a  King,  John  iii.  2,  brothers  to  a  King,  Heb.  ii. 
11,  heirs  to  a  King,  Rom.  viii.  17,  yea,  even  to  the 
King  of  glory.  He  were  a  poor  sot,  that  would  be 
ashamed  of  the  alliance  which  the  king  should  chal- 
lenge of  him;  yea,  poor  is  even  that  king  that  is 
ashamed  of  the  Son  of  God,  offering  his  brotnerhood. 
Men  are  ashamed  of  thy  kindred  ;  the  Lord  Jesus 
hath  called  thee  to  glory. 

To  \-irtue,  as  well  as  to  glorj-.  "  For  God  liath 
not  called  us  unto  uncleanness,  but  unto  holiness," 
1  Thess.  iv.  7.  All  things  are  yours ;  not  to  abuse 
with  riot,  but  to  use  with  moderation,  and  to  enjoy 
with  comfort ;  because  (by  faith)  ye  are,  and  by 
obedience  you  are  known  to  be,  Christ's,  and  Christ 
is  God's,  1  Cor.  iii.  22,  23.  The  grace  of  God  that 
brings  salvation  to  us,  teacheth  us  to  live  godly, 
righteously,  and  soberly.  Tit.  ii.  11,  12:  that  is  tlie 
virtue  whereunto  we  are  called ;  to  despise  the  world, 
and  please  the  Lord.  Our  virtue  is  to  fight  with 
vanity  ;  and  our  great  hajipiness  not  to  be  overcome 
of  happiness.  (August.)  He  that  denies  himself  and 
sticks  to  virtue,  loseth  his  own  which  he  could  not 
keep,  and  getteth  that  happiness  which  he  cannot  lose. 
(August.)  Now  Christ  that  calls  us  to  virtue,  gives 
it.  "  Somebody  hath  touched  me ;  for  I  perceive 
that  virtue  is  gone  out  of  me,"  Luke  viii.  46.  There  is 
no  virtue  but  it  comes  from  him :  the  woman  touched 
him,  but  it  was  not  her  finger,  but  her  faith,  that 
drew  out  that  virtue.  Nor  was  this  virtue  in  his 
garments ;  for  living  they  thronged  him,  dead  they 
parted  them,  yet  were  never  the  better.  So,  many 
now  may  touch  the  bread  of  the  Lord,  yet  not  touch 
that  bread  which  is  the  Lord,  because  their  faiths 
and  their  fingers  go  not  together.  Thou  art  called 
to  this  virtue,  come  and  take  it ;  throng  upon  Christ 
for  it,  let  nothing  keep  thy  faith  back.  "  The  whole 
multitude  sought  to  touch  him  :  for  there  went  virtue 
out  of  him,  and  healed  them  all,"  Luke  vi.  19.  If  the 
glorj-  of  virtue  do  not  first  enter  into  thee,  thou  shalt 
never  enter  into  the  virtue  and  triumph  of  gloiT. 

Thus  hath  God  already  called  us  to  glory  and  vir- 
tue, in  respect  of  an  inchoative  fruition  ;  hereafter 
we  shall  come  to  a  perfect  and  plenary'  possession. 
The  virtue  there,  is  a  pure  white  garment  without 
spot ;  and  the  glory,  a  golden  crown  of  eternity.  God's 
children  have  three  suits  of  apparel,  black,  red,  and 
white.  Here  we  arc  either  in  black,  mourning,  or  in 
red,  persecuted  ;  there  we  shall  be  only  in  white,  glo- 
rified. "  A  great  multitude  stood  before  the  Lamb,  in 
white  robes,  and  palms  in  their  hands,"  Rev.  vii.  9. 
White  is  the  symbol  of  iimoccncy,  of  joyfulness,  of 


Ver.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


33 


blissedncss :  of  innocency,  because  it  is  iieilher  spot- 
tid  nor  died  ;  of  joyfulncss,  because  oi)poscd  to  black, 
wliich  is  (he  garb  of  sorrow ;  of  blessedness,  because 
tlie  state  there  is  not  subject  to  any  change.  It  mat- 
ters not  what  rags  we  wear  below,  so  we  may  be 
clothed  with  that  white  above  :  we  now  niouru  in 
black ;  but  those  tears  sliall  work  a  miracle  through 
Christ,  and  change  all  our  garments  into  white. 
Have  virtue,  if  thou  wouldst  have  glory  :  be  wc  liei'c 
conformed  to  Clirist's  image,  and  then  he  shall  change 
our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be  fashioned  like  his  glo- 
rious body,  by  that  mighty  working  whereby  he  sub- 
dues all  things  to  himself,  Phil.  iii.  21.  For  the 
glory,  it  is  unspeakable:  "Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor 
ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of 
man,  the  things  whieli  God  hath  prepared  for 
them  that  love  him,"  I  Cor.  ii.  9.  The  eye  hath 
not  seen  it,  because  it  is  not  colour;  nor  the  ear 
heard  it,  because  it  is  not  sound  ;  nor  hath  it 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  because  the  heart  of 
man  must  enter  into  it.  (August.)  "  Enter  thou  into 
the  joy  of  thy  Lord  ;"  for  it  is  too  great  to  enter  into 
thee.  If  wc  durst  pray  with  Moses,  Lord,  show  us 
thy  glory  ;  he  would  answer.  There  is  no  man  shall 
see  me,  and  live,  Exod.  xxxiii.  18,  20.  Therefore, 
Lord,  one  day  give  it  us.  Yes,  he  will,  for  he  hath 
called  us  to  it.  There  wc  shall  rest  and  sec,  see  and 
love,  love  and  bless,  that  glory  which  is  and  shall  be 
for  ever.  What  else  should  we  propose  for  our  end, 
than  that  glory  which  shall  have  no  end? 

Thus  I  have  brought  your  meditations  up  into 
heaven  ;  and  now  you  say,  It  is  good  being  here,  it 
is  good  leaving  you  there.  Enough  and  enough 
iigain  ;  it  is  high  time  to  bless  you  with  a  dis- 
mission, or  dismiss  you  with  a  blessing.  We  have 
opened  the  fountain,  but  you  know  the  cock  is 
behind,  that  must  derive  the  water  of  life  to  your 
hearts  :  Through  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ. 
I  know  this  point  is  too  ample  for  the  small  remnant 
of  the  fugitive  time,  and  therefore  awhile  I  suspend 
it.  And  now  you  may  say,  the  sermon  is  done  :  and 
yet  would  to  God  you  could  say  so  truly,  that  it  was 
done.  But  as  a  learned  divine  obsei-ved  out  of  The 
Christian  Tell-truth ;  when  a  great  lady  asked  her 
servants,  whether  the  sermon  were  done  or  not ;  they 
answered.  It  was  done  :  she  pleasantly  replied.  It  was 
spoken,  it  was  not  done.  Christ  hath  called  you  to  glory 
and  virtue,  to  godliness  here  and  salvation  hereafter  : 
if  now  your  hearts  come  home  to  him  in  obedience, 
then  the  sermon  is  done  indeed ;  but  if  you  cleave  to 
the  world,  and  care  more  to  bring  wealth  to  your 
purses  than  Christ  to  your  consciences,  the  sermon  is 
spoken,  it  is  not  done.  It  is  spoken  and  done  by  the 
preacher.  God  grant  I  may  say,  it  is  answered  and 
done  by  the  hearers.  Oh  how^  beautiful  were  it  to 
behold  your  growth  and  stature  in  grace  confessing, 
and  recompensing,  the  spiritual  food  which  you  have 
received ! 


Verse  4. 

Whtrehy  are  given  unto  us  exceeding  great  and  pre- 
cious promises  :  that  by  these  ye  niight  be  partakers 
of  the  divine  nature,  having  escaped  the  corruption 
that  is  in  the  irorld  through  lust. 

I  SHOULD  come  immediately  to  these  words,  but  that 
in  the  former  building  there  was  a  piece  of  timber 
left  out  now  to  be  inserted.  It  was,  the  knowledge  of 
our  Caller.  Now  this  point  of  knowledge  (to  avoid 
multiplicity  of  discourse  upon  the  same  argument) 
may  fitly  be  considered  in  the  "word  of  connexion 


(hat  knits  the  verses  together;    "whereby."     But 
first  I  will  let  the  words  tail  into  parts  by  distribu- 
tion.    In  the  whole  verse  we  may  observ'e  : 
I.  A  conveyance  ;  and  herein, 

1.  The  instruments.  Whereby. 

2.  The  materials,  Promises. 

3.  The  latitude  of  them,  for,  (1.)  Quantity,  Great. 
(2.)  Quality,  Precious. 

II.  An  inheritance,  Partakers  of  the  divine  naturi . 
This  is  qualitative,  and  may  be  exemplified  in  i^ 
seven-fold  relation  ;  as, 

1.  Servants  of  a  master. 

2.  Subjects  of  a  king. 

3.  Sons  of  a  father. 

4.  Fellows  of  a  society. 

5.  Members  of  a  head. 
().  Branches  of  a  tree. 

7.  Spouses  of  a  husband. 

HI.  A  deliverance;  wherein  consider, 

1.  The  discovery  of  danger.  The  corruption  thai  is 
in  the  world  through  lust. 

2.  The  recovery  from  that  danger.  Ye  have 
escaped  it. 

"  Whereby."  We  begin  first  with  the  instrument, 
and  so  arc  fitly  met  with  the  point  which  before 
escaped  us.  For  this  "  whereby  "  stands  like  a  Janus, 
looking  both  to  the  matter  past,  and  to  come.  The 
matter  past  was  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  which  was  to 
this  place  reserved,  that  we  might  have  good  occasion 
to  perpend  the  virtue  of  it.  "  Whereby."  The  sum  of 
the  point  is  this.  The  true  knowledge  of  Christ  is  the 
means,  whereby  are  conveyed  to  us  all  the  promises 
of  mercy.  One  was  of  opinion,  that  a  philosopher 
excels  an  ordinary  man  as  much  as  an  ordinary  man 
excels  a  beast  :  but  every  tnie  Christian  excels  a 
philosopher  as  much  as  a  philosopher  does  a  dunce. 
They  scarce  knew  God  in  his  creatures,  we  know 
God  in  his  Christ.  Ignoli  nulla  cupido  ;  as  we  say.  Un- 
couth, unkissed :  we  must  look  before  we  like,  discern 
before  we  can  desire.  "  Mine  eyes  have  seen  thy 
salvation,"  says  old  Simeon  ;  therefore,  "  now  lettest 
thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace."  My  corporal 
eyes  have  seen  thy  manhood,  my  spiritual  eyes  have 
seen  thy  Godhead ;  which  is  thy  salvation,  as  giving 
it,  and  my  salvation,  as  receiving  it.  Neither  is  this 
salutare  singulare ;  but  whosoever  hath  seen  and 
known  this  salvation,  by  his  eye  of  faith,  will  earn- 
estly desire  it :  as  Stephen  saw  the  Lord  Jesus  at 
the  right  hand  of  God,  therefore  longed  to  come  to 
him,  video,  venio. 

There  is  no  pleasure  so  sweet  as  knowledge,  no 
knowledge  so  sweet  as  that  of  religion,  no  know- 
ledge of  religion  so  sweet  as  that  of  Christ ;  for  this 
is  eternal  life,  to  know  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom 
he  hath  sent,  John  xvii.  3.  There  is  no  entering 
into  heaven  without  doing  the  will  of  God,  Matt. 
vii.  21 ;  there  is  no  doing  it  without  knowing  it. 
"  If  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do 
them,"  John  xiii.  17.  Ignorance  is  not  then  the 
mother  of  devotion,  but  tlie  grandmother  of  irreli- 
gion.  Let  us  never  think  that  God  will  accept  our 
verdict  at  the  bar,  when  we  give  it  up  with  an  igno- 
ramus. Let  us  therefore  use  the  means  to  get  know- 
ledge. 1.  Read  the  Scripture;  that  is  God's  will, 
there  is  knowledge,  John  v.  39.  2.  Frequent  the 
temple ;  that  is  his  house,  there  is  knowledge.  I 
thought  to  know  this,  but  it  was  too  liard  for  me ; 
until  I  went  into  the  sanctuary  of  God,  then  I  un- 
derstood it,  Psal.  Ixxiii.  16,  17-  3.  Resort  to  the 
communion  ;  that  is  God's  maundy,  there  is  know- 
ledge :  this  shows  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come,  I 
Cor.  xi.  26.  4.  Consult  his  ministers,  for  the 
priest's  lips  preserve  knowledge  ;  there  hear  God's 
oracle :  yet  after  all  this,  glory  not  in  thy  knowledge. 


34 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


Qiiamvts  Sceva  satis  per  le  libi  consulis,  et  scis, 

Disce  docendiis  adhuc.  (Horat.) 
He  that  is  proud  of  his  knowledge,  is  a  prodigy ; 
for  he  hath  the  gout  in  the  wrong  end :  others  have 
it  in  their  feet,  he  hath  it  in  his  pate.  They  that 
saw  most  of  God,  saw  but  his  hinder  parts  :  and  in 
glory,  wiicn  we  shall  see  him  face  to  face,  it  shall  not 
he  a  comprehensive,  but  apprehensive,  knowledge. 
It  is  not  possible  for  men  or  angels  to  know  so  much 
of  God  as  he  knows  of  liimself.  Only  the  blessed 
Trinity  fiilly  knows  itself  in  the  unity  of  Deity.  We 
have  now  a  fit  knowledge  ;  then,  a  knowledge  pro- 
portionate to  our  perfection. 

But  evciy  man  pleads  his  knowledge  ;  let  him 
then  show-  it  in  the  cffecls.  Knowledge  directs  con- 
science, conscience  perfects  knowledge.  Abused 
knowledge  will  enhance  judgment  and  punishment : 
for  this  were  the  sins  of  the  Jews,  ccpleris  paribus, 

freater  thaji  the  sins  of  the  Gentiles ;  because  in 
ewry  God  was  known,  and  his  name  great  in  Israel : 
it  was  not  so  with  other  nations,  neither  had  the 
heathen  the  knowledge  of  his  laws.  The  sins  of  us 
Christians,  other  circumstances  being  matches,  are 
greater  than  the  sins  of  the  Jews,  because  our  know- 
ledge is  more.  They  had  but  an  aspersion;  line  to 
line,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little :  we  have  an 
eflusion ;  "  I  will  pour  out  of  my  Spirit  upon  all  iiesh," 
Acts  ii.  1 7.  Now  after  you  have  known  God,  how 
turn  you  again  to  those  beggarly  elements  ?  Gal.  iv. 
().  Will  you  swear,  that  know  you  should  not  swear  ? 
Will  you  defraud,  that  know  you  should  deal  justly  ? 
"  Ye  have  not  so  learned  Christ,"  Eph.  iv.  20.  If 
Barbarj-  wring  her  hands  for  knowing  so  little,  be- 
ware lest  Christendom  rend  her  heart  for  knowing 
so  much  to  so  little  purpose.  Knowledge  dotii 
elevate  or  lift  up  the  soul ;  but  if  it  be  abused,  it 
shall  give  her  the  greater  fall.  Because  the  precipice 
is  from  on  high,  like  stars  that  the  red  dragon's  tail 
swooped  from  heaven,  it  shall  fall  like  an  angel  of 
light  into  utter  darkness.  Deeds  prove  more  than 
words  :  never  tell  me  your  science,  show  to  me  the 
fruits  of  your  good  conscience.  Albeit  your  words 
Ije  never  so  loud,  if  your  works  be  lewd :  though 
you  were  sons  of  thunder,  yet  a  crack  in  the  instru- 
ment will  spoil  the  sound;  as  Jupiter's  adulteiy  did 
even  among  children  discredit  his  thunder.  Our 
knowledge  without  holiness,  is  like  Uriah's  letters 
that  contained  his  own  death,  2  Sam.  xi.  To  such 
they  are  letters  of  blood,  commendations  to  Satan. 
As  that  sen'ant  in  the  comedy,  Have  I  brought  letters 
to  bind  myself?  so  these  two,  disjoined,  commend  a 
man  to  hell ;  Go,  bind  him  hand  and  foot,  and  throw 
him  into  utter  darkness.  Sin  even  in  ignorance  is  a 
talent  of  lead ;  but  sin  in  knowledge  is  a  millstone 
to  sink  a  man  to  the  lowest.  To  know  good,  and  do 
ill,  make  a  man's  own  mittimus  to  hell.  Among  arts 
the  mathematics  are  most  commended,  because  they 
stand  upon  infallible  demonstration.  You  think  your- 
selves good  artists  in  Christianity,  and  profess  good 
knowledge  in  religion ;  let  me  see  your  mathematics, 
some  demonstration.  Show  me  thy  faith  liy  tliy 
works ;  there  is  a  demonstration.  Let  your  light  so 
shine  on  earth,  to  the  glory  of  your  Father  in  hea- 
ven ;  there  is  a  demonstration.  Feed  the  hungrj-, 
relieve  the  poor;  there  is  another  demonstration, 
(live  me  this  mathematical  part  of  divinity,  that 
consists  in  demonstration.  Non  injictis,  sed  in  fac- 
lis :  non  in  leclione,  sed  in  dilectione.  (August.)  "This 
practical  part  is  the  object  of  man's  eye  :  we  cannot 
see  the  knowledge  in  your  brains,  but  by  the  works 
(rf  your  hands.  You  must  do,  if  you  would  be  sure 
you  know ;  and  you  must  know,  if  you  would  be  sure 
of  comfort. 


"  Great  and  precious  promises."  From  the  instru- 
ment we  pass  to  the  materials  conveyed,  promises. 
This  is  the  conveyance  of  the  gospel,  therefore  it  is 
called  a  covenant,  the  covenant  of  promise.  The 
law  gave  menaces,  the  gospel  gives  promises.  It  was 
the  condition  of  the  law.  Do  this  and  live  :  it  is  the 
promise  of  the  gospel.  Believe  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved.  Indeed  tliey  had  promises  under  the  law,  but 
not  by  the  law;  for  whatsoever  was  promised  in  the 
Old  Testament,  belongs  properly  to  the  New.  Lex 
imperal,  fides  impetml.  The  law  came  by  Moses,  and 
by  the  law  death :  grace  comes  by  Jesus,  and  by 
grace  life.  Cajetan  says  truly  of  the  law,  that  it 
shuts  up  all  those  who  are  under  it,  under  sin ;  by  com- 
mancUng,  but  not  by  helping.  But  the  gospel  brings 
mercy,  to  our  houses,  to  our  hearts.  Irena;us,  to 
some  of  his  time  that  asked.  What  new  thing  Christ 
brought  with  him  into  the  world  ?  answered,  That 
he  had  made  all  things  new.  "  Old  things  are  passed 
away ;  behold,  all  things  are  become  new,"  2  Cor.  v. 
17-  He  fulfilled  the  old  prophecies  by  his  new 
works  ;  ceased  the  old  sacrifices  by  his  new  sacrifice; 
abolished  the  old  sacraments,  those  bloody  ones  of 
circumcision  and  occision,  by  his  new  sacraments ; 
gave  us  a  new  commandment,  a  new  testament;  put 
in  the  room  of  old  menaces,  new  promises.  And 
these  new  things  are  for  \'irtue  greater,  for  profit 
better,  for  use  easier,  for  number  fewer.  Our  faith 
is  more  lightsome  to  believe,  in  Christum  missum: 
theirs,  more  obscure,  i}i  Christum  promissum,  (Kilius.) 
But  '•  is  the  law  then  against  the  promises  of  God  ? 
God  forbid :  for  if  there  had  been  a  law  given,"  &c. 
Gal.  iii.  21.  Whereto  then  serveth  the  law  ?  Yes, 
it  hath  a  ciWl  and  a  religious  use.  Civil,  to  restrain 
us  from,  and  chastise  us  for,  sins  :  and  for  this  cause 
it  is  honoured  even  of  the  politicians  of  the  world, 
who  though  they  will  not  themselves  believe  the 
gospel,  yet  would  have  other  men  obsen-e  the  law,  for 
their  own  peace'  and  tranquillity's  sake.  Religious, 
for  it  is  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Christ,  Gal.  iii. 
24.  Now  the  office  of  a  schoolmaster  is  double,  to 
direct,  and  to  correct ;  so  the  law  doth  direct  to  good 
works,  and  corrects  for  evil  works.  (Aret.)  It  reveals 
sin,  that,  as  in  a  glass,  W'c  see  our  miseiy,  and  the 
penalty  due  to  transgression.  It  is  a  corrosive  laid  to 
an  old  sore,  not  to  heal  the  sore,  that  is  not  the  act  of 
a  corrosive ;  but  to  eat  out  the  dead  flesh,  to  make  it 
alive  and  sensible,  that  so  our  wounds  may  be  healed 
by  the  gospel.  Therefore  is  not  the  law  contrarj-  to 
the  promise.  Tilings  that  are  subordinate  one  to 
another,  have  a  mutual  office  of  serving,  not  of  con- 
Irarying  one  the  other.  Therefore  is  tne  law  given, 
that  wc,  finding  oxir  own  disability  to  keep  it,  might 
have  recourse  to  the  lawgiver;  (Leo.)  to  the  suffi- 
ciency of  Christ.  For  the  law  so  humbles  a  man  ^vith 
the  grief  of  sin,  and  terror  of  judgment,  that  it  sends 
him  packing  to  Christ.  "  If  any  man  sin,"  and  the 
law  tells  us  we  have  all  smned,  "  we  have  an  Advo- 
cate with  the  Father;"  and  this  the  gospel  shows  us, 
even  Christ  "  the  propitiation  for  our  sins,"  1  John 
ii.  1,  2.  It  makes  a  man  sing  with  David,  "  Sweet, 
O  Lord,  is  thy  mercy."  The  law  may  express  sin, 
but  it  cannot  suppress  sin ;  for  that  were  to  invade 
the  office  of  the  promise  :  the  office  of  the  law  is  to 
kill,  the  office  of  the  promise  to  give  life.  Thus  we 
have  in  the  gospel  tiic  .promise  of  life:  the  Lord 
give  us  failh  to  apprehend  the  life  of  the  promise, 
through  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Great  and  precious."  Here  is  the  latitude  of 
these  materials,  in  their  quantity  and  quality.  They 
are  for  quantity  great,  exceeding  great;  for  quality 
good,  ex(!ceding  good,  precious.  Great,  for  they 
promise  a  tiling  no  less  than  greatness  itself;  the 
love  of  God,  an  immense  kingdom,  the  world  invisi- 


Veu.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


35 


ble ;  in  comparison  of  whose  greatness  this  world 
itself  is  a  mole-hill.  Precious ;  for  if  this  temporal 
life  be  held  so  precious,  which  we  know  time  must 
determine,  how  precious  is  that  life  wliich  is  equal 
with  eternity  !  If  that  life  be  so  estimable,  wliich 
is  obnoxious  to  sin,  and  waited  on  with  miscrj',  inso- 
much that  all  riches  and  jewels  are  nibbish  in  com- 
parison of  it;  "  Skin  for  skin,  yea,  all  that  a  man 
hath  ivill  he  give  for  his  life,"  Job  ii.  4 ;  a  ti-uth  from 
the  father  of  lies ;  how  precious  is  that  life,  where 
a  man  shall  see  nothing  but  what  he  loves,  and  love 
notliing  but  what  he  sees !  The  best  way  to  exem- 
plify the  great  price  of  these  promises,  is  to  instance 
in  some  particulars.  Hereof  the  word  of  grace  is 
abundant ;  but  a  man  that  w-ould  commend  a  spring- 
water,  needs  not  chink  up  the  whole  fountain,  one  or 
two  draughts  is  sufficient.  Take  a  taste  from  Matt. 
xi.  28,  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are 
heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest :"  a  great  and 
precious  promise,  if  we  consider  the  Mover,  the 
moved,  and  the  motive.  The  Mover  is  Christ. 
"  Come  unto  me ;"  not  to  the  mother,  but  to  the  Son ; 
not  to  our  lady,  but  to  our  Lord.  Send  not  others, 
but  come  yourselves :  come  to  no  other  but  to  me. 
The  moved,  "  all  that  laboui-  and  are  heavy  laden ;" 
that  labour  in  your  actions,  are  heavy  laden  in  your 
passions ;  (Fcrus.)  that  do  not  carry  sins  like  cork  and 
feathers,  lightly  on  your  shoulders,  but  groan  under 
the  unsupportable  weight,  and  send  forth  prayers 
mixed  with  tears  for  ease.  Come,  not  on  yom-  feet, 
but  your  faith ;  not  on  your  legs,  but  your  lives.  The 
motive,  I  w'ill  ease  you,  or  give  you  rest.  A^Tiat ! 
labour  and  grievous  labour,  a  burden  and  a  heavy 
burden,  and  yet  I  will  ease  you  ?  a  great  and  pre- 
cious promise !  The  physician  cannot  say  to  his 
patient,  I  will  ciu-e  thee ;  but  thus  far,  I  will  spare 
no  invention  of  wit,  no  intention  of  will,  no  conten- 
tion of  power,  to  help  thee.  Only  the  great  Phy- 
sician of  heaven  can  promise  absolutely,  I  ^^dll  ease 
thee.  "  Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord,  and  he  will 
sustain  thee,"  Psal.  Iv.  22.  Take  another :  "  All 
things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God," 
Rom.  viii.  28.  All  things,  not  only  God's  good  things, 
but  even  our  evil  things.  Afflictions  that  are  most 
bitter,  shall  make  us  better;  the  shai-pest  rue  shall 
be  an  herb  of  grace.  Yea,  even  our  sins ;  for  such 
is  the  goodness  of  God,  that  what  at  first  he  inflicted 
for'a  penalty,  he  tarns  to  a  mercy.  Sin  first  \n'QUght 
sorrow,  now  godly  sorrow  shall  kill  sin :  (August.)  the 
daughter  shall  destroy  the  mother.  They  shall 
"work,"  not  like  idle  iudifierents,  that  do  neither 

food  nor  harm ;  but  the  first  Movci-'s  and  Maker's 
and  sets  them  a  working.  "  Together ; "  not  singly 
and  apart,  lest  their  divided  forces  should  drop  and 
faint  in  their  operation;  but  they  shall  co-operate, 
work  together,  for  the  surer  expedition  of  their  in- 
tended business.  Not  to  their  hiui,  as  all  things 
concur  to  the  wicked :  for  as  the  sua  receives  many 
fresh  rivers  and  sweet  springs  into  itself,  yet  remains 
salt  and  bitter  still ;  so  the  ungodly  are  not  made 
the  better  by  God's  good  blessings.  Nor  without 
good  or  harm  to  them ;  but  to  the  glory  of  God,  and 
the  dear  salvation  of  their  souls.  Here  is  a  great 
and  precious  promise  ! 

Now  seeing  these  promises  are  such,  let  us  afiy 
them,  and  apply  them:  they  deserve  our  faith  and 
application. 

For  affiance:  ifGod  so  promise,  let  us  trust  him.  "He 
is  faithful  that  promised,"  Heb.  x.  23.  Woe  to  him  that 
shall  call  God's  faithftilness  into  question  !  Yet  there 
is  a  generation  of  men  that  object ;  Wliat !  nothing 
but  promises  ?  Promissis  dives,  qui/ibet  esse  potest, 
Every  one  can  be  rich  in  promising,  though  ne  be 
poor  and  beggarly  in  performing.     Who  can  live  by 


promises  ?  These  must,  with  Thomas,  feel,  or  they 
will  not  believe  :  they  are  led  by  sight  and  sense,  not 
by  faith :  unless  they  have  an  ocular  view,  they  care 
for  no  oracular  testimony,  no  miraculous  power. 
Here  is  nothing  in  hand,  but  a  bare  and  naked  pro- 
mise. Thus  stands  the  case  w'ith  them.  Man  hath 
a  precious  jewel  to  sell,  it  is  his  soul.  God  and  the 
world  come  both  to  buy  it.  The  world  first  steps  in, 
and  thiusts  his  bags  into  his  hand;  here  is  present 
possession.  God  comes  and  out-bids  the  world,  for 
he  offers  grace,  and  peace,  and  glory ;  but  Avithal  he 
craves  time  for  the  greater  part  of  it,  and  gives  no- 
thing in  hand  but  his  promise,  his  word,  and  some 
small  earnest  of  the  bargain.  The  worldling  cries, 
A  bird  in  hand  is  best ;  hugs  Iris  money  that  he  hath. 
God  ho  thinks  not  so  good  a  customer;  he  dares  not 
trast  him,  perhaps  he  fears  he  will  break.  Yet  this 
same  man  \vill  rather  accept  a  reversion  of  some 
great  office  or  estate,  though  expectant  on  the  tedious 
transition  of  seven  years,  or  on  the  expiration  of 
anothei''s  life,  than  in  present  a  sum  of  far  less  value. 
What  folly  is  this,  rather  to  take  the  idle  vanities  of 
this  world  in  hand,  than  faithfully  to  wait  upon  God's 
promise  for  the  gloiy  of  heaven !  O  but  we  can 
satiate  ourselves  with  the  profits  and  pleasures  of 
tliis  life,  and  yet  take  God's  word  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  too.  But  I  say,  if  a  man,  if  a  minister,  if  a 
prophet,  if  an  angel  should  tell  you  so,  believe  him 
not ;  for  the  Judge  of  heaven  and  earth  hath  said 
otherwise.  "  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon." 
It  will  be  very  hard  for  a  man  to  keep  both ;  it  is 
impossible  to  sei-ve  both.  The  two  poles  shall  sooner 
meet,  than  the  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  money. 
The  veiy  possession  of  the  world  is  not  half  so  sure 
as  God's  promise. 

For  applying :  seeing  these  promises  are  so  pre- 
cious, store  thy  heart  with  them ;  that  which  way 
soever  the  blow  comes,  it  may  assault  thee  without 
fear,  not  mthout  foresight.  Art  thou  molested  mth 
troubles?  Remember  the  promise,  "In  the  world  ye 
shall  have  tribulation :  but  be  of  good  cheer ;  I  have 
overcome  the  world,"  John  xvi.  33.  And,  "Call 
upon  me  in  the  day  of  trouble  :  I  will  deliver  thee, 
and  thou  shalt  glorify  me,"  Psal.  1. 15.  All  days  are 
troublesome,  "Man  is  of  few  days,  and  full  of  trou- 
ble," Job  xiv.  1  ;  but  some  are  worse  than  other. 
That  aged  patriarch  told  the  king  of  Egypt,  "  Few 
and  evil  have  the  days  of  thy  servant  been."  He 
had  many  e%'il  days,  but  some  w^orse  ;  when  he  lost 
Rachel  Iris  wife,  Joseph  his  son.  The  Thames  hath 
always  in  it  water  enough  to  drown  a  man,  but  some- 
times it  is  more  tempestuous  and  raging  than  at 
others.  As  all  times  have  their  incident  trouble, 
so  there  is  one  main  day  of  trouble.  Jerusalem  is 
threatened  her  day  of  visitation.  What  shall  we  do 
when  this  day  of  trouble  comes  ?  Remember  the 
promise  ;  Call  upon  me,  saith  God ;  I  will  hear  and 
deliver  thee.  Do  thy  friends  leave  thee  ?  mayst 
thou  complain  with  David,  My  neighbours  hid  them- 
selves, and  my  acquaintance  stood  afar  oflF  ?  Consi- 
der the  Lord's  promise,  "  I  will  never  leave  thee,  nor 
forsake  thee,"  Heb.  xiii.  5.  In  what  was  spoken  to 
Joshua  in  particular,  Josh.  i.  5,  the  apostle  interests 
every  Christian  in  general ;  the  infallible  promise 
of  God's  inseparable  presence.  Art  thou  tempted  ? 
Remember  the  promise,  God  will  not  suffer  thee  to 
be  tempted  above  thy  strength.  If  God  remove  not 
Paul's  temptation,  he  will  give  him  an  equivalent  help ; 
"My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee."  Doth  the  law 
threaten  thee  mth  death  for  thy  sins  ?  Remember 
the  promise,  "  There  is  no  damnation  to  them  that 
are  in  Christ  Jesus,"  Rom.  viii.  1.  Answer  with 
Luther,  Lady  Law,  thou  comest  not  in  season,  I  have 
nothing  to  do  with  thee.     Thou  art  a  bitter  lady,  but 


3« 


A.N  EXPOSITION   UPON  THE 


Chai-.  I. 


I  nave  a  sweet  Lord.  There  is  death  in  tliy  looks, 
Init  there  is  salvation  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  who 
is  fairer  than  all  the  sons  of  men.  The  law  is  all 
red,  nothing  but  blood,  death,  and  fire  in  her  looks : 
Christ  is  white  and  red,  of  the  purest  complexion; 
"  My  beloved  is  white  and  ruddy,  the  chiefest  among 
ten  thousand,"  Cant.  v.  10  :  white  in  his  own  in- 
nocency,  ruddy  with  the  sufferings  for  our  sins. 
Such  is  thy  mercy,  0  blessed  Saviour !  Let  the  law 
do  her  worst,  be  thou  a  trae  St.  Christopher,  and 
bear  Christ  in  thy  heart.  In  the  law  is  the  menace 
of  death,  in  Christ  is  the  promise  of  life.  We  may 
say  concerning  any  sinner,  what  Martha  said  of  her 
brother,  "Lord,  if  thou  hadst  been  here,  my  brother 
had  not  died,"  John  xi.  21.  Dost  thou  suffer  affliction  ? 
Remember  the  jjromise,  If  we  suffer  with  Christ,  we 
shall  also  be  glorified  with  liim,  Rom.  viii.  17.  Tlie 
saints  are  called  from  bleeding  under  the  hand  of 
persecution,  to  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb. 
Well  may  we  endure  a  hitter  brealifast,  even  to  blood 
and  death,  considering  that  this  supper  of  glory  shall 
close  up  our  stomachs.  God  makes  his  chinch  three 
meals,  a  breakfast,  a  dinner,  and  a  supper.  The 
breakfast  was  in  the  morning  of  the  world,  that  is 
tlie  law  ;  somewhat  sharp,  though  they  had  assur- 
ance of  Christ  to  come.  The  dinner  is  in  the  world's 
high  noon,  that  is  the  gospel :  here  is  good  cheer, 
the  fat  calf  killed,  the  ilessiah  slain ;  yet,  like  the 
passover,  not  eaten  without  sour  herbs ;  we  are  fain 
to  mingle  our  drink  with  tears.  The  supper  at  night 
shall  be  sweet,  it  is  eternal  glory ;  fitly  called  a  sup- 
per, because  then  begins  rest  for  ever.  After  break- 
fast a  man  goes  to  liis  labour,  so  after  dinner,  but 
after  supper  to  bed.  The  sen^ants  of  God  under  the 
law,  the  sons  of  (iod  under  the  gospel,  must  both 
labour,  and  work  out  their  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling  ;  but  at  the  supper  of  glory  works  cease. 
Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord,  for  they 
rest  from  their  labours.  Rev.  xiv.  1.3.  Lastly,  doth 
the  ine^'itable  hand  of  death  strike  thee,  must  thou 
die?  Remember  the  promise,  I  am  the  resurrection 
and  the  life  :  whosoever  believeth  in  me  shall  not 
die  for  ever,  John  xi.  25,  2C.  Let  me  ask  thy  con- 
science, as  Christ  there  did,  "  Belicvest  thou  this  ? " 
If  thy  heart  can  answer,  "  Yea,  Lord,  I  believe," 
&c.  send  fortli  thy  soul  with  joy,  thou  hast  a  pro- 
mise that  Jesus  Christ  will  receive  it.  Commit  your 
soul  into  the  hands  of  a  faithful  Creator  in  well- 
doing, I  Pet.  iv.  19.  Here  be  great  and  precious 
promises  ;  though  thy  memor)'  cannot  retain  all 
that  the  gosjiel  proposeth,  yet  be  sure  to  hold  fast 
some  ;  be  not  without  some  oil  in  thy  lamp  when  the 
Bridegroom  comes.  Rich  men  that  love  themselves 
well,  will  have  antidotes  for  sickness  ;  their  cabinets 
stored  with  hot  and  precious  waters  against  swoon- 
ingsand  sudden  qualms.  And  likely  the  poorest  cot- 
tager, though  he  cannot  go  to  the  price  of  the  better 
extractions,  yet  will  at  least  have  some  aqua-viltB  in 
the  house.  Now  if  thy  heart  hold  not  such  store  of 
these  most  precious  promises  as  the  richer  saints, 
yet  be  sure  to  have  at  all  times  St.  Paul's  aqua-vitw 
ready,  "This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to 
save  sinners,"  1  Tim.  i.  15.  But  do  thy  best  to  fill  the 
cabinet  of  thy  heart  -,  thou  shalt  have  need  enough  of  all. 
Remember  who  hath  promised.  All  God's  promises 
are  yea  and  amen  in  Jesus  Christ,  2  Cor.  i.  20 ;  may 
they  be  yea  and  amen  in  our  believing  hearts. 

"  Are  given  unto  us."  Here  is  the  fourth  circum- 
stance of  the  conveyance;  the  form  of  it,  whicli  is  a 
deed  of  gift,  are  given  us.  All  worldly  things  are  but 
lent  us  ;  our  houses  of  stone  \vhcrein  our  bodies  dwell, 
our  houses  of  clay  wherein  our  souls  dwell,  are  but 
lent.     Honours,  treasures,  pleasures,  money,  mainte- 


nance, but  lent.  We  may  say  of  them  all,  as  he  said 
of  his  axe-head  when  it  fell  into  the  water,  Alas  '. 
they  are  but  borrowed,  2  Kings  vi.  5.  Only  spirit- 
ual graces  are  given  :  of  those  things  there  is  only  u 
tnie  donation,  whereof  there  is  a  true  possession. 
Worldly  things  are  but  a  tabernacle,  a  movable ; 
heaven  is  a  mansion  ;  whatsoever  becomes  of  the  for- 
mer, if  thou  canst  keep  the  other,  say,  I  have  lost 
that  I  could  not  keep,  I  have  kept  that  I  cannot 
lose.  Happy  Christians  !  though  they  have  the  least 
share  of  tilings  lent,  they  have  the  greatest  portion 
of  things  given.  We  have  little  on  earth  ;  they  have 
less  in  heaven.  God  shall  say  to  the  wicked,  I  have 
lent  thee  an  office,  give  account  of  it,  for  thou  must 
be  no  longer  steward.  But  to  the  faithful,  "  My 
Jieace  I  give  unto  you,  not  as  the  world  givetli," 
John  xiv.  27.  How  gives  the  world?  It  gives  a 
little,  that  it  may  take  away  all  :  but  the  joy  that  I 
give  you,  no  man  shall  take  from  you,  John  xvi.  22. 
Whatsoever  is  freer  than  gift,  it  makes  a  new  pro- 
prietarj-  of  the  same  things  :  such  gifts  are  God's, 
without  repentance.  He  may  repent  that  he  made 
man.  Gen.  vi.  G ;  that  he  made  Saul  king :  but 
he  never  repents  that  he  made  a  man  repentant,  or 
that  he  hatn  given  liim  grace  in  Jesus  Christ ;  but 
saith  of  him,  as  Isaac  said  of  Jacob,  I  have  blessed 
him,  and  he  shall  be  blessed.  Gen.  xxvii.  33.  Here 
the  Lord's  bounty  requires  of  us  some  duty  ;  tlii* 
three-fold. 

1.  Call  upon  the  Giver,  as  the  beggar  frequents  the 
gates  of  bounty  ;  and  that  in  faith.  Ask  in  faith, 
without  wavering,  James  i.  6  ;  for  let  him  spare  to 
speak  (hat  distrusts  to  speed.  Faith  is  to  God  as 
Bathsheba  was  to  Solomon  ;  so  in  favour,  that  the 
king  will  deny  her  nothing,  1  Kings  ii.  17.  And 
when  thou  movest  this  bounteous  Giver,  beg  the  best 
things,  such  as  are  well  worth  giving.  When  we  put 
to  sea,  we  pray  for  a  good  gale  ;  when  w'e  have  sown, 
for  a  good  spring  ;  when  we  reap,  for  fair  weather  : 
we  may  have  all  these,  and  yet  be  cursed :  let  us  en- 
treat for  grace,  this  will  bless  all.  God  does  us  no 
wrong  in  taking  away  our  temporal  things,  for  they 
are  but  lent  us ;  he  takes  back  his  own,  he  does  not 
take  away  ours.  It  is  an  argument  of  love  in  the 
father,  when  he  takes  away  the  child's  knife,  and 
gives  to  him  a  book.  We  cry  for  riches ;  it  is  a  knife 
to  cut  our  fingers  :  God  gives  us  a  Bible,  the  riches- 
of  verity,  not  of  vanity.  Great  works  become  a  great 
nature  :  let  us  not  be  afraid  to  ask  him  a  kingdom  ; 
for  how  unworthy  soever  we  are  of  things  so  far 
beyond  us,  yet  he  gives  things  worthy  himself. 
When  Alexander  gave  a  whole  city  to  one  of  his 
favourites,  he  modestly  replied.  It  was  too  great  a 
fortune  for  a  man  of  so  mean  condition.  But  the 
monarch  answered,  I  examine  not  what  is  fit  for  thee 
to  receive,  but  what  is  fit  for  me  to  give. 

2.  Be  thankful  to  this  Giver;  not  only  for  spi- 
ritual, but  even  for  temporal  things.  It  is  not 
enough  to  take  the  whole  loaves,  but  let  us  even 
gather  up  the  fragments.  Lay  up  in  the  ark  of  thy 
memory,  not  only  the  pot  of  manna,  the  bread  of 
life  ;  but  even  Aaron's  rod,  the  very  scourge  of  cor- 
rection, wherewith  thou  hast  been  bettered.  Blessed 
be  tile  Lord,  not  only  giving,  but  also  taking  away, 
saith  Job.  God,  that  sees  there  is  no  walking  upon 
roses  to  heaven,  puts  his  children  into  the  way  of 
discipline  ;  and  by  the  fire  of  correction  eats  out  the 
nist  of  corruption.  Godsends  trouble,  then  bids  us 
call  upon  him;  promiseth  our  deliverance  ;  and  last- 
ly, the  all  he  requires  of  us  is  to  glorify  him,  Psal.  1. 
15.  God  "  giveth  to  all  men  liberally,  and  upbraid- 
eth  not,"  James  i.  5.  Never  upbraids  ?  How  then 
doth  he  condemn  Israel  bv  the  ox  and  the  ass  ?  Isa. 
i.  3.     How  tell  David  of  Iiis  favours  to  him,  in  de- 


Ver.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLK  GEXERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


37 


livcrance  from  Saul,  and  advancement  to  a  kingdom  ? 
"2  Sam.  xii.  8.  I  answer,  God  never  upbraids  but 
when  our  ingratitude  enforeoth  him.  Tne  widow  of 
Zarephatli  said  to  Elijah,  "  Art  tliou  come  to  call  my 
sin  to  remembrance?"  1  Kings  xvii.  18.  But  it  is 
our  unthankfulncss  that  calls  our  sins  to  remem- 
brance. '■  How  is  the  faithful  city  become  an  har- 
lot ! "  God  inquires  not  the  means,  but  wonders  at 
the  matter.  Unthankfulncss  is  .such  a  fault,  that  men 
think  it  a  vice,  angels  a  sacrilege,  devils  a  monster, 
God  himself  a  wonder.  Gratitude  pleaseth  him:  of 
the  Samaritan  that  gave  him  thanks,  Christ  took 
notice.  Of  the  ten  cleansed  none  were  found  to  give 
glory  to  God,  but  the  stranger,  Luke  xvii.  18.  The 
leper  praiseth  God,  Christ  praiseth  the  leper.  Man,- 
Magdalene  gave  Christ  an  unction  of  thankfulness,  he 
gave  her  an  unction  of  a  good  name,  a  thing  better 
than  ointment ;  for  "  A  good  name  is  better  than  pre- 
cious ointment,"  Eccles.  vii.  1 ;  that  wheresoever  this 
gospel  should  be  preached,  her  work  should  not  be 
forgotten.  Matt.  xxvi.  13  ;  the  whole  world  should 
ring  of  her.  God  gives  all  gratis,  I  mean  in  the  ad- 
verb, not  in  the  noun ;  for  they  are  not  all  thankfid  per- 
sons that  receive  it.  Some  arc  not  made  better  by 
God's  gifts  ;  yea,  many  are  made  worse.  Give  Saul 
a  kingdom,  and  he  will  tyrannize  ;  give  Nabal  good 
cheer,  and  he  will  be  drunk ;  give  Judas  an  apostle- 
ship,  and  he  will  sell  his  Master  for  money. 

But  if  God  gives  all  to  us,  let  us  give  something  to 
him.  What  shall  I  give  him  ?  Not  only  my  goods, 
but  myself.  Say  as  that  widow  might,  I  am  poor,  and 
have  nothing  to  give  but  my  two  mites,  my  body  and 
soul ;  take  them,  and  take  all.  When  thou  comest, 
to  offer  thy  sacrifice  of  thanks,  do  as  Abraham  was 
bidden,  slay  (not  thy  dearest  son,  but)  thy  dearest 
sin.  If  we  give  our  soul  to  God,  as  Abraham  did 
Isaac,  he  will  restore  our  soul  to  us  with  joy,  as  he 
did  Isaac  to  Abraham  ;  and  that,  as  he  did  there  to 
him,  so  here  to  us,  not  without  the  promises  of  life. 
There  are  that  think  every  thing  too  much  that  God 
receives ;  as  Lconides  a  steward  told  Alexander,  that 
he  bestow'ed  too  much  frankincense  on  his  gods. 
When  Mary  gave  Jesus  that  ointment,  Judas  cries. 
Why  is  this  waste  ?  he  thought  it  lost.  But  he  that 
hath  given  himself  to  God,  will  not  stick  at  the  rest. 
It  is  the  apostle's  argument  of  God's  liberality  to  us. 
He  that  spared  not  his  only  Son,  but  gave  him  for  us, 
will  not  deny  other  things  with  him,  Rom.  viii.  32. 
So  if  thou  have  given  him  thyself,  thou  wilt  never 
grudge  h.im  thy  purse,  or  thy  praise.  It  is  a  good 
desire  of  the  soul,  with  that  fatlicr,  Whatsoever  the 
Lord  would  give  me,  let  him  deny  all  and  give  me 
himself.  So  God  requires  of  us,  not  thousands  of 
rams,  nor  ten  thousand  rivers  of  oil ;  not  the  son  of 
the  body  for  the  sin  of  the  soul,  Micah  vi.  J" :  but, 
Man,  give  me  thyself;  this  is  instead  of  all.  above 
all.  As  Seneca  writes  of  lilschines,  a  poor  scholar,  to 
his  master,  Socrates  ;  I  offer  thee  that  one  only  thing 
I  have,  myself.  Others  have  given  much  to  thee,  but 
they  have  kept  more  to  themselves  ;  but  no  man  gives 
more  than  he  that  keeps  nothing  back.  Socrates  kind- 
ly accepted,  and  answered,  I  will  take  care  that  I  may 
restore  thee  to  thyself  better  than  I  received  thee.  So 
God  deals  with  us  ;  his  return  is  better  than  our  gift : 
we  give  to  him  ourselves  sinful  and  WTetched,  he 
restores  us  to  ourselves  gracious  and  blessed. 

.3.  Be  not  proud,  arrogate  not  that  to  thvself 
which  is  God's  gift.  The  apostles  restored  a  cripple 
that  was  lame  from  his  mother's  womb  ;  but  lest  any 
of  God's  glorj-  should  cleave  to  their  earthen  fingers, 
they  disclaim  their  omi  power  and  holiness,  and 
give  it  to  him  that  owes  it,  and  will  not  give  it  to 
another :  The  name  of  Jesus  Christ  hath  made  this 
man  strong,  Acts  iii.  16.    The  blessed  Virgin,  that 


was  so  full  of  grace,  in  se,  not  a  «e,  humbly  acknow 
ledgcd  the  fountain ;  even  God  her  Saviour,  Luke  i, 
47.  The  papists  trust  in  our  lady,  but  our  lady  did 
trust  in  our  Lord.  And  albeit  she  was  sanctified  to 
be  the  mother  of  her  Maker,  though  so  good  a 
woman,  that,  A^oh  pn'mam  .siniilcm  vita  est,  nee  habere 
secjtceiiteni  ;  though  all  generations  called  her  bless- 
ed; yet  saith  she.  The  Lord  regarded  the  lowliness 
of  his  handmaid.  They  may  tell  us,  that  she  doth 
not  command  by  the  right  of  a  motlier,  but  indeed 
she  did  obtain  by  the  faith  of  a  daughter.  "  0  give 
thanks  unto  the  Lord  :  make  known  his  deeds  among 
the  people,"  Psal.  cv.  1 :  make  known  his  works,  but  to 
his  glory ;  for  some  make  knowni  his  deeds,  but  to  their 
own  glor)-.  Vain-glor)-  easily  creeps  in  even  through 
the  crack  of  our  acknowledgment  of  God's  goodness 
towards  us.  One  says,  Sucn  a  nobleman  drank  to 
me,  shook  me  by  the  hand,  discoursed  with  me  :  but 
hereby  he  insinuates  to  the  hearers  some  worthiness 
in  himself,  for  which  he  was  so  graced.  So  some  in 
declaring  God's  works  and  favours  to  them,  have  a 
conceit  of  merit  in  themselves,  deserving  such  re- 
spect. To  meet  with  which  pride,  may  seem  Christ's 
charge  to  the  leper,  "  See  thou  say  nothing  to  any 
man,"  Mark  i.  44 :  which  enjoined  silence  was  not  to 
smother  God's  glory,  but  to  keep  him  from  vain-gloiy. 

Thus  we  have  considered  the  conveyance,  in 

The  intent.  Whereby. 

The  content.  Promises. 

The  extent.  Great  and  precious. 

The  patent.  Are  given  us. 

Now  if  all  this  be  not  a  sufficient  assurance,  then 
give  me  leave  to  speak  according  to  your  capacity  in 
the  city ;  and  to  add,  that  it  is  signed,  sealed,  de- 
livered, and  bound  with  an  oath,  for  your  further 
confirmation.  You  are  well  acquainted  with  these 
words,  with  such  deeds :  I  wish,  therefore,  that  as 
you  know  them  in  earthly  things  to  your  profit,  so  you 
may  know  them  in  heavenly  things  to  your  comfort. 

1.  They  are  signed,  God  hath  put  his  hand  to 
them  in  the  gospel.  If  a  nobleman  should  send 
thee  gracious  letters  of  prcfemient,  and  put  his  hand 
to  them,  thou  wouldst  credit  it.  If  thy  father, 
taking  a  long  journey,  should  first  pen  his  own  wnll, 
wherein  he  did  make  thee  his  heir,  and  bequeath  to 
thee  all  his  substance,  and  set  his  hand  to  it,  thou 
wouldst  joyfully  and  confidently  embrace  it.  This 
patent  is  the  testament  and  will  of  Jesus  Christ: 
"  Father,  I  will  that  they  also,  whom  thou  hast 
given  me,  be  with  me  where  I  am,"  John  xvii.  24. 
This  he  hath  signed  with  his  own  hand ;  for  the 
evangelists  were  but  the  pens,  it  was  the  liand  of 
Christ  himself. 

2.  But  it  is  not  enough  to  have  a  writing  signed. 
Doth  the  law  require  sealing  ?  These  promises  are 
sealed  to  us  :  there  are  two  bi'oad  seals,  the  two 
sacraments.  Baptism  :  Whosoever  believeth  and  is 
baptized,  shall  be  saved ;  there  is  one  broad  seal.  The 
Lord's  supper:  Whosoever  eateth  the  flesh  of  Christ, 
and  drinketh  his  blood,  shall  not  perish ;  there  is  an- 
other broad  seal.  For  the  sacraments  are  not  only  not 
bare  signs,  but  seals  :  so  Paul  called  circumcision  "  a 
seal  of  the  righteousness  of  the  faith,"  Rom.  iv.  11. 
There  is  also  a  pri^T  seal,  miracles  ;  wrought  in  the 
first  rising  of  the  Sun,  but  now,  in  the  glorious  day  of 
grace  and  knowledge,  ceasing.  Now  we  ask  not  for 
the  privy  seal  of  miracles,  but  the  broad  seals  of  the 
sacraments :  herewith  we  arc  content,  for  by  these 
instniments  we  receive  Christ.  We  hear  the  word, 
we  feel  the  virtue  ;  we  know  not  the  manner,  but  we 
believe  the  presence  of  Jesus  Christ.  (Durand.) 
The  Romists  abuse  both  these  seals ;  God's  broad 
seal  in  corrupting  the  sacraments,  God's  privy  seal 
in  their  false  and  lying  miracles. 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


3.  Is  not  this  yet  enough,  to  be  signed  with  his 
holy  hand,  and  sealed  with  his  royal  arms,  except 
till  it  be  delivered?  These  are  delivered  to  us  : 
"  Ye  have  received  the  Spirit  of  adoption,"  Rom. 
viii.  15.  That  you  may  be  sure  of  this  conveyance, 
it  is  put  into  your  hands,  into  your  hearts. 

4.  If  yet  the  subscription  of  God's  hand,  and 
affixion  of  his  seal,  and  delivery  into  your  possession, 
be  not  sunicicnt ;  "  God,  willing  more  abundantly  to 
show  unto  the  heirs  of  promise  the  immutability  of 
his  counsel,  confirmed  it  by  an  oath  :  that  by  two  im- 
mutable things,  in  which  it  was  impossible  for  God  to 
lie,  we  might  have  a  strong  consolation,"  Heb.  vi.  17, 
18.  In  which  two  versen,  that  stand  like  two  tun-cts, 
there  are  eight  fortifications,  which  all  the  powers  of 
hell  shall  never  be  able  lo  overthrow.  He  doth  not 
say,  but  show  ;  there  is  demonstration  :  not  sparing- 
ly, but  abundantly ;  extension :  to,  not  servants,  but 
sons  and  heirs  f  if  so,  never  to  be  disinherited  ;  there 
is  adoption  :  of  promise  ;  not  of  man's  birth  or 
merit,  but  of  God's  promise,  who  never  yet  brake 
his  word  ;  there  is  ratification  :  the  immutability 
of  his  counsel  ;  friends  are  inconstant,  riches  are 
inconstant,  the  world  is  inconstant,  but  I  the  Lord 
change  not,  Mai.  iii.  6 ;  there  is  determination :  he 
intei-posed  himself  by  an  oath  ;  wonderful  mercy, 
that  the  Creator  should  swear  to  his  creature!  there 
is  confirmation  :  these  be  two  immutable  things  ; 
therefore  ^vithout  alteration,  in  which  it  was  impos- 
sible for  God  to  lie ;  well  may  he  deny  sinners,  but 
he  cannot  deny  himself;  there  is  impossibility  of 
retraction.  Now  for  the  corollary,  or  use  of  all  these 
invincible  arguments,  it  is  our  strong  consolation; 
so  strong  a  fortress,  that  if  we  do  not  betray  it  our- 
selves, all  the  engines  of  hell  shall  never  endanger 
it.  How  much  are  we  beholden  to  God,  that  he  will 
swear !  but  how  Kttle  beholden  is  God  to  us,  if  we 
will  not  believe  him  when  he  swears ! 

We  see  the  stability  of  these  gracious  promises ; 
which  (to  shut  up  the  discourse  with  application) 
should  not  pass  us  without  some  profitable  use. 
From  the  stability  of  God's  promises  to  us,  let  ns 
leam  to  be  constant  in  the  performance  of  our  pro- 
mises to  God,  and  to  man. 

1.  To  God.  We  have  all  made  a  promise  to  liim 
in  our  baptism ;  let  not  us  forget  that,  lest  God  forget 
us.  Did  we  then  promise,  and  do  we  now  stagger  ? 
The  true  Christian  is  fixed  on  the  poles  of  constancy, 
not  carried  on  the  wheels  of  change.  Let  ns  "  con- 
tinue in  the  faith  grounded  and  settled,  and  be  not 
moved  away  from  the  hope  of  the  gospel,"  Col.  i.  23 : 
so  grounded,  that  if  an  angel  from  neaven  should 
preach  another  gospel,  let  him  be  accurse;!.  Gal.  i.  S. 
The  inconstant  professor  is  scarce  a  Christian,  but, 
like  Agrippa,  almost  a  Christian.  His  r,  ligion  lies 
in  wait  for  the  parliament ;  neither  ebbs  nor  flows, 
but  is  just  standing  water,  betmxt  both.  As  a  noun, 
he  is  only  adjective  ;  as  a  verb,  lie  knows  no  tense  but 
the  present.  One  part  thinks  him  theirs,  the  ad- 
verse theirs  ;  he  is  with  both,  with  neither;  not  an 
hour  with  himsel£  He  might  get  to  heaven,  but  for 
his  halting;  but  he  knows  not  what  he  should  hold, 
he  knows  not  what  he  doth  hold.  He  is  sure  to  die, 
but  not  what  religion  to  die  in.  He  cannot  tell 
whether  is  best  to  say  his  Pater-noster  in  Latin  or  in 
English,  and  so  leaves  it  unsaid.  He  that  hath  pro- 
mised, and  not  performed,  is  in  worse  case  than  he 
that  never  promised.  The  fnhfragous  Christian 
speeds  worse  than  the  barbarous  infidel. 

2.  To  man.  Promises  are  due  debts.  There 
might  haply  have  been  no  sin  in  not  promising ; 
there  is  a  sin  after  promise  in  not  performing.  There 
is  more  alliance  than  affiance  in  the  world :  Frater 
quasi fcTC  alter.  Keep  thy  word  with  him  as  with  thy- 


self. But  how  should  he  keep  touch  with  man,  that 
breaks  with  God,  with  his  own  soul  ?  If  this  point 
seem  obscure,  there  are  too  many  in  this  city  whose 
lives  may  comment  upon  it.  They  take  care  to  owe, 
they  think  they  ought  not  to  pay.  These  are  worse 
than  the  procUgal ;  he  lived  on  his  own  portion,  Luke 
sv.  12 :  these,  like  the  unjust  steward,  live  on  another 
man's  portion.  They  bear  the  name  and  wear  the 
lively,  but  have  not  the  souls  of  Christians.  A 
debtor  that  can  pay  and  will  not,  makes  himself  in- 
capable of  pardon.  Such  men  think  to  set  all  on 
Christ's  score ;  and  to  say,  "  Forgive  us  our  debts,"  is 
sufficient,  though  they  leave  out  the  other  part  of 
the  petition,  "  as  we  forgive  others."  But  God  does 
not  forgive  spiritual  debts  where  men  have  no  care 
to  pay  temporal  debts.  Why,  but  there  is  more 
virtue  in  the  Seed  of  the  woman,  than  can  be  venom 
in  the  head  of  the  serpent  ;  and  repentance  makes  all 
reckonings  even.  But  "  be  not  deceived;  God  is  not 
mocked,"  Gal.  vi.  7.  If  they  mock  him,  he  will 
mock  them  :  "  He  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  shall 
laugh :  the  Lord  shall  have  them  in  derision,"  Psal. 
ii.  4.  Neither  can  there  be  repentance  without 
restitution.  A  thief  takes  away  thy  purse,  asks  thy 
pardon,  says  he  is  sorry  for  it,  but  keeps  it  still :  thou 
sayest  he  does  but  mock  thee.  If  God  could  be 
cozened  with  tricks,  how  many  politic  worldlings 
would  go  to  heaven,  whose  portion  is  in  the  infemiil 
depth  ! 

Well,  let  us  leam  to  put  away  lying,  and  to  speak 
every  man  truth  to  his  neighbour;  for  we  are  mem- 
bers" one  of  another,  Eph.  iv.  25.  There  is  a  thing 
.forbidden,  Lie  not ;  a  thing  commanded.  Speak 
truth ;  a  reason  for  both,  because  we  are  members 
one  of  another.  Let  us  be  plain  in  promising,  honest 
in  performing.  There  are  some  that  have  double 
tongues,  and  speak  their  promises  in  a  doubtful 
sense;  ambiguous,  equivocating  terms;  epicene  and 
bastard  phrases,  as  the  devil  gave  his  oracles ;  which 
must  be  true  every  way,  certain  no  way.  They  be- 
guile men's  plainness,  but  in  plain  tnith  they  beguile 
their  o^\•n  souls ;  for  they  that  wUl  overreach  others 
with  the  sin  of  deceitfulness,  shall  be  overreached 
themselves  with  the  deceitfulness  of  sin.  They  sing 
the  song  of  Curio,  Let  gain  prevail :  they  had  rather 
be  sinners  than  beggars.  Thus  according  to  Daniel's 
prophecy,  truth  shall  be  cast  down:  covetousness 
hath  got  the  advantage  of  ground,  and  "  truth  is 
fallen  in  the  street,"  Isa.  lix.  14.  Thus  these  two 
wrestle  on  earth,  and  truth  falls  ;  but  one  diiy,  when 
they  shall  wrestle  in  heaven,  truth  shall  prevail. 
Wine  is  strong,  princes  are  strong,  women  are  strong, 
but  truth  is  stronger  than  all,  1  Esd.  iv.  35. 

But  now  where  is  this  tnith?  I  will  tell  you  an 
apologue.  Four  friends  parting  inquired  where 
they  should  find  one  another  again ;  the  water,  the 
fire,  the  wind,  and  truth.  Fire  said.  You  shall  be 
sure  to  find  me  in  a  flint  stone.  Water  said.  You  shall 
bo  sure  to  find  me  in  the  root  of  a  bulnisli.  Wind  said. 
You  shall  be  sure  to  find  me  amongst  the  leaves. 
But  poor  truth  could  appoint  no  certain  place  of 
meeting ;  for  terras  axtrcrn  relifjuif,  no  place  for 
truth.  Wliat  say  you  to  Westminster  Hall  i*  Indeed 
there  is  room  enough,  but  small  room  for  truth. 
What  say  you  to  the  Exchange  ?  There  be_  fair 
walks,  but  they  may  exchange  away  tmtli.  Where 
is  she  then,  in"  your  shops  ?  That  were  strange  to 
find  truth  in  shops.  Is  sdie  then  in  the  courts  ?  We 
behold  there  always  the  scat  of  truth,  but  not  always 
truth  in  him  that  "supplies  that  place.  Perhaps  she 
lurks  in  the  colleges  of  the  Jesuits.  O  no,  when  the 
truth  oflered  to  come  thither,  equivocation  rci)elled 
her.  She  could  never  abide  their  main  principles. 
Swear  and  forswear,  rather  than  tell  truth.    What,  is 


Vek.  4- 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


39 


she  in  the  pope's  breast,  that  we  should  run  to  Rome 
for  her  ?  No,  antichrist  cannot  be  a  friend  to  truth. 
Is  she  not  ferried  over  to  Amsterdam  ?  No,  truth 
will  never  follow  those  that  run  away  from  the 
church.  You  would  wonder  to  find  her  in  a  courtier, 
in  a  politician,  whose  element  and  position  is.  He 
that  knows  not  how  to  dissemble,  knows  not  how  to 
live.  Or  in  a  countryman's  budget,  shut  up  with 
snaphance  ?  No,  you  shall  have  as  much  deceit 
under  russet  as  under  velvet,  though  a  little  more 
bunglingly.  No  thanks  to  them,  they  would  cozen 
as  frequently,  if  they  could  do  it  as  cleanly.  You 
would  smile  to  find  her  in  children  and  fools ;  yet 
they  say,  Children  and  fools  tell  truth.  But  if  it  be 
childhood  or  folly  to  tell  truth,  I  am  sure  we  have 
but  a  few  children,  a  few  fools.  Or  in  a  dnmkard  ; 
yet  they  say.  In  vino  Veritas,  Drink  utters  the  truth. 
But  take  the  ale-bench  wthout  a  malicious  lie,  or  at 
least  an  officious  lie :  a  very  lie,  or  a  men-y  lie  :  and 
make  a  pew  of  it.  Where  then  shall  we  find  tnith  ? 
I  hope  in  the  church,  in  the  pulpits :  oh  God  forbid 
else !  yet  often  tnith  keeps  only  in  the  pulpit,  and 
does  not  go  down-stairs  with  the  man,  but  stays 
there  till  his  coming  up  again.  I  hope  in  this  scrutiny 
of  truth  you  will  not  say  that  I  have  favoured  our- 
selves :  no,  beloved,  God  give  us  hearts  to  know  that 
we  are  all  untrue,  deceitful  upon  the  weights ;  and 
mind  us  to  seek  truth  as  precious  treasure,  (iod  is 
true,  every  man  a  liar.  There  is  no  certain  place  to 
find  truth,  but  in  the  word  of  God ;  there  let  us  seek 
her,  there  we  shall  find  her.  Now  the  God  of  truth 
give  us  the  truth  of  God,  in  the  knowledge  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

"  That  by  these  ye  might  be  partakers  of  the 
Divine  nature."  We  are  come  to  the  second  general 
part  of  the  verse ;  which  we  called  the  inheritance, 
consisting  in  the  participation  of  the  Divine  nature. 
And  we  may  well  call  it  so ;  for  none  can  deceive  us 
of  it  before  we  have  it,  nor  deprive  us  of  it  after  we 
have  it.  It  cannot  be  prevented :  Fear  not,  little 
flock,  it  is  my  Father's  vnW.  to  give  you  a  kingdom, 
Luke  xii.  32.  Determined  from  the  beginning,  con- 
cealed a  while,  possessed  in  due  time :  whatsoever 
our  lawyers  distinguish  between  a  freehold  in  law, 
and  a  freehold  in  deed ;  this  is  both.  It  is  a  freehold 
in  law,  whereto  even  they  have  right  that  have  not 
yet  possession.  It  is  a  Jreehold  in  deed  :  on  earth 
we  have  a  purchase  of  the  inheritance,  in  heaven  an 
inheritance  of  the  purchase. 

"  That  ye  might  be  partakers,"  &c.  Before  I  show 
you  the  vine,  let  me  cut  up  two  brambles ;  one 
whereof  the  Manichees,  the  other  the  Familists, 
planted  (by  force)  on  this  ground.  There  went  but 
a  pair  of  shears  between  them.  That  of  the  Mani- 
chees was  a  dream,  that  we  came  by  traduction  from 
the  nature  of  God  himself;  and  \\hen  this  temjiorary 
life  had  nm  the  course,  we  should  return  to  the 
same  ancient  estate,  and  become  a  Divine  nature. 
They  presupposed  a  commixion  of  God's  nature  with 
ours;  as  if  they  were  melled  together  like  ^vine  and 
water.  This  is  a  blasphemous  heresy,  to  think  there 
is  a  transfusion  of  the  Di^^ne  Being  into  man,  as  if 
Infinitcness  could  be  in  a  circumscriptible  essence. 
A  creature  cannot  be  made  of  the  essence  of  God,  fin- 
it  hath  no  parts,  it  is  not  divisible.  The  other  is  of 
some  fanatical  spirits,  who  think  we  do  so  pass  into 
God's  nature,  that  our  nature  is  quite  swallowed  up 
of  his.  So  they  take  that  place,  I  Cor.  xv.  28,  that 
at  the  last  God  shall  be  all  in  all.  But  certainly  this 
delirement  never  came  into  the  holy  apostles'  minds, 
that  our  natural  being  should  be  lost  in  the  essence 
of  God :  they  meant  not  that  we  should  lose  our 
nature,  but  the  corruption  of  our  nature ;  and  that 
bv  a  sanctified  renovation  we  should  be  mi\de  par- 


takers of  the  Divine  immortality  and  blessedness. 
Thus  we  are  made  one  with  God,  according  to  the 
capableness  of  our  nature.  The  Familists  say,  we 
arc  deified;  so  as  God  became  man,  man  becomes 
God.  Their  own  words  are.  Men  are  deified,  and 
God  hominilied.  These  are  new  words,  such  as  the 
ancient  fatlicrs  never  taught  nor  thought.  But  those 
men  thought  it  no  treason  to  coin  new  words :  and 
indeed  it  was  necessaiT  that  they  who  would  coin  a 
new  religion,  should  also  coin  new  terms  new,  para- 
doxes. 'There  were  some  held,  that  man's  soul  was 
part  of  God's  own  essence.  DivincE  parlicula  aurte. 
(Virgil.)  Indeed,  it  is  a  breath  of  God,  a  work  of 
God,  not  a  part  of  God. 

Things  may  divers  ways  participate  other's  na- 
ture. Omnes  species  sub  eodem  genere  participant 
cssentiam  generis;  as  angel,  devil,  man,  and  beast 
])artake  the  nature  of  a  living  creature.  Omnia  indi- 
vidua  sub  eadem  specie  participant  essenliam  speciei  ; 
as  Peter  and  Paul  of  a  reasonable  nature ;  wolf  and 
lamb  of  a  brute ;  cedars  and  briers  of  a  vegetative. 
But  to  come  nearer  home,  and  to  detain  you  no 
longer  in  the  suburbs  or  entrance : 

God's  nature  may  be  participated  two  ways,  of 
quality,  and  of  equality.  For  equality  :  this  is 
only  proper  to  the  three  Persons  of  the  blessed 
Trinity,  and  not  communicable  to  any  other.  Our 
Saviour  Christ  partakes  both  the  Divine  nature  and 
the  human :  the  Divine,  by  the  identity  of  his  es- 
sence ;  the  human,  by  taking  man's  nature  into  God. 
He  did  not  cease  to  be  what  he  was,  but  he  began 
to  be  what  he  was  not.  And  this  assiunption  of 
man's  nature  to  the  Divine,  did  not  make  it  God ;  it 
did  rarely  beautify  it,  not  properly  deify  it.  For  as 
he  was  man  he  had  not  the  essence  of  the  Deity  in 
him,  but  he  Avas  in  it.  Yet  did  he  so  glorify  it,  that 
all  the  angels  of  God  worship  it.  "  Wlien  he  bring- 
eth  in  the  first-begotten  into  the  world,  he  saith, 
And  let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship  him,"  Heb.  i. 
G.  Our  neighbours  of  Rome  tell  us,  that  Christ  was 
often  worshipped  as  man :  they  urge  these  places, 
Matt,  ii.  11 :  \\n.  2;  is.  18;  xx.  20.  But  here  we 
doubt  two  things :  first,  whether  this  was  religious 
worship  or  civil.  Next,  if  it  were  religious,  whether 
their  eye  of  faith  saw  not  him  God,  as  well  as  their 
eye  of  flesh  saw  him  man.  Indeed  the  flesh  of 
Christ  is  to  be  adored  for  the  union  of  the  Deity,  be- 
cause they  be  inseparable ;  but  the  Arians  wor- 
shipped Christ  as  a  creature  only,  not  as  God  and 
man.  We  adore  him  in  his  flesh,  not  according  to 
his  flesh ;  as  the  honour  redounds  to  the  King  him- 
self, that  is  done  to  the  crown  on  his  head.  But  I 
diorst  here  conclude  against  the  papists,  that  if  it  be 
unlawful  to  worship  Christ  as  he  is  only  man,  then 
much  more  unlawful  to  worsliip  his  image. 

Thus  we  see  how  Christ  who  is  God,  partakes  of 
our  nature :  now  consider  how  we  by  Christ  who  is 
man,  partake  of  the  Di\-ine  nature.  Here  the  wicked 
begin  to  clap  their  Avings,  and  boldly  to  infer,  that 
they  partake  God's  nature,  because  God  partakes 
their  nature.  But  if  this  were  enough  to  save  men, 
because  Christ  took  our  flesh,  call  Cain  and  Judas 
out  of  hell,  yea,  let  hell  itself  be  as  imaginarj'  as  is 
purgatory.  A  father  hath  ten  sons;  nine  of  them 
are  sick  :  do  they  all  certainly  recover  because  the 
tenth  is  sound?  yet  they  come  all  from  the  loins  of 
one  father.  All  the  house  of  Cis  are  not  kings,  be- 
cause Saul  is  one.  It  is  not  enough  that  Christ 
comes  near  thee  in  the  flesh,  unless  thou  come  near 
him  in  the  spirit.  Though  there  be  sap  in  the  vine, 
congruent  and  potential  to  bring  forth  fruit  in  the 
branches ;  yet  doth  not  this  vine  communicate  his 
sap  to  oaks  and  briers,  albeit  these  partake  of  the 
general  nature  of  wood.     Yea,  after  that  the  very 


40 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


branches  of  the  vine  arc  broken  oflf  and  dead,  the 
vine  ministers  to  them  no  more  s.ip,  though  they 
retain  the  Wne's  species  and  naturu.  So  that  it  is 
not  our  participation  of  Christ's  human  nature  that 
makes  us  happy,  but  of  his  Divine  :  that  partaking  is 
by  flesli,  but  this  is  by  faith.  It  is  probable  that 
some  were  lost,  who  were  even  kin  to  Christ  in  (lie 
flesh  ;  yet  it  must  needs  be  granted,  that  to  partake 
of  the  same  blood,  is  a  degree  nearer,  tlian  to  partake 
of  the  same  nature.  Matthew  and  Luke  set  down 
Christ's  genealogj- ;  the  one,  his  line  royal  j  the 
other,  his  line  natural.  But  Christ  himself  sets 
down  another  genealogy,  a  now  one,  a  spiritual  one  : 
"  My  mother  and  my  brethren  are  these  which  hear 
the  word  of  God,  and  do  it,"  Luke  viii.  21.  He 
affirms  these  to  be  as  near  to  him  in  the  faith,  as  his 
own  mother  in  the  flesh.  And  she  was  more  blessed 
in  being  the  dauglit<-r,  than  in  being  the  mother  of 
Christ.  The  Jews  thought  it  a  great  privilege  to  be 
Abraham's  sons;  yet  one  that  called  himself  son  of 
Abraham  fries  in  hell.  The  damned  churl  could 
say,  "  Father  Abraham,  have  mercy  on  me,"  Luke 
xvi.  24.  The  llcsh  was  not  made  after  the  image  of 
God,  but  the  spirit ;  therefore  God  is  not  called,  the 
Father  of  bodies,  but,  the  Father  of  the  spirits  of  all 
flesh,  Heb.  xii.  9.  "  That  which  is  bom  of  the  flesh  is 
flesh  ;  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit," 
John  iii.  6.  Esau  was  not  blessed  because  he  was  of 
Isaac's  flesh,  but  Jacob  was  blessed  because  he  was  of 
Isaac's  spirit.  Paul  is  said  to  travail  of  the  Galatians, 
till  Christ  was  formed  in  them.  Gal.  iv.  19.  Thus 
men  may  partake  of  one  nature  in  Christ,  and  yet  be 
cursed ;  but  if  of  his  Divine  nature,  they  are  blessed. 

This  participation  then  must  be  only  qualitative: 
by  nature  we  understand  not  substance,  but  quality  ; 
by  grace  in  this  world,  and  by  glorj  in  the  world  to 
come.  This  communication  of  the  Divine  nature  to 
us,  is  by  reparation  of  the  Divine  image  in  us.  This 
is  cleared  by  the  analogy  of  other  respondent  places. 
"  That  we  might  be  partakers  of  his  holiness,"  Heb. 
xii.  10  :  so  that  to  partake  of  the  Divine  nature,  is  to 
be  holy  as  God  is  holy.  "  Put  on  the  new  man, 
which  after  God  is  created  in  righteousness  and  true 
holiness,"  Eph.  iv.  24  :  to  be  created  after  God,  is  to 
partake  of  God's  nature  ;  and  this  consists  in  justice 
and  holiness.  God  did  predestinate  us  "  to  be  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  his  Son,"  Rom.  viii.  29 :  the 
conformity  to  (iod's  image,  is  the  participating  God's 
nature.  'This  was  not  wholly  unseen  to  Plato,  who 
.said  it  was  man's  chiefcst  good  to  be  made  like  to 
God.  The  sweetness  of  this  benefit,  and  the  multi- 
])licity  of  comforts  arising  from  it,  I  defer  a  little 
further;  and  here  proceed  to  exemplify  the  rela- 
tions, which  may  in  some  measure  shadow  out  to  us 
this  partaking  of  the  Divine  nature.  For  it  is  in  no- 
wise to  be  understood  really,  but  by  renovation.  I 
propounded  in  the  distribution  seven  respects,  to  ex- 
emplify the  benefit  of  this  participation. 

I.  As  servants  of  a  Master:  not  merely  as  crea- 
tures ;  so  all  men  partake ;  "  We  are  also  his  off- 
spring," Acts  xvii.  2i^.  With  outward  things  he 
maintains  all ;  the  whole  world  almost  these  six 
thousand  years  at  his  own  proper  cost  and  charges. 
He  feeds  the  ravens,  and  the  young  lions  seek  their 
meat  at  him.  How  few  of  the  birds  of  the  air  lie 
dead  at  thy  feet  for  want  of  provision !  But,  alas, 
as  the  Canaanite  told  Christ,  these,  like  the  dogs, 
eat  only  the  cnunbs;  the  faithful  have  the  fat 
morsels.  All  our  Father's  ser\-ants  have  bread 
enough,  Luke  xv.  17:  they  arc  but  servants,  yet 
they  have  bread  enough.  Thus  we  jiartake  with 
God  in  being  his  servants,  wherein  indeed  consists 
true  liberty.  "  For  he  that  is  called  in  the  Lord, 
being  a  servant,  is  the  Lord's  free-man,"  1  Cor.  vii. 


22.  "  Tliou,  Israel,  art  my  ser%'ant,  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham my  friend.  Tliou  art  my  ser\-ant,  I  have  chosen 
thee,"  Isa.  xii.  S,  9.  And  this  is  a  sure  participa- 
tion where  can  be  no  rejection.  But  how  do  God's 
servants  partake  of  these  Divine  things?  In  five  re- 
spects ;  in  livery,  liberty,  dignity,  cognizance,  recom- 
pence.  For  their  liverj- :  it  is  the  profession  of  the 
gospel  ;  that  same  "  new  man,"  restored  to  the 
Creator's  image.  Col.  iii.  10.  For  their  liberty : 
"  Stand  fast  in  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath 
made  us  free,"  Gal.  v.  I.  For  their  dignity:  "If 
any  man  ser\e  me,  him  will  my  Father  honour," 
John  xii.  26.  It  is  more  credit  to  be  a  porter  of 
God's  gate,  than  to  command  in  the  presence-cham- 
ber of  a  king;  "  I  had  rather  be  a  doorkeeper  in  the 
house  of  my  God,"  &c.  Psal.  Ixxxiv.  10.  For  their 
cognizance  :  it  is  both  visible  and  invisible.  Visible 
in  their  charity,  "  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye 
arc  my  disciples,"  John  xiii.  .S.?.  Invisible,  as  being 
sealed  in  their  foreheads  with  the  mark  of  the  living 
God,  Rev.  vii.  3.  For  their  recompence  :  the  world 
says,  "  It  is  in  vain  to  ser\"e  God  :"  but,  "  They  shall 
be  mine,  saith  the  Lord,  in  that  day  when  I  make 
up  my  jewels,"  Mai.  iii.  14,  17  :  of  so  high  a  value  as 
his  special  treasure.  God  does  not,  as  great  men 
commonly  do  \\ ith  their  senants,  give  them  counte- 
nance, and  let  them  shift  for  themselves.  He  gives 
not  only  protection,  but  provision;  not  only  counte- 
nance, but  maintenance :  "  Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant;  enter  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

This  is  the  sweet,  but  not  common  to  all ;  for  all 
shall  not  have  .tenorum  omina,  the  rewards  of  ser- 
vants, that  have  serforinn  nomina,  the  name  of  ser- 
vants. God  hath  many  senants,  but  little  sen-ice 
in  the  world.  We  do  so  trust  and  thrust  his  work 
one  upon  another,  that  still  it  is  not  done.  They 
say,  Many  hands  make  light  work  ;  but  it  is  usually 
seen,  that  many  hands  make  slight  work.  God's 
holy  name  is  blasphemed :  the  hearer  says,  Let  the 
magistrate  look  to  it ;  the  magistrate  says.  Let  the 
minister  reprove  it ;  the  minister  says.  Let  the  hearer 
reform  it ;  the  company  says.  Let  the  offender  him- 
self answer  it ;  the  offender  says,  Let  no  man  mind 
it.  The  sea  breaks  in :  all  tlie  borderers  contend 
whose  right  it  is  to  mend  the  dam ;  but  whilst  they 
all  strive  nuich,  and  do  nothing,  the  sea  breaks  fur- 
ther in  upon  them,  and  drowns  the  whole  C(Hintrj-. 
A  gentleman  having  but  one  servant,  thought  him 
overburdened  with  work,  and  therefore  took  another 
to  help  him :  now  he  had  two,  and  one  of  them  so 
trusted  to  the  other's  observance,  that  they  were  often 
both  missing,  and  the  work  was  not  done.  Then  he 
chose  another,  he  had  three ;  and  was  then  worse 
sen-ed  than  before.  Therefore  he  told  his  friend, 
Wien  I  had  one  servant,  I  had  a  servant ;  when  I 
had  two,  I  had  but  half  a  one  ;  now  I  have  three, 
I  have  never  a  one.  God  hath  so  many  titular  ser- 
vants, that  when  his  business  comes  to  be  done,  not 
one  of  them  can  be  found. 

2.  As  subjects  of  a  Prince ;  and  thus  we  partake 
with  the  King  of  heaven  in  many  benefits.  We  have 
the  tuition  of  his  law,  through  a  blessed  Advocate. 
"  If  any  man  sin,  we  have  an  Advocate  with  the  Father, 
Jesus  Christ  the  righteous,"  1  John  ii.  1 .  We  are  fain 
to  sue  in  forma  pauperis  :  therefore  the  great  Judge 
of  heaven  hath  :u)pointed  us  a  Counsellor  to  plead 
our  cause,  Jesus  Christ.  We  have  the  safeguard  of 
the  empire;  not  only  the  protection  of  the  King, 
from  which  the  wricked  as  outlaws  arc  secluded ;  but 
also  the  keeping  of  angels,  to  whom  he  hath  given 
a  charge  over  us,  to  keep  us  in  all  his  ways,  Psal. 
xci.  11.  So  nearly  we  participateofliis  Divine  things, 
that  we  have  his'  own  guard  royal  to  attend  us.  I 
know,  that  Christ  is  King  over  all  the  world;  "The 


Ver.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OK  ST.  I'ETKl!. 


41 


Lord  reignictli ;  let  the  people  tremble,"  Psal.  xcix. 
L  This  kingdom  is  material  and  formal.  The  ma- 
terial are  his  subjects  :  and  these  arc  both  elect  and 
reprobate ;  for  all  are  under  his  kingdom,  with  a 
different  desire,  with  a  different  event.  The  will  of 
the  King  is  done  by  the  obedient,  upon  the  rebellious. 
The  iovm  of  his  government  is,  to  the  wicked,  the 
rule  of  a  lord  over  his  slaves  ;  to  the  faithful,  the 
rule  of  a  father  over  his  sons.  Accordingly  he  hath 
a  double  sceptre ;  there  is  the  rod  of  consolation, 
"  Thy  rod  doth  comfort  me,"  Psal.  xxiii.  4;  and  the 
rod  of  confusion,  "  Thou  shall  break  them  with  a  rod 
of  iron,"  Psal.  ii.  9.  Christ's  kingdom  is  eternal ; 
'•  He  shall  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  for  ever  ; 
and  of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end,"  Luke  i. 
'Xi.  And  this  not  only  in  respect  of  the  King,  but 
also  in  respect  of  the  subjects ;  for  they  shall  stand 
continually  before  him,  as  the  queen  of  the  south 
lilessed  Solomon,  1  Kings  x.  8.  In  the  Persian  army 
were  ten  thousand  soldiers  cAXeAalhanatoi,  immortal ; 
not  indeed  because  they  died  not,  but  because  that  num- 
ber was  sujiplied,  and  continually  made  up.  As  a  di- 
vine, handling  a  point  of  usury  concerning  a  hundred 
sheep  lent  to  a  neighbour,  with  a  certain  rate  or  rent 
to  be  paid  yearly  for  them,  and  the  stock  still  at  the 
year's  end  to  be  made  good,  wittily  called  these  im- 
mortal sheep,  for  they  never  died  to  the  owner,  though 
to  the  borrower  they  all  miscarried.  But  Christ  says 
rot  as  Laban  did  to  Jacob,  If  any  sheep  die,  thou 
shalt  make  them  up  of  thine  own  ;  thou  shalt  bear 
tlie  loss  of  it,  of  thy  hand  I  will  require  it,  Gen.  xxxi. 
39  :  but  rather,  like  David,  saves  his  sheep  from  the 
bear  and  lion,  the  world  and  the  devil.  As  himself, 
when  he  died,  suffered  not  a  bone  of  his  own  to  be 
broken,  and  another  put  in  place  ;  so  his  subjects 
shall  have  no  change:  "Those  that  thou  gavest  me 
I  have  kept,  and  none  of  them  is  lost,"  John  xvii.  12. 
Here  shall  be  no  interregnum,  not  muUi  principcs  ; 
nor  is  it  enough  to  say,  I 'hat  Rex  ;  but,  O  King,  live 
for  ever.  Thine  is  the  kingdom,  power,  and  glory, 
for  ever  and  ever.  A  King  he  is,  yet  he  were  but  a 
poor  king  if  he  had  no  subjects  ;'  but  "  they  shall 
reign  with  him  a  thousand  years,"  Rev.  xx.  6,  that  is, 
for  ever.  For  if  every  day  in  heaven  be  as  a  thou- 
sand years,  what  is  a  thousand  years  of  such  days 
but  eternity  ? 

He  is  our  King,  to  make  us  blessed  by  his  kingdom. 
Augustus,  that  (lay  he  had  done  no  good  to  his  sub- 
jects, in  relieving  their  wants,  said  to  his  friends  at 
night,  I  have  not  been  a  king  to-day.  It  was  proverb- 
ed  of  Aurelianus,  that  he  was  a  good  physician,  but 
he  gave  too  bitter  medicines.  Julian  used  to  stamp  a 
bull  on  his  coin,  whereupon  the  Antiochians  inferred, 
that  he  purposed  to  gore  the  world  to  deatli.  The 
breasts  of  some  kings  have  been  stuffed  with  a  thun- 
der-cloud, their  vapours  always  venting  to  the  world's 
terror.  But  we  may  say  of  our  supreme  King  Christ, 
as  (in  due  measure)  of  his  sen-ant  our  royal  sovereign, 
if  at  least  we  may  compare  the  peace  of  a  prince  with 
the  Prince  of  peace,  as  he  is  the  fairest  blossom  that 
ever  budded  out  of  the  white  and  red  rosan,-,  so  he 
hath  brought  together  red  and  white  :  Christ  hath 
reconciled  justice  and  mercy  ;  anger  red  as  blood,  and 
compassion  white  as  snow.  He  hath  turned  our  scar- 
let sins  into  white  wool ;  and  this  by  making  himself 
ruddy  in  passion  that  was  ever  so  white  in  innocenev. 
"  My  Beloved  is  white  and  ruddy,  the  chiefest  among 
ten  thousand,"  Cant.  v.  10.  Thus  we  partake  the  bless- 
ings of  his  Divine  nature  in  being  his  subjects.  Let 
the  heathen  serve  their  tyrants,  tne  Turks  their  i\Ia- 
homet,  the  Romists  their  pope,  worldlings  their  lusts  ; 
thou,  O  Jesus  Christ,  be  our  King  for  ever. 

3.  As  sons  of  a  Father :  thus  we  partake  many 
things  of  the  Divine  nature.     L  Children  have  from 


their  fathers  on  earth  generation,  we  from  our  Father 
in  heaven  regeneration  ;  "  AVe  receive  the  adoption  of 
sons,"  Gal.  iv.  5.  We  are  not  natural  sons ;  so  is 
Christ  only ;  but  naturalized,  as  I  may  say,  made  his 
own  by  adoption  and  grace.  "  I  will  be  a  Father  unto 
you,  and  ye  shall  be  my  sons  and  daughters,"  2  Cor. 
vi.  18.  2.  AVc  have  nutrition,  and  that  both  natural 
and  supernatural.  "  I  have  nourished  and  brought 
up  children,"  Isa.  i.  2.  He  gives  bread  to  nourish, 
not  stones  to  choke  ;  Leneficia,  non  veneficia  ;  fishes, 
not  serpents,  Matt.  vii.  10.  Thirdly,  we  have  educa- 
tion. Earthly  parents  bring  up  their  children  to  their 
own  customs  :  Rachel,  though  she  would  go  with  her 
husband  Jacob,  yet  would  not  leave  her  father's  gods 
behind  her.  "  Our  fathers  worshipped  m  this  moun- 
tain," John  iv.  20;  therefore  so  may  we.  That  which 
conies  by  tradition,  is  held  inheritance.  That  which  is 
patronized  by  usualness,  slips  into  the  opinion  of  law- 
fulness. Tims  many  children  are  made  papists  by 
the  mother's  side ;  and  she  is  so  herself,  for  no  other 
reason  but  because  her  grandam  was  so.  Thus  whiles 
they  follow  the  counsel  of  their  mother  on  earth, they 
lose  the  blessing  of  their  Father  in  heaven.  But 
God  brings  up  all  his  children  after  his  ovm  law; 
they  are  in  a  strange  land,  yet  live  after  the  laws  of 
their  own  country,  their  conversation  is  in  heaven. 

God  deals  with  us  as  Bernard  observes  Isaac  did 
with  his  son  Jacob.  Gen.  xxvii.  First,  "  Come  near, 
that  I  may  feel  thee,  my  son,"  ver.  21.  Then, 
"  Come  near,  and  kiss  me,  my  son,"  ver.  26.  "  Let 
him  kiss  me  with  the  kisses  of  his  mouth,"  Cant.  i. 
2  ;  that  is,  with  his  Spirit ;  for  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
oscutum  Patris,  the  kiss  of  God  the  Father.  Then, 
Benedicit,  he  blesscth  him,  ver.  27 ;  gives  him  a  pro- 
gress of  grace,  and  that  irrevocable,  "  he  shall  be 
blessed."  Lastly,  he  gives  consolation,  and  full  con- 
fidence, that  we  boldly  cry,  "  Abba,  Father,"  Gal.  iv. 
6.  This  duplication.  Father,  Father,  is  pathetical 
and  mystical.  Pathetical:  and  so  it  insinuates  our 
certainty,  we  are  sure  that  God  is  our  Father :  and 
our  fervency,  that  we  be  importunate,  not  taking  a 
denial  at  oiu-  Father's  hands  :  so  Martyr.  Mystical, 
as  Augustine  Paul,  in  using  a  Hebrew  word  and  a 
Greek,  signifies  that  there  is  no  difference  between 
Jew  and  Grecian ;  "  For  the  same  Lord  over  all,  is 
rich  imto  all  that  call  upon  him,"  Rom.  x.  12.  Every 
Christian  in  the  world  may  go  "  boldly  unto  the 
throne  of  grace,"  Heb.  iv.  16.  It  is  for  a  Saul  to 
say,  Pray  for  me  ;  but  he  that  is  God's  son,  dares  go 
himself  ^\  ithout  sending  others.  Let  no  terrors  keep 
us  from  our  Father.  "  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my 
father,"  Luke  xv.  18.  To  such  a  comer  Christ  will 
communicate  good  things.  "  Daughter,  bo  of  good 
comfort,"  Matt.  ix.  22.  "  Daughter,"'  a  word  of 
great  familiarity;  "be  of  good  comfort,"  a  word  of 
great  security.  "  I  ascend  unto  my  Father,  and  your 
Father,"  Jolin  xx.  17.  To  his  Father!  what  is  this 
to  us  ?  Yea,  also  to  your  Father.  He  doth  not  say, 
I  ascend  to  our  Father;  but  to  my  Father,  and  your 
Father.  He  is  in  one  respect  my  Father,  in  another 
yours;  mine  by  nature,  yours  by  grace.  (August.) 

Infinite  good  things  we  partake,  if  we  be  sons ; 
but  all  lies  in  the  assurance  of  this  filialty.  When 
God  gives  a  man  sanctity,  he  seems  to  say,  "  Thou 
art  my  son  ;  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee,"  Psal.  ii. 
7  :  when  man  apostatizes.  Thou  art  not  my  son, 
this  day  have  I  lost  thee.  What  say  you  to  the 
covetous  worlilling?  Is  he  the  son  of  God,  that  is 
not  charitable  to  the  sons  of  God  ?  King  Richard 
the  holy  warrior,  having  taken  a  bishop  in  the  field 
in  coat-armour,  was  requested  by  the  pope  to  release 
him.  Send  me  my  son.  The  king  sends  not  the 
bishop,  but  liis  coat-armour  to  the  pope,  with  this 
question,  Is  this  thy  son's  coat  ?  alluding  to  that  of 


42 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chat.  I. 


Jacob's  sons,  when  they  had  sold  their  brother 
Joseph,  and  dipped  his  garment  in  goats|  blood  ; 
"  Tliis  have  we  found;  know  now  whetner  it  be  thy 
son's  coat,"  Gen.  xxxvii.  32.  The  pope  being  asham- 
ed, returned  his  answer,  that  this  was  not  the  coat 
of  any  son  of  his.  God's  sons  are  known  by  their 
coat,  that  is,  charity.  Satan  lays  hold  on  the  covet- 
oiir  oppressor,  and  makes  liim  his  captive :  if  God 
should  now  say.  Deliver  me  my  son ;  he  would  straight 
.show  God  the  oppressor's  coat,  his  injustice  and  ex- 
tortion. Is  this  thy  son's  coat?  No,  God's  children 
wear  no  such  kind  of  garments  :  let  him  either  strij) 
oil'  such  robes,  or  perish  with  them.  Let  others  be 
ambitious  of  great  and  glorious  parentages ;  only. 
Lord,  make  us  thy  sons  and  daughters  in  Jesus 
Christ. 

4.  As  fellows,  in  due  measure,  with  God  himself: 
"  Truly  our  fellowship  is  with  the  Father,  and  with 
his  Son  Jesus  Christ,"  1  John  i.  3.  We  may  have  a 
society  with  man,  this  is  requisite,  for  we  are  all 
of  one  mould :  but  to  God,  what  all  fellows  ?  Yes, 
we  have  a  fellowship  with  God ;  such  is  his  mercy, 
not  our  merits.  The  proud  gallant  scorns  the  poor 
mechanic;  What,  are  you  my  fellow?  Yet,  ^fors 
scepira  ligombus  cequat,  Death  takes  away  diflference 
between  King  and  beggar,  tumbles  Ijuth  the  knight 
and  the  pawn  into  one  bag.  Well,  let  the  world 
despise  us,  it  is  enough  the  Lord  doth  not  disdain 
our  fellowship.  "  The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  love  of  God,  and  the  communion  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  be  with  you  all,"  2  Cor.  xiii.  14. 

There  are  divers  sorts  of  fellowships. 

Such  as  partake  a  mutual  lot,  as  fellow-merchants 
in  their  adventures.  We  have  thus  a  fellowship  with 
God.  If  we  rejoice,  he  joys  in  us,  with  us,  makes  us 
indeed  rejoice  in  him ;  for  Christ  rejoiceth  in  the  Chris- 
tian, whensoever  the  Christian  rejoicetli  in  Christ. 
That  repenting  son  was  not  more  glad  that  he  had 
found  his  father,  than  the  father  was  glad  he  had 
found  his  son,  Luke  xv.  If  we  suffer,  he  suffers  with 
us.  Saul,  thou  persecutest  me,  saith  Christ.  He 
that  did  once  suffer  for  us,  doth  still  suffer  in  us. 
The  usurer  oppressing  thee,  takes  away  the  goods 
of  Christ,  and  shall  be  called  to  a  strict  account. 
There  is  consortium,  the  word  by  most  translations 
here  used. 

Chamber  fellows,  such  as  lodge  together;  "Come, 
my  Beloved,  let  us  lodge  in  the  villages,"  Cant.  vii. 
11.  Where  the  chamber  is  a  sanctified  heart,  the 
bed  a  pure  faith,  the  pillow  is  the  peace  of  con- 
science, the  curtains  like  Solomon's,  azure,  purple, 
and  scarlet.  Azure,  or  sky-colour,  noting  our  hea- 
venly conversation ;  purple,  our  zeal  to  God's  glory ; 
scarlet,  our  charity :  so  love  is  praised  to  have  a 
thread  of  scarlet  in  her  lips.  Thus  now  God  is  thy 
chamber  fellow,  and  inhabits  thy  holy  conscience ; 
and  hereafter  thou  shalt  dwell  together  with  him  in 
everlasting  rest. 

Fellows  in  a  journey ;  and  thus  we  have  Christ's 
company.  Whilst  they  walked  and  talked,  "  Jesus 
himself  drew  near,  and  went  with  them,"  Luke  xxiv. 
15.  They  that  \vill  walk  to  Christ,  shall  have  Christ 
walk  with  them.  He  is  the  truth,  the  way,  and  the 
life:  they  that  faithfully  seek  tlie  way  of'life,  shall 
find  the  life  of  the  way.  The  papists  have  great 
pilgrimages  to  shrines:  Christ  doth  not  travel  with 
them ;  he  hath  no  fellow.^hip  with  them  that  give 
his  honour  to  blocks  and  stones.  Let  my  soul,  on  the 
holy  feet  of  faith  and  obedience,  travel  toward  Jerusa- 
lem; then  Christ  will  say.  Thou  shalt  have  my  com- 
pany. The  good  Christ  ian  cannot  in  any  cotmtn,-  travel 
alone,  he  is  sure  of  the  fellowship  of  his  Saviour. 

Such  as  confer  together;  so  we  partake  with  God 
in  a  sweet  and  familiar  discourse :  "  Come  now,  and 


let  us  reason  together,  saith  the  Lord,"  Isa.  i.  18. 
Tell  me  your  griefs,  saith  C'hrist.  Are  you  pained  at 
the  heart  with  true  compunction  for  your  sins  ?  I  will 
heal  the  broken-hearted.  Arc  you  smitten  with  vexa- 
tions ?  I  will  bind  up  your  wounds.  Thus  it  is  our  part 
to  acknowledge,  his  mercy  to  forgive.  We  speak  to 
him  by  our  prayers,  he  speaks  to  us  by  his  comforts. 
AVe  pour  our  grievances  into  his  bosom,  he  pours  his 
graces  into  our  bosom.  Many  camiot  hear  Christ 
speaking  comfort  to  them ;  no  mar\el,  for  they  speak 
not  for  comfort  to  him.  Strangeness  dotli  lose  ac- 
quaintance. We  never  came  humble  petitioners  for 
gi'ace  to  the  mercy-seat,  but  we  sped :  if  the  Lord 
hath  at  some  one  time  been  extraordinarily  boimtifiil 
to  us,  shall  we  diswont  ourselves  from  liis  presence,  be 
proud  of  our  own  stock,  as  if  we  needed  him  not  ? 
This  is  the  way  to  lose  him,  and  all  comfort  with 
him.  God  loves  to  have  us  talk  with  him :  if  we 
forget  to  pray  for  good,  why  should  not  he  forget  to 
do  us  good  ? 

Such  as  feast  together ;  thus  we  partake  with  God : 
If  any  man  open  unto  me,  I  'will  come  in  and  sup 
with  him,  and  he  shall  sup  with  me.  Rev.  iii.  20. 
Here  is  a  mutual  supper :  the  confession  of  sins,  that 
is  our  cheer ;  the  remission  of  sins,  that  is  Christ's 
cheer.  We  give  him  meat  and  drink,  he  gives  us 
meat  and  diink.  Our  dishes  are  all  salads,  lilies, 
and  fruits.  "  My  Beloved  is  gone  down  into  his  gar- 
den, to  the  beds  of  spices,  to  feed  in  the  gardens,  and 
to  gather  lilies,"  Cant.  vi.  2,  the  fruits  of  our  right- 
eousness. Our  drink  is  penitent  tears ;  though  they 
be  sharp  to  us,  they  are  sweet  to  him.  The  tears  of 
penitent  siimcrs  is  the  \vine  of  angels,  says  a  father  ; 
yea,  wine  for  the  Lord  himself:  not  a  tear  falls,  but 
he  catcheth  it  in  his  o\\'n  bottle.  If  we  feast  Christ, 
give  him  this  drink.  Let  thy  heart  be  a  ^"ine-grape, 
sorrow  the  wine-press  ;  crush  out  this  liquor,  tne 
Lord  loves  it.  His  meat  to  us  is  liis  own  flesh ;  his 
drink,  his  blood ;  the  bread  of  heaven,  and  the 
wine  of  blessedness.  "Whoso  eateth  my  flesh,  and 
drinketh  my  blood,  hath  eternal  life,"  John  vi.  54. 
The  temple  is  his  banqueting-house,  or  wine-cellar; 
"  He  brought  me  to  the  banqueting-house,"  Cant.  ii. 
4.  There  ne  broacheth  to  us  the  sweet  wines  of  his 
gospel  and  sacraments.  Here  is  another  fellowship, 
and  so  are  we  fellow-commoners  with  Jesus  Clirist. 
Indeed  all  the  good  cheer  is  his  :  alas,  wdiat  have  we 
of  our  own  to  make  such  a  guest  welcome  ?  He  may 
safely  discommend  our  provision  :  let  us  not  say,  as 
some  do  to  their  guests.  Welcome,  but  here  is  no 
good  cheer  for  you,  when  secretly  in  their  hearts  they 
think  there  can  be  no  better.  Christ  loves  not  so 
proud  a  mind,  when  the  tongue  says  it  is  nothing, 
and  the  heart  thinks  it  is  too  much.  But  plainly 
acknowledge  thy  poverty  :  if  thou  have  any  grace  to 
feast  him  with,  thank  him  for  bringing  it,  and  say  in 
this  truly,  that  he  is  come  to  his  own  cost.  Yet  thus 
he  is  ])leased  to  feed  on  his  own  provision,  and  to 
call  it  thine.  He  feeds  on  ours;  I  have  eaten  honey, 
and  drunk  milk  :  we  feed  on  his ;  "  Eat,  0  friends  ; 
drink  abundantly,  0  beloved,"  Cant.  v.  I  :  drink 
liberally  of  it,  for  it  is  a  cup  of  sa-N'ing  health  to  all 
nations. 

Sworn  brothers.  Men  not  brotlir-rs  by  nature 
of  blood,  are  made  so  by  vow  of  love.  Here  is 
another  fellowship  ;  Christ  hath  vowed  himself  thy 
brother.  "  Both  he  that  sanctifieth  and  they  wb.o 
are  sanctified  are  all  of  one  :  for  which  cause  he  is 
not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren,"  Heb.  ii.  II. 
Thou  hast  vowed  thyself  to  Christ  in  baptism  ;  keep 
thy  vow,  make  good  thy  fellowship,  lest  tliou  be  a 
vow-breaker.  Thy  sin  is  no  less  than  perjury,  if 
thou  become  his  enemy  to  whom  thou  art  a  sworn 
brother. 


Veu  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


43 


Thus  we  partake  of  the  Divine  nature  (with  all  re- 
verence be  it  spoken)  as  fellows.  But  not  to  deny 
the  King  his  supremacy,  we  are  fellows  with  Christ 
in  his  joy,  reserving  the  throne  to  himself.  Yet  he 
is  pleased  to  promise  us  a  consession  with  him  in  his 
throne ;  "  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  grant  to  sit 
with  me  in  my  throne,"  Rev.  iii.  21.  We  have  a 
partnership  with  him  in  the  plaee  of  his  kingdom, 
not  inequality  of  reigning.  The  king  sets  a  subject 
at  his  own  table  ;  yet  must  this  subject  still  acknow- 
ledge his  sovereign.  Though  we  be  co-heirs,  let 
Christ  be  the  elder  Brother.  Though  we  be  made 
like  to  the  angels,  yet  not  like  to  the  Lord  of  angels. 

The  wicked  know  not,  care  not  for  this  fellowship ; 
they  do  not  like  so  Divine  company  ;  they  cannot  be 
merry  if  God  be  by.  Alas  !  none  know  the  sweetness 
of  this  partnership,  but  the  partners.  It  is  a  new 
name,  which  no  man  knoweth  but  he  that  hath  it, 
Rev.  ii.  17.  But  he  that  hath  it  is  truly  merry,  and 
keeps  Hilary  term  all  his  life.  "  In  thy  presence 
is  fulness  of  joy  ;  and  at  thy  right  hand  are  plea- 
sm-es  for  evermore,"  Psal.  xvi.  11.  God's  company 
doth  not  only  make  us  glad,  but  makes  us  good. 
Seneca  said,  that  one  special  means  to  stay  us 
from  vice,  was  to  think  some  grave  men  were  in 
our  company  ;  Semper  eos  tecum,  quos  verearis,  habe. 
But  we  have  not  only  men  and  angels,  but  even  God 
looking  on  us,  and  associating  with  us.  Peter  swore 
like  a  ruffian,  and  forswore  like  a  renegade,  till 
Christ  looked  on  him,  and  then  he  wept. 

There  be  divers  fellowships  in  the  world. 

There  is  a  generation  of  men  that  lavish  their 
estates,  as  we  say,  lling  the  house  out  at  the  windows, 
that  call  themselves  good  fellows.  But  good  fel- 
lows and  evU  men  are  incompatible.  They  are  like 
Simeon  and  Levi,  sworn  brothers,  but  brethren  in 
evil.  Perhaps  they  have  more  society  than  honest 
men,  but  not  so  good  society.  Briers  and  thorns 
twine  more  together  than  good  plants.  God  is  not 
in  this  fellowship ;  you  shall  meet  him  at  the  church, 
not  at  the  ale-house.  But  Satan  puts  in  for  a  part  : 
sometimes  one  drunkard  plays  the  devil  with  another, 
in  stabbing,  or  over-loadmg  with  drink :  but  if  there 
be  not  always  a  personate  devil,  there  is  always  a 
personal  devil;  Satan  himself  stands  by.  In  this 
fellowship,  riot  is  the  host,  drunkenness  the  guest, 
swearing  keeps  the  reckoning,  lust  holds  the  door, 
and  beggary  pays  the  shot. 

There  is  another  fellowship,  a  mystical  one,  a  mis- 
chievous one,  the  society  of  Jesuits  :  yet  they  write 
themselves.  Of  the  fellowship  of  Jesus.  What!  no 
meaner?  Would  not  Peter,  nor  Paul,  nor  Francis 
serve  ?  No,  none  worthy  of  these  men's  company  but 
Jesus.  I  persuade  myself,  he  \vill  give  them  little 
thanks  for  their  familiarity.  But  do  they  not  rather 
derive  their  names  a  conlrario  ?  Jesuits,  not  because 
fellows,  but  enemies,  to  Jesus ;  as  tlie  Romans  took 
names  from  their  conquests;  Scipio  Africanus,  be- 
cause he  conquered  Africa.  Call  him  not  Israel,  bat 
Jezreel :  call  them  not  Jesuits,  but  Jebusites.  But 
Peter  is  the  deputy  of  Jesus,  and  they  are  factors  of 
Peter:  indeedthey  uphold  the  chair  of  their  imaginary 
Peter,  and  blow  up  other  states  with  saltpetre.  But 
sure  Jesus  was  never  a  fellow-iUgger  in  tneir  vaults, 
nor  an  engineer  in  their  fire-works. 

Well,  tlius  Christ  to  the  faithful  vouchsafes  his 
fellowship  :  he  is  "  the  rose  of  Sharon,  and  the  lily  of 
the  valleys,"  Cant.  ii.  I ;  not  a  garden-llower  enclosed, 
but  he  grows  in  the  field ;  his  company  is  easily  had, 
if  our  faith  invites  him.  If  thou  wilt  be  of  one  heart, 
thou  shalt  be  of  one  fellowship,  with  him.  Let  thy 
will  and  obedience  agree  with  his  commandments, 
and  then  his  sweet  presence  shall  accompany  thy 
conscience  for  ever.     Complain  not   though  other 


men  blanch  thee,  so  long  as  thou  hast  the  fellowship 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

5.  As  members  of  a  Head ;  and  thus  we  nearly  par- 
take of  the  Divine  nature.  "  Now  ye  are  the  body  of 
Christ,  and  members  in  particular,"  1  Cor.  xii.  27. 
Christ  is  the  Head,  the  church  is  the  body,  tlie  faith- 
ful are  the  members.  What  doth  the  Head  impart  to 
the  body?  1.  Sense.  He  gives  us  eyes:  we  see 
not  the  mysteries  of  salvation  without  him.  Lord, 
enlighten  mine  eyes.  Ears :  we  may  hear  the  gos- 
pel of  life,  but  not  the  life  of  the  gospel,  without 
him.  Lord,  open  mine  ears.  Taste:  for  we  may  have 
the  cup  of  blessing  held  to  our  mouth,  and  yet  can- 
not taste  the  sweets  of  grace  without  him.  Lord, 
make  me  to  relish  thy  heavenly  gift.  Feeling  :  man's 
brain  is  said  to  have  no  feeling  in  itself,  yet  to  give 
feeling  to  all  parts  ;  but  Christ  hath  a  feeling  of  our 
infirmities,  and  gives  us  a  feeling  of  our  own.  We  are 
naturally  dead,  and  cannot  feel  our  misery  :  it  is 
Christ  our  Head  that  gives  the  life  of  sense,  and  the 
sense  of  life.  2.  Understanding.  The  head  is  the  seat  of 
understanding ;  we  can  have  no  comfortable  knowledge 
of  God  but  by  Christ.  "Lord,  show  us  the  Father, 
and  it  sufficethus,"  John  xiv.  8  :  do  thou  show  us,  we 
can  see  nothing  but  by  thy  light.  This  is  "  the  true 
Light,  which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world,"  John  i.  9.  Hence  it  is,  that  no  member  can  be 
ignorant,  because  he  is  joined  to  the  Head.  Though 
tliey  cannot  know  so  much  as  the  Head,  yet  they  shall 
know  so  much  as  shall  make  them  blessed.  3.  Motion  : 
Christ  our  Head  gives  us  motion.  "And  I,  if  I  be 
lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me," 
John  xii.  32.  If  the  Head  be  gone  before,  the  mem- 
bers must  needs  follow  after.  We  have  moved  from 
God  by  nature.  Acts  x\ni.  28  ;  but  to  move  to  that 
which  is  good,  from  God  by  Christ.  4.  Lastly,  life 
itself;  "  for  we  are  members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh, 
and  of  his  bones,"  Eph.  v.  30.  There  is  a  quaiTcl  be- 
tween philosophers  and  physicians  about  the  princi- 
pal seat  of  life,  whether  it  be  in  the  heart  or  in  the 
head.  But  in  divinity  the  case  is  clear,  for  all  our 
life  is  from  our  Head.  "  I  live ;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ 
liveth  in  me  :  and  the  life  which  I  live  in  the  flesh  I 
live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,"  Gal.  ii.  20.  Our 
breath  is  in  our  bodies ;  the  life  of  our  souls  is  in 
heaven.  "  Ye  are  dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God,"  Col.  iii.  3.  Our  bodies  move  on 
earth,  our  hearts  dwell  in  heaven.  (Anselm.) 

Let  us  be  sure  we  are  members  of  Chi-ist,  then  sure 
that  we  are  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature.  Wlio  is 
sure  of  that  ?  Not  the  adulterer  ;  for  he  takes  the 
members  of  Christ,  and  makes  them  the  members  of 
an  harlot,  1  Cor.  vi.  15  ;  he  hath  lost  the  ligaments 
of  purity.  Not  the  oppressor  ;  he  hath  lost  the  liga- 
ments of  charity  :  for  lie  that  is  not  a  good  member 
of  the  commonwealth  is  not  a  true  member  of  Christ ; 
and  if  the  usurer  can  prove  himself  a  good  member 
of  liis  country,  I  will  yield  he  may  be  a  member  of  the 
church.  Not  the  drunkard ;  he  hath  lost  the  liga- 
ments of  sobriety  :  our  heavenly  Head  hath  no  stag- 
gering members.  It  will  be  very  hard  for  a  man  to 
reel  into  heaven.  Not  the  contentious  ;  for  he  hath 
lost  the  ligaments  of  concord,  and  broken  the  unity 
of  the  Spirit,  which  is  in  the  bond  of  peace,  Eph.  iv. 
3.  That  religion  that  is  derived  from  Christ,  pre- 
sents unity  \vith  Christians.  He  that  will  not  keep 
the  peace  of  God,  shall  not  bo  kept  by  the  God  of 
peace.  Not  the  furious  striker,  who  if  he  receives 
words,  returns  wounds  :  he  is  no  member  of  Christ, 
for  one  member  doth  not  strike  another.  Not  the 
repiner  ;  for  the  eye  says  not  to  the  hand,  I  have  no 
need  of  thee,  I  Cor.  xii.  21.  The  foot  will  not  in- 
vade the  office  of.  the  ear,  nor  the  arms  of  the  lips. 
The  magistrate  vn\\  not  administer  the  sacraments, 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


nor  the  minister  bench  it.  Not  the  swearer  ;  for  he  is 
no  member  that  strikes  the  Head.  If  we  be  members, 
the  passion  of  others  will  work  compassion  in  us. 

6.  As  branches  of  a  Vine ;  and  so  we  partake  of 
the  Divine  nature.  "  I  am  the  true  vine,"  saith 
Christ,  John  xv, :  a  true  vine  indeed;  for,  1.  He 
was  set  on  a  blessed  ground,  the  womb  of  the  virgin, 
whom  all  generations  shall  call  blessed,  Luke  i.  4S. 
In  this  fruit  all  nations  are  blessed.  2.  He  was  cut 
and  pnmed,  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  till 
there  ran  out  the  life  with  blood,  that  was  to  us  the 
blood  of  life.  3.  He  was  dunked,  soiled  with  the 
filthy  excrements  of  the  Jews  :  liis  mouth  prays  for 
them,  their  mouths  spit  on  him.  4.  He  was  dig- 
ged, his  side  opened  with  a  spear,  his  hands  and 
feet  with  nails  ;  "  They  digged  my  hands  and  my 
feet,"  Psal.  xxii.  l(i.  5.  As'  the  vine  is  fastened  to 
some  wood  or  wall,  so  was  Christ  fixed  to  his  cross, 
till  death  and  hell  had  done  their  worst.  Yet 
there  is  still  life  in  him,  and  he  spreads  this  life 
to  his  branches,  far  and  wide  ;  sending  out  his 
boughs  unto  the  sea,  and  his  branches  unto  the 
river,  Psal.  Ixxx.  II.  We  are  all  naturally  dry 
sticks,  fit  for  nothing  but  the  fire ;  but  being  ingrafted 
into  him,  there  is  the  living  sap  of  grace  derived  to 
us.  "  As  the  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself,  ex- 
cept it  abide  in  the  vine ;  no  more  can  ye,  except 
ye  abide  me,"  John  xv.  4.  This,  saith  St.  Augustine, 
comforts  the  poor  publican,  confounds  the  proud 
Pharisee.     Qui riiet  in  foliis,venil  a  radicibus  humor. 

Thus  also  we  are  partakers.  There  is  a  three-fold 
Divine  union.  1.  Essential;  so  God  the  Father  is 
one  with  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  2.  Personal; 
so  God's  Son  is  united  to  human  nature.  3.  Mysti- 
cal ;  so  the  faithful  are  united  to  Christ.  "  He  that 
is  joined  to  the  Lord  is  one  spirit,"  1  Cor.  vi.  17. 
This  is  infinite  comfort ;  we  cannot  want  grace  and 
felicity,  unless  Jesus  Christ  should  want  it.  "What- 
soever the  Divine  nature  hath  communicable  to  man, 
ive  participate  by  being  branches  of  this  Vine.  Per- 
iiaps  he  doth  cut  us  till  we  weep  and  bleed  :  he  purg- 
eth  us,  but  to  good  purpose,  that  we  might  bring 
forth  more  grapes,  John  xv.  2;  for  we  are  most  fruit- 
ful under  the  cross.  Such  is  the  pity  of  our  hea- 
venly Father  to  us,  that  even  his  anger  proceeds 
from  mercy;  he  scourgeth  the  flesh,  that  the  spirit 
may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  Cor.  v.  5. 
Yea,  Lord,  cut  us  even  till  we  weep  and  bleed,  so  we 
may  partake  thy  joy  and  glory  in  heaven. 

7.  As  spouses  of  one  Husband,  Christ :  this  is  a 
near  partaking.  "  k  man  shall  be  joined  to  his  wife, 
and  they  two  shall  be  one  flesh,"  Enh.  v.  31.  The 
husband  and  the  wife  are  one  flesh,  t lie  believer  and 
Christ  are  one  spirit.  This  is  an  inefTable  mystery  ; 
my  heart  feels  it,  no  tongiic  can  express  it.  Here 
all  language  is  lost,  and  admiration  seals  up  every 
lip  :  we  may  drowsily  hear  it,  and  coldly  be  affected 
with  it ;  but  let  me  say,  principalities  and  powers, 
nature  and  reason,  men  and  angels,  stand  amazed  at 
it.  But  what  do  we  thus  partake  of  the  Divine  na- 
ture, by  this  marriage  to  Christ?  1.  We  have  his 
kisses;  and  this  is  the  earnest  of  love  and  faithful- 
ness; 0iX)//»o,  a  kiss,  of  (jiiXdv,  to  love:  whom  God 
kisseth,  lie  loveth :  as  the  father  welcomed  his  re- 
turning son,  he  "  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed  him," 
Luke  XV.  20.  No  token  of  affection  more  lively, 
more  lovely  than  a  kiss.  2.  His  embracings.  His 
left  hand  is  under  my  head,  and  his  right  hand  dolh 
embrace  me,  Cant.  viii.  3.  God  is  said  to  have  a 
right  hand  and  a  left,  Prov.  iii.  16  :  with  riches  and 
honours,  which  are  the  gifts  of  his  left  hand,  he  lifts 
up  my  dejected  head;  with  eternal  life,  which  is  the 
gift  of  his  right  hand,  he  embracelh  my  sides  for 
ever.     Whoso  puts  his  trust  in  the  Lord,  mercy  em- 


braceth  him  on  every  side,  Psal.  xxxii.  10.  3.  We 
sleep  with  him:  '"Our  bed  is  green,"  Cant.  i.  Ki. 
Make  ready  his  bed,  if  thou  wouldst  have  b.is  com- 
pany :  sweep  the  chamber  of  thy  heart  from  all  the 
dust  of  evil  thoughts,  and  annoyance  of  lusts  :  give 
him  fine  linen,  innocency  of  spirit ;  a  pillow  of  charity ; 
a  covering  of  obedience  to  keep  him  warm ;  and 
let  the  down-bed  of  thy  faith  be  prepared  ;  then  he 
will  lodge  with  thee.  4.  He  gives  his  spouse  a  join- 
ture or  portion.  As  in  the  solenuiizing  of  a  marriage 
on  earth,  the  husband  says  to  his  wife.  With  all  my 
worldly  goods  I  thee  endow;  so  Christ  endows  us 
with  his  riches  of  glory.  "My  Beloved  is  mine,  and 
I  am  his,"  Cant.  ii.  16.  Blessed  exchange !  he  is  ours, 
we  are  his;  yea,  all  ours  are  made  his,  all  his  is 
made  ours.  We  brought  him  a  portion  of  wickedness, 
of  wretchedness ;  the  fee-simple  of  sin,  death,  and 
hell:  he  bore  all  those  torments,  and  so  took  them 
that  he  took  them  away.  He  brings  us  another  man- 
ner of  jointure  or  endowment;  justification,  sanctifi- 
cation,  freedom,  grace,  and  peace  on  earth,  glory  and 
joy  in  heaven.  Here  is  a  blessed  wedding.  In  our 
marriages  we  have  these  requirable  things ;  the  bride- 
groom, the  bride,  the  father  to  give  the  bride,  the 
priest  to  tie  the  knot,  the  witnesses,  and  the  wedding 
ring.  Here  the  bridegroom  is  Christ,  the  bride  the 
church,  the  giver  God  the  Father.  (^VHio  gives  this 
poor  Vjeggar  woman,  man's  soul,  to  be  married  to  this 
rich  Man,  this  Prince  ?  God  himself.)  The  priest 
that  makes  the  knot  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  is  the 
sealer  of  this  union :  the  witnesses  are  angels  ;  the 
wedding  ring  is  our  faith.  Dost  thou  plead,  thy  soul 
is  married  to  Christ  ?  show  me  thy  wedding  ring, 
look  well  to  thy  faith. 

The  best  way  to  reconcile  two  disagreeing  families 
or  enemy  kingdoms,  is  to  make  a  marriage  between 
them  ;  for  the  uniting  of  bloods  ends  all  quarrels.  AVe 
were  all  adversaries  to  God,  and  he  was  ready  to  figlit 
against  us  with  eternal  death;  how  should  peace  be 
made  but  by  a  marriage  ?  So  Hamor  persuaded  the 
Shechemites;  "Let  us  lake  their  daughters  tons  for 
wives,  and  give  them  ourdaughtcrs ; "  so  shall  we  have 
peace,  Gen.xxxiv.21.  Lo,  the  Kingof  heaven  gives  his 
only  Son  to  mortal  man's  daughter,  that  is,  his  soul ;  and 
though  she  were  a  miserable  beggar,  jointures  her  in 
his  own  kingdom.  Be  not  then  married  to  the  world, 
it  is  a  misshapen  stigmatic :  not  to  lust,  it  is  a  black  and 
leprous  witch  ;  not  to  the  de\-il,  he  is  a  foul  and  ugly 
monster:  run  not  greedily  after  riches,  pleasures, 
and  wantonuesses  ;  remember  thy  chaste  love  to  thy 
one  and  own  Husband:  "  I  have  espoused  you  lo  one 
husband,  that  I  may  present  you  as  a  chaste  virgin  to 
Christ,"  2  Cor.  xi.  2.  Abhor  bigamy,  lest  lie  divorce 
thee:  have  one  Husbaml;  the  bed  brooks  no  rivals. 
Raise  thy  affections  above  a  common  pitch,  and  let 
thy  soul  bear  herself  as  the  spouse  of  the  great  King. 
It  is  a  wonderful  joy  that  a  man  hath  with  the  wife 
of  his  vouth ;  but  it  is  a  greater  joy  in  being  spouses 
to  Christ ;  the  faithful  soul  knows  only  the  sweetness 
of  his  embraces.  But  the  greatest  of  all  is  to  be 
married  to  him  in  heaven  :  "  Blessed  are  they  which 
are  called  unto  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb," 
Rev.  xix.  9.  (hily  that  marriage  is  the  merrj'  age, 
where  shall  be  joy.  great  joy,  eternal  joy;  our  music 
shall  be  the  choir  of  heaven,  and  our  banquet  ever- 
lasting gloiy. 

I  have  been  over  prolix  in  this  point  of  partaking 
the  Divine  nature  ;  but  it  is  tedious  only  to  those  that 
liave  no  right  in  this  p:irticipatiou.  Let  me  excuse 
myself;  my  tongue  followed  my  heart,  and  I  could 
not  but  speak  what  was  my  comfort  to  feel.  It  hath 
given  sweet  content  to  my  own  spirit ;  God  grant  it 
may  give  no  less  consolation  to  others.  Tliis  parti- 
cipation is  not  a  transfusion  of  the  Divine  essence  or 


Yer.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


45 


nature  into  us;  but  a  communication  of  the  mani- 
fold blessings  wrought  out  liy  Christ.  Of  nothing, 
we  have  being;  of  being  worse  tlian  nothing,  we 
are  restored  to  God's  image;  formed  with  reason 
above  the  creature,  and  reformed  with  grace  above 
reason;  now  immortal  in  our  souls,  hereafter  to  be 
immortal  in  our  bodies.  AVhat  honour,  what  glor\- 
is  this,  that  a  man  of  dust,  a  worm  creeping  out  of 
the  mud,  auUeat  credos  ad  sijderu  lollere  luHus,  should 
look  up  inito  heaven,  and  call  the  omnipotent  God  his 
Father  I  How  gracious  is  this  promise  !  how  glorious 
this  participation!  Let  not  the  blind  judgments  of 
the  world  trouble  us ;  we  believe  and  know,  know 
and  feel,  feel  and  joy  that  we  are  partakers  of  the 
Divine  nature.  Wc  might  here  infer  with  Athana- 
sius,  that  Clirist  is  the  same  substance  and  nature 
with  the  Father;  because  they  that  are  partakers  of 
the  Son,  are  also  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature. 
(Contr.  Arrian,  Orat.  2.)  He  says  further,  that  the 
beginning  of  this  partaking,  is  by  the  consignation 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  our  baptism.  (Epist.  ad  Scrap.) 
Ambrose  refels  the  Arians  from  this  scripture,  who 
condemn  the  voice  of  substance  and  nature  in  Divine 
things ;  as  if  Christ  could  be  the  Son  of  God,  and 
not  the  substance  of  God.  But  if  the  name  of  sub- 
stance or  nature  trouble  them,  let  this  text  satisfv 
them.  (De  Fide  ad  Grat.  lib.  1.  cap.  9.)  He  adds, 
who  can  deny  the  Holy  Ghost  to  be  equal  with  the 
Father  or  the  Son,  whenas  it  is  his  work  whereby 
we  gel  a  participation  of  the  Divine  nature  ?  (De  Spir. 
Sane.  lib.  1.  cap.  2.)  Cyril  says,  that  the  faithful 
comnmnicant,  in  receiWng  the  sacrament,  is  made 
partaker  of  the  Divine  natiu-e.  (Cyril.  leros.  Catech. 
4.  Mystag.)  Leo  from  hence  takes  occasion  to  ex- 
hort us  to  piety  and  holy  life:  Remember  whose 
thou  art,  the  member  of  Christ,  and  temple  of  the 
blessed  Spirit :  do  not  drive  away  so  sweet  ;m  in- 
liabitant  by  thy  sins,  and  again  subject  thyself  to 
the  devil's  sen'itude.  (Ser.  1.  de  Nat.  Doni.)  To  the 
same  purpose  speaks  C)"rillus,  (Alex.  lib.  4.  in  Levit.) 
and  Origen,  (in  Levit.  Homil.  4.)  All  of  them 
striving  to  show  us,  that  we  by  faith  partake  of 
Christ's  flesh,  by  his  flesh  of  his  soul,  by  both  of  his 
Spirit,  by  all  of  his  Deitj-. 

Thus  you  have  seen  the  conveyance  and  the  in- 
heritance. In  the  one  was  a  word  of  promise ;  in 
the  other  a  word  of  preferment.  Now  all  these  pri- 
vileges we  partake  as  we  are  true  Christians.  Plato 
said  he  was  beholden  to  nature  for  three  things  :  first, 
that  she  had  made  him  a  man,  not  a  beast.  Next, 
that  she  had  made  him  a  man,  not  a  woman :  for 
mulier  quasi  motlior,  or  mollis  aer ;  but  vires  in  riris, 
vera  sedes  lirian,  sexus  sotet  esse  tirorum.  Lastly,  that 
she  had  made  him  a  Greek,  not  a  barbarian.  Well, 
in  all  these  preferments  he  acknowledged  himself  but 
beholden  to  nature ;  and  for  all  these  we,  as  well  as 
he,  are  beholden  to  the  God  of  nature.  But  there  is 
a  fourth  thing,  for  which,  as  he  to  Greece,  so  we  must 
be  thankful  to  grace ;  that  we  are  not  only  men,  and 
not  beasts;  Greeks,  that  is,  knowing,  and  not  igno- 
rants;  or  philosophers,  and  not  fools;  but  yet  infi- 
nitely more,  that  we  are  Christians,  and  not  infidels. 
By  this  only  we  partake  of  the  Divine  nature  ;  only 
glory  in  this.  "  Let  not  the  wise  man  glory  in  his 
wisdom,  neither  let  the  mighty  man  glory  in  his 
might,  let  not  the  rich  man  gloiy  in  his  riches :  but 
let  him  that  gloricth  glory  in  this,  that  he  understand- 
eth  and  knowtth  me,  saith  the  Lord,"  Jcr.  ix.  2.3,  24. 
Nothing  is  more  worthy  thy  pride,  than  that  which 
will  make  thee  most  humble  if  thou  hast  it ;  that  thou 
art  a  Christian.  When  an  ambassador  told  Henry 
the  fourth,  that  magnificent  king  of  France,  concern- 
ing the  king  of  Spain's  ample  dominions  :  first,  saith 
he,  he  is  king  of  Spain.     Is  he  so,  saith  Hcnr)-  ? 


and  I  am  king  of  France.  But,  saitli  the  other, 
he  is  king  of  Portugal  :  And  I  am  king  of  France, 
saith  Henry.  He  is  king  of  Naples :  And  I  am 
king  of  France.  He  is  king  of  Sicily :  And  I  am 
king  of  France.  He  is  king  of  Nova  Hispania : 
Anil  I  am  king  of  France.  He  is  king  of  Ihe 
West  Indies  :  And  still,  I  am  king  of  Fi-aiice.  He 
thought  the  kingdom  of  France  equivalent  to  all 
these.  To  wliat  purpose  is  all  this  ?  Yes,  if  thou  ap- 
ply it  rightly.  Another  hath  great  learning  and  wit : 
Well,  I  am  a  Christian.  Such  a  one  hath  great 
honours  :  I  am  a  Christian.  Another  hath  abundance 
of  riches  :  I  am  a  Christian.  That  man  hath  large 
dominions :  Well,  I  have  more  in  heaven,  I  am  a 
Christian.  He  is  of  the  blood  royal,  partakes  the  na- 
ture of  kings  :  Yet  I  partake  of  the  nature  Di^-ine,  am 
of  the  blood  royal  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  am  a  Christian. 
Let  them  glorj-  in  their  great  and  Iionourable  rela- 
tions, it  shall  content  our  souls  that  we  partake  of  thy 
Divine  nature,  0  Jesus  Christ ! 

"  Having  escaped  the  corruption  that  is  in  the 
world  through  lust."  This  is  the  third  main  point, 
our  deliverance.  It  hath  the  last  place  in  the  words, 
not  so  in  effect  with  us ;  we  must  first  escape  this  cor- 
ruption, before  we  can  come  to  that  Divine  participa- 
tion. As  you  have  seen  what  you  are,  partakers  of 
the  nature  of  God ;  so  now  see  what  you  were,  soiled 
with  the  corruption  of  lusts :  "  Such  were  you  ;  but 
ye  are  washed,"  &c.  1  Cor.  vi.  11.  In  this  deliver- 
ance we  considered  two  general  parts,  a  discoverj', 
and  a  recovery ;  a  discovery  of  great  danger,  a  re- 
cover)' from  that  danger.  The  danger  discovered  was 
the  corruption  of  lust ;  the  deliverance  is  specified,  an 
escaping.  In  the  danger  or  wretched  estate  wherein 
they  naturally  stood,  consider,  1.  The  infection,  cor- 
ruption of  lust.  2.  The  dispersion,  through  the  world. 
For  the  infection,  conceive  in  it  two  things:  1.  7'i(- 
7iiorem,  the  corruption.  2.  Humorem,  the  lust.  The 
one  that  is  bred,  the  other  whereby  it  is  fed.  In  all 
we  shall  find,  that  the  greatness  of  the  danger  com- 
mends the  greatness  of  our  deliverance. 

"  Corruption ;"  this  is  the  tumour,  a  universal  dis- 
ease. All  flesh  have  eornipted  their  ways.  This 
monster  is  not  coagulated  all  at  once ;  but 

Gradalim  spargere  vires ; 

Prorsits  et  ex  multis  vnum  coalescere  morbum. 

Stone  after  stone,  Babel  is  builded  :  stick  after  stick, 

the  burning  pile  is  made  up :  from  the  confluence  of 

many  diseases,  ariseth  death. 

First,  it  gets  into  the  thoughts,  that  the  imagina- 
tions of  the  heart  are  evil.  Gen.  vi.  5.  This  we  think 
little  danger;  but  when  it  hath  got  the  citadel,  it 
commands  all  the  sconces,  and  forts,  and  guards.  The 
heart  is  a  castle,  the  outward  senses  are  the  gates. 
When  it  hath  got  into  the  castle,  the  watchmen  were 
to  blame,  that  let  the  enemy  in.  Turpius  ejicilur,  quam 
non  admiltitur  liospes.  These  be  partus  tnenlis,  pri- 
mogenili  Mgi/pti :  if  thou  canst  not  hinder  the  con- 
ception of  sin,  but  it  must  be  born* ;  yet,  like  the 
midwives  of  Egypt,  despatch  it  betimes,  lest  it  de- 
spatch thee.  For  "lust,  when  it  hath  conceived, 
bringeth  forth  sin :  and  sin,  when  it  is  finished, 
briugeth  forth  death,"  Jam.  i.  15.  Spare  not  the  little 
Babylonians,  lest  they  one  day  grow  great  enough 
to  vanquish  Israel.  Kill  the  young  wolves,  and 
secure  thy  flock :  destroy  the  brood  of  the  viper:  let 
it  never  'come  to  this,  I  would  I  had  prevented  it. 
Sin  is  easily  committed  in  act,  if  admitted  in  thought. 
Labour  first  to  purge  thy  heart  from  this  corruption  : 
let  not  thy  "  vain  thoughts  lodge  within  thee,"  Jer. 
iv.  14.  Job,  though  he  were  well  persuaded  of  his 
children  in  respect  of  their  outward  demeanour,  yet 
he  doubted  their  hearts,  "  It  may  be  that  my  sons 


46 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


have  sinned,  and  cursed  God  in  their  hearts,"  Job  i. 
5.  "Keep  thy  heart  with  all  diligence,"  Prov.  iv. 
23 :  the  hands  and  feet  must  we  well  guarded  and 
regarded,  but  especially  look  to  thy  heart.  Let  thy 
thoughts  examine  thy  thoughts:  thy  conscience  must 
not  only  extend  to  deeds  and  words,  but  even  to 
secret  thoughts.  They  that  arc  accustomed  to  evil 
thoughts,  can  seldom  bring  forth  good  words,  never 
good  deeds.  As  the  corn  is,  so  will  the  Hour  be :  if 
the  meal  be  bad,  the  fault  is  not  in  the  millstones 
that  ground  it,  but  in  the  miller  that  put  in  such 
base  com.  All  thy  senses  and  members  are  but  the 
millstones  ;  the  heart  is  the  miller :  if  thy  words  and 
works  be  ill  meal,  thank  the  miller,  thy  heart,  for 
such  corrupt  thoughts.  As  the  wood  is,  so  will  the 
fire  be :  if  it  be  wet  and  stinking  wood,  look  for  an 
unsavoury  and  unwholesome  fire  :  if  the  wood  be 
sweet  and  dry,  it  will  perfume  the  room  \vith  a  sweet 
and  pleasant  air.  Such  fuel  as  you  lay  on  your 
thoughts,  such  fire  shall  you  have  in  your  actions. 
There  is  a  knowledge  projected,  which  only  looks 
upon  outward  things ;  and  even  beasts  do  in  some 
measure  participate  this  with  men.  There  is  a 
knowledge  reflected,  that  inwardly  beholds  a  man's 
self.  Many  men  know  many  things,  but  they  know 
not  themselves.  Man's  knowledge  should  not  be  a 
gadding  harlot,  whose  feet  cannot  keep  within  doors; 
but  a  good  housewife  to  stay  at  home.  When  Dinah 
would  be  rambling  abroad,  to  see  fashions,  and  to 
observe  the  ladies  of  the  land,  she  was  defloured  by 
Shechem,  Gen.  xxxiv. :  if  our  affections  be  noctiva- 
gant,  night-walkers,  they  will  easily  come  home 
quick  with  child. 

Next,  this  corruption  gels  into  the  senses.  It 
passeth  through  the  eye.  "  Death  is  come  up  into 
our  ^vindows,  and  is  entered  into  our  palaces,  to  cut 
off  the  children  from  without,  and  the  young  men  in 
the  streets,"  Jer.  ix.  21.  It  hath  terrible  elfects;  it 
invades  the  palaces,  the  secret  chambers  of  the 
heart ;  abscindit  pueros,  it  cuts  off  the  little  masculine 
virtues  of  the  soul ;  yea,  even  the  young  men,  the 
graces  that  begin  to  get  strength  in  us.  All  this 
death  comes  in  at  the  window,  that  is,  the  eye.  Cur 
aliquid  lidi,  cur  noxia  lumina  feci ?  Mine  eye  hath 
betrayed  my  soul.  Epiphanius  gives  an  apt  moral 
reason,  why,  in  the  old  law,  when  a  dead  coi-pse 
passed  by  any  house,  they  were  commanded  to  shut 
their  doors  and  windows.  When  a  work  of  death, 
abhorred  sin,  is  proposed,  shut  both  the  doors,  your 
mouths,  and  the  windows,  your  eyes.  It  is  said  that 
Judith's  pantofles  ra\-ished  Holofemes'  eyes ;  her 
sandals  took  him,  Jud.  xvi.  9.  Wliat  good  men 
tread  under  their  feet,  that  wicked  men  are  seduced 
by.  Therefore  says  Solomon,  Look  not  on  the  colour 
of  the  wine,  when  it  moveth  itself  aright,  Prov.  xxiii. 
31 ;  be  not  tempted  with  the  colour  or  dancing  of  it 
in  the  cup.  Nimium  ne  crede  colori.  That  sense  is 
accessary  to  the  sin,  that  opens  the  door,  and  lets 
the  thief  come  in.  Iniquity  is  the  thief,  the  eye  is 
the  gate  :  therefore  says  Job,  "  I  have  made  a  cove- 
nant with  mine  eyes."  Adultery  is  such  an  ugly  mon- 
ster, that  it  could  never  enter  the  city  of  the  heart, 
unless  it  did  first  corrupt  the  watch.  Lord,  "  turn 
away  mine  eyes  from  beholding  vanity,"  Psal.  cxix. 
37.  The  ear  is  another  passage ;  through  that  door 
Satan  often  sends  in  his  errand.  Woe  is  me,  because 
I  have  heard  that  which  made  me  either  angrj-  or 
gtiilty  !  Keep  him  out,  and  be  safe  :  stop  thine  cars 
to  his  charms,  so  shall  he  not  touch  thy  heart.  But 
he  cries  to  the  porter,  Let  mc  but  come  in,  I  will 
desire  no  more :  do  but  give  him  the  hearing,  it  is 
sufficient  to  take  thy  soul. 

It  stays  not  wholly  in  the  senses,  but  gets  also  into 
the  tongue ;  and  this  must  needs  babble  the  corrup- 


tion. Democritus  called  speech  the  image  of  life : 
and  another  used  to  say,  Speak,  that  I  may  know 
what  thou  art.  "A  fool  uttereth  all  his  "mind," 
Prov.  xxix.  11.  As  wise  men  carrj'  their  mouths  in 
their  hearts,  so  fools  carrj-  their  hearts  in  their 
mouths.  Fools  first  speak,  and  then  deliberate ; 
they  bluster  out  their  follies.  A  wicked  man  bears 
his  words  in  his  mouth,  as  a  dog  doth  an  arrow  in  his 
ribs,  never  rests  till  it  be  drawn  out.  He  is  pregnant 
of  slander  or  blasphemy,  and  either  he  must  be  de- 
livered, or  he  will  burst.  O  evil  servant,  out  of  thy 
own  mouth  I  will  judge  thee,  saith  God.  God  doth 
judge,  and  man  may  guess.  Diogenes  said.  You  will 
ehoose  men  to  service  before  you  hear  them  speak, 
yet  will  not  buy  an  earthen  pot  before  you  tr)'  it  by 
the  sound.  A  bell  may  have  a  crack,  and  you  can- 
not sec  it;  but  take  the  clapper,  and  strike  it,  you 
shall  soon  perceive  it  is  flawed.  The  damsel  told 
Peter,  Sure  thou  art  of  Galilee,  for  thy  speech  be- 
wrayeth  thee.  Many  lap  the  water,  bending  on 
their  knees;  none  but  a  right  Gileatlite  can  with- 
out lisping  pronounce  Shibboleth. 

Lastly,  you  shall  find  it  in  the  hands  too,  and 
there  it  exceeds  itself;  in  the  heart  it  is  but  corrup- 
tion, in  the  hands  it  is  ei-uption.  Ex  ungue  leonem, 
you  may  know  a  covetous  wolf  by  his  paws.  A 
troubled  fountain  sends  forth  impure  streams :  an 
evil  heart  hath  a  most  evil  hand.  If  the  hand  grope 
for  a  bribe,  as  Felix  did  of  Paul,  Acts  xxiv.  there  is 
a  most  unjust  heart.  If  the  hand  scramble  for  wealth, 
there  is  a  covetous  heart.  If  the  hand  be  still  strik- 
ing and  stabbing,  there  is  a  bloody  heart.  The 
actions  of  the  hands  are  so  many  characters,  whereby 
we  may  spell  the  meaning  of  the  heart.  The  hands 
speak  a  man.  What  a  man  does,  I  am  sure  he  thinks, 
not  evermore  what  he  says.  Saul's  tongue  could 
say,  "  Blessed  be  thou  of  the  Lord :  I  have  per- 
formed the  commandment  of  the  Lord,"  1  Sam.  xv. 
13.  But  Samuel  heard  the  language  of  his  hands; 
"  WHiat  meaneth  then  this  bleating  of  the  sheep  in 
mine  ears,  and  the  lowing  of  the  oxen  which  I  hear  ?" 
ver.  14.  'The  corruption  that  is  secreted  in  the  heart, 
is  declared  by  the  hand.  The  deaf  man  would  think 
the  air  quiet ;  but  he  that  hears  it  thunder,  knows  it 
is  troubled.  Many  look  fair  and  sky-coloured  in 
their  profession,  but  they  thunder  in  their  works. 
They  imagine  mischief,  and  practise  it,  "  because  it 
is  in  the  power  of  their  hand,"  Micah  ii.  1.  They 
have  breath  as  sweet  as  sirens',  but  their  deeds 
leave  a  stink  behind  them. 

Now  swell  all  these  comiptions  into  one  imposthu- 
mated  head,  and  here  is  not  only  the  corruption  of 
the  world,  but  a  world  of  corniption  :  as  the  prophet 
calls  Jerusalem  and  Samaria,  not  only  sinners  but 
sins,  Micah  i. ;  or  as  Lucan  speaks  of  a  wounded 
body  ;  Totum  est  pro  vutnere  corpus,  The  whole  body 
was  as  one  wound.  A  land  overflowed  with  sea  is 
said  to  be  all  sea;  so  a  heart  overrun  with  sin  is  all 
sin.  That  is  land  still,  and  this  is  a  heart  still ;  but 
by  reason  of  this  deluge  we  say,  that  is  all  sea,  this 
is  all  sin.  And  this  corruption  is  so  pleasing  to  the 
wicked,  that  they  think  it  health  itself.  Men  take 
such  delight  in  this  bestiality,  that,  as  Pliny  re- 
ports, Grillus  being  transformed  to  a  hog,  would  not 
endure  to  be  turned  to  a  man  again.  Wlien  God 
offers  the  dnmkard  to  make  him  sober,  no,  he  thanks 
him,  he  is  better  as  he  is.  Doth  he  undertake  to  let 
out  the  usurer's  corruption  by  charity  ?  no,  he  had 
rather  be  a  usurer  still. 

Divers  uses  are  to  be  made  of  this  proposition; 
which  arc  generally  two-fold;  concerning  others, 
concerning  ourselves.  Concerning  others,  that  we 
lice  the  persons  in  whom  this  corruption  rages;  as 
being  willing  to  avoid  the  plague,  we  do  balk  the 


Vek.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


47 


house  wherein  the  infection  dwells.  Miserable  folly  ! 
we  hate  the  plagiie  which  may  kill  our  bodies,  we  love 
the  plague  which  may  spill  our  souls.  The  condition 
of  sin  is  better  than  "the  condition  of  sickness.  (Na- 
zian.)  For  if  a  man  lie  sick  in  the  strcet.s,  others 
are  dainty  and  shun  him,  walking  aloof.  But  let  a 
rich  man  be  an  adulterer,  a  swearer,  a  usurer,  we 
close  with  him ;  yet  only  of  tlicse  we  have  a  charge, 
not  to  accompany  them.  Which  of  these  corrup- 
tions, in  your  o^vn  souls,  do  you  think  the  worst  ?  To 
see  this  corruption,  the  Lord  give  us  eyes ;  to  let  out 
this  corruption,  prick  our  hearts ;  and  from  this  cor- 
ruption, save  our  souls. 

Concerning  ourselves :  better  not  know  our  dis- 
ease, than  no  means  to  cure  it.  For  this  pui-pose, 
something  must  be  done  upon  us,  something  Viy  us. 
The  thing  to  be  done  to  us,  which  may  properly  get 
out  this  natural  corruption,  is  salting.  For  salt  doth 
not  only  preserve  from  corruption,  but  also  eat  out 
corruption.  It  hath  divers  effects,  fit  to  shadow  out 
the  work  of  the  Spirit  on  us  for  this  purpose.  First, 
it  preserves  from  corruption  and  rottenness :  the 
Egyptians  used  to  WTap  their  dead  bodies  in  salt. 
All  are  corrupted,  subject  to  rottenness,  and  need 
salting.  The  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  the  "  salt 
of  the  earth,"  Matt.  v.  13.  It  is  not  enough  to  have 
quirks  of  wit,  but  soundness  of  doctrine.  They  that 
preach,  not  only  after  a  new  method,  but  new  things, 
swell  your  brains,  but  leave  your  hearts  empty ;  they 
do  not  salt  you.  That  is  good  salt,  which  keeps 
your  souls  from  stinking  before  God.  Secondly,  it  is 
searching,  and  goes  to  the  quick  :  there  must  be 
acrimony  in  salt,  else  it  is  not  good.  Do  we  cut,  and 
fret,  and  trouble  you :  remember  we  are  salt,  the 
sharper  the  better.  Indeed  a  man  may  over-powder, 
and  there  is  discretion  in  salting.  There  are  some 
that  have  had  too  much  salt,  till  they  are  ready  to 
throw  the  church  out  at  the  windows  :  the  name  of  a 
bishop  frights  them,  a  surplice  makes  them  run  ; 
they  fear  a  cross  worse  than  the  de\nl  does.  These 
are  over-powdered,  but  -ndth  ill  salt ;  they  arc  cor- 
rupt, and  must  be  new  salted.  There  is  no  medicine 
profitable,  but  it  is  sharp:  our  acrimony  is  good, 
though  thereby  we  endanger  the  loss  of  your  loves. 
This  should  not  make  you  fret  at  us,  but  at  your  ovsti 
sins.  "  I  rejoice,  not  that  ye  were  made  sorry,  but 
that  ye  sorrowed  to  repentance,"  2  Cor.  vii.  9.  If  you 
hear  these  things  sorrowing,  give  me  thanks  for  it, 
saith  Chrj'sostom.  Show  yourselves  gratos  non  gra- 
vatos.  The  preachei-'s  reproof  is  like  salt,  it  may 
bite  ;  but  better  sharp  corrosives,  than  festering 
woimds.  I  am  most  loved  where  I  am  most  salted. 
(Bernard.)  At  last  you  will  say  with  David,  Blessed 
be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  that  God  of  all  grace,  that 
hath  sent  thee  to  meet  me  this  day,  with  thy  admoni- 
tion. Blessed  be  thy  advice,  the  doctrine  thou  hast 
preached ;  and  blessed  be  thou,  which  hast  kept  me 
this  day  from  shedding  blood,  1  Sam.  xxv.  32,  .33 : 
even  a  benediction  upon  thy  person,  that  hast  been 
the  instrument  of  preventing  my  sin,  by  thy  salting. 
There  is  nothing  more  against  the  grain  of  our  afTcc- 
tions  at  first ;  but  when  by  this  means  we  shall  find 
ourselves  preserved  to  heaven,  where  no  cormption 
shall  enter,  for  this  salting  we  shall  thank  the  Lord. 
Lastly,  salt  gives  a  taste  or  relish  to  another  thing. 
"  Can  that  which  is  imsavoiiry  be  eaten  without 
salt?"  Job  vi.  6.  Corruption  shall  not  inherit  in- 
corruption,  1  Cor.  xv.  50.  Without  tliis  salt  there  is 
no  taste  in  us.  Unsavoury  meat  is  called  foolish 
meat :  Vt  mpiant  fatuw  f'abrorum  prandia  bel<p.  (Mar- 
tial, lib.  13.  ep.  13.)  One  manner  of  God's  entering 
into  covenant  was  called,  the  '•_  covenant  of  salt," 
for  the  perpetuity  of  it.  Numb,  xviii.  19.  So  were 
the  sacrifices  seasoned  in  the  old  law.  Lev.  ii.  13;  so 


must  every  soul  be  relished  in  the  gospel ;  ••  Every 
one  shall  be  salted  with  fire,"  Mark  ix.  49.  In  that 
was  the  covenant  of  salt,  in  this,  the  salt  of  the 
covenant.  Love  them  best  that  salt  you  most.  Had 
you  rather  stink  than  be  salted,  and  so  presented  a 
ser\'ice  to  God.  The  sermon  may  delight  us,  but 
not  better  us,  that  hath  no  salt  in  it.  Nulla  est  in 
tanlo  corpore  mica  satis.  (Catull.)  If  thou  yet  find 
no  good  by  thy  pastor,  yet  love  him,  in  hope  of  the 
good  he  may  do  thee. 

Thus,  to  get  out  this  eorniption,  we  see  what  is 
to  be  done  on  us:  now  what  is  to  be  done  by  us? 
Two  things ;  a  vision  of  it,  and  a  provision  against  it. 

First,  we  must  endeavour  to  see  it.  Physicians 
say,  if  the  disease  be  once  known,  the  cure  is  half 
done.  If  we  could  see  corruption  in  the  tnie  form, 
we  would  loathe  it :  but  as  tlie  conjured  devil  ap- 
pears not  to  the  necromancer  in  hideous  and  fright- 
fiil  shapes,  but  in  some  familiar  representation ;  so 
^^ee  shows  itself  in  forms  most  delectable  to  flesh 
and  blood.  If  half  so  much  were  knowTi  to  man  as 
God  knows,  we  would  hang  down  our  heads  for 
shame.  Man's  heart  is  beyond  all  geometry ;  "  de- 
ccitfiil  above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked; 
who  can  know  it  ? "  No  man  can  measure  it,  but 
he  only  that  spans  the  heavens ;  "  I  the  Lord  search 
the  heart,"  Jer.  xvii.  9,  10.  It  is  a  little  piece  of 
flesh,  it  will  scarce  give  a  kite  her  breakfast,  yet  fills 
the  whole  world  with  corruption.  Therefore  learn 
to  see  this  conuption.  Sin  in  itself  is  not  to  be 
seen  ;  therefore  behold  it  in  concrelis :  the  tyrant 
like  a  lion,  the  fraudulent  like  a  fox,  the  lustful 
a  goat,  the  drunkard  a  hog,  the  oppressor  a  wolf, 
the  traitor  a  devil. 

If  we  would  see  any  thing,  it  is  requisite  that  the 
object  be  rightly  placed ;  not  behind  us,  not  beside 
us.  Not  behind  us,  there  we  cannot  see  it.  We 
hang  other  men's  faults  at  the  pommel  of  the  saddle, 
put  our  own  in  the  cloak-bag  behind  us.  Like 
barbers,  that  trim  all  men  but  themselves.  Not  be- 
side us.  If  thou  wouldst  plainly  behold  an  object 
on  this  side  of  the  room,  thou  must  go  on  the  other 
side.  Wouldst  thou  see  the  eorniption  of  pride? 
thou  canst  never  do  it  so  long  as  thou  art  proud ; 
thou  standest  on  the  same  side.  Go  on  the  contrary 
side,  that  is,  to  humility,  then  thou  shalt  behold 
pride  in  her  gaudy  and  ridiculous  colours.  Wouldst 
thou  see  the  cormption  of  adultery?  thou  canst  not 
so  long  as  thou  art  an  adulterer ;  the  harlot  is  on 
the  same  side  with  thee.  Go  over  the  way  to 
chastity,  and  there  see  the  harlot  in  her  proper  and 
foul  deformity.  Desirest  thou  to  contemplate  the 
sordid  corruption  of  drunkenness  ?  thou  canst  never 
do  it  so  long  as  thou  art  drunken ;  thou  and  thy 
cups  are  both  of  one  side.  Go  and  stand  in  opposito, 
to  sobriety;  then  thou  shalt  see  a  blear  eye,  a  reel- 
ing foot,  "a  stammering  tongue  ;  thou  wilt  abhor  it. 
Wouldst  thou  grow  into  dislike  of  usury  ?  never  so 
long  as  thou  art  a  usurer.  Go  on  the  other  side,  to 
charity  ;  then  see  a  covetous  heart,  an  oppressing 
hand,  an  unquiet  conscience.  It  is  impossible  to 
dii^cem  the  tetrical  and  horrid  countenance  of  sin, 
so  long  as  thou  sidest  with  it :  set  thyself  against 
it  by  repentance,  and  thy  dislike  will  be  greater 
than  ever  was  thy  love. 

Next,  when  thou  hast  discovered  it,  strive  to  expel 
it :  tliis  is  not  done  by  nature ;  for  nature,  accord- 
ing to  the  temperature  of  bodies,  increaseth  tliis  cor- 
ruption. The  Italians  have  a  proverb.  If  little  men 
were  patient,  if  great  men  were  valiant,  and  red  men 
were  loyal,  all  the  world  would  be  equal.  The  same 
causes  in  nature  that  concur  to  such  a  constitution, 
concur  to  such  a-  corruption.  Therefore  they  say, 
From  a  white  Spaniard,  a  black  German,  and  a  red 


4f) 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


Italian,  libera  nos  Domine,  good  Lord,  deliver  us. 
And  we  in  England  confess  much  trust  or  danger  in 
men  according  to  tlieir  complexions.  To  a  red  man 
read  thy  read ;  with  a  brown  man  break  thy  bread  ; 
from  a  pale  man  still  remove  ;  from  a  black  man 
keep  thy  love.  But  this  is  only  according  to  nature  ; 
for  grace  can  ahcr  nature,  and  purge  out  this  original 
corruption.  AVhen  an  astrologer  told  a  cardinal  to 
what  misfortunes  he  was  bom ;  he  answered,  But  I 
am  new-born,  and  tlie  good  of  my  second  birth  hath 
crossed  the  bad  of  my  first.  Humours  cannot  be 
durable,  because  their  prime  matter  is  capable  of  so 
many  forms  and  changes;  but  graces,  having  their 
root  in  the  Deity,  must  needs  be  eternal,  as  is  tlieir 
Author.  Strive  then  to  cast  out  nature  by  grace, 
corruption  by  Christ.  Do  not  keep  it  in,  but  cast  it 
out.  A  wicked  man  may  restrain  e\'il,  as  do  the 
godly ;  but  here  is  the  difference,  that  man  keeps 
in  corruption,  this  kills  corruption :  only  to  refrain 
evil  is  to  be  evil  still.  Haman  was  angry  for  want 
of  Mordecai's  reverence,  yet  he  smothered  the  tire 
of  his  wrath,  which  nothing  but  the  last  drop  of 
eveiy  Jew's  blood  could  extinguish,  Esth.  iii.  6. 
The  good  man  dotli  not  only  cheek  it,  but  choke  it. 
If  he  cannot  nullify  sin,  he  will  mortify  it ;  that  this 
corruption  shall  never  hurt  liim,  shall  never  please 
him.  And  when  he  hath  gotten  this  upper  hand  of 
it,  he  never  loseth  it ;  for  if  it  be  forborn,  it  will  re- 
turn. Corniption  is  like  a  candle  new  put  out,  it  is 
soon  lighted  again :  if  Satan  but  blow  upon  it,  its 
own  heat  inflames  it.  Let  us  therefore  always  be 
tilling  the  paradise  of  our  souls  with  good  works, 
that  God  may  delight  to  walk  there.  Will  Christ 
himself  become  the  door-keeper  of  the  heart  ?  he  will 
be  as  ready  to  be  the  door-keeper  of  our  house,  to 
keep  out  our  enemies,  as  David  was  willing  to  be  the 
door-keeper  of  God's  house,  to  let  in  his  friends.  It 
is  only  the  Lord.  who.  with  tlie  sweet  breath  and 
perfume  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  doth  cleanse  the  air  of 
our  hearts  from  this  corruption.  We  see  our  duty, 
to  cast  it  out :  now  let  me  add  two  circumstances  ; 
when,  and  whence. 

First,  when  we  must  cast  it  forth;  and  that,  1. 
Whilst  corruption  is  young.  Kill  the  enemy  whiles 
he  is  young,  that  he  may  leave  no  posterity  to  hurt 
thee.  (Hieron.)  Sin  long  customed,  is  hardly  con- 
quered. Frequent  actions  constitute  a  habit,  whether 
in  good  or  ill.  He  that  hath  done  well  once,  shall 
more  easily  do  it  the  next  time.  He  that  hath  done 
evil  once,  shall  more  hardly  resist  it  at  the  next 
assaidt.  There  arc  evils  that  naturally  grow  in  us, 
and  evils  that  we  sow  in  ourselves.  Whatsoever 
grows  of  its  own  accord,  let  us  strive  to  kill ;  but  sow 
none.  Suppress  the  beginnings  of  evil.  Sin  is  like 
a  nettle,  the  older  it  is,  the  hardlicr  killed.  AVell 
hath  our  church  ordered  that  preparative  every 
morning  prayer ;  "  To-day,  if  ye  will  near  his  voice, 
harden  not  your  hearts."  '2.  Whilst  we  are  young : 
for  corruption  grows  the  older  the  stronger,  and  man 
the  older  the  weaker.  Whom  thou  being  young  en- 
tcrtainest  for  tliy  play-fellow,  when  thou  art  old  thou 
shalt  find  thy  master.  Our  Saviour  began  the  work 
of  our  salvation  whilst  he  was  very  young.  The  very 
first  day  that  great  Prince  was  courted  in  a  stable: 
he  shed  some  blood  in  his  circumcision  when  he  was 
but  eight  days  old.  And  is  it  loo  early  for  us,  being 
yoimg,  to  work  out  our  own  salvation  ?  Sliall  Satan 
have  tlie  rose-buds,  and  God  only  the  stalk  ?  Satan 
tlie  veins  full  of  blood,  bones  full  of  marrow,  God  a 
carcass  ?  We  vowed  in  our  baptism,  all  the  davs  of 
our  life  to  his  service  ;  for  shame  let  us  not,  An.inias- 
like,  keep  back  part  of  the  iirice.  "  If  ye  ofTer  tlie 
blind  for  sacrifice,  is  it  not  evil?  and  if  ye  offer  the 
lame  and  sick,  is  it  not  evil?"  Mai.  i.'8.     The  go- 


vernor of  your  bodies  will  none  of  if :  will  the 
Governor  of  your  souls  accept  it  ?  Scr\-e  God  in  old 
age  ?  a  sweet  piece  of  service !  If  God  come  in 
youth,  and  find  no  fruit,  beware  the  fig-tree's  curse, 
"  Never  fruit  grow  on  thee  hereafter."  The  sealing 
of  a  bond  without  a  time  set,  makes  the  debt  presently 
due.  God  doth  not  bid  the  drunkard  abstain  when 
he  can  drink  no  more;  nor  the  usurer  leave  oppress- 
ing when  his  bags  be  full.  To  leave  sin  when  sin 
leaves  us,  will  never  pass  for  true  repentance. 

Next,  whence  we  must  cast  it  forth ;  out  of  the 
heart.  For  as  in  generation,  so  in  regeneration,  life 
begins  at  the  heart.  Now  to  cast  it  quite  out  from 
thence,  that  no  dregs  remain,  this  is  not  possible  on 
earth ;  but  the  strength  and  principality  of  it.  As 
when  many  birds  are  caught  in  a  net,  if  a  pelican  or 
some  great  fowl  can  break  the  nut,  and  get  out,  all 
llie  little  birds  follow:  so  cast  out  the  grand  cori-ujv 
tion,  that  is  most  predominant  ;  as  lust  in  the  adul- 
terer, covetousness  in  the  worldling,  j)ride  in  the 
haughty  ;  then  all  the  inferior  will  follow  ;  as  if  the 
master  be  dead,  all  the  servants  will  attend  the  funeral. 
If  it  cannot  wholly  be  now  buried,  it  shall  be  one 
day.  God  suffers  sin  in  his  chosen  till  the  last,  that 
then  they  may  have  a  full  triumph.  When  the  five 
kings  were  hid  in  a  cave  atilakkedah,  Josliua  charged 
the  soldiers  to  pursue  their  enemies,  and  consume 
tliem  :  for  the  kings,  he  brought  them  out  at  evening, 
and  then  made  his  men  of  war  set  their  feet  on  the 
necks  of  them.  Josh.  x.  So  at  evening  you  slall  set 
your  triumphant  feet  on  the  necks  of  these  tyrants, 
having  first  captivated  them,  and  slain  your  enemies 
with  the  sword  of  mortification.  Yea,  God  shall 
shortly  tread  Satan  himself  under  your  feet,  Rom. 
xvi.  20,  and  give  you  a  full  victory  in  Christ. 

"  l/ust."  We  perceive  the  tumour  tliat  is  bred, 
now  look  upon  the  humour  whereby  it  is  fed.  Lust, 
concupiscence  in  itself,  as  it  is  a  faculty  of  the  soul, 
and  gift  of  God,  is  not  sin ;  but  may  be  the  hand  of 
virtue,  or  the  instrument  whereby  she  works.  Keep 
her  at  home,  and  set  her  on  work,  to  light  the  candle, 
and  sweep  the  house  ;  let  her  be  under  the  correction 
of  grace,  and  she  may  prove  a  chaste  virgin,  fit  to 
meet  the  Bridegroom  at  his  coming.  Lust  is  in  itself 
as  they  write  of  the  planet  Merciir}-  in  the  horoscope 
of  man's  nativity;  if  it  be  joined  with  a  good  planet 
it  makes  it  better ;  if  with  a  bad  one,  it  makes  it 
worse.  There  is  a  lusting  of  the  Spirit ;  for  "  the 
Spirit  lusfeth  against  the  flesh,"  Gal.  v.  17.  But  it 
is  most  commonly  taken  in  the  worse  sense,  and  so 
two  ways  ;  strictly,  and  largely,  or  in  the  full  scope. 

Strictly,  it  is  taken  for  the  sin  of  uncleanness  ; 
which  albeit  God  hath  in  so  many  places  threatened 
to  confound,  yet  that  filthiness  which  God  hath 
condemned  is  not  without  its  patrons.  Such  are, 
first,  libertines,  and  they  will  have  Scripture  for  it. 
Hosea  was  commanded  by  God  to  take  a  wife  of  whore- 
doms, Hos.  i.  2.  Some  answer,  this  was  a  figure, 
not  a  fact ;  not  a  history-,  but  a  mysterj- :  that  God 
would  cast  off  his  old  wife,  the  church  of  the  Jews, 
for  their  whoredoms,  and  choose  a  iicw  one,  even  a 
wife  of  fornications,  the  church  of  the  Gentiles  ;  that 
he  might  sanctify  it,  and  present  it  to  himself  a  glo- 
rious cIiuitIi,  Eph.  V.  2".  So  the  unbelieving  wife  is 
sanctified  by  the  husband,  1  Cor.  vii.  14.  But  grant 
it  a  histoPi',  yet  was  not  the  prophet  to  be  blamed, 
that  of  an  impious  stnimpct  he  made  a  chaste  wife  ; 
but  rather  they  that  of  chaste  wives  make  impudent 
stmmpets;  which  is  the  condition  of  these  times. 
Howsoever,  to  the  prophet  this  act  was  commanded  ; 
to  all  us,  the  like  is  forbidden. 

The  other  defenders  of  incontinency  are  the  pa- 
pists ;  and  that  not  only  with  arguments,  but  with 
authority.     Their  common  plea  is,  that  in  hot  coun- 


Vkb.  4 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


49 


tries  they  are  necessary  evils :  but  by  their  leave 
Israel  was  a  hotter  climate  than  Italy  ;  yet,  "  There 
shall  be  no  whore  of  the  daughters  of  Israel,"  Deut. 
xxiii.  1 7.  But  they  cite  Augustine,  Take  away  whores, 
and  wear  your  wives ;  that  were  the  way  to  make 
stews  of  your  own  houses.  This  might  Augustine 
say,  but  St.  Augustine  never  said  it.  Such  a  gal- 
lant he  might  be  in  his  unruly  youth  ;  but  after  that 
same  lolle  and  lege,  when  he  lighted  upon  that  text, 
Rom.  xiii.  13,  no  more  chambering  and  wantonness 
now,  but  lie  put  on  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  disclaimed 
the  lusts  of  the  flesh.  He  confesses.  Indeed  I  did 
once  beg  of  God  the  g^ft  of  continency ;  but  to  tell 
truth,  I  desired  that  he  should  not  hear  me  :  I  had 
rather  it  might  then  be  satisfied,  than  mortified. 
(Confes.  I.  8.  c.  7-)  But  we  justly  abandon  that 
remedy,  that  is  worse  than  the  disease.  As  an  em- 
peror said  of  the  means  prescribed  him  to  cure  his 
leprosy,  which  was  the  blood  of  infants,  I  had  rather 
be  sick  still,  than  be  recovered  by  such  a  medicine. 
Thus  they  that  put  away  honest  wives  and  go  to 
harlots,  dc,al  as  wisely  as  he  that  cuts  off  his  own 
legs  to  go  upon  crutches.  Causa  patrocinio  non  bona 
pejor  erit. 

This  lust  is  a  sin  hardly  subdued.  Old  Lot,  whom 
all  the  fire  that  consumed  Sodom  could  not  touch, 
yet  was  inflamed  with  his  own  heat.  Ambrose 
saith  of  Samson,  He  could  choke  a  lion,  not  his  lust. 
Another  of  Hercules, 

Lenam  non  potuil,  poluil  stiperare  leipnam  ; 
Quern  f era  non  valuit  vincere,  vicit  Hera, 

He  found  the  lioness  weaker  than  his  lust,  and  no 
beast  so  savage  as  his  harlot.  Lust  is  a  hellish  fire, 
whose  fuel  is  fulness  of  bread  and  idleness,  evil 
words  the  sparks,  infamy  the  smoke,  pollution  the 
ashes,  the  end  hell.  For  this  sin  God  rained  fire 
and  brimstone  upon  Sodom  ;  he  sent  down  hell  out 
of  heaven.  (Salvian.)  The  delight  is  short,  a  minute 
determines  it ;  the  torment  is  everlasting,  no  worlds 
•of  ages  shall  end  it.  Plutarch  writes  of  Lysimachus, 
who  being  besieged,  himself  and  all  his  people  ready 
to  perish  by  thirst,  gave  up  the  keys  of  his  city  to  the 
enemy  for  one  cup  of  cold  water :  when  he  had  tasted 
this  cold  comfort,  he  cried  out.  Oh  that  for  so  short 
a  pleasure  of  a  king,  I  should  be  made  a  slave  !  So 
the  pleasure  of  adultery  is  short,  the  punishment  of 
the  adulterer  is  everlasting.  (Hieron.)  Consider  this 
lust  in  the  body,  as  a  pot  boiling  on  the  fire  :  it  may 
be  two  ways  cooled. 

First,  by  taking  away  the  fuel.  Uneleanness  is 
the  daughter  of  surfeit.  That  harlot  breeds  bastards, 
and  lays  them  at  the  rioter's  door ;  the  soul  stands 
charged  to  answer  what  the  body  does.  When  the 
mouth  is  made  a  tunnel,  the  throat  a  wine  pipe,  and 
the  stomach  a  vat,  wantonness  bien  venu.  After  glut- 
tony and  drunkenness  follows  chambering  and  wan- 
tonness, Rom.  xiii.  13.  Gregory  observes,  that  the 
chief  of  the  cooks,  which  was  Nebuzaradan,  first 
overthrew  the  walls  of  Jerasalem,  and  first  put  fire 
to  the  temple.  By  the  chief  of  the  cooks,  he  un- 
derstands gluttony ;  by  the  walls,  our  senses ;  by  the 
temple,  our  heart :  riot  gives  the  first  overthrow  to 
all  these. 

Secondly,  the  pot  is  cooled  by  pouring  cold  water 
into  it :  only  abundance  of  sorrowful  tears  can  put 
out  this  unruly  fire.  The  Amalekites  had  spoiled 
Ziklag,  and  taken  their  ^^^ves  and  their  children  pri- 
soners; which  when  David  and  his  people  found, 
they  wept  till  they  could  weep  no  more.  David 
asked  counsel  of  the  Lord,  and  upon  his  direction 
followed  them,  and  smote  them  from  the  twilight  till 
the  evening  of  the  next  morrow.  So  there  escaped 
none,  save  four  hundred  young  liien  that  fled  upon 


camels,  I  Sam.  xxx.  Conceive  lusts  to  be  these 
Amalekites  ;  they  spoil  our  Ziklag,  sack  our  city, 
captivate  our  wives  and  children,  our  senses  and  alTec- 
tions  :  now  let  us  cast  cold  water  into  this  pot,  weep 
till  we  can  weep  no  more,  lament  we  day  and  night. 
Then  let  us  pursue  these  brutish  Amalekites  ;  so 
shall  we  overcome  our  untamed  lusts,  and  smite 
them  from  the  twilight  of  our  youth  to  the  evening 
of  our  old  age.  Some  young  men  may  escape,  some 
vain  words  and  unclean  thoughts  may  remain  in  us; 
but  for  the  old  Amalekites,  gross  and  foul  faults,  we 
shall  conquer  them.  So  recover  we  o\ir  wives  and 
daughters,  our  aflfections  so  dear  to  us  ;  and  they  that 
were  the  prisoners  and  drudges  to  lust,  shall  now  do 
good  service  to  God.  "The  land  is  full  of  adulterers; 
for  because  of  swearing  the  land  moumcth,"  Jer. 
xxiii.  10.  Shall  the  land  mourn  for  the  inhabitants, 
and  not  the  inhabitants  mourn  for  their  sins  ?  We 
have  preventions,  lawful  marriages.  The  Garaman- 
tes  of  Libya  have  all  their  women  common.  Wicked 
infidels  !  no  marriage,  no  chastity.  We  have  mar- 
riage, but  not  chastity.  The  more  unsufierable  their 
impiety,  that  have  such  a  remedy.  Though  we  can- 
not quench  this  fire,  we  will  weep  upon  it ;  we  wnll 
mourn  for  these  lusts.  Let  the  offenders  use  this 
remedy,  and  by  God's  assistance  they  shall  get  the 
victory.  "  Thou  brakest  the  heads  of  the  dragons 
in  the  waters,"  Psal.  Ixxiv.  13.  The  heads  of  the 
dragon  are  broken  in  the  waters  ;  great  lusts  are 
drowned  in  a  flood  of  tears.  Moses  in  zealous  indig- 
nation did  drown  Israel's  sin  ;  he  drowTis  the  idol, 
lest  the  idol  should  drowTi  the  people,  Esod.  xxxii. : 
as  the  philosopher  did  with  his  wealth.  So  beat  your 
lustful  affections  to  dust,  drown  them  in  your  tears, 
and  let  your  souls  drink  those  tears  ;  as  the  prophet 
says.  My  tears  have  been  my  drink  day  and  night. 
These  shall  so  blot  Satan's  accusation  and  bill  of 
complaint  against  us,  that  the  court  of  heaven  will 
not  read  it.  There  was  a  hand-writing  against  us, 
but  it  was  engraven  in  brass ;  no  aqua  fortis  of  our 
tears  could  eat  out  that ;  only  Christ's  blood  did 
expunge  it.  Col.  ii.  14.  The  devil  still  puts  up  new 
declarations  and  quarrels  against  us,  but  they  are 
written  (as  it  were)  in  paper;  if  we  weep  on  them, 
we  shall  easily  blot  them  out.  Antipatcr  wrote  to 
Alexander  a  long  epistle,  containing  accusations  of 
his  mother  Olympias  ;  to  whom  Alexander  shortly 
replied,  Alas,  doth  not  Antipater  know,  that  one  tear 
of  a  mother  will  wash  out  many  letters  of  an  accuser  ? 
So  one  tear  of  the  child  of  God  shall  obliterate  all 
the  indictments  of  the  devil.  Thus  penitently /)ec- 
cata  dolere,  est  peccata  delere:  for  God  esteems  sin  in 
deed  repented,  as  if  it  had  never  been  in  deed  com- 
mitted. Weep  therefore  here,  that  thou  mayst  not 
weep  hereafter.  One  remorseful  tear  shed  on  earth, 
is  better  than  whole  buckets  in  hell.  Weep  here, 
and  weep  never  ;  weep  there,  and  weep  for  ever. 
"  They  tnat  sow  in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy,"  Psal. 
cxxvi.  5. 

All  this  while  we  have  considered  lust  in  the  nar- 
rowest bounds,  as  a  particular  effect  of  that  grand 
beldam  concupiscence.  But  lust  is  of  a  greater 
latitude,  and  is  not  only  to  be  taken  for  the  desire  of 
fleshly  company,  but  for  the  whole  general  corrup- 
tion of  our  nature,  prone  to  all  sin.  There  is  in  the 
world,  "  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and 
the  pride  of  life  ;"  therefore  it  is  called  the  lust  of 
the  world,  1  John  ii.  16.  St.  John  divides  the  world 
into  three  parts,  and  gives  lust  tvvo  of  them  there  ;  all 
in  the  next  verse,  "  The  world  passeth  away,  and  the 
lust  thereof."  Whatsoever  is  in  the  unregcnerate 
will  of  man,  that  is  lust.  "  The  works  of  the  flesh  are 
manifest,"  Gal.  v.  19;  that  is,  of  lust,  it  is  all  one. 
When  they  are  conjoined,  as  lusts  of  the  flesh,  then  flesh 


50 


AN  EXPOSITION'  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


is  as  the  mother,  and  lusts  the  daughters ;  when  they 
are  found  in  several  places,  know  they  are  but  diverse 
names  of  one  and  the  same  thing.  Paul,  in  reckoning 
them  up,  mentions  many,  and  concludes  more,  with 
"and  such  like."  He  says  first  they  are  so  manifest 
that  he  need  not,  and  last  so  manifold  that  he  cannot, 
reckon  them  all  up.  Now  if  St.  Paul,  numbering  (he 
sins  of  his  times,  was  fain  to  break  off  his  catalogue 
with  an  et  ctptera,  how  shall  we  in  these  days  deliver 
up  a  fnie  inventory  of  them?  Alas,  we  have  now  those 
sins,  to  which  they  then  wanted  names.  Theirs  were 
serpents,  ours  are  dragons;  the  first  were  evil,  but 
the  last  are  worst  of  all.  The  consummation  of  times 
and  sins  are  met  together  upon  us.  Tlie  world,  like 
that  image,  had  a  head  of  gold,  there  was  some  puri- 
ty; his  shoulders  of  silver,  there  the  metal  declines  ; 
his  arms  of  brass,  baser  still ;  his  legs'  of  iron,  yet 
more  rusty ;  but  now  come  to  his  feet,  they  are  all  of 
clay,  nothing  but  earth,  earth.  And  as  commonly  in 
a  diseased  body,  all  the  humours  fall  dowTi  into  the 
legs  or  feet,  and  make  an  issue  there ;  so  the  corrup- 
tion of  all  ages  hath  slided  down  into  the  present,  as 
into  the  feet,  and  their  lust  hath  made  an  issue,  to  the 
annoyance  of  all  the  world. 

This  lust  is  a  friendly  Judas  within  us,  a  familiar 
devil  :  she  is  indeed  the  mother  of  all  -n-ickedness : 
yield  the  fatherhood  to  the  devil,  lust  will  challenge 
the  motherhood  to  herself.  "  When  lust  hath  con- 
ceived, it  bringeth  forth  sin :  and  sin,  when  it  is 
finished,  bringeth  forth  death,"  Jam.  i.  15.  St. 
James  seems  to  speak  of  a  womb,  lust  conceives ;  of 
a  birth,  it  bringeth  forth ;  of  a  growth,  it  is  finished ; 
of  a  death,  it  lastly  kills,  brings  forth  death.  The 
psalmist  describes  the  bringing  her  to  bed,  Psal.  vii. 
14.  First,  she  conceives  miscliief,  and  grows  quick 
with  child.  Then,  she  travails  with  iniquity,  there 
is  her  labour.  Lastly,  she  brings  it  forth,  there  is 
her  delivery.  The  prophet  gives  her  a  quicker  de- 
spatch ;  She  conceiveth  mischief,  and  bringeth  forth 
iniquity,  Isa.  lix.  4 :  she  doth  but  conceive,  and 
presently  bringeth  forth.  Let  me  take  leave  to 
follow  this  significant  allegory.  We  have  found  out 
the  mother  of  sin,  lust ;  but  can  she  be  with  child 
without  a  husband,  or  one  instead  of  a  husband  ? 
Sin  must  have  a  father  as  well  as  a  mother;  though 
it  be  an  illegitimate  bastard,  it  must  have  a  father. 
You  all  know  the  father  of  sin,  that  is,  the  devil. 
We  have  now  a  father  and  a  mother :  the  father 
begets,  and  the  mother  conceives  :  she  is  big  with 
child;  but  how  shall  she  do  for  a  midwife?  she 
cannot  be  delivered  of  her  burden  without  a  midwife. 
There  is  one  ready  at  her  call,  that  is,  consent.  We 
have  now  a  father,  a  mother,  a  midwife  :  suppose 
the  child  is  begotten,  conceived,  and  born ;  how 
shall  we  do  now  for  a  nurse?  it  will  otherwise  die 
for  want  of  keeping.  Lust  is  some  great  lady,  and 
scorns  to  nurse  her  own  children.  There  is  a  nurse 
provided  too,  and  that  is,  custom.  Here  are  all 
things  too  fit  and  ready  for  the  production  of  this 
monster.  The  devil  is  the  father,  lust  the  mother, 
consent  the  midwife,  and  custom  the  nurse ;  if  con- 
sent bring  it  forth,  custom  will  bring  it  up.  AVhen 
sin  was  first  brought  forth  into  the  world  in  that  first 
human  person  that  ever  sinned,  Eve,  this  was  the 
proceeding.  Concupiscence  the  mother  kept  com- 
pany with  the  devil  the  father,  and  he  suggested  to 
her  his  seed,  that  was,  temptation;  presenting  a 
fair  frait  to  her  eye,  and  dissuading  from  confi- 
dence in  the  truth  of  God's  charge :  upon  this  seed 
she  begins  to  conceive;  she  saw  it  pleasant  to  the 
sight,  and  desirable  to  make  one  wise.  Gen.  iii.  6. 
After  this  conception  in  the  thoughts,  she  knew  not 
how  to  be  delivered  but  by  consent;  she  did  take 
and  cat.     Now  the  child  is  bom,  lest  it  should  perish 


for  want  of  keeping,  lust  puts  it  forth  to  nurse. 
Dame  custom  takes  it  to  keeping,  and  promiseth  to 
bring  it  up.  And  she  hath  been  as  good  as  her 
word  ;  so  nursed  it,  and  nourished  it,  that  it  is  now 
past  a  tender  stripling;  Paul  calls  it  an  old  man, 
•'  Put  off  the  old  man,"  Eph.  iv.  22 ;  above  50(X) 
years  old,  and  yet  it  is  not  only  alive,  but  lively  and 
lusty  to  this  day. 

First,  for  the  father  of  sin,  whom  all  confess  to  be 
the  devil ;  "  When  he  speaketh  a  lie,  he  speakcth 
of  his  own :  for  he  is  a  liar,  and  the  father  of  it," 
John  viii.  44.  Christ  calls  him  the  father  of  lies, 
not  of  liars,  for  all  men  are  liars.  Now  as  every  lie 
is  a  sin,  so  some  have  obser\-ed  that  eveiy  sin  is  a 
lie,  because  it  is  done  against  the  truth.  If  so,  then 
he  that  is  the  father  of  all  lies  is  the  father  of  all 
sins ;  and  by  a  lie  he  engendered  all  sins.  God  had 
said,  "  In  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt 
surely  die,"  Gen.  ii.  17.  Eve,  first  receiving  Satan's 
seed,  reporting  this,  coniipts  it ;  and  says  only,  "  Ye 
shall  not  touch  it,  lest  ye  the,"  Gen.  iii.  3.  Satan 
says  peremptorily,  "  Ye  shall  not  die."  So  God's 
plain  affirmation,  Ye  shall  die,  was  first  turned  to  a 
dubitation.  Lest  ye  die  ;  at  last,  to  an  impudent  nega- 
tion. Ye  shall  not  die.  God  affirms  it,  the  woman 
doubts  it,  the  devil  denies  it.  (Bern.)  Thus  he  is 
the  father  of  sin.  In  the  devil  there  be  some  good 
things : — substance ;  for  he  is  good  as  a  creature, 
not  as  a  devil.  God  made  him  an  angel,  he  made 
himself  a  devil,  Deus  Jion  odit  peccatum  causa  dia- 
boti,  sed  diabolum  causa  peceali,  God  does  not  hate 
sin  for  the  devil's  sake,  but  he  hates  the  devil  for 
sin's  sake.  Immortality ;  for  he  is  a  spirit,  and  can- 
not die.  Faith  ;  "  the  devils  believe,  and  tremble," 
Jam.  ii.  19.  Truth;  for  they  confessed  Jesus  to  be 
the  Son  of  the  living  God.  But  these  two  last  are 
enforced,  not  voluntary.  His  whole  purpose  is  to 
beget  sin,  and  by  sin  to  beget  death.  "  God  made 
not  death,"  Wisd.  i.  13.  How  then  came  it  into 
the  world?  It  entered  by  sin.  How  entered  sin? 
By  the  malice  of  the  devil.  This  Satan  works  in  a 
double  spite. 

In  a  spite  to  man ;  because  he  is  God's  image  :  he 
cannot  hurt  God,  therefore  have  at  his  image.  Be- 
sides, man  is  to  be  advanced  to  that  heaven  from 
which  he  is  hurled  down  for  ever.  If  therefore  he 
possibly  can,  he  will  pluck  him  to  hell  where  himself 
must  be  for  ever.  Thus  Satan  gave  life  to  sin,  that 
gave  death  to  all  the  world.  In  a  spite  to  Christ ; 
for  Clu-ist  and  Satan  were  never  friends.  The  Lion 
of  Judah  and  the  lion  of  this  world  were  never  at 
peace.  The  devil  doth  what  he  can  to  bruise  Christ's 
heel,  in  hurting  his  members;  and  Christ  hath 
thoroughly  burst  his  head.  In  Christ's  birth  Satan 
set  hard  to  kill  him  by  Herod ;  in  the  wilderness  he 
tempted  him;  he  never  rested  till  he  had  brought 
him  to  the  cross  ;  he  had  him  then  where  he  would. 
But  as  the  devil  came  to  destroy  Christ,  so  Christ 
came  to  destroy  the  devil ;  "  For  this  purpose  the 
Son  of  God  was  manifested,  that  he  might  destroy 
the  works  of  the  devil,"  1  John  iii.  8.  But  as  Christ 
resisted  him  when  his  living  body  was  on  the  pinnacle 
of  the  temple,  so  he  overcame  him  when  his  dead 
temple  Ining  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  cross.  Scaliger 
writes.  That  the  cameleon,  when  he  spies  a  serpent 
shading  under  a  tree,  gets  up  and  lets  down  a  little 
thread,  not  unlike  a  spider's,  breathed  out  of  his 
mouth ;  at  the  end  whereof  there  hangs  a  little  drop 
as  clear  as  crystal,  which  falling  on  the  serpent's 
head,  kills  him.  So  Christ,  mounted  on  the  tree  of 
his  cross,  sends  down  from  his  side  a  tliread  of  blood, 
that  fell  on  the  old  serpent's  head,  and  for  over  slew 
him.  Now  if  thou  wouldst  prevent  this  generation, 
infatuate  the  father  of  sin,  disable  the  devil.     Allow 


Ver.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


51 


him  no  bed  of  fornication  in  any  member  of  thy 
body,  or  corner  of  thy  soul.  AVoiild  he  beget  adul- 
tery in  thee  ?  afford  him  not  the  bed  of  an  unclean 
thought.  Would  he  beget  revenge  ?  afford  him  not 
the  bed  of  anger.  Would  he  beget  usurj-  ?  allow 
him  not  the  bed  of  covetousness.  Debar  this  copu- 
lation, prevent  this  conception,  and  thou  shalt  never 
have  that  bastard  laid  at  thy  doors. 

We  have  had  much  ado  \vith  the  father  of  sin ; 
we  shall  yet  be  more  troubled  with  the  mother.  I 
could  not  be  blamed  for  accusing  him,  that  accuscth 
all  the  world;  neither  must  I  be  partial  to  the  bel- 
dam, lust,  an  old  decrepit  woman,  growing  on  apace 
to  six  thousand  years,  and  yet  she  is  not  past  chil- 
dren. This  lustftil  mother  is  ready  to  conceive,  as 
that  devilish  father  is  forward  to  beget. 

Pugnabit  prima  fortassis,  et  (improhe)  dicet : 
Pugnando  vinci  se  tamen  ilia  volet.     (0\"id.) 

She  wrestles  with  a  desire  to  be  overcome.  I  will 
consider  how  this  is  done  in  some  particulars. 

An  offence  is  done  you  ;  the  devil  comes,  and 
joining  with  concupiscence,  suggests  the  adulterous 
seed  of  anger :  lust,  the  mother,  conceives  malice, 
she  travails  with  the  pleasure  of  revenge,  she  grows 
big  with  conspiracy,  and  at  the  last,  she  brings 
forth  murder. 

There  is  beauty  in  a  woman,  God's  admirable 
workmanship,  rich  colours  upon  a  piece  of  clay.  By 
some  wanton  look,  lascivious  speech,  or  light  be- 
haviour, the  devil  suggests  the  seeds  of  uncnastity. 
Lust  conceives  desire,  she  travails  with  expectance 
of  opportunity,  grows  big  with  immodesty,  at  last, 
brings  forth  adultery. 

In  another,  the  devil  suggests  the  seed  of  pride ; 
lust  conceives  it  by  thinking  on  honour ;  she  travails 
in  the  imagination  of  high  places,  how  great  things 
she  might  do,  how  bravely  quit  her  enemies,  if  pre- 
ferred to  some  dignity :  she  grows  big  with  an  office, 
and  at  last  brings  forth  scorn  and  tyranny  :  now  still 
she  runs  upon  Pompey's  motto.  Semper  ego  cupio  prcp- 
cetlere,  et  esse  siipremus. 

Satan  suggests  the  seed  of  discontent;  lust  con- 
ceives a  child;  like  ice,  it  begets  the  mother  again. 
Wine  begets  lust,  and  lust  begets  a  desire  of  wine. 
Bacchus  and  Venus  are  near  neighbours ;  only  volup- 
tuousness hath  a  house  between  them. 

This  is  the  mother,  and  thus  prone  to  the  forbid- 
den bed.  What  shall  we  do  ?  Because  we  know 
the  dishonesty  of  the  father,  let  us  be  sure  to  keep 
in  the  mother;  restrain  lust,  and  so  sue  a  divorce 
betwixt  the  devil  and  concupiscence.  The  only  way 
is  to  put  enmity  between  the  seed  of  the  serpent  and 
the  seed  of  the  woman  ;  that  though  the  devil  be 
never  so  busy  in  suggesting,  yet  concupiscence  may 
be  kept  from  conceiving.  There  are  two  good  herbs 
to  make  this  woman  barren,  agnus  castus  and  lettuce, 
prayer  and  fasting.  If  this  kind  of  devil  have  adul- 
terated \Wfh  lust,  he  goes  not  out  but  by  prayer  and 
fasting.  It  is  fasting  spittle  that  must  kill  this  ser- 
pent. If  this  take  not  effect,  present  to  thy  mind  a 
spiritual  crucifix,  the  remembrance  of  him  that  died 
on  the  cross  for  thee.  Think  thou  dost  see  Jesus 
coming  toward  thee ;  his  head  crowned  with  thorns, 
his  hands,  his  feet,  his  side,  his  heart  bloody ;  his 
eyes  full  of  tears.  Behold  him  :  adulter)-  sits  "not  in 
those  eyes ;  those  feet  were  not  made  to  please 
Herod  with  a  measure ;  those  arms  were  wonted  to 
no  wanton  embraces,  but  to  embrace  the  cross  with 
patience,  our  souls  with  comfort.  For  thee,  lust,  for 
thee  have  I  died ;  thou  only  didst  murder  me :  do 
not  make  these  wounds  bleed  afresh  ;  open  not  my 
side  again  to  let  forth  new  streams  of  blood ;  pull  me 
not  from  my  throne  in  heaven  to  the  grave  again. 


Wouldst  thou  keep  lust  from  the  adulterous  company 
of  Satan  ?  set  in  the  view  of  thy  conscience,  Jesus 
Christ  crucified. 

The  next  is  the  mid-wife,  consent.  Well  might  the 
child  be  conceived  by  suggestion,  but  without  con- 
sent it  could  never  be  bom.  The  devil  suggests 
into  Absalom's  heart  pride,  his  lust  conceives  a  crown, 
consent  of  will  is  his  mid«-ifc,  and  delivers  him  of 
treason.  The  devil  suggests  into  Demas  gain ;  his 
lust  conceives  heaps  of  money,  case,  the  pleasure  of 
the  world ;  consent  of  will  is  his  midwife,  and  de- 
livers him  of  apostacy.  Satan  comes  to  a  young 
beginner,  one  newly  set  up  for  himself,  and  suggests 
the  sweetness  of  being  rich ;  lust  conceives  all  ways 
of  gain,  and  propounds  being  one  day  an  alderman ; 
consent  of  will  plays  the  midwife,  and  brings  forth 
fraud  and  lying.  If  thou  wouldst  prevent  the  birth  of 
sin,  deny  lust  her  midwife,  consent.  "  My  son,  if  sinners 
entice  thee,  consent  thou  not,"  Prov.  i.  10.  Could  arti- 
sans and  women  master  great  difficulties,  and  wouldst 
not  thou  ?  saith  Augustine  to  himself.  It  is  no  easy 
achievement.  It  was  as  great  a  miracle  that  Joseph  in 
the  arms  of  his  mistress  should  not  bum  with  lust,  as 
it  was  for  those  three  saints  to  walk  in  the  fiery  fiimace 
\\-ithout  scorching.  (Luther.)  If  lust  will  yield,  and 
sin  must  be  bred,  yet  be  sure  to  lock  up  the  midwife ; 
that  it  may  be  an  abortive  brood,  stifled  in  the  womb, 
still-bom.  He  was  a  great  prince,  that  on  the  diffi- 
culty of  his  queen's  deliver,-,  when  the  midwife  put 
him  to  the  choice,  whether  the  mother  or  the  son 
should  be  saved,  seeing  one  of  them  must  on  neces- 
sity be  lost :  the  king  answered,  Save  the  fruit, 
though  the  tree  fall ;  preserve  the  son,  albeit  you 
lose  the  mother.  But  in  this  case  do  the  contrary  ; 
save  the  mother,  and  let  the  child  perish ;  kill  sin, 
and  preserve  nature  alive.  Thou  art  tempted,  con- 
sent not ;  allow  no  midwife,  and  the  child  shall  never 
be  bom.  We  have  all  lust  about  us,  a  very  body  of 
death,  Rom.  vii.  24 :  the  father  is  ready,  the  mother 
is  willing ;  keep  away  the  midwife,  that  though  sin 
be  done  upon  us,  we  may  have  this  comfort,  we  con- 
sented not. 

The  last  is  the  nurse,  custom :  this  feeds,  sustains, 
and  brings  up  the  bastard.  Though  it  be  bom,  it 
could  not  batten,  thrive,  and  grow  to  stature,  but  by 
sucking  on  the  breasts  of  custom.  The  curse  that 
the  Cretians  used  against  their  enemies,  was  not  fire 
on  their  houses,  nor  a  sword  at  their  hearts ;  but  that 
which  in  time  would  bring  on  greater  woes ;  that 
they  might  be  delighted  with  an  ill  custom.  "  If  I 
have  done  this,  if  there  be  iniquity  in  my  hands," 
&c. ;  then  "  let  the  enemy  persecute  my  soul,  and 
take  it ;  yea,  let  him  tread  down  my  life  upon  the 
earth,  and  lay  mine  honour  in  the  "dust,"  Psal.  vii. 
3 — 5.  Hugo  Cardin.  on  those  words  of  the  psalm 
conrments  mus :  Let  him  persecute  my  soul  by  sug- 
gestion ;  take  it  by  consent ;  tread  down  my  life  by 
action ;  and  lay  mine  honour  in  the  dust  by  custom. 
This  is  not  only  a  grave  to  bury  the  soul  in,  but  a 
stone  rolled  to  the  mouth  of  it,  to  keep  it  down.  Sin, 
but  now  bom,  iniquitas  est ;  matura,  natura  fit,  when 
it  is  ripe,  it  becomes  a  nature.  The  disease  is  incur- 
able when  vices  are  made  manners.  Custom  is  not 
only  another  nurture,  but  another  nature.  Lawyers 
say,  That  which  is  done  by  many,  is  at  length  thought 
lawful  in  any.  Take  an  apologue  :  Four  things 
meeting,  boasted  their  comparative  strength;  the 
oak,  a  stone,  wine,  and  custom.  The  oak  stood 
stoutly  to  it,  but  a  blast  of  wind  came  and  made  it 
bow;  the  axe  felled  it  quite  down.  Great  is  the 
strength  of  stones,  yet  continual  drops  wear  them  ; 
a  hammer  breaks  them  to  pieces.  Wine  overthrows 
giants  and  strong  men,  senators  and  wise  men ;  et 
quid  non  pocula  possunt  .*  yet  sleep  overcomes  wine. 


52 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


But  custom  remains  unconqucred.  Many  would  not 
endure  Jesus  Christ,  because  he  came  to  break  their 
customs.  The  masters  of  the  pythoness  objected 
this  against  Paul  and  Silas ;  that  they  did  teach  cus- 
toms not  lawful  for  them  to  receive,  Acts  xvi.  21. 
For  this  cause  was  the  uproar  in  Ephesus ;  the  copy- 
hold of  Diana  was  touched  j  and  the  town  clerk  had 
no  means  to  appease  the  tumult,  and  deliver  the 
apostles,  but  by  saying,  These  men  are  no  blasphem- 
ers of  your  goddess ;  they  come  not  to  break  your 
customs.  Acts  xix.  37.  Tell  a  papist  that  his  two 
meals'  fast  makes  the  third  a  glutton,  he  defies  you  for 
a  breaker  of  his  customs.  Tell  a  countrj-man  that 
it  is  unlawful  to  keep  his  town-wake  on  the  Sunday, 
lie  hates  you  as  a  puritan,  that  comes  to  break  his 
custom.  It  is  custom  that  hath  undone  our  church : 
when  the  pastor  comes  to  demand  his  tithes,  he  is 
answered,  as  the  man  of  Romney  Marsh  did  his 
minister  from  Scripture,  "  Custom  to  whom  custom." 
But  the  minister  well  replied,  "  The  churches  of  God 
have  no  such  custom."  This  is  the  nurse,  custom  : 
and  so  you  have  all  four ;  the  father,  the  mother,  the 
midwife,  the  nurse.  And  here  is  the  generation  of 
that  monster,  sin  ;  born  from  the  womb  of  that  con- 
cupiscence, which  my  text  calls  lust. 

Now  God  hath  given  us  means  to  conquer  all  these. 
The  father  is  Satan,  "  Whom  resist  stedfast  in  the 
faith,"  1  Pet.  v.  9.  Faith  in  the  Lamb  shall  put  this 
roaring  lion  to  (light ;  "  They  overcame  him  by  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,"  Rev.  xii.  11.  For  the  mother, 
overcome  her  by  mortification,  "  Mortify  your  mem- 
bers which  are  upon  the  earth,"  Col.  iii.  5 :  not  only 
lay  her  asleep,  but  lay  her  dead.  The  midwife  is 
consent ;  disable  her,  by  resolution  not  to  obey  her 
in  the  lust  of  the  flesh.  "Let  not  sin  reign  in  your 
mortal  body,"  Rom.  vi.  12.  He  says  not,  let  not  sin 
tyrannize  ;  but,  let  it  not  reign.  Be  not  sin's  volun- 
taries :  if  you  be  only  jiressed  against  your  wills,  it 
is  not  you  that  offend,  but  sin  that  dwelleth  in  you. 
The  devil  will  suggest,  and  concupiscence  will  adniit, 
but  take  away  the  midwife,  consent  not.  There  will 
be  sensus,  let  there  not  be  consenms.  Wlien  the 
fair  Lucrece  was  ravished  by  Tarquin,  Augustine  ob- 
ser\-es.  There  were  two  persons,  and  but  one  adul- 
terer; a  conjunction  of  bodies,  but  a  distraction  of 
minds.  A  regenerate  man's  case  is  like  that  of  Lu- 
crece ;  sin  is  rather  done  on  him,  than  of  him.  But 
lastly,  let  us  all  confess,  that  the  father  hath  begot, 
and  the  mother  conceived,  and  the  midwife  brought 
forth  sin  in  us :  we  have  gone  too  far  in  this  birth  ; 
yet,  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  let  us  not  put  it  to  nurse, 
not  accustom  ourselves  to  it ;  but  break  off  sin  by 
repentance ;  otherwise,  lust,  when  it  is  finished, 
brings  forth  death. 

"  That  is  in  the  world."  Wc  have  seen  the  infec- 
tion, let  us  now  look  upon  the  dispersion;  through 
the  world.  The  world  is  taken  two  ways  ;  for  the 
frame  and  constitution  of  the  world,  and  for  the  men 
and  inhabitants  of  the  world.  Now  this  corruption 
extends  itself  to  both :  the  content  hath  corrupted 
the  continent ;  men's  sins  have  infected  the  world, 
as  the  plague  in  persons  infect  the  very  walls  of 
the  house.  The  latter  acceptation  is  here  strictly 
meant ;  yet  let  us  see  this  corruption  in  both. 

First,  for  the  men  of  the  world  ;  for  this  is  rather 
a  depravation  of  manners,  than  of  elements.  The 
prince  of  this  world  shall  be  cast  out,  .John  xii.  .31. 
Not  the  Prince  of  the  great  world,  for  that  is  God  ; 
but  of  the  little  world,  evil  man  :  the  wicked  are  his 
vassals,  because  they  arc  sin's  vessels.  The  devil  is 
called  the  "prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit 
that  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience,"  Eph. 
ii.  2.  Christ  "  was  in  the  world,  and  the  world  knew 
him  not,"  John  i.  10.    What  world  knew  not  Christ  ? 


The  heavens  knew  him,  for  the  sun  was  eclipsed  at 
his  death,  and  that  at  full  moon :  the  earth  knew 
him,  for  it  shook  and  quaked  with  fear :  the  stones 
knew  him,  for  they  rent  and  clave  in  sunder.  The 
world  that  knew  him  not,  was  man  ;  not  the  sub- 
stance, but  the  inhabitant  of  the  world.  Every 
thing  is  (hat  which  it  loves ;  so  the  wicked  are  (he 
world,  because  they  afTect  the  world.  But  if  the 
world  be  ever  (akcn  in  the  worst  sense,  how  then  is 
it  said.  So  God  loved  the  world  ?  When  Donatus 
opposed  that,  "  The  whole  world  lieth  in  wicked- 
ness," 1  John  V.  19;  Augustine  answers  him  with, 
"  Christ  is  the  propitiation,  not  for  our  sins  only,  but 
for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,"  1  John  ii.  2.  And, 
"  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  him- 
self," 2  Cor.  V.  19.  Here  a  distinction  shall  make 
all  clear.  Where  world  is  taken  in  an  evil  sense,  it  is 
meant  of  evil  men ;  where  in  a  good  sense,  of  good  men ; 
where  in  a  general  sense,  of  all  men.  The  godly  are 
called  the  world,  but  (he  marrow  of  the  world :  when 
this  marrow  decays,  the  world  will  perish.  "  Help, 
Lord;  for  (he  godly  man  ceaseth;  for  the  faithful 
fail  from  among  the  children  of  men,"  Psal.  xii.  1.  If 
the  godly  be  diminished,  now,  help,  Lord.  Chrj-sostom 
says.  Many  things  are  spoken  of  the  land  that 
shall  not  be  fulfilled  but  in  the  cross.  But  the  wicked 
are  properly  called  the  world;  for  though  they  be 
reasonable  men,  and  have  souls  from  heaven,  yet  they 
are  corrupted  by  and  corrupting  the  earth.  There  is 
a  river  in  Spain  full  of  fishes;  but  those  fishes  are 
corrupt  and  unwholesome,  by  reason  (he  river  runs 
three  or  four  leagues  under  the  groimd :  so  the  wicked, 
though  they  had  some  sparks  of  natural  goodness,  yet 
by  running  through  the  earth,  they  become  loathsome. 
"  Many  walk,  that  are  enemies  of  the  cross  of  Christ," 
Phil.  iii.  18:  if  many  in  Paul's  time,  more  now.  For 
Satan,  who  was  then  bound,  is  now  loosed  again  out 
of  prison;  and  hath  "  great  wrath,  because  he  knoweth 
that  ho  hath  but  a  short  time,"  Rev.  xii.  12.  So  te- 
trical  and  horrible  is  this,  that  a  man  would  think 
the  whole  world  were  turned  de\-il.  Therefore  pray 
we  with  David,  From  men  of  the  world,  good  Lord, 
deliver  us,  Psal.  x\'ii.  14. 

Secondly,  (he  world  in  (he  very  frame  and  sub- 
stance of  it  is  thus  corrupted ;  all  is  vani(y.  A  man 
that  would  taste  the  saltness  of  marine  waters,  needs 
not  drink  up  all  the  sea :  it  is  enough  for  me  to  give 
you  a  taste  of  this  world.  In  (he  creation  of  every 
day's  work,  God  saw  that  it  was  good ;  but  in  the 
sixth  day,  having  done  all,  and  viewing  all  in  the 
harmony,  they  were  vcn,'  good.  The  things  of  the 
world  were  made  good  for  man,  but  he  made  them 
c\-il  to  himself;  so  that  now  the  whole  creature 
groaneth  under  this  corruption,  Rom.  viii.  22.  So  it 
labours,  as  if  it  desired  release,  and  rest:  so  it  is  cor- 
rupted, that  it  must  perish.  "The  heavens  shall  pass 
away  with  a  great  noise,"  &c.  2  Pet.  iii.  10  :  the  dif- 
fering doth  not  discredit  the  certainty.  If  the  world 
itself  be  so  perishable,  what  think  you  of  all  the  pomp 
and  vanities  of  it  ?  They  are  corrupt  themselves,  and 
cornip(ing  odiers.  "  Love  not  the  world,"  1  John.  ii. 
1.5.  What  is  the  world?  The  apostle  expounds  it 
to  be  "  lust  of  the  fiesh,  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  pride  of 
life."  Blessed  is  (he  man  that  is  delivered  out  of 
them ;  wretched  is  he  that  is  wrapped  in  (hem. 

There's  only  one  way  left,  not  (o  admit 
The  world's  cormption;  to  be  none  of  it. 
Now,  shall  I  wrap  up  both  these  worlds  into  one 
bundle,   and   teach  you    how  to  loathe   it  ?    This 
yon  will  do  by  considering  the  villany,  misery,  in- 
constancy, insufficiency  of  it. 

The  villany.  The  world  shall  hate  you,  saith 
Christ.     "Then  Christ  hath  not  told  us  truly,  or  the 


Ver.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


53 


world  will  use  us  hardly.  As  Tertullian  observes  on 
Nerva's  epistle  to  Pliny :  he  would  not  have  Chris- 
tians sought  for,  as  if  he  confessed  them  innocent ; 
yet  being  found,  he  would  have  them  punished,  as  if 
he  professed  them  guilty.  Good  men  commonly  find 
as  much  favour  of  the  world,  as  Vitellius  showed 
Julius  the  senator ;  when  the  emperor  Commodus 
commanded  he  should  be  slain  with  the  sword,  Vi- 
tellius in  favour  did  beat  him  to  death  with  cudgels. 
Plead  what  they  can  for  their  own  innocence,  the 
wolf  will  answer  the  lamb.  Indeed  thy  cause  is  bet- 
ter than  mine,  but  my  teeth  are  better  than  thine,  I 
will  devour  thee.  There  are  not  wanting,  that,  like 
Fimbria  of  Rome,  who  meeting  a  citizen  that  he 
hated  in  the  street,  gave  him  a  deadly  thrust  into  the 
body  with  his  sword;  and  the  next  day  entered  an 
action  against  him,  that  he  had  received  but  part  of 
his  blade  into  his  body,  and  not  all,  as  he  meant  it. 
iSic  noeet  innocuo  nocmis :  what  can  the  lamb  expect 
else  of  the  butcher  ?  Indeed  sometimes  the  world 
useth  a  man,  as  Jerome  notes  the  praetor  handled  a 
soldier,  to  make  him  renounce  Christ.  First  he  im- 
prisons him  in  his  own  house,  allows  him  a  cham- 
ber well  furnished,  soft  lodging,  dainty  cheer,  wine, 
music,  all  delights.  When  this  course  would  not 
take,  (yet.  Lord,  how  many  are  thus  tempted  to  leave 
their  Saviour  !)  then  he  casts  him  into  a  dark  dun- 
geon, loads  him  with  irons,  starves  him  with  the 
hungry  allowance  of  husks  and  puddle-water.  When 
nothing  would  do,  he  bums  him.  If  the  devil  can- 
not win  men  to  hell  as  he  seems  an  angel  of  light,  he 
will  strive  to  accomplish  it  as  he  is  a  spirit  of  terror ; 
if  not  transformed  to  another  shape,  then  deformed 
in  his  own  shape. 

The  misery.  So  soon  as  Christ  was  baptized,  and 
the  Spirit  descended  on  him,  presently  Satan  had 
about  with  him.  No  sooner  do  we  give  our  names 
to  Christ,  and  receive  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  instantly 
the  devil  rages  and  roars  against  our  poor  souls  with 
might  and  malice.  If  we  begin  to  please  God,  we 
displease  the  world ;  if  God  be  our  friend,  that  will 
be  our  enemy.  "  When  we  were  come  into  Mace- 
donia, our  flesh  had  no  rest,  but  we  were  troubled  on 
every  side  ;  without  were  fightings,  within  were 
fears,"  2  Cor.  vii.  5.  When  we  once  put  oiu-  endea- 
vours to  godliness,  expect  no  quiet. 

^iniqitam  belta  bonis,  nunquam  dissidia  eessant  : 
Et  quocum  certet,  mens  pia  semper  habet.  (Prosp.) 

Say  we  then  with  David,  "  0  God,  my  heart  is  ready ; " 
ready  for  good  things,  ready  for  evil  things,  ready 
for  high  things,  ready  for  low  things,  ready  for  all 
things.  (Bernard.)  The  kine  of  Betnshemesh  might 
low  after  their  calves  at  home,  yet  they  kept  one 
path,  and  turned  neither  to  the  right  hand  nor  to  the 
left,  1  Sam.  vi.  So  although  we  mourn  for  parting 
from  our  temporary  delights,  yet  let  us  keep  the  way 
of  truth,  that  will  bring  us  to  the  end  of  our  faiths, 
the  salvation  of  our  souls.  Scrape  not  then  on  the 
dunghill  of  this  earth  for  pearls,  where  nothing  will 
thrive  but  toad-stools.  In  me  you  have  peace  ;  in  the 
world  you  shall  have  tribulation,  Johnxvi.  33:  leave 
me  to  affect  your  own  misery. 

The  inconstancy.  At  most  we  can  get  but  the 
figure  or  fashion  of  this  world,  and  the  ftishion  of  it 
perisheth.  The  partridge  may  sit  on  eggs,  and  hatch 
them,  Jer.  xvii.  11  ;  but  then"  (because  they  are  none 
of  her  own)  the  true  mother  calls  them,  and  they  fly 
away.  The  worldling  is  this  brood-goose,  hatchcth 
chickens,  gathers  riches;  but  when  God  calls  them, 
they  nm  away  from  him,  and  leave  him  a  fool. 
Thou  fool,  this  night  shall  they  fetch  away  thy  soul 
from  thee;  then  whose  shall  these  things  be?  Luke 
xii.  20.     Swallows  will  not  build  in  houses  ready  to 


fall ;  yet  we,  more  unwise,  build  our  nests  in  this 
perishing  world.  Sea  passengers  have  written,  that 
about  the  TcnerifTe  there  be  certain  islands,  called 
the  flitting  islands  ;  they  are  often  seen,  but  when  men 
come  near  them,  they  flit  away.  The  world  itself 
is  such,  a  flitting  island :  to-day  thou  thinkcsl  it 
thine  ;  to-morrow  it  shall  not  find  thee  his  :  thou  art 
quickly  gone  from  (hat,  or  that  from  thee.  Solvet 
amicitias  mors  inffratissima  veslras.  O  blessed  place, 
where  peace  hath  no  change  ! 

The  insufficiency.  It  can  never  content  us.  They 
tliat  have  most,  crave  most :  the  richest  usurers  are 
the  poorest  beggars.  "  He  that  loveth  silver  shall 
not  be  satisfied  with  silvei,"  Eccl.  v.  10.  As  the 
poor  man  cries,  What  shall  I  do  because  I  have 
nothing  ?  so  the  covetous  cries  as  fast,  What  shall  I 
do  because  I  have  so  much  ?  "  What  shall  I  do,  be- 
cause I  have  no  room  to  bestow  my  fruits  ?  "  Luke 
xii.  17.  But  what  is  this  ?  have  we  any  hope  to  cast 
out  worldlincss?  No:  indeed  your  judgmen's  here 
can  make  no  resistance,  but  your  affections  cannot 
be  brought  to  it.  Most  men  desire  Esau's  blessing, 
the  fatness  of  the  earth :  they  care  not  for  Jacob's ; 
yet  he  went  away  witlt  the  covenant.  Cain's  out- 
lawed stock  were  yet  excellent  in  worldly  things  ; 
Jabal  in  cattle,  Jubal  in  music.  Tubal  in  brass  and 
iron ;  they  were  the  fathers  of  those  professions. 
What  worldly  thing  is  there,  but  some  reprobates 
Iiave  had  it  ?  For  beauty,  Absalom  was  very  fair; 
and  the  daughters  of  men  by  beauty  insnared  the 
sons  of  God,  Gen.  vi.  2.  For  strength,  Goliath  was 
ver>'  potent ;  for  swiftness,  Hazael  was  a  swift  run- 
ner ;  for  wealth,  Nabal  was  very  rich ;  for  honour, 
Saul  was  a  king :  in  man  one  dram  of  grace,  from 
God  one  drop  of  mercy,  had  been  better  than  all 
these.  "  There  appeared  a  woman  clothed  with  the 
sun,  and  the  moon  under  her  feet,  and  upon  her  head 
a  crown  of  twelve  stars,"  Rev.  xii.  1.  The  sun  is  Christ, 
the  twelve  stars  the  twelve  apostles,  the  moon  is  the 
world,  and  that  is  under  the  church's  feet.  We  that 
have  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  first-fruits  of 
salvation,  while  we  are  awake  know  and  acknow- 
ledge this  to  be  the  best  of  all.  Yet  if  a  little  rest  of 
quiet,  or  ease  of  health,  or  luggage  of  wealth,  be 
missing,  we  mutter  as  if  God  had  done  nothing  for 
us,  and  are  often  ready  to  leave  the  music  of  Zion, 
and  to  run  back  to  the  world.  Strabo  hath  a  tale 
of  a  musician,  that  had  got  together  many  delighted 
hearers,  whom  with  sweet  charms  he  held  by  the 
ears  ;  they  praised  his  music,  he  was  well-pleased 
with  their  company.  On  a  sudden  the  market-bell 
rung,  away  they  ran  all,  and  stayed  not  so  much  as 
to  give  him  thanks  ;  only  one  somewhat  deaf  stayed 
behind.  The  musician  heartily  thanked  him  that 
he  would  tarry  with  him,  when  all  the  rest  went 
away  at  the  ringing  of  the  market-bcU.  Why,  but 
hath  the  market-bell  rung  indeed?  says  he.  Yes, 
(juoth  the  musician.  Away  trudges  he  too.  You 
can  apply  it.  Preach  we  never  so  well  against 
worldlincss,  when  the  charms  and  chimes  of  the 
world  ring,  it  is  hard  to  keep  your  minds  from  run- 
ning. Oh  how  diflicult  is  it  to  conquer  this  world  ! 
yet  faith  can  do  it;  "This  is  the  victory  that  over- 
comet  h  the  world,  even  our  faith,"  1  John  v.  4. 
Every  true  Christian  is  greater  than  William  the 
Conqueror,  greater  than  Alexander  the  Great,  greater 
than  Pompey  the  Great,  greater  than  the  Great  Turk  : 
for  they  conquered  in  many  years  but  a  few  parts  of  the 
world  ;  but  the  believer  in  one  hour,  with  one  act  only, 
subdues  the  whole  world,  with  all  things  in  the  world. 

Terra  fremal ;  regno  alia  crepent,  mat  or/us  et  orcus  ; 
5('  modo  firma  Jides,  nulla  ruina  nocet  ; 

An   thou  a   Christian  ?  hast    thou  vanquished   the 


54 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


worl J,  that  vanquisheth  all  the  wicked  ?  Bless  God 
for  this  conquest :  the  king  of  Spain's  overrunning 
the  Indies  was  nothing  to  it.  Merchants  would  give 
much  to  know  a  short  cut  to  those  remote  places  of 
traffic,  wthoLit  passing  straits,  or  fetching  bouts  :  the 
shortest  cut  to  the  riches  of  the  whole  world  is  by 
their  contempt.  Here  is  a  short  description  of  the 
world's  vanity,  by  reason  of  this  corruption:  but 
what  can  he  expect  that  speaks  against  the  world  ? 
When  Christ  himself  came  to  dissuade  men  from  the 
world,  he  had  ill  luck  in  that  point.  He  might 
preach,  "  Make  to  youi-selvcs  friends  of  the  mam- 
mon of  unrighteousness,"  Luke  x^•i.  9 ;  and,  "  Ye 
cannot  serve  God  and  mammon,"  ver.  13.  But  when 
the  Pharisees,  that  were  covetous,  heard  all  these 
things,  they  derided  him,  ver.  14 ;  he  had  but  a  flout 
for  his  labour.  But  let  those  that  have  hope  of 
heaven,  cease  to  love  this  world ;  and  know  that  if 
Christ  make  us  to  deny  this  world,  he  will  give  us  a 
better :  we  shall  be  no  losers  by  him,  he  %-ouchsafes 
us  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  for  if  in  this  life  only  we 
had  hope  in  Christ,  we  of  all  men  were  most  miser- 
able, 1  Cor.  XV.  19.  Take  this  cori-upted  world  that 
like  it ;  let  that  glorious  world  be  ours. 

"  Having  escaped  the  corruption."  We  have  con- 
sidered the  infection,  and  the  dispersion,  and  therein 
the  discovery ;  now  one  word  of  the  recovery,  we 
have  escaped  it.  I  call  this  a  deliverance,  for  we 
have  escaped,  not  by  our  o^ti  power,  but  by  his 
grace  that  hath  delivered  us.  "  Our  soul  is  escaped 
as  a  bird  out  of  the  snare  of  the  fowlers :  the  snare 
is  broken,  and  we  are  escaped,"  Psal.  cxxiv.  7-  The 
snare  of  the  fowlers  were  the  lime-twigs  of  this 
world;  our  soul  was  caught  in  them  by  the  feathers, 
our  affections :  now  indeed  we  are  escaped,  but  tlie 
Lord  delivered  us.  We  that  were  once  taken  cap- 
tives of  Satan  at  his  will,  are  now  freed.  There  is 
a  four-fold  mamier  of  freeing  captives.  I.  By  manu- 
mission, a  voluntary  making  free  of  a  bond-servant  : 
so  we  are  escaped  from  the  service  of  Satan  into  the 
glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.  "  If  the  Son 
shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed,"  John 
viii.  36.  2.  By  commutation.  We  were  prisoners 
by  sin  to  death.  God  therefore  made  a  change  with 
death:  Take  thou  my  Son  prisoner,  give  me  my 
servants  free.  Death  and  hell  were  forced  to  ex- 
change; so  they  killed  Christ,  and  we  escaped.  3. 
By  price,  when  a  ransom  is  paid.  Now  Christ  "  gave 
himself  a  ransom  for  all,"  1  Tim.  ii.  6.  No  silver  or 
gold  could  serve  :  but  the  precious  blood  of  that 
immaculate  Lamb,  1  Pet.  i.  19.  We  are  bought 
with  blood,  and  this  is  the  blood  of  God.  So  Tertul- 
lian,  No  blood  could  have  saved  us,  but  the  blood  of 
him  that  was  God.  Here  was  mercy,  great  mercy. 
Christ  to  have  mercy  upon  us,  had  no  mercy  upon 
himself:  the  price  is  paid,  and  we  are  escaped.  4. 
By  violence.  Thou  hast  plucked  my  feet  out  of  the 
snare,  when  they  were  too  hard  for  me :  with  a 
strong  hand  and  out-stretched  arm  God  hath  de- 
livered us  out  of  this  Egyjit.  As  David  delivered 
his  sheep  from  the  lion,  so  the  Lord  hath  delivered 
us,  2  Tim.  iv.  17.  Clirist  did  cast  out  devils:  like 
Alexander,  he  stood  not  to  untie  the  knot,  but  he 
cut  il.  By  all  these  ways  we  are  escaped;  may  our 
thankful  hearts  give  praise  to  our  Deliverer  Jesus 
Christ. 

But  did  God  all  this  for  us,  and  shall  we  do 
nothing  for  him,  for  ourselves  ?  Alas,  we  shall  then 
soon  again  be  entangled  with  the  corniption  of  this 
world.  Here  we  learn  the  due  and  true  use  of  fail  h 
and  repentance :  faith,  to  lay  hold  on  the  blood  of 
Christ,  to  cleanse  our  souls  from  this  corniptitm  of 
lust ;  and  repentance,  by  true  remorseful  tears  to 
purge  ourselves  continually.     No  day  is  witliout 


sins,  let  no  day  pass  without  sorrows.  These  show- 
ers shall  kill  the  weeds  c  f  lust,  and  spring  up  the 
herbs  of  graces.  When  he  over-waters  earth,  there 
follows  temporal  plenty  ;  when  earth  waters  heaven, 
there  follows  spiritual  plenty.  Let  me  now  give 
you  the  picture  of  repentance ;  which  I  desire  not 
to  be  set  up  in  your  houses,  but  to  be  laid  up  in  your 
hearts. 

She  is  a  Wrgin  fair  and  lovely,  but  sorrow  seems 
to  do  violence  to  her  beauty ;  yet  indeed  increaseth 
it.  You  shall  ever  see  her  sitting  in  the  dust,  her 
knees  bowing,  her  hands  WTinging,  her  eyes  weep- 
ing, her  lips  praying,  her  heart  beating,  her  lungs 
panting.  She  comes  not  before  God  with  a  full 
belly,  and  meat  between  her  teeth,  but  her  soul  is 
humbled  with  fasting,  Psal.  xxxv.  13.  She  is  not 
gorgeously  attired  ;  sack-cloth  is  her  garment.  Not 
that  she  thinks  these  outward  forms  will  content 
God,  but  only  are  the  remonstrances  of  pure  sorrow 
within.  And  indeed  at  that  time  no  worldly  joy 
will  down;  only  pardon  and  mercy  in  Jesus  Christ. 
She  hangs  the  word  of  God  as  a  jewel  at  her  ear, 
and  ties  the  yoke  of  Christ  as  a  chain  about  her 
neck.  Her  breast  is  sore  with  the  strokes  of  her  own 
penitent  hands,  which  are  always  lifted  up  toward 
heaven,  or  beating  her  own  bosom.  Sorrow  turns 
her  lumina  mtoflumina,  fronteni  into  fontem ;  her  eyes 
into  fountains  of  tears.  The  ground  is  her  bed ;  she 
cats  the  bread  of  affliction,  and  drinks  the  water  of 
anguish.  Her  knees  are  hardened  with  continual 
praying,  her  voice  hoarse  with  calling  to  Heaven ; 
and  when  she  cannot  speak,  she  delivers  her  mind 
in  groans.  There  is  not  a  tear  falls  from  her,  but 
an  angel  holds  a  bottle  to  catch  it.  The  windows 
of  all  her  senses  are  shut  against  vanity :  she  bids 
charit}'  stand  the  porter  at  her  gates,  and  she  gives 
the  poor  bread,  even  while  herself  is  fasting.  She 
would  wash  Clirist's  feet  with  more  tears  than  Mary 
Magdalene,  and,  if  her  estate  could  reach  it,  give 
him  a  costlier  unction.  She  thinks  every  man's  sins 
less  than  her  own,  eveiT  man's  good  deeds  more. 
Her  compunctions  are  unspeakable,  known  only  to 
God  and  herself,  and  to  no  creature  else.  She  wish- 
cth  not  only  men,  but  beasts,  trees,  and  stones,  to 
mourn  with  her.  She  thinks  that  no  sun  should 
shine,  because  she  takes  no  pleasure  in  it ;  that  the 
lilies  should  be  clothed  in  black,  because  she  is  so 
apparelled;  that  the  infant  should  draw  no  breast, 
nor  the  beast  take  food,  like  the  Niuevitcs,  because 
she  hath  no  appetite.  She  hath  vowed  to  give  God 
no  rest,  till  he  have  compassion  upon  her,  and  seal 
to  her  feeling  the  forgiveness  of  all  her  sins.  Now 
mercy  comes  dov\Ti  like  a  wliite  and  glorious  angel, 
and  lights  on  her  bosom.  The  message  which  mercy 
brings  from  the  King  of  heaven  is  this :  I  have  heard 
thy  prayers  and  seen  thy  tears.  The  Holy  Ghost 
comes  with  a  liandkerchicf  of  comfort  to  dry  her 
eyes.  Lastly,  she  is  lifted  up  to  heaven,  where 
angels  and  cherubim  sine  her  tunes  of  eternal  joy, 
and  God  bids  immortality  set  her  in  a  throne  of 
glory. 


Verse  5. 

Atid  beside  this,  giving  all  diligence,  add  to  your  faith 
virtue ;  ana  to  virtue  knoicledge. 

The  fonner  part  of  the  chapter  is  spent  in  comfort- 
ing; now  he  comes  to  exhorting.  A  father  does  not 
only  promise  his  son,  I  will  make  thee  mine  heir; 
but  wathal  imposeth  on  him  some  duties,  by  perform- 


Veb.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


55 


ance  whereof  he  may  assure  himself  of  inheritance. 
If  we  shouhl  speak  nothing  to  men  instructively,  or 
reprehensively,  but  all  comfortably,  it  were  the 
next  way  to  send  them  comfortably  to  roin.  Sat 
Dews ;  at  nobis  (jucpilam  facienda  reliquil ;  It  is  not 
fit  that  heaven  should  take  all  the  pains  to  bring 
earth  to  it;  earth  must  do  somewhat  to  bring  itself 
to  heaven.  God's  bountifulness  is  beyond  our  thank- 
fulness ;  yet  thankfulness  is  not  enough,  there  is 
matter  of  labour  and  diligence  in  it.  He  that  lies 
in  a  dark  pit,  will  yet  offer  his  hand  to  him  that 
will  help  him  up.  Jeremiah  did  put  the  cords  under 
his  own  arms,  that  Ebed-melech  let  down  to  draw 
liim  out  of  the  dungeon,  Jer.  xxxviii.  12.  If  the 
lord  of  a  manor  have  given  thee  a  tree,  thou  wilt 
be  at  the  charges  to  cut  it  down  and  carry  it  home. 
He  that  works  first  in  thy  conversion,  hath  in 
wisdom  made  thee  a  second.  Thou  seest  God's 
bounty ;  now  look  to  thine  own  duty.  This  is 
taught  us  by, 

I.  The  quality,  Diligence. 

II.  The  quantity,  All  diligence. 

"  Give  diligence."  Here  first  for  the  quality. 
There  is  no  matter  wherein  we  hoj)e  for  good  in  the 
event,  accomplished  without  diligence  in  the  act. 
He  that  expects  a  royalty  in  heaven,  must  admit  a 
service  on  earth.  The  good  man  is  weary  of  doing 
nothing,  for  noticing  is  so  laborious  as  idleness. 
Bernard  calls  it  a  dumb  numbness  of  the  soul,  which 
neglects  to  begin,  or  is  weary  to  prosecute  any  good 
work.  Deny  sloth  not  only  continuance,  but  coun- 
tenance. Satan's  employment  is  prevented,  when 
he  finds  thee  well  employed  before  he  comes.  Thomas 
a  Becket,  no  good  man,  in  no  good  cause,  when  he  was 
admonished  to  be  less  stirring  in  state  matters, 
answered,  that  he  sat  at  the  stem,  and  therefore 
ought  not  to  sleep.  This  is  a  Christian's  case  : 
Is  the  world  tempting,  the  devil  attempting,  my  flesh 
betraying,  and  shall  I  sleep  ?  Do  I  steer  the  helm 
of  my  own  vessel,  wherein  my  soul  is  the  passen- 
ger, and  my  hope  of  blessedness  the  freight,  and 
would  you  have  me  to  sleep  ?  Jacob  complains,  that 
the  sleep  departed  from  his  eyes,  Gen.  xxxi.  40  ;  so 
careful  was  he  to  make  his  reckoning  even  with  his 
master.  I  am  sure  we  have  a  greater  charge,  greater 
Master,  greater  account,  and  yet  we  sleep.  Lepidus 
lies  in  harvest  under  the  cool  shade,  I  would  this 
were  to  take  pains  j  so  some  stretch  themselves  upon 
their  ivory  beds,  Amos  vi.  4,  and  invite  their  curious 
morsels  with  rich  wines  ;  and.  Oh  that  this  were  the 
way  to  heaven !  Augustus,  hearing  that  a  Roman, 
far  in  debt,  slept  quietly  during  his  life,  sent  after 
his  death  to  buy  his  pillow.  It  is  a  strange  pillow 
whereon  some  slumber,  that  owe  so  much  to  God  and 
man.  When  the  oyster  gapes,  the  crab  throws  into 
her  a  little  stone,  which  ninders  her  from  shutting 
again,  and  so  he  devours  her.  Satan  watcheth  our 
idle  gaping,  tlirows  in  his  bait,  lust  or  drunkenness, 
and  so  preys  upon  us.  It  is  observable,  that  albeit 
the  Romans  were  so  idle  as  to  make  Idleness  a 
god,  yet  they  allowed  not  that  idle  idol  a  temple 
within  the  city,  but  without  the  walls.  It  grieves 
me  to  think  that  our  suburbs  abound  with  so  many 
worshippers  of  this  lazy  devil ;  yet  I  still  pray  that 
none  may  be  within  the  walls.  Let  us  deal  with 
idleness  and  wantonness  as  Philip  of  Macedon  did 
with  two  such  persons,  cause  the  one  to  drive  the 
other  out  of  our  coasts.  The  old  world  snored  when 
the  great  shower  came :  Sodom  slept,  but  her  dam- 
nation slept  not.  It  was  Gog's  presumption,  "  I  will 
go  up  to  the  land  of  unwalled  ^-illages  ;  I  will  go  to 
tnem  that  are  at  rest,"  Ezek.  xxxviii.  II.  So  Satan 
presumes  to  set  on  the  sluggish,  as  an  undefenced 
city:  the  devil  shoots  in  a  slug,  and  hits  none  so 


soon  as  the  sluggish.  The  unjust  steward  out  of 
office  forecasts,  "  I  cannot  dig ;  to  beg  I  am  asham- 
ed," Luke  xvi.  3.  We  have  those  can  dig,  yet  are 
not  ashamed  to  beg.  Many  a  one  says,  not,  I  can- 
not, but,  I  will  not,  dig.  It  is  mercy  to  give  them 
three  things,  correction,  work,  and  meat.  A  gener- 
ous spirit  is  of  Maximinus'  disposition;  Quo  niajor 
sum,  eo  viagis  taboro  ;  et  quo  7nagis  laboro,  eo  major 
su?n.  Oiu-  gallants  would  not  endure  that  father, 
that  should  charge  his  eldest  son  to  work  in  the 
vineyard,  Matt.  xxi.  28.  Jacob  got  the  blessing,  but 
it  was  under  the  name  of  Esau,  \vnich  signifies  work- 
ing. (Ambrose.)  We  must  have  the  hands  of  Esau, 
if  we  look  for  the  blessing  of  Jacob.  There  are 
three  marks  and  helps  of  diligence  ;  vigilance,  care- 
fulness, love. 

Vigilance.  A  serious  project,  which  we  can  hardly 
drive  to  our  desired  issue,  takes  sleep  from  our  eyes. 
The  best  plot  is  to  be  saved,  to  appease  God's  anger, 
to  get  remission  of  our  sins  ;  yet  we  are  fast  asleep, 
though  this  be  undone.  Clirist  said  unto  Peter, 
"  Simon,  sleepest  thou  ? "  Mark  xiv.  37.  Is  Judas 
waking,  the  Pnarisees  walking,  the  soldiers  banding, 
the  devils  urging,  the  Son  of  man  betraying,  the  great 
work  of  redemption  accomplishing,  and  sleepest 
thou  ?  So  is  Satan  provoking,  thy  flesh  ready  to 
yield  the  fort,  sin  at  tne  door,  and  judgment  not  far 
off,  and  sleepest  thou,  O  Christian  ?  When  Abraham 
received  the  woefullest  charge  that  was  ever  given  to 
father,  concerning  his  only  son,  he  rose  early  to  do 
it.  Gen.  xxii.  3.  On  the  week  days  every  man  riseth 
early  to  his  trade ;  on  the  Lord's  day,  when  the  busi- 
ness of  their  souls  is  specially  in  hand,  men  usually 
sleep  their  fill. 

Carefulness.  "  Keep  thy  foot  when  thou  goest  to 
the  house  of  God,"  Eccl.  v.  I.  Thou  hast  a  foot, 
walkest  with  that  foot,  even  to  the  temple  ;  but  look 
to  it.  Res  est  soUicili  plena  timoris  amor.  If  thou  lovest 
God,  thou  wilt  be  fearful  to  offend  him,  careful  to 
please  him.  Gideon  smote  the  host  of  Zebah  and 
Zalmunna,  and  returned  from  the  battle  before  the 
sun  was  up,  Judg.  viii.  13.  Satan  finds  us  careless, 
smites  us  in  the  night  of  ignorance,  and  carries  us 
away  captives  before  we  perceive  it.  The  world  says 
to  a  man,  as  the  priests  and  elders  did  to  the  soldiers, 
Here  is  store  of  money,  we  will  secure  you,  Matt, 
xxviii.  14.  Money  is  able  to  make  thousands  secure ; 
but,  magna  securilas,  majcima  tempestas.  The  spies  of 
Dan  retiu-ning,  told  them  that  the  people  of  Laish  dwelt 
secure,  quiet,  and  careless  ;  so  they  took  them,  so  they 
smote  them,  and  burned  the  city  with  fire,  Judg.  xviii. 
7,  27.  No  man  perfectly  knows  his  own  heart :  you 
think  all  well ;  this  may  be  not  assurance,  but  secure- 
ness.  Invadunt  urbem  somno  vinoque  sepullam.  When 
they  shall  say,  "  Peace  and  safety ;  tnen  sudden  de- 
struction cometh  on  them,"  I  Thess.  v.  3.  Every 
man  thinks  ill  of  his  sins,  but  perhaps  he  thinks  too 
well  of  his  good  works  :  the  servants  of  God  mis- 
trust their  own  righteousness. 

Love.  This  duigence  must  fetch  the  life  from 
affection,  and  be  moved  with  the  love  of  virtue. 
They  are  most,  whom  fear  correcteth  from  evil ;  they 
are  best,  whom  love  directeth  to  good.  (August.) 
We  refuse  the  dainty  morsels  of  a  churl's  table,  be- 
cause we  have  them  not  with  love.  God  regardeth 
not  the  mammocs  of  our  sacrifices,  the  scraps  of  our 
perfunctory  obedience,  when  the  awe  and  law  of  man 
bring  us  thither,  not  the  love  of  God.  Constraint 
makes  a  thing  easy  in  its  own  nature,  to  become  toil- 
some ;  love  makes  a  dilficult  thin"  easy.  He  that  is 
banished  his  native  country,  thinks  every  step  tedi- 
ous: let  his  own  will  call  him  forth,  his  travel  is 
pleasant ;  else  men  would  not  cross  the  seas  to  see 
lashions.    There  was  a  man  so  well  affected  to  his 


5C 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


own  city,  that  in  fifty  years  he  never  went  a  league 
out  of  it ;  as  if,  like  a  fish,  he  must  needs  die  if  taken 
out  of  his  own  element.  Not  long  after  his  luck  was 
to  commit  an  offence  ;  whereof  being  convicted,  and 
liable  to  severe  punishment,  the  favouring  judge,  in- 
tending to  mitigate  it,  because  this  was  his  first 
error,  confined  him  on  the  pain  of  death  to  the  limits 
of  that  city.  Now  what  was  to  his  opinion  formerly 
a  delight,  becomes  a  bondage  and  vexation;  nothing 
in  the  city  pleaseth  him,  all  his  desire  is  to  gad 
abroad.  How  many  miles  can  we  ride  and  run  in  a 
day  to  see  one  beast  pursue  another!  The  unevcnness 
of  the  way,  the  uncertainty  of  the  weather,  troubles 
us  not,  because  we  have  a  love  to  the  sport.  If  the 
charge  of  a  superior  commands  us  to  measure  over  so 
many  mUes,  we  soon  complain  of  weariness.  The 
sabbath  finds  many  in  the  fields,  walking  to  the 
neighbour  villages,  for  wanton  delights.  If  they  were 
commanded  to  travel  so  far  to  church,  and  to  sers-e 
God,  they  would  say,  with  Jeroboam,  it  was  too  long 
a  journey.  All  negligence  in  good  things  is  from  the 
want  of  love. 

Well,  God  requires  our  diligence  ;  Vult  el  non  vult 
piger.  (Bed.)  He  would  have  nonour,  but  no  labour. 
The  promises  delight  them,  the  combats  affright  them. 
O  foolish  man  !  thousand  thousands  stand  about  thee, 
and  dost  thou  presume  to  sleep  ?  (Bern.)  I  had 
rather  be  sick  than  slothful ;  (Sen.)  by  that  the  mind 
is  stirred  up ;  by  this,  effeminated.  I  use,  saith  that 
philosopher,  short  sleep ;  it  is  enough  for  me  to  have 
forborne  watching.  Sometimes  I  know  I  sleep,  some- 
times I  suspect  it. 

But  enough  of  diligence,  unless  we  were  taught  also 
rightly  to  dispose  it.  For  there  be  many  that  weary 
themselves  for  very  vanity.  Even  Israel  would  go 
back  to  Egypt  for  the  garlic  and  onions;  things,  saith 
Gregor)',  that  provoke  tears  in  them  that  cat  them. 
Manna  makes  the  heart  merry,  but  they  must  have 
garlic ;  as  if  they  were  weary  of  joy,  and  desired  again 
tears  and  sorrow.  "  The  statutes  of  the  Lord  are 
right,  rejoicing  the  heart,"  Psal.  xix.  8.  But  men 
confess  this  world  troublesome,  yet  love  their  own 
vexation  above  the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all 
understanding.  Our  minds  are  so  scattered  among 
these  visible  things,  that  we  forget  how  the  state 
stands  within  us ;  like  him  that  looks  to  the  outside 
of  his  house,  loams,  washes,  paints  it,  while  the  rotten 
timber  drops  down  within.  While  men  hunt  after 
the  world's  venison  with  Esau,  they  are  in  danger  to 
lose  their  Father's  blessing. 

I  have  given  three  helps  of  diligence ;  let  me  yet 
add  a  fourth,  study ;  so  some  here  translate  a-Kov^i)v. 
What  good  work  can  be  done  without  study  ?  Indeed 
the  main  is  confessed  :  "  Study  to  show  thyself  ap- 
proved unto  God,"  2  Tim.  ii.  15.  But  we  think  in- 
ferior offices  need  no  such  studious  diligence.  What 
easier  thing  is  there  than  to  keep  the  peace  ?  yet 
the  apostle  says,  "  Study  to  be  (juiet."  Man's  na- 
ture is  so  apt  to  revenge,  that  it  is  no  easy  matter 
to  be  peaceable.  Says  the  philosopher.  Study  thy- 
self. What  is  casilier  known  than  a  man's  self?  No, 
says  Job,  I  know  not  mine  own  soul.  Man's  self  is  a 
good  book  to  study  :  "  1  am  fearfidly  and  wonderfully 
made,"  Psal.  cxxxix.  14.  Read  this  book  in  folio, 
in  thy  prosperity ;  read  it  in  quarto,  abridged  by 
calamity  ;  read  it  in  octavo,  made  less  by  penurj- ; 
read  it  in  decimo-sexto,  made  contemptible  by  ig- 
nominy ;  read  it  in  nihilo,  made  nothing  of  this  world 
by  death.  The  lawyer  will  not  answer  a  declaration 
without  study  ;  or  he  builds  more  on  his  fortune  and 
favour,  tlian  on  his  wit  and  fidelity.  The  poet  can 
tell  the  gallant  that  buys  love  sonnets,  I  study  fgr 
your  pleasure.  The  advocate  studies  his  pleading, 
or  talks  idle.    When  a  vain-glorious  orator  asked  his 


friend.  How  liked  you  my  speech  ?  and  preventing 
the  answer,  which  he  expected  applausive  ;  Believe 
me,  says  he,  I  did  it  on  the  sudden,  without  study. 
So  I  believe,  says  the  other,  for  it  did  not  savour  of 
tlie  study.  For  us,  what  dare  we  do  without  study  ? 
Perhaps  you  think  not  so ;  but  that  we  come  with 
the  same  preparation  to  speak,  that  you  come  to 
hear.  So  we  might  all  be  accused,  be  accursed,  for 
doing  God's  business  negligently.  You  think,  because 
it  is  easy  for  you  to  come  to  church  when  the  bell 
hath  tolled  an  hour,  it  is  as  easy  for  us  on  a  night's 
warning  to  preach.  If  there  be  any  thing  in  the 
world  that  bewrays  this  city's  ignorance,  this  is  it. 
I  will  tell  you  a  paradox;  I  call  it  so  because  few 
will  believe  it,  but  it  is  true.  It  is  more  difficult  to 
hear  well,  than  to  speak  well.  To  hear  ?  say  you  : 
I  can  hear  the  gravest  bishop  in  the  land,  and  never 
study  for  the  matter.  But  I  say,  if  thou  wilt  be  as 
good  a  hearer  as  he  is  a  preacher,  thou  must  study 
for  it  more  than  he.  Good  reason :  he  goes  along 
with  the  meditations  conceived  in  his  own  breast ; 
thou  must  go  along  with  his  speech:  he  follows 
himself ;  thou  must  follow  him.  It  is  easier  for  a 
hare  to  run  her  own  course,  than  for  a  hound  step  by 
step  to  hunt  her  out.  Our  Saviour  says,  "  Take  heed 
how  ye  hear."  There  is  a  certain  art  or  cunning  in 
well  hearing.  In  a  certain  country,  every  man  was 
to  plead  his  own  cause ;  he  was  allowed  an  advo- 
cate to  put  his  mind  in  good  terms,  but  himself  de- 
livers it.  One  had  his  turn  thus  fitted,  paid  the 
lawj'er,  took  the  copy,  liked  it  admirably,  studied  it 
by  heart;  but  after  oflcn  reviewing  it,  he  fell  into 
dislike  of  it,  and  returned  it  back  with  his  7wn  placet. 
The  lawyer  asked  him  the  reason  why  he  now  dis- 
liked that,  which  at  first  he  so  applauded.  Why,  says 
he,  now  I  have  read  it  often  over,  and  find  the  weak- 
nesses ;  at  once  reading  it  seemed  very  good.  And, 
quoth  he,  shall  the  judges  hear  it  above  once  ?  Let 
this  touch  upon  the  infirmity  of  common  hearers. 

Beloved,  you  cannot  hear  well  without  studying  how 
to  hear;  do  not  think  we  can  preach  well  without  it. 
Indeed  tfiere  be  enthusiastical  preachers,  that  run 
away  with  a  sermon,  as  horses  with  an  empty  cart: 
you  are  not  woi-th  your  ears,  if  they  cannot  distin- 
guish. But  to  conclude,  if  no  great  work  can  be 
done  without  study,  then  surely  not  the  salvation  of 
body  and  soul  without  it.  It  is  well,  if  with  any  study 
we  may  have  it.  When  an  astrologer  told  Agrippina, 
that  Nero  her  son  should  be  emperor;  but  first  he 
must  untie  a  knot  by  art,  that  was  tied  by  nature:  he 
meant,  that  he  must  artificially  dissemble  himself  ho- 
nest, though  he  were  naturally  a  villain.  She  an- 
swered, He  shall  untie  any  knot  to  have  an  empire. 
It  is  enough  for  us  that  we  may  have  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  though  we  untie  a  knot  by  the  art  of  grace, 
that  was  boimd  by  the  corruption  of  nature.  We  are 
born  imclean,  have  made  ourselves  guilty;  given  to 
lust,  avarice,  pride:  there  is  nature's  knot.  Let  us 
untie  this  by  grace;  "Such  were  you;  but  ye  are 
washed,  but  ye  are  sanctified,"  1  Cor.  vi.  II;  and 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  shall  be  ours.  To  this  let  us 
give  all  study.  Some  astronomers  have  beaten  their 
brains  with  much  study  to  find  out  the  space  betwixt 
earth  and  heaven ;  and  have  given  it  up  for  above 
three  himdred  thousand  miles.  IIow  great  was  their 
studv!  how  uncertain  their  account!  now  vain  the 
fruit !  Know  it  is  a  great  way,  not  a  journey  over  to 
France,  or  to  India;  study  how  to  get  thither.  For 
this  we  study  to  preach,  for  this  study  you  to  licar, 
let  us  all  study  to  practise;  and  when  we  have  given 
all  diligence,  still.  Lord,  be  mercifiil  to  us. 

Give  diligence ;  not  a  pragmatical  business  in 
others' affairs;  but  rectify  tny  diligence, confining  it 
principally  to  thyself.    Dress  thine  own  garden,  lest 


Vkb.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


It  be  overnm  with  weeds.  (Sen.)  I  know  not  with 
whom  I  had  rather  have  thee  be,  than  with  thyself. 
I  lend  myself  to  other  men's  occasions ;  I  give  my- 
self to  mine  own.  We  may  say  to  worldliness,  as 
Christ  to  Martha,  You  are  troubled  about  many 
things ;  but  one  thing  is  needful,  mind  that.  They 
think  when  they  have  gotten  store  of  riches,  they 
shall  then  sleep  in  quiet :  no,  then  is  least  quiet  of 
all.  The  rich  man  resolves  when  he  hath  filled  his 
bams,  then.  Soul,  rest:  no,  then,  Soul,  come  to 
judgment,  to  everlasting  unrest,  Luke  .vii.  It  is  in 
vain  men  rise  up  early,  and  go  to  bed  late,  and  eat 
the  bread  of  sorrows ;  for  upon  better  conditions 
God  "  giveth  his  beloved  sleep,"  Psal.  cxxvii.  2. 
Pyrrhus  boasted  to  his  friend  Cincas,  that  he  would 
invade  Italy,  and  hoped  to  achieve  it.  Cineas  asked 
him.  Sir,  what  will  you  do  then?  Then  we  will 
attempt  Sicily ;  and  so  at  last  get  Carthage,  and  all 
Africa.  And  what  then,  sir?  Then,  saith  Pyrrhus, 
we  will  rest  and  be  meny.  Alas,  saith  Cineas,  may 
we  not  do  so  now,  and  save  all  this  trouble  ?  Then, 
I  will  take  mine  ease :  no,  then  least  ease  of  all ; 
for  besides  hazard  of  blood  in  getting,  there  will  be 
continual  trouble  in  keeping.  A'ok  minor  ille  labor, 
quam  quterere  parla  lueri.  Eutropilus,  in  the  poet, 
to  one  that  asked  how  he  might  be  revenged  on  his 
enemy,  gave  this  counsel.  Make  him  rich  ;  so  lay  on 
him  a  burden  of  cares.  The  rich  landlord  envied 
his  poor  tenant,  because  he  heard  him  sing  every 
day  at  his  labour,  that  had  scarce  bread  for  his 
family ;  while  himself,  wanting  nothing,  was  full  of 
discontent.  One  advised  him  to  convey  cunningly 
into  his  cottage  a  bag  of  money :  he  did  so.  The 
tenant  finding  this  mass,  so  great  in  his  imagination, 
left  oflf  his  singing,  and  fell  to  carking  and  vexing 
how  to  increase  it.  Crescenlem  sequitur  cura  pecii- 
niam;  the  landlord  fetcheth  back  his  money,  the 
tenant  is  as  merry  as  ever  he  was.  God  is  our  Land- 
lord :  while  we  his  poor  tenants  have  but  little,  we 
are  content  with  a  little ;  but  if  riches  increase, 
cares  increase  with  them;  and  till  our  Landlord 
take  back  his  burden,  we  have  no  ease.  We  may 
say  of  worldly  wealth,  what  Solomon  of  worldly 
knowledge ;  lie  that  adds  it,  adds  sorrow  with  it, 
Eccl.  i.  18.  Diogenes  laid  himself  to  sleep  in  his 
cell,  and  his  purse  by  him.  A  thief  spies  it,  and 
watches  till  he  was  asleep,  .\bout  midnight,  when 
he  thought  him  safe,  he  ventures  to  steal  it.  To 
whom  the  subtle  cynic.  Take  it,  wretch,  so  we  shall 
both  sleep.  Thou  couldst  not  sleep  till  thou  hadst 
it,  nor  1  till  I  lost  it.  The  very  camel  is  glad  to  be 
eased  of  his  burden.  When  yfesop,  with  the  rest  of 
his  fellow-slaves,  were  put  to  carry  burdens  to  a  city, 
one  chose  to  bear  this  merchandise,  another  that, 
every  one  had  his  choice,  and  ^sop  chose  to  carry 
the  victuals.  Every  one  laughed  at  this,  that  he, 
being  the  weakest,  had  elected  the  heaviest  burden. 
Away  they  went  together;  and  after  some  miles 
they  went  to  breakfast,  his  burden  was  the  lighter 
by  that :  then  to  cUnner,  it  was  lighter  still :  then  to 
supper,  now  it  was  easy :  the  next  day  they  had 
eaten  up  all  his  burden,  and  he  went  empty  to  the 
city,  whither  they  being  loaden  could  not  reach. 
Let  the  covetous  choose  gold  for  his  burden,  the 
proud  rich  garments,  the  ambitious  mountains  of 
honour,  every  worldling  his  several  luggage  ;  let  my 
choice  be  that  of  St.  Paul,  if  I  have  food  and  raiment, 
therewith  to  be  content  ;  I  shall  go  the  lighter  to 
heaven. 

"  All  diligence."  Here  is  the  quantity,  all ;  and 
that  for  two  reasons  : 

1.  The  working  up  of  salvation  is  no  easy  labour ; 
thereto  is  Pcquirable  all  diligence."  Such  a  diligence 
respects  so  great  an  object,  and  such  an  object  re- 


quires so  great  a  diligence.  Refuse  no  labour  fur 
such  a  reward.  (Hieron.)  The  best  things  are  the 
hardliest  come  by.  Qui  cupit  optalam,  &c.  He  must 
be  frozen  wnth  cold,  and  sweltered  with  heat,  that; 
accomplishes  so  great  a  work.  This  equity  must 
needs  be  granted,  that  if  we  cannot  attain  to  worldly 
trash  without  labour,  then  much  less  to  heaven  with- 
out all  diligence.  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  suflTereth 
violence,"  Matt.  xi.  12:  but  rest  alone,  try  if  you 
can  extort  this  by  force.  Spare  no  invention  of  wit, 
no  intention  of  wU,  no  contention  of  strength,  about 
it.  If  you  will  needs  use  violence,  oppression,  ex- 
tortion, here  violate,  here  oppress,  here  extort  t 
wrestle  for  this,  though  with  Jacob  you  lame  your 
limbs;  get  it,  though  you  lose  your  lives.  When 
Dionysius  saw  what  heaps  of  wealth  his  son  had 
hoarded  up  in  his  closet;  he  asked  him  what  he 
meant,  to  let  it  lie  there,  and  not  to  make  friends 
with  it  to  get  him  the  kingdom  after  his  decease  ? 
Son,  thou  hast  not  a  spirit  capable  of  a  kingdom.  So 
knowing  a  rich  man's  piles  of  bags  and  whole  coun- 
tries of  revenues,  and  finding  no  works  of  piety, 
none  of  charity,  we  may  justly  tell  him,  he  hath 
not  a  soul  capable  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  In 
heaven  there  is  gold  tried  in  the  fire.  Rev.  iii.  18. 
Will  we  adventtue  our  estates,  our  lives,  to  find  out 
new  lands  where  may  be  gold ;  and  spend  no  dili- 
gence for  that  where  we  are  sure  there  is  gold,  and 
such  as  cannot  perish  ?  In  all  other  things  the  diffi- 
culty of  obtaining  whets  thy  mind,  and  spurs  the 
actions  forward :  only  for  heaven,  which  we  confess 
best  of  all,  we  use  labour  least  of  all.  It  is  a  hard 
task,  therefore  give  all  diligence. 

2.  God  requires  "  the  whole  duty  of  man,"  Ecel. 
xii.  13;  that  is  God's  due.  What,  nothing  left  for 
this  world?  Yes,  moderate  providence;  the  saving 
of  souls  hinders  not  provision  for  bodies,  but  furthers 
and  blesses  it.  First  seek  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
then  these  things  "shall  be  added  to  you,"  Matt.  vi. 
33  ;  other  things  shall  come  into  the  bargain.  Paul 
calls  them  adjeclanea,  Christ  adjectiva;  there  is  no 
substance  in  them.  Follow  thou  Christ,  the  rest 
shall  follow  thee.  The  world  says.  Dost  thou  follow 
me  ?  I  will  flee  thee :  dost  thou  flee  me  ?  I  will 
follow  thee.  Besides,  there  is  a  mass  of  corruption 
in  us  ;  alt  diligence  is  little  enough  to  expel  that.  A 
tyrant  boasted  that  he  had  turned  a  great  stream  in 
two  days :  yet  quoth  the  philosopher.  But  you  have 
been  turning  another  stream  this  twoscore  years,  and 
yet  have  not  done  it ;  your  own  evil  disposition. 

A  Christian  is  like  a  commonwealth  :  grace  is 
the  queen,  religious  thoughts  the  subjects,  lusts  the 
rebels ;  these  war  against  the  queen,  fight  against 
the  soul,  1  Pet.  ii.  11.  If  they  grow  to  a  head,  they 
will  make  a  mutiny  in  our  hearts  :  our  best  policy  is 
to  keep  them  bare  and  low.  Though  we  cannot 
take  away  their  will,  yet  let  us  prevent  them  of 
power  to  hurt  us.  To  "this  let  us  give  all  diligence, 
and  the  Lord  give  a  blessing  to  that  diligence. 

"  Beside  this,  add,"  &c.  Thus  much  for  the  ad- 
diction, now  to  the  addition ;  wherein  we  find  a  con- 
cession, an  accession,  that  he  requires ;  add.  You 
have  done  something,  yet  there  is  a  besides.  I  yield 
a  beginning,  I  ask  a  proceeding.  Set  not  down  with 
your  satis :  knowledge  you  have,  and  faith  you  have ; 
yet  there  is  a  besides  these.  "  Leaving  the  prin- 
ciples, let  us  go  on  unto  perfection,"  Heb.  vi.  1.  We 
cannot  say  that  work  is  finished,  whereof  any  part 
remains  to  be  done.  None  were  fit  to  fight  the 
battles  of  God,  but  they  that  lapped  water  out  of 
their  hands,  Judg.  \-ii.  5,  (like  the  dogs  of  Nilus  for 
fear  of  the  crocodiles,)  still  going  forward.  As  God 
himself  is  said  to  !'  drink  of  the  brook  in  the  way," 
Psal.  ex.  7 ;  this  man  lifts  up  his  head,  and  goes  on. 


58 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1. 


Christ  hath  sprinkled  all  the  way  between  heaven 
and  earth  with  his  blood,  and  hath  made  it  a  "  living 
way,"  Hcb.  x.  20:  like  good  hounds,  let  us  trace 
him  by  the  foot,  and  run  after  him  in  the  smull  of 
his  garments,  Cant.  iv.  II  ;  not  resting  till  we  rest 
with  our  Master.  Thou  hast  done  many  good  works, 
assurcst  thyself  of  some  growth  ;  yet  forget  that  is 
behind,  and  reach  forth  unto  the  thmgs  before,  Phil, 
iii.  13 :  there  is  still  a  besides.  They  go  from  strength 
to  strength,  till  every  one  appear  before  God  in 
Zion,  Psal.  Ixxxiv.  7-  When  thy  soul  hath  tasted 
some  crumbs  that  fall  from  thy  Master's  table,  some 
drops  of  blood  that  ran  from  thy  Lord's  side;  yet 
still  think  of  a  somewhat  besides.  Beda  observes 
on  Numb,  xxxiii.  29,  "  They  went  from  Mithcah, 
and  pitched  in  Hashmonah ;"  that  Mithcah  signifies 
sweetness,  and  Hashmonah  swiftness.  !Mithcah  and 
Hashmonah,  sweetness  and  swiftness,  must  be  joined 
together.  They  that  in  Mithcah  have  tasted  of  the 
Lord  s-\veetness,  will  remove  to  Hashmonah,  come 
toward  him  with  swiftness. 

When  the  young  man  asked  Christ  what  he  should 
do  to  be  saved,  he  pointed  him  to  the  law,  "  Keep 
the  commandments,"  Matt.  xix.  17.  But  he  replied, 
"  All  these  have  I  kept  from  my  youth  up :  what 
lack  I  yet  ?  "  ver.  20.  Yes,  there  is  a  besides,  he 
never  dreamed  of;  "  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  sell  all 
that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,"  ver.  21.  This 
last  besides  almost  put  him  beside  himself.  In 
natural  things  we  still  covet  a  besides.  If  we  have 
wit,  we  covet  more  wit :  we  will  seek  to  be  more 
wise  than  we  can  be,  though  we  be  found  less  wise 
than  we  should  be.  But  in  worldly  things  our 
desires  have  an  everlasting  besides.  Hath  Ahab  a 
kingdom  ?  yet  Naboth's  vineyard  is  another  besides. 
Hatli  he  bought  the  manor  ?  he  must  have  the  poor 
man's  cottage  besides.  The  rich  man  hath  exceed- 
ing many  flocks  and  herds,  the  poor  nothing  but  one 
only  lamb,  2  Sam.  xii.  2 ;  well,  this  one  lamb  is  his 
besides,  he  must  have  it.  Hath  another  put  out  tlie 
hundred  to  usuiy  ?  yet  there  is  a  besides ;  when  the 
ten  pounds  come  in  for  interest,  out  with  that  too. 
The  widow  had  filled  all  her  vessels  with  oil,  yet 
she  calls  for  another  vessel,  2  Kings  iv.  6 ;  there  is  a 
besides  still.  The  rich  man,  Luke  xii.  had  his  bams 
full  before;  but  now  he  must  enlarge  them  accord- 
ing to  his  desires  :  there  is  another  besides,  he  must 
have  more.  Oh  the  insatiate  desire  of  this  world ! 
but  for  heavenly  things,  a  small  scantling  serves  us. 
I_ believe  that  Christ  died  for  me,  1  am  soriy  for  my 
sins,  I  hope  to  be  saved ;  here  is  enough,  no  besides 
is  thought  on.  Nothing  satisfies  us  for  this  world ; 
we  are  quickly  glutted  with  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Beside  t  his."  God,  that  hath  done  enough  for  us, 
leaves  us  somewhat  to  do  for  ourselves.  He  halli 
given  us  "  all  things  that  pertain  unto  life  and  god- 
liness," ver.  3 ;  enriched  us  with  "  great  and  precious 
promises,"  made  us  "  partakers  of  the  Divine  na- 
ture," ver.  4 :  there  is  God's  work.  But  "  besides 
this,  add  to  your  faith  virtue:"  there  is  thy  work. 
"  The  blood  of  Christ  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin," 
I  John  i.  7;  vet  he  that  hath  this  hope,  purgcth 
himself,  chap.  iii.  3:  there  is  thy  besides.  "  Behold,  I 
stand  at  the  door  and  knock :  if  any  man  open  the  door, 
I  will  come  in,"  &e.  Rev.  iii.  20.  God  knocks;  thou 
must  open,  that  he  may  enter :  do  thou  open,  that  is 
thy  part ;  God  will  enter,  that  is  his  part.  David 
calls  God  his  helper:  now,  as  St.  Augustine  ol)- 
servcs,  ho  is  not  said  to  be  helped,  that  never  con- 
curred with  his  endeavour.  We  are  not  blocks  and 
stones  :  (Beza  in  loc.)  and  withal  he  infers  upon 
I  Cor.  iii.  9,  "  we  are  labourers  together  with  God  ;" 
that  we  do  j^ralitE  prima;  mwtpyuv.  and  he  that 
denies  it,  denies  the  efficacy  of  the  first  grace.    This 


we  affirm  without  fear  of  falling  into  the  popish  doc- 
trine of  free-will  too. 

Three  things  concur  in  a  sinner's  conversion ;  the 
word  of  God  persuading,  the  Spirit  of  God  prevail- 
ing, and  the  will  of  man  consenting.  Thou  art  cre- 
ated without  thyself,  not  sanctified  without  thyself. 
The  father  begot  the  child  witliout  the  cliild's  will ; 
then  it  had  none,  for  it  was  not ;  but  he  cannot  bring 
tills  child  to  any  art  against  liis  \\-\i\.  I  will  not  dis- 
pute God's  power ;  he  can,  but  he  will  not,  save  us 
against  our  wills.  Some  Romists  strongly  build 
their  paper-house  of  free-will  on  such  places ;  but  a 
man  may  smile  to  read  how  bitterly  they  oppose  us 
in  the  frontispiece,  and  how  consentingly  they  jump 
with  us  in  the  conclusion.  Castifica  teipsum,  says 
Fevardentius ;  there  is  free-will :  yet  he  concludes, 
Cmtijicas  te  nun  de  ie,  sed  de  illo  qui  habitat  iti  le  ; 
there  is  no  free-will.  "  Make  straight  steps  to  your 
feet,"  Hcb.  xii.  13,  and  turn  you  to  me,  saith  the 
Lord :  therefore,  can  they  turn  themselves  ?  Here 
they  cr)-  out  louder  than  oyster-women  in  the  streets, 
Victor)-,  %-ictory ;  but  they  sing  their  own  i-irtviKtov, 
put  the  crown  on  their  own  heads.  But  what  is  the 
conquest  ?  They  have  gotten  what  wc  never  denied. 
They  prove  here  freedom  of  our  will  to  add  to  our 
own  endeavours :  right,  so  say  we  too  ;  but  they 
forget  that  God  had  made  us  first  partakers  of  the 
Divine  nature :  now,  if  the  Son  make  us  free,  we 
shall  be  free  indeed,  John  viii.  36.  Did  St.  Peter 
write  this  to  wicked  men,  or  to  saints?  If  they 
would  prove  that  unregenerate  men  can  will  their 
own  conversion  by  nature  of  themselves,  it  were 
worth  their  prize  and  praise ;  otherwise  they  have 
taken  great  pains  for  a  thing  not  denied  them:  as  I 
have  heard  of  that  wise  man,  who  challenged  his 
neighbour  for  impounding  that  very  horse  which 
himself  at  the  same  time  was  riding  on. 

Indeed  God  chargeth  us  with  a  besides :  yet  saith 
Christ,  "  Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing,"  John  xv. 
5.  Good  must  be  derived  from  a  perfect  cause  ;  and 
that  is  only  God's  grace.  But  we  are  not  allowed  to 
be  itUe.  "  The  Lord  hath  sworn  in  truth  unto 
David  ;  Of  the  fruit  of  thy  body  will  I  set  upon  thy 
throne,"  Psal.  cxxxii.  11:  there  is  God's  covenant. 
"  If  thy  cliildren  will  keep  my  testimony,"  ver.  12  : 
there  is  our  condition.  The  law  is  given  that  we 
might  have  recourse  to  the  gospel ;  the  gospel  is 
given  that  we  might  be  enabled  to  perform  the  law. 
God  is  the  principal  Agent,  but  thou  hast  thy  be- 
sides. Implore  his  aid,  put  to  thy  own  endeavours. 
Confidence  of  salvation  doth  not  contradict  wariness 
of  conversation.  He  that  is  most  sure  of  heaven,  is 
yet  afraid  to  do  that  which  may  deserve  hell.  Add 
the  oil  of  thy  diligence  to  the  kindled  lamp  of  God's 
grace;  thy  oil  doth  not  enlighten  the  lamp,  but 
feeds  it.  In  vain  we  pray  for  that  blessing,  which 
our  endeavoui-s  never  seek.  (August.)  The  pliiloso- 
plier  wanting  shoes,  and  the  king  giving  him  leather, 
yet  he  thought  it  not  enough  unless  the  king  would 
also  put  them  to  making.  God  is  so  beholden  to 
some,  that  he  must  do  all  for  them  if  he  will  have 
them.  But  when  he  hath  called  thee  to  the  tnith, 
that  might  have  sulTered  thee  to  die  in  ignorance  and 
infidelity,  thou  hast  thy  besides.  Be  not  so  much  thy 
own  enemy,  as  to  frustrate  God's  mercy  by  thy  slug- 
gishness. Lose  not,  through  want  of  some  labour 
to  amend  thy  life,  the  hope  of  eternal  blessedness. 

"  Add :"  wc  are  fallen  upon  a  point  of  arithmetic  ; 
a  special  good  point  if  it  be  confined  to  good  things. 
Of  the  four  main  parts,  addition,  subtraction,  multi- 
plication, and  (livision,  the  world  embraceth  three, 
and  casts  out  a  fourth,  for  worldly  things  :  so  God 
commands  tlirce  of  thcni,  and  casts  out  a  fourth,  for 
heavenly  things.     The  world  bars  division,  and  God 


Ver.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


59 


forbids  subtraction.  Give  me  leave  to  follow  this  meta- 
phor so  far  as  it  may  g^ve  light  to  my  present  intention. 
Let  U3  first  see  the  world's  arithmetic,  then  Gou'j. 

Addition,  especially  of  sin  to  sin,  is  a  frequent 
point.  Herod  had  done  many  foul  mischiefs,  yet  he 
had  his  addition ;  he  "  added  yet  this  above  all,  that 
he  had  shut  up  John  in  prison,"  Luke  iii.  20  ;  yea, 
afterwards  he  slew  him  in  the  prison,  Mank  vi.  27. 
To  incest  he  added  tyranny  j  to  tyranny  murder. 
That  other  Herod  had  such  an  addition  ;  "  he  killed 
James  ;  and  because  he  saw  it  pleased  the  Jews,  he 
proceeded  further,  to  take  Peter  also,"  Acts  xii.  2,  3. 
Many  such  additions  ;  to  swearing  they  add  lying,  to 
lying  killing,  to  killing  stealing,  to  that  adultery ;  until 
"  blood  toucheth  blood,"  Hos.  iv.  2.  Their  reward 
shall  be  proportioned;  because  their  (added)  sins  for 
length  reacn  up  to  heaven,  therefore  God  shall 
double  unto  them  double  according  to  their  works. 
Rev.  xviii.  5,  6. 

Multiplication  goes  beyond  addition.  "  To-mor- 
row shall  be  as  this  day,  and  much  more  abundant," 
Isa.  Ivi.  12.  "  Be  not  over-much  wicked,"  Eccl.  vii. 
17-  In  youth  men  sow  those  cursed  seeds  in  the 
ground  of  their  hearts ;  in  age  they  reap  a  multiplied 
crop.  Let  usury  be  a  demonstration  of  this  point  : 
the  usurer  says  to  his  monies,  as  God  said  once  to  his 
creatures,  "Increase  and  multiply:"  a  monstrous 
and  unnatural  brood.  Other  cattle  and  plants  have 
their  appointed  seasons  to  engender  and  bring  forth  : 
money  brings  forth  to-day,  and  begins  a  new  travail 
to-morrow ;  yea,  the  young  brood  brought  forth  to- 
day, begins  itself  to  bear  to-morrow.  Other  crea- 
tures, the  sooner  they  begin  to  bear  the  sooner  they 
leave  off:  usurious  monies  begin  betimes,  and  mul- 
tiply without  end.  It  is  an  unhappy  point  of  arith- 
metic, multiplication  by  usury,  and  shall  be  punished 
as  God  threatened  Eve  ;  "  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy 
sorrow,"  Gen.  iii.  16.  But  "  woe  to  him  that  increases 
that  which  is  not  his ! "  Hab.  ii.  6.  "  For  three  trans- 
gressions of  Israel,  and  for  four,  I  will  not  turn  away 
the  punishment  thereof,"  Amos  ii.  6.  Upon  him  that 
will  multiply  his  sins,  God  will  multiply  his  plagues. 

Subtraction  is  another  point  of  the  world's  ju'ac- 
tice.  They  covet  houses  and  fields,  and  take  them 
away  by  violence,  Micah  ii.  2.  Jezebel  was  cunning 
in  this  point  against  innocent  Naboth,  she  took  away 
his  living  and  life  too.  How  could  so  many  flaunt  it 
in  their  coaches,  but  that  they  live  by  subtraction  ?  the 
tenth  and  right  of  the  church  maintains  it.  Oh  the 
pity  of  God  and  man !  that  maintenance  should  be 
taken  from  the  poor  minister  who  wants  bread,  and 
be  given  to  feed  the  vile  appetite  of  pride  and  lux- 
ury. If  a  robber  takes  a  purse,  he  dies  for  it  :  but 
let  others  subtract  from  the  poor  their  commons, 
from  labourers  their  wages,  from  the  church  her  en- 
dowments ;  and  this  arithmetic  passes.  This  made 
Socrates  laugh,  to  see  little  tliieves  riding  in  carts  to 
the  gallows,  and  great  thieves  in  coaches  to  con- 
demn them.  A  poor  sea  captain  being  brought  be- 
fore Alexander  for  piracy,  thus  confessed  his  fault : 
Indeed  I  am  a  pirate,  because  I  robbed  some  few 
fishermen  in  a  cock-boat ;  but  if  I  had  scoured  the 
seas  as  thou  hast  done,  and  spoiled  all  the  world, 
with  a  na^T,  with  an  army,  I  had  been  no  pirate,  I 
had  been  an  emperor.  The  malefactor  could  say,  I 
die  for  a  few  trifles  of  petty  thievery  :  but  if  I  had 
robbed  the  poor  by  giving  their  bread  to  dogs  ;  or 
the  church  by  simony  and  detaining  her  tenths  ;  or 
the  commonwealth  by  engrossings,  enhancings;  I 
might  have  been  a  justice  of  peace,  or  an  alderman. 
Thus,  as  in  a  throng  a  dwarf  comes  to  be  lifted  up 
above  the  shoulders  of  the  tallest,  and  made  a 
laughing-stock,  that  kept  least  ado ;  so  in  the  crowd 
of  this  world,  the  least  sins  are  exposed  to  the 


sharpest  censures.  Well,  if  any  man  will  practise 
subtraction  against  the  poor,  God  will  use  it  against 
him,  and  take  his  name  out  of  the  book  of  life.  If 
he  be  damned  that  gives  not  his  own,  what  shall  be- 
comeof him  thattakesaway  anotherman's?  (August.) 
If  judgment  without  mercy  shall  be  to  him  that 
shows  no  mercy.  Jam.  ii.  13,  where  shall  subtraction 
and  rapine  appear  ?  "  Let  the  extortioner  catch  all 
that  he  hath ;  and  let  the  strangers  spoil  his  labour," 
Psal.  cix.  11  :  there  is  one  subtraction,  his  estate. 
"Let  his  posterity  be  cut  off;  and  in  the  genera- 
tion following  let  their  name  be  blotted  out,"  ver.  13  : 
there  is  another  subtraction,  his  memor)'.  "Let 
there  be  none  to  extend  mercy  unto  him ;  neither 
any  to  favour  his  fatherless  childi'en,"  ver.  12  ;  there 
is  another  subtraction,  a  denial  of  all  pity  to  liim  and 
his.  "  Let  his  prayer  become  sin,"  ver.  7  :  there 
is  another  subtraction,  no  audience  from  heaven. 
"Let  another  take  his  office;"  there  is  a  subtrac- 
of  his  place  :  "  let  his  days  be  few,"  ver.  8 ;  there 
is  a  subtraction  of  his  life.  "  Let  him  be  blotted  out 
of  the  book  of  the  living,  and  not  be  written  with  the 
righteous,"  Psal.  Ixix.  '2S :  there  is  the  last,  the  sub- 
traction of  his  soul.  This  is  a  fearful  arithmetic  :  if 
the  wicked  add  sins,  God  will  add  plagues.  "  Add 
iniquity  unto  their  iniquity  ;  and  let  them  not  come 
into  thy  righteousness,"  Psal.  Ixix.  27.  God  shall  add 
unto  them  the  plagues  written  in  the  book.  Rev.  xxii. 
18.  If  they  subtract  from  others  their  rights,  God 
shall  subtract  from  them  his  mercies. 

Now  let  us  come  to  God's  arithmetic;  and  this 
principally  consists  in  addition.  "Whosoever  shall 
compel  thee  to  go  a  mile,  go  with  him  twain," 
Matt.  v.  41.  To  give  every  man  liis  own  is  but  equity, 
but  the  addition  of  charity  makes  blessed.  "  I  was 
hungry,  and  ye  gave  me  meat,"  &e.  "  Come,  ye 
blessed,"  &c.  Matt.  xxv.  To  remission  add  restitu- 
tion ;  to  restitution,  charity  ;  to  charity,  piety.  How 
oft,  says  Peter,  shall  I  forgive  my  brother  ?  till 
seven  times  ?  Yea,  saitli  Christ,  and  more  ;  to  seven 
times  add  seventy  times.  We  must  all  give  an  ac- 
count ;  blessed  are  they  that  can  bring  in  this  bill 
of  reckonings,  addition  of  good  to  good.  "  Let  us 
not  be  weary  in  well-doing,"  Gal.  vi.  9  :  there  is  our 
bill  of  reckoning.  "  Fear  God,  and  keep  liis  com- 
mandments ;  for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man," 
Eccl.  xii.  13:  there  is  our  total  sum.  Now  as  addi- 
tion teacheth  us  to  add  grace  to  grace ;  so  thei'e 
is  a  multiplication  required,  to  increase  the  effects 
of  those  graces  in  a  multiplicity  of  good  works. 
Knowledge  not  improved  will  be  impaired.  Hast 
thou  faith  but  no  stronger  than  many  years  ago  ?  Is 
not  thy  zeal  more  fervent,  thy  charity  more  com- 
passionate, thy  humility  brought  lower?  "Lord, 
thou  deliveredst  unto  me  five  talents :  behold  I 
have  gained  besides  them  five'talents  more,"  Matt. 
xxv.  20.  To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given  ;  but  from 
him  that  hath  not,  shall  be  taken  away  that  he 
seemed  to  have.  If  there  be  no  usurj',  we  shall  lose 
the  principal.  God  is  a  Father  that  loves  to  have  his 
children  tiirive :  he  gives  them  a  stock,  and  looks  they 
should  not  be  unthrifts :  if  they  do  well,  they  shall 
have  the  whole  inheritance.  As  in  generation,  so  in 
regeneration,  we  must  be  growing  up  to  a  full  stature 
in  Christ,  Eph.  iv.  13.  As  a  traveller  passeth  from 
town  to  town  till  he  come  to  his  inn  ;  so  the  Chris- 
tian from  virtue  to  virtue  till  he  come  to  heaven. 
God  hath  sown  some  good  seeds  in  our  hearts ;  let 
us  manure  the  ground  with  repentance,  and  mature 
the  fruits  by  obedience,  that  they  may  grow  up 
kindly,  to  his  honour  and  glory. 

Now  because  I  am  moved  to  move  your  charity  at 
this  time,  let  me  be  bold  to  teach  you  another  point 
of  God's  arithmetic ;  it  is  division.     "  Give  a  portion 


60 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1. 


to  seven,  and  also  to  eight,"  Eccl.  xi.  2.  Geometrical 
division  is  justice,  to  give  every  one  his  own.  There 
is  an  arithmetical  division,  charity,  to  give  somewhat 
to  all  that  want :  not  all  to  one,  this  is  no  division ; 
but  some  to  all,  this  is  to  divide  well.  He  that  will 
not  divide  while  he  lives,  shall  find  an  empty  quo- 
tient when  he  is  dead.  (August.)  The  broad  of  the 
poor  is  like  the  way  of  the  rich;  he  that  hoards  it 
from  him  is  a  man  of  blood.  We  find  means  of 
division,  but  they  are  not  good.  Upon  the  least 
quarrel  we  divide  all  among  the  lawyers :  the  Com- 
mon Pleas  and  the  Chancery  drink  up  the  poor's 
portion.  Among  rufiians,  a  word  and  a  blow  ;  among 
civil  men,  a  word  and  a  writ.  I  hear  the  proud 
neighbour  speak  of  his  equal,  Go  to,  I  have  a  hun- 
dred pounds  to  spend  with  him  :  I  hear  him  not 
speak  of  the  poor  beggar,  I  have  a  hundred  pence  to 
give  him.  Even  the  lawyers  themselves  count  you 
mad:  I  have  heard  that  a  lawyer  dying  bequeathed 
all  his  goods  to  bedlam ;  saying,  Among  mad-men  I 
got  it,  and  let  mad-men  spend  it.  There  were  two 
covetous  brethren  strove  for  the  inheritance,  Luke 
xii.  13 ;  they  strove  not  who  should  be  most  charit- 
able. There  are  that  divide  a  part  to  tailors  for 
strange  disguises,  a  part  to  panders  for  their  female 
damnations,  a  part  to  corrupt  officers  that  sell  truth 
for  bribes  ;  and  if  they  have  any  left,  divide  it  among 
their  children ;  but  I  find  no  portion  left  for  the 
children  of  God. 

What  men  charitably  divide,  they  shall  only  find : 
of  all,  what  I  gave,  that  I  have.  This  division  is  not 
loss  but  gain ;  it  is  sent  before  to  be  kept  safe  in  the 
l)est  eofi'er.  The  bread  cast  upon  the  waters,  shall 
be  found  again  after  many  days,  Eccl.  xi.  1.  The 
truly  rich  man  is  not  discerned  by  his  plate,  nor 
bags,  nor  wardrobe,  but  bounty ;  not  by  multiplica- 
tion, but  by  division.  Other  men  possess  riches  as 
sick  men  fevers,  which  indeed  rather  possess  them. 
Good  alms  are  like  ambassadors,  sent  liegers  abroad 
to  secure  the  rest  at  home.  We  have  many  of  St. 
James's  almoners,  James  ii.  16.  God  bless  you  ;  but 
they  bless  you  without  a  cross.  Would  I  were  able 
to  help  you :  able !  herein  they  wish  well  to  them- 
selves only.  As  the  tenant  said  to  his  landlord, 
Would  I  could  give  you  this  farm.  What  then  ? 
said  the  landlord.  You  should  never  have  it,  quoth 
the  tenant.  They  wish  themselves  money,  not  mercy. 
The  poor  may  say  to  them  as  the  beggar  said  to  the 
bishop:  if  such  wishes  were  worth  a  halfpenny  they 
would  not  be  so  liberal.  Well,  divide  it  thyself,  or  it 
shall  be  done  for  thee.  The  father  could  not  be  more 
cunning  at  the  rake,  than  the  son  will  be  at  the  pitch- 
fork. Tlie  monies  that  were  formerly  chested  like 
caged  birds,  will  wing  it  merrily  when  he  sets  them 
a  flying;  "  He  hegetteth  a  son,  and  there  is  nothing 
in  his  hand ;"  if  at  least  they  be  not  gone  before  he 
comes  at  them.  "  Thou  fool,  then  whose  shall  those 
things  be  ? "  Luke  xii.  20 ;  yea,  whose  shalt  thou  thy- 
self be  ?  and  that  is  the  harder  question.  "  When  he 
dieth  he  shall  carry  nothing  away  :"  but  death  comes, 
and  there  is  a  diN-ision  indeed.  Read  James  v.  2. 
The  moth  shall  divide  his  cloth,  the  rast  his  gold : 
this  is  not  all ;  the  world  shall  divide  his  goods, 
infamy  his  name,  the  earth  his  body,  terror  his  con- 
science, and  hell  his  imcharitablc  soul.  Wilt  thou 
not  divide,  O  worldling?  thou  shalt  be  divided. 
Your  twenty  in  the  hundred  will  not  believe  this, 
but  a  hundred  to  twenty  he  shall  feel  this.  But  let 
\is  divide  our  goods  by  charity,  and  Christ  will 
gather  up  our  .souls  in  mercy. 

It  follows,  "  Add  to  your  faith,"  &c.  The  motives 
are  done  ;  come  we  to  the  materials.  Here  be  eight 
in  nund)cr,  all  excellent  in  nature.  Under  this  num- 
ber of  eiglit  (though  I  put  no  divinity  in  numbers) 


the  Scripture  hath  often  commended  to  us  the  graces 
of  God.  So  the  induements  we  must  put  on  arc 
eight :  first  is  the  linings,  bowels  of  mercies  ;  next 
kindness,  &c.  Col.  iii.  12.  Paul  does  not  there  begin 
with  faith,  but  he  ends  with  charity,  as  our  apostle 
here.  So,  Phil.  iv.  8,  he  commends  to  us  gracious 
qualities  by  the  number  of  eight:  "  Whatsoever 
things  are  true,"  &c.  To  both  these  gradations  he 
pro))ounds  the  same  eminent  coroUar)' :  "  The  peace 
of  God,"  and  "  the  God  of  peace,"  be  with  you. 
There  were  eight  tables  whereon  they  slew  their 
sacrifices,  Ezek.  xl.  41 :  upon  these  eight  tables  we 
must  slay  our  sins,  that  we  may  make  our  souls 
acceptable  sacrifices  to  God.  The  ascent  to  the 
temple  had  eight  steps,  Ezek.  xl.  31  :  by  these  eight 
degrees  we  must  climb  up  to  heaven,  or  not  come 
thither.  There  were  but  eight  souls  saved  in  Noah's 
ark :  without  these  eight  graces  no  soul  shall  be 
saved.  Our  Saviour  Christ  prescribed  eight  steps 
for  our  ascending  to  blessedness.  Matt.  v. ;  his  apostle 
hath  delivered  the  same  number.  Eight  beatitudes. 
It  were  no  impossible  thing  to  find  our  Saviour's 
text  in  his  apostle's  gloss.  1.  Christ  begins  with 
poorness  in  spirit,  Peter  with  faith :  this  sees  itself 
poor,  and  therefore  apprehends  Christ's  riches.  2. 
Christ  commends  mourning,  and  Peter  knowledge : 
now  he  that  knows  his  sins  will  mourn  for  them.  3. 
Christ  praiseth  meekness,  Peter  temperance  :  it  is 
no  hard  thing  to  find  meekness  in  temperance ; 
which  is  a  virtue  neither  to  distemper  a  man's  self, 
nor  to  disturb  others.  4.  Clirist  blesseth  the  desire 
of  righteousness,  Peter  of  virtue  ;  which  is  a  rule  to 
live  righteously.  5.  Christ  magnifieth  mercy,  Peter 
charity ;  and  who  are  charitable  but  the  merciful  ? 
6.  Christ  persuades  to  pureness  in  heart,  Peter  to 
godliness ;  and  godliness  makes  the  heart  pure.  As 
it  is  true  charity  to  be  merciful,  so  it  is  tnie  piety  to 
be  pure  in  heart.  /.  Christ  exhorts  to  peace-making, 
Peter  to  brotherly  kindness;  and  who  can  distin- 
guish between  peace-makers  and  those  that  are 
brotherly  kind  ?  as  Abraham  said  to  Lot,  Let  us  not 
strive,  for  we  are  brethren.  Lastly,  Christ  encou- 
rageth  to  sufler  persecution  for  righteousness'  sake, 
and  Peter  patience  ;  now  "  tribulation  worketh 
patience,"  Rom.  v.  3. 

Conceive  all  this  a  glorious  house,  the  building  up 
of  a  Christian.  Let  faith  stand  for  the  foundation ; 
virtue  for  the  walls;  knowledge,  the  windows,  that 
let  in  the  light  of  God's  truth  to  illuminate  it.  Let 
temperance  be  the  mortar,  that  keeps  off  the  violence 
of  wind  and  weather ;  for  temperance  diverts  cor- 
ruption. Be  patience  the  pins  and  stays  that  hold 
together  the  frame  ;  for  patience  will  not  be  moved. 
Let  godliness  be  the  perfect  form  or  model  of  it,  that 
the  structure  may  mock  the  rage  and  resistance  of 
hell.  Set  brotherly  kindness  for  the  lodging  cham- 
bers, built  to  entertain  friends.  Charity  is  the  roof, 
as  Si.  Augustine  says,  of  God's  house  in  man's  heart. 
Thus  as  God  brought  Moses  to  the  mount,  to  the  top 
of  Pisgah,  and  showed  him  the  land  of  Canaan,  Deut. 
xxxiv.  I  ;  so  I  have  brought  your  meditations  to  the 
top  of  the  mount,  and  showed  you  tlie  fruitful  valley 
standing  thick  with  the  graces  of  God.  Now  to  the 
first  material. 

"  Add  to  your  faith  virtue."  Faith  is  the  first, 
and  I  have  dnink  deeply  to  you  in  this  cup  before  ; 
yet  1  would  have  you  sick  of  a  holy  ebriety,  and  still 
to  thirst  for  this  drink  :  "drink  abundantly"  of  this 
cup,  Cant.  V.  I.  To  your  faith,  I  cannot  omit  four 
things  naturally  arising  out  of  the  words.  I.  The 
necessity ;  2.  The  singularity  ;  3.  The  propriety ; 
4.  The  society,  of  faith. 

I.  The  necessity  of  faith.  Our  apostle,  to  build 
his  house  of  Christianity,  lays  this  the  foundation. 


Veb.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


61 


That  would  be  a  poor  house  that  hath  no  foundation  : 
the  hope  of  too  many  is  a  castle  in  the  air,  that  wants 
the  foundation  of  faith.  Philosophy  lays  her  ground 
in  reason,  divinity  in  faith ;  the  first  voice  of  a 
Christian  is,  I  believe.  He  hath  most  respect  with 
God,  not  that  is  wisest  in  reason,  but  strongest  in 
faith.  Now  the  necessity  of  faith  appears  in  three 
respects ;  in  respect  of  God,  of  the  devil,  and  of  thy- 
self. 

In  respect  of  God ;  for  "  without  fiiith  it  is  impos- 
sible to  please  God,"  Heb.  xi.  6.  Every  man's  desire 
should  be  to  please  God;  without  faith  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  do  it.  "  How  shall  they  call  on  him  in  whom 
they  have  not  believed?"  Rom.  x.  14.  It  was  faith 
that  made  Abraham  titled  God's  friend.  He  that 
thrusts  into  God's  presence  without  faith  shall  be 
examined  ;  Quomodo  intrasli  ?  "  Friend,  how  camcst 
thou  in  hither  ? "  Believe  and  welcome ;  "  As  thou 
hast  believed,  so  be  it  done  unto  thee,"  Matt.  viii.  13. 

In  respect  of  the  devil.  He  is  a  roaring  lion,  we 
have  no  means  to  resist  him  but  by  being  "  stedfast 
in  the  faith,"  1  Pet.  v.  9.  He  is  too  strong  for  thee 
if  thou  mcetest  him  with  thy  virtue,  or  with  thy  good 
works ;  for  he  will  object  sins  enough  to  outweigh 
them.  Solon  cannot  meet  him  with  his  justice,  nor 
Solomon  with  his  wisdom  ;  every  poor  sinner  can 
overcome  him  with  his  faith.  This  qucncheth  "all 
the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked,"  Eph.  vi.  16.  Tem- 
perance is  a  good  buckler,  that  he  shall  not  wound 
thy  body ;  honesty  a  good  buckler,  that  he  shall  not 
wound  thy  name ;  patience,  that  he  shall  not  dis- 
turb thy  mind ;  but  if  thou  want  faith,  he  will  for  all 
these  wound  thy  soul.  This  is  an  invincible  shield 
against  an  implacable  enemy. 

In  respect  of  thyself.  Thou  art  ignorant,  there  is 
no  understanding  of  God  but  by  faith,  Isa.  i.  The 
Vulgate  reads,  Unless  ye  believe,  ye  shall  not  under- 
stand. How  the  Trinity  may  be  comprehended  in 
understanding,  thou  askest  well :  how  the  Trinity 
may  be  believed  in  faith,  thou  askest  not  well. 
It  is  therefore  to  be  believed,  because  it  cannot  be 
nnderstood.  (August.)  Thou  art  originally  cornipt, 
naturally  hateful  to  God  ;  nothing  canst  thou  do  to 
please  him,  till  thyself  be  first  made  plea-sing  to  him. 
The  doer  is  not  acceptable  for  the  deed,  but  the  deed 
is  acceptable  for  the  doer.  Hadst  thou  all  the  suc- 
ceeding graces,  and  not  this  foundation  of  faith, 
whereby  thy  person  is  made  accepted  in  the  Beloved, 
when  thou  art  judged,  thou  couldst  not  be  saved. 
Nature  may  do  works  to  glorify  ourselves ;  faith 
doth  works  to  glorify  God.  We  are  not  justified  by 
the  works  of  the  law,  but  by  grace,  say  we.  But  arc 
not  the  works  of  the  law  the  works  of  grace  ?  Yes, 
every  good  work  of  the  law  is  a  work  of  grace ;  as 
every  sin  is  a  breach  of  the  law.  Grace  and  the  law 
are  not  thus  opposed,  but  grace  and  nature.  In  the 
root  of  a  tree  apjieai-s  no  beauty,  no  show  of  leaves 
or  fruits ;  yet  what  beauty  soever  is  visible  in  the 
tree  proceeds  from  the  root.  So  in  the  humility  of 
faith  we  find  small  lustre,  no  pleasure  discernible  to 
the  eye  of  man ;  yet  whatsoever  lustre  or  gracefulness 
shines  in  our  works,  is  derived  from  that  root.  Thus 
faith  is  the  queen  that  shall  speed :  let  Ahasuerus 
be  never  so  angry,  to  his  Esther  he  w\\\  hold  out  his 
golden  sceptre.  To  this  faith  God  allows  entrance ; 
"  Let  us  draw  near  with  a  true  heart  in  full  assurance 
of  faith,"  Heb.  x.  22.  As  Adonijah  to  Bathsheba,  I 
know  the  king  will  deny  thee  nothing,  I  Kings  ii. 
13;  the  eunuch  to  Philip,  "See,  here  is  water; 
what  hinders  me  to  be  baptized?"  Acts  viii.  3(5. 
Believest  thou  ?  Yes.  Then  nothing  hinders.  Upon 
the  knowledge  of  my  faith,  I  ask,  what  hinders  me 
to  be  loved  ?  what  hinders  me  to  be  blessed  ?  what 
hinders  me  to  be  saved  •>    Now  as  Philip  to  the 


eunuch,  so  Christ  answers  us ;  Nothing,  be  it  unto 
thee  according  to  thy  faith.  Look  we  a  little  further 
into  the  necessity  of  faith :  it  is  taken  two  ways  in 
the  .Scriptures;  cither  objectively,  or  actively.  Ob- 
jectively, or  materially,  for  the  truth  of  faith  ;  ac- 
tively, or  formally,  for  the  act  of  faith,  which  is  the 
life  of  faith ;  for  the  object  to  be  believed,  and  the 
act  of  believing. 

The  object  or  doctrine  of  faith  is  that  which  God 
by  his  prophets  and  apostles  hath  delivered ;  or  what 
is  naturally  and  by  good  consequence  deduced  from 
this,  or  reduced  to  this.  For  inference  and  con- 
nexion of  Scripture  is  Scripture,  as  the  root  of  a  tree  is 
the  tree  though  it  be  hid  in  the  ground.  But  to  de- 
liver rules  of  faith,  no  writing  hath  power  but  the 
Scripture  ;  therefore  none  may  speak  authoritatively 
of  the  doctrines  of  faith  since  the  apostles :  men's 
assertions  have  no  power  to  oblige  the  conscience. 
What  the  Scripture  forbids,  flee  it ;  what  it  affirms, 
believe  it ;  what  it  reproves,  mend  it ;  what  it  com- 
mands, do  it.  "  And  as  many  as  walk  according  to 
this  rule,  peace  be  on  them,  and  mercy,  and  upon 
the  Israel  of  God,"  Gal.  vi.  16.  There  are  some 
things  libere  credenda  :  some  conceive  them  this 
way,  others  that  way.  Some  things  are  vie  credenda  ; 
as  that  Marj'  lived  and  died  a  wgin,  albeit  it  be  not 
there  expressed  ;  for  who  durst  touch  that  vessel 
wliich  God  had  sanctified  to  bear  his  own  Son  ?  Others 
are  necessario  credenda,  all  things  revealed  in  holy 
writ,  be  they  plain  and  easy,  or  dark  and  mystical. 
All,  I  say,  in  the  readiness  and  intention  of  the  mind, 
when  we  shall  come  to  understand  them ;  as  the 
mysterj'  of  the  Trinity,  Christ's  incarnation  without 
sin,  &c.  Though  we  cannot  conceive,  we  must  be- 
lieve. Now  there  is  a  difference  of  things  objected 
to  our  saving  faith.  Primaria  credendi,  such  are  the 
articles  of  faith  :  secunda  credendi,  whatsoever  there- 
of is  necessarily  inferred.  The  want  of  this  faith 
excludes  from  heaven ;  yet  the  having  of  it  without 
further  degree  doth  not  bring  all  thither.  Athana- 
sius  doth  not  say.  Whosoever  doth  believe  this  shall 
be  saved ;  but.  Whosoever  doth  not  believe  this  shall 
be  damned. 

Therefore  there  is  no  binding  men's  faith  to  that 
the  Scripture  avers  not.  The  papists  do  bind,  1.  To 
things  besides  the  foundation  ;  as  traditions,  untem- 
pered  mortar  daubed  on  the  walls  of  tnith  to  hide  it. 
2.  To  things  about  the  foundation,  such  as  endanger 
it;  as  denial  of  Scripture  to  lay-men.  This  is  a 
wretched  sin,  to  obtrude  for  matter  of  faith  that  it  is 
not  lawful  to  read  the  Scriptures  which  are  the  rule 
of  faith.  3.  To  things  against  the  foundation;  as 
the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  distinction  of  mortal  and 
venial  sins,  justification  by  works,  &c.  What  is 
against  that  which  is  necessai-ily  to  be  believed  to 
salvation,  is  against  the  foundation.  But  it  is  neces- 
sary to  trust  in  Christ's  blood  and  merits  only,  be- 
cause there  is  no  other  name  given  under  heaven 
whereby  we  may  be  saved.  Acts  iv.  12.  Therefore  to 
trust  in  others,  to  let  angels  or  men  share  part  of  our 
faiths,  is  against  the  foundation.  Indeed  they  boast 
that  they  only  hold  the  foundation  ;  but  "  I  Paul  say 
unto  you,  that  if  ye  be  circumcised,  Christ  shall  pro- 
fit you  nothing,"  Gal.  v.  2.  If  you  join  your  own 
merits  with  Christ's  merits,  he  shall  profit  you  no- 
thing.    Thus  for  the  matter  of  faith. 

As  we  see  the  necessity  of  faith,  in  respect  of  the 
doctrine  to  be  believed;  so  see  the  necessity  of  it,  in 
respect  of  the  act  of  believing.  The  schoolmen,  in 
defining  this  faith,  are  defective.  First,  they  forget 
the  name  of  Christ,  who  is  the  special  object  of 
faith ;  that  light  which  makes  the  eyes  of  faith  to 
see.  Secondly,  they  leave  out  confidence,  or  afl^ance, 
an  immeibate  effect  or  act  of  faith.    For  we  have 


62 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


"  boldness  to  enter  into  the  holiest,"  Heb.  x,  19. 
Thirdly,  they  make  it  a  speculation,  not  a  practice ; 
but  faitli  is  operative  and  bvisy,  in  applj-ing  Christ, 
in  lifting  up  the  soul  to  Christ,  in  abhorring  that 
may  oflend  Christ,  in  doing  that  may  please  Christ. 
Whither  go  we  ?  to  God.  /How  go  we  ?  by  Christ. 
On  what  foot  ?  on  our  faith ;  for  faith  is  still  walk- 
ing. There  be  three  acts  of  faith  concerning  Christ, 
])rehending,  apprehending,  comprehending  of  Christ. 
Prehcnding  of  him  is  by  knowledge  ;  we  know  him 
a  Saviour:  this  is  the  first  slep,  but  not  far  enough, 
to  heaven  ;  the  wicked  know,  the  devils  have  this 
faith.  Apprehenchng  of  him,  by  appropriation  of 
his  merits :  we  know  him  our  Saviour ;  my  Lord, 
and  my  God.  Comprehending  of  him  is  a  full  pos- 
session in  the  heart.  The  other  often  doubts;  such 
a  faith  liad  Peler,  when  he  cried  out  sinking,  "  Lord, 
save  me,"  Matt.  xiv.  30.  Wliile  he  believed,  he  trod 
the  sea  safely  :  when  he  doubted,  he  began  to  sink. 
When  we  "  comprehend  with  all  saints,"  and  "  know 
the  love  of  Christ,  which  passeth  knowledge,"  Eph. 
iii.  18,  19 ;  this  is  the  fulness  of  faith.  "  According 
to  the  faith  of  God's  elect,"  Tit.  i.  1  :  there  is  a 
faith  of  the  elect,  therefore  the  reprobates  may  have 
a  faith  by  themselves.  Their  belief  is  in  the  elect, 
but  the  belief  of  the  elect  is  not  in  them.  They  may 
have  a  true  faith,  but  not  a  saving  faith.  This  is  of 
necessity  to  heaven  ;  and  as  it  depends  upon  Christ, 
so  it  is  given  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  Oui-  apostle 
says  before,  they  obtained  it  by  lot.  Jacob  prophe- 
sied the  division  of  Canaan,  yet  was  it  done  by  lot. 
Faith  is  not  gotten  by  wit  or  diligence,  but  by  God's 
lot,  that  is,  God's  gift.  If  this  lot  be  thine,  thou 
hast  di'awn  well,  and  shall  never  look  blank.  The 
abridgement  of  all  godliness,  or  sanctity  in  the  root 
of  sanctity,  that  is  this  faith.  Now  seeing  (neces- 
sarily) we  cannot  be  saved  without  it,  in  all  our 
hearts,  good  Lord,  plant  it. 

Secondly,  we  arc  to  consider  the  singularity  :  the 
apostle  says  not,  faiths,  but  faith.  He  writes  to 
many,  but  he  speaks  of  no  phu'ality  of  faiths ;  "  One 
Lord,  one  faith,"  Eph.  iv.  5.  One  as  to  the  object, 
which  is  Christ ;  not  one  as  to  the  subject ;  for 
eveiy  believer  hath  his  own  faith.  But  his  meaning 
is  that  all  true  believers  have  one  and  the  same  faith ; 
j-our  faith.  There  is  but  one  faith  in  the  church,  as 
but  one  church  in  the  faith;  one  faith  in  nature,  not 
one  in  number.     We  may  say  of  faiths,  as  of  faces. 

Fades  non  omnibus  una  ; 
Non  diversa  tamen. 

One  light,  many  rays  ;  one  fountain,  many  streams ; 
one  tree,  many  branches.  The  church  is  a  pome- 
granate, that  hath  many  kernels ;  an  ear  of  wheat, 
that  hath  many  grains.  Evciy  man  hath  his  own 
faith,  yet  all  have  but  one  faith.  Paul  speaks  of 
some  that  "  have  erred  from  the  faith,"  1  Tim.  vi. 
10;  and  of  others  "  reprobate  concerning  the  faith," 
2  Tim.  iii.  8  :  that  have  prevaricated  from  that  faith 
which  the  church  in  unity  professeth  :  "  Wherefore 
rebuke  them  sharply,  that  they  may  be  sound  in  the 
faith,"  Tit.  i.  13.  Man's  body,  as  physicians  say,  is 
subject  to  two  thousand  diseases ;  the  eye,  to  two 
hundred  :  but  faith,  which  is  the  soul's  eye,  is  sul)- 
ject  to  more.  There  be  so  many  errors  concerning 
the  faith,  that  they  are  not  to  be  numbered.  Almost 
as  many  sects  as  cities,  as  many  creeds  as  heads. 
Christ  says,  when  he  shall  come  to  judgment,  that 
he  shall  scarce  find  faith  on  ihe  earth;  but  if  he 
come  now,  he  shall  find  too  many  faiths.  I  pray 
God  the  plurality  of  faitns  among  manv,  hath  not 
broiight  a  nullity  of  faith  in  the  most.  So  our 
Saviour's  prophecy  will  still  be  true ;  among  so  manv 
false  faiths  he  shall  scarce  find  any  true  faith.    No't 


so  much  need  to  pray  now  with  the  apostles.  Lord, 
increase  our  faith ;  but,  Lord,  decrease  our  faiths. 
Lessen  the  number  of  our  false  faiths,  increase  the 
measure  of  our  true  faith.  We  know  how  some  be- 
lieve this  year;  we  know  not  how  they  will  believe 
next  year.  Where  belief  is  uncertain,  unbelief  is 
certain.  The  vanity  of  some  men,  the  curiosity  of 
many  men,  the  inconstancy  of  all  men,  make  many 
faiths.  As  the  Levite  served  his  ravished  concubine, 
he  divided  her  into  twelve  pieces,  and  sent  her  into 
all  the  coasts  of  Israel,  Judg.  xix.  29 ;  so  poor  faith 
hath  been  cut  into  twelve  thousand  pieces,  and  scat- 
tered all  over  the  world. 

The  papists  exclaim,  so  far  as  the  world  is  chris- 
tened, that  the  variety  of  faiths  sprung  from  us.  Out 
of  one  Luther  came  many  faiths ;  as  out  of  the  belly 
of  the  Trojan  horse,  an  army  of  soldiers.  They  call 
us  new-gospellers,  and  protestants  of  a  fifth  gospel. 
All  their  malice  is  to  black  and  grime  the  face  of  our 
church;  which  still,  maugre  all  their  spite,  looks 
fair  in  the  eye  of  her  husband  Jesus  Christ.  All 
their  aspersions  and  calumnies  are  but  rubbish  to 
scour  us,  and  make  us  God's  brighter  vessels,  k  fifth 
gospel,  say  ye  ?  No,  remember  your  own  book, 
which  the  monks  of  Paris  wrote,  and  called  it,  the 
Everlasting  Gospel :  there  was  a  fifth  gospel.  But 
the  want  of  our  union  with  the  pope,  or  unity  with 
ourselves,  doth  not  disprove  the  truth  of  our  faith. 
As  Jerusalem  is  at  one,  so  Babylon  is  at  one. 
(August.)  The  children  of  hell  are  at  peace;  Satan 
divides  not  his  kingdom  :  one  crow  will  not  pick  out 
another  crow's  eyes.  As  every  union  is  not  truth,  so 
every  dissension  is  not  falsehood.  Better  are  the 
troubles  and  difierenccs  of  righteousness,  than  the 
peace  of  wickedness.  There  is  no  tnith  of  unity, 
without  unity  of  ti-uth.  Agreement  in  evil  is  not 
unity,  but  conspiracy.  Indeed  our  neighbours  of 
Rome  are  subtle,  their  quarrels  are  not  in  the  streets, 
all  their  jars  keep  within  doors.  The  Inquisition 
keeps  papists  in  the  unity  of  heresy.  Yet  some  of 
them  secretly  know  their  own  errors,  their  own 
distractions.  Ludovicus  Vivcs  writes  of  a  great 
one  among  them,  persuaded  to  go  to  one  of  their 
conventicles  ;  who  answered.  Come,  let  us  go  to 
the  common  errors,  seeing  you  will  have  it  so. 
Where  was  their  union  in  the  time  of  their  anti- 
popes,  when  there  were  three  at  once  ?  'WHiich  was 
the  head?  Was  it  a  body  without  a  head?  or  a 
body  with  three  heads?  The  one  were  defective, 
the  other  monstrous.  What  was  the  unity  of  their 
faith,  ^\hcn  their  heads  were  condemned  heretics ; 
some  of  them  sacrificers  to  denls  ?  Yea,  even  now 
they  agree  not  in  the  faith.  The  Dominicans  abridge 
man's  frec-^WU,  the  Jesuits  contradict  this;  this 
miarrel  fills  the  world  with  books.  The  truth  is, 
there  are  more  differences  of  faith  in  the  Romish  re- 
ligion, than  in  all  the  world  besides.  A  reverend 
divine  of  ours  hath  collected  from  Bellarmine's  own 
pen  many  hundred  differences  among  them;  (Dr. 
Hall,  The  Peace  of  Rome ;)  yet  these  men  boast  their 
unity  of  faith.  But  as  no  unity  is  so  strong  as  that  of 
faith,  so  no  dissension  so  violent  as  that  of  different 
faiths.  Faith  is  a  whet-stone  that  gives  edge  to  the 
instmnients  of  war. 

The  papists  on  the  left  hand :  their  divines  con- 
clude that  none  of  us  can  be  saved  ;  one  heaven  can- 
not hold  the  pope  and  Calvin.  Some  of  ours  say  so 
of  them :  If  Rome  be  Babylon,  then  all  that  have  the 
mark  of  the  beast  must  bum  in  hell.  So  plainly, 
Rev.  xix.  20.  They  instance  in  many  particulars, 
wherein  the  Roman  church  doth  raze  the  founda- 
tion. Therefore  they  say,  Babylon  will  be  served  as 
she  wished  to  Jerusalem,  Psal.  cxxxvii.  She  cried 
of  that  city,  "  Rase  it,  rase  it,  even  to  the  foiinda- 


Ver.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


63 


tion:"  her  reward  shall  be  proportionate;  her  little 
ones  shall  he  dashed  against  the  stones.  But  this 
may  be  too  far  on  both  sides,  a  fever  of  zeal. 

Schismatics  on  the  right  hand ;  for  faith  suffers, 
as  Christ  suffered,  in  the  midst  of  her  enemies. 
These  invent  a  new  faith,  a  new  church.  As  the 
heathen  made  a  piece  of  wood  a  god,  and  then 
adored  it ;  so  these  set  up  a  new  creeil  of  their  own 
forging,  and  then  worship  it.  If  it  be  appealed,  they 
cry  louder  than  the  Ephesians  for  their  Diana,  with 
such  a  noise ;  "  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians." 
If  they  live  among  us,  we  ought  to  compel  them  to 
unity.  A  woman  not  contracted,  must  not  be  forced 
to  marry,  because  she  is  free ;  but  if  she  be  willingly 
contracted,  and  afterward  dislike,  she  may  be  justly 
forced  by  the  law.  These  are  contracted  to  the 
chvirch,  therefore  may  be  justly  compelled ;  "  Com- 
pel them  to  come  in,  that  my  house  may  be  filled," 
Luke  xiv.  23.  But  can  faith  be  constrained?  It  is 
against  the  nature  of  faith  to  be  compelled.  How 
then  ?  There  is  no  help  left  but  our  prayers  :  let  us 
desire  that  as  at  first  the  whole  world  was  of  one 
language,  so  that  it  were  now  all  of  one  faith.  Let 
us  beseech  our  Lord  of  faith,  to  send  us  our  lady 
faith ;  that  every  one  may  have  faith  in  his  own 
heart,  and  all  our  faith  may  be  one  in  Jesus  Christ. 

The  third  point  is  the  propriety,  your  faith.  The 
faith  of  all  is  one,  as  it  reflects  on  our  Saviour 
Christ ;  yet  eveiy  soul  that  will  go  to  heaven,  must 
have  a  particular  faith  in  itself.  All  of  us  believe 
one  thing,  yet  the  act  of  thy  faith  cannot  save  my 
soul;  it  must  be  my  own  faith.  No  man  can  be 
saved  by  a  common  faith  in  any  religion.  For  the 
substance,  it  hath  a  community  with  the  rest  of  the 
saints ;  for  the  availableness,  it  hath  a  propriety  to 
every  believer.  One  bird  cannot  fly  to  heaven  with 
anotlier  bird's  wings.  Now  it  is  called  t/oiir  faith 
two  ways  ;  by  the  right  and  interest  yoii  have  in  it, 
and  by  your  proper  use  of  it. 

1 .  Your  faith,  because  you  have  a  right  and  interest 
to  this  faith.  As  St.  Jude  calls  it  the  "  common 
salvation,"  ver.  3,  so  it  may  be  called  the  common 
faith.  If  no  Christian  he  excepted  from  the  right  of 
salvationby  Christ,  then  none  is  excepted  from  the 
right  of  faith  in  Christ.  The  faith  that  God  deli- 
vered to  the  saints,  is  your  faith  :  take  your  handful 
out  of  his  sheaf;  your  portion  is  in  this  common 
stock.  It  is,  saith  our  apostle,  "  like  precious  faith," 
ver.  1  ;  not  appropriated  to  Peter  or  Paul  only,  the 
rest  secluded,  but  common  to  all  the  saints.  He  that 
excepts  himself,  deceives  himself;  he  that  excepts 
others,  doth  \vrong  to  Christ.  There  is  a  woe  to  such ; 
"  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  ! 
for  ye  shut  up  the  kingdom  of  heaven  against  men," 
Matt,  xxiii.  13.  They  have  a  bridge  over  the  gidf, 
whereby  themselves  arc  escaped ;  and  then  take  it 
away,  lest  it  should  help  others.  But  "  when  thou 
art  converted,  strengthen  thy  brethren,"  Luke  xxii. 
32.  Show  others  the  mercy  thou  hast  tasted ;  teach 
them  to  escape  damnation  by  that  way  thou  hast 
escaped  it.  So  David,  "  Come  and  hear,  all  ye  that 
fear  God,  and  I  will  declare  what  he  hath  done  for 
my  soul,"  Psal.  Ixvi.  16.  Woe  to  them  that  engross 
faith,  that  enclose  God's  commons,  that  make  "that 
several  and  peculiar,  which  the  Lord  hath  laid 
open  and  made  common !  Thus  the  Pharisee  de- 
spised the  poor  publican,  yet  went  home  less  jus- 
tified. The  Pharisees  reproached  them  ;  "  Have 
any  of  the  rulers  believed  on  him  ?  But  this  peo- 
ple who  knowcth  not  the  law  are  cursed,"  John 
vii.  48,  49  :  but  themselves  were  more  cursed.  Shut 
not  the  door  of  heaven  against  thy  brother,  lest  God 
shut  it  against  tliine  own  soul.  Divers  gifts  are  ap- 
propriated to  divers  men ;  but  faith  is  general  to  all 


the  elect.  There  is  a  part  of  the  body  for  seeing,  a 
part  for  hearing,  a  part  for  smelling,  a  part  for  tasting, 
a  part  for  walking,  a  part  for  speaking ;  but  all  parts 
are  for  feeling.  The  eye  feels,  the  ear  feels,  the  tongue 
feels,  (S:c.  Faith  is  like  that  sense  of  feeling,  common 
to  all.  All  arc  not  seeing  parts,  nor  all  hearing 
parts,  nor  all  smelling  jjarts  ;  but  all  are  feeling  parts. 
"  Are  all  apostles  ?  are  all  prophets?  are  all  teachers  ? 
are  all  workers  of  miracles  ?"  1  Cor.  xii.  29.  Others 
may  have  particular  graces ;  faith  is  a  common  grace 
to  all.  It  is  a  devilish  malice  to  gnidge  another 
man  faith.  When  one  wished  that  none  might  go  to 
heaven,  but  himself,  his  wife,  and  his  daughter ;  an- 
other replied.  It  were  far  better  that  none  might 
go  to  hell,  but  thyself,  thy  wife,  and  thy  daughter. 

2.  Your  faith,  because  everj-  one  must  have  a  pro- 
per and  peculiar  use  of  faith.  Thou  canst  not  see 
Christ  with  another's  eyes,  nor  walk  to  heaven  on 
another's  feet.  Get  true  faith  of  thine  own  ;  though 
little,  let  it  be  tnie.  If  it  cannot  be  as  great  as  the 
best,  let  it  be  as  precious  as  the  best ;  a  little  piece 
of  gold  is  as  good  gold  as  a  great  piece,  excepting 
the  quantity.  Keep  thy  faith,  though  thou  bear 
about  in  thy  body  "  the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus," 
Gal.  vi.  17.  Wheresoever  thou  art  maimed,  let  thy 
faith  be  sound.  If  a  man  receive  a  wound,  he  is  glad 
it  is  not  to  death ;  if  he  have  sickness,  that  it  is  not 
mortal.  So  keep  faith,  and  keep  life.  Lose  not  thy 
faith,  and  thou  slialt  never  lose  Christ. 

The  fourth  and  last  point  is,  the  society.  To  your 
faith ;  to,  implies  some  accession.  Faith  is  a  great 
queen ;  it  is  base  to  let  her  go  without  a  court  and  a 
train.  The  queen  shall  be  brought  to  the  king  in 
raiment  of  needle-work  :  the  virgins  that  be  Tier 
companions  shall  follow  her,  Psal.  xlv.  14.  The 
virgins  are  virtue,  temperance,  kc.  Naked  faith  is  no 
faitn.  Let  us  not  be  solifidians,  as  the  papists  call 
us,  lest  we  be  nullifidians,  as  they  are.  Faith  is  of 
Rachel's  humour  ;  "  Give  me  children,  or  else  I 
die."  The  want  of  good  works  makes  faith  sick ; 
evil  works  kill  her  outright.  Good  deeds  are  such 
things,  that  no  man  is  saved  for  them,  nor  without 
them.  Thou  hast  need  of  thy  faith,  or  thou  canst 
not  be  saved ;  Christ  hath  need  of  thy  works,  or  he 
will  not  save  thee.  Not  that  he  needs  them  for  him- 
self, "  My  goodness,  O  Lord,  cxtende th  not  to  thee," 
Psal.  xvi.  2 ;  but  for  his  children,  "  but  to  the  saints 
that  are  in  the  earth,"  ver.  3.  So  that  in  this  re- 
spect, loose  the  ass  and  the  colt,  for  "  the  Lord  hath 
need  of  them,"  Matt.  xxi.  3  :  unbind  your  covetous 
desires,  be  free  in  the  works  of  mercy,  for  the  Lord 
hath  need  of  them.  You  ask,  AVhy  should  I  part 
with  my  goods,  seeing  my  faith  ser\-es  my  turn,  and 
is  sufficient  to  save  my  soul  ?  Yes,  but  the  Lord 
hath  need  of  them.  Use  for  himself,  because  need 
for  his ;  and  what  you  lay  out  to  these  little  ones,  he 
takes  it  to  himself,  he  will  pay  you  again.  Thus 
faith,  like  that  queen  of  the  south,  comes  not  alone 
to  Solomon ;  she  brings  her  train  after  her.  Faith 
is  this  queen;  let  rcjwntance  be  her  usher  to  go 
before  her,  and  good  works  the  court  that  follow  her : 
so  let  her  come  to  the  King  of  mercy,  the  presence- 
chamber  of  Jesus  Christ. 

'•  To  your  faith  virtue."  We  have  laid  the  found- 
ation, and  are  now  come  to  the  walls  of  this  spiritual 
house.  It  were  a  foolish  cost  of  a  foundation  with- 
out walls  ;  then  said  in  derision.  This  man  began  to 
build.  Tirtue  ;  this  is  a  special  material.  It  is  fit 
to  begin  with  the  definition.  But  we  must  first  sec 
what  is  the  virtue  here  meant,  before  we  can  define 
it.  Jerome  says  that  virtue  in  the  Scripture  is 
sometimes  taken  for  the  great  power  of  God;  as  the 
prophet  speaks,  Virtutes  Domini  nunciabil  in  insiilis : 
and  Psal.  xlvi.  he  is  called,  Dominus  virlutum.     The 


64 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1. 


philosopher  called  virtue,  the  rule  or  method  of 
living  well.  Piscator  understands  virtue  here,  right- 
eousness towards  others,  whereafter  they  that  live  are 
called  good  men.  In  a  word,  virtue  is  taken  in  a 
double  signification:  1.  In  the  latitude;  so  for  all 
graces  and  good  endowments ;  as,  "  Whatsoever 
things  are  true,  &c.  if  there  be  any  virtue,  any 
praise,"  Phil.  iv.  8.  Thus  understood  here,  it  is  but 
the  genus  to  all  these  succeeding  graces;  know- 
ledge, temperance,  &c.  all  are  \-irtues.  2.  In  a  re- 
strained sense,  it  intends  some  special  habit,  direct- 
ing a  man  to  lead  a  good  life ;  soberly,  as  to  him- 
self, righteously,  as  to  his  neighbour,  godly,  as  to 
the  Lord,  Tit  ii.  12.  First  therefore  we  will  consi- 
der virtue  in  the  copious  acceptation ;  and  so  we  may 
deduce  this  general  doctrine. 

Faith  without  virtue  can  neither  make  a  man 
good  in  himself,  nor  just  before  the  Lord.  Faith 
must  have  virtue  with  it.  God  requires  grapes  of 
the  vine,  (implanted  to  Christ  by  faith,)  not  for  his 
own  diet,  but  in  testimony  of  our  faith.  If  faith 
have  ingrafted  us  into  the  vine,  we  must  be  bearing 
branches.  And  though  we  shall  not  be  rewarded 
for  our  works  ;  yet,  according  to  our  works,  Rev.  ii. 
23.  Virtue  must  wait  at  the  heels  of  faith.  There 
is  a  great  sea  of  difference  between  the  papists  and 
us,  about  good  works ;  which,  God  knows,  are  scant 
and  cold  among  us  all.  We  both  agree  that  they 
are  to  be  done  ;  both  our  doctrines  persuade  to  well- 
doing ;  but  when  they  talk  of  merit  in  them,  here 
we  part  company  ;  they  travelling  to  heaven  by  their 
works,  we  by  our  faith :  which  of  us  speed  best,  rest 
in  the  conclusion  to  prove.  They  cavil  that  we  hold 
not  good  works  necessarj- :  we  hold  them  as  necessarj- 
■as  they,  but  in  another  kind  of  necessity.  They  in  a 
necessity  of  priority,  we  in  a  necessity  of  posteriority. 
They  to  bind  God  to  us,  we  as  already  bound  to 
God.  They  to  make  him  our  debtor,  we  in  ac- 
knowledgment of  a  debt  due  to  him  :  even  our  alms 
is  not  a  gift,  but  a  debt.  Therefore  it  is  said,  that 
no  man  hath  a  right  in  Itis  own,  but  only  the  use 
and  disposition.  As  the  wealth  of  the  seven  plenti- 
ful years  supplied  the  want  of  the  seven  barren,  so 
the  wealth  of  the  rich  is  given  to  supply  the  neces- 
sity of  the  poor.  Our  alms  brings  not  God  accountant 
to  us,  but  helps  us  in  our  account  to  God.  The 
papists  hold  them  necessary,  as  of  hired  servants, 
they  look  for  wages  for  them ;  we,  as  of  children 
disposed  according  to  the  nature  of  our  Father. 

But  if  we  be  only  justified  by  faith,  why  are  we 
rewarded  according  to  works?  Works  are  of  two 
sorts  :  Inward,  or  infused  ;  such  as  God  works  in  us  : 
these  are  here  virtues,  theological  or  moral,  as  pa- 
tience, &c.  Outward,  or  acquired ;  these  we  draw 
out  of  the  former,  or  rather  God  out  of  us.  The 
former  are  as  the  principal,  these  the  interest.  Now 
God  doth  not  so  much  call  us  to  account  for  that  he 
gives  us,  but  for  the  employment  and  increase  of  it 
that  should  be  made  to  his  use.  Therefore  he  that 
buried  his  talent  was  condemned,  though  he  had  it. 
The  others  were  rewarded,  not  because  they  had 
their  talents,  but  because  they  had  employed  them, 
and  gained  by  them.  One  came  with,  Lord,  here  is 
thine  own ;  yet  he  was  answered  with.  Cast  that  ini- 
profitable  servant  into  utter  darkness.  But  the 
other,  Lord,  behold,  thy  five  talents  have  gotten  five 
more ;  then,  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant ; 
enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord.  God  calls  him 
faithful,  because  he  used  his  faith  to  the  producing 
of  good  works.  So,  Matt,  xxv.,  not  according  to  the 
internal  habit  of  virtues  or  vices,  but  according  to 
the  works  proceeding  from  them,  is  the  reward  be- 
stowed. Christ  says  not,  you  have  believed,  but,  you 
have  done ;  Come,  ye  blessed. 


Two  things  fall  necessarily  here  to  be  obsen-ed ;  the 
invalidity  ofmerit  in  our  virtuous  works;  the  necessity 
and  commodity  of  these  virtuous  works  in  tliemselves. 
Here  is  faith  preceding,  and  works  proceeding. 

1.  The  insufficiency  of  our  virtues,  and  their  ef- 
fects, which  are  good  works,  to  merit,  or  to  justify 
our  souls  before  God.  It  is  a  sUly  illation  of  the 
Romists,  that  because  we  must  add  to  our  faith 
virtue,  ice.  therefore  faith  cannot  alone  justify.  We 
do  not  commend  a  solitan,-  faith,  you  see  her  re- 
quired company.  The  eye  alone  of  all  parts  of  the 
body  doth  see  ;  but  the  eye  that  is  alone,  or  sepa- 
rated from  the  body,  doth  not  see.  We  jironounce 
that  to  be  no  justifying  faith  which  is  without  virtue 
and  works.  But  that  faith  qualified  with  works, 
doth  notwithstanding  justify  without  works  ;  this 
we  maintain  against  men  and  angels.  We  separate 
not  faith  and  works  in  the  person  justified,  but  in 
the  act  of  justifying.  In  fire,  though  light  and  heat 
caimot  be  divided  the  one  from  the  other,  yet  the 
one  may  be  considered  without  the  other.  But  how 
shall  St.  Paul  and  St.  James  be  reconciled ;  the  one 
saying,  we  are  justified  by  faith,  the  other,  by  works? 
Is  the  spirit  of  unity  and  truth  divided  ?  No ;  the 
one  speaks  of  a  justice  of  justification,  the  other  of 
a  justice  of  testification.  The  one  acquits  before 
God,  the  other  approves  before  man.  The  one  is 
without  us,  lent ;  tne  other  within  us,  inherent :  the 
one  we  receive,  the  other  we  return.  Paul,  like  a 
doctor  in  the  schools,  reading ;  James,  as  a  pastor  in 
the  pulpit,  preaching.  The  one  establishing  a  real 
faith,  the  other  confuting  a  verbal  faith.  Piscator 
doth  thus  clear  it :  he  says  that  St.  Paul  and  St. 
James  did  handle  two  diverse  questions  ;  Paul,  that 
faith  doth  justify' ;  James,  what  kind  of  faith  doth 
justify-.  The  one  properly  teaching  justification,  the 
other  sanetification. 

Virtue  as  a  servant  follows  faith  her  mistress,  but 
when  she  comes  to  answer  the  justice  of  God,  virtue 
nms  behind  the  door,  with  a,  Lord,  be  merciful  to 
me  a  sinner;  and  so  leaves  the  burden  on  faith's 
shoulder,  which  only  answers  it  in  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Faith  is  like  Rachel,  and  virtue,  her  maid 
Bilhah  :  though  Bilhah  supply  the  defects  of  Rachel, 
yet  still  let  her  remember  that  Rachel  is  her  mis- 
tress. Christ  is  our  Husband,  and  we  his  spouse : 
now  it  is  fit  the  Bridegroom  should  be  alone  with  the 
bride  in  the  secret  chamber,  all  the  servants  and 
attendants  being  shut  forth ;  but  when  the  door  is 
opened,  and  the  Bridegroom  cometh  into  the  waiting 
room,  then  let  all  the  ser^■ants  and  hand-maids  at- 
tend ;  then  enter  virtue,  temperance,  &c.  Out  of 
the  point  of  justification  works  cannot  be  sufficiently 
commended;  into  the  cause  of  justification  they 
must  not  be  admitted.  David  had  a  great  armv  of 
soldiers  at  his  back,  yet  he  slew  Goliath. alone,  had 
none  to  help  him.  Faith  alone  conquers  Satan,  but 
it  hath  a  host  of  seconds  with  it.  Faith,  like  John, 
that  beloved  disciple,  leans  on  Christ's  breast ;  good 
works,  with  Peter,  follow  Christ.  The  storv'  of 
Judith's  proceeding  with  Holofemes  may  be  here 
entertained  for  a  fit  similitude,  Judith  xiii.  Bethulia 
is  in  danger  of  Holofemes,  the  terror  of  the  East,  as 
we  of  the  justice  of  God.  Judith  undertakes  for  the 
safety  of  the  Bethulians ;  faith  for  the  safety  of 
Christians  :  all  Bethulia  being  too  weak  to  encounter 
him.  as  all  our  obedience  is  too  little  to  answer  God. 
Judith  goes  accomiianicd  with  her  hand-maid  ;  faith, 
with  virtue.  The  hand-maid  waits  on  Judith  all  the 
way  ;  yet  in  the  act  of  deliverance  Judith  is  alone, 
and  her  hand-maid  attends  without  the  door.  Virtue 
is  ever  waiting  upon  faith  ;  but  in  the  mighty  act  of 
deliverance  she  dares  not  come  in,  but  lets  faith 
alone  with  the  whole  business.    It  is  she  that  goes  to 


Ver.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


65 


the  throne  of  grace  with  confidence,  and  obtains  mercy 
through  the  mediation  of  her  sweet  Saviour  Christ. 
2.  Tlic  necessity  of  virtuous  actions.  The  hiw, 
though  it  have  no  power  to  condemn  us,  hatli  power  to 
command  us.  The  law  sends  us  to  Christ  to  be  saved, 
and  Christ  sends  us  back  again  to  the  law  to  learn 
obedience.  The  former  is  plain ;  "  The  law  was  our 
schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Christ,  that  we  might  be 
justified  by  faitli,"  Gal.  iii.24.  The  other  is  as  mani- 
^  fest  ;  "  If  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  (he  com- 
mandments," Matt.  xix.  17.  "  The  grace  of  God  that 
bringeth  salvation  hath  appeared  to  all  men,"  Tit.  ii. 
II.  There  is  the  grace  of  God,  and  salvation  with  it : 
whither  dolh  it  send  us  ?  To  the  denial  of  ungod- 
liness and  worldly  lusts,  that  we  should  live  soberly, 
&c.  He  that  believes  will  keep  the  commandments. 
Now  the  keeping  of  the  law  is  twofold;  legal,  evan- 
gelical. Legal :  so  Adam  might  have  kept  it ;  so 
Christ  did.  Evangelical;  Christ's  righteousness  im- 
puted to  us :  he  kept  it  for  us,  and  we  strive  to  keep 
it  in  him.  That  is  ti-ue  "  faith  which  worketh  by  love," 
Gal.  v.  G.  A  man  is  a  perfect  Christian  inwardly 
through  faith  before  God,  who  hath  no  need  of  our 
works;  outwardly,  before  men  by  his  works,  for  our 
faith  profits  them  nothing.  We  call  a  painted  man 
a  man  :  some  painters  are  so  skilful  in  casting  their 
colours,  and  can  paint  a  fire  so  lively,  that  at  the  first 
blush  you  would  think  it  to  be  a  fire  indeed.  But 
try  it  by  the  effects,  hold  your  hand  to  it  to  feel  some 
warmth,  it  is  but  a  cold  board  or  block.  Many  can 
thus  lively  paint  their  faith  with  the  colours  of  pro- 
fession ;  that  God  is  their  God ;  and  though  few  be 
saved,  they  are  siu-e  to  be  of  the  number :  excellent 
fire  !  But  let  the  poor  come  near  to  be  warmed  with 
works  of  mercy,  or  others  look  for  the  light  of  virtue ; 
there  is  neither  light  nor  heat  in  it,  a  mere  painted 
fire  ;  a  Pygmalion's  block,  faced  only  like  faith.  But 
the  gospel  that  gives  salvation,  chargeth  us  watli  the 
law's  obedience.  Esther  being  brought  up  in  her 
young  years  under  Mordecai,  tliough  she  was  after- 
wards married  to  king  Ahasucnis,  and  an  imperial 
crown  of  gold  set  on  her  head,  yet  was  still  obedient 
to  Mordecai,  as  before  ;  she  "  did  the  commandment 
of  Mordecai,  like  as  when  she  was  brought  up  with 
him,"  Esth.  ii.  20.  When  he  charged  her  to  speak 
to  the  kin^,  albeit  with  hazard  of  life,  she  obeyed ;  "  If 
I  perish,  I  perish."  AVe  were  under  the  rudiments 
of  the  law,  as  she  under  Mordecai  :  now  we  are  freed 
by  the  gospel,  married  to  the  great  King  Jesus 
Christ,  crowned  with  his  grace,  enriched  with  the 
royal  apparel  of  his  righteousness  ;  yet  still  we  must 
be  obe(lient  to  the  law,  as  queen  Esther  to  Mordecai. 
Epaminondas  gave  his  soldiers  leave  to  feast  and 
sleep,  while  himself  walked  and  watched  about  the 
army.  Christ  will  not  deal  so  with  us  ;  but  rather  as 
Abimelech  said  to  his  soldiers,  What  you  see  me  do, 
do  ye  so  likewise,  Judg.  ix.  4S.  Though  in  justifica- 
tion, Be  it  unto-  thee  according  to  thy  faith ;  yet  in 
salvation.  Every  man  shall  be  rewarded  according 
to  his  works.  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart ;  for 
they  shall  see  God,"  Matt.  v.  8.  They  must  lead 
virtuous  lives  on  earth,  that  ever  expect  in  heaven 
to  see  the  Lord  Jesus. 

All  this  while  we  have  considered  virtue  in  the  lar- 
ger acceptation,  comprehensive  of  all  the  rest.  Strict- 
ly, St.  Augustine  defines  it  to  be  nothing  else,  but 
diligere  diligendum,  to  love  that  is  to  be  loved.  "Thus 
it  hatli  a  sweet  reference  to  all  the  graces  following. 
To  love  this  is  knowledge  ;  not  to  be  seduced  from 
it  by  allurements,  is  temperance ;  not  to  be  removed 
from  it  by  calamity,  is  patience  ;  to  do  this  for  God's 
cause,  is  godliness ;  to  communicate  it  to  others, 
is  brotherly  kindness  ;  to  dilate"  it  to  all  men,  is 
charity.  (Ambr.)   Knowledge  seeks  virtue,  temper- 


ance finds  it,  patience  suffers  for  it,  godliness  pos- 
sesscth  it,  charity  communicates  it^.  These  are  so 
linked  together  with  a  golden  chain  of  harmony, 
like  the  tabernacle's  curtains  of  blue  silk,  that  pull 
one,  piUl  all.  Hath  any  man  virtue  ?  he  must  have 
knowledge ;  the  ignorant  are  not  capable  of  the 
habit  of  virtue.  If  there  be  knowledge,  temperance 
will  follow :  for  folly  is  the  mother  of  surfeit,  and 
digs  its  own  grave  with  its  teeth ;  but  abstinence  is 
the  daughter  of  wisdom.  If  temperance,  then  surely 
there  will  be  patience.  Temperance  doth  no  wrong, 
patience  suffers  it.  He  that  abhors  to  hurt  others, 
will  much  less  hurt  himself.  If  patience,  there  must 
needs  be  piety  ;  for  the  thankworthy  patience  is 
that,  which  for  conscience  toward  God  endureth 
wrongful  grief,  1  Pet.  ii.  19.  If  we  be  content  to 
suffer  evil  for  God,  surely  we  will  do  for  God.  If  god- 
liness go  before,  fraternal  kindness  will  follow  after  ; 
for  no  man  can  love  the  invisible  God,  and  hate  his 
visible  brother.  If  kindness  to  our  brother  in  Christ, 
then  charity  to  all.  A  heathen  will  be  kind  to  his 
fri^ds ;  a  Christian  must  be  charitable  (o  his  enemies. 
This  is  a  golden  chain :  the  wicked  have  a  chain, 
their  "  pride  compasseth  them  about  as  a  chain," 
Psal.  Ixxiii.  6;  the  cords  or  chain  of  their  sins,  one 
end  whereof  reaches  to  hell.  But  this  chain  is  tied 
to  heaven  by  the  one  end  thereof ;  fasten  the  other 
end  to  thy  conscience,  it  shall  draw  thee  up  thither. 
The  papists  say,  images  are  the  books  of  idiots  ; 
but  the  prophet  calls  them  teachers  of  lies,  and  all 
know  that  they  are  occasions  of  sin.  Let  me  give 
you  a  picture  without  the  offence ;  behold  an  image 
without  sin.  It  is  of  virtue  :  you  shall  no  soimer  see 
the  medals,  but  you  will  straight  know  the  face. 
Conceive  her  a  \'irgin  of  an  unspotted  chastity ;  fair, 
yet  never  courted  with  a  lascivious  language.  She 
hath  a  face  white  as  is  heaven,  mixed  with  some 
lovely  red ;  white  with  her  own  innocence,  ruddy 
with  blushing  at  others'  naughtiness.  Of  her  Sa- 
viour's complexion  ;  "  My  Beloved  is  white  and 
ruddy,"  Cant.  v.  10.  She  hath  a  brow  clear  as  crj-s- 
tal,  wherein  God  hath  written  wisdom.  This  is  her 
courage ;  she  may  be  affronted,  she  cannot  be  af- 
frighted. She  hath  eyes  that  never  sent  out  a  wanton 
look ;  those  casements  were  never  opened  to  let  in 
vanity.  She  is  not  poring  with  them  on  the  earth ; 
but  nititur  erectos  adsi/dera  tollere  vultus,  directs  them 
to  heaven,  where  they  shall  one  day  see  her  desire, 
even  the  glory  of  God.  "  Thou  hast  ravished  my 
heart,  my  spouse,  with  one  of  thine  eyes,"  Cant.  iv. 
9.  The  Lord  loves  those  eyes.  She  hath  lips  like 
a  thread  of  scarlet,  and  her  speech  is  comely.  Cant, 
iv.  3.  She  hath  the  tongue  of  angels ;  when  she 
speaks,  she  ministers  grace  to  the  hearers.  She 
discourseth  the  language  of  Canaan  most  perfectly  ; 
and  never  opens,  but  the  first  air  she  breathes  echoes 
with  the  praise  of  her  Maker.  Her  ears  are  like  the 
sanctum  sanctorum  of  the  temple  ;  none  but  the  High 
Priest  must  enter  there.  They  are  stopped  to  the 
songs  of  any  siren,  open  to  the  mournings  of  any  poor. 
What  gracious  words  she  receives  in  at  those  doors, 
she  sends  them  like  jewels  to  be  laid  up  in  the  cabi- 
net of  her  heart.  She  hath  two  hands  ;  one  of  equity, 
another  of  charity ;  none  for  injury.  She  gives  every 
one  his  due  for  justice'  sake,  some  more  than  their 
due  for  mercy's  sake.  She  gives,  forgives,  does  that 
to  others  which  she  expects  at  the  hands  of  Christ. 
She  hath  bowels  of  mercy ;  the  members  of  Christ 
are  as  dear  to  her  as  her  most  inward  and  vital  parts. 
She  feeds  them,  as  considering  what  it  were  to  have 
emiity  bowels  herself.  Her  knees  were  never  stiffened 
witn  pride  ;  she  can  easily  bow  them  to  give  her 
superior  homage,  but  tlirows  them  down  at  the  foot- 
stool of  her  Maker ;  yet  still  her  heart  is  lower,  and 


66 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


she  never  riseth  without  a  pardon.  Her  feet  are  still 
travelling  the  ways  of  piety,  and  running  the  race  of 
salvation.  She  knows  this  life  is  a  journey,  and  no 
time  to  stand  still,  therefore  she  is  shod  for  the  pur- 
pose, with  the  "  preparation  of  the  gospel  of  peace :" 
she  never  rests,  till  she  is  gotten  within  the  threshold 
of  heaven.  She  hath  a  white  silken  garment,  tlie 
snow  of  Lebanon  is  black  to  it ;  not  woven  out  of  the 
bowels  of  worms,  but  out  of  the  side  of  her  Saviour. 
She  is  clothed  all  over  with  his  righteousness,  which 
makes  her  beautiful  in  the  sight  of  her  Maker.  She 
is  girt  with  the  girdle  of  truth;  and  sins  not,  not  be- 
cause she  cannot,  but  because  she  will  not.  (August.) 
She  hath  a  crown  promised,  blessedness:  her  Re- 
deemer, even  the  King  of  heaven,  did  bequeath  it  her 
in  his  will,  and  she  shall  wear  it  in  eternal  glorj-. 
And  let  every  soul,  that  knows  and  loves  her  on 
earth,  or  hopes  to  enjoy  her  reward  in  heaven,  call 
her  blessed. 

"  To  virtue  knowledge."  Virtue  without  know- 
ledge were  like  a  beautiful  damsel  blind,  or  a  fair 
house  that  hath  not  a  window  in  it.  Virtue  is  like  a 
pearl  in  the  shell ;  there  must  be  knowledge  to  break 
the  shell,  or  we  cannot  come  at  the  pearl.  Ignorance 
is  dangerous.  Thus  the  devil  carries  many  to  hell, 
as  falconers  carry  their  hooded  hawks,  without  bait- 
ing. There  is  no  ^\Tetchedness  so  pitiable,  as  that 
which  is  not  knov\Ti  to  the  sufferer.  If  men  will  not 
know  God,  God  will  not  know  them.  Therefore  he 
sends  away  the  wicked  with  an  "  I  know  you  not ;" 
but,  "  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his,"  2  Tim. 
ii.  19.  "They  have  made  princes,  and  I  knew  it  not," 
Hos.  viii.  4 ;  that  is,  I  <hd  not  approve  of  it.  Wilt 
thou  not  know  ?  thou  shalt  not  be  acknowledged. 

The  work  of  regeneration  begins  at  illumination. 
The  first  thing  that  sunk  in  our  first  parents,  was 
knowledge  :  now  where  the  wound  began,  there  must 
begin  the  medicine.  Thou  seest  in  a  tree  buds,  leaves, 
flowers,  and  fruits,  and  bark,  and  jjith ;  yet  all  these 
are  but  the  juice  diversely  digested  and  sent  forth. 
So  here  in  a  Christian,  faith,  virtue,  temperance, 
patience,  charity,  godliness;  yet  all  these  are  but 
the  knowledge  of  Christ  diversely  concorded :  know- 
ledge is  the  light  of  virtue. 

The  papists  indeed  magnify  ignorance  :  good  rea- 
son, for  ignorance  magnifies  them.  Our  way  to  hea- 
ven is  knowledge  :  perhaps  they  have  a  way  by 
themselves.  Like  owls,  they  keep  a  whooting  in  the 
dark,  but  arc  blind  in  the  broad  day ;  never  ask  them, 
poor  souls,  as  Philip  the  eunuch,  "  Understandest 
thou  what  thou  readest  ?  "  but,  Dost  thou  read  at  nil  ? 
No,  we  may  not  be  suffered  to  read.  It  will  be  very 
hard  for  a  man  to  stumlile  over  the  threshold  of  hea- 
ven, or  to  go  blindfold  to  salvation. 

Concupiscence,  though  ever  sinful,  yet  could  not 
bring  forth  sin  wthout  the  consent  of  reason ;  and 
this  would  never  consent  so  long  as  the  eyes  were 
open.  For  sin  is  a  thing  so  ugly  and  deformed,  and 
so  like  the  father  the  de\'il,  that  it  is  unreasonable  for  a 
man's  soul  to  yield  to  it.  Hence  Paul  calls  sin  a  work 
of  darkness ;  for  Satan  doth  hide  it  from  us  in  the  birth, 
and  would  hide  it  from  us  in  the  growth,  only  on  our 
death-bed  and  anguish  of  soul  he  shows  it  us  in  the 
fmit.  In  this  sense,  that  may  rightly  be  understood, 
that  no  man  sins  knowingly  at  the  very  instant  of 
Ihe  committing.  Though  he  have  the  habit  of  know- 
ledge in  the  general,  yet  hath  he  lost  it  in  the  par- 
ticular. As  we  say  of  the  coward,  there  is  fear  in 
his  heart,  even  while  he  feareth  not ;  in  regard  of 
the  habit.  And  the  slave  hath  an  habitual  service 
upon  him,  even  when  he  sleejjs ;  he  sen-es  though 
he  takes  his  case.  There  may  be  the  habit  of  know- 
ledge in  the  mind,  yet  not  the  use  of  it  in  some  spe- 
cial act.    The  devil,  to  utter  his  damned  commodities, 


dealeth  as  some  tradesmen  about  their  bad  wares; 
puts  out  the  true  lights,  and  sets  up  false  lights  in 
their  stead.  In  the  time  of  superstition  he  put  out 
the  word  i)reached,  that  man  did  scarce  know  sin  in 
general.  In  these  days  of  profaneness,  he  puts  out 
tlie  word  applied,  thai  few  consider  what  sin  is  in 
practice.  So  that  now,  he  that  coming  from  the 
mount,  as  Moses,  and  hearing  the  world's  confused 
noise,  would  think  it  the  noise  of  war,  conquering  or 
conquered ;  but  being  among  them,  he  finds  it  the 
noise  of  joy  and  dancing,  revelling  and  roaring.  Not 
because  men  do  not  know  these  sins  in  general,  but 
they  will  not  know  them  in  these  particular  facts. 
Last,  like  a  thick  smoke,  dims  Ihe  eye  of  knowledge. 

Now  the  means  to  prevent  this  unckedness,  is  to 
keep  open  the  eye  of  knowledge.  This  is  done  both 
by  the  doctrine  of  truth  in  general,  and  the  applica- 
tion thereof  in  special.  The  general  knowledge  of 
truth  is  more  easy,  for  which  of  us  is  ignorant  what 
sin  is  ?  Knowledge,  while  she  walks  in  generals,  is 
in  her  own  jurisdiction ;  sense  and  affection  have 
nothing  to  do  with  her,  but  she  may  freely  give  her 
sentence.  Lo,  then  she  dares  call  usiuy,  usury,  and 
not  a  moderate  improvement  of  money ;  pride,  pride, 
and  not  handsomeness  ;  covetousness  by  its  own 
name,  and  not  thirstiness.  But  when  she  descends 
to  particulars,  wherein  all  actions  do  consist,  and 
disputeth  whether  this  or  that  special  act  be  sin  or 
not,  here  sense  and  affection  put  in  for  a  part, 
challenge  an  interest,  and  oversway.  And  as  it  is 
in  an  ill  picked  (or  as  we  say,  packed)  juiy,  whereof 
there  is  one  wise  man,  another  honest  man,  five 
knaves  and  five  fools ;  the  greater  part  overrules  the 
better  part,  these  ten  overbear  those  two.  The  five 
senses,  and  as  many  affections,  are  the  knaves  and 
the  fools ;  science  is  the  wise  man,  conscience  the 
honest :  now  neither  science  the  wise,  nor  conscience 
the  honest,  can  be  heard,  nor  give  in  their  verdict ; 
but  all  goes  with  the  mad  senses  and  frantic  af- 
fections. 

Here  we  see  the  use  of  preachers,  who  may  speak 
freely,  and  help  us  to  retain  the  truth  in  particular. 
Admonition  is  called  by  the  Greeks  vovdtaia ;  as  it 
were,  a  restoring  or  putting  of  the  mind  in  order. 
When  the  imderstanding  is  (as  it  were)  beside  itself, 
and  out  of  joint ;  transported  with  some  sudden 
passion,  or  prevented  by  an  evil  custom;  this  repairs 
it.  So  Paul  delivers  the  use  of  it,  Eph.  iv.  12,  for 
the  putting  again  in  joint  of  luxate  members.  This 
continual  public  preaching  is  necessary ;  as  a  taper 
set  on  the  table  to  give  light  to  all  in  the  house ; 
if  this  light  waste  itself,  what  hurt  does  it  to  thee  ? 
yea,  if  it  go  out  in  its  own  stench,  yet  if  lightens 
thee  so  long  as  it  lasts.  But  thou  sayest.  Let  not 
me  take  coimscl  of  him,  that  gives  none  to  himself. 
Yet  he  might  build  an  ark  for  Noah,  that  was  liim- 
self  dro\med  in  the  flood  :  he  may  light  thee  to 
heaven,  though  himself  go  darkling  to  another  place. 
Woe  to  him  if  he  do  not  preach !  if  he  do  preacli, 
lake  tliy  portion.  Quod  bene  dicil,  liiiim  est;  quod 
male  rtvi/,  suum  est.  But  if  he  preach  not,  tnou 
mayst  perish.  Where  if  you  had  good  eyes  and 
thankful  hearts,  you  would  see  and  acknowledge 
how  God  hath  blessed  you  more  than  the  Romanists. 
The  devil  was  feigned  to  send  a  letter  of  commenda- 
tions lo  the  popish  clergy.  Amongst  many  other 
things,  he  thanks  them  for  their  ignorance,  but  espe- 
cially for  their  silence.  For  settling  our  estate  wc 
require  a  learned  la\Tyer;  for  our  sick  body,  a  learned 
physician ;  and  for  the  soul  that  is  most  precious, 
sh;ill  we  not  desire  a  learned  divine  ?  In  law  thou 
canst  but  hazard  thy  estate ;  in  physic  thou  vonturest 
but  a  mortal  life  ;  but  here  thou  mayst  lose  thy 
soul.    The  body   dies,  the   physicinu  is   paid;  let 


Veb.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


67 


the  estate  be  lost,  thy  lawyer  hath  his  fees  before  : 
but  if  the  minister  save  thy  soul,  yet  he  is  not  re- 
garded, nor  rewarded  ;  if  he  lose  it  by  vnihil  negli- 
gence, he  hath  lost  himself.  Thus  requisite  are 
preachers  to  give  the  hght  of  knowledge.  But  yet 
if  in  tliis  night  of  sin  we  will  do  any  profitable  work, 
we  must  either  ourselves  have  a  particular  light  of 
our  ovm  in  our  hands  ;  or  if  we  cannot,  we  must  get 
another  to  hold  the  candle  to  us,  that  we  may  see  the 
deformity  of  sin  ;  lest  knowledge  being  blinded,  and 
lust  leading  the  way,  we  both  fall  into  the  pit  of  de- 
struction. John  the  Baptist  was  Christ's  harbinger, 
and  went  before  him,  that  is,  the  glory  of  heaven. 
Knowledge  is  like  John,  that  shming  lamp  ;  with- 
out tliat,  we  cannot  find  the  way  to  the  glory  of 
heaven,  nor  be  brought  to  Christ.  Tims  in  general ; 
now  let  us  further  obseiTe  five  conclusions. 

1.  That  by  knowledge  is  here  meant  an  insight  into 
heavenly  things.  Indeed  Augustine  distinguislicth 
between  knowledge  and  wisdom  :  Wisdom,  saith  ho, 
is  an  intellectual  apprehension  of  etci'nal  things ; 
knowledge,  anatural  apprehension  of  temporal  things. 
But  there  is  no  true  knowledge,  but  that  which 
can  make  the  knowers  blessed.  Christian  wisdom 
seems  the  world's  folly.  (Greg.)  What  is  more  fool- 
ish than  to  declare  a  man's  meaning  in  his  words  ? 
to  bless  them  that  curse  us  ?  to  suffer  rather  than  to 
do  c\-il  ?  not  to  resist  our  oppressors  ?  Yet  this  is 
Christ's  commended  wisdom ;  and  he  that  is  the 
AVisdom  of  the  Father,  shall  one  day  crown  it.  Yet 
there  may  be  a  holy  knowledge  in  these  lower  things. 
Oh,  would  to  God  thou  wert  wise,  and  woiddst  under- 
stand and  know  the  last  things  !  that  thou  wert  wise 
in  the  things  of  God,  wouldst  understand  the  vanities 
of  this  world,  and  foresee  the  torments  of  hell. 
(Bern.)  Thou  wouldst  abhor  the  plagues  of  hell, 
desire  the  joys  of  heaven,  despise  the  temptations  of 
earth.  The  great  affection  we  bear  to  the  world, 
shows  that  we  know  it  not. 

2.  The  apostle's  earnest  exhortation  to  knowledge, 
intimates  that  naturally  we  want  it.  Aristotle  com- 
pares our  wits  at  the  beginning  to  a  fair  table, 
whereon  is  nothing  written,  but  it  is  apt  to  receive 
all  forms  and  figures.  But  he  is  deceived,  for  it  is 
a  dark  vault,  wherein  is  no  light  of  grace,  and  no 
more  of  the  light  of  nature  than  the  little  spark  or 
snuff  affords.  "The  natui-al  man  receivcth  not  the 
things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,"  I  Cor.  ii.  14.  By  nature 
he  is  subject  to  two  enemies  of  knowledge,  ignorance 
and  error.  By  ignorance  we  know  not  things  neces- 
sary, by  error  we  know  them  falsely.  Ignorance  is  a 
privation,  error  a  positive  obliquity.  All  ignorance 
cannot  be  helped,  all  errors  cannot  be  escaped. 
From  ignorance  comes  vice,  from  error  heresy. 
Many  striving  to  expel  ignorance,  fall  into  error:  as 
an  empiric,  to  cure  one  disease,  causeth  a  worse  ;  so 
quenching  thirst  with  a  draught  of  poison.  Some 
are  so  deeply  possessed  with  folly,  that  they  scarce 
differ  from  beasts.  Hence  we  see  that  knowledge 
is  not  easily  had.  In  the  West  Indies,  they  that  by 
digging  follow  the  veins  of  gold,  nm  under  liigh 
mountains  and  stony  rocks,  many  miles ;  yet  the 
interest  of  ore  sufficiently  defray eth  the  expenses  of 
labour.  But  knowledge  is  attained  not  without 
greater  difficulty ;  for  the  soul  in  the  body,  as  a  pri- 
soner in  a  dungeon,  takes  in  nothing  but  through 
the  grate,  sees  only  through  windows  and  cloudy 
spectacles.  "  The  wisdom  of  this  world  is  foolish- 
ness with  God,"  1  Cor.  iii.  19.  Therefore  the  first 
way  to  knowledge  is,  to  know  thine  own  ignorance. 
He  that  dotes  on  his  own  folly  hath  no  hojje  of  wis- 
dom ;  nor  can  a  man  become  what  he  would  be,  un- 
less he  hates  being  w-hat  he  is".  (August.)  They 
can  never  come  to  true  wisdom,  whom  the  opinion  of 


their  own  false  wisdom  deceiveth.  "  Let  no  man 
deceive  himself.  If  any  man  among  you  seemeth 
to  be  wise,  let  him  become  a  fool,  that  ho  may  be 
wise,"  1  Cor.  iii.  18.  Confess  thy  ignorance ;  thiis  is 
the  way  to  get  knowledge. 

3.  That  knowledge  is  not  the  cause  of  sin,  but 
ignorance  ;  for  virtue  is  begotten  and  nourished 
by  knowledge.  Knowledge  must  go  before  virtue  ; 
(C'hrj"s.)  for  man  desires  not  that  he  knows  not: 
unknown  evil  is  not  feared.  Indeed  there  may  be  a 
disjunction  of  these  two  in  respect  of  their  moral 
parts.  The  heathen  had  virtue  without  knowledge, 
and  we  have  knowledge  without  virtue.  But  as  theirs 
was  not  true  virtue  without  knowledge,  so  neither  is 
ours  true  knowledge  without  wtuc.  There  may  be 
a  servant  that  knows  his  master's  will,  and  doth  it 
not.  And  this  shall  aggi-avate  his  wTetchedness,  to 
know  what  he  should  follow,  and  not  to  follow  what 
he  doth  know.  (Isidor.)  The  sun  does  not  heat  all 
men  to  whom  it  shines ;  nor  doth  knowledge,  when 
it  hath  taught  men  what  is  to  be  done,  presently  in- 
flame or  enable  them  to  the  doing  of  it.  It  is  one 
thing  to  know  where  riches  are,  another  thing  to  be 
master  of  them.  It  is  not  the  knowledge,  but  the 
possession  of  them,  that  makes  rich.  But  to  say  that 
knowledge  is  a  spur  to  wickedness,  is  all  one  as  if  a 
father  training  up  his  son  to  be  an  archer,  another 
should  tell  him,  that  by  aiming  most  fairly  he  should 
miss  most  foully.  No,  certainly,  there  is  no  virtue 
can  batten  or  tlirive,  but  that  which  sucks  on  the 
breasts  of  knowledge. 

4.  Seeing  we  must  join  with  our  faith  knowledge, 
it  is  manifest  that  an  ignorant  faith  is  no  faith.  The 
papists  stand  hard  for  their  implicit  faith  j  i  t  is  enough, 
they  say.  Their  proof  is,  "  Why  are  ye  fearful,  0  ye  of 
little  faith  ? "  Matt.  viii.  26.  As  if  there  were  no 
difference  between  a  little  faith  and  an  implicit  faith : 
between  a  little  man  and  a  great  elephant ;  the  little 
one  is  a  man,  and  the  great  one  is  a  beast :  between 
a  little  star  and  a  great  cloud ;  that  is  true  lighl,  this 
is  very  darkness  ;  that  turns  to  water,  this  remains 
fire  still.  A  little  faith,  with  knowledge,  is  tme  and 
saving ;  a  great  presumption,  with  ignorance,  is 
damning.  A  small  tree  is  better  than  a  great  sha- 
dow ;  that  may  bear  fi-uit,  this  is  nothing.  A  juggler 
could  never  show  more  tricks,  than  they  with  this 
involved  faith :  they  are  vety  like ;  for  these  also  cast 
a  mist  before  men's  eyes,  and  juggle  away  their 
souls.  When  the  devil  comes  with  his  fiery  darts, 
their  shield  of  faith  is  so  wrapped  up  that  they  cannot 
find  it.  It  is  like  ware  in  a  pedler's  pack,  mislaid; 
he  hath  it,  but  he  knows  not  where  it  is.  It  is  tnily 
called  the  collier's  faith.  The  devil  catechiseth  him : 
How  dost  thou  believe  ?  I  believe  as  the  church 
believes.  How  believes  the  chm-ch  ?  As  I  believe. 
This  man  was  saved,  say  they ;  but  for  all  that,  I  do 
not  think  that  the  devil  and  the  collier  so  soon 
parted:  sure,  if  he  had  no  better  weapons,  Satan 
would  have  another  bout  with  him,  and  such  a  one 
as  would  cost  him  his  soul.  Believe  as  the  church 
believes,  we  ask  you  no  more  ;  this  and  the  sign  of 
the  .cross  is  sufficient.  Oh  the  multitude  of  souls 
they  thus  beguile  !  But  add  to  your  faith  knowledge : 
"They  that'know  thy  name  will  put  their  trust  in 
thee,"  Psal.  ix.  10.  they  that  know  not  what  they 
should  believe,  cannot  believe  to  their  own  comfort. 

5.  Lastly,  this  knowledge  must  be  added  to  virtue 
also.  The  Romists  love  all  blind  graces ;  they  com- 
mend a  blind  faith,  a  blind  obedience,  a  blind  devo- 
tion, whose  mother  is  ignorance.  But  the  apostle 
bids  us  add  knowledge  to  these.  And  virtue  itself, 
lustre  it  with  what  gloss  of  obedience  and  devotion 
they  can,  I  say  not,  it  goes  halting  toward  heaven; 
but' is  like  a  seeled  dove,  it  would  mount  to  heaven, 


68 


AN  EXPOSITIOX  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


and  hovers  upward,  but  strikes  at  a  tree  and  falls,  if 
it  want  knowledge  to  direct  it.  But  why  should  I 
say  virtue  without  knowledge  is  blind,  when  indeed 
it  is  not  at  all  ?  A  man  may  do  good,  and  not  know- 
it ;  but  not  well  :  tiTie  virtue  is  not  without  know- 
ledge. But  as  some  do  ill,  and  yet  think  it  good ;  so 
others  do  good,  and  yet  think  it  ill.  For  the  foniier, 
"  Whosoever  killeth  you  will  think  that  he  doeth  God 
sen'ice,"  John  xvi.  2.  For  the  latter,  Josepli's  mis- 
tress meant  him  a  shrewd  turn  in  betraying  him  to 
prison,  which  was  Joseph's  step  to  promotion  :  or  as 
the  thief  wounded  a  passenger,  and  intended  to  kill 
him,  yet  with  his  stroke  cut  and  let  out  an  ulcer, 
whereof  he  was  ready  to  die  :  neither  of  these  can 
be  called  virtue.  For  good  and  well  must  in  all 
actions  meet :  wicked  is  not  much  worse  than  in- 
discreet. Knowledge  without  virtue  makes  a  man's 
mittimus  to  hell.  '■  If  ye  were  blind,  ye  should  have 
no  sin :  but  now  ye  say.  We  see  ;  therefore  your  sin 
rcmaineth,"  John  ix.  41.  Like  the  woman  that 
hath  a  candle  in  her  hand,  Luke  xv.  8 ;  but  as 
the  Romish  Vulgate  did  read  it,  instead  of  domum 
everrit,  domum  evertit ;  so  these,  instead  of  sweeping 
the  house,  pull  it  quite  down.  So  much  light  abused 
on  earth,  so  much  darkness  inflicted  in  hell.  Virtue 
witliout  knowledge,  is  either,  like  Laodicea,  proud, 
and  knows  not  whereof,  Rev.  iii.  17;  or  mad,  and 
knows  not  what  to  do.  I  conclude  W'ith  John  ix.  6. 
Christ  made  a  medicine  for  the  blind  man's  eyes  of 
his  own  spittle  and  the  earth's  clay.  The  first  sig- 
nifying the  knowledge  of  Christ  by  his  word,  that 
comes  out  of  his  mouth  ;  the  other,  the  knowledge 
of  ourselves,  who  being  made  of  earth,  do  naturally 
savour  of  nothing  but  clay.  Now  of  both  these  ma- 
terials Christ  made  one  lump,  tempering  them  to- 
gether ;  so  both  these  knowledges  must  be  so  mcUed 
together,  that  they  be  not  severed.  To  have  the 
clay,  knowledge  of  ourselves,  without  the  spittle, 
knowledge  of  Christ,  were  to  cast  us  down  to  despe- 
ration. To  have  the  spittle,  knowledge  of  Christ, 
without  the  clay,  knowledge  of  ourselves  and  our 
own  unworthiness,  would  putF  us  up  with  presump- 
tion. Both  do  well  together,  that  we  may  know  our 
own  selves  in  ourselves  ^^■retched;  yet  in  the  grace 
and  comforts  of  God,  everlastingly  blessed. 

Will  you  now  take  a  short  character  of  the  know- 
ing man  ?  He  desires  to  know  all  things,  but  first 
himself;  lest  having  acquaintance  in  every  place, 
he  should  die  a  stranger  to  his  owti  heart.  And  in 
himself,  not  so  much  his  strength  as  his  weakness. 
To  know  our  own  virtues,  makes  us  proud;  our  own 
vices,  humbleth  us.  Both  his  eyes  are  never  both 
at  once  from  home  ;  one  keeps  house,  while  the 
•other  goes  abroad  for  intelligence.  He  is  blind  in 
no  man's  cause,  but  best-sighted  in  his  own.  He 
confines  himself  to  the  circle  of  his  own  affairs,  and 
thrusts  not  his  finger  into  needless  fires.  His  heart's 
desire  is  to  know  God ;  and  he  knows  there  is  no 
better  way  to  know  him  than  through  Jesus  Christ. 
Herein  consists  his  happiness,  for  so  he  makes  sure 
Vork  for  liis  soul.  It  is  the  best,  and  therefore  first 
regarded ;  and  he  never  rests  till  his  faith  be  built  on 
assurance,  that  God  hath  pardoned  his  sins,  and 
given  him  a  place  in  heaven.  The  world  he  so  far 
seeks  to  know,  that  he  may  abhor  if.  He  sees  the 
falseness  of  it,  and  therefore  learns  to  trust  himself 
ever,  others  so  far  as  not  to  be  damaged  by  their  dis- 
appointment. He  knows  this  to  be  a  short  and  miser- 
able life,  and  therefore  studies  the  wav  to  a  blessed 
and  eternal  one  ;  that  this  world  shall'perish.  there- 
fore is  loth  to  perish  with  il  :  that  monev  mav  make 
a  man  richer,  not  better;  and  therefore  chooscth 
rather  to  sleep  with  a  good  conscience  than  a  full 
purse.     He  had  rather  the  world  should  account 


him  a  fool,  than  God;  therefore  desires  no  more 
wealth  than  an  honest  man  may  bear  away.  He 
knows  this  world's  delight  consists  of  crotchets  and 
short  songs,  whose  burden  is  sorrow  :  only  heaven 
hath  the  best  music,  where  glorious  angels  and 
saints  sing  for  ever  to  the  Lord  of  hosts.  He  knows 
his  own  ignorance,  endeavours  to  science ;  and  for 
what  he  cannot  apprehend,  he  begs  wnsdom  of  God ; 
not  of  everj'  thing,  but  only  of  so  much  as  may  make 
him  blessed.  He  knows  how  to  make  his  passions, 
like  good  ser\ants,  to  stand  in  a  diligent  attendance, 
ready  at  file  command  of  reason,  of  religion.  If  any 
of  them,  forgetting  their  duty,  be  miscarried  to 
rebel,  he  first  conceals  the  mutiny,  then  suppresscth 
it.  He  will  not  see  every  wrong  done  him,  knowing 
he  hath  done  more  to  his  Maker.  After  continual 
acquaintance  with  the  Scriptures,  and  humble  fami- 
liarity witli  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  knows  the  way  to 
heaven  perfectly,  and  runs  apace  till  he  gets  into 
the  arms  of  his  Saviour. 


Verse  6. 

And  lo  knowledge  temperance. 

This  grace  of  temperance  may  be  here  diversly  un- 
derstood. 

I.  For  such  a  discretion  as  may  season  all  these 
graces :  so  taken  it  is  sal  omnium  virtutum,  the  salt 
of  cverj'  virtue.  Devotion  without  discretion,  is  like 
a  hasty  servant  that  nms  away  without  his  errand. 
Profession  of  faith  without  temperance,  is  fumed 
into  hypocrisy,  or  such  a  preposterous  zeal,  that  is 
like  fire  not  on  the  hearth,  to  warm,  but  in  the  top 
of  the  chimney,  to  set  the  house  on  a  flame :  virtue 
without  it  is  folly.  A  man  may  so  indiscreetly  hold 
virtue,  as  to  lose  it ;  another  may  so  discreetly 
forbear  meddling,  that  he  doth  more  firmly  hold 
it.  (Greg.)  Patience  without  discretion  wrongs  a 
good  cause :  a  man  must  bear  his  own  injuries  pa- 
tiently, but  not  God's,  nor  the  church's.  Moses 
pleaded  the  people's  cause  to  God  with  prayers  and 
tears,  but  God's  cause  against  the  people  with  sword 
and  vengeance.  Godliness  without  temperance,  is 
devotion  out  of  the  wits.  Gregoiy  observes  on  the 
vision  of  the  four  cherubims,  Ezek.  i.  10,  that  file 
first  proportion  of  those  creatures'  faces  was  the 
countenance  of  a  man,  which,  saith  he,  did  signify 
discretion,  or  this  temperance.  See  them  allego- 
rized ;  the  just  man,  by  mortification  of  the  flesh 
hecomes  a  calf  ready  to  be  sacrificed  ;  by  fortitude 
in  his  spiritual  war,  he  is  a  conquering  lion ;  by  con. 
templation  of  the  celestial  glorj-,  he  is  a  triumphant 
eagle ;  by  reason  of  his  temperance,  he  is  an  exem- 
plary man.  (Greg,  in  Ezek.)  Brotherly  kindness 
without  temperance  is  brotherly  dotage.  So  kind- 
ness runs  into  cruelty:  thou  feedest  thy  friend's 
sensual  appetite,  flatterest  him  in  his  lusts,  conccal- 
est  his  faults,  followest  his  humours ;  all  in  kindness: 
this  is  to  spill  his  soul  in  kindness.  Charity,  lastly, 
without  temperance,  is  prodigality ;  it  gives  with  an 
oj)en  hand  and  shut  eye  :  and  so  a  man  may  for  his 
charity  go  to  the  devil,  when,  instead  of  God's 
friends,  he  rewards  his  enemies.  Thus  hath  temper- 
ance relation  to  all  these  graces. 

II.  For  such  a  discretion  as  may  moderate  know- 
le<lge,  and  qualify  that  heal  to  which  it  is  addicted. 
"  Knowledge  puffeth  up,"  1  Cor.  viii.  1.  Some  men 
so  bluster  on  their  knowledge,  that  they  hold  all  the 
world  dunces  besides  themselves.  There  is  some- 
what of  poison  in  it,  without  the  corrective  of  teni- 


VEn.  6. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


perance.  Hence  comes  singtilarity  of  ojjinions.  Some 
conceit  themselves  so  wise,  that  all  the  sober  and 
peaceable  spirits  of  the  land  are  mere  fools  to  them. 
Poor  souls  !  who  does  not  pity  their  blind  madness  ? 
One  cries,  My  mysteries  be  to  myself;  another  re- 
plies. Thy  foolishness  be  to  thyself:  the  former  is 
the  schismatic,  the  other  the  libertine.  An  indifler- 
ent  man  might  decide ;  Let  not  all  the  folly  be  to 
one,  nor  all  to  other,  but  let  them  both  part  it  betwixt 
them.  One  is  so  wise  that  he  cares  for  no  preacher 
at  all ;  another  wills  that  such  a  factious  one  shall 
teach  him,  and  nobody  else.  Whether  is  the  madder 
of  the  two,  he  that  will  altogether  fast,  or  he  that  will 
feed  on  nothing  but  bones?  Tlic  grace  of  an  action 
is  the  manner,  the  grace  of  the  manner  is  order, 
the  grace  of  the  order  is  discretion.  (Bern.)  Tem- 
perance is  not  so  much  a  virtue  itself,  as  a  marshal 
or  moderator  of  virtues.  It  is  not  enough  to  do  a 
good  work,  unless  the  due  place,  fit  manner,  and  con- 
venient time,  be  observed.  If  not  in  the  right  place, 
it  is  as  a  man  lights  a  taper,  and  puts  it  beside  the 
candlestick.  If  not  after  the  right  manner,  it  is  as 
one  that  is  gone  a'  good  part  of  his  travel,  but  must 
come  back  again,  because  he  hath  mistaken  his  way. 
If  not  in  due  time,  it  is  like  him  that  would  never 
water  his  garden  but  when  it  rained.  If  not  to  the 
right  person,  it  is  like  a  man  that  forgetfully  salutes 
his  friend  ever  by  the  wrong  name.  If  not  to  the 
right  end,  it  is  like  Julian,  that  never  was  bountiful, 
or  did  a  man  a  good  turn,  but  to  damn  his  soul. 

III.  It  is  taken  for  such  a  moderation  of  the  mind, 
whereby  we  so  demean  ourselves,  as  neither  to  sur- 
feit on  fulness,  nor  to  despair  on  want.  Not  that  the 
most  temperate  man  can  so  master  his  passions,  but 
that  at  some  times  he  may  overjoy  his  content,  or 
overgrieve  his  trouble.  When  the  most  equal  weights 
are  first  put  into  the  evcnest  balances,  there  is  a  little 
swaying  on  both  sides,  and  appearance  of  some  in- 
equality ;  yet  after  a  little  motion  they  settle  them- 
selves in  a  just  poise.  This  temperance  is  a  steady  and 
habitual  firmness,  that  hath  no  critical  fits.  The 
frantic,  though  he  be  sober  eleven  moons,  if  he  rage 
one,  cannot  avoid  the  imputation  of  madness.  When 
there  is  no  disturbance,  to  be  quiet  is  not  worth  any 
thing.  The  husband  told  his  wife,  that  he  had 
one  ill  quality,  he  was  given  to  be  angry  without 
cause;  she  wittily  replied,  that  she  would  keep  him 
from  that  fault,  for  she  would  give  him  cause  enough. 
It  is  the  folly  of  some  that  they  will  be  ofl'ended 
without  cause,  to  whom  the  world  promises  that  they 
shall  have  causes  enough.  "  In  the  world  ye  shall 
have  tribulation,"  John  xvi.  33.  When  this  cause  of 
disquiet  comes,  then  to  be  resolved  and  peaceful,  this 
is  temperance.  The  balances  that  are  most  ill 
matched  in  their  unsteady  motions,  yet  come  to  an 
equality,  but  stay  not  at  it.  The  penerse  worldling 
may  restrain  his  passion ;  yea,  may  be  so  well  com- 
posed, that  ordinary  things  shall  not  stir  him  ;  but 
when  a  new  and  unlooked-for  cross  comes,  then  he 
is  out  of  temper,  hath  lost  temperance.  Like  a  fencer, 
that  stands  upon  his  usual  wards  and  postures,  and 
plays  well,  in  his  school ;  but  abroad  he  meets  with 
a  new  trick,  a  blow  that  quite  puts  him  from  the 
rules  of  his  art,  and  so  is  beaten  with  shame.  In- 
deed the  best  man's  temperance  may  fail  in  one  par- 
ticular act,  but  this  doth  not  take  away  the  habit 
from  him. 

This  temperance  must  guide  our  conversation. 
God's  sacrifice  and  service  must  be  reasonable,  Rom. 
xii.  I.  Let  zeal  inflame  temperance,  and  temperance 
(}ualify  zeal.  (Bern.)  Too  much  remissness  nour- 
isheth  vices ;  too  much  strictness  killelh  virtues. 
Without  this  moderation,  fear  passeth  into  despair, 
grief  into  bitterness,  love  into  flattery,  liope  into  pre- 


sumption, joy  into  dissoluteness,  anger  into  fury. 
The  want  of  temperance,  instead  of  cherishing,  de- 
stroys :  like  the  idolater,  so  rapt  with  the  fair  image 
of  the  goddess,  that  coming  to  kiss  it,  he  bit  it.  It 
altogether  overdoes.  "  Be  not  righteous  over-much; 
neither  make  thyself  over-wise,"  Eccles.  vii.  16. 

Qui  plus  posse  pulal  sua  quam  nalura  minislrat  : 
Posse  suum  supenuts,  se  mi7ius  esse  palest. 

But  enough  of  this  kind  of  temperance :  men  are 
not  so  hot  that  we  need  to  cool  them ;  but  rather  so 
cold  that  we  had  need  to  heat  them.  Few  among  us  are 
so  over-zealous  to  outrun  Christ ;  it  is  well  if  yet  we 
will  follow  Christ.  We  need  not  so  much  add  tem- 
per to  your  zeal,  as  zeal  to  your  temper ;  and  wish 
you  so  much  of  both,  as  may  bring  you  to  salvation. 

IV.  Lastly,  temperance  is  taken  for  a  moderate  use 
of  outward  things  ;  and  comprehends  in  it  abstinence, 
when  we  cat  no  more,  drink  no  more,  go  no  braver, 
than  natural  equity  and  moral  decency  requires. 
Now  if  the  first  degree  to  virtue  be  to  avoid  the  con- 
trary, behold  tlie  beauty  of  this  fair  grace,  by  view- 
ing the  blackness  of  the  opposite  sin,  intemperance. 
Generally  it  extends  itself  to  all  immoderations ;  but 
especially  it  is  appropriated  to  four.  There  is  intem- 
perance, 1.  In  lust;  so  it  is  called  incontinence.  2. 
In  apparel ;  so  it  is  called  pride.  3.  In  meats ;  so 
it  is  called 'gluttony.  4.  In  drinks ;  so  it  is  called 
drunkenness.  All  which  are  but  the  effects  of  in- 
temperance. 

1.  Incontinence.  To  this  intemperance  all  are 
naturally  prone,  but  in  a  different  sort.  Some  quite 
expel  and  mortify  this  desire  by  grace ;  for  he  that  is 
one  spirit  \vith  Christ,  will  scorn  to  be  one  flesh  with 
a  harlot,  1  Cor.  vi.  17.  The  virginity  of  the  body 
may  be  lost,  and  yet  the  soul  presen-e  her  maiden- 
head. ••  These  are  they  which  were  not  defiled  with 
women;  for  they  are  virgins,"  Rev.  xiv.  4.  This  is 
not  intended  against  marriage,  there  is  no  defilement 
in  that.  "  Marriage  is  honourable  in  all,  and  the 
bed  undefiled,"  Heb.  xiii.  4.  Our  adversaries  call  it 
a  sacrament  :  what,  and  a  defilement  too  ?  Do  they 
use  to  make  saci'aments  of  pollutions  ?  They  might 
be  married,  yet  not  defiled  with  women  ;  neither 
with  carnal  nor  spiritual  harlotry,  nor  with  adultery 
nor  idolatry ;  and  so  remain  spiritual  virgins.  Others 
there  are  that  keep  in  this  corruption  by  civil  mo- 
desty ;  they  will  not  express  it,  yet  have  it.  Many 
heathens  could  thus  suppress  their  corruption,  not 
mortify  it.  Their  intemperance  is  to  them  like  a 
mad-brained  wife  to  a  sober  man ;  he  locks  her  up, 
and  goes  abroad  without  trouble  ;  but  when  he  comes 
home  he  is  weariedwith  her  scolding.  Others  there  are 
that  care  not  to  let  their  intemperance  burst  out,  but 
they  want  opportunity  :  now  the  thief  cannot  rob  till 
he  come  at  a  booty ;  so  the  sin  is  in  them,  even 
while  they  forbear  the  act,  and  they  are  intemperate 
persons.  There  is  a  sort  that  shame  not  the  eruption 
of  this  sin,  without  respect  (I  say  not  of  conscience, 
but)  of  credit;  quorum  luxuri<E  meretrix  non  sujficit 
omnis,  that  in  the  lust  of  fed  horses  neigh  after 
women,  Jer.  v.  8.  The  means  to  avoid  this  intem- 
perance are, 

(I.)  By  subduing  the  body  to  the  soul.  "  I  keep 
imder  my  body,  and  bring  it  into  subjection,"  1  Cor. 
ix.  '27.  The  body  is  that  part  which  is  against  the 
Lord.  The  body  will  beg,  but  let  a  shameless  beg- 
gar have  a  shameless  denial.  AVhen  the  body  does 
what  the  good  soul  dictates,  there  is  a  breathing 
saint ;  when  the  soul  consents  to  the  body's  appetite, 
there  is  a  blind  man  led  by  his  dog.  Because  the 
serpent's  head  had  led  the  way  so  long,  now  the  re- 
pining tail  would  needs  lead  ;  but  then  the  whole 
ran  into  mischief.     When  lust  undertakes  to  gtiide 


70 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


a  man,  and  reason  is  fain  to  follow,  there  is  a  preci- 
pice to  destruction. 

(2.)  By  debarring  (he  flesh  all  lust-provoking  meats 
and  drinks.  It  is  wretched  to  have  this  noisome  fire, 
wicked  to  feed  it  with  fuel.  Sodom  found  that  "  ful- 
ness of  bread  "  was  the  mother  of  unnatural  tilthiness. 
High  diet  is  adultciy's  nurse.  You  shall  seldom  see  a 
man  continent  that  is  not  abstinent.  (August.)  The 
heat  is  taken  at  a  tavern  that  is  laid  at  a  brothcl- 
honsc.  Abstain  then,  for  it  is  fasting  spittle  that 
must  kill  this  tetter.  He  that  will  ever  be  mnning 
for  fuel,  never  meant  to  put  out  the  fire. 

(3.)  By  avoiding  beautiful  temptations.  "  Flee 
fornication,"  1  Cor.  vi.  18  :  resist  ottier  sins,  flee  this. 
Stand  not  to  try  thy  strength,  but  run  away.  Parlhus 
tutus  ab  hosle  fuga  est.  Joseph  stood  not  to  bandy 
terms,  and  dispute  with  his  mistress,  but  fled  from 
her.  If  thou  wilt  endure  conference  with  a  harlot, 
she  will  conriuer.  Like  Uly.sses,  stop  thine  ears,  her 
chai-ms  shall  not  take  thee.  "  Many  have  run  out 
of  their  wits  for  women,"  1  Esd.  iv.  26.  Satan  having 
conquered  the  woman,  never  came  at  the  man,  but 
left  the  woman  to  do  that ;  he  thought  she  would  be 
devil  enough  to  tempt  man.  Solomon  with  all  his 
wisdom,  Samson  with  all  his  strength,  were  thus 
mastered.  One  overcame  a  lion,  yet  a  lioness  over- 
came him.  The  other  could  find  out  the  harlot  from 
the  true  mother ;  yet  a  harlot  found  out  him,  and 
made  him  forget  his  Maker.  "  The  people  began  to 
commit  whoredom  \\-ith  the  daughters  of  RIoab," 
Numb.  xsv.  1  :  the  daughters  of  Moab,  light  by 
nature,  for  they  were  begot  in  incest.  Lot's  daughter 
lay  with  her  own  father  while  he  was  drunk,  and 
called  her  son  Moab,  which  signifies,  '■'  The  son  of 
her  father."  Impudent  stnnnpet,  not  to  be  ashamed 
of  so  foul  and  horrible  a  fact !  Thus  they  were  light, 
and  that  by  nature ;  they  had  it  by  kind,  it  cost  them 
nothing.  Even  the  sons  of  God  were  tempted  to 
folly  by  the  daughters  of  men,  Gen.  vi.  2.  A  woman 
feir  is  man's  snare  :  think  them  thy  she-devils,  sent 
and  taught  to  seduce  and  spill  thy  soul.  A  harlot 
the  more  beautiful,  the  more  banefiil.  (August.)  It 
is  rare  to  see  a  woman  chaste  that  is  poor  and  fair. 
Stol  qucevisi  quavt's  merelrix  mercabilis  arte.  Bring 
gold  enough,  a  little  cunning  shall  serve  for  whore- 
dom ;  the  devil  makes  his  highways  easy.  Perhaps 
all  do  not  sell  their  bodies  that  sell  their  souls ;  some 
sin,  but  set  no  price  on  it.  I  am  persuaded  that  no  one 
inducement  so  soon  turns  women  to  poperj%  as  their 
indulgence  in  this  sin.  If  God  would  afford  pardons 
on  the  pope's  rates,  this  sin  would  bo  infinite ;  but 
his  justice  ■will  not  be  so  answered. 

(4.)  By  meditating  on  the  punishment.  If  in  the 
act  of  thy  lust  thou  conldst  see  into  the  dark  doors 
of  hell,  and  behold  the  adulterers  and  their  harlots 
embracing  flames,  quenchless  flames ;  howling,  and 
shrieking,  and  cursing  their  glasses,  their  tires,  their 
bawds,  their  panders  ;  bound  to  etemity  of  insuffer- 
able horrors  ;  tlris  would  cool  thy  heat."  For  lustful 
kisses,  kissing  of  fire  ;  for  soft  beds,  beds  of  despair; 
for  wanton  songs,  gnawing  their  tongues;  for  lieat- 
ing  delicates,  everlasting  famishment  ;  for  silken 
curtains,  to  wsh  a  rock  for  their  pillow,  and  a  moun- 
tain for  their  coverlet,  Rev.  vi.  16:  this,  oh  this 
would  slacken  thine  intemperance.  What  men  think 
most  pleasing, is  most  plaguing;  to  have  their  lusts 
granted :  "  So  I  gave  them  up  unto  their  own  hearts' 
lust,"  Psal.  Ixxxi.  12.  Thev  desired  it,  thev  had  it ; 
this  was  the  greatest  plague.  Think  thou 'seest  be- 
yond thy  beauty,  old  age  ;  beyond  old  age,  sickness ; 
beyond  sickness,  dealli ;  bevond  death,  judgment; 
beyond  judgment,  hell;  beyond  that  no  limits  of 
time  or  torments,  but  all  c'aseless,  endless.  Thou 
criest,  God  be  merciful  to  me ;  but  be  also  merciful 


to  thyself:  weep  for  thy  sins,  and  beseech  God  to 
mortify  thy  lusts  by  the  death  of  Christ. 

2.  The  s'econd  kind  of  intemperance  is  in  apparel. 
Pride,  pride  ?  why  there  is  no  such  sin,  all  is  but 
fashion.  Indeed  pride  hath  lost  itself  in  the  name  of 
fashion.  This  was  wont  to  be  called  the  woman's 
sin  :  "  The  d;iughters  of  Zion  are  haughty,"  &:e.  Isa. 
iii.  IC :  there  is  pride  and  her  wardrobe.  But  now 
it  is  a  question  whether  the  women  keep  their  char- 
ter still ;  the  men  have  endeavoured  to  be  as  proud 
as  they  :  not  that  the  other  are  excusable  ;  inmmier- 
able  arc  their  boxes,  and  powders,  and  paintings ; 
how  they  daub  their  mud  walls  with  apothecaries' 
mortar !  It  is  a  sign  that  they  love  a  vizard  better 
than  a  face.  "  God  shall  smite  thee,  thou  painted 
wall,"  Acts  xxiii.  3  :  painting  is  for  walls,  not  for 
faces.  If  nature's  defects  and  furrows  cannot  be  fill- 
ed up  with  these  colours,  yet  art  shall  supply  all  witli 
rich  attires.  As  that  painter  should  have  drawn 
Venus  very  beautiful ;  but  when  his  cunning  failed 
in  her  face,  he  drew  her  in  exceeding  rich  apparel : 
because  he  could  not  make  her  fair,  he  made  her  rich. 
They  dye  their  hair  too  ;  but  this  Seems  to  Ije  no  new 
fashion,  for  Cyprian  vTites  of  it  in  his  time.  They 
got  a  flame-coloured  hair,  an  ill  presage :  it  is  not 
safe  coming  so  near  to  that  colour.  They  spend 
more  time  betwixt  the  comb  and  the  glass,  than  be- 
twixt their  family  and  the  church.  They  meta- 
moi-phose  their  heads,  as  if  they  were  ashamed  of  the 
head  of  God's  making,  proud  of  the  tire-woman's. 
Sometimes  one  tire  is  half  the  husband's  rent-day. 
This  is  the  monstrousness  of  our  pride ;  and  what  shaill 
we  do  in  the  end  thereof?  Jer.  v.  31.  Jezebel  was 
the  daughter  of  a  king,  the  wife  of  a  king,  the  mother 
of  a  king ;  yet  her  painted  face  and  proud  heart  threw 
her  out  at  the  window,  and  she  was  trampled  under 
horses'  feet.  But  Jehu  would  bury  her ;  no,  the  dogs 
had  done  it  to  his  hand.  Oh  the  greatness  of  our 
land's  intemperance  this  way !  we  have  learned  all 
things  of  our  neighbours  but  this,  to  be  proud  good- 
cheap.  Hospitality  and  noble  attendance  is  changed 
into  a  vessel  that  nms  on  four  wheels.  It  is  a  fashion 
to  build  great  houses,  as  the  ostriches  lay  eggs,  and 
then  to  leave  them.  When  the  poor  come  thither 
for  relief,  there  are  none  but  daws  to  chatter  to 
them ;  the  lord  or  the  knight  is  at  London.  Their 
mercers  and  taOors  share  the  poor's  due.  Great 
men  gather  up  their  wealth  and  their  credit  nearer 
about  them  than  in  foimer  times;  then  it  consisted 
in  good  housekeeping  and  many  servants,  now  in  two 
or  three  tninks  of  apparel  and  a  boy  to  brush  them. 
Many  follow  Absalom's  fashion,  to  carry  a  forest  of 
hair  on  their  heads ;  as  if  that  were  their  grace, 
which  God  hath  forbidden  as  ungracious.  Christ 
says,  the  body  is  more  worth  than  raiment;  but 
some  strive  to  make  their  raiment  more  worth  than 
their  bodies  :  like  birds  of  paradise,  their  feathers  are 
better  than  their  carcasses.  To  pull  down,  if  it  were 
possible,  the  height  of  this  pride,  consider, 

(1.)  Thy  beginning;  remember  the  rock  from 
whence  thou  wert  hewn.  "  From  following  the  ewes 
great  with  yoimg,  he  brought  him  to  feed  Jacob  his 
people,"  Psal.  IxxWii.  71  :  David  was  not  ashamed 
of  his  beginning.  Say  thou  art  bom  noble ;  yet 
art  thou  not  made  of  any  finer  clay  or  metal  than  the 
meanest.  We  have  all  one  common  mother:  and 
the  jiroudest  dust  once  dead,  shall  putrify  and  stink 
for  all  his  perfumes  as  soon  as  the  jx)orest.  Thouch 
all  have  not  the  same  clothing,  yet  all  have  the 
same  skin. 

(2.)  Thy  progress.  What  can  thy  brave  rags  bet- 
ter thee  ?  "a  golden  bridle  makes  not  the  better  horse. 
If  thy  coat  be  made  of  wool,  the  sheep  wore  it  before 
thee  ;  if  of  silk,  the  silly  worm  may  pull  Aoww  thy 


Ver.  6. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


71 


pride.  The  bowels  of  worms  hath  clothed  thee,  and 
thou  shah  feed  the  bowels  of  worms.  Because  thou 
flourishest  wilh  the  flags  of  vanity,  thou  thinkest  it 
is  thyself;  like  the  fly  on  the  coach  wheel,  that 
makes  so  glorious  a  dust:  so  let  Heliogabalus  boast 
of  his  silken  halters. 

(3.)  'Whatsoever  the  outside  be,  look  to  the  linings. 
The  body  is  more  worth  than  the  raiment ;  therefore 
the  soul  is  more  worth  than  the  body,  for  the  body 
is  but  the  raiment  of  the  soul.  Why  despiscst  thou 
thy  poor  brother  ?  I  have  more  lands :  naply,  and 
more  sins.  I  have  braver  apparel :  a  neat  outside, 
and  a  sluttish  inside.  I  am  fairer:  perhaps  in  face, 
and  fouler  in  heart.  Thou  art  rich  in  the  poor  com- 
mocUties  of  this  world,  and  poor  in  the  rich  com- 
modities of  the  other.  Peacock,  look  dowTi  to  thv 
feet. 

(4.)  There  is  only  one  garment  worth  having  and 
saving.  "  Put  ye  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  Rom. 
xiii.  14:  this  is  "  the  best  robe,"  Luke  xv.  22.  The 
papists  buy  the  beggarly  righteousness  of  sorry 
saints,  and  neglect  this.  We  have  worn  our  own 
innocence  to  rags ;  let  us  put  on  Christ's.  Though 
our  garment  of  inlierent  righteousness  be  verj'  thin, 
yet  if  it  be  lined  wilh  Christ's  imputed  righteous- 
ness, it  shall  keep  us  warm :  if  embroidered  with  his, 
it  shall  make  us  acceptable  to  God.  If  we  love  a 
silken  garment  woven  out  of  the  bowels  of  a  womi, 
how  much  more  should  we  love  the  garment  woven 
out  of  the  bowels  of  Jesus  Christ !  Thus  hath  God 
allowed  to  some  a  great  measure  of  honour,  a  great 
measure  of  riches,  a  gi'cat  measure  of  prosperity; 
but  to  none  one  di-am  of  pride. 

3.  The  third  kind  of  intemperance  is  in  meats  ; 
in  making  those  tilings  injuries  to  the  body,  which 
God  ordained  to  be  consenativcs  of  the  body.  Good 
meat,  which  is  the  creature  of  God,  is  offered  to  the  art 
of  the  cook,  who  makes  work  for  the  mouth,  which 
makes  work  for  the  stomach,  which  makes  work  for 
surfeit,  which  makes  work  for  death,  vhich  makes 
work  for  the  devil.  A  sin  so  genuine  and  natural  to 
this  nation,  that  pride  is  not  more  proper  to  Spain, 
nor  lust  to  France,  nor  drunkenness  to  Germany, 
than  gluttony  is  to  England.  For  method's  sake, 
let  me  dissuade  you  from  it,  by  considering  the 
manner,  the  measure,  the  matter,  the  eflccts,  the 
end  of  it. 

(1.)  For  the  manner:  this  is  merely  circumstan- 
tial, and  may  thus  be  expressed ;  too  soon,  too  late, 
too  daintily,  too  fast,  too  much,  is  gluttony.  Too 
soon :  "  Woe  to  thee,  0  land,  when  thy  princes  eat 
in  the  morning!"  but  "blessed  art  thou,  O  land, 
when  thy  princes  cat  in  due  season,  for  strength, 
and  not  for  di-unkenness  !"  Eccles.  x.  16,  1/.  "  Woe 
imto  them  that  rise  up  early  in  the  morning"  to 
follow  riot!  Isa.  V.  11.  Their  matins  are  their 
jimkets,  and  their  moniing  sacrifice  is  offered  to 
their  belly.  Too-  late  :  such  are  midnight  revels  :  in- 
temperance makes  no  difference  of  times.  Too  dainti- 
ly; above  the  estate:  and  herein  the  poor  may  fault 
as  soon  as  the  rich  ;  tarn  late,  if  not  lam  laule.  Indeed 
men  have  talem  dentem,  qualem  metitem.  Evciy  one 
hath  an  Eve's  sweet-tooth  in  his  head,  that  longs 
for  forbidden  things.  Too  fast;  that  is,  with  vora- 
city ;  we  Civil  it,  a  canine  appetite.  "  Greedy  dogs 
which  can  never  have  enough,"  Isa.  Ivi.  11.'  Too 
pwch.  He  that  allows  his  body  less  than  he  owes 
it,  kills  his  friend :  he  that  allows  his  body  more 
than  he  owes  it,  franks  his  enemy.  Give  it  not  what 
the  throat,  but  what  nature  needs.  The  wise  man 
will  distinguish  between  his  body,  and  the  lust  of 
his  body :  liis  allowance  therefore  shall  be  such  as 
may  presene  nature,  not  please  intemperance. 

(2.)  For  the  measure ;  it  is  an  insatiate  desire  of 


delicacies.  So  the  rich  man  said,  "  Soul,  eat,  for 
thou  hast,"  &c.  Luke  xii.  19 :  not  only,  Body,  eat, 
but.  Soul,  eat,  and  satiate  thyself.  The  belly  is  no 
troublesome  creditor;  it  is  contented  with  a  little, 
if  thou  givcst  it  what  it  should  have,  not  what  thou 
canst  give.  (Sen.)  It  is  not  the  constitution  of  na- 
ture, but  the  concupiscence  of  lust,  that  longs  for 
abundance.  This  invented  sauces  ;  non  lam  condi- 
menla,  quam  bhnidimenlu.  Here  is  a  study  to  be  sick 
when  men  are  cunning  in  gluttony.  Ul  salunlas 
IraiDieat  iv  esitriem,  natura  mulatur  in  arlem.  This 
made  Philoxcnus  wish  his  neck  as  long  as  a  crane's, 
to  prolong  the  sweetness  of  his  meats.  This  is  not 
tiecessitatem  .supplere,  scd  aiidilalem  explere.  Such 
are  to  be  reckoned  in  the  number  of  living  creatures, 
not  of  men.  (Sen.)  They  m;ike  their  belly  their  god, 
Phil.  iii.  19  ;  for  that  they  like  best,  and  love  most, 
is  their  god.  The  heathen  had  a  god  of  drunken- 
ness, but  I  never  read  that  they  had  any  of  gluttony. 
To  make  the  belly  a  deity ;  how  base  is  this  idol- 
atry !  yet  Hugo  thus  describes  their  luxurious  wor- 
ship. The  belly  is  their  god,  the  kitchen  their 
temple,  their  lungs  the  organ-jiipes,  the  altar  their 
table,  the  cooks  are  their  priests,  flesh  i-oasted, 
boiled,  or  broiled,  their  sacrifices,  and  their  incense 
the  odour  of  their  sauces.  But  this  sacrifice  is  to  the 
devil,  whose  belly  is  filled  with  the  froth  of  luxurious 
ghittons  :  instead  of  graces,  sauces  ;  instead  of  prais- 
ing God,  belching  blasphemies.  They  have  these 
\-irtues  our  apostle  speaks  of,  but  in  a  stiange  way. 
They  have  knowledge,  which  dish  best  pleaseth 
their  appetite ;  patience,  to  sit  four  hours  at  one 
meal ;  fortitude,  to  encounter  with  an  ox  ready  pre- 
pared ;  peace,  till  they  have  filled  their  stomachs : 
yea,  faith,  hope,  and  charity  too;  their  faith  warms 
in  their  kitchen,  their  hope  lies  in  their  mess,  and 
their  love  boils  in  their  kettle.  Tliis  is  the  measure 
of  gluttony,  which  indeed  cannot  be  measured.  All  is 
to  satiate  curiosity  ;  to  fill  more  than  the  belly,  even 
their  eye.  But  as  too  much  rain  ch'owns  the  fields, 
which  moderate  showers  would  make  fruitful ;  so 
this  plethoiy  of  diet,  instead  of  conserN-ing  nature, 
confounds  it. 

(3.)  For  the  matter ;  it  is  great  feasting.  Jerome 
wrote  to  Eustachius  in  the  desert.  If  I  did  eat  any 
thing  boiled,  it  was  a  luxuiy  ;  so  great  was  his  tem- 
perance. All  oiu'  art  is  too  little  to  please  our 
palates  ;  we  have  piles  of  dishes  to  make  barricadoes 
against  the  appetite.  Feasts  indeed  have  their  just 
allowance :  our  Saviour  himself  honoiu'cd  a  great 
feast  with  liis  presence  and  miracle,  John  ii.  But 
they  must  not  be  unseasonable ;  as,  to  feast  when 
we  need  to  fast :  when  God  calls  to  mounling,  then 
to  revel,  Amos  xi.  God  threatens  plagues,  they  fall 
to  dances  ;  tlierefore  the  banquet  of  these  jovial 
fellows  shall  be  removed,  ver.  7-  Not  excessive. 
Nabal  the  churl  made  a  feast  like  a  king :  you  know 
a  churl's  feast ;  he  feeds  his  family  with  the  mouldy 
remnants  a  month  after.  Not  profane :  such  was 
Belshazzai-'s,  when  the  temple  was  ransacked  to  fur- 
nisli  his  cupboard  of  plate.  Nehemiah  read  the 
law  of  God  even"  day  of  the  feast :  if  men  did  think 
of  lliat  law,  they  would  not  make  God  and  Belial 
meet  at  one  board.  Josejdi  and  Mary  went  up  to 
Jerusalem  to  the  great  feast  with  Jesus,  but  there 
they -left  Jesus,  Luke  ii.  Twelve  years  they  could 
keep  him,  yet  at  a  feast  they  lost  him.  Beda  says,  the 
men  went  in  one  company,  the  women  in  another ; 
the  children  sometimes  with  the  father,  sometimes 
with  the  mother;  betwixt  them  both  Christ  was 
lost :  so  easily  is  Christ  lost  at  a  feast.  It  is  observ- 
able, that  in  the  temple  they  found  him,  ver.  46 : 
thev  lost  him  at  a  feast,  but  they  found  him  again 
in  l\\e  church.     The  end  of  such  feasts  is  commonly 


72 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Ch-vp.  1. 


the  beginning  of  a  fray.  Upon  ihe  Sodomites  feast- 
ing heaven  rained  down  fire  and  brimstone.  Upon 
Job's  children  feasting  the  house  fell  down.  Against 
Belshazzar  feasting  the  finger  on  the  wall  wrote 
characters  of  destmction.  What  Dives  hath  dined, 
the  devil  takes  away.  If  gluttony  be  the  founder, 
Satan  is  the  confounder.  The  host  provides  meat 
for  the  belly,  the  guest  a  belly  for  the  meat  :  death 
destroys  them  both.  "  Meats  for  the  belly,  and  the 
belly  for  meats :  but  God  shall  destroy  both  it  and 
them,"  1  Cor.  vi.  13.  Paul  says,  that  their  end  is 
damnation,  Phil.  iii.  19.  It  is  heavy,  that  their  end 
is  damnation  ;  but  it  is  worse,  that  their  damnation 
is  without  end.  Let  us  evermore  suspect  these  riot- 
ous meetings,  among  them  that  feed  themselves 
without  fear,  Jude  ver.  12.  It  is  written  of  good  Job 
that  he  feared  his  children  at  a  feast :  "  It  may  be 
that  my  sons  have  sinned,  and  cursed  God  in  their 
hearts,"  Job  i.  5.  Let  us  be  like  the  deer,  who  are 
ever  most  fearful  at  their  best  feeding.  Beware  lest 
your  indulgence  of  the  throat  be  the  suffocation  of 
grace;  be  jealous  of  a  great  feast.  But  I  shall  hold 
you  too  long  at  a  feast,  unless  my  cheer  were  better: 
I  therefore  pass  to, 

(4.)  The  effects ;  which  are  manifold  and  manifest. 
The  throat's  pleasure  did  shut  up  paradise,  sold  the 
birthright,  beheaded  the  Baptist ;  audit  was  the  chief 
of  the  cooks,  Nebuzaradan,  that  first  set  fire  to  the 
temple,  and  razed  the  city.  These  efl'ects  are,  1. 
Crossness ;  which  takes  away  agility  to  any  good 
work  ;  which  makes  a  man  move  like  a  tun  upon  two 
pottle  pots.  C'rosar  said  he  mistrusted  not  Antony 
and  Dolabella  for  any  practices,  because  they  were 
fat ;  but  Casca  and  Cassius,  lean,  hollow  fellows,  who 
did  think  too  much.  The  other  are  the  devil's 
crammed  fowls:  like  iEsop's  hen,  too  fat  to  lay.  In- 
deed what  need  they  travel  far,  whose  felicity  is  at 
home;  placing  paradise  in  their  throats,  and  heaven 
in  their  food?  2.  Macilency  of  grace  ;  for  as  it  puts 
fatness  into  their  bodies,  so  leanness  into  their  souls. 
God  fatted  the  Israelites  with  quails,  but  withal 
"  sent  leanness  into  their  soul,"  Psal.  cvi.  15.  The 
flesh  is  blown  up,  the  spirit  doth  languish.  They 
are  worse  than  man-eaters,  for  they  are  self-eaters : 
they  put  a  pleurisy  into  their  bloods,  and  an  apoplexy 
into  their  souls.  3.  Consumption  of  their  estates : 
for  it  is  a  costly  disease ;  it  makes  way  for  either  a 
writ  or  a  mittimus.  Their  patrimony  runs  through 
their  throat.  Man,  that  is  the  lord  of  all  creatures, 
hath  the  least  mouth  of  all  creatures.  When  tem- 
perance, that  just  steward,  is  put  out  of  his  office, 
all  runs  to  decay  and  ruin  :  if  satiety  go  before,  beg- 
gary will  follow  after.  4.  Sickness  to  their  bodies  : 
they  wrap  up  diseases  in  their  full  morsels,  as  pills 
in  pap.  Men  desire  strength  of  body,  and  length  of 
days  :  sed  prohibenl  grandes  palitxp.  Gluttony  was 
always  a  friend  to  ^Esculapius.  But  for  the  throat's 
indulgence,  Paracelsus,  for  all  his  Mercury,  had  died 
a  beggar.  Aches  and  ayc-mes  are  incident  to  intem- 
perate houses:  gouts,  pleurisies,  dropsies,  &c.  Qiice 
■nisi dirilibus  ytcqueiml  conlingere mensis.  (Ilorat.)  AVe 
complain  the  shortness  of  our  lives,  yet  take  the 
only  course  to  make  them  shorter. 

(5.)  Lastlv,  the  end  is  rottenness  and  death.  AVhy 
dost  thou  feed  that  flesh  so  fat,  that  must  feed  Ihe 
worms  ?  The  daintiest  of  Hying,  swimming,  or  run- 
ning creatures  are  buried  in  our  bowels.  Post 
thou  ask  why  we  die  so  soon?  wc  live  upon  deaths. 
(Sen.)  The  best  diet  shall  leave  thee  putidiim  el 
vulridum  cadaifr.  The  finest  food  shall  make  no 
better  dust.  When  moderation  itself  cannot  avoid 
dying,  how  thinkest  thou  to  prop  up  thy  tabeniacle 
with  surfeit?  Lay  hold  on  temperance:  the  jihy- 
sician  savs.  nothing  is  better  for  the  body  than  tem- 


perance:  the  lawj'cr  says,  nothing  is  better  for  the 
estate  tlian  temperance :  the  philosopher  says,  no- 
thing is  better  for  the  wits  than  temperance  :  the 
divine  says,  nothing  is  better  for  the  soul  than  tem- 
perance. It  is  good  for  the  body,  good  for  the  brain, 
good  for  the  estate,  good  for  the  soul :  readily  there- 
fore admit  temperance.  For  further  help  against 
intemperance,  take  these  four  considerations. 

(1.)  That  abstinence  is  man's  rising,  as  intempe- 
rance was  his  fall.  We  that  have  lapsed  from  the 
joys  of  paradise  by  meat,  let  us  recover  it  again  as 
well  as  we  can  by  abstinence.  (Greg.)  I  speak 
not  here  for  fasting  only  ;  though  that  nave  the  due 
use,  the  duo  place.  It  hath  a  time  and  place  in  the 
midst  of  sorrow;  for  repentance  comes  not  before 
God  with  a  full  belly  and  meat  between  the  teeth. 
The  use  of  it  is,  to  prepare  the  soul  for  goodness, 
not  to  merit  by  it.  The  papists  hold  it  not  as  a  help 
of  piety ;  but  an  immediate  part  of  God's  worship, 
to  be  satisfactory.  But  I  commend  in  abstinence 
three  rules.  I.  "That  it  be  not  too  much;  for  it  is 
better  to  abstain  every  day  a  little,  than  some  days 
wholly.  They  are  moderate  showers  that  make  the 
ground  fniitful.  An  easy  shaking  roots  the  young 
plant  faster;  a  hard  shaking  roots  it  up.  2.  Re- 
member the  poor  in  your  abstinence.  "  Wherefore 
have  we  fasted,  and  thou  seest  it  not  ?  "  complain  the 
hypocrites.  God  answers.  Because  in  your  fasts  ye 
exact  your  debts;  you  show  no  mercy  to  the  poor, 
Isa.  Iviii.  3.  Let  the  abstinence  that  makes  thee 
look  pale,  beget  blood  in  another's  cheeks :  let  thy 
fast  be  the  poor's  feast.  They  eat  the  lambs  out  of 
flock,  and  the  calves  out  of  the  stall,  Amos  vi.  4 : 
that  is  sometimes  bad  enough,  but  they  forget  the 
affliction  of  Joseph,  ver.  (5;  that  is  worse;  tliis  en- 
hanceth  their  damnation.  Your  tables  abound  with 
dishes,  their  bowels  sound  like  shawms :  take  away 
here,  and  bestow  it  there ;  bate  a  mess  at  thy  table, 
and  send  it  to  the  poor's  table.  Nchemiah  allowed 
some  liberty  to  the  rich,  so  it  were  joined  with  libe- 
rality to  the  poor:  "  Go  your  way,  eat  the  fat,  and 
drink  the  sweet ;"  but  be  sure  to  "send  portions  unto 
them  for  whom  nothing  is  jircpared,"  Neh.  viii.  10. 
Think  it  is  Christ  that  himgcrs,  while  thou  riotest. 
Godfrey  of  Boulogne  would  not  be  crowned  with  gold 
in  that  place  where  his  Master  had  been  crowned 
with  thorns.  Do  not  thou  pamper  thyself  when 
Christ  starves.  Christ  is  hungiy,  and  he  must  satisfy 
you.  It  is  Christ  that  begs  of  you,  and  he  must  give 
you:  it  is  Christ  that  lies  at  your  gates,  and  he  must 
let  you  into  the  gates  of  heaven.  True  feasts  of 
charity  are  not  only  banquets,  but  sacrifices ;  "with 
such  sacrifices  God  is  well  pleased,"  Heb.  xiii.  16. 
3.  Abstain  from  all  sin  :  the  praise  and  crown  of 
abstinence  is  amendment  of  life.  "  When  ye  fasted 
and  mourned,  did  ye  at  all  fast  luito  me,  even  to  me, 
saith  the  Lord  ?"  Zech.  vii.  5. 

(2.)  Consider,  it  is  God's  blessing  that  makes  fat, 
and  not  meat.  Man  lives  not  by  bread,  but  by  the 
word  of  (h)d,  Matt.  iv.  4.  Daniel  looks  as  fair  with 
his  pulse,  as  the  rest  with  their  liberal  portions  of 
the  king's  meat.  If  God's  blessing  be  separated  from 
those  edible  materials,  they  yield  no  nourishment. 
He  that  covild  tuni  stones  into  bread,  can  turn  bread 
into  stones  ;  and  make  wine  infatuate,  not  exhilarate. 
He  can  rot  the  grain  in  the  clods,  blast  it  in  the  ear, 
wither  it  in  the  blade,  consume  it  in  the  bam;  yea, 
when  it  ';ath  passed  the  Hail,  the  mill,  the  oven,  he 
can  make  it  gall  in  the  palate,  in  the  stomach  poison, 
lie  can  either  give  thee  meat  and  no  stomach,  or 
stomach  and  no  meat.  Be  temperate  then,  and  bless 
God ;  for  cveiT  creature  is  "  sanctified  by  the  word 
of  God  and  nrayer,"  1  Tim.  iv.  5.  Pass  not  by  his 
blessings  witli  shut  eyes,  as  not  glorifying  the  Cre- 


V£B.  e. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


73 


ator,  nor  look  on  tlicm  with  doting  eyes,  as  too  admir- 
ing tlie  creature.  Commend  moderate  meat  to  thy- 
self, and  thyself  to  the  blessing  of  God. 

(3.)  Consider,  that  if  it  be  so  wicked  to  devour 
meats  gluttonously,  what  is  it  to  devour  men  ?  to 
swallow  up  "  a  man  and  his  house,  even  a  man  and 
his  heritage  ? "  Micah  ii.  2.  Such  dcvourcrs  were  the 
Pharisees,  and  under  the  colour  of  long  prayers. 
These  are  monstrous  epicures :  the  poor  man's  bread 
is  his  life.  Job  xxxi.  39,  and  he  that  takes  it  from 
him  is  a  bloody  man.  The  usurer  keeps  a  slender 
diet,  but  his  stomach  holds  abundance  of  mortgages, 
forfeitures,  and  is  oppressed  with  such  oppressions. 
"  He  hath  swallowed  down  riches,  and  he  snail  vomit 
them  up  again :  God  shall  cast  them  out  of  his  belly," 
Job  XX.  15.  God  shall  one  day  say  to  such  men.  Re- 
store what  you  have  devoured.  When  the  chirurgeon 
opens  the  epicure's  dead  body,  he  finds  undigested 
crudities  :  when  God  shall  unrip  the  oppressor's 
dead  conscience,  there  will  be  found  five  or  six  im- 
propriated churches,  there  a  depopulated  town,  there 
thousands  of  acres  of  decayed  tillage,  there  the  lands 
of  orphans  and  the  dowries  of  widows.  Many  de- 
vour that  on  earth  which  they  shall  digest  in  hell. 

(4.)  Lastly,  if  thou  wilt  riot,  let  me  show  thee  a 
bannuct ;  "  lie  brought  me  to  the  banqueting  house, 
and  nis  banner  over  me  was  love,"  Cant.  ii.  4.  "  Eat, 
O  friends,"  kc.  chap.  v.  1.  "  This  is  that  bread  wliieh 
came  down  from  heaven:"  he  that  eateth  of  it  shall 
never  die,  John  vi.  58.  This  is  panis  I'erus,  though 
not  panis  tnenis.  As  he  is  both  the  Physician  and 
the  medicine  in  respect  of  his  blood  ;  so  he  is  botli 
the  Pastor  and  the  food  in  respect  of  his  body.  He 
feeds  his  lambs,  not  on  his  grounds,  but  on  his 
wounds.  All  men  eat  the  bread  of  God  ;  the  saints, 
the  bread  that  is  God  himself.  They  that  have  ran- 
sacked sea  and  land  for  rarities,  never  found  such  a 
dainty.  Here  satiate,  here  be  intemperate  ;  think 
your  souls  can  never  feast  enough  on  tliis  dish  :  with 
this  only  immoderation  God  will  never  be  angry. 
"  Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness  ;  for  they  shall  be  filled,"  Matt.  v.  6. 
Christ  is  the  life  whereby  we  live,  "  for  in  him  we 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being,"  Acts  xvii.  28. 
And  the  life  which  we  live,  now  live  not  I,  but  Christ 
liveth  in  me,  Gal.  ii.  20.  Let  epicures  boast  their 
delicacies,  this  be  the  food  of  our  souls. 

4.  I  come  to  the  last  kind  of  intemperance  ;  and 
this  in  drinks ;  we  call  it  dninkenness.  My  theme 
is  still  temperance  :  wherein  I  confess,  that  as  phy- 
sicians coming  to  their  patients,  often  catch  some  of 
their  diseases ;  so  you  may  say,  that  I  fall  into  tlie  vice 
1  reprove,  and  that  against  excess  I  speak  excessively. 
But  it  is  a  sin  I  durst  not  lightly  or  slightly  pass 
over ;  a  disease  the  whole  world  is  sick  of,  and  I 
would  also  put  in  my  ingredient  to  cure  it.  All 
drunkenness  is  not  with  wine  ;  "  They  are  drunken, 
but  not  with  wine  ;  they  stagger,  but  not  with  strong 
drink,"  Isa.  xxix.  9.  There  is  a  threefold  ebricty. 
1.  Of  wine ;  "Be  not  drimk  with  wine,  wherein  is 
excess,"  Eph.  v.  18.  2.  Of  forgetfiilness ;  "The 
Lord  hath  poured  out  upon  you  the  spirit  of  deep 
sleep,"  Isa. xxix.  10.  3.  Oflusttosin;  "They have 
erred  through  wine,"  Isa.  xxviii.  7 :  which  I  take 
there  not  so  much  to  be  intended  against  this  cor- 
poral, as  that  spiritual  ■drunkenness  ;  for  it  is  said. 
"  They  err  in  vision,  they  stumble  in  jvidgment."  I 
am  not  to  deal  with  that  dry  dnmkcnness,  but  only 
with  the  first,  and  haply  the  worst. 

Man  hath  a  threefold  appetite :  natural,  which  is 
common  with  plants  ;  this  insensibly  covets  nourish- 
ment. Animal,  common  with  beasits ;  this  sensibly 
desires  needful  nourishment.  Rational,  proper  to 
man ;  this  reasonably  desires  fit  and  proper  nourish- 


ment. All  these  appetites  desire  drink;  without 
which  the  spirits  natural,  vital,  animal,  would  con- 
sume the  firmamental  heat;  that  would  waste  up  the 
primogcnial  humidity,  and  so  the  spark  of  life  would 
bum  out ;  as  the  lainp  is  extinct  without  supply  of 
oil.  The  veins  suck  the  stomach  dry  of  moisture ; 
hence  comes  emptiness  ;  upon  that,  sense  of  that  de- 
fect ;  upon  that,  the  desire  of  repletion ;  and  this  is 
thirst.  Drink  is  the  good  creature  of  God,  whether 
it  be  wine,  &c.  It  serveth  alimentally  for  the  body's 
strength ;  "  Drink  no  longer  water,  but  use  a  little 
wine  for  thy  stomach's  sake  and  thine  often  infirmi- 
ties," 1  Tim.  V.  23.  Physically,  to  refresh  body  and 
mind :  "  Give  strong  drink  unto  him  that  is  ready  to 
perish,  and  wine  unto  those  that  be  of  heavy  hearts," 
Prov.  xxxi.  6.  Moderate  wine  is  physical  ;  immo- 
derate, baneful.  (August.)  It  is  made  for  pleasure, 
not  for  fulness.  It  is  given  to  make  glad  the  heart 
of  man,  Psal.  civ.  15.  Civilly,  for  show  of  honest 
gladness,  and  maintenance  of  amity.  So  our  Saviour 
su])plied  the  want  of  wine  at  a  wedding,  John  ii. 
Nehemiah  bids  the  people  at  their  feast,  to  "  eat  the 
fat,  and  drink  the  sweet,"  Neh.  viii.  10.  It  was  ill 
done  of  Lycurgus  to  cut  down  all  the  vines ;  and 
false  of  Mahomet  to  say,  that  in  every  grape  there 
is  a  devil.  Only  intemperance  makes  the  sin,  abus- 
eth  the  creature,  oflfends  the  Creator  ;  only  against 
this  bends  my  discourse.  Herein,  for  method,  I 
desire  only  to  consider  two  things,  the  dam,  and  the 
litter.  Yet  first,  before  I  show  what  brood  this 
monstrous  mother  brings  forth,  consider  how  she  is 
bred  herself. 

Drunkenness  is  produced  from  the  concurrence  of 
many  causes.  The  main  is,  an  inordinate  desire  of 
drink.  The  original  of  all  vices  is  from  ourselves  ; 
there  is  a  harlot  within,  which  commits  all  these 
whoredoms  abroad,  concupiscence.  Not  he  that 
drinks  wine,  but  he  that  inordinately  loves  wine,  is 
the  drunkard.  "  They  count  it  pleasure  to  riot  in 
the  day  time,"  2  Pet.  ii.  13.  Their  soul  danceth  in 
the  cup,  and  their  eye  delights  in  the  colour  of  the 
wine,  Prov.  xxiii.  31.  Their  life  is  the  life  of  frogs  ; 
like  flies,  they  live  by  sucking.  As  it  was  said  of 
Bonosus,  they  are  not  born  to  live,  but  to  drink.  They 
drink  not  for  necessity,  but  luxury  ;  not  for  society, 
but  for  Satiety  ;  indeed,  not  for  their  friends'  sake, 
but  for  the  drink's  sake.  He  is  not  so  much  a  drunk- 
ard that  is  overtaken  unawares  ;  as  he  that  loves  and 
frequents  it,  though  he  carry  it  away  more  strongly ; 
he  that  is  tied  to  his  cups.  Therefore,  Woe  to  them 
that  are  strong  to  drink !  Isa.  v.  22.  A  strong  body 
without  strong  grace,  is  stronger  to  sni.  Thus  the 
strongest  is  the  weakest;  strong  toconnnit  sin,  weak 
to  resist  sin.  They  drink  not  once,  against  dryness, 
nor  a  second  time,' against  sadness,  but  continually, 
for  madness.  This  love  of  drink  is  the  beldam; 
there  are  also  other  concomitances.  Evil  company  ; 
"  Come,  I  will  fetch  wine,  and  we  will  fill  ourselves 
with  strong  drink,"  Isa.  Ivi.  12.  They  will  urge  a 
man  with  ij  iriiii,  >;  dmii :  but  God  dischargeth  such 
men  our  society,  I  Cor.  v.  1 1.  And  healths  :  He  that 
will  not  be  drunk  for  the  king,  is  no  friend  to  the 
king.  (Hieron.)  Here  is  a  professing  from  the  bot- 
tom of  his  heart,  to  the  bottom  of  the  cup,  that  such  a 
great  man's  health  shall  be  pledged  :  perhaps  it  must 
be  done  on  the  knees ;  rank  idolatiy  !  wherein  men 
make  gods  of  others,  beasts  of  themselves.  For  this 
purpose  they  have  their  she-saints,' their  mistresses, 
sometimes  little  better  than  strumpets.  Here  is  the 
little  dirference  betwixt  a  papist  and  a  drunkard  ; 
the  one  hath  his  will-worship,  the  other  his  wine- 
worship.  It  was  a  noble  answer  of  a  prince,  when  one 
told  him  how  deep  a- health  he  had  pledged  for  him  ; 
Do  not,  saith  he,  drink  my  health,  but  pray  for  it. 


74 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


Look  now  upon  the  dam,  drunkenness.  Aquinas, 
disputing  whether  di-unkcnness  be  a  sin  or  not,  objects 
that  no  vice  is  opposed  to  it ;  as,  to  temerity,  cow- 
ardice ;  to  prodigality,  avarice  ;  therefore  it  is  no  sin : 
but  he  answers,  that  there  is  a  vice  opposed  to  it, 
though  it  wants  a  name,  because  it  is  so  unusual ;  as 
the  forbearing  of  all  sustenance.  It  is  questioned 
also  whether  a  sick  man  may  ibink  mechcinally  for 
his  health,  and  be  drunk  with  it  ;  but  we  may  affinn, 
that  there  is  no  medicinal  cup  to  the  body,  that  is 
poisonous  to  the  conscience.  It  is  folly  to  think  that 
the  cause  of  many  sicknesses  should  be  physic  for 
one ;  or  that  the  endangering  the  soul  can  be  good 
physic  for  the  body :  no  good  \>hysician  will  prescribe 
it,  no  divine  will  allow  it.  Say  with  Constantine,  It 
is  better  to  be  still  afflicted  with  our  disease,  than  be 
recovered  by  such  a  medicine.  This  vice  is  the  plying 
of  the  pot  :  iioclurno  torpere  viero,  lorpere  diurno. 
The  Mantuan  poet,  Eclog.  ix.  rehearseth  the  drunk- 
ard's seven  draughts. 

Funde  itenim :  potare  seinel,  giuiare :  seciindux 
Calluit  OS  polus :  calefacla  refrigerat  ore. 
Ttiiius:  anna  sili,  bellumque  iyidicere  quarlus 
jlggreditur :  ipiinlus  jnignat :  victoria  sexti  est : 
Septimus  (Qlnophili  senis  licec  doctrina)  triumphut. 

The  first  di-aught  doth  but  taste  the  wine ;  the 
second  washcth  the  mouth ;  the  third  cooleth  it ;  the 
fourth  threatens  war  against  thirst;  the  fifth  fights 
W'ilh  it ;  the  sixth  overcomes  it ;  the  seventh  triumplis 
over  it.  All  this  is  taught  by  (Enophilus,  a  lover  of 
wine,  an  old  drunkard.  This  is  the  drunkard's  doc- 
trine. Let  us  hear  the  philosopher,  somewhat  more 
sober  and  stayed.  Aristotle  makes  seven  degrees  of 
it:  1.  Necessity,  a  man  must  drink.  2.  Commodity, 
a  man  should  drink.  3.  Pleasure,  he  may  drinlc.  4. 
Fulness,  he  may  not  di-ink.  5.  Satiety,  and  that  is 
bad.  (5.  Ebriety,  and  that  is  worse.  7.  Madness, 
and  that  is  worst  of  all.  Here  be  the  deadly  draughts, 
to  which  di-unkenness  nins  headlong.  Ferlur  equis 
auriga,  nee  audit  ctirrus  habenas.  The  sea  knows  its 
bounds,  but  not  the  deluge  of  dnmkemiess.  "We  see 
the  dam,  let  us  look  upon  the  litter  or  effects,  which 
are  many  and  hideous. 

(I.)  It  makes  room  for  the  devil.  All  sins  break 
in  at  the  loss  of  the  sconce,  or  capitol,  reason ;  thence 
the  enemy  commands  the  whole  town:  the  eyes  are 
wanton,  the  tongue  blaspheming,  the  hands  stabbing : 
all  mischiefs.  Jnradunt  urbem  somno  ritioque  .sepiil- 
tum.  So  were  the  Trojans  conquered;  and  for  this 
cause,  I  think,  ever  since,  drunkards  are  called  tnie 
Trojans.  It  is  a  dead  sea,  no  fish  can  live  there,  no 
virtue  thrive  here.  It  is  the  root  of  all  evils,  the  rot  of 
all  goodness :  the  devil  could  tind  no  rest  in  dry  places. 
Matt.  xii.  43;  he  loves  the  low  countries, 'the  wet 
ground,  moorish  and  marish  souls.  The  great 
behemoth  loveth  the  fens.  Job  xl.  21.  Of  all  rea- 
sonless creatures,  he  chose  the  drunken  hogs,  Mark  v. 

(2.)  It  overturns  the  estate.  "  The  dnmkard  shall 
come  to  poverty,"  Prov.  xxiii.  21.  He  consumes 
more  in  a  day  than  he  cams  in  a  week.  He  lies 
ojien  to  others'  plots,  and  hath  no  rule  of  his  own 
spirit,  but  is  a  city  without  walls,  Prov.  xxv.  28.  He 
is  his  own  thief;  he  needs  no  other  oppressors,  for  he 
is  a  catei-pillar  to  liimself.  He  rails  on  cormorants, 
yet  devours  himself.  He  throws  his  house  out  of  the 
windows  ;  it  is  fit  his  house  should  tlu-ow  liim  out  of 
the  doors. 

(3.)  It  poisons  the  tongue ;  swearing  and  lying 
are  the  ordinaiy  cfleets  of  it.  The  dmnkards  made 
songs  upon  David.  It  thinks  itself  a  C;esar,  and  falls 
a  taxing  all  the  world.  ()  but  i«  rino  Veritas  :  it  is 
false,  for  no  man's  good  name  is  sjiared.  If  he  be 
muUa  bibens,   he  is  sure  plurima  diceiis:   he  often 


utters  that  in  a  moment,  whereof  he  is  di-iven  to  re- 
pent all  his  life.  Arcanum  demens  detegit  ebrielas. 
A  drunken  inveigher  against  King  Pyrrhus,  being 
brought  to  his  answer  for  those  criminations,  said, 
AVe  spake  all  that  is  objected,  and  would  have  spoke 
more  if  the  wine  liad  not  failed  us.  Such  a  one  will 
speak  of  God  most,  when  he  thinks  of  God  least ; 
but  the  mouth  inured  to  blasphemous  or  scurrilous 
speeches,  is  no  fit  trumpet  of  God's  praises. 

(4.)  It  intoxicates  all  reason.  Bacchus  was  called 
Liber  paler ;  but  his  sons  are  not  liberi,  free-men,  but 
slaves,  bound  to  sleep.  They  are  out  of  the  way  with 
stiong  di-iuk,  Isa.  xxviii.  7 :  they  are  either  out  of  the 
way,  or  reeling  in  the  way.  "  Wine  and  women  will 
make  men  of  understanding  to  fall  away,"  Ecclus.  xix. 
2.  We  keep  our  doors  shut  against  thieves ;  yet  let  in 
this  thief  that  is  worse.  Oh  that  a  man  should  volun- 
tarily let  a  thief  in  at  liis  mouth,  to  steal  away  his  wits ! 
Young  Cyrus  refusing  to  drink  wine,  gave  this  reason 
to  his  gi-andfather'Astyagcs ;  I  took  it  to  be  poison,  for 
I  have  seen  it  spoil  men  of  wit  and  sense.  Alexander 
that  overcame  all,  was  overcome  by  wine.  (August.) 
If  the  body  chide  the  foot  for  stumbling  and  hurting 
it,  the  foot  may  lay  the  fault  in  the  head  for  not 
guiding  it.  "  'The  people  sat  down  to  eat  and  dinnk, 
and  rose  up  to  play,"  1  Cor.  x.  7.  We  have  them  that 
sit  down  to  drink,  till  they  cannot  rise  to  play  :  they 
must  sleep  as  they  lie :  they  are  as  "  he  that  lieth 
down  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  or  as  he  that  lieth 
upon  the  top  of  a  mast,"  Prov.  xxiii.  34. 

(5.)  It  enenates  the  strength.  / 'inum  ab  imptendo 
venas.  (Isidor.)  Instead  of  tilling  veins  with  blood, 
it  drowns  them.  It  brings  rotten  teeth,  stinknig 
breaths,  trembling  hands,  running  eyes,  gouts,  and 
dropsies.  All  these  are  the  waiters  on  di-unkenness ; 
all  strive  which  shall  bring  a  man  soonest  and  loath- 
somest  to  the  grave.  He  is  gone  in  his  standing, 
gone  in  his  miderstanding,  gone  in  strength  to  help 
himself:  we  commonly  say  of  the  drunkard,  he  is 
gone.  If  his  belly  be  made  a  tomb  of  drink,  diink 
will  make  liis  body  a  sepulchre  of  liis  soul.  (August.) 
It  is  somewhat,  that  it  alters  the  complexion :  I'lno 
forma  peril,  vino  corrunipitur  eetas.  But  worse,  that 
it  disswves  the  constitution ;  for  how  should  his  fir- 
numiental  lamp  bum,  that  is  ever  drowning  it  in 
deluges  of  riot  ? 

(().)  It  is  the  bawd  to  incontinence.  After  drunk- 
emiess  follows  chambering  and  wantonness,  Rom.  xiii. 
13.  Ambrose  says  of  lust,  that  it  is  fueled  with 
junkets,  enkindled  with  wine,  inllamed  with  drunk- 
crmess.  Vina  jmranl  animos  veneri.  (Ovid.)  I  will 
never  believe  the  drunkard  to  be  chaste,  says  Hieron. 
Dninkcn  Lot  became  incestuous  Lot :  hence  sprang 
the  Moabites  and  Ammonites,  those  mortal,  almost 
immortal,  enemies  to  the  church.  Wliom  the  ^^ces 
of  Sodom  could  not  taint,  lust  infected.  The  fiamcs 
that  destroyed  Sodom,  hurt  him  not;  his  own  fire 
scorched  him.  (Origen.)  In  this  sense  it  may  be  said. 
I'inum  lac  libidinis. 

(7.)  It  is  an  incendiary  to  quarrels  and  homicides. 
Bacc/ius  ad  arma  vocal.  Drunken  Alexander  killed 
Clitus,  for  whom  sober  Alexander  would  have  killed 
himself.  Tlie  Danes  and  Nonvegians  once  purpos- 
ing for  England,  fell  di-unk  on  ship-board,  and  so 
slashed  one  another  that  there  was  the  end  of  their 
voyage.  We  often  hear  of  such  riotous  meetings, 
that  some  drop  dead  in  the  midst  of  their  sins.  Be 
they  never  so  protesting  their  kindness ;  yet  tulius 
est  [ebriis  abslinuisse  locis,  they  that  may  be  kind  at 
first,  will  be  cruel  at  last.  Drunkards  kiss  when 
they  meet,  and  kill  when  they  part ;  Ikpc  faceret  non 
sobriits  unquain. 

(8.)  Lastly,  besides  all  other  plagues,  it  is  a  woe 
to  itself.    "  Who  hath  woe  ?  who  hatn  sorrow  ?  who 


Ver.  6. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


75 


hath  contentions  ?  who  hath  wounds  witliout  cause  ?  " 
Prov.  xxiii.  29.  The  merry  madness  of  an  hour,  is 
paid  with  the  afflictions  of  a  tedious  age.  '•  Woe 
unto  them  !"  saitli  tlic  prophet,  Isa.  v.  11.  '•  Woe  to 
tile  crown  of  pride,  to  tlie  drunkards  of  Ephraim !" 
Isa.  xxviii.  1.  When  the  carouser  pours  in  his  wine, 
it  troubles  him,  and  he  would  give  somewhat  to  avoid 
it ;  when  it  oli'ends  the  stomacli,  it  troubles  him 
worse ;  when  il  comes  ujj  again,  it  troubles  him  worst 
of  all.  One  Fornerius  writes  of  a  monk  at  Prague, 
who  having  heard  at  slirift  the  confession  of  drunk- 
ards, wondencd  at  it,  and  for  experiment  would  needs 
try  his  brain  with  this  sin ;  so  accordingly  stole  him- 
self drunk.  Now  after  the  vexation  of  three  sick 
days,  to  all  that  confessed  tliat  sin  he  enjoined  no 
other  penance  but  this,  Go  and  be  drank  again.  Sure 
liis  meaning  was  like  Seneca's,  Scelerin  in  scelere  sup- 
plicium,  It  is  a  torment  and  affliction  to  itself.  You 
see  the  dam  and  her  litter ;  learn  we  now  to  avoid  it, 
because  we  are  men,  because  we  are  citizens,  because 
we  are  Christians. 

Because  we  are  men:  while  the  wine  is  in  thy 
liand,  thou  art  a  man ;  when  it  is  in  thy  head,  thou 
art  become  a  beast.  The  drunkard  cries  to  his 
fellow,  Do  me  reason :  but  the  diink  answers,  I  will 
leave  thee  no  reason ;  scarce  so  much  as  a  beast, 
for  they  will  drink  no  more  tliau  they  need.  Dio- 
genes being  urged  to  drink  inmioderately,  cast  the 
drink  on  the  ground  :  being  reproved  for  that  loss, 
he  answered.  If  I  had  druiik  it,  I  had  lost  both  the 
drink  and  myself. 

Because  we  are  citizens,  and  therefore  should  lead 
civil  lives :  ch-uhkenness  is  an  uncivil  exorbitance. 
It  was  a  good  Persian  law,  that  no  man  was  com- 
pelled, but  every  one  did  according  to  his  own 
pleasure,  Esth.  i.  8.  Here  was  no  compulsion,  but 
it  was  left  arbitrary,  ut  hibal  arbitrio  pocula  qiiinque 
suo.  It  were  somewhat  if  but  so  much  moderation 
were  observed  at  our  feasts.  We  fault  in  those  very 
ethnic  observances,  and  tliink  it  a  discourtesy  not  to 
be  intemperate  for  company. 

Because  we  are  Christians.  "  Thou,  O  man  of 
God,  flee  these  things,"  1  Tim.  vi.  II.  The  grace  of 
God  that  brings  salvation,  teacheth  us  to  live  soberly. 
Tit.  ii.  II,  12.  We  are  children  of  the  day,  let  us 
cast  off  that  work  of  darkness,  Rom.  xiii.  The 
Rechabites  forbore  wine  in  awe  of  their  earthly 
father,  Jer.  xxxv. ;  and  shall  not  we  forbear  drunk- 
enness in  awe  of  our  heavenly  Father?  Yes,  lest 
that  curse  fall  on  us,  that  our  table  be  made  a  snare 
before  us,  Psal.  Ixix.  22;  yea,  lest  we  be  not  ad- 
mitted into  the  kingdom  of  God,  Gal.  v.  21.  Let 
not  "  your  hearts  be  overcharged  with  surfeiting  and 
drunkenness,  and  so  that  day  come  upon  you  un- 
awares," Lidce  xxi.  3-1 :  drink  every  draught  as  if  it 
were  thy  last  draught.  The  poor  woman  would 
appeal  from  di-unken  King  Philip  to  sober  King 
Philip ;  so  wUl  any  man  from  a  drunken  Christian 
to  a  sober  heathen. 

Thus  in  some  poor  measure  I  have  described  tliis 
monster  of  intemperance  :  a  sin  so  odious,  that  it  is 
abhorred  of  God,  despised  of  angels,  derided  of  men, 
pleasing  only  to  de-\-ils.  (August.)  Yet  have  we 
small  hope  to  subdue  it,  for  it  is  insensible :  "  They 
have  beaten  me,  and  I  felt  it  not,"  Prov.  xxiii.  35. 
Bernard  calls  it  a  gross  devil ;  he  that  is  possessed 
with  it,  falls  into  the  fu-e,  and  into  the  water,  gnasli- 
eth  and  foameth,  Matt.  xvii.  16.  Now  as  all  the 
disciples  could  not  cast  out  that  devil,  so  nor  all  the 
preachers  tliis.  It  is  a  habit  hardly  put  off.  When 
a  gentleman  heard  that  his  son  was  given  to  dicing, 
he  answered.  The  want  of  money  will  make  him 
leave  it.  After  he  heard  that  he  was  given  to 
whoring;    yet  saith  he,  marriage  or  old  age  will 


allay  that  fuiy.  But  when  he  lieard  that  he  was 
given  to  di'unkenness,  he  was  hopeless,  for  he  knew 
that  sin  would  increase  with  years.  A  gamester  will 
hold  as  long  as  his  purse  lasts,  an  adulterer  as  long 
as  his  loins  last,  but  a  drunkard  as  long  as  his  lungs 
and  life  last.  A  ])hilosopher  once  chancing  into  a 
company  of  drunkards,  where  a  musician  niled  the 
lascivious  riot,  presently  charged  him  to  change  his 
harmony  into  a  Dorion.  By  this  means  he  so  wrought 
them,  and  brought  them  to  sobriety,  that  casting 
away  their  garlands,  they  were  ashamed  of  all  they 
had  done.  But  oiu-  di-unkards  have  not  the  patience 
to  heai'  such  music.  Saul  was  vexed  with  an  evil 
spirit,  but  David's  harp  expelled  him.  Oh  that  we 
kjiew  that  instrument  or  lesson  which  could  work 
such  a  reformation !  We  would  double  and  treble 
that  note,  which  might  eflcctuate  such  a  cure.  But 
the  drunkard's  noise  is  louder  than  the  preacher's 
voice ;  the  sound  of  the  pot  drowns  all  rej)rehension. 


Verse  6. 

To  temperance  palience. 

Patie.nxe  is  that  vii-tue  which  had  rather  sufler  evil 
and  do  none,  than  do  evil  and  suffer  none.  (August.) 
It  hath  these  degrees :  it  does  not  wrong ;  it  receives 
it,  not  with  stupidity  but  sense;  it  does  not  vex  him 
that  offers  to  vex  it ;  it  returns  not  wound  for  wound ; 
it  does  not  hate  the  offender;  it  loves  him,  it  does 
good  unto  him,  it  entreats  God  for  him.  (Chrys.) 
For  patience  consists  not  only  in  bearing  mjuries, 
but  in  forgiving  the  injurers. 

But  why  doth  the  apostle  next  to  temperance 
annex  patience  ?  Temptations  of  pleasure  move  not 
many,  whom  the  sense  of  injuries  enrageth.  Men 
may  refrain  from  hurting  others  or  themselves ; 
therein  is  temperance :  but  others  will  hurt  them ; 
to  bear  this  witli  a  quiet  mind  is  patience.  A  Chris- 
tian may  live  without  doing  wrong,  not  without  re- 
ceiving wrong.  The  wolf  will  not  worry  a  wolf  so 
long  as  there  is  a-lamb  in  the  field.  This  virtue  is 
better  understood  than  practised;  like  Cassandra, 
better  known  than  trusted.  Therefore  admitting 
that  you  understand  it,  I  \vill  apply  myself  to  the 
affections,  that  you  may  embrace  it.  "This  let  me 
endeavom-  by  leading  you  through  certain  gradual 
considerations. 

1.  That  it  is  the  condition  of  mankind  to  suffer. 
When  thou  considerest  thyself,  there  is  presented  to 
thee  a  man,  a  naked  man,  a  poor  man,  and  a  miser- 
able man.  Thou  mournest  thy  mortality,  blushesl 
at  thy  nakedness,  despisest  thy  poverty,  weepest  for 
thy  miseiy.  (Bern.)  Now,  what  thou  must  bear, 
bear  patiently. 

2.  That  miseries  are  not  only  incident  to  men,  but 
more  proper  to  Christian  men ;  "  All  that  will  live 
godly  in  Christ  Jesus  shall  suffer  persecution," 
2  Tim.  iii.  12.  Tliis  was  Christ's  prognostication, 
'•  In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation,"  Jolm  xvi. 
33.  Tliis  the  apostle's  prediction,  Tlirough  many 
tribulations  you  must  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
Acts  xiv.  22.  What  saint  was  ever  crowned  before 
he  had  combated?  (Jerome.)  Search  the  whole 
Bible  over.  But  it  is  said,  The  churches  had  rest 
throughout  all  Judaea,  &c.  Acts  ix.  31.  And  there 
was  peace  in  the  days  of  Solomon,  peace  in  the  days 
of  Constantine,  jieace  in  the  milken  times  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  yet  still  greater  peace  under  tlie  reign 
of  our  present  soveraigu,  that  king  of  peace.  Yet 
though  we  be  freed  from  public  oppressions  inflicted 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


})y  magistrates,  not  fi-om  private  molestations.  In 
tlie  most  halcyon  days  we  find  bitterness.  If  there 
be  not  an  Esau,  there  will  be  an  Ishmael  ;  if  the 
hand  of  mischief  cannot  reach  us,  yet  the  arrows  of 
slander  and  contumely  will  stick  in  our  ribs.  All  men 
are  necessitated  to  miseries,  that  bend  their  course 
toward  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  (August.)  Hence 
it  is  that  .St.  Paul  gives  a  piece  of  armour  to  the 
feet;  Let  your  feet  be  "  shod  with  the  preparation 
of  the  gospel  of  peace,"  Eph.  vi.  15.  Our  feet  are 
naturally  tender  ;  if  they  be  bare,  clods,  flints,  thorns, 
will  gall  them.  Our  affections,  if  they  be  not  shod 
with  patience,  will  be  so  pricked  with  crosses,  that 
we  shall  be  weary  of  our  journey  to  heaven.  It  is 
no  unusual  stratagem  in  war,  to  stick  the  way  fiill 
of  thorns,  and  ends  of  pikes,  to  wound  and  disrank 
the  adversary.  So  the  devil  besets  our  way  of  peace, 
that  we  had  need  of  Icg-hamess,  patience.  Though 
all  parts  be  armed,  yet  if  the  feet  be  naked,  Satan 
will  wound  us  there ;  as  Achilles  was  wounded  in 
the  heel,  when  all  other  places  of  him  were  invulner- 
able. Thus  was  Job  armed,  Jam.  v.  11.  St.  John, 
speaking  of  great  war  and  great  victory,  concludes, 
"  Here  is  the  patience  of  the  saints,"  Rev.  xiv.  12. 
Therefore  Paul  expresslv,  "  Ye  have  need  of  pa- 
tience, that,"  &c.  Hcb.  x".  36. 

3.  That  all  afflictions  come  by  a  supreme  provi- 
dence, therefore  be  patient.  "  Shall  we  receive  good 
at  the  hand  of  God,  and  not  evil  ?  "  Job  ii.  10.  What- 
ever be  the  instruments,  he  looks  to  the  high  Agent ; 
"The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away; 
blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  Job  i.  21.  So 
David,  "Remove  thy  stroke  away  from  me:  I  am 
ronsumed  by  the  blow  of  thine  hand."  Psal.  xxxix. 
10.  Whatsoever  is  the  weapon,  it  is  thy  blow.  So 
he  snibbed  the  sons  of  Zeruiah.  concerning  the  blas- 
pheming of  Shimei ;  "  Because  the  Lord  hath  said 
unto  him,  Curse  David."  2  Sam.  xvi.  10.  So  our 
Sanour  told  Pilate,  "  Thou  couldst  have  no  power  at 
all  against  me,  except  it  were  given  thee  from  above," 
John  xix.  II.  God's  providence  is  the  mother  of  ne- 
cessity :  now  patience  makes  a  virtue  of  this  neces- 
sity. Other  creatures  modestly  and  silently  obey, 
and  shall  man  vex  himself  with  impatience  ?  Quic- 
ijuid  superi  foluere,  peractumest,  To  wrestle  with  fate, 
IS  to  provoke  fate  to  wrestle  with  us;  and  then  who 
falls  ?  "  Who  is  he  that  saith,  and  it  cnmeth  to  pass. 
when  the  Lord  commandeth  it  not  ?  "  Lam.  iii.  3/. 
Murmur  not,  my  son,  thy  Father  did  it.  We  strike 
at  God,  and  he  says  to  us,  as  Ca?sar  said  to  Bnitus. 
Is  it  thou,  my  son  ?  Well  may  he  strike  us,  and  let 
us  only  say.  It  is  thou,  my  Father,  and  be  silent. 
"These  things  hast  thou  done,  and  I  kept  silence," 
saith  the  Lord,  Psal.  1.  21.  Wicked  men  strike  the 
just  God,  and  he  holds  his  peace  :  the  just  God  strikes 
■«icked  men,  and  they  murmur. 

4.  Tliink  thy  crosses  meant  for  thy  blessings  : 
punishments  are  good  for  none  but  the  patient,  to 
them  only  they  are  signs  of  favour.  David  not  only 
concludes  thus,  "  By  this  I  know  that  thou  favourest 
me,  because  mine  enemy  doth  not  triumph  over 
me,"  Psal.  xli.  1 1  ;  but  also  thus.  Because  thou  hast 
afflicted  me,  therefore  I  know  thou  lovest  me.  "  If 
ye  be  without  chastisement,  then  arc  ye  bastards, 
and  not  sons,"  Heb.  xii.  8.  This  only  frees  us  from 
bastardy ;  or  ratlier  secures  us,  for  indeed  adoption 
frees  us.  Whom  God  smites  not,  he  loves  not.  (Au- 
giist.)  Let  the  Christian  understand,  God  his  Phy- 
sician, tribulation  his  physic.  Beini;  afflicted  under 
the  medicine,  thou  criest.  Tlie  Physician  hears 
thee  not  according  to  thy  will,  but  thv'wcal.  Thou 
canst  not  endure  thy  miilady,  and  wiit  thou  not  be 
patient  of  the  remedy  ?  Let'it  not  be  tnie  of  us,  that 
we  can  bear  neither  our  evils  nor  their  remedies.    A 


man  is  sick  of  a  pleurisy ;  the  physician  lets  him 
blood  ;  he  is  content  with  it :  the  arm  shall  smart,  to 
ease  the  heart.  The  covetous  man  hath  a  pleurisy 
of  riches  ;  God  lets  him  bleed  by  poverty  ;  let  him 
be  patient,  it  is  a  course  to  save  his  soul.  "  When 
we  are  judged,  we  are  chastened  of  the  Loi-d,  that  we 
should  not  be  condemned  with  the  world,"  1  Cor.  si. 
32.  We  speak  for  the  flesh,  as  Abraham  did  for  Ish- 
mael ;  "  0  that  Ishmael  might  live  before  thee  ! " 
Gen.  xvii.  18.  No,  God  takes  away  Ishmael,  and 
gives  Isaac :  he  withdraws  the  pleasure  of  the  flesh, 
and  gives  delight  to  the  soul.  God  threatens  not 
to  punish  the  wicked :  I  call  it  a  threatenmg,  for 
promises  come  from  mercy,  but  that  is  a  grievous 
punishment.  "Why  should  you  be  stricken  any 
more  P  "  Isa.  i.  5.  Let  me  have  none  of  that  mercy  ! 
Art  thou  afflicted,  why  complainest  thou  ?  that  which 
thou  sulferest  is  not  thy  damnation,  but  thy  castiga- 
tion.  Refuse  not  the  rod,  as  thou  wouldst  embrace 
tlie  inheritance.  Regard  not  so  much  what  portion 
thou  hast  in  the  punishment,  as  what  interest  thou 
hast  in  the  covenant.  He  that  knows  he  shall  reign 
in  heaven,  will  patiently  sutler  upon  earth. 

5.  That  all  crosses  are  desen'cd,  and  come  not 
upon  us  against  equity.  Equity,  I  say,  considered 
in  respect  of  God,  not  in  respect  of  men  :  they  come 
from  a  just  Author,  though  from  an  unjust  instru- 
ment. Thy  sins  have  procured  it :  "  Thy  way  and 
thy  doings  have  procured  these  things  unto  thee," 
Jer.  iv.  18.  No  misery  had  afflicted  us,  if  no  sin  had 
first  infected  us.  "  Wherefore  doth  a  living  man 
complain,  a  man  for  the  punishment  of  his  sins?" 
Lam.  iii.  39.  That  man  may  well  suffer  patiently, 
that  knows  he  suffers  justly.  David  felt  the  spite  of 
his  enemies,  Psal.  xxxv'iii. ;  yet  he  aeknowledgeth 
his  sin  the  cause  ;  "  I  will  declare  mine  iniquity  ;  I 
will  be  sorry  for  my  sin,"  ver.  18.  "  For  what  glory 
is  it,  if,  when  ye  be  buffeted  for  your  faults,  ye  shall 
take  it  patiently  ?  but  if,  when  ye  do  well,  and  suffer 
for  it,  ye  take  it  patiently,  this  is  acceptable  with 
God,"  1  Pet.  ii.  20.  But  a  man  is  often  punished  for 
that  he  never  did.  I  answer,  in  that  act  for  whicli 
he  suffers  he  may  be  innocent,  yet  in  others,  guilty. 
David  could  clear  his  innocency  in  respect  of  Saul, 
not  in  respect  of  God.  For  Saul,  "  Lord,  if  I  have 
done  this,  if  there  be  iniquity  in  my  hands,"  Psal. 
vii.  3.  But  for  God,  "  If  thou.  Lord,  shouldcst  mark 
iniquities,  O  Lord,  who  shall  stand?"  Psal.  exxx.  3. 
Let  them  be  evil,  be  sure  thou  suffer  either  for  or  (at 
least)  with  a  good  conscience.  For  he  refuseth  to 
be  an  Abel,  wdiom  the  malice  of  Cain  doth  not  ex- 
ercise. The  sweet  rose  grows  among  sharp  thorns. 
(Greg.)  "  As  the  lily  among  the  thorns,  so  is  my 
love  among  the  daughters,"  Cant.  ii.  2. 

Therefore  "overcome  evil  with  good,"  Rom.  xii. 
21.  Be  so  far  from  snatching  God's  weaj)ons  out  of 
his  hand,  that  thou  rather  master  unkindness  with 
kindness.  This  St.  Paul  makes  to  be  the  work  of  pa- 
tience ;  "  .See  that  none  render  evil  for  evil,"  1  Thess. 
V.  15.  We  think  it  ignominy  and  cowardice,  to  put 
up  the  lie  without  a  stab,  a  wrong  without  a  chal- 
lenge. But  Solomon  says,  (to  whose  wisdom  all 
wise  men  will  .subscribe,)  that  it  is  the  glory  of  a 
man  to  pass  by  an  offence.  It  is  more  honour  to 
bear  an  injury  in  silence,  than  to  overcome  in  re- 
turn. (Greg.)  Satius  et  ttitius  injurias  per/erre, 
quam  inferre  ant  referre.  The  greatest  magnanimity 
is  patience.  Yet,  oh  into  what  unfortunate  times 
are  we  fallen,  when  ever)'  wrong  must  be  answer- 
ed with  blood!  How  hath  the  devil  bewitched 
us  to  glory  in  our  shame,  that  ihe  wretehedest  and 
basest  cowardice  should  ruffle  it  out  in  the  garb  ot 
valour!  Yet  if  the  gravest  bishop  in  the  land  do 
urcach  this,  our  impatient  gallants  will  not  believe 


Ver  G. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


77 


it.  Indeed  how  should  they  credit  man,  who  will 
not  he  persuaded  by  God  himself?  Oh  yet  that 
our  tears  could  wash  off  the  guilt  from  men's  souls, 
as  easily  as  we  can  convince  them  by  arguments  ! 
we  woiild  then,  with  Jeremiah,  wish  our  heads 
fountains,  and  our  eyes  spouts,  to  cleanse  our  land 
from  the  blood  thus  shed,  and  the  brave  opinion 
of  shedding  it.  Among  Christians  he  is  only  the 
wretched  man  that  does  wrong,  not  he  that  suffers. 
(Hicron.)  It  is  a  great  virtue  not  to  hurt  him  that 
hath  hurt  thee.  (Hugo.)  This  was  in  those  days 
truly  noble ;  now  nothing  but  revenge.  Job  is  count- 
ed a  fool,  and  David  a  coward.  With  them  it  was 
valour  to  bless  those  that  cursed  them:  we  think 
that  i)atience  is  an  argument  of  baseness.  What  is 
the  difference  ?  There  was  the  faith  and  patience  of 
the  saints ;  here  is  the  infidelity  and  impatience  of 
sinners.     Let  such  men  know, 

1.  That  God  shall  condemn  them  for  invading  his 
office  i  for  vengeance  is  his  ;  and  that  they  call  cou- 
rage, he  sliall  judge  outrage.  Then  it  will  be  but  a 
poor  plea,  to  say.  Such  a  one  wronged  me.  Who 
gave  thee  leave  to  quit  thyself?  Is  not  God  able  to 
puni-sh?  Thou  art  cmel,  and  wilt  carv'e  too  deep  : 
let  God  alone,  he  is  merciful  and  just. 

2.  To  what  purpose  are  magistrates,  if  every  man 
may  be  his  own  judge  ?  Thou  mayst  complain  to  the 
deputy,  not  with  thine  own  hands  punish  the  injuiy. 
If  a  man  have  matter  against  another,  "  the  law  is 
open,  and  there  are  deputies ;  let  them  implead  one 
another,"  Acts  xis.  .38.  Let  men's  causes  fight  a 
while,  that  their  souls  may  be  in  peace  for  ever. 
"  There  is  utterly  a  fault  among  you,  because  ye  go 
to  law  one  with  another,"  1  Cor.  vi.  7-  That  is  a 
fault :  but  some  so  abuse  the  law,  that  that  which 
should  redress  wrong  and  mischief,  is  perverted  to 
be  the  greatest  wrong  and  mischief.  Whom  their 
hands  dare  not  strike  with  hlows,  their  purses  shall 
vex  with  suits.  We  may  say  of  such  citizens,  as  it 
was  of  some  popes,  they  are  not  urbani,  but  turbani. 

3.  Remember  that  the  Lord  Jesus  shed  his  blood 
to  make  thee  friends  with  God ;  and  wilt  not  thou  be 
friends  with  thy  brother  ?  Cannot  the  blood  of 
Christ,  that  bought  a  whole  church  of  God,  buy  the 
forgiveness  of  one  wrong  at  thy  hands  ?  Take  heed, 
lest  for  not  showing  mercy  thou  find  no  mercy. 

4.  God  is  patient  towards  thee,  though  he  be  pro- 
voked eveiy  day.  He  invites  us  to  be  patient,  that 
is  Patience  itself.  Do  thou  bear  with  others,  God 
bears  with  thee.  (August.)  Is  there  a  Too  much, 
which  thou  canst  suffer  for  so  patient  a  Lord?  How 
wouldst  thou  endure  wounds  for  him,  that  canst  not 
endure  words  for  him  ?  A  man  reviles  thee,  thou  art 
impatient  ;  how  wouldst  thou  afford  thy  ashes  to 
Christ,  and  wi-ite  Patience  with  thine  own  blood  ? 

5.  The  examples  of  the  ven,-  heathen  may  put 
such  impatient  Christians  to  the  blush.  When  that 
Tarentine  was  angry  with  his  faulty  servant ;  I  had 
stricken  thee,  had  I  not  been  angry.  He  had  rather 
he  went  unpunished,  than,  for  anger,  punish  him  be- 
yond his  deser>'ing.  Xenophon,  to  one  that  railed 
on  him,  replied,  Thou  hast  learned  to  reproach,  and 
I  to  contemn  thy  reproaches.  When  Metellus  in- 
veighed against  Tacitus  in  the  senate,  he  answered, 
It  is  easy  to  find  fault  with  him  that  is  not  willing  to 
reply.  The  blame  lies  on  your  malice,  not  on  my 
patience.  When  one  told  Diogenes,  Many  despise 
thee ;  he  returns,  So  wise  men  must  suffer  of  fools. 
The  same  en\-ious  tongue  that  would  speak  a  man 
worse,  doth  indeed  confess  him  better;  for  the  object 
of  envy  is  goodness.  Another  being  reproved  by  his 
friend  because  he  did  not  correct  his  provoking  ser- 
vant, answered,  Because  I  have  found  one  I  liave 
more  reason  to  correct,  that  is,  myself.    Thus  for 


morality  they  excellently  commended  this  virtue: 
we  have  the  seal  of  God  put  upon  it,  "  Be  shod  with 
the  preparation  of  tlie  gospel  of  peace,"  Eph.  vi.  15. 
Nothing  but  the  gosi)el  of  peace  can  give  true  pa- 
tience. Theirs  was  an  opinion  to  stupify  men's 
senses ;  but  the  knowledge  of  peace  in  heaven  is  the 
soul  of  patience.  Hereby  we  have  a  resolution  that 
nothing  shall  hurt  us;  for  sin  is  the  sting  of  all 
troubles  :  pull  out  the  sting,  and  deride  the  malice  of 
the  serpent.  Sin  makes  our  burden  heavy :  take 
away  that,  all  is  tolerable.  Sin  tunis  the  grave  into 
a  dark  dungeon  ;  which  remitted,  is  a  periumed  bed 
of  quiet  rest.  Sin  shows  the  devil  horrible,  God  a 
severe  Judge :  let  the  gospel  remove  that,  God  is  thy 
Father,  the  devil  his  and  thy  slave.  Therefore  the 
prophet  well  annexeth  blessedness  to  the  remission 
of  sins;  "Blessed  is  he  whose  transgression  is  for- 
given," Psal.  xxxii.  1.  And  our  Saviour  says  to  the 
man  sick  of  the  palsy,  "  Be  of  good  cheer  ;  thy  sins 
be  forgiven  thee,"  Matt.  ix.  2.  Yea  more,  we  are 
resolved  that  all  things  shall  work  together  to  our 
good :  all  things,  then  even  our  sins.  Not  that  sin 
is  good  in  itself;  but,  as  Bernard,  The  miraculous 
hand  of  God  disposeth  our  verj-  unrighteousness,  to 
help  us  to  righteousness.  And  that  first  in  respect 
of  God,  manifesting  and  magnifying  his  mercy  in  for- 
giving it :  "  where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much 
more  abound,"  Rom.  v.  20.  And  in  respect  of  our- 
selves ;  working  in  us  a  sorrow  of  repentance,  not  to 
be  sorrowed;  a  humility  to  be  honoured,  a  faith  to 
be  crowned.  (Bern.)  Thus  God  casts  us  into  the  fire, 
not  to  be  consumed  as  dross,  but  refined  as  gold ;  that 
at  last  we  may  resolve,  not  only  to  die  in  the  Lord, 
but  for  the  Lord  Jesus. 

6.  Consider  that  all  sufferings  shall  have  an  end. 
The  rod  lies  now  on  the  godly,  but  it  is  not  in  the 
right  place ;  at  last  Christ  shall  lay  it  where  it  shall 
abide,  even  on  the  wicked,  there  it  must  rest  for 
ever.  "  Xhe  rod  of  the  wicked  shall  not  rest  upon 
the  lot  of  the  righteous ;  lest  the  righteous  put  forth 
their  hands  unto  iniquity,"  Psal.  cxxv.  3.  So  Abra- 
ham told  Dives  of  an  exchange  :  Before  Lazarus  had 
sorrow  thou  hadst  pleasure  :  now  therefore  you  have 
changed  turns  and  places ;  '•  he  is  comforted,  and 
thou  art  tormented,"  Luke  xvi.  25.  To  the  godly 
ease  shall  come.  Hope  is  the  mother  of  patience. 
The  \Wse  men  rejoiced  to  find  the  star ;  the  woman, 
to  find  her  piece  of  silver ;  our  lady  rejoiced  to  find 
our  Lord  :  Christ  always  returns  with  increase  of 
joy.  "  The  righteous  is  delivered  out  of  trouble, 
and  the  wicked  cometh  in  his  stead,"  Prov.  xi.  8. 
Here  is  the  \-icissitude.  "  The  wicked  shall  be  a 
ransom  for  the  righteous,  and  the  transgressor  for 
the  upright,"  Prov.  xxi.  18.  Here  is  the  redemption 
or  ransom.  MiseiT,  like  a  vulture,  must  have  some- 
bodv  to  prey  upon  :  the  world  destines  the  righteous 
to  it,  and  for  a  while  they  sufler ;  but  God  ordains 
the  unrighteous  to  it,  and  they  must  suffer  for  ever. 
God  shall  speak  to  sorrow.  Deliver  me  my  servant, 
let  that  man  go  whom  thou  now  afflictcst ;  and  take 
this  reprobate  in  his  stead,  torment  him  for  ever. 
"  Ye  have  need  of  patience,"  Heb.  x.  36.  Why 
should  we  be  patient  ?  Because  ye  have  so  short  a 
time  to  suffer ;  "  Yet  a  little  while,  and  he  that  shall 
come  will  come,  and  will  not  tarry,"  ver.  37.  Why, 
what  shall  he  do  when  he  is  come'  ?  "  I  will  sec  you 
again,  and  your  heart  shall  rejoice,  and  your  joy  no 
man  taketh  from  you."  John  xvi.  22.  "  The  Lamb 
shall  lead  them  unto  living  fountains  of  waters:  and 
God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes,"  Rev. 
vii.  17.  But  how  are  we  sure  of  this  ?  Because  "  it 
is  a  righteous  thing  with  God  to  recompense  tribu- 
lation to  them  that  trouble  you ;  and  to  you  who  are 
troubled  rest  with  us,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  shall 


78 


AN  KXI'fJSI'JION   I  l'(;N  TIIK 


Cu.m:  I. 


lie  rev<'nled  from  lii'iivcri  willi  liin  iiii({lily  mi({rl»," 
U  Tlu-mi.  i.  0,  7-  Jiicol)  MTVcil  hcvrii  yciiru  iinticnlly 
for  liiii  wifi'  Uiiclii-I  I  mill  hlmll  not  vn-  mt\v  lori({cr 
for  our  ili-iir  llintljiiiKlJchiin  !'  J.ovc  hiiHrrii  all  Ihin^, 
I  Cor,  xiii.  7:  '"'  Iovch  iiol  (lie  I^oril,  tliiil  will  not 
kiifl't-r  for  liini.  (tmvui  piiimuii  amor,  nee  nerull  dicem 
pattaiii.  "  l(r  |iii(ifnl  ( hcrcfiiri-  unlo  the  uoinioff  of 
till-  Lord,"  .liimck  v.  7-  "Lift  up  your  hciulw)  for 
your  ndnnplion  (Intwtth  iiikIi,"  LuUir  xxi.'JH.  If 
llirHi-  nii-ililiilionH  could  niiik  iindhoiili  into  our  luiirlK, 
(hfv  would  lu'  Miollilii'il  witli  |/iitlinci'.  It  in  (ridy 
mild  coiirrrninx  I  III!  wicked,  I  heir  ijli'imuri'  in  hliorl, 
I  heir  |)iiin  cvfrliinling.  Tlu;  conlniry  in  un  (nii-  con- 
i-cniiuK  till'  fiiidil'idi  llii'ir  |iiiin  in  hliorl,  llicir  jov 
i-lcrnnl.  "  Tlu'  liopr  of  llic  riffhlioiiH  nliiill  \ii- n\iul- 
iicmi;  lull  lliiM'X|irrlalion  of  tin- wirki-d  hlmll  prrihli," 
i'rov,  X.  'JH.  Dpoii  Miiiiii'i'n  cxi'd'nlioii,  Diivid  lliiin 
cimilorlcd  liiniHilf  j  "  It  inny  In-  lliiit  tlir  Lord  will 
look  on  iiiiiii'  iilllii'llon,  mid  llu-  Lord  will  i'i'i|uili'  nir 

food  for  liin  iiirniiix  lliin  dity,"  U  Hmii.  xvi.  \2. 
)nviil  hiillfri'd  iiiiirli  of  Smil,  before  lie  wore  (lie 
promined  eiowii  :  no  iimtler  wlliit  we  hullernn  eiirlli, 
no  we  iiiiiy  ill-  I'lowried  in  lieiivcn. 

i^imlly,  I'oiihider  lliiil  Cliriht  our  Loid  hiiirrrid  ;dl 
piitienlly  lor  uh  i  lliiit  lyiiinli  wiih  diinili  liefoir  (In- 
ileeeei'H  mill  ImlelierN,  Hiicli  liinilih  iiiiint  we  lie,  llint 
Imve  iirillier  lioiiin  to  dimli,  nor  iiiiiln  to  Inir,  nor 
leetll  lo  liile,  nor  llij{lit  to  eheiipe  ;  liul,  imlimlly 
to  Nuhiiiit  ouiHelveN  to  the  will  of  our  Hlii|)lierd. 
Siieli  ImidjN  were  the  iiiiirlyrKi  their  perneeuloiH 
were  more  weiiry  /'erienUo,  willi  HlrikhiK,  limn  I  hey 
/erunUii,  willi  Hii/l'eriiiK,  Hut  none  ever  HulVireil 
like  the  Lord  JenilH:  (lie  jiml  for  the  iinjubf,  IVoiii 
llie  iiiijuHl,  I  Pel,  ii,  o|.  Me  id  not  only  our  Id- 
(leeiiier,  hut  our  exmiiple  i  lie  liiii){hl  un  holh  in  hin 
doiiiX,  Mild  ill  hihdyiiiK,  "(Infill  iml  (:|iri!it  lo  hiive 
blilt'ereil  lllene  lhin){N,  uiiil  lo  enli  r  iiilo  IiIh  ^lory  I'" 
Luke  xxiv,  'M.  Ah  he  wan  anoinled  willi  llie  oil  of 
gladlii'Npi  iihove  IiIn  I'ellowH,  Nil  hint  with  ihe  oil  of' 
HiiilneHhiiliove  llih  lelloWH.  Indeed  llie  Deily  hiiHired 
llol,  yel  he  I  hat  in  (iod  Hllll'ered,  Now  nil  thin  in  lo 
leaeli  UN  palieilee.  Let  UH  look  unlo  .lenun  Ihe 
founder  and  liiiinher  of  iiiir  I'ailhi  who  endured  Ihe 
eronn,  and  denpined  tlieNlimiie,  and  in  now  net  down  al 
the  ri^hl  haiiil  of  Ihe  llirone  of  (Iod ;  llieiefore  let 
un  run  willi  piilieiiee  Ihe  raee  llial  in  nel  hel'ore  un. 
Hell,  xii.  1,'i.  Ily  death  (.'lirint  eiime  lo  UN  |  liy 
(Iralh  let  UN  not  ifrw\ffr  lo  f(o  lo  (.'lirihl. 

I'lllienee,  you  nee,  in  an  exeellent  virllie;  you  Imve 
heard  many  I'oniiiieiidiilionn  of  it )  if  il  had  no  oilier, 
lliin  were  enough  lo  praine  il,lhiil  il  eiihclli  our  Kriel'n. 
Miiliy  eannot  away  willi  oilier  Ki'aeen,  lieeaiinr  lliey 
eiirh  Ihe  will,  and  alirtd|{e  delighl,  iiiiil  impose  haiil 
I  Iiiiiln  lo  Ihe  llenli.  They  eimiiol  away  willi  (ditirily, 
lieeiiune  itlakenoul  of  lhe]iurHej  nor  willi  ahnliiieiiee, 
lieeaune  il  renlraiiin  Ihe  appelilei  nor  wilh  hiimilily, 
lieeaune  il  alialen  pride  i  nor  wilh  ehinlily,  heeaiine 
il  dehiirn  liinl.      lliil  nielliiiikn  eiieh  mail  nhoiihl    love 

(iiitienee,  lieeaune  it  eanelli  liin  piiinn  and  niili^'alih 
lin  horiown,  Naliiial  men  enn-  im  more  for  virliie, 
limn  lliiil  eriiel  inline  did  for  eipiily  i  yen,  if  liny 
knew  a   virliie  lliul    would   eane   Iheir  liiirdenn,  anil 

ijualify  Iheir  ((''''f".   ''ley  w Id   love    il.      Melhinkn 

even  wieked  men  Nhoiild  line  lliin  virlue,  and  make 
iiiueli  of  il  1  lliiiuf;h  lor  no  oilier  piirpone  Ihan  I'lm- 
laiili  lined  Miinen,  lo  remove  Ihe  |ud({nienl».  Our 
liroverli  Imlli  il.  Of  HuH'erilMie  eoiiii-i  eane  :  let  un  he 
jmtient  then,  if  Imt  fur  our  own  henelltn. 


VhimK  fi. 


.'I lid  In  patience  Kodlinest, 

Hc.l'out  we  come  lo  ihe  ilelinition  of  ((odlineNn,  let  ui 
eoneeive  Home  reanonn  of  thin  eonnexiuil,  and  imme- 
iliiite  uddillK  of  piety  lo  palienee, 

I,  lieeaune  (he  pillar  of  patience  in  ((odlininn;  it 
cannot  nland  without  il,  it  in  lirm  lieinf(  iiphehl  l>y 
it.  l''or  true  palienee  cannot  hefall  a  reprolmle  ; 
(htiipidily  may,  an  (o  Nalialj)  nol  hy  an  iibnolule 
imponnihilily,  bul  by  (he  indiniionilion  of  bin  heart  (o 
receive  i(  :  m  a  npiirk  of  lire  mlliii|{  upon  water,  ice, 
or  nnow,  preneiilly  K"'"  "i*  l  which  fiihtenin)^  on 
Wood,  or  hueli  eoriibiihtihle  miiller,  kiiidlenand  hiiriin. 
'I'he  food  wliereiipun  true  iiiilienee  liven,  in  faith  in 
(lie  Kon|pel  of  jieiice.  Kiiiil  wiin  a  moral  man,  yea,  u 
>^eiiloiin  man,  while  he  wan  iSanI,  and  (iamaliern 
ncholiir;  but  when  he  wan  mude  a  Clirintian  be  wux 
called  I'liiil  ;  he  wan  nol  ii  I'aiil  before.  So  palienee 
in  clIinicM  in  nol  rightly  naiiied.  Am  Sylviun  when 
he  wan  clionen  pojie  naid,  //',';i«a/n  rfjicile,  reci/»la 
J'iiim,  Koi'tjet  yluiean,  and  accept  me  yiair  I'iun  |  no 
lo  Miller  hei'ore  convernlon,  wan  bill  nliipidity  in  ipiiel  : 
now,  llie  perNoiiN  bein){  changed,  change  aino  llie 
name,  call  il  palienee. 

U.  lieeaune  godlinenn  leaelielh  a  man  puticncc :  it 
in  Ihe  imiliilion  of  (iod,  and  our  (iod  in  putieiit.  Now 
if  We  feel  lliin  merry  from  fJod,  let  un  nllow  it  lo  llieni 
Ihal  are  hin.  He  (lial  will  nut  tolerate  man,  maken 
himnelf  iinworlhy  lo  he  borne  with  of  (iod.  (iod 
lialli  in  bin  hand  vengeance,  in  hin  heart  palienee. 
We  pray  for  pardon  un  we  ^ive  pardon  i  we  would 
be  lolh  lo  have  our  own  lipn  condemn  un. 

,'l.  lieeaune  palienee  will  do  the  noul  no  good 
wilhoii(  friHilinenn  :  Ihe  glory  and  comfort  of  all  nuf- 
feriiig,  in  (iod'n  ciiiine,  Nelllier  in  the  reward  given 
lor  niill'ering,  hut  lor  huH'ering  well.  Thin  in  lliaiik- 
worlhy,  if  for  eoiineienee  (oward  Ood,  we  endure 
grief,  I  I'll,  ii.  I!),  'I'ribiihilionn  are  the  miirkn  of 
Chrinl ;  hill  I  lien  I  hey  iiiiint  he  borne  I'orChriiil.  Herein 
I'liiil  delighleil  liiiunelfi  "  I  lake  pleaniire  in  re- 
|iroaclien,  in  neccnnilicH,  in  pcrneeulioiin,  in  iliMlrenneH, 
for  (.'hrint'n  nake,"  2  (,'or.  xii.  10  j  Ihun  being  prouder 
of  hin  iron  fellem,  limn  ii  bragging  courlicr  of  his 
golden  chain.  'I'he  departiiren  of  (lie  naiiiln  are  nol 
marlfn,  Kcil  iiiimnilii/iliiles.  If  Jilliiili  NO  bolioiired  hin 
Noldiern  dying  in  (he  warn,  how  much  more  nhall 
Chrinl  honour  hin  I  "  I'recioiin  in  (hi'  night  of  the 
Lord  in  (he  dealli  of  hin  niiinin,"  I'nal.  exvi.  1.^  j  hiicli 
an  undergo  in  (.'lirinrn  caune  Chrint'N  cronn.  Nu  dealli 
in  coml'orlable,  unlenn  in  Ihe  Jjoril,  or  for  Ihe  Lord  ; 
anil  llml  maii'n  life  in  Well  benlowedinnuireriiig  dealli, 
ulieii  III  |ialii'iice  in  iiddeil  goillinefin,  Uiir  life  in  ihe 
Loi'd'n  by  many  dear  lillen;  Iherefure  nut  too  good 
for  him  when  he  rei|uiren  il.  Thou  art  a  deponilary, 
111  wlicine  Irunt  in  coiumilled  ii  precioun  jewel  ;  per- 
liapn  llioii  liani  much  ado  lo  keep  it  from  llie  nulille- 
liei  of  lemplern,  and  violence  of  allcmplemj  yea, 
liiinl  a  corrupt  desire  niilhriflily  lo  niiend  it  iiiion 
pro(i(N  or  iilcanin'en,  hiirfeiln  Mini  viinitlcn:  and  lIloil 
never  art  in  (rue  i|uiel,  lill  he  thai  delivered  lliin 
jewel,  Ihy  life,  lo  lliee,  dot  II  rcniime  i(.  llul  (hen 
(lioii  iiiiinl  larry  (ill  he  ealln  fur  i(,  for  (iod  refiinedi 
llie  hold  I  hill  comcn  (o  him  heloie  he  neniln  for  i(. 
When  (he  liiiliaiin,  (o  avoid  the  .Siiauinh  nlavery,  grew 
lo  II  pnieliee  of  killing  Ihcmnclven,  llie  .SpaiilMrdn 
dinnemiiled  a  killing  of  lliemnelven  aIno  i  (lireali  uing 
upon  their  meeting  in  anudier  world  lo  allliel  (hem 
(here  more  (han  before.  Indeed,  if  (he  (roiibhn  iiud 
anguiiiheii  of  (lun  World  No  lienpair  (bee,  llml  lluiu 
viiNtcHt  away  thy  own  life,  IIionc  very  name  in  a  far 
liriivier  mriikure  nhall   Iiud  thee  out  in  Ihv  uthcr. 


VEB.Ag 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERx\L  OF  ST.  PETER. 


79 


There  is  no  comfort  in  suffering  death,  except  godli- 
ness bless  our  patience.  iElian  writes,  that  amoiii,' 
the  Grecians  there  was  a  hiw,  that  if  a  sick  man 
drank  wine  without  the  advice  of  his  physician,  t  hough 
he  saved  his  life  by  it,  he  should  be  put  to  death  for 
it ;  because  he  did  that  was  not  permitted  him. 
Bitter  then  must  be  their  punishment,  that  take  not 
wine  but  poison;  that  precipitate  their  lives  into 
cei-tain  destruction;  having  no  command  from  God, 
that  he  refjuircs  it,  no  promise  that  he  will  reward 
it.  Our  Saviour  teachetn  us,  being  persecuted  in  one 
city,  to  flee  into  another:  if  we  wiltully  run  into  im- 
nccessary  death,  he  will  say,  Who  re(iuired  this  at 
your  hands  ?  who  bad  you  run  from  England  to  Rome 
for  poison,  and  from  Rome  back  again  to  England 
with  treason  ?  You  may  have  patience,  but  here  is  no 
godliness.  The  good  sheep  knows  the  voice  of  his 
shepherd,  and  stays  for  his  call.  Those  glorious 
martyrs  that  now  have  a  permamcnt  trium|)h  in  hea- 
ven, were  not  so  madly  prodigal  of  their  bloods,  as 
to  throw  them  away  without  a  warrant.  They  that 
possess  this  laurel,  washed  their  garments,  not  in 
their  own  bloods  only,  so  they  might  have  been  still 
red  and  stained,  but  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  that 
changes  them  into  white.  "Therefore  are  they  be- 
fore tlie  throne  of  God;  and  he  that  sitteth  on  tlie 
throne  shall  dwell  among  them,"  Rev.  vii.  15.  That 
sinful  Mary  washed  and  bathed  herself,  not  in  her 
own  blood,  but  in  her  tears,  saith  Chrysostom.  And 
of  St.  Peter  he  asks  this  question  ;  When  he  had 
denied  his  Master,  did  he  shed  out  his  own  blood ':' 
No,  but  his  tears,  and  so  washed  away  his  sins.  We 
are  not  sent  into  this  world  to  suffer,  but  to  do ;  and 
when  we  do  suffer,  to  add  to  persecution  patience, 
to  patience  godliness.  The  way  to  triumph  in  secu- 
lar arms,  was  not  to  be  slain  in  the  battle,  but  to 
keep  their  station.  In  the  Roman  warlike  discipline 
this  was  the  rule,  not  to  follow  desperately,  nor  to  fly 
basely.  So  it  is  in  our  Christian  battle,  not  to  invite 
danger,  nor  to  shrink  from  it.  Indeed  God  betimes 
in  the  world  called  for  this  bleeding  witness  :  he 
sealed  his  acceptation  of  Abel's  sacrifice,  by  accept- 
ing Abel  for  a  sacrifice ;  who  before  all  example, 
first  dedicated  martvrdom.  (Chrys.)  And  as  soon  as 
Christ  came  into  tlie  world,  after  the  receiving  of 
the  wise  men's  oblations,  he  would  immediately  be 
glorified  with  that  hecatomb  of  innocents.  But  to 
offer  this  without  God's  asking,  shall  bring  but  a 
poor  reward;  for  while  piety  is  "not  pi'escr\'ed,  the 
crown  of  patience  is  lost.  "  Wherefore  let  them  that 
suffer  according  to  the  will  of  God  commit  the  keep- 
ing of.  their  souls  to  him  in  well-doing,  as  unto  a 
faithfiil  Creator,"  1  Pet.  iv.  19.  Put  not  piety  from 
thy  patience ;  thy  wounds  shall  be  healed,  and  thy 
soul  rewarded. 

4.  Because  patience  without  godliness,  when  it  re- 
ceives injury  of  man,  may  do  more  injuiy  to  God. 
Let  us  write  the  wrongs  to  ourselves  in  the  dust,  to 
forget  them ;  that  is  patience :  the  wrongs  we  have 
done  to  God  in  marble,  to  remember  iheni;  that  is 
gotUincss.  To  bear  meekly  with  thy  persecutors,  is 
commendable  patience :  to  be  silent  at  God's  dis- 
honour, is  condemnable  baseness ;  it  is  no  less  than 
treason ;  thy  silence  makes  thee  guilty.  Thou  plead- 
est  thyself  to  be  the  son  of  God :  he  is  a  very  bad 
son,  that  can  hear  his  righteous  Father  blaspliemed 
with  patience.  Cursed  is  that  patience  that  hinders 
a  man  from  godliness.  Christ  is  thy  brother,  he 
bought  thee  with  his  blood,  thou  art  his  coheir  :  canst 
thou  behold  him  gored  with  new  wounds,  and  hold 
thy  peace  ?  Thou  bclievest  not,  for  then  thou  wouldst 
speak ;  as  the  psalm  hath  it,  "  I  believed,  therefore 
have  I  spoken,"  Psal.  cxvi.  10:  no  defending  of  faith, 
no  faith.   The  inhabitants  of  Meroz  took  not  part  witli 


God's  enemies,  yet  were  they  cursed  for  not  taking 
jiart  with  his  friends,  Judg.  v.  '2.3.  Indifference  in 
(iod's  cause  is  [damnable :  not  to  oppose  Ihem  that 
oppose  God,  is  to  be  his  enemy.  How  easily  are  we 
moved  at  our  own  injuries !  how  patient  at  God's  ! 
Let  our  own  credits  or  riches  be  troubled,  we  rage 
like  lions  ;  let  God's  honour  be  questioned,  we  are 
as  tame  as  lambs.  If  the  aspersion  of  scandal  lights 
upon  our  names,  there  is  suit  upon  suit,  from  court  to 
court,  all  to  beggar  the  raiser  of  it.  Let  the  Lord's 
dreadful  name  be  blasphemed,  we  are  so  far  from 
sjiending  a  penny,  that  we  will  not  speak  a  syllable. 
Like  Jonah,  we  are  more  moved  for  the  loss  of  a 
gourd,  than  for  all  Nineveh.  Moses  can  brook 
Miriam  despising  him,  and  go  away  silent,  because 
himself  only  was  interested,  Numb.  xii. ;  but  when 
the  people  had  idolatrized,  he  brake  the  sacred  tables 
in  passion,  burned  the  calf,  scattered  the  dust  on  the 
waters,  and  in  detestation  of  their  wickedness  made 
them  drink  it.  We  have  patience  enough,  but  piety 
is  thrust  out  of  doors.  Such  unfortunate  and  apos- 
tate limes  are  we  fallen  into,  that  to  uphold  God's 
honour  is  held  uncivil  tartness :  such  men  are  saucy, 
and  such  sauce  is  too  sharp  for  proud  and  vicious 
stomachs  :  this  dissolves  the  knot  of  friendship.  Let 
it  ;  better  a  holy  discord,  than  a  profane  concord. 
Care  not  for  that  mirth  wliich  must  grieve  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  disclaim  that  peace  which  must  be  at  war 
Willi  Christ.  If  they  refuse  thee,  thou  knowest  who 
will  receive  thee.  When  they  had  excommunicated 
him,  Christ  welcomed  him,  .Tohn  ix.  35.  "  Fear  not 
Ihem  that  kill  the  body,"  &c.  It  is  worse  losing  the 
Lord's  favour,  than  thy  landlord's  :  better  part  from 
thy  cottage  on  earth,  than  thy  inheritance  in  heaven. 
Necessary  therefore  is  the  accession  of  piety  to 
patience.  It  is  an  abhorred  sin  to  temporize.  When 
a  chaplain  must  measure  his  speech  by  his  lord's 
humour,  the  truth  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  is  abused. 
Against  oppression  he  dares  not  speak,  because  it  is 
his  lord's  fault ;  nor  against  pride,  because  it  is  his 
lady's;  nor  against  riot,  because  it  is  his  young 
master's.  He  must  not  meddle  with  the  ulcers  that 
stick  on  his  great  one's  conscience  :  hell  will  take 
that  patience.  Let  them  be  ashamed  of  Christ,  that 
care  not  for  his  being  ashamed  of  them.  For  us, 
let  lis  plead  God's  cause,  for  his  sake  that  pleads  our 
cause  m  heaven. 

Godliness  is  taken  by  the  philosophers  in  a  three- 
fold relation :  for  religion  towards  God,  which  they 
held  a  devout  adoration  of  their  idols.  For  religion  to- 
wards their  countiy :  when  any  died  for  their  country, 
they  were  said  to  die  piously.  For  religion  towards 
their  parents:  so  .jEneas  was  called  Pius;  and  for 
this  they  gave  those  additional  names  of  Pii.  Our 
apostle  meant  it  not  in  this  latitude :  it  must  here 
import  some  particular  grace,  as  appears  by  the 
rank.  Yet  let  us  a  little  consider  it  in  the  larger 
acceptation.  So  it  is  such  a  gracious  habit,  as  pre- 
fers God's  glory  before  all  things,  and  refers  all 
things  to  it. 

For  the  former,  godliness  aims  immediately  at  the 
Lord's  honour.  'Tnere  was  one  following  Christ, 
but  hearing  of-  his  father's  death,  he  first  desires 
leave  to  burj-  him  :  perhaps  he  gaped  for  an  execu- 
torship, or  m'eant  at  least  to  thrust  in  for  an  adminis- 
tration. No,  saith  Christ,  "  let  the  dead  bury  their 
dead,"  Matt.  \nii.  '21,  "22;  thou  hast  a  living  Father, 
(let  the  dead  go,")  that  can  give  thee  a  better  inheri- 
tance. But  to  bury  one's  father  is  godlines.s:  yes, 
but,  saith  Jerome,  to  neglect  our  very  parents  when 
God  requires  it,  is  piety.  Himself  testifies,  "  He 
that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  me  is  not 
worthy  of  me,"  Matt.  x.  37.  This  falls  heavy  on 
some :  the  voluptuous  loves  his  wife  better ;  "  I  have 


m 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


married  a  wife,  and  therefore  I  cannot  come,"  Luke 
xiv.  20.  The  uxorious  husband  obeys  his  wife's  pre- 
cepts, sooner  than  God's.  The  covetous  parent  loves 
his  child  belter  than  the  Lord  ;  oppressing  God's 
children  to  enrich  his  own :  so  his  young  ones  be 
warm  in  the  nest,  let  Christ  shake  with  cold.  Love 
the  Lord,  and  love  thy  children,  or  friends;  but  if 
necessity  enforce  the  loss  of  one,  whatsoever  thou 
losest,  lose  not  the  Lord  Jesus.  (Hieron.)  Anotlier 
said,  "  Lord,  I  will  follow  thee,  but  let  nie  first  go 
bid  them  farewell  which  are  at  home,"  Luke  ix.  01  ; 
as  if  any  friend  were  to  stand  in  competition  with 
Christ.  But  we  have  always  somewhat  to  do  when 
we  should  follow  him :  as  Elisha  said  to  Elijah, 
"  Let  mc  first  kiss  my  father  and  my  mother;  then 
I  will  follow  thee,"  1  Kings  xix.  20.  Uriah  Was  so 
earnest  of  fighting  the  Lord's  battle,  that  he  would 
not  go  dowTi  to  his  house,  nor  sleep  with  his  beauti- 
ful wife.  Such  a  zeal  as  prefers  God's  service  before 
all  other  things,  that  is  godliness. 

For  the  other,  it  refers  all  to  God's  honour  ;  in  all 
things  that  it  does,  speaks,  or  suffers,  it  declares  a 
purpose  of  heart  to  glorify  the  Lord.  All  things 
and  actions  are  ordinabilia  ad  Deiim :  Deusfoiis,  all 
else  adjinem :  what  should  man  desire  more  than  to 
serve  tliat  God  who  prescnes  him  ?  "  Whatsoever 
ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God,"  1  Cor.  x.  31. 
This  is  the  end  of  our  creation,  the  beginning  of  our 
salvation,  the  perfection  of  our  happiness.  Hast 
thou  wisdom  ?  refer  it  to  the  glory  of  thy  Maker ; 
othei-ttise,  like  the  moon,  when  thou  art  lightest  to 
the  world,  thou  art  darkest  to  heaven.  Hast  thou 
strength  ?  use  it  to  resist  Satan,  to  conquer  (not 
another,  but)  thyself.  Woe  be  to  them  that  are 
strong  to  sin!  Hast  thou  old  age  ?  let  thy  life  grow 
white  with  thy  hairs;  lest  thou  be  full  of  days  and 
fuller  of  sins.  Hast  thou  honour?  employ  it  to 
honour  him  that  hath  honoured  thee.  Hast  thou 
authority  ?  draw  not  this  sword  in  thy  private 
wrongs,  let  it  not  be  sheathed  in  the  injuries  of  the 
gospel.  Hast  thou  riches  ?  spend  them  upon  godli- 
ness. Say  not  with  Judas,  "  Why  is  this  waste  ?  " 
but  with  David,  "  I  will  not  offer  to  the  Lord  of 
that  which  costs  me  nothing,"  2  Sam.  xxiv.  24.  To 
this  general  piety  there  are  two  enemies,  profane- 
ncss  and  hypocrisy. 

Profaneness.  'There  are  two  characters  of  a  man 
truly  pious,  understanding  and  will ;  the  one  in  his 
science,  the  other  in  his  conscience:  commonly  this 
vice  bewitcheth  them  both.  As  thou  dost  see  thy  own 
face  in  thy  heart,  so  others  do  see  thy  heart  in  thy 
face.  If  a  dninkard  dare  number  his  ebrieties  ;  the 
lascivious,  how  often  he  hath  been  at  the  house  of 
sin ;  who  can  blanch  this  ungodliness  ?  But  indeed 
wicked  men  have  more  boldness  to  appear  ill,  than 
the  godly  have  to  appear  good,  for  "  he  that  depart- 
cth  from  evil  maketli  himself  a  prey ; "  or,  as  the 
original  imports,  is  accounted  mad,  Isa.  lix.  15. 
Any  man  that  carries  his  face  toward  Zion,  is  held 
a  hypocrite  :  he  that  is  ashamed  to  do  ill,  shall  be 
ashamed  for  his  good.  This  is  not  a  grain  of  ungod- 
liness, but  ungodliness  in  grain.  Can  you  lament  your 
losses  on  the  seas,  the  wreck  of  goods  in  your  ships, 
and  not  the  shipwreck  of  a  good  conscience  in  your 
shops  ?  The  spider  never  builds  but  where  are  flies  : 
Satan  never  placetli  his  nest  but  where  is  store  of 
these  ungodly  lusts.  Let  them  banish  profaneness 
that  ever  expect  the  comforts  of  piety. 

Hypocrisy.  "  Have  not  I  chosen  you  twelve,  and 
one  of  you  is  a  devil  ?"  John  vi.  70.  '  I,  not  another; 
emphatically,  "  1,"  the  very  Wisdom  of  God. 
"Cnoscn;"  not  entertained  offering  your  service, 
not  admitted  as  suitors,  but  chosen.  "You;"  not 
the   refuse  people  out   of   the   highways,   nor   the 


great  personages  of  the  land ;  but  you,  whom  I  have 
elected  to  progagate  my  gospel.  How  many  ? 
"Twelve;"  a  little  number:  Christ's  is  the  least  col- 
lege. Yet  '■  one  of  you  is  a  devil."  Lay  these  par- 
ticulars together,  and  sum  up  a  hypocrite.  "The 
congregation  of  hypocrites  shall  be  desolate,"  Job 
XV.  34.  The  hypocrite  is  like  Hosea's  dough-baked 
cake,  only  hot  on  the  visible  side,  Hos.  vii.  8. 
Seeing  the  fire  of  God's  altar,  the  zeal  of  the  temple, 
cannot  heat  them,  they  are  reserved  to  be  baked 
thoroughly  in  the  oven  of  liell. 

Endeavour  then  to  store  thy  heart  with  godliness : 
for  wordly  things,  say  as  he  did  of  eloquence.  If  they 
be  present,  I  will  use  them  ;  if  they  be  absent,  I  do 
miss  them.  Follow  thou  TOdliness,  other  things 
shall  follow  thee.  First  seek  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  his  righteousness,  then  shall  all  these  things  be 
added  unto  you.  Matt.  vi.  33.  While  a  man  hunts  after 
his  own  shadow,  his  back  is  ujion  the  sun,  and  still 
his  shadow  is  unovertaken  before  him  :  let  him  turn 
his  face  to  the  sun,  and  travel  toward  it,  his  shadow 
shall  follow  him.  The  profits  and  delights  of  this 
world  are  but  a  shadow" ;  while  a  man  liunts  after 
them  his  back  is  upon  Jesus  Christ,  that  Sun  of 
righteousness :  and  ne  can  never  overtake  them  ; 
if  he  could,  yet  they  are  but  a  shadow.  Set  thy 
face  and  thy  faith  toward  Christ,  all  these  sha- 
dows shall  wait  upon  thee.  A  painter  had  drawn 
Jove's  picture,  Juno's,  and  another  man's  that  was 
his  friend,  "rhat  friend  cheapened  the  other  two, 
and  last  of  all,  his  own.  Nay,  says  the  painter,  buy 
the  other  two,  and  take  the  last  into  the  bargain.  Be 
sure  of  godliness ;  riches,  honours,  and  pleasures,  all 
those  counterfeits  of  true  happiness,  shall  come  into 
the  bargain. 

Our  discourse  hath  thus  far  dwelt  on  godliness  in 
the  latitude.  In  a  stricter  acceptation,  I  find  it  espe- 
cially consisting  in  two  things ;  adoration,  and  imi- 
tation of  God. 

Adoration  of  the  true  God  in  a  right  manner,  is  god- 
liness. Nature  hath  written  in  evciy  heart,  that  a 
superior  power  is  to  be  worshipped;  though  it  could 
not  declare  what  power  that  was  which  might  chal- 
lenge it.  Out  of  this  ignorance  spnmg  that  multi- 
tude of  imaginary  gods,  which  St.  Paul  calls  '•  dumb 
idols,"  1  Cor.  xii.  2.  Now  he  that  is  dumb,  is  also 
commonly  deaf :  they  could  neither  speak  nor  hear  : 
"  They  have  mouths,  but  they  speak  not :  they  have 
ears,  but  they  hear  not,"  Psal.  cxv.  5.  To  avoid  this 
sin,  God  gave  an  express  law.  Thou  shall  have  no 
other  gods  but  me.  Which  negative  precept  espe- 
cially forbids  four  things.  1.  The  having  no  God  at 
all.  as  the  atheists :  "  "The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart, 
There  is  no  God,"  Psal.  xiv.  1 .  2.  The  having  strange 
gods,  and  not  the  true  ;  as  had  the  Gentiles;  gods  ac- 
cording to  the  number  of  their  cities  :  every  twink- 
ling star  was  held  a  deity  ;  yea,  many  so  gross  and 
base  gods,  that  there  were  not  worse  creatures 
in  the  world,  except  themselves.  ,3.  The  liaving 
strange  gods  with  the  true,  as  had  the  Samaritans  : 
"  They  feared  the  Lord,  and  served  their  own  gods," 
2  Kings  xvii.  33  ;  they  sware  by  the  Lord,  and  they 
sHare  by  Malcham,  Zeph.  i.  5.  They  chose  new 
gods;  then  was  war  in  the  gates.  4.  The  having  the 
true  God,  but  not  aright,  according  to  his  will  and 
word,  as  heretics.  For  this  is  the  main  difference 
between  heresy  and  idolatry  ;  that  ser\es  the  tnie 
God  with  a  false  woi-ship,  this  ser\-es  false  gods  with 
a  true  worship:  both  hateful. 

Now  seeing  the  principal  part  of  our  piety  stands 
in  the  due  and  tnie  worship  of  God,  it  is  Satan's  main 
s(  ratagem  to  subduce  it.  It  it  were  possible,  he  would 
have  It  himself,  and  draw  us  from  the  worship  due 
(o  God,  to  the  worship  not  due  to  himself.    He  is 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


VtR.  6. 

proud  still ;  lie  liath  lost  the  height  of  his  happiness, 
not  the  height  of  his  pride.  He  would  be  a  god, 
though  a  hellish  god  ;  a  prince,  though  it  be  a  prince 
of  darkness.  Good  angels  refuse  to  be  worshipped  ; 
when  John  fell  at  the  angel's  feet  to  worship  him, 
he  said  to  him,  "  See  thou  do  it  not,"  Rev.  xix.  10. 
But  evil  angels  desire  it.  To  this  the  devil  per- 
suaded Christ,  to  fall  down  and  worship  him ;  he 
durst  be  so  bold  with  the  Son  of  God  himself.  De- 
vilish impudence!  to  request  him  that  is  worshipped 
of  the  angels  of  light,  to  worship  an  angel  of  dark- 
ness. But  Christ  soon  choked  him ;  "  Get  thee 
hence,  Satan  :  for  it  is  written,  Thou  shalt  worship 
the  Lord  thy  God,  and  him  only  shalt  thou  sene," 
Matt.  iv.  10.  But  howsoever  he  cannot  bring  men  to 
worshiphimself  immediately,  yet  he  effects  this  often 
mediately.  If  Israel  will  but  make  a  golden  calf, 
the  devil  finds  his  own  worship  in  that.  If  a  papist 
bows  to  his  crucifix,  even  here  he  finds  himself  ho- 
noured. Albeit  they  say.  We  give  the  image  no 
worship,  think  it  no  god ;  no  more  did  the  Israelites 
think  tnat  calf  their  deliverer  out  of  Egypt,  yet  was 
this  a  cursed  sin.  They  say,  they  worsliip  God  be- 
fore the  crucifix ;  but  God  rejecting  that  worship,  it 
stays  in  the  crucifix.  Such  another  policy  had  the 
devil  to  wound  Israel,  when  he  presented  to  them 
the  whores  of  Moab,  Numb.  xxv.  Was  only  adultery 
his  aim  ?  No,  but  idolatry  also.  "  They  have  be- 
guiled you  in  the  matter  of  Peor,  and  the  matter  of 
Cozbi,"  ver.  18.  The  matter  of  Peor  was  wrought 
by  the  matter  of  Cozbi.  "  They  went  to  Baal-pcor, 
and  separated  themselves  unto  that  shame,''  Hos.  ix. 
10.  "They  joined  themselves  also  unto  Baal-pcor, 
and  ate  the  sacrifices  of  the  dead,"  Psal.  evi.  '2S. 
Baal  was  the  Moabitish  idol,  Peor  a  mountain ;  there 
they  worshipped,  and  feasted,  and  ate  the  offerings 
of  the  dead.  Not  of  dead  men,  but  of  idols,  which 
are  dead  things  ;  for  God  is  the  living  God.  But 
could  Satan  cflectuate  this  idolatry  in  such  a  people  ? 
We  read,  Numb.  xxiv.  Baalam  itching  after  Balak's 
gold :  hereon  he  practises,  and  shifts  ground,  as 
gamesters  do  their  standings  for  better  luck;  and 
would  fain  curse,  but  spite  of  his  teeth  he  blesseth. 
Now  he  sees  there  is  no  way  to  make  God  forsake 
his  peojile,  unless  they  were  first  brought  to  forsake 
him.  Therefore  it  is  likely  that  upon  Balaam's  ad- 
vice, the  daughters  of  Moab  and  Midian  were  brought 
before  the  Israelites ;  light  housewives,  dancing, 
frisking,  and  flaring  ;  their  carriage  promising  tract- 
ableness  enough,  if  the  other  would  come  on :  so 
were  they  tempted  to  wantonness  with  those  professed 
striunpets,  and  by  that  means  to  offer  up  to  Baal-pcor. 
This  was  the  devil's  trick,  to  effect  that  arte,  by 
fraud,  which  he  could  not  marie,  by  open  war.  Let  me 
a  little  increase  your  detestation  of  idolatrous  worship, 
that  you  may  more  sincerely  worship  God. 

I.  It  is  a  pleasing  sin,  therefore  more  pernicious  ; 
few  that  love  it  can  be  brought  to  acknowledge  it. 
A  Turk  believes  nothing  less  than  his  Alcoran  to  be 
idolatry.  A  monk  at  his  mass  is  so  far  from  thinking 
himself  an  idolater,  that  he  calls  himself  a  spiritual 
man.  Though  nothing  be  more  reproved  in  God's 
■word,  and  punished  in  his  works,  than  idolatry ;  yet 
there  is  in  corrupt  nature  a  strange  proclivity  to  it. 
The  prophet  calls  idols,  delectable  things :  "  their 
delectable,"  or  desirable,  "  things  shall  not  profit 
them,"  Isa.  xliv.  9.  The  idolater  is  like  a  woman 
inflamed  with  love  toward  some  proper  young  man : 
her  affection  is  so  set,  that  forgetting  all  modestv, 
she  sends  for  him,  and  brings  him  to  the  bed  of  love : 
"  Neither  left  she  her  wnoredoms  brought  from 
Egypt :  for  in  her  youth  they  lay  with  her,  and  they 
bniised  the  breasts  of  her  virginity,  Snd  poured  their 
whoredom  upon  her,"  Ezek.  xxiii".  8.    Such  a  whore 


81 


is  the  church  of  antichrist,  Rev.  xvii. ;  whose  doc- 
trine, like  the  wine  of  fornication,  goes  down  mer- 
rily, to  the  intoxication  and  poison  of  souls.  Only 
the  gospel  hath  brought  this  land  a  remedy,  no  other 
than  the  blood  of  Christ,  to  purge  it. 

2.  It  is  an  impudent  sin,  and  goes  to  the  furthest 
line  of  condemnation.  It  sticks  not  to  take  God's 
blessings  with  the  left  hand,  and  gives  them  away  to 
his  enemies  with  the  right.  So  the  Israelites  receiv- 
ed of  God  manna,  food  from  heaven,  and  then  Kicri- 
ficed  it  to  idols.  For  it  is  likely  that  in  the  desert 
they  had  no  better  cheer  to  feast  the  devil  with,  than 
manna  and  water;  their  beasts  being  hardly  sufficient 
to  maintain  their  daily  sacrifice  to  the  Lord.  God 
gave  them  jewels  from  the  Egyptians,  as  wages  for 
their  service  ;  they  melt  them  to  make  a  calf.  Yea, 
children,  thai  are  the  chief  inheritance  on  eailh; 
'•  Happy  is  the  man  that  hath  his  quiver  full  of  them  : 
they  shall  not  be  ashamed,  but  they  shall  speak  with 
the  enemies  in  the  gate,"  Psal.  exxvii.  5:  children, 
the  divided  pieces  of  themselves;  so  dear,  that  Rachel 
mourns  for  them,  and  would  not  be  comforted,  be- 
cause they  were  not :  even  these  they  sacrifice  to 
Moloch.  "  Yea,  they  sacrificed  their  sons  and  their 
daughters  unto  devils,  and  shed  innocent  blood,  even 
the  blood  of  their  sons  and  of  their  daughters,  whom 
they  sacrificed  unto  the  idols  of  Canaan :  and  the 
land  was  polluted  with  blood,"  Psal.  evi.  3",  38. 
But,  "what  will  ve  do  in  the  end  thereof?"  Jcr.  v. 
31.  What  ?  "  Therefore  was  the  wrath  of  the  Lord 
kindled  against  his  people,  insomuch  that  lie  abhor- 
red his  own  inheritance,"  Psal.  evi.  40.  "  Ephiaim 
is  joined  to  idols:  let  him  alone,"  Hos.  iv.  IJ".  Let 
him  alone  ?  O  fearful !  when  God  takes  away  correc- 
tion, damnation  enters  the  doors.  Sin  shall  now  be 
the  wages  of  sin,  that  death  and  destruction  may  be 
the  wages  of  both  :  "  Because  Ephraim  hath  made 
many  altars  to  sin,  altars  shall  be  unto  him  to  sin," 
Hos.  viii.  11.  This  is  fearful:  therefore  I  conclude 
this  point,  as  St.  John  doth  his  First  Epistle  ;  "Little 
children,  keep  yourselves  from  idols :"  y ea.  Lord,  keep 
us  all  from  them,  by  the  grace  of  thy  Spirit. 

You  see  the  danger  of  wnll-wovship  ;  let  this  con- 
tain us  in  the  tnie  adoration  of  God.  Worship  is 
twofold ;  civil,  or  religious.  Ci\"il,  to  men,  in  respect 
of  their  degrees  in  llie  church,  commonwealth,  or 
private  family.  In  regard  of  age  ;  give  reverence  to 
the  grey  head  :  of  gifts  ;  soElisha  reverenced  Elijah  : 
of  place :  in  church ;  so  ministers  are  to  reverence 
their  bishops  :  in  commonwealth ;  so  subjects  must 
give  reverence  to  magistrates  :  in  private  family  ;  so 
children  owe  reverence  to  their  parents,  ser%"ants  to 
their  masters.  To  God  only  is  due  religious  worship. 
They  write  that  to  the  king' of  Benin  the  people  give 
such  reverence,  that  we  scarce  give  more  to  God. 
They  fall  flat  on  the  ground  before  him,  covering 
their  faces,  and  depart  without  turning  their  backs. 
But  to  all  men  give  xummo,  sed  xita ;  to  God  only, 
religious  worship,  who  is  so  jealous  of  his  honour 
that  he  will  not  give  it  to  another.  Be  ye  never  so 
great,  stoop  to  the  Lord  ;  honour  him  that  hath 
honoured  you :  it  is  no  discredit  to  your  worshijs  to 
wcuship  God.  Christ  stooped  low  fiir  our  sakes  ;  he 
"  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  but  look  upon  him 
the  form  of  a  ser\-ant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness 
of  men,"  Phil.  ii.  7.  What  the  barbarians  dreamed 
of  Paul  and  Barnabas,  "  The  gods  are  come  down  to 
us  in  the  likeness  of  men,"  Acts  xiv.  11,  we  found 
tnie  in  Christ ;  God  is  come  down  among  us  in  the 
likeness  of  man  ;  yea,  indeed,  a  true  man.  God  said 
once,  in  derision  of  our  folly,  "Behold,  the  man  is 
become  as  one  of  us,"  Gen.  iii.  22 ;  but  we  may  sr.y 
truly,  God  is  become  as  one  of  us.  He  that  was  so 
low,  is  now  and  was  ever  the  Most  High  :  let  us 


82 


•AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


adore  that  blessed  Jesus.  The  Lord  saith,  "  when 
he  bringeth  in  the  first-begotten  into  the  world,  Let 
all  the  angels  of  God  worsliip  him,"  Heb.  i.  6.  Do 
the  blessed  angels  of  heaven,  and  shall  not  men  on 
earth  worship  him  ?  I  speak  not  only  of  a  corporal 
adoration,  though  that  also  be  due  :  "  At  the  name 
of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven, 
in  earth,  and  under  the  earth,"  Phil.  :i.  10.  Nei- 
ther do  I  think  the  bowing  of  knee  at  the  name  of 
Jesus  to  be  a  fruitless  but  harmless  ceremony.  As 
for  their  exception,  that  the  bowing  more  at  this 
than  at  other  names  of  God,  may  breed  an  error 
of  advancing  the  Son  above  the  Father  and  Holy 
Sjjirit :  we  answer,  that  the  f  nith  of  the  Son's  equality 
with  the  Father  and  the  Spirit,  is  a  mystery  so  hard 
for  mortal  wits  to  apprehend,  that  of  all  errors,  that 
which  may  give  them  the  most  honour,  is  less  to  be 
feared.  Bellarmine  observes,  that  most  heretics  have 
denied  the  Son,  none  ever  denied  the  Father,  to  be 
God.  But  why  not  bow  we  as  well  at  the  name  of 
Christ  ?  If  any  name  be  greater  than  other,  it  seems 
to  be  Christ ;  for  he  is  called,  "  The  Lord's  Christ," 
Luke  ii.  26.  Bernard  answers.  Of  all  names  given  to 
him,  still  Jesus  is  the  sweetest.  Other  are  names  of 
majesty,  this  of  mercy  :  the  Word  of  God,  the  Son  of 
God,  the  Christ  of  God,  all  titles  of  glory  ;  Jesus,  of 
grace  and  redemption.  The  contemptible  name, 
which  Pilate  so  scoffed  at,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  is  so 
preached  and  praised,  that  against  all  infidels  it  hath 
gotten  the  pre-eminence  above  every  name.  The  con- 
demning then  of  this  honour  due  to  Jesus,  is  rather 
an  argument  of  spite,  than  an  evidence  of  the  Spirit ; 
as  it  hath  been  said  tnily.  To  this  name  all  shall 
bow :  in  heaven,  angels  and  glorified  spirits ;  on 
earth,  men ;  under  the  earth,  those  that  be  now  dead : 
for  all  shall  appear  before  his  tribunal  with  bended 
knees.  Perhaps  by  "  under  the  earth,"  are  meant 
even  devils  and  damned  spirits:  though  they  bow- 
not  willingly,  yet  they  shall  give  an  extorted  adora- 
tion. Glorious  angels,  blessed  spirits,  and  good  men, 
have  a  voluntarj'  genieulation;  but  the  wicked  on 
earth,  and  fiends  in  hell,  shall  be  forced  to  it  against 
their  wills.  So  was  Judas ;  "I  have  sinned  in  be- 
traying the  innocent  blood."  So  Jidian  ;  "  Thou 
hast  overcome,  0  Galilean ! "  So  the  devils ;  "  What 
have  we  to  do  with  thee,  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  God  ?" 
Matt.  viii.  29.  That  e^-il  spirit  said,  "  Jesus  I  know," 
Acts  xix.  15  ;  for  even  the  de\'ils  believe  and  tremble. 
Wicked  men  now  trample  his  blood,  but  shall  one 
day  submissively  acknowledge  his  dominion :  "  Lord, 
when  saw  we  thee  an  hungred,"  &c.  Matt.  xxv.  44. 
But  this  extorted  confession  shall  be  to  their  con- 
fusion ;  "  Depart,  ye  cursed."  Thus  as  ever)-  knee 
should  bow,  so  every  knee  shall  bow ;  if  not  out  of 
faith,  yet  out  of  fear.  "  I  have  sworn  by  myself, 
the  word  is  gone  out  of  my  mouth  in  righteousness, 
and  shall  not  rctuni,  That  unto  me  eveiy  knee  shall 
bow,"  Isa.  xlv.  23;  Rom.  xiv.  11.  He  is  God,  and 
shall  be  worshipped. 

This  I  thought  good  to  urge,  because,  as  if  we  had 
been  taught  to  be  proud,  there  is  little  reverence 
Among  us.  I  am  ashamed  to  speak  it,  many  sit  in 
the  church  as  at  a  theatre  ;  their  hands  are  too  idle 
to  uncover  their  heads,  their  knees  toostiflfto  bow  to 
Chi-ist.  Even  to  the  gospel,  which  must  save  them, 
or  they  shall  never  be  saved,  their  regard  is  little 
better  than  contempt.  For  shame  of  men  and  angels, 
where  is  our  reverence?  Do  you  come  hither  lo 
give  God  a  blessing,  or  to  take  it  ?  Will  a  petitioner 
sue  to  a  peer  with  a  covered  head,  or  an  unmoved 
knee  ?  "  Ye  shall  reverence  mv  sanctuar\- :  I  am 
the  Lord,"  Lev.  xix.  30.  If  the  law  challenged  such 
reverence,  what  doth  the  gospel !  If  the  blood  of 
goats  had  such  respect,  what  requires  the  Lamb  of 


God,  the  blood  of  our  Lord  Jestis !  What  is  this, 
but  to  "  give  the  sacrifice  of  fools  ?  "  Eccl.  v.  1.  God 
will  dwell  with  him  that  trcmbleth  at  his  word,  Isa. 
Ixvi.  2.  We  tremble  like  mountains :  yea,  the  moun- 
tains (juake  at  God's  presence,  saith  the  psalmist ;  we 
are  not  moved.  "  But  as  for  me,  I  will  come  into 
thy  house  in  the  multitude  of  thy  mercy ;  and  in  thy 
fear  will  I  woreliip  toward  thy  holy  temple,"  Psal.  v. 
7.  Oh  for  one  dram  of  tliis  reverence !  But  indeed 
it  is  in  vain  to  bend  the  knees,  with  unbended  souls  ; 
it  is  a  poor  worship,  to  move  our  hats,  not  our  hearts. 
But  he  doth  best,  that  exprcsscth  before  men  his  zeal 
by  his  reverence,  and  commends  before  God  his  re- 
verence by  his  zeal.  It  is  fabled,  that  when  Juno 
on  a  day  had  proclaimed  a  great  reward  to  liim  that 
brought  her  the  best  present,  there  came  in  a  physi- 
cian, a  poet,  a  merchant,  a  philosopher,  and  a  beggar. 
The  physician  presented  a  liidden  secret  of  nature,  a 
prescript  able  to  make  an  old  man  young  again ;  the 
poet,  an  encomiastic  ode  of  her  bird,  the  peacock ; 
the  merchant,  a  rare  hollow  jewel  to  hang  at  her 
ear  ;  the  philosopher,  a  book  of  strange  mysteries  ; 
the  poor  quaking  beggar,  only  a  bended  knee,  say- 
ing, I  have  nothing  worth  acceptance,  take  myself. 
Some  come  hither  with  prescripts  of  their  own ;  they 
have  receipts  enough  already,  they  care  for  no  more. 
Others,  like  the  poet,  come  to  admire  peacocks,  the 
gaudy  popinjays  and  fashionists  of  the  time,  bluster- 
ing in  their  painted  feathers.  Others,  like  the  mer- 
chant, present  jewels :  but  they  are  hollow  :  come 
with  critical  or  hypocritical  humours;  like  carps, 
to  bite  the  net,  and  wound  the  fisher,  not  to  be  taken. 
Some,  like  the  philosopher,  bring  a  book  vrith  them; 
which  they  read  without  mintUng  the  preacher,  say- 
ing, they  find  more  learning  there  than  he  can 
teach  them.  But  blessed  arc  the  poor  in  spirit,  that, 
like  the  beggar,  give  themselves  to  God.  Juno  gave 
the  reward  to  him ;  God  gives  the  blessing  to  these. 
"  He  hath  filled  tlie  hungiy  with  good  things ;  but 
the  rich  he  hath  sent  empty  away,"  Luke  i.  53.  A 
reverent  heart  shall  carry  away  the  comfort :  godli- 
ness in  the  humble  dust  of  adoration,  shall  be  lifted 
up  by  the  hand  of  mercy. 

Imitation  of  God  follows;  for  what  else  is  godli- 
ness, but  to  be  like  God  ?  We  were  all  made  after 
his  image;  that  was  lost;  now  our  regeneration  is 
nothing  else  but  the  repairing  of  that  image.  "  Be 
ye  therefore  followers  of  God,  as  dear  t-liildren," 
iEph.  V.  1.  True  children  will  imitate  their  parents: 
if  we  do  not  follow  God,  we  are  bastards.  Follow 
thy  Father,  as  Ascanius  did  ^neas,  though  mo«  passi- 
bus  (pquis.  '■  It  is  written.  Be  ye  holy ;  for  I  am  holy," 
1  Pet.  i.  16.  By  nature  a  Noah  may  beget  a  Ham, 
Abraham  an  Ishmael ;  but  in  grace,  the  Most  Holy 
begets  no  children  but  saints.  "  He  that  saith  he 
abideth  in  him  ought  himself  also  so  to  walk,  even 
as  he  walked,"  1  John  ii.  6.  He  is  no  member  that 
walks  a  contrary  way  to  his  Head.  If  Jesus  go  unto 
the  mount  to  pray,  and  Judas  to  the  Pharisees  to 
betray,  he  is  no  apostle,  but  an  apostate.  This  is 
my  way,  saith  Christ,  the  light  of  truth :  if  you  will 
go  by  darkness,  because  your  deeds  are  evil,  we  shall 
never  meet  till  we  meet  in  judgment.  Be  you  merci- 
ful, for  your  father  in  heaven  is  merciful,  Luke  vi. 
36.  God  loves  mercy ;  they  that  love  it  not,  are  not 
godly.  I  wonder  what  hope  oppressors  of  their  pooi 
tenants,  usurers  with  their  forfeitures,  contentious 
men  wth  their  law  vexations,  the  malicious  with 
their  injuries,  can  have  ?  The  Father  of  mercies 
htith  no  children  but  the  merciful.  Judgment  mer- 
ciless shall  be  to  him  that  shows  no  mercy.  Jam.  ii. 
13.  The  poor  man  that  hath  smarted  with  their 
cmcltv,  may  taste  the  sweets  of  God's  mercy. 
Wretciied  they !  this  cup  shall  never  touch  their  lips. 


Veb.  6. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


83 


Have  mercy  on  me,  says  the  poor  wretch  to  his  living 
oppressors.  No.  Have  mercy  on  me,  saith  the  dying 
oppressor  to  God.  No :  Go,  ye  cursed ;  you  had  no 
mercy  on  others,  there  is  no  mercy  for  yourselves. 
If  thou  see  a  man  uimierciful,  be  bold  to  say  he  is 
ungodly. 

Thus  piety  consists  in  the  imitation  of  God.  He 
may  not  be  called  pious,  who  follows  not  the  exam- 
ple of  God.  Indeed  this  name  is  often  usurped,  sel- 
dom justified.  There  are  some  things,  wherein  it  is 
no  godliness  to  ambigate  a  likeness  to  God.  Con- 
tend not  to  be  like  him  in  the  arm  of  his  power  ;  for 
tliis  Nebuchadnezzar  lost  his  kingdom :  nor  in  the 
finger  of  his  miracles  j  for  this  Simon  Magus  was 
cast  down,  and  broke  his  neck :  nor  in  the  face  of 
his  Majesty  ;  for  this  Lucifer  was  thrown  out  of 
heaven :  nor  in  the  brain  of  his  wisdom  ;  for  this 
Adam  was  driven  out  of  Paradise.  But  in  the  bowels 
of  his  mercy ;  according  to  this  we  shall  be  everlast- 
ingly rewarded.  Never  did,  or  shall,  man  or  angel 
offend,  in  coveting  to  be  like, God  in  meekness,  in 
goodness,  in  charity,  in  mercy.  Imitate  his  morals, 
not  his  miracles. 

To  conclude,  let  me  set  this  mark  upon  godliness : 
prove  yourselves  content,  and  I  will  assure  you  godly. 
"  Godliness  with  contentment  is  great  gain,"  1  Tim. 
vi.  6.  The  apostle,  seeing  such  universal  labour  for 
small  gain,  thought  to  win  men  with  great  gain. 
But  what  is  that  ?  godliness  ?  Here  is  a  paradox 
will  hardly  be  received  :  he  had  need  of  good  logic, 
for  this  is  a  hard  position.  The  whole  world  thinks 
gain  to  be  godliness,  and  doth  Paul  say  godliness  is 
gain  ?  Micaiah  had  not  so  many  opponents,  four 
hundred  to  one,  1  Kings  xxii.  He  shall  have  mer- 
chant with  his  adventures,  landlord  with  his  fines, 
patron  tt-ith  his  simonies,  usurer  with  his  obligations, 
lawyer  with  his  cases ;  all  striving  to  confute  this, 
ciying  out  for  gain,  as  the  Ephcsians  for  their  god- 
dess. Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians.  Indeed  "  all 
men  cannot,"  and  many  men  will  not,  "  receive  this 
saying,"  Matt.  xix.  11.  "You  will  not  believe  it, 
thouA  it  be  told  you,"  Hab.  i.  5.  This  saying  may, 
like  the  Lord,  look  down  from  heaven,  to  sec  if  any 
will  regard  it,  Psal.  xiv.  2.  None,  no  not  one.  It 
may  go  from  court  to  city,  from  city  to  country,  and 
scarce  one  of  a  thousand  will  yield  to  it.  But  as  the 
bride  was  decked  for  her  beloved  in  garments  of 
needle-work,  and  a  vesture  of  wrought  gold,  with 
jewels  and  ornaments,  Psal.  xlv.  13,  14 ;  so  God 
trims  up  piety,  sweet  and  beauteous  in  herself,  with 
rich  endowments  of  honour,  pleasure,  peace,  and 
happiness  ;  as  it  were,  letters  of  commendations, 
that  all  miglit  love  her.  No  worldly  gain  can  satisfy 
man's  heart :  Israel  mormured  as  much  when  they 
had  manna,  as  when  they  had  it  not ;  and  rich  men 
are  as  troubled  with  that  they  possess,  as  poor  men 
for  that  they  want..  Jacob  gave  Reuben  a  blessing, 
but  added.  Thou  shalt  not  be  excellent.  Gen.  xlix. 
3,  4.  So  God  gives  the  worldling  riches,  but  says. 
Thou  shalt  not  be  satisfied.  But  when  piety  cometh, 
content  follows  it :  you  found  small  peace  in  the 
world,  you  shall  have  great  peace  in  conscience. 
When  Christ  brought  salvation  to  Zaccheus,  his 
mind  altered:  before  he  did  nothing  but  scrape, 
now  he  was  all  for  giving.  This  was  not  the  first 
day  that  he  seemed  rich  to  others,  but  tliis  was 
the  first  day  he  seemed  rich  to  himself.  Riches 
bi-ing  contention ;  godliness  brings  contentation. 
Gain  hath  often  hurt  the  getters ;  piety  is  profitable 
to  all  men.  Wealth  comes,  and  a  man  is  not  pleased ; 
honour  comes,  and  yet  he  is  not  pleased ;  trie  lusts 
of  the  flesh  are  fultilled,  and  yet  he  Is  not  pleased ; 
but  when  godliness  comes,  his  cup  is  full :  "  The 
lines  are  fallen  unto  me  in  pleasant  places ;  yea,  I 


have  a  goodly  heritage,"  Psal.  xvi.  6.  As  Plulip 
said,  "  Lord,  show  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth," 
John  xiv.  8  ;  so.  Lord,  give  us  godliness,  and  it  suf- 
ficeth. What  the  rich  man  falsely  usurped,  this 
certainly  affordeth ;  Soul,  rest,  thou  hast  enough. 
If  the  Son  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed, 
John  viii.  36;  if  godliness  make  you  rich,  ye  shall 
never  be  poor. 


Verse  7- 

A?id  to  godliness  brotherly  kindness. 

For  better  method  of  proceeding  in  the  description 
of  this  next  grace,  let  me  guide  my  discourse  and 
your  attention  through  these  five  particulars ;  the  con- 
nexion, definition,  distinction,  conclusion,  application. 
First,  for  connexion  and  dependence,  we  must  con- 
sider the  reasons  why  the  apostle  joins  immediately 
to  godliness,  brotherly  kindness.  We  have  three 
reasons. 

1.  Becatise  brotherly  kindness  is  the  daughter  of 
godliness.  He  that  loves  God  for  his  o'mi  sake,  mil 
love  his  brother  for  God's  sake.  "  Simon,  lovest  thou 
me  ?  feed  my  lambs,"  John  xxi.  17.  What  you  have 
done  to  these  little  ones,  ye  have  done  to  me.  Matt. 
XXV.  40.  He  may  best  be  good  to  his  brother,  that 
hath  first  learned  to  be  good  to  his  father.  (Greg.) 
The  river  of  charity  springs  from  the  fountain  of 
piety. 

2.  Because  brotherly  kindness  is  the  moderator  of 
godUness.  Some  men's  piety  runs  an  impetuous 
pace  ;  so  fast  that  it  forgets  to  salute  their  brother 
by  the  way.  Those  two  disciples  were  so  hot  for 
Christ,  that  they  would  needs  have  fire  from  heaven 
upon  their  brethren.  As  Judas  woulflliave  hindered 
Mary's  piety  by  show  of  charity ;  so  the  Pharisees 
overthrew  charity  with  the  shows  of  piety ;  they 
"  devour  widows'  houses,  and  for  a  pretence  make  long 
prayer,"  Matt,  xxiii.  14.  God  loves  not  such  mad 
zeal,  that  so  fixeth  the  eyes  on  heaven  that  it  de- 
spiseth  to  look  on  their  poor  brother  on  earth.  In- 
deed when  such  an  opposition  meets  us,  that  either 
we  must  forsake  Christ  or  our  brother,  then  himself 
teacheth  us  to  leave  all,  and  to  follow  him  ;  but 
when  there  is  no  such  necessity,  God  is  often  con- 
tented to  depart  from  his  own  right,  that  we  may 
succour  our  brother.  "  Go  ye  and  learn  what  that 
mcaneth,  I  will  have  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice," 
Matt.  ix.  13.  Merciful  works  to  thy  brother,  are  for 
sacrifice,  Heb.  xiii.  16,  and  before  sacrifice,  Hos.  vi. 
G.  God  will  forgive  the  omission  of  piety,  upon  good 
cause  of  fiatemal  charity.  He  will  spare  the  wife 
from  church  to  comfort  her  sick  husband ;  the  mother, 
to  relieve  her  distressed  child.  We  have  those  that 
will  run  so  fast  to  a  sermon,  that  they  will  not  stay 
to  give  a  poor  orphan  a  penny.  The  true  catholic 
hath  a  catholic  care ;  and  sets  not  the  two  tables  at 
variance  ;  both  which  look  to  God's  obedience,  as 
the  two  cherubims  to  the  mercy-seat.  I  know  there 
is  a  great  commandment,  and  another  (but)  like  unto 
it.  Matt:  xxii.  33,  39 ;  but  let  not  sacrifice  turn  mer- 
cy out  of  doors,  as  Sarah  did  Hagar ;  nor  the  flames 
of  zeal  consume  the  moisture  of  charity,  as  the  fire 
from  heaven  drunk  up  the  water  at  Elijah's  sacrifice. 
Godliness  works  by  brotherly  kindness,  Gal.  v.  6. 
No  man  must  look  so  high,  that  he  overlook  his 
brother.  You  fast  and  mourn,  and  I  regard  it  not, 
saith  the  Lord,  because  ye  exact  upon  the  poor,  Isa. 
IviiL  3.  Charity  is  the  king's  higliway  to  heaven  : 
zeal,  like  Cushi,  runs  apace ;  but  love,  like  Ahimaaz, 


84 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1. 


gets  first  to  the  king,  because  it  runs  by  the  way  of 
the  plain,  2  Sam.  xviii.  2.'3.  Only  that  godly  man 
which  is  kind  to  his  brother,  comes  with  best  speed 
to  his  Maker. 

3.  Because  godliness  is  proved  by  brotherly  kind- 
ness. This  is  our  demonstration  that  we  love  God. 
With  one  and  the  same  charity  we  love  both  God 
and  our  brother:  the  diflerence  is  in  the  degrees  and 
respects  ;  God  for  himself,  others  for  him,  r.nd  in 
him.  There  is  nothing  more  easy  than  to  ostent  the 
love  of  God ;  but  the  lack  of  charity  is  the  conviction 
of  hypocrisy.  There  be  many  donations  of  the 
Spirit :  though  we  speak  with  tongues  of  men  ;  so 
many  tongues  as  that  divine  poet  wrote  of  Queen 
Elizabeth, 

That  Rome,  Rhino,  Rhone,  Greece,  Spain,  and  Italy ; 
Plead  all  for  right  in  her  nativity ; 

yea,  of  angels,  if  al  least  the  angels  have  any  lan- 
guage ;  (Hieron.)  yet  if  we  have  not  charity,  we  arc 
as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal,  I  Cor.  xiii.  1. 
Like  Balaam's  ass,  that  spake  to  better  her  master, 
not  herself;  or  the  sermon-bell  that  rings  others 
to  church,  while  itself  still  hangs  in  the  steeple,  and 
hears  nothing.  Though  we  had  the  gift  of  prophecy  : 
so  Balaam,  Saul,  Caiaphas  prophesied;  yet,  wanting 
charity,  the  first  loved  gold  more  than  God ;  the 
second,  his  lusts  more  than  his  obedience ;  the  last 
condemned  Jesus  Christ.  Though  wc  had  all  know- 
ledge, yet,  wanting  charity,  we  might,  like  the  Pha- 
risees, open  the  door  for  others,  and  not  go  in  our- 
selves. Without  charity  we  are  nothing  ;  nothing 
in  respect  of  grace,  how  great  soever  by  nature. 
(Aquin.)  Yea,  though  we  give  our  bodies  to  be 
burned  ;  though  we  not  only  speak,  but  sutTer ; 
not  do,  but  die.  Of  all  sufferings  death  is  the 
most  ten'ible ;  of  all  deaths,  burning.  Kow  if  I 
give  ;  not  by  compulsion,  but  of  mine  own  accord  ; 
as  it  is  said  of  Christ,  He  "  gave  himself,"  Epli. 
V.  2.  If  I  give  my  bod;/  :  not  only  sufTer  loss  of 
goods,  and  that  is  much,  to  take  joyfully  the  spoiling 
of  our  goods,  Heb.  x.  34  ;  but  calamities  in  our  body  : 
as  the  father  of  lies  spake  tnily  in  this  ;  "  Skin  for 
skin,  yea,  all  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his 
life,"  Job  ii.  4.  If  I  give  mi/  body:  not  my  child's 
body,  as  Abraham  offered  Isaac's ;  not  only  flesh  of 
my  flesh,  but  flesh  that  is  my  flesh.  If  I  give  my 
body  to  death,  not  only  to  pain  and  passion:  yea, 
not  to  a  natural  death,  this  law  must  pass  upon  all 
men,  but  to  a  violent  death.  Lastly,  to  a  death  so 
violent,  that  there  is  not  a  greater  toraicnt ;  to  be 
roasted  and  consumed  in  the  fire,  to  be  bumed.  Here 
be  many  acts  of  patience,  of  piety  ;  yet  if  we  hate 
our  brother,  all  is  lost.  Therefore  Stephen,  when  he 
died  for  godliness,  forgot  not  brotherly  kindness : 
"Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge,"  Ads  vii. 
60  ;  as  if  the  want  of  this  would  discredit  the  cause, 
or  endanger  the  reward.  So  did  other  martyrs,  fetch- 
ing this  example  from  the  Head:  "Falhe'r,  forgive 
them  ;  for  they  know  not  what  they  do,"  Luke  xxiii. 
34.  Thus  nccessarj'  is  this  connexion :  "  He  that 
saith  he  is  in  the  light,  and  hateth  his  brother,  is  in 
darkness  even  until  now,"  1  J(dm  ii.  9.  If  there  could 
be  a  godliness  destitute  of  this,  it  should  never  be 
welcome  to  Christ. 

Secondly,  for  the  definition  of  this  Philadelphia. 
It  is  a  love  to  the  faithful ;  to  such  as  possess  the 
same  faith  with  us,  and  by  that  faith  are  adopted 
heirs  to  the  same  God,  through  the  brotherhood  of 
the  same  Christ.  It  is  distinguished  from  charity  by 
the  nearness  and  deamess.  By  nearness,  I  mean  not 
local,  but  mystical.  Charity  hath  a  great  latitude, 
and  is  like  the  heaven  that  covers  all ;  brotheriv 
Ifindness  like  (he  sun  that  shines  upon  the  one  half  at 


once.  The  firmament  sends  influence  to  more  than 
the  sun,  but  the  sun  comes  nearer  to  that  object  it 
blesseth  than  the  firmament.  By  deamess ;  for  the 
bond  of  nature  is  not  so  strong  as  the  bond  of  grace. 
Our  creation  hath  made  us  friends,  and  given  us 
amity  ;  our  redemption  hath  made  us  brethren,  and 
given  us  unity ;  we  "  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus," 
Gal.  iii.  2><.  Therefore  though  wc  are  formerly  bound 
to  do  good  to  all ;  yet  here,  by  a  new  bond,  especially 
to  them  that  are  of  the  household  of  faith,  Gal.  vi. 
10.  Be  good  to  even'  man,  more  good  to  a  Christian, 
most  good  to  a  faithful  Christian;  for  thou  art  tied 
to  him  in  the  bond  of  the  nearest  fratemity. 

Consider  then  here  the  ground  of  this  brotherhood, 
which  is  the  bond  of  adoption;  which  if  it  have 
power  to  bind  God  to  man,  and  man  to  God,  then 
much  more  to  bind  man  to  man.  Religion  is  a  binder : 
the  gospel  hath  a  combining  power,  to  gather  into 
one  fold  all  the  sheep  of  Christ  wandering  on  the 
mountains  of  the  broad  earth.  Friendship  is  a  great 
uniter;  it  knows  no  other  language  but,  I  am  wholly 
thine.  It  is  ready  to  exclude  those  possessives,  mine 
and  thine  from  being  any  jiarts  of  speech,  and  to 
drown  all  propriety.  Marriage  is  a  great  uniter, 
stronger  than  friendship,  by  God's  ordinance  ;  it 
knows  no  other  method  but  composition.  Among 
pagans  it  brought  two  into  one  lawful  bed:  the  bride 
could  challenge  on  her  wedding  day  of  the  bride- 
groom, Ubitu  Caiux,  ego  Cuia,  Where  you  are  master, 
I  must  be  mistress.  Among  Christians  it  goes  fur- 
ther, not  only  to  bring  two  into  one  house,  but  two 
into  one  flesh.  As  God  by  creation  made  two  of  one, 
so  again  by  marriage  he  made  one  of  two.  But  the 
principal  attractive,  congregating,  and  combining 
power  in  the  world,  to  draw  together  heaven  and 
earth,  sea  and  land,  east  and  west,  Jews  and  Gentiles, 
and  to  make  one  of  two,  often,  of  thousands,  of  all, 
is  the  gospel,  the  bond  of  our  Christian  covenant, 
which  makes  us  all  one  in  the  Lord  Jesus.  Thus  wa 
are  compact  under  the  government  of  one  Lord,  tied 
by  the  bond  of  one  faitn,  washed  from  our  sins  by 
one  lavcr,  nourished  by  the  milk  of  one  gospel, 
feasted  at  the  supper  of  one  and  the  same  Lamb, 
assumed  by  one  and  the  same  Spirit,  to  the  inherit- 
ance of  one  and  the  same  kingdom,  and  shall  be 
brought  all  to  one  and  the  same  salvation. 

In  the  third  place  we  come  to  the  distinction. 
There  are  three  sorts  of  bretliren ;  by  race,  place, 
and  grace. 

By  race :  and  that  either  by  birth,  such  as  have 
the  same  parents :  so  Jacob  and  Esau  were  brethren. 
Or  by  blood ;  so  Abraham  and  Lot  were  called 
brethren,  Gen.  xiii.  8.  So  our  blessed  Saviour  was 
said  to  have  brethren  and  sisters,  Mark  vi.  3.  Mary 
his  mother  was  a  pure  \-irgin,  as  well  after  his  birth 
as  before  his  conception.  Hebridius  the  heretic, 
abusing  that  text.  He  "knew  her  not,  till  she  had 
brought  forth  her  first-bom  son,"  Matt.  i.  25,  held 
that  Mar)-  had  more  children  hecausc  Christ  was 
called  her  first-bom.  But  so  he  is  called  "  the  first- 
begotten"  Son  of  the  Father,  Heb.  i.  6  ;  yet  he  is  the 
"only-begotten"  Son  of  his  Father,  John  iii.  16. 
So  he  is  called  the  first-bom  of  his  mother,  not  that 
she  had  any  child  after  him,  but  because  she  had 
none  before  him.  This  word  "  imtil "  doth  only 
negatively  exclude  the  time  past,  no  ways  affirmative- 
ly insinuate  the  time  to  come.  So,  "  1  am  with  you 
alway,  even  until  the  end  of  the  world,"  Matt,  xxviii. 
'JO;  he  doth  not  mean  to  leave  us  then,  but  to  be 
with  us  for  ever.  The  heaven  must  receive  Christ, 
"  luitil  the  times  of  restitution  of  all  things,"  Acts 
iii.  21  :  what,  no  longer?  yes,  and  after  that  restoring 
also.  "  Michal  had  no  child  until  the  day  of  her 
death,"  2  Sam.  vi.  23 ;  and  it  is  certain  that  she  had 


Xffi.  7. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


85 


none  afterward.  Therefore  James  and  Joscs,  Judc 
and  Simon,  were  Christ's  brethren  by  kindred. 
"  Laban  said  unto  Jacob,  Because  thou  art  my  bro- 
ther," &c.  Gen.  xxix.  15.  Laban  was  his  master,  his 
uncle,  his  father,  yet  he  also  calls  liim  brother.  This 
is  one  kind  of  fraternity. 

By  place,  such  as  are  of  the  same  nation.  Thou 
shall  choose  a  king  "  from  among  thy  brethren,"  that 
is,  of  tliy  own  nation,  not  a  stranger,  Deut.  xvii.  15. 
"  Unto  a  stranger  thou  mayest  lend  upon  usurj-,"  but 
not  unto  thy  brother,  Deut.  xxiii.  20.  I  could  wish 
myself  separated  from  Christ,  "  for  my  brethren,  my 
kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh,"  Rom.  ix.  3.  So 
all  Englishmen  are  brethren ;  all  in  nation,  not  all 
in  affection ;  for  some  of  them  were  so  brotherly  kind, 
that  they  would  have  powdered  us :  and  they  have 
left  their  spawn  behind  them ;  that  if  their  power 
were  answerable  to  their  will,  they  would,  in  kind- 
ness, cut  all  our  throats. 

By  grace  ;  and  this  is  either  common,  or  special, 
that  is,  spiritual  ;  by  generation,  or  regeneration. 
In  the  former  respect  all  men  are  bretliren :  God 
"  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men,"  Acts 
xvii.  26.  We  are  brothers  by  the  mother's  side,  they 
call  it  the  surer  side  :  all  our  bodies  are  from  the 
womb  of  one  earth,  returnable  to  the  bowels  of  one 
earth.  Brothers  by  the  Father's  side  ;  all  our  souls 
are  from  heaven,  inspired  by  the  breath  of  one 
Creator.  In  the  latter  respect,  we  are  all  brethren 
in  Christ.  By  creation  we  have  a  brotherhood  with 
the  creatures  ;  so  Job  calls  the  worms  his  sisters,  Job 
xvii.  14.  By  renovation  we  have  a  brotherhood  with 
the  angels. 

You  see  the  kinds  of  this  fraternity ;  let  us  now 
come  to  the  fourth  point  of  the  method,  to  draw  some 
conclusions  from  it.  Here  consider  two  things,  the 
necessity,  and  the  practice;  wherefore  we  must  have 
it,  and  wherein  it  consisteth. 

The  necessity  is  great :  our  apostle  would  not  have 
civen  it  a  room  among  these  principal  graces,  if  he 
had  not  found  it  worthy  in  itself,  and  yet  generally 
neglected.  It  is  worthy  in  itself:  that  virtue  which 
is  ranked  with  godliness,  must  needs  be  honourable. 
Here  behold  God's  great  goodness  and  mercy,  who 
doth  not  only  provide  for  nis  own  glory,  but  man's 
good.  A  man  would  think,  so  long  as  he  is  sciTcd 
by  godliness,  what  should  he  care  whether  we  ser\'e 
one  another  with  kindness  ?  Yes ;  he  esteems  no  man 
his  servant,  that  is  not  his  brother's  friend:  if  we  be 
not  kind  to  our  brethren,  he  values  not  our  kindness 
to  him.  David  would  little  respect  the  peace-ofTcrs 
of  the  Ammonites,  who  had  so  villanously  entreated 
his  servants,  2  Sam.  x.  God  abhors  the  Israelites' 
challenge  of  his  paternity,  when  they  had  beaten  his 
servants  that  demanded  his  rent,  and  slew  his  Son. 
Our  faith,  knowledge,  temperance,  patience,  concern 
ourselves ;  our  vii-tue  and  piety,  God  ;  only  these 
two  last,  brotherly  love  and  charity,  hath  he  put  in 
for  men.  See  his  goodness  ;  of  eight  he  hath  given 
four  to  thyself,  allowed  two  for  thy  brother,  and  hath 
reserved  but  two  immediately  for  liimself,  that  owes 
all.  Now  albeit  this  grace  be  worthy  in  itself,  yet 
we  are  apt  to  neglect  it  ;  therefore  our  apostle  in  his 
two  Epistles  urgeth  it  four  several  times ;  1  Pet.  i.  22 : 
"Love  the  brotherhood,"  chap.  ii.  \7  ;  "Love  as 
brethren,"  chap.  iii.  8  ;  and  lastly  here  in  my  text. 
St.  Paul  in  his  writings  thrice ;  "  Be  kindly  aflfec- 
tioned  one  to  another  with  brotherly  love,"  Rom. 
xii.  10;  1  Thess.  iv.  9;  "Let  brotherly  love  con- 
tinue," Ileb.  xiii.  1.  Divers  of  the  fathers  in  their 
several  Apologies  highly  commended  this  virtue. 
This  inculcating  doth  insinuate  both  the  precious 
necessity  and  the  common  disestimation  of  it.  All 
aees  have  complained  of  the  want  of  it.     The  poet 


wTote  long  since,  Fratntm  quoque  gratia  rara  est.  The 
prophet  ;  "  Take  ye  heed  ever)'  one  of  his  neighbour, 
and  trust  ye  not  in  any  brother :  for  everj-  brother  will 
utterly  supplant,"  Jer.  ix.  4.  "Even  thy  brethren, 
and  the  house  of  thy  father,  have  dealt  treacherously 
with  thee,"  Jer.  xii.  6.  Our  Saviour;  "The  brother 
shall  betray  the  brother  to  death,"  Mark  xiii.  12. 
The  apostle  ;  "  Ye  do  wrong,  and  defraud,  and 
that  your  brethren,  1  Cor.  vi.  8.  He  tells  them  of 
false  brethren,  privily  coming,  &c.  Gal.  ii.  4.  He 
reckoneth  it  as  none  of  the  least  exigents  he  was 
driven  to,  to  be  in  peril  of  false  brethren,  2  Cor.  xi. 
26.  Now  what  is  so  frequently  taught,  at  last  let  it 
be  learned. 

Let  us  come  now  to  the  practice,  wherein  this 
Philadelphia  consisteth ;  and  this  we  must  consider 
negatively  and  positively. 

Fiist,  what  it  forbids  and  debars,  as  opposites  to  it, 
and  murderers  of  it. 

First,  contentious  litigation,  "  There  is  utterly  a 
fault  amongst  you,  that  brother  goeth  to  law  with 
brother,"  1  Cor.  vi.  6, 7-  How  unnatural  is  it,  for  one 
hand  to  strike  another!  Hath  Christ  made  thee 
friends  with  God,  and  wilt  thou  not  be  friends  with 
thy  brother?  So  Abraham  entreated  Lot;  Let  there 
be  no  strife  between  us,  for  we  are  brethren.  Gen. 
xiii.  8.  So  Moses  endeavoured  to  pacify  the  two 
Hebrews ;  "  Sirs,  ye  are  brethren,  why  do  ye  wrong 
one  to  another?"  Acts  vii.  26.  Art  thou  a  Christian, 
and  seekest  to  undo  thy  brother  ?  It  is  one  of  the 
abominations  which  God's  very  soul  hateth,  Prov. 
vi.  19.  But  the  more  busy  such  devilish  engines 
and  incendiaries  are  to  separate  us,  the  more  con- 
stantly let  us  hold  together. 

Secondly,  an  inveterate  hatred ;  which  is  a  most 
degenerate  passion ;  to  hate  the  son  of  a  man's  own 
mother.  As  Joseph's  brethren  hated  him,  because 
his  father  loved  him.  Gen.  xxxvii.  4 ;  a  fault  that  cost; 
them  dear  afterwards.  God  loves  all  his  children; 
wilt  thou  hate  him  that  God  loves  ?  My  delight  is 
in  the  saints,  saitli  that  royal  prophet,  Psal.  xvi.  3. 
Let  all  brother-haters  know  their  wretchedness. 
"  He  that  hateth  his  brother  is  in  darkness,"  I  John 
ii.  11.  That  is  miserable  enough,  to  live  in  darkness, 
hellish  darkness ;  but  this  is  not  all,  for  he  lives  in 
death:  "Whosoever  hateth  his  brother,  is  a  mur- 
derer," 1  John  iii.  15;  and  a  murderer  cannot  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  So  that  whosoever 
hates  another  condemneth  himself,  and  is  lost  in  a 
voluntarj'  blood-guiltiness. 

Thirdly,  even  anger  itself  is  a  traitor  to  this  virtue : 
for  as  hatred  is  a  long  anger,  so  anger  is  a  short 
hatred;  malice  is  nothing  else  but  inveterate  WTath. 
The  causeless  anger  is  in  danger  of  judgment.  Matt. 
V.  22.  A  choleric  disposition  is  no  excuse ;  for  as 
ever)-  man  is  either  a  fool  or  a  physician,  so  every 
Christian  is  either  a  mad-man  or  a  divine :  a  mad-man 
if  he  gives  his  passion  the  reins,  a  divine  if  he 
qualifies  it.  When  a  railing  fellow  reviled  Pericles 
all  day,  and  at  night  in  the  same  tune  followed  him 
home  to  his  gate ;  he  all  this  while  not  returning  a 
word,  now  commanded  one  of  his  serv'ants  with  a  torch 
to  light  the  brawler  home  to  his  house.  Thus  did 
an  ethnic.  Therefore  if  a  brother  offend  upon  ignor- 
ance, neglect  it ;  if  upon  infirmity,  forget  it ;  if  upon 
malice,  forbear  it  :  upon  what  terms  soever,  forgive 
it,  as  thou  woiddst  be  forgiven  of  God. 

Fourthly,  oppression  is  a  horrible  breach  of  this 
fraternity.  Let  no  man  overreach  or  oppress  his 
brother,  1  Thess.  iv.  6.  Even  the  Jew  that  might 
take  usury  of  a  heathen,  might  not  take  it  of  liis 
brother.  Thus  our  usurers'  common  distinction  is 
taken  away ;  for  all  Christians  are  brethren,  and  I 
tliink  thcv' deal  not  with  infidels:  unless  they  help 


86 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


themselves  thus,  that  they  may  take  usury  of  Chris- 
tians because  themselves  arc  none. 

Lastly,  a  proud  dedignation  and  contempt  of  their 
brethren.  "  Thou  sittest  and  speakest  against  thy 
brother;  thou  slandercst  thine  own  mother's  son," 
Psal.  1.  20.  So  the  church  complains,  "  My  mother's 
children  were  angrj'  with  me,"  Cant.  i.  6.  Wilt  thou 
despise  him  that  is  Christ's  brother  ?  Is  he  vile  in 
their  eyes  whom  the  Lord  Jesus  bought  so  dear? 
We  all  grow  up  together  "  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto 
the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ," 
Eph.  iv.  13.  The  poorest  soul  of  this  brotherhood 
must  concur  to  make  up  the  perfection  of  Christ. 
Comfort  thyself,  thou  faithful  spirit ;  they  blush  at 
thy  acquaintance,  scorn  thy  company,  but  the  Lord 
thinks  himself  not  perfect  without  thee. 

Thus  privatively,  now  positively.  This  brotherly 
kindness  is  showed  in  reprehending  those  we  love. 
Thou  shall  rebuke  thy  brother,  and  not  suffer  sin 
upon  him ;  thou  shalt  not  hate  him  in  thine  heart, 
Lev.  xix.  17.  So  that  not  to  rebuke  him,  is  to  hate 
him.  He  is  not  angiy  wtli  his  brother,  that  is  angiy 
with  the  sin  of  his  brother.  (August.)  Hate  not  virum 
but  vitium.  The  best  brotherly  love  is  to  the  soul : 
love  to  his  body  is  but  the  body  of  love  ;  the  soul  of 
love  is  the  love  of  his  soul.  Why  did  David  so 
moiu'n  for  Absalom,  wishing  to  have  died  for  him, 
but  m  love  to  his  soul  P  Now  much  of  this  love 
stands  in  a  mild  reproof:  so  let  us  live  brothers  on 
earth,  that  we  may  for  ever  live  together  brothers  in 
heaven ;  and  be  so  kind  as  to  help  forward  one 
another's  salvation.  There  are  many  other  offices  of 
this  brotherly  love,  but  they  are  no  strangers  to  you ; 
it  is  enough  to  have  named  them.  Such  as  helping 
their  poor  estates ;  for  the  love  of  God  is  not  in  him, 
that  hath,  and  refuseth  to  give  to  him  that  hath  not, 
1  John  iii.  17.  All  ai-e  for  the  brotherhood,  but  few 
for  their  brother's  good.  Praying  for  them :  this 
the  very  first  words  of  the  Lord's  prayer  teaehcth 
us ;  "  Our  Father  ;"  not  my  Father,  but  o\ir :  we  de- 
sire others  should  fare  as  ^vell  as  ourselves.  Some 
only  pray  for  themselves  and  their  families ;  as  the 
Athenians  offered  sacrifice  for  none  but  themselves 
and  their  neighboui-s  of  Chios.  But  we  have  all  one 
Father ;  and  therefore  he  (hat  speaks  must  plead  the 
cause  of  the  rest  of  his  brethren.  I  pray  not  for 
these  alone,  saith  Christ,  but  for  all  them,  &c.  John 
xvii.  20.  Pray  we  for  others,  others  for  us,  as  Clu'ist 
doth  pray  for  us  all. 

I  come  to  the  last  point,  that  is,  the  application; 
let  this  Philadelphia  dwell  ever  among  us.  There 
be  divers  brotherhoods. 

The  papists  have  their  fraternities,  yea,  theu- pater- 
nities, tneir  maternities,  and  their  sisterhoods.  Jesuits 
\vill  not  be  called  fratrt'.s,  but  patrcs,  holy  fathers. 
But  in  the  mean  time  they  neglect  their  o\ni  fathers, 
they  must  not  know  them,  nor  call  them  so.  They 
say  to  him  that  enters  their  order.  What  hast  thou 
to  do  with  thy  father  ?  thuu  hast  no  father  but  the 
pope.  What  hast  thou  to  do  with  thy  mother? 
thou  hast  no  mother  but  the  church  of  Rome. 
What  to  do  with  thy  brethren?  thoi  hast  no  bre- 
thren but  these  of  the  same  order ;  or  haply  the 
the  friars,  &c.  What  bust  thou  to  do  with  thy  sis- 
ters ?  these  now  are  only  the  nuns.  Here  is  a  bro- 
therhood. 

The  schismatics  have  a  brotherhood,  and  they  hold 
themselves  the  only  pure  brethren  in  Christ ;  but 
they  have  ill  luck  in  it,  for  nobody  else  holds  them 
80.  It  seems  they  dwell  by  neighbours  that  have 
little  cause  to  love  (hem,  who  are  thus  fain  to  com- 
mend themselves.  They  are  so  brotherly  kind,  tliat 
they  turn  cliarity  quite  out  of  doors.  They  will  feed 
at  your  tables,  though  they  will  not  brother  with 


you;  and  they  have  Scripture  for  it,  that  Elijah 
refused  not  the  meat  brought  by  an  unclean  raven. 
But  if  all  rich  men  (for  those  burrs  stick  to  no  others) 
were  of  my  mind,  such  pure,  proud,  factious,  and 
scornful  bretliren  should  go  seek  their  dinners. 
Albeit  they  take  us  for  ravens,  I  am  sure  they  are  no 
Elijahs.  You  shall  never  come  to  taste  their  dishes ; 
and  they  have  Scripture  for  it,  not  to  communicate, 
not  to  drink  with  them  that  are  not  their  brethren ; 
they  mean,  at  home,  and  at  their  o\vn  cost.  He  that 
cannot  rail  against  church  government  is  not  a  guest 
for  their  tables.  Ever)'  morsel  they  cut,  they  wish 
it  were  a  bishopric.  Here  is  a  brotherhood,  but  it 
is  a  bad  one,  a  mad  one.  These  are  black  brethren, 
that  love  to  soot  and  grime  the  face  of  their  mother. 
They  are  so  linked  to  the  fraternity,  that  let  another 
man  fall  into  their  hands,  there  is  no  mercy  to  be 
expected.  Forfeitures  fall  to  them  by  providence  ; 
and  it  is  the  man's  unworthiness  forwhien  they  undo 
him.  Impudent  wretches,  that  dare  father  their 
wickedness  upon  God's  allowance!  But  they  that 
thus  despise  the  brotherhood  of  Christians,  shall  be 
found  no  brothers  to  Christ. 

Libertines  and  profane  persons  have  a  brotherhood 
too ;  but  commonly  it  is  an  ale-house  brotherhood, 
and  (heir  kindred  comes  in  by  the  pot.  And  this  is 
no  wonder,  for  briers  and  thorns  embrace  and  twine 
more  together  than  good  plants.  St.  Peter  says, 
Love  brotherly  fellowship ;  but  these  two,  brother- 
hood and  fellowship,  have  ill  luck,  they  are  con- 
tinually seeking  one  another,  but  they  seldom  meet. 
For  most  men  arc  either  brothers  and  not  com- 
panions, or  companions  and  not  brothers.  Schis- 
matics are  all  for  the  brotherhood,  and  nothing  for 
society :  libertines  are  all  for  society,  and  nothing 
for  brotherhood.  Neither  of  these  do  well  asunder, 
happily  well  both  together. 

I  might  touch  upon  divers  other  brotherhoods; 
brothers  of  the  Rosy  Cross,  brothers  of  the  Recon- 
ciliation, brothers  of  the  Elixir,  chiming,  cheat- 
ing, rather  cozens  than  brothers,  more  foolish  than 
popish,  and  more  knavish  than  cither.  But  let  them 
be  buried  in  oblivion,  whose  very  names  make  a 
stink. 

If  all  these  have  theu'  brotherhoods,  let  not  us 
Christians  be  behind  them.  We  have  all  one  Father  ; 
"  Call  no  man  your  father  upon  the  earth :  for  one  is 
your  Father,  which  is  in  heaven,"  Matt,  xxiii.  9.  All 
one  mother;  "Jerusalem  above  is  the  mother  of  us 
all,"  Gal.  iv.  26.  All  one  elder  Brother;  whois"the 
first-born  among  many  brethren,"  Rom.  viii.  29. 
For  our  Father's  sake,  for  our  mother's  sake,  for  our 
Brothei-'s  sake,  for  our  own  sake,  let  us  hold  together 
as  brethren.  I  cannot  say  with  Paul,  "Touching 
brotherly  love  ye  need  not  that  I  write  unto  you :  for 
ye  yourselves  are  taught  of  God  to  love  oncanother," 
1  Thess.  iv.  9.  There  is  too  much  need,  there  was 
never  more.  St.  John  mentions  a  whole  church, 
called  Philadelphia,  brotherly  love,  Rev.  iii.  7-  St. 
Augustine  thought  it  a  fit  name  for  all  Christendom  ; 
for  how  far  soever  believers  are  dispersed,  they  ar^ 
all  brethren.  All  ;;ic  Ircthrcn,  but  we  that  live  to- 
gether in  one  count ly  are  twins.  It  is  therefore  a 
most  fit  name  for  England;  and  the  Lord  make 
England  Phihulelphiam,  that  every  one  of  us  may 
love  one  another,  and  Jesus  Christ  may  love  us  all. 

"To  brotherly  kindness  charity."  We  are  now 
got  to  the  roof  of  this  spiritual  house,  charity.  This 
is  (he  highest  round  of  (he  ladder:  there  be  eight 
steps,  this  is  the  uppermost,  as  nearest  to  heaven.  It 
hath  a  further  extent  than  Philadelphia  ;  that  is  only 
to  brethren  in  the  same  faith,  this  is  to  all,  even  to 
our  enemies,  Matt.  v.  44.  All  men  love  their  friends, 
but    Christians  love    their   enemies.     (TertuUinn.) 


Ver.  ". 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


87 


Bealux  qui  amat  te,  el  amicum  in  te,  el  i)iimicum  prop- 
ler  le.  (August.)  It  is  greater  than  faith  and  nopo, 
1  Cor.  xiii.  Faith  shall  bring  in  vision,  vision  shall 
thrust  out  faith  :  hone  shall  lead  in  possession,  pos- 
session shall  east  fortn  hope.  "  Aljove  all  things  put 
on  charity,"  Col.  iii.  14.  Here  are  three  particulars ; 
the  action,  "put  on;"  the  affection,  the  robe  of 
"  charity  ; "  the  pre-eminence,  "  above  all."  We  find 
a  pre-eminence,  if  we  read,  above  all ;  a  necessity,  if 
we  read,  to  these  all.  Put  it  on,  as  either  clothes  for 
covering,  or  armour  for  defending.  It  is  a  good  ar- 
mour against  Satan's  temptations  to  sin,  or  accusations 
for  sin.  Of  all  men,  seldom  is  any  great  sin  fastened 
on  the  charitable  :  how  should  he  speed  ill,  that  hath 
so  many  prayers  ?  It  is  a  good  covering ;  Job  pro- 
fesses that  he  had  warmed  the  poor  with  the  fleece 
of  his  sheep.  Job  xxxi.  20.  That  charity  which  keeps 
the  poor  receiver's  body  warm,  keeps  the  giver's  soul 
warmer;  whether  it  consists  in  bearing  and  forbear- 
ing, in  case  of  wrong ;  or  in  beneficence  and  giving,  in 
case  of  need.  Put  it  on  :  wisdom  and  treasures  Hid- 
den are  improfitable,  Ecclus.  xs.  30 :  this  must  not 
be  hidden  as  a  night-gown,  or  closet-robe,  but  worn. 
Yea,  keep  it  on ;  it  must  not  be  a  loose  garment,  soon 
on  and  soon  off.  Charity,  some  think,  is  a  vesture 
that  will  be  quickly  worn  out ;  therefore  they  seldom 
wear  it,  unless  it  be  on  high  days,  and  then  they  give 
a  little  to  a  collection.  But  it  should  be  rather  like 
the  Israelites'  clothes  in  the  desert,  lasting  forty 
years.  If  this  grace  be  wanting,  all  the  former  arc 
lost  ;  brotherly  love  is  not,  godliness  vanishcth, 
there  is  no  place  for  patience,  temperance  is  worth- 
less, knowledge  is  obscured,  all  virtue  pineth  away. 
Oh  that  now  your  hearts,  like  those  two  disciples' 
going  to  Emmaus,  had  this  doctrine  of  charity  burn- 
ing within  you ! 

Here,  for  method's  sake,  consider  we  the  motives  to 
it,  and  the  materials  of  it.  The  motives  are  deduced 
from  the  necessity,  the  dignity,  the  commodity,  the 
danger  of  neglecting  it.  The  necessity  must  be  con- 
sidered in  respect  of  God,  of  ourselves. 

The  necessity  of  it  in  respect  of  God,  appears  by 
his  charging  us  with  it.  both  in  the  law  and  in  the 
gospel,  Lev.  xix.  18  ;  John  xiii.  34.  But  how  then 
floes  Christ  call  it  a  new  commandment  ?  It  is  an- 
swered. It  is  old  in  regard  of  the  truth,  new  in  regard 
of  the  use.  Papists  think  it  too  new ;  they  will  be 
brotherly  kind  to  their  own  tribe,  love  none  Vjut  those 
that  love  them.  They  affect  some  new  things,  de- 
throning of  princes,  &c.  but  not  this.  Sectaries  think 
it  too  old;  they  will  none  of  charity :  they  love  no 
old  thing,  but  Adam's  old  sin  of  disobedience.  Poor 
charity  cannot  find  a  bosom  to  rest  in ;  it  is  too  new 
for  some,  and  too  old  for  others.  Paul  bids  us  put  it 
on ;  but  some  think  it  too  costly  a  garment,  and  will 
not  become  them.  The  poet  hath  a  fable,  that  an 
old  man  travelling  with  his  little  son,  and  having  but 
one  beast  between  them,  the  father  did  ride  and  the 
child  went  afoot :  then  the  people  exclaimed  and 
said  he  was  an  unkind  father,  who  being  of  able  limbs 
would  take  his  ease  and  put  his  tender  son  to  trudge 
by  him.  Hereon  he  set  up  his  son,  and  went  afoot 
himself:  then  they  called  him  kind  dotard,  that 
would  let  a  young  boy  ride,  while  his  aged  father 
travelled  by  him.  Hearing  this,  he  got  up  with  his 
son,  they  did  both  ride :  now  the  people  railed  on 
him  for  an  unmerciful  man  to  his  beast :  saying, 
they  might  ride  by  turns.  Then  they  lighted  both, 
and  w^ould  neither  ride  ;  now  the  people  began  to 
laugh  at  them,  that  both  would  lead  an  empty  beast, 
and  go  on  foot  themselves.  Lastly,  when  he  saw  that 
nothing  could  please  them,  he  went  and  drowned  his 
beast;  and  lo,  now  he  was  derided  most  of  all.  This 
is  charity's  luck.     The  old  man  tells  the  young  that 


he  ouglit  to  be  charitable,  because  he  is  coming  into 
the  world,  and  hath  his  fortunes  before  him.  The 
young  man  tells  the  old  that  he  ought  to  be  charit- 
able, because  he  is  going  out  of  the  world  ;  that  he 
may  well  spare  his  clothes  that  is  going  to  bed. 
The  father  and  son  conclude,  that  u  they  should 
both  be  givers,  this  were  the  way  to  overload  charity, 
to  make  others  rich  and  themselves  beggars.  When 
neither  of  them  gives,  but  leave  charity  empty,  the 
world  .curses  them  for  miserable  wretches.  Lastly, 
they  consent  to  drown  poor  charity  in  the  gulf  of 
covetousness  ;  and  make  open  profession  to  the 
world,  that  they  will  not  be  troubled  with  such  a 
%nrtue.  Because  thou  canst  not  content  all  men,  wilt 
thou  refuse  to  please  God? 

The  necessity  of  it  follows,  in  respect  of  thyself. 
Things  of  greatest  use  should  be  of  greatest  estima- 
tion. Thouwouldst  know  if  thou  breathest  Christian ; 
the  sign  of  it  is  thy  charity.  This  is  (he  pulse  of  faith ; 
St.  James's  demonstration.  Show  me  thy  faith  by  thy 
works,  Jam.  ii.  18.  This  is  the  best  testification  of  thy 
love  to  God,  saith  St.  John.  Ti-ue  religion  must  be  con- 
sidered both  quoad  extra  and  quod  inlra ;  and  so  it  is  de- 
fined. Jam.  i.  '27,  "  Pure  religion  and  imdefiled  before 
God  is  this,  To  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in 
their  affliction,  and  to  keep  himself  unspotted  from 
the  world."  Here  is  a  description  of  it,  quid  in  se, 
quale  in  alios.  In  itself  it  is  religion,  a  binding 
quality  ;  and  hath  three  proofs  :  by  nature,  it  is 
pure ;  by  quality,  undefiled ;  by  object,  before  God. 
Now  quoad  extra,  for  the  effects :  these  are  two ;  in- 
nocency  in  ourselves,  charily  towards  others  ;  reliev- 
ing the  widow  and  orphan.  Religion  is  not  only 
contemplative,  but  the  greater  part  of  it,  like  the 
mathematics,  is  in  demonstration.  There  can  be  no 
assurance  to  thy  soul,  that  thou  art  in  God's  favour, 
without  charity.  Indeed  faith  is  the  life  of  a  Chris- 
tian ;  but  the  breath  whereby  he  is  known  to  live,  is 
charity :  "  Though  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed 
the  poor,  and  have  not  charity,  it  profit  eth  me 
notliing,"  1  Cor.  xiii.  3.  But  may  there  be  a  giving 
away  of  our  goods  to  the  poor,  T\'ithout  charity  ? 
Yes;  obsei-ve  in  those  words  five  degrees:  1.  It  is  a 
good  man's  part  to  lend,  "  He  is  merciful  and  lend- 
eth,"  Psal.  xxxvii.  26:  but  here,  "though  I  give;" 
whereas  most  men  open  their  hands  only  to  take : 
give,  and  give  fi-eely  without  expectation  of  repay- 
ment. 2.  M>/  oun,  not  another's  ;  for  many  will 
cut  large  shivers  off  another's  loaf:  but  mt/  goods: 
"  Cast  thij  bread  upon  the  waters,"  Eccl.  xi.  1. 
3.  .'til  mi/  goods  :  not  a  little  superfluity,  not  a 
competetit  portion,  no,  nor  yet  a  great  sum  ;  but  all: 
"  Beiiold,  we  liave  forsaken  all,  and  followed  thee," 
Matt.  xix.  2.  4.  Not  to  the  rich,  but  to  llie  poor,  such 
as  have  need,  with  a  discreet  election  of  objects  for 
bounty:  "Deal  thy  bread  to  the  hungr>-,"  Isa.  Iviii. 
7.  5.  To  feed  the  poor,  not  to  feast  them  ;  not  super- 
Ihiiiusly,  but  necessarily.  Yet  a  man  may  do  all  this 
out  of  ostentation,  curious  ambition,  or  idle  prodi- 
gality ;  and  not  from  the  internal  habit  of  charity, 
which  is  a  gracious  love  to  Christ  and  his  members ; 
and  this  somewhat,  this  much,  this  all,  is  nothing  at 
all  \rith  God.  Thus  necessary  is  charity,  without 
which  a  man  hath  nothing  in  substance,  or  all  things 
without  comfort.  A  certain  king  of  Northumber- 
land^ in  that  great  controversy  about  Easter,  some 
alleging  for  Peter,  others  for  John,  bethought  him- 
self that  Peter  was  the  porter  of  heaven-gate  ;  there- 
fore resolved  to  take  that  side,  saying.  He  would 
make  the  porter  his  friend,  that  when  he  came  thither 
he  might  be  sure  to  get  in.  Whatsoever  he  dreamed 
of  Peter,  do  thou  by  charity  make  Christ  thy  friend ; 
he  is  the  door  of  "everlasting  life ;  he  must  let  thee 
in,  or  there  is  no  entrance  for  thee.    Yea,  make  him 


AN  EXPOSITION  LTOX  THE 


Chai'.  r. 


thy  friend,  for  he  is  the  Lord  of  the  kingdom.  Thus 
also  are  the  poor  made  thy  friends,  ready  to  receive 
thee  into  everlasting  habitations,  Luke  xvi.  9. 

The  dignity  follows.  It  is  a  royal  office ;  yea,  a 
divine  practice.  Mercy  or  charity  is  the  sole  work 
communicable  to  man  with  God.  The  Lord  is  con- 
tent to  acknowledge  himself  the  charitable  man's 
debtor;  he  hath  lent  to  the  Lord,  and  he  will  pay 
him  again,  Prov.  xix.  1/.  But  still  this  payment  is 
not  deserved  of  man,  but  conferred  of  God.  It  must 
needs  be  an  excellent  thing,  that  brings  God  to  an 
acknowledgment.  There  is  a  usury  in  the  ■world 
much  ajiplauded,  more  defended,  most  of  nil  prac- 
tised;  the  very  shame  of  Christendom.  It  was  a 
.shame  for  a  Galatian  to  be  a  circumcised  Christian ; 
it  is  more  shame  for  a  Christian  to  be  a  baptized  Jew. 
It  is  a  Jewish  sin,  send  it  back  to  the  owners :  we 
traffic  many  things,  it  were  a  blessed  ship  that  could 
quite  transport  usuiy.  I  will  tell  you  of  a  lawful 
usur)',  (not  that  the  world  runs  mad  upon,  but  rather 
runs  from,)  a  practice  that  needs  no  patron  to  defend 
it,  it  will  reward  and  protect  itself.  Put  forth  thy 
goods  for  usuiy  to  God,  not  to  thy  brother:  that 
usury  shall  bring  thee  a  kingdom  of  peace  ;  the 
other  shall  procure  thee  a  place  in  torment.  (C'hrys.) 
Below  perhaps  thou  contentest  thyself  with  ten  in 
the  hundred,  above  thou  shall  have  a  hundred  for 
one.  Now  if  it  be  true,  that  "  the  borrower  is  a  ser- 
vant to  the  lender,"  Prov.  xxii.  7 ;  then  by  lending  to 
him,  in  charity  to  his,  after  a  sort  we  have  a  hand 
upon  God  himself.  And  this  is  the  dignity  of  charity, 
the  great  acceptation  with  God:  so  Christ  honours  it, 
"  Come,  ye  blessed,"  &c.  Matt.  xxv.  34.  Excellent 
grace,  that  is  so  gracious  with  Christ ! 

The  commodity  of  it  follows :  it  sccureth  all,  it 
increaseth  all,  it  blesseth  all.  It  secureth  all;  like 
an  ambassador,  by  lying  liegcr  abroad,  it  makes  all 
safe  at  home.  It  deriveth  from  the  poor  this  prayer, 
God  bless  your  store  :  it  deriveth  from  Godtliis  bless- 
ing, "  I  will  abundantly  bless  her  provision,"  Psal. 
cxxxii.  15.  It  increaseth  all ;  it  makes  friends,  praying 
friends ;  as  they  beg  of  thee,  so  they  beg  of  God  for 
thee.  For  a  benefactor  is  a  petty  creator;  thou  giv- 
cst  a  penny,  it  is  his  patrimony.  Their  devotions 
are  sent  up  to  heaven  for  thy  blessing:  and,  as  the 
bishop  told  Monica,  weeping  for  her  seduced  son. 
It  cannot  be  that  the  son  of  those  tears  should  ever 
perish  ;  so  be  comforted  in  thy  charity ;  it  cannot 
be  that  they  for  whom  are  sent  up  so  many  prayers 
should  ever  perish :  it  leaves  behind  thee  an  ever- 
lasting memory ;  living  thou  art  honoured,  dead  well 
reported;  "He  hath  given  to  the  poor;  his  right- 
eousness endureth  for  ever,"  Psal.  cxii.  9.  Thus 
charity,  says  Chrysostom,  is  the  most  gainful  art ;  it 
is  a  field  sown,  the  crop  is  thine.  "  He  which  sow- 
<"th  bountifully,  shall  reap  also  bountifully,"  2  Cor. 
ix.  6.  How  bountifully  ?  Christ  answers ;  a  measure 
heapen,  and  shaken,  and  pressed  together,  yet  lim- 
ning over.  It  blesseth  all  :  amain  act  of  piety  in 
the  law  was  sacrifice,  a  main  act  of  piety  in  the  gos- 
pel is  charity.  This  is  an  evangelical  sacrifice,  with 
which  God  is  pleased,  Heb.  xiii.  16.  Now  the 
poor  arc  the  altar  whereon  we  must  oiler  this  sacri- 
fice. Charily  sanctifies  all :  give,  and  all  shall  be 
clean  to  you ;  you  shall  have  new  bags,  which 
wax  not  old ;  new  garments,  which  shall  never  be 
worn  out ;  new  gold,  which  cannot  be  rusted,  Luke 
xii.  3.3.  God  is  loth  tluiu  shouldst  lose  thy  wealth, 
therefore  bids  thee  trust  him  with  it :  it  shall  iu)t  be 
further  from  thee,  but  surer  to  thee.  The  Omnipotent 
.shall  keep  it  for  thee  that  art  impotent :  no  thief  can 
break  into  heaven,  to  steal  it  from  thee  ;  it  is  out  of 
the  reach  of  the  most  merciless  opjjressor.  Thou 
snyest,  I  trust  in  Christ  to  be  saved :  now  darest  thou 


trust  him  with  that  precious  jewel,  thy  soul,  and  not 
with  thy  base  worldly  trash  ? 

Lastly,  the  nature  of  neglecting  charity,  is  the 
curse  :  Go,  ye  cursed,  you  did  not  relieve  mc.  Matt. 
xxv.  41 — 13.  If  thou  being  rich  wilt  not  give  to  the 
poor,  he  that  is  the  most  rich  will  give  nothing  to 
thee.  '•  AVhoso  stoppeth  his  ears  at  the  cry  of  the 
poor,  shall  erj'  himself  and  not  be  heard,"  Prov.  xxi. 
13.  "  Shouldest  thou  not  have  had  compassion  on 
thy  fellow-seiTant,  as  I  had  pity  on  thee?"  Matt, 
xviii.  33.  Thei-e  is  judgment  merciless  to  the  un- 
merciful. Jam.  ii.  13.  If  any  man  think  the  omission 
of  this  duty  to  be  too  severely  judged,  Chr>'Sostom 
answers,  that  as  it  is  a  kind  of  homicide  to  take  away 
from  the  poor,  and  he  that  dolh  it  is  a  man  of  blood  j 
so  not  to  give  to  the  poor  is  little  less  :  for  two  ways 
is  a  lamp  put  forth,  either  by  blowing  it  out,  or  by 
not  pouring  oil  into  it.  He  that  can  save,  and  will 
not,  kills :  so  that  the  very  want  of  charity  is  mur- 
der. This  danger  will  be  found  great  ;  they  are  not 
arraigned  for  want  of  justice,  nor  for  want  of  wisdom, 
nor  for  want  of  tcmi)erance  ;  but  for  want  of  charity, 
Matt.  xxv.  Now  when  a  scholar  is  to  be  opposed 
for  his  degree,  and  but  one  question  to  be  asked  him, 
if  he  knew  it  before,  he  would  perfectly  study  that. 
We  know  that  one  question  will  then  be  asked  us,  it 
is  concerning  our  charity  ;  let  us  study  that  thorough- 
ly, that  we  may  answer  it  well  before  the  judgment- 
.seat  of  Jesus  Christ. 

I  come  from  the  motives  to  the  materials,  wherein 
this  external  and  practical  part  of  charity  consists. 
They  are  these  ;  who,  w  hat,  to  whom,  whereof,  and 
how. 

Who  must  give  charitably :  it  seems  this  charge 
belongs  only  to  the  rich ;  "  Chai-ge  them  that  are 
rich  in  this  world,"  &c.  1  Tim.  vi.  17.  There  is  none 
simply  rich,  but  God.  Crassus  thought  himself  not 
rich,  till  all  Rome  was  poor  to  him ;  yea,  unless  he 
could  maintain  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men,  out 
of  the  very  revenues  and  surplusage  of  his  estate. 
None  is  properly  rich,  but  in  regard  of  the  poor. 
Some  think  they  are  called  the  riches  of  iniquity, 
that  is,  of  inequality :  some  have  more,  some  less : 
let  them  that  have  most,  give  most ;  let  them  that 
have  little,  give  of  that  little.  A  rich  Pharisee  may 
give  abundantly,  but  the  poor  widow  must  cast  in 
her  two  mites.  A  man  may  be  one  '•  that  layeth  up 
treasure  for  himself,  and  is  not  rich  toward  God," 
Luke  xii.  21  :  whereas  others  may  be  "  rich  in  good 
works,"  1  Tim.  vi.  18.  '"  If  there  be  a  willing  mind, 
it  is  accepted  according  to  that  a  man  hath,  not  ac- 
cording to  that  he  hath  not,"  2  Cor.  viii.  12.  There- 
fore the  labouring  nuin  is  not  privileged  from  tliis 
duty;  "  Let  him  labour  with  his  hands,  that  he  may 
have  to  give  to  him  that  needeth,"  Eph.  iv.  28. 
Though  he  may  plead,  that  wife  and  children  are 
bills  of  expenses  ;  yet,  "  He  that  hath  two  coats,  let 
him  impart  to  him  that  hath  none,"  Luke  iii.  11  ; 
not  one  out  of  a  whole  wardrobe,  but  one  of  two. 
"  If  thou  have  but  a  little,  be  not  afraid  to  give  ac- 
cording to  that  little,"  Tob.  iv.  8.  Thy  family  shall 
not  want,  but  be  kept  warm  with  the  blessing. 

What  must  be  given :  not  words,  but  deeds ;  a 
charitable  heart  hath  a  helpful  hand.  The  good 
man's  charity  should  dwell,  as  it  is  said  of  the  Dutch- 
man's wit,  at  his  finger-ends.  They  for  exquisite 
works  ;  wc  for  merciful  works.  To  good  deeds  only 
stands  open  the  gates  of  heaven. 

To  whom  extends  our  charity  :  this  munificent  part 
of  it  to  the  poor.  We  favour  and  feast  those  who  are 
recommended  to  us  by  their  own  greatness;  who 
fcasis  those  that  are  recommended  by  Christ  ?  When 
thou  makcst  a  feast,  call  the  poor,  lame,  blind;  and 
thou  shalt  be  blessed,  for  they  cannot  recompense 


Ver.  7. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


89 


thee  :  but  God  will,  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just, 
Luke  xiv.  13,  14.  To  do  tfood  to  them  that  do  good 
to  us,  Luke  vi.  33,  such  kindness  a  man  may  take 
up  in  the  streets  of  Turkey.  But  how  if  they  be 
vagrants  and  lewd  persons?  Yet  be  charitable  to 
them,  for  these  reasons  :  1.  It  is  better  one  unworthy 
creature  should  receive,  than  ten  worthy  should 
miss.  The  gracclessncss  of  some  beggars  is  too  true, 
but  many  make  this  a  general  excuse  to  spare  their 
purses.  Thy  own  conscience  in  this  is  thy  best 
guide.  2.  Thy  reward  is  not  lost,  though  thy  gift 
be  fallen  like  good  seed  upon  bad  ground.  Thy 
harvest  is  not  in  the  man,  but  in  Christ ;  not  on 
earth,  but  in  heaven.  As  our  Saviour  said,  "  Into 
whatsoever  house  ye  enter,  say,  Peace  be  to  this 
house.  And  if  the  son  of  peace  be  there,  your  peace 
shall  rest  upon  it :  if  not,  it  shall  turn  to  you  again," 
Luke  X.  6.  So  if  tlie  poor  man  be  good,  thy  alms 
shall  do  him  good:  if  not,  thy  charity  shall  turn  to 
thee  again.  Howsoever  the  man  be  evil,  yet  the 
Lord  is  good.  The  unworthiness  of  the  receiver 
takes  not  away  the  reward  of  the  giver.  "  When 
they  were  sick,  I  humbled  my  soul  with  fasting ;  and 
my  prayer  returned  into  mine  own  bosom,"  Psal. 
XXXV.  1,3.  I  prayed  for  them,  I  was  heard  for  my- 
self. If  thy  charity  do  them  no  good,  it  shall  do 
thee  good.  3.  Duty  binds  us  to  give  obedience  to 
evil  princes,  in  conscience  of  God's  ordinance.  And 
as  an  evil  subject  serves  God  for  his  prince's  sake, 
so  a  good  subject  serves  his  prince  for  God's  sake. 
Thus  obedience  is  given,  if  not  to  the  person,  yet  to 
the  office.  So  because  God  commends  and  com- 
mands charity,  we  must  give,  though  to  evil  men. 
We  give  to  the  man,  not  to  the  manners.  He  is  a 
man,  his  Maker  will  requite  me :  he  is  a  Christian, 
I  know  where  to  fetch  my  reward. 

Whereof  must  we  give  :  not  evil-gotten  things, 
but  our  own.  You  talk  of  what  you  have  given,  not 
what  you  have  taken  away :  God  requires  gifts,  not 
spoils.  (Ambrose.)  As  the  Jews  bought  a  burying- 
plaee  for  strangers  with  the  blood  of  Christ,  so  many 
build  hospitals  for  children  with  their  fathers'  bones. 
Thus  one  laughs  that  receives,  but  another  weeps 
that  loses:  and  perhaps  his  imprecations  that  is  im- 
poverished, will  come  sooner  to  God's  ears,  than 
nis  apprecations  that  is  relieved.  I  would  not  have 
one  poor  man's  just  curse,  for  many  poor  men's  good 
prayers.  The  cries  of  the  poor  against  their  ojv 
pressors,  enter  "  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  sa- 
baoth,"  Jam.  v.  4.  This  cry  comes  from  the  more 
sensible  soul ;  not  always  from  the  spirit  of  bitter- 
ness, but  from  the  bitterness  of  spirit.  When  the 
oppressor  hath  built  his  alms-house,  and  hopes  by 
his  perfunctory  devotions  to  be  admitted  to  heaven, 
the  curses  of  the  imdone  wretches  knock  him  down 
to  hell. 

Lastly,  how  we  must  give  :  and  this  may  be  con- 
sidered in  five  circumstances. 

1.  Cheerfully.  "  As  thou  hast  gotten,  give  with 
a  cheerful  eye,"  Ecclus.  xxxv.  10.  A  good  counte- 
nance refresheth  the  poor  man's  mind,  as  well  as  the 
alms  doth  his  body.  Those  liquors  of  oil  or  wine 
that  pour  out  themselves,  and  drop  of  their  own 
accord  and  maturity  from  their  native  places,  are 
belter  than  they  that  are  pressed,  and  squeezed  out 
by  violence.  Give  without  pressing  ;  the  Lord  loves 
a  cheerful  giver.  The  good  is  doubled  by  cheerful- 
ness. (Chrysost.) 

2.  Discreetly,  not  with  confusion.  Give  so  to-day 
that  thou  mayst  give  to-morrow.  (Sen.)  Confine 
not  thy  charity  to  the  twelve  days.  The  charitable 
man  keeps  Christmas  all  the  year ;  gives  so  at  once, 
that  he  may  give  still;  as  we  sow  tlie  furrow,  not  by 
the  bushel,  but  by  the  handful. 


.3.  With  a  right  intendment ;  not  for  thy  glorj', 
but  for  God's  glon,-.  (Chrysost.)  The  pharisaical 
giver,  gives  to  himself,  not  to  God :  he  aims  at  his 
own  praise ;  what  reward  can  he  look  for  ?  Let  him 
pay  himself. 

4.  Opportunely ;  {or  quaytlum  mortp  addis,  tantum 
dono  defrahis.  (Sen.)  The  more  delay  in  giving,  the 
less  honour  in  the  gift.  It  is  an  uncharitable  charity, 
when  men  will  give  nothing  to  the  poor,  but  what 
they  cannot  make  use  of  themselves.  The  mouldi- 
ncss  gives  their  bread,  the  fly  gives  their  meat,  the 
moth  gives  their  garments.  Christ  hath  not  their 
abundance,  but  their  cast-off  things.  Though  it  be 
coarse,  let  it  be  wholesome.  Know  thy  best  things 
come  from  Christ. 

5.  Lastly,  before  thou  give  thy  goods  to  the  poor, 
give  thyself  to  God.  No  man's  works  can  please  God, 
unless  the  person  of  the  worker  be  first  acceptable 
to  him.  (August.)  So  Cain  offered  to  God  his 
goods,  not  himself  Do  not  aflford  thy  riches,  and 
withhold  thyself.  Ananias  kept  back  part  of  the 
portion;  he  had  better  have  given  nothing.  He 
could  never  find  in  his  heart  to  bestow  his  estate  on 
the  poor,  that  denies  to  consecrate  himself  to  Christ. 
Some  pretend  that  they  have  given  themselves  to 
God,  but  they  will  not  part  with  any  thing  of  their 
estates ;  but  the  devil  confutes  them.  Job  ii.  4.  Thy 
riches  are  nothing  to  thyself:  spare  one,  spare  both. 
By  charity,  give  part  of  thy  wealth  to  the  poor ;  by 
faith,  give  thy  whole  self  to  Christ. 

Now  shall  I  live  to  eat  the  labours  of  mine  own 
hands,  to  see  this  sermon  ))erformed?  I  will  not 
flatter  you  with  the  world's  age,  as  man  doth  him- 
self with  his ;  but  say  it  is  old,  exceeding  old,  white 
hairs  are  upon  it.  Why  ?  Charity  is  cold.  "  Give 
them,  O  Lord  :  what  wilt  thou  give  ?  give  them  a 
miscarrying  womb  and  dry  breasts,"  Hos.  ix.  14. 
We  have  dry  breasts,  there' is  no  milk  of  charity  in 
them ;  and  a  barren  or  miscariying  womb,  not  able 
to  bring  forth  the  comfortable  issue  of  good  works. 
Charity  is  a  new  commandment,  and  most  men 
think  it  a  new  fashion.  The  Jesuits  say  we  have 
translated  charity  out  of  our  Bibles  ;  but  this  is  their 
old  figure  of  lying ;  we  find  it  frequently  in  our 
Bibles  :  I  would  to  God  neither  we  nor  they  had 
translated  it  out  of  our  hearts.  The  Romists  have 
a  she-saint,  called  St.  Charity:  they  beg  for  her, 
and  get  fair  ditions  and  additions  of  i>atrimonies  to 
her  temple,  or  rather  indeed  to  themselves.  Let  me 
beg  for  holy  charity  ;  no  woman,  but  a  divine  and 
heavenly  grace ;  and  that  not  more  for  her  sclf's- 
sake,  than  for  your  own  souls.  We  build  great 
houses,  but  not  for  charity.  Many  build  as  Vacia 
did,  a  corner  for  himself;  desolate  places  where  they 
may  hide,  not  live.  (Sen.)  Great  men  convey  their 
charity  out  of  the  country  in  a  caroche  up  to  the 
city  ;  and  here  contrive  it  into  three  or  four  inhos- 
pitable rooms.  Perhaps  they  keep  solemnly  their 
own  birth-days,  like  Herod  :'but  at  Christ's  birth- 
day they  are  gotten  aside.  They  honour  their  own 
memories,  whose  lives  arc  not  worth  a  smile ;  but 
not  his,  without  whom  they  had  better  never  been 
bom.  RapU  aula,  rapil  alea:  yea,  with  some  the 
chinmey  of  charity  is  made  a  movable,  and  carried 
in  their  pockets.  Charity  is  dead,  yet  let  us  mourn 
for  her,  though  it  were  as  Bachel'did  for  her  chil- 
dren, not  to  be  comforted  because  she  is  not.  And 
albeit  she  never  retuni,  let  us  give  her  a  farewell  : 
Farewell,  sweet  charity.  Though  we  never  see  thee 
again  on  earth,  wc  shall  one  day  meet  thee  in 
heaven,  and  find  thee  in  the  bosom  of  Jesus  Christ. 


90 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


Verse  8. 

For  if  these  things  he  in  you,  and  abound,  they  make 
you  that  ye  shall  neither  be  barren  nor  unfruitful  in 
the  knowledge  nf  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Our  apostle  hath  led  us  from  virtue  to  virtue,  as  one 
directs  a  traveller  from  town  to  town,  till  he  comes 
to  the  desired  city;  they  go  on  from  strength  to 
strength,  till  every  one  of  them  appeareth  before 
God  in  Zion,  Psal.  Ixxxiv.  7-  He  hath  showed  us  a 
golden  chain,  the  first  link  whereof  is  faith,  and  tlie 
last  is  charity.  Now  we  say  that  we  have  them  all : 
have  you  ?  then  know  that  if  they  be  in  you,  and 
abound,  they  shall  keep  you  from  unfiuilfulness  in 
your  profession.  To  prove  sanctimonium  cordis,  bring 
lestimmiium  nperis ;  let  your  outward  life  witness  your 
inward  grace. 

Methinks  I  find  in  this  verse  three  mystical  mem- 
bers of  a  Christian  ;  his  heart,  lus  hand,  and  his  head. 
1.  "  If  these  things  be  in  you,  and  abound;"  there  is 
his  heart.  2.  "  They  make  you  that  ye  shall  neither 
be  barren  nor  unfruitful ;"  there  is  his  hand.  3.  "  In 
the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;"  there  is 
liis  head.  His  head  conceives  Christ,  his  heart 
contains  Christ,  his  hand  brings  forth  Christ.  1.  His 
head,  like  Mary,  conceives  the  knowledge  of  devotion ; 
being  illuminated  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  2.  His  heart 
travails  in  birth  of  it,  growing  in  grace,  and  growing 
in  spirit,  till  he  be  delivered.  .3.  His  hand,  that  is, 
his  life,  like  a  midwife,  helps  him  to  bring  forth  that 
blessed  issue.  His  head  is  enlightened,  his  heart  is 
enlarged,  his  hand  is  enlivened. 

"  If  these  things  be  in  you,  and  abound."  I  will 
not  martyr  the  text,  but  begin  as  the  apostle  begins, 
with  the  heart.  Wherein  I  c(mceive  four  particulars ; 
the  seed,  the  ground,  the  sowing,  and  the  growing. 
I.  The  seed,  "  these  things."  2.  The  ground,  "  in 
you."  3.  The  sowing,  which  makes  them  to  "  be" 
in  you.  4.  The  growing,  so  in  you  that  they  "  abound  " 
and  thrive.  First,  for  the  seed,  and  herein  observe 
two  things. 

First,  we  make  choice  of  our  seed,  and  allow  it 
good,  or  else  expect  no  good  harvest.  He  that  sows 
cockle,  looks  not  for  wneat :  of  tares  cast  into  the 
ground,  we  think  it  impossible  to  find  barley. 
"  Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap," 
Gal.  vi.  7.  Who  can  wonder  to  sec  him  reap  a  curse, 
that  hath  sown  a  curse  ?  Thus  it  often  cometh  to 
pass,  that  the  matter  of  sin  is  read  in  the  punishment, 
as  the  crop  is  a  remonstrance  of  the  seed.  Doth 
Adam  sow  the  seed  of  ambition,  aspiring  above  a 
man  ?  he  is  brought  so  low  as  to  be  beholden  to  the 
beasts  for  apparel ;  there  is  the  croi).  Cain  would 
not  offer  Abel  a  resting-place  on  earth,  therefore  the 
earth  shall  allow  him  none.  Rehoboam  would  make 
his  finger  heavier  than  his  father's  loins,  therefore 
his  loins  shall  be  made  lighter  than  his  father's 
finger.  Samuel  hewing  Agag  in  pieces,  showed  him 
the  harvest  of  his  own  seed :  "  As  thy  sword  hath 
made  women  childless,  so  shall  thy  mother  be  child- 
less among  women,"  1  Sam.  xv.  33.  If  Gehazi  w  ill 
take  Naaman's  iniquity,  he  .shall  take  Naaman's 
leprosy,  2  Kings  v.  27.  '  The  dogs  licked  up  Ahab's 
blood,  I  Kings  xxii.  38.  Why  ?  Ahab  had  so  ser\-ed 
Naboth.  You  have  gone  a  whoring  from  your  God, 
IIos.  iv.  12;  "therefore  your  daughters  shall  com- 
mit whoredom,  and  your  spouses  adultcrv,"  ver.  13. 
When  they  shall  say.  Wherefore  doth  the'Lord  these 
thnigs  unto  us?  they  shall  be  answered.  As  in  their 
own  land  they  did  worship  strange  gods,  so  they  shall 
worship  their  own  God  in  a  strange  land,  Jer.'  v.  19. 


Whosoever  sows  evil  seeds,  either  in  quality  or  quan- 
tity, shall  reap  evil  fniits. 

Therefore  the  seed  must  be  "  these  things :"  let 
us  sow  holiness  of  life,  that  we  may  reap  the  life  of 
holiness.  It  is  God's  mercy  that  every  sin  is  not 
Benoni,  the  death  of  the  mother;  that  the  seed  of 
lust  does  not  bum  up  the  ground ;  that  earthiness 
does  not,  like  a  grave,  buiy  the  soul;  drunkenness, 
like  a  deluge,  drown  the  sj)irits ;  and  epicurism,  like 
an  infected  air,  choke  the  vital  breath.  It  is  a  won- 
der that  the  very  elements  of  God  fight  not  against 
him,  whose  sins  fight  against  the  Maker  of  elements. 
Paul  tells  us,  1  Cor.  xv.  that  we  nuist  all  die,  and  all 
rise  again ;  and  compares  us  to  seed  sown  in  the 
spring  that  is  reaped  in  the  harvest.  If  therefore 
thou  wouldst  reap  a  glorious  body,  sow  a  gracious 
body,  "  these  things." 

Secondly,  we  must  have  "  these,"  all  these  ;  not 
one  or  two,  but  all.  It  is  not  enough  to  have  faith, 
and  leave  out  virtue ;  not  knowledge  without  tem- 
perance, nor  piety  \vithout  charity.  If  thy  journey 
be  eight  miles,  and  thou  give  over  at  the  second  or 
third,  thou  wilt  fall  short  of  heaven.  Many  wnll  be 
contented  with  some,  but  few  will  embrace  all.  Men 
deal  with  God,  as  for  their  tithes,  so  for  their  lives. 
Let  him  that  is  taught  communicate  to  his  teacher  in 
all  his  goods.  Gal.  vi.  6.  In  all?  nay,  put  out  this 
"  in  all,"  and  we  will  compound  with  you.  You  shall 
walk  in  all  the  ways  of  the  Lord,  Deut.  v.  33.  In 
all  ?  nay,  put  out  this  same  "  all,"  and  we  will  con- 
sent to  you.  There  are  few  that  say,  "  All  that  thou 
eommandest  us  we  will  do,"  Josh.  i.  16.  Sell  all 
thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor ;  this  the  world  thinks 
most  unreasonable.  He  that  hath  not  all  saving 
graces  in  some  measure,  hath  none  in  any  measure. 
The  Romists  are  so  slaved  to  their  superiors,  that 
they  will  do  all  they  are  commanded  by  them.  As 
a  desperate  Roman  said  of  Catiline,  Whatsoever  he 
bids  me,  I  will  do.  But  says  another,  How  if  he 
should  bid  thee  fire  the  Capitol  ?  he  answers,  Catiline 
will  not  bid  it;  but  if  he  should,  I  will  do  it.  So 
they  must  do  all  the  pope  ehargeth  them  :  but  how 
if  he  bid  them  fire  the  senate,  blow  up  the  parlia- 
ment ?  they  secretly  reply.  He  will  not  commEmd  it ; 
but  if  he  should,  we  will  do  it.  They  give  not  this 
obedience  to  God :  he  ehargeth  them  not  to  touch 
his  anointed  ones ;  against  this  they  have  their  ex- 
ceptives.  But  against  the  pope's  mandamus  there  is 
no  question,  no  exception,  and  from  it  lies  no  appeal. 
How  insatiable  man's  desires  are  of  this  world!  give 
Alexander  kingdom  after  kingdom,  he  will  not  rest 
till  he  have  all.  If  a  covetous  man  had  all  the  houses 
of  a  city  given  him,  he  would  rifle  for  the  goods  in 
them;  if  he  had  all  the  gold  and  jewels,  he  would 
also  rcquii'e  the  garments ;  if  he  had  the  city,  he 
would  also  challenge  the  suburbs  ;  yea,  all  could  not 
satisfy  him.  But  how  little  grace  contents  us !  one 
or  two,  as  Joash  smote  the  earth  but  thrice,  2  Kings 
xiii.  18.  AVe  take  insatiably  of  earth,  vcrj-  mode- 
rately of  heaven ;  as  if  we  were  afraid  to  have  too 
much  grace,  and  that  it  would  but  trouble  us. 

"  In  you."  We  see  the  quality  of  the  seed,  now- 
let  US  consider  the  nature  of  the  ground.  Man's 
heart  is  the  ground  for  God's  seed:  holy  seed  re- 
quires holy  ground.  Tliis  seed  is  cast  in  by  the  ear ; 
for  miless  God  first  come  in  by  the  ear,  he  will  not 
be  in  the  mouth,  nor  in  the  heart.  (August.)  But  if 
it  stay  in  the  ear,  and  go  no  further,  it  \nll  not  fruc- 
tify. Matt.  xiii.  The  ear  is  like  a  pipe,  made  to  con- 
vey whaler,  not  to  contain  it.  The  heart  is  that  home 
where  it  should  dwell  ;  as  Man-  laid  up  Christ's  say- 
ings in  her  heart.  But  as  an  inconstant  heart  is  the 
basest  of  things,  so  a  faithful  heart  is  the  noblest. 
Every  heart  is  not  fit  ground  for  this  seed :  therefore 


Ver.  8. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


»! 


(seeing  I  am  fallen  upon  the  metaphor)  be  pleased 
to  consider  how  this  around  is  prepared:  and,  to 
speak  in  the  phrase  of  nusbandrj',  it  must  be  fallow- 
ed, stirred,  and  laid  up,  before  it  be  sowed. 

It  must  be  fallowed.  The  word  preached  is  the 
plougli  to  break  it  up.  It  is  broken  up  by  the  law, 
sowed  by  the  gospel :  break  it  up  by  Moses,  sow  it 
by  Jesus.  There  is  by  nature  grown  over  eveiy  heart 
a  thick  and  hard  crust ;  the  menace  of  judgments 
must  break  this  rough  and  tough  mould.  To  this 
purpose,  there  is  an  mformation  by  doctrine,  and  a 
reformation  by  discipline.  There  are  some  tender- 
hearted ;  as  David  was  snibbed  with  a  word,  Peter 
with  a  look.  Some  are  quickly  corrected ;  soft-hearted 
children,  that  weep  at  the  least  chiding.  Others  are 
harder ;  like  nettles,  if  you  touch  them  gently,  they 
will  sting  you ;  therefore  if  the  golden  sceptre  can- 
not win  them,  the  iron  sceptre  must  brctik  them. 
But  as  we  plough  upon  the  fallows,  so  we  must 
cautelously  take  heed  of  ploughing  where  the  harrow 
hath  gone  before:  so  saith  the  prophet,  "Break  up 
the  fallow  ground,"  the  unbroken  neart ;  but  spare 
the  already  broken  siiirit.  "  In  you,"  in  youiMlves. 
Some  can  plough  furrows  on  others'  backs  so  do 
persecutors  on  the  church  ;  "  The  ploughers  plough- 
ed upon  my  back  :  they  made  long  their  furrows," 
Psal.  cxxix.  3.  The  slanderers  harrow  men's  good 
names;  they  sit  and  speak  against  their  brethren, 
and  slander  their  own  motliers'  sons,"  Psal.  1.  20. 
Usurers  harrow  the  estates  of  the  poor  ;  yea,  harrow 
and  grind  their  very  faces.  Arrant  and  arrogant  hypo- 
crites liarrow  and  furrow  their  neighbours'  simplicity : 
but  the  Pharisee  is  no  fit  husbandman  to  plough  up  the 
publican.  But  plough  thyself,  find  some  corner  of 
thy  heart  to  break  up  still.  Satan  is  foundered,  and 
cannot  walk,  upon  nigged  ground.  The  fallowed  or 
broken  heart  he  cannot  abide ;  but  God  respects  it : 
"  A  broken  and  a  contrite  heart,  O  God,  thou  wilt  not 
despise,"  Psal.  li.  17. 

It  must  be  stirred.  Our  backwardness  requires 
continual  provocations.     To  be  good  is  a  thing  hardly 

fotten,  quickly  forgotten.  The  art  of  bringing  men's 
earts  to  God,  hath  many  passages,  takes  many 
courses,  tries  many  experiments :  as  indeed  there  are 
many  sorts  of  servants.  A  landlord  had  summoned 
his  tenants  to  do  him  some  service ;  yet  bein^  done, 
and  they  all  present,  the  steward  demands,  which  of 
them  came  for  love,  and  which  for  money.  Tliey 
that  came  gratis,  for  love,  were  feasted  in  the  par- 
lour; they  t hilt  came  for  reward  had  coarser  fare  in 
the  hall.  One  amongst  the  rest  would  choose  neither 
of  these  places,  but  walks  by  himself.  The  steward 
asked  him  his  motive  of  coming,  whether  for  love  or 
money,  that  his  place  might  be  assigned  accordingly. 
He  replied,  I  come  for  neither  love  nor  money,  but  for 
plain  fear,  and  therefore  I  choose  a  place  by  myself. 
Thus  some  approach  to  God  for  reward,  as  Saul  loved 
him  for  his  kingdom.  Some  for  love,  as  Mary  that 
brought  Christ  a  precious  \mction  because  she  loved 
him.  Others  for  fear ;  Ahab  was  humbled  under 
fear  of  the  vengeance.  Now  all  our  endeavour  is  to 
plant  in  men's  hearts  the  love  of  God  ;  that  they 
might  say  with  Peter,  "  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I 
love  thee."  But  this  is  elVected,  sometimes  by  pro- 
mise of  reward,  that  they  may  be  led  by  profit :  "  If 
ye  be  willing  and  obedient,  ye  shall  cat  the  good  of 
the  land,"  Isa.  i.  19.  There  is  "  glory,  honour,  and 
peace,  to  every  man  that  worketn  good,"  Rom.  ii. 
10.  Sometimes  by  threatenings,  that  they  may  be 
won  by  fear  :  "  Tribulation  and  anguish  upon  every 
soul  that  doeth  evil,"  Bom.  ii.  9.  "  Our  God  is  a  con- 
suming fire,"  Heb.  xii.  29.  Now  thoujjh  perfect  love 
cast  out  ser\'ile  fear,  as  St.  John  speaketh,  yet  filial 
fear  brings  in  perfect  love ;  "  There  is  mercy  with 


thee,  0  Lord,  that  thou  mayest  be  feared."  It  hath 
been  said  of  base  fear,  that  it  is  an  argument  of  a 
base  and  cowardly  spirit.  But  of  this  fear  it  is  true, 
that  it  is  the  argument  of  a  regenerate  and  gracious 
spirit.  He  never  loved  God,  that  fears  him  not. 
With  some  of  these  the  heart  must  be  continually 
stirred. 

It  must  be  laid  up;  that  is  the  husbandman's  next 
course.  Now  the  heart  is  laid  up  by  faith;  when  a  man 
believes,  he  is  then  fitted  to  receive  any  seed  of  good- 
ness. As  the  eunuch  said,  I  believe,  what  hinders  me 
to  be  bajitized  ?  Acts  viii.  36.  So,  I  believe,  what  liin- 
ders  me  to  be  loved,  wha  t  hinders  me  to  be  bl  essed,  what 
hinders  me  to  be  saved  ?  Nothing;  be  it  to  thee  ac- 
cording to  thy  faith.  Humility,  patience,  charity, 
are  now  sown  with  fortunate  success ;  faith  hath  laid 
up  the  heart.  My  heart  is  ready,  says  David  :  speak. 
Lord,  for  my  ear  is  open ;  sow.  Lord,  for  my  heart  is 
ready.  If  adversity  come,  sow  my  heart  with  pa- 
tience ;  if  thou  take  back  the  goods  which  thou  once 
gavest  me,  sow  it  with  contentedness ;  if  prosperity 
come,  sow  it  with  thankfulness ;  if  sin,  sow  it  with 
penitence  ;  against  Satan's  temptings,  sow  it  with 
piety  ;  against  all  malicious  courses,  sow  it  with 
charity.  As  wax  to  receive  the  impression  of  a  seal, 
so  the  heart  is  softened  and  tempered  to  receive  the 
image  of  God.  Blessed  is  the  ground  which  the 
Lord  hath  enclosed  for  his  o^vn  garden. 

"Be  in  you:"  this  is  the  sowing;  God  must  first 
prepare  the  ground,  and  then  sow  his  seed  in  it.  It 
is  he  that  unlocks  the  heart  to  entertain  these  graces. 
There  are  six  keys  whereby  things  are  opened  or 
shut,  that  God  hath  intrusted  into  the  hands  of  no 
other,  angel  or  seraphim.  The  key  of  rain;  the 
Lord  opens  the  heaven  to  give  rain  to  the  land  in 
his  season,  Deut.  xxviii.  12.  The  key  of  food ;  "  Thou 
openest  thine  hand,  they  arc  filled  with  good,"  Psal. 
civ.  28.  The  key  of  the  womb;  "He  maketh  the 
barren  woman  to  be  a  joyful  mother  of  children," 
Psal.  cxiii.  9.  The  kev  of  the  grave  ;  "  I  have  the 
keys  of  hell  and  of  death,"  Rev.  i.  18.  The  key  of 
the  mouth ;  "  O  Lord,  open  thou  my  lips,"  Psal.  li. 
1.5.  The  key  of  the  heart ;  the  Lord  opened  the 
heart  of  Lydia,  Acts  xvi.  14.  In  all  these  he  openeth, 
and  no  man  shutteth ;  he  shutteth,  and  no  man 
openeth.  Rev.  iii.  7-  Now  when  he  hath  thus  open- 
ed and  prepared  the  heart,  he  sows  in  it  this  spiritual 
seed.  Graces,  like  good  herbs,  will  not  grow  of 
themselves  :  vices,  like  weeds,  need  no  sowing.  Man 
is  no  more  bom  with  virtues  in  his  soul  than  with 
apparel  on  his  back.  It  is  not  generation,  but  re- 
generation, that  sows  this  seed.  The  seed  is  good, 
the  sower  is  God,  Gal.  v.  22.  Indeed  there  be  minis- 
terial deputies  ;  so  Paul  plants,  and  Apollos  waters, 
but  still  God  gives  the  increase.  This  takes  away 
from  our  best  works  all  possibility  of  merit.  A  me- 
ritorious work  must  be  our  own,  and  beyond  our  duty. 
First,  it  must  be  our  own :  but  "  eveiT  good  gift  is  from 
the  Father  of  lights,"  Jam.  i.  17.  Secondly,  it  must 
be  beyond  our  duty  and  debt :  but,  aliis,  having  done 
our  best,  we  are  unprofitable  servants.  Heaven  is 
indeed  often  called  a  reward ;  not  factive,  but  pactive ; 
of  covenant,  not  of  merit :  God  gives  it  us,  not  be- 
cause we  have  earned  it,  but  because  he  hath  pro- 
mised it.  Woe  to  us  if  we  had  no  more  comfort 
than'  we  deserve !  The  last  received  as  the  first, 
every  man  a  penny.  Matt.  xs. :  not  because  they 
wrought  harder  that  came  in  later ;  as  Paul,  that 
came  in  after  the  rest,  yet  abounded  in  labours 
above  them  all ;  but  to  show  that  God  respects 
not  the  how  much,  but  from  how  much ;  the  love, 
more  than  the  work  ;  and  that  the  reward  is  not 
of  merit,  but  of  mercy :  for  if  it  were  of  merjt,  he 
shoiUd  liavc  begun  at  the  first ;  if  it  be  of  mercy,  he 


92 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


may  begin  where  he  will.     Thus  he  gives  all  grace 
to  us,  that  we  may  give  all  glory  to  him. 

"  In  you ;"  not  about  you,  not  on  you,  but  in  you. 
Not  behind  you ;  as  libertines  that  cast  God's  laws 
behind  their  backs,  Psal.  1.  17.  They  nm  so  fast  to 
the  Samaria  of  riot,  that  they  leave  Jerusalem  be- 
hind them.  As  Christ  said  to  Peter,  "  Get  thee 
behind  me  ;"  so  these  to  goodness,  Keep  behind  me, 
I  love  not  to  see  thy  face.  Not  before  you;  as  world- 
lings that  send  religion  before  them  to  threescore, 
but  never  overtake  it.  It  keej)S  before  them  indeed 
but  the  length  of  Gracious-street ;  and  they,  like  So- 
lomon's fool,  never  come  nearer  it  than  the  stocks. 
Moses  saw  Canaan  before  him,  and  desired  it  :  these 
see  it,  and  desire  it  not ;  they  like  the  world  better. 
Not  about  you ;  as  profane  persons  in  holy  places 
live  in  the  midst  of  virtues  without  virtue.  That 
proverb  is  too  often  justified.  Nearer  to  church,  fur- 
ther from  God.  It  seems  to  be  taken  from  the  Jews, 
who  having  the  greatest  light,  had  the  darkest  life; 
the  nearer  they  were  to  the  sanctuan,-,  the  further 
from  sanctity.  Such  a  man  may  say,  Inopem  me  co- 
pia  feci! :  like  foolish  Indians,  that  have  store  of 
gold,  and  truck  it  away  for  rattles.  An  empty  vessel 
bunged  up  close,  though  you  throw  it  into  the 
midst  of  the  sea,  will  receive  no  water.  The  monas- 
tery is  a  place  of  devotion ;  the  monk  is  in  the 
monastery :  yet  perhaps  the  monastery  itself,  as 
soon  as  devotion,  may  enter  into  the  monk.  A  man 
may  be  in  a  holy  place,  yet  if  holiness  be  not  in  his 
heart,  it  is  not  where  it  should  be.  Ishmael  was  an 
unbeliever  in  the  house  of  faith,  the  family  of  Abra- 
ham. Not  on  you ;  as  hypocrites,  that  have  a  show 
of  sanctity  on  them,  but  no  substance  of  sanctity  in 
them  :  outwardly  lambs,  there  is  innocence  o?i  litem  ; 
inwardly  wolves,  there  is  no  innocence  in  tliem.  Hv- 
pocrites  cover  their  spotted  hides  with  the  lion's  skin 
of  Judah,  sanctimony  ;  so  they  beguile  their  bre- 
thren. They  are  always  proudest  that  have  the  least 
cause.  The  utmost  ambition  of  John  the  Baptist, 
was  but  to  untie  Christ's  shoe ;  of  that  other  John, 
the  beloved  disciple,  but  to  lean  on  his  breast :  but 
Judas  the  traitor  will  dip  with  him  in  the  dish,  yea, 
kiss  his  sacred  lips.  But  there  was  never  holiness 
■without  humbleness.  Dyers  can  set  on  their  colours 
the  fairest  glosses  with  logwood,  but  they  will  not 
hold;  when  a  shower  comes  the  gloss  is  gone.  The 
gloss  of  profession  without  sincerity  will  off  in  a 
storm  ;  we  must  be  dyed  in  grain  to'  hold,  and  have 
these  graces  in  us.  The  parts  of  ostentation  are  like 
loose  corn,  which  the  fowls  peck  up.  As  Jerome 
said  of  the  Scripture,  so  I  may  say  of  godliness  :  It  is 
not  read  in  superficial  leaves  and  letters,  but  in  the 
marrow  and  substance  of  the  heart.  A  hypocrite's 
profession  is  in  folio,  but  his  sincerity  is  so'  abridged 
that  it  is  contained  in  decimo-sexto,  nothing  in  the 
world  to  speak  of. 

But  in  you.  What  indeed  hath  a  Christian  to  en- 
joy, but  that  which  is  in  him?  He  may  use  the 
world,  and  that  is  without  him;  but  he  enjoys  the 
Lord,  and  he  is  within  him,  1  John  iv.  16.  Hast 
thou  Christ  ?  then  he  is  within  thee:  "Jesus  Christ 
is  in  you,  except  ye  be  reprobates,"  2  Cor.  xiii.  5. 
Hast  thou  the  Spirit  ?  He  is  within  thee  :  "  Know 
ye  not  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you  ?  " 
I  Cor.  iii.  16.  Hast  thou  peace  or  joy?  Hoin.  xiv. 
17:  they  are  within  thee  ;  little  without.  Have  ve 
the  kingdom  of  heaven?  Clirist  ^ays,  it  is  within 
you.  The  heaven  that  is  on  earth  is  witliinus,  though 
the  heaven  that  is  in  heaven  be  too  great  to  enter 
into  lis.  Therefore  is  it  said,  "  Enter  thou  into  the 
joy  of  thy  Lord; "  for  it  is  too  immense  to  enter  in- 
to thee.  Yet  so  much  as  thou  art  capable  of  shall 
be  within  thee.    Many  presume  there  is  much  good- 


ness within  them,  but  through  their  oft-n  blindness 
they  are  deceived.  One  writes  of  a  widow,  that  being 
thick-sighted  sent  for  a  physician  to  cure  her  :  he 
promised  her  good  sight ;  she  him,  good  money.  He 
comes  and  ajiplies  medicines,  binding  them  over  her 
eyes;  and  still  as  he  departs,  he  carries  away  with 
him  some  of  her  best  goods.  Thus  he  continues  her 
pain,  till  he  had  robbed  her  house  of  all  her  sub- 
stance. At  last  the  cure  being  done,  he  demands 
his  covenanted  pay  :  but  she  looking  about  her  house, 
replied  that  he  had  not  cured  her;  for  whereas  be- 
fore she  could  see  some  goods  of  her  own,  now  she 
could  see  none :  before  she  was  thick-sighted,  now 
poor-blind.  It  is  so  with  us  :  while  we  were  dim- 
sighted,  we  imagined  many  goods  of  grace  in  us  ; 
but  now  being  truly  enlightened,  we  confess  our- 
selves poor;  and  hence  fall  on  our  knees  to  the  Fa- 
ther of  mercies,  to  supply  us  with  his  saving  graces. 

"  And  abound."  'rliis  is  the  growing.  After  the 
groimd  is  prepared,  and  the  seed  injected  by  the 
Spirit  of  grace,  fructifying  is  expected:  they  must 
increase,  multiply,  and  abound.  Where  two  things 
are  necessarily  implied : 

First,  these  things  must  be  in  us,  before  they  can 
abound.  "  He  that  hath  my  commandments,  and 
keepeth  them,"  saith  Christ,  John  xiv.  21  :  we  must 
first  have  them,  before  we  can  keep  them.  There- 
fore auditors  in  hearing  sermons  should  bring  inten- 
tion. It  is  ordinary  with  many  to  commend  the  lec- 
ture to  others'  ears,  but  few  commend  it  to  their  own 
hearts.  It  is  morally  true,  what  the  Christian  Tell- 
truth  relates:  A  ser\-ant  coming  from  church,  praiseth 
the  sermon  to  his  master.  He  asks  him  what  was 
the  text.  Nay,  quoth  the  ser\ant,  it  was  begun  be- 
fore I  came  in.  What  then  was  his  conclusion  ?  He 
answered,  I  came  out  before  it  was  done.  But  what 
said  he  in  the  midst  ?  Indeed  I  was  asleep  in  the 
midst.  Many  crowd  to  get  into  tlie  church,  but 
make  no  room  for  the  sermon  to  get  into  them.  C)pen 
thy  heart  as  well  as  thine  ear:  if  this  seed  be  not 
sown  there,  it  will  never  abound  with  fruits  to  ever- 
lasting life.  You  come  not  to  a  banquet  to  look  on, 
but  to  eat:  hither  God  calls,  but  then,  "Eat,  O 
friends,"  Cant.  v.  1  :  they  are  sullen  guests  that  de- 
part away  hungiy.  Ezekiel  was  bidden  to  eat  the 
roll,  chap.  iii.  1.  You  may  taste  of  the  heavenly 
gift,  Heb.  vi.  4,  and  feel  no  sweetness  ;  but  eat  it 
down,  and  it  will  be  pleasant.  Worldly  things  we 
seek  to  swallow  down :  therefore  Clirist  calls  the 
riches  of  the  Pharisees,  ra  ivovra,  things  within 
them.  "  He  hath  swallowed  down  riches,"  Job  xx. 
1.5.  But  instead  of  nourishment  they  have  taken  a 
vomit.  The  adulterer  lays  lust  next  to  his  heart ; 
the  covetous  lays  usury,  the  malicious  hatred,  next 
his  heart :  "Their  inward  part  is  ver)'  wickedness," 
Psal.  v.  9.  But  for  spiritual  things  some  out-house 
serves  ;  as  Christ  himself  could  be  allowed  no  room 
in  the  inn,  the  stable  is  held  sufficient.  But  do  you 
afford  better  things  better  places,  let  them  be  in  you. 
Not  only  in  your  books;  (and  yet  if  these  things 
were  in  the  worldling's  books,  he  would  bum  his 
study ;)  nor  only  in  your  heads,  for  some  have  much 
science,  little  conscience.  Not  in  your  mouths  only, 
for  many  liavc  an  ill  course  of  life,  with  a  good  dis- 
course of  language.  But  in  your  hearts,  a  holy  closet 
fit  for  such  heavenly  jewels.  Be  sure  first  you  have 
them,  then  next  that  you  have  increased  them. 

Secondly,  it  is  not  enough  to  have  them,  but  to 
have  them  in  abundance.  The  heart  is  but  a  little 
piece  of  ground,  yet  hath  room  enough  in  it  for  many 
seeds.  God  calls'for  this  increase,  2  Cor.  ix.  8  :  Rom. 
XV.  13;  Eph.  iv.  15.  True  virtue  is  not  temporal, 
but  is  still  ambitious  of  improving  itself.  (Bent.)  The 
spouse  of  Christ  must  have  many  jewels,  Cant.  i.  10. 


Teb    8 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


93 


A  jewel  at  the  ear,  attention  to  the  word :  a  jewel  at 
the  fool,  humility  ;  a  jewel  on  the  forehead,  modesty  ; 
a  jewel  on  the  hand,  eharity;  a  jewel  on  the  head, 
constancy ;  a  jewel  on  the  heart,  fidelity.  He  that 
hatha  goodnumherof  these  jewels,  shall  be  admitted 
into  the  number  of  God's  jewels :  "  They  shall  be 
mine  in  that  day  when  I  make  up  my  jewels,"  Mai. 
iii.  17.  Take  the  whole  armour  of  God,  Ejih.  vi.  1 1  ; 
one  piece  will  not  secure  us :  we  know  not  which 
way  the  blow  will  come.  If  we  have  only  the  breast- 
plate, the  blow  may  light  on  the  head  :  if  only  the 
helmet  of  salvation,  it  may  light  on  the  breast ; 
therefore  take  the  shield  of  faith,  that  covers  and 
defends  all.  Mars  was  called  Gradirus :  every  Chris- 
tian soldier  sliould  be  gradirus;  go  to  heaven  by 
degrees. 

For  our  bodies,  no  care  can  add  to  their  stature, 
Matt.  vi.  27.  But  we  may  add  to  our  spiritual  stature ; 
growing  up  "  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
fulness  of  Christ,"  Eph.  iv.  13:  for  God's  family 
admits  no  dwarfs.  The  rich  man  grows  easily  richer, 
the  good  man  easily  better.  Rivers  at  the  first  head 
may  be  covered  with  a  bushel,  which  after  a  few 
miles  fill  large  channels.  A  drop  of  true  grace 
works  itself  to  "  rivers  of  living  water,"  John  vii.  38. 
So  is  it  said  of  our  Saviour,  "  the  third  day  I  shall 
be  perfected,"  Luke  xiii.  32  ;  perfection  itself  grows 
to  perfection ;  and  shall  not  we  that  are  imperfect 
strive  toward  it  ?  "  In  my  Father's  house  are  many 
mansions,"  John  xiv.  2 :  not  in  the  wilderness,  not 
in  Horeb,  not  on  the  mount,  where  Peter  would  build 
tabernacles,  nor  in  any  part  of  this  life ;  but  in  hea- 
ven :  therefore  still  labour  to  grow  and  abound,  till 
you  come  thither.  If  a  man  cast  a  stone  into  the 
water,  circle  begets  circle ;  so  one  true  grace  will 
beget  many.  We  reckon  of  a  physician  that  hath  abun- 
dance of  medicines,  a  lawyer  that  hath  abundance  of 
tricks,  a  usurer  that  hath  abundance  of  monies,  a 
merchant  that  hath  abundance  of  wares :  we  affect 
abundance  in  all  perishable  things  ;  oh  then  let  us 
abundantly  love  gi-ace,  that  Christ  may  abundantly 
love  us. 

"  They  make  you  that  ye  shall  neither  be  barren 
nor  unfruitful."  I  come  from  the  Christian's  heart 
to  his  hand ;  wherein  we  perceive  the  efficacy  of 
grace.  "  Shall  make  you."  Not  persuade,  nor  en- 
treat, nor  move,  nor  allure,  but  make  you  fruitful,  by 
a  lively  and  strenuous  operation.  If  patience  be  in 
you,  it  will  make  you  overcome  injuries ;  if  tem- 
perance, it  will  make  you  abhor  riot ;  if  faith,  it  will 
make  you  believe  above  sense ;  if  charity,  it  will 
make  you  beneficial  to  the  poor.  Evil  men  may 
show  the  good  they  have  not,  but  good  men  cannot 
hide  the  good  they  have.  It  is  like  fire  within  us,  it 
will  make  us  speak,  Psal.  xxxix.  3;  so  powerful,  that 
it  can  neither  be  suppressed  nor  expressed.  This 
seed  shall  bear  its  fruit ;  one  blessing  is  the  father 
of  another ;  therefore  chi-isten  every  blessing  Joseph, 
upon  Rachel's  faith  and  argument,  "  The  Lord  shall 
add  to  me  another  son,"  Gen.  xxx.  24. 

Here  is  a  kind  of  certainty  in  this  constitution  :  as 
sin  will  make  a  man  fniitful  in  naughtiness,  so  piety 
in  holiness.  As  there  is  a  relation  betwixt  this  life 
and  the  next,  by  an  unchangeable  ordinance  of  God: 
mischief  in  this  world,  miscrj-  in  the  world  to  come; 
no  repentance  here,  no  salvation  there  ;  a  AexW  on 
earth,  no  saint  in  heaven.  But  holiness  in  the  seed 
shall  have  happiness  in  the  han-est :  if  the  course 
be  gracious,  the  end  shall  be  glorious.  "Whatso- 
ever good  thing  any  man  doeth,  the  same  shall  he 
receive  of  the  Lord,"  Eph.  vi.  8.  So  there  is  a  re- 
lation in  this  life  betwixt  the  disposition  and  the 
actions.  If  the  heart  be  full  of  lust,  the  tongue  will 
be  a  trumpet  of  impudence,  the  eyes  windows  of 


temptation,  the  gestures  so  many  remonstrances  of 
ready  prostitution ;  all  the  wheels  being  like  apt 
engineers,  employed  on  the  will's  business.  If  avarice 
sit  in  the  heart,  like  an  epicure  to  feast  on  gold,  op- 
pression shall  be  the  purveyor  to  provide  it,  brokage 
the  caterer  to  fetch  it  in,  usury  the  cook  to  dress  it, 
and  destruction  the  stomach  to  digest  it.  AVliat  evil 
seed  is  within,  will  appear  without.  And  so  if  grace 
have  existentiam,  a  being,  it  will  have  apparoiliam,  a 
manifestation.  Hath  David  hope  ?  he  will  wait  for 
a  kingdom  in  the  extremity  of  persecution.  Hath 
Abraham  faith?  he  will  not  deny  to  God  his  only  son. 
Hath  Job  patience  ?  he  will  brook  all  crosses  with 
an  unmoved  quietness.  Hath  Daniel  temperance  ? 
he  will  not  be  enticed  with  the  king's  dainties.  Hath 
Joseph  chastity  ?  he  will  never  come  near  his  mis- 
tress's chamber.  Hath  Paul  fortitude  ?  he  dares 
fight  with  beasts  at  Ephesus.  Hath  Stephen  a  faith- 
ful resolution  ?  he  will  be  content  to  die  for  Christ, 
and  be  rained  to  death  with  a  shower  of  stones. 
Needs  must  that  virtue  be  fruitful  that  is  stirring,  and 
needs  must  that  be  stirring  that  is  living,  and  needs 
must  that  be  living  that  is  quickened  by  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Neither  barren  nor  unfruitful."  Here  is  a  double 
efTect ;  expressed  negatively,  but  implying  an  affirm- 
ative or  positive  consequent ;  pregnancy  and  fertility. 
For  if  those  privatives,  barrenness  and  unfruit  fulness, 
be  taken  away,  there  will  necessarily  follow  a  position 
of  those  contrary  habits.  It  may  be  they  both  signify 
one  thing,  I  am  sure  they  intend  both  one  sense.  Yet 
I  will  take  leave  to  resolve  them  into  a  double  meta- 
phor; pregnancy  to  the  womb,  fertility  to  the  ground. 

Not  "  barren."  The  barren  womb  hath  ever  been 
held  a  curse  and  a  reproach.  So  John's  mother  in- 
sinuates :  "  The  Lord  hath  looked  on  me,  to  take 
away  my  reproach  among  men,"  Luke  i.  25.  When 
Rachel  bore  Joseph,  she  said,  "  God  hath  taken  away 
my  reproach,"  Gen.  xxx.  23.  Wiether  carnal  bar- 
renness be  a  curse  or  not,  I  am  sure  spiritual  is  no 
less.  "Give  them,  O  Lord  :  what  wilt  thou  give? 
give  them  a  miscarr>-ing  womb  and  dry  breasts," 
Hos.  ix.  14.  When  God  gives  salvation,  he  is  said 
to  take  away  barrenness  :  "  Sing,  O  barren,  thou  that 
didst  not  bear,"  Isa.  liv.  I.  Now  only  God  can  open 
both  the  wombs  ;  of  Rachel's  flesh,  and  of  Lydia's 
heart.  Gen.  xxx.  22;  Acts  xvi.  14.  If  the  Lord 
propagate  Abraham's  carnal  seed,  nuich  more  his 
spiritual ;  "  Wliich  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of 
the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of 
God,"  John  i.  13.  It  is  often  observable  in  the  Scrip- 
ture, that  the  children  of  women  long  barren  proved 
most  famoas  and  excellent.  Of  Sarah,  Isaac,  from 
whose  loins  such  multitudes  were  deduced.  Of 
Rachel,  Joseph,  that  wonder  of  men  and  angels. 
Of  Hannah,  Samuel,  that  great  prophet  and  priest  of 
the  Lord.  Of  Elisabeth,  John  the  Baptist ;  of  whom 
the  Jjord  himself  testifies,  "  Among  them  that  are 
bom  of  women,  there  hath  not  risen  a  greater," 
Matt.  xi.  II.  So  those  saints  that  have  been  begot- 
ten of  spiritual  barrenness,  and  converted  from  a 
sinful  life  wherein  they  were  habituated,  have  proved 
most  notable  instruments  of  God's  gloiy.  As  Mary 
Magdalene,  that  was  dispossessed  of  seven  devils, 
was  so  honoured  as  to  preach  the  first  sermon  of 
Christ's  resurrection,  and  to  have  her  memory  pro- 
pagated with  the  glorious  gospel,  Matt.  xxvi.  13. 
Zaccheus,  a  publican,  an  extorting  publican,  a  rich 
extortioner ;  yet  how  gracious  was  he  to  Christ ! 
yea,  how^  gracious  was  Christ  to  him!  Luke  xix. 
Paul,  "  bom  out  of  due  time,"  1  Cor.  xv.  8,  yet  out- 
stripped the  rest,  and  was  in  labours  more  abundant 
than  they  all,  ver  10.  Thus  last  have  been  best,  as 
the  last  grapes  make  the  sweetest  wine.  When  God 
opens  the  barren  womb,  he  brings  forth  the  excellent- 


94 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1. 


est  chUdren  to  Christ.  '■  Many  that  are  first  shall 
be  last ;  and  the  last  shall  be  first,"  Matt.  xix.  30. 
The  last  of  all  prove  not  the  least  of  all,  yea,  often 
the  best  of  all. 

Now  to  take  away  barrenness  from  the  spiritual 
womb  there  is  required  this  proceeding ;  by  prepara- 
tion, by  conception,  by  pregnancy,  and  by  birth. 

First,  the  womb  must  be  prepared ;  for  barrenness 
is  upon  all  souls  by  nature.  Therefore  let  us  desire 
of  God,  as  Rachel  begged  of  Leah,  "  Give  mc,  I 
pray  thee,  of  thy  son's  mandrakes,"  Gen.  xxx.  14. 
Little  Reuben  had  gathered  sweet  flowers  in  the 
field ;  Rachel  hath  a  mind  to  them :  Epiphanius 
thinks,  to  help  her  barrenness.  Pererius  observes 
out  of  Avicen,  that  the  seed  of  it  doth  purge  locum 
conceplionis.  Some  have  taken  those  mandrakes  for 
lilies,  and  some  for  violets  ;  but  certainly  they  were 
amiable  flowers,  such  as  they  wont  to  strew  on  the 
bridal  beds.  Beseech  we  the  Lord  to  strew  the  beds 
of  our  hearts  with  such  manib'akes.  "  The  man- 
drakes give  a  smell,"  Cant.  \\i.  13 :  those  holy  seeds 
of  grace  will  take  away  our  barrenness,  and  prepare 
our  souls  for  a  holy  conception.  Yea,  Christ  must 
intercede  for  us,  as  Isaac  entreated  for  Rebekah, 
"  because  she  was  barren ;"  and  the  Lord  will  be 
entreated  of  him,  Gen.  xxv.  21. 

In  the  second  place  follows  conception ;  and  this 
is  by  illumination  and  sanctified  knowledge.  Ignor- 
ant papists  gloriously  boast  their  famous  progeny 
of  good  works  :  but  can  a  woman  bring  forth  before 
silo  hath  conceived  ?  Such  a  progeny  were  a  prodigy. 
Therefore  first,  "  Teach  me  thy  way,  O  Lord,"  and 
then  "  I  will  walk  in  thy  truth,"  Psal.  Ixxxvi.  11. 
And  first,  "  Make  me  to  understand  the  way  of  thy 
precepts :  so  shall  I  talk  of  thy  wondrous  works," 
Psal.  cxix.  27.  If  they  were  examined  as  Philip 
questioned  the  eunuch,  "  Understandest  thou  what 
thou  readest?"  Acts  viii.  30,  their  negative  answer 
would  declare  their  soul  not  to  be  with  child  of 
grace.  Thou  mayst  have  a  swelling,  as  the  Pharisee, 
("lam  not  as  other  men,"  &c.  Luke  xviii.  11,)  imagine 
thyself  pregnant,  provide  thee  a  midwife,  that  is, 
ostentation,  to  deliver  thee;  and  gossips,  flatterers, 
to  witness  for  thee :  but  all  is  but  a  tympany ;  when 
death,  that  infallible  midwife,  comes,  thou  art  de- 
livered of  nothing  but  wind,  vain-glory.  Christ  calls 
himself  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.  He  that  by 
understanding  conceives  not  the  way,  cannot  in  heart 
bear  the  truth,  shall  not  in  success  bring  forth  ever- 
lasting life.  You  shall  have  a  pharisaical  benefactor 
call  together  Ms  gossips  with  a  tnimpet  in  the  syna- 
gogue, Matt.  vi.  2,  as  if  he  would  ring  them  to 
churchwith  a  saints'  bell :  to  behold  what  ?  his  de- 
livci-y :  of  what  ?  of  alms.  Alms  ?  very  well ;  let 
us  have  some  more  such  travails:  nay,  all  is  but 
some  windy  exhalation.  Perhaps  he  hath  got  in 
some  desperate  forfeiture,  and  now  he  will  glaze  a 
church  window  with  it;  and  that  is  all.  Spectatum 
admissi  risum  leneatis  ? 

Thirdly,  after  conception  appears  pregnancy;  grace 
is  bom  in  the  heart  by  faith  and  is  sensibly  felt.  If 
therefore  thou  hast  conceived  it,  thou  shall  feel  it 
move  in  thy  soul ;  as  .Tohn  sprung  in  the  womb  of 
his  mother  at  the  salutation  of  Mary,  Luke  i.  41. 
Tlie  pregnant  woman  hath  many  qualms ;  the  soul 
in  this  plight  feels  many  pangs ;  and  is  in  Rebekah's 
case,  when  the  twin  brothers  "  straggled  together 
within  her,"  Gen.  xxv.  22.  If  Esau  had  been  there 
alone,  there  had  been  no  contention ;  but  when  she 
hath  also  conceived  a  Jacob,  that  is  spirit,  Esau  the 
flesh  will  oppugn  it.  Nature  can  agree  with  it.sclf, 
but  not  with  grace.  "  The  flesh  lusteth  against  the 
Spirit,  and  the  Spirit  against  the  flesh :  and  these 
are  contrary  the  one  to  the  other,"  Gal.  v.  I7.     No 


soul  bears  grace  without  sorrow  and  compunction  of 
heart  for  her  sins.  "  A  woman  when  she  is  in  tra- 
vail hath  sorrow,"  John  xvi.  21.  Man's  first  and 
second  birth  begins  in  crying.  "  Except  a  man  be 
born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God," 
John  iii.  3.  Except  a  man  be  once  bom,  he  never 
can  see  the  light  on  earth ;  except  he  be  twice  born, 
he  never  can  see  the  light  of  heaven.  There  is  pain 
in  each  birth,  but  here  is  the  difference  ;  after  the 
sorrow  of  the  first  birth,  comes  more  sorrow ;  after  the 
sorrow  of  the  second,  comes  eternal  joy.  "My  little 
children,  of  whom  I  travail  in  birth  again,  till  Christ 
be  formed  in  you,"  Gal.  iv.  19.  Thy  spiritual  father 
hath  pain  in  begetting,  thy  spiritual  mother  in  bear- 
ing, and  dost  thou,  the  child  born,  expect  indolency 
and  immunity  from  sorrow  ?  Yea,  all  plead  concep- 
tion. I  ask  you  for  your  pangs:  when  stood  your 
eyes  fidl  of  tears,  your  hearts  panting  with  groans, 
your  prayers  beating  at  heaven  gates  with  imjior- 
tunities?  Mothers  have  fears  before  their  deliveiy, 
sorrows  in  then-  delivery,  languishments  after  their 
deliveiy.  Mary  Magdalene's  soul  had  no  sooner  con- 
ceived grace  but  she  wept,  and  washed  Christ's  feet 
with  her  tears. 

Lastly  comes  the  production,  or  bringing  forth, 
which  is  done  by  active  obedience.  Conception  is 
gratia  infusa,  pregnancy  is  gratia  diffusa,  bringing 
forth  is  gratia  eff'usa.  Dost  thou  presume  in  thy 
soul  the  conception  and  pregnancy  of  grace,  and  yet 
leadest  a  profane,  covetous,  or  dissolute  life?  Thou 
sayest  no,  I  have  thy  word  to  the  contraiy ;  but  thy  life 
says  yea,  I  have  not  thy  work  to  the  contrary :  whether 
thou  say  no  or  yea,  God  and  thy  own  heart  know  the 
contrary.  Shall  we  say  with  the  prophet.  It  is  brought 
to  the  birth,  and  there  is  no  power  to  bring  fortri  ? 
No,  though  it  be  often  so  with  the  body,  it  is  never 
so  with  the  soul :  if  the  heart  have  conceived,  it  will 
bring  forth.  The  penitent  malefactor  on  the  cross 
no  sooner  had  his  barrenness  taken  away,  but  pre- 
sently he  brought  forth  fruit :  he  condemneth  him- 
self, reproveth  the  other,  justifieth  Clu'ist,  glorifieth 
God.  Store  of  good  children  are  not  naturally  bom 
on  the  sudden :  but  "  shall  I  bring  to  the  birth,  and 
not  cause  to  bring  forth,  saith  the  Lord  ?"  Isa.  Ixvi. 
9.  Saving  grace  hath  more  validity  than  nature : 
he  that  gives  strength  to  conceive,  denies  not  strength 
to  bring  forth  :  that  soul  shall  "  be  a  joyful  mother 
of  many  children,"  Psal.  cxiii.  9.  Yea,  God  can  give 
partum  sine  dolore,  birth  without  pain  :  "  Before  she 
travailed,  she  brought  forth ;  before  her  pain  came, 
she  was  delivered  of  a  man  child,"  Isa.  Ixvi.  7-  We 
read  of  Cornelius's  good  works ;  we  read  not  of  his 
tears.  Acts  x.  Indeed  this  is  a  great  wonder :  "  Who 
hath  heard  such  a  thing  ?  who  hath  seen  such  things  ? 
Shall  the  earth  be  made  to  bring  forth  in  one  day  ? 
or  shall  a  nation  be  bom  at  once  ?  for  as  soon  as 
Zion  travailed,  she  brought  forth  her  children,"  Isa. 
Ixvi.  8.  Nor  ear  hath  heard,  nor  eye  hath  seen  the 
like :  yet  God  is  the  worker  of  such  miracles ;  that  a 
soul  which  hath  long  been  barren,  shall  in  one  day  be 
set  a  teeming,  and  produce  gracious  fruit  to  Christ. 

But  where  now  be  our  births  ?  Leah  in  her  old 
age  groweth  barren,  and  ceaseth  to  bring  forth  chil- 
dren to  her  Husband  Christ.  Our  Saviour  delightcth 
himself  with  his  Rachel,  the  church  triumphant  in 
heaven,  now  almost  complete.  Leah,  the  church 
militant,  ceaseth  to  bear,  and  will  so  continue ;  ex- 
cept she  give  her  son's  mandrakes  for  her  Husljand's 
company,  Gen.  xxx.  15;  forsake  her  worldly  plea- 
sures wlierewith  she  is  surfeited.  I  confess  tnese 
are  breeding  days  :  and  as  we  say,  that  the  means  of 
begetting  hath  more  increased  mankind,  than  the 
encl ;  so  there  be  spiritual  births  enough,  but  they 
are  bastards,  our  sons  are  our  sins     As  one  writes  of 


Teb.  S. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


95 


the  popish  cleif^',  wlio  refuse  a  lawful  w-ife,  to  abuse 
an  unlawful  harlot  ;  God  in  liis  just  anger  took  away 
their  children;  the  devil  in  his  wickedness  hath 
given  them  bastards.  So  also  are  we  barren  souls 
to  jiroduce  lawful  children,  good  works ;  plentiful  to 
produce  unlawful  fruits,  wicked  sins.  Legitimate 
works  are  few,  illegitimate  many.  The  Romans  had 
their  legacies  and  inheritances  given  to  their  bas- 
tards ;  so  we  dedicate  and  bequeath  all  our  desires, 
and  delights,  and  means,  to  our  iniquities.  "  Then 
when  lust  hath  conceived,  it  bringeth  forth  sin :  and 
sin,  when  it  is  finished,  bringeth  forth  death,"  James 
i.  15.  "  Lust,  when  it  hath  conceived,"  there  is  the 
conception  of  sin ;  "  bringeth  forth  sin,"  there  is  the 
birth  of  it.  "  Sin,  when  it  is  finished,"  there  is  the 
growth  of  it ;  "  bringeth  forth  death,"  there  is  the 
end  of  it.  It  hath  a  father,  a  mother,  a  midwife,  a 
nurse.  The  devil,  by  suggesting,  begets  sin  as  the 
father ;  lust,  by  imagining,  conceives  sin  as  the 
mother  ;  consent,  by  agreeing,  brings  it  forth  as  the 
midwife  ;  custom,  by  indulgence,  brings  it  up  as  the 
nurse.  Here  is  now  no  barrenness.  The  devil  was 
never  more  busy  to  beget  sin ;  concupiscence  never 
more  pregnant  to  conceive  it ;  consent  never  more 
ready  to  act  it ;  custom  never  more  strong  to  continue 
it.  Such  a  brood  you  have,  Psal.  vii.  14:  there  is 
longing,  conception,  birth.  Such  another,  Job  xv. 
35,  "  They  conceive  mischief,  bring  forth  vanity,  and 
theu'  belly  prcpareth  deceit."  Here  is  a  quick  de- 
spatch ;  they  are  no  sooner  delivered,  but  their  belly 
prepares  deceit ;  to  it  again  incontinently.  These 
are  monstrous  births ;  it  is  pity  that  they  are  not 
abortive,  and  never  suffered  to  see  the  light.  Such 
a  mother  may  curse  the  frnit  of  her  own  womb. 

You  see  we  are  not  barren :  but  better  no  light 
than  that  which  burns  us  j  better  no  children  than 
bastards.  Let  us  never  give  life  to  that  \vhich  gives 
death  to  us.  Leah  said  of  Reuben,  "  This  son  shall 
comfort  me :"  we  may  say  of  our  iniquity,  This  sin 
will  afflict  me.  Many  souls  are  pregnant,  but  they 
bring  not  forth  a  son  of  grace,  but  a  daughter  of  the 
flesh :  it  is  a  daughter,  not  a  son.  The  Jews  have 
often  been  deluded  in  expectation  of  their  Messias  : 
among  the  rest,  I  have  heard  this  story  reported  for 
one.  A  Christian  was  exceedingly  in  love  with  a 
Jew's  daughter;  who  also  so  over-affected  him,  that 
though  she  might  not  marry  him,  yet  suffered  herself 
to  be  begot  with  child  by  him.  This  being  perceived, 
according  to  their  law  she  must  be  put  to  death  for 
it.  Her  betrothed  lover  desiring  to  save  her,  dressed 
himself  like  a  shining  angel,  and  taking  the  benefit 
of  the  moon,  called  to  them  in  a  shrill  voice  to  spare 
her ;  affirming  that  she  was  with  child  of  the  Messias. 
This  was  easily  credited,  her  fault  acquitted,  her  life 
spared.  Now  when  the  time  of  her  delivery  ap- 
proached, the  expectant  Jews  swamied  thither  in 
multitudes.  Delivered  she  was,  but  to  their  mockery 
and  shame,  not  of  a  son,  but  of  a  daughter.  At 
nine  months'  end,  that  virgin  Jewess  was  brought  to 
bed  of  a  Florentine  daughter.  After  .such  a  manner 
many  tympanous  spirits  in  the  world  do  travail;  but 
when  the  child  is  boni,  it  is  not  a  son  of  the  Spirit, 
but  a  daughter  of  concupiscence.  Parturiunt  monies, 
excurrit  ridiculus  mm: 

If  this  be  the  progeny,  barrermess  is  rather  bless- 
edness :  God  make  us  all  barren  of  sins,  but  fruitfiil 
of  graces,  pregnant  of  salvation ;  that  we  may  con- 
ceive, bear,  and  bring  forth  Christ.  Indeed  he  had 
but  one  carnal  mother,  but  many  spiritual.  He  that 
doth  my  Father's  will,  is  my  mother,  Matt.  sii.  50. 
Indeed  this  is  a  conception  which  the  world  never 
conceived;  but  it  is  true  from  the  mouth  of  Truth 
itself.  Dost  thou  believe  and  obey  ?  thou  art  Christ's 
mother.    When  a  woman  said,  "  Blessed  is  the  womb 


that  bare  thee,  and  the  paps  which  thou  hast  sucked ;" 
lie  answered,  Yea,  thou  sayest  true,  she  is  blessed 
indeed,  and  all  generations  shall  call  her  blessed: 
but  I  will  tell  thee  who  are  rather  blessed;  "  They 
that  hear  the  word  of  God,  and  keep  it,"  Luke  xi. 
27,  28.  Mary  herself  was  more  blessed  in  receiving 
the  fhith  of  Christ,  than  in  conceiving  the  flesh  of 
Christ.  (August.)  Othenvise  he  might  have  been  her 
son,  and  not  her  Saviour. 

Not  "  unfruitfid."  Fruitfulnessis  that  inseparable 
effect,  which  God  expects  from  eveiy  tree  planted  in 
his  garden.  Is  Zion  his  ground  ?  it  must  be  fruitful, 
Isa.  V.  Is  the  man  of  Judah  his  plant  ?  he  must  be 
fruitfiil  ?  Is  the  church  his  vineyard  ?  he  goes  thither 
to  gather  fruits.  The  effect  of  sanctified  knowledge, 
is  fruits,  Phil.  i.  11.  Art  thou  the  spouse  of  Christ  ? 
thou  art  fruitful.  We  are  married  to  Chi-ist,  '•  that 
we  should  bring  forth  fruit  unto  God,"  Rom.  vii.  4. 
Hast  thou  the  Spirit  ?  it  appears  in  the  fruits :  "  The 
fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,"  &c.  Gal.  v.  22. 
Hath  a  man  known  Christ  ?  it  is  seen  in  the  fruits : 
"For  every  tree  is  known  by  his  own  fruit,"  Luke 
vi.  44.  Good  works  are  compared  to  fruits  for  two 
special  resemblances ;  odour,  and  taste. 

For  odour ;  God  is  pleased  with  the  smell  of  our 
graces.  "  See,  the  smell  of  my  son  is  as  the  smell 
of  a  field  which  the  Lord  hath  blessed,"  Gen.  xxvii. 
27.  "  The  mandrakes  give  a  smell,"  Cant.  vii.  13. 
Not  that  GUI-  good  works  smell  fragrantly  of  them- 
selves, but  in  the  merits  of  Christ.  The  virgin  souls 
espoused  to  Christ,  get  their  Husband's  flowers ;  his 
perfumes  make  them  sweet.  Cant.  i.  3.  "  All  thy 
garments  smell  of  myrrh,  aloes,  and  cassia,  Psal.  xlv. 
8.  Thy  gartneitts:  our  clothes  hide  but  a  rotten 
carcass,  perhaps  a  rotten  conscience ;  Christ's  gar- 
ments are  truly  sweet.  Thi/  garments  :  our  best 
righteousness  is  loathsome  rags,  Isa.  Ixiv.  6.  All 
thine ;  thy  justice,  thy  mercy,  thy  grace,  thy  satis- 
faction, thy  obedience :  all ;  there  is  not  a  hem  of 
thy  vesture  but,  if  it  be  touched  with  the  hand  of 
faith,  is  healing  and  saving.  They  smell  of  myrrk 
aloes,  and  cassia.  They  are  comfortative  ;  In  the 
midst  of  my  sorrows  "  thy  comforts  delight  my  soul," 
Psal.  sciv.  19.  Purgative  ;  they  cleanse  our  con- 
sciences, Heb.  ix.  14.  Sanative  ;  by  hi»  stripes  we 
are  healed,  1  Pet.  ii.  24.  In  his  merits  our  mandrakes 
give  a  pleasant  smell.  Now  that  this  sweet  odour 
may  be  in  om-  works,  we  must  be  sure  to  take  out 
the  scent  of  Adam,  the  ill  savour  of  our  narive  cor- 
ruption. Our  prayers  are  as  incense,  and  the  lifting 
up  of  our  hands  as  an  evening  sacrifice,  Psal.  cxli.  2. 
Yet  praise  is  not  seemly  in  the  mouth  of  a  sinner. 
It  is  like  Samson's  honey  out  of  the  mouth  of  a  dead 
beast.  If  you  walk  contrary  to  me,  "  I  will  not  smell 
the  savoiu-  of  your  sweet  odours,"  Lev.  xxvi.  31.  But 
if  it  be  sanctified,  it  is  "an  odour  of  a  sweet  smell, 
a  sacrifice  well-pleasing  to  God,"  Phil.  iv.  18.  If 
charity  toward  some  be  separated  fi'om  equity  to- 
ward others,  that  sacrifice  of  alms  is  mingled  with 
blood ;  as  Pilate  served  those  whose  blood  he  min- 
gled with  the  blood  of  their  sacrifices,  Luke  xiii.  1. 
The  form  of  a  work  is  the  life  of  it ;  and  God  may 
say,  as  the  poet  did  to  the  harsh  repeater  of  his 
verses,  Quern  recitas  mens  est,  &c.  The  good  matter 
is  mine,  the  corrupt  matter  is  thine. 

For  taste;  some  fruits  have  a  sweet  smell,  but  a 
bitter  relish.  The  actions  of  the  Pharisees  smelt 
well,  but  when  they  came  to  be  tasted,  they  were  rue 
and  wonnwood.  The  gospel  calls  for  relishable 
fruits ;  not  such  as  impiety  produceth,  "  What  finiit 
had  ye  then  in  those  things  whereof  you  are  now 
ashamed?"  Rom.  vi.  21,  but  fmit  unto  holiness, 
the  end  whereof  is  everlasting  life,  ver.  22.  It  is  no* 
enough  to  avoid  barrenness,  but  to  manifest  fruitful 


»> 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


ness.  To  "  eschew  evil,"  that  is  the  first  lesson  of 
Christianity;  hut  not  all,  to  "  do  good"  is  the  per- 
fection, 1  Pet.  iii.  II.  '■  Let  every  one  that  nanieth 
the  name  of  Christ  depart  from  iniquity,"  2  Tim.  ii. 
19  :  that  is  one  step,  but  not  high  enough;  we  must 
also  do  the  will  of  our  Fatlier.  The  forbearance  of 
sm  doth  but  bring  Christ  unto  our  doors  ;  it  is  fruit- 
fulness  in  good  that  settles  him  in  our  hearts. 

"  In  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
It  is  saving  knowledge  that  takes  away  barrenness, 
and  makes  us  fruitful  in  the  works  of  obedience. 
"Wlio  planfeth  a  vineyard,  and  eateth  not  of  the 
fruit  thereof?"  I  Cor.  ix.  7-  We  expect  this  of  the 
earth  that  hath  only  nature  ;  and  sliall  not  God  ex- 
pect it  of  us,  who  have  sense  to  govern  nature,  reason 
to  govern  sense,  grace  to  govern  reason,  Jesus  Christ 
to  govern  all  ?  The  knowledge  of  our  blessed  Sa- 
viour is  sweet  and  public :  now  after  this  confessed 
sweetness,  how  bitter  would  that  question  be,  if  I 
should  dispute  whether  this  knowledge  be  truly  in 
us  or  not !  We  say  we  know  him  :  but  "  hereby  we 
do  know  that  we  know  him,  if  we  keep  his  command- 
ments," 1  John  ii.  3.  And  now  tlie  question  grows 
bitterer  and  bitterer,  from  wormwood  to  gall.  Let 
us  appeal  from  men's  lips  to  their  lives  :  he  that  obeys 
him  not,  knows  him  not;  if  the  princes  of  this  world 
had  known,  "  they  would  not  have  cnicified  the 
Lord  of  glorj',"  I  Cor.  ii.  8.  If  we  know  him,  we 
will  not  again  crucify  our  blessed  Saviour,  and  take 
upon  us  their  office  whom  we  so  condemn ;  Judas's 
to  betray  him,  Pilate's  to  condemn  him,  the  soldiers' 
to  cnicify  him.  If  he  that  despised  Moses's  law 
died  without  mercy,  what  punishment  is  he  worthy 
of  that  treads  under  foot  the  Son  of  God  ?  Heb.  x. 
28.  29.  Profane  Christians  are  worse  than  the  Jews: 
they  threw  Christ  down,  but  did  not  tread  upon  him  ; 
these  tread  under  feet  that  sacred  1)lood.  When  the 
Jew  wounded  him,  out  came  blood  :  when  tlie  Gen- 
tile wounded  him.  out  came  blood  and  water  :  wlien 
the  Christian  shall  wound  him,  out  will  come  blood 
and  fire.  Paul  calls  Christ  "that  Rock:"  when 
Moses  smote  the  rock,  out  came  water;  if  we  strike 
it,  out  will  come  bloody  water ;  not  to  purge  us,  but 
to  judge  us,  at  that  day  when  we  shall  see  Him  whom 
we  have  pierced.  We  attain  that  now  by  the  spirit 
of  the  gospel,  which  we  co\ild  not  by  the  letter  of 
the  law.  The  apostle  calls  that  a  "  killing  leltcr;" 
so  it  was  mortua,  dead,  and  morlifera,  deadly ;  for  sin 
was  by  the  law,  and  death  by  sin.  But  if  faith  do 
not  give  us  Christ,  we  are  still  under  the  law :  and  if 
our  obedience  do  not  testify  our  failh,  the  law  was 
not  more  deadly  than  is  the  gospel  to  us ;  for  it  en- 
hanceth  our  condemnation.  Christ  calls  himself 
that  "Stone,"  Matt.  xxi.  44;  we  may  he  built  on 
it,  we  may  be  spilt  by  it,  according  to  our  usage  of  it. 

Circumstances  of  a  sin  give  aggravation  to  it. 
The  action  is  varied  according  to  the  person.  We 
expect  l>etter  things  of  well-promising  professors 
than  of  impudent  and  prostituted  libertines.  Shall 
an  officer  that  refonns  the  tap-liouse  be  himself  found 
in  a  hrotlicl-house?  Were  it  not  strange  that  tlic 
witch  should  tell  the  juggler  he  hath  a  bad  con- 
science? or  that  the  hypocrite  should  rail  at  the 
player?  or  the  usurer  challenge  the  thief?  or  the 
lay  parson  with  his  sacrilegioiis  improiu-iatinn  blame 
the  i)oor  vicar  for  looking  narrowly  to  liis  jioor  rem- 
nants ?  It  is  all  one.  as  if  he  that  hath  taken  away 
my  house  should  find  fault  with  me  for  putting  on 
my  cloak.  The  dissolute  shall  speed  belter  tlian  tlie 
hypocrite  ;  and  lukcwarmness  is  more  offensive  to 
God's  stomach  than  frost-coldness.  The  thistle  in 
the  forest  shall  not  fare  so  ill  as  the  barren  fig  tree 
in  the  vineyard.  Therefore,  "  though  Israel  play  the 
harlot,  yet  let  not  Judah  offend,"  Hos.  iv.  15.  '  The 


offering  brought  with  unhallowed  hands,  is  worse 
than  none  at  all.  Nothing  more  useful  than  light 
and  salt.  Yet  for  the  light,  if  it  "  be  darkness,  how 
great  is  that  darkness  !  "  Matt.  vi.  23.  And  for  salt, 
if  it  have  lost  the  "  savour,  wherewith  shall  it  be 
salted  ?"  Matt.  v.  13.  Though  men  be  never  so  pro- 
found in  knowledge,  if  they  be  profane  in  conversa- 
tion, tlieir  salt  is  lost.  Salt  keeps  other  tilings  from 
putrefaction,  but  if  it  be  putrified  itself,  what  should 
season  it  ?  A  sweet  singer  delights  us  all  ;  but  if  a 
serpent  liath  stung  him,  who  sliall  recover  his  voice  ? 
If  the  eye  be  out,  what  shall  look  to  the  eye  ?  The 
manna  kept,  and  not  si)ent,  rotted :  good  gifts 
smothered  will  come  to  nothing.  Samson  lost  his 
strength  in  Delilah's  lap :  the  strength  of  grace  is 
lost  in  idleness.  If  Jerusalem  forget  lier  first  love, 
presently  her  right  hand  forgets  her  cunning,  Psal. 
cxxxvii.  5.  There  are  three  things  obser\able  in 
in  the  infatuated  salt.  1.  The  difficulty  to  be  re- 
covered, "Wherewith  shall  it  be  salted?"  2.  The 
unprofitableness,  "  It  is  good  for  nothing."  3.  The 
contempt  and  scorn,  "  It  is  cast  out  and  trodden  under 
foot  of  men."  Neither  is  the  unprofitable  minister 
only  this  unsavoury  salt,  though  Christ  directed  that 
speech  to  his  apostles :  if  they  be  dark  lanterns,  if 
any  fault  be  in  those  lights,  tlie  whole  parish  is  full 
of  snuffers :  but  also  even  every  professor  of  god- 
liness, that  hath  denied  the  power  thereof,  2  "Tim. 
iii.  5. 

Such  a  one,  like  lost  salt,  is  good  for  nothing. 
For  that  is  good  for  nothing,  that  is  not  good  for  the 
end  and  purjiose  why  it  was  made.  If  a  knife  be  not 
good  to  cut,  we  say  it  is  good  for  nothing ;  yet  it 
may  be  put  to  some  other  use.  If  a  plough  be  not 
good  to  break  the  ground,  we  say  it  is  good  for  no- 
thing; yet  it  may  stop  a  gap.  If  a  hound  be  not 
good  to  hunt,  we  say  he  is  good  for  nothing  ;  yet  he 
may  in  the  night  give  warning  of  a  thief.  But  if  a 
professor  be  not  good  for  honesty,  he  is  indeed  good 
for  nothing.  Corniptio  opiimi  peisima:  the  body  oi 
a  dead  man  is  more  offensive  than  tlie  carcass  of  a 
beast.  Putrified  flowers  stink  worse  than  weeds.  A 
surfeit  of  bread  (though  it  be  the  staff  of  life)  is  the 
most  dangerous  surfeit.  "  Son  of  man,  what  is  the 
vine  ?  shall  wood  be  taken  thereof  to  do  any  work  ? 
or  will  men  take  a  pin  of  it,  to  hang  any  vessel 
thereon  ?  "  Ezck.  xv.  2,  3.  The  vine  fruitless,  is  of  all 
trees  most  useless.  Though  it  be  compared  to  divers 
noble  and  worthy  things:  the  tribe  of  Judah  is  called 
a  vine,  Isa.  v.  "The  good  woman  a  vine;  "  Tliy  wife 
shall  be  as  a  fruitful  vine,"  Psal.  cxx\-iii.  3.  The 
best  man  a  vine,  John  xv.  1.  Though  it  be  the  vine 
that  cheereth  the  heart  of  God  and  man,  Judg.  ix. 
13 :  yet  if  this  vine  be  fruitless,  it  is  good  for  nothing, 
not  so  much  as  to  make  a  pin  to  hang  a  hat  oij. 
Oaks  and  cedars  are  good  for  building,  poplars  for 
pales,  very  bushes  for  hedging,  dot  lard  wood  for 
firing ;  but  the  fniitless  vine  is  good  for  nothing. 

It  is  obser\'ablc  that  the  refitse  of  other  things 
have  their  uses.  Sour  wine  will  make  vinegar;  old 
rags  paper ;  lees  are  for  dyers ;  soil  and  rubbish  is 
good  to  fat  the  ground;  potsherds  and  broken  tiles 
to  mend  high-ways;  yea,  they  offer  lo  sell  combing 
of  hairs,  ladies  and  gentlewomen  know  if  they  be 
good  for  any  purpose.  But  the  fruille-ss  vine,  the 
savourless  salt,  tne  lightless  lamp,  the  graceless 
Christian,  is  good  for  nothing.  Let  all  yield  to  him, 
if  he  be  fruitful;  let  him  yield  to  all,  if  he  be  bar- 
ren. The  daughter  of  Zion  would  never  have  been 
so  notorious  a  liarlot  had  she  not  been  first  so  rare  a 
virgin.  Julian  had  been  less  damned  had  he  never 
been  a  Christian. 

Consider  the  fearfulness  of  their  judgnu^nt,  John 
XV.  2,  6.  where  you  find  seven  degrees  of  their  fall : 


Ver.  3. 


SKCOXD  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


97 


1.  They  bear  no  fmit,  this  i.s  their  finst  step  to  hell. 

2.  Bearing  no  fniit,  they  arc  cut  away  from  the  vine  : 
incision  is  blessed,  but  abscission  most  wretched. 
"  Cut  it  down ;  why  cumbcreth  it  tlie  ground  ?  "  Luke 
xiii.  7.  To  be  excommunicated  from  Jesus  Christ, 
is  most  accursed.  3.  Being  cut  from  the  \-ine,  they 
are  cast  out  of  the  vineyard :  the  prayers  of  the  church 
are  not  heard  for  them,  nor  arc  they  suffered  to  suck 
onthebreasts  of  her  consolation,  Isa.lxvi.  II.  4.  Being 
cast  out  of  the  vineyard,  they  wither  :  needs  must 
that  branch  wither,  that  receives  no  life  of  sap  from 
Him  that  gives  the  sap  of  life  imto  all.  5.  Being 
withered,  they  are  bound  into  faggots,  like  the  tares 
into  bundles,  Matt.  xiii.  30.  Not  all  knit  into  one, 
but  many  several  faggots.  An  adulterer  with  his 
adulteress  make  one  faggot.  A  dninkard  with  his  pot- 
companion,  another  fasfgot.  A  seminary  with  a  trai- 
tor, another  faggot.  The  extortioner  and  his  broker, 
another  faggot.  The  whore-master  and  his  pander, 
another  faggot.  All  shall  not  be  punished  in  the 
same  degree,  albeit  in  the  same  torment.  6.  Being 
thus  faggotted  and  coupled  together,  they  are  cast 
into  the  fire,  the  most  terrible  of  all  tortures.  7. 
Lastly,  being  cast  into  the  fire,  they  burn  and  fiy  in 
those  quenchless  flames,  "  where  their  worm  dieth 
not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched,"'  Mark  ix.  48  ;  in 
comparison  whereof,  our  earthly  fire  is  no  more  than 
if  it  were  but  painted.  They  are  ever  frying,  never 
dying;  in  universal  and  elernal  anguish.  Universal 
upon  every  part  of  body  and  soul.  For  the  body, 
they  are  bound  hand  and  foot,  and  crowded  into  a 
prison  of  outer  darkness.  Matt.  xxii.  13  :  like  bricks 
in  a  fiery  furnace,  not  able  to  wrinch  ;  having  not  so 
much  as  a  chink  where  any  cool  wind  may  enter  in 
to  refresh  them.  Their  seein"  affrighted  with  ugly 
devils  and  darkness ;  their  hearing,  with  hideous 
outcries  ;  their  smelling,  with  the  odious  stenches 
of  the  filthy  bodies  under  torture  ;  their  taste,  with 
a  raging  thirst  (begging  one  drop  of  ungranted  water, 
Luke  xvi.  24)  and  a  ravening  hunger,  biting  their 
tongues  for  anguish ;  their  feeling  afflicted  with  in- 
sufferable torments,  in  "  a  lake  of  fire  burning  with 
brimstone,"  Rev.  xix.  20.  And  now  if  the  pain  of 
the  body  be  but  as  it  were  the  body  of  pain,  the  soul 
of  torment  is  the  torment  of  the  soul.  The  fancy 
distracted  with  horrid  imaginations,  like  a  melan- 
choly man's  frightful  dreams ;  being  horribly  aston- 
ished with  strange  apparitions ;  sad  visions  appear- 
ing to  them  with  heavy  countenances,  AVisd.  xvii.  3, 
4.  The  will  is  vexed,  that  it  must  have  the  will  in 
nothing.  The  memory  with  a  fixed  recordation  of 
past  things;  what  it  once  enjoyed,  what  it  now 
sufferelh,  and  what  it  must  suffer  for  ever.  It  can 
think  of  nothing  to  administer  comfort ;  that  it  was 
once  happy  more  afflicts  it.  Now  as  the  reprobates 
commit  two  evils,  Jer.  ii.  13,  forsaking  the  fountain  of 
living  waters,  and  fall  to  the  broken  cisterns  of  their 
own  digging  ;  as  there  is  in  sin  an  aversion  from  the 
Creator,  and  a  conversion  to  the  creature;  so  there 
is  in  punishment :  for  aversion,  the  punisliment  of 
loss,  a  privation  of  all  blessed  comforts  ;  for  conver- 
sion to  the  creature,  a  punishment  of  sense,  a  posi- 
tion of  all  possible  plagues.  This  is  manifest  by  the 
rejection,  "Depart  from  me,"  Matt.  xxv.  41  ;  from 
me  your  Redeemer,  from  me  that  made  myself  man 
for  your  sakcs,  from  me  that  received  such  wounds 
for  your  remedy,  from  me  that  invited  you  with  par- 
don, but  you  would  none.  Therefore  depart  from  me, 
from  my  friendship,  from  my  protection,  from  my 
presence,  from  my  paradise,  froln  my  kingdom,  from 
my  sight ;  and  from  all  those  that  go  with  me,  choirs 
of  glorious  angels,  communion  of  blessed  saints  :  this 
is  the  privation.  "  Into  everlasting  fire,"  there  is 
the  position :  a  fearful  place  !     God  grant  we  may 


never  know  more  of  it  than  by  hearsay.  I  have  been 
content  to  urge  the  danger  of  unfniiifulness,  that  you 
may  prevent  it.  As  Nineveh  overthrew  the  message 
of  her  overthrow  by  her  repentance,  her  sins  were 
destroyed  and  herself  stood ;  so  may  our  provision 
of  those  torments  in  thought  be  the  prevention  of 
them  in  sense.  God,  in  his  mercy,  threatens  before 
he  punishes,  that  he  may  not  punish  as  he  threatens. 
What  David  said  of  his  enemies,  "  Let  them  go  down 
quick  into  hell,"  Psal.  Iv.  15  ;  we  may  in  another 
sense  wish  to  ourselves,  our  best  friends.  Descend 
we  every  day  into  hell  by  meditation,  that  at  the  last 
day  we  may  not  descend  thither  by  condemnation. 
Let  us  often  go  to  hell  while  we  live,  that  we  may 
not  come  thitner  when  we  are  dead.  Recollect  we 
ourselves,  and  become  fruitful  trees  ;  that  when  God 
transplants  us  from  this  nurser)',  he  may  set  us  in 
his  own  glorious  garden.  The  fniits  of  the  earth 
spring,  bud,  grow  green,  grow  ripe,  and  then  wither : 
but  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  shall  never  decay.  If 
they  have  filled  God's  vineyard  on  earth,  they  shall 
flourish  in  his  Eden  of  heaven  for  ever. 

"  In  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
The  object  of  our  knowledge  here  is  our  blessed  Sa- 
viour, comfortably  described  to  us  in  four  attributes  : 
1.  Our.  2.  Lord.  3.  Jesus.  4.  Christ.  As  he  is 
Lord  he  can,  as  he  is  Jesus  he  will,  as  he  is  Christ 
he  doth,  as  he  is  Our  he  should,  save  us.  Lord;  con- 
sider his  mightiness.  Jesus;  consider  his  sweetness. 
Christ;  consider  his  willingness.  Our;  consider  his 
goodness,  that  gives  us  interest  in  himself,  and  vouch- 
safes us  to  challenge  his  mercy.  Lord,  in  regard  of  his 
dominion  ;  "  The  Lord  reigneth  ;  let  the  people  trem- 
ble :  he  sitteth  between  the  cherubims;  let  the  earth 
bo  moved,"  Psal.  xcix.  1.  Jesus,  in  regard  of  his  salva- 
tion ;  "  He  that  is  our  God  is  the  God  of  our  salvation," 
Psal.  Ix^iii.  20 ;  who  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners.  Christ,  in  regard  of  the  promise.  God  did 
promise  him,  and  the  Jews  expected  him,  under  the 
name  of  Christ  :  "  Do  the  rulers  know  indeed  that 
this  is  the  very  Christ?"  John  vii.  26.  "This  is 
the  Christ,"  ver.  41.  Our,  in  regard  of  his  appropri- 
ating himself  unto  us,  not  taking  on  him  the  nature 
of  angels,  but  the  seed  of  Abraham,  Heb.  ii.  16.  He 
took  our  flesh,  that  we  might  take  of  his  Spirit ;  and 
thus  gave  us  an  interest  in  himself.  Our  Advocate ; 
"  We  have  an  Advocate  with  the  Father,  Jesus 
Christ  the  righteous,"  I  John  ii.  1.  Our  Lord,  our 
Jesus,  our  Christ.  Again,  Jesus  in  facto,  noster  in 
paclo.  Lord,  in  his  power ;  his  works  declare  him  to 
be  the  Lord ;  who  doth  what  he  will  in  heaven,  in 
earth,  in  the  sea,  and  in  all  deep  places,  Psal.  exxxv. 
6.  The  same  works  that  the  Father  doth,  doth  the 
Son  also.  Jesus,  in  being  made  ;  he  that  is  the  Lord 
the  Creator,  was  made  Jesus  a  creature :  "  Made 
of  a  woman,"  Gal.  iv.  4.  "  The  Word  was  made 
flesh,"  John  i.  14.  The  Word,  what  more  powrt-ful  ? 
FUsli,  what  more  feeble  ?  Made,  what  more  wonder- 
ful ?  Christ,  in  being  sacrificed  and  crucified  for  us  ; 
broken  for  our  transgressions :  "  Take,  eat ;  this  is 
my  body,  which  is  broken  for  you,"  1  Cor.  xi.  24. 
The  Israelites  did  eat  a  lamb  roasted ;  we,  the  Lamb 
of  God  crucified.  He  was  broken  for  us :  breaking 
is  taken  from  an  alteration  of  the  good  estate  of  the 
body.  So  it  is  said,  age  breaks  a  man.  Moses  was 
a  hundred  and  twenty  years  old  when  he  died,  yet 
was  not  his  natural  force  broken,  Deut.  xxxiv.  7 :  it 
was  recorded  as  a  matter  of  admiration.  "  I  am  feeble 
and  sore  broken,"  Psal.  xxxviii.  8 :  sorrow  breaks  a 
man.  Our  Saviour,  though  he  was  young,  and  of  a 
most  excellent  constitution,  yet  was  thus  broken. 
No  fonn  or  comeliness  in  him :  why  ?  because  he 
was  "  a  man  of  sorrqws,"  Isa.  liii.  But  what  is  age, 
sickness,  and  sorrow,  to  the  hand  of  God  ?    The 


98 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1 


Lord  did  break  him :  "  Wilt  thou  break  a  leaf  driven 
to  and  fro  ?  "  Job  xiii.  25.  "  As  a  lion,  so  will  he 
break  all  my  bones,"  Isa.  xxxviii.  13.  "Make  mo  to 
hear  of  joy  and  gladness ;  that  the  bones  which  thou 
hast  broken  may  rejoice,"  Psal.  li.  8.  Christ  was 
broken  in  all  parts  of  his  flesh,  his  head  with  thorns, 
his  back  with  scourges,  his  hands  and  feet  with  nails, 
his  side  with  a  spear;  only  (that  the  scripture  might 
be  fulfilled)  not  a  bone  of  him  was  broken.  Our,  in 
respect  of  the  covenant ;  I  will  be  your  God,  and  you 
shall  be  my  people,  Heb.  viii.  10.  Infinite  mercy  I 
the  Lord's  Christ  is  become  our  Jesus,  Luke  ii.  26. 

The  sum  of  the  instruction  is  to  teach  us  how  to 
know  our  Saviour;  as  Lord,  as  Jesus,  as  Christ,  as 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  Lord,  let  us  know  his 
majesty  ;  Jesus,  let  us  know  his  mercy  ;  Christ,  know 
his  office  ;  ours,  know  our  own  interest  in  him. 

Lord  :  in  this  title  consider  his  power:  know  him 
hominem  verum,  but  not  hominem  merum.  He  is  of 
Israel  concerning  the  flesh,  but  also  "  over  all,  God 
blessed  for  ever.  Amen,"  Rom.  ix.  5.  Grace  from 
the  Lord  Jesus,  Col.  i.  2 ;  from  him  as  God,  as  the 
fountain  of  grace.  Grace  and  peace  through  the 
Lord  Jesus,  2  Pet.  i.  2;  through  him  as  Mediator,  as 
the  conduit-pipe  to  derive  it  to  us.  Lord  :  this  title 
is  given  him  to  distinguish  and  declare  his  power ; 
as  in  weighty  proclamations  kings  set  down  their 
names  with  their  titles.  So,  "  The  Lord,  the  Lord 
God,  merciful,  gracious,"  &c.  Exod.  xxxiv.  6.  What- 
soever the  Father  did  to  us,  Christ  did  also,  to  prove 
him  Lord.  Did  the  Father  create  us  ?  so  doth  the 
Son;  "  By  him  were  all  things  created,"  Col.  i.  16; 
by  him,  that  is  there  called  the  image  of  the  invisible 
God,  and  first-born  of  every  creature.  Doth  the 
Father  uphold  the  world  by  his  providence  ?  so  doth 
the  Son ;  he  upholdelh  "  all  things  by  the  word  of 
his  power,"  Heb.  i.  3.  Doth  the  Father  regenerate 
us  ?  so  doth  the  Son,  Col.  ii.  13.  Doth  the  Father 
raise  the  dead  ?  so  doth  the  Son  ;  "  As  the  Father 
quickeneth  them,  so  the  Son  quickeneth  whom  he 
will,"  John  V.  21.  Therefore  is  the  Son  called  "  The 
everlasting  Father,"  Isa.  ix.  6.  God  is  as  almighty 
in  his  Son  as  he  is  in  himself.  This  is  a  mystery; 
to  search  too  far  into  it,  is  presumption;  to  believe 
it,  is  godliness ;  to  know  it,  is  everlasting  blessedness. 

Jesus:  in  this  contemplate  his  mercy.  He  hath 
not  his  name  for  no  cause  :  the  angel  gives  the  for  : 
"  Thou  shall  call  his  name  Jesus  :  for  he  shall  save 
his  people  from  their  sins,"  Matt.  i.  21.  Jesus  is  his 
name,  and  salvation  is  with  him.  He  that  tndy 
knows  this  Jesus,  knows  him  both  God  and  man,  one 
Person,  our  Saviour.  The  word  Jesus  hath  but  three 
tei-minations  among  the  Latins;  Jesus,  Jcsu,  Jesum. 
Take  the  three  last  letters,  and  they  make  sum,  I 
Am,  the  incommunicable  name  of  God.  Therefore 
as  the  apostles  did  in  their  Epistles,  so  let  us  in  our 
hearts,  evei-more  join  Jesus  with  God  the  Father. 
1.  Because  "he  that  lionoureth  not  the  Son  honour- 
eth  not  the  Father,"  John  v.  23 :  he  that  dishonours 
one  Person  of  the  Trinity,  dishonours  all.  2.  Because 
all  good  from  God  to  us  is  by  Jesus;  for  otherwise 
we  may  have  riches,  and  honours,  and  worldly  pos- 
sessions, but  not  have  them  as  mercies.  No  man 
comforfslily  knoweth  God  but  by  Jesus :  there  is  no 
safe  vcnturing>«i  that  infinite  justice,  without  mercy 
at  the  right  hantJ^f  it. 

Christ :  in  thisNpieditate  on  his  office,  and  the 
purpose  of  his  corn\ng,  which  was  to  redeem  us. 
"  For  God  sent  not  nis  Son  to  condemn  the  world ; 
but  that  the  world  through  him  might  be  saved," 
John  iii.  17.  "  1  ca))ic  not  to  judge  the  world,  but 
to  save  the  worli],  ■  John  xii.  47.  For  this  end  he 
was  appointed  and  anointed;  "The  Lord  hath 
anointed  me,  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,"  &-c.  Luke 


iv.  18.  Now  let  not  God's  pui-ppse  bo  frustrated; 
God  sent  whom  he  promised,  do  thou  entertain  him 
into  a  pure  heart.  When  Martha  told  her  sister 
Mary  secretly,  The  Lord  is  come ;  she,  as  soon  as 
she  heard  it,  "  arose  quickly,  and  came  unto  hirn," 
John  xi.  29.  The  Messias,  the  Christ,  the  Eedeeiner 
is  come,  that  blessed  High  Priest  that  offered  up 
himself  an  cxpiatorj-  sacrifice  for  us  ;  now  arise,  let 
us  go  and  meet  him. 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ :  in  this  obsei-ve  his  per- 
formance, and  free  donation  of  himself  to  us.  He  is 
not  only  the  Lord,  and  the  Jesus,  and  the  Christ, 
but  ours.  Whatsoever  he  did  or  suffered,  was  for 
us :  "  The  Messiah  shall  be  cut  off;  but  not  for  him- 
self," Dan.  ix.  26 :  not  for  devils,  not  for  angels,  not 
for  himself:  for  whom  then  ?  for  us  men  and  for  our 
salvation ;  the  lost  sheep,  the  sinners,  the  rebels. 
"  Unto  us  a  son  is  given,"  Isa.  ix.  6.  To  us  a  Saviour 
is  born,  Luke  ii.  11.  This  om-  is  a  possessive:  in 
knowing  him  a  Lord,  there  is  fear ;  in  knowing  him  a 
Jesus,  there  is  comfort ;  in  knowing  him  a  Christ,  there 
is  hope  ;  in  knowing  him  ours,  there  is  assurance. 

Our :  God  loves  tnese  appropriations  of  mercy,  if 
they  be  of  the  breed  of  faith.  So  he  taught  us  to 
pray.  Our  Father;  not  by  an  epithet,  holy  Father, 
righteous  Father,  omnipotent  Father;  but  by  a  pro- 
noun. Our  Father.  Yea,  he  admits  every  particular 
hand  of  faith  to  take  his  own  handful  out  of  this 
sheaf,  and  to  turn  our  into  mine.  Though  he  be  the 
God  of  all,  yet  Paul  says,  "  My  God,"  Phil.  iv.  19  ; 
"  My  God  shall  supply  all  your  need."  Though  he 
be  the  Lord  of  all,  yet  saith  Thomas,  "  My  Lord," 
Jolm  XX.  28.  Though  he  be  the  Saviour  of  all  his 
people,  yet  saith  Maiy,  "  My  Saviour,"  Luke  i.  47 ; 
"  My  spirit  hath  rejoiced  in  God  my  Saviour." 
Tliough  he  be  the  Father  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh, 
yet  he  chargeth  a  faithful  soul,  "  Thou  slialt  call  me, 
My  Father,"  Jer.  iii.  19.  If  God  say  unto  thy  soul, 
I  am  thy  salvation  ;  why  mayst  not  thou  say  to 
him.  Thou  art  my  God  ?  The  Eomists  challenge  us 
of  over-boldness,  and  peremptoiy  arrogance,  to  say, 
My  God,  as  if  we  did  engross  Christ ;  but  indeed 
they  engross  him,  that  confine  him  to  Rome.  But 
why  ?  Because  the  frantic  merchant  stands  on  the 
quay,  and  cries.  All  the  ships  are  mine;  may  not 
therefore  a  sober  merchant  stand  there,  and  say. 
This  ship  is  mine  ?  Is  there  no  Jesus  to  be  had  xmless 
we  fetch  him  from  Rome?  The  Lord  commands 
this  voice  of  faith;  "  Israel  shall  cry  unto  me,  My 
God,"  Hos.  viii.  2.  "  Thou  art  my  God,  and  I  will 
jiraise  thee,"  Psal.  cxviii.  28.  There  is  no  presump- 
tion in  the  speaker  where  there  is  autjiority  of  the 
commander. 

But  now  that  we  may  assure  him  ours,  let  us  assure 
ourselves  his.  Marce,  iil  ameris,  ama.  The  best  demon- 
stration of  our  possession  of  liim,  is  to  find  his  pos- 
session of  us.  "  My  Beloved  is  mine,  and  I  am  his," 
Cant.  ii.  16.  Wouldst  thou  know  the  certainty  of  this 
marriage,  and  uniting  of  thy  soul  to  Christ  ?  When 
(here  is  doubt  made  concerning  a  marriage,  we  search 
the  register,  and  take  out  a  certificate  or  testimony 
under  the  curate's  hand ;  and  that  satisfies  the  court. 
So  here  go  to  the  register,  thy  heart :  there  it  is  re- 
corded, if  it  be  at  all,  under  the  hand  of  the  Holy 
Ghost;  for,  "The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our 
spirit,  that  we  arc  the  children  of  God,"  Rom.  viii. 
Ki.  Exhibit  this  in  the  court  of  thy  conscience,  and 
all  the  doubts  are  cleared.  Arc  thy  affections  knit 
to  Christ  ?  art  thou  where  thou  lovest,  rather  than 
where  thou  livest  ?  is  the  desire  of  thy  soul  with 
God  ?  this  is  a  blessed  fmition.  "  A  bimdlc  of  myrrh 
is  my  well-beloved  unto  me ;  he  shall  lie  all  night 
betwixt  my  breasts,"  Cant.  i.  13:  let  him  lod^e  in 
thv  heart  for  ever.     When  thou  art  thus  ravished 


"  Veo.  8. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


9'J 


with  him,  he  will  be  also  ravished  witli  thee ;  "  Thou 
hast  ravishctl  my  heart,  my  sister :  tliou  hast  ravish- 
ed my  heart,"  Cant.  iv.  9. 

The  instmction  is  cleared  to  our  faith,  how  we 
ought,  to  know  our  Saviour ;  as  Lord,  as  Jesus,  as 
Christ,  as  oiii-s.  Now  for  our  afiections,  let  us  make 
some  use  of  it,  and  so  conclude  with  application. 
For  use,  the  true  knowledge  of  Christ,  according  to 
these  four  terms,  meets  with  four  temptations.  1. 
Lord,  meets  with  our  pride.  If  thou  be  under  a 
supreme  Lord,  wliy  dost  thou  insult  and  domineer 
as  if  thou  wcrt  no  servant  ?  2.  Jesus,  meets  with  our 
despair.  Who  can  despair  that  knows  he  hath  this 
Jesus  for  a  Saviour  ?  3.  Christ,  meets  with  our  dis- 
regard and  neglect  of  his  behests.  If  he  be  the  Holy 
One  of  God,  let  us  reverence  him.  4.  Our,  meets 
with  our  covetousness  and  worldly  aflFections.  Let 
us  not  tly  from  that  which  is  oui'S,  and  fly  after  that 
which  is  none  of  ours. 

Lord.  Art  thou  provoked  to  pride  and  presump- 
tion? humble  thyself,  there  is  a  Lord  above  thee. 
When  the  apostles  strove  about  matter  of  superiority, 
Christ  rebuked  them ;  "  And  the  Lord  said,  Simon," 
&c.  Luke  xxii.  31.  He  is  not  there  (as  in  other 
places)  called  Jesus,  but  the  Lord.  But  why  was 
nis  speech  directed  to  Simon  ?  Because  he  was 
most  likely  to  be  too  confident,  having  most  audacity, 
and  being  the  chief  speaker.  The  greatest  gifts 
most  endanger  a  man  to  pride.  A  father  loves  all 
his  chilch-en  well,  but  is  most  tender  to  the  sickliest 
child :  perhaps  Peter  w'as  most  sick  of  this  disease  ; 
I  am  sure  his  usurping  successors  are  incurable. 
Humble  thy  haughty  mind,  there  is  a  Lord  above 
thee  ;  and  such  a  Lord,  as  "  resisteth  the  proud,  and 
giveth  grace  to  the  humble,"  1  Pet.  v.  5.  Pharaoh 
cries,  Who  is  the  Lord  ?  Who  ?  even  he  that 
drowned  Pharaoh  in  the  Red  sea.  The  slave  durst 
not  boast  himself  if  he  were  sure  that  his  lord  heard 
him.  When  a  great  prelate  durst  write,  I  and  my 
king  ;  the  king  subscribed  in  act,  I  and  my  slave ; 
and  quickly  took  down  the  main-mast  of  his  ambi- 
tion. To  question  the  titles  of  kings,  hath  ever  been 
held  treason  :  why  then  dare  any  jiresumptuous  spirit 
oppose  the  word  of  this  Lord  ?  No ;  Say  the  word, 
O  Lord,  and  my  seiTant  shall  be  healed.  Matt, 
viii.  8. 

Jesus.  Art  thou  tempted  to  despair  ?  Jesus  is  a 
name  in  which  a  faithful  soul  vanquisheth  despera- 
tion. Despair  is  a  sin  that  never  knew  Jesus.  The 
drowning  man  would  never  suik,  if  he  knew  and  felt 
'T'an  infallible  stay  in  his  hand.  Desperation  is  like  that 
/  beast  that  had  no  name  given  it.  Dan.  vii.  7-  There 
were  three  specified,  a  lion,  a  bear,  a  leopard ;  but  the 
fourth  hath  no  denomination.  To  those  four  terrible 
beasts  are  likened  four  heinous  sins ;  presumption  to 
the  lion,  persecution  to  the  bear,  oppression  to  the 
leopard;  andto  the  nameless  fourth  desperation.  The 
lion;  presumptioti  hath  been  conquered,  in  Marj- 
Magdalene.  The  bear ;  persecution  subdued,  in  Paul. 
The  leopard ;  oppression  tamed,  in  Zaccheus.  But 
desperation,  without  distinguishing  the  kind,  is 
"dreadful  and  terrible,  and  strong  exceedingly ;  it 
had  great  iron  teeth ;  it  devoured  and  brake  in  pieces ; 
and  it  had  ten  horns."  It  hath  horns  enough  to  push 
at  God  with  blasphemy,  at  man  with  injury,  at  its 
own  soul  with  distrust  of  mercy.  Other  sins  are 
fearfiil  enough,  and  have  the  rage  of  lions,  and  bears, 
and  leopards,  to  make  man's  soul  miserable.  But  the 
j  final  ruin,  never  to  be  recovered  wliile  there  stands  a 
[scat  of  justice  in  heaven,  is  desperation.  Well,  yet 
before  any  man  fall  into  this  gulf,  let  him  look  up 
and  know  Jesus ;  "  Behold  that  Lamb  of  God,  which 
takes  away  the  sin  of  the  world,"  John  i.  29.  Be- 
hold the  Lamb  of  God,  ye  tliat  are  lions  to  your  own 


souls!  hath  his  death  putsense  into  rocks  and  stones, 
and  can  it  not  persuade  you  ?  Is  the  blood  of  Jesus 
shed  for  you,  and  will  you  in  an  impatient  fury  throw 
your  own  blood  into  the  air  with  Julian,  or  spill  it  on 
the  ground  with  Saul,  or  sacrifice  it  on  a  tree  with 
Judas  ?  Shall  he  open  heaven,  and  ye  shut  it  ?  he 
))ull  you  out  of  the  fire,  and  you  run  into  it  again  ? 
He  drunk  to  you  in  a  cup  of  passion,  and  you  snould 
pledge  him  in  a  cup  of  salvation  ;  singing  with  that 
melodious  prophet,  "  I  will  take  the  cup  of  salvation, 
and  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  Psal.  cxvi.  13. 
Will  you  then  take  a  cup  of  death  and  despair,  blas- 
pheme his  name,  evacuate  his  merits,  tread  his  blood 
under  your  feet,  and  die  past  liope  ?  God  forbid  it ; 
and  the  prayers  of  your  lips,  the  tears  of  your  eyes, 
the  groans  of  your  hearts,  and  the  hope  of  your  souls, 
heartily  forbid  it.  No  man  can  despair,  that  tnily 
knows  our  good  Lord  Jesus. 

Christ.  Is  not  the  great  benefit  of  redemption 
yet  thoroughly  apprehended  of  thy  soul  ?  art  thou 
tempted  to  distrust  or  disregard  a  work  of  such  infi- 
nite price  ?  Behold  him ;  he  is  the  Christ,  the  ex- 
pectation of  the  Jews,  the  consolation  of  the  Gentiles, 
the  salvation  of  all ;  "  A  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles, 
and  the  glory  of  thy  people  Israel,"  Luke  ii.  32. 
The  creation  by  God's  hand  was  a  great  work;  but 
the  redemption  by  Christ's  death  a  greater  work.  In 
the  creation  he  made  man  like  himself;  in  the  re- 
demption he  made  himself  like  man.  There  he  made 
us  partakers  of  his  good  ;  here  he  makes  himself  par- 
taker of  our  evil.  (Granat.)  There  lie  only  spake  the 
word;  here  he  did  not  only  speak  words,  but  suffer- 
ed wounds :  he  wrought  wonders,  he  endured  thun- 
ders ;  what  heaven,  earth,  and  hell  could  inflict  upon 
him.  There  man  was  made  in  the  image  of  God ; 
here  God  is  made  in  the  image  of  man.  The  crea- 
tion was  a  work  of  his  fingers ;  "  When  I  consider 
thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,"  Psal.  viii.  3. 
Redemption  a  work  of  his  arm ;  "  His  holy  arm  hath 
gotten  liim  the  victory,"  Psal.  xcviii.  I  :  yea,  it  was 
a  work  of  his  heart,  even  that  bled  to  death  to  cic- 
complish  it.  Now  if  it  be  tnie  what  the  school 
speaks.  If  the  saving  of  one  soul  be  greater  than  the 
making  of  the  whole  world ;  (Aquin.)  and  the  good- 
ness of  grace  doth  so  far  transcend  the  goodness  of 
nature ;  then  be  thankful  to  God  for  his  creation,  but 
much  more  bless  him  for  his  Christ.  If  I  owe  my 
whole  self  for  my  creation,  what  have  I  left  to  pay 
for  my  Redeemer?  (Bern.)  I  will  sei-ve  thee,  O 
Lord,  because  thou  hast  given  me  myself;  but  much 
more  honour  thee  because  thou  hast  given  me  thy 
Son  Christ. 

Our.  Arc  we  led  aside  with  worldly  alTections, 
and  a  ha\-ing  covetousness  ?  know,  nothing  is  ours 
but  Jesus  Christ.  "  I  determined  not  to  know  any 
thing  among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  cruci- 
fied," 1  Cor.  ii.  2.  This  was  that  blessed  apostle's 
resolution.  Love  him  above  all :  affect  nothing 
against  him,  nothing  above  him,  nothing  like  him, 
nothing  besides  him,  but  what  only  for  him.  "  Be- 
hold," saith  Peter,  "  we  have  forsaken  all,  and  fol- 
lowed thee,"  Matt.  xix.  27.  Tlicy  lost  nothing  by 
it ;  When  I  sit  on  my  throne,  ye  shall  sit  on  thrones 
with  me, '  ver.  2S.  If  Christ  "be  ours,  all  is  ours : 
"  All  things  are  yours ;  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or 
Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  pre- 
sent, or  things  to  come;  all  are  yours;  and  ye  are 
Christ's ;  and  Christ  is  God's,"  1  Cor.  iii.  21—23.  In 
this  heavenly  conveyance  there  is,  1.  The  tenure,  of 
great  latitude,  all  things.  2.  The  tenants,  of  great 
happiness,  ours.  3.  The  Heir,  of  great  excellency, 
Christ.  4.  The  Landlord,  of  great  majesty,  God. 
It  is  said  of  the  wicked,  that  they  "  forsake  their 
own  mercy,"  Jonah  ii.  8.     Their  own,  as  proper  to 


100 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


them,  more  certain  than  the  skin  to  their  flesh,  if 
they  would  Iiave  kept  it ;  but,  as  Christ  said  to  the 
Jews,  "  Ye  would  not."  He  that  forsakes  his  ovni 
to  snatch  away  anothei-'s,  shall  neither  keep  an- 
other's nor  his  own.  See  what  you  do,  ye  covetous ; 
you  leave  your  own  Christ,  for  the  world  that  is  not 
yours ;  the  substance  for  the  shadow ;  and  you  shall 
lose  both  shadow  and  substance.  Ours  :  this  is  the 
encouragement  of  faith  and  obedience  :  why  do  we 
so  labour  to  be  his,  but  because  we  are  sure  he  is 
ours  ?  Every  man  loves  his  own ;  let  us  never  for- 
sake our  own  Josus. 

You  see  now  the  use  of  this  fourfold  knowledge  of 
our  Saviour.  Some  men's  pride  lifts  them  up  to 
presumption ;  let  them  acknowledge  him  a  Lord. 
Some  men's  distnist  casts  them  down  to  desperation ; 
let  them  acknowledge  him  a  Jesus.  Some  men's 
carelessness  lulls  them  in  security  ;  let  them  acknow- 
ledge him  a  Christ.  Some  men's  covetousness  drives 
them  to  apostacy ;  let  them  acknowledge  him  ours. 
Consider  him  Lord,  and  be  not  proud  :  consider  him 
Jesus,  and  be  not  desperate  :  consider  him  Christ, 
and  be  not  dissolute  :  consider  him  ours,  and  be  not 
runagates.  Thou  hast  made  thyself  ours,  make  us 
all  thine,  O  dear  Saviour  of  the  world. 

Now  for  application,  to  bring  all  yet  nearer  home 
to  our  consciences.  He  is  Lord,  give  him  obedi- 
ence. He  is  Jesus,  and  requires  our  hope.  He  is 
Christ,  and  requires  our  faith.  He  is  ours,  and  re- 
quires our  charity. 

Lord  :  this  challengeth  our  obedient  service : 
"  Hear  ye  him,"  Matt.  xvii.  5.  He  is  that  great 
Prophet  of  the  Lord,  whom  we  are  bound  to  "  hear 
in  all  things,"  Acts  iii.  22.  Swear  not :  who  com- 
manded it?  The  Lord,  Matt.  v.  34.  Be  not  angry 
unjustly :  who  forbad  it  ?  The  Lord,  ver.  22.  Be 
merciful :  who  imposed  it  ?  The  Lord,  Luke  vi.  36. 
Who  obeys  this  Lord  ?  Now  this  Lord  forgive  us  : 
"If  I  be  a  Lord,  where  is  my  fear?"  Mai.  i.  6. 
He  may  ask  indeed,  where  is  it  ?  and  who  can  answer 
him  with  a  demonstration?  The  lion  roars,  but  who 
trembles?  He  that  will  not  tremble  at  his  words,  Isa. 
Ix^-i.  2,  shall  feel  his  wounds.  But  if  he  be  not  our 
Lord  to  govern  us,  he  will  not  be  om-  Jesus  to  save  us. 

Jesus  :  this  requires  our  hope  ;  for  in  whom  is  our 
hope  but  in  Jesus  ?  When  we  are  exercised  with 
worldly  troubles,  with  great  molestation,  we  labour 
to  extricate  oui'selves,  and  faintly  say,  we  hope  in 
Jesus  ;  but  concerning  heaven,  we  all  hope  well 
enough  for  that.  Yet  when  death  comes  with  his 
offer  to  help  us  thither,  where  is  our  hope  ?  alas, 
amazement  hath  mated  it.  We  are  like  little  chil- 
dren, that  all  the  day  complain,  and  yet  when  the 
medicine  is  brought  tliem  at  night,  they  are  not  sick 
Or  like  those  that  run  all  the  week  up  and  down  the 
house,  crying  out  of  the  pain  of  their  teeth;  and  at 
last  seeing  the  barber  come  to  pull  them  out,  pre- 
sently feel  no  more  torment.  Or  as  tender  bodies  in  a 
pricking  pleurisy,  call  and  cannot  stay  for  a  surgeon  ; 
and  yet  when  they  see  him  whetting  his  lancet  to  help 
them,  pluck  in  their  arms,  and  hide  them  in  the  bed. 
The  true  reason  hereof  is  want  of  hope  ;  but  he  that 
knows  his  Jesus,  is  comforted  in  hope.  "  If  in  this  life 
only  we  have  hope  in  Christ,  we  arc  of  all  men  most 
miserable,"  1  Cor.  xv.  19.  For  this  life  and  for  ever, 
repose  we  our  hope  in  him. 

Christ :  this  term  exacteth  our  faith.  Knowest 
thou  Christ?  Thou  wilt  trust  him.  "They  that 
know  thy  name  will  put  their  trust  in  thee,"  Psal. 
ix.  10.  Knowledge  of  Christ,  and  faith  in  Chri.st, 
are  inseparable.  "  I  know  whom  I  have  believed," 
2  Tim.  i.  12.  My  faith  is  not  built  upon  ignorance, 
I  know  him  well.  Indeed  though  salvation  belong 
to  all  men,  yet  all  men  do  not  belong  to  salvation. 


None  pertain  to  it,  but  such  as  take  benefit  by  it  ; 
and  none  take  benefit  by  it,  (no  more  than  they  did 
by  the  brascn  serpent,)  but  they  that  fix  the  eye  of 
their  faith  upon  it.  He  is  Christ,  the  Lord's  anoint- 
ed, sent  for  that  end,  to  save  us  :  how  great  an  injus- 
tice is  this,  not  to  trust  our  salvation  on  him,  that 
was  from  all  eternity  appointed  for  that  purpose ! 

Ours :  therefore  let  us  give  him  our  love.  The 
knowledge  of  a  propriety  challengeth  an  earnest 
affection.  The  good  son  loves  his  own  parent ;  the 
brother  loves  the  son  of  his  mother;  the  chaste  wife 
loves  her  own  husband.  Christ  is  our  Father,  our 
Brother,  our  Husband :  ours,  let  us  love  him. 
"  Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  thee  ?  and  there  is 
none  upon  earth  that  I  desire  beside  thee,"  Psal. 
Ixxiii.  25.  Let  me  lose  all,  so  I  may  reserve  thee. 
A  philosopher  could  thus  comfort  himself  when  the 
tyrant  threatened  him  :  I  will  take  away  thy  house  : 
yet  thou  canst  not  takeaway  my  peace.  I  will  breakup 
thy  school :  yet  I  shall  keep  whole  my  peace.  I  will 
confiscate  all  thy  goods  :  yet  there  is  no  premunire 
against  my  peace.  I  will  banish  thee  thy  countr)' :  yet 
I  shall  carry  my  peace  with  me ;  for  the  wise  man's 
home  is  wheresoever  he  is  wise.  So  let  the  world 
take  from  us  our  riches,  yet  we  have  Christ :  let  it 
take  from  us  our  friends,  yet  we  have  Christ  :  let  it 
take  from  us  our  liberty,  yet  we  have  Christ  :  let  it 
take  from  us  our  wives  and  children,  dear  comforts, 
yet  we  have  Christ :  let  it  take  from  us  our  life,  yet  we 
have  Christ ;  that  is  to  us  both  in  life  and  death  an 
advantage.  When  Da\ad  said  to  Mcphibosheth, 
"Thou  and  Ziba  divide  the  land;"  he  answered, 
"  Yea,  let  him  take  all,  forasmuch  as  my  lord  the 
king  is  come  home  in  peace,"  2  Sam.  xix.  29,  30.  Thus 
let  the  world  take  all,  so  we  may  enjoy  Jesus  Christ. 

Conclusion.  The  sum  and  heart  of  the  text  con- 
cerns the  fruitfulncss  of  our  knowledge  of  Jesus 
Christ.  What  nation  ever  had  the  knowledge  of 
him  more  abundantly  propagated  ?  I  may  say  to  you 
as  Christ  said  to  his  apostles.  Blessed  are  your  eyes, 
for  they  see;  blessed  are  your  ears,  for  they  hear: 
but  I  cannot  say,  Blessed  are  your  feet,  for  they  walk  ; 
blessed  are  your  hands,  for  they  work  ;  blessed  arc 
your  hearts,  for  they  embrace.  Our  eyes  and  ears 
do  their  office,  all  the  fault  is  in  our  hearts  :  now  the 
Lord  open  our  hearts.  We  have  knowledge,  and  it 
costs  us  nothing  ;  bestow  but  the  gathering  of  your 
manna,  and  it  is  yours.  Aaron's  bells  give  you  music 
by  day ;  as  your  city-waifs  by  night :  music  in  the 
streets,  whereof  they  partake  that  pay  nothing  for  it. 
A  man  needs  not  say  to  his  brother,  "  Know  the 
Lord :  for  all  shall  know  me,  from  the  least  to  the 
greatest,"  Heb.  viii.  11.  Our  knowledge  is  universal, 
or  at  least  should  be  universal,  for  God  hath  not 
scanted  the  means.  God  hath  poured  out  his  Spirit 
upon  all  flesh:  our  sons  and  our  daughters  prophesy, 
our  young  men  see  visions,  and  our  old  men  dream 
dreams.  Acts  ii.  17.  Tliey  see  visions,  and  tell  you 
the  risions  they  see.  Your  wnse  men  desire  not,  like 
deep  streams,  to  run  silent  to  themselves ;  but  in 
a  sweet  murmur  sing  you  the  songs  of  Zion.  We 
have  knowledge,  and  need  not  travel  for  it :  you  wan- 
der not  from  sea  to  sea,  nor  run  from  north  to  cast, 
to  seek  the  word  of  God,  Amos  viii.  12.  To  nm  to 
Kome  for  accomplishment  of  knowledge,  is  to  go  into 
an  infected  house  to  fetch  out  a  rich  suit,  or  to  put 
the  linger  into  a  fiery  crucible  to  take  out  the  gold. 
What  travel  our  young  gallants  for  ?  to  hear  news  ? 
Tully  said  he  coidd  better  hear  the  news  of  Rome 
at  Antium,  than  at  Rome.  Paris  cannot  tell  more 
news  of  France,  nor  Madrid  of  Spain,  than  your 
Exchange  in  London  of  both.  I  am  sure  that 
England  stands  as  near  to  heaven  as  Italy;  and  the 
good  tidings  of  Zion  is  here  safer,  and  sooner,  and 


Ver.  8. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


101 


sounder  learned.  It  is  then  for  knowledge  :  tlu  y 
tliat  cross  the  seas  to  fill  their  brains  with  knowledge, 
travel  northward  for  heat,  and  seek  the  candle  that 
they  carry  in  their  hand. 

The  Cimmerians  that  live  in  perpetual  darkness, 
though  they  deny  a  sun,  are  not  condemned  of  im- 
]iiety,  but  of  ignorance.  But  Anaxagoras,  that  saw 
the  sun,  and  denied  it,  is  condemned  not  of  ignorance, 
but  of  impiety.  How  great  is  our  condemnation,  if 
we  know  the  light,  and  yet  choose  darkness!  John 
iii.  ly.  Former  times  were  like  Leah,  blear-eyed, 
but  fruitful :  ours  like  Rachel,  fair,  but  barren.  A^'e 
give  so  general  acclamation  to  the  gospel,  and  the 
salvation  by  it,  that  we  forget  to  observe  the  law.  As 
upon  some  solemn  festival,  the  bells  in  all  steeples 
are  rung,  but  then  the  clocks  are  tied  up ;  there  is  a 
great  untuned  confusion  and  clangour,  but  no  man 
knows  how  the  time  passeth  away.  So  in  this  uni- 
versal allowance  of  liberty  by  the  gospel,  (which  in- 
deed rejoiceth  our  hearts,  had  wc  tne  grace  of  sober 
usage,)  the  clocks  that  tell  us  how  our  time  pass- 
eth, truth  and  conscience,  which  show  the  bounded 
use  and  decent  form  of  things,  are  tied  up  and  cannot 
be  heard.  Nay,  there  is  rather  a  general  acclama- 
tion to  licentiousness,  than  true  liberty  :  "All  with 
one  voice  about  the  space  of  two  hours  cried  out. 
Great  is  Diana  of  the  E])hcsians,"  Acts  xix.  3-1.  They 
cry  so  loud  for  their  Diana's  gain,  that  Paul  the 
preacher  cannot  be  heard  ;  he  must  be  put  to  silence. 
Closes  and  Joshua  heard  a  noise  ;  "  It  is  not  the  voice 
of  them  that  shout  for  mastery,  neither  is  it  the  voice 
of  them  that  cry  for  being  overcome :  but  the  noise 
of  them  that  sing  do  I  hear."  You  would  think  it 
the  praising  of  God;  no,  it  was  the  blessing  of  an 
idol.  "  The  flowers  appear  on  the  earth  ;  the  time 
of  the  singing  of  birds  is  come,  and  the  voice  of  the 
turtle  is  heard  in  our  land,"  Cant.  ii.  12.  Peace  and 
prosperity  are  our  flowers,  and  we  sing  like  birds ; 
but  the  voice  of  the  turtle  is  not  heard  among  us. 
All  are  merr)%  but  who  mourns  for  the  abominations 
'  of  Israel  ?  All  this  while  the  Lord  is  angry,  and 
would  destroy  us,  as  he  once  threatened  Israel,  had 
not  Moses  then,  Psal.  evi.  23,  did  not  Jesus  now, 
stand  in  the  breach  for  us. 

Alas!  where  is  our  fruitfulness?  We  so  confidently 
hope  for  our  salvation  by  faith,  that  there  is  little 
honesty  or  true  dealing  amongst  men.  We  have 
either  left  faith  naked,  as  idolatry  stripped  the  Israel- 
ites, Exod.  xxxii.  25,  or  cut  ofl"  half  her  garments,  as 
Hanun  served  David's  ambassadors,  2  Sam.  x. ;  left 
her  a  rag  of  perfunctoiy  service  at  church,  but  cut 
off  obedience  as  superfluous.  Or  if  we  have  left  her 
any  covering,  it  is  such  as  John  Baptist  wore,  a  coat 
of  camel's  hair,  some  refuse  and  cheap  outside ;  and 
a  leathern  girdle,  a  string  of  hypocrisy  to  hold  it  to- 
gether: her  food  is  locusts,  mere  speculation;  and 
wild  honey,  only  table  talk.  Some  only  care  what 
they  do,  not  what  they  believe ;  they  are  nature's 
moralists.  Othci's  care  only  what  they  believe,  not 
what  they  do;  and  these  are  most  frequent.  We  all 
plead  ourselves  by  faith  to  be  Christ's  sheep;  but 
where  is  our  wool  ?  In  a  good  sheep  we  require  not 
only  flesh  to  feed  on,  but  also  wool  to  keep  warm.  In 
a  Christian  wc  require,  not  only  faith  for  himself  to 
live  on,  but  also  good  works,  a  fleece  of  charity  to 
warm  others.  You  shall  have  a  countrj-man  profess 
conscience,  but  he  dares  not  wish  Job's  wish,  "If  my 
land  cry  against  me,  or  the  furrows  thereof  complain : 
let  thistles  grow  instead  of  wheat,  and  cockle  instead 
of  barley,"  Job  xxxi.  38,  40.  You  shall  have  a  courtier 
profess  integrity  ;  but  if  he  should  say  w  ith  Job,  "  If 
I  beheld  the  sun  when  it  shined,  or  the  moon  walking 
in  brightness,  and  my  mouth  hath  Jvissed  my  hand ;" 
this  were  to  denv  the  God  that  is  above,  ver.  26 — 


28 ;  sin  enough  to  decourt  him.  You  shall  have  a 
citizen  profess  charity,  but  dares  he  say  with  Job,  If 
I  have  seen  the  poor  without  covering,  and  have  not 
clothed  him  ;  if  I  have  lifted  up  my  hand  against  the 
fatherless ;  then  let  mine  arm  fall  from  my  shoulder, 
and  be  broken  from  the  channel-bone  ?  ver.  19 — 22.  If 
all  should  make  such  wishes,  and  have  them  granted, 
I  fear  the  whole  city  would  be  an  hospital.  It  is  no 
great  wonder  to  see  a  fruitful  land  turned  into  barren- 
ness, but  it  is  a  miracle  of  mercy  to  sec  dry  ground 
turned  into  water-springs,  Psal.  evii.  34,  35 ;  to  see 
our  barren  lives  made  fruitful  of  good  works.  He 
only  that  can  tuni  stones  into  bread,  can  turn  our 
stony  hearts  into  that  mercy  to  give  bread.  "  Praise 
the  Lord,  mount<iins,  and  all  hills ;  fruitful  trees,  and 
all  cedars,"  Psal.  cxlviii.  I  make  no  question  but 
fruitful  trees  will  praise  him  :  but  cedars  and  moun- 
tains ?  Yes,  if  stout  cedars  be  bowed  to  obedience, 
and  proud  mountains  to  humility,  they  shall  praise 
him.  Yea,  "  dragons,  and  all  deeps,"  ver.  7 :  the 
very  dj-agons  of  our  oi)pressions,  being  turned  to 
mercies,  sliall  praise  him.  The  dragons  and  ostriches, 
the  beasts  of  the  field,  shall  honour  me,  Isa.  xliii.  20. 
The  deeps,  even  the  deeps  of  our  stratagems,  being 
turned  to  simjilieity  and  innocency,  shall  honour  the 
Lord.  Saul  did  not  more  speak  against  Christ,  than 
Paul  speaks  for  Christ.  Thus  we  tliat  were  dry  sticks 
by  nature,  fit  for  nothing  but  the  fire,  may  be  made 
fruitful  trees  by  grace,  to  "keep  his  commandment 
without  spot,  unrebukeable,  until  the  appearing  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  I  Tim.  vi.  14.  Which  he  work 
in  us,  "  who  is  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate,  the 
King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords;  who  only  hath 
immortality,  dwelling  in  the  light  which  no  man  can 
approach  unto  :  to  whom  l)e  honour  and  power  ever- 
lasting.    Amen,"  ver.  15,  16. 


Verse  II. 

Bill  he  that  lackelh  these  things  in  blind,  and  cannot  see 
afar  off,  and  hath  forgotten  thai  he  uas  purged  from 
his  old  sins. 

You  have  seen  their  honour  and  happiness,  that 
beautify  their  faith  with  good  works ;  that  as  by  the 
one  God  justifies  them,  so  by  the  other  they  may 
glorify  God.  Behold  now  their  miserable  estate, 
that  boast  of  a  naked  and  lean  faith,  "  He  that  lack- 
eth  these  things  is  blind,"  iS:c.  But :  the  apostle 
disjoins  them  from  fniitful  professors,  by  a  word  of 
exception  or  separation,  bat.  Whom  doth  he  re- 
ject ?  The  man  that  lacks  these  things.  What  if  he 
wants  one  or  two  of  those  graces  ?  They  may  come 
in  time ;  but  if  he  lack  these,  all  these.  In  what 
state  is  he  ?  Blind :  his  eyes  be  not  like  the  eagle's, 
but  the  mole's.  Is  he  stark  blind  ?  No,  perhaps  he 
may  sec  qutp  ante  pedes  su7it,  things  fast  by  him;  but 
not  afar  off  he  wants  the  optics  to  see  so  far  as 
heaven.  How  is  he  proved  to  be  thus  thick-sighted  ? 
Because  he  halli  forgotten.  Why,  they  that  are  blind 
have  commonly  the  best  memories.  This  is  true  indeed 
concerning  secular  objects,  the  natural  things  of  this 
world  ;  but  wilful  spiritual  cecity  is  punished  with  ob- 
livion. But  there  is  a  good  forgetfulness,  "  forgetting 
those  things  which  are  behind,"  Phil.  iii.  13.  Nay, 
but  this  man  hath  forgotten  his  ovn  purgation,  how- 
he  hath  been  formerly  cleansed:  as  the  swine  when 
she  runs  to  the  mud,  forgets  that  she  came  out  of  the 
clear  streams.  Wherein  consisted  that  purgation? 
He  was  washed  from  sin,  the  most  sordid  pollution 
and  fcculency.     What,  from  all  sins  ?     No,  butyiom 


102 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


/lii  old  sins:  for  he  commits  new  ones  that  bring 
him  to  the  speedier  dainiiution.  Now  as  St.  Augus- 
tine calls  Psal.  xli.  the  poor  man's  scripture,  and 

I  Tim.  vi.  the  rich  man's  scripture,  and  Luke  xviii. 

II  the  proud  man's  scriijture,  and  the  book  of  Job 
the  afllictcd  man's  scripture;  so  this  text  may  be 
called  the  blind  man's  scripture :  who  is  described  by. 

His  pinuiT,  He  lacketh  these  things. 

His  cecity,  He  is  blind  and  cannot  see  afar  ofl". 

His  aposiacy,  Hath  forgotten,  &c. 

The  sum  is,  whosoever  shall  trust  his  salvation 
upon  a  starved  faith,  and  not  order  his  life  by  the 
pre-mentioned  rules,  errs  in  darkness,  and  holds  not 
that  way  which  the  light  of  the  gospel  hath  directed 
him.  He  that  hath  the  true  knowledge  of  Christ 
will  be  fruitftil,  vcr.  8.  He  that  is  unfruitful,  vainly 
presumcth  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  ver.  9.  So  from 
the  connexion  of  both  these  verses,  we  find  that  true 
knowledge  must  precede  sanctity  of  life.  He  that 
hath  not  these  things  is  blind :  and  he  that  cannot 
see  well,  cannot  walk  well.  Ye  obey  not ;  why  ? 
because  ye  know  not,  1  John  ii.  4.  "  Whosoever 
sinneth  hath  not  seen  him,  neither  known  him," 
1  John  iii.  6.  You  sin ;  why  ?  because  you  know 
not.  Why  are  they  "  laden  mth  sins,  and  led  away 
with  divers  lusts?"  Because  they  know  not  the 
truth,  2  Tim.  iii.  6.  Wliy  are  they  strangers  from 
the  life  of  God  ?  Because  their  understanding  is 
darkened,  Eph.  iv.  18.  The  Romanists  pretend,  that 
they  will  help  men  to  heaven  by  ignorance  ;  and  by 
ignorance  they  shut  them  out.  They  keep  the  keys, 
and  neither  enter  in  themselves,  nor  admit  others. 
Matt,  xxiii.  13.  Every  Christian  in  his  baptism 
hath  taken  press-money  of  Christ,  to  bo  his  sokhcr, 
and  to  sen'e  him  in  the  field  of  this  world,  against 
his  and  our  enemies  :  now  he  will  fight  poorly  with- 
out weapons ;  he  must  have  the  sword  of  the  Spirit, 
and  the  shield  of  faith.  And  he  must  have  these  in 
his  own  hand ;  for  he  shall  be  smitten  in  his  own 
person,  therefore  slioidd  resist  in  his  ovm  person. 
Now  shall  he  be  content  to  bear  the  blows,  and  let 
another  wear  the  sword?  But,  say  they,  there  are 
many  hard  things  in  God's  word  past  common 
reach.  True,  and  many  easy  enough  within  their 
reach :  there  is  milk  for  weak  stomachs,  and  strong 
meat  for  abler  digestions :  there  are  fords  for  lambs, 
and  depths  for  elephants.  In  the  most  champaign 
places,  some  mysteries  are  as  hillocks,  higher  than 
the  rest:  in  the  steepest  hill  there  is  some  footing, 
whereby  we  may  come  to  that  height,  to  discover 
the  land  of  Canaan. 

But,  say  they,  this  takes  away  the  glory  of  the 
c'nurch,  when  every  man  may  control  his  teacher. 
Nay,  rather  let  them  know  the  truth,  that  they  may 
avoid  such  as  teach  against  the  truth.  Because  some 
have  been  seduced,  shall  all  be  deprived?  Then 
away  >\ith  preaching,  for  it  is  the  savour  of  death 
unto  many:  away  with  the  sacraments,  for  some  eat 
Christ's  flesh  to  choke  them  :  away  with  Christ  him- 
self, for  he  is  the  fall  of  many  in  Israel,  Luke  ii.  34, 
and  a  stone  to  cnish  their  bones  to  perdition.  Then 
let  the  lamb  cast  off  his  fleece,  because  the  lion  hath 
worn  it :  because  some  quarrel  in  the  army,  there- 
fore let  no  soldier  have  a  sword.  Then  put  out  the 
candle,  lest  it  btirn  the  house.  But,  say  they,  put 
not  knives  into  the  hands  of  children :  but  the  Scrip- 
ture admits  no  such  comparison  ;  we  rather  put  good 
swords  into  the  hands  of  men.  Discharge  us  of  tlie 
Lord's  service  ;  or  it  is  against  the  law  of  armies  to 
take  away  our  weapons.  Indeed  there  is  cause  to 
commend  the  policy  of  their  clergy,  but  not  the 
honesty.  For  how  should  they  have  sold  their  bad 
wares,  unless  they  had  first  put  out  the  people's 
eyes  ?  as  thieves  first  out  with  the  light,  that  they 


may  rifle  the  house  more  safely  in  the  dark.  Other- 
wise the  merchandise  of  masses  could  not  so  easily 
have  been  vented  abroad,  but  would  have  lain  rotting 
upon  their  hands  at  home,  if  men  were  suffered  to 
bring  the  light  of  truth  into  their  pack-houses.  But, 
say  uiey,  we  have  kept  it  from  hogs  and  dogs.  Yea, 
and  from  sheep  and  lambs  too.  Besides,  all  that 
have  .some  uncleanness  in  their  lives,  are  not  to  be 
reputed  hogs  and  dogs  :  this  is  their  mercy,  but  the 
mercy  of  God  is  more.  They  have  a  contrary  spirit 
to  Christ ;  for  he  often  preaclied  in  the  known  hear- 
ing of  dogs,  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  would  do 
so,  rather  than  the  children  should  want  their  bread. 
But,  say  they,  some  by  searching  the  Scripture  dili- 
gently, have  erred  shamefidly.  This  is  as  good  a 
reason,  as  if  one  training  up  a  child  to  be  an  archer, 
should  give  him  this  principle  and  rule,  that  by  aim- 
ing at  the  mark  most  fairly  he  should  miss  most 
foully.  No;  search  that  you  may  not  err,  John  v. 
39;  not,  be  content  to  err  rather  than  search.  But 
now  at  last  being  ashamed  of  this,  and  convinced  by 
common  equity  that  the  truth  is  not  wholly  to  be 
withheld,  they  have  published  a  part  of  it,  the  New 
Testament,  with  their  Rhemish  Commentary :  not, 
say  they,  upon  any  absolute  necessity,  but  to  avoid  cor- 
ruptions by  reading  other  translations.  They  found 
the  people  would  no  longer  be  made  such  fools,  as  when 
that  universal  mist  was  over  the  face  of  the  earth ; 
therefore  they  gratify  tlu-m  with  a  parcel  of  it.  But 
as  the  people's  curses  before  ran  through  their  ears 
into  their  souls,  for  engrossing  into  their  hands  the 
grain  of  life ;  so  their  curses  follow  them  still,  for 
selling  them  such  musty  and  mildewed  com.  Their 
wickedness  is  no  less  now  in  poisoning  them,  than  it 
was  before  in  stan-ing  them.  How  blessed  are  we 
that  freely  enjoy  that  gospel,  which  can  take  away 
blindness,  and  give  us  the  saving  knowledge  of  Jesus 
Christ ! 

"  But."  Here  is  the  diversity;  this  disjoins  these 
blind  and  barren  professors  from  the  former,  by  a 
manifest  opposition :  as  the  future  life  shall  put  an 
everlasting  diflerence  between  the  elect  and  the  re- 
probate, the  one  going  to  eternal  pain,  the  other  to 
eternal  peace,  Matt.  xxv.  46.  Here  they  are  scarce 
distinguished;  but  then  there  shall  be  a  great  gulf 
fixed  between  them,  Luke  xvi.  2(>.  So  even  on  earth 
the  Scripture  disjoins  them  with  a  bit/.  Tlie  adver- 
saries of  Stephen  gnashed  on  him  ■with  their  teeth, 
but  he  himself  was  "  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  Acts 
vii.  55.  Stephen  was  imder  them  for  outward  con- 
dition, but  far  above  them  for  inward  consolation. 
The  waves  may  foam  against  the  rock,  and  exercise 
their  vain  malice,  but  the  rock  is  unmovable.  "The 
Lord  knoweth  the  way  of  the  righteous  :  but  the  way 
of  the  ungodly  shall  perish,"  P,sal.  i.  6.  "  Many 
sorrows  shall  lie  to  the  wicked:  but  he  that  trusteth 
in  the  Lord,  mercv  shall  compass  him,"  Psal.  xxxii. 
10.  Destroy  thou  the  wicked :  "  but  let  all  those  that 
put  their  trust  in  thee  rejoice,"  PsaL  v.  II.  There 
was  darkness  in  Eg\-pt,  but  light  in  Goslien.  The  tares 
are  suffered  to  grow  up  with  the  wheat,  but  in  the 
harvest  they  shall  be  severed,  Matt.  xiii.  "  Slay  ut- 
terly old  and  yoimg;  but  come  not  near  any  man 
upon  whom  is  the  mark,"  Ezck.  ix.  6.  In  the  lOtli 
cf  the  Proverbs,  the  first  fourteen  verses  have  their 
medium  distinguished  with  this  6m/.  Indeed  most  of 
them  are  but  pairs  of  cross  and  thwart  sentences, 
manifesting  the  contrariety  of  good  to  evil.  1.  This 
is  both  in  regard  of  a  former  ordination  ;  "  Jacob 
have  I  lnved,"i«/  Esau  have  I  hated,"  Rom.  ix.  13. 
Some  are  of  old  ordained  to  condemnation,  Jude  4, 
olliers  to  life.  2.  And  in  regard  of  a  present  dispo- 
sition; for  the  faithful  love  the  things  above,  the 
wicked  dote  upon   terrestrial  objects.     The  saints 


Veb.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


103 


would  but  lodge  in  Samaria,  their  faces  are  toward 
Jerusalem:  the  ungodly  do  but  lodge  for  a  night  in 
Jerusalem,  their  faces,  their  hearts,  are  toward  Sa- 
maria. 3.  And  in  regard  of  their  future  condition  : 
the  wicked  are  brought  to  a  destructive  end  in  a 
moment,  Psal.  Ixxiii.  19;  but  mark  the  upright  man, 
and  behold  the  just,  for  the  end  of  that  man  is  peace. 
This  is  a  secret  and  unseen  distinction.  There  is 
little  difference  in  outward  show :  vessels  of  dis- 
honour have  often  the  most  credit  j  whereas  the  ves- 
sels of  honour,  elected  to  shine  as  stars  in  heaven 
for  ever,  are  here  sullied  and  kept  under.  Yet  there 
is  an  invisible  difference,  but  between  them.  Among 
men,  where  all  reputation  is  measured  by  the  acre, 
we  enter  rich  men  into  our  books,  but  refuse  to  tnist 
the  poor.  But  God  in  his  book  records  Lazarus,  and 
forgets  the  rich  man's  name. 

"  He  that  lacketh  these  things."  It  is  a  received 
maxim,  that  God  and  nature  have  wrought  nothing  in 
vain ;  no  part  or  faculty  of  the  body  can  be  well 
spared.  Thou  hast  two  eyes,  two  cars,  two  hands, 
two  feet ;  thou  canst  spare  none  of  them.  Man  liath 
five  senses ;  if  he  lose  any  of  them,  the  very  want 
will  tell  him  the  worth  of  the  habit.  The  father 
that  should  sell  one  of  his  children,  to  buy  bread  for 
the  rest  and  redeem  them  from  famine,  looks  over 
them  all,  and  at  last  concludes  he  can  part  with  none. 
What  part  of  thyself  after  much  study  couldst  thou 
lose  ?  Yet  a  man  may  lack  some,  and  be  saved  too : 
with  loss  of  a  hand,  foot,  an  eye,  he  may  enter  into 
heaven,  Mark  ix.  But  what  speak  I  of  our  mem- 
bers ;  we  are  loth  to  spare  the  superfluities  of  tliis 
world:  those  same  adjectiva,  as  Cnrist  calls  them; 
adjectanea,  as  Paul  says.  Our  veiy  delights  have 
their  set  vicissitudes,  and  not  one  is  omitted  for  fear 
of  breaking  the  rank.  Covetous  worldlings  will 
hardly  spare  the  poor  some  of  their  fire  to  warm 
them,  some  of  their  water  to  drink,  some  of  their 
ground  to  lodge  on ;  though  it  were  no  more  hurt  to 
them,  than  the  lighting  of  a  candle  at  their  torch. 
We  can  lack  nothing  for  this  world ;  but  for  heaven, 
oh  the  mercy  of  God !  quanlum  est  in  rebus  inane  ! 
we  can  quietly  lack  things  that  conduce  to  our  eter- 
nal peace.  What  is  the  reason  ?  A  man  never 
misseth  what  he  cares  not  for.  If  a  man  lack  riches, 
he  complains,  "  Who  will  show  us  any  good  p  "  Psal. 
iv.  6.  If  he  lack  honour,  he  is  glad  to  hear  a  friend 
in  the  court  say  to  him,  as  Elisha  to  the  Shunam- 
mite,  "  Wouldst  thou  be  sjjoken  for  to  the  king,  or 
to  the  captain  of  the  host  ?  "  2  Kings  iv.  13.  Few 
would  answer  with  the  Shunammite,  "  I  live  among 
mine  own  people ; "  I  had  rather  dwell  at  home.  If 
he  lacks  cmldren,  he  is  ready  to  say  with  that  patri- 
arch, "  What  wilt  thou  give  me,  seeing  I  go  child- 
less ?  "  Gen.  XV.  2.  If  an  Ahab  have  a  whole  manor, 
yet  he  lacks  Naboth's  vineyard ;  that  very  nook  dis- 
figures his  lordship.  If  Haman  have  Ahasuerus's 
favour,  yet  he  lacks  Mordecai's  knee  and  cap ;  and 
is  angry  that  other  men  think  him  not  so  good  as  he 
thinks  himself  Though  Joab  have  renown  with  Da- 
vid, yet  a  word  of  disgrace  from  Abner  troubles  his 
Btomach ;  he  can  neither  swallow  it  down,  nor  vomit 
it  up :  becau.se  another  is  not  his  friend,  he  resolves 
to  be  his  own  enemy.  Let  the  engrosser's  barns  and 
granaries  be  never  so  full  of  com,  yet  if  he  lacks 
price  for  it  in  the  market  answerable  to  liis  desire, 
he  is  ready  to  hang  himself,  and  be  cpitaphed  on  as 
that  pope,  Vixit  lupus,  morilur  cams.  He  that  de- 
sires much,  wants  as  much  as  he  that  hath  nothing. 
The  drunkard  is  as  dry  as  the  sweating  traveller. 
The  apostles  said.  Silver  and  gold  have  we  none. 
Acts  iii.  6.  The  devil  says,  All  these  are  mine,  Luke 
iv.  6 ;  and  the  rich  man,  I  have  much  goods  laid  up 
for  many  years,  Luke  xii.  19.     Now  take  thy  choice ; 


whether  hadst  thou  rather  lack  with  those  saints,  or 
aliound  with  these  devils  ?  Say  with  Paul,  My  God 
shall  supply  all  my  need,  Phil.  iv.  19 :  and  as 
Abraham  answered  Isaac,  complaining  for  a  sacri- 
fice, God  will  provide.  Lord,  tnou  art  my  portion ; 
and  he  is  too  covetous  that  Jesus  Christ  cannot  satis- 
fy. The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd ;  I  therefore  can  lack 
nothing,  Psal.  xxiii.  1.  A  man  may  lack  outward 
things,  yet  come  never  the  later  to  heaven ;  yea,  the 
sooner,  the  surer :  but  woe  to  him  that  lacks  "  these 
things ! "  Tliis  is  the  want  now  least  feared,  and 
this  shall  be  the  want  most  lamented.  First  seek 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  then  other  things  shall  come 
in  due  place  and  time,  Matt.  vi.  33.  Follow  thou 
righteousness,  the  rest  shall  follow  thee.  There 
was  a  young  man  that  thought  well  of  himself; 
"  All  these  have  I  kept :  what  lack  I  yet  ?  "  Malt. 
xix.  20.  AVhat  ?  it  is  answered,  "  If  thou  wilt  be 
perfect,  give  all  to  the  poor,"  ver.  21 :  it  is  better 
lack  all  the  rest,  than  lack  charity.  Terrene  opu- 
lence is  a  mere  titular  thing ;  as  Petrus  Blessensis 
wrote  to  Innocentius,  Bishop  of  Rome,  concerning 
an  ecclesiastical  dignity  in  England,  A  preferment 
standing  upon  naked  and  j)ure  supposals.  But  grace 
is  solid  and  real ;  for  "  the  blessing  of  the  Lord 
maketh  rich,  and  he  addeth  no  sorrow  w'ith  it," 
Prov.  X.  22. 

Pray  (hen  to  him  that  alone  is  able  to  supply 
these  wants ;  as  Paul,  "  For  this  I  besought  the  Lord 
thrice,"  2  Cor.  xii.  8.  What  then?  if  after  thrice 
praying  we  feel  no  full  concession,  shall  we  give 
over  ?  No,  pray  still,  and  God  will  answer,  "  My 
grace  is  sufficient  for  thee,"  ver.  9.  What  is  want- 
ing in  our  endeavours,  God  shall  make  up  \^^th  his 
sufficient  mercies.  We  have  need  to  sacrifice.  Do 
we  lack  fuel  ?  The  Lord  supplies  us  with  penitence 
and  patience,  faith  and  love.  Yet  we  lack  fire :  he 
gives  us  zeal,  an  immortal  fire  from  heaven.  Yet 
lack  we  an  altar :  he  gives  us  a  pure  heart.  Is  there 
yet  wanting  a  sacrifice  ?  ofler  up  thyself.  "  He  will 
fulfil  the  desire  of  Ihem  that  fear  him,"  Psal.  cxlv. 
19.  "  The  young  lions  do  lack,  and  suffer  hunger: 
but  they  that  seek  the  Lord  shall  not  want  any  good 
thing,"  Psal.  xxxiv.  10.  Then,  Lord,  take  away  the 
rest,  and  give  me  thyself.  If  we  can  hold  Christ, 
no  good  thing  shall  be  withholden  from  us,  Psal. 
Ixsxiv.  11.  Whatsoever  we  lack,  let  us  not  lack 
these  things. 

"  Is  blind."  We  come  from  the  penury  and 
want  to  the  cecity  or  blindness,  wherein  his  imder- 
standing  suffers.  Blindness  is  nothing  else  but  a 
privation  of  sight;  so  ignorance  is  a  destitution  of 
knowledge.  The  school  makes  three  sorts  of  this 
spiritual  blindness.  I.  Ignorance  negative.  The 
not  knowing  of  impertinent  things  is  tolerable :  as 
we  need  not  know  how  oft  we  have  breathed,  &c. 
To  this  knowledge  we  are  not  obliged.  2.  Ignor- 
ance privative.  This  is  considered  in  necessary 
things,  and  concerning  ourselves ;  and  is  not  so 
nmch  our  sin,  as  our  punishment  for  sin  ;  an  afflic- 
tion as  much  as  a  transgression.  3.  Ignorance  cor- 
iiiptive  :  which  is  a  refractory  and  desperate  averse- 
ncss  from  knowledge  :  the  other  was  morbus  mentis, 
this  is  morsus  serpentis.  This  is  wretched,  for  a  man 
to  be  ignorant  of  his  own  ignorance  :  Laodicea's 
disease.  Rev.  iii.  17;  to  be  so  blind  as  not  to  know 
her  own  blindness.  Such  an  eye  is  not  dark,  in  the 
concrete  :  but  darkness  itself,  in  the  abstract.  Now 
if  the  light  be  darkness,  how  great  is  that  darkness  ' 
Matt.  v:.  23.  It  is  both  a  sin  and  a  punishment  ; 
a  sin,  TJatt.  xv.  14;  Isa.  Ivi.  10;  a  punishment. 
Dent.  XNviii.  28  ;  Isa.  lix.  10.  Blind  are  we  all  by 
nature ;  like  the  man  that  sat  by  the  way-side  beg- 
ging, Luke  xviii.  35.;  sitting  by  the  way,'  not  seeing 


104 


AX  EXPOSmoX  UPOX  THE 


Chap.  I. 


the  war ;  Wg^ng,  >«t  he  know*  not  'A  wh'/m.  Xow 
there  i»  ^Wj  h  contncOnl  Uindnf-**,  an  aflV-cUrd 
ijfiwrari"-  •  ^  ■  'i  '  r-'-re  arc  divers  caiuefs,  a*  of  the  cor- 
pr^ral.  -;tual  cccilr. 

Bv  ;  rbenm  the  tyoi  are  harmed;  so 

taeuii^-.    ..  ,, ,.  J!  a  hot  kcalding  rJieom  to  blear 

t>je  eye  of  tiie  vyu].  We  have  many  such  rheumatic 
•{/iriu,  tfiat  will  go  a  new  way,  or  tv>  way.  They 
care  not  ff/r  N>/ah'i>  ark,  the  church ;  l/ut  climb  up 
t/j  a  mountain  apart,  a  iirJTale  awivcnticle  Ijy  them- 
»elve».  They  are  blino,  and  dec  not  the  flanger  of 
the  flood. 

By  a  violent  blow,  or  nuch  accidental  hart.  The 
eye  in  tender,  and  therefore  hath  two  Iid»  to  defend 
il.  N'/n  palilUT  luiium,  Jama,  Jidtn,  ocvUuJi.  And 
Satan  bliluUthi*  inteil>-'-twil  eye  Irt- a  Hudden  blow- 
given  to  the  hinA  ■.  the  gfxl  of  thio  world  liath  blind- 
ed their  eyim  that  th'-y  lycli<-vc  not,  2  Cor.  iv.  4. 
H'/w  ij>  thill  ?  I;y  filling  them  with  vain  irnagin;ition» 
and  turpitu'l/-ii,  Horn.  i.     Liuit*  darken  the  mind. 

By  dujit  thrown  intf*  them.  The  du*t  of  thin  world 
viak'rk  many  blind:  th'.-y-  dig  like  moles  into  the 
»«rth,  and  there  \<Mt  trie  »ight  of  heaven.  Giflx 
blind  the  wiw-.  Such  men  may  sit  on  iK-nclies,  !<<.• 
taken  into  c</unciU,  have  their  (ryes  of  iKjlicy  rjuick  as 
eagles;  and  yet  l^e  blind.  Perliajrs  they  have  the  protid 
»c/ni  of  the  I'fiarisees,  "Are  we  blind  also?"  John 
ix.  4fJ.  To  whom  it  is  answered,  "  If  ye  were  blind, 
ye  s>t/mld  liave  no  sin :  Init  now  ye  say,  We  see  ; 
therefore  your  sin  rcmainetb,"  ver.  41.  These  that 
have  wj  much  knowledge  to  lieap  ut>  wealth,  who 
dares  call  them  fi>ols  for  h'-aven  ?  lie  tfiat  dares 
justify  it :  "  Thou  fo<il,  this  night  thy  soul  shall  Ia; 
required  of  thee,"  Luke  xii.  'A),  lie  could  sec  to 
fill  his  l<ams,  but  not  to  get  salvation.  Tlie  devil 
luUmn  U>  keej)  m<-ii  blind  during  the  presumption 
of  tla-ir  lives,  and  only  ojien  tlieir  eyes  in  the 
di-s]>eration  t)i;tt  waits  on  their  deaths:  like  the 
Syrians,  wh'^e  eyes  were  never  ojicned  till  they 
were  in  the  mi'lst  of  their  enemies,  2  Kings  vi.  '20. 
Sin  shuts  up  men's  eyes,  but  [;iinishment  ofiens  them. 
For  iu:  that  will  be  blind  wlien  he  sins,  shall  be 
made  wise  when  he  sufl'ers. 

The  sum  is  this  ;  lie  that  lacks  grace,  lacks  know- 
ledge. 'J'hey  tJiat  wander  in  by-jiaths  declare  theni- 
iM;lv(rs  ignorant  of  the  right  way  ;  so  if  a  man  be  lewd 
in  his  maimers,  we  conclude  him  blind  for  the  way 
of  salvation.  If  their  work  be  full  of  cursediiess, 
murder,  and  destruction,  we  infer,  "The  way  of 
j)r-;iee  have  they  not  known,"  Korn.  iii.  17.  Oh  the 
mfiiiite  iiumlx.T  of  blind  s/dils!  If  all  that  be  un- 
K<My  live  in  d;irkness,  how  f>-w  of  this  world  have 
«-yes  !  or  if  they  have,  they  see  not  ;  "Bring  forth 
the  blind  people  that  liave  eyes,"  Isa.  iVm.H.  Kvery 
one  indeed  is  re;uly  to  tax  another's  ignorance,  not 
his  own.  If  two  blind  men  rush  one  uikiii  another 
in  the  Wfiy,  either  eonipliiins  of  r,tlieKs  blindness, 
neither  of  his  own.  Oh  that  this  blindness  were  a 
little  removed,  tib'it  by  a  self-inspection  we  might 
see  our  own  hearts.  If  the  sinner  would  |(»ok  into 
that  secret  cloister,  how  would  the  speetiw'le  amaze 
him!  He  should  (iml  a  will  more  warped  than  a 
bow  ;  alTections  more  perversi-  than  an  unbroken 
dromedary;  a  soul  bleeding  with  iinstanehed  wounds; 
a  chamber  full  of  fiends  ;  one  holding  down  th'-  rea- 
son, another  iliilling  the  memory,  a  third  tempting 
the  will,  a  fourth  searing  the  conscience.  Tims  they 
possess  the  citjulel,  his  heart ;  possessing  they  vex  it, 
vexiuK  they  laugh  at  it,  laughing  they  destroy  il.and 
lifter  destruction  they  torment  it.  How  lies  the  piHir 
ravished  soul  parilinij  under  these  adulterers  ;  slaved 
in  till-  chains  of  a  inoit  misirable  Ijonda^e,  where  the 
bread  of  lifr-,  and  blood  of  (,'lirist,  are  kept  from  hir  j 
beholding  with  Itiurhel   her  dear  children,  her  aircc 


tions,  faculties,  and  addictions  to  gwxl,  butchered  be- 
fore her  eyes  :  exjxrttirjg  the  fatal  hour,  when  her- 
self must  Ix:  haled  to  th'.-  gn-at  tribunal,  and  receive 
her  eternal  doom  I  Let  us  all  therefore  now  look  in- 
ward ;  Ijc  no  longer  blind  at  home,  strangers  to  our 
own  Ix/soms.  Xow  he  tliat  ojK-ned  the  eyes  of  Paul, 
oj<en  ouri.;  and  resinie  our  soul  from  destructions, 
'jur  darling  from  the  lioas,  Psal.  xxxv.  17;  and  our- 
selves from  the  hour  and  j/ower  of  darkness. 

"And  cannot  see  afar  off."  The  original  ib  /tvuTiXuv, 
thick-eyed.  It  signifies  pati  affeclam  th  fiiwrac,  and 
that  is  derived  quati  /titiv  rdi  uiraf.  claudereoculo* 
mm  penitut,  ted  fMrumper.  Some  translate  it,  to 
wink;  "He  winketh  with  hii  eyes,"  Prov.  vi.  13. 
Others,  one  that  cannot  oj<en  his  eyes.  But  to  take 
it  as  we  here  read  it;  one  that  "cannot  see  afar 
off:"  now  V)  the  former  word,  rv^Xst,  this  seems  to 
Ijc  subjected  per  ipuindam  correclionem :  he  is  blind, 
aul  «i  Tum  pTornu  ca-rwi,  etpculit  lamen  intlar  lutciosi. 
It  is  a  voluntary  darkening  the  eye  to  heavenly  things. 
Lwicionut  is  such  a  one  as  sees  a  little  at  the  day 
<l/iwning,  worse  after  the  sun  rising,  never  a  whit 
after  the  sun  setting. 

"Afar  off."  What  are  those  things  alar  off  that 
he  cannot  sec?  He  sees  the  sun,  the  moon,  the 
stars  ;  and  these  are  afar  off.  So  do  the  beasts,  and 
s'ime  of  them  more  clearly.  What,  is  it  meant  of  a 
physical  remoteness  ;  tlut  he  cannot  see  into  the 
dr-ep  secrets  of  nature,  not  perceive  how  to  derive 
benefits  from  the  fountain-head  ?  If  he  would  Imve 
l»rea«l,  does  he  not  know  to  deduce  it  by  a  natural 
course  ;  as  first  to  till  his  ground,  then  to  sow  hi» 
seed,  then  to  reap  and  carry  it  into  his  bam ;  and 
when  he  hath  it  there,  to  bring  it  under  the  flail, 
the  fan,  the  mill,  the  oven,  and  so  to  perfect  it  into 
brea<l?  If  he  would  have  cloth,  and  not  to  go  to 
the  shop  for  it ;  knows  he  not  to  shear  his  sheep,  to 
spin  his  wool,  to  weave,  full,  and  colour  it,  and  to  fit 
it  to  his  own  wearing  ?  Or,  is  it  meant  of  terrene 
objects,  distanced  off  by  a  local  interjection.  Why  he 
hath  then  a  perspective  ghiss,  to  represent  a  remote 
thing  ;ui  il  were  at  liis  foot;  or  some  optic  instru- 
ments, to  stand  on  a  tower  and  read  a  Iwok  lying  in 
the  streets  ;  or  some  |«jlitic  eyes,  that  by  intelligence 
he  may  know  in  his  chamber  the  sU-ite  affairs  of 
foreign  kingdoms;  or  demoniac  eyes,  whereby  he 
can  see  in  a  glass  things  as  far  as  India,  by  a  cun- 
ning delusion.  So  Saul  was  jiersiiaded  that  he  saw 
Satnuel,  who  indeed  was  as  far  off  him  as  heaven  from 
earth.  What,  is  it  then  meant  for  a  searcliing  into 
the  secret  purjioses  and  fetches  of  men?  But  "  the 
heart  is  deceitful  aliovc  all  things,  and  desperately 
wicked:  who  can  know  it?"  Jer.  xvii.  9.  The 
world's  )irinci]>al  study  is  to  keej<  their  meanings 
afar  off,  !is  the  fox  preys  farthest  f^rom  home.  1'he 
Labyrinth  luul  a  way  out,  but  man's  heart  is  more 
intricate  and  fuller  of  windings  than  Meander.  V(;u 
may  travel  with  a  man  !u>  far  as  the  Indies,  and  yet 
still  find  the  way  into  his  heart  a  farther  journey. 
'J'liese  things  are  far  off,  but  we  must  look  farllier;  not 
to  the  things  beneath,  but  to  llieni  above,  John  viii.'23. 

Those  remote  things  which  this  man  cannot  sec, 
are  such  as  be  sejiarated  from  human  sense,  whereof 
flesh  and  blood  was  never  an  eye-witness.  "  For  we 
walk  by  faith,  not  by  sight,"  2  Cor.  v.  7-  "The 
natural  man  receivith  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit; 
neither  can  he  know  them,  beeaime  they  arc  spirit- 
ually discerned,"  I  Cor.  ii.  14.  He  may  sec  the 
sensual  things  of  this  world,  for  they  are  at  hnnil  ; 
bill  not  the  ^reat  mysteries  of  godliness,  for  they  are 
far  off.  Hill  ilolli  not  the  goHjiel  brin({  heaven  near 
iix  ?  anil  doth  not  Christ  say,  "The  kiiigiloiii  of  (jod 
is  come  unto  you?"  Mali.  xii.  '2S.  Yes,  it  may  be 
near  to  men,  and  yet  men  far  from  il.     Indeed  the 


Ver.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


105 


saints  that  were  once  by  nature  "  far  off,  are  made 
nigh  to  him  by  the  blood  of  Christ,"  Eph.  ii.  13; 
but  unbelievers  andimpenitcnts  are  far  off  still. 

Heavenly  things  are  far  off  from  carnal  sense :  he 
that  will  believe  no  more  than  he  sees,  shall  be  for 
ever  bhnd.  Tile  best  things  are  invisible  to  human 
eyes.  God  is  invisible :  Moses  saw  "  him  who  is  in- 
visible," Ileb.  xi.  27.  Light  is  invisible :  God  dwelleth 
in  the  light,  which  "  no  man  hath  seen,  nor  can  see,"  1 
Tim.\i.  IG.  Christ  is  invisible:  "Yet  a  little  while,  and 
the  world  seeth  me  no  more,"  John  xiv.  19.  It  was  a 
great  miracle  that  dying  Stephen  should  see  him  at  the 
right  hand  of  his  Father ;  and  so  wonderful  a  vision  to 
John,  to  behold  him  in  that  glorious  majesty,  that  he 
fell  dead  at  his  feet.  Rev.  i.  17.  The  Spirit  is  invisi- 
ble ;  like  the  wind,  the  sound  whereof  we  hear,  but 
see  not  whence  it  cometh,  nor  whither  it  goeth,  John 
iii.  8.  His  power  is  invisible  :  his  power  and  God- 
head are  called  the  invisible  things  of  God,  Rom.  i.  20. 
The  kingdom  is  invisible  :  "  Except  a  man  be  born 
again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God,"  John  iii. 
3.  The  best  eyes  see  but  in  a  riddle ;  "  Now  we  see 
through  a  glass,  darkly,"  1  Cor.  xiii.  12.  Here  faith 
supplies  all  defects;  i'or  it  is  the  office  of  faith  to 
believe  that  we  do  not  see,  and  it  shall  be  the  reward 
of  faith  to  see  that  we  do  believe.  (August.)  "Bless- 
ed are  they  that  have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  be- 
lieved," John  XX.  29. 

These  are  the  remote  objects :  in  every  pious  thing 
there  is  somewhat  afar  off  to  human  eyes.  In  de- 
votion or  worship  of  God,  the  prostration  of  the  body 
is  seen,  not  the  humility  of  the  soul.  Eli  could  see 
Hannah's  li|is  pay  their  tributes  to  God,  he  did  not 
see  the  zeal  of  her  heart ;  but  she  spake  in  her  heart, 
and  Eli  thought  she  was  drunk,  1  Sam.  i.  13.  In  the 
sacrament,  bread  and  wine  are  seen  of  reprobate 
eyes,  but  there  is  an  in\-isible  thing  far  off  to  them  ; 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  that  nourisheth  the 
soul  to  everlasting  life  in  the  gospel:  how  near  is  the 
historv',  how  far  off  the  mystery  !  In  the  word 
preached,  the  world  perceives  so7iun>,  non  sensum, 
the  audible  sound,  not  the  profitable  sense.  As  an 
ignorant  man  sees  the  painted  images  of  virtues ;  he 
says  they  are  goodly  pictures,  but  he  knows  not 
what  they  mean,  the  moral  is  far  off  from  his  appre- 
hension. As  little  children,  who  look  upon  the 
babies  in  a  book,  regard  not  the  matter  therein  con- 
tained. Concerning  a  Christian,  the  world  can  see 
his  house  well  furnished,  his  grounds  well  stocked, 
his  barns  well  filled,  his  purseVcll  monied,  if  these 
things  be;  but  the  joy  of  his  spirit,  the  peace  of  his 
conscience,  the  grace  of  his  heart,  these  are  things 
afar  off  from  the  world.  The  peace  and  prosperilv 
that  accompany  the  church,  they  delight  to  see  and 
taste  ;  that  ever\-  man  may  sit  imder  his  own  tig 
tree,  and  drink  the  milk  of  his  own  flock :  but  the 
remission  of  sins,  the  effusion  of  grace,  the  commu- 
nion of  saints,  the  possession  of  comforts  ;  those  spi- 
ritual privileges,  more  glorious  than  the  states  of 
kingdoms,  are  invisible  and  too  far  off.  Let  us  not 
look  "  at  the  things  which  are  seen,  but  at  the  things 
which  are  not  seen  :  for  the  things  which  are  seen 
are  temporal ;  but  the  things  which  are  not  seen  are 
eternal,"  2  Cor.  iv.  18. 

Oh  that  your  eyes  could  look  a  little  beyond  the 
earth.  There  are  two  several  countries  afar  off: 
they  lie  beyond  the  poles,  yet  undiscovered,  farther 
than  the  glass  of  the  Scripture  presents  to  the  eyes 
of  faith.  The  countries  are  heaven  and  hell.  There 
are  two  ways  to  them,  which  be  near  and  visible, 
piety  and  profaneness.  There  are  two  doors  to  pass, 
before  men  arrive  to  either  of  them,  death  and  judg- 
ment. Many  think  these  far  off,  they  "  put  far  away 
the  evil  day,"  Amosvi.  3;  and  say,  "  The  vision  that 


he  seeth  is  for  many  days  to  come,  and  he  prophe- 
sieth  of  the  times  that  are  far  off,"  Ezek.  xii.  27. 
Men  oppress,  riot,  lust,  blaspheme,  as  if  the  judgment 
were  far  off:  as  that  malefactor,  being  asked  by  whom 
he  would  be  tried,  answered  deridingly.  By  Christ 
and  Ills  twelve  ajxistles.  It  was  replied,  that  they 
were  in  heaven.  No  haste,  quoth  he,  I  am  content 
to  tarry  till  they  come.  "  But  the  end  of  all  things 
is  at  hand,"  1  Pet.  iv.  7.  And  let  them  read  and 
tremble.  Rev.  sxii.  12,  "Behold,  I  come  quickly; 
and  my  reward  is  with  me." 

If  you  could  see  so  far  off  as  hell  below :  if  the 
smoky  gates  of  that  bottomless  pit  were  opened  to 
give  you  but  a  glimpse  of  the  damned  spirits  under 
torture  ;  those  flames,  those  shrieks,  those  fears  and 
horrors ;  that  palpable  darkness  mixed  with  un- 
quenchable fire  ;  the  reprobates  ever  boiling,  never 
consumed ;  ever  dying,  never  dead ;  ever  cr\'ing, 
never  pitied ;  where  the  covetous  churl,  that  would 
not  give  a  bit  of  bread,  begs  as  fast  for  a  drop  of 
water ;  yet  if  rivers  should  run  into  his  mouth,  what 
were  it  to  quench  those  rivers  of  brimstone  that  in- 
flame it  ?  where  there  is  no  intermission  of  com- 
plaints, no  breathing  from  pain ;  after  millions  of 
Sorrowful  years,  no  possibility  of  comfort.  If  the 
stroke  of  a  temporal  misery  be  so  smart,  that  often 
death  is  wished  to  ease  it,  what  is  the  full  vial  of 
God's  wrath  !  If  the  rack  of  a  gout,  convulsion,  or 
strappado  be  so  cruel,  what  is  everlasting  torment! 
If  this  sight  so  far  off  might  be  admitted  us,  how 
would  we  weep  and  bleed  for  our  sins,  how  inces- 
santly l)ray  for  pardon,  how  rectify  our  crooked  and 
cursed  steps ;  that  we  might  never  come  to  such  a 
place,  as  to  see  Abraham  afar  off!  Luke  xvi.  23. 
Oh  that  we  knew  these  things  in  this  our  day ;  but 
alas,  they  are  hid  from  most  men's  eyes,  Luke  xix. 
42.  If  men's  foresight  were  but  half  as  sharp  as  is 
their  sense,  that  would  be  their  greatest  fear  which 
is  now  their  chicfest  pleasure.  Let  Dives  come  out 
of  hell  to  his  former  riches,  the  sensible  world  shall 
admire  his  charity.  Let  Judas  be  ransomed  out  of 
hell,  he  will  no  more  betray.  Let  Esau  find  that 
favour,  he  will  never  again  sell  his  birthright.  Nabal 
then  would  no  longer  be  a  churl,  nor  Ahithophel  a 
false  counsellor,  nor  Ahab  a  bloody  tyrant,  nor  Cain 
a  falricide.  There  is  not  a  piece  of  a  line  in  the 
Scripture,  which  speaks  of  tliat  lake  of  fire  and 
brimstone,  but  by  a  hundred  thousand  parts  it  im- 
porteth  more  than  it  expresselh.  Believe  that  you 
cannot  see,  lest  you  feel  that  you  would  not  believe. 

If  you  could  see  so  far  off  as  heaven  above,  or 
might  be  admitted  to  look  into  that  glorious  house. 
Kings  use  not  to  dwell  in  cottages  of  clay,  but  in 
royal  courts  fit  for  their  majesty  :  what  is  then  the 
court  of  the  King  of  kings !  This  world  seems  glo- 
rious, such  a  carbuncle  as  the  sun  to  lustre  it,  stars 
far  more  precious  than  chrj"solites,  a  pavement 
checkered  over  with  various  colours,  adorned  with 
innumerable  delights :  n»jw  if  God  hath  provided 
such  a  habitation  for  his  enemies,  what  a  one  is  that 
he  hath  ordained  for  himself  and  liis  friends !  Earth- 
ly princes  have  dwelt  in  cedar  and  ivory  ;  but  the 
palace  of  the  Highest  hath  a  wall  of  jasper,  a  building 
of  gold,  a  foundation  of  precious  stones,  and  gates  of 
pearl.  Rev.  xxi.  We  see  now  but  the  pavement  of 
it  :  oh  how  goodly  is  it  stuck  full  of  lights,  more 
sparkling  than  diamonds !  Did  the  centurion  say, 
"  I  am  not  worthy  that  thou  shouldest  come  under 
my  roof?"  Matt.  viii.  8 ;  and  yet  Christ  was  then  but 
in  his  humbled  estate :  do  thou  say,  I  am  not  worthy 
to  enter  into  thy  shining  and  glorious  house.  It  was 
said,  he  that  hath  been  once  at  Ormuz,  will  never 
love  his  own  country  again.  He  that  hath  had  a 
glimpse  of  heaven,  how  poorly  will  he  think  of  this 


106 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


eartli,  which  many  lose  their  own  souls  to  purchase ! 
Lord,  lift  up  our  eyes  to  see  thus  far;  let  the  scales 
of  earthly  affections  quite  fall  off;  carry  us  up  to 
thy  glory.  Thou  that  didst  lay  clay  upon  the  blind 
man's  eyes,  and  so  open  them,  take  away  this  clay 
of  earthliness  from  our  eyes,  whereby  they  are  shut. 
Cast  into  us  the  beams  of  that  celestial  glory  ;  and 
because  we  cannot  yet  ascend  to  that,  let  that  come 
down  upon  us.  Ravish  our  eyes  with  thy  owii  beauty, 
that,  like  eagles,  we  may  disdain  all  objects  buc  the 
Sun.  Thou  that  hast  prepared  heaven  for  our  souls, 
prepare  also  our  souls  for  heaven.  Thou  art  not  far 
from  every  one  of  us,  Acts  xvii.  27 ;  thou  art  near  to 
us :  bring  us  also  near  to  thee,  0  God,  show  us  thy- 
self, and  we  shall  love  thee.  Let  us  see  thee,  O 
blessed  Jesus,  now  with  tlie  eyes  of  grace,  and  here- 
after with  the  vision  of  perfect  glorj-. 

"  And  hath  forgotten  that  he  was  purged  from  his 
old  sins."  We  see  the  curse  that  lies  upon  his  un- 
derstanding ;  he  "  is  blind :"  now  for  that  lies  uj)on 
his  memory ;  he  "  hath  forgotten."  To  pull  the 
words  asunder,  were  to  martyr  the  sense;  they  must 
be  considered  soisu  composito,  in  composition.  As 
they  are,  they  describe  a  wicked  apostate  ;  yet  sepa- 
rate them,  and  all  signify  good.  There  is  a  forget- 
fulness,  this  may  be  good  (as  to  forget  a  wrong) ; 
there  is  a  purging,  this  may  be  better ;  there  is  a 
purging  from  sins,  this  may  be  best  of  all :  but  put 
them  together,  he  hath  forgotten  that  he  was  purged 
fi'om  his  sins,  there  is  the  misery.  The  earth,  water, 
and  man,  are  all  safe  while  they  keep  their  own  pro- 
per places ;  but  when  the  water  ovenvhelmed  the 
earth  there  was  evil  to  man :  the  mixture  and  con- 
fusion spoils  all.  Good  simples  are  often  marred  in 
the  compounihng,  a  good  sentence  lost  in  the  mis- 
pointing.  So  here,  purgation,  and  purgation  from 
sins,  and  purgation  from  sins  by  the  blood  of  Christ, 
all  lost  by  the  ingratitude  of  forgetfulness.  This 
same  "  he  hath  forgotten"  is  the  confusion  of  all  the 
rest.  It  is  said  of  Ahithophel,  2  Sam.  xvii.  23,  that 
seeing  his  coimscl  neglected,  he  saddled  his  ass,  and 
rose ;  he  prepared  himself  for  a  return,  that  was  well ; 
he  gat  him  home  to  his  house,  thai  was  better;  he 
put  his  household  in  order,  that  was  best  of  all :  but 
when  he  hanged  himself,  and  became  his  own  exe- 
cutioner, preventing  the  mercy  of  DaWd,  the  mei-cy 
of  God,  this  was  the  bane  of  all.  If  after  purging 
from  old  sins,  this  man  had  presen-ed  the  mercy  in 
mcmoiy,  and  answered  it  in  piety,  he  had  been  happy. 
But  he  gels  new  corruption,  and  forgcis  his  former 
purgation  ;  therefore  God  forgets  his  righteousness, 
and  takes  liim  away  in  his  wieke(hiess  ;  ill  the  sin  that 
he  hath  sinned,  he  dies,  Ezek.  xviii.  24. 

"  Forgotten  :"  the  original  is  ad  leibum,  XijSiji/ 
\a(3wv,  ul  qui  oblivionem  ceperit ;  one  that  did  volun- 
tarily attract  forgetfulness  to  himself;  Ihe  author  of 
his  owTi  mischief ;  courting  his  own  destruction:  for- 
getfulness did  not  so  much  lake  him,  as  he  did  take 
forgetfulness.  The  poets  wrote  of  Lethe,  a  certain 
Stygian  river,  that  whosoever  (bank  of  il,  forgot 
presently  all  past  things.  He  wilfully  ingurgitates 
this  Leihean  drink,  and  calls  in  oblivion  to  lodge  in 
his  heart.  The  ungodly,  as  if  they  were  impatient 
at  the  delay  of  their  own  vengeance,  liasten  to  have 
their  sins  go  before  unto  judgment,  I  Tim.  v.  24. 
They  scarce  slay  the  devil's  leisure  to  tempt  them, 
therefore  do  it  themselves.  They  lariy  not  till  ob- 
livion and  ingratitude  be  offered  to  them,  but  they 
snatch  it,  like  ravenous  stomachs  that  will  not  en- 
dure till  their  meat  be  dressed.  This  forwartbiess  is 
expressed,  Prov.  i.  16,  "Their  feet  run  to  evil." 
They  rise  early  to  put  it  in  practice,  Micah  ii.  1. 
They  draw  it  on  with  cords  and  cart-ropes,  Isa.  v.  18. 
They  do  not  accept  it  as  being  offered,  but  extort  it 


as  being  prohibited.  This  saves  the  devil  a  labour, 
when  men  call  iniquity  to  themselves.  "  The  soul 
of  the  wicked  desireth  evii,"  Prov.  xxi.  10:  if  it 
comes  not,  they  will  fetch  it,  fly  to  it;  but  they  had 
better  have  crept  like  snails.  For  mischief  comes 
soon  enough,  there  is  no  need  to  seek  it ;  it  is  more 
easily  found  than  avoided.  "  Resist  the  devil,  and 
he  will  flee  from  you,"  Jam.  iv.  7-  Give  to  God  obe- 
dience, to  the  prince  allegiance,  to  our  superior 
reverence,  to  the  weak  assistance  ;  only  to  the  devil 
and  sin,  resistance.  Give  not  place  to  the  devil,  Eph. 
iv.  27 ;  for  the  devil  hath  no  place  but  where  it  is 
given  him.  I  like  not  that  Jesuit's  humility,  that 
sitting  in  a  chair,  and  seeing  the  devil  approach, 
rose  up  to  give  him  his  seat ;  because,  he  said,  he 
was  more  worthy  of  it  than  himself.  But  give  him 
no  place,  saith  St.  Paul ;  admit  no  conference  with 
him.  He  was  a  fool  that  went  up  and  down  the 
earth  to  find  old  age  ;  which,  if  he  sat  still  at  home, 
would  be  sure  to  find  him.  Sin  will  come  fast 
enough ;  let  us  not  hunt  it,  nor  snatch  it ;  but  rather 
strive  to  resist  it,  to  expel  it. 

The  points  I  am  to  speak  of  arc  four :  there  is 

The  corruption  of  the  heart,  Sins. 

The  danger  of  that  corruption,  Old  sins. 

The  delivery  from  that  danger,  Purged. 

The  unthankfulness  for  that  delivery.  Forgotten. 

The  greatness  of  his  miser\'  (sin  inveterate)  com- 
mends the  goodness  of  God's  mercy,  (that  had  purged 
liim,)  and  condemns  the  vilcness  of  his  ingratitude 
(that  hath  forgotten  it).  There  is,  1.  A  sickness. 
2.  A  lightening.  3.  Before  death.  Old  sin  was  a 
lingering  sickness ;  purging,  that  is  his  lightening; 
but  forgelfiilness  of  ii  is  his  death. 

Fu-st,  for  the  corruption,  sin :  this  is  the  most 
sordid  feculeney  in  the  world.  Lazarus  lay  full  of 
sores  at  the  rich  man's  gate,  yet  was  he  not  so  foul 
and  noisome  as  the  rich  man  himself  within  doors. 
Death  takes  away  the  body's  filthiness ;  and  Christ 
shall  change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be  like  his 
own  glorious  body  ;  but  he  that  dies  in  his  sins,  shall 
find  nis  sins  ever  living  in  himself.  Blessed  is  he 
whose  sins  die  before  his  body  :  death  can  do  that 
man  no  harm,  though  it  rot  his  flesh  to  dust.  The 
traveller  that  is  puisucd  by  a  lion,  throws  off  his 
cloak,  and  runs  nimbly  into  nis  house,  from  the  win- 
dow whereof  he  beholds  the  lion  tearing  his  gar- 
ment, but  rejoicelh  that  himself  is  safe.  Death  can 
but  tear  thy  coat,  and  bloody  it,  as  Joseph's  was,  but 
thyself  art  safe.  There  are  many  things  we  loathe 
which  are  not  detestable,  as  our  brother's  leprosy, 
&c.  ;  but  that  which  is  indeed  most  odious,  is  held 
most  delectable.  We  shun  sickness  with  hate,  we 
follow  wickedness  with  joy.  Which  consideration 
caused  Nazianzen  to  say,  that  sin  is  in  a  better  con- 
dition than  sickness.  For  at  a  lazarous,  leprous,  dis- 
eased man,  we  stop  our  nostrils,  and  turn  away  oiu' 
eyes ;  yet  here  is  God's  image.  But  to  a  prodigal 
drunkard,  a  rich  usurer,  a  proud  courtier,  we  insinuate 
ourselves ;  yet  only  for  these  we  have  a  charge,  De  non 
laa±re>ido;  and  there  is  the  image  of  the  devil.  A  man 
will  not  enter  the  house  where  he  knows  the  plague 
is,  for  fear  of  infection ;  yet  he  will  venture  on  the 
place  where  God  is  blasphemed,  and  never  pretend 
Ihe  danger,  saying  with  Abraham,  "  Surely  the  fear 
of  God  IS  not  in  tuis  place,"  Gen.  xx.  11.  St.  John 
would  not  tari-y  in  the  bath  where  Cermthus  was. 
There  is  no  pestilence  so  deadly  as  sin.  What  a 
blessed  turn  is  it  then  to  be  purged  from  sin !  "Wash 
me  throughly  from  mine  miquity,  and  cleanse  me 
fiom  my  sin,"  Psal.  Ii.  2.  The  breaking  of  his  bones, 
the  soreness  of  his  flesh,  he  complained  of;  but  no- 
tliing  so  troubled  him  as  his  sins.  Therefore  there 
is  no  such  comfort  as  the  remission  of  sins.    David 


Ver.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


107 


entitlcth  the  32nd  Psalm  his  Learning;  Maschil,  or 
"Giving  instruction."  Why,  what  great  learning 
is  in  it?  Yes,  the  remission  of  sins;  Blessed  is  the 
man  whose  sin  is  forgiven,  ver.  1  :  there  is  no 
learning  more  sweet  and  blessed.  For  this  Christ 
taught  us  to  pray  continually,  "  Forgive  us  our  sins." 
The  Lord's  prayer  in  that  one  petition  teacheth,  that 
we  are  daily  sinners,  and  that  our  whole  life  should 
be  nothing  else  but  a  Lent,  to  prepare  ourselves  against 
the  sabbath  of  our  rest,  and  the  Easter  of  our  resur- 
rection. (Luther.)  The  creed  teacheth  us  to  believe 
the  remission  of  our  sins,  and  that  God  will  blot  out 
all  our  transgressions,  Isa.  xUv.  22 ;  yea,  that  they 
are  so  remitted,  as  if  they  never  had  been  committed. 
The  Lamb  of  God  takes  them  away,  by  pardoning 
sins  past,  and  preventing  sms  to  come,  and  bringing 
us  to  that  place  where  sin  can  be  no  more.  (Lambor. ) 
O  blessed  place,  where  is  no  sin !  Heaven  begins 
where  sin  ends.  (Ambrose.)  We  cannot  be  so  quit 
of  it  yet.  It  is  well,  saith  Luther,  if,  as  God  told 
Rebekah,  the  elder  shall  serve  the  younger.  Our 
enemies  are  older,  our  sins  greater,  than  we,  yet  they 
shall  serve  for  our  good  ;  for  they  must  needs  be 
comprehended  within  that  universal  and  indefinite 
uumber  of  "  all  things,"  that  shall  work  together  to 
our  best,  Rom.  viii.  2S.  Thus  if  we  could  see  the 
irksome  filtliiness  of  our  sins,  we  would  think  our 
purging  the  greatest  happiness.  As  David  of  his 
enemies,  so  let  us  comfort  ourselves  concerning  our 
sins  ;  though  they  compass  us  about  like  bees,  yet 
in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  we  shall  destroy  them, 
Psal.  cxviii.  12. 

Secondly,  consider  fiirther  the  danger  of  this  cor- 
niption,  old  sins.  That  we  translate,  tCiv  naXat 
u/iaprujf,  must  be  thus  supplied ;  rwv  vaKat  n-ewoit/- 
liivuv,  from  sins  that  he  hath  done  of  old.  This 
aggravates  the  danger  of  corruption  ;  for  an  old  ulcer 
is'liardly  cured.  Long  xmrture  is  another  nature. 
When  a  certain  man  had  brought  his  possessed  son  to 
the  disciples,  and  they  could  not  cure  him,  he  comes 
to  Clirist  himself;  and  he  demands,  "  How  long  is  it 
ago  since  this  came  unto  him  ?  "  The  father  answers, 
"  Of  a  child ; "  therefore,  if  thou  canst  do  any  thing, 
pity  us,  and  help  us,  Mark  ix.  21,  22.  A  disease 
bred  from  a  child  is  hardly  cured ;  a  sin  of  long  con- 
tinuance hardly  purged.  "  They  have  afflicted  me 
from  my  youth,  yet  they  have  not  prevailed  against 
me,"  Psal.  cxxix.  2.  If  sin  have  infected  us  from  our 
youth  up,  it  is  a  great  wonder  that  it  prevails  not 
still  against  us.  The  physician  coming  to  his  patient, 
inquires  the  time  when  he  took  his  layre  ;  if  lie  have 
been  long  infected,  it  poseth  his  skill.  There  was  a 
man  blind  from  his  birth,  John  ix.  1  :  but  if  so  long 
blind,  none  can  cure  him  but  Christ.  It  was  never 
heard  since  the  world  stood,  that  any  man,  save  Christ, 
opened  the  eyes  of  one  bom  blind,  ver.  32.  The 
same  Physician  found  a  patient  sick  of  an  infirmity 
eight  and  thirty  years  :  he  comes  to  him  with  a 
"  W^ilt  thou  be  made  whole  ?  "  Alas,  he  despairs  it : 
yet  Christ  performed  it ;  "  Rise,  take  up  thy  bed,  and 
walk,"  John  v.  6 — 8. 

"  Old  sins."  How  far  must  we  look  back  to  find 
out  this  antiquity  ?  First,  as  far  as  the  time  of  their 
perpetration ;  old  sins,  because  done  long  ago,  in  the 
wildness  of  youth  :  "Remember  not  the  sins  of  niv 
youth,"  Psai.  xxv.  7.  "  Thou  writest  bitter  things 
against  me,  and  makest  me  to  possess  the  sins  of  my 
youth,"  Job  xiii.  26.  Youth  hath  a  hotter  aptitude  anil 
proclivity  to  sin  ;  their  blood  is  sooner  stirred  to 
choler,  their  heat  to  lust,  their  strength  to  intem- 
perance. JVequilicpcursio,-  celerior  quam  cptatis,  Their 
sins  outrun  their  years,  and  they  are  discerned  to  be 
the  children  of  Adam  before  their  faces  have  dis- 
covered their  sexes.   Therefore  it  was  the  wise  man's 


counsel,  "  Remember  thy  Creator  in  the  days  of  thy 
vouth,"  Eccles.  xii.  \.  And  St.  Paul  charged  Timo- 
thy to  "flee  youthful  lusts,"  2  Tim.  ii.  22.  The  new 
earthen  pots  will  retain  the  savour  of  their  first 
seasoning.  Season  their  youth  with  the  fear  of  God, 
Prov.  xxii.  6  ;  as  Obadiah  said,  "  I  fear  the  Lord  from 
my  youth,"  1  Kings  xviii.  12  ;  as  Timothy  knew  the 
the  Scriptures  from  a  child,  2  Tim.  iii.  15.  The 
vanities  of  youth  prove  the  vexations  of  age ;  and  if 
there  be  any  grace  in  us,  that  is  now  matter  of  re- 
pentance, which  was  then  matter  of  jovisance.  It  is 
enough  to  terrify  the  soul,  the  retrospection  into  old 
sins. 

Yet  let  us  look  a  little  further  back,  to  find  this 
age  of  sin ;  even  as  far  as  the  original,  from  whence 
comes  all  the  copy  of  imitation.  Be  they  never  so 
new  in  act,  they  are  old  in  example :  "  We  have 
sinned  with  oui-  fathers,"  Psal.  cvi.  6.  God  tells 
them,  they  had  rebelled  of  old ;  "  As  your  fatliers 
did,  so  do  ye,"  Acts  vii.  51.  Antiquity  is  no  infallible 
argument  of  goodness  :  though  "rertullian  says,  the 
first  things  were  the  best  things  ;  and  the  less  they 
distanced  from  the  beginning,  the  purer  they  were  : 
but  he  must  be  understood  only  of  holy  customs. 
For  iniquity  can  plead  antiquity  :  he  that  commits 
a  new  act  of  murder,  finds  it  old  in  the  example  of 
Cain  ;  drunkenness  may  be  fetched  from  Noah ; 
contempt  of  parents  from  Ham ;  women's  lightness 
from  the  daughters  of  Lot.  There  is  no  sin  but  hath 
white  hairs  upon  it,  and  is  exceeding  old. 

But  let  us  look  further  back  yet,  even  to  Adam  ; 
there  is  the  age  of  sin.  This  is  that  St.  Paul  calls 
the  old  man :  it  is  almost  as  old  as  the  root,  but  older 
than  all  the  branches.  Therefore  our  restitution  by 
Christ  to  grace,  is  called  the  new  man.  There  is  a 
relation,  or  rather  an  opposition,  between  the  old 
man  and  the  new:  "  As  in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ 
shall  all  be  made  alive,"  1  Cor.  xv.  22.  "  The  first 
man  Adam  was  made  a  living  soul ;  the  last  Adam  was 
made  a  quickening  spirit,"  ver.  45.  Therefore  he 
that  makes  all  things  new.  Rev.  xxi.  5,  can  also 
make  us  new  :  that  "  as  we  have  borne  the  image  of 
the  earthy,  we  shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the 
heavenly,"  1  Cor.  xv.  49.  Adam  was  made  in  God's 
image,  but  he  begat  a  son  in  his  own  image,  not  in 
God's.  The  corruption  of  om-  nature  is  the  image  of 
the  old  Adam;  the  renovation  of  our  minds  is  the 
image  of  the  new.  Col.  iii.  10.  Therefore  "put  off 
the  old  man,"  and  cast  it  away  ;  as  Joseph  forsook 
his  coat  rather  than  his  faith  ;  or  as  the  young  man, 
that  left  his  linen  garment  and  fled,  Mark  xiv.  51, 52. 
For  better  lose  generation,  than  regeneration ;  better 
part  with  thy  old  corruption,  than  miss  thy  new  hope 
of  salvation. 

Of  old  things,  some  are  pleasant,  some  unprofitable, 
some  pernicious.  Pleasant  is  an  old  friend ;  "  Thine 
own  friend,  and  thy  father's  friend,  forsake  not,"  Prov. 
xxvii.  10 ;  a  good  old  servant,  an  old  monument  of 
honour,  old  truth,  the  old  way,  Jer.  vi.  16.  Un- 
profitable ;  an  old  free  past  bearing,  an  old  house 
past  inhabiting,  an  old  ship  in  danger  of  sinking,  an 
old  garment  past  mending,  an  old  ill  custom  past 
curing.  Pernicious ;  such  is  Satan,  that  old  serjient, 
Rev.  XX.  2;  old  sin:  the  old  lion  devours  terribly, 
Nah.  ii.  11,  an  old  dog  bites  sore,  that  old  serpent 
stings  deadly.  A  woman  when  she  is  old  brings  not 
forth  so'  goodly  children  as  in  her  youth,  2  Esd.  v. 
.33:  she  ceaseth  teeming.  But  concupiscence,  the 
older  she  grows,  the  stronger  she  is  to  bear  the 
children  of  unrighteousness.  The  world  is  old  and 
weak,  man  old  and  sick,  sin  old  and  more  infecting, 
the  devil  old  and  more  prevailing.  The  only  way  to 
evade  their  danger,  is  to  become  new ;  to  talk  with 
new  tongues,  Mark  xvi.  17,  and  walk  in  new  ways, 


103 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


Matt.  ii.  12;  then  shall  we  have  new  names,  Rev.  ii. 
17,  put  on  new  garments,  and  have  a  portion  in  the 
new  Jerusalem. 

"  That  he  was  purged  from  his  old  sins."  AV'e 
have  considered  the  corruption  and  invcterateness  of 
sin  ;  now  ol)ser\-e  what  measure  of  mercy  was  ex- 
tended to  him  in  the  deliveiy  from  it ;  "  he  was 
pureed."  This  place  seems  not  so  easy  at  the  first 
blusli,  as  upon  better  search  it  will  appear  difficuh. 
"  He  was  purged,"  yet  he  is  granted  an  ungodly  per- 
son. Now  how  can  a  reprobate  be  said  to  be  jmrged 
from  his  sins  ?  For  this  is  a  sure  ground,  if  God  remit 
some  sins,  he  retains  none:  if  no  sin  be  remitted,  thai 
man  is  not  purged.  If  he  be  purged,  how  can  he  for- 
get it  ?    If  he  have  forgotten  it,  how  was  he  purged  ? 

Some  understand  it  thus  :  that  this  purging  is 
meant  by  the  shedding  of  Christ's  blood,  whereby 
the  whole  world  is  purged,  Jolin  i.  29.  But  that  all 
men  are  purged  by  Christ's  blood,  is  neither  a  true 
position  in  itself,  nor  a  true  exposition  of  this  place. 
The  blood  of  Christ  only  purgeth  his  church,  Eph.  v. 
26.  And  there  are  none  admitted  to  stand  before  the 
throne,  but  such  as  have  "  washed  their  robes,  and 
made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,"  Rev. 
vii.  14.  If  any  soul  be  thus  washed,  he  shall  never 
be  confounded.  If  this  man  were  thus  purged,  how 
could  he  forget  it  ?  "  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling 
the  world  unto  himself,"  2  Cor.  v.  19.  Yet  no  man 
thinks  that  the  whole  world  shall  go  to  heaven,  for 
then  were  hell  made  to  no  purpose.  So  God  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  Son ;  yet  "  the  whole  world 
lieth  in  wickedness,"  I  John  v.  19.  Thus  it  is  clear, 
expiation  was  oiTercd  for  the  world,  and  ofl'ered  to 
the  world ;  but  those  that  are  blessed  by  it,  arc  se- 
parated from  the  world  :  "  I  have  chosen  you  out  of 
the  world,"  John  xv.  19.  Salvation  may  be  said  to 
belong  to  many,  that  belong  not  to  salvation.  Now 
the  reprobate  forgets  that  a  ]iurgation  was  made  for 
him  by  the  shedding  of  the  Messiah's  blood,  which 
is  a  wretched  thing,  to  forget  so  great  a  ransom. 

Go  to  the  garden,  and  there  behold  thy  Saviour 
groaning  under  the  weight  of  sin,  heavy  enough  to 
have  pressed  to  death  millions  of  angels,  legions  of 
men,  the  whole  world;  sweating  drops  of  blood,  as  if 
he  were  east  into  the  furnace  of  God's  wrath  that 
melted  him.  Behold  him  offering  that  mouth,  which 
spake  as  never  man  or  angel  spake,  to  a  traitor  to 
kiss.  What  the  traitor  sold,  and  the  murderer  bought, 
thou  hast  olilained :  he  is  thine,  not  the  Jews'  tliat 
purchased  him.  Now  hast  thou  gotten  him,  and  yet 
forgotten  him  ?  That  which  tickles  thy  heart  with 
laughter,  made  the  heart  of  thy  Saviour  bleed  :  and 
hast  thou  forgotten  it  ?  His  soul  was  pressed  to 
death  with  the  sins  we  never  shrink  at :  his  eyes 
wejit  tears  of  blood,  ours  flow  with  tears  of  laughter ; 
he  felt  those  torments  we  cannot  conceive ;  we  can- 
not understand  wliat  he  did  stand  under.  Were  we 
so  foul,  that  nothing  but  his  blood  could  purge  us, 
and  do  we  forget  that  purging  ?  Do  we  forget  that 
cry,  whereat  heaven  and  earth,  men  and  angels,  stood 
amazed,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  fiirsakcn 
me  ?  "  The  very  senseless  creatures  did  not  forget 
it :  the  heavens  were  hung  with  black,  the  sun  did 
hide  his  face  like  a  chief  mourner,  and  durst  not  be- 
hold his  passion.  Now,  for  man  alone  was  all  tliis 
passion,  yet  in  man  alone  is  least  compassion.  1 
know  thou  condcmnest  Judas,  and  that  worthily ; 
who  sold  Christ  a  man,  there  was  murder;  Christ 
his  Master,  there  w;us  treason  ;  Christ  his  Maker, 
there  was  sacrilege.  Murder  is  a  crying  sin,  treason 
a  roaring  sin,  sacrilege  a  thundering  sin. 

Thou  condcmnest  the  Jews  for  buying  him  :  they 
bought  him  not  to  possess  as  their  ovi'n;  they  should 
so  have  made  the  best  purchase  in  the  world,  to  have 


bought  Him  that  bought  them.  But  they  bought 
him  to  sell  him  again,  as  Simon  Magus  would  have 
bought  the  Holy  Ghost ;  given  money  for  liim,  to 
have  got  money  by  him.  "  Buy  the  truth,  and  sell 
it  not,"  Prov.  xxiii.  2;?.  They  bouglit  him  to  bind, 
abuse,  mock,  spit  on,  scourge,  crucify  him.  Thou 
condcmnest  these ;  and  shall  not  these,  and  the  God 
of  all,  condemn  thee,  if  thou  use  thy  Saviour  after 
the  same  manner?  Tliey  ciiicified  Christ  in  his 
mortality;  thou  crueificst  Christ  in  his  immortality. 
Thy  sin  is,  and  thy  judgment  shall  be,  greater;  be- 
cause thy  knowledge,  and  his  glor)-,  is  more. 

Hath  he  suflcrcd  all  this  to  purge  us,  and  will  we 
not  yet  let  him  alone  ?  Shall  we  not  sufl'er  the  Son 
of  God  to  be  at  rest  in  his  heaven  ?  Shall  we  blas- 
pheme and  swear  him  (juite  over,  open  his  wounds 
with  our  oaths,  give  him  new  portions  of  gall  with  our 
drunkenness,  pierce  him  again  with  our  oppressions, 
defile  him  again  with  our  lusts,  run  him  into  the 
heart  with  our  homicides,  and  still  forget  all  this  ? 
Take  we  heed,  for  he  feels  it,  and  therefore  does  not 
forget  it :  the  lewd  Christian  may  come  to  see  him, 
even  whom  himself  hath  pierced.  Do  we  offer 
violence  to  that  glorified  Saviour,  and  with  a  pre- 
sumptuous hand,  lifted  up  to  the  heaven,  pull  him 
down  from  his  throne  to  his  cross  ?  Is  it  not  enough 
that  he  died  once  for  ns  ?  Are  those  pains  so  light, 
so  slight,  and  have  we  so  soon  forgotten  them,  tliat 
every  day  we  should  redouble  them?  Is  this  the 
recompence  of  those  infinite  torments  ?  In  vain  thy 
tongue  cries  Hosanna,  wlien  thy  hand  crucifies  him. 
How  darest  thou  receive  the  sacrament  with  that 
hand,  that  is  so  imbrued  in  his  blood  whom  thou 
reeeivest  ?  He  that  sells  that  for  a  little  pleasure, 
which  Christ  bought  with  so  much  pain,  thinks 
Christ  but  a  foolish  buyer,  and  that  he  had  a  hard 
pennyworth;  but  indeed  he  proves  himself  a  foolish 
seller,  and,  with  Esau,  vdW  repent  his  bargain. 

Now  hath  Christ  done  so  much  to  purge  us,  and 
can  we  forget  it  ?  Can  such  a  benefit  die  in  our 
memories?  No,  let  every  redeemed  heart  remember 
his  Redeemer.  Forget  not  the  passion  of  thy  Sa- 
viour, 0  my  soul ;  but  let  him  be  wholly  fastened  in 
me,  that  was  wholly  fastened  to  the  cross  for  me. 

Some  understand  by  this  purging,  true  regenera- 
tion :  in  this  exposition  tlie  Romanists  are  confident 
and  peremptory.  But  so  taken,  it  is  mistaken ;  for 
if  he  were  regenerate,  he  could  never  forget  it.  Upon 
this  collection  they  build,  that  a  man  may  fall  away 
from  grace,  and  that  without  distinction,  even  totally 
and  finally.  Here  they  cry,  AVe  have  conquered  ; 
the  Calvinisis  are  confuted,  confounded.  But  this 
Irimipet  might  be  blown  with  a  straw.  Their  logic 
is  too  hasty ;  they  force  their  conclusion  to  ride  post. 
As  in  their  indulgences  and  pardons  they  move  men 
to  presumption,  so  in  this  they  drive  them  to  desjie- 
ration;  any  way  senes  their  turns  to  deceive.  If 
this  their  position  were  true,  that  must  needs  be 
false,  John  xiii.  I,  'Whom  he  loves,  he  loves  to  the 
end :  and  that,  Rom.  viii.  39,  Nothing  can  sejKirate 
ns  from  the  love  of  God  in  Christ :  and  then  were 
Jesus  Christ  not  tlie  same,  yesterday,  to-day.  and  for 
ever,  Heb.  xiii.  8.  But  the  Spirit  of  adoption  is  an 
everlasting  Spirit  ;  and  God's  mercy,  like  his  majesty. 
endures  for  ever  :  and  the  gifts  of  grace  are  without 
re)icntanee;  God  will  never  retract  thcni,  for  he  is 
no  changeling.  "  I  am  the  Lord,  I  change  not," 
Mai.  iii.  6.  Man  is  inconstant,  riches  are  inconstant, 
honour  is  inconstant,  friends  arc  inconstant,  a  wife  is 
inconstant,  the  world  is  inconstant ;  only  I,  the  Lord, 
change  not.  He  doth  not  to-day  love  dearly,  and 
to-morrow  hale  deadly  ;  but  whom  he  blcsseth,  shall 
be  blessed.  Gen.  xxvii.  33.  Christ  will  not  quench 
the  smoking  flax,  but  inflame  the  least  spark  of  grace. 


Ver.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


109 


The  light  may  be  eclipsed,  not  extinguished.  But 
they  object  Matt,  xviii.  32,  "  I  forgave  thee  all  that 
debt;"  yet  he  cast  him  into  prison,  "  till  he  sliould 
pay  all  that  was  due  unto  him,"  ver.  'M:  tlic  debt 
remitted  is  again  required.  I  answer,  that  the  scope 
of  that  parable  is  to  show,  (hat  God  will  no  other- 
wise forgive  us,  than  we  forgive  others.  For  cer- 
tainly if  a  man  be  once  acquitted,  he  can  never  for 
that  debt  be  damned.  God's  covenant  depends  not 
on  our  obedience,  but  our  obedience  depends  on  God's 
covenant.  We  are  not  therefore  loved  because  we 
are  holy  ;  but  we  arc  therefore  holy  because  we  are 
loved.  If  this  purging  had  been  absolute  regenera- 
tion, it  could  never  be  forgotten  ;  for  all  the  promises 
of  God  are  yea  and  amen  in  Jesus  Christ. 

Some  expound  it  tluis :  he  was  purged,  that  is,  he 
thought  himself  purged;  he  was  only  clean  in  his 
own  opinion.  So  Clirist  calls  the  Pharisees  just,  be- 
cause ihcy  justified  themselves,  Luke  xv.  f-  This 
opinionative  purging  easily  revolteth  to  profaneness  : 
he  that  never  had  but  the  ease  of  a  sheep,  may  very 
well  be  a  wolf.  They  slumber,  and  suppose  themselves 
good  Christians :  their  faith  is  but  a  dream,  their  hope 
but  adream,  theircharity  but  a  dream,  their  obedience 
but  a  dream,  their  whole  I'cligion  but  a  dream  ;  and  so 
their  assurance  of  salvation  is  but  adream.  They  have 
regeneration  in  conceit,  repentance  and  righteous- 
ness in  conceit,  they  serve  God  well  in  conceit,  do 
the  works  of  piety  and  charity  in  conceit,  and  they 
shall  go  to  heaven  only  in  conceit.  Get  better  assur- 
ance than  only  to  think  thyself  good :  pure  and 
naked  supposals  bring  no  man  to  eternal  life. 

Others,  as  Luther,  refer  this  purging  to  baptism ; 
which  exposition  may  carry  a  probable  and  profitable 
sense.  Tliis  St.  Paul  calls  the  laverof  regeneration  ; 
but  he  means  the  sign  or  seal  of  it.  Our  purgation 
by  Christ's  blood  is  not  only  granted  to  us  in  the 
charter  of  the  gospel,  but  also  confirmed  in  the  sacra- 
mental seals.  In  the  Old  Testament  there  was  cir- 
cumcision, contra  peccali  realum  ;  and  oecision,  or  the 
passover,  contra  peccati pontam,  as  the  school  speaketh. 

Answerable  to  these  we  have  baptism  and  the 
Lord's  supper :  now  it  is  the  general  consent  of  the 
fathers,  that  in  the  most  complete  baptism  sin  is  not 
so  taken  away ;  Quod  non  sit,  sed  quod  non  obsit :  non 

?moad  actum,  sed  quoad  reatum,  Sin  is  still  within  the 
iiithful,  but  it  shall  not  be  destructive  to  them  in 
whom  it  is.  Indeed  if  we  consider  the  inward  bap- 
tism of  the  Spirit  with  the  outward,  there  is  a  true 
purging.  The  laver  of  regeneration  cleanseth  from 
the  guilt  of  all  sins.  (August.)  So  Lactantius  sings 
of  the  baptized  infant, 

Candidtis  egreditur  iiitidis  exercilus  undis : 
^tque  vetus  vitium  purgat  in  amne  novo. 

Aquinas  says,  this  sacrament  is  a  commemoration, 
a  demonstration,  a  prognostication:  a  commemora- 
tion of  Christ's  death,  that  is  past ;  a  demonstration 
of  Christ's  grace,  that  is  present ;  a  prognostication 
of  Christ's  gloiy,  that  is  to  come.  Thus  can  the  God 
of  power  efiect  his  will  by  weak  means ;  as  the  asper- 
sion of  blood  on  the  doore  without,  shall  save  tlie 
effusion  of  blood  in  tlie  house  within,  Exod.  xii. 
Naaman  must  wash  in  Jordan,  the  blind  in  Siloam, 
the  lame  in  Pethesda,  we  in  the  sacred  font.  As 
none  entered  the  sanet\iar)-  but  they  first  washed  in 
the  golden  laver;  so  ordinarily  none  enter  the  church, 
but  they  are  first  washed  in  this  holy  fountain. 

Nmv  to  this,  outward  baptism  is  necessary  with  a 
conditional  necessity ;  inward,  with  an  absolute  ne- 
cessity. Baptism  healoth  not  as  a  medicine,  by  its 
own  inherent  virtue ;  but  as  a  seal  of  his  mercy,  by 
whose  grace  we  are  saved.  (Parens.)  The  necessari- 
ness  of  it  is  derived  from  tlie  commandment  of  God. 


.\  man  may  have  it,  and  yet  be  lost ;  as  Magus  had 
the  sacrament  of  grace,  but  not  the  grace  of  the  sa- 
crament. Another  may  want  it,  and  yet  be  saved ; 
as  that  penitent  malefactor  was  never  washed  in 
Jordan,  yet  received  into  paradise.  Sacraments  then 
save  not  necessarily,  but  ordinarily.  AVhence  hath 
tlie  water  such  virtue,  that  washing  the  body,  it 
should  purge  the  soul?  Not  because  it  is  so  said,  or 
so  sprinkled,  but  because  it  is  so  believed.  (August.) 
It  is  not  therefore  enough  to  have  the  sacrament  of 
faith,  but  the  faith  of  tlie  sacrament.  He  that  be- 
lieves, and  is  baptized,  shall  be  saved.  He  that  is 
thus  baptized,  is  tmly  purged :  and  as  upon  Christ 
being  baptized  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  ;  so  the 
Spirit,  which  once  moved  on  the  face  of  the  waters, 
shall  work  with  the  water  upon  his  soul.  And  as 
there  came  a  voice  to  Christ  from  heaven,  "  This  is 
my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased ;"  so 
doth  God  the  Father  secretly  speak  to  the  baptized 
infant,  Thou  art  my  beloved  child,  with  whom  (though 
before  I  was  angry)  I  am  now  well  pleased.  Before 
thou  wast  a  child  of  wrath,  an  heir  of  perdition  ;  but 
now  "  thou  art  my  son;  this  day  have  I  begotten 
thee,"  Psal.  ii.  7. 

If  this  wicked  man  had  been  so  purged  he  could 
never  h,-»'e  forgotten  it.  But  he  had  only  the  bap- 
tism of  water,  not  of  the  Spirit.  And  is  not  this  a 
miserable  and  damnatoiy  sin,  to  forget  a  man's  bap- 
tism? not  to  remember  that  his  name  is  Christian? 
It  is  pity  that  ever  the  water  of  baptism  was  spilt 
upon  his  face.  Wert  thou  bom  in  sin,  «oh  prius 
natus  quatn  damnatus,  a  stranger  to  the  life  of  God? 
And  lo,  then  did  thy  parents  bring  thee  to  the  sacred 
font :  and  when  thou  couldst  not  answer  for  thyself, 
was  not  God  pleased  to  take  sureties  for  thee,  wit- 
nesses of  thy  future  obedience  ?  Did  the  church 
open  her  bosom  to  receive  thee  to  her  motherhood, 
God  to  his  fatherhood,  Christ  to  his  brotherhood, 
angels  to  their  guard  and  society,  all  the  elect  to 
their  prayers  and  charity  ;  and  canst  thou  forget  all 
this  ?  Wilt  thou  disclaim  Christians,  despise  the 
angels,  deny  thy  Brother,  defy  thy  mother,  reject  thy 
Fatller,  and  run  a  course  cross  to  piety  and  eternal 
life  ?  Shall  not,  at  that  great  day,  men  forsake  thee, 
devils  accuse  thee,  angels  repudiate  thee,  the  church 
be  ashamed  of  thee,  thy  Father  disinherit  thee,  yea, 
even  thy  Brother,  now  become  thy  Judge,  the  Lord 
Jesus,  condemn  thee  ?  What  can  save  thee,  if  thou 
forget  thou  wcrt  a  purged  Christian  ? 

Beloved,  think  of  the  end  of  your  washing;  it 
was  that  you  should  no  more  foul  yourselves.  "  Be 
baptized,  and  wash  away  thy  sins,  calling  on  the  name 
of  the  Lord,"  Acts  xxii.  16.  The  eunuch,  being  bap- 
tized, became  a  saint :  he  went  down  into  the  water 
a  heathen,  he  came  up  a  Christian.  The  cruel 
gaoler,  baptized,  became  a  zealous  professor.  Bap- 
tism is  to  amendment  of  life.  Matt.  iii.  Therefore 
say  with  the  spouse,  "  I  have  washed  my  feet ;  how 
shall  I  defile  them?"  Cant.  v.  .3.  Forget  not  that 
sacramental  vow  made  to  God,  in  the  presence  of  men 
and  angels.  Did  it  fly  up  to  heaven,  and  does  it 
not  stay  there  to  testify  against  thee  ?  Thou  vowedst 
thyself  a  soldier,  not  a  neuter;  to  fight  for  the  Lord, 
not  to  stand  still  and  look  on,  much  less  to  fight 
against  him  :  for  cursed  is  he  that  takes  not  the 
Lord's-  part,  Judg.  v.  23.  Thou  must  fight ;  thou  dost 
fight ;  but  against  whom  ?  not  against  the  world,  thy 
own  lust,  the  power  of  Satan;  but  against  thy  bre- 
thren. Upon  every  slight  occasion  we  must  to  law : 
like  cocks  of  the  game,  that  fight  neither  pro  patria, 
nov  pro  domo;  so  we  contend  not  pro  rtire,  jure,  tliure  : 
not  for  the  title  of  inheritance,  not  for  the  right  of 
the  poor,  nor  for  the  cause  of  religion,  but  because 
one  will  not  yield  to  another.    Turbulent  lawyers 


no 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


are  the  abettors  that  set  them  on ;  the  cockpit  is 
Westminster  Hall ;  and  when  they  have  pecked  out 
one  another's  eyes,  they  pull  their  feathers.  Is  this 
to  fight  the  Lord's  battle  ?  No,  it  is  to  be  on  (he 
dragon's  side.  Do  we  war  against  the  world  ?  No, 
we  fight  not  like  Alexander,  to  subdue  it  to  ourselves, 
but  to  subdue  ourselves  to  it.  Run  through  the  shops 
of  this  city,  and  you  may  know  by  their  weapons, 
false  measures,  false  balances,  false  lights,  false 
tongues,  what  they  fight  for.  Oh  the  mercy  of  God ! 
Have  we  forgot  our  names  ?  Is  there  no  memory  of 
our  Christianity  left  ?  We  had  but  some  prints  and 
relics  of  it  at  first ;  and  may  wc  now  say,  as  of 
Jerusalem,  Etiam  periere.  ruinas  ?  Is  there  no  ruin 
nor  stone  left,  to  tell  a  man's  self,  this  building  was 
a  Christian  ?  It  is  reported  of  Orbilius,  a  gramma- 
rian, that  he  forgot  not  only  the  letters  of  his  book, 
but  even  his  own  name.  We  forget  both  the  prints 
and  letters  of  the  gospel,  and  witnal  our  own  names, 
that  we  are  Christians.  As  God  said  to  that  evil  ser- 
vant, "  Out  of  thine  own  mouth  will  I  judge  thee," 
Luke  xix.  22 ;  so  he  will  speak  to  this  apostate.  By 
thine  o\rs\  name  will  I  condemn  thee ;  thou  namest 
thyself  Christian,  yet  shamest  the  profession.  Now 
the  Spirit  of  God  purge  us  from  this  forgetfulness, 
and  grant  us  never  to  forget  our  purging.  Let  us 
never  forget  such  a  benefit,  that  we  may  never  be 
forgotten  by  the  Author  of  it. 

He  "  hath  forgotten  that  lie  was  purged."  Here 
is  his  unthankfulness  for  tliis  deliverance.  What, 
blind,  and  forgotten  too  ?  How  comes  this  to  pass  ? 
Blindness  should  ever  have  the  best  memoiy :  what 
is  taken  from  one  sense,  is  divided  among  the  rest. 
The  ear  retains  what  it  is  intrusted  with  the  better, 
when  the  eye  wants  occasion  to  direct  it.  The 
memor)'  is  like  a  cage,  the  car  is  the  door  of  it,  the 
eye  the  window;  good  doctrines  are  put  like  birds  in 
at  the  door,  and  fiy  out  again  by  setting  open  the 
window.  Indeed  the  defect  of  coi-jioral  sight  hath 
often  mended  the  memoiy ;  but  it  is  not  so  for  spi- 
ritual :  "  Ha^nng  eyes,  see  ye  not  ?  and  do  ye  not 
remember?"  Mark  viii.  18.  They  neither  saw  nor 
remembered.  A  carnal  heart  is  blind  to  conceive, 
ready  to  forget ;  "  Ever  learning,  never  able  to  come 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,"  2  Tim.  iii.  /;  slow 
to  get,  apt  to  forget.  As  "  Know  you  not  ?  "  was  a 
word  often  used  by  St.  Paul ;  so,  "  Do  ye  not  re- 
member?" was  frequent  from  our  Sa^^our  Christ. 
"  Hold  fast  the  foi'm  of  sound  words  t  that  good  thing 
which  was  committed  unto  thee,  keep,"  2  Tim.  i.  13, 
14.  An  auditor  should  not  be  like  the  spunge,  that 
holds  all  water  both  good  and  bad;  nor  like  the 
sieve,  that  holds  no  water,  neither  good  nor  bad; 
nor  like  the  bolter,  that  keeps  in  the  coarse  bran, 
and  throws  out  the  fine  flour :  but  like  the  sciy,  thai 
keeps  in  the  good  seed,  and  casteth  out  the  dust  and 
unprofitable  darnel.  One  said  of  our  country,  that 
it  had  fair  houses,  but  bad  chimneys,  because  they 
have  so  little  smoke  of  hospitality:  so  we  have  ex- 
cellent ears,  but  bad  memories ;  quick  conceptions, 
brittle  retentions :  not  a  nation  under  heaven  hears 
so  many  good  sermons ;  not  a  nation  under  heaven 
sooner  forgets  them.  Many  arts  are  taught  among 
us,  of  quick  reading,  of  short  writing,  where  by  bra- 
chygraphical  characters  they  will  lake  a  sermon  ver- 
batim ;  but  there  is  one  art  I  would  some  good  body 
would  teach  it  us;  it  is  the  art  of  memory- ;  that  as 
sermons  are  taken  word  for  word  in  our  papers,  so 
they  might  be  written  sense  for  sense  in  our  hearts. 

Now  if  my  power  were  answerable  to  my  will,  I 
would  teach  you  this  art.  Posse  mihi  is  h'ihnat  qui 
mihi  telle  dedit.  To  dispose  this  discourse  of  memory 
into  some  method,  lest  it  be  confounded  in  that  should 
teach  it :    the  object   of  memon,'  specified  in  the 


text,  is  double  ;  the  estate  of  sin  wherein  we  lay 
polluted,  and  the  estate  of  cleansing  wherein  we 
stood  recovered.  So  that  the  point  is  here  confined 
to  sins  or  good  works.  For  our  sins,  let  us  first 
learn  how  to  remember  them,  and  then  how  we  may 
forget  them. 

First,  for  their  remembrance.  Chrysostom  says, 
nothing  more  helps  us  forward  in  a  good  course,  than 
the  frequent  recognition  of  our  sins.  David  special- 
ly entitleth  the  38th  Psalm  a  memorandum,  "A 
Psalm  of  David,  to  bring  to  remembrance."  Upon 
good  reason,  saith  Euthymius,  because  he  made  it 
when  he  called  his  sins  to  remembrance  :  "  Mine 
iniquities,"  &c.  ver.  4.  Paul  thus  remembers  his 
former  sinfulness  of  life,  I  was  a  blasphemer,  &c. 
1  Tim.  i.  13;  and  so  he  became  more  zealous  to  save 
sinners  than  before  he  had  been  furious  to  kill  the 
godly  ;  of  a  violent  persecutor,  he  became  a  valiant 
sufferer.  Our  sins  are  innumerable,  who  can  tell 
how  oft  he  oficndeth?  Psal.  xix.  12.  Thou  remem- 
bercst  not  the  sins  of  one  day ;  how  great  a  mass 
have  many  days  made  up !  too  great  a  bottom  for 
one  hour's  sorrow  to  ravel  out.  "  Have  ye  forgotten 
the  wickedness  of  your  fathers,  and  your  own  wick- 
edness," that  you  "  are  not  humbled  even  unto  this 
d;iy  ?"  Jer.  xliv.  9.  If  we  forget  our  sins,  God  will 
remember  them.  The  wicked  man  would  put  out 
the  eye  of  knowledge,  and  stupify  the  memoiy  of 
infinite  comprehension :  "  He  hath  said  in  his  heart, 
God  hath  forgotten,"  Psal.  x.  II.  But,  "These 
things  hast  thou  done,  and  I  kept  silence ;  thou 
thoughtest  that  I  was  altogether  such  an  one  as  thy- 
self:  but  I  will  reprove  thee,  and  set  them  in  order 
before  thine  eyes,"  Psal.  1.  21.  The  forborne  debtor 
may  forget,  but  the  forbearing  Creditor  remembers  ; 
ever}'  parcel  is  set  down  in  his  book.  Ahab  had  for- 
got Naboth's  blood,  but  God  remembers  it.  Joab 
had  forgot  the  murder  of  Abner  and  Amasa,  but  Da- 
vid chargeth  Solomon  to  remember  it :  "  Let  not  his 
hoar  head  go  down  to  the  grave  in  peace,"  I  King« 
ii.  6.  But  if  we  remember  our  sins  in  the  day  of  re- 
pentance, God  will  forget  them  in  the  day  of  venge- 
ance. He  will  answer  as  Calo  to  Mm  that  struck 
him  in  the  bath,  and  aftenvards  submitted  himself  to 
his  mercy  ;  I  do  not  remember  that  I  was  smitten. 
Ananias  pleaded  against  Paul,  Lord,  remember  how 
much  evil  he  hath  done  to  thy  saints :  but  the  Lord 
answers.  He  is  my  chosen  vessel,  Acts  ix.  13.  "The 
times  of  this  ignorance  God  winked  at  ;  but  now  he 
commandeth  all  men  eveiy  where  to  repent,"  Acts 
xvii.  30.  Repent  then,  and  all  shall  be  forgotten. 
At  what  lime  soever,  what  sinner  soever,  shall  turn 
from  what  sin  soever,  heartily  ;  I  will  put  all  his 
wickedness  out  of  my  remembrance  :  the  Lord  will 
forget  it ;  I  will  be  merciful  to  them,  and  their  sins 
I  will  remember  no  more,  Heb.  \-iii.  12.  But  it  is  the 
Holy  Ghost  that  brings  all  things  to  our  remem- 
brance, John  xiv.  26.  Now  this  Holy  Spirit  of  me- 
mory teach  us  thus  to  remember  our  sins ;  that  we 
may  think  of  them  with  penitent  sorrow,  and  God 
forget  them  to  our  eternal  joy. 

There  is  a  way  also  for  us  to  forget  Uiem :  as  we  re- 
member them  to  repentance,  so  we  must  forget  them 
in  respect  of  continuance.  Otherwise  the  memory 
of  them  doth  not  reduce  us  to  life,  but  forward  us  to 
death.  This  is  to  fetch  poison  out  of  a  dunghill  for- 
merly cast  forth.  He  tnat  remcmbcps  his  sins  in 
sorrow,  falls,  like  Abraham,  forward  on  his  face  to 
(iod:  he  that  remembers  them  to  practise,  falls,  like 
the  Jews,  backward  from  Jesus  Christ.  If  thou  be 
on  the  mountain,  have  no  love  to  look  back  to  Sodom. 
If  thou  be  in  the  ark,  lly  not  back  to  the  world,  as 
the  raven  did.  If  thou  be  set  on  for  Canaan,  forget 
the  llcsh-pots  of  Egypt.    If  marching  against  Midian, 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


Ill 


forget  stooping  to  the  waters  of  Harod,  Jutlg.  vii.  If 
on  the  house-top,  forget  that  is  below  thee,  Mark 
xiii.  15.  If  thy  hand  oe  put  to  the  plough,  forget 
that  is  behind  tliec,  Luke  ix.  62.  Thcmistocles  desired 
rather  to  learn  the  art  of  forgetfulncss,  than  of  me- 
mory. Philosophy  is  an  art  of  remembering,  di\'inity 
includes  in  it  an  art  of  forgetting.  The  first  lesson 
that  Socrates  taught  his  scholars  was.  Remember ; 
for  he  thought  that  knowledge  was  nothing  else  but 
a  calling  to  remembrance  of  those  things  the  mind 
knew  ere  it  knew  the  body.  But  the  first  lesson  that 
Christ  tcacheth  his  scholars  is.  Forget :  "  Forget  thine 
own  people,"  Psal.  xlv.  10;  "  Repent,"  Matt.  iv.  I/; 
first,  "eschew  evil,"  1  Pet.  iii.  11. 

They  which  dye  cloth,  do  not  immediately  change 
one  contrary  into  another;  but  first  turn  white  into 
an  azure,  then  make  it  a  puke,  &e. ;  so  we  can  never 
hold  colour,  or  have  our  integrity  dyed  in  grain,  but 
by  mediate  degrees.  What  we  did  ill  get  we  must 
well  forget ;  (Lirinens.)  and  happily  unlearn  what 
we  did  unhappily  leam.  They  that  work  in  wax, 
cannot  form  a  new  impression  but  by  defacing  the 
old ;  till  Satan's  image  be  extinguished,  Christ's  can- 
not be  imprinted  in  us.  We  must  forget  the  wilder- 
ness, that  we  may  dwell  in  Canaan.  Faitli  is  that  fair 
Helen,  which  drinks  to  us  in  a  cup  of  Ncpentlie,  and 
says,  "  There  shall  be  no  more  sorrow ;  for  the  former 
things  are  passed  away,"  Rev.  xxi.  4.  The  hearty 
draught  of  the  lr\-ing  fountain,  shall  make  a  man  not 
to  "  remember  the  days  of  his  life,  because  God 
answereth  him  in  the  joy  of  his  heart,"  Eccles.  v.  20. 
The  Scripture  is  full  of  this  language.  "  Remember 
ye  not  the  former  things,  neither  consider  the  things 
of  old,"  Isa.  xliii.  IS.  There  are  some  dissolute  per- 
sons, that  laugh  at  the  memorial  of  their  sins :  shall 
they  not  weep  tears  of  blood  for  those  smiles  ?  Woe 
be  to  them  that  thus  laugh!  for  they  shall  weep, 
Luke  vi.  25.  When  they  are  past  committing, 
they  applaud  themselves  in  recounting,  in  reporting 
their  apersions  of  fraud,  blood,  or  lust ;  they  gloiy  in 
their  shame,  Phil.  iii.  19.  They  remember  that  on 
earth  laughing,  which  they  must  remember  in  hell 
howling.  This  is  a  cursed  commemoration  ;  when 
an  old  man  shall  glory  in  his  former  whoredoms. 
boast  his  homicides,  yea,  perhaps  (if  it  be  possible) 
make  himself  worse  than  ever  he  was.  Some  men 
lie  to  save  their  credits  ;  and  that  is  as  if  one  should 
wipe  his  mouth  on  his  sleeve  to  spare  his  napkin. 
But  this  man  tells  lies  to  increase  his  discredit,  and 
to  fill  up  the  measure  of  his  torments.  As  if  his 
damnation  conld  not  otherwise  be  heavy  enough,  his 
tongue  shall  make  up  the  weight  which  his  hands 
failed  to  accomplish.  Here  is  a  damnable  remem- 
brance of  sin ;  not  by  penitence,  to  cleanse  the  soul, 
hut  by  impudence,  more  to  foul  it  :  "  Wliy  boastest 
thou  thyself  in  mischief?"  Psal.  Hi.  1. 

No,  but  if  thou  hast  had  a  flux  of  malice,  as  that 
woman  a  flux  of  blood,  twelve  years,  Mark  v. ;  now 
being  cured,  forget  that  bloodiness.  If  thou  hast 
been  depressed  with  worldliness,  as  another  woman 
with  a  spirit  of  infirmity,  eighteen  years,  Luke  xiii. : 
now  being  rectified,  forget  that  crookedness.  Though 
blind  from  thy  birth,  as  the  man,  John  ix.  now  having 
thine  eyes  opened,  forget  thy  former  cecity.  Though 
formerly  deaf  and  dumb,  Mark  vii.  32,  upon  Christ's 
Ephphatha,  forget  those  orbities.  Though  thy  cha- 
rity were  dried  up,  like  that  man's  withered  hand. 
Matt.  xii.  10 ;  yet  now,  upon  the  restitution  of  it, 
forget  all  dryness  and  niggardliness.  Though  thou 
wert  a  cripple  from  the  womb.  Acts  xiv.  8,  yet  now, 
being  recovered,  forget  all  limping  and  halting  -with 
God.  Though  buried  in  the  grave  four  days,  yet 
now,  being  revived,  forget  all  deadness  in  sin.  "Though 
before  tormented  With  seven  devils,  as  Mary  Magda- 


lene ;  yet,  being  dispossessed,  forget  the  devil  and  all 
his  works.  Forget  Babylon,  but  remember  Jerusa- 
lem ;  "  If  I  forget  thee,  0  Jerusalem,  if  1  do  not  re- 
member thee,"  let  both  my  hand  and  mouth  miscarry, 
and  forget  their  offices,  Psal.  exxx\-ii.  5,  6.  Forget 
thy  old  sinful  life  ;  "  So  shall  the  king  greatly  desire 
thy  beauty,"  Psal.  xlv.  11.  Forget  not  the  mercies 
of  God,  lest  God  forget  to  do  you  good  :  but  forget 
all  the  injuries  of  men;  write  the  wrongs  in  their 
dust,  and  cover  all  offences  done  to  you  with  a  man- 
tle of  charity.  The  sum  of  all  is.  Remember  your 
sins  to  repent  of  them,  forget  to  practise  them ;  that 
God  may  forget  them  in  judgment,  and  remember 
you  in  mercy  and  salvation. 

This  be  the  method  of  memory  in  respect  of  sin  : 
now  for  the  works  of  grace  ;  I  do  not  mean  such  as 
God  hath  A\Tought  in  us,  but  such  as  ourselves  by 
his  grace  have  done.  There  is  a  rule  how  they  may 
be  remembered,  and  how  they  must  be  forgotten. 

Our  virtues  and  good  works  may  be  after  some 
manner  remembered.  Our  conscience  is  exceedingly 
comforted  by  the  memory  of  our  zealousness  to  serve 
God.  (Bern.)  The  kingdom  of  God  consists  in 
"  righteousness,  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost," 
Rom. xiv.  17.  Now  if  there  be  knowledge  of  righteous- 
ness, then  certainly  there  will  be  peace  of  conscience  ; 
and  these  cannot  be  without  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Job  hath  a  whole  chapter  of  these  holy  remembrances, 
chap.  xxxi.  "  If  I  have  walked,"  4i-c. ;  and  he  con- 
cludes, "  My  heart  shall  not  reproach  me  from  my 
days,"  chap,  xxvii.  6.  So  sick  Hezckiah  cheered 
himself;  "  Lord,  remember  howl  have  walked  be- 
fore thee  with  a  perfect  heart,"  Isa.  xxxviii.  3.  So 
Obadiah  after  a  sort  justified  liimself  to  Elijah  ; 
Didst  thou  not  hear  how  I  saved  the  prophets  of  the 
Lord  from  Jezebel  ?  1  Kings  xviii.  13.  "The  purpose 
of  this  repetition,  is  not  to  boast  merits,  but  to  seek 
mercies.  Neither  must  this  line  of  remembered 
goodness  be  there  cut  off,  but  extended  forth  still ; 
like  a  man  that  counts  his  miles  past,  but  yet  goes  on 
his  journey.  "  He  that  is  holy,  let  him  be  holy  still," 
Rev.  xxii.  11.  The  further  men  fetch  their  career 
backward  to  take  their  nin,  the  further  they  leap  for- 
ward when  they  have  run.  So  a  sober  recognition  of 
our  former  obedience,  remembering  what  peace  of  con- 
science we  had  in  that  service,  encourageth  our  future 
constancy.  There  are  some  who,  looking  to  this  record, 
find  their  own  names  blank.  What,  no  good  deeds  ? 
Yes,  but  they  have  lost  their  memories ;  they  cannot 
call  to  mind  where,  or  when,  or  how  they  performed 
them.  Like  the  dnmkard  who  sought  all  the  inns  in 
the  town  for  his  horse,  when  indeed  he  came  thither 
on  foot.  These  men  may  blame  their  bad  memories, 
but  the  fault  is  in  their  bad  liands  and  hearts.  Some 
have  their  good  deeds  written  upon  hospital  walls, 
perhaps  lest  God  should  forget  them ;  but  we  will 
charitably  construe  it,  that  they  were  recorded  there 
rather  by  the  gratitude  of  the  receivers,  than  by  the 
popular  desire  of  the  contributors.  Howsoever,  it  is 
somewhat  that  they  have  good  deeds  to  remember. 
But  too  many  have  none  at  all :  will  you  blame  their 
memories  ?  no,  God  amend  their  lives. 

In  another  course,  our  good  works  are  to  be  for- 
gotten, and  not  mentioned :  let  them  be  remembered 
to  enliven  our  obedience,  and  comfort  our  conscience ; 
but  rather  than  we  should  arrogate  merit  by  them, 
oblivion  take  them.  He  that  in  pride  remembers 
his  virtues,  hath  indeed  no  virtues  to  remember,  be- 
cause he  wants  the  mother  virtue  of  all,  humility. 
Here  is  one  difference  between  good  and  evil  men  : 
both  remember  virtues  ;  good  men  remember  the 
virtues  of  others,  evil  men  their  own.  They  think 
on  others'  virtues  as  ensamples  to  imitate,  these  on 
their  own  as  miracles  to  wonder  at.     The  way  to 


112 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


have  God  rcmemljcr  thorn,  is  for  ourselves  to  forget 
them.  Abraham  was  content  to  offer  up  Isaac  ;  but 
then  he  forgets  it,  therefore  God  remembers  it.  "  Be- 
cause thou  hast  done  this  thing,"  Gen.  xxii.  16: 
there  is  the  general.  What  thing?  The  particular 
follows  ;  "  and  hast  not  withheld  ;"  not  thy  servant, 
but  "  thy  son  ;"  and  not  only  thy  son,  but  thy  "  only 
son:"  therefore  "  in  blessing  I  will  bless  thee." 
Mary  showed  to  Christ  great  kindness ;  but  when 
she  had  done,  she  thought  it  not  worth  remem- 
brance :  therefore  Christ  repeats  it,  and  amplifies  it 
from  point  to  point.  Simon,  thou  gavest  me  neither 
water  to  my  feet,  nor  kiss  to  my  mouth,  nor  oil  to 
ray  head  ;  but  she  hath  waslicd  me  with  tears,  kiss- 
ed with  her  lips,  and  anointed  my  very  feet,  Luke 
vii.  44—40. 

Who  dares  boast  himself  to  God  ?  If  in  a  brave 
theomachy  thy  memor)-  produceth  a  thousand  good 
■works,  God's  memory  will  bring  forth  ten  thousand 
of  thy  sins,  to  knock  thee  down.  Therefore  let  us 
cast  down  our  most  flourishing  branches,  Matt.  xxi. 
S,  and  our  most  glorious  crowns,  Rev.  iv.  10,  at  the 
feet  of  Christ.  If  Sennacherib  have  conquered  king- 
doms, you  shall  hear  hira  crack  it;  "  Where  is  the 
king  of  Ilamath?"  8zc.  Isa.  xxx^ii.  1.3.  If  Nebu- 
chadnezzar have  built  a  stately  palace,  he  must  brag  of 
it  ;  "  Is  not  this  great  Babylon,  that  I  have  built  for 
the  honour  of  my  majesty?"  Dan.  iv.  30.  David 
himself  could  not  be  content  with  the  multitude  of 
Ins  people,  but  he  must  needs  number  them,  2  Sam. 
xsiv.  2.  If  Hezekiah  have  rich  treasures,  he  must 
needs  show  them,  2  Kings  xx.  13.  Victorious  Samson 
must  gloi-y  in  his  conquests  ;  "  With  the  jaw  of  an 
ass  have  I  slain  a  thousand  men,"  Judg.  x^•.  16.  But 
for  us,  though  we  give  alms,  let  us  sound  no  trumpets, 
Matt.  vi.  2;  though  we  fast  twice  a  week,  let  us 
make  no  words  of  it,  Luke  xviii.  12.  God  best  likes 
of  those  good  works  that  be  covered  under  the  fleece 
of  htmible  silence.  So  the  Lord  that  seeth  in  secret 
will  reward  openly,  Matt.  vi.  4.  The  Christian's 
glorj'  is  his  humility.  (Leo.)  St.  Paul  was  "  in 
nothing  behind  the  very  ehiefest  apostles;"  yet  he 
accounts  himself  nothing,  2  Cor.  xii.  11.  "I  la- 
boured more  abundantly  than  they  all,"  1  Cor.  xv. 
10  ;  yet  he  forgets  it.  "  I  speak  with  tongues  more 
than  ye  all,"  1  Cor.  xiv.  18.  "  I  speak  wisdom  among 
them  that  are  perfect,"  1  Cor.  ii.  6.  "  I  fought  with 
beasts  at  Ephesus  after  the  manner  of  men,"  I  Cor. 
XV.  32.  Yea,  he  calls  all  (he  former  sufferings, 
"things  without;"  he  had  a  thing  within  that 
troubled  him,  "  the  care  of  all  the  churches,"  2  Cor. 
xi.  28.  He  was  rapt  up  to  the  third  heaven,  and 
perfected  his  knowledge  among  the  angels.  Yet  he 
esteems,  hnc  atiquid,  hoc  magiium,  hoc  minim,  hoc 
totum,  nihil ;  he  forgets  all  this  in  regard  of  merit, 
as  if  it  were  nothing.  Whereas  we,  if  we  have  done 
one  thing  well,  or  at  one  time  well,  think  we  have 
done  enough.  Orpheus  going  to  hell  to  fetch  out 
his  wife  Eurydice,  had  her  granted  him  on  this 
condition,  that  he  should  not  turn  back  to  look  upon 
her  till  he  had  brought  her  forth.  But  being  for- 
ward a  good  way,  in  an  excessive  loyc,  flexil  amans 
ocu/os,  ct  prolinu.i  ilia  relapsa  est,  he  looked  back, 
and  so  lost  both  her  sight  and  herself:  but  perhaps 
when  he  considered  better  of  the  matter,  he  was  will- 
ing to  be  rid  of  her.  This  fiction  is  not  without  the 
moral:  if  we  have  any  virtue,  though  it  be  as  dear 
as  a  wife  unto  us,  let  us  not  dote  on  it  with  a  self- 
loving  admiration ;  lest  by  too  much  looking,  and 
too  well  liking,  we  lose  it.  '  Let  us  not  be  too  memo- 
rious  of  our  good  works;  it  is  enough  that  God  will 
not  forget  them.  This  deed  shall  be  "  told  for  a 
memorial  of  her,"  Matt.  xxvi.  13.  Wo  had  better 
have  one  written  in  heaven,  than  a  thousand  in  earth : 


whosoever  forgets  them,  the  comfort  is,  they  shall  be 
remembered  of  Christ. 

The  sum  of  all  is  this,  unthankfiilncss  is  even  for- 
getful. This  is  the  first  degree  of  apostacy.  They 
"  forgat  his  works,"  and  "  remembered  not  his  hand, 
nor  the  day  when  he  delivered  them  from  the  ene- 
my," Psal.  Ixxviii.  1 1,  42.  Nathan  taxed  David  with 
this  forgelfulness  :  How  much  hath  God  done  for 
thee !  yet  hast  thou  forgotten  it,  and  despised  his 
commandment,  2  Sam.  xii.  8.  So  Pharaoh's  officer 
forgat  Joseph,  when  he  came  to  his  preferment. 
"  Joash  the  king  remembered  not  the  kindness  of 
.lehoiada,  but  slew  his  son,"  2  Chron.  xxiv.  22.  Hath 
God  delivered,  purged,  blessed  us,  and  can  we  forget 
it  ?  Beware  lest  thou  lift  up  thine  heart,  and  forget 
the  Lord,  Deut.  viii.  14.  David  would  not  suffer  the 
lilcssings  of  God  to  lie  unseen  of  men,  unremenibered 
of  his  o\\'n  heart,  but  he  proclaims  them  ;  "  Come 
and  hear,  all  ye  that  fear  God,  and  I  will  declare 
what  he  hath  done  for  my  soul,"  Psal.  \sx\.  10. 
Let  others  write  the  kindnesses  of  their  friends,  I 
will  relate  to  vou  the  mercies  of  mv  God,  Psal.  xl. 
10,  and  l.xxi.  15.  Of  all  faculties  of  the  soul,  the 
memory  is  most  delicate,  tender,  and  brittle,  and 
soonest  decayeth;  and  of  all  objects  of  memory,  a 
benefit  soonest  grows  old.  Yet  it  is  an  easy  work  of 
memory  to  think  on  him  that  made  us  :  here  is  no 
overcharging  it  with  numerous  objects ;  to  remem- 
ber only  one  thing,  the  mercy  of  thy  God.  It 
is  no  weakening  to  thy  body,  no  decay  to  thy  store, 
no  emptying  to  thy  purse;  O  then  be  thankfiil. 
And  yet  all  thy  riches,  thy  fatlings,  thy  first-fruits, 
thy  best  oblations,  are  not  so  acceptable  ;  it  is  more 
welcome  than  the  bullock  that  hath  horn  and  hoof. 
"  Hath  God  forgotten  to  be  gracious?"  Psal.  Ixxvii. 
9.  He  hath  then  left  his  old  wont.  No,  David  had 
forgotten  the  richness  of  his  mercy  ;  therefore  he 
recollects  himself;  "  This  is  my  infirmity  :  but  I 
will  remember  the  years  of  the  right  hand  of  the 
Most  High,"  ver.  10.  Not  the  moments,  nor  the 
hours,  nor  days  of  a  few  short  afflictions,  that  his 
left  hand  hath  dealt  to  me;  but  the  years  of  his 
right  hand,  those  long,  large,  and  boundless  mercies 
wherewith  he  hath  comforted  me.  "  When  they 
forgat  the  Lord,  he  sold  them  into  the  hand  of  Sisera, 
and  to  the  Philistines,"  1  Sam.  xii.  9.  They  that 
forget  the  Lord,  shall  be  delivered  into  the  hand  of 
Sisera,  captain  of  the  enemy's  host,  that  is,  Satan  ; 
or  to  the  Philistines,  the  lusts  of  the  flesh;  or  to 
Moab,  that  is,  the  world.  "  Consider  this,  ye  that 
forget  God,"  Psal.  1.  22:  though  you  forget  your 
f>wn  coimtr)-,  and  your  father's  house  ;  though  you 
forget  the  wife  of  your  bosom,  and  the  fruit  of  your 
own  loins  ;  though  you  forget  to  cat  your  bread  and 
take  your  sleep  ;  yet  remember  your  sanetification, 
forget  not  that  you  were  purged  by  the  blood  of 
Christ.  If  you  have  treasures  and  gems,  you  desire 
a  cabinet  to  put  them  in  :  I  have  showed  you  a  cabi- 
net for  all  the  jewels  of  grace  you  have  gathered, 
the  memory.  If  you  have  received  any  good,  there 
preseiTC  it.  Paul  tells  the  Hebrews,  "  Ye  have  for- 
gotten the  exhortation,"  Heb.  xii.  5 :  let  it  never  be 
said  of  you,  that  ye  have  forgotten  the  exhortation 
spoken  to  you. 

"  Forgotten  that  he  was  purged."  There  remains 
yet  one  degree  more  of  application  and  amplifica- 
tion of  this  point.  Consider  we  the  price  of  our 
purgation,  and  we  shall  more  willingly  part  from 
our  corruption.  If  the  blood  of  God's  Son  was  spilt 
and  spent  to  discharge  us  of  sin,  how  odious  should 
sin  ajipear  to  us!  Oh  let  no  sin  be  held  so  dear  .as 
to  be  retained,  when  (iod  retained  not  his  dearest  Son 
for  us.  When  Abraham  offered  up  Isaac,  God  said, 
I  see  thou  lovest  me :  but  when  God  offered  up  his 


Ver.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


113 


Son  for  us  (that  were,  not  as  God  to  Abraham,  a 
friendly  Creator,  hut)  enemy  creatures,  \vc  may  well 
say.  Lord,  we  see  that  thou  lovest  us.  Abraham's 
offering  Isaac  was  a  grievous  trial,  both  for  the  mat- 
ter and  the  manner  :  that  talis,  lalem,  taliter.  1.  That 
the  saerificer  should  be  a  father.  It  is  contranatural 
and  execrable  for  a  son  to  slay  his  father,  to  give 
death  to  him  that  gave  him  life.  Herodotus  writes 
of  some  that  held  it  impossible  for  a  son  to  liill  liis 
father.  A  great  lawgiver  made  no  law  for  it,  as  a 
thing  never  to  be  done.  If  any  were  suspected  or 
accused  for  it,  they  would  conclude  that  either  he 
had  not  done  it,  or  that  lie  was  a  bastard ;  they 
could  not  be  persuaded  that  any  son  would  commit 
parricide.  But  now  it  is  more  strange  for  a  father  to 
slay  his  son;  for  love  more  descends  than  ascends. 
We  have  read  of  young  ones  that  killed  their  own 
dam;  we  never  read  of  a  dam  that  killed  her  own 
young  ones.  But  here  Isaac  is  doomed  to  die,  not 
by  the  hand  of  an  enemy,  not  by  a  stranger,  not  by 
an  executioner,  not  by  a  murderer;  but  by  a  father, 
a  mild,  gentK?,  holy,  loving  father.  Abraham  might 
say,  Oh  that  it  were  only  his  destiny  to  die,  and  not 
to  die  by  the  hand  of  his  father.  2.  That  the  sacri- 
fice should  be  his  son,  his  Isaac,  his  joy  ;  not  only  his 
son,  but  his  only  son.  Not  one  of  many  ;  yet  Jacob 
cannot  spare  one  of  tivelve,  he  weeps  for  Joseph,  he 
is  grieved  to  part  with  Benjamin.  Yea,  that  it  must 
be  that  son  from  whom  the  ^lessiah  was  to  come; 
the  hope  of  salvation  to  himself,  and  all  the  ends 
of  the  earth.  3.  That  he  must  die  after  such  a  man- 
ner; a  sacrifice  to  God,  who  delights  not  in  the 
blood  of  men :  and  this,  himself  not  standing  by, 
but  with  his  own  hand.  Since  he  must  die,  oh  that 
another  hand  might  do  it,  and  the  father  not  see  it ! 
Dost  thou  lament  thy  son  dying,  what  wouldst  thou 
do  if  thyself  wcrt  commanded  to  kill  him  ?  God 
remembers  this  faithful  ser\ice  with  an  oath :  "  By 
myself  have  I  sworn,"  that  I  will  bless  thee  for  it. 
Gen.  xxii.  16. 

Sure  he  was  loth  his  tender  son  to  kill ; 

But  much  more  loth  to  break  his  Father's  will. 

But  now  to  what  purpose  is  all  this  ?  Yes,  Abra- 
ham puts  us  in  mind  of  God  the  Father ;  Isaac  was  a 
type  of  Christ :  either  gives  up  his  only  son,  but  with 
great  difference.  Abraham's  duty  was  but  a  shadow 
of  God's  bounty.  1.  Abraham  at  God's  command 
was  bound  to  do  it,  as  a  creature  to  his  Maker ;  but 
who  could  command  God  ?  Children  are  command- 
ed by  parents^  their  parents  by  magistrates,  those 
magistrates  by  princes,  those  princes  by  God,  God 
himself  by  none.  2.  Abraham  did  this  for  a  loving 
friend,  God  did  it  for  hating  enemies ;  "  When  we 
were  enemies,  we  were  reconciled  to  God  by  the 
death  of  his  Son,"  Rom.  v.  10.  .3.  Abraham  offered 
a  mortal  son  sure  to  die  ;  God  ofiered  an  immortal 
Son  to  death  indeed.  The  one  must  have  died  though 
his  father  should  never  kill  him ;  the  other  could 
never  have  died,  unless  the  Father  had  delivered  him 
to  death.  Besides,  he  that  was  mortal  escaped,  he 
that  was  immortal  died. 

Now  wherefore  did  God  all  this?  To  purge  us 
from  sin.  So  he  killed  his  Son,  that  he  might  kill 
our  sin;  he  was  crucified,  that  iniquity  might  be 
mortified.  Ponder  them,  and  weigh  the  reasons  why 
our  Saviour  died.  Samson  suffered  his  hair,  his 
strength,  to  be  lost  for  Delilah  :  Christ  suffered  him- 
self to  be  betrayed  and  murdered  for  us.  Jacob  en- 
dured fourteen  years'  service  for  Rachel :  Christ  above 
thirty  years'  passion  for  us.  Rachel  was  fair,  there- 
fore Jacob  loved  her :  we  were  foul  and  polluted,  yet 
Christ  loved  us :  he  did  descend,  from  his  own 
royalty,  to  deliver  us  from  misery.     Divers  kings 


have  left  their  regal  seats  for  a  monastery :  Christ 
forsook  heaven  for  earth,  a  crown  of  joys  for  a  crown 
of  thorns.  Exemplum  sine  exempto .'  Many  refuse 
heaven  for  earth's  sake,  becau.se  they  know  not  those 
supernal  joys :  Christ  knew  heaven,  for  it  was  his 
own.  All  this  for  sin.  Fie,  filthy  sin,  that  any  soul 
should  hereafter  love  thee !  For  this  cause  turn 
from  iniquity  to  righteousness :  do  thou  for  God's 
sake  not  spare  thy  dearest  sin,  when  God  for  thy  sake 
did  not  spare  his  dearest  Son.  Fall  not  back  to 
wickedness  and  pollution ;  remember  thou  art  purged 
by  Jesus  Christ. 


Verse  10. 

Wherefore  the  rather,  brethren,  give  diligence  to  make 
your  calling  and  election  sure :  for  if  ye  do  these 
things,  ye  shall  necer  full. 

The  scope  of  this  verse  is  persuasive  and  hortatory  ; 
wherein  the  apostle  labours  to  reduce  Christianity  to 
practice,  that  as  men  have  a  plentiful  hope  of  salva- 
tion, so  they  may  show  a  liberal  argument  of  sanc- 
tifieation.  "  For  even"  man  that  hath  this  hope  in 
him  purifieth  himself,"'  1  Jolin  iii.  3.  And  he  that 
is  freed  from  damnation,  walks  after  the  Spirit,  Rom. 
viii.  1.  Neither  can  there  be  a  sound  testimony  of 
conscience  that  we  are  in  God's  favour,  if  it  be  not 
joined  with  the  integrity  of  life.  That  which  from 
everlasting  stood  sure  in  heaven  by  God's  decree  of 
election,  this  make  siu'e  to  yourselves  on  earth  by 
your  conversion  from  evil,  and  conversation  in  good- 
ness. As  God  hath  his  slatutum  est,  so  must  you 
have  your  probalum  est.  Christ  hath  bequeathed  to 
all  believers  a  legacy  of  glory,  entitle  yourselves  to 
it  by  your  faith  and  holines-s.  "  Make  your  election 
sure."  It  was  ever  sure  in  God's  prescience,  now 
make  it  sure  to  your  own  conscience.  Which  when 
you  have  done,  be  stablished  in  your  hearts;  "ye 
shall  never  fall."  He  that  hath  a  grant  from  the 
king  under  the  broad  seal,  and  hath  also  interested 
and  strengthened  himself  in  tliis  grant,  and  hath 
approved  himself  coram  facie  judicis,  wants  now  no- 
thing but  possession,  which  the  sheriff  cannot  deny 
him.  So  the  Christian  having  both  these  made  sure 
to  him,  when  death  shall  manumit  him,  the  angels 
shall  bring  him  to  the  inheritance,  and  the  gate  of 
glorj-  shall  give  open  way,  the  Porter  not  being  Peter, 
but  the  Lord  Jesus  himself.  A  man  in  your  city  is 
to  be  made  free  by  his  fathei-'s  copy :  you  demand 
proof  that  he  is  such  a  man's  son ;  he  proves  it  by 
testimony,  you  cannot  deny  his  freedom.  The  Father 
of  heaven  makes  all  Christians  free  by  Christ's  copy  ; 
"  If  the  Son  therefore  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be 
free  indeed,"  John  viii.  36.  "Thou  comest  and  de- 
mandest  thy  freedom :  where  is  thy  testimony  that 
thou  art  such  a  Father's  son  ?  here,  my  faith,  and 
some  measure  of  obedience.  Christ  will  answer, 
"  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant :  enter  thou 
into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord,"  Matt.  xxv.  2L 

"  Wherefore    the    rather,   brethren,"    &c.      The 
whole  verse  may  be  distributed  into, 

An  exhortation,  Be  diligent  to  make  your  election 
sure. 

A  confirmation.  If  yc  do  ye  shall  never  fall. 

The  exhortation  contains  in  it. 

An  induction.  Brethren,  be  diligent. 

An  instruction.  Make  your  calling  certain. 

In  the  former  there  is  a  word, 

Of  connexion,  Wherefore. 
I      Of  affection,  Brethren. 


114 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


Of  direction,  Give  diligence 

Of  election,  Raihir,  to  this  than  other  things. 

In  the  other  is  considerable, 

The  matter  expressed,  Make  your  calling  and 
election  sure. 

The  manner  implied.  How  it  may  be  made  sure. 

Tl.v.'  confirmation  ofTcrs  to  be  considered  by, 

A  qualification.  If  ye  do  these  things. 

A  ratification,  You  shall  never  fall. 

The  tirst  branch  of  the  first  particular  of  the  first 
general,  is  the  word  of  connexion,  "Wherefore." 
This  word  infers  a  consequence  on  the  premises,  or 
is  a  reason  of  the  precedent  speech.  The  apostle 
had  formerly  discovered  the  danger  of  such  as  forget 
their  own  purging.  But  tliere  are  many  that  forget 
not  that  tney  were  purged  by  the  redemption  of 
Christ,  but  remember  it  too  mucli  ;  and  from  this 
derive  encouragement  of  a  licentious  life,  quitting 
themselves  from  all  sins  by  his  passion.  "  But  ye 
have  not  so  learned  Christ,"  Eph.  iv.  20.  Was  your 
first  lesson  Christ's  cross,  and  did  you  so  construe  it, 
"  Shall  we  continue  in  sin,  that  grace  may  abound  ?" 
Rom.  vi.  1.  He  that  thus  spells  Christ,  hath  but 
small  literature  of  religion.  "  Thou  art  made  whole  : 
sin  no  more,  lest  a  worse  thing  come  unto  thee," 
John  V.  14.  Here  is  a  cure,  a  diet,  and  a  danger. 
"  Thou  art  made  whole ; "  there  is  the  cure.  "  Sin 
no  more ;"  there  is  the  diet.  "  Lest  a  worse  tiling 
come  unto  thee  ; "  there  is  the  danger.  "  Let  every 
one  that  nameth  the  name  of  Christ  depart  from 
iniquity,"  2  Tim.  ii.  19.  Art  thou  a  Christian  ?  Sit 
illi  dominatio,  a  quo  denominatio,  Acknowledge  him 
thy  Lord,  of  whom  thou  hast  thy  name  and  title  : 
do  not  usurp  that  name  unless  thou  lead  an  answer- 
able life.  Otherwasc,  though  thou  cany  awhile  the 
name  of  a  Christian,  thou  wilt  find  at  last  the  reward 
of  an  infidel.  If  ye  call  God,  Father,  "  pass  the  time 
of  your  sojourning  here  in  fear,"  I  Pet.  i.  17.  Shall 
we  acknowledge  a  Father,  and  deny  him  honour  ? 
The  end  of  our  conversion,  is  to  amend  our  conver- 
sation ;  and  that  word  which  sounds  peace,  and  joy, 
and  remission  of  sins,  leaves  this  lesson  behind  it. 
Sin  no  more.  As  upon  a  general  pardon  granted  at 
a  royal  parliament,  the  prisons  are  emptied ;  yet  the 
prisoners  and  malefactors  have  three  memorable  words 
spoken  to  them.  Exile,  gaudete,  cavele,  Go  forth,  re- 
joice in  your  liberty,  but  beware  lest  your  sins  bring 
you  back  again.  He  that  draws  arguments  of  pre- 
sumption and  riot  from  Christ's  death  and  passion, 
hath  not  perhaps  forgotten  his  Saviour,  but  re- 
members him  to  the  improvement  of  his  own  dam- 
nation. 

"  Brethren."  This  is  a  word  of  relation,  betwixt 
the  persons  to  whom,  and  the  persons  from  whom, 
this  admonition  is  sent.  This  declares  in  the  apostle 
two  virtues ;  his  humility,  and  his  holy  policy  :  both 
attribute  to  us  some  dignity,  and  require  from  us  some 
duty. 

For  his  humility ;  he  prefers  not  himself  to  the 
rest  of  God's  saints,  but  calls  them  all  brethren. 
How  contemptibly  would  he  judge  of  the  pope's  ar- 
rogated primacy!  What  sacrilegious  pride  would 
he  take  it,  to  be  called  the  father  of  all  men,  which 
is  incommunicably  proper  to  God  himself  !  Indeed 
God  bestowed  upon  Abraham  this  title,  to  be  called 
"  the  father  of  all  them  that  believe,"  Rom.  iv.  II. 
But  this  was  a  fatherhood  of  example  only.  He 
might  be  a  father  in  respect  of  generation  to  the 
Jews ;  he  can  be  father  in  respect  of  regeneration  to 
none.  Himself  was  the  son  of  faith,  though  called 
the  father  of  believers.  But  "  doubtless,  O  Lord, 
thou  art  our  Father,  though  Abraham  be  ignorant 
of  us,"  Isa.  Ixiii.  16.  And  this  our  title,  to  the  father- 
hood of  God,  and  brotherhood  of  Christians,  is  through 


Christ ;  who  is  both  Pater  nosier,  and  Prater  tiosler. 
Our  Father;  "Behold  I  and  the  children  which 
God  hath  given  me,"  Heb.  ii.  13.  Our  Brother ; 
'•  He  is  not  ashamed  to  call  us  brethren,"  ver.  II. 
See  here  then  the  different  spirit  of  St.  Peter  and 
the  pope;  one  calls  himself  tiie  brother,  the  other 
the  father,  of  the  saints.  Indeed  the  pastor  may 
call  his  jjcople  children  ;  and  Paul  calls  Timothy  his 
son,  when  he  commends  himself  to  him ;  "  Unto 
Timothy,  my  own  son  in  the  faith,"  I  Tim.  i.  2 : 
when  he  commends  him  to  others,  he  calls  him 
brother;  "Our  brother  Timothy  is  set  at  liberty," 
Heb.  xiii.  23.  But,  saith  our  Saviour,  "  Call  no  man 
your  father  upon  the  earth ;  for  one  is  your  Father, 
which  is  in  heaven,"  Matt,  xxiii.  9.  Christ  doth  not 
there  forbid  natural,  civil,  moral  relations.  Not 
natural;  Jacob  may  call  Isaac  father.  Not  civil; 
the  servants  of  Naaman  spake  unto  him,  "  My 
father,"  2  Kings  v.  13.  Not  moral  ;  as  Elisha  said 
to  ascending  Elijah,  "  My  father,  my  father,"  2  Kings 
ii.  12.  Things  that  are  subordinate  one  to  another 
do  not  oppose  one  another :  we  have  one  Father  in 
heaven,  yet  may  have  many  ministerial  fathers  upon 
earth;  but  none  in  that  sense  that  God  is  our  Father. 
The  father  of  the  church,  the  pope  cannot  be  called 
without  wrong  to  God.  This  title  he  challengeth 
in  St.  Peter's  right ;  but  St.  Peter  himself  thinks  it 
wrong.  Christ,  say  they,  meant  to  turn  over  his 
right  to  Peter,  as  if  he  were  to  be  his  only  heir ; 
"Lfpon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church."  But  th 
church  had  a  foundation  from  the  beginning  of  tin 
world ;  I  hope  Peter  was  not  it.  He  calls  us  bret  hreii. 
to  show  that  he  had  but  the  privilege  of  a  brothei'. 
and  did  no  otherwise  than  all  the  rest  bear  the  arms 
of  the  elder;  he  gives  them  all  equal  privilege. 
Tlic  Old  Testament  began  in  fraternity,  Closes  and 
Aaron  :  so  doth  the  New  ;  Peter  and  Andrew,  James 
and  John,  Simon  and  Jude,  Philip  and  Bartholomew, 
are  also  taken  to  be  brethren ;  so  among  the  twelve 
apostles,  to  be  four  pair  of  brethren.  And  as  Christ 
took  them  from  a  humble  condition  of  estate,  so  he 
gave  them  a  humble  opinion  of  themselves.  For 
condition ;  he  took  no  gymnosophists  from  India, 
nor  philosophers  from  Athens,  nor  orators  from 
Rome,  nor  rabbis  from  Jerusalem  ;  but  men  of 
no  learning.  'Wlieu  he  purposed  to  bring  down 
the  proud  hearts  of  men,  he  did  not  choose  orators  to 
persuade  fishers,  but  fishers  to  convert  emperors.  For 
disposition ;  though  they  were  dignified  to  be  apos- 
tles, yet  they  remain  still  humble  bretliren  to  the 
poorest.  They  had  not  a  lust  of  sovereignty,  but  a 
zeal  of  charity.  If  therefore  Peter  had  any  primacy, 
it  was  not  of  honour,  but  of  order.  Howsoever,  as 
Matthias  for  succeeding  Judas  the  traitor  was  never 
the  worse,  so  the  pope  for  succeeding  Peter  the  saint 
is  never  the  better. 

For  his  policy  ;  he  desires  to  win  their  souls,  and 
therefore  insinuates  himself  into  their  loves.  We 
begin  our  letters  to  menof  honour  with,  Honourable; 
to  kindred,  with  titles  of  affinity ;  to  friends,  with 
terms  of  amily  ;  the  apostles  with  the  best  band, 
fiiethren;  beloved  in  the  best  Beloved,  Jesus  Christ. 
The  phrase  of  "  brother"  begins  almost  to  be  worn 
out ;  whether  through  curiosity,  or  curialily,  such 
Christian  salutations  are  thought  too  gross.  But 
the  apostles  wonted  to  let  in  their  holy  counsel  by 
the  sweetness  of  their  affection.  Notwithstanding 
their  apostolical  authority,  and  beauty  of  graces,  yet 
they  took  all  courses  to  iiisinuate  and  work  into  their 
hearers'  hearts.  Even  when  they  came  with  a  rod, 
vet  was  it  not  without  the  spirit  of  meekness.  In 
reproving  of  sins,  they  did  it  without  jiassion,  not 
without  compassion,  "iou  may  therefore  well  pardon 
us,  if  with  points  of  humanity  we  illustrate  points  of 


Ver.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


115 


divinity ;  if,  according  to  your  capacities,  from  earthly 
things  we  reason  to  heavenly.  So  did  our  Saviour ; 
If  ye,  being  evil  parents,  can  give  good  gifts  to  your 
children  ;  how  much  more  shall  our  heavenly  Father 
give  good  things  to  you!  Matt.  vii.  11.  Philosophers 
were  enemies  to  the  gospel ;  give  us  leave  to  eonfiite 
them  witli  their  own  reasons,  to  cut  oil"  Goliath's  head 
with  his  own  sword.  All  this  while  we  give  to  se- 
cular learning  praise,  but  no  more  than  it  deserves. 
It  is  a  learned  ignorance ;  yet  if  we  can  make  it,  like 
Balaam's  ass,  speak  to  purpose,  you  have  no  wrong. 
In  all  our  courses  we  seeK,  not  yours,  but  yourselves  : 
we  love  your  souls,  let  your  souls  accept  of  our  loves. 
If  you  will  answer  God  in  obedience,  you  answer  us 
in  the  desire  of  our  hearts. 

"  Brethren."  This  title  ascribes  to  the  people 
some  dignity ;  that  by  faith  in  Christ  they  become 
brethren  to  the  very  apostles,  and  have  the  fraternity 
of  the  heavenly  saints.  Alliance  to  princes  is  held 
a  noble  happiness;  but  let  us  bless  nini  that  hath 
by  the  cement  of  his  blood  allied  us  to  those  glori- 
ous and  triumphant  saints  in  heaven.  Be  thou  never 
so  poor,  if  a  tnie  believer,  Peter  and  Paul,  yea,  Jesus 
Christ  himself,  is  thy  brother. 

Again,  this  term  is  not  without  some  requirable 
duty.  Is  the  minister  thy  brother?  hear  him.  If 
God  had  spoken  only  by  angels,  or  by  some  raised 
from  the  dead,  or  by  himself  in  thunder,  this  had 
been  terror;  but  by  thy  brother,  this  is  the  sweet- 
ness of  familiar  mercy.  The  Lord  doth  raise  up 
unto  us  prophets  of  our  own  brethren,  Acts  iii.  22. 
But  take  heed  lest  God's  gentleness  be  abused  by 
thy  contempt :  it  is  the  word  of  thy  Judge  and 
Maker,  though  in  the  mouth  of  thy  brother.  I 
know  that  worldly  greatness  doth  easily  run  into 
this  scorn  :  What !  shall  such  a  poor  man  reprove 
me  ?  Yes  ;  "  I  have  set  thee  over  nations  and  king- 
doms," Jcr.  i.  10.  I  have  chosen  him  "  to  bear  my 
name  before  Gentiles  and  kings,"  Acts  ix.  15.  "  Thou 
must  prophesy  before  people,  and  nations,  and  kings," 
Rev.  X.  11.  If  thou  be  the  shepherd,  suffer  none  to 
pollute  the  fountain  whereof  the  sheep  should  drink. 
I  know  that  the  poorer  sort  are  presumptuous  enough, 
but  they  want  teeth  and  horns  :  The  sons  of  Zeruiah 
are  too  hard  for  us.  If  our  conscience  and  the  sal- 
vation of  our  souls  lay  not  upon  it,  it  were  better  for 
us  to  hold  our  peace.  I  speak  not  only  concerning 
the  pains  ;  if  a  man  knew  the  burden,  it  would  take 
away  his  stomach.  Hierome  on  those  w"ords  of  Paul, 
"  If  a  man  desire  the  office  of  a  bishop,"  &c.  1  Tim. 
iii.  1  :  Alas,  who  doth  not  desire  it  ?  But  to  be  a 
bishop  was  then  the  first  step  to  pei-secution :  if  it 
were  still  so,  to  be  pricked  for  death,  few  would  so 
much  affect  it.  But  I  speak  concerning  the  opposi- 
tion of  malice,  rather  than  the  imposition  of  labour ; 
herein  consists  our  sorrow  and  trouble.  The  shep- 
herd having  a  lamb  stolen  out  of  his  flock,  vowed 
to  God,  if  he  could  find  the  thief,  to  sacrifice  a  ram 
to  him.    But  when  in  the  pursuit  he  found  a  lion 

Sreying  on  it  he  made  a  new  vow,  that  if  God  would 
eliver  him  from  the  lion,  he  would  not  only  content 
himself  with  the  loss  of  his  lamb,  but  also  sacrifice 
a  bull  to  him.  If  a  sheep  be  endangered,  we  vow 
sacrifice  of  thankfulness  if  we  may  recover  it :  but 
seeking  the  lost  lamb,  we  meet  with  a  lion,  some 
great  tyrant,  that  hath  perverted  him  to  feed  his 
own  humour  and  sensual  lust ;  we  are  now  fain  to 
return  without  our  lamb,  and  glad  to  escape  the  lion. 
The  sick  man  loathes  the  cup  wherein  the  potion 
was  brought  him,  though  it  qualified  the  malignancy 
of  his  disease ;  so  many  for  private  quarrels  hate  the 
vessel,  the  minister,  though  he  brings  them  the 
water  of  life.  It  is  Satan's  master>piecc,  or  special 
trick,  to  put  jar  betwixt  the  pastor  and  the  people. 


Our  feet  should  be  beautiful,  and  we  do  what  we  can 
to  gain  your  affections,  to  draw  you  on  with  sweet 
allurements  to  everlasting  peace  ;  yet  still,  as  the 
jjrophet  speaks,  there  are  some  that  will  contend 
with  the  priests.  You  give  the  physician  leave  to 
tell  the  disease  of  your  bodies;  the  lawyer  to  show 
you  any  flaw  in  your  estates ;  your  horse-keeper  shall 
tell  you  the  surfeits  of  your  horse ;  your  huntsman 
the  surranees  of  your  dogs  :  only  we  must  dissemble, 
and  conceal  from  you  the  sickness  of  your  souls. 
We  will  not  do  it :  we  will  pray  for  you,  and  honour 
you,  and  love  you  ;  but  your  sins  we  will  reprove, 
and  what  God  hath  bidden  us,  that  we  will  speak. 
And  for  you  that  come  liither  to  fetch  seeds  of  lust 
from  the  temple,  to  seek  out  the  devil  in  God's  house, 
as  if  you  could  not  find  him  in  the  places  of  prosti- 
tution ;  you  that  come  hither  to  detract  and  traduce, 
and  think  to  enhance  your  credits  of  learning  and 
wit  by  disgracing  the  preacher;  you  come  not  as 
brothers  and  saints,  but  as  enemies,  and  worse.  If 
there  be  any  such  present,  my  admonition  is  well 
spent ;  if  none  at  all,  it  is  well  and  happily  lost. 

"  Give  diligence."  Studele,  salagile,  avovldaaTc. 
Terrene  profits,  though  tanto  non  digtm  labore,  come 
not  without  diligence.  Doth  a  man  reap  without 
sowing !  The  apostle  says,  "  Give  to  him  that  need- 
eth,"  Eph.  iv.  28  ;  and,  "  Above  all  things  put  on 
charity,"  Col.  iii.  14:  yet  he  says  withal,  He  that 
labours  not,  let  him  not  eat.  Doth  he  here  put  off 
that  charity  which  he  bids  us  put  on  ?  No,  indulget 
liro,  non  titio ;  he  would  have  us  favour  the  person, 
not  the  fault ;  and  relieve  egentes,  such  as  want ;  but 
withal  agenles,  such  as  work.  The  philosophers 
thought  the  world  was  immortal  and  eternal ;  for 
otherwise,  say  they,  God  were  idle,  and  should  have 
had  nothing  to  do  before  the  creation.  They  knew 
not  the  Divine  contemplation  of  liis  own  essence  in 
Three  Persons  ;  they  considered  not  that  incompre- 
hensible delight,  nor  that  infinite  business  of  rest, 
and  rest  of  business,  that  he  had  in  himself.  They 
were  deceived  in  that,  but  not  in  this,  that  idleness 
is  not  incident  to  God.  How  much  less  should  it  be 
in  man,  his  servant,  that  begs  of  this  God  his  daily 
bread!  L'ntil  we  come  to  the  threshold  of  heaven, 
there  is  no  rest  of  travail ;  but  then  we  shall  rest 
from  our  labours,  Rev.  xiv.  13.  The  idle  person  may 
seem  to  be  God's  outlawry :  slothfulness  is  a  remora 
that  sticks  to  our  sides,  and  hinders  the  bark  from 
the  voyage  of  bliss.  God  built  his  temple  on  a 
threshing-floor  ;  there  must  be  labour  in  that  place, 
though  after  a  different  manner.  As  Christ  did  not 
wholly  put  his  apostles  out  of  their  trade ;  he  made 
them  still  fishers,  but  of  souls. 

It  is  a  true  maxim  in  philosophy.  Art  and  nature 
bring  forth  nothing  suddenly  :  and  is  it  not  so  in 
divinity  ?  Doth  any  man  think,  that  hath  lived  all 
his  years  profane,  to  be  made  at  his  last  hour  a  saint  ? 
Never  tell  us,  that  one  malefactor  sped  so ;  for  then 
we  tell  you,  that  one  ass  did  speak  ;  yet  never  was 
ass  or  ox  heard  speak  since  :  grace  that  is  presimied, 
may  be  missed.  You  have  not  wealth  from  the  clods 
without  digging,  and  would  you  have  blessing  from 
the  clouds  without  working?  The  labour  of  our 
botlies  for  this  world,  was  but  a  curse :  the  labour  of 
our  souls  for  heaven,  is  a  blessing.  We  may  ignor- 
antly  give  our  bread  to  the  slothful :  God  hath  too 
much  Knowledge  to  give  salvation  upon  such  terms 
"  If  the  righteous  scarcely  be  saved,  where  shall  the 
ungodly  appear?"  1  Pet.  iv.  18.  He  that  ^ves  all 
diligence  to  enter  into  heaven,  finds  great  difficulty, 
but  ne  shall  get  in  ;  but  he  that  lies  sleeping  in  his 
sins,  must  tarry  without.  The  foolish  virgins  knock 
at  the  door,  but  were  denied  entrance.  Matt.  xxv. 
12.    Would  you  needs  sleep  ?  sleep  your  last.  Whea 


116 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


LlIAI'.    I. 


Jupiter,  in  the  fable,  had  invited  all  living  creatures 
to  a  banquet,  the  tortoise  came  at  the  taking  up  of 
the  table  ;  whereat  he  storming,  the  tortoise  excused 
himself,  that  Iris  house  troubled  him  :  hereupon 
angrj'  Jove  adjudged  him  for  ever  to  keep  in  his 
shell.  So  when  God  calls  we  have  a  house  that 
hinders  us,  some  lower,  domestical,  and  earthly  con- 
tent ;  beware  lest  all  our  happiness  be  confined 
thither. 

"  Give  diligence."  This  exhortation  presupposeth 
no  proper  strength  of  our  own  to  do  this,  for  it  is 
God's  work  in  us.  Augustine  says.  Sometimes  I 
would  have  done  this  or  that  good  thing ;  and  I  had 
will,  but  I  wanted  power ;  and  again,  I  had  power, 
but  then  I  wanted  will :  either  will  or  power  were 
missing.  Will  and  power,  like  the  sun  and  clouds, 
would  fain  meet :  the  clouds  strive  to  come  to  the  sun, 
but  they  arc  too  weak,  and  soluble,  and  melting:  the 
sun  would  embrace  the  clouds,  and  call  them  near  to 
liimsclf;  but  then  his  beams  arc  so  hot,  that  they 
disperse  them  :  these  two  could  never  meet  till  they 
were  brought  together  by  the  wind.  So  our  will  to 
goodness,  and  our  power  of  performance,  cannot 
meet,  till  they  be  brought  together  by  the  Spirit, 
that  holy  wind  which  blows  where  it  listeth,  John 
iii.  8.  The  wheel  runs  round,  not  because  it  is  made 
round,  but  because  it  is  moved  round.  In  the  com- 
mandment, perceive  what  thou  oughtcst  to  have ;  in 
sin,  perceive  what  thou  hast  not ;  in  faith  and  prayer, 
perceive  where  it  is  to  be  had  which  thou  desirest. 
(August.)  "  I  will  run  the  way  of  thy  command- 
ments, when  thou  shalt  enlarge  my  heart,"  Psal.  cxix. 
32.  By  nature  our  feet  are  tied  with  the  fetters  of 
coiTuption,  we  cannot  i-un.  Wilt  thou  run  with  thy 
feet,  before  thou  have  eyes  ?  or  with  thy  eyes  and 
feet,  without  thy  heart  ?  or  with  thy  heart,  before 
God  hath  freed  it  ?  Canst  thou  i-un  the  way  without 
the  way,  which  is  Jesus  Christ  ?  We  know  whither 
our  diligence  must  run  for  help :  entreat  Christ  to 
entreat  nis  Father ;  for  he  is  delighted  with  his 
prayer,  and  requires  it  of  him :  "  Ask  of  me,  and  I 
shall  give  thee,"  Psal.  ii.  8.  It  was  but  hyperbolical 
in  Trajan,  it  is  trtie  in  our  God,  He  can  as  soon  cease 
to  be,  as  to  be  good  to  his.  God's  hand  was  never 
shut  from  giving,  if  man's  mouth  be  not  shut  from 
asking.  Misery  is  the  best  orator  for  mercy :  God 
loves  to  be  solicited;  "  Call  upon  me  in  the  day  of 
trouble;  I  will  deliver  thee,"  Psal.  1.  15.  He  that 
inviteth  all  to  come  in  mercy,  will  receive  all  that 
do  come  in  justice.  Yet  cannot  our  petitionary  dili- 
gence deserve  this :  it  is  obtained  not  prece,  sedpretio ; 
by  the  precious  blood  and  merits  of  Christ. 

"  Rather."  Let  not  the  goodness  of  God,  which 
without  your  desert  hath  chosen  and  called  you  to 
the  profession  of  Christ,  forgiving  and  purging  your 
former  sins,  make  you  idle  and  careless.  But  rather 
strive  to  answer  this  mercy  in  your  faithful  conversa- 
tion ;  lest  you  fall  into  that  pit  of  destruction,  from 
whence  by  his  death  he  hath  redeemed  you.  Let  your 
obedience  consent  in  a  sweet  harmony  with  God's 
mercies,  that  you  may  be  capable  of  his  promises, 
and  not  be  cut  off  like  withered  and  fruitless  branches. 
"  The  rather."  He  doth  seem  to  encourage  this 
endeavour,  partly  by  the  benefit,  partly  by  the 
daiiger,  and  jjarlly  by  the  reward  :  the  first  whereof 
incites  our  gratitude^  the  next  our  fear,  the  last  our 
hope.  1.  The  rather,  because  you  have  received  such 
benefit,  as  cleansing  from  sin  by  Christ's  blood. 
Oh  what  sin  should  be  so  dear  to  us,  as  God's  only 
Son  was  to  him !  2.  The  rather,  for  fear  lest  a  re- 
tidivation  overthrow  all  your  happiness.  As  Demas 
lost  himself,  by  loving  this  present  world,  2  Tim.  iv. 
10.  Seven  worse  spirits  may  make  a  re-entry,  when 
upon  the  expidsion  of  one  there  is  found  a  vacuity. 


Lot's  wife  had  as  good  have  dwelt  in  Sodom  still,  as 
to  look  back  after  her  deliverance.  If  the  righteous 
turn  away  from  his  righteousness,  in  the  sin  that  he 
hath  sinned  he  shall  die,  Ezek.  xviii.  24.  A  man 
hath  been  dangerously  sick,  is  now  something  re- 
covered; if  by  misgovernment  he  fall  into  a  relapse, 
he  exasperates  the  disease.  The  first  sickness  of 
the  body  feeds  upon  ill  humours,  the  relapse  on  the 
vital  spirits.  For  a  wound  half  cured  to  come  to  a 
new  incision,  is  more  painful  than  ever.  It  would 
grieve  a  traveller,  got  half-way  forward  his  journey, 
losing  all  that,  to  return,  and  begin  again.  Are 
ye  so  foolish,  that  having  begun  in  the  Spirit,  ye 
will  be  made  perfect  by  the  flesh  ?  Gal.  iii.  3.  No, 
rather  give  all  diligence  to  continue ;  and  call  upon 
God  for  perseverance,  who  alone  can  keep  us  from  the 
griping  paws  and  grinding  jaws  of  that  roaring  lion. 
It  is  said,  Zech.  iv.  9,  that  •'  the  hands  of  Zerubbabel 
have  laid  the  foundation  of  this  house;  his  hands 
shall  also  finish  it."  So  it  is  God  that  begins  the 
good  work  in  us,  and  God  that  accomplisheth  it. 
Indeed  he  chargeth  us  to  give  diligence ;  "  Thy  God 
hath  commanded  thy  strength,"  Psal.  Ixviii.  28:  but 
he  may  command  and  go  without,  unless  himself  ef- 
fectuate it,  as  it  follows  ;  "  Strengthen,  0  God,  that 
which  tliou  hast  wrought  for  us."  I  know  that  God's 
elect  may  for  a  time  lose  some  good  means,  and  some 
great  measure  of  grace  ;  many  have  fallen  foully  and 
fully,  none  finally.  It  is  only  God's  mercy  that  up- 
holds us ;  giving  us  grace  prevenient,  subsequent, 
co-operant ;  grace  before  grace,  grace  after  grace. 
It  is  not  of  ourselves  that  we  persevere  to  the  end, 
and  in  the  end ;  but  we  "  are  kept  by  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation,"  1  Pet.  i.  5.  3.  The  rather,  in 
respect  of  the  reward:  thus  shall  you  be  sure  that 
you  are  written  in  heaven,  never  to  be  blotted  out. 
There  is  no  assurance  in  this  world  like  it :  wert  thou 
sure  to  enjoy  more  kingdoms  than  ever  the  devil 
showed  Christ,  to  be  more  healthful  than  Moses,  to 
live  longer  than  Methuselah  ;  yet  this  is  the  end, 
titisero  clormire  seputcliro,  to  lie  hidden  in  the  silent 
dust.  Plot  and  project  what  you  can,  the  best  plot 
of  all  is  salvation ;  and  the  best  assurance,  to  live 
with  Jesus  Christ  for  ever. 

"To  make  your  calling  and  election  sure."  We 
have  done  with  the  induction,  and  are  now  come  to 
the  instruction :  and  herein  first  to  the  matter  ex- 
])rcssed,  the  making  sure  of  our  election  and  calling. 
Which  we  will  first  look  upon  quoad  ordinem,  then 
quoad  cardinem,  if  I  may  so  speak  :  first  what  is  their 
order,  then  what  is  their  dependence.  For  the  or- 
der, the  apostle  puts  vocation  in  the  former  place, 
which  yet  in  propriety  is  the  latter ;  for  election 
is  before  all  time,  vocation  in  time;  his  i)urpose  was 
toward  us  in  Christ  Jesus,  before  the  world  began, 
2  Tim.  i.  9.  Calling  comes  aftenvard  ;  this  is 
the  accepted  time,  now  is  the  day  of  salvation. 
2  Cor.  vi.  2.  But  this  is  a  right  foi-m  and  method  of 
speech,  to  set  that  last,  which  is  worthiest  and 
weightiest.  Besides,  we  pass  by  things  nearer  to 
things  more  remote  ;  first,  we  must  look  to  our  call- 
ing, and  by  our  calling  come  to  assurance  of  our 
election.  For  dependence,  we  must  know  that  our 
calling  depends  upon  our  election. 

The  determinate  counsel  of  God  doth  not  take 
away  second  means,  but  disposeth  those  passages 
into  order.  These  two,  election  and  vocation,  arc 
like  Jacob's  ladder,  whereupon  the  saints  ascend  like 
angels  to  God  :  election  is  the  (op.  vocation  the  fool. 
Jacob  wrestled  with  the  angel  at  the  foot  of  the  lad- 
der, we  must  not  be  so  proud  as  to  wrestle  with 
him  at  the  lop.  To  the  height  of  election  there  is 
no  climbing,  unless  we  begin  at  callin",  which  is  the 
lowest  round.    To  say,  If  1  be  saved,  I  am  saved, 


Veil  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


117 


without  furthor  care,  is  the  devil's  divinity.  There 
is  no  certainty  in  that :  look  to  thy  calling,  thus  it  is 
made  sure.  Otherwise  to  presume,  is  to  pull  down 
the  ladder,  and  think  to  jump  into  heaven  :  never 
had  man  yet  such  luck.  If  Magus  offer  to  fly  up  to 
heaven,  there  is  a  spirit  to  cast  him  down  head- 
long. When  our  Saviour  was  on  the  pinnacle,  Satan 
thought  with  a  Scripfum  est  to  break  his  neck  :  "  It  is 
written,  He  shall  give  his  angels  charge  concerning 
thee,"  &c.  Matt.  iv.  6.  But  he  left  out  a  material 
point,  "  in  all  thy  ways."  That  the  people  might 
know  him  to  be  the  Mcssias,  he  persuades  him  to  show 
them  an  unwarrantable  miracle,  to  cast  himself  down 
in  a  braver)' :  but  that  was  none  of  his  ways ;  he 
might  descend  by  the  stairs  without  such  a  precipice. 
This  cunning  he  still  practiscth  on  his  members  ;  he 
.sets  them  upon  the  high  pinnacle  of  predestination, 
and  persuades  them  there  to  a  desperate  precipitation, 
with,  If  I  am  elected,  I  am  elected,  &c.  But  this  is 
none  of  God's  ways,  or  prescribed  means,  whereljy 
we  may  be  acquainted  with  our  own  election.  "  1 
will  hear  the  heavens,  and  they  shall  hear  the  enrlh  ; 
and  the  earth  shall  hear  the  corn,  wine,  and  oil ;  and 
they  shall  hear  Jezreel,"  Hos.  ii.  21,  22:  there  is  a 
course  and  order  for  fruitfulness.  So  election  in 
heaven  calls  to  vocation  on  earth  ;  vocation  calls  for 
com,  wine,  oil,  that  is,  the  fruits  of  a  good  life  ; 
and  these  tell  our  hearts  with  comfort,  that  we  are 
elected.  God  works  by  Christ,  Christ  by  his  word, 
his  word  by  his  Spirit,  the  Spirit  certifieth  our  hcarls, 
our  hearts  stand  fast  by  faith,  faith  lays  hold  upon 
Christ  J  and  now  back  again,  Christ  presents  us  to 
God. 

There  are  six  ascents  to  heaven,  as  there  were  to 
Solomon's  throne.  The  first  and  lowest  is  vocation ; 
"  No  man  can  come  to  me,  except  the  Father  draw 
him,"  John  vi.  44.  The  second  is  repentance;  when 
God  hath  called  the  heart  from  sin,  it  melts  into 
tears,  and  is  smitten  with  a  holy  remorse.  The  next 
is  faith,  which  believes  the  pardon  of  repented  sins, 
and  the  adoption  through  Christ  to  peace.  The 
fourth  is  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  "  The 
Spirit  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit,  that  we  are  the 
children  of  God,"  Rom.  viii.  16.  Albeit  this  Spirit 
works  before,  and  begettelh  the  former  graces,  yet 
now  it  is  especially  felt.  The  next  is  peace  of  con- 
science j  all  the  clamours  of  sin,  and  terrors  of  the 
law,  being  quieted :  "  Being  justified  by  faith,  we 
have  peace  with  God,"  Rom.  v.  1.  The  last  is  good 
works,  the  fniits  of  a  sanctified  obedience,  and  eflects 
of  the  former  graces,  which  concur  to  the  making  up 
of  this  assurance.  Thus  here  is,  as  in  some  great 
prince's  court,  first,  the  gate,  that  is,  vocation. 
Then,  secondly,  we  must  come  to  the  fountain,  re- 
pentance, to  be  ba])tized  in  our  penitent  tears.  Then, 
thirdly,  to  the  common  hall,  faith,  which  gives  us 
entrance  to  the  throne  of  grace.  Fourthly,  we  come 
to  the  King's  special  Favourite,  his  bosom  Counsellor, 
the  Holy  Ghost.  Fifthly,  to  the  presence  chamber, 
peace  and  security  of  soul.  Lastly,  having  passed 
all  these,  we  come  to  the  glorious  chair  of  state,  the 
prcscntial  majesty  of  Jesus  Christ.  Thus  by  degrees 
we  enter  the  doors  of  joy. 

We  know  there  is  a  sun  in  heaven,  yet  we  cannot 
see  what  matter  it  is  made  of,  but  perceive  it  only  by 
the  beams,  light,  and  heat.  Election  is  a  sun,'  the 
eyes  of  eagles  cannot  see  it ;  yet  we  may  find  it  in 
the  heat  of  vocation,  in  the  light  of  illumination,  in 
the  beams  of  good  works.  It  is  a  principle  in  reason, 
a  perfect  action  is  not  received  at  first  but  imper- 
fectly;  a  habit  is  not  gotten  at  the  first;  salvation 
is  not  wrought  on  a  sudden.  "  The  path  of  the  just 
is  as  the  shining  light,  that  shineth  more  and  more 
unto  the  perfect  day,"  Prov.  iv.  18.     St.  Paul   con- 


siders the  chain  of  our  salvation,  depending  on  four 
links,  election,  vocation,  justification,  glorification, 
Rom.  viii.  30;  the  first  whereof  hath  no  beginning, 
the  last  no  ending.  Here  is  the  kindness  of  a  Father, 
that  singles  out  some  special  children,  to  whom  he 
bears  greatest  affection,  and  intends  most  good  ;  and 
in  this  consists  election.  In  good  time  he  declares 
his  affection,  and  makes  his  love  manifest  to  them; 
there  is  vocation.  Then  he  conforms  them  to  his 
own  image,  gives  them  place  in  court,  the  honour  of 
cliildren,  the  earnest  of  his  Spirit,  in  token  of  assur- 
ance; there  is  justification.  Lastly,  he  bids  them 
enter  into  their  Father's  joy,  makes  them  co-heirs 
with  his  eldest  Son  in  the  possession  of  bliss ;  there 
is  glorification.  God  hath  chosen  us  before  the 
world,  created  us  with  the  world,  called  us  from  the 
world,  justified  us  in  the  world,  and  he  will  save  us 
in  the  world  to  come.  He  that  chose  us  when  we 
were  not,  and  called  us  when  we  were  naught,  and 
hath  justified  us  being  sinners,  will  glorify  us  being 
saints.  The  Husbandman  of  heaven  chooseth  out  a 
plot  of  ground  at  his  own  pleasure  ;  there  is  election  : 
lie  sows  this  with  the  immortal  seed,  by  his  word ; 
there  is  vocation :  he  waters  it  with  the  dew  of  Her- 
mon,  the  graces  of  his  Spirit ;  there  is  sanctification  : 
when  it  is  ripe,  he  reaps  it  from  the  earth,  and  car- 
ries it  into  the  barn  of  heaven  ;  there  is  salvation. 

The  head  of  Nilus  cannot  be  found,  they  say  ;  but 
many  sweet  springs  issuing  from  it  are  well  knowni. 
The  head  of  our  election  is  too  high  and  secret  to  be 
found  ;  yet  we  may  taste  the  springs,  our  calling, 
holiness,  justification,  and  upright  life  ;  and  he  that 
runs  along  by  the  bank  of  these  rivers,  shall  be 
brought  at  last  to  that  fountain-head,  even  the  place 
and  book  wherein  his  own  name  stands  written. 
Joseph  may  be  a  fit  type  to  us  of  our  spiritual  deliver- 
ance. Consider  him  sold  into  Egjpt,  not  without 
the  determinate  counsel  of  God,  who  preordained 
this  to  good  ;  "  God  did  send  me  before  you  to  pre- 
serve life,"  Gen.  xlv.  5.  Here  is  the  difference,  the 
brethren  sold  Joseph,  we  sold  ourselves.  Consider  u.s 
thus  sold  unto  sin  and  death  ;  God  had  a  purjiose  to 
redeem  US;  there  is  election.  Joseph  was  delivered  out 
of  prison,  Psal.  cv.  20,  and  we  ransomed  out  of  the  house 
of  bondage  ;  there  was  redemption.  Joseph's  cause 
was  made  known,  and  himself  acquitted;  we  could 
not  be  found  innocent  in  ourselves,  but  were  acquit- 
ted in  Christ  ;  wherein  consists  our  justification. 
Lastly,  Joseph  was  clothed  in  glorious  apparel,  and 
adorned  with  golden  chains,  and  made  to  ride  in  the 
second  chariot  of  Egypt ;  so  our  last  step  is  to  be 
advanced  to  high  honour,  even  the  glory  of  the  celes- 
tial court  ;  "  "This  honour  have  all  his  saints,"  Psal. 
cxlix.  9.  The  creation  of  the  world  is  a  shadow  of 
the  regeneration  of  a  Christian.  First,  there  was  an 
earth  without  form,  void,  and  a  darkness  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep.  Predestination  is  this  great  deep, 
which  cannot  be  discovered  or  discerned.  There  the 
light  was  separated  from  the  darkness  ;  here  know- 
ledge is  separated  from  ignorance  in  the  soul ;  there 
is  calling.  Then  was  the  sun  created;  so  here  the 
bright  beams  of  grace  are  diffused  into  our  hearts, 
which  fill  us  with  spiritual  joy ;  there  is  sanctifica- 
tion. Lastly,  Adam  was  created  after  the  image  of 
God,  and  placed  in  Paradise ;  so  the  new  man  is  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  Christ,  and  shall  be  reposed 
in  the  paradise  of  everlasting  glorj'. 

Object.  1.  But  if  election  stand  wholly  and  only  in 
the  will  of  God,  and  that  purpose  be  so  long  since 
and  irrecoverably  past,  then  cannot  I  alter  it.  There- 
fore if  I  be  elected  to  salvation,  howsoever  I  live,  I 
cannot  fnistrate  it;  and  if  1  be  appointed  to  con- 
fusion, what  care  soever  I  take,  I  cannot  prevent  it. 
A  devilish  speech,  n6t  to  be  uttered  with  mouth,  nor 


118 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1. 


harLoured  in  heart.  God  is  not  the  cause  of  thy 
condemnation,  but  thyself:  "  God  made  not  death; 
neither  hath  he  pleasure  in  the  destruction  of  the 
living,"  Wisd.  i.  13.  No;  the  surest  way  to  the  sea, 
is  to  take  a  river  by  the  hand.  If  a  man  would  know 
whether  the  sun  shine  or  not,  he  need  not  climb  up 
to  the  sky,  for  he  may  behold  the  beams  on  eartli. 
So  wouldst  thou  know  whether  thy  name  be  written 
in  heaven,  never  essay  to  get  the  view  of  God's  own 
book,  thou  shalt  find  the  beams  of  that  grace  in  thy- 
self. Consecrate  thy  ears  to  hearing,  thy  tongue  to 
praying,  thy  hand  to  working,  thy  hc.nrt  to  desiring, 
thy  body  and  soul  to  obeying ;  this  is  the  course  to 
make  it  sure.  Yet  are  not  these  the  efficient  causes 
that  make  it  to  be  decreed,  but  the  means  that  make 
it  certain  to  thyself.  So  Ambrose ;  Not  by  the 
merits  of  them  that  are  saved,  nor  by  their  worthi- 
ness by  whom  they  are  called,  but  this  is  done  only 
by  the  mercy  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ. 

It  is  a  true  rule,  God  that  hath  predestinated  the 
means,  hath  not  left  out  the  end;  with  one  and  the 
same  purpose  he  determined  them  both.  Though 
man  lives  not  by  bread  only,  Matt.  iv.  4,  yet  he  that 
will  not  eat  shall  not  live.  There  v.'as  a  son  that 
held  this  desperate  opinion,  to  the  great  grief  of  his 

Earents.  One  day  he  came  to  his  father  to  borrow  a 
orse,  saying  that  he  must  be  at  Rome  by  such 
an  hour.  The  father  replied.  If  you  must  be 
there,  you  shall  be  there  though  you  stir  never  a 
foot.  Whereby  he  convinced  him,  that  if  he  could 
not  get  to  Rome  without  a  horse,  how  should  he  get 
to  heaven  without  motion  ?  There  is  another  story 
of  an  Italian,  so  opinionated  of  predestination  ;  If  I 
be  elected,  I  shall  be  saved;  if  rejected,  I  shall  not 
be  recovered.  He  received  a  dangerous  wound,  and 
sent  to  the  chirurgeon  to  help  him.  The  chirurgeon 
being  made  acquainted  with  his  impious  assertion, 
told  him.  It  shall  be  needless  for  me  to  use  any 
means  for  you ;  for  if  your  time  be  not  come,  you  shall 
escape  without  medicine ;  if  it  be  come,  "medicine 
cannot  restore  you.  The  patient  smarting  with  grief, 
and  seriously  pondering  the  chinirgeon's  speech, 
that  God  sends  no  help  without  means,  penitently 
recanted  his  error,  humbly  submitted  himself  to 
means,  and  so  was  cured  of  body  and  soul  at 
once. 

The  Rhemists  object.  We  believe  our  salvation 
sure,  therefore  it  is  madness  in  us  to  pray  for  it  ;  for 
were  it  not  madness  to  beg  the  creation  of  the  world, 
which  we  know  to  be  jiast  already  ?  Yea,  it  were 
madness  not  to  pray  for  salvation  ;  for  the  creation 
we  know  ;  our  own  election  we  know  not  but  by  our 
assiduous  prayers  for  the  assurance  of  it.  If  we 
neglect  this  duty,  we  lose  all  certainty.  All  men 
would  come  to  the  glory  of  God,  but  few  will  follow 
after  the  grace  of  God.  Bea/u.i  vuti  homo  esse,  etiam 
non  sic  vivendo  ut  possil  esse.  (August.)  J\Ien  would 
come  to  happiness,  even  by  ranning  that  course  which 
directly  leads  to  wretchedness.  He  must  be  a 
saint,  that  will  enjoy  the  communion  of  saints.  If 
thou  v.ill  be  saved  with  those  that  are  saved,  thou 
must  be  sanctified  with  those  that  are  sanctified. 
Take  thy  journey  bv  holiness,  if  thou  wilt  come  to 
happiness.  Keep  x\\e  coast  of  faith,  if  thou  desire 
to  arrive  at  the  holy  land. 

2.  But  this  makes  a  man  slothful  in  God's  service, 
the  certainty  of  his  ovm  election.  What  need  the 
heir  take  so  much  pains,  that  is  bom  to  the  in- 
heritance, as  the  hired  seiTant  ?  Nay,  but  rather 
this  spurs  him  up  to  an  extraordinary  carefulness  ; 
BS  the  apostle  saith,  The  rather  give  diligence.  Doth 
God  tell  me  I  shall  never  know  mine  own  election 
without  piety  of  life  ?  then  if  I  neglect  piety  I  make 
myself  incapable  of  assurance.     I  am  sick,  I  fain 


would  know  of  the  physician  whether  I  should  live 
or  die :  he  tells  me,  that  if  I  refrain  such  unwhole- 
some diet,  and  take  such  a  prescribed  course,  I  shall 
live.  If  Eve  fly  to  the  forbidden  fruit,  she  is  sure  to 
die  for  it.  My  father  hath  determined  that  I  shall 
be  his  heir ;  he  will  not  tell  me  so  much  in  express 
terms,  yet  gives  me  a  sign  how  I  shall  know  it,  by 
observing  him  with  obedience.  So  God  elects  some 
men  to  be  his  heirs ;  this  purpose  he  conceals  in  his 
own  bosom,  yet  allows  them  certain  signs  and  re- 
monstrances whereby  they  may  apprehend  it,  as  faith 
in  Christ,  obedience  to  the  gospel,  &c.  If  we  obey 
his  will,  and  prove  those  efTects  of  election  in  our 
consciences,  we  make  that  sure  to  ourselves,  which 
was  sure  before  in  his  decree  through  Jesus  Christ. 

3.  But  suppose  a  vicious  person  assumes,  or  rather 
presumes,  I  am  sure  of  my  election.  Indeed  there 
cannot  a  greater  honour  be  done  to  God,  than  giving 
confidence  to  his  promise.  But  what !  demonstration 
of  imgodliness,  and  evidence  of  salvation,  found  to- 
gether at  once  ?  This  holds  like  a  sick  man's  dream. 
The  wicked  man's  tongue  may  say  this  ;  but  there 
is  a  bird  within  sings  another  note,  the  conscience. 
It  is  impossible  for  an  ill  liver  to  retain  any  sure 
hope  of  his  election.  The  hypocrite  is  divided,  and 
lives  not  together ;  his  tongue  walks  Gracious-street, 
but  his  heart  is  a  pest-house.  His  profession  is  like 
Wliitecliapel,  but  his  conscience  is  as  foul  as  the 
common  sewer.  His  talk  gives  him  rich  in  grace  ; 
but  mark  what  gold  comes  out  of  his  coffer ;  none 
but  slip-coin,  light  or  counterfeit  metal.  He  is  just 
as  sure  of  heaven  as  a  galley-slave  is  of  the  empire 
of  Turkey. 

4.  But  now,  alas,  saith  the  humbled  soul,  my  god- 
liness is  so  small,  that  I  even  despair  of  assurance. 
Be  comforted ;  strive  against  thy  corniptions,  and 
by  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  thou  shalt  overcome. 
Paul  was  a  sanctified  man  ;  yet  he  complains,  "What 
I  would,  that  do  I  not ;  but  what  I  hate,  that  do  I. 
O  wretched  man  that  I  am!  who  shall  deliver  me 
from  the  body  of  this  death?"  Rom.  vii.  15,  24. 
Albeit  he  groaned  imdcr  the  weight  of  his  infirmities, 
and  felt  the  buffets  of  Satan,  yet  he  knew  that  nothing 
could  separate  him  from  the  love  of  God  in  Christ, 
Rom.  \'iii.  .39.  Thou  canst  will  that  which  is  good  ; 
then  hear  God  speak  comfort,  "  If  there  be  first  a 
willing  mind,  it  is  accepted  according  to  that  a  man 
hath,  and  not  according  to  that  he  hath  not,"  2  Cor. 
viii.  12.  Indeed  where  there  is  want  of  grace,  content 
in  that  want,  love  of  that  content,  indulgence  to  all 
these;  thereisncitheromamentnorsanctification,nor 
argument  of  salvation.  But  dost  thou  feel  thy  wants  ? 
hath  that  feeling  bred  sorrow,  that  sorrow  desire,  that 
desire  prayer,  that  prayer  increased  failh?  failh  shall 
bring  down  mercy.  In  thee  there  is  the  sense  of  in- 
firmity, in  the  other  is  the  infirmity  of  sense.  The 
feeling  of  sin  dotli  not  annihilate  the  assurance 
of  salvation.  We  feel  the  ache  of  a  finger  more 
sensibly  than  the  health  of  the  whole  body;  yet  is 
(he  health  of  the  whole  body  far  more  than  the  ache 
of  a  finger.  Sanctification  is  itself,  though  joined 
with  some  imperfection.  He  that  desired  help 
for  his  unbelief,  was  accepted  for  his  failh.  Thus 
Ahijah  answered  Jeroboam's  ^vife  concerning  her 
sick  son,  "  He  only  of  Jeroboam  shall  come  to  the 
grave,  because  in  him  there  is  found  some  good  thing 
toward  (he  Lord,"  1  Kings  xiv.  13.  Some  good 
thing,  some  grace,  though  it  be  no  great  measure, 
shall  be  accepted.  God  regards  not  so  much  the 
quantily,  as  the  quality;  not  how  much,  but  how 
(rae.  i'hough  our  Saviour  did  chide  his  aposdes  for 
(heir  little  faith, yet  he  never  rejected  them  that  had 
any  at  all.  Indeed  if  a  man  be  not  best  at  last,  he 
was  never  truly  good:  therefore  increase  the  oil  in 


Veb.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


119 


thy  lamp,  and  then  be  sure  to  enter  into  the  bride- 
chamber  of  .Tcsus  Christ. 

5.  But  if  one  man  may  know  himself  elected,  why 
may  not  another  know  himself  reprobated  ?  Heap. 
No,  for  God  hatli  prescribed  rules  for  the  one,  not 
for  the  other.  Divers  saints  knew  themselves  writ- 
ten in  the  book  of  life,  no  man  ever  knew  himself 
razed  out.  But  did  not  Cain  know  this,  when  God 
set  a  mark  upon  him?  I  do  not  think  on  the 
one  side  willi  Josephus,  that  this  mark  was  a  token 
that  God  was  appeased  by  Cain's  sacrifice,  and  for- 
gave the  punishment  of  his  fratricide ;  that  is  fri- 
volous. Neither  do  I  think  on  the  other  side,  that 
this  was  a  sign  to  himself  of  his  eternal  damnation. 
But  only  a  mark  of  God's  evident  curse  for  this  life, 
to  deter  others  from  such  bloody  attempts.  I  know 
that  despair  is  ever  ready  to  judge  itself  reprobated ; 
but  this  is  to  requite  God's  mercy  to  thee  with  un- 
mercifulness  to  thyself.  Turn  over  thy  book  of  his 
revealed  will ;  if  thou  canst  find  thy  name  there 
written  reprobate,  bclicve.it ;  but  believe  it  not  till 
then.  He  hath  showed  thee  how  to  assure  thyself 
of  heaven  ;  he  never  told  thee  that  thou  art  doomed 
to  hell.  Though  his  justice  be  c<|ual  to  his  mercy, 
yet  he  is  pleased  to  magnify  his  mercy  over  all  his 
works.  We  are  commanded  to  believe ;  "  This  is 
his  commandment.  That  we  should  believe  on  the 
name  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,"  1  John  iii.  23.  Now 
to  believe,  is  not  only  to  put  affiance  in  him,  but  to 
trust  that  we  are  justified  by  him.  If  we  be  justified, 
we  shall  be  glorified  :  if  we  be  glorified,  certainly 
we  are  elected  ;  for  election  is  the  foundation  of  all 
the  rest.  And  this  faith  is  not  left  arbitraiy  to  our 
choice,  but  we  are  commanded  to  have  it.  We  arc 
bound  to  believe  our  adoption  :  if  our  adoption,  then 
our  election ;  for  the  elect  are  predestinated  to  the 
adoption  of  children. 

God  knows  those  that  arc  his  ;  yea,  and  he  makes 
them  to  know  it.  Satan  knows  not  who  are  his,  nor 
CEtn  themselves  otherwise  than  conjecturally  know  it. 
The  judgment  of  a  reprobate  belongs  not  to  man. 
but  u])oii  special  revelation.  So  David,  in  the  69tli 
and  loytli  Psalms,  prays  not  only  against  their  sins, 
which  wc  may  do ;  but  also  against  their  persons, 
which  we  may  not  do.  So  Paul  against  Alexander 
the  coppersmith,  "  The  Lord  reward  him  according 
to  his  works,"  2  Tim.  iv.  14.  And  St.  John  seems 
to  allow  the  church  such  a  judgment :  "  There  is  a 
sin  unto  death  ;  I  do  not  say  that  he  shall  pray  for 
it,"  I  John  v.  16.  And  Paul;  "  If  any  man  love  not 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  let  him  be  Anathema  Maran- 
atha,"  I  Cor.  xvi.  22.  And  the  primitive  church 
with  one  consent  prayed  against  Julian  the  apostate. 
But  this  is  to  be  done  exceeding  rarely ;  for  who 
knows  them  that  sin  unto  death  ?  and  never  abso- 
lutely ;  for  they  may  repent,  and  turn  to  the  love  of 
Jesus  Christ.  There  is  no  prescribing  to  God's  in- 
finite mercy  :  it' is  tnie  indeed,  that  the  Scriptures 
threaten  damnation  to  continued  sin  ;  yet  the  gospel 
promiseth  mercy  to  repentance.  God  often  saves 
inter  pontem  et  fontem ;  and  turns  ravening  wolves 
into  mild  and  gentle  lambs. 

To  conclude :  in  election  we  behold  God  tlie  Father 
in  choosing  j  in  vocation,  God  the  Son  teaching ;  in 
justification,  God  the  Holy  Ghost  sealing;  in  salva- 
tion, the  whole  Deity  crowning.  God  chooseth  of 
his  love,  Christ  calleth  by  his  word,  the  Spirit  sealeth 
by  his  grace :  now  the  fruit  of  all  this,  of  God's  love 
choosing,  of  Christ's  word  calling,  of  the  Spirit's 
grace  sanctifying,  is  our  eternal  glorj"  and  blessed- 
ness in  heaven.  In  election  God  bestows  on  us  his 
love';  in  calling  he  grants  the  blessing  of  his  word; 
in  justifying  he  communicates  to  us  the  sweetness  of 
his  Spirit ;  in  glorifying  he  doth  wholly  give  us  him- 


self. We  see  far  with  our  body's  eye,  sense ;  further 
with  the  mind's  eye,  rea.son  ;  furthest  with  the  soul's 
eye,  faith.  The  rational  eye  doth  not  so  far  exceed 
the  sensual,  as  the  spiritual  exceeds  the  rational. 
Calling  illuminates  the  mind  with  knowledge;  sanc- 
tifying seals  up  the  lieart  with  spiritual  comfort: 
salvation  crowns  all,  even  the  soul  with  immortal 
bliss.  This  gradation  of  assurance  is  sweetly  con- 
tracted by  St.  Paul;  "Whom  he  did  predestinate, 
them  he  also  called :  whom  he  called,  them  he  also 
justified  :  and  whom  he  justified,  them  he  also  glo- 
rified," Rom.  viii.  30.  Wherein  the  fathers  Imve 
found  the  four  causes  of  our  salvation.  In  predes- 
tination, the  efficient  cause,  which  is  God's  love.  In 
calling,  the  material  cause,  which  is  Christ's  death, 
delivered  in  his  word  that  doth  call  us.  In  justifying 
there  is  the  formal  cause,  a  lively  faith.  In  glorify- 
ing there  is  the  final  cause,  that  is,  everlasting  life. 
Paradise  had  four  rivers  that  watered  the  earth  : 
tliesc  four  springs  come  from  the  Eden  of  heaven, 
and  ran  through  the  earth  ;  and  howsoever  neglect- 
ed by  many,  they  make  glad  the  city  of  God.  So 
liemard  sweetly :  Eternal  life  is  granted  to  us  in 
;lection,  promised  in  our  vocation,  sealed  in  o>ir  jus- 
tification, jiossessed  in  our  glorification.  Conclude 
then  faithfully  to  thy  own  soul,  I  believe,  therefore 
1  am  justified;  I  am  justified,  therefore  I  am  sancti- 
fied ;  I  am  sanctified,  therefore  I  am  called ;  I  am 
called,  therefore  I  am  elected ;  I  am  elected,  there- 
fore I  shall  be  saved.  O  settled  comfort  of  joy,  which 
ten  thousand  devils  shall  never  make  void  !  So  I 
leave  you  to  that,  which  can  never  leave  you,  the 
certainty  of  this  comfort. 

The  questions  being  resolved,  the  doctrinal  points 
that  follow  are  two :  first,  that  our  election  may  be 
assured ;  secondly,  how  it  may  be  assured. 

First,  that  it  may  be  made  sure.  There  is  a  rule. 
No  man  is  bound  to  an  impossible  thing:  the  apos- 
tle would  never  set  us  about  that  work  which  could 
not  be  done.  It  were  uncharitable  tyranny  to  im- 
pose that  task  w'hereof  there  is  no  possibility  of  per- 
formance. The  ground  of  this  assertion  is  the  sta- 
bility of  God's  purpose,  "  That  the  purpose  of  God 
according  to  election  might  stand,"  Rom.  ix.  11. 
But  how  then  is  it  said,  "  Hold  that  fast  which  thou 
hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crown?"  Rev.  iii.  II. 
Now  saith  Kngxxsime,  Si  alius  possil  accipere,  tu  potes 
perdere,  If  another  may  take  it,  thou  mayst  lose  it. 
The  answer  is  easy ;  The  crown  of  outward  profession 
may  be  lost,  but  the  crown  of  eternal  election  stands 
unmovable,  to  whomsoever  it  is  decreed.  The  soul 
that  is  bound  up  in  the  bundle  of  life  with  the  Lord, 
1  Sam.  XXV.  29,  cannot  be  lost.  To  say  the  elect 
may  fall  away,  and  be  damned,  is  a  comfortless  doc- 
trine: "  Rejoice  because  your  names  are  written  in 
heaven,"  Liike  x.  20.  St.  Paul  speaking  of  Hyme- 
nfFus  and  Phiktus,  who  were  fallen  from  the  faith, 
lest  the  church  should  be  discouraged  by  the  apos- 
tacy  of  two  such  notable  pillars  as  they  were  thought, 
comforted  them  thus,  "  Nevertheless"  (albeit  those 
men  fell  off  from  Christ  to  their  own  damnation,  yet 
nevertheless)  "  the  foundation  of  God  standclh  sure, 
having  this  seal.  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are 
his,"  2  Tim.  ii.  19  :  his  election  is  a  foundation  that 
shall  never  be  removed.  But  Paul  calls  the  Thessa- 
loni.ihs  elect,  yet  they  fell  away.  I  answer,  they  are 
called  elect,  not  from  the  greater,  but  tlic  better,  part. 
It  i.s  called  a  heap  of  com  in  the  barn,  though  the 
bigger  part  of  it  be  chaff.  Again,  by  the  law  of 
charity  we  grant  all  those  that  profess  Jesus  Christ  to 
be  elect.  But  David  prays  that  his  enemies  may  be 
blotted  out ;  "  Let  them  be  blotted  out  of  the  book 
of  the  living,"  Psal.  Ixix.  2*^.  This  was  not  the  de- 
sire of  a  petitioner,  but  the  knowledge  of  a  prophet : 


lao 


AX  EXPOSITION  LPOX  THE 


Chap.  I. 


blot  them  out,  that  is,  I  know  they  were  never  writ- 
ten there.  But,  "  Have  not  I  chosen  you  twelve,  and 
one  of  you  is  a  devil  ?  "  John  vi.  ^O.  This  is  (o  be 
understood  of  an  election,  not  to  everlasting  life,  but 
to  the  office  of  apostleship,  which  was  changeable 
and  temporar)-.  "  Know  ye  not  your  own  selves, 
how  that  Jesus  Christ  is  in  you,  except  ye  be  repro- 
bates?" 2  Cor.  xiii.  5.  Whence  two  things  neces- 
sarily follow :  first,  if  Christ  be  in  us  we  are  no  re- 
probates :  secondly,  we  may  know  this,  "  Know  ye 
not  ?  " 

The  certainty  of  election  is  a  point  wherein  Rome 
■makes  some  show  of  coming  near  to  us ;  yet  there  is 
a  great  dilTercnce.  They  say,  a  man  may  know  it 
by  Divine  revelation ;  so  say  we.  They  say,  that 
men  may  have  a  certainly  of  hope ;  we  stand  for  a 
certainty  of  faith.  Theirs  of  hope  is  conjectural ; 
ours  of  faith  is  infallible.  Hope  is  an  affection  of 
the  will ;  faith  is  a  persuasion  of  the  mind.  What- 
soever God  commandeth  in  the  gospel,  that  a  man 
must  and  may  perform:  but  God  commandeth  a 
Christian  to  believe  his  own  salvation  ;  therefore  he 
may,  yea,  ought  to  believe  it,  1  John  iii.  23.  Indeed 
the  law  did  command  that  which  we  could  not  do ; 
but  this  is  the  difference  between  the  law  and  the 
gospel :  the  law  did  impose  duty,  but  gave  no  power 
of  performance ;  the  gospel  commands  and  assists, 
gives  grace  whereby  it  may  be  obeyed ;  "  The  words 
that  I  speak  to  you,  they  are  spirit,  and  they  are 
life,"  John  vi.  63.  Again,  that  which  God  hath 
charged  us  to  pray  for,  he  hath  charged  us  to  believe  ; 
but  we  are  bound  to  pray  for  everlasting  life,  there- 
fore we  are  bound  to  believe  it :  "  What  things  soever 
ye  desire,  when  ye  pray,  believe  that  ye  receive 
them,  and  ye  shall  have  them,"  Mark  xi.  24.  In 
every  petition  there  are  two  groiuids,  the  precept 
tliat  binds  us  to  ask,  and  the  promise  that  binds  us 
to  believe :  otherwise  to  what  purpose  do  we  con- 
elude  our  prayers  with  .A.men  ?  Again,  he  that  is 
the  member  of  Christ,  can  never  be  cut  off:  if  this 
could  be,  then  should  there  follow  a  second  baptism  : 
for  baptism  is  the  sacrament  of  ingrafting. 

Against  the  undoubted  truth  of  this  doctrine  our 
adversaries  bring  two  objections  :  first,  say  they, 
Where  there  is  no  promise,  there  is  no  faith ;  for 
these  two  are  relatives;  but  there  is  no  particular 
word  to  assure  any  individual  person,  therefore  no 
faith.  We  answer,  that  there  is  a  general  promise  : 
indeed  God  says  not.  Believe  thou  John  or  Thomas, 
and  thou  shalt  be  saved;  but  he  says,  "  Whosoever 
bclieveth  and  is  baptized,  shall  be  saved,"  which  is  as 
good.  The  promises  are  indefinite,  and  the  minister 
in  Christ's  stead  applies  them  to  every  particular 
man's  heart;  If  thou  belicvest,  thou  shalt  see  the 
glory  of  God,  John  xi.  40.  Hereupon  our  faith  and 
obedience  echo  to  God  :  "  When  thou  saidst,  Seek  ye 
my  face ;  my  heart  said  unto  thee.  Thy  face,  Lord, 
will  I  seek,"  Psal.  xxvii.  8.  "I  will  say,  It  is  my 
])eople :  and  they  shall  say,  The  Lord  is'  my  God," 
'/cell.  xiii.  9.  Secondly,  they  object,  We  are  taught 
to  pray  for  the  pardon  of  our  sins  daily  ;  this  were 
needless  if  we  be  sure  of  our  election.  I  answer,  we 
pray  for  the  pardon  of  our  sins,  not  because  we  have 
no  assurance,  but  because  our  assurance  is  weak. 
The  heart  of  a  Christian  is  like  a  vessel  with  a  narrow 
top  ;  being  cast  into  the  sea,  it  is  not  tilled  suddenly, 
but  by  drop  after  drop.  God  throws  us  into  tlie  sea 
of  his  infinite  mercy  :  if  we  had  a  capable  nature,  we 
should  be  suddenly  filled;  but  this  grace  is  received 
according  to  the  measure  and  capacitv  of  the  re- 
ceiver. Let  it  then  stand  firm  ngain.it  the  gates 
of  Home,  against  the  gates  of  hell,  that  our  election 
may  be  made  sure.  There  can  be  no  presumption 
of  the   believer,   where   there  is   authoritv  of  the 


commander.      God  never  broke  his  word  with  anv 
soul. 

Now  we  come  to  the  manner,  how  this  may  be  as- 
sured. There  are  but  two  ways  for  a  man  to  know 
it ;  either  by  going  up  into  heaven,  or  by  going  down 
into  himself.  In  the  one  there  is  presumption  and 
danger,  in  the  other  is  security  and  peace.  Have  we 
recourse  to  St.  Paul  for  his  direction,  and  see  how  he 
consents  with  St.  Peter  :  the  Spirit  of  God  can  best 
declare  himself;  '•  The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness 
with  our  spirit,  that  we  are  the  children  of  God," 
Rom.  viii.  16.  Here  are  two  testimonies  :  not  God's 
Spirit  alone ;  there  may  be  presumption :  not  our 
spirit  alone ;  there  may  be  illusion :  both  must  wit- 
ness together,  concur  to  m;ike  up  this  certificate. 
There  is  some  question  what  tiiis  testimony  of  the 
Spirit  is.  Some  take  it  to  be  an  enthusiasm,  or  ex- 
traordinary revelation ;  but  then  were  it  rare,  and  to 
few.  Some  take  it  for  the  affection  of  the  mind  obe- 
dient to  God,  not  out  of  fear,  but  out  of  love.  (Origen.) 
But  our  spirit  alone  can  testify  this  ;  what  need  is 
there  of  God's  Spirit  to  it  ?  Some  refer  it  to  the  imi- 
tation of  God,  which  makes  us  like  him.  But  this 
testimony  ariseth  not  from  any  act  in  ourselves,  but 
from  the  Divine  Spirit.  Others  think  that  this  in- 
ward testimony  proceeds  from  our  good  works  ; 
when  our  spirit  does  well  through  the  Holy  Spirit. 
But  the  testimony  that  riseth  from  the  effects,  is  rather 
our  conclusion,  than  the  Holy  Ghost's  proposition. 
Some  by  this  witness  of  the  Spirit  understand  holy 
doctrine ;  (Theodor.)  and  the  truth  of  the  catholic 
faith.  (Lyran.)  But  the  apostle  speaks  not  of  any 
outward  sign,  but  of  an  internal  testimony.  There- 
fore saith  Chrysostom,  The  testimony  comes  not 
from  the  effect,  but  from  the  efficient ;  not  of  grace 
given,  but  of  him  that  gives  it. 

This  is  then  that  inward  assurance  of  the  Spirit, 
whereby  we  know  ourselves  to  be  children  of  God. 
Cajetan  says,  it  is  not  a  testimony  de  mssibili,  that  it 
may  be  ;  but  de  facto,  that  it  is.  This  may  be  form- 
ed like  a  practical  syllogism  :  the  proposition  is 
made  by  the  gospel.  Whosoever  believes  in  Christ  is 
chosen  to  life  everlasting :  man  meditates  upon  this 
blessed  promise,  and  sucks  sweetness  to  his  soul  from  it. 
Then  comes  the  Spirit,  illuminates  the  mind,  opens 
the  heart,  begets  a  tme  faith  ;  so  that  with  freedom 
man's  spirit  makes  the  assumption,  I  believe  in 
Christ,  I  renounce  myself;  all  my  comfort  and  affi- 
ance is  in  him.  Flesh  and  blood  cannot  say  this,  it 
is  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Last  comes  the 
blessed  conclusion,  which  is  the  testimony,  therefore 
thou  art  the  chihl  of  God.  The  proposition  is 
grounded  on  the  promise  of  God,  that  is  the  object 
of  faith  which  is  believed :  the  assumption  out  of 
the  former  is  the  act  of  faith  whereby  we  believe. 
Our  assurance  therefore  is  not,  as  Aquinas  and 
Lyranus  speak,  Non  scienli<e,  sed  conjectura :  non  rei 
sed  upei :  for  children  call  upon  their  fathers,  not 
with  a  conjectural  persuasion,  but  with  a  confident 
assurance.  This  certainty  is  true;  for  though  faith 
be  of  things  believed,  not  perceived,  yet  faith  itself 
is  a  thing  perceived,  not  believed.  There  is  a  three- 
fold assurance:  first  of  opinion,  when  a  man  deceiv- 
eth  himself  by  his  own  im;iginati(m.  The  second  of 
persuasion,  as  the  devils  know  the  articles  of  faith 
without  any  comfort.  Thirdly  of  resolution,  which 
is  not  only  in  the  tnith  of  such  an  interest,  but  of  our 
interest  in  such  a  truth.  The  first  of  these  is  in  the 
will  only,  without  the  understanding;  the  second  is 
in  the  understanding  only,  without  the  will ;  the  last 
is  both  in  the  understanding  and  will.  Now  the 
testimony  of  our  spirit  must  concur  to  this ;  for  "  if  our 
heart  condemn  us  not,  then  have  we  confidence  to- 
ward God,"  1  John  iii.  21.     This  is  the  witness  of  a 


Ver.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


121 


heart  purified  and  sanctified  in  the  Wood  of  Christ. 
"  As  in  water  face  answcrcth  to  face,"  Prcv.  xxvii. 
19,  or  the  jnirc  cpi-,stal  glass  lively  represents  the 
image  set  before  it  ;  so  here  the  witness  of  our  sancti- 
fied spirit  answers  the  sanctifying  Spirit. 

This  testimony  may  be  perceived  by  many  efTeets  : 
especially  take  one  ;  it  is  the  right  estimation  of  our 
sins.  Now  this  estimation  must  be  in  respect  of  their 
terms,  as  they  are  past,  present,  or  to  come.  We 
must  find  in  ourselves,  for  sins  past,  grief;  against 
sins  present,  combat;  concerning  sins  future,  hate 
and  resistance.  First,  we  must  be  grieved  for  the 
sins  we  have  done.  "  Godly  sorrow  worketh  repent- 
ance to  salvation  not  to  be  repented  of,"  2  Cor.  vii. 
10  :  where  is  the  thing  operating,  godly  sorrow  ;  the 
effect,  repentance ;  the  quality,  not  to  be  repented 
of;  the  end,  to  salvation.  There  be  two  sorrows, 
and  they  difl^er  much :  for  worldly  sorrow  beholds 
God  justly  incensed  ;  godly  sorrow  beholds  God 
sweetly  pacified.  They  also  differ  causally  :  the  for- 
mer grieves  for  the  punishment,  not  for  the  sin ;  the 
other  grieves  for  the  sin,  not  for  the  punishment : 
this  would  be  sorrowful  for  sin,  though  there  were  no 
hell  to  punish  it.  Cain  groans  under  the  penalty, 
David  grieves  for  the  iniquity.  The  one  trembles  as 
a  slave,  the  other  fears  as  a  son.  These  penitent 
tears  purge  the  heart  from  the  foulness  of  sin,  case 
it  of  the  burden  of  sorrow,  and  give  it  the  cheerful- 
ness of  comfort.  (Bern.)  Therefore  no  repentance, 
no  testimony.  Secondly,  for  sins  present,  there  must 
be  in  us  a  holy  and  valiant  combat  against  them ; 
the  Spirit  warreth  against  the  flesh,  as  well  as  the 
flesh  against  the  Spirit,  Gal.  v.  17.  This  combat  can 
only  befall  the  elect ;  whose  soul  is  in  the  state  of 
Rebekah's  womb,  when  the  twins  struggled  within 
her;  Esau  will  not  let  Jacob  rest,  nor  Jacob  Esau. 
Two  enemies  in  a  counfr\-  are  too  near,  two  in  a  city 
dangerous,  two  in  a  liouse  w  orse,  but  two  in  a  bosom 
smartest  of  all.  And  yet  unless  this  strife  be  in  a 
man,  he  can  have  no  peace  with  God.  Indeed  for 
natural  things,  war  and  peace  are  contraries ;  yet  this 
si)iritual  war  is  the  only  means  to  our  etei-nal  peace. 
The  saints  in  heaven  have  no  such  strife,  for  they  are 
wholly  spiritual ;  the  reprobates  on  earth  have  no 
such  strife,  for  they  are  wholly  carnal ;  only  the  re- 
generate believers  in  the  militant  church  maintain 
this  battle  and  feel  the  bitterness  of  this  conflict. 
The  pressure  of  native  corniption  is  heavy.  As  in 
the  ephialtes  or  disease  called  the  night-mare,  a 
sleeping  man  thinks  he  feels  some  heavy  weight  lying 
on  his  breast,  and  holding  him  down  ;  he  groans  and 
strives  to  remove  it,  but  he  cannot :  so  this  inborn 
corruption  lies  on  the  heart  of  a  Christian,  and  he 
would  fain  be  rid  of  it ;  he  fights  against  it,  and  com- 
plains that  he  is  forcibly  overborne  by  it  to  do  the 
evil  he  neither  would  nor  should ;  but  let  him  be 
comforted,  Christ  shall  one  day  give  him  a  full  de- 
liverance. No  combat,  no  testimony.  Lastly,  con- 
cerning sins  to  come,  we  must  find  in  ourselves  hatred 
and  resistance  :  "  We  know  that  whosoever  is  bora 
of  God  sinneth  not,"  1  John  v.  IS.  He  is  always  fixing 
his  eye  upon  that  rule,  Phil.  iv.  S,  Whatsoever 
things  are  tnie,  and  honest,  and  just,  and  pure,  and 
lovely,  and  of  good  report ;  if  there  be  any  virtue,  if 
there  be  any  praise,  he  thinks  on  these  things.  So 
that  our  sanctimony  is  this  testimony;  we  know  we 
are  in  Goil,  by  keeping  his  word,  1  John  ii.  5.  Hence 
it  is  that  some  books  have  read,  make  your  election 
sure  through  good  works  :  so  Beza  says  he  found  it 
in  two  Greek  manuscripts.  This  is  a  good  witness, 
when  a  man  reasons  from  the  proper  effects  to  the 
proper  cause.  "  The  foundation  of  God  standcth 
sure,"  2  Tim.  ii.  19  :  it  is  granted ;  God  is  sure  of  it, 
but  how  may  I  be  sure  of  it  ?     Paul  there  answers, 


"Let  ever)-  one  that  nameth  the  name  of  Christ  de- 
part from  iniquity."  Happy  soul,  that  comes  with 
I  his  certificate,  under  the  hand  and  seal  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  to  the  gate  of  heaven.  He  may  justly  chal- 
lenge mercy  :  I  have  done  what  thou  hast  conmiand- 
cd,  perform  to  me  what  thou  hast  promised:  I  have 
worn  the  short  white  robe  of  innocency,  give  me  the 
long  Avhite  robe  of  glorj-.  There  is  a  private  mark 
and  a  public  mark  :  Go  through  the  city,  and  set  a 
mark  upon  the  foreheads  of  them  that  mourn  for  the 
sins  of  the  times,  Ezek.  ix.  4;  there  is  the  private 
mark  :  "  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant," 
&c.  Matt.  XXV.  21 ;  there  is  the  public  mark. 

Thus  we  see  it  may  be  made  sure ;  now  therefore 
let  us  go  about  it,  and  that  with  diligence.  If  you 
purchase  lands,  you  buy  the  strength  of  law  to  make 
sure  the  tenures :  if  you  drive  a  bargain,  you  will 
have  earnest  for  assurance  :  if  you  let  money  to  in- 
terest, you  will  not  do  it  without  good  assurance. 
Tile  common  voice  of  all  the  usurers  about  the  tow^l, 
is  assurance  :  the  very  stage  knows  them  by  no  other 
names,  but  security  and  assurance.  You  bind  a 
debtor  to  you  surer  than  the  Philistines  bound  Sam- 
son ;  and  if  he  cannot  loose  himself,  you  put  out  his 
eyes,  set  him  to  grind  at  the  mill,  while  you  eat  the 
flour.  All  is  made  so  sure,  that  neither  the  cornipt 
man  of  law,  nor  the  devil  himself,  can  find  a  trick  to 
untie  it.  But  now  for  heaven  and  salvation,  you 
l)Iay  at  fast  and  loose :  the  last  thing  that  ever  is 
assured,  is  your  eternal  bliss.  Beloved,  I  would  this 
were  a  slander,  and  that  you  could  nobly  confute  my 
jealousy  with  yom-  actual  piety.  Oh  that  upon  so 
good  terms  I  might  be  brought  hither  again,  to  re- 
cant it !  for  you  are  sure ;  when  did  you  ever  take 
so  niucli  pains  to  be  sure  of  the  pardon  of  your  sins, 
as  you  do  weekly  to  make  sure  your  debts  ?  The 
want  of  that  assurance  hath  often  broke  your  sleep; 
when  did  the  want  of  this  disquiet  you  ?  I  will  tell 
you  ;  the  purchase  of  your  lands,  the  leases  of  your 
houses,  the  bonds  of  your  monies,  the  care  of  your 
books,  shall  all  at  the  day  of  judgment  be  bills 
of  accusation  and  indictments  against  you.  A  man 
apprehended  for  a  robbery,  is  convicted,  condemned ; 
yet  by  suit  of  friends  reprieved,  till  they  can  get  a 
pardon  for  him.  In  the  mean  time  come  some  of  his 
acquaintance,  and  will  him  to  be  of  good  cheer; 
they  sing,  dance,  and  drink  with  him.  He  answers, 
I  am  condemned,  the  sentence  is  past,  the  execution 
is  ready ;  how  easy  it  will  be  to  get  a  pardon,  I  fear: 
if  I  were  sure  to  escape,  I  could  be  merry  with  you ; 
till  then,  I  must  say  to  laughter.  Thou  art  mad,  and 
to  jovisance.  Be  thou  a  stranger  to  me.  Thus  stands 
the  case  with  us ;  the  law  hath  condemned  us  for 
transgression,  the  devils  are  ready  executioners  to 
hasten  justice :  sliow  me  my  pardon,  assure  me  that 
the  great  King  of  heaven  hath  forgiven  me,  I  can 
then  rejoice;  till  then,  no  comfort  can  down  with 
me.  There  is  a  tale  of  a  covetous  man,  that  had 
nothing  in  his  mouth  but.  It  is  good  to  be  sure.  If 
his  sen'ant  went  to  sow  his  land,  he  would  follow 
liim.  Wliy  ?  O  it  is  good  to  be  sure.  Though  him- 
self had  locked  the  door,  yet  he  must  needs  rise  out 
of  liis  bed  in  the  cold,  to  feel  it  fast.  Why  ?  O  it  is 
good  to  be  sure.  Let  him  have  told  his  money  often 
over,  yet  he  will  tell  it  agftin.  Why  ?  O  it  is  good 
to  be  sure.  It  came  to  pass  that  he  fell  very  danger- 
ously sick ;  and  his  servant,  perceiving  little  hope  of 
life  in  him,  asked  him,  blaster,  have  you  said  your 
prayers?  Yes,  I  have  said  them.  Nay,  but  say 
them  again,  master;  you  know  it  is  good  to  be  sure. 
No,  says  tlie  worldling,  it  is  more  than  needs,  for  I 
am  sure  enough  of  that.  He  bids  his  servant  open 
liis  chest,  and  bring  him  all  his  gold  in  it,  to  look 
upon.     The  honest  servant,  willing  to  work  his  mas- 


122 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


ter  to  repentance,  having  opened  it,  told  him.  Master, 
the  devil  is  in  the  chest,  he  lays  his  paw  upon  all 
the  gold,  and  says  it  is  all  his;  because  it  was  ex- 
tracted out  of  the  life-blood  of  widows,  orphans,  and 
poor  wretches.  Says  he  so  ?  quoth  the  extortioner ; 
then  bring  me  the  gold,  the  chest,  the  devil,  ami 
all  ;  it  is  good  to  be  sure.  Perhaps  from  hence  came 
that  by-word,  that  the  covetous  worldling  gets  the 
devil  and  all. 

Oh  the  vain  assurance  of  these  fugitive  things  ! 
l^el  scqueiido  labimur,  vet  assequendo  l<pdimur.  No,  I 
Arill  hold  me  fast  by  tlic  Lord,  for  that  is  sure. 
"  They  that  trust  in  the  Lord  shall  be  as  mount  Zion, 
which  cannot  be  removed,  but  abidcth  for  ever,"  Psal. 
exxv.  1.  The  dove  makes  moan  to  her  fellow-birds 
of  the  tyranny  of  the  hawk.  One  counsels  her  to  fly 
aloft ;  but  the  hawk  can  mount  as  high  as  she. 
Another  adviseth  her  to  keep  below  :  but  the  hawk 
can  stoop  for  his  prey.  Another,  to  sliroud  herself  in 
the  woods,  there  she  shall  be  sure  ;  but  alas,  that  was 
the  hawk's  manor,  the  place  where  he  kept  his  court. 
Another  bids  her  keep  the  town,  there  she  was  sure 
from  the  hawk;  but  so  she  became  a  prey  to  man, 
and  had  her  eyes  put  out  to  make  the  nawk  sport. 
At  last  one  bids  her  nest  herself  in  the  hole  of  a  rock, 
there  she  should  be  safe,  violence  itself  could  not  sur- 
prise her.  The  dove  is  man's  soul :  she  would  gladly 
be  secured  from  Satan.  Come  to  me,  saith  Riches, 
here  thou  shalt  be  sure.  No,  wealth  is  the  devil's 
stirrup  whereby  he  gets  up,  and  rides  the  covetous. 
Come  to  me,  saith  Pleasure,  here  thou  shalt  be  sure  ; 
as  if  she  were  not  as  very  a  whore  as  Delilah,  to  be- 
tray thee  to  that  Philistine.  Honour  says.  Come  to 
me,  here  thou  art  sure  :  as  if  the  devil  durst  not  come 
near  the  court  gates ;  or  greatness  were  a  supersedeas 
to  sin,  or  a  protection  against  the  arrest  of  judgments. 
No,  there  is  no  sureness  in  thy  lands,  none  in  thy 
monies,  none  in  thy  honours,  none  in  thy  pleasures : 
neither  court,  nor  city,  nor  country,  neither  castles 
nor  forts,  can  save  thee :  yet  there  is  a  Bock  for  this 
dove;  "O  mj''  dove,  that  art  in  the  clefts  of  the 
rock,"  Cant.  ii.  14.  The  clefts  of  this  Rock  are  the 
wounds  of  Jesus  Clu'ist ;  fly  thither,  0  my  soul,  and 
be  safe.  "  Oh  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove  !  then 
would  I  fly  away  and  be  at  rest,"  Psal.  Iv.  6.  Thy 
wings  are  faith  and  prayer ;  hie  thee  to  this  Bock, 
there  only  thou  art  sure  ;  all  the  devils  in  hell  shall 
not  jjluck  thee  from  the  merciful  anns  of  Clirist. 
They  shall  never  be  plucked  out  of  my  hand,  John 
X.  28.  How  are  we  sure  that  we  are  in  his  hand  ? 
If  his  Spirit  be  in  our  heart.  It  was  a  good  argu- 
ment of  Manoah's  wife,  If  the  Lord  were  pleased  to 
kill  us,  he  would  never  have  accepted  of  our  sacrifice, 
Judg.  xiii.  23.  So  conclude  thy  own  conscience.  If 
the  Lord  were  pleased  to  reject  me,  he  would  never 
have  given  me  his  Spirit.  If  I  were  a  vessel  of 
wrath,  such  a  Comforter  should  never  have  come 
within  my  doors.  "  By  this  I  know  that  thou  favom- 
est  me,  because  mine  enemy  doth  not  triumph  against 
me,"  Psal.  xli.  II.  If  Satan  prevail  not,  sure  then 
I  am  in  favour,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  hath  resei-ved  me 
to  his  eternal  kingdom. 

"  Your  calling."  Calling  hath  divers  accepta- 
tions;  it  is  here  meant  of  that  spirimal  and  inward 
calling,  wrought  by  the  Spirit  in  the  ministiy  of  the 
gospel.  Not  every  kind  of  vocation,  but  only  that 
whereby  a  man  is  made  a  believer.  (August.)  Lydia 
attended  to  the  things  that  were  spoken,  and  the 
Lord  opened  her  heart,  Acts  xvi.  14.  She  attended 
to  the  word  ;  there  is  the  outward  calling :  God 
opened  her  heart;  there  is  the  inward  calling.  In 
the  trial  of  this  vocation,  I  should  consider,  from 
what  we  are  called,  and  to  what.  St.  Jude  says,  we 
are  "  sanctified  by  God  the  Father,  presei-ved  in  Jesus 


Christ,  and  called."  To  be  brought  into  the  church, 
is  vocation  external ,:  to  be  sanctified,  is  vocation  in- 
ternal ;  to  be  presened  in  Christ,  is  vocation  eternal. 
Here  are  the  three  pari  s  of  our  incorporation  to  Clirist ; 
vocation  by  God  the  Father, sanctifieation  by  God  the 
Son,  preservation  by  God  the  Holy  Ghost.  Vocation 
is  the  fruit  of  election  :  '•  To  all  that  be  in  Borne,  be- 
loved of  God,  called  to  be  saints,"  Bom.  i.  /.  First 
beloved  of  God,  then  called  to  be  saints.  You  have 
heard  before,  that  calling  is  the  way  to  assure  elec- 
tion ;  but  now  you  would  be  sure  of  your  true  call- 
ing :  good  reason,  othenvise  your  journey  to  heaven 
would  be  like  Hannibal's  on  the  Alps. 

There  are  many  signs,  like  hands  in  a  cross-way, 
to  tell  us  the  right :  'Thou  shalt  hear  a  word  behind 
thee,  saying.  This  is  the  way,  walk  in  it,  Isa.  xxx. 
21.  I  could  tell  you  of  love  to  the  word  preached,  a 
sure  eflect  of  true  calluig.  He  that  is  called,  loves 
the  lowest  stair  of  the"  pulpit,  better  than  the  high- 
est stair  of  the  tribunal.  One  loves  the  tavern, 
while  another  runs  to  the  temple.  What  is  the 
reason  ?  This  man  is  called,  rather  than  the  other. 
I  could  also  tell  you  of  a  sincere  and  devoted  affec- 
tion to  Christ ;  when  we  desire  his  company  above 
all  things,  and  love  the  place  where  his  honour 
dwelleth.  Wheresoever  thou  art,  O  blessed  Saviour, 
whether  on  the  cross,  in  the  grave,  or  in  hell,  I  care 
not,  so  I  be  with  thee,  so  I  find  thee  my  Saviour. 
This  love  should  be  to  Christ,  not  so  much  for  his 
bounty's  sake,  as  for  his  own  sake.  This  holy  affec- 
tion produceth  our  love  to  Christians:  I  love  them, 
because  God  loves  them  ;  "  We  know  that  we  have 
passed  from  death  unto  life,  because  we  love  the 
brctlu-en,"  I  John  iii.  14  :  eos  qui  sunt  fratres,  el 
quia  sunt  fratres :  we  love  them  that  are  brethren, 
and  because  they  are  brethren.  What  is  true  of  this 
blind  affection  in  the  blood ;  that  it  ariseth  often,  not 
from  any  merit  in  the  affected,  but  from  the  lust  of 
the  affecter  ;  therefore  the  poets  have  called  amantes 
amentes,  lovers  madmen :  this  is  here  made  good  of 
Divine  love  in  the  Spirit ;  I  affect  that  man,  not  because 
he  is  good  to  nie,  but  because  God  is  good  to  him. 

I  might  add  another  sign,  that  vocation  testifieth 
itself  in  a  plenary  obedience,  at  least  in  respect  of  re- 
solution. This  must  be  to  the  whole  law,  during 
our  whole  life,  with  our  whole  heart.  To  the  whole 
law  ;  "  I  have  respect  unto  all  thy  commandments," 
Psal.  cxix.  6.  During  our  whole  life  ;  "  In  holiness 
and  righteousness  before  him,  all  the  days  of  our 
life,"  Luke  i.  75.  With  the  whole  heart ;  as  DaWd 
speaks,  "  With  my  whole  heart  have  I  loved  thee." 
Otherwise  God  will  come  against  us  with  a  but  ; 
■'  But  I  have  a  few  tilings  against  thee,"  Bev.  ii.  14. 
With  a  nevertheless ;  "Nevertheless  I  have  somewhat 
against  thee,"  Bev.  ii.  4.  With  a  notwithstanding; 
"  Notwithstanding  I  have  a  few  things  against  thee," 
Bev.  ii.  20.  All  these  exceptivcs,  but,  notwithstand- 
ing, nevertheless,  are  against  us.  I  know  I  nnist  offend ; 
I  must  suffer  many  suis;  I  will  allow  myself  no  sin. 

I  could  also  add  another  sign,  how  we  may  be  sure 
that  we  are  effectually  called;  that  is,  our  dislike  to 
this  world.  He  that  despiseth  not  earth,  was  never 
yet  inwardly  called  to  heaven.  If  the  love  of  this 
world  cannot  stand  with  the  conifortal-lij  assurance  of 
our  heavenly  calling,  let  us  divert  our  desires,  and 
elevate  our  afl'ections  from  things  on  earth,  to  things 
above.  Col.  iii.  2.  But  if  none  be  called  to  heaven, 
but  such  as  be  sanctified  and  separate  from  earth,  I 
fear  that  the  greater  number  take  the  broader  Wiiy. 
It  is  your  method  in  the  city  ;  you  say,  there  be  more 
of  (lie  company  than  be  of  the  livery:  but  for  heaven, 
and  the  profession  of  the  gospel,  there  be  more  of 
the  liverv-  than  be  of  the  company  ;  "  Many  are 
called,  but  few  are  chosen,"  Matt,  xxii,  14. 


VliR.    10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


123 


To  conclude,  let  me  now  characterize  to  you  the 
man,  in  whi)se  heart  there  is  this  assurance.  He 
stands  like  an  impregnable  fort,  upon  whom  misery 
and  malice  would  spend  all  their  shot :  much  they 
do,  to  their  own  shame,  to  his  glor>-.  Sin,  like  a 
flatterini;  neighbour,  hath  often  knocked  at  his  door, 
and  would  have  come  in,  but  found  cold  welcome ; 
and  if  it  was  importunate,  was  sent  away  not  without 
repulse  and  blows.  Perhaps  it  lurks  about  his  out- 
houses, and  spite  of  him  will  be  his  tenant,  but 
shall  never  be  his  landlord.  He  hath  some  faults, 
but  God  will  not  see  them.  He  meets  at  every  turn 
with  his  railing  and  accusing  adversary,  Satan ;  but 
he  stops  his  throat  with  a  pardon  sealed  in  the  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  never  out  of  war,  never  with- 
out victor)-.  Those  roaring  fiends  set  upon  him 
proudly,  and  he  beats  them  down  triumphantly.  The 
shield  he  always  bears  with  him,  was  never  jiierccd, 
faith.  He  hath  been  often  tripped,  once  or  twice 
foiled,  was  never  vanquished.  His  hand  hath  been 
scratched,  his  heart  is  whole.  Tyranny  bends  on 
him  a  stem  brow,  but  could  never  dash  him  out  of 
countenance.  Is  he  threatened  the  surgery  of  the 
sword?  he  sees  Isaiah  under  the  saw,  John  in  Pat- 
mos,  cutting  in  pieces.  Is  he  threatened  drowning? 
he  .sees  Jonah  diving  into  that  inextricable  gulf. 
Burning?  he  sees  those  three  servants  in  their  fiery 
walk,  and  the  Son  of  God  amongst  them.  Is  he 
threatened  devouring  ?  he  sees  Daniel  in  that  scaled 
den  of  terrible  lions.  Stoning?  he  sees  that  proto- 
martyr  of  the  gospel  sleeping  in  peace  under  so  many 
grave-stones.  Heading  ?  he  sees  the  Baptist's  neck 
bleeding  in  Herodias's  platter.  He  is  sure  that  the 
God  which  gave  them  such  strength,  is  not  weaker 
in  him  :  what  could  they  suffer  without  God  ?  what 
cannot  he  suffer  with  God  ?  If  he  must  endure  their 
pain,  he  looks  for  their  faith,  their  patience,  their 
strength,  their  gloiy.  The  terrors  of  death  amaze 
him  not ;  for  first  he  knows  whom  he  hath  trusted, 
and  then  whither  death  shall  lead  him.  He  is  not  more 
sure  to  die,  than  to  live  again ;  and  out-faceth  death 
with  his  assured  resurrection.  Like  Enoch,  he  walks 
every  day  with  God,  and  confers  familiarly  with  his 
Maker.  When  he  goes  in  himibly  to  converse  with 
him  by  meditation  and  prayer,  he  puts  off  his  own 
clothes,  and  takes  a  rich  suit  out  of  the  wardrobe  of 
his  Redeemer;  then  confidently  hcentereth  the  pre- 
sence-chamber, and  faithfully  challcngetha  blessing. 
He  hath  clean  hands,  and  a  white  soul,  fit  to  give 
lodging  to  the  Holy  Ghost:  not  a  room  is  reserved 
for  the  enemy :  he  that  gave  all,  finds  all  returned 
to  himself.  He  is  so  certain  of  his  eternal  election, 
and  present  justification,  that  he  can  call  God  Father, 
his  Saviour  Brother,  the  Holy  Ghost  his  Comforter, 
the  devil  his  slave,  earth  his  foot-stool,  heaven  his  pa- 
trimony, and  everlasting  life  his  inheritance.  Those 
celestial  spirits  do  not  scorn  his  company,  nor  refiisc  to 
do  him  service.  His  heart  is  so  devoted  to  Christ,  that 
if  misery,  if  death,  if  tomients,  stood  in  his  way  on 
the  left  hand;  if  parents,  children,  friends,  wife, 
inheritance,  stood  in  his  way  on  the  right  hand ;  he 
would  disdain  all  obstacles,  and  break  through  all 
difficulties,  to  come  unto  Him  whom  his  soul  loveth. 
He  fixcth  his  spiritual  eye  upon  the  eternal  things, 
that  are  not  seen,  2  Cor.  iv.  18 :  others  sec  that  is 
present,  he  that  is  to  come.  He  walks  upon  earth  as 
a  stranger,  his  heart  is  at  home.  He  hath  laid  up  a 
sure  treasure  in  heaven,  a  portion  that  shall  never  be 
taken  away.  He  vcxelh  not  himself  with  cares,  he 
knows  that  he  lives  not  at  his  own  cost.  Without 
omitting  good  means,  he  rests  on  the  Lord's  provi- 
dence. Without  the  warrant  of  God  he  dares  do 
nothing,  with  it  any  thing.  Not  is  his  faith  more 
valiant  than  his  bowels  are  compassionate.    He  hath 


tears  plenty,  both  for  his  own  sins  and  others'  suffer- 
ings. He  is  no  niggard  of  those  showers  on  earth  ; 
he  is  sure  never  to  weep  hereafter.  When  he  departs 
this  life,  his  body  sleeps  in  a  peaceful  grave ;  and 
those  glorious  angels  bear  his  soul  with  triumphant 
songs  to  the  glorified  saints,  where  it  is  married  to 
the  Bridegroom  Jesus  Christ  for  ever. 

"  For  if  ye  do  these  things,  ye  shall  never  fall." 
The  doctrine  of  election,  as  it  is  to  the  faithful  the 
sweetest  assurance,  so  to  the  proud  an  occasion  of 
presumption.  A  man  may  be  so  bold  of  his  predes- 
tination, that  he  forget  his  conversation  ;  so  ne  may 
dream  himself  in  heaven,  and  awaken  from  that 
dream  in  hell.  Presume  not,  therefore,  that  thou 
art  so  surely  electus,  chosen,  that  thou  become  elatus, 
proud.  Pride  is  no  belter  an  argument  of  an  elect 
soul,  than  a  tumid  sw'elling  is  of  a  sound  body.  A 
proclamation  is  read,  wherein  a  Christian  king  grants 
honour  and  wealth  to  certain  of  his  subjects,  with 
assurance  of  donation  upon  their  just  demand.  One 
among  the  multitude  leaps  at  the  news,  springs  away, 
and  stays  not  to  hear  it  out :  there  is  a  condition  fol- 
lowing, provided  first  that  they  put  on  arms,  and 
expel  the  Turk,  which  infests  some  part  of  his  do- 
minions. This  man  comes  one  of  the  foremost  to 
demand  the  promised  honours.  He  is  asked  for  a 
testimony  of  his  valour  and  service  in  such  wars. 
Alas !  he  never  tarried  to  hear  that  condition,  and 
therefore  lost  the  retribution.  God  so  promiseth 
eternal  life  to  men ;  but  withal  chargeth  them  to 
believe  in  Christ,  and  to  do  him  faithful  service 
against  the  devil,  that  great  enemy  to  this  kingdom. 
But  how  many  are  quite  lost,  for  not  staying  to  hear 
the  proclamation  of  the  gospel  out !  they  run  away 
with  opinion  of  sufficient  belief,  and  never  think  of 
obedience.  But  to  prevent  such  false  hopes,  there 
must  be  doing :  "  For  if  ye  do  these  things,"  &c. 

In  which  words  we  considered  two  parts  ;  the 
qualification,  and  the  ratification.  "  If  ye  do  these 
things,"  there  is  the  qualification.  "  Ye  shall  never 
fall,"  there  is  the  ratification.  There  is  a  condition 
premised,  and  a  rew-ard  promised.  If  you  for  your 
part  be  doing,  God  for  his  part  will  keep  you  from 
falling.  That  is  your  obe^ence,  and  this  is  God's 
recompence.  Your  devotion  goes  before,  and  his  re- 
tribution follows  after.  First,  to  take  the  qualifica- 
tion asunder,  here  be  three  circumstances ;  from  the 
order,  if  first  ye  shall  perform ;  there  is  the  condition : 
ye  do,  not  say  or  purpose,  but  do  ;  there  is  the  prac- 
tice :  these  things,  not  what  you  lust,  but  what  the 
Lord  commands  ;  there  is  the  sincerity.  Thus  it  lies 
taken  asunder :  then  being  put  together  again,  we 
shall  find  this  the  sum  ;  the  necessity  of  our  active 
obedience. 

For  the  condition,  we  must  first  do  and  then  have, 
not  first  have  the  reward  and  then  do.  Indeed  we  must 
first  have  grace  whereby  to  do  before  we  do ;  but  not 
the  reward  till  we  have  done.  Among  men  he  first 
serves  that  deser\-es :  for  God,  we  can  merit  nothing 
by  doing,  yet  we  shall  have  nothing  without  doing. 
The  good  man  says,  I  deserve  not  reward  for  my 
goodness,  but  I  fear  punishment  for  my  sinftilness. 
Let  me  look  to  my  obedience ;  let  God  alone  with 
my  recompence.  The  tenor  of  the  Scripture  doth 
always  set  the  work  before  tile  wages:  Well  done, 
good  servant;  then,  enter  into  thy  Lord's  joy.  Matt. 
XXV.  "21.  First  call  the  labourers  ;  and  if  they  have 
laboured,  then  give  them  their  hire,  Matt.  xx.  8. 
I  come,  and  my  reward  is  with  me  ;  to  give  everj' 
m.in  according  to  his  work.  Rev.  xxii.  12.  First  we 
must  arm,  then  fight ;  first  fight,  then  conquer;  first 
conquer,  then  triumph.  "  His  reward  is  with  him, 
and  his  work  before  him,"  Isa.  Ixii.  11.  His  work  is 
I  before  him,  but  his  reward  he  brings  with  him. 


124 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THK 


Chap.  I. 


First  seek  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  first  seek  it, 
then  find  it.  There  is  none  among  us  but  looks  for 
eternal  blessedness  :  but  where  is  our  precedent 
obedienee  ?  God  is  not  such  a  prodigal,  to  deal  liis 
treasures  among  them  that  never  sought  to  please  him. 
Some  arc  too  bold  with  Christ,  they  spend  too  fast  >ipon 
his  stock  ;  indeed  through  their  own  default,  his 
riches  make  them  poor.  The  conceit  of  his  suffi- 
ciency causes  them  to  neglect  their  own  deficiency : 
they  will  fail  in  doing,  yet  Christ  must  not  fail  in 
crowning.  They  forget  their  first,  yet  expect  God's 
last.  They  are  deceived;  if  they  will  not  first  do 
these  things,  they  shall  fall.  It  was  a  prayer  of  the 
Jews  every  morning,  so  let  it  be  ours.  Lord,  as  thou 
gavest  me  an  undefiled  soul,  so  grant  I  may  return 
thee  an  undefiled  one  again.  Let  us  spend  this  short 
time  in  doing  the  works  of  grace ;  that  we  may  spend 
that  eternal  time  in  possessing  the  riches  of  gloiy. 

For  the  practice,  or  fruitfulness  in  good  works : 
"Ifyedo; "  not  think  or  say,  but  do.  Idleness  never 
had  the  testimony  of  God's  acceptance  ;  it  is  a  vice 
that  damns  itself.  The  idle  person  seems  to  be 
God's  outlaw,  out  of  the  compass  of  his  protection. 
Art  and  nature  bring  forth  nothing  suddenly  ;  there 
must  be  growing  degrees  in  the  one,  and  intcr\-enient 
labours  in  the  other.  The  penny  had  never  been 
theirs,  if  they  had  stood  in  the  market  idle  fill 
sun-set,  Matt.  xx.  >^.  The  philosopher  said,  that  a 
man  should  give  a  lazy  beggar  a  bit  and  a  blow  ;  a 
bit  to  relieve  his  body,  a  blow  to  correct  his  mind. 
Nothing  better  pleaseth  God,  than  the  sweet  com- 
position of  a  man's  hand  with  his  heart ;  when  the 
heart  doth  direct  what  the  hand  should  do,  and  the 
hand  doth  do  what  the  heart  directs.  For  the  hand  is 
the  best  commentary  of  the  heart :  what  a  man  does  1 
am  sure  he  thinks ;  not  always  what  he  speaks.  AVe 
must  serve  God,  as  one  said  he  would  many,  mo  amove, 
for  love.  Now  there  are  four  things  comprehended  in 
that  word,  and  they  are  found  by  cutting  off  the  first 
letter.  Amove,  with  love  :  as  life  in  the  body,  so  de- 
votion in  the  soul,  begins  at  the  heart.  Move,  with 
the  conversation,  practical  obedience,  doing  that 
which  is  good.  Ore,  with  the  mouth,  setting  forth 
God's  praise,  /fe,  with  the  estate;  when  we  do  not  offer 
sacrifice  to  the  Lord  of  that  which  cost  us  nothing. 

There  must  be  hearty  love,  lively  practice,  kindly 
thanks,  costly  service.  When  the  good  works  of  our 
ancient  fathers  and  progenitors  in  this  land  are  men- 
tioned, presently  the  malicious  cry  out.  Tush !  they 
were  idolaters.  Were  they  so  ?  then  a  man  may 
y;e\\  say,  that  those  popish  idolaters  were  better  than 
these  puritan  saints.  If  their  superstition  set  up 
churches,  I  am  sure  that  these  men's  zeal  pulls  them 
down.  Let  them  show  us  some  doing  of  good. 
Things  are  said  then  to  be  true,  when  their  ap- 
pearance doth  manifest  their  being.  (August.)  If  a 
man  have  a  righteous  hand,  I  will  believe  him  to 
have  a  righteous  heart.  Physicians  judge  of  the 
body's  health,  not  by  the  colour  of  the  face,  nor  by 
the  quickness  of  the  eye,  nor  by  the  glibness  of  the 
tongue,  (though  these  also  may  give  some  symptoms,) 
but  by  the  pulse  of  the  arm.  '  It  is  not  the  lifting  up 
of  the  eye,  nor  the  bowing  down  of  the  knee,  nor  a 
demure  and  alTected  manner  of  speaking,  nor  the 
Bible  under  the  arm,  nor  the  hearing  of  four  sermons 
a  day,  that  justifies  the  sincerity  of  a  Christian  ;  but 
"  if  ye  do  these  two  things." 

For  the  sincerity,  "  these  things  :"  not  what  gain 
prompts,  or  lust  stiggests,  but  wliat  God  commands. 
What  are  they  ?  .Such  things  as  appertain  to  know- 
ledge, to  virtue,  to  godliness.  EveiT  worldling  is  left- 
handed  ;  he  will  be  <loing,  but  he  hat'h  no  thanks  for  his 
pains.  They  that  lay  baits  to  entrap  and  enwrap  their 
neighbours  arc  still  doing,  to  keep  their  hand  in  ure: 


but  this  left-handed  action  is  cursed.  The  rich  saint 
makes  a  feast,  so  doth  the  rich  sinner,  but  with  great 
diflcrence  :  the  guests  of  the  former  are  the  poor,  who 
can  return  no  recompencc  ;  the  guests  of  the  other 
are  the  rich,  who  are  likely  to  bid  them  again,  Luke 
xiv.  12 ;  so  they  toss  the  ball  of  courtesy  to  such  as  are 
able  to  toss  it  back  to  them  again.  There  is  a  right- 
handed  charity  in  those,  a  left-handed  respect  in  these. 
"  As  we  have  oi>portunity,  let  us  do  good  to  all  men, 
especially  unto  them  who  are  of  the  household  of  faith," 
Gal.  vi.  10.  Rich  worldlings  will  do  good,  not  to  all 
men,  but  to  some  men  ;  and  of  those,  not  to  the  house- 
hold of  faith,  but,  after  a  sinister  sort,  to  the  house- 
hold of  Belial,  to  flatterers,  to  panders,  to  drunkards. 
There  is  a  perfect  nde  of  this  ra  aiira ;  whatsoever 
is  true,  honest,  just,  pure,  lovely,  and  of  good  report. 
"  Those  things,  which  ye  have  both  learned,  and  re- 
ceived, and  heard,  and  seen  in  me,  do,"  Phil.  iv.  S,  9. 
Martha  had  a  busy  hand,  but  not  about  these  things. 
Cain  had  a  working  heart,  Ahithophel  a  working 
head,  Joab  a  working  hand  ;  but  Cain's  heart,  Ahilho- 
phel's  head,  and  Joab's  hand,  are  ill  met  in  one  man. 
Thou  expectest  the  same  reward  that  the  saints  had ; 
therefore  thou  must  perform  the  same  work  that  the 
saints  did  :  "  these  things." 

Now  to  reduce  all  tliese  branches  to  their  root, 
and  as  we  have  taken  the  words  asunder,  so  to  put 
them  together  again ;  all  the  particulars  unite  their 
forces  in  this  one  sum,  or  general  doctrine  :  The  mer- 
cy of  God  in  our  salvation  requires  our  actual  obedi- 
ence ;  we  must  "  do  these  things."  All  the  bells  of 
Aaron  ring  this  peal.  "  Hearken  unto  the  statutes 
and  judgments  which  I  teach  you,  for  to  do  them," 
Deut.  iv.  I.  "  Cursed  is  everj-  one  that  eontinueth  not 
in  all  things  written  in  the  law  to  do  them,"  Gal.  iii. 
10:  not  sufiicient  to  know  them,  but  to  do  them. 
"  Not  the  hearers  of  the  law  are  just  before  God, 
but  the  doers  of  the  law  shall  be  justified,"  Rom.  ii. 
13.  There  was  a  woman  that  blessed  tlte  womb 
which  bare  Christ;  but  he  replied,  "Yea  rather, 
blessed  are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God,  and  keep 
it,"  Luke  xi.  27,  28.  Yea,  that  thou  sayest  is  true, 
she  is  blessed  indeed,  and  all  generations  shall  call 
her  blessed  ;  but  there  are  others  also  blessed,  even 
as  many  as  hear  the  truth,  and  do  it.  Blessedness  is 
desired  of  all,  but  few  will  go  to  the  price  of  it. 
"Blessed  are  they  that  keep  judgment,  and  do  right- 
eousness," Psal.  cvi.  3  ;  that  keep  within  tlie  bounds 
of  the  one,  and  live  in  the  practice  of  the  other;  the 
one  being  as  it  were  their  oar,  the  other  their  com- 
pass. "  Be  ye  followers  of  God,  as  dear  children," 
Kph.  v.  1.  The  abstract  of  religion  is  to  imitate  him 
whom  thou  dost  worship.  Such  a  one  hath  done  me 
insufferable  wrong,  how  can  I  forgive  him  ?  God 
would.  Another  is  gotten  into  my  debt,  and  abuselh 
my  patience,  how  can  I  forbear  him?  God  would. 
Be  thou  a  follower  of  God  in  grace,  that  thou 
mayst  ascend  to  his  glory.  A  man  is  travelling 
to  this  city,  at  least  in  his  own  opinion  he  thinks  so, 
and  tells  all  he  meets  that  he  is  going  to  London  ; 
yet  still  he  keeps  his  back  upon  it,  and  bends  his 
course  the  contrary  way.  So  ridiculous  a  thing  is  it, 
for  men  to  profess  that  they  are  going  to  heaven,  when 
their  whole  life  is  directly  forwarding  themselves  to 
hell.  All  men  would  come  to  God,  few  will  be 
persuaded  to  follow  after  God.  (.\ugust.)  "  Not  every 
one  that  saith  unto  me.  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,"  Matt.  vii.  21  ;  for  many  call 
Clirist  their  Lord,  yet  serve  the  devil. 

"  He  that  hath  my  commandments,  and  keepelh 
them,  he  it  is  that  ioveth  me,"  John  xiv.  21.  We 
must  have  the  gospel  in  our  hearts,  and  keep  it  in 
our  lives ;  have  it  in  hearing,  keej)  it  in  obeying  ; 
our  understanding  must  contain  it,  our  actions  express 


\ek.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


125 


it.  (August.)  Let  us  indcavour  to  turn  the  Scriptural 
words  into  works,  and  not  only  to  speak  holy  things, 
but  to  do  them.  (Hicron.)  For  in  vain  we  read  the 
Scripture  if  we  understand  it  not ;  in  vain  we  under- 
stand it  if  we  ohey  it  not.  "  Be  ye  doers  of  the  word, 
and  not  hearers  only,  deceiving  your  own  selves," 
James  i.  22.  AVe  must  first  be  hearers ;  for  David 
hath  branded  the  wicked  man  with  this  mark.  He 
would  not  liear  nor  understand,  that  lie  might  do 
well.  A  man  may  know  the  will  of  God,  and  not 
do  it ;  but  he  cannot  do  it  unless  he  know  it.  Then 
not  liearcrs  only,  but  doers ;  and  that  without  any 
plea,  or  excuse,  or  fear  of  danger  by  holy  obedience. 
The  dove  will  not  leave  her  flight  because  there  are 
some  ravens  in  the  air ;  so  the  good  Christian  will 
always  keep  obedience  upon  the  wing.  "  Depart 
from  evil ;"  what,  and  speak  good  only  ?  No,  but 
"  do  good,"  Psal.  xxxiv.  14. 

De  rirlute  (oqui  minimum,  virtulibus  uti ; 
Ilic  labor,  hoc  opus  est.  (Persius.) 

To  speak  of  virtue  is  nothing ;  the  labour  is  to  show 
the  power  of  it  in  virtuous  actions.  Magjui  dicere 
Goli<e  soniis  est :  magna  facere  Samsonin  opus  est. 
(Tertul.)  To  speak  bravely,  this  is  but  the  sound  of  a 
swelling  giant ;  but  to  do  hei'oically,  this  is  the  work 
of  a  valiant  champion.  It  is  not  enough  to  say,  as 
it  is  in  the  psalm,  I  believed,  and  therefore  I  spake ;  but, 
I  believed,  and  therefore  I  wrought.  No  man  can 
work  unless  he  believes :  no  man  can  believe  unless 
he  works.  Christian  religion  is  more  practical  than 
theoretical ;  rather  an  occupation  than  a  mere  profes- 
sion ;  dwelling,  like  the  artisan's  wit,  at  the  fingers' 
ends. 

Let  this  be  understood  to  the  confutation,  to  the 
confusion,  of  hypocrisy,  which  tiuns  religion  into  a 
vizard ;  it  hath  mouth,  and  eyes,  and  nose,  all  but 
painted.  Hynocrites  are  not  like  the  heathen  idols, 
save  in  one  thing.  "  They  have  mouths,  but  they 
speak  not ;  eyes,  but  they  see  not,"  &c.  Psal.  cxv.  5. 
These  have  mouths,  and  they  speak  ;  eyes,  and  they 
see ;  ears,  and  they  hear ;  noses,  and  they  smell ; 
feet,  and  they  walk :  they  have  hands,  but  they  do 
not  work.  Plutarch  hath  a  tale  of  the  moon,  that 
she  entreated  her  mother  to  make  her  a  coat  fit  for 
her.  Her  mother  answers,  My  daughter,  it  is  im- 
possible to  fit  thee  with  a  coat ;  for  thou  sometimes 
waxest,  sometimes  wanest ;  art  now  in  the  full,  by 
and  by  changing  ;  to-day  bigger,  to-morrow  less. 
The  hypocrite  is  such  a  man  m  the  moon ;  some- 
times a  giant,  sometimes  a  dwarf;  now  great,  pre- 
sently small ;  evermore  so  changing,  that  no  coat 
can  fit  him.  Hypocrites  are  like  pictures  on  can- 
vass, they  show  fairest  at  farthest.  Hear  them 
speaking,  and  see  them  not  doing,  and  you  would 
think  them  angels ;  but  see  them  doing,  and  hear 
them  not  speaking,  and  they  are  devnls :  or,  at  least, 
as  you  would  judge  of  dancers,  when  you  hear  not 
the  tune  of  their  music  :  leaping  and  turning,  in  all 
points  like  mad-men.  Their  voice  is  the  voice  of 
Jacob,  but  their  hands  are  the  hands  of  Esau.  Let 
thy  life  speak,  and  thy  tongue  hold  her  peace. 
Hypocrites  have  the  running  gout,  but  it  settles 
most  in  their  fingers.  A  beggar  being  reproved  for 
his  lazy  life,  answered  that  he  had  a  secret  disease 
lying  in  his  bones,  which  for  modesty's  sake  he  must 
not  declare  :  they  believed  him  and  relieved  him. 
One  «mong  the  rest  being  unsatisfied,  would  needs 
know  of  him  what  that  secret  sickness  was,  seeing 
that  he  appeared  so  well  outwardly :  he  told  him 
plainly.  It  is  within,  a  disease  lying  in  my  bones ; 
some  call  it  idleness.  Tell  a  hypocrite  (whose  zeal 
is  so  pepper-hot  at  the  tongue's  end^  that  his  works 
be  cold :  Oh  he  hath  a  secret  disease  in  his  bones  ; 


a  scurvy  dissembling  humour,  settled  in  liis  heart, 
and  creeping  througii  everj-  joint.  If  you  will,  you 
may  call  it  idleness,  or  hypocrisy ;  for  I  understand 
them  as  convertible  terms.  It  must  be  very  strong 
physic  that  purgcth  this  humour.  They  are  only 
good,  when  on  the  sabbath  day  they  are  fowing  tap- 
houses, and  scouring  the  common  sewers  and  sinks 
of  sin.     But 

mendacia  fatlax 
Damnat,  et  in  m<Bchos  gUidiiim  dislritigii  adulter. 
(Prosper.) 

Adulterers  punish  wantons,  and  presumption  judgeth 
weakness.  Is  not  this  to  be  doing?  yes,  they  do  till 
they  undo  a  man  :  they  do,  but  not  "  these  things." 
They  condenm  that  in  others,  which  they  applaud 
in  themselves.  But  let  us  do  what  we  should,  thai 
we  may  receive  what  we  would :  ''  The  end  of  the 
commandment  is  charity  out  of  a  pure  heart,  and  of 
a  good  conscience,  and  of  faith  unfeigned,"  I  Tim. 
i.  5.  Then  may  we  expect  the  reward.  Well  done, 
good  ser\ant :  not  well  professed,  but  well  expressed : 
not  well  known,  nor  well  spoken,  nor  well  purposed, 
but  well  done.  'This  is  the  perfect  rule,  "And  as  many 
as  walk  according  to  this  rule,  peace  be  on  them,  and 
mercy,  and  upon  the  Israel  of  God,"  Gal.  vi.  IG. 

"  Ye  shall  never  fall."  I  come  to  the  ratification : 
these  words  are  diversly  read :  this  is  the  best,  Ye 
shall  not  fall.  The  original  is  literally,  Ye  shall  not 
fall  for  ever,  that  is.  Ye  shall  fall  never.  Such  a 
phrase  you  have  John  xiii.  8,  Thou  shalt  not  wash 
my  feet  for  ever,  that  is.  Thou  shalt  never  wash 
them.  This  seems  to  be  derived  from  Psal.  xv.  5, 
"  He  that  doeth  these  things  shall  never  be  moved." 

But  here  the  apostle  seems  to  attribute  something 
to  our  works,  as  if  the  merit  of  our  doing  should  pre- 
serve us  from  falling.  No,  he  speaks  not  concerning 
the  cause  of  mercy,  but  the  way  of  grace.  Our  own 
works  do  not  uphold  us,  but  assure  us  by  a  token 
that  we  are  upholden  of  God :  they  are  the  insepa- 
rable efTccts  of  that  grace,  by  which  wc  are  kept 
from  falling.  So  long  as  we  feel  thy  pulse  beating, 
we  are  sure  thou  livest ;  yet  the  beating  of  thy  pulse 
is  not  the  cause  thou  livest,  but  a  .sign  by  the  eflects. 
Bellarmine  obscr\cs,  that  Christ  says  not  definitely. 
You  are  unprofitable  servants ;  but,  When  ye  shall 
have  done  all  that  is  commanded  you,  say.  We  are 
unprofitable  ser\'ants,  Luke  xvii.  10 :  say  so,  for  good 
manners'  sake,  and  the  acknowledgment  of  humility. 
Nay,  but  rather  subscribe  to  verity ;  say  so,  and  say 
the  truth  :  for  Christ  might  give  something  in 
charge,  to  beget  in  us  humility ;  but  never  any 
thing  against  the  truth.  The  (jod  of  verity  never 
bade  us  lie  :  say  so  then,  and  say  truly,  that  we  are 
unprofitable  servants  ;  for  God  is  a  loser  even  by  the 
best  of  us,  if  we  consider  and  compare  the  cost  he 
hath  been  at  with  us,  with  our  fruits.  The  earth 
restores  us  four  for  one ;  we  scarce  return  to  God  one 
seed  of  four.  Usury  brings  us  back  one  above  our 
ten  by  interest ;  we  hardly  restore  to  the  Lord  one 
of  tell  of  his  principal.  Wc  know  no  merit  but 
Christ's  ;  therefore  we  pray,  Forgive  us  our  tres- 
passes, and  give  us  our  daily  bread.  He  that  beg- 
geth  mercies,  boasts  no  merits :  if  thou  ;isk  an  alms, 
never  plead  thy  worthiness.  As  the  servants  to 
princes  make  their  gifts  better  than  their  wages,  so 
let  us  that  serve  God  stand  upon  his  gifts,  not  upon 
our  wages.  We  are  not  upholden  by  our  piety,  but 
beholden  to  God's  pity ;  we  are  kept  from  falling 
only  by  the  gi-ace  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Shall  never  fall."  Falling  is  twofold,  of  infirm- 
ity, and  of  apostacy  ;  the  one  is  a  falling  into  sin,  the 
other  a  falling  into  the  state  of  damnation  :  there 
is  weakness  in  the  one,  there  is  presumption  and 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


obstinacy  in  the  other.  The  former  of  these  falls 
may  befall  the  faithful,  but  not  the  latter;  for  there 
is  no  damnation  to  them  that  are  in  Jesus  Christ, 
Rom.  viii.  1.  Indeed  he  may  fall  into  divers  sins, 
but  never  into  tliat  sinning  sin :  they  be  slips,  not 
foils  ;  or  if  foils,  not  falls  ;  or  if  falls,  yet  falling  for- 
ward to  repentance,  not  backward  from  mercy.  The 
faithful  shall  not  fall  into  apostacy,  from  the  Lord  : 
the  reason  is,  because  God  cstablisheth  his  goings  ; 
the  Lord  will  preserve  him,  and  keep  him  up,  Psal. 
xl.  2.  If  that  were  understood  of  sin,  that  Solomon 
speaks.  The  just  man  falleth  seven  times  a  day,  yet 
it  implies  his  repentance  ;  for  lie  could  not  properly 
be  said  to  fall  seven  times,  unless  he  had  rose  six 
times  ;  he  doth  not  more  often  fall  by  sinning,  than 
he  riseth  again  by  repenting.  Thus  he  may  fall  into 
infirmity,  but  he  shall  never  fall  into  apostacy. 

And  this  is  a  sweet  comfort,  that  those  which  are 
upheld  by  God's  power,  sliall  never  fall  away  from 
Jesus  Christ.  Eli  was  priest  of  the  sanctuary,  yet 
he  fell ;  Adam  was  in  ParatUse,  yet  he  fell ;  Luci- 
fer was  in  heaven,  yet  he  fell  :  but  whosoever  is  in 
Christ,  shall  never  fall.  Indeed  he  may  fall  into 
affliction,  but  not  into  destruction :  he  is  laid  under 
the  rod  of  calamity,  but  he  shall  never  be  forsaken 
with  the  miserable.  Death  may  trip  down  his  body, 
Satan  cannot  get  down  his  soul.  His  name  is  wi'itten 
in  heaven ;  and  until  that  name  fall,  which  will  not 
be  though  heaven  fall,  himself  shall  never  fall. 
Though  he  wrestles  with  giants,  against  princi- 
palities, and  powers,  and  wicked  spirits  in  high 
places,  yet  he  shall  stand.  Though  death  lay  his 
body  in  the  dust,  yet  it  hath  no  power  to  touch  his 
soul ;  he  shall  stand.  The  poor  philosopher  dying 
said,  I  have  lived  uncertain,  I  (he  doubtful,  I  know 
not  whilher  I  go  or  what  shall  become  of  me.  The 
blind  reprobate,  what  he  would  not  credit  presuming, 
he  shall  see  then  despairing;  the  gates  of  hell  wide 
open,  and  a  bottomless  gulf  ready  to  swallow  him. 
The  resolved  Christian  knows,  that  the  mouth  of  the 
pit  is  shut  against  him,  that  the  gate  of  glory  stands 
open  for  him :  that  he  is  elected,  not  to  fall,  but  to 
rise.  No  descent  doth  fear  him,  but  his  ascent  doth 
cheer  him :  I  go  to  him  that  is  above.  Now  the 
mercy  of  God  keep  us  from  falling,  and  give  us  a 
blessed  rising  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just,  through 
the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 


Verse  11. 

Fm  so  an  entrance  shall  be  ministered  unto  you  abun- 
dantly into  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

The  dependence  of  this  verse  with  the  former  we 
shall  in  due  place  be  fitly  occasioned  to  consider  : 
first,  therefore,  to  the  distribution.  It  may  be  dis- 
tinguished into  two  main  parts. 

The  passage,  For  so  an  entrance  shall  be  minis- 
tered to  us. 

The  palace,  Into  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  Christ. 

In  the  passage  are  observable  these  four  properties : 

The  sureness.  So  shall  be,  without  fail. 

The  readiness.  An  entrance,  without  trouble. 

The  fitness,  Shall  be  ministered,  without  let. 

The  e;isincss.  Abundantly,  without  pain. 

In  the  palace  consider  two  things : 

The  royalty.  It  is  the  Lord's  own  kingdom. 

The  eternity.  It  is  an  everlasting  kingdom. 

In  the  sureness  we  find  two  circumstances  ;  the 
reason,  by  way  of  connexion,  in  the  word  for  :  and 
the  means,  by  way  of  relation,  in  the  word  so. 


"  For."  This  is  a  binding  word,  that  knits  the 
discourse  together  with  a  natural  dependence.  As  if 
the  apostle  should  thus  declare  himself:  There  are 
some  blind,  and  forget  the  way  of  truth  :  what  then  ? 
therefore  make  your  election  sure  :  why?  for  if  ye  do 
so  ye  shall  never  fall :  how  are  we  sure  that  we  shall 
not  fall  ?  for  so  you  have  a  full  entrance  to  blessed- 
ness. If  you  study  in  mind,  affect  in  heart,  and 
strive  in  hand,  to  do  these  things,  God  will  help  your 
endeavour  with  his  grace,  you  shall  enter  into  his 
glorious  kingdom.  Plain  and  simple  averring  of  the 
truth  is  sufficient  in  Holy  Scriptures,  which  bind  the 
conscience  authoritative.  God's  Do  this,  or  Be- 
lieve that,  is  enough  without  any  reason.  For  as  in 
men's  commands  we  examine  what  is  enjoined,  not 
who  imposeth  it ;  so  in  these  we  examine  who  it  is 
that  chargeth  us,  not  so  much  what  we  are  charged. 
The  precepts  of  superiors  are  sometimes  evil,  there- 
fore we  obey  them  only  in  good  ;  but  when  the 
Lord  commands,  we  do  not  examine,  but  execute. 
"  It  is  the  Lord,"  I  Sam.  iii.  18.  Yet  as  Christ  led 
the  Jews  as  well  by  his  miracles  amazing  them,  as 
by  his  oracles  instructing  them ;  so  his  apostles  per- 
suade us,  et  argumentis  et  oniamentis,  and  do  not  come 
evermore  with  a  mandamus.  As  the  father,  to  bring 
on  his  chUd  a  long  journey,  wins  him  by  fair  pro- 
mises, lifts  him  over  hard  passages,  holds  him  by  the 
hand  all  the  way ;  so  the  Lord  doth  allure  us  by  gra- 
cious affordments,  persuade  us  by  arguments,  and 
rather  than  we  should  be  weary  of  well-doing,  encou- 
rageth  us  with  reasons;  for  so  you  shall  enter,  &c. 

"  So."  This  is  a  description  of  the  means,  and 
hath  a  relation  to  the  former  counsel.  As  if  he  should 
say.  Make  your  election  sure  ;  and  by  living  soberly 
and  righteously  endeavour  the  ascertaining  to  your 
own  hearts,  that  God  hath  decreed  you  to  salvation  ; 
for  so  you  shall  have  a  free  entrance  into  the  king- 
dom of  Christ.  That  is  the  only  means  whereby  you 
may  be  admitted,  and  ^vithout  that  you  shall  be  ex- 
cluded. There  be  numbers  that  would  enter  the 
kingdom  of  Christ,  but  they  fail  in  their  sic,  they 
will  not  40  enter.  When  Christ  had  made  the  lawyer 
tell  himself  who  was  the  good  neighbour,  "He  that 
showed  mercy  on  him  ; "  he  presently  upon  it 
chargeth  him,  "  Go,  and  do  thou  likewise,"  Luke  x. 
37.  Wouldst  thou  arrive  at  heaven  ?  set  their  pre- 
cedents, who  are  now  in  heaven,  before  thine  eyes ; 
Go,  and  do  thou  likewise.  So  Paul  left  it  in  charge 
behind  him.  Be  ye  followers  of  me,  and  walk  so  as 
you  have  us  for  an  ensample,  Phil.  iii.  17.  If  you 
would  come  to  the  place  where  we  are,  you  must  fol- 
low us  in  the  worKs  which  we  have  done ;  so  you 
shall  have  an  entrance.  5i'c,  whatsoever  is  a  non 
sicut,  dissonant  from  this  so,  is  a  hinderance.  God 
sets  us,  as  Moses  on  Nebo,  upon  the  mount  of  a 
sanctified  speculation,  and  shows  us  Canaan,  with 
the  way  to  it;  so  you  must  enter  it,  or  not  at  all. 
One  minds  nothing  but  his  cups,  another  nothing 
but  his  purse,  a  third  only  his  courtesan  ;  yet  all 
these  point  to  meet  at  heaven  :  but  they  fail  in  their 
.90,  for  this  is  not  the  way  thither.  "  The  lust  of  the 
llesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life," 
I  John  ii.  16,  is  a  broad  way,  but  not  to  salvation.  Of 
all  the  manuductions  to  the  city  of  God  there  lies  no 
way  by  three  signs;  the  sign  of  the  pot,  the  sign  of 
tile  purse,  and  the  sign  of  the  punk.  Therefore  we 
say,  the  dninkard  is  a  man  out  of  the  way,  the  world- 
ling crosses  the  way,  the  adulterer  dams  up  the  way. 
All  these  foil  in  their  Sru,  therefore  shall  miss  in 
their  aurw,  the  desire  of  their  hearts.  One  presumes 
himself  a  David,  and  thinks  to  conquer  the  Goliath 
Satan  with  Saul's  armour :  not  so,  but  "  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  of  hosts,"  I  Sam.  xvii.  45.  The  semi- 
nary asks  the  pope,  as  Abishai  did  David,  Shall  I 


Ver.  11. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


127 


smite  the  king  ?  1  Sam.  xxvi.  8.  Not  so,  for  who  can 
stretch  forth  his  hand  against  the  Lord's  anointed, 
and  be  guiltless  ?  Treason  is  not  the  way  to  heaven. 
Covetous  men,  like  those  stronger  soldiers,  wll  not 
give  the  faint  and  poor  any  of  their  spoil.  Not  so, 
saith  David  ;  "  Ye  shall  not  do  so,  my  brethren,  with 
that  which  the  Lord  hath  given  us,"  1  Sam.  xxx. 
23.  There  is  another  so  to  salvation ;  and  blessed  is 
the  ser\anl  whom  his  Master  findeth  so  doing,  Matt. 
xxiv.  46.  This  is  the  sureness ;  if  you  go  by  the 
means,  you  shall  come  to  the  end.  So  you  shall 
have  an  entrance;  an  infallible  rule,  if  you  walk  so, 
you  shall  not  miss  it. 

"  An  entrance  "  shall  be  given  you.  I  call  this  the 
readiness  of  the  passage.  The  way  is  not  hedged  up 
with  thorns,  nor  barricadoed  with  bulwarks,  nor 
mazed  like  an  intricate  labyrinth;  there  is  an  en- 
trance. In  the  tractation  of  this  doctrine,  because  it 
is  the  heart  of  the  text,  I  will  consider  three  things. 
First,  the  proposition,  that  the  way  to  blessedness 
is  open.  Next,  I  will  clear  the  way  from  certain  obsta- 
cles, that  may  seem  to  cross  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 
Lastly,  I  will  declare  wherein  this  entrance  consists. 

The  passage  to  grace  and  mercy  is  open,  and  ready 
to  entertain  all  entering  feet.  From  the  first  fall, 
sin  had  shut  it  up,  but  now  Christ  hath  opened  it ; 
"  He  that  hath  the  key  of  David,  openeth,  and  no 
man  shutteth,"  Rev.  iii.  7.  The  pope  presumes  he 
hath  that  key,  and  lets  in  whom  he  pleaseth.  O 
miserable  man !  why  doth  he  not  then  let  in  him- 
self? Idolaters,  sorcerers,  adulterers,  heretics,  have 
had  that  imaginary  key  ;  yet  could  they  get  no  en- 
trance into  heaven.  Only  Christ  opens  that  gate, 
and  gives  entrance.  Thrice  was  heaven  opened  to 
himself;  at  his  baptism.  Matt.  iii.  16,  at  his  trans- 
figuration. Matt.  xvii.  5,  at  liis  ascension,  Acts  i.  9. 

I  Know  that  the  apertion  of  heaven  doth  often  mean 
a  manifestation  of  God's  glorious  power  only :  but  in 
these  places  it  signifies  a  visible  fissure  of  heaven, 
that  something  might  be  seen  far  transcendent  to  the 
stars  and  planets.  Such  an  apertion  was  to  St.  Ste- 
phen ;  "  Behold,  I  sec  the  heavens  opened,  and  the  Son 
of  man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God,"  Acts  vii. 
56.  The  Lord  afforded  him  a  vision  of  that,  whereof 
he  was  instantly  to  have  the  fruition.  The  like  pa- 
te&ction  was  to  Peter ;  he  "  saw  heaven  opened," 
Acts  X.  11.  Those  visible  scissures  were  figures  of 
this  invisible  entrance.  Into  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
the  type  of  heaven,  went  only  the  high  priest  once 
a  year ;  but  Christ  at  his  death  rent  the  veil  of  the 
temple,  to  signify  that  he  had  made  now  a  clear  pas- 
sage for  all  believers;  "  The  Holy  Ghost  this  sig- 
nifying, that  the  way  into  the  holiest  of  all  was  not 
yet  made  manifest,  while  as  the  first  tabernacle  was 
yet  standing,"  Heb.  ix.  8.  Indeed  it  is  true,  that 
from  the  beginning  heaven  was  not  shut  to  the  faith- 
ful ;  for  how  then  did  Abraham  enter  into  blessed- 
ness ?  As  it  was  not  shut  to  the  Jews,  so  it  was  not 
open  to  the  Gentiles.  For  they  were  "  aliens  from 
the  commonwealth  of  Israel,"  and  so  "  strangers  from 
the  covenants  of  promise :  but  now  ye  who  some- 
times were  far  of!',  are  made  nigh  by  the  blood  of 
Christ ;  who  hath  broken  down  the  middle  wall  of 
partition  between  us,"  Eph.  ii.  12 — 15.  The  Gen- 
tiles were  esteemed  as  dogs  ;  and  the  children's 
bread  is  not  given  to  dogs,  Mark  vii.  27.  But  he  that 
could  make  children  of  stones,  can  also  make  of 
those  dogs  servants.  The  gate  then  stands  wider 
open  per  Christum  missum,  than  it  did  per  Christum 
promiss-um ;  by  a  Saviour  bom,  than  it  was  by  a  Sa- 
viour only  promised  to  be  bom.  That  to  the  holiest 
was  a  typical  entrance ;  this  is  a  topical  entrance. 
Therefore  our  salvation  is  now  nearer,   Rom.  xiii. 

II  :   for  we  do  not  go  to  the  e;ate  of  heaven,  but 


rather  the  gate  of  heaven  comes  to  us;  "I  saw  the 
holy  city,  new  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God 
out  of  heaven,"  Rev.  xxi.  2.  Because  we  could  not 
ascend  to  it,  it  doth  descend  to  us.  Christ  calls  him- 
self "  the  door,"  John  x.  7  :  which  place  being  com- 
pared with  Rev.  iii.  20,  "  I  stand  at  the  door,  and 
knock  ;"  we  find  that  he  is  the  door,  and  yet  he 
knocks  at  the  door.  He  that  hath  a  suit  to  the  king, 
concludes  with  himself,  I  must  go  to  the  court,  for 
the  court  will  not  come  to  me.  Yet,  "  thy  King 
Cometh  unto  thee,"  Matt.  xxi.  5.  Petit  tua  liminu 
virtus.  Thus  Christ  promised  the  penitent  malefactor, 
"This  day  thou  shalt  be%vith  me  in  paradise."  The 
blood  of  Christ  is  the  key  that  openeth  paradise. 
(Hieron.)  "  Through  him  we  have  access  by  one  Spi- 
rit unto  the  Father,"  Eph.  ii.  18.  Thus  the  doctrine 
is  cleared,  we  have  "  boldness  to  enter  into  the 
holiest  by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  by  a  new  and  living 
way,  which  he  hath  consecrated  for  us,  through  the 
veil,  that  is  to  say,  his  flesh,"  Heb.  x.  19.  He  is  the 
way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life  :  there  is  no  way  but 
by  thee,  no  truth  but  from  thee,  no  life  but  in  thee, 

0  dear  Lord  Jesus. 

In  the  second  place,  let  us  proceed  to  the  removal 
of  such  impediments  as  might  hinder  this  passage. 
There  is  no  glory  of  entrance,  where  is  no  hinder- 
ance.  Sin  was  the  first  obstacle.  "  So  he  drove  out 
the  man,"  Gen.  iii.  24.  It  shut  him  out,  and  kept  him 
out :  angels  that  were  his  friends,  were  set  to  with- 
stand his  re-entr)'.  This  taught  him,  that  as  sin  cast 
him  out  of  Paradise,  so  it  would  also  shut  him  out  of 
heaven,  but  for  the  mercies  of  God  in  the  merits  of 
a  Redeemer.  There  are  many  enemies,  backed  by 
the  malice  of  sin ;  but  because  they  are  numerovis, 
and  must  be  ranked  to  some  generals,  I  will  reduce 
them  to  four. 

The  world  is  none  of  the  least ;  and  in  this  there 
is  a  double  opposition;  on  the  left  hand  indigence, 
on  the  right  hand  opulence.  They  are  both  removed 
by  Christ ;  the  good  things  of  this  world  he  despised, 
that  he  might  teach  us  to  despise  them;  the  evil 
things  he  bore,  that  he  might  teach  us  to  suffer  them. 
"  Whatsoever  is  bom  of  God  overcometh  the  world," 

1  John  V.  4 :  we  so  cast  away  this  hinderance,  whe- 
ther of  prosperous  or  adverse  things,  that  we  neither 
seek  to  be  blessed  in  the  one,  nor  fear  to  be  cursed 
in  the  other.  (August.)  Faith  is  the  principal  in 
this  victorj'  :  good  works  are  underling  soldiers,  but 
faith  is  the  captain,  which  commands  all  under  the 
great  General,  Jesus  Christ.  Opera  bona  rincuni 
executive,  solajides  imperative.  Is  want  a  hinderance  ? 
No ;  there  is  treasure  enough  to  be  had  in  heaven. 
Matt.  vi.  20.  Is  dearth  ?  No  ;  for  a  good  conscience 
is  a  continual  feast,  Prov.  xv.  15.  Is  exile  ?  No;  for 
the  home  we  seek  is  a  city  to  come,  Heb.  xiii.  14. 
Doth  prosperity  assault  us  ?  Indeed  this  is  a  sore 
bar  to  our  entrance  ;  for  one  man  could  foil  the  devil 
in  his  miser)-,  whereas  many  have  been  foiled  by  the 
devil  in  their  felicity.  (August.)  "  For  peace  I  had 
great  bitterness,"  I'sa.  xxxviii.  17.  The  church's 
estate,  saith  Bernard,  was  bitter  in  the  loss  of  her 
children's  blood,  more  bitter  in  the  oppugnations  of 
her  doctrine,  most  bitter  in  the  vices  of  ner  professed 
friends.  Thus  the  world  hinders  our  cntranceworse 
by  its  courtesies  than  if  can  by  its  crosses.  Yet  let 
it  do  its  worst,  faith  follows  Christ,  and  he  is  that 
great  Marshal  that  makes  way  for  us  through  the 
world :  "  Be  of  good  cheer ;  I  have  overcome  the 
world,"  John  xvi.  33. 

The  flesh  steps  in  next  to  bar  up  our  entrance : 
this  is  a  Delilan  in  Samson's  bosom,  that  seeks  to 
cut  his  throat;  it  is  like  the  moth  in  the  garment, 
that  breeds  in  us,  and  feeds  on  as.  There  is  no  man 
hath  a  worse  friend  than  he  brings  from  home.     An 


12S 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


unfaithful  servant  is  miscliievous,  an  unfaithful  friend 
more  mischievous,  but  an  unfaitliful  wife  most  mis- 
chievous. It  is  ready  to  prompt  us,  as  Job's  wife 
tempted  him,  "Curse  God,  and  die,"  Job  ii.  9.  This 
Clytemnestra,  for  the  love  of  her  adulterous  friend, 
Satan,  will  betray  her  own  betrothed  Agamemnon. 
The  only  course  is  to  be  bold  with  it  ;  .and  to  restrain 
it,  lest  it  kill  itself,  and  to  mortify  it,  lest  it  kill  us. 
This  obstacle  hath  also  Christ  removed;  not  but 
that  it  still  offers  to  withstand  us,  but  that  it  shall 
never  hurt  us.  Christ's  assistance  is  stronger  than 
her  resistance :  in  Christ  she  is  dead,  though  in  her- 
self she  be  deadly.  Christ's  innocent  llcsli  was  cru- 
cified, that  this  sinful  flesh  might  be  mortified.  Let 
her  do  the  worst  to  hinder  my  entrance,  yet  I  shall 
enter  ;  and  for  this  "  I  thank  God  through  Jesus 
Christ,". Rom.  vii.  25. 

The  devil  is  a  master  antagonist,  a  watchful  and  a 
wrathful  enemy.  His  weapons  are  temptations, 
whereby  he  makes  men  sin  ;  and  accusations,  where- 
by he  makes  them  despair  for  sin.  But  this  hin- 
derer  is  muzzled ;  "  The  prince  of  this  world  is  judg- 
ed," John  xvi.  11:"  The  prince  of  this  world  is  ca-st 
out,"  John  xii.  31.  He  is  condemned  himself,  there- 
fore unable  to  condemn  us.  He  is  excommunicated, 
therefore  his  testimony  is  nothing  worth.  Doth  he 
fright  thee  with  thy  sins  ?  Answer  him  that  the 
Lamb  of  God  hath  taken  them  away.  Perhaps  the 
politic  serpent  quiets  thee  in  the  settled  opinion  of 
thine  own  righteousness.  O  devil  !  wouldst  thou 
have  me  turn  justiciar)-,  and  trust  to  mine  own  right- 
eousness ?  I  am  a  sinner,  or  else  what  needed  I  a 
Saviour?  "  They  that  be  whole  need  not  a  phy- 
sician, but  they  that  are  sick,"  Matt.  ix.  12.  I  have 
infinite  sins,  but  there  is  an  infinite  ransom  paid  for 
them.  He  was  made  sin  for  me,  who  knew'  no  sin, 
that  I  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in 
him,  2  Cor.  v.  21.  He  that  was  righteousness,  was 
made  sin  for  us  ;  that  we  who  were  unrighteous, 
might  be  made  righteousness  in  him.  (August.) 
Satan,  do  thy  worst,  we  have  an  abundant  entrance 
through  Jesus  Christ. 

Death  is  the  last  enemy,  but  not  the  least  enemy. 
Albeit  it  be  hateful  and  hurtful  to  the  wicked,  be- 
cause it  ends  their  short  joys,  and  begins  their  ever- 
lasting sorrows ;  yet  to  the  faithful  that  fiend  is  a 
friend ;  while  it  hastens  their  going  out  of  this  world, 
it  prepares  their  going  into  the  world  to  come  :  "  To 
me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain,"  Phil.  i.  21. 
That  which  meant  us  the  greatest  damage,  procures 
us  the  greatest  advantage.  The  Lord  Jesus  hath  led 
ciiptivity  captive,  and  swallowed  up  death  in  victory. 
"O  death,  wnere  is  thy  sting  ?  O  grave,  where  is  thy 
victory  ?  "  1  Cor.  xv.  54,  55.  Out  of  that  strong  one 
he  brought  honey  ;  out  of  that  cater  of  all  flesh,  meat 
for  all  .si>irits.  Through  the  jaws  of  cold  death,  he 
hath  opened  the  gates  of  eternal  life. 

Mors,  qu<E  perpetuo  cunclos  absorbet  hialu : 
Parcere  dum  nescit,  scppius  ipsafavet ; 

While  death  strives  to  bar  the  way  against  us,  it  doth 
make  way  for  us,  into  this  everlasting  kingdom. 

Thus  the  hinderances  being  removed,  we  come  to 
consider  the  matter  of  this  entrance,  wherein  it  con- 
sists, and  how  we  are  here  said  to  have  it.  It  stands 
in  two  things;  our  union  with  Christ  and  our  com- 
nmnion  with  the  Holy  Ghost. 

First,  for  our  union  with  Christ;  for  if  the  Head 
be  entered,  tlie  members  cannot  be  denied.  The 
personal  union  of  the  Son  of  God  to  our  nature,  was 
a  great  myster)- ;  "Without  controversy  great  is  the 
?'y®.'''''>[.?*'K°'ll'"'-'ss:  God  wasmanifcst'in  the  flesh," 
I  Tim.  lii.  16.  Yet  let  me  boldly  say,  in  respect  of 
us,  there  is  another  nearer  conjunction  required  to 


this  entrance  ;  "  He  that  is  joined  unto  the  Lord  is 
one  spirit,"  1  Cor.  vi.  \J.  First,  that  hypostatical 
union  was  the  conjunction  of  God's  nature  and  man's 
nature  in  general;  but  this  is  a  union  of  the  Son  of 
God's  person  and  the  believer's  person  in  special. 
Secondly,  though  Clu'ist  took  our  nature  upon  him, 
and  that  with  all  human  infirmities,  yet  clean  void  of 
all  sins  :  in  this  he  takes  to  him  the  believer's  person 
with  all  his  sins  ;  though  we  be  full  of  wickedness, 
he  knits  us  to  his  holy  and  glorious  self.  He  is  the 
Head,  we  are  the  members ;  but  some  tyrant  may 
cut  off  the  members  from  the  head.  He  is  the  Hus- 
band, we  are  the  wife  ;  but  death  divorceth  man  and 
wife.  He  is  the  Vine,  we  arc  the  branches ;  but  man 
may  slip  off  a  branch  from  the  vine.  He  is  the 
Comer-stone,  we  the  building ;  but  a  foundation  may 
be  bereft  of  the  edifice,  and  come  to  the  temple  of 
Jerusalem's  case,  to  have  not  one  stone  left  upon  an- 
other. But  when  it  is  said,  we  are  one  spirit  with 
Christ,  here  can  be  no  separation  ;  spirit  may  be 
parted  from  body,  not  spirit  from  spirit,  never  from 
itself :  not  two,  but  one  spirit.  "  Set  me  as  a  seal 
upon  thine  heart,  as  a  seal  upon  thine  arm,"  Cant, 
viii.  G.  The  arm  is  the  instniment  of  power;  and 
the  heart  is  the  fountain  of  life,  the  first  that  lives, 
and  the  last  that  dies.  If  therefore  we  be  set  there 
as  seals,  there  can  be  no  disjunction ;  unless  we 
could  be  plucked  from  his  arms  that  is  almighty ; 
unless  his  heart  could  die,  which  is  life  itself.  "  Set 
me  as  a  seal,"  &c.  That  petition  is  now  a  position ; 
what  the  church  then  desired,  it  hath  now  enjoyed  ; 
their  wish  is  our  article,  their  Pater-noster  our  creed. 
Were  we  not  deeply  engraven  on  his  heart,  when  his 
heart  was  divided  with  a  spear  for  us  ?  when  in  a 
manner  he  seemed  forsaken  of  his  own  Fatlier  for  a 
time,  rather  than  his  Father  should  forsake  us  for 
ever  ?  That  evangelical  prophet  testifies  it ;  "  Be- 
hold, I  have  graven  thee  upon  the  palms  of  my 
hands,"  Isa.  xlix.  IG.  Were  we  not  engraven  there 
when  his  hands  were  pierced  for  us  ?  "  "They  digged 
my  hands  and  my  feet,"  Psal.  xxii.  IG.  And  they 
digged  them  so  deep,  that  the  verj-  prints  remained 
after  his  resurrection,  and  their  fingers  were  thrust 
into  them  for  evidence'  sake,  John  xx.  27.  Some 
have  thought  that  those  scars  remain  stifc  :a  his  glo- 
rious body,  to  be  showed  at  his  second  appearing  ; 
"  They  shall  see  him  whom  they  have  pierced." 
That  is  improbable,  but  this  is  certain  ;  there  re- 
mains still  an  impression  upon  Christ's  hands  and 
his  heart,  the  sealing  and  wearing  of  the  elect  there, 
as  precious  jewels.  For  the  same  affections  he  had 
on  earth,  he  hath  carried  up  with  the  same  body  to 
heaven.  He  cannot  there  pati,  but  he  doth  compali : 
"  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  me  ?  "  He  that  remeili- 
bered  us  on  the  cross,  will  not  forget  us  in  the  crown  ; 
as  Pharaoh's  officer  forgot  Joscjui  when  he  came  to 
his  preferment.  For  this  that  penitent  malefactor 
prayed,  "Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  into 
Ihy  kingdom."  As  if  he  should  say.  Now  happily 
thou  thinkest  on  us,  because  thou  art  in  the  same 
fashion  and  passion  with  us,  suffering  the  .same  tor- 
ment, subject  to  the  same  death ;  pernaps  thou  feel- 
est  more  grievous  things  than  we.  But  when  this 
passion  is  all  over,  thy  suflcrings  past,  when  thou 
art  exalted  to  glory,  when  thou  comest  to  thy  king- 
dom, Lord,  remember  me  then.  He  did  so ;  "  This 
day  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  paradise."  He  re- 
members us  now  triumphing,  as  well  as  he  did  tlien 
sufl'ering.  The  afleetion  of  love  is  noted  to  be  most 
vehement  in  women:  DaWd  spake  of  a  transcendent 
and  incomparable  love,  when  he  preferred  it  above 
the  love  of  women  ;  "  Thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful, 
passing  the  love  of  women,"  2  Sam.  i.  26  ;  because 
they   are  naturally  most   tender  and   affectionate. 


Ver.  II. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


129 


Therefore  Christ,  that  he  might  wonderfully  love  us, 
was  made  of  a  woman ;  "  God  sent  his  Son,  made  of  a 
woman,"  Gal.  iv.  4.  But  because  sin  can  harden  the 
heart  of  any  woman,  therefore  he  took  it  of  a  pure 
virgin.  And  because  every  virgin  is  originally  con- 
ceived in  sin,  to  make  it  more  pure  and  tender,  he 
took  it  of  a  woman,  of  a  virgin,  and  clear  from  all  sin. 
Now  this  aflcction  he  took  with  him  to  heaven,  and 
set  it  at  the  right  hand  of  his  Father  there. 

Thus  his  side  was  opened ;  through  that  breach 
we  have  entrance :  his  heart  was  pierced ;  through 
that  heart  we  have  entrance  :  every  wound  is  a  pas- 
sage. Who  condemns  ?  It  is  Christ  that  justifies. 
Who  shuts?  It  is  the  Lord  Jesus  that  opens.  Death 
seems  to  dissolve  this  union,  but  doth  not  :  for  look 
what  was  Christ's  condition  in  the  grave,  such  is  the 
condition  of  all  his  members.  In  death  the  soul  of 
Christ  was  severed  from  his  body,  as  far  as  heaven 
is  from  earth ;  for  his  body  was  laid  in  the  se- 
pulchre, and  his  soul  was  in  the  hands  of  his  Fa- 
ther; yet  was  neither  of  these  separated  from  the 
Godhead.  Chrysostom  gives  a  familiar  similitude 
to  explain  this  :  A  man  holds  a  sheathed  sword  in 
his  hand  ;  he  draws  out  the  sword  from  the  scabbard, 
holds  the  sword  in  one  hand,  the  scabbard  in  the 
other;  here  the  sword  and  the  sheath  are  parted 
one  from  another,  but  neither  of  both  are  parted 
from  the  man,  for  he  hath  them  both  in  his  hands 
still.  So  the  Deity  took  Christ's  soul  from  his  body 
when  he  died,  as  a  sword  drawn  out  of  the  scabbard, 
but  held  them  both  in  his  hands,  and  at  his  resur- 
rection put  them  together  again  :  the  soul  was  sepa- 
rated from  the  body,  neither  of  these  from  the  Lord. 
So  it  is  with  us  ;  death,  whether  natural  or  violent, 
may  rend  the  soul  from  the  body,  it  can  take  neither 
from  Christ.  But  why  then  is  not  the  body  quick- 
ened in  the  grave  by  his  virtue,  and  by  the  insepara- 
bility of  this  union  ?  As  when  an  arm  is  taken  with 
a  dead  palsy,  it  receivcth  little  or  no  heat,  sense, 
motion,  or  life  from  the  body  ;  yet  it  still  remains  a 
member  of  the  body,  because  the  flesh  and  bones 
abide  still  tied  with  ligaments  to  the  body.  Our 
bodies  in  the  grave  are  but  taken  with  a  dead  palsy, 
they  are  still  members  of  Clirist,  and  shall  by  his 
virtue  be  revived  ;  when  again  the  soul  shall  be 
wedded  to  the  body,  and  both  body  and  soul  to  ever- 
lasting glory. 

Thus  we  are  sure,  if  Christ  be  entered,  that  our 
entrance  is  easy.  We  have  obtained  favour  in  the 
sight  of  the  great  King,  his  golden  sceptre  is  held 
out  unto  us,  let  us  enter,  Esth.  v.  2 ;  go  we  "  boldly 
unto  the  throne  of  grace,"  Heb.  iv.  IG  :  there  is  no 
quarrel  against  us  in  heaven,  all  is  peace  through 
Christ,  let  us  enter.  It  is  the  voice  of  the  King 
himself,  Enter  into  the  joy  of  your  Lord,  Matt.  xxv. 
23.  All  excuses  of  our  not  entering  into  this  king- 
dom are  taken  away.  It  is  storied  of  a  great  con- 
queror, that  when  he  had  vanquished  his  enemies, 
after  a  long  siege  laid  to  the  castle  wherein  they  had 
fortified  themselves,  and  had  opened  that  inaccessible 
palace,  he  sent  some  of  his  garrison  to  enter  and 
keep  it  for  him.  They,  ignorant  of  his  victor}-,  ex- 
cuse themselves  :  There  be  giants.  He  answers,  I 
have  slain  them.  There  be  dragons  about  it.  I 
have  chained  them  fast.  There  is  a  deep  trench, 
how  should  we  pass  over  it  ?  I  have  dammed  it  up. 
There  are  brazen  gates,  strongly  guarded.  I  have 
set  them  wide  open.  There  wants  room  for  so  many 
as  thou  sendest.  No,  there  is  room  enough ;  it  is  as 
large  as  a  city  ;  therefore  go  in,  and  possess  it.  So 
when  God  sends  men  to  enter  this  kingdom,  they 
cowardly  excuse  themselves,  as  Israel  did:  There 
be  giants,  the  sons  of  Anak ;  there  ar£  principalities 
and  powers  to  withstand  us.    Christ  answers,  I  have 


slain  them  on  my  cross.  There  is  a  great  red  dragon. 
I  have  chained  him  sure  enough  ;  that  blessed  angel, 
with  the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit,  and  the  great 
chain  in  his  hand,  hath  bound  the  dragon  that  old 
serpent  for  ever,  Rev.  xx.  2.  But  there  is  a  fortifica- 
tion of  the  law  against  us.  Saith  Christ,  I  have 
scaled  that  fort,  performed  full  obedience  to  the  law, 
and  given  satisfaction  to  the  justice  of  God  for  you. 
But  there  is  a  deep  trench,  a  sea  of  glass  before  the 
throne.  Rev.  iv.  6;  how  shall  we  get  over  that  to 
the  kingdom  ?  "  Be  of  good  cheer  ;  I  have  over- 
come the  world,"  John  xvi.  33.  But  there  is  a  high 
wall,  and  mighty  gates.  Rev.  xxi.  too  high  to  climb 
over,  and  too  thick  to  break  through.  You  need 
not  attempt  such  a  course,  for  the  gates  are  set  open ; 
"  The  gates  of  it  shall  not  be  shut  at  all,"  ver.  25. 
But  there  wants  room  for  so  many  as  thou  invitest 
to  this  kingdom.  No ;  "  In  my  Father's  house  are 
many  mansions,"  John  xiv.  2 :  there  is  room  enougli 
for  you  all.  Thus  is  this  entrance  ready  for  us ;  God 
grant  we  may  be  ready  for  this  entrance. 

Secondly,  this  entrance  consists  in  our  communion 
with  the  Holy  Ghost ;  "  The  communion  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  be  with  you,"  2  Cor.  xiii.  14.  AVhcn  two 
princes  would  establish  peace  together,  either  sends 
his  ambassador  to  other,  as  a  pledge  or  earnest  of 
that  truce.  So  God,  to  confirm  an  everlasting  league 
between  himself  and  our  souls,  sends  his  Lieger,  the 
Holy  Ghost,  to  us ;  and  we  send  our  Lieger,  our  Sa- 
viour Christ,  and  our  fidelity  with  him,  unto  God  : 
he  "  hath  sealed  us,  and  given  the  earnest  of  the 
Spirit  in  our  hearts,"  2  Cor.  i.  22.  An  earnest  seals 
the  bargain,  as  a  handful  of  com  is  given  to  assure 
the  whole  field.  We  have  begun  to  reap,  therefore 
it  is  truly  said,  we  have  made  our  entry.  This  en- 
trance consists  in  many  felicities  commimicated  to  us 
by  the  Spirit,  but  I  principally  apply  myself  to  that 
of  St.  Paul,  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and 
drink  ;  but  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost,"  Rom.  xiv.  17.  Paul  calls  it  the  king- 
dom of  God  ;  so  doth  Peter  in  this  place  :  Paul  saitli, 
it  is  participated  in  this  life;  so  Peter,  that  we  have 
hero  an  entrance  into  it.  It  must  be  understood  of 
that  fruition  which  we  have  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  this  life  ;  for  otherwise  why  should  he  mention 
and  exclude  meats  and  drinks,  which  have  neither 
use  nor  place  in  heaven?  Chrj'sostom  and  Haymo 
construe  it  thus  ;  That  meats  and  drinks  are  not  of 
any  power  to  bring  us  to  heaven.  But  Peter  Mart)-r 
calls  this  alietinm  interpret alionem :  for  so  neither  is 
righteousness  any  cause,  but  a  beginning  of  this  king- 
dom. St.  Augustine  mentions  one  Urbicus,  who  by 
this  text  would  prove,  that  Christians  ought  to  fast 
on  the  Saturday,  the  Jews'  sabbath,  because  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  is  not  in  meats  and  drinks.  But 
then  it  would  follow,  that  at  other  times,  as  on  the 
Lord's  day,  or  when  we  fast  not,  we  should  not  pertain 
to  (he  kingdom  of  Christ.  But  to  our  purpose,  if  it 
consist  in  righteousness,  peace,  and  spiritual  joy, 
then,  having  these,  we  have  an  entrance  into  it.  If 
I  seem  too  tedious  in  this  instance,  I  answer  with 
St.  Peter,  "  It  is  good  for  us  to  be  here ;  let  us  make 
here  three  tabernacles,"  Matt.  xvii.  4;  one  for  right- 
eousness, another  for  peace,  and  a  third  for  joy  in 
the  Holy  Ghost.  Where  can  we  be  better  than  in 
the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 

For  righteousness  :  this  is  not  to  be  understood  of 
a  particular  justice,  giving  eveiT  man  his  due,  with 
Gorrhan  ;  but  it  is  the  imputed  righteousness  of 
Christ,  and  our  inherent  righteousness  proceeding 
from  it.  There  is  a  righteousness  wrought  for  us, 
whereby  of  evil  men  we  are  made  good  ;  and  a  right- 
eousness wrought  in  us,  whereby  of  good  men  we 
are  made  better  ;  "  Beine'  made  free  from  sin,  ye  be- 


130 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


came  the  sen-ants  of  righteousness,"  Rom.  vi.  18. 
So  far  then  as  we  are  righteous,  so  far  have  we 
made  our  entrance.  Where  our  desires  are,  there  our- 
selves are  :  hut  we  desire  to  be  dissolved,  and  to  he 
with  Christ ;  therefore  we  arc  tlicre  with  him,  ubi 
amavius,  potius  rjtiam  ubi  animamus.  Whither  our 
conversation  is  entered,  ourselves  are  entered  :  l.ul 
"  our  conversation  is  in  heaven,"  Phil.  iii.  20;  (liere- 
fore  we  are  there,  not  locally,  but  siiirituall)-.  To 
live  after  the  manner  of  Israel,  is  to  be  in  Israel, 
saith  a  father.  If  heaven  be  in  us,  then  are  we  in 
heaven  :  but,  we  live  not  in  ourselves,  but  Christ 
livcth  in  us ;  and  the  life  which  we  now  live  in  the 
flesh  we  live  by  the  ftiith  of  the  Son  of  God,  Gal.  ii. 
20.  He  that  hath  the  faith  of  eternal  life,  halh 
eternal  life  in  his  faith ;  he  that  belicveth,  is  passed 
from  death  unto  life,  John  v.  24.  A  Christian  is  like 
Jacob's  ladder ;  while  his  body,  that  lower  part, 
stands  on  the  ground,  the  top,  his  higher  and  better 
part,  is  in  heaven.  The  apostle  speaks  of  a  thing 
already  done,  "  He  hath  made  us  sit  together  in 
heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus,"  Eph.  ii.  6.  If  a 
stranger  be  but  come  into  your  suburbs,  you  say 
commonly,  he  hath  entered  the  city.  If  we  now 
live  like  the  saints,  we  shall  hereafter  live  like  the 
angels. 

The  next  is  peace.  Peace  is  the  daughter  of  right- 
eousness :  "  Being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace 
with  God,"  Rom.  v.  1.  "  Righteousness  and  jieace 
have  kissed  each  other,"  Psal.  Ixsxv.  10.  But  how 
is  it  said  then,  "  In  the  world  ye  shall  have  trouble  ?  " 
John  xvi.  33.  How  can  trouble  and  peace  stand 
together?  It  is  tnie  indeed  that  the  w'icked  will 
molest  us  j  but  wo  must  still  go  foi-ward.  Naviga- 
tion is  not  to  be  lost  because  there  are  some  sea- 
rocks.  Doves  forbear  not  flying  home  because  there 
are  some  kites  abroad  in  the  air.  God  did  not  de- 
stroy all  the  Canaanites,  lest  the  wild  beasts  should 
break  in  upon  Israel.  A  countiy  of  India  hath  a 
law,  that  no  man  shall  kill  any  ravens  ;  they  are  let 
alone  to  devour  the  carrion,  which  else  would  cor- 
rupt the  air.  We  have  distuibers  enough ;  some,  by 
mischievous  acts,  against  our  lives,  our  wives,  our 
children,  our  estates.  Some,  by  scandalous  speeches ; 
such  are  calumniators,  slanderers,  flatterers.  Others, 
by  malicious  cnvyings ;  as  unfriendliness,  suspicions, 
jealousies.  Malice  works  mischief  at  home,  and 
envj'  sends  it  in  from  abroad.  Summa  petit  livor  nt 
ignis.  Our  happiness  is  their  eyesore.  Envy  hatli 
a  lofly  look,  but  not  to  look  up  unto  heaven.  There 
are  Italian  tricks.  There  was  a  beast  risen  out  of 
the  sea,  "  having  seven  heads  and  ten  lioms,  and 
upon  his  heads  the  name  of  blasphemy,"  Rev.  xiii.  I. 
A  savage  beast,  that  first  deposeth  kings,  and  then 
exposelh  them  to  death.  A  murdering  point  of  reli- 
gion ;  he  that  first  invented  it,  was  a  bloody  wretch. 
But  from  the  devil  it  came,  and  to  the  devil'let  it  go. 
These  be  our  greatest  peace-breakers.  These  may 
easily  breed  commotion  in  a  kingdom,  but  God  alone 
can  pacify  it. 

I  know  there  are  homebred  mischiefs  enough ;  and 
many  an  Ahab  doth  trouble  our  Israel.  The  pestilent 
usurer,  whose  words  are  as  soft  as  his  fox-fur,  is  a 
licking  dog  that  bites  sore.  The  mouse  told  her 
young  ones  in  the  fable,  that  they  should  not  fear 
the  loud-crowing  cock,  but  the  still  cat.  Loud  and 
lewd  wantons  disquiet  us,  but  the  oppressor  doth 
more  hurt  silting  silently  in  his  cash-house,  than  the 
other  with  all  their  noise  in  the  streets.  CVsar  said, 
he  feared  not  Antony,  because  his  heart  was  in  his 
tongue  ;  but  Cassius,  because  his  tongue  was  in  his 
heart.  If  all  this  be,  where  is  our  peace?  Yes, 
patience  is  the  daughter  of  hope :  in  their  wrongs  is 
seen  our  patience,  in  our  patience  our  hope,  in  our 


hope  our  peace.  We  have  peace  in  the  world,  though 
we  have  no  peace  with  the  world.  Our  troubles  are 
seen  without,  our  peace  is  felt  within.  Travellers 
write  of  a  certain  island  they  call  De  Fierro,  where 
no  fresh  water  is  to  be  had;  yet  there  is  a  certain 
tree  in  it,  which  drops  so  abundantly,  that  it  satisfies 
all  men  and  cattle  of  the  country.  Our  exigents  and 
indigence  are  great,  but  there  is  an  inward  peace 
of  conscience,  tliat  satisfies  us  all  with  the  precious 
liquor  of  content.  The  Lord  lays  all  that  blustering 
wind,  all  the  thunder  and  lightning  of  menaces,  all 
the  storms  and  tempests  of  persecution,  with  one- 
sweet  and  peaceful  shower  of  comfort.  Tims  though 
we  have  not  yet  that  peace  of  heaven  ;  yet  we  have 
a  heaven  of  peace,  that  is,  assured  remission  of  sins, 
and  reconciliation  to  the  God  of  peace.  Satan,  the 
world,  sin,  all  fight  against  us  ;  that  war  is  our  peace. 
If  the  happiness  of  that  place,  as  Augustine  speaks, 
be  peace  in  eternal  life,  and  eternal  life  in  peace, 
then  have  we  some  present  entrance  into  it ;  for  tlu 
peace  of  God  that  passeth  all  understanding,  and 
surpasseth  all  commending,  doth  presen'c  us. 

The  last  material  is  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost ;  which 
ariscth  partly  from  the  hope  of  future  reward,  and 
partly  from  the  sense  of  jiresent  comfort.  For  if 
there  be  such  sorrow  in  the  contrition  of  sin,  what  ia 
the  joy  in  the  remission  of  sin  ?  Rachel  wept  for 
her  children,  because  they  were  not :  we  might  have 
wept  for  our  souls,  because  they  were  in  worse  case 
than  if  they  had  not  been  :  no  womb  but  a  Rebekah's 
feels  those  conflicts.  Every  night  wash  I  my  bed, 
saith  Da\-id,  with  my  tears,  Psal.  vi.  6.  We  nu'ght 
have  so  washed  our  eternal  beds.  Marj'  Magdaleiu 
wept  as  if  she  poured  forth  water,  not  by  drops,  but 
by  floods  ;  Peter,  bitterly.  This  winter  lasted  not 
long,  the  spring  sun  shone  out  with  beams  of  comfort. 
Now  one  dram  of  their  present  joy  did  outvalue  all 
the  loads  of  their  former  sorrow.  Like  men  over- 
burdened, we  feel  such  ease  when  the  cross  of  Chris! 
takes  all  this  weight  from  oui'  shoulders.  When  sin 
is  remitted,  nothing  afflicts.  "  My  brethren,  count 
it  all  joy  when  ye  fall  into  divers  temptations,"  Jam. 
i.  2.  What,  joy  in  trouble  ?  Will  the  world  believe 
you,  St.  James  ?  They  answer.  Take  you  such  joy, 
we  will  not  meddle  with  it.  Yes,  he  that  prescribed 
it,  proved  it ;  he  found  affliction  turn  to  his  profit  ; 
he  learned  this  benefit  by  good  experience.  As  we 
say,  human  learning  is  men's  pains  in  their  youth, 
their  recreation  in  their  age;  so  what  was  the  great- 
est sorrow  to  the  heart  penitent,  proves  the  greatest 
joy  to  the  heart  pardoned.  Who  would  not  give  the 
iron  fetters  of  his  thraldom,  for  the  weight  of  gold 
in  freedom  ?  It  is  a  false  accusation,  that  the  word 
of  God  brings  with  it  suUenness  and  discontent ;  for 
the  statutes  of  the  Lord  rejoice  the  heart,  Psal.  xix. 
8.  It  is  the  tidings  of  joy,  of  great  joy,  of  such  joy 
that  the  mountains  skip  like  rams,  and  the  little  hills 
like  young  sheep.  So  far  as  this  holy  joy  is  entered 
into  us,  we  have  entered  into  the  everlasting  king- 
dom of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Shall  be  ministered  unto  you."  I  come  to  the 
third  point,  the  fitness  or  preparation.  We  are  not 
beholden  to  ourselves  for  this  entrance,  it  is  minis- 
tered to  us.  As  neither  the  good  which  we  would 
obtain,  so  nor  the  good  by  wYiich  we  do  obtain,  is 
our  o\ni.  The  means  is  ministered,  therefore  it  is 
called  the  ministiy  of  the  word,  the  ministration  of 
the  sacraments.  The  apprehension  of  this  means 
is  ministered,  for  it  is  given  to  us  to  believe,  Phil.  i. 
29.  The  object  of  this  apprehension  is  ministered  ; 
eternal  life  is  the  gift  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ, 
Rom.  vi.  23. 

Admire  the  mercy  of  God,  which  doth  not  only 
prepare  a  kingdom  for  us,  but  also  prepare  us  for 


Ver.  II. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


131 


that  kingdom.  In  the  world  there  is  no  mercy  to  a 
sinner:  it  hath  commonly  been  the  fault  even  of  men 
entered  into  this  kingdom,  to  shut  the  door  after 
them,  and  to  keep  out  others.  The  ruler  of  (he 
synagogue  could  not  endure  that  the  people  should 
be  healed  on  the  sabbath  day,  Luke  xiii.  14.  When 
the  blind  men  cried  to  Christ,  "  Have  mercy  on  us,  O 
Lord,  thou  Son  of  David ;  the  miiltitude  rebuked  them, 
because  they  should  hold  their  peace,"  Matt.  xx.  30, 
31.  This  is  a  malicious  and  uncharitable  sin,  when 
men  are  passed  over  the  deep  pit  by  a  bridge,  to  pluck 
it  up,  and  suffer  none  to  follow  them.  Thou  sayest. 
Such  a  one  is  a  refractory  and  dissolute  offender. 
What  then  ?  therefore  shut  the  church  door  against 
him  ?  This  is  thy  mercy,  but  God's  mercy  is  more ; 
to  repentance  he  ministers  an  entrance.  Yes,  saith 
the  malevolent  repiner,  he  seems  to  repent,  but  he 
is  only  humbled  in  hypocrisy  :  but  wnat  window 
hast  thou  into  his  heart  ?  It  is  worse  in  thee  to  be 
so  critical  a  ccnsurer,  than  in  him  to  be  so  hypocri- 
tical a  sinner.  The  lawyers  say.  Once  bad,  never 
good.  The  Cathari  did  use  to  excommunicate  for 
ever  ;  if  a  man  were  once  revolted,  never  to  be  receiv- 
ed ;  but  this  was  but  a  puritan  trick.  Or  if  upon  un- 
deniable contrition,  and  humble  submission,  they 
admitted  such  a  one  to  their  outward  service,  yet 
they  held  him  a  reprobate:  as  the  Gibeonites  were 
permitted  in  the  tabernacle,  but  with  disgrace.  The 
Brutii  in  Italy,  for  their  revolting  from  the  Romans 
to  Hannibal,  were  upon  their  submission  received 
again  into  the  Roman  protection,  but  might  never 
be  trusted  for  that  trick.  Paul  says,  "  Neither  idol- 
aters, nor  adulterers,  nor  thieves,  nor  drunkards,  nor 
extortioners,  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God," 
1  Cor.  vi.  9,  10.  Yet  was  Solomon  an  idolater,  Mary 
Magdalene  an  adulteress,  the  malefactor  on  the  cross 
a  thief,  Zaccheus  an  extortioner,  Noah  druiik  ;  yet 
did  all  these  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
apostle  adds.  Such  were  ye,  ver.  1 1 ;  you  were,  but 
you  are  not.  Neither  did  they  enter  into  heaven 
idolaters,  or  adulterers,  or  extortioners,  but  they 
became  new  creatures  :  they  were  washed,  sancti- 
fied, justified,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
by  the  Spirit  of  God.  Do  thou  turn  from  wicked- 
ness to  piety,  God  will  turn  from  judgment  to 
mercy. 

One  of  the  puritans  told  Constantine  the  Great 
the  strictness  of  their  opinions ;  to  whom  he  answer- 
ed. Set  up  thyself  a  ladder  and  go  to  heaven  alone. 
The  Jews  were  such  absolute  malcontents,  grudging 
the  Gentiles  any  mercy.  This  envious  fault  is  too 
common,  and  there  is  still  some  of  this  puritan 
blood  that  runs  in  many  men's  veins.  That  man 
thinks  he  loses  what  another  gains  :  it  is  not  enough 
for  him  to  have  a  place  in  heaven  himself,  but  he 
must  be  porter,  or  rather  householder,  to  direct 
who  shall  come  after  him ;  to  let  in  whom  he  please, 
his  friends  and  acquaintance  only.  When  the  Jews 
saw  that  a  great  audience  w;ts  at  Paul's  sermon, 
they  were  filled  with  envy,  and  fell  to  contradiction 
and  blasphemy,  Acts  xiii.  45.  When  the  elder  bro- 
ther heard  the  sumptuous  and  joyful  entertainment 
of  his  lost  brother,  "  he  was  angiy,  and  would  not  go 
in,"  Luke  xv.  2S.  So  Rome  thinks  that  the  gospel's 
rising  must  needs  be  her  falling.  Therefore  she 
cannot  endure  like  a  sister  to  communicate  with  us, 
but  like  a  tyrant  to  excommunicate  us.  They  think 
it  is  with  them  and  us,  as  the  poets  imagined  it  to  be 
with  Castor  and  Pollux ;  when  the  one  lived,  the 
other  died.  Or  as  when  the  day  comes,  the  night 
must  end.  Or  as  two  buckets  in  one  well,  one  drieth 
while  the  other  dippcth.  Or  as  the  Jews  might 
fear,  when  Agrippa  built  Ca^sarea,  and  removed  all 
the  ornaments  of  Israel  thither,  that  the  flourishing 


of  that  city  would  be  the  drooping  of  Jerusalem. 
Envy  is  sick  if  her  neighbour  be  well. 

But  let  this  malicious  heart  hear  God's  argument 
and  eviction :  "  Is  thine  eye  evil,  because  I  am 
good  ?  "  Matt.  XX.  15.  This  was  the  prophet  Jonah's 
discontent ;  wlien  the  Lord  would  not  destroy  them 
according  to  his  threatening,  "  it  disple;ised  Jonah 
exceedingly,"  chap.  iv.  1.  God  means  to  spare 
Nineveh ;  Jonah  would  not  have  it  so.  God  thought 
it  best ;  the  man  is  of  another  mind.  Here  is  an 
opposition  of  two,  but  the  match  is  very  unequal. 
I  am  certainly  persuaded,  that  no  man  is  like  to 
gain  much  by  such  bargains.  The  potter  is  on  the 
one  side,  and  the  potsherd  on  the  other.  Fire, 
thunder,  lightning,  says  it  shall  be  so  ;  flax  and  tow 
says  it  shall  not  be  so.  Yet  is  weakness  angry  that 
he  may  not  bear  away  the  bucklers.  Therefore  he 
proceeds  to  argue  the  matter  with  God,  ver.  2. 
But  as  Tally  said  of  Romulus  pretending  a  law  to  kill 
his  brother  Remus,  it  was  a  fault  by  the  leave  of 
Romulus ;  so  if  Jonah  pretend  reason  why  God  should 
overthrow  penitent  sinners,  this  was  a  fault  liy  the  leave 
of  Jonah.  The  disciples  were  not  free  from  this  er- 
ror ;  when  they  brought  little  children  to  Christ  for 
his  blessing, "  the  disciples  rebuked  them,"  Matt.  xix. 
13.  They  that  have  part  in  the  kingdom,  grudge  it 
to  others.  Only  Jesus  spoke  for  them:  it  is  his  good- 
ness to  answer  for  that  which  is  not  able  to  answer 
for  itself:  "  Suffer  them,  and  forbid  them  not."  He 
doubles  his  charge ;  both  affirmatively,  "  suffer  them," 
and  negatively,  "  forbid  them  not :"  as  in  the  king's 
writ  there  is  not  only  a  capias,  but  a  millalenus 
omil/as.  And  as  an  additional  security,  "  Let  them 
come  unto  me."  If  I  have  given  them  a  kingdom, 
will  you  not  let  them  come  to  the  King  ?  Let  this 
teach  us  to  yield  a  joyful  consent  to  God's  doings : 
we  must  not  dislike  his  will  though  it  be  to  destroy; 
but  when  it  is  sweetened  with  mercy,  let  us  vehe- 
mently love  it.  When  Joshua  told  mioses  of  Eldad 
and  Medad's  prophesying  in  the  camp,  "  My  lord 
Moses,  forbid  them ;  he  answers,  Enviest  thou  for  my 
sake?  would  God  that  all  the  Lord's  people  were 
prophets,  and  that  the  Lord  would  put  his  Spirit 
upon  them!"  Numb.  xi.  23,  29.  When  Paul  was 
called  to  be  an  apostle,  those  pillars  envied  not,  but 
gave  him  the  right  hands  of  fellowsliip,  Gal.  ii.  9. 
They  that  went  to  heaven  by  the  bloody  way  of  mar- 
tvrdom,  prayed  for  others  an  easier  passage  ;  even 
tlieir  persecutors  and  murderers  had  their  prayers. 
As  Fulgentius  notes  on  Stephen  and  Paul,  Whither 
Stephen  went  before  slain  by  the  stones  of  Paul, 
thitlier  Paul  followed  after  helped  by  the  prayers  of 
Stephen.  Let  this  comfort  us  in  the  mercies  of  our 
God ;  whosoever  grudgeth,  whatsoever  hindereth, 
the  Lord  doth  minister  an  entrance  unto  us. 

"  Abundantly."  I  come  to  the  latitude  or  broad- 
ness of  this  passage.  Faith  and  a  good  conscience 
find  an  easy  entrance  to  blessedness.  "Abund- 
antly :"  it  is  demanded  then,  how  the  word  of  God 
makes  the  passage  so  strait  and  so  narrow  ?  "  Strive 
to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,"  Luke  xiii.  24;  for 
"  narrow  is  the  way  which  leadeth  unto  life,  and  few 
there  be  that  find  it,"  Matt.  vii.  14.  The  answer  is 
easy ;  the  gate  is  not  narrow  in  itself,  but  in  respect 
of  the  unqualified  entcrers.  It  is  too  low  for  lofty 
and  aspiring  ambition,  too  narrow  for  imposthumated 
pride,  too  strait  for  gouty  covetousness  ;  but  to  faith 
it  is  broad.  As  it  is  specwsa  for  the  gloriousness,  so 
spaciosa  for  the  easiness :  it  is  both  a  beautiful  gate, 
and  a  bountiful  gate.  But  this  bounty  is  only  to  the 
poor  ;  "  He  hath  filled  the  hungry  with  good  things ; 
and  the  rich  he  hath  sent  empty  away,"  Luke  i.  53. 
Rich  men  scorn  to  be  beggars,  their  dition  admits 
no  such  condition.    This  gate  is  open,  not  potentibus, 


132 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


to  mighty  usurpers,  Ijiit  pelentibus,  to  humble  peti- 
tioners. The  Lord  is  rich  in  mercy.  To  all  ? 
No,  hut  to  all  that  call  upon  him  faithfully.  And 
with  him  is  plenteous  redemption  :  it  is  all  one, 
abundant  entrance.  But,  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven 
suffereth  violence,"  Matt.  xi.  12.  True,  but  it  loves 
that  violence  that  it  suffers ;  as  God  was  well  pleased 
to  be  overcome  of  Jacob.  This  violence  doth  not 
take  away  the  facility  of  entrance,  but  rather  notes 
the  faculty  of  them  that  enter. 

It  is  true  that  there  are  many  oppositions,  yet  is 
there  still  a  sufficient  entrance.  We  may  say  of  it, 
as  St.  Paul  speaks  of  his  occasion  of  preaching  the 
gospel,  "  A  great  door  and  effectual  is  opened,  and 
there  are  many  adversaries,"  1  Cor.  xvi.  9.  St.  Paul 
himself  was  a  little  feared  with  the  apprehension  of 
this  difficulty,  when  he  prayed  thrice  against  those 
buffctings  of  Satan ;  but  he  was  confirmed  in  the 
Lord's  answer,  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee," 
2  Cor.  xii.  9.  Indeed  flesh  and  blood,  in  the  natural 
corruption  of  it,  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  God, 
1  Cor.  XV.  50;  no  more  than  a  cable  rope  can  be 
brought  through  a  needle's  eye.  While  it  is  whole 
it  cannot  pass ;  but  untwine  it,  and  lay  it  thread  by 
thread,  and  then  you  may  easily  draw  it  all  through. 
If  the  worldling  would  untwist  his  riches  by  charity, 
and  the  sinner  untwist  his  sins  by  repentance,  they 
may  abundantly  enter.  There  is  an  abundanter  that 
shuts  many  out ;  abundance  of  worldly  riches,  and 
lusts  of  covetousness  :  for  man's  life  consisteth  not 
in  this  abundance,  Luke  xii.  15.  And  if  not  his 
natural  life,  much  less  doth  his  spiritual  life,  consist 
in  it.  There  is  an  abundanter  that  lets  many  in.  It 
is  the  grace  of  God  which  is  abundantly  shed  on  us 
through  Jesus  Christ,  Tit.  iii.  6. 

But  our  apostle  himself  makes  it  a  difficult  thing 
to  be  saved ;  "  If  the  righteous  scarcely  be  saved," 
&c.  1  Pet.  iv.  18.  The  apostle  doth  not  intend  any 
difficulty  in  respect  of  God's  election,  but  in  regard 
of  our  affliction  ;  because  through  a  fiery  trial,  and 
through  many  tribulations,  we  must  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,  Acts  xiv.  22.  So  scarcely  saved, 
that  by  reason  of  their  miseries  they  seem  to  the 
world  not  to  be  saved  at  all.  Through  much  tribu- 
lation they  must  enter ;  but  howsoever  they  shall 
enter.  This  doth  not  hedge  up  the  way,  but  enlarge 
it.  Stephen  saw  great  happiness  by  Christ  in  his 
peace,  but  under  the  stones  he  saw  heaven  itself  open. 
God  doth  receive,  not  reject,  the  son  whom  he  doth 
scourge,  Hcb.  xii.  6.  If  God  do  not  think  thee  wor- 
thy of  his  rod,  he  will  never  think  thee  worthy  of  his 
crown.  (August.)  Doth  any  man  find  the  way  to 
blessedness  difficult  ?  himself  is  in  fault.  Dost  thou 
complain  the  gate  is  shut?  No,  but  thou  art  not 
habited  for  entrance.  None  might  come  to  Ahasu- 
erus's  court  in  sackcloth,  but  they  that  come  so  are 
best  welcome  to  God.  It  is  said  o'f  the  virtuous  wife, 
that  all  her  household  are  clothed  in  double  gar- 
ments, Prov.  xxxi.  21.  All  God's  servants  have 
double  garments ;  a  black  mourning  garment  of 
])enitence,  and  a  white  robe  of  innocence.  Either  of 
these  must  be  reslis  talaris,  down  to  the  heels,  even 
to  the  end  of  their  life. 

If  men  be  foul  and  impure,  no  marvel  though  there 
be  strait  entrance,  for  there  is  no  entrance  ;  In  no 
wise  shall  any  unclean  thing  enter  into  it.  Rev.  xxi. 
27.  But  otherwise,  ini'ia  virtulis  nulli  est  via.  Art 
thou  wrapped  in  thy  sins,  and  savest  the  passage  is 
narrow  ?  It  is  abundant,  but  not  to  thee.  Unload 
thy  conscience  by  repentance,  and  those  everlasting 
doors  shall  give  thee  entrance  abundantly  to  the 
King  of  glory.  It  may  seem  hard  at  the  first,  because 
there  is  weeping  fo  part  with  beloved  sins,  much  ado 
to  keep  the  eye  from  Sodom;  but  endeavour,  and 


thou  shah  find  it  easier  and  easier.  Capta  rides  sero 
Pergama,  capta  tamen.  "  The  gates  of  it  shall  not  be 
shut  by  day : "  by  day,  well ;  but  yet  they  may  be 
shut  by  night :  neither,  "  for  there  shall  be  no  night 
there,"  Rev.  xxi.  25.  The  prophet  entreats  God  to 
spread  the  heavens  as  a  curtain  :  now  he  did  spread 
them  wide,  when  publicans  and  harlots  were  convert- 
ed, and  did  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  I  con- 
clude. 

This  abundant  entrance  is  given  to  us  by  Christ : 
our  own  debts  did  make  it  narrow,  his  payment  hath 
made  it  wide.  As  Paul  pleaded  to  Philemon  for  One- 
simus,  so  Christ  to  his  Father  for  us.  Philem.  ver. 
10,  "  I  beseech  thee : "  Christ  mediates,  intercedes 
for  us.  "  For  my  son,"  saith  Paul ;  for  my  children, 
saith  Christ.  "  Whom  I  have  begotten  ; "  Christ 
hath  begotten  us  again  of  water  and  the  Spirit ;  not 
only  "in  my  bonds,"  but  in  my  blood.  Ver.  II, 
"  Which  in  time  past  was  to  thee  unprofitable,  but 
now  profitable  to  thee  and  me."  So  Christ  ;  They 
were,  O  Father,  useless  and  rebellious  enemies,  but 
now  I  have  made  them  useful  and  profitable  for  thy 
glor}'.  Ver.  12,  "Whom  I  have  sent  again:"  we 
were  all  nin-aways  from  God  and  goodness,  Christ 
hath  sent  us  back  again.  "  Thou  therefore  receive 
him,  that  is,  mine  own  bowels."  Receive  them,  O 
Father ;  shut  them  not  out,  but  open  thy  everlasting 
doors  of  mercy  to  entertain  them  ;  and  that  so  near, 
as  imto  thine  own  bowels :  as  thou  art  in  me,  and  I 
in  thee,  so  let  them  be  one  in  us,  John  xvii.  21. 
Ver.  16,  "  Not  now  as  a  ser\-ant,  but  above  a  servant,  a 
brother  beloved,  specially  f  o  me."  I  have  made  them  a 
degree  above  servants,  even  friends;  I  call  you  not  ser- 
vants, but  friends,  John  xv.  15.  Yea,  a  degree  above 
friends,  brothers  to  me;  "He  is  not  ashamed  to  call 
us  brethren,"  Heb.  ii.  II:  beloved  to  me,  whom  I 
bought  with  my  own  blood.  Ver.  17,  "  If  thou  count 
me  therefore  a  partner,  receive  him  as  myself."  As. 
I  of  thy  glorv',  so  let  them  participate  of  our  glory  ; 
"  The  glory  which  thou  gavest  me,  I  have  given 
them,"  John  xvii.  22.  If  thou  count  me  a  partner, 
that  think  it  no  robber)-  to  be  equal  with  thyself,  re- 
ceive them  as  myself,  admit  them  to  thy  own  blessed- 
ness. Ver.  18,  "  If  he  hath  wronged  thee,  or  owcth 
thee  ought,  put  that  on  mine  account : "  so  saith 
Christ,  Si  quid  debent,  ego  solvam,  Whatsoever  they 
are  indebted  to  thy  justice,  I  will  pay  it ;  put  it  on 
mine  account,  take  my  reckoning  on  the  cross  for  it. 
Ver.  19,  "  I  Paul  have  WTitten  it  with  mine  own 
hand,  I  will  repay  it."  I  Jesus  have  written  if  on 
the  paper  of  the  cross,  with  the  ink  of  my  blood,  the 
pen  being  a  spear's  point;  I  will  pay  all.  And  his 
payment  was  good,  who  had  power  to  suffer  enough, 
and  righteousness  to  satisfy  enough.  All  this  was  to 
give  us  an  cabundant  entrance:  what  shall  we  then 
do,  but,  as  David,  "  I  will  take  the  cup  of  salvation, 
and  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  ?"  Psal.  cx\n.  l.'i. 
Hath  Christ  made  us  way  ?  let  us  then  enter  in,  and 
bless  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

"Into  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  Some  copies  have  read  Dei 
et  Domini,  ifc.  so  the  vidgar  Latin.  Idacius  Clarus 
against  Vanimadus  the  Arian,  from  hence  proves, 
Idem  esse  Patris  et  Fitii  inipcrium,  that  the  Son  hath 
the  same  kingdom  with  the  Father;  and  that  in  no- 
thing he  is  unequal  or  inferior  to  him.  Ambrose  so 
reads  it,  and  from  it  demonstrates  against  the  Arians, 
Unitatem  subslantiir  rrterni  Filii  cum  Palre.  For 
"evcri'  kingdom  divided  against  itself,  is  brought  to 
desolation,"  Matt.  xii.  25.  If  the  kingdom  of  the 
Father  and  of  the  Son  were  divided,  how  could 
they  stand?  If  any  man  should  distinguish  a  king- 
dom of  Christ  only,  and  so  conceive  a  difference 
betwixt  God's  power  and  Christ's ;  yet  that  man 


Ver.  11. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


133 


shall  confess  that  Christ  hath  a  kingdom,  and  that 
an  everlasting  kingdom.  But  how  can  his  kingdom 
be  called  everlasting,  whenas  it  is  said,  that  Christ 
shall  deliver  up  the  kingdom  to  God  the  Father, 
and  the  Son  also  himself  shall  be  subject  to  him  ? 
1  Cor.  XV.  24,  28.  We  must  know  that  God  did 
commit  the  government  of  the  world  to  Christ,  and 
therefore  he  is  called  by  divines,  Patrin  licariiit  : 
not  that  the  Father  could  be  idle,  but  Christ  was  his 
Counsellor.  Now  this  govennnent  given  to  Christ's 
medial orship  shall  end;  his  mediation  and  interced- 
ing office  shall  cease.  He  shall  reign  no  longer  as 
the  Son  of  man  in  the  midst  of  his  enemies;  but  he 
shall  reign  over  them  being  vanquished,  as  God. 
Thnjugh  the  subjection  of  his  human  nature,  the 
glory  of  his  Godhead  shall  more  fully  appear,  such 
and  the  same  it  Wiis  before  eternity  ;  neither  shall 
this  diminish,  but  rather  increase,  the  glory  of  his 
humanity,  when  we  see  it  personally  united  to  the 
Son  of  God  for  ever.  Thus  we  are  sure  that  Christ 
lialh  himself,  and  will  give  us,  an  everlasting  king- 
dom ;  for  the  love  of  God  is  from  eternity  in  respect 
of  our  predestination,  and  unto  eternity  in  respect  of 
of  our  glorification. 

In  this  palace  or  court  I  consider  two  things;  the 
royalty  of  it,  in  that  it  is  a  kingdom  ;  and  the  per- 
petuity of  it,  in  that  it  is  an  everlasting  kingdom. 
AV'hich  give  it  two  excellencies  above  all  other  prin- 
cipalities. First,  in  regard  of  the  majesty  which  it  iiath 
fromtheKing,  whoisaboveall  kings.  The  place  makes 
not  the  man,  but  the  man  makes  the  ])lace :  neither 
doth  the  kingdom  honour  Christ,  but  Christ  honours 
the  kingdom.  Next,  in  respect  of  the  immutability  : 
the  honour  of  earthly  princes  is  often  laid  in  the  dust, 
but  this  is  an  eternal  kingdom.  The  royalty  of 
Christ  is  absolute,  independent,  universal,  and  ever- 
lasting :  "  He  shall  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  for 
ever ;  and  of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end,"  Luke 
i.  33.  The  angel  assures  the  virgin  that  Christ  shall 
have  the  throne  of  David ;  and  therein  he  shall  reign 
for  ever,  and  of  his  kingdom  is  no  end.  This  cai, 
and,  is  not  redundant,  but  expository.  Here  be  two 
tenns  that  signify  an  intemiinablc  thing  ;  "  for  ever," 
and  "  no  end  ;"  a  double  universality,  of  place,  and 
of  time.  It  is  "for  ever:"  it  hath  no  limits,  but 
extends  over  all ;  "  no  end." 

Now  it  is  fit  that  he  should  be  so  honoured,  that 
was  so  humbled.  Our  sin  brought  him  exceeding 
low,  let  his  own  righteousness  exalt  him  exceeding 
high.  He  that  thundereth  in  the  clouds  was  lying, 
perhaps  crj-ing,  in  the  manger.  He  had  a  kingdom 
even  while  he  ser\-ed  :  and  Pilate  could  not  undo 
what  he  had  ignorantly  done  ;  not  alter  his  title, 
"  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  King  of  the  Jews."  "  He  saith 
unto  the  Jews,  Behold  your  King,"  John  xix.  14. 
They  spake  truth  in  their  mockery,  when  they  "  be- 
gan to  salute  him,  Hail,  King  of  the  Jews,"  Mark 
XV.  18.  If  his  kingdom  had  depended  upon  their 
lips,  it  had  soon  perished  with  himself;  for  now  they 
gave  him  palms,  and  presently  thorns  :  once.  Behold 
our  King;  and  again,  "  We  have  no  king  but  Cicsar," 
John  xix.  15.  Simeon  told  his  mother,  "  This  child 
is  set  for  the  fall  and  rising  again  of  many  in 
Israel ;  and  for  a  sign  that  shall  be  spoken  against," 
Luke  ii.  34.  He  shall  be  set:  he  was  set  for,  set 
against,  set  at  naught,  but  not  set  by.  He  was  set, 
by  intention  for  all,  by  occasion  against  many,  by 
apprehension  for  many,  by  permission  for  a  sign  that 
should  be  contradicted.  But  he  that  was  a  Lamb,  is 
now  a  Lion :  the  flower  of  the  field  is  become  a  rod 
of  iron :  that  shining  light  is  also  a  consuming  fire  : 
he  that  was  a  Servant,  is  a  King  ;  not  indeed  of  this 
world  is  his  kingdom ;  "  My  kmgdoni  is  not  of  this 
world,"  John  xviii.  36 ;  in  k,  not  of  it. 


Here  we  may  well  consider  these  points ;  the 
supremacy  of  the  King,  the  security  of  the  subjects, 
and  the  eternal  felicity  of  the  kingdom. 

For  the  former,  by  comparing  earthly  things  with 
heavenly,  we  may  obser\e  the  excellency  of  that 
regiment  in  which  we  stand,  it  is  a  kingdom ;  and 
the  dignity  of  the  Governor,  he  is  an  eternal  King : 
"  Unto  the  King  eternal,  immortal,  invisible,  the 
only  wise  God,  be  honour  and  glory  for  ever,"  1  Tim. 
i.  17.  All  inferior  kingdoms  arc  derived  from  him, 
and  subordinate  to  him.  He  doth  not  take  away 
temporal  kingdoms,  that  gives  an  eternal  kingdom. 
He  "  who  is  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate,  the  King 
of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,"  1  Tim.  vi.  15,  is  con- 
tent to  distribute  some  honour  among  certain  men ; 
of  whom  it  is  too  presumptuous  to  say,  Diiixum  im- 
perium  cum  Jove  Ca;sar  habet ;  but,  Impfrium  sum- 
mum  suh  Jove  C(Psar  habet.  The  papists  indeed  more 
esteem  monachum  quum  monarcham  ;  with  i\Km.magus 
is  more  than  magmis,  the  priest  is  above  the  king. 
But  there  is  no  greater  calling  under  heaven  than 
a  king.  The  king  is  above  all,  only  under  the  Lord ; 
he  hath  no  peer  in  his  dominions.  (Tcrtul.)     The 

{)ower  of  a  master  over  his  ser\anls,  of  a  parent  over 
lis  children,  of  a  shepherd  over  his  lambs,  of  a  prince 
over  his  subjects,  of  a  good  man  over  himself,  all 
these  concur  in  a  good  King,  all  are  eminent  in  our 
great  King  Jesus  Christ.  "  I  said,  Ye  arc  gods," 
John  X.  34.  There  is  a  God  by  nature,  the  one  only 
God  himself;  gods  in  opinion,  such  are  idols;  gods 
by  participation,  such  are  kings.  God  is  an  im- 
mortal King,  the  king  is  a  mortal  god.  In  Greek 
lidaig  signifies  a  foundation ;  Xdof,  people  :  hence 
comes  ^aalXivQ,  a  king  ;  the  foundation  of  his  peo- 
ple. But  Christ  hath  made  us  all  kings.  Rev.  i. 
6.  Spiritually,  not  civilly  ;  "  Let  every  soul  be 
subject  unto  the  higher  powers,"  Rom.  xiii.  1.  Spi- 
ritual kings  have  a  dominion  over  sin,  temporal 
kings  over  them.  Princes  and  other  men  are  equal 
in  regard  of  natural  being,  unequal  in  regard  of 
civil  and  moral  being.  The  common  golden  coin, 
the  golden  candlestick,  the  golden  snuffers,  Ihe 
golden  chains,  and  the  golden  crown,  are  all  made 
out  of  one  lump  of  the  same  gold ;  yet  is  the  golden 
crown  more  honoured  than  the  rest.  The  common 
coin  is  the  people  ;  the  golden  candlestick  that  bears 
the  light,  is  tlie  minister;  the  golden  snuffers,  to 
cleanse  those  lights  if  they  burn  dim  and  foul,  are 
the  subordinate  magistrate;  Ihe  golden  chains  are 
the  nobles  for  ornament,  the  senators  for  government : 
the  last  and  best  is  the  golden  crown ;  t^iis  the  king 
(mly  wears,  and  all  the  rest  are  subject  to  it.  One 
piece  of  gold  is  under  another  in  value;  all  are 
under  the  sovereign,  the  golden  crown.  Tliis  world 
is  the  possession  of  men,  men  the  possession  of  kings, 
kings  Ihe  possession  of  God.  "  Great  deliverance 
givelh  he  to  his  king,"  P.sal.  xviii.  50 :  he  is  the 
Lord's  king.  There  is  a  double  relation,  between 
the  king's  God,  and  God's  king.  All  men  are  his  by 
a  common  right,  but  kings  by  a  special  prerogative ; 
"  Touch  not  mine  anointed." 

Thus  by  comparative  and  ascending  degrees,  we 
come  to  perceive  the  greatness  of  our  Sovereign, 
Jesus  Christ.  He  made  kings  on  earth  to  have 
honour  above  all  men,  that  himself  might  have  the 
honour  above  all  kings.  Our  neighbours  of  Rome 
cannot  endure  the  supremacy  of  princes.  The  pope 
is  Ihe  man.  Kings  must  be  his  vassals,  to  hold  his 
stirrup,  to  bear  his  canopy  ;  to  be  exposed,  deposed, 
disiK)sed  at  his  will,  if  they  be  not  composed  to  his 
will.  All  royalty  is  confined  to  that  chair,  which 
the  Lateran  council  calls,  the  royal  race  of  Roman 
bishops.  His  titles  are.  Monarch  of  the  Christian 
republic,  and  invincible  assertor  of  priestly  omnipo- 


134 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


tence.  But  these  attributes  that  he  would  have, 
ascribe  that  to  him  which  he  should  have,  and  prove 
him  antichrist  for  his  labour ;  whom  Paul  says  we 
shall  know  by  this  mark,  that  "  he  cxalteth  him- 
self above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  wor- 
shipped," 2  Thcss.  ii.  4;  above  all  augusteity.  To 
manage  outward  affairs  was  ever  the  Thing's  right. 
Solomon  the  king  deposed  Abiathar  the  priest ; 
would  it  not  be  strange  now  if  the  priest  should 
depose  the  king  ?  Optatus  against  the  Donatists ; 
Above  the  king  is  none  but  God,  who  makes  kings. 
Strabo  writes  of  a  high  priest  in  Pontus  that  wore 
a  crown,  whose  subjects  were  called  Hieroduli ; 
but  he  was  a  pagan.  The  Romists  will  be  pagans, 
Donatists,  Anabaptists,  any  thing,  what  you  will, 
so  they  be  no  subjects.  They  that  ascribe  so  much 
to  the  fathers,  methinks  should  give  credit  to  St. 
Chrysostom.  Were  he  an  apostle,  a  prophet,  an 
evangelist,  a  bishop,  a  priest,  a  monk,  saith  he. 
But  say  they,  among  all  these  he  names  not  the  pojie. 
Why,  is  the  pope  no  priest,  no  bishop  ?  Well,  Icl 
us  hear  him  on ;  Whether  cardinal  or  pope,  what 
cloth  soever  his  coat  be  made  of,  the  king  is  above 
him.  Nicephorus  writes  of  a  king  that  going  in  liis 
barge,  his  crown  fell  into  the  water :  a  bargeman 
leaped  in  after  it,  and  taking  it  up,  he  put  it  on  liis 
head  as  he  swam  till  he  recovered  the  barge.  The 
king  gave  him  a  talent  for  saving  it,  but  cut  off  his 
head  for  wearing  it.  Our  seminaries  have  done 
more  than  reach  at  the  crown  to  save  it,  for  they 
have  endeavoured  to  steal  it ;  and,  if  they  were  suf- 
fered, they  would  sink  it,  drown  it,  destroy  it.  But 
saith  Christ,  "  Give  unto  CiBsar  the  things  that  are 
Cajsar's,  and  to  God  the  things  that  are  God's  :"  let 
CcEsar  have  his  kingdom,  and  let  Christ  have  his 
kingdom.  We  distinguish  between  the  eternal  God 
and  the  temporal  lord ;  but  we  obey  the  temporal 
lord  for  his  sake  that  is  the  eternal  God.  (August.) 
And  certainly  he  that  refuseth  obedience  to  the  tem- 
poral king,  hath  yet  made  no  gracious  entrance  into 
the  everlasting  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Thus  by  degrees  of  comparison,  and  by  arising 
from  things  inferior  to  things  higher,  if  a  kingdom 
of  substitution  under  Christ  be  so  great,  what  is  the 
eminence  of  Christ's  own  supremacy  ?  Kings  are 
above  other  men ;  Christ  is  above  all  kings,  above 
all  things.  Now  in  the  second  place  let  us  consider 
our  own  safety  and  security  under  him.  We  have  a 
King  to  rule  us  ;  a  King  of  majesty,  a  King  of  mercy. 
It  is  a  happiness  to  have  a  king :  as  the  people  said 
to  David,  "  Thou  art  worth  ten  thousand  of  us," 
2  Sam.  xviii.  3 ;  and,  "  Thou  art  the  light  of  Israel." 
Any  king  is  better  than  no  king  ;  tyranny  is  better 
than  anarchy :  "  In  those  days  there  was  no  king  in 
Israel,  but  every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in 
his  own  eyes,"  Judg.  xvii.  6.  In  the  reign  of  a  bad 
king  no  man  can  do  the  good  he  would,  but  midcr 
no  king  every  man  doth  what  evil  he  list.  The 
Israelites  would  have  a  king ;  their  vciy  first  was  a 
tyrant ;  yet  were  they  then  in  better  ease  than  when 
they  had  none.  Christians  arc  safe,  they  have  a 
King.  It  is  a  greater  happiness  that  they  have  a 
good  King.  An  evil  prince  is  a  plague  to  tlic  people 
for  their  sins  ;  that  one  evil  man  may  punish  another  : 
"  He  is  a  revenger  to  execute  wrath  U])on  him  that 
doeth  evil,"  Rom.  xiii.  4.  They  hurt  much  by  their 
unjust  commands,  but  more  by  their  bad  examples; 
for  the  commonwealth,  like  a'  fish,  first  rots  at  the 
iicj^d-  It  was  the  king  of  Syria's  charge  to  his  cap- 
tains, "  Fight  neither  with  small  nor  great,  save  only 
with  the  king  of  Israel,"  I  Kings  xxii.  31.  Scan- 
derbeg  would  aim  at  none  but  the  general  :  he  said 
that  he  never  knew  body  could  move  without  a  head. 
A  prince  falls  like  a  great  tree,  that  squashcth  down 


I  all  the  under-wood  about  it.  Sometimes  the  people 
sin,  and  the  prince  smai-ts.  God  charged  Moses, 
"  Take  all  the  heads  of  the  people,  and  hang  them 
up  before  the  Lord,"  Numb.  xxv.  4.  The  hand 
steals,  the  throat  drinks,  the  head  pays  for  it.  Such 
was  our  King  to  us ;  we  offended,  he  was  plagued : 
"  We  like  sheep  have  gone  astray,  and  the  Lord  hath 
laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all,"  Isa.  liii.  6.  It 
is  reported  of  a  certain  king,  who  knowing  that 
either  himself  must  perish  or  all  his  people,  disguis- 
ed himself  like  a  mean  soldier,  entered  the  thickest 
troops  of  the  enemy,  invited  danger,  and  was  enter- 
tained with  death.  So  Christ  our  King,  having  the 
choice  put  to  him,  that  either  himself  must  die,  or 
the  whole  world  perish,  disguised  himself  in  the 
humble  habit  of  mortal  flesh,  for  otherwise  they 
would  not  have  killed  him  :  "  For  had  they  known 
it,  they  would  not  have  crucified  the  Lord  of  gloiy," 
1  Cor.  ii.  8.  Sometimes  the  king  sins,  and  the  peo- 
ple smarts;  deliranl  reges,  plectwitur  Achiii ;  David 
commits  the  sin  in  numbering  the  people,  and  the 
people  are  plagued;  the  head  plots  mischief,  the 
back  or  neck  pays  for  it.  To  a  commonwealth,  the 
king  is  either  the  greatest  blessing,  or  the  greatest 
curse :  therefore,  a  man  should  not  show  himself  in 
the  confines  and  extremity  of  his  power:  to  can  do 
ill,  and  will  not,  is  noble.  But  we  are  under  such  a 
King,  as  can  protect  us  from  evil,  and  will  supply  us 
with  good.  Some  doubt  of  his  power ;  "  If  thou 
canst  do  any  thing,  help  us,"  Mark  ix.  22.  Others 
doubt  of  his  \\-ill;  "  If  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make 
me  clean,"  Matt.  viii.  2.  But  his  power  is  infinite ; 
"  Whatsoever  the  Lord  pleased,  that  did  he  in  hea- 
ven, in  earth,  in  the  seas,  and  in  all  deep  places," 
Psal.  cxxxv.  6.  He  can  do  what  he  will  do,  eveiy 
\\  here.  All  places  are  there  named,  but  purgatorj' ; 
perhaps  he  can  do  nothing  there,  but  leaves  all  that 
work  for  the  pope.  His  mercy  is  also  infinite :  il 
was  but  hyperbolical  of  Trajan,  it  is  true  of  Christ  ; 
He  can  sooner  cease  to  be,  than  to  be  good  to  his. 
It  was  nobly  said  by  Augustus,  that  when  he  had 
done  no  good  to  his  subjects  any  day,  I  have  not 
been  a  king  to  day  :  there  is  no  such  day  passeth  by 
our  King,  Jesus  Christ. 

Now,  lastly,  let  us  come  more  narrowly  to  examine 
the  felicity  of  this  kingdom,  whose  law  is  truth, 
whose  King  is  the  Trinity,  and  whose  bounds  are 
eternity.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  taken  divere 
ways :  sometimes  for  the  life  of  the  just,  under  the 
similitude  of  the  marriage  of  men,  and  of  the  car- 
riage of  men.  So,  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like 
unto  a  certain  king,  which  made  a  marriage  for  his 
son,"  Malt.  xxii.  2  :  the  elect  are  the  guests  bidden 
to  the  wedding.  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  likened 
unto  ten  virgins,"  Matt.  xxv.  1  :  not  that  only  vir- 
gins shall  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  For  as 
Paul  says,  "  In  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision 
availeth  any  thing,  nor  uncircumcision,  but  a  new 
creature,"  Gal.  vi.  15 ;  so,  neither  marriage  is  any 
thing,  nor  virginity,  but  chastity.  Chiysostom,  who 
was  a  great  admirer  of  virginity,  could  say.  The  first 
degree  of  chastity  is  spotless  virginity  ;  the  next, 
faithful  wedlock.  Cluist  was  conceived  in  virginity, 
and  born  in  marriage,  to  show  that  calibalus  is  not 
only  cwlo  bealus;  whether  single  or  manied,  if  faith- 
ful, they  are  admitted  to  this  kingdom.  Sometinus 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  taken  for  the  church  mili- 
tant, mixed  with  good  and  bad.  The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  likened  to  a  field,  that  had  in  it  both  wheat 
and  tares.  Matt.  xiii.  24.  The  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  likened  to  a  net,  that  gathered  of  every  kind,  ver. 
4/.  In  a  kingdom  there  be  divers  subjects,  some 
true,  and  sonic  false:  so  in  the  church,  some  be  loyal, 
and  others   hypocrites.      Therefore   the  course    of 


Vek.  II. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GEXERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


135 


Christ  in  his  kingdom  is  such,  as  good  magistrates 
should  take  in  commonwealths ;  to  reward  the  good, 
and  to  punish  the  wicked.  In  this  present  state, 
among  men  the  best  are  regarded  least;  Jacob  is 
bound  apprentice,  while  profane  Esau  rides  a  hunt- 
ing: but  in  the  future  state  the  greater  shall  ser\-e 
the  less.  Sometimes  it  is  taken  for  Christ  himself: 
"  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  likened  unto  a  certain 
king,"  Matt,  xviii.  23  :  "  Thine  is  the  kingdom,  the 
power,  and  the  glory  ;"  in  respect  of  that  kingly 
order  whereby  he  governs  it.  "  The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  like  unto  a  man,"  Matt.  xx.  1 ;  for  Christ 
as  man,  is  also  a  King.  In  that  state  he  shall  judge, 
in  which  he  stood  before  a  Judge :  he  bought  that 
right  and  title  in  his  manhood.  Now  can  there  be 
a  sweeter  government,  than  under  our  Saviour,  that 
purchased  his  subjects  with  his  blood  ?  He  was 
humbled,  therefore  "  God  hath  exalted  him,  and 
given  him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name," 
Phil.  ii.  9.  Lastly,  it  is  taken  for  the  gloiy  of  Christ 
in  heaven.  Dost  thou  love  riches  ?  seek  it  where  it 
can  never  be  lost.  Dost  thou  love  honour?  seek  it 
where  no  baseness  is.  Dost  thou  love  health  ?  seek 
it  where  no  sickness  is.  Dost  thou  love  life  ?  seek 
it  where  no  death  is.  Bernard  describes  the  glory  of 
this  kingdom,  fi-om  that  allegory.  Rev.  xii.  1,  the 
"  crown  of  twelve  stars."  Into  this  little  ring  let 
us  bring  the  discourse  of  that  infinite  glor)'. 

I.  Let  the  first  star  be,  memory  without  forget- 
fulness.  Here  we  forget  what  we  should  rememt)er, 
and  remember  what  we  should  forget ;  we  forget 
benefits,  and  remember  injuries.  There  we  shall 
have  a  perfect  memory  ;  Gregory  sticks  not  to  say, 
even  of  our  very  past  miseries  and  faults.  But  how  ■■ 
We  shall  remember  them,  not  with  sorrow  to  distract 
us,  but  with  joy  of  deliverance  to  confinn  us :  it  shall 
be  our  fence,  not  our  offence.  When  we  remember 
how  wretchedly  we  once  lay,  imder  the  torment  of 
such  a  sickness,  under  the  tyranny  of  such  a  foe, 
and  which  was  worst,  under  the  pressure  of  such  a 
sin ;  and  now  find  oui-selves  delivered  and  safe  for 
ever ;  how  unspeakable  will  be  our  joy ! 

2.  Thesecondstaris,  reason  without  obscurity,  un- 
derstanding without  error.  "  Now  we  see  through 
a  glass,  darkly ;  but  then  face  to  face :  now  I  know 
in  part ;  but  then  shall  I  know  even  as  also  I  am 
known,"  1  Cor.  xiii.  12.  The  mist  which  sin  brought 
over  this  intellectual  light,  shall  be  removed.  "  Eye 
hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered 
into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things  which  God  hath 
prepared  for  them  that  love  him,"  I  Cor.  ii.  9.  As 
St.  Augustine  says,  Faith  cannot  contain  it,  nor  hope 
comprise  it,  nor  chanty  comprehend  it ;  it  franscend- 
eth  the  reach  of  all  our  thoughts:  it  may  be  obtain- 
ed, it  never  can  be  sufficiently  esteemed. 

3.  The  third  star  is,  a  perfect  will  of  good  with- 
out perturbation.  This  is  a  main  difference  betwixt 
paradise  and  heaven.  There  was  a  power  not  to 
sin ;  here  is  no  power  at  all  to  sin.  The  regenerate 
man  on  earth  hath  a  will  not  to  offend,  shall  have 
there  no  will  nor  possibility  to  offend.  Here  he  hath 
a  desire  of  rest,  there  the  rest  of  desire. 

4.  The  fourth  star  is,  the  clarity  and  impassibility 
of  the  body.  Christ  "  shall  change  our  vile  body, 
that  it  may  be  fashioned  like  unto  his  glorious  body, 
according  to  the  working  whereby  he  is  able  even  to 
subdue  ail  things  unto  himself,"  Phil.  iii.  21.  This 
mutation  is  not  by  any  propenseness  of  nature,  but 
by  the  operation  of  Christ.  This  consists  in  four 
properties ;  in  clarity,  in  subtilty,  in  impassibility, 
in  mcorruption.  For  clarity ;  "  They  that  be  wise 
shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament,  and 
as  the  stars  for  ever,"  Dan.  xii.  3.  Christ  as  the  Sun, 
it  is  enough  for  us  to  be  as  stars.     "  There  is  one 


glory  of  the  sun,  another  glory  of  the  moon,  another 
glory  of  the  stars,"  I  Cor.  xv.  41.  Christ  the  Sun, 
gives  glory  to  the  moon;  the  moon,  that  is,  the 
church,  hath  a  great  glory ;  and  the  same  glory  is 
to  every  particular  star.  When  Christ  was  trans- 
figured, "  his  face  did  shine  as  the  sun,  and  his  rai- 
ment was  white  as  the  light,"  Matt.  xvii.  2.  Such 
glory  shall  our  bodies  have,  as  is  able  to  lighten  the 
darkest  comers  of  hell :  "  It  is  sown  in  dishonour,  it 
is  raised  in  glory,"  1  Cor.  xv.  43.  For  subtilty  and 
agility ;  it  shall  be  made  movable  according  to  the 
quickness  of  our  thoughts:  as  Cluisl's  body,  being 
risen,  was  suddenly  out  of  one  place  into  another ;  As 
they  spake,  he  stood  in  the  midst  of  them,  Luke  xxiv. 
36.  Clu-ist  says  they  shall  be  like  the  angels,  who 
are  said  to  have  wings,  in  respect  of  their  speedy  re- 
moval. "  There  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a 
spiritual  body,"  1  Cor.  xv.  44 :  a  spiritual  body  is  as 
quick  as  a  spirit  itself.  For  impassibility;  though  it 
retains  solidity,  yet  it  remains  invulnerable.  Every 
thing  now  vexeth  it,  a  sword,  an  ague,  a  thora  ;  then 
no  violence  can  dint  or  daunt  it.  Though  the  body 
stood  in  the  midst  of  an  army,  it  could  not  be  hurt. 
The  violent,  nmrderous,  and  massacring  cannon,, 
which  now  makes  a  lane  where  it  spits,  cannot  then 
woimd  our  impenetrable  breasts.  Here  oiu'  bodies 
have  heaviness  and  weakness,  there  lightness  and 
power:  "  It  is  sown  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in 
power;"  so  that  it  can  powerfully  move  from  i)lace 
to  place.  It  shall  be  strong  as  a  spirit,  and  one  spi- 
rit is  able  to  conquer  many  men.  For  incorruptible- 
ness ;  the  body  is  so  corrupt  now,  that  it  is  fain  to 
have  the  soul  instead  of  salt  to  preserve  it.  Then  it 
sliall  be  clear,  and  shine  pure  as  the  sun,  which  at 
that  time  shall  also  exceed  itself  in  gloi-y.  This  is 
the  glory  of  the  body,  which  is  but  the  body  of  glory ; 
besides  the  soul  of  glory,  which  is  the  glory  of  the 
soul. 

5.  The  fifth  star  is,  the  renovation  of  all  things. 
"  I  saw  a  new  heaven,  and  a  new  earth,"  Rev.  xxi. 
1.  Not  that  there  is  an  abolition  of  the  old,  but  an 
alteration  of  them  from  being  old.  The  same  things 
may  remain,  but  not  in  the  same  state.  Fire  shall 
purge  out  the  corruption,  and  all  things  shall  be 
restored  to  their  first  majesty  ;  no  man  can  deceive, 
or  be  deceived.  (Prosper.) 

6.  The  sixth  star  is,  universal  charity  without 
envy.  Everj-  one  shall  be  a  king,  and  possess  a 
kingdom,  yet  shall  there  be  no  repining.  Though 
it  be  imparted,  it  shall  not  be  impaired ;  the  number 
of  heirs  shall  not  impeach  the  inheritance.  (August.) 
That  glor\-  shall  be  to  all,  that  is  to  some  ;  every  one 
shall  have  as  much  as  any  one.  An  earthly  king- 
dom, like  the  zodiac,  admits  but  one  sun :  in  this  all 
are  kings,  and  everj'  one  hath  his  crown.  There  is 
laid  up  for  me  a  crown ;  and  not  for  me  only,  but  for 
all  those  that  love  the  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ, 
2  Tim.  iv.  8.  About  the  throne  were  four  and  twenty 
seats,  and  on  the  seats  four  and  twenty  elders,  that 
had  on  their  heads  crowns  of  gold.  Rev.  iv.  4.  By 
which  number  is  signified  the  whole  court  of  the 
saints.  On  earth  the  ambition  of  a  crown  brooks  no 
rivalry  :  breach  of  faith  to  get  kingdoms  is  held  no 
sin ;  but  this  shall  never  get  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
A  kingdom  made  Absalom  a  parricide  in  will,  Abim- 
cloch  -4  fratricide  in  deed,  that  he  murdered  seventy 
persons,  his  brethren,  the  sons  of  Jerubbaal,  upon 
one  stone,  Judg.  ix.  5.  This  hath  made  some  traitors 
to  their  dear  friends,  that  would  have  died  for  them; 
to  their  dearest  Friend,  that  hath  died  for  them : 
friends  to  their  enemy,  Satan,  that  nill  torment 
them.  They  are  w^orthy  of  kingdoms  that  pay  so 
dear  for  them.  Here  it  is  otherwise ;  different  glorj-, 
perfect  charity.     "  In  my  Father's  house  arc  many 


136 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


mansions,"  John  xiv.  2.  Now  saith  Oregon-,  If 
there  were  no  difference  in  degrees  of  glory,  Christ 
would  have  spoke  of  one  mansion,  rather  than  of 
many.  "  They  received  every  man  a  penny,"  Matt. 
XX.  10.  But  he  says,  many  mansions,  because  there 
are  distinct  orders  of  saints  ;  and  one  penny,  because 
there  is  but  one  and  the  same  glory  of  tliem  all. 
On  earth  there  is  a  difference  of  works  ;  in  heaven 
there  shall  be  a  difference  of  honours.  So  much  as 
one  doth  here  excel  another  in  grace,  so  much  lie 
shall  there  excel  him  in  glor)-.  But  howsoever  there 
be  not  to  all  the  same  dignity,  there  shall  be  the 
same  felicity.  There  can  be  no  repining  at  another's 
more  glorious  clearness,  where  shall  reign  in  all  one 
most  gracious  dearness. 

7.  The  seventh  star  is,  the  common  and  universal 
joy,  an  effect  of  the  former.  AVhcre  all  love  others 
in  pureness,  all  rejoice  in  their  happiness.  Besides 
the  joy  in  our  own  salvation,  it  shall  be  also  unspeak- 
able in  the  salvation  of  others :  not  only  of  wife, 
children,  or  former  friends ;  for  there  all  shall  be 
equally  dear  and  near  unto  us.  What  abundance  of 
joy  is  this,  when  it  shall  rejoice  a  man  to  behold  tliat 
measure  in  another,  which  he  hath  not  in  himself! 
(Gregor.) 

8.  The  eighth  star  is,  a  love  of  ourselves  only  for 
God's  honour.  The  glory  of  God  shall  so  swallow 
us  up,  that  it  cannot  be  so  great  for  our  own  salva- 
tion, as  for  his  glory  in  our  salvation.  It  is  much 
on  earth,  if  a  man  love  God  for  liis  own  sake  ;  but  in 
heaven  he  shall  love  himself  for  God's  sake.  It  shall 
ravish  him  with  delight,  to  see  God  honoured  in 
himself,  whose  image  he  shall  then  bear  in  per- 
fection. 

9.  The  ninth  star  is,  the  beatifical  vision  of  God  ; 
when  there  shall  be  no  marks  to  keep  us  from  the 
mount  of  the  Lord,  no  bounds  to  separate  us  from 
that  border  of  glory.  When  it  shall  no  more  be 
said.  Whosoever  toucheth  the  mount,  shall  surely 
die,  Exod.  xix.  12;  but  the  contrary,  Whosoever 
touehctli  the  mount,  shall  surely  live.  The  sight 
was  then  so  terrible,  that  Moses  said,  I  exceedingly 
(junkc  and  fear,  Ileb.  xii.  21.  This  sight  shall  be  so 
comfortable,  that  every  one  shall  say,  I  exceedingly 
rejoice  and  love.  We  shall  see  the  Deity  so  glorious  ; 
even  the  Lamb  advanced  in  our  llesh  to  be  one  per- 
son with  God.  IIow  we  love  to  behold  the  majesty 
of  princes,  in  all  the  state,  magnificence,  and  pomp 
of  their  courts  !  But  this  heavenly  vision  for  one 
hour  is  wortli  a  thousand  years'  speculation  of  their 
glor)-.  This  is  the  diamond  of  the  ring,  the  precious 
stone  of  the  gate,  the  brightest  star  of  all,  to  behold 
the  glorious  presence  of  God. 

10.  The  tenth  star  is,  the  fulness  of  pleasures.  "In 
thy  presence  is  fulness  of  joy  j  at  thy  right  hand 
there  are  pleasures  for  evermore,"  Psal.  xvi.  11. 
Feslifitas  sine  labe,  Iranquillitas  sine  tabe,  serenilai  sine 
nube.  (Bernard.)  Corrupt  flesh  reasons,  What  is 
there  to  do  in  heaven?  The  lascivious  thinks  there 
is  no  other  heaven,  but  amongst  his  fair  paragons. 
O  poor  and  unblcsl  understanding  !  what  is  a  mortal 
jiicce  of  painted  dust,  to  those  glorious  bodies  out- 
.shining  tiie  sun  in  his  greatest  splendour!  These 
we  shall  there  see  j  these  love,  atlmire,  and  rejoice 
in  for  ever.  There  is  not  a  thought  can  bring  other 
than  pleasure.  Look  we  outwardly,  there  is  joy  in 
the  society  ;  look  we  inwardly,  there  is  joy  in  our  own 
felicity  ;  look  we  forward,  there  is  joy  in  the  eternity. 
(Bern.)  This  is  the  chain  of  delights;  there  is  a  secure 
safeness,  a  safe  peacefulness,  a  peaceful  pleasant- 
ness, a  pleasant  happiness,  a  happy  everhistingness. 
(Prosper.) 

11.  The  eleventh  star  is,  the  continual  praising  of 
God  for  his  glory.    "  Blessing,  and  glory,  and  thanks- 


giving, and  honour,  and  power,  and  might,  be  unto 
our  God  for  ever  and  ever,"  Rev.  vii.  12.  This  is  an 
everlasting  song.  From  new  moon  to  new  moon,  and 
from  one  sabbath  to  another,  all  shall  Worship  the 
Lord,  Isa.  Ixvi.  23.  \Vc  shall  incessantly  sing  to 
God  in  the  temple,  which  is  God  himself  the  "Tem- 
ple :  "  I  saw  no  teiTij)le  therein ;  for  the  Lord  God 
Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it," 
Rev.  xxi.  22.  There  shall  be  no  weariness  of  this 
merriness.  How  meanly  soever  we  judge  and  rarely 
practise  this  duty  on  earth,  there  is  no  joy  or  delight 
in  heaven  shall  more  content  us. 

12.  The  last  star  of  this  crown  is,  the  last  passage 
of  my  text ;  which  is  the  eternity  of  all,  it  is  an 
"  everlasting  kingdom."  The  monarchies  of  the 
Chaldeans,  Persians,  Grecians,  Romans,  those  four 
tyrannous  beasts,  Dan.  vii.  are  brought  to  nothing. 
Their  dominion  was  taken  away,  ver.  12;  but  "His 
dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  which  shall  not 
pass  away  ;  and  his  kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be 
destroyed,"  ver.  14.  The  heathen  rage,  and  the 
kings  oppose :  but  let  them  do  their  worst,  "  Yet 
have  I  set  my  King  upon  my  holy  hill  of  Zion,"  Psal. 
ii.  The  gates  of  hell  (that  is,  hell-pow-er,  for  their 
gates  had  strong  fortifications  ;  or  hell-policy,  for 
they  held  their  council  in  the  gates)  shall  not  prevail 
against  this  kingdom.  Ye  shall  not  sow,  and  others 
reap ;  ye  shall  not  plant  vineyards,  and  others  drink 
the  wine  :  this  was  promised  as  a  blessing  to  Israel. 
But  this  land  of  promise  is  sure,  and  abides  for  ever. 
Why  dost  thou  fear  or  doubt,  because  thou  seest  earthl  v 
kingdoms  to  perish  ?  Therefore  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  promised  to  us,  that  we  might  not  perish  with 
earthly  kingdoms.  (August.)  This  is  the  crown  of 
twelve  stars,  wherewith  the  God  of  mercy  crown 
all  our  heads  in  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  Jesus 
Chi-ist. 


Verse  12. 

jyiierefore  I  uill  not  be  ne^'/igent  to  put  you  always  in 
remembrance  of  tlie.se  things,  though  ye  know  them, 
and  be  established  in  the  present  truth. 

I  ACKNOWLEDGE  to  youT  comfort,  that  you  know  and 
perform  in  some  measure  these  commended  duties, 
and  have  made  a  good  progress  in  them.  Yet  though 
you  be  confirmed,  I  will  not  so  give  you  over,  and 
leave  you  to  yourselves,  for  there  is  danger  of  re- 
lapsing; but  will  diligently  solicit  your  memories, 
and  incite  Vour  affections,  to  a  more  zealous  obsen-a- 
tion  of  them.  I  do  not  confirm  you,  as  if  you  were 
wavering ;  but  only  admonish  you,  as  being  estab- 
lished in  the  truth.  The  gravity  and  weight  of  the 
business  require  it  :  in  a  matter  of  such  consequence, 
admonitions  are  never  superfluous.  Therefore  let  it 
not  seem  tedious  unto  you. 

This  verse  is  spent  upon  the  pastor  and  the  peojjle ; 
and  therefore  to  be  applied  to  the  preacher  and  tlie 
jjarish.  I  will  not  be  negligei\t  to  remember  you  of 
these  things ;  there  is  the  minister's  duty.  You  must 
know  them, and  be  established  in  the  (ruth;  there  is 
your  duty.  It  is  easily  distinguished  into  the  pas- 
tor's informing,  and  the  people's  performing ;  his 
preaching,  and  their  practising ;  his  diligence,  and 
their  obedience. 

In  the  former  we  may  note. 

His  piety ;  desirous  to  bring  them  to  the  premen- 
tioned  kingdom. 

His  vigilance ;  adnritting  no  neglect  of  their  souls, 
what  discouragements  soever  affront  him. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


Ver.  12. 

His  modesty ;  professing  that  he  doth  rather  re- 
member thcin  than  teach  them. 

His  fidelity  ;  he  will  do  it  always,  without  weari- 
ness of  that  which  may  tend  to  their  edification  and 
comfort. 

His  sincerity  ;  he  doth  not  incite  thera  to  vain  and 
unnecessary  things,  hut  "these  things"  that  build 
them  u\)  to  salvation. 

In  the  other  part,  which  is  their  proficiency,  we 
have  commended, 

Their  illumination.  They  knew  these  things. 

Their  confirmation.  They  are  established  in  the 
truth. 

"Wherefore,"  iid,  for  this  cause.  This  the  first 
praise  of  his  diligence,  the  foundation  whereon  it  is 
grounded ;  which  is  derived  from  the  precedent  verse. 
Because  the  foundation  of  eternal  life  is  to  be  laid 
here,  and  in  this  life  an  entrance  must  be  made  to  that 
everUisting  kingdom,  or  there  will  be  no  fruition 
hereafter;  therefore  I  will  take  all  possible  pains  to 
prepare  your  souls  for  it.  Now  it  is  certain,  that  the 
foundation  of  eternity  is  to  be  laid  in  this  life :  the 
proposition  is  proved  by  St.  Paul ;  "  Laying  up  in 
store  for  themselves  a  good  foundation  against  the 
time  to  come,  that  they  may  lay  hold  on  eternal  life," 
1  Tim.  vi.  19.  The  state  future  follows  the  former; 
as  the  upper  building  follows  the  foundation.  If  we 
live  ill,  tnat  is  a  bad  foundation ;  if  we  live  well,  that 
is  a  good  foundation.  "  This  day  is  Siilvation  come 
to  this  house,"  Luke  xix.  9.  This  day,  for  it  must 
come  in  the  day  of  grace,  or  it  will  not  come  in  the 
day  of  gloiy  :  now,  or  never.  The  penitent  malefac- 
tor miglit  say  to  Christ,  To-day  thou  art  with  me  on 
the  cross  ;  and  Christ  says  to  him,  To-day  thou  shalt 
be  with  me  in  paradise.  If  Christ  first  be  with  us 
below,  then  shall  we  also  be  with  Christ  above.  The 
kingdom  of  God  must  first  come  into  thy  heart,  be- 
fore thy  heart  can  come  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  A 
wicked  life  doth  (even  on  earth)  make  an  entrance 
into  that  lower  kingdom  of  darkness.  Interior  dark- 
ne>:s  begins  exterior  darkness,  inferior  darkness.  "  He 
that  belicveth  not  is  condemned  already,"  John  iii. 
18.  "  Thou  art  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  bond  of 
iniquity,"  Acts  viii.  23.  As  God  said  to  Abimelech, 
"  Thou  art  but  a  dead  man,"  Gen.  xx.  3.  Sin  is  the 
very  threshold  of  hell,  and  the  fuel  of  that  unquench- 
able fire;  her  very  "steps  take  hold  on  hell,"  Prov. 
v.  5.  Mislivers.  and  misbelievers;  next  them  stands 
hell.  So  faithful  goodness  hath  one  foot  already  in 
heaven :  therefore  look  to  thy  life  ;  for  we  must  go 
out  of  this  world  by  the  mortification  of  the  flesh, 
that  shall  come  to  heaven  by  the  vivification  of  the 
Spirit.  Such  is  God's  mercy  to  us,  that  we  who  have 
dese^^'ed  iiunishments  external  on  body,  hiternal  on 
conscience,  eternal  on  both,  should  not  only  escape 
these,  but  have  in  present  a  gracious  entrance  into 
blessedness.  But,  alas,  we  see  our  wretchedness,  we 
do  not  see  our  blessedness :  we  know  that  a  picture 
but  begun,  is  not  of  perfect  beauty;  let  us  taiTj-  till 
God  hath  finished  his  work.  AVe  are  now  the  sons 
of  God  in  grace  and  peace ;  we  shall  be  the  sons  of 
God  in  glor)-,  1  John  iii.  2. 

.  "  I  will  not  be  negligent,"  oiic  d/jfXijirai.  This  is  the 
second  praise  of  his  diligence :  it  is  well  furthered 
by  his  sedulity.  Negligence  of  good  duties  is  in  all 
men  damnable,  in  a  minister  execrable ;  in  others 
robbery,  in  us  sacrilege.  Cursed  is  he  that  doth  the 
Lord's  business  negligently,  saith  the  prophet.  God 
was  so  careful  to  avoid  negligent  ministers  under  the 
law,  that  the  Levites  were  to  bear  no  office  till  five 
and  twenty,  and  to  cease  again  at  fifty  :  not  sooner 
than  the  first  age,  for  the  disability  of  their  mind; 
not  longer  than  the  latter  term,  for  the  infirmity  of 
their  body.     There  is  not  a  calling  of  a  greater  la- 


137 


hour :  he  that  rashly  chooseth  it,  never  understood  it. 
If  a  man  knew  the  weight  of  it,  it  would  take  away 
his  stomach.  It  brings  a  man  from  a  quiet  to  a  labo- 
rious life  :  I  have  much  ado  to  look  to  my  own  soul, 
how  shall  1  look  to  the  souls  of  others  ?  (August.)  It 
is  indeed  lawful  to  sue  to  be  in  the  ministry  ;  as  Paul 
says,  "  If  any  man  desire  the  office,  he  desireth  a 
good  work,"  1  Tim.  iii.  1  :  it  is  then  lawful  to  desire, 
therefore  lawful  to  express  that  desire.  But  let  him 
tliink  of  the  account :  "  They  watch  for  souls,  as  they 
that  must  give  account,"  Heb.  xiii.  17.  Some  have 
obser\-ed  upon  Christ's  calling  of  those  four  apostles, 
in  the  4th  of  Matthew,  Simon,  Andrew,  James,  and 
John  ;  that  Simon  signifies  obedient ;  .\ndrew,  cou- 
rageous ;  James,  a  supplanter ;  and  John,  the  grace 
of  God.  And  that  a  minister  of  the  gospel  should 
be  accordingly  qualified  :  lie  must  be  obedient  as 
Simon,  courageous  as  Andrew,  and  a  supplanter  of 
sin  as  James,  and  manifest  the  power  of  tlie  grace  of 
God  as  John.  There  belong  to  him,  infusion,  dif- 
fusion, effusion,  and  power  of  confusion.  Infusion  of 
knowledge,  diffusion  of  grace,  efHision  of  doctrine, 
confutation  of  error.  St.  Paul  was  so  diligent  in  this 
office,  that  he  was  called  The  winged  husbandman  : 
one  writes  of  him,  that  the  earth  might  sooner  have 
wanted  room  for  him,  than  he  neglected  through  the 
earth  preaching.  Now,  too  many  make  the  ministry 
a  matter  of  policy  to  raise  themselves  ;  and  once 
gotten  up,  though  no  bishop  suspend  them,  they  put 
themselves  to  silence :  ambition  shuts  uji  many  lips. 
They  see  and  say,  that  a  painful  teacher  seldom 
comes  to  preferment.  Therefore  they  will  only  raise 
themselves  by  silence.  When  Aristodemus  bragged 
how  great  a  fee  he  had  got  for  speaking,  Demos- 
thenes answers.  Say  nothing,  fool,  I  had  more  for 
holthng  my  peace.  Thus  such  a  one  thinks  to  speed; 
and  therefore  his  motto  is,  Sibi  el  musis.  But  a  good 
minister  is  not  negligent,  either  in  his  pen  or  tongue ; 
his  tongue  is  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer,  and  his  pen 
is  the  tongue  of  a  ready  speaker.  It  is  the  negligent 
fashion,  t(j  grow  rich,  to  grow  fat,  to  grow  lazy  ;  wTien 
the  fish  is  caught,  to  cast  away  the  net  ;  to  stan-e 
the  flock,  when  they  have  shorn  the  fleece.  But 
negligence  can  never  befall  him  that  is  tnily  called 
of  Christ. 

"  To  jiut  you  in  remembrance."  This  is  the  thu-d 
praise  of  his  diligence,  to  fasten  it  in  their  memories. 
We  must  often  be  stirred  up  ;  line  added  to  line,  and 
precept  upon  precept ;  here  a  little  and  there  a  little. 
Some  would  have  rare  sermons,  and  those  excellent 
ones  ;  yet  they  can  receive  the  doctrine  but  by  drops, 
not  by  floods  ;  for  whatsoever  is  received,  is  received 
according  to  the  capacity  of  the  receiver.  Others 
would  have  frequent  sermons  though  they  be  meaner. 
And  this  course  is  better,  for  we  need  continual  re- 
membrancings.  It  is  no  hard  matter  to  produce  a 
year's  bird ;  to  study  up  one  rare  sermon  in  three 
months :  such  sermons  are  for  courts.  The  emperor 
that  gave  silver  to  his  soldiers,  was  taxed  by  others 
that  gave  gold  :  but  he  answered,  I  did  it  of  purpose, 
that  all  might  have  some ;  for  it  is  better  all  should 
go  away  with  pieces  of  silver,  than  a  few  only  with 
pieces  of  gold.  Indeed  every  minister  is  not  a 
preacher :  all  cannot  say  with  Paul,  I  was  not  sent 
to  baptize,  but  to  preach,  1  Cor.  i.  17.  To  the  build- 
ing of  the  tabernacle  there  went  not  only  purple,  but 
goats'  hair.  Yet  are  all  remembrancers  of  us  in  their 
]>laces.  We  have  many  remembrancers,  God  bless 
us  in  the  honest  use  of  them.  Other  countries  have 
larger  bounds,  goodlier  buildings,  stronger  bulwarks, 
richer  soils ;  only  England  hath  the  best  pulpits. 
Oh  that  I  could  also  add,  that  England  hath  the 
best  conversations  !  could  I  what  street  pass  through, 
but  some  moastrous  and  manifest  sin  would  give  me 


138 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1. 


the  lie  ?  We  have  many  that  hear  tlie  word  all  their 
daj's ;  yet  being  (juestioned  concerning  their  faith  on 
their  death-beds,  they  answer  as  Ahimaaz  to  David, 
"  I  saw  a  great  tumult,  but  I  knew  not  what  it  was," 
2  Sam.  xviii.  29 :  so  they  would  say,  I  heard  a  great 
noise,  but  I  never  knew  what  it  meant.  Some  know 
the  way  twice  on  the  Sunday  to  church,  yet  hardly 
learn  there  to  know  the  way  to  heaven.  But  to  your 
duty  anon  ;  first  look  we  to  perform  our  own.  For 
a  minister  to  neglect  this  office  of  remembrance,  is 
to  make  the  devil  beholden  to  him :  the  negligence 
of  the  priest  is  the  injury  of  the  people,  as  the  dam- 
age of  the  flock  is  the  shame  of  the  shepherd. 
(Hieron.)  Now  the  Lord  remember  us  to  remember 
you,  and  remember  you  to  remember  him,  and  for- 
give the  forgetfulncss  of  us  all. 

"  Always"  to  remember  you.  This  is  the  fourth 
praise  of  his  diligence,  which  shows  it  to  be  well  fol- 
lowed ;  wherein  we  noted  his  fidelity,  in  the  assiduity 
of  his  preaching.  Now  this  duty  cannot  be  performed 
by  any  minister  of  the  gospel,  without  a  constant 
abiding  among  his  own  ;  when  we  learn,  that  a  pre- 
sident should  be  resident.  Some  have  their  pool 
lying  in  the  country,  yet  they  are  still  angling  about 
the  court.  But  they  answer  it  ^\•^th  the  proverb,  No 
fishing  to  the  sea,  no  service  to  the  king.  Indeed 
the  apostles  were  ubiquitaries,  but  ministers  must  be 
residentiaries.  Now  there  is  a  distinction  of  parishes 
and  charges :  therefore  let  every  man  take  heed  to 
that  flock,  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  set  him, 
Acts  XX.  28.  And  Paul  left  Titus  in  Crete  to  "  or- 
dain elders  to  every  city,"  Tit.  i.  5.  Residence  is 
twofold,  personal  and  pastoral.  It  is  not  so  much 
the  personal,  as  the  pastoral  residence,  that  is  re- 
quired jure  divino.  A  minister  may  be  pastorally 
resident,  though  not  personally  ;  in  watching  over 
the  people's  souls,  and  feeding  them  immediately 
by  himself  as  much  as  he  can,  and  mediately  by  as 
good  as  himself  when  he  cannot.  Another  may  be 
personally  resident,  yet  not  pastorally  :  when  he  is 
amongst  them,  and  doth  not  diligently  preach  unto 
them.  There  may  be  a  just  non-residence,  when  the 
church  hath  employed  a  man  about  public  business. 
Yea,  it  may  be  also  just  when  it  is  necessary  for  the 
recoveiy  of  health,  or  needfid  maintenance,  to  keep 
himself  from  hunger  and  imrelievcd  penurj- :  nature 
itself  allows  it.  Herein  every  man's  own  conscience 
is  his  best  direction.  But  they  that  preach  altogether 
by  an  attorney,  are  like  to  be  saved  altogether  by  an 
attorney.  As  they  wholly  feed  the  flock  by  their 
deputies,  so  shall  they  go  to  heaven  by  their  deputies. 
Some  cannot  endure  to  be  resident  in  any  place  ;  but 
he  that  loves  to  be  a  ntnagate,  not  seldom  proves  a 
runagate  :  the  wandering  star  is  swept  down  by  the 
dragon's  tail,  not  fixed  by  the  hand  of  Christ.  "  Al- 
ways." The  business  of  a  minister  is  like  the  hus- 
bandman's, and  that  is  compared  to  a  ring  because  it 
is  endless.  "  I  have  set  watchmen,  which  shall 
never  hold  their  peace  day  nor  night :  ye  that  make 
mention  of  the  Lord,  keep  not  silence,"  Isa.  Ixii.  6 : 
for  Jerusalem's  sake  we  have  no  rest.  Paul  adjures 
Timothy  to  preach  "  in  season,  out  of  season  ;  to 
re])rove,  rebuke,  exhort,  with  all  long-suflering," 
2  Tim.  iv.  2.  We  read  that  while  men  slept  the 
enemy  came  and  sowed  tares,  Matt.  xiii.  2.5.  Let 
the  preachers  but  sleep  a  little,  how  quickly  will 
Satan  cast  in  the  seed  of  errors  !  Let  Moses  be  non- 
resident forty  days,  though  he  went  to  fetch  the  law ; 
yet  in  this  while  Israel  hath  carved  an  idol.  There 
is  nothing  more  easy  than  to  decline,  if  Christ  set 
not  watchmen  over  us,  to  put  us  alwavs  in  remem- 
brance. 

"  Of  these  things,"  n-tpi  tovtwv.  This  is  the  last 
praise  of  his  diligence  ;    whereby  he  hath  filled, 


directed,  and  applied  it  to  matter  of  the  best  con- 
sequence. Herein  we  observed  his  sincerity :  "  these 
things,"  that  is,  such  as  may  save  your  souls.  He 
aims  at  nothing  but  that  which  concerns  their  salva- 
tion. The  minister  must  labour  neither  for  praise 
nor  for  jiurse,  but  for  conscience  :  he  must  fish  for 
souls,  not  for  riches.  Some  fish  without  nets,  some 
with  broken  nets,  some  with  whole  ones  but  not 
clean;  some  have  nets  whole  and  clean,  but  cast 
them  not ;  others  have  nets  but  not  clean,  and  do 
cast  them,  but  not  on  the  right  side;  they  like  well 
to  fish,  but  only  where  they  are  sure,  with  Peter,  to 
(h-aw  up  a  fish  with  silver  in  the  mouth.  These  are 
far  short  of  St.  Peter's  integrity  ;  they  mind  many 
things,  but  not  "  these  things."  There  are  three 
things  in  the  ministry;  work,  reward,  and  honour: 
the  good  minister  cmbraccth  the  first,  minds  not  the 
other,  only  refuseth  them  not  if  they  come.  To 
desire  it  for  the  honour's  sake,  or  for  the  wages'  sake, 
is  not  good.  There  is  a  desire  of  good,  and  a  good 
desire.  The  thing  may  be  good,  yet  it  is  ill  to  de- 
sire it,  if  it  be  not  fit  for  us,  or  we  not  fit  to  desire  it. 
Simon  Magus  had  a  desire  of  good,  but  not  a  good 
desire,  when  he  offered  coin  for  the  Holy  Ghost. 
His  intention  damned  his  petition;  which  was  to 
give  money  for  it,  that  he  might  get  money  by  it. 
To  desire  this  office  that  we  may  be  honoured  in  it, 
is  corrupt ;  to  desire  it  that  we  may  do  good  by  it,  is 
honest.  So  often  as  we  seek  glory  and  greatness  in 
the  ministry,  we  both  mistake  the  office,  for  to  be  a 
minister  is  to  serve  ;  and  we  strive  to  be  better  than 
Christ,  for  he  served.  (Bern.)  We  are  commanded  to 
sers'e ;  we  are  forbidden  to  domineer. 

Indeed  there  are  too  many  that  seek  opes,  not  opK.v; 
rather  the  church  goods,  than  the  church's  good. 
But  let  us  aim  at  God's  glory,  not  our  own  praise ; 
let  none  of  his  honour  cleave  to  our  earthen  fingers. 
Though  spiritual  fishers  catch  many  souls,  yet  they 
must  not  ascribe  it  to  themselves.  This  were,  as  the 
prophet  speaks,  to  do  sacrifice  to  their  net,  Hab.  i. 
16.  Let  us  only  mind  "these  things."  An  honest 
heart  is  required  in  all  men,  especially  in  a  minister. 
When  the  apostles  were  to  choose  a  twelfth  into 
Judas's  room,  from  which  he  had  fallen  by  treacher- 
ous apostacy,  they  put  it  to  God,  because  he  knew 
the  hearts  oi  men :  "  Thou,  Lord,  which  knowest  the 
hearts  of  all  men,  show  whether  of  these  two  thou 
hast  chosen,"  Acts  i.  24.  They  spake  not  of  under- 
standing nor  memory,  nor  learning  nor  eloquence  ; 
but  insisted  only  on  the  heart.  Indeed  the  principeJ 
in  a  minister  is  an  honest  heart.  A  good  wit  for  in- 
vention, doth  well;  a  good  judgment  for  disposition, 
well;  a  good  memory,  a  graceful  pronunciation,  a 
comely  presence,  all  do  well  :  but  the  chief  of  all  is  a 
good  heart.  Diligence,  and  painfiilness,  and  patience 
are  good  ;  but  it  is  the  sincereness  of  heart  that 
commends  the  rest.  "  These  tilings."  I  could  be 
negligent,  and  not  remember  you ;  or  remember  you, 
and  not  always  ;  or  remember  you  always,  but  not  of 
these  things :  but  this  is  the  perfection  of  his  holy 
diligence,  to  remember  you  always  of  these  things. 
Whatsoever  is  true,  or  lionest,  or  just,  or  pure,  &c. 
Phil.  iv.  8;  let  us  all  be  diligent  about  these  things: 
The  shepherds  were  "  abiding  in  the  field,  keeping 
watch  over  their  fiock  by  night,"  Luke  ii.  8.  ks 
Christ  at  his  first  coming  found  the  shepherds  tend- 
ing their  flocks  ;  so  the  Spirit  of  God  guides  us,  that 
we  the  shepherds  may  be  found  well  leading,  and 
you  the  flock  well  following,  at  the  second  coming 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Though  you  know  them,  and  be  established  in 
the  present  truth." 

The  apostle  takes  it  as  granted,  that  they  under- 
stood these  things  already,  and  were  constant  in  the 


Ver.  12. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


139 


assurance  of  the  truth  of  them.  A  happy  progress ! 
Oh  that  we  could  say  so  to  our  auditories ;  and  as 
Paul,  "  I  speak  to  them  that  know  the  law,"  Rom. 
vii.  1.  But  "Know  ye  not?"  is  a  word  often  used 
by  St.  Paul;  Rom.  vi.3;  ICor.  iii.  16;  v.  6;  n.  IG; 
and  in  many  other  places.  Know  ye  not  ?  is  it  jjos- 
sible  that  you  have  heard  so  much,  and  still  remain 
ignorant?  Well,  suppose  you  know;  but  are  ve 
established  in  your  hearts  ?  If  yes,  O  you  are  wortfiy 
to  be  commended,  I  will  not  withhold  your  just  praise 
and  acknowledgment.  "  Now  I  praise  you,  bre- 
thren," 1  Cor.  xi.  2.  Other  grounds  have  received 
showers,  and  conceived  thorns,  "  whose  end  is  to  be 
burned.  But  we  are  persuaded  better  things  of  you, 
and  things  which  accompany  salvation,"  Heb.  vi.  H, 
9.  Fain  would  we  be  so  persuaded  of  you  also;  but 
I  fear  then  our  persuasion  were  better  than  our  ex- 
perience. "  For  some  have  not  the  know-ledge  of 
God:  I  speak  this  to  your  shame,"  1  Cor.  xv.  34.  It 
were  to  our  shame  indeed,  if  we  did  not  know  God. 
As  in  countries  where  be  the  greatest  plenty  of  fraits, 
they  have  the  shortest  lives,  they  do  so  surfeit  on 
their  abundance;  so  we  have  the  greatest  plenty  of 
spiritual  food,  but  we  turn  the  fulness  into  loathing 
and  contempt.  We  have  the  best  pulpits,  but  I 
cannot  say  we  have  the  best  lives.  The  Indians  were 
the  most  beggarly  and  naked  people,  amongst  whom 
was  all  the  gold ;  so  in  the  midst  of  God's  mercies, 
and  the  riches  of  grace,  we  are  the  most  poor,  naked, 
and  miserable  in  our  convei'sations.  AVhich  being 
true,  our  commendation  must  be  turned  into  com- 
mination :  our.  In  this  we  praise  you,  into,  In  this  we 
praise  you  not ;  "  In  tins  that  I  declare  unto  you,  I 
praise  you  not,"  1  Cor.  xi.  17.  But  if  your  mind  be 
established  in  understanding,  your  heart  in  affecting, 
your  life  in  obeying,  blessed  are  you ;  your  minister 
shall  praise  you,  the  church  your  mother  will  praise 
you,  tne  angels  praise  you,  yea,  you  shall  be  praised 
of  Christ  himself. 

I  come  to  the  conclusion.  This  concession  makes 
way  for  a  further  imposition.  Though  you  know 
these  things,  and  be  established,  yet  you  must  admit 
a  further  confirming.  So  Paul  insinuates  to  the 
Romans,  "  I  myself  am  persuaded  of  you,  that  ye 
also  are  fiill  of  goodness,  tilled  with  all  knowledge, 
able  to  admonish  one  another,"  Rom.  xv.  14.  Well, 
be  it  granted ;  "  Nevertheless,  I  have  written  the 
more  boldly  unto  you,  as  putting  you  in  mind,"  ver. 
15.  No  man  nms  so  fast,  but  lie  may  need  some 
spurring.  There  is  still  something,  that  he  would 
teach,  and  they  should  learn.  So  Ambrose,  by  prais- 
ing the  goodness  they  have,  he  provokes  them  to  a 
.greater  degree  and  measure  of  it. 

Laudalaque  virlus 
Crescit,  et  immemum  gloria  calcar  habet, 

saith  the  poet.  Virtue  thrives  by  commendation, 
and  glory  is  a  spur  to  do  well. 

Acer  et  ad  palmcB  per  se  cursurus  honores, 
Si  lameii  horleris,  fortior  ibit  equus. 

The  horse  that  would  run  well  of  his  own  mettle, 
doth  yet  mend  his  pace  by  the  rider's  encourage- 
ment. The  apostle's  commendation  is  not  to  quiet 
them  in  the  conceit  of  their  own  sufficiency,  but  to 
incite  them  to  a  further  degree  of  sanctity.  The 
cessation  of  remembrancing  may  easily  lapse  us  to 
forgetfulness.  Thomas  got  such  incredulity  by  a 
little  absence,  that  he  was  hardly  brought  to  believe 
an  evidence ;  albeit  his  speech  was  the  voice  of  one 
that  doubted,  not  of  one  that  denied  :  (August.)  yet 
we  see  when  illumination  is  but  a  little  dusked,  how- 
good  men  fall  into  blind  errors.  "  The  Italians  have 
a  proverb,  It  is  good  to  be  bom  wise,  or  bom  twice. 


Surely  we  are  first  bom,  in  respect  of  heavenly  wis- 
dom, fools  ;  therefore  we  had  need  of  a  second  birth  : 
bom  once  to  come  into  the  world,  and  then  bom 
again  to  overcome  the  world.  This  is  not  done  with- 
out continual  warring,  and  not  that  without  continual 
encouraging.  We  vowed  in  our  baptism,  not  only  to 
be  Cluist's  soldiers,  and  to  fight  manfully ;  but  so  to 
fight  peii)etually,  and  to  continue  this  war  unto  our 
lives'  end.  .-iul  son;  aut  mors.  AVhen  Agamemnon 
said.  What  can  a  conqueror  fear  ?  Cassandra  an- 
swered. That  he  doth  not  fear.  If  the  minister  do 
not  ring  continually  this  alarm  bell,  you  will  forget 
to  fight.  Though  you  be  established,  you  must  think 
there  will  be  some  offering  to  sliake  you.  There- 
fore a  Christian's  resolution  should  be  like  King 
Alfred's : 

Si  modo  victor  eras ;  ad  crastina  bella  patebas; 
Si  modo  licltis  eras,  ad  crastina  bella  parabas. 

If  we  conquer  to-day,  let  us  fear  the  skirmish  to- 
morrow :  if  we  be  overcome  to-day,  let  us  hope  to 
get  the  victory  to-morrow.  When  you  have  fought 
the  main  battle,  gotten  the  conquest,  and  arc  crowned 
with  that  triumphant  wreath  in  heaven;  as  you  bless 
God  for  many  things,  so  you  will  bless  him  for  this, 
tJiat  he  gave  you  a  good  remembrancer  upon  earth, 
such  a  preacher  as  did  always  set  you  forward  to 
your  eternal  rest.  The  Lord  fail  not  us  and  ours  of 
such  remembrancers,  till  we  all  meet  together  in  that 
high  and  everlasting  glory. 


Verse  13. 

Vea,  J  think  it  meet,  as  long  as  I  am  in  this  tabernacle, 
to  stir  t/ou  up  by  putting  you  in  remembrance. 

The  apostle  had  formerly  professed  a  good  resolu- 
tion, faithfully  to  sow  in  tlieir  hearts  the  seed  of 
life.  Now  lest  any  man  should  think  his  carefulness 
a  meritorious  or  supererogative  work,  himself  con- 
fesseth  it  to  be  no  more  than  just.  It  is  but  the  pay- 
ment of  a  due  debt.  And  this  not  due  for  a  while, 
but  during  life  ;  "  As  long  as  I  am  in  this  tabernacle." 
But  it  is  granted,  that  they  know  the  truth,  and  live 
in  the  faith;  yet  they  may  be  asleep;  I  will  there- 
fore stir  them  up,  for  living  men  may  sleep.  But 
what,  is  there  a  new  lesson  to  be  given  them  ?  No, 
that  t  need  not,  but  even  nib  over  the  old,  by  put- 
ting them  in  remembrance.  Here  he  seems  to  back 
his  diligence  by  certain  arguments ;  tliey  are  four  in 
number,  and  forcible  in  nature  ;  derived, 

From  the  consideration  of  his  office,  I  think  it 
meet. 

From  the  opportunity  of  the  time.  As  long  as  I 
keep  this  tabernacle. 

From  the  security  of  men,  To  stir  you  up. 

From  the  necessity  of  admonition.  By  putting  you 
in  remembrance. 

First,  the  consideration  of  his  own  office  and  calling 
moves  him  to  it ;  it  is  a  meet  and  just  thing  for  him 
to  observe  it,  and  the  neglect  were  to  do  a  manifest 
injury  to  God,  to  his  church,  and  to  his  own  con- 
science. Secondly,  the  opportunity  of  the  time  moves 
him ;  for  this  life  is  but  a  tabernacle,  and  will  not 
stand  long ;  and  therefore  he  resolves  to  apprehend 
occasion  as  it  is  offered,  and  to  thrust  in  his  sickle 
while  the  hanest  lasts.  Thirdly,  the  security  and 
dulness  of  men  move  him;  who  are  naturally  so 
averse  and  stupid,  that  ihey  had  need  be  stirred  up, 
roused  from  their  slothAil  couch,  and  by  all  instiga- 


HO 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


tions  be  set  forward  to  religion.  Lastly,  it  is  the 
use  of  his  office,  and  due  exercise  of  his  calling, 
-jilways  to  put  tliem  in  mind  of  their  last  reckoning ; 
and  he  cannot  answer  the  neglect  of  it  to  the  justice 
of  God,  who  hath  set  him  over  them  for  that  purj)Ose. 

'•  I  think  it  meet."  This  is  the  first  argument  or 
motive  :  the  nature  of  his  office  binds  him  to  it.  He 
must  do  justice  to  himself  and  his  office.  But 
tliis  is  imposed  upon  us  by  Him  that  sent  us,  therc- 
fure  it  is  most  unjust  to  withhold  it  ;  "  Ye  that  are 
tlie  Lord's  remembrancers,  be  not  silent,"  Isa.  Ixii. 
6.  The  precept  is  negative  in  sound,  affirmative  in 
sense.  For  tliis  7wl,  excluding  the  privation  of 
speech,  answereth  after  a  sort  to  an  infmilam;  in 
logic  admitting  any  thing  rather  than  silence.  Be 
not  silent,  is  not  only.  Speak,  but  implies  a  continual 
speech ;  for  when  a  man  ccascth  to  speak,  he  is  silent. 
"  Be  instant  in  season,  out  of  season,"  2  Tim.  iv.  2. 
Not  that  Timothy  should  break  through  the  rules  of 
discretion,  to  preach  at  all  times  in  themselves  un- 
seasonable. For  there  is  a  time  to  keep  silence ; 
"There  is  a  time  to  speak,  and  a  time  to  keep  si- 
lence," Eccl.  iii.  7-  But  in  season,  to  them  that  will 
hear  ;  out  of  season,  to  them  that  will  not  hear.  Be 
not  silent,  hold  not  your  peace  :  hold  the  truth,  hold 
your  faith,  hold  your  profession,  hold  your  zeal,  hold 
your  innocency ;  hold  not  your  peace.  Oh  it  is  the 
basest  tenure  any  minister  can  hold  his  living  by. 

But  it  may  be  objected,  that  it  is  wisdom  to  be 
silent.  Many  have  surfeited  by  eating,  none  by  for- 
bearing :  many  have  sinned  by  speaking,  no  man  by 
holding  his  peace.  God  shall  judge  many  a  one 
out  of  his  own  mouth.  And,  "  If  any  man  offend  not 
in  word,  the  same  is  a  perfect  man,"  James  iii.  2. 
Now  he  that  says  nothing,  offi;nds  not  in  word.  But 
we  take  not  silence  in  a  metaphysical  consideration, 
as  a  mere  privation.  That  which  hath  no  being, 
hath  no  worlving ;  and  he  that  says  nothing,  says  no 
harm.  But  we  take  it  in  a  legal  consideration  ;  as  a 
cursed  omission,  or  neglect  of  that  which  should  have 
been  performed.  As  he  that  is  bound  to  work,  shall 
give  an  account  of  his  idleness ;  so  he  that  is  bound 
to  speak,  shall  answer  for  his  silence.  As  the  dark- 
ness in  Egypt  was  a  darkness  that  might  be  felt,  so 
silence  in  a  preacher  is  a  silence  that  will  be  felt ;  it 
shall  smart  to  the  quick.  There  are  graces  personal, 
and  graces  ministerial.  Personal  graces  arc  essential 
to  a  Christian,  accidental  to  a  minister;  as  faith, 
hope,  charity,  temperance,  and  the  like.  And  these 
serve  especially  for  the  good  of  the  receiver,  the  per- 
son in  whom  they  dwell ;  in  a  second  degree  for  the 
good  of  others.  But  graces  ministerial,  as  preaching, 
exhorting,  comforting,  discerning  of  errors,  confuting 
them,  (S;c.  respect  him  that  liath  them  in  the  last  place, 
and  principally  tend  to  others'  benefit.  "The  mani- 
festation of  the  Spirit  is  given  to  everj-  man  to  profit 
withal,"  1  Cor.  xii.  J.  If  we  hold  our  peace,  we  first 
wrap  ourselves  in  a  criminal  mischief;  because  si- 
lence directly  crosscth  our  vocation.  A  silent  preacher 
implies  as  harsh  a  contradiction,  as  a  dark  light,  a 
dumb  crier.  Next  in  a  penal  mischief:  and  that 
either  of  the  greatest  privation  or  loss  in  this  life  ; 
the  tabes  and  consumption  of  our  graces  and  gifts. 
The  idol  shepherd  that  leaveth  the  Hock,  shall  have 
his  arm  clean  dried  up,  and  his  right  eye  \ilterly 
darkened,  Zech.  xi.  17.  "  Take  the  talent  from  him," 
Matt.  xxv.  2S.  Or  of  the  most  grievous  position  of 
pain,  and  vexation  of  sense  for  ever ;  the  blood  of  the 
lost  being  required  at  their  hands,  so  long  as  there  is 
a  scat  of  justice  in  heaven.  Therefore  sailh  Paul, 
Woe  unto  me  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel !  The  minis- 
ler'.s  silence  doth  encourage  the  people's  going  to 
liell  :  "Thy  prophets  have  seen  for  thee  false  bur- 
dens and  causes  of  banishment ;  but  they  have  not 


discovered  thy  iniquity,  to  turn  away  thy  cajitiviiy," 
Lara.  ii.  14.  It  is  a  maxim  in  the  civil  law.  He  doth 
allow,  that  doth  not  disallow  ;  and  he  that  holds  liis 
peace,  gives  his  consent.  There  is  a  case,  Numb. 
XXX.  4,  The  father  that  hears  his  daughter's  vow, 
wherewith  she  binds  her  soul,  and  holdi  his  peace, 
consents  that  it  shall  stand.  A  mute  indeed  is  no 
vowel,  but  a  mute  among  vowels  cannot  avoid  the 
office  of  a  consonant.  Certainly  a  disable  minister 
is  a  grievous  plague  to  the  people.  "Where  is  no 
vision,  the  people  perish,"  Prov.  xxix.  18.  We  kill 
daily  so  many  men,  as  we  see  going  to  destruction, 
and  say  nothing  to.  (Greg.)  Paul  protested  that  he 
had  "kept  back  nothing  that  was  profitable"  to  the 
church.  Acts  xx.  20;  and  from  hence  inferreth,  that 
he  was  "  pure  from  the  blood  of  all  men,"  ver.  26. 
He  could  not  therefore  have  been  pure  from  their 
blood,  if  he  had  not  diligently  taught  them  the  gos- 
pel. (Greg.)  So  himself  gives  the  reason  of  this 
pureness  ;  "  Because  I  have  not  shunned  to  declare 
unto  you  all  the  counsel  of  God,"  ver.  27.  The  un- 
warned sinner  shall  die  in  his  iniquity ;  "  but  his 
blood  will  I  require  at  thine  hand,"  Ezek.  iii.  1«.  So 
that  to  be  guilty  of  silence,  is  to  be  guilty  of  nmrder. 
Lord,  we  cannot  speak  so  well  as  we  should ;  yet 
always  give  us  grace  to  speak  as  well  as  we  can. 

"  As  long  as  I  am  in  this  tabernacle."  This  is  his 
second  argument  or  motive  ;  the  opportunity  of  the 
time  urgeth  him.  I  cannot  rise  from  the  dead  to 
admonish,  therefore  I  will  do  it  in  the  lime  of  life, 
which  is  the  due  and  afforded  season.  There  is  no 
preaching  in  the  grave,  therefore  as  long  as  I  am  in 
this  tabernacle.     Here  observe  three  things. 

First,  cver>-  thing  hath  the  time  to  be  done.  "  The 
hour  Cometh,  and  now  is,"  John  iv.  23.  The  tree 
planted  by  the  rivers  of  water,  brings  forth  his  fruit 
"  in  his  season,"  Psal.  i.  3.  "  Be  not  over-much 
wicked;  why  shouldst  thou  die  before  thy  time," 
Eccl.  vii.  17.  Antichrist  shall  be  revealed  "  in  his 
time,"  2  Thess.  ii.  6.  "  Mine  hour  is  not  yet  come," 
John  ii.  4 ;  I  must  do  my  works  in  my  own  time. 
"  In  due  season  we  shall  reap,"  Gal.  vi.  S).  If  this  be 
neglected,  the  angel  swears,  There  shall  be  no  more 
time.  Rev.  x.  C.  Few  men  do  mark  what  lime  is 
more  than  your  usurers  :  they  marry  time  and  money 
together,  and  so  breed  an  everlasting  generation  o) 
interests. 

Secondly,  that  therefore  every  man  must  do  good 
in  his  time.  While  we  have  time  let  us  do  good  to 
all  men,  Gal.  vi.  10.  Let  us  hear  the  great  Shepherd 
a7id  Bishop  of  our  souls  :  "  I  must  work  the  works  of 
him  that  sent  me,  while  it  is  day  :  the  night  comctli, 
when  no  man  can  work,"  John  ix.  4.  Occasion  is 
liappily  taken,  easily  lost.  While  a  minister  is  in 
his  tabernacle,  let  him  preach  :  he  is  now  a  movable, 
h.ereafter  lie  shall  be  fixed.  There  shall  be  no  ser- 
mons in  heaven,  for  there  all  are  full  of  grace ;  there 
shall  be  none  in  hell,  for  there  all  are  past  grace : 
therefore  so  long  as  I  am  in  this  tabernacle  I  will 
preach.  "  Shall  thy  loving-kindness  be  deeUired  in  the 
grave?  or  thy  faithfulness  in  destruction?  Shall 
thy  wonders  be  known  in  the  dark?  and  thy  right- 
eousness in  the  land  of  forget  fulness  ?"  Psal.  Ixxxviii. 
II,  12.  But  if  there  be  no  preaching  m  hell,  how 
then  is  it  said,  that  Christ  "went  and  preached  to 
the  spirits  in  prison  ?"  1  Pet.  iii.  19.  I  answer,  there 
is  no  nunciation  <if  the  gospel,  howsoever  there  may 
be  a  proclamation  of  judgment  and  a  declaration  of 
Clirisl's  power,  a  publishing  of  what  the  reprobates 
have  lost  by  not  believing  on  him.  Augustine  objects, 
If  there  be  any  preaching  in  hell,  what  needed  so 
much  regard  to' it  upon  earth  ?  Preaching  on  earth 
is  to  beget  repentance  :  if  there  could  be  any  in  hell, 
it  were  but   to  increase  vengeance.    Therefore  re- 


Ver.  13. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


141 


member  thy  quamdiu :  preach  while  thou  mayst,  lest 
God  stop  thy  mouth  before  thou  wouldst.  Tremble 
at  that  fearfiil  judgment,  "  They  gnawed  their  tongues 
for  pain,"  Rev.  xvi.  10.  Their  tongues  were  once 
tied  up  with  gains,  there  they  shall  be  loosened  with 
pains.  Flatter>'  made  them  (like  that  shameless 
sycophant,  that  licked  up  the  emperor's  spittle)  to 
lick  the  sores  and  vices  of  their  maintainers,  there- 
fore they  shall  lick  those  unquenchable  flames. 

Thirdly,  observe,  that  the  apostle  compares  his 
life  to  a  tabernacle  ;  a  little  shed  or  tilt,  wherein 
the  immortal  soul  dwells.  The  metaphor  is  taken 
from  soldiers,  pilgrims,  and  shepherds  ;  who  for  the 
better  expedition  of  their  affairs,  are  said  to  have 
movable  seats.  We  are  soldiers,  and  must  dwell  in 
tents,  till  we  have  got  the  victor)-.  We  are  travel- 
lers, and  must  sleep  in  pavilions,  till  we  come  to  our 
city.  We  are  shepherds,  and  must  lodge  in  the 
fields,  in  the  folds,  to  look  to  our  flocks;  till  the 
drought  consume  us  in  the  day,  and  the  frost  by 
night,  and  our  sleep  depart  from  our  eyes.  Gen. 
xxxi.  40.  This  teacheth  us  the  frailness  of  our  life ; 
which  is  still  movable  from  one  part  of  the  earth  to 
another,  till  it  be  removed  to  heaven  ;  there  it  shall 
abide  immovable  for  ever.  There  is  nothing  firm 
under  the  firmament ;  but  above  there  is  "  a  king- 
dom which  cannot  be  moved,"  Heb.  xii.  2S.  Why 
art  thou  proud,  O  man,  that  considerest  thyself, 
whose  conception  was  sin,  birth  a  misery,  life  a 
punishment,  and  death  a  torment  ?  The  soul  indeed 
that  dwells  in  this  tabernacle,  is  an  immortal  guest ; 
created  by  God's  hand,  formed  to  his  likeness,  re- 
deemed with  his  blood,  beautified  with  his  grace,  and 
adopted  by  his  Spirit.  She  requires  not  soft  lodging 
and  curious  food  of  thee ;  but  thy  body's  obedience 
to  her,  that  she  may  give  obedience  to  Christ ;  that 
she  be  not  forced  to  serve,  which  should  rule.  Do- 
minant ancillari,  anciltam  dominari,  For  the  servant  to 
rule,  and  the  mistress  to  serve,  is  a  preposterous 
overture. 

Men  live  without  considering  themselves ;  whence 
they  came,  where  they  are,  how  they  do,  whither 
they  go ;  that  all  these  mathematical  lines  have 
earth  for  their  centre.  Whence  came  we  ?  from  the 
earth.  Where  are  we  ?  upon  the  earth.  How  live 
we  ?  unworthy  of  the  earth,  or  any  blessing  in  it. 
Whither  go  we  ?  to  the  earth  :  Earth  to  earth.  We 
arc  composed  of  four  elements,  and  they  strive  in  us  for 
the  mastery ;  but  the  lower  gets  the  better,  and  there 
is  no  rest  till  earth  have  the  predominance.  Yet 
wicked  men  live  as  if  there  were  no  earth  to  devour 
their  bodies,  nor  gulf  lower  than  earth  to  swallow 
their  souls.  Man's  life  is  a  spark,  a  breath,  a  smoke ; 
a  spark  in  the  heart,  a  breath  in  the  mouth,  a  smoke 
in  the  nostrils.  A  drop  of  water  will  quench  that 
spark,  a  little  hair  can  choke  that  breath,  a  little  air 
take  away  that  smoke.  Look  to  thy  ways,  thou 
livcst  in  a  tabernacle,  quickly  dissolvable ;  the  dart 
may  light  upon  thee  next.  When  Harold,  king  of 
Denmark,  made  war  upon  Harquinus,  and  was  ready 
to  join  battle,  a  dart  was  seen  flying  into  the  air, 
hovering  this  way  and  that  way,  as  though  it  sought 
upon  whom  to  rest.  When  all  stood  wondering  to 
behold  what  would  become  of  this  strange  prodigy, 
•  very  man  fearing  himself;  at  last  the  dart  tell  upon 
Harquinus's  head,  and  slew  him.  This  dart  of  death 
is  ever  hovenng :  watch,  for  thy  turn  will  come. 

"  To  stir  you  up."  This  the  third  motive  to  his 
diligence;  an  argument  fetched  from  the  security  of 
men ;  who  sleep  till  they  be  wakened,  and  when 
they  are  wakened,  sleep  again :  therefore  they  need 
stirring.  Wicked  ones  are  dead,  weak  ones  sleep, 
even  the  best  have  their  naps.  To  the  first  you  may 
cry  as  loud  as  the  idolatrous  priests  did  to  Baal,  but 


they  will  not  waken.  To  the  second,  though  we 
call  once  and  again,  they  will  not  stir ;  but  let  us 
give  them  no  rest.  He  that  to  such  a  one  knocks 
not  mainly,  knocks  vainly  :  at  Last  they  will  rise : 
because  of  our  importunity  they  will  rise,  Luke  xi. 
8.  To  the  last  an  easj'  stirring  serves :  his  nap  is 
not  so  long,  nor  his  sleep  so  deep ;  but,  "  I  sleep, 
but  my  heart  waketh,"  Cant.  v.  2.  An  ox  hath 
strength  enough,  but  dulness  withal ;  there  must  be 
a  goad  to  prick  him  on.  The  spirit  is  ready,  but  the 
flesh  is  heavy  ;  we  must  be  stirred  upward,  and  spur- 
red forward.  Every  good  sermon  hath  in  it  two 
things,  a  bridle  and  a  spur;  to  meet  with  two  dis- 
positions in  men,  inclination  to  evil,  averseness  from 
good.  For  the  former  precipice,  there  is  a  bridle  ; 
for  the  latter  dulness,  a  spur  :  these  must  be  strain- 
ed, those  restrained.  Some  run  as  fast  as  they  can 
from  Christ's  ensign,  and  treacherously  confederate 
with  his  adversary"  Satan  ;  tliese  be  desperate  offend- 
ers. Others  will  not  oppose  him  so,  nor  take  part 
with  him,  but  cowardly  stand  and  look  on :  like  the 
cursed  inhabitants  of  Meroz,  that  "  came  not  to  the 
help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty,"  Judg.  v.  23.  If 
a  man  could  borrow  of  the  one  a  little  swiftness,  to 
quicken  the  other's  laziness  ;  and  of  the  other  a  little 
coolness,  to  allay  the  former's  heat ;  this  might  make 
up  a  reasonable  and  indifferent  temper. 

Upon  the  whole  face  of  the  earth  there  is  a  uni- 
versal slumber.  As  .Sardis  thought  she  lived,  but 
she  was  dead.  Rev.  iii.  1  ;  so  men  dream  they  are 
awake,  but  indeed  they  are  fast  asleep.  I  do  not 
say,  the  usurer,  drunkard,  opjiressor,  the  sacrilegious, 
are  asleep;  for  they  arc  dead.  But  I  see  professors 
of  religion  slumber;  overgivo  themselves,  though  not 
give  over  themselves,  to  the  world.  Do  you  think 
they  will  ever  be  brought  to  heaven mthout  stirring? 
No;  it  is  well  if  perpetual  punction  can  drive  them 
to  compunction ;  if  often  repeated  rules  can  work  any 
amendment.  We  call,  and  cry,  and  thunder ;  yet 
still  comiilain  as  ^Eneas  for  his  Creusa  :  Nee  quicquam 
ingemiiian.s,  ilerumque,  iterumfjiie  I'ocaii.  All  the  day 
long  have  we  stretched  forth  our  hands,  and  lifted  up 
our  voices,  Rom.  x.  21.  Paul  told  his  Thessalonians, 
that  he  had  no  need  to  write  unto  them  touching 
some  duties,  1  Thess.  iv.  9.  Oh  that  w-e  could  say  so 
of  our  people !  "  The  words  of  the  wise  are  as  goads," 
Eccl.  xii.  II  :  now  the  Spirit  of  God  infuse  into  us 
that  wisdom,  that  our  words  may  be  as  goads,  to  pro- 
voke and  stir  you  up  to  your  own  salvation. 

"  By  putting  you  in  remembrance."  This  is  the  last 
motive,  drawn  from  the  necessity  of  often  preaching 
and  writing;  otherwise  how  should  they  be  stirred 
up  ?  Wherein  we  may  consider  two  things ;  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  ministry,  and  the  nature  of  that  duty. 

For  the  former,  there  must  be  remembrancers, 
that  by  them  salvation  may  be  conveyed  to  us ;  by 
them  as  instnmients,  not  of  them  as  principals. 
They  do  not  give  that  of  themselves,  which  the 
Lord  doth  give  by  them.  He  said  to  his  ministers, 
Bring  forth  the  best  robe,  Luke  xv.  22.  Though 
God  gives  you  the  robe  of  salvation,  yet  by  their 
hands.  But  you  think  you  have  pick-locks  to  open 
heaven-doors,  though  they  be  not  opened  by  us. 
Joha  is  the  voice  of  the  crier,  Christ  is  the  Word 
that  doth  cry :  he  that  despiseth  the  voice  of  the 
crier,. despiseth  the  crier  himself.  Now  this  neces- 
sity is  not  of  infallibility,  but  of  order:  God  can 
save  us  without  it,  but  he  doth  not.  John  Baptist 
must  give  water,  or  Christ  will  give  no  blood.  "  How 
shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard  ?  and  how  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher  ?" 
Rom.  X.  14.  Tlicy  must  needs  forget,  that  have 
none  to  put  them  in  remembrance.  A  people  is 
never  nearer  their  woe,  than  when  they  suspend 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


their  preachers ;  when  they  say  to  their  prophets, 
"  PropheBj-  not,"  Micah  ii.  6.  Thecity  is  in  hazard 
when  they  have  tied  up  the  alarm  bell.  News  came 
to  a  town  once  and  again,  that  the  enemy  was  ap- 
proaching :  well,  lie  did  not  approach.  Hereupon 
in  anger  they  enacted  a  law,  that  no  man  on  pain 
of  death  should  bring  again  such  rumours,  as  the 
news  of  an  enemy.  Not  long  after  the  enemy  came 
indeed  ;  besieged,  assaulted,  and  sacked  the  town  : 
of  whose  ruins  nothing  remains  but  this  proverbial 
epitaph.  Here  stood  a  town  that  was  destroyed  with 
silence.  We  have  too  many  such  towns;  God  keep 
them  from  such  a  destruction. 

For  the  other,  everj-  true  minister  is  a  remem- 
brancer. "  If  thou  put  the  brethren  in  remembrance 
of  these  things,  thou  shall  be  a  good  minister  of 
Jesus  Christ,"  1  Tim.  iv.  6.  "  Of  these  things  put 
them  in  remembrance,"  2  Tim.  ii.  14.  It  is  a  civil 
term,  jiroper  to  civil  officers :  "  Jehoshaphat  the  son 
of  Ahilud  was  recorder,"  2  Sam.  viii.  16.  There  is 
mention  made  of  "  Joah,  the  son  of  Asaph,  the  re- 
corder," Isa.  xxx\'i.  22.  The  recorder  is  a  prime 
office,  well  known  in  this  city.  This  the  apostle  here 
naturalizeth  to  the  church,  and  signifies  ministers  to 
be  recorders.  This  remembrancing,  or  recording,  is 
not  a  publication  at  random,  but  a  commemoration, 
or  a  fetching  back  of  some  forgotten  thing.  The 
proper  principle  from  whence  it  proceeds,  is  no  other 
faculty  of  the  soul  but  the  memorative.  The  proper 
object  is  not  occurrences  of  all  sorts,  but  occurrences 
past. 

You  see  now  a  preacher's  errand ;  it  is  not  a  new 
invention,  but  an  ancient  record  enrolled  in  the 
menioiy ;  as  St.  Jude  speaks  of  "  the  faith  which  was 
once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  ver.  3.  Once,  not  so 
much  at  one  season,  as  in  respect  of  the  perfection : 
sn  given  once,  that  it  needs  never  be  given  again. 
We  invent  no  novelties,  but  remember  you  of  that 
which  was  delivered  to  us.  "That  good  thing  which 
was  committed  unto  thee,  keep,"  2  Tim.  i.  14.  That 
which  was  intrusted  to  thee,  not  invented  by  thee  ; 
which  thou  hast  received,  not  conceived;  whereof 
thou  art  not  a  founder,  but  a  keeper.  (Lyrinens.) 
Yea,  Christ  himself  added  no  new  precepts  to  the 
law,  but  revived  and  explained  the  old.  Therefore 
he  used  to  say,  "  It  is  wTitten ;"  and  that  written  law 
he  expounded.  But  it  is  objected,  "  A  new  com- 
mandment I  give  unto  you,"  John  xiii.  34.  This 
was  not  new  in  itself,  but  rather  renewed  ;  there 
being  the  addition  of  a  new  Spirit,  that  helps  our 
infirmities.  For,  "  I  write  no  new  commandment 
unto  you,  but  an  old  commandment  which  ye  had 
from  the  beginning,"  1  John  ii.  7-  But  the  preach- 
ing of  faith  is  called  a  new  righteousness.  I  answer, 
it  is  not  a  contrarj'  righteousness  to  that  the  law  re- 
quired, but  a  diflercnt  conveyance  of  righteousness. 
Both  require  a  righteousness ;  the  law  an  inherent, 
the  gospel  an  impul  ed  righteousness.  The  decalogue, 
without  contradiction,  is  still  that  magna  charta,  to 
which  as  their  common  principle  all  doctrinal  con- 
clusions are  reducible.  The  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter  is.  Fear  God,  and  keep  his  commandments; 
for  therein  is  the  whole  duty  of  man,  Eccl.  xii.  13. 
In  arithmetic,  when  we  once  pass  the  number  of 
ten,  the  latter  numbers,  though  multiplied  to  mil- 
lions of  millions,  are  but  compounded  resumptions 
and  repetitions  of  the  former.  When  the  works  of 
God  were  crowned  with  their  Makei-'s  approbation. 
Behold,  it  is  very  good;  all  the  inventions  of  men 
were  but  surveys  and  discoveries,  all  actions  but 
imitations.  "  There  is  no  new  thing  under  (he  sun. 
The  thing  that  hath  been,  it  is  that  which  shall  be. 
Is  there  any  thing  whereof  it  mav  be  said,  See,  this 
IS  new?  it  hath  been  alreadv  of  old  time,  which  was 


before  us,"  Eccl.  i.  9,  10.  All  are  but  remembrances 
of  his  work,  but  rehearsals  of  his  praise.  So  after  the 
full  and  perfect  deliver)'  of  God's  word,  all  praises 
are  but  like  the  105th,  the  106th,  and  the  lO/th 
Psalms ;  rehearsal  psalms :  or,  as  David  esi)ecially 
entitleth  the  38th  Psalm,  Memorandum;  "A  Psalm 
of  David,  to  bring  to  remembrance."  All  prayers, 
but  like  the  Levite's  in  the  9th  of  Nchemiah';  re- 
hearsal prayers.  All  sermons,  but  like  Stephen's  in 
the  7th  of  the  Acts ;  rehearsal  sermons. 

But  there  are  some  that  think  to  disparage  all 
sermons,  and  shift  off  hearing  with  this  objection, 
Nothing  can  be  said  but  that  nath  been  said.  And 
when  any  good  instruction  is  commended,  they  think 
by  this  exception  to  disgrace  it.  Grant  that  all .  is 
the  same  for  the  matter;  yet  for  the  method,  I  am 
sure  there  are  many  things  now  spoken  that  were  never 
sijoken  before.  Some  of  later  times  have  averred, 
that  all  manner  of  usury  is  lawful :  this  was  never 
said  before.  The  devil  himself  durst  not  have  been 
so  impudent,  as  to  have  broached  this  in  those 
ancient  and  purer  times.  Others  have  published, 
that  tenths  are  not  due  to  the  church,  ex  jure  divinn: 
now  for  fourteen  hundred  years  after  Christ  this  was 
never  spoken.  The  church  would  have  denied  her 
blessing  to  such  a  son,  yea,  refused  him  for  her  son, 
that  should  have  said  it.  As  Christ  said  in  the  case 
of  unjust  divorce,  "  From  the  beginning  it  was  not 
not  so,"  Matt.  xis.  8.  We  see  opinions  newly  broach- 
ed, that  were  never  heard  of  before.  There  are  daily 
productions  of  new  acts,  never  done  before.  The 
blowing  up  of  a  state  with  gunpowder,  whosoever  _ 
speaks  of  it,  speaks  of  a  thing  never  spoken  of  before.  ■ 

Can  yourselves  think  new  thoughts,  speak  new  words,  i 

execute  new  acts  ;  and  yet  cannot  we  preach  new 
sermons  ?  Is  there  a  necessity,  that  all  suggestions 
of  God's  Spu-it,  and  contemplation  of  man,  must  be 
disgraced  for  being  old  ?  Indeed  we  desire  to  tell 
you  of  the  old  righteousness,  but  we  arc  fain  to  win 
your  nice  and  curious  attentions  by  new  forms  and 
methods.  The  good  scribe  bringeth  out  of  liis  trea- 
sure things  new  and  old.  Matt.  xiii.  52.  What  careth 
a  wise  man  whether  the  balm  be  new  or  old,  so  his  ; 

wound  be  cured  by  it  ?    Let  it  be  old  or  new,  a  pre-  ! 

sent  instruction,  or  a  repetition,  it  is  sufficient  if  it  ) 

may  profit  your  souls. 

To  conclude,  all  our  sermons  are  but  remembrances, 
and  ourselves  remembrancers.  We  can  do  no  more, 
we  can  do  no  less.  "  We  cannot  but  speak  the  things 
which  we  have  seen  and  heard,"  Acts  iv.  20.  We 
cannot ;  not  that  it  is  absolutely  impossible :  but  first 
for  outward  congruity  of  reason  and  law  ;  for  we 
can  do  what  we  may  do  :  and  then  for  inward  reso- 
lution ;  the  word  being  as  burning  fire  shut  up  in 
our  bones,  that  makes  us  weary  of  forbearing,  Jer. 
sx.  9 ;  or  like  new  wine,  which  if  it  have  no  vent, 
will  burst  the  vessels,  Job  xxxii.  19.  I  cannot,  that 
is,  I  will  not :  love  as  strong  as  death,  necessitates 
me  ;  I  can  die,  I  cannot  hold  my  peace.  Howsoever 
I  will  speak  ;  "  If  I  perish,  I  perish,"  Esth.  iv.  16. 
There  is  great  need.  Satan's  remembrancers  are 
abroad  in  every  comer :  mark  how  they  vouch  their 
precedents.  The  adversaries  of  Jerusalem  slander 
her  to  Artaxerxes,  that  she  is  a  rebellious  city,  sedi- 
tious, and  hurtful  to  princes  and  provinces,  Ezra  iv. 
15.  The  Jews  coloured  their  murder  with  a  legal 
proceeding ;  "  We  have  a  law,  and  by  our  law  lie 
ouglit  to  die,"  John  xix.  7-  These  instruments  of 
the  devil  speak,  and  shall  we  hold  our  peace?  Do 
they  remember  you  of  carnal  things,  and  shall  not 
we  remember  you  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ?  The  silence  of 
a  remembrancer  in  the  king's  exchequer,  may  dimin- 
ish the  king's  revenues;  and  by  the  same  fault,  we 
may  shorten  the  Lord's  eomings-in.   It  is  true,  indeed. 


Ver.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


143 


that  his  glory  can  find  other  issues :  but  to  our  shame : 
If  thou  hold  thy  peace,  God  will  send  deliverance 
another  way  ;  but  thou  and  thy  father's  house  shall 
be  destroyed,  Esth.  iv.  14.  No,  pray  you  for  us,  that 
the  door  of  utterance  may  be  opened  unto  us  :  yea. 
Lord,  do  thou  open  our  lips,  and  our  mouth  shall 
show  forth  thy  praise.  Our  hearts  shall  meditate, 
our  lips  shall  speak  :  and  may  the  words  of  our  lips, 
and  the  meditations  of  our  hearts,  be  always  accept- 
able in  thy  sight,  O  Lord,  our  strength  and  our 
R  edcemer. 


Vehse  14. 

A'ltoiihig  that  short!;/  I  must  put  off  this  my  tabernacle, 
even  as  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  shoiced  me. 

The  apostle  proceeds  to  amplify  the  reason,  why  he 
so  plied  them  with  the  remembrance  of  these  things. 
My  life  is  but  short.  Why  so  ?  Because  I  am  old. 
Yet  an  old  man  may  wear  out  some  years.  Nay,  but 
I  know  it  is  short.  How  can  this  be  kno\ra  ?  Yes, 
bv  God's  revelation ;  as  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath 
showed  me.  I  must  die,  I  must  die  shortly,  I  Icnow 
I  must  die  shortly  ;  my  Saviour  Christ  hath  told  me 
so  :  therefore  pardon  me,  though  I  inculcate,  and 
beat  so  much  upon  one  string ;  it  is  a  lesson  worth 
your  learning,  and  I  have  but  a  small  time  to  teach 
it  you.     "  Knowing  that  shortly  I  must,"  &c. 

"  I  know ;"  not  perhaps  precisely  the  day,  or  the 
place,  or  the  manner.  But  death  is  not  a  stranger  to 
my  thoughts  ;  my  account  is  cast  up,  I  am  ready.  I 
know. 

"  That  I  must  put  off,"  or  lay  down ;  willingly, 
not  on  compulsion ;  not  pulled  down,  but  laid  down. 
It  is  a  metaphor  drawn  from  a  wager ;  the  faithful 
man  doth  wager,  and  pawn  his  soul  to  God. 

"  This  my  tabernacle :"  not  my  castle,  or  strong 
tower,  or  standing  house  ;  but  a  tent,  a  movable,  a 
tabernacle. 

"  Shortly  :"  the  time  is  not  so  far  off  that  I  dream 
not  of  it ;  not,  likely  to  happen  in  another  age,  and 
creeping  on  by  slow  degrees.  Tlie  sun  is  not  de- 
scending, but  ready  to  set ;  the  messenger  knocks  at 
the  door  ;  the  clock  runs  upon  the  last  minute  ;  tlie 
epilogue  is  on  the  stage ;  the  taper  at  the  last 
glimpse ;  the  oak  ftdling  under  the  latest  blow  of  the 
axe.     It  is  at  hand  ;  shortly. 

"  As  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  showed  me."  I 
dare  take  his  word:  he  that  died  for  me,  hath  told 
me  that  I  now  shall  cUe  for  him.  It  is  a  shame  for 
me  folic  unprepared,  when  such  a  Prophet  hath  cer- 
tified me ;  both  in  prediction,  and  example,  showing 
the  way. 

He  speaks  of  an  assurance  ;  I  know.  What  doth 
he  know  ?  That  I  must  die ;  part  with  this  taberna- 
cle. How  must  he  part  with  it  ?  Put  it  off.  When 
must  he  put  it  off?  Shortlv.  How  is  he  sure  of 
that  ?  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ'hath  showed  me.  The 
whole  may  be  distinguished  into  three  generals  : 

A  resolution,  I  know. 

A  dissolution,  I  must  shortly  put  off  this  my  taber- 
nacle. 

A  revelation,  As  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  showed 
me. 

The  resolution  is  entire  in  itself;  an  infallible 
certainty  of  inevitable  death ;  which  is  manifest  to 
him,  both  by  the  common  condition  of  nature,  and  a 
more  sensible  impression  of  vicinity  :  a  thing  that 
grows  fast  upon  him.     I  know. 

Tlie  dissolution  is  observable  in  divers  circum- 
stances :  it  is, 


Personal,  I,  though  an  apostle  of  Christ. 

Necessary,  I  must,  there  is  no  remedy. 

Voluntary,  Put  off,  willingly,  without  snatching 
from  me. 

Instant,  Shortly,  the  decree  cannot  be  suspended. 

The  revelation  or  premonition  of  his  death,  is  re- 
ferred either, 

To  the  kind  and  manner  of  his  death  ;  or. 

To  the  lime  prefixed  of  his  dying. 

'■  Knowing  :"  this  is  his  resolution.  The  assur- 
ance of  unavoidable  death,  is  a  doctrine  well  known: 
cvc'iy  one  can  say  with  Peter,  I  know.  Nothing  is 
more  frequently  repeated,  nothing  is  more  readily 
believed.  Cogila  te  mortuum,  quern  scis  necessitate 
moriturum,  Think  thyself,  as  it  were,  already  dead, 
whom  thou  knowest  necessarily  to  die.  (Bern.)  It 
is  fit  that  death  should  effect  death;  the  spirilual, 
a  corporal ;  the  death  of  sin,  a  death  of  punishment  : 
a  voluntary  death  brings  a  necessary  death.  (Bed.) 
Therefore,  saith  Chrysostom,  let  us  make  a  virtue  of 
necessity  ;  let  us  offer  God  that  for  a  gift,  which  we 
are  bound  to  pay  as  a  debt.  This  is  a  nard  and  woe- 
ful necessity.  Man  lost  that  life  to  which  he  was 
ordained,  and  found  the  death  to  which  he  was  not 
ordained.  (Anselm.)  All  men  die  in  time,  some  be- 
fore their  time.  The  over-much  wicked  dies  before 
his  time,  Eccl.  vii.  17;  in  a  season  which  the  con- 
stitution of  his  nature  doth  not  threaten.  Thus 
sometimes  die  the  godly,  that  they  may  be  no  longer 
vexed  of  the  guilty ;  often  the  guilty,  that  they  may 
no  longer  vex  the  godly.  This  necessity  all  must 
undergo,  hut  with  a  diverse  event.  To  the  wicked, 
death  is  the  beginning  of  sorrow;  to  the  elect,  the 
end  of  pain.  The  death  of  the  wicked,  saith  Ber- 
nard, is  evil  in  the  loss  of  this  world,  worse  in  the 
separation  of  life,  worst  of  all  in  the  torture  of 
quenchless  fire.  Death  to  the  godly  is  good  in  the 
cessation  of  pains,  better  in  the  renovation  of  all 
things,  best  in  the  immutability  of  happiness.  There- 
fore the  saint  that  desires  to  be  dissolved,  and  to  be 
with  Christ,  that  man  doth  not  only  die  patiently, 
but  he  lives  patiently,  and  (Ues  joyfully.  He  loves 
Jesus  Christ  but  a  little,  that  doth  not  rejoice  to  go 
unto  him. 

But  in  this  point,  in  vain  I  spend  my  breath,  to 
tell  you  that  I  and  you  all  shall  lose  our  breath  :  you 
know  it.  Tell  the'  oppressor.  Thou  shalt  die;  he 
answers,  I  know  it.  Dost  thou  know  it,  and  wilt 
still  live  like  a  Christian  Jew,  extorting  from  thy 
brother?  How  shall  Christ  (whom  thou  supposes! 
thy  brother)  give  thee  thy  hope,  when  thou  takest 
away  from  him  his  substance  ?  Tell  the  worldling, 
Tliou  shalt  die  ;  he  says,  I  know  it.  Dost  thou  know 
that  thou  must  leave  the  world,  and  yet  dost  cleave 
to  the  world  ?  Dost  thou  know  thou  must  lose  the 
possession  of  earth,  and  wilt  thou  not  assure  to  thy 
soul  the  fruition  of  heaven  ?  The  drunkard  says,  he 
knows  he  must  die,  he  can  sing  you  songs  to  that 
purpose.  Doth  he  know  it,  and  yet  keep  his  body 
so  perpetually  dnmk,  that  his  soul  hath  no  time 
soberly  to  bethink  itself?  Is  the  gate  of  heaven  so 
broad  and  \x-idc,  that  he  can  reel  into  it  ?  Drunken- 
ness is  no  way  to  blessedness ;  as  the  poet  wittily 
epitaphed  upon  a  dead  drunkard,  who  lived  in  the 
love  of  wine,  and  died  in  the  strength  of  it : 

•  If  by  the  pot  to  heaven  he  got, 
This  I  dare  boldly  say ; 
He  was  the  last  which  that  way  past, 
And  first  wliich  found  that  way. 

Tell  the  contentious.  Thou  shalt  die ;  he  answers,  I 
know  it.  And  yet  viilt  thou  reserve  war  with  thy 
neighbour,  peace  with  the  devil  ?  Shall  a  turbu- 
lent spirit  ever  enrer  that  city  of  peace  ?    Tell  the 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  /. 


(Icec-ivor,  Tlioii  shalt  die,  with  all  thy  frauds :  I  know 
it.  Dost  thou  know  it  ?  Why  then  is  thy  tongue 
Satan's  anvil,  whereon  he  sits  forging  his  lies  ?  Why 
dost  thou  swear  away  thy  salvation  before  thou  hast 
it?  Tell  the  adulterer,  Thou  shalt  die:  I  know  it. 
Why  then  wilt  thou  be  one  flesh  with  a  harlot,  which 
must  botli  rot  under  the  clods  ;  and  not  rather  one 
spirit  with  Christ,  who  reigneth  above  the  clouds  ? 
Do  we  know  we  must  die,  and  yet  run  such  lewd 
courses?  We  know  that  we  must  die;  let  us  so  live 
in  faithful  obedience,  that  we  may  know  we  shall 
live  for  evermore  with  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Shortly  I  must  put  off"  this  my  tabernacle."  Tliis 
is  the  dissolution,  wherein  I  considered  four  circum- 
stances. First,  the  personality  ;  /,  though  a  preacher, 
though  an  apostle,  one  that  have  seen  the  Lord  Jesus 
in  the  face  ;  /.  Next,  the  necessity,  I  miint :  there 
is  no  evasion,  no  prevention :  I  must  lose  a  taberna- 
cle, no  mansion,  a  thing  not  worth  keeping.  Thirdly, 
the  liberty,  voluntariness,  and  willing  heart  of  the 
apostle  to  do  this  ;  which  he  calls  a  deposition,  or 
'".V'"o  ''<"'«  of  his  tabernacle :  it  is  not  a  thing  vio- 
lently extorted  from  me,  but  laid  down  \\ith  a  quiet 
and  temperate  mind.  Lastly,  the  instance  and  vi- 
cinity of  it ;  it  is  not  long  a  coming,  but  approach- 
ing so  near,  that  I  see  it  and  feel  it :  the  sands  are 
almost  out  of  the  glass ;  but  a  few  moments,  and  I 
depart ;  shortly. 

I  must :  it  is  personal ;  I.  The  apostle  out  of  that 
general  necessity  wisely  collects  a  particular,  a  proper 
conclusion  to  himself,  I.  These  singular  deductions 
out  of  universal  propositions,  are  profitable  to  men, 
and  acceptable  to  God.  All  men  are  sinners  ;  and  I 
am  the  chief,  saith  Paul.  All  men  are  mortal ;  and 
I  must  shortly  die,  saith  Peter.  No  degree  of  men  is 
privileged  from  death ;  not  a  patriarch,  not  a  pro- 
phet,  not  an  apostle,  could  plead  exemption  :  "  Your 
fathers,  where  are  they?  and  the  prophets,  do  they 
live  for  ever?"  Zech.  i.  5.  Abraham  a  great  patri- 
arch, Moses  a  great  projjhet,  David  a  great  prince, 
Samuel  a  great  priest,  John  a  great  evangelist,  Peter 
a  great  apostle  ;  where  are  they  ?  Their  souls  live 
in  bliss,  their  bodies  arc  dead  in  the  grave.  God 
doth  often  take  away  his  ministers,  and  that  for  three 
reasons : 

1.  For  their  own  sins ;  as  Nadab  and  Abihu  :  they 
offered  strange  fire  before  the  Lord,  and  there  went 
out  fire  from  the  Lord  that  devoured  them.  Lev. 
X.  2.  They  offered  strange  fire,  and  they  suffered 
strange  fire.  They  sent  up  hellish  impiety  toward 
heaven,  therefore  hell  came  out  of  heaven  upon  them. 
So  Ilophni  and  Phinehas,  those  uncorrected  sons  of 
Eli;  in  one  day  they  died  both  of  them,  I  Sam.  ii. 
34.  They  desperately  offended,  the  father  too  mildly 
reprehended  ;  "  they  hearkened  not,  because  the  Lord 
would  slay  them,"  ver  25.  So  Zech.  xi.  18,  "Three 
shepherds  also  I  cut  off  in  one  month ;  and  my  soul 
loathed  them,  and  their  soul  also  abhorred  me.""  This 
God  doth  for  the  good  of  the  people  ;  that  such  might 
perish  themselves,  and  not  destroy  others  by  (heir 
bad  examides  and  unclean  course  tif  life. 

2.  For  the  sins  of  the  people.  As  Solomon  savs. 
For  the  sins  of  the  people  there  shall  be  many 
princes ;  so  we  may  say,  For  the  sins  of  the  penple 
there  shall  be  many  priests.  God  smites  the  sliepherd 
when  he  means  to  scatter  the  sheep;  he  puts  out  the 
light  when  he  purposcth  to  leave  men  in  the  dark. 
This  was  Paul's  resolution,  "To  abide  in  the  flesh  is 
more  needful  for  you,"  Phil.  i.  24.  For  myself  it  is 
better  to  be  dissolved,  and  to  be  with  Christ  ;  but  to 
remain  in  the  flesh  is  better  for  vou.  This  may  be 
better  for  my  wife,  for  my  children,  for  mv  friends, 
for  those  that  depend  upon  me;  but  I  mind  none  of 
Ihosc,  but  it  is  better  for  you. 


3.  For  his  own  glorj%  lest  what  belongs  to  God 
should  be  ascribed  to  man.  Christ  cannot  endure 
that  that  should  be  attributed  to  Paul  and  Barnabas 
which  pertains  to  him  :  as  the  superstitious  Lystrians, 
that  called  Barnabas  Jupiter,  and  Paul  Mercurv, 
when  they  brought  garlands,  and  would  have  done 
sacrifice  to  them.  Acts  xiv.  12.  Princes  use  to  change 
their  deputies  often,  as  the  Turk  does  his  bashaws, 
lest  continuance  should  bring  them  to  be  taken  for 
princes.  So  God  takes  away  often  a  good  minister, 
lest  they  being  too  confident  of  the  ser\-ant,  should 
forget  the  Lord.  There  are  some  sectaries,  that 
think  of  their  elders,  as  Simon  Magus  thought  of  the 
apostles,  that  they  can  give  the  Holy  Ghost.  They 
arrogate  to  the  instrument,  and  derogate  from  the 
Agent.  Let  him  speak  the  abortive  figments  of  his 
own  brain,  yet  their  superstitious  applause  is,  "  It  is 
the  voice  of  a  god,  and  not  of  a  man,"  Acts  xii.  22. 
Let  another  deduce  sound  conclusions  from  the  sacred 
truth,  and  justify  his  sober  assertions  from  the  unde- 
niable Scriptures ;  yet  because  the  man  is  not  accord- 
ing to  their  humour,  the  doctrine  shall  not  have  their 
honour.  They  must  choose  for  themselves,  a  minis- 
ter of  their  own  faction;  whereas  neither  prophets 
nor  apostles  were  chosen  by  the  people  :  the  sheep 
used  not  to  choose  their  own  shepherds.  Thus  these 
professors  out  of  their  wits,  hate  Rome  worse  than 
hell  ;  yet  meet  it,  and  congratulate  it,  in  the  same 
rank  superstition  another  way.  As  they  think  it 
enough  that  the  pope  hath  decreed  it ;  so  these  think 
it  enough  that  their  elders  have  affirmed  it.  Thus 
the  people  made  bishop,  and  their  elder  a  pope. 
When  men  shall  thus  deify  therr  minister,  no  man"c} 
if  God  nullify  the  man. 

Now,  seeing  we  must  die,  do  you  pray  for  us,  that 
we  may  do  your  souls  good  while  we  live.  Pray,  and 
make  supplication  for  all  saints;  "and  forme,  that 
utterance  may  be  given  unto  me,"  Eph.  vi.  18,  19. 
Where  the  clergy  may  learn  humility,  and  the  peo- 
ple charity  :  we  humility,  that  we  need  your  prayers  ; 
you  charity,  to  pray  for  us.  Weak  ones  pray  with 
us,  malicious  ones  pray  against  us,  covetous  ones  prey 
upon  us,  few  pray  for  us.  Examine  your  consciences  ; 
liow  seldom  do  we  find  place  and  memoiT  in  your 
prayers !  Perhaps,  morn  and  even  you  remember 
yourselves,  but  when  is  the  preacher  in  your  thoughts  ? 
Sure  you  have  not  found  sweetness  by  him,  or  else 
you  could  not  forget  him.  If  we  forget  you,  let  our 
right  hand  forget  her  cunning.  We  will  pray  for 
you,  do  you  pray  for  us,  and  our  Mediator  Jesus 
Christ  pray  for  us  all. 

Again,  seeing  our  life  is  so  short,  do  you  apprehend 
the  means  while  it  lasteth.  Zacharias  may  be  struck 
dumb :  sickness  may  suspend  us  for  a  season,  but 
death  doth  silence  us  for  ever.  Hear  therefore  while 
the  voice  soundeth;  To-day  if  ye  will  hear  my  voice 
harden  not  your  hearts,  Heb.  iii.  15.  Though  I  trust 
God  will  never  fail  you  successively  of  a  diligent 
pastor;  and  we  wish  that  those  who  in  time  come 
after  us,  may  in  worth  go  before  us ;  that  as  they 
succeed  us  in  place,  they  may  exceed  us  in  grace. 
But  because  certainly  either  death  must  take  us  from 
you,  or  you  from  us  ;  as  it  is  our  part,  while  we  keep 
on  our  tabernacles,  to  take  pains ;  so  let  this  be  your 
part,  while  you  have  ears  to  hear,  hear;  while  you 
have  hearts  to  believe,  receive ;  while  you  have  hands 
to  work,  obey;  that  while  there  is  a  Saviour  in  hea- 
ven, you  may  be  blessed. 

I  must :  it  is  necessary,  there  is  no  remedy,  but  I 
must  lay  down  my  tabernacle.  If  heaven  were  to  be 
had  upon  earth,  saints  should  not  dwell  in  taberna- 
cles. But  it  is  observable  of  our  aposlle,  St.  Peter, 
at  the  transfiguration  of  Christ,  even  whilst  he  had 
not  knowledge  enough  to  discern  of  Christ's  kingdom. 


Ver.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER 


145 


that  it  was  in  heaven,  and  was  mistaken  in  the  place, 
("  It  is  good  for  us  to  be  here,")  yet  he  knew  thus 
much,  that  ctcmity  was  not  to  be  had  upon  earth ; 
and  therefore  he  spake  but  of  tabernacles,  "  Let  us 
build  here  three  tabernacles,"  Matt.  xvii.  4.  Let 
us  build.  AVcll,  men  may  build.  Yea,  let  us  build 
here.  But  what  ?  Not  mansions,  but  tabernacles. 
Even  in  the  midst  of  that  unspeakable  glory,  that 
little  map  of  blessedness,  that  abridgement  of  joy 
and  glimpse  of  heaven,  he  speaks  but  of  tabernacles ; 
TuUting  a  difference  between  Mount  Tabor  and  Mount 
Zion.  "  If  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were 
dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of  God,  an  house  not 
made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens,"  2  Cor.  v. 
1.  He  calls  it  not  the  man,  but  the  house ;  not  of 
stone,  but  of  mud  walls,  earthly  ;  not  a  mansion,  but 
a  tabernacle ;  not  such  as  God  made,  but  ourselves 
marred,  our  house ;  not  abolished,  but  dissolved : 
then,  we  have ;  not  expectantly,  many  years  after 
our  dissolution,  but  we  presently  have  ;  not  a  taber- 
nacle, but  a  mansion ;  not  to  be  built,  but  built  al- 
ready ;  not  by  man,  but  by  God,  a  building  of  God, 
made  without  hands ;  not  transient,  but  eternal  j  not 
on  earth,  nor  in  the  air,  but  in  the  supremest  place, 
the  heaven  of  heavens.  This  leaving  tne  tabernacle, 
signifies  a  migration,  not  only  from  tlie  earth,  but  to 
the  heavens.  The  loss  of  mortality  precedes,  the 
gain  of  immortality  follows.  "  If  a  man  die,  shall 
ne  live  again?  all  the  days  of  my  appointed  time 
will  I  wait,  till  my  change  come,"  Job  xiv.  14.  The 
book  of  Job  plentifully  abounds  with  two  things, 
impressions  of^mortality,  and  instructions  of  morta- 
lity. It  teaeheth  us  that  we  must  die,  it  teacheth  us 
how  we  should  live.  Both  are  propounded  and 
compounded  in  that  verse.  A  man  must  die  and  live 
again,  there  is  no  mortality  ;  therefore  all  his  ap- 
pointed time  let  him  watch,  there  is  for  morality. 
There  are  four  remarkable  circumstances  in  it ;  a  dis- 
solution, restitution,  resolution,  revolution.  "  If  a  man 
die,"  there  is  a  dissolution  ;  "  he  shall  live  again," 
there  is  a  restitution ;  "  all  my  days  will  I  watch," 
there  is  a  resolution;  "  till  my  change  come,"  there 
is  a  revolution. 

Man  is  by  generation  dust,  by  degeneration  the 
srshes  of  that  dust,  mere  rubbish.  The  soul  in  the 
body,  as  a  prisoner  in  a  dungeon,  receives  all  through 
a  grate.  The  body  is  but  like  St.  Peter's  prison,  and 
death  as  the  angel  that  frees  us.  "  Fear  not,  little 
flock  ;  for  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give 
you  the  kingdom,"  Luke  xii.  32.  Fear  not,  though 
you  be  now  tossed  about  in  tabernacles,  I  will  gather 
you  to  a  kingdom.  Israel  was  a  flock  removed  often, 
from  Canaan  to  Egypt,  from  Egypt  to  the  wilderness, 
but  was  at  last  folded  in  Judea.  We  are  now  often 
removed  in  tabernacles ;  we  shall  have  an  abiding 
place.  Now  I  go  to  the  Father,  saith  Christ,  John 
xvi.  Christ  led  us,  we  must  follow  him.  He  went 
to  his  Father  three  ways.  1.  The  way  of  his  pas- 
sion ;  a  sorrowful  way.  2.  The  way  of  his  resurrec- 
tion; a  joyful  way.  .3.  Tlie  way  of  his  ascension; 
a  glorious  way.  "  God  is  gone  up  with  a  shout,  the 
Lord  with  the  sound  of  a  trumpet,"  Psal.  xlvii.  5. 
All  this  was  for  our  sake  ;  he  entered  into  heaven, 
to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us,  Heb.  ix.  24. 
By  those  three  works  of  Christ,  we  have  three  spe- 
cial benefits ;  all  expressed  by  Paul,  Eph.  ii.  5,  G. 
By  his  passion  he  hath  quickened  us ;  by  his  resur- 
rection, raised  us  up :  by  his  ascension,  made  us  sit 
in  heavenly  places.  Now  I  go  to  the  Father.  Now; 
there  is  the  brevity  of  (his  life,  it  is  but  a  now.  I  go ; 
there  is  the  mutability  of  the  world,  it  fades  like 
grass.  To  the  Father  ;  there  is  the  glory  of  future 
blessedness,  to  be  with  God  himself-for  ever. 

Indeed  to  the  wicked  death  is  more  than  a  disso- 


lution, even  a  destruction  of  the  tabernacle.  O  death, 
how  bitter  is  the  remembrance  of  thee  to  a  man  of 
prosperity!  Ecelus.  xli.  I.  It  is  terrible,  not  only 
for  the  separation  of  his  delights  ;  but  for  the  not  se- 
paration of  his  sins.  Beholding  his  sins  with  amazed 
eyes,  he  cries  to  them,  O  give  me  one  hour's  liberty. 
When  he  shall  say  to  his  lusts,  covetousness,  pride, 
drunkenness.  Depart  from  me ;  and  they  shall  answer. 
No,  thou  hast  made  us,  we  are  thy  creatures  ;  we  will 
go  with  thee  to  judgment,  we  will  dwell  with  thee 
in  torment.  Let  him  fear  death,  that  desires  not  to 
be  with  Christ  :  and  let  him  refuse  going  to  Christ, 
that  hopes  not  for  mercy  of  Christ. 

But  to  the  faitliful,  the  grave  is  but  a  chamber; 
"  Come,  my  people,  enter  thou  into  thy  chambers," 
Isa.  xxvi.  20  :  but  a  bed  ;  "  They  shall  rest  in  their 
beds,"  Isa.  Ivii.  2 :  a  very  parlour,  v/here  the  Lord 
shuts  up  our  bodies  with  the  key  of  peace,  and  opens 
them  again  with  the  key  of  resurrection.  Unto  this 
hope  tlie  apostle  lifts  up  our  hearts  by  his  own 
example.  It  is  observable  that  to  the  two  chief 
apostles,  Paul  and  Peter,  God  did  afford  this  privi- 
lege, in  this  mortal  life  to  have  a  taste  of  heaven's 
joys,  that  they  might  feelingly  and  eflcctually  raise 
up  our  affections  to  that  supernal  city.  Paul  was 
rapt  up  to  the  third  heaven,  and  so  ravished  with 
this  joy,  that  he  knew  not  whether  he  had  his  body 
about  him  or  not  :  "  Whether  in  the  body,  or 
out  of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell,"  2  Cor.  xii.  2.  And 
methinks,  when  he  comes  down  again  out  of  heaven, 
he  writes  so  contemptibly  of  these  worldly  things, 
that  he  calls  them  very  dross  and  dung.  Such  re- 
spect hath  any  man  of  all  things  under  tne  sun,  that 
hath  but  fasted  the  sweetness  of  paradise.  So  Peter, 
together  with  James  and  John,  on  Mount  Tabor, 
saw  a  glimpse  of  heaven.  They  beheld  it,  that  they 
might  preach  it;  preaching,  lift  up  our  hearts  to  it ; 
and  our  hearts  being  lifted  up  to  it,  might  be  blessed 
in  it.  On  purpose  tliey  were  showed  this  glory,  that 
they  might  inflame  our  affections  with  it.  Imagine 
that  it  were  possible  for  the  most  worldly  soul  here, 
fo  be  lifted  up  so  high  as  Paul ;  be  admitted  to  look 
into  paradise ;  to  see  that  glorious  society  of  saints 
and  angels,  and  so  much  of  that  beatifical  vision  as 
their  nature  is  capable  of:  and  from  thence  to  look 
down  again  upon  this  earth,  hanging  like  a  little 
clod  in  the  midst  of  the  world ;  and  see  so  many 
millions  of  men  busied  about  nothing,  like  ants  on  a 
molehill,  or  (lies  in  a  sun-beam  :  how  basely  would 
he  esteem  this  world,  and  contemn  that  which  is 
now  his  glory,  and  for  which  he  is  content  to  venture 
his  soul  !  Do  you  now  wonder  that  we  so  much 
commend  that  blessed  rest  ?  When  one  gazing  long 
on  Minerva's  picture,  another  asked  him  the  reason 
of  such  curious  speculation  ;  he  answered.  Oh  that 
thou  hadst  my  eyes !  So,  oh  that  you  had  St.  Peter's 
eyes  !  vou  would  not  admire  our  admiration. 
'  "  Put  ofT,"  or  lay  down.  It  is  also  voluntary. 
The  apostle  calls  himself  a  depositaiy,  that  hath  a 
jewel  committed  to  him  on  trust,  which  he  is  willing 
to  surrender.  A  man  that  hath  some  precious  trea- 
sure intrusted  to  him,  is  not  only  anxious  to  defend 
it  from  flic  violent  attempts  of  others,  or  from  their 
subtle  underminings;  but  is  also  troubled  in  himself 
with  some  invasion  upon  his  own  honesty,  by  a  cor- 
rupt desire  to  possess  it,  and  employ  it  at  his  own 
pleasure ;  and  never  finds  full  peace  from  these  re- 
lucfations,  till  the  proprietary  resume  it.  So  for  this 
sparkling  jewel,  our  soul,  which  lightens  our  night 
of  ignorance,  and  dark  body  of  earth,  lodging  in  our 
flesii,  we  are  exercised  with  a  continual  trouble  to 
preserve  our  life  from  sicknesses,  and  other  olTcnsivc 
violences ;  and  are  tempted  with  covetousness  to 
enlarge  our  term,  to  strengthen  our  tenure  and  state 


140 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Cl'AP.    I. 


in  it ;  ami  to  make  it  so  mucli  our  own,  as  lo  spend 
it  unthriftily  upon  lusts  and  surfeits :  and  we  have  no 
perfect  peace  till  the  Giver  receive  it  back,  till  we 
have  put  it  off  from  ourselves,  and  laid  it  up  in  God. 

He  doth  lay  it  down  being  called  for,  not  cast  it 
away  without  bidding:  that  were  not  to  lay  it  down, 
but  to  run  away  from  it.  God  says,  Thou  shalt  not 
kill :  if  thou  mayst  not  kill  another,  then  much  less 
thyself.  Sapiens  non  fiigere  debet  e  vita,  sed  ciire. 
(Sen.)  The  wise  man  doth  not  run  out  of  his  life, 
but  maturely  go  out.  This  life  is  a  w^arfare,  where 
God  hath  placed  some  in  the  foreward,  some  in  the 
rear,  some  in  the  wings,  others  in  the  main  battle  : 
every  man  hath  his  station,  and  must  not  depart 
from  it  without  his  nunc  dimiltis,  without  his  passjiort. 
Neither  light  of  nature,  nor  light  of  grace,  directs  a 
man  to  put  out  the  light  of  his  own  life. 

Not  nature.  Paul  calls  death  an  enemy:  now,  no 
man  loves  an  enemy  properly,  and  for  his  own  sake, 
so  far  as  he  is  an  enemy.  Homicida  in  ne,  inseptdlus 
abjiciatur,  saith  Seneca.  It  is  pity  any  hands  should 
bury  him,  whom  his  own  hands  have  slain.  We  may 
say  of  a  self-murderer,  as  it  was  sjiid  of  Cato ;  He 
slew  himself,  rather  tlian  he  would  say,  Ca?sar  hath 
saved  me  :  so  that  man  kills  himself,  lest  Christ 
should  save  him.  Cleombrotus  read  Plato's  Phajdo 
unadvisedly  ;  otherwise  he  would  not  have  destroyed 
a  mortal  body  to  make  way  for  an  immortal  soul. 
The  poet  by  that  natural  light  condenmcd  such 
attempts, 

Qui  sibi  letum, 
Jnsontes  peperere  menu. 

Quam  rellent  tetliere  in  alto, 
Nunc  el  pauperiem  el  duros  perferre  labores  ! 

Those  that  have  extricated  themselves  from  miseiy 
on  earth,  by  an  unnatural  violence  upon  themselves, 
if  they  might  be  restored  to  life  again,  they  W'ould 
endure  ten  thousand  times  more  with  patience.  God 
hath  tied  the  soul  and  body  together  with  such  a 
passionate  love,  that  they  cannot  pari  without  grief. 
Man  is  born  with  little  insensible  pain,  but  dies  with 
extreme  anguish.  If  the  wisdom  of  God  had  not 
interposed  tliat  let  to  timorous  nature,  there  would 
have  been  many  Lucretias,  Cleopatras,  Ahilhophels; 
so  many  wilful  funerals,  that  good  laws  should 
have  found  small  opportutiity  of  execution.  But  as 
God  would  have  our  birth  bitter  to  our  mothers,  that 
they  might  love  us  the  dearer ;  so  he  would  have 
our  death  bitter  to  ourselves,  that  we  might  the  more 
fear  to  hasten  it.  Man  saith,  it  is  a  miserable  pri- 
vation for  him,  that  hath  seen  the  stars,  the  sun  in 
his  glor\%  and  the  heavens  reconciled  with  the  fruit- 
ful earth,  both  sympathizing  in  our  benefit ;  for  that 
man  to  be  tumbled  into  a  silent  grave,  neither  seeing 
nor  seen,  incapable  of  comfort.  Now  what  nature 
loathes,  thy  own  sober  heart  dislikes,  and  God  detests, 
do  not  accomplish. 

Not  grace,  for  all  such  in  holy  writ  have  their 
brands ;  as  Ahithophel,  Saul,  Judas.  They  slew  in- 
deed evil  men,  but  after  a  w'orse  manner.  Our  Sa- 
viour's direction  was,  AVhen  you  arc  persecuted  in 
one  city,  (lee  into  the  next.  He  says  not,  Despatch 
yourselves  lest  your  enemies  triumph  over  yon,  nor 
get  others  to  do  it  that  you  may  escape  further  tor- 
ments ;  but  save  yourselves  by  flight,  run  not  out  of 
your  own  lives.  Non  recipio  animam,  ijU(E  me  notente 
cgreditur  de  lila.  (Sen.)  God  will  refuse  that  soul, 
which  leaves  the  body  before  himself  call  for  it.  It 
is  objected,  that 

Samson  did  this,  yet  he  is  reckoned  in  the  legend 
and  calendar  of  saints,  Hcb.  xi.  But  his  fact  can- 
not be  excused,  but  that  bv  Divine  revelation  it  was 
warranted;  unless  the  Spirit  of  God  did  infuse  this 


into  lum,  who  purposed  to  work  miracles  by  him. 
(August.)  He  prayed  to  the  Lord,  he  was  heard  of 
the  Lord  ;  therefore  I  doubt  not  but  his  motion  was 
divinely  inspired.  For  God  after  that  his  strength 
was  departed,  assisted  him  in  the  act.  Therefore,  as 
Augustine  says  of  Abraham's  offering  up  of  Isaac, 
that  W'hich  without  God's  conmaand  had  been  no  less 
than  madness,  when  God  commands  it,  proves  obe- 
dience. 

But  Razis  is  commended  for  this ;  he  "  fell  upon 
his  sword;  choosing  lather  to  die  manfully,"  &c. 
2  Mace.  xiv.  41,  42.  Even  that  commendation  is 
warrant  enough  to  rase  the  book  out  of  the  Scriptural 
canon.  But  he  called  upon  the  Lord  of  life  and  spirit 
to  restore  his  bowels  again.  Alas,  this  shall  be  com- 
mon to  the  ver)'  reprobates.  Yes,  but  he  died  nobly  : 
it  had  been  a  better  report  to  have  died  humbly.  He 
did  it,  saith  the  author,  manfully  :  and  I  do  not  say 
that  he  did  it  womanly.  It  was  a  great,  but  not  a 
good  deed;  far  more  Boman  than  Cliristian. 

But  those  virgins  in  the  sack  of  Rome,  that  to  pre- 
vent the  ravisher  slew  themselves,  are  praised.  St. 
Augustine  refutes  those  praises:  It  is  an  error  to 
think,  that  whatsoever  is  done  on  us,  is  also  done  of  us. 
For  then  were  chastity  a  virtue  of  the  body,  not  of 
the  mind.  The  polluted  mind  makes  the  body  stain- 
ed, though  it  did  never  act ;  but  the  body  abused  by 
violence  camiot  make  the  unconsenting  mind  guilty. 
Was  Tamar  to  be  condemned,  because  Amnon  did  de- 
file her?  It  is  consent  that  maketh  the  sin.  As  Augus- 
tine said  of  Tarquin  and  Lucretia,  There  were  two  per- 
sons in  the  action,  yet  but  one  offender  ;  the  other 
being  not  an  actor,  but  a  sufferer.  Why  then  chd  Lu- 
cretia kill  herself?  If  she  were  unchaste,  why  is  she 
honoured  ?  if  she  were  chaste,  why  was  she  murdered? 
If  that  were  no  unehastity,  where  a  woman  is  ravish- 
ed ;  then  this  is  no  justice,  wherein  a  chaste  woman 
is  punished.  But  saith  the  matron  or  virgin.  If  I  be 
I'avished  and  suitIvc,  the  world  \\  ill  say  it  was  done 
with  my  will.  What  world?  That  which  knows 
nothing  else  but  wickedness.  Howsoever,  David's 
testimony  is  sufficient  ;  Lord,  thou  knowest  mine 
innocence.  But  it  is  opposed,  that  the  fear  of  death 
and  cruelty  may  make  them  consent  to  these  constu- 
prations.  How  can  they  tell  what  extremity  may 
work  upon  them  ?  WHiat  then  ?  Is  it  better  to 
commit  a  present  murder,  than  hazard  a  future  rape? 
Shall  we  perpetrate  a  certain  sin,  to  prevent  an  un- 
certain shame  ?  Shall  we  do  that  we  cannot  live  to 
repent,  to  avoid  that  we  may  live  to  repent?  Oh  let 
them,  and  let  themselves  alone  that  they  may  recover 
themselves ;  before  they  go  whence  they  shall  not 
return,  even  to  the  land  of  darkness  and  shadow  of 
death.  Job  x.  20,  21.  St.  Augustine  decides  it;  Do 
not  you  make  havoc  of  your  souls,  because  others 
have  abused  your  bodies.  Paul  was  in  a  strait  be- 
twixt this  double  choice,  of  life  or  death,  Phil.  i.  23  ; 
though  he  was  desirous  to  die,  yet  he  was  content  to 
live.  In  his  wisdom  he  could  choose  the  gain  of 
death,  yet  in  his  obedience  he  refuseth  not  the  ser- 
vice of  life.  (Ambros.) 

But  to  do  this  argues  a  stout  and  valiant  mind, 
fearless  of  death.  Indeed  such  may  be  more  admired 
for  stoutness  of  mind,  than  commended  for  soundness 
of  wisdom.  But  that  is  not  magnanimity,  but  rather 
the  greatest  cowardice.  Nature  itself  teachcth,  that 
there  is  more  valour  to  endure  a  miserable  life,  than 
to  embrace  a  wretched  death.  That  is  far  the  greater 
mind,  quip  riVom  (prumnosam  potest  magis  ferre,  quam 
fugere.  There  is  no  sorrow,  no  shame,  no  miser)', 
"that  should  force  a  Christian  to  so  desperate  a  nre- 
vention.  The  servants  of  God  never  did  this,  wlien 
their  souls  were  heavy  to  the  death  ;  their  bodies  in 
Job's  plight,  when  a  prick  could  have  ended  all  his 


Ver.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


w 


woes ;  when  the  pulling  away  of  the  pillow  would 
have  eased  all  their  griefs.  They  never  paid  the 
debt  of  nature,  till  their  Creditor  called  on  them  for 
it;  which  lime  they  would  never  have  staid,  if  the 
service  of  their  own  hands  might  lawfolly  have  re- 
leased them.  But  as  we  cannot  live  without  a  per- 
mittis,  so  we  must  not  die  without  a  dimillii:  Some 
that  enjoy  the  world's  paradise,  desire  to  live ;  others 
that  endure  the  world's  purgatory,  desire  to  die.  St. 
Augustine's  rule  is  good  for  both:  Though  thou  de- 
sire life  in  thy  election,  yet  embrace  death  in  thy 
patience;  and  admit  life  in  thy  patience,  though 
death  be  in  thy  desires.  AVhen  God  calls,  be  not 
troubled  to  put  off  thy  tabernacle  :  till  God  calls,  be 
not  troubled  to  keep  on  thy  tabernacle. 

The  causes  of  this  uimatural  sin  are  many.  1. 
Impatience  of  crosses  :  if  they  cannot  have  their  wnll 
on  others,  in  a  cursed  heart  they  will  have  their  will 
on  themselves ;  and  so  leap,  like  some  tishes,  out  of 
the  boiling  caldron  into  the  broiling  flame.  As 
Dido;  Sic,  sic  juial  ire  sub  umbras.  2.  Ambition  of 
a  name,  and  to  be  famed  in  the  world  for  lieroical 
spirits.  Yet,  alas,  they  are  plagued  in  tliat  they 
affected,  for  their  memory  stinks  above  ground.  Such 
a  lire  was  in  the  blood  of  Razis,  3.  Preservation  of 
chastity :  so  Pelagia  at  fifteen  years  old.  This  is  a 
grievous  folly,  to  save  the  body  from  dellouring  by 
deflouring  the  soul.  4.  Infidelity;  when  they  have 
no  faith  in  God,  nor  hope  of  good  issue  out  of  troubles. 
Thus  did  the  younger  Cato,  to  avoid  the  tyranny  of 
Ccesar.  God  holds  it  a  great  indignity  to  him,  not  to 
be  trusted  ;  therefore  justly  plagues  diffidence  with 
desperatencss.  5.  Pride  ;  when  a  man  unll  not  sub- 
mit himself  to  God's  will,  but  will  choose  not  to  be 
at  all,  unless  he  may  be  as  he  list  himself.  C.  Cru- 
elty to  others.  Nero,  that  was  so  artificial  in  cutting 
throats,  at  last  runs  on  his  own  sword,  saying,  I  have 
lived  dishonourably,  I  will  die  shamefully.  Saul, 
being  so  bloodied  against  David  and  the  priests,  be- 
came as  unmerciful  to  liimself,  to  wreak  his  teen  on 
his  own  bowels.  Judas,  that  was  so  cruel  against  the 
innocent  blood  of  his  Master,  became  as  cruel  against 
the  noccnt  blood  of  himself.  Ahithophel,  thirsting 
after  David's  life,  became  as  ill-minded  against  him- 
self. He  that  is  thus  savage  and  merciless  to  him- 
self, to  whom  will  he  be  merciful  ?  Let  no  man  think 
him  a  friend,  that  is  his  own  enemy.  Trust  not  such 
a  one :  he  who  spares  not  his  own  blood,  will  never 
spare  mine.  7-  Desperation  ;  when  a  man  thinks 
that  all  the  doors  of  mercy  are  shut  against  him,  and 
there  is  not  goodness  enough  for  him  m  Jesus  Christ. 

But  I  forget  myself,  and  hold  you  too  long  in  dis- 
puting a  question,  which  many  a  one  hath  disputed 
against  himself  in  a  moment  of  time,  without  reply  ; 
not  with  tongue,  but  with  hand  ;  not  with  sharpness 
of  wit,  but  of  sword.  I  will  pronounce  nothing  dc- 
lerminately  of  any  particular  person ;  but  wc  shall  find 
it  to  be  the  end  of  usurers,  murderers,  traitors,  and 
such  branded  wretches.  I  know  the  mercy  of  God 
may  come  betwixt  the  bridge  and  the  brook,  betwixt 
the  knife  and  the  throat ;  and  repentance  may  be 
suggested  to  the  heart  in  a  moment,  in  that  ven,"  in- 
stant. But  this  only  may  be  ;  there  is  no  promise 
for  it,  many  threatenings  against  it,  little  likelihood 
of  it.  It  were  madness  for  thee  to  break  thy  neck, 
to  try  the  skill  of  a  bone-setter.  Tarry,  till  God  calls, 
patiently,  and  then  lay  down  thy  tabernacle  cheer- 
rally,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  will  receive  thy  spirit  in 
mercy. 

The  use  of  this  point  serves  to  reprove  the  hasty 
wishers  for  death.  In  the  least  extremity,  Let  me  die. 
Some  of  the  saints  have  not  escaped  this  infirmity. 
Elijah :  "  He  arose,  and  went  for  his  life  to  Beer- 
sheba,"  and  after  that  "a  day's  journey  into  the  wil- 


derness," all  to  escape  Jezebel ;  yet  when  he  was 
there,  "  he  requested  for  himself  that  he  might  die. 
It  is  enough ;  now,  O  Lord,  take  away  my  life ;  for  I 
am  not  better  than  my  fathers,"  1  Kings  xix.  3,4.  In 
the  morning  he  fled  for  his  life  ;  at  evening,  being  a 
little  weary,  he  prays  for  death.  So  Jonah  ;  he  first 
cries  earnestly  for  life,  "  Out  of  the  belly  of  hell 
cried  I,  and  thou  heardcst  my  voice,"  chap.  ii.  2. 
Some  days  after  he  begs  and  sues  for  deatli :  "  Take, 
O  Lord,  I  beseech  thee,  my  life  from  me ;  for  it  is 
better  for  me  to  die  than  to  live,"  chap.  iv.  3.  Be- 
cause Jezebel  pursues  him  in  the  world,  therefore 
Elijah  nnist  needs  out  of  the  world :  because  the 
Ninevitcs  did  not  die,  therefore  Jonah  will  not  live. 
If  they  had  then  departed,  the  one  had  died  fainting, 
and  tile  other  had  died  chaffing.  They  that  desire 
death  in  passion,  desire  it  only  for  fashion.  For  when 
sickness,  death's  messenger,  comes,  physicians  are 
consulted,  rewards  promised,  prayers  conceived,  vows 
offered,  that  death  may  be  deferred.  (August.)  You 
rememiier  the  fable  of  the  old  man  with  the  burden 
of  sticks;  wherewith  being  overloaden,  and  wearj'  of 
his  misery,  he  calls  for  death  to  come  to  him.  Death 
came,  took  him  at  his  word,  and  asked  him  what  he 
would  with  him.  But  he  answered,  quickly  turn- 
ing both  his  mind  and  language,  I  desire  thy  help  to 
bear  my  burden  of  sticks  for  me.  Young  Clitipho  in 
the  comedy,  being  abridged  of  his  lusts,  had  nothing 
in  his  discontented  mouth,  but,  I  would  fain  die.  The 
wiser  father  re]ilied.  My  son,  first  leara  what  it  is  to 
live.  Desire  life  with  aged  Simeon,  till  thou  hast  got 
the  Lord  Jesus  in  thine  arms  ;  without  whom  the 
first  death  will  be  terrible,  the  second  death  intoler- 
able, iliserable  soul,  with  what  courage  canst  thou 
set  on  thy  way,  which  knowcst  not  the  Guide  of  the 
journey,  Jesus  Christ  ?  (Bern.)  If  a  man  should  live 
as  long  as  Methuselah,  if  liis  head  were  a.s  white  as 
snow,  yet  it  is  not  fit  to  melt  till  he  have  known 
Christ.  Though  his  skin  were  as  writhled  as  parch- 
ment, yet  it  is  not  time  to  be  folded  up,  till  his  soul 
be  ripe  in  the  faith.  If  lie  knows  not  Jesus,  he  is  not 
fit  to  die.  Let  us  then  desire  to  put  off  this  taber- 
nacle, when  we  are  sure  of  that  immortal  clothing. 
"  We  do  groan  in  this  tabernacle ;  not  for  that  we 
would  be  unclothed,  but  clothed  upon,  that  mortality 
might  be  swallowed  up  of  life,"  2  Cor.  v.  4.  Then 
let  us  wish  to  leave  the  earth,  when  we  perfectly 
know  the  way  to  heaven.  Desire  to  live  till  you  are 
inspired  with  grace  ;  desire  to  die  when  you  are 
assured  of  glory. 

"  Shortly  "  I  must  put  it  off:  this  is  the  last  cir- 
cumstance; the  deposition  is  instant.  How  the  apos- 
tle was  assured  of  his  approaching  dissolution,  I  will 
not  yet  examine  ;  but  refer  it  to  the  due  place,  which 
concerns  his  revelation.  That  which  I  here  only 
obser\-e,  is  his  principal  intention;  to  express  his 
own  diligence,  and  to  convey  into  their  hearts  a  more 
powerful  acceptance  of  his  holy  counsels,  because  his 
time  is  short. 

First,  to  strengthen  his  own  diligence.  The  less 
space  a  man  hath  allowed  for  his  business,  the  more 
he  should  ply  it.  The  fewer  days,  the  fruitfuller 
lessons.  "  I  must  work  the  works  of  him  that  sent 
me,  while  it  is  day,"  John  ix.  4.  Near  to  his  end  he 
washed  the  disciples'  feet;  preached  sermon  upon 
sermon,  of  humility,  charity,  fervency;  revealed  many 
things  before  secreted  :  1  told  you  not  these  things 
from  the  beginning.  Jacob  gave  his  best  blessing  m 
his  last  will.  Moses  made  the  best  sermon  to  Israel 
near  his  end.  David  gave  the  best  counsel  to  Solo- 
mon on  his  death-bed.  Peter  plies  his  preaching 
and  writing,  when  he  knows  there  follows  instant 
silence.  Tile  devil'  hath  "  great  wrath,  because  he 
knoweth  that  he  hath  but  a  short  time,"  Rev.  xii.  12. 


14^ 


AN  EXPOSITION'  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


As  he  is  never  idle,  so  tnen  most  busy  when  he  per- 
ceives his  term  of  rage  expiring.  Therefore  let  not 
God's  ministers  be  negligent,  for  they  have  but  their 
time,  and  that  is  short.  May  we  all  spend  it  to  the 
peace  of  our  consciences,  the  good  of  the  church,  and 
the  honour  of  our  Maker. 

Secondly,  to  beget  zeal  and  embracing  of  his  doc- 
trine in  our  hearts.  The  words  of  dying  men  have 
been  most  emphatical,  most  effectual.  We  remem- 
ber what  our  fathers  or  friends  spake  last,  because 
we  hear  them  not  speak  again.  Tlie  last  words  of 
good  men  are  best :  as  the  last  glimpse  of  the  canrllc 
is  the  most  bright,  the  last  glare  of  the  sun  going 
down  most  clear,  the  last  speech  of  a  dear  friend 
parting  with  his  friends,  and  departing  out  of  the 
world,  is  usually  most  conipassionate  and  pathetical. 
An  admonition  uttered  by  such  a  teacher,  and  at  such 
a  time,  and  to  such  an  auditoiy,  challengeth  good 
attention,  great  devotion.  "  For  love's  sake  I  be- 
seech thee,  being  such  an  one  as  Paul  the  aged," 
Philem.  9.  This  was  his  adjuration  of  Philemon,  to 
grant  his  reijucst  for  Onesimus.  He  is  a  preacher  of 
Christ,  hear  him;  an  apostle,  hear  him;  a  dying 
apostle,  O  now  or  never  near  him.  '\\'e  preach  to- 
day, perhaps  may  not  be  able  to-morrow  :  this  ser- 
mon may  be  the  last  sermon ;  therefore  hear  while 
you  may,  lest  you  desire  it  when  you  may  not.  He 
that  will  bo  good  at  last,  must  begin  at  first.  Occa- 
sion is  like  manna,  it  must  l)e  gathered  before  the 
sun  is  up ;  or  like  the  pool  of  Bcthesda,  we  must  enter 
as  soon  as  it  is  stirred  by  the  angel.  If  we  preach, 
must  you  not  hear  ?  If  we  preach  to-day,  ought  not 
you  hear  to-day  ?  I  mean  not  only  with  your  ears, 
hear  us  with  your  hearts.  Show  us  not  only  our 
sermon  in  your  tablets,  let  us  see  it  in  your  hands : 
work  it,  and  so  preach  it  over  again  with  your  fingers. 
Be  not  mere  earthly  merchants,  to  fill  your  sails,  and 
fill  your  ships,  and  fill  your  shops,  and  fill  your 
houses,  and  cannot  fill  your  souls.  They  write  of 
some  traffickers  on  the  coast  of  Lapland,  that  they 
often  buy  their  winds  of  the  devil.  Take  heed,  you 
that  grow  so  rich  in  purse  and  poor  in  conscience,  lest 
you  buy  your  wealth  of  the  devil.  The  learning  of 
most  preachers  in  the  land,  at  one  time  or  other,  in 
one  jilacc  or  other,  doth  empty  itself  within  your  walls. 
Yet  the  wickedness  of  the  greater  part  hath  brought 
a  scandal  on  the  better  part.  And  it  is  a  country 
prayer,  God  bless  us  from  the  citizens  of  London : 
they  will  hear  three  sermons  a  day,  but  deceive  ten 
plain  men  in  an  hour;  they  have  so  much  preaching, 
that  they  arc  the  worse.  Poor  souls,  they  are  mis- 
taken in  this;  men's  wickedness  comes  not  by  too 
much  preaching,  but  by  too  little  practising.  '  The 
Lord  work  in  us  a  conscionable  obedience,  that  we 
may  not  hear  to  our  condemnation,  but  comfort.  It 
is  our  part  to  preach,  yours  to  practise,  God's  to  ac- 
comidish.  (Cyril.) 

"  Even  as  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  showed  me." 
This  is  the  revelation  or  premonition  of  the  apostle's 
death.  Some  refer  this  to  the  kind  and  manner  of 
his  death  ;  others  to  the  time  of  his  dying.  Some 
say  Ka9wc  signifies  (he  manner  of  his  dejiarture  ;  that 
he  shall  so  die  as  Christ  showed  him.  Others  under- 
stand by  the  w  ord  raxivii,  that  he  was  to  die  shortly, 
because  the  Lord  had  revealed  the  instant  of  his 
departure.  1  know  that  I  must  not  abide  long  upon 
earth;  for  Clirist's  word,  the  oracle  of  tnilh,  hath 
spoken  it ;  and  I  am  sure  to  find  the  truth  of  the 
oracle,  to  sufTer  it. 

They  that  refer  it  to  the  manner,  conceive  this 
revelation  to  be  given  him  John  xxi.  18,  "  When 
thou  wast  young,"  &.c.  It  is  added,  "  Tliis  siiake  ho, 
signifying  by  what  death  he  should  gUmfv  God," 
vcr.  li).     So  that  if  this  be  the  ground  of  the  reve- 


lation, certainly  it  intends  rather  the  manner  than 
the  time.  So  Augustine,  Thou  shalt  stretch  forth 
thy  hands,  that  is,  to  the  cross.  Then  was  Peter 
girded  by  another,  when  he  was  fastened  to  the  cross. 
(Tertul.)  That  Peter  was  crucified,  is  the  current 
and  universal  consent  of  history.  First,  If  thou  lovcst 
me,  feed  my  sheep,  ver.  17  :  Christ  told  Peter  in  what 
vocation  he  should  live ;  then  in  the  next  verse,  after 
what  manner  he  should  die,  which  questionless  must 
be  a  violent  death,  of  martyrdom,  though  the  i)ar- 
ticular  kind  be  not  specified.  At  last  he  concludes, 
and  alludes  to  both,  "  Follow  me."  Be  thou  such  a 
pastor  in  feeding  my  sheep,  such  a  pastor  in  suffering 
for  my  sheep,  as  I  have  given  thee  example.  (Theo- 
phil.  Aret.)  Peterasked  his  Master,  whither  he  went, 
John  xiii.  ,36.  Jesus  answered,  "  Whither  I  go,  thou 
canst  not  follow  me  now ;  but  thou  shalt  follow  me 
afterwards."  Jesus  remembering  this  conference, 
together  with  his  question,  "  Why  cannot  I  follow 
thee  now  ?  "  and  his  resolution,  "  I  will  lay  down  my 
life  for  thy  sake ;"  tells  him,  "  When  thou  wast  young, 
thou  girdedst  thyself,  and  walkcdst  whither  thou 
wouldsl,"  John  xxi.  18.  (Rupert.  Maldonat.)  When 
thou  wast  a  youngling  in  the  faith,  and  didst  gird 
thyself  with  thine  own  strength,  it  was  thy  folly  to 
think  thou  couldst  follow  me  whither  I  went.  There- 
fore by  denying  me  thrice,  thou  didst  prove  my  words 
tnie,  "  Whither  I  go,  thou  canst  not  follow  me  now." 
"  But  when  thou  shalt  be  old,  thou  shalt  stretch 
forth  thy  hands,  and  another  shall  gird  thee,  and 
carry  thee  whither  thou  wouldst  not."  When  thou 
shalt  feel  the  weakness  in  thyself,  and  grow  strong 
in  the  Lord,  my  other  saying  will  prove  tme,  "Thou 
shalt  follow  me  afterwards."  They  that  say  this 
"  follow  me"  intends  the  manner  of  his  death,  that 
he  should  follow  him  in  being  crucified  as  Christ  was, 
have  strange  eyes.  It  is  not  good  to  find  out  more 
in  Scripture,  than  God  meant  should  be  found  there. 

Some  contend  that  this  revelation  here  mentioned, 
is  not  that  John  xxi. ;  for  they  say,  it  was  not  given 
at  Jerusalem,  by  Christ  immediately  risen  again  ;  but 
at  Rome,  by  Christ  after  his  ascension.  So  Ambrose 
and  Gregoiy  cite  this  history  from  Linus,  upon  the 
Acts  of  Peter's  Passion.  But  Origen,  tom.  7.  in  Johan. 
rcferrcth  it  to  Paul,  and  that  a  great  deal  more  pro- 
bably than  to  Peter.  The  story  is  this  :  Peter  being 
at  Rome,  imprisoned  by  Nero,  and  sentenced  to 
death,  by  the  importunity  of  the  people,  persuading 
him  to  save  himself,  and  by  the  opportunity  of  Pro- 
cessus and  Marlinianus'  concession,  who  were  go- 
vernors of  the  watch,  w  as  overruled,  and  lied.  Com- 
ing to  the  gates  of  Rome,  there  Christ  met  him. 
Peter  asketh  him.  Lord,  whither  comest  thou  ?  Christ 
answered,  I  come  again  to  be  crucified.  Now  Peter 
knowing  that  Christ  had  an  impassible  and  immortal 
body,  presently  apprehended,  that  the  Lord  was  to 
be  crucified  in  the  servant.  Hereupon  he  came  back, 
and  died  on  the  cross  to  honour  Christ,  that  had  died 
on  the  cross  to  save  Peter.  Our  credit  answers  this 
stoiy,  as  countrymen  do  the  report  of  travellers; 
they  will  rather  believe  it,  than  go  to  see  it.  Whe- 
ther Peter  were  crucified  at  Rome  or  not,  we  arc  not 
certain ;  but  that  Peter  is  dead,  we  are  certain :  on 
this  let  us  rest,  that  we  may  rest  with  Peter. 

They  that  refer  it  to  the  time  of  his  dying,  under- 
stand it  thus  :  That  Peter  should  die,  he  knew  in 
general  ;  that  he  should  die  a  martyr,  he  knew  in 
partieidar;  (Calvin.)  "  Signifying  by  what  death  he 
sliould  glorify  God,"  John  xxi.  19.  But  that  he 
should  die  shortly,  he  could  not  know,  except  by 
some  later  revelation  in  special.  It  is  probable,  that 
where  Peter  wrote  this  Epi.stle,  even  there  he  received 
this  revelation.  But  it  is  manifest  that  he  wrote  this 
Epistle  at  Babylon ;  for  he  wrote  the  Second  where 


\ER.    14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


149 


he  wrote  the  First,  chap.  iii.  1  :  but  he  wTote  the 
former  at  Babylon ;  "  The  church  that  is  at  Babylon, 
elected  together  \s-ith  you,  saluteth  you ;  and  so  doth 
Marcus  my  son,"  1  Pet.  v.  13;  therefore  it  is  more 
likely  and  consonant  to  reason,  that  Peter  died  at 
Babylon,  than,  as  the  papists  say,  at  Rome.  Here 
they  will  distinguish,  tnough  thereby  they  destroy. 
They  say  directly,  that  by  Babylon  is  meant  Rome  ; 
even  that  Babylon,  "  The' mother  of  harlots  and  abo- 
minations of  the  earth,"  Rev.  .Kvii.  5,  is  ipsa  Ifoma, 
very  Rome.  So  Papias  in  Euseb.  To  nave  some 
proof  that  Peter  was  at  Rome,  they  are  content  to 
allow  that   Rome   is  Babylon.      So  that  liabijloni.i 

{'uisse,  is  all  one  with  Romcc  jncpfaisse ;  for  Peter  to 
le  at  Babylon,  and  to  be  bishop  of  Rome,  there  is 
no  diflerence.  The  infamy  of  that  damnable  name 
doth  not  deter  them,  so  they  may  have  some  pre- 
tence of  their  apostolical  title.  Indeed  they  do  not 
so  much  care  for  Christ,  so  they  may  enjoy  Peter. 
(Calvin.)  Let  them  but  retain  the  name  of  Peter's 
chair,  they  will  not  refuse  to  seat  their  Rome  in  infer- 
nal Babylon.  Much  good  do  it  them :  if  they  will 
not  stick  to  call  their  glorious  church,  stigmatical 
and  accursed  Babylon,  surely  we  need  not  stick  much 
to  allow  them  that  Peter  was  at  Rome.  But  hear 
we  ftirther. 

We  say,  that  this  local  Babylon  was  not  Rome, 
but  that  great  city  in  Eg>-pt,  now  called  Cayr  or 
Alcayr;  which  they  say  to  be  thirteen  or  fourteen 
German  miles  about.  For  Babylon  is  typical  Rome, 
not  Rome  topical  Babylon.  The  apostle  did  not 
speak  by  a  riddle ;  he  did  not  date  his  Epistle 
from  a  place  so  called  in  an  allegorical  sense.  Let- 
ters are  dated  from  cities  or  places  so  usually  called. 
Indeed  Rome  in  the  Revelation,  is  called  Mystical 
Babylon  :  but  this  was  not  the  first  Rome,  as  it  was 
in  the  days  of  Christ ;  but  the  last  Rome,  such  as  it 
should  be  under  antichrist.  But  St.  Peter  writing  at 
and  from  Babylon,  doth  yet  handle  no  point  concern- 
ing the  seat  and  rule  of  antichrist  there  ;  which 
plainly  showeth  that  antichrist  should  reign,  not  in 
material,  but  in  mystical  Babylon.  Thus  they  have 
gotten  it  allowed,  that  Rome  is  Babylon  ;  but  it  still 
remains  to  prove,  that  Peter  was  at  Rome  when  he 
was  at  Babylon. 

The  apostle  says  that  Mark  was  with  him ;  My 
son  Marcus  saluteth  you,  I  Pet.  v.  13.  Now  Mark 
is  said  to  be  constituted  the  first  bishop  of  .\lexandria 
in  Egypt  ;  where  he  was  put  to  death,  and  buried. 
(Xiccphor.)  But  these  adversaries  affirm,  that  Peter 
was  at  Rome  five  and  twenty  years.  Now  if  Mark 
kept  his  episcopal  seat  in  Alexandria,  how  could  he 
be  with  St.  Peter  at  Rome  ?  Who  can  untie  this 
knot  ?  Admit  that  Peter  was  at  Babylon,  and  then 
Mark  might  easily  be  with  him ;  for  both  those  cities 
were  in  Egypt. 

Divers  have  opinioned  that  Peter  died  at  Jerusa- 
lem, by  warrant  of  that  place,  "Some  of  them  ye 
shall  crucify,"  Matt,  xxiii.  34:  ye,  that  is,  the  Jews. 
Now  if  any  of  the  apostles  wei'c  crucified  there,  it 
must  be  Peter;  for  none  of  the  rest  was  crucified  in 
Jerusalem. 

Lastly,  it  cannot  be  proved  that  Peter  was  at  Rome 
at  all.  For,  1.  Paul,  fourteen  years  after  his  first 
coming  to  Jerusalem,  found  Peter  there ;  as  it  is  un- 
deniably evident,  Gal.  ii.  1,9.  At  which  time  they 
celebrated  that  apostolical  council,  Acts  xv.  giving 
the  right  hands  of  fellowship,  that  Paul  should  ijreach 
to  the  heathen,  and  Peter  to  the  circumcision.  If 
any  say,  that  Peter  came  from  Rome  to  the  council ; 
what  time  then  had  he  to  visit  Antioch,  Galatia,  Cap- 
padocia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia,  to  all  which  churches  he 
preached  ?  2.  When  St.  Paul  wrote  his  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  St.  Peter  was  not  at  Rome  j  otherwise 


he  would  not  have  forgotten  so  great  a  pillar  in  his 
liberal  salutations.  He  mentions  many,  but  no  word 
of  St.  Peter,  chap.  xvi.  3.  When  Paul  came  to  Rome, 
Peter  was  not  tliere  :  he  sent  epistles  from  Rome, 
and  many  commendations  from  the  brethren,  as  ajv 
pears,  Col.  iv.  10 — 14;  Philem.  23,24;  but  no  re- 
membrance from  Peter.  If  Peter  had  been  at  Rome, 
Paul  would  not  have  forgotten  to  send  greeting  from 
him.  Yet  more  plain,  "  Only  Luke  is  with  me," 
2  Tim.  iv.  1 1  :  then  Peter  was  not  there.  "  At  my 
first  answer  no  man  stood  with  me,"  ver.  16 :  had 
Peter  been  there,  he  would  not  have  forsaken  Paul. 
4.  It  was  fitter  for  Peter  to  be  at  Babylon,  (for  '•  the 
gospel  of  the  circumcision "  w'as  committed  unto 
him.  Gal.  ii.  7i)  that  he  might  follow  the  countries 
most  frequented  with  his  own  people. 

I  cimdude  this  point;  if  Peter  received  the  oracle 
of  his  death  so  near,  at  Babylon,  he  must  fly  over 
seas  and  mountains  if  he  died  at  Rome.  But  how- 
soever, the  Romists  will  have  it  so;  and  rather  than 
not  domineer  over  all  the  world  with  the  chair  of 
Peter  at  Rome,  they  will  sink  down  to  hell  with 
cursed  Babylon.  Albeit  St.  John  Lateran  challcngelh 
Peter's  head,  Poictiers  in  France  his  nether  jaw 
with  the  beard  on  it.  Triers  many  of  his  bones, 
Geneva  part  of  his  brain,  which  was  found  to  be  a 
pumice  stone  ;  yet  still  Rome  must  have  his  body, 
and  boast  of  his  sepulchre.  Let  them  have  it  with- 
out our  envy,  so  long  as  we  keep  the  tnie  and  only 
Head,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Now  to  speak  to  ourselves  more  usefidly  :  howso- 
ever our  apostle  had  some  special  premonstrance  of 
the  nearness  of  his  end,  yet  tnis  is  not  common.  So 
had  Aaron  ;  "  Aaron  shall  be  gathered  to  his  people, 
and  die  in  Blount  Hor,"  Numb.  xx.  26.  Moses  knew 
that  he  should  die  in  Mount  Nebo,  Deut.  xxxii.  50. 
Simeon  had  a  revelation  by  "the  Holy  Ghost,  that 
he  should  not  see  death,  before  he  had  seen  the 
Lord's  Christ,"  Luke  ii.  26.  Tiiough  old  age  and 
consumptions  be  certain  signs  and  forewarners  of 
approai-liing  death,  yet  the  condition,  manner,  and 
hour  of  our  departure,  is  always  kept  secret  from  us. 

Howsoever,  it  is  observable  that  this  apostle  died 
in  a  good  age,  an  old  man:  "When  thou  shalt  be 
old,  thou  shalt  stretch  forth  thy  hands,"  John  xxi. 
18.  Long  life  is  given  as  a  blessing  to  such  as  pre- 
serve obedience  :  "  Honour  thy  father  and  mother, 
that  thy  days  may  be  long  in  the  land."  In  the 
right  hand  of  wisdom  is  length  of  days,  Prov.  iii.  16 
but  disobedience  shortens  our  time.  The  wicked 
men  shall  not  "  live  out  half  their  days,"  Psal.  Iv. 
2.3.  "  Let  his  days  be  few,"  Psal.  eix.  8.  The  sinner 
shall  die  before  his  time,  Eccl.  vii.  17-  It  was  threat- 
ened to  Eli,  that  there  should  not  be  an  old  man  of  his 
house,  1  Sam.  ii.  32.  It  is  not  evermore  a  curse  to 
be  barred  of  old  age.  Josiah,  whose  name  is  sweet 
as  music  at  a  bampiet  of  wine,  died  young,  that  he 
might  not  see  the  evil  to  come.  A  son  of  wicked 
Jeroboam  was  promised  this  for  a  favour,  because 
there  was  found  in  him  some  good  thing  toward  the 
Lord,  I  Kings  xiv.  13.  It  is  a  mercy,  when  the  Lord 
takes  away  liis  cliildren  so  young,  that  they  be  nei- 
ther aftcctod  with  the  evil  of  action,  nor  afflicted 
with  the  evil  of  passion.  A  man  lives  too  long,  if 
until  that  nobody  desires  him  to  live  any  longer.  The 
world  is  soon  weary  of  an  old  man,  especially  of  an 
old  minister.  Can  he  no  longer  answer  their  expect- 
ation? turn  him  out  of  his  place  :  this  is  their  mercy. 
The  Levite  might  not  serve  after  fifty :  what  then, 
must  he  lose  his  maintenance  ?  no,  he  had  the  same 
provision  still.  A  man  will  not  cast  away  his  dog 
being  old,  because  he  hath  done  him  service. 

Let  not  the  young  minister  despise  the  old.  When 
one  said  to  his  friend,  while  he  was  looking  on  an 


150 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1. 


old  man,  You  see  not  a  man,  but  the  shadow  of  a 
man :  it  was  answered,  that  an  old  man's  shadow  was 
oftentimes  better  than  a  young  man's  whole  body. 
Athanasius  was  very  old ;  yet  upon  his  shoulder  our 
mother  the  church  leaned,  in  her  sharpest  persecu- 
tions 'o  take  her  rest.  Nor  yet  let  the  old  despise 
the  young.  The  Spirit  of  God  is  not  bound  to  age, 
nor  is  wisdom  tied  to  years.  It  is  not  with  senses, 
as  it  is  with  wines,  the  older  the  better.  There  may 
be  a  young  man  of  sixty,  and  an  old  man  of  twenty, 
years.  Yomig  David  may  excel  his  teachers  :  Daniel 
was  a  young  prophet,  Solomon  a  young  king,  Samuel 
a  young  priest,  John  a  young  evangelist,  Aquilinus 
a  disciple ;  Timothy  a  young  bishop.  Timothy  was 
so  young,  that  Paul  calls  him  son  :  yet  Timothy  was 
acquainted  with  Christ,  before  Paul  was  acquainted 
witn  Timothy  ;  he  knew  the  Scriptures  from  a  cliild, 
which  made  him  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  2  Tim.  iii.  15.  Yet  Paul  is 
called  his  father  ;  first,  because  he  did  instruct  him 
more  perfectly :  so  they  were  called  the  sons  of  the 
prophets,  whom  the  prophets  taught.  And  because 
he  did  minister  to  Paul,  as  to  a  father.  Now  though 
he  was  for  age  a  son,  yet  for  dignity  a  bishop.  Some 
say  he  was  chosen  to  such  a  place,  ob  pentiriam  tem- 
poris;  but  they  manifest  penuriam  jiigenii.  No,  saith 
Ambrose,  that  youth  retained  no  youthful  humours. 
A  young  man  with  his  undm\'ned  chin,  whose  face 
hath  not  yet  discovered  to  the  world  of  what  sex  he 
is,  may  be  old  in  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  an  old 
proverb,  A  well-shooted  beard  striving  for  length 
with  the  cassock,  makes  not  a  priest.  Ministers 
must  be  young  before  they  be  old;  proceeding  or- 
derly, not  by  .jumps,  but  by  degrees.  First,  they  are 
tried  with  a  less  charge  ;  for  he  that  rules  not  well 
a  s;nall  vessel  in  the  river,  tnist  him  not  with  a  ship 
in  the  sea.  A  young  man  may  often  say,  My  youth- 
ful allcclions  are  dead,  and  I  live  ;  when  an  old  man 
shall  have  passed  many  years  in  the  world,  and  yet 
is  scarce  a  day  old  in  Christ. 

Now  seeing  I  am  fallen  upon  the  point  of  old  age, 
let  me  consider  two  things ;  the  miseries  by  nature 
incident,  and  the  comforts  by  grace  accident  to  it. 

Tlie  miseries  are  many,  partly  mental,  partly  cor- 
poral.    Mental  are  the  worst : 

Sordilies,  ira,  nummorum  copia  viira: 
His  natura  senis  tribus  est  infecla  venenis. 

They  will  covet,  as  if  they  were  to  begin  a  new  race 
of  fourscore  years.  The  less  journey  they  have  to 
go,  the  greater  provision  they  make.  Plautus  quot- 
eth  it  is  as  a  wonder,  to  see  an  old  man  bountiful : 
Benignitas  hujus  sicut  adokscentuli  est. 

Mulla  senem  circumveniunt  incommoda :  vet  quid 
QiKsrit,  et  invetitis  miser  abstinel,  ac  timet  itli. 

(Horat.) 

Many  miseries  wait  upon  old  men :  first,  they  greed- 
ily seek,  and  then  they  miserably  forbear  what  they 
have  found.  Ignorance  and  arrogance  meet  in  un- 
sanclilied  old  age.  For  ignorance ;  "  Gray  hairs  are 
here  and  there  upon  him,  yet  he  knowethnot,"  Hos. 
vii. !).  Senescit,  being  cut  into  two  words,  is  as  it  were 
se  jiescil,  or  nescit  se;  as  itsetiescere  were  all  one  with  se 
nescire.  For  arrogance ;  it  takes  away  VN-isdom  from 
the  young,  and  all  tmo  knowledge,  as  if  they  were 
wefts  and  strays,  proper  only  to  itself,  as  lord'of  the 
soil ;  and  conjures  all  learning  into  the  circle  of  its 
owTi  niglitcap.  This  is  the  first  and  the  worst  miserj- 
"f  .°''^  "S"^^;  when  a  man  is  just  come  back  again  to  a 
child.  When  he  is  onlv  praising  the  ancient  times 
so  vehemently,  as  if  he  would  sell  them,  and  forget- 
tmg  the  present  days  to  use  them. 

Corporal  miseries  arc  iimumerable  ;  even  old  age 


itself  is  a  disease.  Sometimes  it  hath  been  without 
any  great  decay  of  senses.  It  is  said  of  Moses, 
when  he  was  a  hundred  years  old,  "  his  eye  was 
not  dim,  nor  his  natural  force  abated,"  Dent,  xsxiv. 
7.  So  Joshua  said  of  himself,  "  As  yet  I  am  as 
strong  this  day,  as  I  was  in  the  day  that  Moses  sent 
me,"  Josh.  xiv.  11.  "  The  Lord  gave  strength  also 
unto  Caleb,  which  remained  with  liim  unto  his  old 
age,"  Ecclus.  xhi.  9.  But  the  strength  of  old  age 
is  not  a  certain  and  infallible  argument  of  God's  fa- 
vour ;  his  grace  is  not  to  be  sought  in  outward  bless- 
ings. Most  commonly  it  is  a  feeble  estate ;  the  very 
grasshopper  is  a  burden  to  it,  Eccl.  xii.  5.  Even 
the  old  man  himself  is  a  burden,  to  his  wife,  to  his 
children,  to  himself  As  Barzillai  said  to  David,  "  I 
am  fourscore  years  old,  and  can  I  discern  between 
good  and  evil  ?  can  thy  servant  taste  what  I  eat  ? 
can  I  hear  any  more  the  voice  of  singers  ?  "  2  Sam. 
xix.  35.  Old  age,  we  say,  is  a  good  guest,  and  should 
be  made  welcome,  but  that  he  brings  such  a  troop 
with  him  ;  blindness,  aches,  coughs,  &c. ;  these  are 
troublesome,  how  should  they  be  welcome  ?  "  Their 
strength  is  labour  and  sorrow,"  Psal.  xe.  10.  If 
their  verj-  strength,  which  is  their  best,  be  labour 
and  grief,  what  is  their  Avorst  ?  Hast  thou  senses  ? 
use  them  to  God's  glory:  hast  thou  ears?  hear; 
eyes  ?  read ;  tongue  ?  pray  ;  hands  ?  work  that 
which  is  good.  Use  thy  members  while  thou  hast 
them,  because  they  will  fail.  Arc  they  defective  ?  be 
patient,  and  say  with  the  jjrophet,  "  I  am  not  better 
than  my  fathers."  Art  thou  blind,  and  canst  not  behold 
something  thou  wouldst  see  ?  yet  for  amends,  thou 
escapest  something  thou  wouldst  not  sec.  When  Ju- 
lian upbraided  a  bishop  being  blind,  Why  doth  not  the 
Galilean  help  thee  ?  he  answers,  I  am  glad  that  I  am 
blind,  and  so  cannot  see  thee  the  monster  of  men. 
All  these  infirmities  bring  us  to  the  grave,  but  we 
shall  leave  them  there.  Thou  sayest,  This  stitch 
will  bring  me  to  my  grave ;  yet  shalt  thou  then  bid 
it  farewell ;  thou  shalt  rise  without  gout,  or  blind- 
ness, or  any  other  imperfection.  Dost  thou  feel  a 
declining  of  thy  senses  by  age  ?  know  that  death 
cannot  be  far  off.  Death  is  as  near  to  the  young  as 
to  the  old:  here  is  all  the  difference ;  death  stands 
behind  the  young  man's  back,  before  the  old  man's 
face.  Young  men  may  soon  die,  old  men  cannot  long 
live.  They  must  go  speedily  ;  that  they  may  go 
comfortably,  let  them  make  sure  to  themselves  the 
favour  of  Christ. 

Thus  much  of  the  inconveniences,  now  of  the  com- 
forts of  old  age ;  which  are  the  true  knowledge  of 
Christ,  and  the  comfortable  remembrance  of  a  good 
life  spent  in  his  service.  Let  us  be  sure  to  live  well ; 
no  matter  how  long.  Let  us  not  be  greedy  of  old  age, 
but  say,  Here  am  I,  let  him  do  with  me  as  seemeth 
him  best.  God  will  not  judge  us  how  long,  but  how 
well,  wc  have  lived.  (Hieron.)  But  betwixt  him  that 
hath  lived  twenty  years,  and  him  that  hath  lived 
twenty-score  years,  what  is  the  difference,  unless  that 
the  old  man  goes  away  more  loaden  with  the  burden 
of  his  sins?  (Sen.)  One  man  eateth  more,  another 
less  ;  what  matters  it,  when  either  is  full  ?  He 
drinks  more,  1  less;  but  neither  of  us  thirsts.  That 
man  hath  lived  many  years,  this  man  fewer  :  what 
is  the  difference,  if  the  few  years  of  the  one  hath 
made  him  as  blessed  as  the  many  years  of  the  other? 
Look  rather  to  the  goodness  of  thy  life,  than  to  the 
length :  many  live  a  long  life,  but  few  a  happy  life. 
(Sen.)  While  I  was  young,  my  care  was  to  live 
well  :  now  I  am  old,  my  care  is  to  die  well. 

Old  age  may  be  good  three  ways.  Naturally, 
when  it  is  accompanied  with  sense,  and  not  over- 
taken with  decay  of  those  necessary-  organs.  Bar- 
zillai had  an  old  age,  but  not  a  good  old  age.     Mo- 


Veb.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


151 


rally,  when  it  is  led  by  the  line  of  virtue ;  when 
justice  hath  balanced  it,  fortitude  quickened  if,  tem- 
perance dieted  it,  and  charity  quieted  it.  Constitu- 
tion and  eountr)-  may  make  it  naturally  good;  but 
it  is  then  morally  good,  when  a  man  likes  it  so  well, 
that  he  would  not  wish  it  to  begin  again.  Spiritual- 
ly good :  and  this  is  best  when  a  man  can  look  both 
ways;  backward  with  comfort  to  his  life  past,  for- 
ward with  joy  to  his  reward  to  come. 

WUl  you  know  when  old  age  is  a  blessing  ?  prin- 
cipally, when  a  man  hath  sure  handfast  of  Christ ; 
as  Simeon.  He  desired  not  to  die  sooner,  he  desired 
not  to  live  longer:  Now,  Lord,  send  away  thy  ser- 
vant in  peace.  It  was  promised  Abraham,  that  he 
should  go  to  his  fathers  in  peace,  and  be  buried  in  a 
good  old  age.  Gen.  xv.  15.  Now  there  is  no  peace 
without  Christ  :  whoever  dies  in  peace,  he  dies  in 
Christ  the  Prince  of  Peace.  Abraham  died  many 
hundred  years  before  Christ  was  bom  ;  yet,  "  Abra- 
ham rejoiced  to  see  my  day  :  he  saw  it,  and  was 
glad,"  John  viii.  56  :  he  saw  him  with  the  eyes  of 
faith.  "  Then  Abraham  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  died 
in  a  good  old  age,  an  old  man,  and  full  of  years,"  Gen. 
XXV.  8.  He  "  gave  up  the  ghost,"  willingly  sur- 
rendered it  ;  it  was  not  rent  from  him :  there  is  the 
V  easiness  of  death.  "  In  a  good  old  age ;"  not  tempest- 
beaten  with  troubles,  and  wearied  out  with  vexa- 
tions :  there  is  the  happiness  of  age.  "  An  old  man 
and  full  of  years,"  like  com  ripe  and  white  for  the 
bam  of  joy  :  there  is  the  fiilness  of  life.  When  a 
man  is  assured  of  peace  in  heaven,  he  is  then  fiiU 
of  days. 

Again,  when  a  man  is  old  in  knowledge  and  obe- 
dience, his  age  is  blessed.  "  The  hoaiy  head  is  a 
crown  of  glory,  if  it  be  found  in  the  way  of  right- 
eousness," Prov.  xvi.  31 ;  if  we  may  say  of  it,  as 
Boaz  of  Ruth,  that  it  is  better  in  the  latter  end  than 
at  the  beginning,  Ruth  iii.  10.  The  Israelite  gathered 
ever)'  day  a  homer  full  of  manna ;  but  on  the  day 
before  the  sabbath,  two  homers  full.  Be  gathering 
in  youth  every  day  a  little ;  but  in  old  age  twice  as 
much,  because  thy  sabbath  is  near.  Old  men  are 
busy  to  gather  goods  for  iheir  posterity,  but  their 
fittest  employment  should  be  to  gather  grace  for 
themselves.  It  is  thy  last  time  of  gathering,  there- 
fore ply  it.  As  Sarah  said,  Shall'l  lust  now  I  am 
old?  Gen.  xviii.  12;  so,  Shall  I  covet  now  I  am 
old?  shall  I  be  drunk  now  I  am  old?  shall  I  lie  now 
I  am  old?  Those  courses  are  reprovable  in  youth, 
damnable  in  age.  The  grey  head  is  a  shame,  if  it 
be  found  in  the  way  of  wickedness.  As  om-  bodies 
decrease  in  strength,  our  souls  must  increase  in  gi-ace ; 
mending  the  unsoundness  of  our  limbs  witli  the 
so\mdncss  of  our  lives ;  recompensing  a  weak  body 
with  a  strong  faith.  No  manel  if  thy  age's  reverend 
flood  ebbs  into  air,  when  thou  art  old,  not  good ; 
where  thy  moral  corruption  is  greater  than  thy  mor- 
tal corruption,  and  the  conscience  is  more  rotten 
than  the  carcass.  It  is  a  common  saying.  He  that 
will  be  old  long,  must  be  old  while  he  is  young. 
Express  the  sobriety  of  age  in  thy  youth,  that  the 
remembrance  of  thy  youth  may  sweeten  the  bitter- 
ness of  thy  age.  A  young  saint,  an  old  angel.  So 
then  let  us  spend  our  life  in  the  thriftiness  of  grace : 
that  when  youth  hath  ended  infancy,  age  ended 
youth,  and  death  ended  all,  we  may  be  young  again 
in  heaven.  Into  which  eternal  doors  old  age  snail 
never  enter;  but  everybody  shall  be  made  young 
for  ever,  strong  for  ever,  healthful  for  ever,  beautiful 
for  ever ;  fashioned  like  to  the  glorious  body  of  Christ, 
and  in  that  glory  be  presei-ved  for  ever  and  ever. 

"  Even  as  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  showed  me." 
I  am  still  in  the  same  text,  and  not  out  of  the  same 
subject,  mortality ;  to  teach  you  a  comfortable  depo- 


sition of  your  tabernacle.  Oh  that  you  would  liear 
me  so  well  this  once,  that  of  the  same  matter  you 
need  not  hear  me  again !  Let  me  encourage  your 
attention  thus  far,  that  in  this  very  theme,  as  Seneca 
said  in  his  travels,  I  shall  be  always  new.  Peter  had 
a  revelation  concerning  his  death;  somewhat  was 
told  him  of  the  time  of  his  death,  somewhat  of  the 
manner,  somewhat  perhaps  of  the  place.  Yet  by  no 
collection  it  was  found,  tliat  he  knew  for  time  the 
day;  nor  for  manner,  the  direct  quality  and  kind ; 
nor  for  place,  punctually  such  a  space  or  plot  of 
ground.  He  knew  much  :  we  are  not  allowed  it ; 
therefore  ought  we  to  have  the  more  prcjiaration,  by 
how  much  we  have  the  less  revelation.  For  method's 
sake,  that  I  may  not  lose  your  attention,  nor  your 
attention  lose  me,  that  we  may  draw  all  to  a  sum,  con- 
sider somewhat  for  substance,  somewhat  for  circum- 
stance. For  substance,  that  we  must  die ;  for  circum- 
stance, how,  where,  and  when.  To  all  these  we  resolve 
an  answer  like  the  grand  jury  :  to  the  former  we  say, 
it  is  billa  vera  ;  for  the  other  we  give  up  an  ignoramus. 
We  know  that  we  must  depart ;  this  is  a  true  bill :  we 
know  not  how,  where,  or  when ;  this  is  our  ignoramus. 

For  the  resolution ;  men  must  die ;  and  the  apostle 
calls  death  the  dissolution  of  life.  For  the  marriage 
of  the  soul  to  the  body  is  the  bond  of  life,  the  dis- 
solution of  this  bond  is  death.  This  divorce  must  be 
suffered,  one  husband  must  be  lost :  happy  are  we  if  we 
find  another  in  heaven,  Jesus  Christ.  Saith  the  phi- 
losopher. Thou  shalt  die,  not  because  thou  ai't  sick, 
but  because  thou  art  alive.  He  that  comes  into  this 
world,  must  go  out  of  this  woi-ld.  (Sen.)  It  is  no 
new  thing  to  die,  for  life  itself  is  nothing  else  but 
a  journey  to  death.  Whatsoever  hath  aspired  to  the 
highest,  must  descend  to  the  lowest.  "It  is  appoint- 
ed imto  men  once  to"  die,"  Heb.  ix.  27 :  it  is  a  statute 
law  decreed  in  the  high  parliament  of  heaven.  God 
so  threatened  Adam,  "  In  the  day  that  thou  eatest 
thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  die,"  Gen.  ii.  17.  But 
Adam  lived  above  nine  hundred  years  after.  Yet 
was  there  no  delay  nor  evasion  of  God's  doom;  for 
he  presently  became  mortal,  and  fell  into  a  consump- 
tion, that  never  left  him  till  it  had  brought  him  to 
the  grave.  Whosoever  complains  that  a  man  is 
dead,  complains  that  he  was  a  man.  (Sen.)  Thus 
for  the  certain  substance  ;  now  for  the  uncertain  cir- 
cumstance. 

We  know  not  the  manner  of  our  departure,  or  how 
we  shall  die.  There  is  but  one  way  to  come  into  the 
world,  a  thousand  ways  to  go  out.  What  matters  it, 
whether  by  an  enemy's  sword,  or  by  the  fit  of  an 
ague,  seeing  we  must  depart.  Job  compares  man's 
life  to  a  flower,  Isaiah  to  grass,  John  Baptist  to  a 
tree,  the  Preacher  to  a  passenger.  Is  it  any  matter, 
whether  the  flower  be  cropped,  or  the  grass  mown, 
or  the  tree  hewn  down,  or  where  the  passenger  shall 
lie  next  night  ?  We  know  whither  our  spints  shall 
go,  we  know  not  in  what  manner  our  soul  shall  be 
taken  from  us.  This  happens  alike  both  to  good 
and  bad :  wicked  Aliab  and  good  Josiali  are  both 
slain  by  war :  the  pestilence  takes  away  the  right- 
eous as  well  as  the  sinner.  Wise  men  may  die  the 
death  of  fools.  Both  travel  together  in  this  tho- 
roughfare of  life,  both  lodge  in  one  inn  of  the  grave ; 
but  in  the  morning  their  ways  part :  Paries  ubi  se  via 
findit  in  ambas.  (\  irg.  ^n.  vi.) 

We  know  not  the  place :  Rachel  dies  in  the  high- 
way, as  Jezebel  in  the  streets  ;  Saul  and  Jonathan 
are  slain  in  one  battle,  and  their  bodies  hung  up  as 
trophies  of  a  bloody  victory.  In  the  mathematics, 
the  circle  is  equally  distant  in  every  point  of  it  from 
(he  centre.  Conceive  earth  to  be  this  world's  centre, 
heaven  the  circumference  :  now  from  all  points  of 
this  centre  there  is  an  equally  distant  remoteness, 


152 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


or  nearness,  to  the  circumference,  heaven.  Let  a 
man  die  in  England,  in  Spain,  in  Turkey,  or  in  the 
Indies,  his  body  is  neither  nearer  nor  farther  off 
from  heaven.  Say  the  bodies  of  men  are  entombed 
in  the  entrails  of  beasts  or  maws  of  fowls,  or  their 
dust  scattered  on  the  waters  ;  yet  can  no  dust  be 
concealed.  What  hurt  was  it  to  the  Christians  in 
the  sack  of  Rome,  whose  bodies  lay  unburied  on  the 
earth,  when  their  souls  were  received  to  heaven  ? 
The  living  committed  no  sin,  in  that  they  could  not 
bury  them ;  the  dead  felt  no  pain,  though  they  were 
not  buried.  (August.)  The  cynic  desired  to  have  no 
other  tomb  over  him  but  heaven ;  he  admired  that 
for  the  most  glorious  monument.  Another  replied. 
But  then  the  fowls  of  the  air  will  devour  thee :  he 
answered,  Sliall  I  feel  them?  No;  then  wheresoever 
I  die,  let  earth  be  the  pavement,  and  heaven  the  roof 
of  my  tomb.  But  only  for  the  living's  sake,  there 
was  no  sepulchre  like  it.  If  there  was  a  jjlace 
which  could  hide  from  God,  I  would  not  die  there. 
But  on  the  earth,  in  the  sea,  in  the  dark,  in  hell,  in 
heaven,  the  Lord  is  ever)'  where,  Psal.  cxxxix  :  all 
places  are  specified  but  purgatory  ;  because  none  are 
found  there.  Be  therefore  always  ready ;  thou  art 
not  sure  in  what  place  death  looks  for  thee,  therefore 
in  all  places  do  thou  look  for  death.  It  watcheth  us 
like  an  enemy  :  when  it  comes,  we  may  say  as  Ahab 
to  Elijah,  "  Hast  thou  found  me,  O  thou  mine 
enemy  ? "  1  Kings  xxi.  20.  Thou  hast  found  me, 
and  wilt  conquer  me  ;  but  "  thanks  be  to  God,  which 
giveth  us  the  ^^ctol•y  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ," 
1  Cor.  XV.  57. 

We  know  not  the  time.  Christ  says  that  the  Son 
of  man  himself  knows  not  the  day  of  judgment. 
Wliat,  doth  not  Christ  know  it  ?  AVithout  question 
he  knew  it  as  he  is  God ;  though  as  man  he  might 
be  ignorant  of  it.  For  he  said,  None  knows,  no  not 
the  Son  of  man ;  but  the  Son  of  God  knew  it.  He 
knew  it  not,  not  because  he  could  not,  but  because 
he  would  not;  that  we  might  contentedly  bear  that 
ignorance,  which  is  common  to  us  with  Christ  and 
the  angels.  (Bern.)  But  men  sick  of  lingering  con- 
sumptions do  know  their  time.  No,  but  still  they 
languish  in  hope,  and  know  not  the  hour  of  their 
dissolution.  But  Hczekiah  was  promised  the  addition 
of  fifteen  years  ;  therefore  he  knew  how  long  he 
should  live.  We  answer,  this  was  by  special  revela- 
tion ;  and  who  else  was  so  ascertained  ?  Yea,  rather 
this  was  a  conditional  and  limited  promise,  depending 
on  the  order  of  second  causes.  For  Hezckiah's  body 
was  not  impassible,  nor  incorruptible ;  but  God  did 
repair  the  defects  of  nature,  and  extend  it  to  the 
possibility  of  fifteen  years,  upon  the  implicit  condi- 
tion of  repentance.  No  man  knows  his  appointed 
time.  Inquire  not  after  that  which  is  concealed,  lest 
thou  lose  that  which  is  granted.  A  man  may  safely 
be  ignorant  of  that,  which  he  is  not  bound  to  know. 
They  are  wretched  men,  that  run  to  soothsayers  for 
such  predictions;  when  God  hath  locked  it  up,  to 
offer  to  nick  it  with  a  false  key.  Some  depart  in 
youth,  otliers  in  age  ;  some  fruit  is  plucked  violently 
from  the  tree,  other  drops  down  with  mature  ripeness ; 
all  must  fall.  The  com  is  sometimes  bitten  in  the 
spring,  often  trod  down  in  the  blade,  never  fails  to 
be  cut  up  in  the  ear,  when  it  is  ripe.  There  is  no- 
thing more  sure  than  death,  nothing  more  unsure 
than  the  time  of  death.  Moses  and  Aaron  were  cer- 
tain to  die,  and  never  to  enter  into  Canaan  ;  but  they 
were  not  certain  when  they  should  see  Canaan  froiii 
the  mounts,  and  so  die.  "it  is  a  common  faidt,  to 
run  ill  courses  in  health,  and  to  allow  themselves  the 
time  of  a  lingering  sickness  to  make  ready  for  death; 
as  if  (iod  were  liound  to  give  them  so  long  warning. 
But  he  often  disappoints  them;  and  death's  propera- 


tion  prevents  their  preparation.  "  They  spend  their 
days  in  wealth,  and  in  a  moment  go  down  to  the 
grave,"  Job  xxi.  13.  This  was  that  cosmopolite's 
presumption,  Luke  xii.  19,  "  Soul,  eat,  drink,  and  be 
merr)- :"  but  he  reckoned  without  his  host.  Korah 
was  suddenly  swallowed.  Ishbosheth  was  slain  asleep, 
2  Sam.  iv.  7.  The  house  fell  upon  Job's  children  at 
a  banquet.  Ananias  and  Sapphira  were  put  out  like 
a  candle  new  lighted,  and  that  in  stench.  "  They 
are  exalted  for  a  little  while,  and  cut  off  as  the  tops 
of  the  ears  of  corn,"  Job  xxiv.  24.  When  the  thought 
of  death  is  farthest,  the  stroke  of  death  is  nearest. 
Ca.>sar  desired  a  sudden  death  :  as  he  desired,  as  he 
desen'ed,  so  he  had  it.  Naturalists  that  love  the 
avoidance  of  pain,  and  have  no  hope  of  future  bless- 
edness, desire  a  sudden  dissolution.  For  my  part, 
my  prayer  shall  be  with  our  church,  "  From  battle, 
and  murder,  and  from  sudden  death.  Good  Lord, 
deliver  me." 

Thus  we  see,  the  time  is  unknown  to  us,  whether 
in  youth  or  in  age.  Often  in  youth  the  bud  is  crop- 
ped. In  birth  we  are  green  in  the  bud,  in  youth  we 
are  white  in  the  flower,  in  death  we  wither  in  the 
dust.  (Greg.)  Death,  like  a  fish-net,  catcheth  at 
one  draught,  not  only  the  grown  fishes,  but  even  the 
little  (vy.  The  poets  have  a  fable,  that  Death  and 
Cupid  lodging  together  at  one  inn,  interchanged  each 
other's  arrows.  From  that  day  to  this  it  comes  to 
pass,  that  sometimes  old  men  dote,  and  young  men 
die.  Therefore  let  me  be  bold  with  Christ's  words, 
"  Young  man,  I  say  unto  thee,  arise,"  Luke  vii.  14: 
raise  up  thy  soul  to  grace,  thou  knowest  not  how 
soon  thy  body  shall  fall  down  to  dust.  Perhaps  thy 
imagined  wisdom  makes  thee  believe  that  thou  art 
early  ripe ;  and  so  like  a  blossom  that  prevents  the 
spring,  thou  wilt  dare  to  look  forth  upon  February 
sun,  but  thou  mayst  soon  be  nipped  with  a  frost. 
And  if  youth  be  but  so  weak  a  taper,  quickly  put  out 
by  death,  how  careful  should  parents  be  with  what 
oil  they  supply  those  young  lamps !  Usually  they 
provide  fair  estates  for  their  children's  bodies,  nothing 
for  the  estate  of  their  souls  ;  to  show  that  they  are 
parents  of  their  bodies,  not  of  their  souls.  Zeuxis 
having  artificially  painted  a  boy,  carrying  grapes  in 
a  hand-basket ;  the  birds  came,  as  if  they  had  been 
true  grapes,  and  pecked  at  them.  Hereupon  he  «as 
wondrous  angiT  with  himself  and  his  art  ;  saying.  If 
I  had  painted  the  boy,  which  was  the  chief  part  of 
my  picture,  so  well  as  I  have  done  the  grapes,  which 
were  but  a  by-accident,  the  birds  durst  never  have 
been  so  bold.  Were  parents  as  careful  for  their 
children's  good  nurture,  as  about  their  appendant 
trifles,  those  ravenous  kites,  evil  companions,  durst 
not  venture  upon  them,  could  not  so  easily  corrupt 
them. 

For  age,  then  death  is  looked  for:  yoimg  men 
know  they  may  die,  old  men  know  they  must  die. 
The  youngest  is  old  enough  to  die,  the  oldest  too  old 
to  live  long.  Death  stands  behind  the  young  man's 
back,  before  the  old  man's  face.  There  are  three 
messengers  of  death;  casualty,  sickness, age.  Hath 
not  the  first  messenger  spoke  with  thee?  yet  the 
second.  Hast  thou  escaped  the  second  ?  yet  the  third 
will  not  fail.  "  As  if  a  man  did  flee  from  a  lion, 
and  a  bear  met  him  ;  or  went  into  the  house,  and  a 
serpent  bit  him,"  Amos  v.  19.  While  a  man  runs 
from  the  lion,  the  bear  assaults  him ;  if  he  escape 
them  both,  yet  death  (that  serpent)  will  find  him  out. 
Childhood  is  our  morning,  middle  age  pur  high  noon, 
old  age  our  evening,  death  our  sunset.  One  would 
have  young  men  saluted  with,  Good  morrow,  or  wel- 
come into  the  world  ;  men  of  middle  age  with,  Go.od 
day;  old  men  with,  Good  night,  because  they  arc 
going  out  of  the  world.     It  is  miserable  for  an  olc 


Ver.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


153 


man  not  to  be  prepared  for  death :  death  shakes  liim 
by  the  hand  in  the  palsy  ;  yet  no  acquaintance  ?  he 
hath  one  foot  in  the  grave ;  and  yet  no  thought  of 
dissolution  ?  he  is  come  to  the  threshold  of  his  long 
home  ;  yet  still  worldly-minded?  But  the  good  old 
man  thinks  this  life,  like  a  throng  in  a  narrow  pas- 
sage, the  sooner  out  the  sooner  at  case. 

Seeing  our  dissolution  is  so  certain,  the  time  so 
uncertain,  the  very  mention  of  it  bids  us  be  prepared. 
Put  not  olT  your  amendment,  lest  what  you  defer  for 
a  long  time,  God  take  away  for  ever.  For  it  is  just, 
that  he  who  living  forgot  God,  dying  should  forget 
himself.  Many  serve  God,  an  they  do  their  scr\-ants, 
with  reversions,  but  he  looks  to  be  served  with  pre- 
sent obedience.  We  know  not  our  last  day,  that  we 
might  watch  every  day  ;  we  cannot  tell  how  far  it  is 
off,  therefore  let  us  believe  it  to  be  very  near.  (Au- 
gust.) God  allows  man  a  liberal  time,  a  whole  day : 
now  a  day  consists  of  twelve  hours  ;  Are  there  not 
twelve  hours  in  the  day  ?  saith  Christ.  What  ene- 
mies are  we  to  ourselves,  that  of  those  twelve  hours, 
which  God  allows  us,  we  allow  ourselves  not  one  ! 
Many  men  post  off  their  conversion ;  and  at  twenty 
send  religion  afore  them  to  thirty  ;  then  put  it  off  to 
forty;  and  yet  not  pleased  to  overtake  it,  they  pro- 
mise it  entertainment  p.l  threescore.  At  last  dcatli 
comes,  and  he  allows  not  one  hour.  In  youth  men 
resolve  to  afford  themselves  the  time  of  age  to  ser\'e 
God;  inagethey  shuffle  it  off  to  sickness;  when  sick- 
ness comes,  care  to  dispose  their  goods,  lothness  to 
die,  hope  to  escape,  martyrs  that  good  thought,  and 
their  resolution  still  keeps  before  them.  If  we  have 
but  the  lease  of  a  farm  for  one  and  twenty  years,  we 
make  use  of  the  time,  and  gather  profit.  But  in  this 
precious  farm  of  time  we  are  so  bad  husbands,  that 
our  lease  comes  out  before  we  are  one  penny-worth 
of  grace  the  richer  by  it. 

They  that  have  lived  ill,  when  the  soul  sits  on 
their  lips  ready  to  take  her  flight,  then  they  send 
for  the  minister,  to  teach  them  to  die  well.  But  as 
in  such  extremity  the  apothecary  gives  but  some 
opiate  physic,  so  the  minister  can  give  but  some 
opiate  divinity ;  a  cordial  that  may  benumb  them, 
no  solid  comfort  to  secure  them.  Here  is  no  time  to 
ransack  for  sins,  to  search  the  depth  of  the  ulcer:  a 
little  balm  to  supple,  but  the  core  is  left  within. 
Let  men  repent  while  they  live,  that  they  may  re- 
joice when  they  die.  You  tell  me  that  one  male- 
factor went  from  the  cross  to  paradise  :  but  we  must 
not  liide  from  you,  that  God  opened  the  mouth  of  one 
ass  ;  yet  ever)'  ass  is  not  thereby  privileged  to  speak. 
Let  us  be  liberal  on  God's  part.  He  that  truly  re- 
pents one  day  before  he  dies,  shall  surely  be  saved. 
With  greediness  you  hear  this ;  but  abuse  it  not  ; 
tnast  it,  but  trust  not  yourselves.  He  that  gives 
pardon  to  repentance,  is  not  bound  to  give  repent- 
ance to  sinners.  Be  sure  thou  repentest  that  one 
day  before  thy  death ;  but  hereof  tliou  canst  not  be 
sure,  unless  thou  repent  every  day.  The  Lord  hath 
made  a  promise  to  repentance,  not  of  repentance. 
If  thou  convertest  to-morrow,  thou  art  sure  of  grace  ; 
but  thou  art  not  sure  of  to-morrow's  conversion.  For 
three  reasons  God  conceals  from  us  the  time  of  our 
death.  1.  Because  in  nature,  the  fear  of  death  is 
more  terrible  than  death  itself.  We  know  that  we 
nust  die,  to  avoid  all  doubts  ;  we  know  not  when,  to 
]ualify  our  fears.  2.  To  preser\e  men  from  despair. 
That  neither  the  ungodly  should  despair,  as  if  they 
lad  no  time  allowed  for  repentance  ;  neither  the 
aithful  be  cast  down,  because  the  time  was  too  long 
)f  exercising  their  patience.  (Ba-sil.)  3.  That  we 
might  be  evermore  armed  with  expectation,  to  en- 
counter death.  Because  we  know  -not  when  we  shall 
die,  let  us  Icam  with  St.  Paul,  to  die  daily.    The 


worldling  would  weep,  if  he  knew  that  he  had  but  a 
month  to  live  ;  yet  he  leaps  and  sings,  and  securely 
rejoiceth,  when  perhaps  he  hath  not  one  day. 

Fleres,  si  scires  unum  lua  tempora  mensem  : 
Rides  cum  tion  sit  forsilan  una  dies. 

The  sum  of  all,  is  the  certainty  of  inevitable  death. 
A  mortal  father  catmot  beget  an  immortal  son.  If 
they  that  brought  us  into  the  world  have  themselves 
gone  out  of  the  world,  we  may  conclude  our  own 
following.  He  that  may  say  in  life,  I  have  a  man 
to  my  father,  and  a  woman  to  my  mother;  shall  say 
in  death,  "to  corruption.  Thou  art  my  father:  to 
the  worm.  Thou  art  my  mother,  and  my  sister," 
Job  xvii.  14.  There  is  not  one  in  the  cluster  of 
mankind,  but  is  liable  to  the  common  and  equal 
law  of  death.  Methuselah  lived  nine  hundred  three- 
score and  nine  years  ;  yet  he  was  the  son  of  Enoch, 
who  was  the  son  of  Jared,  who  was  the  son  of 
Mahalaleel,  who  was  the  son  of  Cainan,  who  was 
the  son  of  Enos,  who  was  the  son  of  Seth,  who 
was  the  son  of  Adam,  who  was  the  son  of  dust. 
Ask  the  woman  that  hath  conceived  a  child  in  her 
womb,  Will  it  be  a  son  ?  She  answers,  Peradventure 
so.  Will  it  be  fair?  Peradventure  so.  Will  it  be 
wittv?  Peradventure  so.  Will  it  be  rich?  Per- 
adventure so.  Will  it  be  long-lived?  Peradventure 
so.  Will  it  be  mortal  ?  Yes,  this  is  without  perad- 
venture, it  will  die.  As  the  philosopher,  hearing 
that  his  son  was  dead,  answered  without  astonish- 
ment, I  know  that  I  begot  a  mortal  man.  Man's 
body,  as  well  as  the  ice,  expounds  that  riddle,  that 
the' daughter  begets  the  mother:  dust  begat  the 
body,  and  the  body  begets  dust.  Our  bodies  were 
at  first  stron"  cities,  but  then  by  transgression  we 
made  them  the  forts  of  rebels  ;  whereupon  our  of- 
fended Sovereign  sent  his  Serjeant  Death  to  arrest  u* 
of  high  treason.  And  though  for  his  mercy's  sake 
in  Christ  he  pardon  our  sins ;  yet  he  suffers  us  no 
more  to  have  such  strong  houses,  but  lets  us  dwell 
in  tliatched  cottages,  paper  walls,  mortal  bodies. 
Therefore  Paul  calls  the  body  our  house  ;  not  such 
as  God  created.  He  may  say  of  our  bodies,  as  the 
poet  spake  of  his  verses. 

Quern  reci/as  /news'  est,  O  Fidenllne,  libetlun 
Sed  male  dum  rccilas,  incipil  esse  luus. 

Thy  body,  O  man,  while  it  was  holy  and  immortal, 
it  was  my  work  ;  but  now  it  is  sinful  and  mortal,  it 
is  thy  work.  An  old  man  is  said  to  give  Alexander 
a  little  jewel,  which  he  aflirmcd  to  be  of  this  virtue  : 
so  long  as  it  was  kept  bright,  if  it  were  put  into  the 
balance  with  the  choicest  gold  or  most  precious  stone, 
it  would  oufpoise  and  outvalue  them  all  ;  but  if  it 
once  fell  into  the  dust,  and  took  rust,  it  would  be 
lighter  and  slighter  than  a  feather.  What  meant 
the  sage,  but  to  moralize  to  that  great  monarch  his 
own  life  ;  which  being  kept  bright  and  healthful, 
commanded  the  world;  but  once  fallen  to  the  dust, 
even  grooms  "would  despise  it;  for  hares  dare  pluck 
dead  lions  by  the  beard.  Lucian  hath  a  fable,  the 
moral  is  good  :  Menippus  meeting  Mercun,'  in  the 
Elysian  fields,  would  needs  know  of  him,  which 
among  all  the  ghosts  was  Philip  that  great  king  of 
Maccdon.  Mercup,-  answers.  He  is  Philip,  that  hath 
the  hairless  scalp.  Menippus  replies,  AMiv  thev 
have  all  bald  heads.  Mere.  Then  he  with  the  fla't 
nose.  Menin.  They  all  have  flat  noses.  Merc. 
Then  he  witli  the  hollow  eyes.  Menip.  They  all 
have  hollow  eyes  ;  all  have  naked  ribs,  disjointed 
members ;  all  are  carcasses.  Merc.  Then,  Menippus, 
in  death  there  is  no  difference  betwixt  the  king  and 
the  beggar. 


154 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


Mors  dominoa  ierri.i,  et  sceptra  ligonibus  eequat  : 
Dissimiies  simiti  condilione  ligans. 

Men  upon  earth,  as  in  the  game  at  chess,  supply  dif- 
ferent places ;  one  is  a  king,  another  a  queen,  another 
a  bishop,  another  a  kniglit,  another  a  pawn  :  but 
when  the  game  is  done,  and  they  are  shuffled  into 
one  bag,  all  are  alike. 

AVhat  mean  worldlings  then  to  be  so  covetous  ?  In 
our  birth  we  had  but  swaddling  bands  and  a  cradle  ; 
in  our  death  we  shall  have  but  a  winding-sheet  and  a 
coffin.  Alcibiadcs  brags  of  his  lands.  Socrates  rcach- 
eth  him  a  map,  bids  him  demonstrate  where  they  He  : 
alas,  he  could  not  find  them,  nor  scarce  discern  Athens 
itself,  it  was  so  small  a  point  in  respect  of  the  world. 
The  dust  of  niighty  Hercules  can  scarce  fill  a  pitcher. 
The  philosopher  said  of  Alexandei',  Yesterday  the 
whole  world  did  not  content  liim,  now  ten  cubits 
contain  him.  I  will  not  deal  so  sparingly  with  you, 
ye  landed  men.  You  shall  have  some  land  in  death, 
and  you  can  have  no  more ;  even  so  much  ground  as 
will  hold  your  carcasses.  Why  do  you  covet  ?  Were 
you  owners  of  more  land  than  ever  the  devil  showed 
Christ,  yet  call  no  more  yours  but  the  grave.  This 
is  my  land,  and  thy  land.  Purchase  there  where  is 
true  possession ;  or  rather  get  that  by  faith  which 
Jesus  Christ  hath  purchased  for  you.  Lay  up  your 
treasure  in  heaven.  What  folly  is  it  to  lay  up  our 
treasure  there,  whence  we  must  depart ;  and  not  to 
send  it  afore  thither,  whither  we  must  go,  and  where 
we  shall  live  for  ever! 

What  means  the  epicure  so  to  pamper  his  body  ? 
A  fat  corpse  is  but  a  fat  supper  for  the  worms. 
"  Meats  for  the  belly,  and  the  belly  for  meats  ;  but 
God  shall  destroy  both  it  and  them,"  I  Cor.  vi.  1.3. 
Let  us  cat  to  live,  not  live  to  eat.  When  we  have 
devoured  the  most  delicate  creatures,  the  worms  shall 
devour  us. 

What  mean  the  proud  ?  The  soles  of  their  feet  must 
not  touch  the  ground;  they  ily  bet«ixt  heaven  and 
earth  on  their  four-wheeled  wings.  But  they  must 
have  other  portei-s  ;  to  the  grave  they  must.  After  all 
their  painting,  the  earth  will  spoil  their  colours.  The 
fairest  woman,  that  says.  Touch  me  not,  I  am  of 
purer  mould,  as  if 

Prtpcordia  Titan 
Dc  meliom  lulojinxit, 

must  lie  blended  in  the  forgotten  dust  with  the  poor 
bond-woman. 

What  mean  we  all  so  foolishly  to  forget  our  latter 
ends  ?  Adam  could  call  all  the  beasts  by  their  names, 
but  his  own  name  he  foi-got ;  Adam,  the  son  of  earth. 
Such  fools  are  we,  to  forget  our  own  names  ;  that  we 
are  the  sons  of  Adam,  the  sons  of  dust.  It  is  no  wis- 
dom to  fear  that  we  cannot  avoid.  I  shall  die  neither 
the  first,  nor  the  last ;  they  that  go  not  before  me, 
shall  follow  me.  Upon  this  condition  I  came  in,  that 
I  should  go  out.  We  must  fall  ;  and  as  the  tree  falls 
so  it  lies;  and  commonly  it  falls  to  that  side  whicli 
is  most  loadeu  with  branches  and  fruits.  They  that 
abound  most  with  the  fruits  of  obedience,  shall  foil 
to  the  right  hand,  life;  eastward,  to  salvation  :  they 
that  abound  with  wicked  actions  and  affections,  to  the 
left  hand,  death ;  westward,  to  destruction. 

What  mean  the  faithful  (o  bo  so  much  cast  down 
in  the  apprehension  of  death  ?  To  them  it  is,  though 
the  punishment  of  the  first  birth,  yet  the  glory  of  the 
second  birth  ;  not  a  dying,  but  a'departing.  Life  is 
with  some  sorrow  laid  ofl!',  bul  with  much  joy  laid  up. 
Though  every  man  that  hatli  his  Genesis,  must  have 
his  Exodus  ;  yet  it  is  but  a  jouniey,  which  they  call 
a  death.  Paul  calls  this  life  an  cartldy  house,  hea- 
ven a  new  building,  2  Cor.  v.  1.     Death  is  but  the 


pulling  Aovm  of  an  old  house,  that  a  new  one  may 
be  set  up.  Or  as  a  clock  that  is  grown  rusty,  is 
taken  asunder  by  the  makei-'s  hand ;  disjoined  v.  heel 
from  wheel,  and  pin  from  pin  ;  not  to  be  lost, 
bul  to  be  repolished,  and  put  together  again,  that 
it  may  go  clearly  :  so  death  doth  pull  the  clock 
of  our  life  asunder,  when  it  hath  struck  the  last  stroke 
of  breath  ;  wheel  from  wheel,  limb  from  limb,  joint 
from  joint,  member  from  member;  all  to  dust  and 
pieces.  But  then  the  omnipotent  Maker  takes  it 
into  his  own  hands,  sets  it  together  again  at  the  re- 
sm-rectiou,  and  it  shall  go  well  in  gloiy  for  ever ; 
bearing  a  part  in  those  celestial  chimes,  which  the 
blessed  angels,  the  choristers  of  heaven,  sing  to  the 
King  of  kings.  For  though  the  wages  of  sin  be 
death,  yet  eternal  life  is  the  gift  of  God  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.     Amen,  Rom.  vi.  23. 


Verse  15. 

Moreover  I  icitl  endeavour  that  ye  may  be  able  after  my 
decease  to  have  these  things  always  in  remembrance. 

Seeing  my  life  is  so  short,  and  with  it  my  minisfiy 
must  cease ;  therefore  I  will  take  advantage  of  the 
time,  and  yet  again  remember  you  of  these  things. 
This  I  have  done  hitherto  with  my  living  voice ;  but 
my  care  ends  not  with  my  life,  I  will  strive  that  even 
after  my  death  you  may  remember  tliem.  So  often 
as  you  turn  over  the  leaves  of  my  Epistles,  you  shall 
(though  not  hear,  yet)  see  me  preaching  to  you  these 
things.  You  shall  hear  me  while  I  live,  and  read  me 
when  I  am  dead.  I  die  that  spake  these  words,  but 
the  words  spoken  shall  not  die  in  your  memories.  As 
it  is  said  of  Abel,  being  dead  yet  speakcth ;  so  it 
pleaseth  God  that  I  should  preach  to  his  church  even 
to  the  world's  end. 

This  is  the  sense  :  for  method  of  discoui-se,  many 
things  inherently  natural  to  these  words,  have  been 
pretractated  on  just  occasion,  verses  12  and  13.  I  am 
loth  to  fall  into  a  coincidence  of  argument,  and 
therefore  willingly  abridge  myself  of  some  necessary 
matter.  Biit  to  rest  content  with  what  is  behind,  and 
to  give  you  the  gleanings  of  the  former  vintage ; 
there  are  some  scattering  grapes,  wliich  well  pressed 
may  afford  you  a  cup  of  good  wine.  First,  the  apos- 
tle moves  them  to  embrace  his  doctrine,  because  he 
is  old,  and  hath  but  a  short  time  to  tany  amongst  them. 
Then  he  comforts  them,  that  he  will  strive  to  leave 
an  impression  of  his  doctrine  behind  him  in  their 
hearts. 

The  grave  exhortations  of  old  age  are  to  be  pon- 
derously received.  There  is  somewhat  in  the  per- 
son, that  procures  attention  to  the  doctrine.  A  re- 
verend bishop  is  heard  as  a  father  of  the  church,  saith 
Augustine :  his  speech  may  be  short,  but  effectual, 
leaving  a  deep  impression  in  the  hearers.  St.  John's 
sliort  sermon  in  his  old  age,  "  Little  children,  love 
one  another,"  so  warmed  his  disciples'  hearts  with 
the  fii'e  of  charity,  that  their  head  was  tmned  into  a 
limbec,  and  did  distil  down  water  at  their  eyes. 
The  same  weight  of  doctrine  doth  not  feel  so  weighty 
in  a  young  man's  mouth,  as  in  the  gravity  of  revci'- 
end  old  age.  Not  that  the  truth  of  God  dcjicnd- 
on  the  regard  of  persons;  but  because  men's  aflection- 
sooner  melt  at  his  sjiecch  that  is  stuffed  with  expe- 
rience, than  at  theirs  who  only  aver  the  theoretical 
truth.  But  for  us,  whether  he  be  a  young  Timothy, 
or  an  old  Peter,  that  tells  us  tile  truth  in  Christ,  the 
Spirit  of  God  woi  U  in  our  hearts  a  faithfid  obedience. 

AVell,  I  am  o'  1,  and  must  leave  you;  yet  I  will 


Ver.  15. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


155 


leave  that  behind  me,  which  shall  remain  with  you. 
In  the  whole  verse  we  find  two  generals;  the  con- 
tent, and  the  intent ;  his  practice,  and  his  purpose ; 
his  labour,  and  the  end  of  his  labour ;  the  thing  he 
does,  and  the  thing  he  seeks.  "  I  will  endeavour  ; " 
there  is  his  labour,  practice,  and  the  thing  he  does. 
"  That  ye  may  be  able  after  my  decease  to  nave  these 
things  always  in  remembrance;"  there  is  his  pur- 
pose, the  end  of  his  labour,  and  the  thing  he  seeks. 
For  the  former: 

"  I  will  endeavour."  I  can  do  no  more,  I  must  do 
no  less.  Now  a  minister's  endeavour  consists  in 
thi'ee  especial  things ;  he  must  endeavour  by  learn- 
ing, endeavour  by  liffe,  endeavour  by  labour ;  none  of 
these  must  be  wanting. 

The  first  thing  required  to  this  endeavour  is  learn- 
ing. The  bishop  of  Trnjectum  in  Gci-many,  said  that 
he  would  not  admit  asses  to  holy  orders.  One  re- 
plied, that  he  must  not  now  look  for  Ambroses  and 
Cyprians.  He  answered,  I  do  not  expect  Cyprians, 
but  I  will  not  admit  asses.  Thei-c  are  some  that 
never  knew,  nor  cared  to  know,  the  schools  of  the 
prophets ;  yet  they  send  themselves  into  the  harvest ; 
they  pen  their  own  commission.  But  says  the  church. 
What  make  you  in  my  work,  that  are  none  of  my 
servants  ?  They  ane  sons  without  a  father ;  their  own 
creators,  and  own  creatures  too.  "  Friend,  how 
camest  thoti  in  hither,  not  having  a  wedding  gar- 
ment ?  "  Matt.  xxii.  12.  How  didst  thou  get  into 
the  priesthood,  without  havin,^  a  ministerial  gar- 
ment ?  They  are  dangerous  teachers,  that  never  were 
learners.  While  they  will  not  be  seiiolars  of  truth, 
they  become  masters  of  error.  For  all  Christ's  "  I 
will  make  you  fishers  of  men,"  yet  they  went  not  pre- 
sently out  of  the  boat  into  the  pulpit  :  lie  was  three 
years  instructing  them.  Christ  commanded  them  to 
stay  at  Jenisalem  till  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  on 
them.  Acts  ii.  They  must  not  receive  in  and  pour 
out  at  once.  (Hieron.)  Yesterday  a  catechumen, 
to-day  a  bishop.  Like  David's  messengers,  they 
must  tarry  till  their  beards  be  grown ;  not  lapwing- 
breed,  to  nin  away  with  the  shell  on  their  head. 
They  must  know  their  winds,  ebbings  and  tlowings, 
creeks  and  sea-marks,  that  will  be  fishers. 

Wherein  consists  this  learning  ?  Not  in  a  theory 
of  divers  arts,  but  in  the  sober  use  and  discreet  appli- 
cation of  divinity.  "  We  will  make  thee  borders  of 
gold  with  studs  of  silver,"  Cant.  i.  11.  Divinity  is 
that  border  of  gold,  human  learning  the  studs  of 
silver.  A  garment  to  have  here  and  there  a  fringe, 
or  button,  or  jewel,  is  comely ;  to  be  nothing  but 
buttons  is  ridiculous.  Give  us  lessons,  not  laces. 
When  Solomon  made  preparation  for  the  building  of 
the  temple,  he  "  had  threescore  and  ten  thousand 
that  bare  bunlens,  and  fourscore  thousand  hewers  in 
the  mountains,"  1  Kings  v.  15  :  there  was  hewing  and 
knocking  in  the  mountains.  But  when  the  house 
was  a  building,  "•  there  was  neither  hammer  nor  axe 
nor  any  tool  of  iron  heard  in  it,"  1  Kings  vi.  7-  The 
study  of  arts  must  go  before,  but  not  be  too  busy  in 
the  edification.  That  which  moves  the  conscience, 
and  saves  the  soul,  is  the  word  of  God ;  yet  attendant 
to  this  queen,  are  certain  maids  of  honour,  arts.  I 
cannot  say  they  are  commanded;  I  dare  not  say  they 
are  forbidden.  Indeeda  flourishing  and  meretricious 
eloquence  puffed  up  with  these,  is  unprofitable.  God 
affects  not  aulicisms  and  courtly  terms.  It  is  like  u 
great  deal  of  painting  in  a  church  window,  to  keep 
out  the  light.  What  benefit  is  in  a  gilt  armour  ?  it 
is  the  armour  that  defends,  not  the  gilt.     Or  to  what 

5iurpose  is  a  golden  key,  if  it  will  not  open  the  door  ? 
f  a  wooden  key  will  open  it,  it  is  better  for  me. 
Neither  would  I  have  the  truth  stripped  of  her  orna- 
ments, and  set  barely  forth ;  this  is  a  kind  of  treason. 


There  is  a  learning,  no  man  can  be  a  good  preacher 
without  it.  "E*-cry  scribe  instructed  unto  tne  king- 
dom of  heaven,  briugeth  out  of  his  treasure  things 
new  and  old,"  ^latt.  xiii.  52.  The  New  Testament, 
and  the  Old :  to  the  broken  hearts  evangelical  com- 
forts, to  rebellious  spirits  legal  menaces.  "  New  and 
old,"  new  before  old ;  because  the  gospel  was  pro- 
mised before  the  law  was  printed. 

Some  think  a  minister  hath  no  great  need  of  learn- 
ing, because  he  is  to  speak  to  the  unlearned.  But, 
as  Heb.  v.  11,  12,  "  Weliave  many  things  to  say,  and 
hard  to  be  uttered,  seeing  ye  are  dull  of  hearing. 
For  when  for  the  time  ye  ought  to  be  teachers,  ye 
have  need  that  one  teach  you  again  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  the  oracles  of  God ;  and  have  need  of  milk, 
and  not  of  strong  meat."  So  1  Cor.  ii.  6,  "  We  speak 
wisdom  among  tlicm  that  are  perfect."  Such  is  our 
unhappy  exigent :  if  we  preach  learnedly,  they  think 
us  mad;  as  Festus  told  Paul,  "  Thou  art  beside  thy- 
self; much  learning  doth  make  thee  mad,"  Acts 
xxvi.  24.  We  seem  mad,  but  only  to  those  that  are 
mad.  As  David  seemed  a  fool  to  King  Achish,  that 
was  a  fool.  To  common  simplicity,  divinity  seems 
a  kind  of  heresy,  and  ministeis  a  kind  of  conjurers. 
It  is  with  learning  as  it  is  with  language;  let  it  be 
strange,  be  sure  it  will  be  ridiculous.  "  I  have  writ- 
ten to  them  the  great  things  of  my  law,  but  they 
were  counted  as  a  strange  thing,"  Hos.  viii.  12.  Art 
hath  no  other  enemy  to  speaK  of,  but  ignorance. 
Licinius  can  make  a  decree  against  learning,  though 
he  want  so  much  learning  as  will  serve  to  write  his 
ottTiname,  and  to  subscribe  to  it.  But  not  to  torment 
him  here,  that  is  tormented  enough  elsewhere  ;  we 
have  too  many  ignorant  censurers  of  learning ;  they 
cannot  understand  us,  they  can  withstand  us.  No 
wonder ;  for  who  can  distinguish  right  from  wrong, 
that  hath  not  cither  a  rule  in  his  hand,  or  some  notion 
of  a  nile  in  his  head  ?  To  judge  who  is  a  wise  man  is 
only  the  office  of  a  wise  man.  (Tull.)  But  "  Wisdom 
is  justified  of  her  children,"  Matt.  xi.  19.  If  it  were 
not  for  this  justification  at  home,  poor  Wisdom  would 
speed  ill ;  either  the  temporal  law  would  nonsuit  her 
for  want  of  evidence,  or  the  ecclesiastical  would  ex- 
communicate her  for  want  of  compurgators.  Such 
fortune  hath  Wisdom  among  barren  and  unblcst  un- 
derstandings, that  the  common  opinion  of  learning  is 
no  more  but  this.  It  is  a  pretty  shift  for  a  younger 
brother  to  live  by.  This  entertainment  gives  tne 
world  to  her  and  her  handmaids,  which  hath  most 
need  of  her  and  all  her  handmaids.  But,  "The  na- 
tural man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit, 
neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they  arc  spirit- 
ually discerned,"  1  Cor.  ii.  14.  He  knows  them  not  j 
there  is  a  denial  of  the  act:  nor  can  know  them; 
there  is  an  excluding  of  the  habit.  Howsoever  you 
judge,  yet  this  is  the  truth ;  a  man  may  as  well  saw 
down  a  tree  with  his  nails,  as  be  a  profitable  ministei- 
without  learning.  You  will  not  venture  your  estate 
with  an  unleanicd  lawyer,  nor  your  body  with  an  un- 
learned physician ;  and  will  you  venture  your  soul 
with  an  unlearned  pastor? 

The  next  thing  required  to  this  endeavour,  is  an 
honest  and  religious  life.  If  this  have  been  bad  be- 
fore thy  calling,  redeem  it  now.  .Sneas  Sylvius 
having  wrote  wanton  books,  when  he  came  to  be 
bishop  of  Rome,  accepted  the  name  of  Pius.  Forget 
iEneas,  and  receive  Pius.  Though  thou  alter  not  tny 
name,  yet  alter  thy  nature.  The  minister  that  spends 
himself  like  a  taper  to  light  others,  must  not  liimself 
go  out  with  an  dl  savour.  It  is  preposterous  for  a 
(livine  to  trouble  himself  too  much  with  secular 
things.  For  there  is  commonly  idleness  in  holy 
matters,  where  is  too  much  business  in  the  world's 
employments.     He  that  "  shall  break  one  of  these 


156 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


least  commandments,  and"  (though  but  by  his  exam- 
ple) "  shall  teach  men  so,  he  shall  be  called  least  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  Matt.  v.  19  :  the  least,  that 
is,  no  one,  saith  Theophylact.  All  in  a  minister 
should  be  vocal  ;  his  very  conversation  must  preach : 
as  Noah  was  called  a  "  Pi'eacher  of  righteousness," 
because  his  life  was  an  actual  sennon.  An  innocent 
and  unrebukable  life  is  a  silent  testimony  of  a  good 
minister.  The  testimony  of  the  life  is  much  better 
than  of  the  tongue.  (Cyprian.)  A  good  work  per- 
suades much  more  than  an  imperformcd  speech. 
(Nazian.)  This  was  thd  cause  why  the  Indians  refused 
the  gospel  brought  by  the  Spaniards,  because  their 
lives  were  more  savage  than  those  savages.  Heaven 
itself  was  despised,  for  fear  of  those  men's  company 
there  that  did  promise  it.  Common  auditors  receive 
not  a  doctrine  in  the  abstract,  only  minding  what  is 
taught ;  but  in  the  concrete,  with  reference  to  the 
person  that  teacheth  it.  Therefore,  if  your  credit  be 
cracked,  it  is  as  bad  as  if  your  brains  were  crazed  : 
you  may  preach  of  heaven  and  hell  until  doomsdav ; 
and  truth  will  be  truth  in  your  mouths,  not  in  their 
hearts. 

Tunc  etiam  fall's  apeiit  Cassandra  fu/uris 
Ora  Dei  jiissu  non  unquum  credita. 

I  do  not  say  that  holiness  is  an  essential  grace  of  a 
minister ;  personal  offences  suspend  not  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Suspend  it  not,  I  say,  directly, 
yet  may  occasionally  ;  through  the  infirmity  of  sim- 
ple men,  who  were  not  then  simple  men  if  they  did 
only  adhere  to  the  doctrine.  His  life  is  bad,  there- 
fore his  doctrine  is  false.  O  this  is  a  harsh  non  sequi- 
tur.  Yet  is  it  a  thousand  times  better,  that  our  good 
lives  should  prevent  it,  than  our  great  learning  be 
driven  after  to  confute  it.  "  Unto  the  wicked  God 
saith.  What  hast  thou  to  do  to  declare  my  statutes  ?  " 
Psal.  1.  16.  Though  it  be  truth  thou  preachest,  yet 
thou  art  not  fit  to  preach  it.  Christ  reproved  the 
de^nl,  even  confessing  truth  :  "  I  know  thee  who 
thou  art,  the  Holy  One  of  God,"  Mark  i.  24.  This 
was  truth,  yet  saith  Jesus,  "  Hold  thy  peace,"  keep 
thy  breath  to  cool  thy  torment.  The  true  prophet 
is  he,  in  whose  mouth  is  the  word  of  life,  in  whose 
behaviour  is  the  life  of  the  word. 

Otherwise  men  seem  to  propound  doctrines  impos- 
sible to  be  keiit.  "  Of  all  that  Jesus  began  both  to 
do  and  teach,"  Acts  i.  1.  It  is  said  of  Christ,  that  he 
did  first  do,  and  then  teach.  The  question  to  the 
minister  shall  be  at  last,  not  how  many  books  he  hath 
read,  but  what  life  he  hath  led;  not  only  how  he 
hath  preached,  but  how  he  hath  lived.  They  must 
not  be  like  scribbling  school-boys,  that  write  fair  with 
file  fore-finger,  and  blur  it  with  the  hind-finger. 
Indeed  rank  hypocrites  often  mask  in  sheep's  cloth- 
ing :  and  as  physicians  that  would  minister  a  draught 
of  bitter  potions  to  children,  anoint  the  brim  of  the 
cup  with  honey,  or  some  well-tasted  liijuor;  so  these 
paint  the  exterior  appearance,  that  men  may  more 
easily  swallow  their  drugs  and  dregs  of  heresy.  But 
we  may  soon  discern  these  wolves  in  lamb-skins  ;  for 
shear  them,  and  their  wool  will  grow  no  more.  Yet 
must  not  the  lamb  put  off  his  fleece  because  the  wolf 
liaTi!  worn  it ;  lest  he  divert  his  office  of  gathering 
the  lldi'k  together,  into  a  scattering  them  asunder. 
Every  sliephe:";!  hath  a  scrip,  a  staff,  and  a  whistle; 
so  a  minister  must  have  maintenance  to  live  on,  sanc- 
tinumy  to  live  by,  doctrine  to  enliven  others.  World- 
lings ihat  mind  the  purse,andncitherpreachfervenlly 
nor  live  charitably,  have  lost  the  staff  and  the  v.liis- 
tle,  and  only  keep  the  scrip.  Neither  doth  well 
asunder,  all  do  very  well  together:  vet  whatever 
becomes  of  the  scrip,  keep  we  a  good  staff,  and  a 
good  whistle;   that  we  may  outpreach  sin,  outlive 


sin ;    and    be   our   reward   in   the   hands  of   Jesus 
Christ. 

The  last  thing  required  to  perfect  this  endeavour, 
is  constant  labour.  There  is  nothing  more  wretched, 
than  for  a  man  to  live  without  care  when  he  hath 
gotten  a  cure.  (Bern.)  Pray  the  Lord  to  send  forth 
labourers,  not  loiterers,  into  his  harvest.  Matt.  ix. 
38.  But  there  is  no  need  to  follow  this  point :  you  in 
this  city  will  look  to  it  well  enough,  that  your  minis- 
ters shal]  labour :  you  have  here  the  law  in  your  own 
hands ;  if  he  will  not  labour,  you  will  keep  him 
fasting.  Yet  it  is  to  be  feared,  that  as  curious  as  you 
are  to  set  us  on  work,  and  watch  us  with  continual 
labour,  you  relish  none  of  our  fruits,  you  will  be 
never  the  better  for  it.  You  send  us  a  himting,  as 
Isaac  sent  his  son ;  but  when  with  Jacob  we  say.  Sit 
and  eat  of  our  venison,  that  your  souls  may  bless  us, 
you  question,  how  we  came  by  it  so  soon  ?  We  an- 
swer, The  Lord  brought  it  to  our  hands.  Gen.  xxvii. 
19.  You  look  upon  it,  and  say.  It  is  good  venison,  a 
good  sermon  ;  but  still  you  go  away  fasting.  Thus 
we  are  forced  to  labour  in  vain:  We  have  laboured 
in  vain,  and  spent  our  strength  for  nought,  Isa.  xlix. 
4.  That  we  may  hereafter  labour  to  purpose,  the 
Lord  knit  your  hearts  unto  our  lips:  Prosper  Ihoa 
the  works  of  our  hands  upon  us,  O  prosper  thou  our 
handy  work,  Psal.  xc.  17- 

Observ-e  further,  that  all  a  minister  can  do,  is  but 
his  endeavour :  Paul  can  but  plant,  and  Apollos 
water;  it  is  God  that  gives  the  increase.  It  is  our 
part  to  endeavour,  the  Lord's  to  bless  it  with  success. 
Preachers  are  called  saviours,  "  Saviours  shall  come 
upon  Mount  Zion,"  Obad.  21 ;  yet  is  there  but  one 
Saviour  of  us  all,  Jesus  Christ.  They  are  called 
lights,  yet  there  is  but  one  Light ;  Christ  is  that 
"  true  Light,  which  lighteth  every  man,"  John  i.  S. 
They  arc  called  reconcilers,  yet  Christ  is  the  only 
Reconciler;  "God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself;"  and  we  have  but  the  ministry  of  this 
reconciliation,  2  Cor.  v.  19.  It  is  one  thing  to  teach, 
another  thing  to  convert.  Well  may  the  minister 
move  his  tongue  and  his  lips  like  organ-pipes ;  but 
if  there  be  no  breath  of  God's  Spirit  with  them,  it  is 
to  no  purpose.  Lift  up  your  hearts  to  heaven : 
he  hath  a  pulpit  above  the  clouds,  that  pre.ncheth  to 
the  conscience.  It  is  the  name  of  Jesus,  thi'ough 
faith  in  that  name.  Acts  iii.  1(5,  which  converts  usj 
let  none  of  his  glory  cleave  to  our  earthen  fingers. 
You  think  it  enough  to  commend  us :  no,  bless  the 
Lord,  whose  power  is  magnified  in  our  weakness. 
When  we  have  done  all,  it  is  but  our  endeavour;  we 
would  have  saved  you.  And  be  it  to  our  comfort,  our 
endeavour  shall  be  accepted:  "  If  there  be  a  \rill- 
ing  mind,  it  is  accepted  according  to  that  a  man 
hath,  not  according  to  that  he  hath  not,"  2  Cor.  viii. 
12.  Not  according  to  that  lalumus,  but  that  to/ui- 
mtis,  shall  our  reward  be.  We  endeavour  to  save 
you  ;  do  you  endeavour  to  be  saved;  and  the  Spirit 
of  God  bless  both  our  endeavours  ;  that  though  the 
minister  part  with  his  people  on  earth,  they  may  all 
meet  together  in  heaven. 

"  That  ye  may  be  able."  All  is  for  your  sakes; 
this  preaching,  this  remembering,  this  writing,  all  for 
you  :  "  Whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  all  are 
yours,"  I  Cor.  iii.  22.  You  may  say  to  your  minis- 
ters, as  the  poet  of  oxen.  Sic  vos  non  vobis,  fertis 
aratra  bores,  'They  labour  in  t  he  plough,  nor  for  them- 
selves, but  for  your  souls.  "  Ye  know  what  manner 
of  men  we  were  among  you  for  your  sakes,"  1  Thess. 
i.  5:  iv  vjxiv  iVi'/inf.  "The  bellows  are  burned,  the 
lead  is  consumed  of  the  fir<.' ;"  yet  "  the  founder 
melted  in  vain,  for  the  wicked  are  not  plucked  away," 
Jer.  vi.  29.  He  had  burned  a  hole  in  his  bellows, 
gotten  the  consumption  of  the  lungs,  exhausted  his 


Ver.  15. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


157 


spirits ;  and  all  for  the  people.  "  Ncvertlu-less," 
though  it  were  better  for  me  to  be  dissolved,  yet  "  to 
abide  in  the  Hesh  is  more  needful  for  you,"  Phil.  i.  24. 

"  After  my  decease."  Some  have  read,  instead  of 
dabo  operam,  ut  post  obitum  meiim  ;  et  pout  obitum 
meuin  :  I  will  endeavour  even  after  my  decease,  that, 
&c.  So  they  give  to  St.  Peter,  and  other  saints,  a 
provident  care  over  us  still.  If  they  would  extend 
it  no  further  than  that  the  saints  in  heaven  pray  for 
us  on  earth,  we  would  easily  grant;  or  that  their  ser- 
mons once  preached  still  do  us  good,  we  assent. 
What  then  ?  because  we  reverence  their  words,  must 
we  therefore  worship  their  bodies,  or  relics  ?  Yet 
such  is  the  fond  collection  of  Fevardentius  on  this 
place.  He  urgcth  it  from  Rom.  x.  15,  "  How  beau- 
tiful are  the  feet  of  them  that  preach  the  gospel!" 
If  their  feet  be  beautiful,  how  beautiful  then  are  their 
hands  and  joints,  and  tongues  and  lips  !  If  the  sha- 
dow of  Peter,  and  the  handkerchief  of  Paul,  could 
cure  the  sick  ;  wliy  may  not  the  body  of  that  shadow, 
and  the  hand  of  that  handkerchief,  effect  as  much  ? 
why  should  not  these  be  worshipped  ?  We  honour 
their  writings,  how  much  more  tneir  relics  !  This 
ridiculous  stuff  needs  no  other  confutation  but  deri- 
sion. There  was  read  in  the  Nicene  council,  by  the 
monk  Stephanus,  out  of  the  book  of  Sophronius,  this 
legend  :  A  monk  was  continually  troubled  with  a 
devil ;  at  last  being  weary  of  his  guest,  he  did  pray  the 
devil  in  fair  and  friendly  terms,  to  let  him  alone. 
■(And  was  not  this  religiously  dcmc,  to  pray  to  the 
devil  ?)  Satan  answered,  that  if  lie  would  ]>romise 
and  swear  to  satisfy  him  in  one  thing,  he  would  for- 
sake him.  Tlie  monk  swore  a  deep  oatli.  Then  quoth 
the  devil,  Thou  shalt  never  hereafter  pray  any  more 
to  such  an  image  of  our  lady,  holding  her  child  in 
her  arms.  But  the  monk  was  too  crafty  for  the  de- 
vil ;  for  tlie  next  day  he  went  and  confessed  himself 
to  the  abbot,  and  he  dispensed  with  his  oath,  upon 
condition  that  he  should  continue  praying  to  tnat 
image.  And  is  not  this  an  excellent  proof  of  pray- 
ing to  saints,  which  is  borrowed  of  the  devil  ?  But 
what  is  this  to  relics  ?  Yes,  they  that  speak  so  much 
for  the  image  of  St.  Peter's  head,  what  will  they  say 
for  the  head  itself?  Fevardentius  adds.  The  dust, 
the  rags,  the  shoe,  the  nail  of  a  saint  is  venerable. 
This  is  the  drunken  doctrine  of  Rome,  that  adores  the 
relics,  but  regards  not  the  lives  of  saints.  Neither 
Peter  nor  Paul  shall  teach  them  by  their  writings, 
they  will  be  taught  by  their  relics. 

"  To  have  these  things  always  in  remembrance." 
The  apostles  did  not  only  preach  to  us  vocally  while 
they  lived  ;  but  even  now  also  exemplarily  by  their 
former  conversation,  and  still  doctrinally  by  their 
holy  rules.  The  words  of  a  preacher  die  not  with 
him,  but  live  in  the  hearers'  hearts;  and  shall  either 
convert  them  here,  or  convince  them  hereafter. 
"  The  word  that  I  have  spoken,  the  same  shall  judge 
him  in  the  last  day,"  Jonn  xii.  4S.  Thou  hast  for- 
gotten such  a  sermon  ;  but  this  sermon  shall  not  for- 
get thee.  The  prophets  are  dead;  but  the  words 
that  I  commanded  them  to  speak,  "  did  thev  not  take 
hold  of  their  fathers?"  Zech.  i.  6.  If  it  take  no 
hold  in  thee  by  due  obedience,  it  shall  take  hold  on 
thee  by  deseiTed  vengeance.  A  prophet  comes  to  Je- 
roboam, and  says,  "  O  altar,  altar,  thus  saith  the  Lord ; 
Josiah  shall  offer  the  priests  of  the  high  places  upon 
thee,  and  upon  thee  shall  men's  bones  be  burnt," 
I  Kings  xiii.  2.  That  prophet  died,  yet  his  word 
came  to  pass ;  Josiah  did  accomplish  this,  and  was 
showed  the  sepulchre  of  that  man  of  God,  which  had 
proclaimed  these  things  that  he  did,  2  Kings  xxiii. 
17.  It  it  said  of  Samuel,  that  "the  Lord  did  let 
none  of  his  words  fall  to  the  ground-,"  1  Sam.  iii.  19. 
Stephen  foretold  the  Jews  of  their  future  desolation 


by  the  contempt  of  Christ :  they  confute  him  with 
hard  arguments,  stop  his  mouth  with  stones :  Stephen 
dies,  but  Stephen's  sermon  dies  not.  We  tell  the 
usurer,  that  :he  third  generation  shall  rue  all :  we 
die,  but  our  words  come  to  pass.  We  tell  the  impro- 
priator, that  his  robbing  God  of  his  due,  shall  make 
his  posterity  like  Achan,  accursed:  we  die,  but  this 
saying  is  fulfilled  upon  them.  We  tell  the  proud 
oilieer,  that  his  suits  are  the  suits  of  Gehazi,  cut  out 
of  bribes,  and  will  engender  a  lejjrosy  in  his  issue : 
we  die,  but  this  event  follows.  Our  sermons  shall  be 
thought  on ;  even  when  wc  are  dead  you  shall  re- 
member them  :  God  grant  you  may  remember  them 
to  your  comfort. 

"To  conclude,  we  have  St.  Peter  still  preaching 
among  us  ;  as  it  is  said  plainly  Moses  was  preach- 
ed, by  being  "  read  in  the  synagogues  ever)-  sabbath 
day,"  Acts  xv.  21.  While  the  writing  of  Peter  is 
read,  the  voice  of  Peter  is  heard.  The  apostles  are 
dead,  their  holy  sanctions  live  with  us.  But  now 
what  entertainment  have  they  found  in  our  hearts  ? 
You  shall  see  that  by  our  lives.  If  you  have  digest- 
ed those  excellent  rules,  what  a  great  change  they 
will  work  in  you !  you  will  be  as  men  that  dreamed, 
«  ondering  at  your  former  loves  ;  your  fair  Herodias 
of  this  world  will  appear  a  stigmatic  g>'psy.  All  the 
toil  and  cost  you  have  been  at  to  get  riches,  will  ap- 
pear as  ridiculous  as  if  a  countr\'man  should  anoint  his 
axletree  witli  ambergris,  or  a  traveller  should  liquor 
his  boots  with  balsamum.  You  that  have  run  by 
the  church  as  a  pest-house,  would  now  continually 
wait  at  her  doors.  Then  if  you  know  that  finger, 
which  but  itched  to  be  acccssoiy  to  any  cornipt  deal- 
ing, you  would  cut  it  off;  and  bite  off  that  lip  which 
but  lisped  out  any  equivocation  ;  and  pluck  out 
those  eyes,  that  lusted  after  adulterous  mixtures. 
Let  religion  be  held  a  fable,  and  ministers  false  pro- 
phets, if  you  find  not  in  yourselves  a  wonderful  change. 
But  alas,  where  is  this  change  ?  where  is  the  fruit  of 
such  plentiful  preaching  ?  There  is  a  cursed  devil 
that  mars  all,  called  covetousness.  It  was  once 
said  of  this  island,  England  is  rich  in  light ;  al- 
luding to  the  long  days  and  short  nights.  It  may 
truly  be  said  of  her  in  respect  of  the  gospel,  that 
she  is  rich  in  the  best  light ;  but  the  darkness  of  this 
worldliness  hath  almost  overcast  it.  This  land  hath 
been  four  times  conquered,  say  our  chronicles ;  but  by 
the  chronicles'  leave  I  will  add  a  fifth  conquest. 
First,  it  was  possessed  by  the  Britons  ;  the  Romans 
conquered  the  Britons,  the  Saxons  conquered  the 
Romans,  the  Danes  conquered  the  Saxons,  the  Nor- 
mans conquered  the  Danes  :  but  now  covetousness 
hath  conquered  all.  I  know  you  have  cars  judicious 
enough  ;  I  hear  you  extolling  the  learned,  praising 
preachers,  magnifying  sermons ;  yea,  and  more, 
England  gives  preferment  to  her  ministers.  But  be- 
loved, there  is  one  preferment  behind,  and  that  most 
proper  to  preachers,  a  preferment  in  the  hearts  of 
the  hearers.  Let  the  rest  go,  give  us  this.  Though 
I  have  no  hope  to  attain  to  any  preferment  in  this 
world,  yet  I  shall  rest  joyfully  contented  with  this, 
if  I  may  find  preferment  in  your  consciences. 

That  after  my  decease,  you  may  have  these  things 
always  in  remembrance.  There  are  two  material 
points  in  this  verse,  which  I  durst  not  pretermit. 
The  first  is,  what  the  proper  intention  of  all  preach- 
ers and  sermons  is ;  they  are  but  rememliranees. 
The  other  is  a  method,  how  we  may  remember  the 
apostles'  preaching  after  their  departure ;  which  is 
by  a  diligent  and  frequent  reading  of  their  wTJtings. 

That  you  may  be  able  to  remember.  There  are 
two  offices  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  teach,  and  to  call 
to  remembrance.  Both  are  expressed,  John  xiv.  26, 
•■The  Holy  Ghost"  when  he  comes,  "  shall  teach 


158 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


you  r.ll  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your  remem- 
brance, whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you."  Suppose 
that  the  fundamental  articles  of  faith  may  be  taught 
within  less  than  the  term  of  a  preacher's  life  ;  which 
(curious  speculations  and  idle  digressions  laid  aside) 
I  conceive  not  impossible.  In  the  remainder  what 
shall  he  do  ?  Either  he  must  preach  the  same  over 
again,  and  so  be  a  remembrancer;  or  else  be  silent, 
and  so  be  no  preacher.  It  is  too  true  that  ;  who  hatli 
not  an  Athenian  ear  ?  We  long  for  novelties,  and 
woidd  have  men  preach  not  only  after  a  new  method, 
but  new  doctrines.  But  Christ's  sheep  love  not  only 
his  name,  but  the  echo  of  his  name;  they  hearken 
to  his  voice,  and  to  every  reflection  of  his  voice. 
Were  your  sanctification  absolute,  continual  oliedi- 
ence  to  his  word  would  no  more  trouble  you,  than 
the  everlasting  aspect  of  his  countenance  doth  trou- 
ble the  angels.  Therefore  answerable  to  the  degree 
of  your  regeneration,  must  be  the  degrees  of  your 
attention.  Likeness  causeth  liking:  "  We  with  ojien 
face  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord, 
are  changed  into  the  same  image,"  2  Cor.  iii.  18.  If 
you  be  changed  into  that  image,  you  will  desire  to 
behold  in  tlie  gospel,  as  in  a  glass  with  open  face, 
that  image  into  W'hich  you  are  changed. 

When  we  hear  an  excellent  lesson  on  an  instru- 
ment, we  call  for  it  again  and  again.  If  God's  peace 
dwell  in  our  hearts,  we  love  the  songs  of  Zion  re- 
hearsed; ten  times  repeated  they  please.  All  our 
sennons  are  but  rehearsals  of  that  old  sermon.  The 
Seed  of  the  woman  shall  break  the  head  of  the  ser- 
pent. Gen,  iii,  15,  All  the  sum  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  but  the  repetition  of  that  one  prophecy. 
What  are  the  fathers'  writings,  but  expositions  of  the 
apostles  ?  the  schoolmen,  but  abridgements  of  the 
fathers  ?  It  is  a  usual  adage  in  the  school,  that  the 
soul  of  Augustine  was  Pythagorically  transfused  into 
the  body  of  Aquinas,  The  Jesuit  is  nothing  else 
Viiit  an  old  schoolman  boimd  up  in  a  new  cover.  As 
one  observed  wittily,  The  schoolman  is  philosophical 
in  his  theology,  the  Jesuit  theological  in  his  philo- 
sophy. As  Augustine  wrote  of  nis  bastard  Adeo- 
datus,  I  had  no  share  in  that  lioy,  but  only  sin  ; 
so  the  Jesuits  may  confess  of  their  books,  that 
fliere  is  nothing  in  them  of  their  own,  but  that  which 
is  bad.  The  good  stuff  is  the  fathers',  only  the  lace 
and  pinking  is  their  own.  As  it  is  said  of  a  sinmel, 
that  it  is  but  bread  upon  bread ;  so  we  may  say  of  the 
Jesuit,  it  is  but  Aquinas,  they  copy  him  over,  and 
let  him  go,  "  Tliere  is  a  generation  that  are  pure  in 
their  own  eyes,  and  yet  is  not  washed  from  their 
fUlhincss,"  Prov,  xxx,  12. 

All  is  but  remembrance :  thrice  in  these  four  verses 
doth  our  apostle  press  it.  Paul :  It  is  not  grievous 
to  me  to  write  the  same  things  unto  you,  but  for  you 
it  is  safe,  Phil.  iii.  1  ;  a  most  sure  course,  Unre- 
gcncrate  hearts  are  termed  stony  hearts :  if  they 
were  brazen,  they  might  be  melted ;  if  iron,  they 
might  be  wrought ;  but  hearts  of  stone  must  be 
broken  with  continual  hammering.  Tlie  blood  of 
Christ  must  be  often  dropped  upon  these  adamantine 
hcarfs  to  mollify  them.  Gtilla  cavat  iapidem,  non  vi, 
sed  sa-pe  cadendo.  "  My  doctrine  shall  drop  as  the 
rain,  my  speech  distil  as  the  dew,"  Deut.  xx.xii,  2, 
If  all  the  world  were  Paradise,  the  sower  might  sow 
but  once  for  all.  Or  if  it  were  like  the  land  of  Alba- 
noises,  he  need  to  till  it  but  once  in  three  years.  Or 
if  it  were  so  fertile,  as  some  soil  is  said  to  be  under 
the  northem  pole,  he  might  sow  in  the  morning,  and 
reap  in  the  evening.  But  sin  hath  made  the  ground 
full  of  thorns,  and  mucli  seed  falls  among  these 
thorns,  Malt,  xiii.  Some  is  trampled  under  feet 
wuh  the  vulgar  track  ;  other  washed  awav  with  the 
common  stream  of  the  time ;  the  rest  pecked  up  by 


the  fowls  of  the  au- :  there  is  need  therefore  to  sow 
even  often  the  saune  seed,  and  always  to  put  you  in 
remembrance,  not  of  other,  but  even  of  these  things. 
We  have  brittle  memories,  weak  retentions ;  there- 
fore there  is  need  of  frequent  and  hearty  incitations. 
"  Precept  must  be  upon  precept ;  line  upon  line ; 
here  a  little  and  there  a  little,"  Isa.  xxviii.  10.  The 
Scripture  often  ingeminates  the  same  word,  the 
same  thing,  to  give  strength  to  the  declaration  of 
it.  "  They  have  erred,  tliey  are  out  of  the  way, 
through  wine,"  Isa.  xxviii.  7 :  the  plirase  is  repeated 
seven  times  in  one  verse,  to  nlify  drunkenness.  So 
ver,  21,  "  The  Lord  shall  do  liis  work,  his  strange 
work  :  and  bring  to  pass  his  act,  his  strange  act," 
So  ver,  2.3,  "  Give  ye  car,  and  hear  my  voice ;  heark- 
en, and  liear  my  speech;"  that  the  ear  might  be 
thoroughly  charmed.  "  God  hath  spoken  once; 
twice  have  I  heard  this,"  Psal.  Ixii.  11.  "  Enter  not 
into  the  way  of  the  wicked,  go  not  in,  avoid  it,  pass 
not  by  it,  turn  from  it,  and  pass  away,"  Prov,  iv.  14, 
15,  "  My  son,  the  son  of  my  womb,  the  son  of  my 
vows,"  Prov.  xxsi.  2.  "  O  earth,  earth,  earth,  hear 
the  word  of  the  Lord,"  Jer.  xxii.  29.  Our  Saviour 
thrice  questioned  Peter's  love,  and  thrice  urged  liis 
duty.  The  Lord  is  thrice  called  holy,  Isa.  vi.  3. 
Vanity  is  thrice  called  vain,  to  show  the  vilencs?  of 
it.  In  these  and  such  like  places,  so  fraught  with 
repetitions  ;  as  it  is  with  numeration  in  arilhmeiic  ; 
the  figure  in  the  first  place  stands  for  itself,  in  the 
second  place  for  ten  times  itself,  in  the  third  for  a 
hundred  times  itself;  so  when  the  Scripture  con- 
demns a  sin,  as  it  proceeds  in  iteration,  it  riseth  in 
aggravation. 

Oh  the  infallible  power  of  the  word !  heaven  and 
earth  shall  pass,  it  s^iall  never  fail.  Time  may  fail, 
speech  may  fail,  audience  may  fail ;  but  the  matter 
of  that  abundant  treasure  shall  never  fail.  It  may 
be,  Samuel  knows  not  God's  first  call,  nor  his  second, 
nor  his  thml;  yet  at  last,  "  Speak,  Lord;  for  thy 
servant  heareth,"  1  Sam,  iii.  It  may  be  as  Peter  in 
his  vision.  Acts  x,  U — 16:  "  Rise:  kill,  and  eat." 
He  excuseth  himself;  "  Not  so.  Lord,  for  I  have 
never  eaten  any  unclean  thing."  But  when  this  v.as 
done  thrice,  he  is  resolved.  So  when  the  Lord's 
voice  comes  to  us  once.  Arise  and  eat,  it  may  be  wc 
excuse  ourselves  ;  Not  so.  Lord :  but  when  it  shall 
be  spoken  thrice,  often,  there  is  some  hope  that  we 
w\\\  hear  at  last.  It  may  be  according  to  the  sign 
that  God  gave  Hezekiah  :  Tliis  year  ye  shall  eat 
such  as  groweth  of  itself:  the  second  year,  such  as 
springeth  of  the  same ;  but  the  third  year  ye  shall 
sow  and  reap,  Isa.  xxxvii,  30,  So  the  first  time  we 
licar  the  doctrine  of  salvation,  it  is  without  profit ; 
and  it  breeds  no  meditations  in  us  but  such  as  grow 
of  themselves.  The  next  time,  such  as  spring  of  the 
former,  thoughts  of  flesh  and  blood.  But  yet  the 
third  time  it  may  work  us  to  a  more  industrious  cogi- 
tationoflieavenly  tilings,  Paul, inthe  17thof  the .\ct.>^, 
three  sabbath  days  together  handled  one  doctrine. 

Good  things  are  not  wearisome  in  their  continual 
use.  Our  daily  bread,  though  daily  received,  is  daily 
craved.  The  light  of  the  sun  would  displease  none 
but  some  lover  of  darkness,  though  it  never  went 
down  in  our  coasts.  The  perpetual  use  of  neccssarj' 
things  can  never  offend  us  though  they  never  for- 
sake us.  Shall  then  the  doctrine  of  life,  the  restor- 
ative of  our  fainting  spirits,  through  the  often  re- 
peating discontent  us  ?  No,  here  the  eye  is  not 
satisfied  with  seeing,  nor  the  ear  with  hearing.  Yet 
many  use  themselves  in  the  hcarinff  of  beaten  points, 
as  they  do  in  drinking  of  wines ;  the  first  draught  is 
for  necessity,  the  second  for  pleasure,  the  third  for 
sleep.  If  they  hear  you  once,  that  is  enough  :  if  a 
second  time,  that  is  too  much  ;  but  if  vou  come  with 


Veb.  15. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


159 


the  same  a  third  time,  fare  you  well,  they  must  go 
sleep.  When  Paul  preached  at  Antioch,  the  Gen- 
tiles besought  him  tliat  those  words  might  be  preach- 
ed to  them  again  the  next  sabbatli.  Acts  xiii.  42  ; 
T&  priitaTa  Tavra,  the  very  same  words.  "  My  little 
cliildren,  of  whom  1  travail  in  birth  again  until  Christ 
be  formed  in  you,"  Gal.  iv.  19.  Now  the  ripening 
and  perfccting'of  a  child  in  the  womb,  retiuircth  nine 
months  at  the  least. 

The  time,  then,  is  not  idly  spent  that  calls  to  mind 
fore-recited  principles.  If  you  ask  us,  How  often 
shall  we  hear  the  same  ?  we  would  to  God  there  were 
no  need  of  repetitions.  But  it  is  true  what  Elihu 
speaks  in  Job,  "  God  speaketh  once,  yea  twice,  yet 
man  pcrceiveth  it  not,"  Job  xxxiii.  14.  Yea,  God 
doth  work  it  twice  and  thrice,  oftentimes  with  man, 
ver.  29.  Let  us  answer,  as  Augustine  did  tlie  Dona- 
tists,  being  enforced  to  some  iteration ;  Let  those 
that  know  it  already  pardon  me,  lest  I  wrong  them 
that  are  ignorant.  It  is  belter  to  give  to  him  that 
hath,  than  to  turn  him  back  that  hath  not.  If  it 
were  true  of  Homer,  or  may  be  true  of  any  man 
formed  of  clay.  One  Homer  never  cloyed  any  man 
that  read  him;  then  certainly  it  must  be  trae  of 
truth  itself.  One  Jesus  Christ  in  his  gospel  never  sa- 
tiated any  that  read  him.  To  conclude ;  for  your 
part,  '•  Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you  richly," 
Col.  iii.  l(i.  The  word  of  grace  hath  been  often 
offered  unto  you :  whether  it  hath  gotten  house 
room  in  you  or  no,  I  cannot  tell.  Perhaps  it  is  but 
in  the  nature  of  a  passenger  to  you  ;  and  your  bosom 
the  inn  to  give  it  only  a  bait  and  away.  Perhaps  as 
the  Levitc,  that  sat  in  the  streets,  and  no  man  received 
him  to  house,  Judg.  xix.  it  hath  sounded  in  your 
churches,  but  none  bade  it  to  dinner  in  their  con- 
sciences. Perhaps  it  hath  gotten  admission  by  force, 
as  they  let  down  the  sick  man  by  the  tiles  of  the 
house ;  the  doors  of  your  hearts  being  pestered  with 
a  throng  and  crowd  of  worldly  business.  But  now- 
let  it  be  no  stranger,  but  like  a  brother  dwell  with 
you,  never  to  depart :  not  in  a  comer,  as  if  it  were 
pinched  for  want  of  room,  but  plenteously  :  not  with 
inmates  and  chamber-fellows,  as  lusts  and  evil  affec- 
tions, but  in  your  hearts,  alone ;  yea,  in  the  very 
heart  of  your  heart.  "  The  law  is  within  my  heart," 
in  the  midst  of  my  bowels,  Psal.  xl.  8.  Not  uncon- 
ceivcd  or  misconceived,  unapplied  or  misapplied,  but 
in  all  wisdom.  And  the  God  of  all  wisdom  bring  you 
by  it  to  the  end  of  your  faith,  even  the  dear  salvation 
of  your  souls. 

The  other  point  is  the  method  of  our  memory,  the 
7neans  how  we  may  remember  them :  which  is,  in- 
deed, frequently  to  read  them.  "  Search  the  Scrip- 
tures," John  V.  39.  Honour  and  admire  the  depth 
and  secrecy  of  God's  word ;  yet  fail  not  in  thy  dili- 
gence to  search  it.  The  Scripture  is  not  like  a  ca- 
lendar, to  die  with  them  for  whom  it  is  written :  but 
serves  for  us  in  what  climate  soever  we  breathe. 
What  Paul  wrote  to  the  Romans.  Corinthians,  &c. 
serves  also  for  the  meridian  of  England.  What  is 
written,  is  ever  ready  to  be  read,  if  men  would  be  at 
leisure  to  read  it.  Christ  repels  all  Satan's  assaults 
with  his  owTt  weapon,  "  It  is  written."  From  hence 
let  us  learn  that  all  our  weapons  are  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, saith  Cajetan.  It  is  "  like  the  tower  of  David 
buildcd  for  an  armoury,  w-hereon  there  hang  a  thou- 
sand bucklers,  all  shields  of  mighty  men,"  Cant.  iv. 
4.  There  arc  shields  for  defence,  and  swords  for 
offence.  As  Laban  deceived  Jacob  in  the  night, 
giving  him  instead  of  fair  Rachel,  blear-eyed  Leah  ; 
so  Satan  in  the  darkness  of  our  ignorance  cozens  us  ; 
only  the  Scripture's  day-light  can  discover  Leah  from 
Rachel.  "  His  eyes  are  as  the  eyes"  of  doves  by  the 
rivers  of  waters,"  Cant.  v.  12.    "The  dove  sitting  by 


the  rivers,  descrieth  afar  off  the  shadow  of  the  hawk, 
her  mortal  enemy  ;  so  either  escapes  by  flight,  or  by 
hiding  herself  under  the  banks.  He  that  sits  by  the 
bank  of  these  living  waters,  can  discover  the  prac- 
tices of  Satan,  by  them  he  can  sound  him,  and  wound 
him.  This  is  that  sword  of  the  Spirit :  not  the  wooden 
dagger  of  fabulous  stories,  nor  the  rusty  scabbard  of 
old  traditions;  these  are  blunt;  but  the  two-edged 
sword  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  written;  this  is  the  voice 
of  Christ.  It  is  by  tradition ;  this  is  the  voice  of  anti- 
christ. 

We  appeal  to  your  consciences,  we  feed  not  your 
eye  mth  jjictures  and  baubles,  nor  your  ear  with 
legends  and  fables ;  no  holy  water  from  the  font :  but. 
It  is  written.  This  is  that  sacred  water  which  is  east 
in  the  devil's  face,  and  stops  his  mouth.  Whatsoever 
things  are  written,  are  wTitten  for  our  instruction, 
Rom.  XV.  4.  Paul  says  the  Scriptures  are  the  people's 
instroction  ;  the  Romists  say  they  arc  the  people's 
destniction.  Paul  says  it  makes  the  man  of  God 
absolute,  1  Tim.  iii.  17 ;  the  Romists  say  it  makes 
him  dissolute.  Paul  says  they  are  written  to  ad- 
monish us,  1  Cor.  X.  11;  they  say  they  are  written 
so  difficult  that  in  a  known  language  they  rather 
seduce  us.  Christ  bids  us  to  search  the  Scriptures,  for 
there  is  eternal  life  :  Take  heed,  say  they  tnat  forbid 
us,  for  therein  is  eternal  death.  "  To  the  law  and  to 
the  testimony,"  Isa.  viii.  20.  No,  say  they,  Jd  Iraditum, 
ad  decretum,  ad  papam,  To  traditions,  to  decretals,  to 
the  pope.  Thy  word  is  full  of  light,  Psal.  cxix.  105. 
No,  say  they,  it  is  full  of  darkness.  Thus  they  cast 
a  mist  before  men's  eyes,  that  they  cannot  see  their 
juggling.  They  blind  the  people,  and  buffet  them  ; 
and  then  ask  them,  as  the  Jews  asked  Christ,  who 
smote  them  ?  These  are  they  that  compare  the  Scrip- 
tures to  a  nose  of  wax,  formable  to  what  proportion 
the  handler  pleaseth.  They  make  the  fathers  their 
children,  and  the  ancient  doctors  their  puny  scholars; 
that  thev  shall  only  speak  what  they  would  have 
them.  It  is  nothing  with  them  to  abuse  the  sacred 
writ.  First  they  make  their  sermons,  and  then  look 
for  a  text.  Tfius  that  vision.  Acts  x.  13,  "  Rise, 
Peter,  kill,  and  cat,"  is  made  warrant  enough  for  the 
pope  to  design  the  killing  of  any  prince.  Sometimes 
they  cite  the  beginning  without  the  end,  as  the  devil 
served  Christ ;  sometimes  the  end  without  the  begin- 
ning :  sometimes  they  take  the  words  against  the 
meaning ;  often  they  make  a  meaning  against  the 
words.  So  in  sum,  they  do  not  keep  the  old  Scrip- 
ture, but  coin  a  new.  Either  they  suppress  the  word, 
or  not  express  the  sense :  as  if  they  would  convey 
away  the  gold,  and  throw  us  the  bag. 

But  we  have  the  Scripture,  let  us  read  it;  not  the 
bare  words  only,  but  the  sense.  The  Scripture  is  like 
Ezekiel's  roll, 'written  within  and  without ;  without 
in  the  outward  sentence,  within  in  the  inward  refer- 
ence. It  is  the  golden  pot  of  manna;  the  words,  that 
is  the  golden  pot ;  the  sense,  that  is  the  manna.  It 
is  not  enough  to  take  what  offers  itself  at  the  first 
proposed ;  but  to  dig  deep.  God  that  is  rich  in  the 
veins  of  nature,  is  not  poor  in  the  veins  of  Scripture : 
excellent  in  the  histbiy,  more  excellent  in  the  mys- 
tery. The  Scriptures  arc  not  in  superficic  sed  in 
medulla :  iion  in  lerborum  foliis,  sed  in  radice  ralionis. 
(Chrys.)  It  is  not  the  letters  and  words,  but  the 
sense'  and  heart  of  the  Scriptures,  whereupon  our 
faith  depends.  "  Blessed  is  he  that  readeth,  and 
they  that  hear,"  Rev.  i.  3.  We  must  not  only  read, 
nor  only  hear,  nor  only  meditate,  but  all.  Reading 
without  meditation  is  fniitless,  meditation  without 
reading  subject  to  error.  Meditate,  to  profit  by  read- 
ing ;  and  read,  to  rectify  meditation.  Otherwise  it 
may  be  said,  as  of  the  Delphic  oracle,  It  is  not  sooner 
gotten,  than  forgotten.     Let  the  word  dwell  plcn- 


160 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


teously  in  you,  Col.  iii.  16.  The  worcl  must  dwell  in 
us,  therefore  the  Bible  must  be  in  our  house.  It 
must  dwell  plenteously,  therefore  we  must  read  it 
daily.  The  word  doth  dwell  plenteously  among  us, 
God  grant  it  may  dwell  plenteously  in  us.  It  is  but 
a  shift  now,  and  will  be  no  good  answer  at  the  last 
day ;  I  am  no  divine,  this  is  none  of  my  profession, 
to  be  busy  with  the  Scriptures.  Yet  you  would  be 
Christ's  sheep  ;  but  his  slieep  know  his  voice,  John 
X.  4.  You  would  be  thought  honest  men ;  but  is 
there  any  thing  except  God's  word  can  make  you 
honest ?  Micah  ii.  7.  jou  would  not  be  thought  un- 
clean ;  but  wherewithal  shall  our  way  be  cleansed, 
but  by  the  word  ?  Psal.  cxix.  9.  Yuu  would  all  be 
made  blessed  ;  but  blessed  is  he  that  delightetli  in 
<he  law  of  the  Lord,  and  meditates  in  it  day  and 
night,  Psal.  i.  2.  But  oh  the  profaneness  of  this  age  ! 
reading  this  book  is  thought  a  fit  of  melancholy ; 
deductions  out  of  this  book,  paradoxes  ;  and  the  lan- 
guage of  this  book  a  Shibboleth,  which  all  the  world 
besides  pronouneeth  not.  Alcibiades  coming  into  a 
school,  and  asking  the  schoolmaster  for  one  of  Ho- 
mer's Works ;  when  he  answered  that  he  had  none, 
he  knitting  his  fist,  smote  him  on  the  ear.  If  God 
come  to  visit  thy  house,  and  find  thee  without  a 
Bible,  the  book  of  thy  fair  profession,  God  shall 
smite  thee,  thou  whited  wall,  thou  shalt  feci  the 
weight  of  his  hand.  The  barbarians  showed  Paul  no 
iitde  kindness.  Acts  xxviii.  2;  God  forbid  we  should 
use  liim  as  a  barbarian.  Other  books,  histories  and 
poems,  we  read  and  remember;  but  let  a  text  of 
Scripture  be  pressed,  and  we  say  not,  Jesus  we  know, 
and  Paul  we  know,  Acts  xix.  15  ;  but  quit:  novua  hie 
r.ostris  successit  sedibus  liospes  ?  The  Fairy  Queen 
we  know,  the  Arcadia  we  know,  the  book  of  statutes 
we  know,  the  chronicles  we  know  ;  but  who  are  ye  ? 
The  Lord  of  his  infinite  mercy  lay  not  this  neglect 
to  our  charge  ;  but  bind  the  Bible  to  our  consciences, 
and  our  consciences  to  the  Bible:  that  our  faith  may 
embrace  the  comforts  there  ;  and  our  eyes  one  day 
see  the  joys  we  have  believed,  in  the  blessed  king- 
dom of  Jesus  Christ. 


Verse  16. 

For  we  have  not  foUou-ed  cimningh/  devised  fables,  when 
we  made  known  unto  yon  the  power  and  coming  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but  were  ei/ewilnesses  of 
his  majesti/. 

The  apostle  proceeds  to  anotlicr  argument,  why  these 
things  should  be  fixed  in  their  hearts;  because  they 
know  that  their  labour  is  spent  upon  a  certain  thing. 
Wliat  should  more  animate  our  constancy,  than  the 
infallibility  of  prosperous  success  in  our  calling?  If 
the  divinity  we  preach  were  built  upon  the  fennisli 
and  hollow  grounds  of  human  fancies;  wherein  men 
show  more  wantoimess  than  wit,  more  wit  than  learn- 
ing, more  learning  than  conscience  :  or  if  it  were 
like  some  oracles  of  the  heathen  idols,  which  were 
true  some  way,  certain  no  way  :  if  the  event  did  not 
answer  the  prediction,  they  would  make  the  predic- 
tion answer  the  event.  Or  like  the  spurious,  epicene, 
-Tnd  bastardly  equivocations  of  our  Jesuits  ;  who 
Ii.ivc  a  trick  to  swear  and  not  to  swear,  to  lie  and  not 
to  lie  ;  anil  so  arc  saints  and  no  saints,  holy  in  appear- 
ance, devils  in  existence.  But  we  preach  that  which 
is  of  undoubted  autlioritv.  which  the  faithful  do  feel 
i)n  earth,  and  the  unfaithful  shall  feel  in  hell.  The 
former  find  here  tlu-  truth  of  God's  mercies,  the  other 
shall  find  there  the  truth  of  his  justice.     Wc  bring 


no  fables,  but  things  known  to  us,  and  made  known 
by  us.  "That  the  Lord  Jesus  did  come  in  the  flesh, 
dwelt  with  us  in  the  flesh,  suflfered  for  us  on  the  cross, 
rose  again  from  death.  That  he  came  not  in  weak- 
ness, but  in  power :  with  signs  and  great  wonders ; 
to  the  terror  of  the  bad,  to  the  comfort  of  the  good, 
confirmation  of  the  weak,  conviction  of  the  proud, 
admiration  of  all.  Neither  received  we  this  by  tra- 
dition or  hearsay,  but  were  eyewitnesses  of  it :  "  That 
which  we  have  seen  and  heard,  declare  we  unto  you," 
1  John  i.  3.  Therefore  receive  us,  believe  us;  yea, 
receive  the  truth,  believe  the  truth,  the  sound  doc- 
trine of  Christ. 

For  method  in  tractation,  consider  three  principal 
passages : 

A  disclaiming  of  all  fabulous  mixtures  with  the  sa- 
cred truth,  We  followed  not  cunningly  devised  fables. 

A  proclaiming  of  the  virtue  and  excellency  of 
Christ,  When  we  made  known  to  you  his  power  and 
coming. 

A  testifying  of  this,  and  that  from  the  surest  wit- 
ness. We  were  eyewitnesses  of  his  majesty. 

These  be  the  general  and  doctrinal  roots ;  there 
are  some  sub-distinguished  branches,  which  we  refer 
to  their  own  places. 

"We  have  not  followed  cunningly  devised  fables." 
This  is  the  thing  he  removes  and  disclaims  :  ataoiiit- 
fiivoic  /ju^oic,  Arte  composilas  fabulas,  according  to 
Erasmus.  Calvin  says,  it  intends  subtile  artificium. 
But  because  fivOog  doth  not  only  signify  a  fable,  but 
also  a  rhetorical  discourse;  the  apostle  condemns 
both  poetical  fictions,  and  oratorj'  eloquence ;  the 
sophistry  of  logic,  the  painting  of  rhetoric,  and  the 
meretricious  figments  of  poetr)';  when  they  shall 
stand  in  competition  with  divinity,  and  presume  of 
their  own  power  to  help  a  soul  to  Jesus  Christ.  The 
embroidered  orations  of  the  one,  and  the  gaudy  tinc- 
tures of  the  other,  are  all  but  fables.  To  omit  those 
that  regarded  rather  the  cadence  of  language,  than  the 
substance  of  reason:  the  verj'  best  did  but  fabulize. 

For  the  philosophers  ;  "  Beware  lest  any  man  spoil 
you  through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit,"  Col.  ii.  8. 
First,  it  taught  devilish  things,  as  magic,  conjurings, 
a  great  part  of  judicial  astrology-  among  the  pagans. 
This  Kivq  aTraTt),  a  fable.  Secondly,  it  taugnt  doc- 
trines ;  of  the  eternity  of  the  world,  of  the  mortality 
of  souls,  of  a  purgatoiT  fire  out  of  Plato,  of  the  sto- 
ical fate  ;  all  which  diametrically  oppose  the  truth  : 
all  were  fables.  Thirdly,  it  taught  principles,  which 
in  themselves,  and  their  own  nature,  are  true,  but  in 
divinity  false.  .Such  were  these  maxims :  Of  nothing 
can  be  made  nothing  :  this  is  true  in  second  cavises, 
but  in  respect  of  God's  omnipotence  in  the  creation, 
a  fable.  For  God  can  constitute  something  of  no- 
thing, and  reduce  something  to  nothing,  at  his  plea- 
sure. So  it  is  said,  There  is  no  returning  from  the 
privation  to  the  habit.  This  is  true  naturally:  but 
if  it  be  referred  to  the  resurrection,  it  is  a  lying  fable. 
That  a  virgin,  remaining  still  a  virgin,  cainiot  con- 
ceive, is  true  in  the  ordinary  course  of  nature  ;  but 
to  deny  tiiis  to  be  once  done  by  the  supeniatural 
work  of  God,  is  a  fable.  Even  the  best  of  them,  in 
their  most  serious  disquisition  of  heavenly  things, 
were  but  as  hounds,  swift  of  foot,  but  ill  of  .scent. 
They  hunted  an  object  strongly,  but  took  the  wrong 
course ;  so  spent  their  mouths  and  courses  in  vain, 
liike  wandering  empirics,  which  make  great  osten- 
tation of  cures  drawn  out  in  pictures  and  tables;  but 
he  that  comes  to  try  their  skill,  hath  not  a  worse 
disease  belonging  to  him  than  the  physician.  If 
Seneca  had  liad  grace  to  his  wit,  he  had  been  the 
wonder  of  men.  This  praise  he  deserveth  and  hath, 
never  any  philosopher  wrote  more  divinely:  he  hath 
not  lost  his  conuucndation,  but  he  lost  his  hopes. 


VEn.  IG. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  CiEXEUAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


161 


Certainly,  as  a  wnilliy  divine  said,  If  I  had  no  oIIkt 
mistress  than  Nrilure,  I  would  wish  no  other  master 
than  Seneca.  But  neither  Athens  nor  Rome  eouhl 
teach  this  doctrine,  hut  Jerusalem.  In  tlic  end  of 
his  book  De  Tranquillitate  he  allows  dnndcenness : 
this  was  a  fable,  fit  neither  for  philosopher  to  pre- 
scribe, nor  honest  man  to  practise. 

For  the  poets,  their  writings  were  but  fables.  In- 
numerable .such  :  whole  books  of  metamorphoses  ;  it 
is  all  one,  whole  books  of  fables.  They  did  but 
fabulizc  an  apish  imitation  of  God's  truth.  Must 
Abraham  sacrifice  his  son  to  the  God  of  heaven  ? 
Agamemnon  must  sacrifice  his  daughter  to  the  prince 
of  darkness.  A  ram  redeems  Isaac ;  so  a  hind  re- 
deems Iphigenia :  this  was  a  cunningly  devised 
fable.  Noah's  Hood  shall  be  ((uittcd  with  Deuca- 
lion's deluge.  For  our  Noah  they  have  a  Janus, 
for  our  Samson  a  Hercules ;  for  our  babcl-builders, 
such  as  lay  Pclion  upon  Ossa,  giants.  If  Lot's  wife 
be  turned  to  a  pillar,  their  Niobe  is  metamorphosed 
to  a  stone.  Let  God  historify  his  Jonah,  Herodotus 
will  say  more  of  his  Arion.  But,  saith  St.  Augus- 
tine, we  may  justly  suspect,  that  the  Greek  talc  of 
the  one  meant  the  Hebrew  truth  of  the  other.  Tlie 
devil  strives  to  be  God's  ape.  If  llie  Lord  thunders 
from  heaven,  hail-stones  and  coals  of  fire,  Psal.  xviii. 
13;  the  red  dragon  also  maketh  fire  to  come  down 
from  heaven  in  the  sight  of  men.  Rev.  xiii.  13.  God 
delivered  his  truth ;  Satan  had  his  imitating  fables, 
to  seduce  and  divert  men's  minds  from  the  substan- 
tial truth,  to  ener\'ate  the  credit  of  goodness,  and  to 
amaze  men's  hearts  with  the  counterfeits.  Their 
writings  were  fabulous ;  they  held  it  as  their  patent 
with  painters,  an  equal  power  to  feign  any  thing. 
Some  were  scurrilous  and  obscene,  most  of  them  im- 
pious and  profane.  They  duret  make  their  gods 
murderers,  whore-masters,  malicious,  contentious,  un- 
just, cniel.     And  Ovid  confcsseth, 

Ignoicite  fasso, 
Soliicilor  nuUos  esse  pulare  deos. 

But  if  all  these  were  fables,  and  Peter  disclaims 
them  in  delivering  tlie  truth  of  the  go.spel,  why  then 
do  preachers  make  use  of  them  in  divinity  ?  '  I  an- 
swer, there  is  a  diflerence  betwixt  the  venom  in  a 
material,  and  the  wholesome  virtue.  St.  Paul  that 
condemned  the  one,  often  used  the  other :  there  may 
be  honey  in  a  nettle.  As  in  the  law  of  a  beautiful 
woman  that  was  a  captive,  he  that  desired  her  for 
liis  wife,  was  first  to  shave  her  head  and  pare  her 
nails,  Dcut.  xxi.  11,  12:  human  learning  is  the  Gre- 
cian's Helena,  full  of  admirable  beauty;  but  must 
not  be  admitted  into  the  divinity  schools,  till  her 
head  be  shaved  and  her  nails  pared.  But  from  her 
take  her  abominable  figments  ;  shave  and  pare  off 
what  is  dead,  idolatrous,  voluptuous,  fabulous,  those 
superfluous  excretions  of  sin  ;  of  a  Moabite  make 
her  an  Israelite,  and  then  accompany  with  her:  she 
shall  bring  forth  fair  children  to  tlic  Lord  of  hosts. 
As  Hosea  took  Gomer  the  daughter  of  Diblaim,  a 
wife  of  whoredoms,  who  yet  bare  him  Jczreel,  "  The 
seed  of  God,"  IIos.  i.  4.  They  were  adversaries  to 
the  truth ;  their  ingenuity  was  great,  their  industry- 
greater,  but  against  the  truth.  (August.)  Therefore 
cut  off  Goliath's  head  with  his  own  sword.  (Hieron.) 
The  word  of  God  is  the  bread  of  life ;  human  inven- 
tions but  for  gloss  and  ornament ;  hanging  gold  and 
jewels  upon  our  apparel,  as  the  Israelites  did  on  their 
garments.  Those,  like  the  Aliptcr,  may  put  blood 
in  our  face,  and  mend  oiu-  colour  :  this  is  the  nourish- 
ment that  maintains  our  life.  Without  this,  all  that 
grows  in  the  green  fields  of  jihilosophy  is  but  toxi- 
cum,  baneful;  there  is  death  in  it :  the  word  of  God 
is  that  salt  of  Elisha,  that  swectens'the  broth.    The 


wood  of  the  cross  is  that  wood  of  life,  which  relish- 
elli  the  Marah  of  Gentile  learning.  Jerome  was 
buffeted  by  an  angel,  for  studying  heathen  authors 
too  much;  and  St.  John  had  a  book  of  this  given 
him  to  sw:illow  down.  Yet  I  would  not  have  men 
to  rail  down  arts,  and  use  them  as  the  king  of  Amnion 
did  David's  messengers;  to  grub  their  beards,  yea, 
their  very  chins.  As  if  the  captive  woman  were  to  be 
slain,  not  shorn ;  as  if  Hagar  stood  Abraham  in  no 
stead  for  procreation,  and  all  learning  were  but 
cozenage.  Though  they  happily  can  reach  to  the 
top  of  preferment,  and  never  climb  by  the  stairs; 
seem  giants  in  divinity,  while  they  profess  war  to 
philosophy ;  yet  1  would  not  have  them  teach  their 
nurse  to  suck.  It  is  blasphemous  to  preach  fabks 
for  truth ;  but  it  is  not  honest  to  condemn  all  learn- 
ing for  fables.  Moses'  rod  was  a  common  rod,  yet  it 
wrought  great  miracles.  It  is  the  rod  that  does  the 
miracle,  yet  Moses  must  be  learned  to  handle  it. 

The  sophistiy  of  heretics  is  another  disclaimed 
fable  ;  for  whatsoever  contradicts  the  truth  is  a  fable. 
The  devil  sped  so  successfully  in  disputing  with  our 
mother  Eve  in  her  estate  of  innocence,  that  he  doubts 
not  to  prevail  over  her  nocent  children.  I  speak  not 
here  of  the  Jews'  Talmud,  a  bundle  of  most  fabulous 
and  ridiculous  lies,  too  vile  for  a  Christian  ear.  Nor 
of  the  Turkish  Alcoran,  a  fardel  of  foolish  impossi- 
bilities :  as  the  stories  of  the  angel  Adriel's  death, 
Seraphuel's  tnimpet,  Gabriel's  bridge,  Horroth  and 
Marroth's  hanging,  the  moon's  descending  into  Ma- 
homet's sleeve,  the  litter  wherein  he  saw  God  carried 
by  eight  angels,  their  swinish  purgatory ;  fables  fit 
for  none  but  beasts  or  madmen.  "The  papists  have 
innumerable  volumes  of  fables,  legends  which  they 
equal  to  the  sacred  histoiy.  That  St.  Francis  carried 
a  thousand  out  of  purgatorj'  with  him  to  heaven, 
when  he  went  thither.  That  St.  Dunstan  held  the 
devil  by  the  nose  with  a  pair  of  pincers.  That  St. 
Anthony,  when  a  toad  was  served  to  liis  table,  and  a 
text  cited  by  his  host,  Eat  of  even,'  thing  that  is  set 
before  thee,  he  presently  with  the  sign  of  the  cross 
tumed  it  into  a  capon  ready  roasted.  That  friar 
Andrew  should  make  roasted  birds  fly  away  by  the 
same  conjuration.  I  speak  not  of  their  monstrous 
miracles,  and  shameless  wonders  ;  their  veiy  doctrine 
is  fabulous.  That  Christ's  body  should  be  locally 
circumscribed  in  heaven,  yet  wholly  present  in  ten 
thousand  places  at  once  on  the  earth ;  this  is  a  fable 
against  the  fundamental  truth  of  his  humanity. 
That  there  is  a  purgatory  is  a  fable  (and  that  a  cun- 
ning one)  against  the  truth  of  Christ's  sufficient 
satisfaction.  Their  schoolmen  have  invented  a  doc- 
trine of  fables,  cunningly  devised ;  and  the  friars  had 
crotchets  enough,  but  the  Jesuits  put  do\ni  all.  As 
the  instniments  of  battery  which  the  ancients  used 
in  the  wars,  were  more  able  to  ruin  and  demolish 
than  our  new  inventions ;  but  were  not  so  maniable, 
and  apt  for  transportation :  so  the  arguments  of  the 
friars  and  schoolmen  of  the  Romish  church,  had  as 
much  force  against  the  truth,  as  the  subtleties  of  the 
Jesuits;  but  these  are  apter  for  conveyance  and  in- 
sinuation than  those  cloisteral  monks.  For  there 
are  some  poisons  that  will  not  work,  except  th(y  be 
ejaculated  from  the  live  creature  that  possesseth 
them:  his  personal  malignity  must  concur  to  it.  For 
this  purpose  these  ubiquitaries  have  the  advantage. 
For  otherwise,  as  rhetoric  is  like  the  hand  open,  and 
logic  like  the  hand  shut ;  so  the  friar  is  an  open 
Jesuit,  and  the  Jesuit  a  close  friar.  Or,  as  gallop- 
pin"  is  but  a  lofty  amble,  and  ambling  a  soft  gallop ; 
so  tne  friar  Hies  out  in  larger  fields,  and  the  Jesuit, 
like  a  cunning  waggoner,  turns  in  a  narrower  com- 
pass. They  are  such  as  will  distinguish  of  any  truth, 
till  they  extinguish  all  tnith.    Tluv  say,  there  is  an 


162 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.   I. 


idolatry  which  is  bad,  and  an  idolatry  which  is  good. 
Hoc  in  grammar  and  logic  demonstrates  this  thing ; 
yet  in  Christ's  word,  Hoc  est  corpus  mewn,  it  demon- 
strates nothing.  All  their  positions  are  like  that 
swinish  breakfast,  many  dishes  made  of  a  tame  sow. 
No  marvel,  when  a  pope  himself  called  all  Christian- 
ity a  fable. 

Astrologers  are  other  fabulists ;  who  gather  out  of 
the  conjunction  of  planets,  and  position  of  stars,  the 
ruins  of  public  weals,  and  misfortunes  of  private  fami- 
lies. If  Sol  be  in  opposition  to  Mercury,  then  the 
lawyers  shall  have  a  bad  term.  If  Mars  meet  with 
Venus,  great  custom  is  promised  to  iniquity.  As 
if  they  were  guides  to  the  celestial  bodies  ;  doctors 
to  cast  the  signs  of  the  heavens,  and  knew  of  what 
disease  they  were  sick.  In  a  commun  almanack,  the 
prognosticator  out  of  his  deep  judgment  says,  that 
such  a  day  shall  be  something  diflering  from  indiffer- 
ent. What  weather  is  that  ?  Be  it  hot  or  cold,  wet 
ox  dry,  fair  or  foul,  it  is  still  something  differing 
fiom  incUfferent.  Astrology  at  the  best  is  but  con- 
jectural, at  the  worst  cozening  and  diabolical.  Basil 
calls  it  a  most  busy  vanity.  It  provokes  the  creature 
against  the  Creator.  (Nazianz.)  Themselves  laugh 
at  those,  who  either  go  to  them  or  hear  them.  They 
smile  how  they  fill  their  ears  with  fables,  their  own 
purses  with  monies.  Bion  condemned  them  that 
professed  to  know  the  fishes  in  the  zodiac ;  yet  did 
not  see  the  fishes  that  swim  in  the  sea.  Tlie  events 
have  fooled  them  :  Manfridus  told  Ordelaphus  a 
prince,  that  he  should  have  a  long  and  happy  life  ; 
yet  he  was  both  married  and  buried  the  same  J'ear. 
Ilenrj-  VII.  in  derision  of  star-gazers,  asked  one  who 
had  jirophesied  of  his  death.  What  shall  betide  me 
this  Christmas?  The  prophet  answered,  he  could 
not  fell.  Then  what  shall  become  of  thyself  this 
Christmas  ?  He  still  answered,  I  cannot  tell.  Then 
I  know  more  than  thou,  saith  the  king;  for  I  know 
thou  shall  presently  be  sent  to  prison  for  a  juggling 
companion.  How  t  hey  have  been  extremely  troubled 
about  this  last  comet!  whether  it  threaten  Spain  or 
England;  or  the  rising  of  new  sects;  whether  it 
portend  war,  or  plague,  or  famine  ;  whether  to 
pi'inces,  or  to  people  :  as  if  God  had  made  them  his 
secretaries.  Particular  conjectures  arc  but  fables  : 
God  knows  what  he  hath  to  do.  And  if  this  did  pre- 
monstrate  a  rod  to  scourge  us,  let  us,  like  Nineveh, 
repent,  and  pacify  the  Lord's  wrath  before  the  blow 
comes.  Let  us  beseech  him  to  avert  from  us  such  a 
plague,  and  the  star  shall  leave  behind  it,  not  a  curse, 
l)ut  a  blessing,  to  all  those  that  sincerely  love  and  obev 
Lite  truth. 

For  use  of  this  point  to  ovirselves ;  let  us  turn  our 
minds  from  fables  to  serve  the  living  God.  The 
world  indeed  is  too  much  addicted  to  fables.  "  If  a 
man  walking  in  the  spirit  and  falsehood  do  lie,  he 
shall  even  be  the  prophet  of  this  people,"  Micah  ii. 
1 1.  If  a  man  tell  you  that  the  keeping  of  the  sabbath 
is  but  a  ceremonial  office,  this  is  a  fable  ;  yet  you 
embrace  it.  If  another  tell  you,  that  all  dues  be- 
longing to  the  church  are  arbitrary ;  that  no  tithes 
are  requirable,  but  a  benevolence ;  this  is  a  cunning- 
ly devised  fable:  yet  received  with  that  impudent 
precipice  of  judgment,  that  it  is  given  out  bravely, 
llicrc  is  not  a  minister  in  England  can  disprove  it. 
Alas,  what  arguments  should  poor  ministers  give, 
when  the  plain  text  of  that  God  who  shall  judge 
them  is  despised!  Let  God  and  man  say  what  thoy 
will,  they  have  extorted  our  means,  and  tiny  will 
keep  il.  Let  it  be  fold  you,  that  you  shall  never  give 
account  of  your  unjust"  and  usurious  gains,  though 
you  never  make  restitution  ;  this  is  a  monstrous  fa- 
ble, yet  readily  believed  and  admitted.  For  the  stage 
fables,  how  lawful  or  unlawful  thev  be,  I  will  not 


here  determine  :  he  that  goes  to  see  a  play,  intends 
not  to  see  a  tnith,  but  a  fable  ;  a  moral  presented  to 
his  eye,  that  should  convey  some  profitable  document 
to  his  heart.  But  that  some  should  say,  they  can 
leani  more  good  at  a  play  than  at  a  sermon,  this  is  a 
wretched  blasphemy,  able  to  rot  out  the  tongue  of  a 
Christian.  The  true  pui-pose  of  poems  and  fables,  is 
both  to  refresh  the  mind  with  delight,  and  to  better 
it  with  profit.  When  one  accused  the  comical  poet, 
that  he  brought  a  lewd  and  deboshed  rufhan  on  the 
stage,  and  so  gave  bad  example  to  young  men.  He 
answered.  True,  I  brought  such  a  man  on,  but  I 
hanged  him  before  he  went  off;  and  so  gave  good 
example  to  young  men.  St.  Augustine  doth  exceed- 
ingly condemn  the  stage  of  the  heathens;  and  upon 
good  cause,  for  it  was  bloody,  the  actors  slaying  and 
butchering  one  another.  So  as  Abncr  said  to  Joab, 
"  Let  the  young  men  arise,  and  play  before  us,"  2 
Sam.  ii.  14.  He  called  it  playing,  when  evcrj-  one 
thrust  Iris  sword  in  his  fellow's  side.  For  them  that 
seek  to  defend  it  thus  :  Because  cities  arc  populous, 
and  where  are  many  men  are  many  lewd  men  ;  if 
their  time  were  not  spent  so,  it  would  be  spent  worse. 
As  when  the  tyrant  objected  to  the  player  his  sauci- 
ncss,  that  he  durst  personally  tax  men  on  the  stage, 
he  made  him  this  answer;  Be  content,  for  while  tne 
people  laugh  at  our  foolery,  they  never  mind  your 
villany.  But  this  is  no  good  argument,  to  excuse  sin 
by  sin ;  to  prevent  an  evil  not  allowable,  by  allowing 
an  evil  that  is  preventable.  In  a  word,  that  which 
makes  a  man  evil,  is  his  own  evil  mind. 

But  to  conclude,  you  will  say,  that  we  are  here  for- 
bidden to  use  fables  in  the  pulpit ;  and  taught  barely 
to  preach  Christ's  power  and  coming  in  the  evidence 
of  the  Spirit.  Beloved,  I  would  to  God  your  hearts 
were  so  sanctified,  that  your  ears  need  not  be  de- 
lighted; and  that  we  could  save  your  souls  without 
pleasing  your  senses.  But  to  what  purpose  do  we  in- 
terpose a  fable  ?  to  make  you  believe  that  il  is  lite- 
rally true  ?  No,  but  to  work  an  impression  of  the 
moral  use  into  your  hearts.  If  we  tell  you  that 
.iEsop's  dog  lost  the  substance  by  catching  at  the 
shadow  ;  you  apprehend  our  meaning,  that  men  lose 
God  by  catching  at  mammon.  Or,  that  the  fly  on 
the  chariot-wheels  gave  out  that  she  made  all  that 
glorious  dust ;  you  know  we  mean,  that  a  vain-glori- 
ous man  brags  more  than  doc's.  When  Jotham  told 
the  Shechcmites,  Judg.  ix.  of  the  confederacy  of  the 
trees  to  choose  them  a  king,  which  the  bramble  ac- 
cepted ;  they  understood  liim  of  .\bimelech,  and 
their  unkindness  to  Jenibbaal.  These  fables  then 
have  their  use,  by  a  near  and  familiar  way  to  derive 
instruction  to  the  heart.  With  the  holy  things  they 
become  holy.  When  God  gave  that  great  deliver- 
ance to  Israel  from  Pharaoh  and  his  host  by  dividing 
the  Red  Sea,  he  commanded  a  song  to  be-  made  of  it, 
Exod.  XV. ;  knowing  that  when  they  had  forgot  both 
law  and  prophecy,  yet  they  would  still  keep  the  song 
in  memory.  So  when  you  forget  the  bette.r  doctrine, 
you  are  helped  to  recall  it  by  the  parablu. 

Receive  not  tho.se,  then,  that  would  cast  away  all 
learning  as  a  fable.  Some  there  are  that  purely 
pretend  themselves  to  preach  nothing  biit  Christ 
cnieified;  and  these  men  have  not  stuck  to  boast, 
that  all  the  flower  of  the  laiul  is  of  their  bou.'ting  : 
we  are  so  full  of  Latin,  of  fathers,  of  poets,  that  there 
is  notliing  in  us  but  bran.  What,  is  all  fhciVrs? 
New  Palwmons,  to  cry,  Xohiscum  nala,  nobiscum  pen- 
tura  lilertp  y  Must  all  wisdom  die  with  Job's  friends  ? 
Hath  Philip  gotten  so  much,  that  he  hath  left  no- 
thing for  Alexander  to  conquer  ?  Have  these  mow- 
ers carried  all  into  their  barn,  and  not  left  us  so  much 
as  the  gleanings  after  their  full  carts  ?  Can  the  Am- 
nons  of  the  peo\)le  eat  no  cakes,  but  such  as  are  of 


Vnn.  IG. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


163 


Tamar's  baking?  It  is  the  mad  merchant  that 
cries  from  the  (|uay,  All  the  ships  are  mine.  They 
speak  of  us,  a.s  the  people  did  of  Saul,  Is  Saul  among 
the  prophets?  Alas,  wo  may  then  say  with  Peter, 
We  have  ti.shod  all  night,  and  caught  nothing.  But 
certainly  God  hath  abundance  of  Spirit,  and  gives 
not  all  to  one  man.  But  laying  aside  pride,  prejii- 
<lice,  scorn,  malice,  let  us  all  labour  to  turn  men's 
souls  to  Christ ;  and  do  you  with  a  good  conscience 
hear  us :  that  God's  name  may  be  honoured,  our 
office  discharged,  your  understandings  enlightened, 
and  all  our  souls  everlastingly  saved,  in  the  day  of 
our  Lord  Jesus. 

"  When  we  made  known  unto  you  the  power  and 
coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  This  is  the  pro- 
claiming, wherein  are  considerable  two  things;  the 
manifestation  itself.  We  made  known  to  you ;  and 
the  things  manifested,  The  power  and  the  presence 
of  Christ. 

"  We  made  known  unto  you."  The  apostles  did 
not  hide  the  mysteries  of  salvation  revealed  to  them ; 
"  The  revelation  of  the  mystery,  which  was  kept 
secret  since  the  world  began,  is  now  made  manifest, 
and  according  to  the  commandment  of  the  everlast- 
ing God,  is  made  known  to  all  nations  for  the  obedi- 
ence of  faith,"  Rom.  xvi.  25,  26.  Not  that  it  was 
utterly  unknown  before  ;  for  it  were  strange  to 
think,  that  the  prophets  knew  not  of  that  Messias 
they  foretold;  but  the  light  of  it  was  not  so  clear 
and  manifest.  Christ  before  his  coming  was  known 
to  many,  but  obscurely  ;  after  his  coming  he  was 
known  to  more,  and  more  clearly ;  after  his  ascen- 
sion, to  yet  a  far  greater  number,  and  more  manifest- 
ly :  he  shall  be  known  in  heaven  face  to  face.  In 
other  ages  he  was  not  made  known  to  the  sons  of  men, 
as  he  is  now,  in  the  same  manner  and  measure  as  he 
is  now  revealed,  Eph.  iii.  5.  They  saw  through  a 
veil,  to  us  the  curtain  is  drawn.  Then  the  Jews 
knew  him,  and  the  world  was  ignorant  of  him  :  now 
the  Jews  are  ignorant  of  him,  and  the  whole  world 
acknowledgeth  him.  The  clearness  is  greater  p,r 
Christo  misso,  than  it  was  ex  CItristo  promisso.  The 
Sim  of  Righteousness  did  then  cast  up  some  beams  ; 
now  it  is  more  glorious,  as  riding  in  the  midst  of 
heaven  ;  coming  as  a  bridegroom  out  of  his  cham- 
ber, and  rejoicing  like  a  strong  man  to  nm  his  course. 
And  nothing  is  hid  from  the  neat  thereof,  Psal.  xix. 
5,6.  Nothing?  Yes,  nncharitableness,  that  lives 
under  the  frigid  zone,  ice  that  cannot  lie  thawed  ; 
a  hard  heart,  nothing  but  hell-fire  can  melt  it.  Af- 
fected ignorance  wilfully  hides  itself  from  it.  Light 
is  come  into  the  world,  and  men  love  darkness  better, 
because  their  deeds  are  evil.  John  iii.  19.  The  world 
hates  both  the  cross  of  him  that  suffereth,  and  the 
light  of  him  that  shineth  ;  their  minds  being  blind- 
ed by  the  god  of  this  world,  that  the  light  of  the 
glorious  gospel  of  Christ  should  not  shine  unto  them, 
2  Cor.  iv.  4.  But  if  it  be  hid,  it  is  hid  to  them  that 
are  lost,  ver.  3.  Such  are  the  muffled  papists,  that 
love,  like  owls,  only  to  keep  a  whoofing  in  the  dark. 
"  The  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet  given  "  to  the  apostles, 
"  because  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified,"  John  vii.  39. 
The  apostles  had  the  Spirit  before  ;  but  not  after  the 
same  manner,  norir.  the  same  measure.  But  He  that 
winked  at  the  former  times  of  ignorance,  "  now  com- 
mandeth  all  men  everj*  where  to  repent,"  Acts  xvii. 
.30.  This  is  the  tenor  of  the  new  covenant,  "  I  will 
write  my  laws  in  their  hearts :  and  they  shall  not 
teach  one  another,  saving.  Know  the  Lord :  for  all 
shall  know  me,  from  tnc  least  to  the  greatest,"  Hcb. 
vHii.  10,  11.  As  light,  so  the  participation  of  God's 
light,  is  communicative:  his  will  must  be  known  on 
earth,  that  it  may  be  done  on  earth,  as  it  is  known 
and  done  in  heaven.     Before,  God  was  well  known 


in  Jewry,  and  his  name  was  great  in  Israel ;  but  the 
heathen  had  not  the  knowledge  of  his  laws  ;  much 
less  of  his  gospel,  of  his  Christ.  But  now  his  way 
is  known  ujjon  earth,  and  his  saving  health  among 
all  nations,  Psal.  Ixvii.  2. 

This  doctrine  makes  to  the  conviction  of  them, 
that  conceal  the  way  of  the  Lord.  The  wrath  of 
God  is  revealed  from  heaven  against  them,  that  with- 
hold the  truth  in  unrighteousness,  Rom.  i.  18.  Here 
the  Romisli  priests  have  cause  to  tremble,  that  play 
at  blindman's-buflf  with  the  people,  smite  them,  and 
bid  them  prophesy  who  did  it.  Our  Saviour  de- 
nounceth  a  woe  unto  them  that  "  shut  up  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  aganst  men,"  Matt,  xxiii.  13.  The 
Romists  think  it  their  best  policy,  that  the  blinded 
laity  might  not  see  their  impostures.  They  resolve, 
Woe  unto  us  if  the  people  should  know  it !  but  in- 
deed woe  unto  thera  because  the  people  do  not  know 
it !  Like  jugglers,  if  they  did  not  cast  a  mist  before 
men's  eyes,  tneir  tricks  would  be  nothing  worth. 

This  reproves  them  also,  that  content  themselves 
with  their  ignorance,  and  never  labour  for  knowledge. 
We  dare  take  you  to  record,  that  we  are  pure  from 
yoiu-  blood  ;  because  we  have  not  shunned  to  declare 
unto  you  the  counsel  of  God,  Acts  xx.  2(),  27.  But 
we  may  say  of  you,  as  it  is  said  of  the  miser,  when 
he  is  moved  to  give  alms,  you  cannot  hear  on  that 
car.  We  have  told  you  the  wickedness  of  professed 
nsun,-,  made  known  God's  will  in  that  point;  we  have 
told  you  the  necessity  of  restitution;  reproved  the 
excess  of  drink,  of  apparel  ;  we  urge  that  holy  duty, 
If  any  man  calls  on  the  name  of  Clirist,  let  him  de- 
part from  iniquity,  2  Tim.  ii.  19 ;  that  if  you  do  not 
amend  yonr  lives,  Christ  will  not  save  your  souls  : 
yet  these  things  you  will  not  know.  How  often 
have  you  been  told,  Make  you  friends  of  your  un- 
righteous mannnon !  you  will  not  know  it.  You 
will  make  a  friend  of  it,  not  make  Christ  your 
friend  by  it.  You  say,  Christ  is  your  friend,  and 
the  Christian  is  your  friend,  but  the  world  is  your 
best  friend.  As  the  evil  spirit  said,  "  Jesus  I 
know,  and  Paul  I  know;  but  who  are  ye?"  Acts 
xix.  15  ;  so  your  whole  life  speaks.  Money  we 
know,  lands  we  know,  security  we  know,  commodity 
we  know ;  but  for  Christ  and  his  poor  members,  who 
are  ye  ?  The  world  is  the  god  they  worship.  As 
the  popish  dolt  boasted  of  his  picture  of  St.  Francis, 
curiously  painted  in  his  closet ;  they  talk  of  the  rood 
at  Rome,  and  our  Lady  of  Loretto,  and  Catharine 
of  Sienna,  and  James  at  Compostella ;  but  I  have  a 
picture  at  home  worth  ten  of  them.  So  the  world- 
ling hears  us  preach  of  Christ,  his  precious  merits, 
grievous  passion,  gracious  redemption,  glorious  re- 
ward;  but  still  his  closet  picture  he  thinks  better  of 
than  all  these.  Thus  we  can  but  preach  it,  and  you 
hear  it,  only  God  must  give  you  jiearts  to  know  it. 
Pray  and  beseech  the  God  of  knowledge,  to  give  you 
the  knowledge  of  God,  in  the  ways  of  salvation. 

"  The  power  and  coming  of  our  Lord."  This  con- 
cerns the  matter  manifested;  wherein  the  apostle 
intends  the  stmt  of  the  gospel,  and  the  full  salvation 
that  is  given  us  by  Christ,  in  whom  are  all  the  trea- 
sures of  blessedness.  Of  this  he  makes  two  distinct 
jiarts.  First,  that  Christ  came  in  the  (lesh,  suffered 
for  our  sins,  and  rose  again  for  our  justification. 
Secondly,  the  virtue  and  efficacy  of  this  in  our  hearts, 
when  we  manifest  the  fruit  of  it  in  our  well  living 
and  well  believing.  He  came  to  suffer  for  our  of- 
fences ;  to  deliver  us  from  Satan,  death,  and  hell ;  to 
reconcile  us  to  God,  to  consecrate  us  holy  temples  to 
himself,  and  to  give  us  everlasting  life.  Now  when 
wo  feel  these  gracious  effects  wrought  in  us,  killing 
lust,  quickening  goodness,  conforming  us  to  obedi- 
ence, and  confirmmgus  in  faithfulness;  this  is  to  be 


164 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


benefited  by  the  power  ana  coming  of  our  Lord  Je- 
sus. He  that  is  righteous  came  to  sinners,  that  he 
might  make  sinmrs  righteous  :  he  that  was  humble 
came  to  the  proud,  that  of  proud  he  might  make 
them  liumble.  (Anibros.)  Here  obseiTe  many  things. 

First,  that  the  coming  of  Christ  was  in  power; 
"Oh  that  thou  wouldest  rend  the  heavens,  that  thou 
wouldest  come  down,  that  the  mountains  miglit  flow 
down  at  thy  presence,"  Isa.  Ixiv.  1.  Alas,  how  could 
this  be  whcnas  he  came  in  such  baseness !  "  He 
hath  no  form  nor  comeliness;  and  when  we  shall 
see  him,  there  is  no  beauty  that  we  should  desire 
him,"  Isa.  liii.  2.  Therefore  when  '•  he  came  unto 
his  own,  his  own  received  him  not,"  John  i.  II.  His 
palace  was  a  stable,  his  courtiei's  beasts,  his  chair  of 
state  a  manger,  his  royal  robes  a  few  rags.  No  bells 
ring;  no  bonfires  proclaim  his  birth  through  the 
popular  streets  ;  no  great  ladies  came  to  visit  his 
mother.  Instead  of  thundering  in  the  clouds,  he 
lies  ciying  in  the  manger:  for  beating  down  his  ene- 
mies, he  is  glad  to  flee  from  their  faces  into  Egypt. 
Where  was  then  his  glorious  power,  or  how  appeared 
his  majesty  ?  Yes,  his  coming  was  in  great  power; 
for  if  all  tile  devils  in  hell  could  have  hindered  it, 
he  had  been  stayed.  Yea,  for  this  he  came,  to  dissolve 
the  works  of  the  devil.  If  our  sins  could  have  letted 
it :  yea,  they  rather  brought  him.  It  was  not  our 
merits,  but  our  sins,  that  drew  him  from  heaven. 
(August.)  The  tyranny  of  Herod,  and  that  butcher- 
ly inquisition  bloodied  in  the  deaths  of  so  many  in- 
fant martyrs,  could  not  cross  it.  The  kings  of  the 
earth  conspire,  and  take  counsel  together,  Psal.  ii. ; 
but  7iec  urtes  ncc  marle.i,  neither  their  power  nor 
policy  could  \nthstand  it.  Neither  was  the  gloiy  of 
Christ  wanting,  though  it  conveyed  itself  in  a  less 
public  form.  He  had  a  famous  harbinger  to  go 
before  him,  and  to  prepare  his  way,  John  the  Bap- 
tist, than  whom  there  rose  not  a  greater  among  them 
that  were  bom  of  women.  His  bonfire  was  in  hea- 
ven, a  star  directing  the  wise  men  to  him.  The  bells 
th.at  rung  for  joy,  were  aimies  of  angels ;  a  "  heavenly 
host  praising  God,"  Luke  ii.  13.  His  palace  heaven, 
his  regal  throne  man's  conscience,  his  robes  his  own 
imrits,  richly  adorning  us  :  there  was  majesty  in  his 
lumiility.  Thus  came  the  Lord  of  life  to  the  children 
of  death.  Mankind  had  not  been  redeemed,  unless 
the  Word  of  God  had  been  hominilied.  (August.)  If 
we  say  that  he  hath  humanity  in  him,  that  receives  a 
man  into  his  house ;  how  full  of  humanity  is  he,  that 
receives  manhood  unto  himself!  His  coming  was 
like  a  lamb  in  meekness,  yet  he  triumphed  like  a 
lion  in  powerfulness  ;  leading  captivity  captive,  and 
freeing  all  his  children  from  eternal  bondage. 

Secondly,  observe  that  the  gospel  is  no  weak 
tiling,  but  comes  in  power;  for  Christ's  coming  hath 
yet  a  further  latitude.  He  came  once  unto  men,  he 
conies  still  unto  men ;  that  was  in  the  (lesh,  this  is 
in  the  Spirit.  The  law  indeed  did  more  amaze  the 
conscience,  and  was  delivered  with  greater  terror, 
that  it  made  Moses  himself  quake  and  fear.  (Now 
if  there  was  such  thundering  at  the  law-givini;,  what 
would  have  been  at  the  law-breaking!)  The  law 
came  with  more  terror,  but  the  gospel  comes  with 
more  jjower.  For  that  could  not  turn  his  heart 
tliat  bare  it  in  his  hand;  but  the  gosjicl  is  able  to 
change  the  man  :  "  It  is  the  ]iower  of  God  unto  sal- 
vation," Rom.  i.  16.  Tlic  law  may  set  before  us  our 
wretched  estate  by  sin,  but  there  leaves  us  desperate : 
it  discovers  our  disease,  prescribes  no  cure :  it  doth 
express  sin,  but  cannot  suppress  sin.  It  is  the  glory 
and  bleedins  spectacle  of  Jesus  cnicified  in  the  gos- 
pel, that  heals  the  soul.  "  The  preaching  of  the  cross 
unto  us  which  are  saved  is  the  iiowcrof  God,"  1  Cor. 
i.  18.     If  tiicre  be  no  feeling  of  that  power,  there  are 


no  sparks  of  salvation  yet  kindled.  Peter's  sermon 
took  little  effect,  till  he  came  to  this  point,  "  God  hath 
made  that  same  Jesus,  whom  ye  have  crucified,  both 
Lord  and  Christ,"  Acts  ii.  .36.  "  When  they  heard 
this,  they  were  pricked  in  their  hearts:  What  shall 
we  do  ?  "  ver.  .37-  Paul  and  Silas  might  have  given 
the  jailer  good  words,  fair  entreaties,  and  the  most 
valid  argument  of  all,  monies;  yet  all  this  could  not 
keep  them  fnmi  the  dungeon.  But  when  the  power 
of  God  had  shaken  the  foundations  of  the  prison,  and 
Paul  began  to  preach  Jesus ;  then  he  was  baptized, 
rejoiced,  and  believed  in  God  with  all  his  nouse, 
Acts  xvi.  Let  men  conic  with  oratorj'and  the  "  en- 
ticing words  of  man's  wisdom,"  those  floods  do  but 
beat  upon  surd  rocks ;  but  if  "  in  the  power  of  God," 
1  Cor.  ii.  5,  this  shall  turn  those  rocks  into  soft  and 
fleshy  hearts.  Let  the  naturalist,  with  all  his  elo- 
quence, dissuade  the  covetous  worldling  from  his 
greediness ;  alas,  one  ounce  of  gold  weighs  down  all 
his  reasons.  Offer  to  stay  a  furious  man  from  anger 
with  arguments,  he  hath  not  the  patience  to  hear 
them.  Could  the  poet  detain  the  lascivious  from  his 
harlot,  though  he  tell  him  that  she  is  a  quicksand 
to  swallov>-  hira  alive  ?  Alas,  one  smile  from  her  is 
stronger  with  him  than  all  reason.  But  now  come 
with  the  gospel,  and  urge  them  with  the  heart-bloo  1 
of  Jesus  Christ,  shed  to  save  their  souls  from  hell, 
and  to  satisfy  for  their  sins.  This  is  that  powerful 
pleading  which  makes  good  men  confess  their  hearts 
to  bum  within  them;  and  bad  men,  even  an  Agrippa, 
to  say,  "  Almost  thou  persuadest  me  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian." Acts  xsvi.  3S. 

Thirdly,  collect  we  hence,  that  the  word  of  God 
hath  more  power  than  all  men's  edicts.  Men  in  their 
writings  are  at  much  cost  in  adorning  their  style, 
and  reducing  their  words  to  number,  weight,  and 
measure  ;  interlacing  many  rhetorical  figures  to  be- 
get attention.  But  on  the  contrary,  the  Scripture, 
in  a  plain  simplicity,  accommodates  itself  to  the 
capacity  of  the  weakest.  Yet  under  this  simplicity 
is  included  a  strange  majesty,  and  gravity  of  speech. 
As  great  princes  in  their  edicts  use  no  figures  to 
their  subjects,  but  plainly  and  briefly  set  down  their 
commands ;  so  God  absolutely  imposeth  his  will  with- 
out debating  the  matter.  Yet  in  persuading,  moving 
aflcction,  and  posing  the  deepest  apprehension,  they 
have  a  power  beyond  all  writings.  Read  the  1st 
chapter  of  Isaiah's  prophecy,  and  compare  it  with 
the  best  oration  of  Tally.  Read  the  liistory  of  Joseph, 
and  confer  it  with  any  tale  of  iEneas.  Read  the  acts 
of  Da\-id,  and  weigh  them  with  the  wonders  of  Ta- 
merlane. Read  the  gospel,  which  is  the  history  of 
the  life  and  death  of  Christ ;  and  you  will  think  the 
saddest  stories  of  any  human  pens  mere  counterfeits 
to  it.  Let  the  Scriptural  psalms  and  hymns  be  ba- 
lanced with  the  most  accurate  and  pathetical  poems: 
alas,  when  these  vanish  with  their  air,  those  shall 
ravish  the  ear,  and  withal  take  the  conscience.  Jo- 
sephus  was  a  man  admired  for  eloquence,  yet  how  he 
halts  in  his  imitation  !  Concerning  Abraham's  sacri- 
ficing of  his  son  Isaac,  he  makes  a  large  rhetorical 
discourse:  the  Scripture  is  brief  and  plain.  '"Take 
nowlhy  son,  thine  only  son  Isaac,  whom  thou  lovcsi." 
He  took  him,  and  the  wood  of  the  bunit-olTeriu<, 
and  laid  on  his  son,  as  Christ  bore  his  own  cross. 
"  Beliold,"  saith  tile  child,  "  the  fire  and  the  wood  : 
but  where  is  the  lamb  for  a  bumt-olTering."  The 
father  .answers,  "  My  son,  God  will  provide  himself  a 
lamb,"  Gen.  xxii.  There  be  two  lines  able  to  wring 
tears  from  the  reader,  whereas  Joscphus  with  liis 
ample  illustration  moves  nothing.  It  is  recorded  of 
one  Theodectes,  who  would  have  brought  some  of 
the  Bible  into  a  pagan  tragedy,  that  he  w.is  stricken 
blind,  till  falling  to  rcpenl'.uice  he  was  resiored. 


Ver.  Ifi. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


165 


Lastly,  iIk-  invincible  power  of  tlie  gospel  is  mani- 
fested in  throwing  down  those  bulwarks  raised  against 
it.  When  the  waters  of  life  began  first  to  tlow',  what 
strong  floodgates,  ramparts,  and  dams,  were  set  to 
stop  their  course  !  All  the  learning,  power,  and 
policy  of  men,  with  the  help  of  infernal  spirits,  were 
Lent  against  them :  I^Demosthenes  and  TertuUus  for 
eloquence,  Solon  against  Solomon,  Plato  against 
Moses,  Aristotle  against  Paul,  Alexander  and  C'cesar 
against  Christ :  but  wlmtsoever  contenders  opposed 
the  truth,  thev  discovered  the  invalidity  of  their 
arguments,  with  the  confusion  of  their  own  persons. 
Christ  sent  a  few-  fishermen  to  the  sea  of  this  world, 
with  the  nets  of  faith ;  and  they  enclosed  multitudes 
of  fishes,  of  all  sorts  and  sizes,  the  most  wonderful 
and  rare,  even  kings  and  philosophers  themselves. 
(August.)  He  sent  not  kings  and  philosophers  to 
persuade  fishermen,  but  fishermen  to  convert  phi- 
losophers and  kings.  They  that  had  no  authority 
to  countenance  them,  no  friends  to  side  them,  no 
oratory  to  second  them,  no  riches  to  maintain 
them  J  yet  went  abroad  preaching  the  disdained 
gospel  of  the  crucified  Jesus.  And  even  when  the 
kings  of  the  earth  did  set  themselves  against  the 
Lord,  and  against  his  Christ,  yet  even  then  God  did 
give  him  the  heathen  for  liis  inheritance,  and  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  his  possession,  Psal. 
ii.  2,  8.  Emperors  and  monarchs  have  thrown  down 
their  sceptres  at  the  feet  of  the  Lamb,  as  the  elders 
cast  down  their  crowns  before  the  throne,  Rev.  iv. 
10;  embracing  the  faith,  and  yielding  to  the  sove- 
reign supremacy  of  Jesus  Christ.  Tlien  was  that 
prophecy  fulfilled.  The  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the 
Iamb,  the  kid  with  the  lion,  and  a  little  child  shall 
lead  them,  Isa.  xi.  6.  Nero  and  Domitian  study 
strange  deaths,  to  afflict  the  saints,  and  lo  suppress 
the  gospel ;  yet  the  church  groans  and  grows,  bleeds 
and  battens  ;  every  drop  of  blood  that  ends  one 
Christian,  begets  a  thousand.  Those  men  who  at 
the  first  trembled  at  threatening  words,  afterwards 
embraced  killing  swords,  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus. 
You  had  once  ten  apostles  flying,  one  denying,  yet 
afterwards  all  rejoicing  to  suffer  for  Him  that  suffer- 
ed for  them.  "When  the  Spirit  is  come,  he  will 
convince  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of 
judgment,"  John  xvi.  8.  How  shall  he  convince 
it  ?  Not  immediately  by  himself,  but  mediately  by 
his  apostles  and  ministers  ;  who  otherwise  durst 
never  have  been  so  bold.  Neither  was  this  a  per- 
sonal promise,  but  real  to  the  church,  unto  the  end 
of  the  world.  Now  if  this  had  been  a  cunning  fable, 
some  tale  of  Jupiter  or  AiwUo,  it  could  never  have 
effected  such  a  content  of  conscience,  in  forsaking  of 
lands,  liberties,  wives,  lives ;  in  ex))osing  us  to  calum- 
nies, calamities,  torments.  Tell  a  Turk,  the  worship- 
per of  a  Mahomet,  conceming  riches,  honours,  and 
carnal  satisfactions  that  come  to  him  by  his  prophet : 
this  pleascth  his  llcsh  and  blood.  But  tell  him  of 
persecution,  anguish,  ctmtempt,  and  death,  which  his 
profession  must  call  him  to:  he  will  none  of  that  for 
any  idol's  sake.  Yet  preach  Christ  to  the  conscience, 
the  value  of  the  price  he  paid  to  redeem  us  ;  and 
then  let  a  thousand  dangers  stand  in  our  way  ;  pri- 
son, hunger,  tyrants,  torments,  deaths,  devils ;  we 
run  through  them  all  with  patience,  and  overcome 
them  with  confidence.  In  these  latter  times,  when 
the  deluge  of  popery  overflowed,  all  piety  was  drown- 
ed, pity  and  mercy  lost,  the  w-oman  fled  into  the 
wilderness,  antichrist  in  his  highest  ruff,  kings  kiss- 
ing his  feet ;  when  it  was  death  to  think  of  restoring 
the  light.  Yet  against  all  clamours  of  friars,  excom- 
munications of  popes,  execrations  of  his  priests,  oj)- 
positions  of  princes  by  sword  and  lire ;  the  truth  was 
delivered  from  the  jaws  of  error,  set  in  a  white  chair 


of  crystal  sincerity,  and  most  powerfully  lodged  in  a 
beil  of  peace  ;  where  she  reacheth  forth  to  us  her 
milken  nand,  guiding  us  to  those  everlasting  doors, 
whereinto  heresy  and  darkness  shall  never  enter.  Oh 
may  this  sun  shine  to  us,  and  our  children  after  us,  so 
long  as  the  sun  and  moon  in  heaven  endure !   Amen. 

To  apply  all  to  ourselves.  The  power  and  coming 
of  Christ,  is  the  kingdom  of  Christ :  let  us  all  pray 
that  this  power  may  come  in  our  hearts;  Lord,  let 
thy  kingdom  come.  Now  what  we  pray  with  our 
lips,  we  must  endeavour  with  our  lives.  Shall  we 
desire  the  removal  of  all  hinderances  to  this  kingdom, 
and  most  of  all  hinder  it  ourselves?  If  we  ol>scure 
that  glory  which  we  apprecate,  our  own  tongues  and 
hearts,  and  the  tongues  and  hearts  of  all  under  hea- 
ven, shall  rise  up  in  witness  against  us.  He  that 
makes  such  a  seeming  prayer,  and  retains  such  a  sin- 
ning desire,  doth  beg  consuming  vengeance  on  himself. 
Tremble  at  this,  ye  wicked;  you  may  as  well  spit 
upon  Christ,  as  come  to  church  and  say,  "-Thy  king- 
dom come,"  and  yet  actually  uphold  the  kingdom  of 
the  devil.  Let  us  take  heed  of  withstanding  the 
coming  of  this  power.  Christ  preached  to  the  Jews ; 
they  would  not  receive  him.  Behold,  their  house  is 
left  unto  them  desolate.  Noah  preached  to  the  old 
world  ;  Lot  to  Sodom  ;  Gildas  to  the  Britons  :  they 
despised  it ;  their  land  was  destroyed,  and  given  to 
others.  John  Wickliflc  was  raised  up  to  this  oftice  ; 
himself  was  burned,  and  his  books.  What  followed  ? 
They  slew  the  next  king,  set  up  three  usurpers,  the 
nobility  were  butchered,  the  land  havocked.  The 
contempt  of  this  power  hath  brought  on  infallible 
desolation. 

What  this  sin  may  work  upon  us,  only  the  Lord 
knows,  and  knows  to  prevent.  Comets  may  threaten, 
and  rumours  of  wars  sound  in  our  ears :  none  of  these 
destroy  us,  but  our  own  sins.  Let  us  not  hurt  our- 
selves, none  shall  hurt  us.  If  we  be  false  to  God, 
let  us  not  blame  others  for  being  false  to  us.  It  was 
Christ's  complaint  over  that  apostate  city,  "  0  Jeru- 
salem, thou  that  killest  the  prophets,  and  stonest 
them  which  are  sent  unto  thee!"  Matt,  xxiii.  37- 
If  we  retain  their  sins,  there  remain  for  us  their 
plagues.  We  use  to  arraign  and  judge  our  prophets, 
whose  ministry  is  to  arraign  and  judge  us,  that  we 
may  not  be  judged  of  the  Lord.  The  Jews  killed 
their  teachers;  do  not  we  so  when  we  withhold  their 
life-blood  from  them,  and  stand  to  justify  it?  Is  it 
not  all  (me,  to  cut  a  man's  throat,  and  to  take  away 
the  sustenance  whereby  he  lives,  and  without  which 
he  must  needs  famish?  Certainly,  of  both  it  is  the 
greater  mercy,  or  (at  least)  the  less  cruelty,  to  de- 
spatch him  quickly.  It  is  their  work  to  mortify  and 
kill  our  sins  :  and'  shall  we  kill  them,  that  our  sins 
may  live  ?  Oh  there  is  a  cursed  devil  that  bewitch- 
cth  us!  God  that  suirers  this,  means  thereby  to 
suffer  this  land's  dcstniction.  There  were  not  (let 
not  envy  hear  me)  so  flourishing  a  church  under 
heaven,  if  this  sin  of  sacrilege  were  taken  from  it. 
But  this  effect  hath  followed  it,  that  the  profession  of 
the  gospel  in  manv  places  comes  upon  the  stage,  to 
helji  to  make  up  the  play,  and  to  minister  matter  of 
mirth.  .\nd  the  law  doth  domineer  over  the  gospel, 
as  Pilate  sat  to  judge  Jesus.  If  this  land  should 
ever  come  to  the  danger  of  destroying,  (which  God 
avert,)  those  deriders  of  the  poor  ministry  will  run 
into  holes,  that  have  already  buried  their  talents 
from  ever  doing  good.  And  then  the  poor  clergy's 
prayers  will  prevail  more  for  mercies,  than  all  their 
pnmd,  arrogated  glories.  But  alas,  how  shouhl 
Christ  come  in  power  to  help  us,  whom  we  have  re- 
jected coming  m  power  to  convert  us!  Doth  he 
come  now,  and  we  will  not  know  him ;  and  can  we 
hope  he  will  come  then  when  we  call  him  ?    Open 


IGG 


AN  KXPObl'lIUN  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


your  hearts,  ;ill  ye  that  fear  tlie  Lord,  and  It-t  liim  in. 
As  it  is  his  own  promise,  Behold,  I  come  quickly;  so 
it  is  the  church's  prayer.  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come 
i|uickly.  Wickedness  is  powerful,  the  devil  is  power- 
ful, covetousness  is  powerful,  lust  is  powerful;  and 
liath  the  gospel  of  Christ  lost  its  powerfulness  ?  No ; 
if  it  have  not  power  to  convert  us,  it  will  have  power 
to  confound  us.  If  Christ  be  not  suffered  to  come 
unto  us,  he  will  not  be  hindered  from  coming  against 
us.  O  let  us  come  unto  him,  that  he  may  come  unto 
us  :  subject  we  our  hearts  and  lives  to  the  obedience 
of  his  gospel,  that  we  may  be  found  holy  and  blame- 
less at  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  It  shall 
be  powerful  then,  when  the  heavens  shall  pass  away 
with  a  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  heat, 
and  the  eartli  with  her  works  shall  be  burned  up. 
Let  us  now  honour  him  when  he  eomes  in  gi-ace,  that 
he  may  honour  us  when  he  comes  in  gloiy. 

"  But  were  eye-witnesses  of  his  majesty."  This  is 
the  testification.  Our  Saviour  intending  that  the 
ajiostles  should  lay  the  foundation  of  his  church, 
upon  that  Corner-stone  whereupon  themselves  and 
we  all  are  built,  he  furnished  them  with  all  fit  pro- 
Wsion  for  it.  He  declared  his  will  to  their  ears,  pre- 
sented his  works  to  their  eyes,  fixed  his  truth  in 
their  hearts  ;  and  sent  them  not  to  publish  riddles, 
and  paradoxes,  and  fabulous  reports,  but  real  and 
actual  things  which  they  had  seen  and  heard.  So 
might  they  from  infallible  exjierience  give  a  well- 
grounded  testimony.  The  sum  is  this  ;  Christ  made 
himself  manifest  to  them,  that  they  might  manifest 
him  to  us.  He  let  them  see,  that  they  might  teach 
us  to  believe.  The  things  which  I  have  received  of 
my  Father,  I  have  made  known  unto  you,  John  xv. 
15.  They  must  needs  be  scribes  well  fitted  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  when  such  a  Master  read  unto 
them  the  oracles  of  truth.  He  that  is  the  life  of  the 
gospel,  taught  them  the  gospel  of  life.  It  did  not 
hold,  that  he  must  needs  be  a  good  scholar  that 
had  Socrates  to  his  master.  But  he  must  be  a  good 
disciple  that  hath  Jesus  Christ  for  his  tutor.  We 
are  not  reporters,  but  witnesses ;  not  car-witnesses, 
but  eye-witnesses,  not  only  of  his  humility,  but  of 
his  majesty. 

We  were  witnesses.  But,  "I  receive  not  testimony 
frc  ui  man,"  John  v.  34.  He  is  the  way,  the  trutli, 
and  the  life;  the  way  to  the  truth,  the  truth  of  the 
way,  the  life  of  both,  of  all;  therefore  a  sufficient 
testimony  to  himself.  Yet  he  saith,  "  If  I  bear  wit- 
ness of  myself,  my  witness  is  not  true,"  John  v.  31. 
And  of  the  contrary,  "Though  I  bear  record  of  my- 
self, my  record  is  tme,"  John  viii.  14.  These  two 
places  seem  at  the  first  view  contradicloiT,  but  are 
easily  reconciled.  In  the  former,  Christ  did  accom- 
modate himself  to  the  capacity  of  the  hearers,  who 
acknowledged  nothing  more  in  him  than  humanity  : 
in  the  other,  he  sets  forth  his  Divinity,  and  discovers 
another  nature  in  his  own  person ;  that  howsoever 
they  might  vilipend  the  testimony  of  the  one,  yet 
were  convinced  by  the  testimony  of  the  other.  But 
this  answer  seems  not  to  satisfy ;  for  Christ,  as  he 
was  man,  was  without  error,  and  could  not  give  a 
false  testimony  ;  how  then  could  he  say,  "  My  witness 
is  not  tnic?"  I  answer,  "My  witness  is  not  true," 
that  is,  it  is  not  effectual,  nor  would  be  accepted  as 
true  by  the  Jews,  though  it  was  most  certainly  tru( . 
Though  it  be  true  according  to  the  matter  testified, yet 
not  true  according  to  their  acceptation.  To  the  other 
it  is  objected,  "  My  witness  is  time,"  that  according 
to  the  law  no  man's  witness  is  accepted  for  himself. 
And,  "  Let  another  man  praise  thee,  and  not  thine 
own  mouth,"  Prov.  xxvii.  2.  But  Christ  is  the  light 
of  the  world  :  now  the  light  doth  not  only  help  us  to 
sec  other  llnng.s,  but  also  to  discern  itself.     But  fur- 


ther, if  Christ  receives  not  testimony  for  man,  why 
doth  he  admit  of  John's  witness  ?  "  Ye  sent  unto 
John,  and  he  bare  witness  unto  the  truth,"  John  v. 
.'kJ.  John  did  not  intrude  himself  into  this  office, 
but  the  Jews  required  him  to  it ;  "  Ye  sent  unto 
John."  This  appears,  John  i.  19,  "  This  is  the  re- 
cord of  John,  when  the  Jews  sent  priests  and  Levites 
from  Jerusalem  to  a.sk  him,  AVho  art  thou?"  Now 
Christ  admitted  of  John's  testimony  for  their  sakes, 
as  he  declares  himself;  "  That  ye  might  be  saved," 
John  V.  34.  I  receive  not  man's  witness,  for  any 
need  that  I  have  of  it ;  but  I  suffer  it  for  your  salva- 
tion, that  you  might  be  induced  through  a  witness 
of  your  own  choosing  to  believe  on  me.  I  receive 
not  the  witness  of  man,  as  it  is  merely  man's,  and  of 
no  further  authority  than  flesh  and  blood ;  but  as  it 
is  inspired  by  God,  I  entertain  it. 

Our  blessed  Saviour  accepted  of  many  witnesses, 
which  I  will  but  touch,  as  being  not  in  the  centre, 
but  not  out  of  the  circumference,  of  this  argument. 

1.  God  the  Father.  "  The  Father  himself,  which 
hath  sent  me,  hath  borne  witness  of  me,"  John  v.  3/. 
The  substance  of  his  testimony  was  delivered  in  an 
audible  voice  ;  "  Tliis  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I 
am  well  pleased." 

2.  John  the  Baptist.  "  He  was  not  that  Light,  but 
he  was  sent  to  bear  witness  of  that  Light,"  John 
i.  8.  The  testimony  of  John  was  persuading;  but 
the  testimonv  of  the  Father  prevailing. 

3.  The  works  of  Christ.  "  The  works  that  I  do, 
bear  witness  of  me,"  John  v.  36.  This  is  a  greater 
witness  than  John's.  Against  this  witness  tliere  is 
an  exception  ;  If  Christ  might  be  known  sufficiently 
by  his  works  to  be  the  Messias,  the  same  testimony 
might  be  given  to  the  apostles,  who  wrought  as  great 
miracles.  It  is  answered,  that  Christ,  when  he 
wrought  these  works,  declared  himself  to  be  the 
Messias :  the  apostles,  when  they  wrought  tlieni, 
declared  themelves  not  to  be  Christ,  but  the  sen-ants 
of  Christ;  and  that  they  effected  all  only  through 
his  name  and  vii-tue.  When  the  disciples  of  John 
came  to  Christ  to  be  satisfied  whether  he  were  he 
that  sliould  come  or  no,  lie  refers  them  to  no  other 
testimony  but  his  works.  "  Go,  and  tell  John  what 
things  ye  have  seen  and  heard;  that  the  blind  see, 
the  lame  walk,"  &c.  Luke  vii.  22.  He  proves  his 
goodness  by  his  good  works.  It  was  this  that  pre- 
ferred Chorazin  and  Bethsaida  before  Tyre  and  Sidon 
in  tomients  ;  because  mighty  works  were  done  among 
them,  and  they  repented  not.  Matt.  xi.  21.  Mighty 
works.  He  is  called  a  Prophet  mighty,  not  only  in 
words,  but  in  deeds,  Luke  xxiv.  19.  Neither  were 
the  Jews  only  convinced  with  a  "  Never  man  spake 
like  this  man,"  John  vii.  4C ;  but  also  with  a  Never 
man  did  like  this  man :  we  never  saw  it  on  this 
fashion.  "  When  Christ  cometh,  will  he  do  more 
miracles  than  this  man  hath  done?"  John  ni.  31. 
Since  the  world  began  the  like  was  never  heard  be- 
fore, John  ix.  32.  What  is  inferred  (m  it  ?  "  If  this 
man  were  not  of  God,  he  could  do  nothing,"  ver.  33. 

4.  The  Scriptures.  "  Search  the  Scriptures :  and 
they  are  they  which  testify  of  me,"  John  v.  39.  All 
of  them,  like  so  many  mathematical  lines,  meeting 
at  that  one  centre.  Ever)-  page,  like  a  John  Baptist, 
pointing  us  to  the  Lamb  of  God  that  takes  away  the 
sin  of  the  world.  The  word  of  the  Lord  contains 
almost  nothing  else,  but  the  Lord  that  is  the  Word. 
"  To  him  give  all  the  prophets  witness,"  Acts  x.  43. 
They  by  predictions  jmd  figures,  the  apostles  by  de- 
nionstralion  and  truth.  The  first  of  these  testimonies 
was  jironouneed,  the  second  ins]>ired,  the  third  ex- 
hibited, the  last  written. 

5.  Angels  :  they  witnessed  his  conception,  Luke 
i.31;  his  nativity,  Luke  ii.  10;  his  majesty,  "  Angels 


Viiii.  IG. 


SiiCOND  EPISTLE  UENEKAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


167 


Ciimc  and  ministered  unto  hini,"  Matt.  iv.  II;  his 
resurrection,  Luke  xxiv.  4  \  his  ascension,  Acts  i.  10. 

6.  The  creatures.  In  his  nativity  a  star,  a  burning 
lamp  set  in  the  heavens;  a  day-star  before  the  sun. 
Ill  his  life,  the  winds  and  the  seas  answer  his  com- 
mands;  "What  manner  of  man  is  this,  that  even 
the  winds  and  the  sea  obey  him!"  Matt.  viii.  '^T. 
The  Sim  was  darkened  al  his  death,  the  veil  of  the 
temple  rent,  the  earth  did  quake,  ihe  stones  clave, 
and  the  graves  were  opened.  At  his  birth  the  hea- 
vens did  witness  that  he  was  come  down  to  earth ;  at 
his  resurrection,  the  earth  did  witness  that  ho  was 
ready  lo  go  up  to  heaven.  The  sea  was  his  path  to 
walk  on,  the  clouds  his  chariot  to  ride  on. 

7.  His  very-  enemies:  neither  Pilate  nor  Herod 
could  find  fault  in  him ;  Ye  have  brought  this  man 
to  me,  I  have  examined  him,  but  can  find  no  fault  in 
him:  no,  nor  yet  Herod,  Luke  xxiii.  14,  15.  Pilate's 
wife  justifies  him  to  her  husband,  "  Have  thou  no- 
tliing  to  do  with  that  just  man,"  Matt,  xxvii.  19. 
They  that  came  to  insnare  him,  depart  commending 
him.  You  have.  Matt,  xxii.,  Pharisees,  Sadducees, 
lawyers,  all  apposing  him,  all  convinced,  and  aston- 
ished at  Iiis  doctrine.  The  centurion  at  liis  death 
acknowledgeth,  "  Truly  this  was  the  Son  of  God." 
The  very  devils  acknowledge  him ;  "  I  know  thee 
who  thou  art,  the  Holy  One  of  God,"  Mark  i.  24. 
'•  Jesus  I  know,"  Acts  xix.  15.  O  powerful  Christ, 
that  couldsl  out  of  the  mouth  of  thy  professed  ene- 
mies derive  thy  praise!  How  should  ihy  friends, 
bought  with  thy  precious  blood,  glorify  thee,  when 
thy  very  enemies  thus  honour  thee  !  "  Their  rock  is 
not  as  our  Rock,  even  our  enemies  themselves  being 
judges,"  Deut.  xxxii.  31.  Even  the  Jews  that  craci- 
fied  him,  and  '•  all  bare  him  witness,  and  wondered 
at  his  gracious  words,"  Luke  iv.  22. 

8.  Lastly,  the  apostles  were  especially  designed 
for  this  testimony  ;  "  Ye  shall  bear  witness,  because 
ye  have  been  with  me  from  the  beginning,"  Jolm 
XV.  27.  There  are  twelve  apostles,  a  whole  jury  of 
lliese  witnesses;  and  when  one  of  them  apostatized 
by  transgression,  and  the  room  was  void,  they  cast 
lots  to  supply  llie  place  with  a  new  witness;  "  One 
must  be  ordained  to  be  a  witness  with  us  of  his  re- 
surrection," Acts  i.  22.  There  were  twelve  patriardi-s 
in  the  Old  Testament,  twelve  apostles  in  the  New. 
Solomon's  twelve  ofiicers,  1  Kings  iv.  7.  Moses' 
twelve  pillars,  Exod.  xxiv.  4.  The  twelve  cakes  of 
shewbread,  Lev.  xxiv.  5.  The  twelve  stones  in 
Aaron's  pectoral.  The  twelve  stones  that  Joshua 
took  out  of  Jordan.  The  twelve  spies.  The  twelve 
tribes.  The  twelve  stars.  Rev.  xii.  1.  The  twelve 
f<jiindations,  twelve  gates,  twelve  angels;  "  The  wall 
of  the  city  had  twelve  foundations,  and  in  them  the 
names  of  the  twelve  a|)ostles,"  Rev.  xxi.  14.  These 
twelve  were  lo  lay  the  foundation  of  the  church : 
'•  We  are  built  upon  (he  foundation  of  the  proi)hets 
and  apostles,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  tiie  chief 
corner-stone,"  Eph.  ii.  20.  We  are  built  on  them, 
they  and  we  all  on  Jesus  Christ.  But  were  there  no 
more  than  twelve  of  these  especial  witnesses?  What 
say  you  to  Paul  and  Barnabas ;  were  not  they  apos- 
tles? were  not  they  witnesses?  Yes,  they  are  both 
called  apostles  and  witnesses  :  "  Part  held  with  the 
apostles,"  Acts  xiv.  4 :  now  at  that  time  in  Iconium 
were  no  aposlles,  but  Paul  and  Barnabas  ;  therefore 
they  were.  God  gave  testimony  to  the  word  of  his 
grace  by  them  in  signs  and  wonders,  vcr.  3  ;  there- 
fore they  were  witnesses.  "  Am  I  not  an  apostle?" 
saith  Paul,  1  Cor.  ix.  1.  Via,  are  they  apostles?  "I 
am  more,"  2  Cor.  xi.  23.  He  is  called.  The  apostle  : 
when  we  speak  of  an  apostle,  and  distinguish  him 
not  by  name,  we  commonly  mean  St.  Paul.  But 
he  calls   himself  abortive,  "  One  born  out  of  due 


time,"  I  Cor.  xv.  8.  One  is  said  to  be  abortive  three 
ways.  First,  when  he  comes  not  in  the  due  and  ex- 
jjccted  time.  Secondly,  when  he  is  forced  from  the 
womb  of  the  mother.  Thirdly,  when  he  comes  not 
to  full  perfection.  Paul  may  be  said  to  be  abortive 
two  ways,  not  the  latter ;  for  he  "  laboured  more 
abundantly  than  they  all,"  1  Cor.  xv.  10.  Ingenu- 
ously he  confosseth,  that  he  "  was  not  a  whit  be- 
hind the  very  chiefest  of  the  apostles,"  2  Cor.  xi.  5. 
There  is  a  ihreefold  difference  betttist  the  rest  of 
the  aposlles  and  St.  Paul.  1.  The  twelve  for  twelve 
years  preached  only  to  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel ; 
Paul  went  presently  afier  his  culling  to  the  Genliles. 
2.  The  twelve  divided  the  world  amongst  them ;  Paul 
look  the  whole  world  for  his  parish.  3.  The  rest 
were  called  (all  but  Matthias)  by  Christ  in  his  mor- 
tality ;  Paul  by  Christ  in  his  immortality.  The 
rest,  by  Christ  humbled ;  Paul,  by  Christ  glorified. 
Though  this  difference  be  in  their  apostleship,  there 
is  no  difference  in  their  testimony  ;  they  all  witness- 
ed the  same  Lord  Jesus. 

This  witnessing  was  one  of  the  apostles'  prime  ex- 
cellences and  privileges  above  others.  The  first 
privilege  was  their  mission,  which  was  immediately 
from  Christ  himself,  "  I  send  you ;"  whereas  we  are 
sent  from  him  mediately  by  others.  The  second, 
was  their  commission,  "  Preach  and  baptize,"  &c. 
They  were  sent  to  plant  the  church,  whereas  we 
build  upon  their  foundation.  The  third,  was  their 
authority  ;  Christ  "  breathed  on  them,  and  said,  Re- 
ceive ye  the  Holy  Ghost,"  John  xx.  22.  There  was 
a  number  of  ceremonies  lo  make  up  a  Lcvitical 
priest,  anointings,  washings,  &c. ;  but  lo  make  up 
an  evangelical  priesi,  Christ  only  breathed  on  them : 
thus  in  a  great  measure  they  received  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  "  There  sat  upon  Ihem  cloven  tongues,  like 
as  of  fire,"  Acts  ii.  3.  Such  a  fire  was  kindled  on 
that  day  of  Pentecost,  that  the  whole  world  hath 
been  the  warmer  for  it  ever  since.  Therefore  Chry- 
sostom  calls  the  apostleship,  a  spiritual  consulship, 
which  was  the  greatest  office  in  the  Roman  govern- 
ment. The  last  prinlege  is  their  testimony,  and 
election  to  this  testimony.  God  raised  up  Christ, 
and  showed  him  openly  ;  not  to  all  the  people,  but 
to  us  witnesses,  chosen  before  of  God,  Acts  x.  41 
The  Lord  sent  them  forth  to  bear  witness  of  Christ. 

In  witnesses  there  are  three  things  especially  re- 
quired :  I.  That  they  be  of  good  report  and  repute ; 
for  a  bad  and  vicious  life  enervates  their  testimony. 
But  these  were  holy  men :  he  that  sent  Ihem  to  give 
testimony,  did  not  deny  them  sanctimony  ;  "  Sancti- 
fy them  through  thy  truth,"  John  xWi.  17.  No  wit- 
ness is  surer  than  a  child's,  (Isidor.)  wlien  he  is 
come  to  those  years  to  understand,  and  not  to  those 
years  to  dissemble.  Thus  dolh  God  out  of  children's 
mouths  magnify  his  own  praise  The  witnesses  were 
not  children  in  understanding,  but  in  simplicity  and 
innocence  of  heart.  Tlu-y  might  be  reproved,  they 
could  never  be  disproved.  2.  That  they  be  eye-wit- 
nesses :  so  were  these,  as  we  shall  hear.  3.  That 
I  hey  be  avfifiapTvpiiv,  to  agree  in  their  testimony. 
False  witnesses  are  easily  found  out  by  being  examin- 
ed suddenly :  unless  they  have  cunningly  digested 
Iheir  tale,  and  (hen  their  mischief  is  more  pernicious. 
But  these  witnesses,  when  they  were  dispersed  over 
the  fiice  of  the  earth,  did  mind  one  thing,  and  speak 
one  thing  ;  they  delivered  the  same,  wrote  the  same, 
wrought  the  same,  witnessed  the  same  truth  even 
with  iheir  bloods:  therefore  were  in  all  points  suf- 
ficient witnesses. 

This  apostolical  testimony  was  not  without  some 
opposition,  for  there  were  others  that  came  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  who  had  nothing  to  do  with  him. 
Simon  Magus  bewitched  not  only  the  Samaritans, 


im 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chip.  I. 


l)Ut  also  the  Romans.  Claudius  set  up  a  brazen 
image  on  Tiber  bridge,  with  this  blas])lienious  in- 
scription, To  Simon  the  great  god.  But  while  he 
sailed  in  the  air  ujion  the  wings  of  demons,  he  fell 
down  to  the  earth,  and  burst  his  neck.  One  Manes, 
admired  of  the  Persians,  took  twelve  men,  whom  lii' 
called  his  apostles,  and  styled  himself  Tiie  Comforter 
of  Israel.  But  undertaking  to  recover  the  kim^'s 
son,  who  was  dangerously  sick,  and  failing  in  tlie 
cure,  he  had  his  skin  pulled  over  his  ears.  A  Romisli 
doctor,  called  The  Oracle  of  India,  gave  out  that  he 
was  more  holy  than  the  apostles,  yea,  than  the  an- 
gels :  yea,  that  God  made  him  a  prollcr  of  hy postal  i- 
cal  union,  and  assumption  into  the  fellowship  of  the 
Deity;  but  the  modest  man  refused  it  ;  that  he  was 
the  world's  redeemer  in  respect  of  eflieaey,  as  Christ 
performed  it  in  respect  of  sufficiency.  Horrid  and 
unpardonable  blasphemy!  So  one  Postill,  a  Jesuit, 
under  the  name  of  Mother  Jane,  printed  a  book  call- 
ed The  Victory  of  Women  :  maintaining,  that  as 
Christ  redeemed  the  superior  world,  man  ;  so  Mother 
Jane  saved  the  inferior  world,  woman.  Here  St. 
Paul's  prophecy  was  fulfilled,  "  For  this  cause  God 
shall  send  them  strong  delusion,  that  they  should 
believe  a  lie:  that  they  all  might  be  damned  who 
believed  not  the  truth,  but  had  pleasure  in  unright- 
eousness," 2  Thess.  ii.  11,  12.  They  wotdd  none  of 
Christ,  let  them  welcome  antichrist.  "  I  am  come  in 
my  Father's  name,  and  ye  receive  me  not :  if  another 
shall  come  in  his  own  name,  him  ye  will  receive," 
John  V.  4.3.  lie  that  will  not  believe  these  witnesses, 
shall  everlastingly  perish. 

For  as,  seeing  we  are  compassed  about  with  so 
great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us  believe,  "  There 
are  three  that  bear  record  in  heaven,  the  Father,  the 
Word,  and  the  Holy  Ghost :  and  these  three  are  one," 
I  John  v.  7.  The  Father  bare  witness  to  Christ,  at 
his  baptism,  Matt.  iii.  17  ;  at  his  transfiguration, 
Matt.  xvii.  5;  at  a  manifest  and  glorious  revelation, 
John  xii.  2S,  "  Then  came  there  a  voice  from  heaven," 
iS:c.  The  Holy  Ghost  bare  witness  to  Christ,  in  de- 
scending first  upon  himself,  John  i.  32;  then  upon 
his  apostles,  Acts  ii.  4,  making  them  also  to  bear 
wilniss :  Both  he  shall  testify  of  me,  and  make  you 
test  ify  of  me,  John  xv.  26, 27-  The  Word  bare  record 
of  himself.  When  the  Jews  put  him  to  it,  "  If  thou  be 
the  Christ,  tell  us  plainly  ;"  he  answered,  "  I  told 
you,"  John  X.  25.  When  Jcjhn's  disciples  asked  him, 
"  Art  thou  he  that  should  come  ?"  He  witnessed,  I 
am  he.  When  the  high  priest  questioned  him,  "  Art 
thou  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Blessed?  Jesus  said, 
I  am,"  Mark  xiv.  62.  Thus  he  witnessed  to  the  blind 
man  whom  they  had  excommunicated:  "Who  is  the 
Son  of  God?  It  is  he  that  talketli  with  thee,"  John 
ix.  37;  I  am  he.  This  he  testified  to  Paul,  "  I  am 
Jesus  whom  thou  persecutest."  Acts  ix.  5.  And  these 
three  are  one ;  not  only  in  their  witness,  but  in  their 
essence.  (Ardens.)  "  There  be  three  that  bear  wit- 
ness in  earth,  the  spirit,  and  the  water,  and  the  blood  : 
and  these  three  agree  in  one,"  1  John  v.  S.  The 
Spirit  of  God,  or  of  man  inspired  with  that  Spirit, 
applying  to  his  comfort  the  water  and  blood  that 
came  out  of  Christ's  .side :  water  being  a  sign  of  our 
sanctification,  blood  of  our  justification.  These  three 
arc  one,  saith  Augustine,  not  in  nature,  but  in  mys- 
tery :  they  agree  in  one  testimony.  The  virtue  that 
is  in  the  water,  is  not  of  the  water,  but  of  the  Spirit. 
Thus  if  in  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  every 
word  be  established,  how  strong  should  be  our  faith, 
that  is  confirmed  with  so  manv  and  so  great  wit- 
nesses !  The  intent  of  all  is  that  we  should  believe  ; 
"  He  that  saw  it  bare  record,  and  his  record  is  true  ; 
that  ye  might  believe,"  John  xix.  35.  Not  to  give 
credit  to  all  these  witnesses,  is  (so  far  :is  in  us  lieth) 


to  make  God  lose  his  purpose.  Therefore  these  shall 
either  witness  to  us,  or  one  day  witness  against  us. 

"  Eye-witnesses."  One  eye-witness  is  better  than 
many  "ear-witnesses.  They  s])ake  not  by  tradition, 
or  what  curious  relaters  have  buzzed  in  credulous 
ears;  but  opposed  their  own  knowledge  against  all 
fabulous  reports:  we  have  seen.  "That  which  we 
have  heard,  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  which 
we  have  looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have  handled, 
of  the  Word  of  life,"  1  John  i.  I.  "  That  which  was 
from  the  beginning :"  not  of  late  days,  no  new  sprung 
up  novelty.  "  Which  we  have  heard,"  immediately 
speaking  in  the  world,  as  well  as  mediately  speaking 
in  his  word.  He  spake  to  our  fathers  by  the  mouth 
of  all  his  prophets  from  the  beginning ;  but  in  our 
days,  by  his  own  mouth :  our  ears  have  heard  his 
sermons.  "  Which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes :" 
beheld  him  working  miracles,  raising  the  dead,  cast- 
ing out  devils.  "Which  we  have  looked  upon;"  not 
having  only  a  glimpse  of  him,  but  intentively  looked 
upim  him  :  as  John  pointed  to  him  with  the  finger, 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God."  "  Our  hands  have 
handled"  his  precious  body,  both  Ijcfore  his  dedtli, 
and  after  his  resurrection.  Doubtful  Thomas  would 
not  believe,  and  that  avowedly,  till  he  saw  the  prints 
of  his  nails,  and  thrust  his  hand  into  his  side  ;  and 
then  he  cries,  "  My  Lord,  and  my  God."  "  Handled 
of  the  word  of  life."  How  can  this  be  ?  Though  this 
being  very  God  of  very  God,  is  neither  visible  nor 
palpable  ;  yet  in  respect  of  the  personal  union  of  the 
two  natures  in  him,  we  say  again,  Tiiat  which  we 
have  heard,  seen,  and  handled.  The  apostle  St.  John 
doth  especially  of  all  the  rest  jiress  this  point, 
I  John  v.  10;  John  xx.  31;  xxi.  24.  This  is  that 
beloved  apostle,  evangelist,  martyr,  all.  St.  Peter 
was  an  apostle,  not  an  evangelist ;  St.  Mark  an  evan- 
gelist, not  an  apostle;  St.  Matthew  both  an  apostle 
and  an  evangelist,  not  a  prophet ;  St.  Augustine  a 
doctor,  not  a  martyr;  St.  Lawrence  a  martyr,  not  a 
doctor:  but  St.  John  was  all  these.  (Dyez.  Pontan.) 
In  his  Epistles  an  apostle,  in  his  Revelation  a 
prophet,  in  his  Gospel  an  evangelist,  in  his  faith  a 
confessor,  in  his  preaching  a  doctor,  in  his  chastity  a 
virgin,  in  his  readiness  to  die  for  Christ  a  martyr; 
suffering  for  him  under  the  cross,  whom  he  saw  suf- 
fering for  him  on  the  cross.  "  This  is  the  disciple 
which  testifieth  of  these  things,  and  we  know  that  his 
testimony  is  true."  St.  Paul  doth  al-so  earnestly 
urge  it ;  "  He  was  seen  of  Cephas,  then  of  the  twelve : 
he  was  seen  of  above  five  hundred  brethren  at  once: 
he  was  seen  of  James  ;  then  of  ;dl  the  apostles  ;  and 
last  of  all  seen  of  me,"  ICor.  xv.  5 — S.  And  St.  Peter 
here  confirms  it;  "We  were  eye-witnesses  of  his 
majesty."  Now  as  Aristotle  said.  If  Timotheus  had 
not  been,  we  had  not  had  so  much  sweet  music;  but 
if  Phrynis  (Timotheus's  master)  had  not  been,  we 
had  not  had  Timotheus:  so,  if  these  apostles,  John, 
Peter,  and  Paul,  had  not  been,  we  might  have  wanted 
such  witnesses  ;  but  if  Jesus  their  Master  had  not 
been,  we  had  wanted  such  apostles.  They  saw  with 
their  eyes,  we  hear  with  our  ears ;  Lord,  grant  us  all 
to  believe  with  our  hearts,  the  majesty  of  Jesus 
Christ.     So  it  follows, 

"  Of  his  majesty."  The  ajiostle  saw  not  with  snch 
eyes  as  the  world.  The  world  saw  neither  form  nor 
comeliness,  nor  any  thing  desirable  in  him,  Isa.  liii. 
2.  The  a!)ostles  saw  his  majesty.  Tiie  world  saw 
him  as  a  .'  iectcd,  rejected  man :  "  Behold  the  man !" 
John  xi:..  5  ;  the  man  laden  with  sorrows,  and  over- 
whelmed with  miseries.  The  apostles  saw  him 
"  white  and  ruddy,"  of  the  pur.'st  complexion,  "the 
chiefest  among  ten  thousand,"  Cant.  v.  10  ;  whiter 
than  the  lilies  of  Ihe  valleys,  redder  than  the  roses 
of  Sharon.     Were  our  eyes  opened,  to  behold  the  in- 


Ver.  IC. 


SECOND  EPiSTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


16S 


compai-able  virtues  of  rur  blessed  Saviour,  as  Plato 
said  of  virtue,  he  would  ravish  our  souls  with  an  un- 
I'Xpressible  love.  He  is  a  spiritual,  intellectual  sphere, 
whose  circumference  is  every  where,  his  centre  no 
where.  His  majesty  is  infinitely  puissant,  the  chief- 
cst  often  thousand."  The  Jews  have  a  tradition,  that 
the  Messias  appeared  to  them  at  the  Red  Sea,  like  a 
m<an  of  war,  delivering  them  from  tlie  Egyptians. 
For  this  ihcy  had  a  song,  "  The  Lord  is  a  man  of 
war,"  Exod.  xv.  3.  It  is  prophesied  of  him,  that  "  he 
shall  divide  the  spoil  witli  tne  strong,"  Isa.  liii.  12. 
His  majesty  is  infinitely  great,  his  mercy  is  infinitely 
sweet.  His  looks  dispel  all  darkness,  his  jiower  de- 
livers our  souls.  Come  now,  and  behold  him  "  with 
the  crown  wherewith  his  mother  crowned  him  in  the 
day  of  his  espousals,  and  in  the  day  of  the  gladness 
of  his  heart,"  Cant.  iii.  II.  There  is  no  peace  but 
from  him,  no  life  but  by  him,  no  bliss  but  through 
him,  no  comfort  but  for  him,  no  joy  but  in  him :  0 
blessed  eyes,  that  see  tlie  Lord  Jesus  ! 

How,  when,  where,  and  wherein,  the  apostles  were 
eye-witnesses  of  his  majesty,  the  ensuing  verses 
challenge  to  instance.  Only  learn  we  now,  to  make 
Christ  the  object  of  all  our  eyes.  Our  carnal  eyes 
cannot  now  see  him  ;  we  must  w-ait  for  that  day, 
when  with  these  our  eyes  in  our  very  flesh  we  shall  be- 
hold him.  Job  xix.  20.  Our  spiritual,  intelleclual, 
faithful  eyes  may  now  see  him.  As  the  Israelites, 
when  they  wore  stung  with  those  fiery  serpents, 
looked  upon  the  brazen  serpent,  and  were  healed ; 
so  we  that  are  slung  with  our  sins,  must  look  upon  the 
Son  of  man  lifted  uj)  to  his  cross,  that  we  may  not 
perish,  but  have  life  everlasting,  John  iii.  14,  15.  No 
contemplation  of  him,  no  benediction  from  him.  As 
Peter  said  to  the  cripple,  "  Look  on  us  :  and  he  gave 
heed  unto  them,  expecting  to  receive  something  of 
them,"  Acts  iii.  4,  5  ;  so  we  must  look  stedfastly  <m 
Christ,  or  .shall  receive  no  alms  of  comfort.  Behold 
liim  in  faith,  that  God  may  behold  thee  in  him. 
When  Elijah  was  to  be  taken  up,  Elisha  begged  of 
him,  that  a  double  portion  of  his  spirit  might  be  upon 
him  :  he  answered,  "  Thou  hast  asked  a  hard  thing  : 
nevertheless,  if  thou  see  me  when  I  am  taken  from 
thee,  it  shall  be  so  unto  thee ;  but  if  not,  it  shall  not 
be  so,"  2  Kings  ii.  10.  A  sinner  doth  desire  of  Christ 
to  be  made  a  saint,  and  to  have  his  Holy  Spirit  put 
upon  him:  Christ  answers.  Thou  hast  asked  a  hard 
thing:  nevertheless,  if  thou  canst  see  me  witli  the 
eye  of  faith,  thou  shalt  have  thy  request,  thou  shalt 
be  saved. 

But  before  we  come  to  behold  his  majesty  let  us 
first  look  upon  his  misery.  Let  our  meditations  follow 
him,  from  his  agony  in  the  garden,  all  the  way  of  his 
passion,  by  the  track  of  his  blood,  till  we  find  him 
dead  on  the  cross.  Behold  the  scourge  fetching  blood 
from  his  sides,  the  thorns  harrowing  his  sacred  head, 
his  life-blood  issuing  out  by  the  wounds  of  the  nails. 
And  as  if  all  that  were  too  little,  a  soldier  opening 
his  side  with  a  spear  after  his  death,  and  broaching 
out  blood  and  water.  "  It  is  nothing  to  you.  all  ye 
that  pass  by  ?  behold,  and  sec  if  there  be  any  sorrow 
like  unto  my  sorrow,"  Jam.  i.  12.  Sorrow  is  a  thing 
of  that  nature,  it  calls  for  beholding,  and  humanity 
cannot  choose  but  yield  an  ocular  pitv.  Every  good 
eye  will  turn  itself,  and  look  upon  them  that  are  in 
distress.  Those  two  merciless  men,  Luke  x.,  that 
went  by  the  wounded  man,  though  they  helped  him 
not,  yet  before  they  passed  they  looked'  upon  him  as 
he  lay.  Our  Saviour  being  advanced  on  the  chariot 
of  his  cross,  unless  we  jnirposely  turn  away  our  eyes, 
we  must  needs  be  eye-wimesses  of  his  sorrow.  Look 
upon  Jesus,  the  founder  and  finisher  of  our  faith, 
Heb.  xii.  2;  think  of  the  torments  lie  suffered,  of  the 
mercies  he  proffered,  of  the  sacrifice  he  offered.     And 


then,  as  there  was  never  "rief  like  his  grief,  so  there 
was  never  love  like  his  love.  When  the  Jews  be- 
held Christ  weeping  for  Lazarus,  they  said,  "Behold 
how  he  loved  him!"  John  xi.  36.  When  we  see 
Christ  bleeding,  weeping  streams  of  blood  for  us,  we 
may  w-ell  say.  Behold  how  he  loved  us ! 

NVc  cannot  now,  with  Zaccheus,  see  his  face;  yet 
we  may  behold  his  mercy.  We  cannot,  with  the  sick 
woman,  touch  his  hem ;  yet  we  may  touch  him. 
We  cannot  hear  the  Word,  God;  we  may  still  hear 
the  word  of  God.  We  cannot  behold  him  dying  on 
the  cross;  yet  we  may  contemplate  the  efficacy  of 
his  cross,  and  the  price  of  his  sacrifice.  His  blood 
is  like  the  widow's  oil,  2  Kings  iv. ;  enough  to  pay 
all  our  debts,  and  to  spare,  for  ourselves  to  live  up- 
on, besides.  "  Blessed  are  the  eyes  which  see  the 
things  that  ye  see,"  Luke  x.  23.  Blessed  eyes,  that 
with  faith  and  love  sec  the  Lord  Jesus !  "  Your  father 
Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  my  day  :  he  saw  it,  and  was 
glad,"  John  viii.  56.  He  saw  it  in  hope,  we  see  it  in 
faith.  He  saw  it  and  rejoiced :  who  can  behold  the 
day  of  Christ,  that  is,  the  day  of  salvation,  and  not 
rejoice  ?  Indeed  we  are  naturally  born  blind,  how 
then  shall  we  come  to  see  ?  John  ix.  19.  Only  Jesus 
must  open  our  eyes,  that  we  may  see  himself. 
"  Thomas,  because  thou  hast  seen  me,  thou  hast  be- 
lieved :  blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen,  and  yet 
have  believed,"  John  xx.  29.  Our  faith  shall  have 
so  much  tlic  more  commendation,  as  our  eyes  have 
been  permitted  the  less  vision.  It  is  held  by  divines 
a  principal  part  of  our  glory  in  heaven,  to  see  Jesus 
Christ.  They  that  are  in  the  courts  of  princes,  be- 
hold gorgeous  apparel ;  at  rich  men's  tables  we  see 
costly  delicatcs;  on  the  sea  men  see  strange  won- 
ders; on  the  land,  glorious  palaces:  yet  the  eyes 
shall  be  stopped  with  dust,  and  the  objects  burned 
with  fire.  Tne  most  blessed  sight,  is  to  see  God  in 
peace,  though  we  lose  all  the  spectacles  on  earlh ; 
Lord  Jcsiis,  let  us  see  thee  to  our  eternal  comfort. 
Bless  us,  O  Father  of  lights,  with  that  everlasting 
vision,  where  no  clouds  nor  darkness  shall  hinder  our 
speculation.  0  may  we  spend  that  eternity  never  to  be 
spent,  in  the  joyful  sight  and  peacchd  enjoying  of  thee 
our  Maker,  thy  Son  our  Saviour,  and  that  Holy  Spirit 
our  Comforter ;  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever.    Amen. 


Verse  17. 

For  he  received  from  God  the  Father  honour  and  glori/, 
when  there  came  such  a  voice  to  him  from  the  excellent 
glory,  This  is  mij  beloved  Son,  in'nhom  lam  trell 


The  apostle  might  seem  to  have  delivered  a  wonder, 
a  paradox,  an  incredible  mystcr>- :  he  must  now  stand 
to  it,  and  declare  the  wonder,  explain  the  paradox, 
unfold  the  niysten,-.  What  was  it  ?  that  they  had 
seen  the  majesty  of  Christ.  His  majesty  ?  This  is 
that  wonder,  that  paradox,  that  mysteiy.  The  world 
had  seen  his  pain,  his  contempt,  his  poverty :  but 
his  majesty  ?  It  had  seen  him  come  thirsty  to  the 
fountain,  himgry  to  another's  table,  weary  to  his  re- 
pose, desiring  entertainment  where  he  found  it  not  : 
but  his  majesty  ?  It  had  seen  him  crowned  with 
thorns,  bleeding  with  scourges,  foi-saken  on  the 
cross  :  but  his  majesty  ?  It  had  seen  him  in  the 
form  of  a  ser\-ant,  full  of  ignominy,  full  of  misery  : 
but  full  of  majesty  ?  It  never  saw  that.  Well  then, 
this  majesty  dotli  our  apostle  declare:  he  hath  said 
if,  he  will  prove  it.  "For  he  received  from  the 
Father  honour  and  glory."  We  say,  that  honour 
conferred  by  the  king,  is  died  in  grain,  and  will  hold 


170 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THK 


Ch.vp.  I. 


ccljur  J  yet  it  hath  the  cliange,  for  though  the 
colour  hold,  the  garment  itself  will  wear  out.  Now 
when  the  garment  is  tattered  to  rags,  farewell 
colour  :  so  when  the  body  is  consumed  to  dust,  fare- 
well honour.  But  when  the  King  of  heaven  gives 
honour,  it  will  hold  indeed : 

hunc  nee  Jot  in  ira,nee  ignii, 
Nonferrum  polerit,  nee  eOwz  abolere  relunlas. 

As  Isaac  said  of  Jacob,  I  have  blessed  him,  and  he 
shall  be  blessed;  so  God  sailh  of  that  man,  I  have 
honoured  him,  and  he  shall  be  honoured. 

"  He  received  from  God  the  Father,"  &c.  You 
see,  the  form  of  the  words  is  receptor)'.  He  received. 
The  parcels  are  five  : 

Wfio,  Christ  ;  He  received. 

Of  whom,  God ;  Of  God  the  Father. 

What,  Honour  and  glorj-. 

When,  When  the  voice  came  from  the  excellent 
i;!(.ry. 

How,  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  &:c. 

There  could  be  no  testimony  more  perspicuous  or 
more  glorious.  Honour  requires  reverence  :  God 
li:ith  honoured  his  Son,  let  us  honour  the  Father,  and 
give  tile  devout  reverence  of  humble  hearts  to  the 
wiiole  Trinity. 

"  He  received."  Tiiis  is  the  first  circumstance, 
the  Person  to  whom  this  honour  is  given.  "  He  re- 
ceived." But  receiving  implies  want ;  now  is  there 
any  want  in  Christ  ?  "It  pleased  the  Father,  that 
in  him  should  all  fulness  dwell,"  Col.  i.  19.  The  oil  of 
i,'ladncss  did  so  fill  him,  that  it  ran  over  the  brinks  of 
his  humanity,  and  fills  us  his  members.  "  Of  his  ful- 
ness have  all  we  received,  and  grace  for  grace,"  John 
i.  IG.  The  plenitude  of  Chi-ist  was  not  only  a  suffi- 
cient fulness,  enough  to  serve  his  turn;  but  an  over- 
flowing fulness,  a  sea  of  grace,  able  to  fill  all  our  chan- 
nels. Not  a  passing  or  vanishing  fulness  j  as  a  cistern 
may  be  full,  and  emptied  again  by  cocks :  but  a  perma- 
nent and  inexhaustible  fulness ;  it  dwells  in  him. 
How  then  is  he  said  to  receive?  Could  there  be 
addition  where  is  no  defect  ?  Can  a  thing  be  more 
tlian  full  ?  This  receipt  doth  in  nothing  preju- 
dice the  immenseness  of  the  Deity  j  for  Christ  must 
be  considered  two  ways,  as  he  is  God,  and  as  he  is 
man.  He  that  mediates  between  both,  must  be  both. 
Here  then  the  answer  is  easy;  It  is  God  that  gives, 
and  it  is  man  that  receives.  The  Father  hath  not 
more  glory,  omnipotence,  or  perfection,  than  the  Son, 
as  he  is  God ;  but  as  this  Son  of  God  is  made  the  Son 
of  man,  he  receives  grace  and  glory.  God  gives  to 
man,  and  receives  nothing  of  him ;  man  receives  of 
God,  and  gives  nothmg  to  him.  Hear  him  speak  as 
God  ;  All  thine  are  mine,  John  xvii.  10.  Hear  him 
as  man ;  They  whom  thou  liast  given  me,  are  thine, 
ver.  9.  As  man  he  receives  of  the  Spirit,  Luke  iv.  18. 
As  God  he  communicates  to  the  Spirit ;  "  He  shall 
receive  of  mine,"  John  xvi.  14.  The  Son  takes  of 
the  Father,  and  the  Spirit  takes  of  the  Son,  ver. 
15 ;  yet  so  that  what  is  of  one  Person,  is  of  the  whole 
Deity :  excepting  only  those  personal  and  individu;d 
proprieties;  as  the  Father  to  be  the  Father,  and 
to  beget ;  the  Son  to  be  the  Son,  and  begotten,  not 
to  beget ;  the  Spirit  neither  to  beget,  nor  to  be  be- 
gotten, but  to  proceed.  So  the  Son  only  to  be  man, 
not  the  Father,  nor  the  Spirit.  As  God  he  had  no 
beginning,  as  man  he  received  a  beginning  in  time. 
Gal.  iv.  4.  As  man,  he  was  made  of  his  mother  ;  as 
God,  his  mother  was  made  by  llim  :  so  he  is  both  the 
Father  of  Mary,  and  the  Son  of  Mary.  As  God,  he 
chargcth  us  to  continue  in  his  own  word,  John  viii. 
31  ;  and,  "  If  a  man  keep  my  saying,  he  shall  never 
sec  death,"  ver.  51.  As  man,  he  confesscth,  "  My 
'Incirine  is  not  mine,  but  his  that  sent  me  "  John  vii. 


16.  As  he  honours  the  Father,  John  viii.  49,  so  he 
receives  honour  of  the  Father,  John  xiii.  32;  God 
doth  glorify  him,  uud  is  glorified  in  him.  As  God, 
he  says,  I  have  of  mine  own ;  as  man,  All  things  arc 
delivered  unto  nic  of  the  Father.  As  God,  he  doth 
what  he  will  in  heaven,  and  earth,  and  all  places ; 
as  man,  "  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and 
in  earth,"  Matt,  xxviii.  18.  Thus  is  this  doctrine 
clear ;  that  Clu-ist,  who  as  God  gives  all  things,  as  he 
is  man  receives  something ;  here, "  honour  and  glorj-." 

Now  for  whom  doth  Christ  come  to  be  a  receiver? 
For  whose  sake  did  eternity  admit  an  estate  to  re- 
ceive in  time  ?  Perfection  itself  to  grow  in  stature  ? 
Wisdom  itself  to  mcrcase  in  knowledge  ?  Not  for 
himself,  but  for  us.  He  would  take  of  God,  that  we 
might  take  of  him.  Abraham  was  wealthy,  exceed- 
ing lich  in  cattle,  silver,  and  gold,  Gen.  xiii.  2;  yet 
when  he  recovered  the  spoil  of  Sodom,  and  it  was  re- 
offered  him  by  the  king,  he  took  somewhat :  but 
how  much  ?  no  more  than  he  meant  to  give  away  : 
1  will  not  take  away  any  thing  from  thee  for  myself, 
lest  thou  shouldst  say,  I  have  made  Abram  rich:  but 
I  will  accept  a  portion  for  the  young  men  that  went 
with  me.  Gen.  xiv.  2.3,  24.  Christ  was  so  rich,  that  he 
need  not  receive  honour  and  glory  ;  yet  was  he  con- 
tent to  receive  it  of  his  Father,  that  he  might  give  it 
to  us  his  children. 

"  From  God  the  Father."  This  is  the  second  cir- 
cumstance, of  whom  he  received  it.  Here  observe 
I  lie  manifest  distinction  of  persons  in  the  Deity.  The 
Father  gives  honour,  the  Son  receives  it.  The  Father 
speaks  from  heaven,  the  Son  hears  it.  There  must 
be  no  confusion  of  the  Persons,  but  a  chstinction  of 
their  proprieties.  (August.)  We  believe  there  is  a 
Father,  because  he  hath  a  Son  :  we  believe  there  is 
a  Son,  because  he  hath  a  Father :  we  believe  there 
is  a  Holy  Ghost,  proceeding  from  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  coequal  and  coeval  with  the  Father  and  the 
Son ;  because  he  is  a  Divine  Person,  and  neither  the 
Father  nor  the  Son.  The  Trinity  is  not  confused  in 
one  Person,  against  Sabellius ;  nor  is  the  Divinity 
divided  in  its  nature,  against  Arius.  The  Father  is 
not  greater  than  the  Son,  nor  the  Son  than  the  Spirit ; 
the  same  equality,  the  same  eternity.  But  the  Father 
is  said  to  send  the  Son,  and  the  Son  to  send  the 
Spirit :  this  seems  to  imply  some  superiority  of  the 
sender  to  the  (lerson  sent  ?  The  Father  sends,  and  is 
not  sent ;  the  Son  sends,  and  is  sent ;  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  sent,  and  sendeth  not ;  yet  is  there  no  inequality. 
There  are  three  ways  of  sencUng.  1.  By  authority: 
so  a  superior  sends  an  inferior.  2.  By  advice  and 
counsel :  so  the  less  may  send  the  greater ;  as  the 
priN-y  council  may  send  the  king  to  take  the  air,  or 
to  lead  an  army.  So  an  equal  may  send  his  equal ; 
as  the  elders  sent  Paul  and  Barnabas  to  Jerusalem, 
Acts  XV.  3.  By  necessity  :  as  the  fountain  naturally 
sends  forth  the  spring;  so  the  Father  sends  the  Son, 
the  Son  sends  the  Spirit.  The  Father  as  the  foun- 
tain begets,  the  Son  is  begotten,  the  Holy  Ghost 
proceeds.  Christ  is  said  to  be  sent  in  respect  of  his 
acceptation  of  another  nature.  "  When  the  fulness 
of  the  time  was  come,  God  sent  forth  his  Son  made 
of  a  woman,"  Gal.  iv.  4.  The  man  confesseth,  "  My 
Father  is  greater  than  I  :"  yet  in  regard  of  his  Per- 
son, "  I  and  my  Fatlier  are  one,"  John  x.  30.  And 
St.  John  adds  to  them  the  Holy  Ghost, and  concludes, 
"  These  three  are  one." 

The  word  Trinity,  say  our  ])apicolists,  is  not  found 
in  the  Scriptures:  yet  the  substance  of  the  word  is 
apparent.  Matt.  iii.  At  the  baptism  of  Christ,  there 
was  a  manifestation  of  the  three  Persons  ;  the  voice 
of  the  Father  is  heard,  the  humanity  of  the  Son  is 
felt,  the  visible  sign  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  perceived. 
Who  spake  of  his  Son,  but  the  Father?    Who  was 


Ver.  17. 


SECOND  KPISTLE  GKNKRAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


171 


baptized  and  spoken  to,  but  the  Sou  ?  Neither  of 
tliese  appeared  in  the  fonu  of  a  dove,  but  the  Holy 
Ghost.  A  Trinity  did  Ijegin  both  the  world  and  the 
word,  that  is,  the  Seripture.  Creaiit  Elohim  cwlum 
et  terrain.  Gen.  i.  The  verb  is  singular,  creavil,  noting 
the  most  simple  essence  of  God.  The  substantive 
plural,  not  £1,  l)Ut  Elohim,  to  show  the  phirality  of 
persons.  It  is  observed  on  l)eut.  vi.  4,  "  The  Lord 
our  God  is  one  Lord ;"  why  doth  Moses  thrice  men- 
tion the  name  of  God,  but  to  show  the  distinction  of 
tliree  Persons  ?  Why  doth  he  apply  tlie  word  "  one" 
to  all  of  them,  but  to  show  the  unity  of  essence  ? 
Why  is  "  our"  put  in  the  second  place;  not  in  the 
first,  nor  in  the  last,  but  in  the  middle  or  second 
place  ;  but  to  show  that  the  Second  Person  should 
take  onr  nature  upon  him  ?  (August.)  "  Holy,  holy, 
holy  is  the  Lord  of  hosts :  the  whole  earth  is  full  of 
his  glor)-,"  Isa.  vi.  3.  Thrice  is  God  called  holy,  to 
note  unto  us  the  three  Persons.  The  Lord  not  Lords, 
God  not  Gods ;  once  Lord,  once  God ;  and  the  earth 
is  full  of  liis  glory,  not  their  glory  :  here  is  the  unity 
of  the  essence.  "  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image," 
Gen.  i.  26.  Let  us  make;  there  is  a  plurality  of 
persons:  in  our imaae,  not  images;  there  is  the  unity 
of  the  essence.  "  Baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  Malt. 
xxviii.  19.  The  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost ;  there 
are  three  distinct  persons  -.  in  the  name,  not  names ; 
there  is  one  essence.  The  Holy  Ghost  is  called  the 
finger  of  God,  Christ  the  hand  of  the  Father:  now 
as  the  finger  is  in  the  hand,  and  the  hand  in  the 
body  ;  so  of  one  and  (he  same  most  pure  and  simple 
essence  is  the  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit.  But  as  it  was 
reported  of  Alanus,  when  he  promised  liis  auditory 
to  discourse  the  next  Sunday  more  clearly  of  the 
Trinity,  and  to  make  plain  that  mystery;  while  he 
was  studying  the  point  by  the  sea-side,  he  spied  a 
boy  very  busy  with  a  little  spoon,  trudging  often  be- 
tween the  sea  and  a  small  hole  he  liad  digged  in  the 
ground.  Alanus  asked  him  what  he  meant.  The 
boy  answers,  I  intend  to  bring  all  the  sea  into  this 
pit.  Alanus  replies,  Why  dost  thou  attempt  such 
impossibilities,  and  misspend  thy  time  ?  The  boy  an- 
swers, So  dost  tliou,  Alanus :  I  shall  as  soon  bring 
all  the  sea  into  this  hole,  as  thou  bring  all  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Trinity  into  thy  head.  All  is  equally 
])ossible:  we  have  becun  together,  we  shall  finisli 
together ;  saving  of  the  two  my  labour  hath  more 
ho|)c  and  iiossibility  of  taking  effect.  I  conclude 
with.  It  is  rashness  to  search,  godliness  to  believe, 
safeness  to  preach,  and  eternal  blessedness  t  o  know  t  he 
Trinity  :  (Bern.)  yet  let  us  know  to  praise  the  Trinity 
in  the  words  of  our  church ;  "  Glor>-  be  to  tlic  Father, 
to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost."  And  let  all  an- 
swer, "  As  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever 
shall  be,  world  without  end.  Amen." 

"  Honour  and  glor,-."  This  is  the  third  circum- 
stance, the  matter  what  he  received.  Obsen-e  we 
here  three  collections. 

1.  Christ  would  receive  honour  of  his  Father.  The 
deWl  would  have  given  him  glory,  when  upon  a  high 
mountain  he  showed  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world,  and  the  glory  of  them:  "All  these  will  I  give 
thee,  if  thou  wilt  fall  down  and  worship  me,"  Matt, 
iv.  S,  9.  Where  was  his  promise  and  his  covenant :  his 
l>romi6c,  "  All  these  will  I  give  thee  :"  his  covenant, 
bargain,  or  condition,  "  If  thou  wilt  fall  down  and 
worship  me."  This  seems  to  be  a  fair  match ;  for 
one  crouch  of  his  knee,  to  have  so  many  crowns  for 
his  head ;  for  a  little  prostration,  so  great  promotion. 
If  the  devil  had  proffered  this  to  Alexander,  or  to 
Caesar,  it  had  been  a  bargain.  When  he  made  this 
offer  to  the  liierarchy  of  Rome,  they  presently  took 
him  at  his  word.     But  our  Saviour  would  none  of  it : 


he  knew  that  Satan  could  give  no  honour  to  another, 
that  had  none  himself;  that  this  gloi-y  would  dis- 
honour him,  and  his  Father  also.  Therefore  he 
recjuited  liim  with,  '•  Get  thee  hence,  Satan."  Men 
would  have  given  him  honour  :  they  purposed  to 
have  crowned  him  king,  Jolin  vi.  15,  but  he  refused 
it.  "I  receive  not  honour  from  men,"  John  v.  41. 
Divine  and  religious  honour  he  refused  not :  they 
worshipped  him,  this  he  suffered.  "  He  that  honours 
me,  honours  my  Father;"  this  he  preached.  But 
human  and  temporarj-  honour  he  rejected ;  and 
would  none  of  their  liasly  coronation  with  carnal 
hands.  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,"  John 
xviii.  36.  Yea  more,  he  sought  not  to  honour 
himself.  "  I  seek  not  mine  own  glory,"  John  viii. 
50.  "  If  I  honour  myself,  my  honour  is  nothing," 
vcr.  54.  Teaching  us  to  accept  praises  from  others' 
lips,  not  to  be  our  owii  trumpets.  But  when  the 
Father  gives  him  honour,  tliis  he  receives,  this  only 
is  worth  acceptance :  '  For  not  he  that  commendeth 
himself  is  approved,  but  whom  the  Lord  commend- 
eth," 2  Cor.  X.  18.  For  this  he  jirays,  "Father, 
glorify  thy  name,"  John  xii.  28.  The  Father  in 
lionouring  the  Son,  honouied  himself.  As  Christ 
said,  He  that  hath  seen  me,  hath  seen  the  Father; 
he  that  believes  in  me,  believes  in  my  Father;  he 
that  receives  me,  receives  my  Father:  so  he  that 
honoureth  me,  honoureth  my  Father.  But  honour 
is  in  the  person  giving  it,  not  in  him  that  receives  it ; 
but  Christ  that  received  it  was  also  God  the  giver  of 
it.  It  is  he  that  gives  honour  and  glor)-,  and  it  is 
he  that  takes  honour  and  glory,  and  to  him  be 
honour  and  glorj-  for  ever. 

2.  All  honour  and  glor)-  is  Christ's,  as  being  de- 
livered to  him  by  the  Father,  Luke  x.  22.  He  is 
the  first-begotten,  the  only-begotten  of  God;  only 
worthy  of  the  kingdom.  "  AVorthy  is  the  Lamb  that 
was  slain,  to  receive  power,  and  honour,  and  glor)-," 
Rev.  V.  12.  Worthy  :  when  he  takes  it,  he  doth  not 
arrogate  that  to  himself  which  is  not  his  own  right ; 
but  he  is  worthy.  It  is  his  own  propriety ;  yet  he  is 
content  to  eomnmnicate  and  impart  it :  "  The  glory 
which  thou  gavest  me  I  have  given  them,"  John  xvii. 
22.  The  same  glor)',  not  the  same  degree  of  glor)-  : 
the  same  in  nature,  not  so  much  in  measure.  Let  the 
privilege  of  primogeniture  be  reserved  to  himself. 
"  There  is  one  glor)"  of  the  sun,  another  glory  of  the 
moon,  and  another  glory  of  the  stars,"  1  Cor.  xv.  41. 
Christ  is  that  Sun  which  gives  glory  to  us  the  stars. 
Of  his  fulness  we  have  all  received  grace  for  grace 
here,  glory  for  gloi-y  hereafter.  On  earth  the  glor)- 
that  is  divided  seems  to  be  diminished;  and  one  thinks 
that  so  much  honour  is  taken  from  himself  as  is  added 
to  another.  But  in  heaven  the  glory  of  Christ  shall 
Mot  be  abated  to  himself,  though  it  be  eouimunicaled 
to  millions.  Nor  shall  one's  glor)-  cclii)se  another's  ; 
such  shall  be  to  ever)-  one,  as  is  to  any  one.  We  see 
to  whom  we  are  beholden  for  our  honour.  David 
graced  Mcphibosheth,  set  him  at  his  own  table,  re- 
stored him  all  the  land  of  his  grandfather  Saul ;  and 
all  for  the  love  that  he  bare  to  his  father  Jonathan, 
2  Sam.  ix.  7-  So  God  honoureth  us,  sets  us  at  his  own 
table,  yea,  with  his  Son  in  his  throne.  Rev.  iii.  21 ;  rc- 
storcth  to  us  all  the  inheritance  wliich  our  grandfather 
Adam  lost,  yea,  more  than  ever  he  posesssed;  and  all 
this  for  his  Son,  and  our  Father,  Jesus  Christ's  sake. 
King  Pharaoh  honoured  the  eleven  patriarchs  for 
Joseph's  sake  ;  gave  them  the  fat  of  the  land  of 
Eg)-pt,  and  highly  enriched  them.  So  God  honour- 
eth us  with  his  grace  in  this  life,  and  with  his  glory 
in  the  life  to  come  ;  and  all  for  Jesus'  sake. 

3.  All  true  and  blessed  honoui-  comes  from  God, 
and  is  to  be  sought  there.  Job  says,  it  is  he  that 
girds  on  the  king's  girdle.   Promotion  cometh  neither 


1/2 


AN  EXrOSiTIOX  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


from  the  east,  nor  from  the  west,  from  north  nor 
south,  but  only  from  the  Lord,  saith  the  psalmist. 
It  is  true  that  worldly  honour  is  often  arrogated,  and 
honour  given  to  an  unworthy  person  :  the  honour  is  of 
God,  not  the  unwortliy  person  that  hath  it.  He  always 
gives  the  dominion  ;  not  always  tlie  governor;  for  he 
may  eome  to  it  by  intrusion,  and  liold  it  by  usurpation. 

The  honour  of  this  world  is  merely  titular.  Either 
infcoffed  to  the  blood :  and  what  gloiy  is  it  to  the 
degenerate  son,  that  such  a  noble  father  begot  him  ? 
All  greatness  had  a  beginning,  and  the  beginning  of 
that  greatness  was  desert.  Am  I  noble .'  let  me 
know,  this  nobleness  is  the  least  part  of  mine  :  my 
fathers  won  it  by  their  virtue;  they  had  the  glory,  I 
enjoy  but  the  titles.  This  privilege  of  blood,  with- 
out respondent  virtues,  is  but  an  empty  eonduit  pipe ; 
it  is  a  pipe  still,  but  it  hath  no  water  in  it.  .Another 
by  his  just  merit  halh  gotten  Itonour;  it  is  derided, 
because  it  is  not  derived ;  yet  is  that  man  more  truly 
honourable.  For  the  other  wears  but  the  shadow  of 
his  predecessor's  triumphs  ;  this  man  wears  the  sub- 
stance of  his  own.  It  was  a  witty  answer,  that  a 
young  gentleman  gave  to  Arnobius,  one  who  disgraced 
his  honour  because  it  was  of  the  first  head:  My 
genealogy  is  a  shame  to  me,  but  thou  art  a  shame  to 
thy  genealogy.  Or,  as  a  prelate's  son  said  to  a  noble 
licir,  who  twitted  his  upstart  gently :  I  am  the  east 
or  rising  of  my  house  ;  thou  art  the  west  and  falling 
<if  thine.  It  is  a  shame  for  a  man  to  think,  that  the 
book  of  his  pedigree,  and  his  father's  seal-ring,  are 
sufficient  emblems  of  honour ;  that  he  is  glorious 
enough,  because  he  is  flattered.  Or,  it  may  be,  there 
is  an  honour  entailed  to  riches  :  as  in  the  city,  credit 
grows  just  as  fast  as  money ;  and  in  the  coimtn,-, 
reputation  is  measured  by  the  acre.  Then  honour 
must  be  overtaken,  when  it  cannot  be  met.  And 
now  some  honourable  progenitor  must  be  found  out, 
that  either  was  dead  many  hundred  years  since,  or 
never  was  noble,  or  perhaps  never  was  at  all.  Moses 
condemned  it  for  a  heinous  sin  to  steal  children  ;  but 
we  have  those  that  think  it  no  sin  to  steal  parents. 
This  is  a  popular,  titular,  ridiculous  honour.  If  thou 
wouldst  know  such  a  one,  look  upon  him  naked,  saith 
Seneca.  Let  him  put  oft  his  patrimony,  let  him  put 
off  the  vain  acclamations  of  the  multitude,  let  him 
put  off  his  popularity,  let  him  put  oil"  his  o)mlenee, 
and  all  the  other  counterfeits  of  fortune  :  let  him  put 
off  his  ven,'  body,  look  thou  into  his  soul.  Then  thou 
shalt  see  how  noble  he  is,  by  observing  how  good 
he  is ;  whether  he  swell  with  anotlicr  man's  substance, 
or  stand  upon  his  own  worth.  .\  good  man  will  not 
follow  honour,  but  it  is  well  if  he  let  it  overtake 
him.  It  was  not  for  Cato  to  beg  honour  of  the  city, 
but  for  the  city  to  give  him  honour  for  his  virtue. 
(August.) 

Quintus  Curtius  writes  of  a  gardener,  a  very  poor 
man,  rich  in  all  plenty  except  plenty  of  riches. 
Alexander  of  Maccdon  proffered  him  the  kingdom  of 
Sidon  ;  but  he  refused  it  with  this  answer,  That  shall 
never  trouble  me  with  care  to  lose,  which  did  never 
trouble  me  with  care  to  get.  Memorable  and  worthy, 
and  such  a  precedent  as  may  cast  a  blush  on  the  cheeks 
of  Christians ;  for  we  are  all  too  greedy  of  honour. 

Well,  if  we  would  be  honoured,  let  us  honour 
Christ ;  for  in  liim  is,  and  from  him  comes,  all 
honour.  The  most  noble  deriving  of  ourselves,  is 
from  Christ  :  the  best  nobility  is  the  nobility  of  faith, 
and  the  best  genealogy  the  genealogy  of  good  works. 
Men's  earthly  glories  arc  like  their  shadows  in  the 
sun;  the  body's  shadow  is  at  morning  before  us.  at 
noon  beside  us,  at  night  behind  us.  So  their  honour 
is  at  morning  before  them,  in  a  goodlv  lustre;  at 
noon  in  the  full  beside  them,  with  a  vi'ub,  nt  heat  ; 
at  evening  in  the  wane  behind  them,  with  a  neglect- 


ed pity.  Only  some  differ  in  their  noon  or  meridian 
of  greatness:  for  instead  of  having  their  honour  be- 
side them,  they  are  beside  their  honour.  "  Them 
that  honour  me  I  will  honour,  and  they  that  despise 
me  shall  be  lightly  esteemed,"  saith  the  Lord,  I  Sam. 
ii.  30.  He  that  shall  seek  the  Lord's  honour,  and 
neglect  his  own,  shall  find  his  own  honour  in  the 
Lord's.  A  man  while  he  hunts  after  his  own  shadow, 
flies  from  the  sun,  and  his  shadow  is  still  unovertakcn 
before  him  ;  but  when  he  tunrs  his  face  to  the  sun,  and 
follows  that,  his  shadow  will  follow  him.  He  that  seeks 
honour,  and  turns  his  back  upon  Christ,  cannot  reach 
it;  it  is  too  swift  of  foot  for  him:  let  him  turn  his 
face  to  Christ,  and  follow  him  :  behold,  honour  waits 
at  his  back,  and  will  never  fail  to  attend  him.  Now 
seeing  we  look  for  all  honour  and  glory  from  Christ, 
let  us  ascribe  all  honour  and  glory  to  Christ,  singing 
that  heavenly  hymn,  "  Blessing,  and  glory,  and  wis- 
dom, and  thanksgiving,  aiid  honour,  and  power,  and 
might,  be  unto  our  God  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen." 
Rev.  vii.  12. 

'•  When  there  came  such  a  voice  to  him  from  the  ex- 
cellent glory."  This  is  the  fourth  circumstance,  the 
time  when  the  apostles  beheld,  and  their  Master  re- 
ceived, this  glory  and  majesty.  For  to  this  we  must 
restore  the  last  clause  of  the  former  verse,  "  they 
were  eye-witnesses  of  his  majesty."  When  ?  At  this 
time,  "  when  there  came  such  a  voice  from  the  excel- 
lent glory."  Considering  therefore  together  their 
ocular  testimony,  with  this  audible  iissurance  from 
the  supreme  glory,  we  may  justly  conceive  here  three 
things  : 

A  spectacle,  with  the  time  of  it,  When  they  saw  it. 

An  oracle.  Such  a  voice  from  heaven. 

A  miracle,  That  a  voice  should  be  heard  on  earth, 
which  came  from  the  excellent  glor)-. 

So  there  is  in  the  words,  When  it  was  ;  at  the  time 
of  this  glorious  testification.  How  ;  by  a  voice,  such 
a  voice.     From  whence  ;  from  the  excellent  glory. 

"  When  there  came."  The  precise  denomination 
of  the  time  and  place  of  this  glorious  revelation  liath 
been  questionable ;  but  ^nthout  all  doubt  it  was  at 
his  transfiguration  on  the  mount,  for  so  the  apostle  de- 
clares himself  in  the  next  verse.  Albeit  his  majesty 
might  appear  also  at  other  times  and  in  other  mat- 
ters, yet  here  most  conspicmmsly. 

For  they  speak  not  here  of  Christ's  riding  in  tri- 
umph to  Jerusalem,  Matt.  xxi.  When  the  people 
gave  the  acclamations  of  "  Hosanna,"  and  "  Blessed 
is  he  that  comcth  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  they 
then  saw  his  majesty.  "Tell  ye  the  daughter  of 
Zion,  Behold,  thy  King  cometh,"  ver.  5 ;  though 
meekly,  sitting  upon  an  ass,  yet  thy  King.  The  veil 
of  his  humility  was  so  far  lifted  up,  that  they  might 
see  his  majesty.  But  the  apostle  speaks  of  a  siglit, 
not  common  to  the  people,  but  peculiar  to  themselves. 

They  speak  not  here  of  his  miracles,  wherein  also 
appeared  his  majesty.  When  he  quieted  the  winds 
:uid  sens,  walked  on  the  waters,  raised  the  dead,  cast 
out  devils ;  here  was  majesty.  When  he  went  into 
the  temple,  cast  out  all  them  that  bought  and  sold 
in  it,  and  overthrew  the  tables  of  the  money-changers, 
Matt.  xxi.  12.  Jerome  conceives  this  to  be  the  great- 
est of  all  his  miracles.  His  wonders  did  evidently 
I)rove  his  majesty.  Now  these  were  of  two  sorts : 
such  as  he  wrought  upon  the  bodies  of  men,  wliicli 
we  most  admire  because  they  are  most  visible,  and 
subject  to  sense.  And  other  that  he  wrought  upon 
the  minds  of  men,  to  the  change  of  the  inward 
l>owcr  :  and  these  were  the  greater  miracles  ;  but 
because  they  were  not  so  visible,  therefore  not  so  re- 
markable. The  Jews  hearing  the  words,  and  seeing 
the  wonders,  wrought  by  Peter  and  John,  and  per- 
ceiving that  Ihey  were  unlearned  men,  they  thought 


Vi:r.  17 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


173 


it  a  miracle,  and  conclude  "  that  they  had  been  with 
Jesus,"  Ads  iv.  13.  If  this  miracle  be  wrought  upon 
a  man,  that  his  conscience  be  sanctified,  sure  ho  hath 
been  with  Jesus,  or  Jesus  hath  been  with  him. 
Christ  finds  Matthew  at  the  receipt  of  custom,  and 
says  but,  "  Follow  me,  and  he  arose  and  followed 
him,"  Matt.  ix.  9.  Though  he  sat  at  the  custom- 
house, like  a  usurer  in  his  broking-house,  yet  upon 
his  call  he  followed  him.  Some  strange  lightning 
of  majesty  appeared  in  his  looks,  and  miraculously 
drew  a  worldling  unto  him.  They  brought  him  !■) 
the  brow  of  a  steep  hill,  purposing  to  cast  him  down 
headlong;  "but  he  passing  through  the  midst  of  them 
went  his  way,"  Luke  iv.  29,  30.  To  stand  in  the 
midst  of  his  enemies,  and  no  man  able  to  lay  hands 
upon  him,  here  was  a  great  majesty.  (Chrys.)  The 
blind  rabble  came  with  torches,  the  cowards  with 
swords,  a  traitor  with  a  band  of  men  ;  and  as  if  mul- 
titudes were  not  sufficient,  there  must  be  officers 
among  them  :  but  what  was  the  issue  ?  "  As  soon 
as  he  said  unto  them,  I  am  he,  they  went  backward, 
and  fell  to  the  ground,"  John  xviii.  fi.  With  the 
breath  of  two  short  words,  sweetly  and  kindly  spoken, 
"  I  am  he,"  they  were  I'epelled.  What  can  he  do 
when  he  shall  judge,  that  did  thus  when  he  was  to 
be  judged !  What  shall  be  his  power  reigning, 
when  such  was  his  power  even  dying!  (August.) 
Here  was  majesty.  But  of  all,  that  Matt.  xxi.  12, 
did  far  transcend  in  expressing  his  majesty.  That 
one  man  unarmed,  without  guard  of  soldiers,  with- 
out a  commission  from  Ilerod  or  CcTSar,  in  despite  of 
the  scribes  that  hated  him,  of  the  people  that  con- 
temned him,  should  cast  forth  men,  tradesmen,  covet- 
ous tradesmen!  How  Demetrius  would  have  storm- 
ed to  see  his  occupation  of  silver  shrines  endangered. 
endamaged ;  and  cried  out  two  hours  together, "  Great 
is  Diana  of  the  Ephcsians !"  Yea,  tlial^ie  should  cast 
forth  abundance  of  t  hem  ;  such  a  multitude  of  men  and 
cattle,  that  a  petty  army  could  hardly  have  perform- 
ed it.  And  that  with  a  little  whip,  without  noise, 
contradiction,  or  tumult !  Oh  here  was  majesty  ! 
Something  more  bright  than  the  fire  or  stars  did 
certainly  shine  in  his  eyes.  (Ilieron.)  Such  a  ma- 
jesty of  Divinity  appeared  in  his  looks,  that  none 
dui-st  resist  him.  (Origen.)  This  was  a  greater  mi- 
racle than  turning  water  into  wine:  there  a  matter 
without  life  doth  yield  unto  him ;  but  in  this,  the 
refractory  and  perverse  hearts  of  many  thousands  of 
obstinate  men  are  convinced.  Here  they  might 
manifestly  see  his  majesty  :  but  of  this  our  apostle 
discourseth  not. 

Nor  yet  of  that  \-isible  scissure  of  heaven,  Matt, 
iii.  Ill ;  where  was  manifest  the  heaven's  apertion, 
the  Spirit's  descension,  the  Father's  testification, 
"  This  is  my  beloved  Son."  There  was  a  voice,  and 
a  voice  from  heaven,  and  witnessing  the  same  thing 
that  here ;  even  there  they  were  eye-witnesses  of  his 
majesty  :  but  neither  is  that  place  meant  here. 

Nor  is  it  understood  of  that  testimony,  John  xii.  2"^. 
There  was  also  a  voice,  and  a  voice  from  heaven  and 
from  the  Father  in  heaven;  and  a  voice  that  honoured 
Christ,  "  I  have  both  glorified  it,  and  will  glorify  it 
again."  The  people  said  it  thundered,  others  that 
an  angel  spake  ;  Christ  says  plainly,  that  the  voice 
came  for  their  sakes,  ver.  30.  Here  also  were  they 
witnesses  of  his  majesty  :  but  neither  to  that  testi- 
mony hath  our  apostle  here  a  reference. 

Nor  is  it  meant  of  his  resurrection  from  death, 
worthy  of  all  admiration.  When  out  of  a  sepulchre, 
a  sepulchre  not  of  earth,  but  of  stone,  one  entire 
stone,  without  any  seam  or  fissure  in  it ;  another 
stone  rolled  to  it,  that  stone  sealed,  that  seal  guard- 
ed ;  the  Lord  arose,  bnrsfing  the  bands  of  death,  and 
triumphing  over  the  grave :  manifesting  himself  to 


one,  to  two,  to  ten,  to  more  than  five  hundred  bre- 
thren at  once,  and  thus  dwelling  on  the  earth  forty 
days  !  Here  was  a  clear  demonstration  of  his  power- 
ful majesty. 

Lastly,  it  is  not  referred  to  his  triumphant  ascen- 
sion, when  he  led  captivity  captive,  and  went  up 
gloriously  to  the  place  whence  he  came.  At  this  the 
apostles  were  present,  beholding  while  he  was  taken 
up,  Acts  i.  9.  He  was  received  out  of  their  sight, 
therefore  till  that  moment  they  had  the  sight  of  him. 
They  saw  the  angels  that  testified  it ;  Why  stand  ye 
gazing  up  into  heaven  ?  This  same  Jesus  shall  come 
from  heaven,  in  the  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him 
go  into  heaven,  ver.  II.  They  saw  liim,  and  they 
worshipped  him,  Luke  xxiv.  52.  Here  was  also  an 
apparent  manifestation  of  his  majesty  :  "  Ye  shall 
be  witnesses  unto  me,"  Acts  i.  S.  Himself  told  them 
immediately  before,  that  they  should  be  witnesses  of 
this;  and  here  was  a  sufficient  majesty  for  their  tes- 
timony, and  they  gave  a  sufficient  testimony  of  that 
majesty. 

But  yet  St.  Peter  intends  another,  and  that  a  more 
especial  instance :  not  seen  to  the  people,  as  were 
some  of  the  former  glories;  nor  to  all  the  apostles, 
as  were  the  rest ;  but  particularly  to  three,  whom 
the  Lord  Jesus  chose  out.  "  Jesus  taketh  Peter, 
and  James,  and  John,  and  bringelh  them  up  into  a 
high  mountain  apart,  and  was  transfigured  before 
them,"  Matt.  xvii.  I,  2.  Why  this  revelation  was 
given  to  those  three  only,  not  he  that  reads  it,  but 
he  that  chose  them  knows.  So  far  as  we  may  sober- 
ly and  with  due  reverence  search,  the  next  verse  will 
fitly  call  on  us  to  consider. 

But  why  did  the  apostle  single  out  that  time  and 
place,  more  than  any  other,  to  exemplify  Christ's 
majesty,  and  the  honour  conferred  on  him  by  the 
Father?  1.  Because  Moses  and  Elias  appeared  to 
him  there  :  in  all  the  rest  of  his  miracles  he  had  no 
company  but  men  on  earth,  now  he  had  a  testimony 
from  two  glorious  saints  in  heaven.  His  command  was 
known  to  be  great  over  the  creatures  below,  this  was 
even.'  day  conspicuous ;  but  that  now  it  should  ex- 
tend to  heaven,  here  was  an  ample  show  of  majesty. 
2.  But  especially  because  he  was  adorned  with  celes- 
tial glory;  his  face  shining  as  the  sun,  and  his  rai- 
ment white  as  the  light.  Nothing  of  earth  was  seen, 
but  a  Divine  and  heavenly  majesty  appeared.  For 
this  was  a  little  map  of  heaven,  a  glimpse  or  abridge- 
ment of  that  infinite  glory.  Before  his  power  might 
appear,  but  under  the  veil  of  his  mortal  flesh  ;  now 
the  manhood  is  become  glorious.  As  the  fire  makes 
every  thing  that  is  cast  into  it  like  itself;  so  the 
glory  circling  him,  and  inherent  upon  his  body,  made 
his  humanity  glorious  like  itself.  ' 

This  was  then  the  most  magnificent  demonstration 
of  his  majesty,  where  heaven  was  brought  down  to 
earth  to  illustrate  it.  He  rose  from  the  grave  to  the 
earth  of  the  living:  there  was  majesty;  for  in  this 
he  declared  himself  to  be  "  the  Son  of  God  \Wth 
power,  by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,"  Rom.  i.  4. 
He  ascended  from  the  earth  to  heaven;  there  was 
majesty.  But  here  he  commanded  heaven  to  come 
down  to  him  ;  this  was  the  greatest  declaration  of  hi^ 
majesty.  Now  he  sits  in  heaven  with  majesty,  '•  On 
the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  the  Majesty  in  the 
heavens,"  Heb.  viii.  I.  He  shall  one  day  come  to  judge 
the  world  with  majesty.  The  Lord  hath  given  him 
this  honour  and  majesty  ;  "  a  name  whielt  is  above 
evcrj-  name,"  Phil.  ii.  9.  Let  us  ascribe  glory  to  that 
majesty,  and  blessed  be  his  Miijesty  for  ever!  Here 
now  it  is  plain  what  the  apostles  saw :  the  world  was 
eye-witness  of  his  misery,  they  of  his  majesty.  The 
w'orld  beheld  him  in  the  form  of  a  servant,  they  as 
their  Master  and  Maker.    The  world,  as  a  worm,  not 


174 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPOX  THE 


Chap.  I. 


u  man ;  they,  as  the  Kinff  of  glory.  The  world,  as 
a  thing  not  desirable  ;  they,  as  "  fairer  than  the 
children  of  men,"  Psal.  xlv.  2.  Blessed  eyes  admit- 
ted to  this  vision!  It  was  St.  Augustine's  wish  to 
have  seen  three  things  :  Rome  in  lier  glory,  Paul  in 
the  pulpit,  Christ  in  the  tiosh.  That  is  now  past 
hope  here  on  earth,  our  labour  must  be  to  see  him 
hereafter  in  heaven  :  "  Thine  eyes  shall  see  the 
King  in  his  beauty,"  Isa.  xxxiii.  17.  Lord,  give  us  this 
vision,  this  fruition,  and  we  are  then  blessed  for  ever. 
"  Such  a  voice."  This  is  the  second  point,  the 
manner  how  God  testified  concerning  the  nonour  of 
his  Son  ;  by  a  voice,  his  own  voice.  The  logicians 
distinguish  between  a  sound,  a  voice,  and  a  word. 
Sound  is  of  insensible  things,  as  lute,  organ,  &c. ; 
voice,  of  sensible,  but  irrational,  as  beasts;  a  word, 
of  that  which  hath  both  sense  and  reason,  man. 
Here  is  a  voice,  but  a  word  with  it.  A  word  is  first 
conceived  in  the  heart,  and  then  uttered  by  the  voice  ; 
yet  we  hear  the  voice  before  we  know  the  word. 
John  calls  himself,  The  voice  of  a  crier.  Christ  tlie 
eternal  Word,  was  before  John,  and  all  other  voices. 
For,  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,"  John  i.  1  : 
and  that  beginning  was  before  all  beginnings,  with- 
out beginning ;  yet  the  world  knew  not  the  Word,  till 
it  was  preaclied  by  the  voice  of  men  and  angels. 
The  Word  in  itself  is  before  the  voice,  yet  to  us  the 
voice  goes  before  the  Word ;  "  He  that  cometh  after 
me,  was  before  me,"  John  i.  15.  Tully  commends 
voices,  Socrates'  for  sweetness,  Lysias'  for  subtilty, 
Hyperides'  for  sharpness,  iEschines'  for  shrillness, 
Demosthenes'  for  powerfulness ;  gravity  in  Africanus, 
smoothness  in  La'lius :  rare  voices !  In  holy  writ 
we  admire  a  sanctified  boldness  in  Peter,  profound- 
ness in  Paul,  loftiness  in  John,  vehemcncy  in  him 
and  his  brother  James,  those  two  sons  of  thunder, 
fervency  in  Simon  the  zealous.  Among  ecclesiasti- 
cal writers,  we  admire  weight  in  TertuUian,  a  gra- 
cious composure  of  well-mattered  words  in  Lactantius, 
a  flowing  speech  in  Cyprian,  a  familiar  stateliness  in 
Chrysostom,  a  conscionable  delight  in  Bernard,  and 
all  these  graces  in  good  St.  Augustine.  Some  con- 
strued the  Scriptures  allegorically,  as  Origen;  some 
literally,  as  Hierome  ;  some  morally,  as  Gregorj-  ; 
others  pathetically,  as  Chrj^sostom  ;  others  dogmati- 
cally, as  Augustine.  The  new  writers  have  their 
several  voices  :  Peter  ilartyr  copiously  judicial ; 
Zanchius  judiciou.sly  copious.  Luther  wrote  with  a 
coal  on  the  walls  of  his  chamber,  Res  el  rerba  Pliilip- 
pus,  res  sine  verbis  Lulhenis,  verba  sine  re  Erasmus,  nee 
res  nee  verba  Carolostadiics.  Calvin  was  behind  none, 
not  the  best  of  them,  for  a  sweet  dilucidation  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  urging  of  solid  arguments  against  the 
antichristians.  One  is  happy  in  expounding  the  words, 
another  in  delivering  the  matter,  a  third  for  eases  of 
conscience,  a  fourtli  to  determine  the  school  doubts. 
But  now  put  all  these  together;  a  hundred  Peters 
and  Pauls,  a  thousand  Bernards  and  Augustines,  a 
million  of  Calvins  and  Melancthons  ;  let  not  their 
voices  be  once  named  with  this  voice.  They  all 
spake  as  childi-en,  this  is  the  voice  of  the  Ancient  of 
days.  Never  spake  man  as  God  himself  speakcth, 
John  vii.  46.  Herod,  it  seems,  had  a  pleasing  voice, 
when  he  drew  to  himself  such  an  acclamation,  "  It  is 
the  voice  of  a  god,  and  not  of  a  man,"  Acts  xii.  22. 
But  the  angel  proved,  to  Herod's  confusion,  that  ac- 
clamation to  be  the  voices  of  men,  not  of  God.  But 
this  voice  that  came  from  heaven  concerning  this 
God  and  man,  was  the  voice  of  God,  not  of  man.  The 
angel  that  talked  with  Zeehariah  spake  "  good  words, 
and  comfortable  words,"  Zcch.  i.  13.  But  this  voice 
is  the  voice  of  power,  the  voice  of  comfort,  the  voice  of 
love,  the  voice  of  life.  Man  hath  virtultm  rocis,  power 
to  speak;  but  God  reserves  to  liimself  rorfi«  virtulis,  to 


speak  in  power :  "Lo,  he  doth  send  out  his  voice,  and 
that  a  mighty  voice,"  Psal.  Ixviii.  33.  St.  Paul  had  a 
poweiful  voice,  when  he  said  to  tlie  cripple  "with  .i  loud 
voice,  Stand  upright  on  tliy  feet.  And  he  leaped  and 
walked,"  Ads  xiv.  10.  Insomuch  that  when  the  peo- 
ple saw  it,  they  cried,  "  Tlie  gods  are  come  down  to 
us  in  the  likeness  of  men."  St.  Peter  had  a  powerful 
voice,  when  he  persuaded  three  thousand  soids  at  one 
sermon.  But  this  voice  of  power  gave  power  to  all 
iheir  voices.  Herodotus  tells  us  of  an  Egyptian,  that 
had  so  shrill  a  voice,  that  from  the  promontory  of 
Hister  he  was  heard  by  Hisf.-eus,  admiral  of  Darius, 
being  then  at  Miletiun,  But  this  is  the  voice  that 
shall  one  day  be  heard  from  one  end  of  the  world  to 
the  other.  Christ  liere  heard  the  voice  of  his  Father, 
we  shall  all  hear  the  voice  of  Christ ;  "  The  hour  is 
coming,  in  the  which  all  that  are  in  the  graves  shall 
hear  his  voice,"  John  v.  28.  This  shall  be  a  wonder- 
ful voice,  terrible  to  the  wicked.  When  Joseph  re- 
vealed himself  to  his  brethren,  "  I  am  Joseph  ;  they 
could  not  answer  liim,  for  they  were  troubled  at  his 
presence,"  Gen.  xlv.  3.  But  when  he  added,  "  I  am 
Joseph  your  brother,"  ver.  4;  they  were  then  com- 
forted. When  Christ  shall  say  to  the  reprobates,  I 
am  Jesus ;  Jesus  whom  ye  contemned,  scorned,  perse- 
cuted, sacrilegiously  robbed,  whose  scrv'ants  ye  have 
hated;  they  shall  be  confounded.  But  when  he  adds 
to  the  faithful,  I  am  Jesus  your  Brother,  they  shall 
be  with  heavenly  peace  rejoiced.  Will  you  consider 
the  power  of  the  Lord's  voice  ?  look  at  Psal.  xxix. 
"The  voice  of  the  Lord  thvideth  the  flames  of  fire." 
The  nightingale  hath  a  sweet  voice,  but  a  lean  car- 
cass :  a  voice,  and  nothing  else  but  a  voice  :  and  so 
have  all  hypocrites.  But  the  Lord's  voice  will  be 
against  them  with  a  woe  :  "  To-day  if  ye  will  hear 
his  voice,  harden  not  yoiu'  hearts,"  Heb.  iii.  15.  Let 
us  now  hear  his  voice  with  obedience,  lest  we  one 
day  hear  it  with  a  vengeance.  Non  vox  hominem 
sonat,  O  Deus  certe.  It  is  not  an  ordinaiy  voice,  but 
"  such  a  voice."  Saul  said  to  his  subject,  "  Is  this 
thy  voice,  my  son  David  ? "  1  Sam.  sxiv.  16.  Well 
may  we  say.  Is  this  thy  voice,  O  Lord  our  King  ? 
We'  will  then  obey  it :  "I  will  hear  what  the  Lord 
will  speak ;  for  he  will  speak  peace  to  his  people," 
Psal.  Ixxxv.  8.  The  Lord  apply  this  voice  to  our 
hearts,  and  our  hearts  to  this  voice. 

"  From  the  excellent  glory."  This  is  the  last  cir- 
cumstance, the  place  whence  it  came.  There  is  a  great 
distance  between  Mount  Tabor  and  heaven  ;  yet  was 
a  voice  heard  in  the  hill,  which  came  from  that  ex- 
cellent glory.  There  be  glories  in  the  world,  but 
they  are  not  excellent.  Israel  .ascribes  gloiy  to 
Reuben,  but  he  adds  aninstability  to  it  :  "Reuben, 
the  excellency  of  dignity,  and  the  excellency  of 
power:  unstable  as  water,  thou  shalt  not  excel," 
Gen.  xlix.  .3,  4.  "  Unstable  as  water,"  that  is,  a  fluid 
glory  ;  "  thou  shalt  not  excel,''  there  is  a  bar  in  the 
arms.  Such  is  the  condition  of  all  worldly  gloiy  : 
but  the  glorj-  that  shall  be  revealed  in  us,  is  an  ex- 
ceeding and  eternal  weight,  2  Cor.  iv.  17.  This 
glory  is  admirable  in  four  excellences  ;  for  the  dig- 
nity, for  the  clarity,  for  the  verity,  and  for  the 
eternity  for  it. 

1.  For  dignity,  it  is  a  glory  :  and  this  hath  been 
the  scope  of  most  men's  endeavours  and  reaches. 
There  is  not  the  silliest  artisan,  manuar}-,  or  me- 
chanic, but  would  be  glorious  for  something.  Mutius 
Sccvola  burnt  his  own  hand  for  striking  amiss. 
Curtius  in  glittering  armour,  mounted  on  his  horse, 
east  himself  headlong  into  a  gulf,  to  deliver  his 
countrj'  from  the  plague  :  Vicil  amor  pairia;  laudum- 
qiie  immensa  cupido.  If  they  did  thus  for  a  puff, 
wliat  should  we  do  for  this  excellent  glory  !  The 
citizens  of  Tyre  are  said  to  have  been  companions 


Veh.  17. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


175 


unto  princes,  Tsa.  .\xiii.  S :  but  in  this  glory,  every 
citizen  is  a  crowned  king :  none  but  kings  are  free- 
men of  that  incorporation ;  wliere  a  man  shall  see 
what  he  liketh,  have  what  he  delightcth,  and  enjoy 
it  without  env>-,  without  end.  iVon  es/  timor  tnjini- 
bus  tuis,  quia  Dominus  posuit  fines  tuos  pacem,  Tlicre 
is  no  fear  in  the  borders  of  it,  for  the  Lord  hatli  com- 
passed it  with  peace  for  ever. 

2.  For  clarity  ;  it  is  not  a  hidden,  but,  as  St.  Paul 
saith,  n  revealed  glorj*.  It  is  now  indeed  hidden ; 
but  "  when  Christ  our  life  shall  appear,  then  shall 
ye  also  ajipcar  with  him  in  glory,"  Col.  iii.  4.  Clear, 
both  for  condition,  it  shall  be  excellent;  for  cognition 
and  apprehension,  it  shall  be  seen  in  the  full  excel- 
lency of  it.  It  is  an  everlasting  solstice ;  the  length 
is  iiitcrminable,  the  brightness  unchangeable,  the 
fulness  unweariablo.  (Bern.)  Our  very  bodies  shall 
be  made  glorious ;  The  righteous  shall  shine  as  tlie 
sun,  Matt.  xiii.  43.  What  shall  be  the  glory  of  our 
souls,  when  the  sun  itself  shall  not  equal  the  glory 
of  our  bodies !  (Bern.)  If  the  glory  of  the  body  be 
but  the  body  of  glory,  then  the  soul  of  glorj-  is  the 
glorj'  of  the  soul.  Yea,  then  the  sun  shall  septuple 
nis  own  glorj-,  and  we  shall  centuple  the  glorj-  of  the 
sun.  It  is  a  glory  to  the  firmament,  that  it  is  stuck 
full  of  such  shining  lamps,  a  thousand  times  excel- 
ling the  lustre  of  precious  stones.  O  then  think  what 
it  will  be,  to  walk  in  the  courts  of  heaven,  and  to  be- 
hold so  many  millions  of  stars ;  spiritual  and  intel- 
lectual stars;  a  sight  able  to  ravish  us!  If  they 
that  dwell  in  the  courts  of  kings  make  such  a  glori- 
ous show  with  their  garments,  borrowed  from  worms, 
or  from  the  earth's  excremental  bowels ;  what  a  de- 
lightful sight  will  it  be  to  behold  the  splendour  of 
God's  own  immortal  courtiers ! 

3.  For  verity;  it  shall  be  indeed,  not  in  show  only, 
but  upon  us.  The  worldling  is  all  glorious  without, 
but  "  the  King's  daughter  is  all  glorious  within," 
Psal.  xlv.  13.  That  is  a  shadow,  this  a  substance. 
Civil  honour,  says  the  philosopher,  is  not  in  the 
person  honoured,  but  honouring.  The  worldling's 
glorj'  depends  on  the  possession  of  vain  matters,  and 
the  breath  of  vain  men,  therefore  hath  no  true  being ; 
but  this  is  a  true  and  substantial  glor)-,  because 
affixed  to  Him  whose  glorj'  is  immutable.  "  Our 
light  affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  moment,  worketh 
for  us  an  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory," 
2  Cor.  iv.  17.  The  cross  is  light,  the  crown  wcightj-. 
The  cross  but  for  a  moment,  the  crown  for  ever. 
The  pleasures  of  sin  are  but  for  a  season ;  therefore 
nothing,  being  compared  with  that  infinite  weight 
(if  eternal  wrath.  But  as  the  seven  years  of  Gimine 
in  Egypt  did  (juite  cat  up  the  seven  years  of  plenty, 
so  the  reprobates'  endless  pains  shall  eat  up  their 
short  pleasures.  On  the  contrarj',  there  is  a  time  to 
weep,  and  a  time  to  laugh :  the  good  man  "  shall 
not  much  remember  the  days  of  his  life ;  because 
God  answercth  him  in  the  joy  of  his  heart,"  Eccl.  v. 
30:  not  much  remember  it,  not  at  all.  Therefore 
let  us  not  seek  for  that  in  our  journey,  which  is  only 
tu  be  found  in  our  country.  (August.)  Lei  the  world 
take  these  shadows;  it  is  a  portion  my  soul  dcsireth 
not,  only  may  she  be  sped  of  this  substantial  glorv' 
through  Jesus  Christ. 

4.  For  the  eternity ;  if  it  had  an  end,  it  were  not 
excellent.  We  see  commonly,  that  high  glories 
here  waste  themselves,  and  go  out  in  stench,  like 
great  candles  in  windy  houses :  that  can  be  no  excel- 
lent glor)-.  If  we  love  tliis  life,  which  we  feel  to  be 
miserable,  and  know  will  end ;  how  should  we  love 
that  life,  where  is  no  fear,  either  to  die,  or  to  live  in 
trouble !  nothing  but  happy  etccnity,  and  eternal 
felicity.  "  In  my  Father's  liouse  are  many  mansions," 
John  xiv.  2 :  here  we  have  no  abiding  city,  but  dwell 


in  tabernacles,  set  up  to-day,  and  pulled  down  to- 
morrow. Our  best  nouses  on  eartn,  let  them  be 
never  so  glorious;  if  it  were  possible,  let  their  walls 
be  of  gold,  and  their  windows  of  sapphire;  yet  they 
are  no  better  than  inns  for  strangers.  But  our  man- 
sions in  heaven  abide  for  ever.  "  I  go  to  prepare  a 
place  for  you,"  saith  Christ :  but  it  is  said,  "  Inherit 
the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world,"  Matt.  xxv.  3^.  These  were  prepared 
before;  how  then  did  Christ  go  to  prepare  them? 
St.  Augustine  answers.  They  were  prepared  from 
everlasting,  but  the  men  that  should  innabit  them 
were  unprepared.  Pmul  quodammodn  mansiones,  man- 
sionibus  paravdo  mansores,  He  went  first  to  take  pos- 
session of  this  kingdom,  and  there  sets  open  the  doors 
of  those  prepared  mansions  for  us. 

Here  is  then  the  figure  of  heaven :  it  is  glory, 
therefore  excellent  ;  yea,  substantial  glory,  more 
excellent ;  yea,  a  crown  of  glory,  most  excellent.  It 
is  a  kingdom,  and  a  kingdom  that  cannot  be  moved. 
It  is  an  inheritance,  and  an  immortal  inheritance; 
all  excellent.  It  is  excellent,  and  a  glory  ;  yea, 
"  the  excellent  glory."  What  wouldst  thou  have  ? 
Is  any  thing  better  than  life  ?  Is  any  life  better 
than  a  life  of  glory  ?  Is  any  glory  better  than  a 
kingdom  of  glory  ?  Is  any  kingdom  surer  than  the 
kingdom  of  ncaven?  Yet  this  kingdom,  this  life, 
this  glory,  this  excellent  glory,  is  prepared  for  us. 
The  Lord  hath  prepared  this  excellent  glory  for  us ; 
the  Lord  prepare  us  for  this  excellent  glory. 

"  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well 
pleased."  This  is  the  last  general  circumstance  of 
the  verse  ;  the  matter  and  substance  of  the  testimony 
from  the  Father.  "  This  ;"  the  word  shows  him  to 
be  that  Messias,  long  before  prophesied,  presently 
after  the  fall  promised,  ere  the  world  was  purposed, 
and  now  manifested.  This,  singularly ;  not  another, 
but  this  is  he.  "  My  Son,"  consubstantially,  because 
begotten  of  mine  own  s\ibstance.  Originally  mine, 
by  union  of  nature  ;  though  in  him  others  be  made 
mine  also,  by  adopt  ion  of  grace.  "  Beloved,"  eternally ; 
not  in  time  accepted,  but  before  all  beginning  begot- 
ten. "  In  whom  I  am  well  pleased,"  and  never  was 
offended :  all  other  men  were  the  children  of  wrath,  I 
could  not  be  pleased  with  them ;  but  in  this  Son  I 
rest.  He  pleaseth  the  Father  by  himself,  all  other 
only  by  him.  Here  is  proprielas  personce,  miitas  na- 
tural, dignitas  gratiae,  felicilas  meri'ti.  "  This  is," 
there  is  the  propriety  of  person ;  "  my  Son,"  there 
is  the  unity  of  nature;  "  beloved"  Son,  there  is  the 
dignity  of  grace ;  "  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased," 
there  is  the  felicity  of  merit  ;  in  him  well  pleased ; 
in  all  vnth  him,  in  none  without  him :  in  himself 
without  all,  before  all,  above  all.  Here  is  the  testi- 
mony, "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,"  &c.  For  method's 
sake  we  observe  in  this  heavenly  voice  three  notes : 

Dislinctionem  personte,  This  is  my  Son. 

Dilectionem  dtslincli,  My  beloved  Son. 

Siifficienliain  dilecli,  In  whom  I  am  well  pleased. 

"  This  is  my  Son."  Son ;  this  distinguisheth  his 
person  :  father  and  son  are  relatives,  one  depending 
necessarily  on  the  other.  "  He  shall  be  great,  and 
shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Highest,"  Luke  i.  32. 
With  this  Christ  opposed  the  Jews,  that  questioned 
him  concerning  the  Son  of  David.  If  David  called 
him  Lord,  he  must  needs  be  the  Son  of  God.  Now 
he  is  the  Son  of  God  two  ways :  first,  by  nature,  of 
the  eternal  substance  of  his  Father:  not  after  a  car- 
nal manner,  for  he  parted  «ith  no  substance,  nor 
suffered  any  change,  loss,  or  diminution.  Secondly, 
as  he  was  the  son  of  Mary  :  and  this  other  sonship 
in  regard  of  God,  was  not  by  nature,  nor  by  adoption, 
for  then  there  had  'been  a  time  when  he  was  not  the 
Son  of  God,  but  by  personal  union.     The  man  Christ 


176 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


never  was  a  person  of  itself,  but  was  at  the  first  per- 
sonally united  to  the  Son  of  God.  The  son  of  Mar)- 
was  ever  the  Son  of  God,  but  the  Son  of  God  was 
not  ever  or  alwa_v.s  the  son  of  Mai  y.  This  was  ne- 
cessary, saith  Augustine,  that  the  Mediator  between 
God  and  man  should  be  of  the  natures  both  of  God 
and  man ;  lest  being  in  everj'  respect  God,  he  liad 
been  too  great  to  sufl'er  for  man ;  or  being  in  every 
respect  man,  he  had  been  too  weak  to  satisfy  Gocl. 
God  of  God,  God  the  Son  of  God  the  Father.  (Ful- 
gent.) If  he  were  the  same  person,  how  is  he  here 
called  a  Son  ?  if  he  were  not  the  same  nature,  how 
is  he  called  my  Son  ?  Son,  thou  art  therefore  another 
person :  tni/  Son,  thou  art  therefore  the  same  God. 

This  filiality  doth  not  challenge  him  of  inferiority 
to  God.  But  he  is  said  to  be  "  in  the  form  of  God  :" 
yet  it  is  added,  he  '•  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be 
equal  with  God,"  Pliil.  ii.  6.  So  it  is  said,  that  he 
"  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,"  vcr.  /•  If 
the  form  of  a  servant  be  the  nature  of  man,  then  the 
form  of  God  is  the  vcr)-  nature  of  Gocl.  Tliis  the 
Jews  could  easily  interpret ;  "  He  said  that  God  was 
his  Father,  making  himself  equal  with  God,"  Jolin 
V.  13.  When  he  called  God  his  Father,  they  could 
presently  infer,  that  he  made  himself  equal  with  God  : 
and  that  is  no  other  thing,  than  to  be  true  God  in 
nature  and  subsistence.  Always  with  the  Father, 
always  of  the  Father,  always  in  the  Father,  always 
the  same  God  that  the  Father.  (Lomb.)  So  also  ven- 
man,  of  man's  llesh,  according  to  man's  nature,  for 
man's  sake,  above  man's  condition.  "  The  Lord 
hath  said  unto  me,  Thou  art  my  Son ;  this  day  have 
I  begotten  thee,"  Psal.  ii.  7.  "This  might  be  said  by 
God  to  David  in  type,  but  only  agrees  to  Christ  in 
tnilh.  David  indeed  was  God's  son,  as  he  was  a  man, 
as  he  was  a  king,  as  he  was  a  saint.  1.  As  man  ;  so 
are  all  men  :  '•  We  are  also  his  offspring,"  Acts  xvii. 
lis.  "  He  made  us,  and  not  we  ourselves."  Psal.  c. 
3 ;  therefore  we  are  his  sons.  "  Is  not  he  thy  Father 
that  made  thee?"  Deut.  xxxii.  6.  2.  Asking;  for 
all  princes  are  the  "  children  of  the  Most  High," 
Psal.  Ixxxii.  (i.  3.  Lastly,  as  a  sanctified  man ;  for 
he  that  is  new-bom  is  the  son  of  God  ;  "  He  cannot 
sin,  because  he  is  bom  of  God,"  1  John  iii.  9.  But 
this  title  most  properly  belongs  to  Christ,  and  that 
in  respect  of  his  generation  temporal  and  eternal. 
Some  construe  it  of  his  temporaiy  birth,  because 
to-day  in  the  Scripture  signifies  this  present  life  ; 
"  Wliile  it  is  called  to-day,"  Heb.  iii.  13.  '•  Thou 
art  my  Son,  to-day  have  I  begotten  thee,"  Heb.  v.  5; 
that  is,  to-day  I  have  brought  my  begotten  Son  into 
the  world.  So  Heb.  i.  6,  "When  he  bringeth  in  the 
(irsl-begotten  into  the  world."  Begotten  before  all 
beginning,  but  made  flesh  in  time  ;  proposed  to  the 
world  in  numan  flesh,  at  the  decreed  fulness  of  time. 
Others  understand  it  of  Christ's  eternal  generation: 
"  My  Son  ;"  others  are  my  sons  improperly,  but  thou 
art  properly  my  Son ;  my  natural,  singular,  substan- 
tial Son.  A  Son,  not  by  creation,  as  the  whole 
world  is;  not  through  adoption,  as  the  whole  church 
is  ;  but  bv  nature  and  incommunicable  generation, 
as  himself  only  is :  the  first-begotten,  the  only-begot- 
ten, the  express  character  of  his  person,  and  bright- 
ness of  his  glory.  But  there  is  then  exception 
against  the  word  to-day  :  why  to-day  my  Son,  when- 
as  for  ever  his  Son?  (.\ugust.)  With  God  it  never 
is  yesterday,  nor  to-morrow,  but  always  to-day:  all 
times  arc  nresent  with  him.  Where  never  was  nor 
can  be  night,  must  needs  be  eternal  day. 

"  My  Son."  This  flesh  that  stands  before  you,  is 
the  natural  Son  of  God;  which  gives  us  to  "under- 
stand, the  infinite  honour  that  belongs  to  Jesus  Christ. 
Though  our  nature  was  once  jioor  and  wretched 
through    our    degeneration,   yet    now   it    is    made 


noble  and  blessed  through  this  personal  union.  And 
the  Lord  Jesus  did  habitually  honour  it,  even  above 
the  nature  of  angels,  Heb.  ii.  Hi.  For  Christ  in  his 
verj'  birth  was  t^ie  most  excellent  and  noble  man 
tliat  ever  was;  and  that  both  by  Father's  side  and 
mother's  side.  By  Father,  being  the  Son  of  Al- 
mighty God;  by  mother,  descending  of  the  patri- 
archs and  renowned  kings  of  Judah :  a  truly  great 
Prince !  Wliercin  consists  a  kingdom  ?  In  autnori- 
ty  ?  He  doth  whatsoever  he  will,  "  in  heaven,  in 
earth,  in  the  sea,  and  all  deep  places,"  Psal.  cxxxv. 
(>.  In  power  ?  "  The  winds  and  the  sea  obey  him," 
Matt.  viii.  27.  In  multitude  of  subjects  ?  Angels, 
saints,  and  all  kings  are  his  subjects;  either  volun- 
taiy,  or  against  their  wills:  He  "  standeth  in  the 
congregation  of  the  mighty  ;  he  judgeth  among  the 
gods,"  Psal.  Ixxxii.  1.  In  abundance?  "  In  thy  pre- 
sence is  fulness  of  joy,"  Psal.  xvi.  11.  In  continuance? 
"  He  shall  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  for  ever  ; 
and  of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end,"  Luke  i.  33. 
In  amplitude  and  largeness  ?  The  heaven  is  his,  and 
the  earth  is  his,  and  the  fulness  of  them  both,  Psal. 
xxxix.  11.  In  subduing  enemies  ?  Bring  those  mine 
enemies,  that  would  not  have  mo  reign  over  them, 
and  slay  them  before  me,  Luke  xix.  27. 

The  faithful  do  not  hold  (-'hrist  in  small  account, 
because  of  his  poor  estate  in  this  world;  but  prefer 
him  to  nobles  and  kings.  They  had  no  such  herald 
to  blazon  their  arms  as  he  ;  even  John  the  Baptist, 
not  a  greater  born  of  women.  Matt.  xi.  11.  Yea, 
here  even  God  himself  with  a  voice  from  heaven 
proclaims  it.  They  have  no  such  memorial  of  their 
antiquity  as  he,  whom  St.  Luke  lines  from  Adam, 
St.  Jilalthew  derives  from  David  and  Abraham.  It 
is  impossible  for  them  ;  for  there  is  no  such  instructor 
of  antiquity,  or  recorder  of  genealog)',  as  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Great  monarchs  have  long  and  tedious  titles : 
Christ  is  short  in  sound,  but  eternal  in  sense ;  "  This 
is  my  beloved  Son." 

This  gives  comfort  to  us ;  for  Christ  being  so  royal, 
and  taking  our  flesh,  conveys  part  of  his  nobleness 
to  us.  Men  stand  much  on  their  blood,  and  the 
pedigree  of  their  ancestors ;  as  if  nobleness  consist- 
ed in  that  which  descends  from  man  to  man.  All 
tnie  and  weighty  honour  is  fetched  from  Christ. 
Not  my  birth,  but  my  Christianity,  makes  me  noble, 
said  that  noble  martyr,  Romanus.  To  as  many  as 
received  Christ,  he  gave  power  to  be  the  sons  of  God, 
John  i.  12.  This  ingrafting  to  Jesus,  is  the  dignity, 
true  blood  royal  of  God  himself.  Not  generation, 
but  regeneration,  is  truly  noble.  Sanetifieation  is 
the  best  ornament  of  blood,  the  worthiest  part  of  the 
honourable  scutcheon,  the  fairest  flower  in  the  gentle- 
man's garland.  It  is  no  discredit  to  men's  honours, 
to  honour  Him.  We  love  to  peruse  the  genealogy 
of  princes,  and  succession  of  states  :  but  what  are 
these  to  us  ?  we  are  not  heirs  to  those  honours.  But 
if  Christ's  title  be  good,  ours  is  good  in  him.  Thus 
we  are  enriched  with  the  whole  world.  "Whether 
the  world,  things  present,  or  things  to  come ;  all  are 
yours  ;  and  ye  are  Christ's :  and  Christ  is  God's," 
1  Cor.  iii.  22,  23.  But  because  the  wicked  have  this 
world,  that  have  no  right  unto  it ;  therefore  "  Fear 
not,  little  flock  ;  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to 
give  you  the  kingdom,"  Luke  xii.  32.  Be  we  never 
so  poor,  even  the  contempt  of  this  world,  rich  men 
scorning  our  acquaintance;  yet  he  that  is  the  only 
Son  of  God  is  not  ashamed  to  call  us  brethren,  Heb. 
ii.  U.  An  ea?thly  prince  may  honour  much,  by  en- 
robing a  subject  witn  princely  apparel,  investing  his 
head  with  the  crown  royal,  and  mounting  his  person 
in  the  king's  own  chariot,  Esth.  vi.  8.  But  Christ 
doth  honour  infinitely  more,  by  adorning  us  with 
white  garments,  palms  in  our  hands,  and  crowns  on 


Ver.  17. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


177 


mir  heads,  and  thai  before  the  angels  in  heaven.  Siieh 
honour  have  all  his  saints,  Psal.  cxlix.  9. 

"  This  is  my  Son."  This  is  he,  which  the  prophets 
presignified,  the  types  prefigured,  the  Lord  himself 
promised,  the  gospel  presented,  and  is  now  universal- 
ly preached ;  this  is  He.  Elias  was  a  great  prophet, 
ijut  not  He  :  John  Baptist  was  more  than  a  prophet, 
but  not  He :  lie  was  not  that  Light,  but  a  witness  of 
it,  John  i.  8.  This  is  He.  He  tluit  fulfilled  all  the 
prophecies,  j)erfonned  all  the  promises,  ended  all  the 
ceremonies  j  this  is  He.  Hagar  and  Ishmael  were 
kept  in  Abraham's  house  till  Isaac  was  born  and 
weaned ;  so  were  ceremonies  rcscr%-ed  in  the  church 
till  Christ  was  dead  and  risen.  They  were  like  a 
mould,  whereinto  we  cast  a  bell:  when  the  metal  is 
run,  and  the  bell  made,  we  throw  away  the  mould. 
He  that  was  crucified  himself,  crucified  all  tlicse. 
The  Philistines  ask  for  Samson:  Who  is  he  that 
hath  given  us  so  many  overthrows,  triumphed  in  our 
niins  ?  This  is  he.  So,  who  is  that  strong  (Jod,  that 
could  say  to  the  gates  of  death  and  hell,  Ephphata, 
be  ye  opened  ?  This  is  He.  Who  is  he  tliat  con- 
quered the  devil,  foiled  death  in  his  own  throne,  led 
captivity  captive,  overcame  sin  that  overcame  the 
whole  world,  that  pacified  an  infinite  WTath,  that 
made  way  to  an  infinite  glory  ;  who?  This  is  He; 
this  is  my  beloved  Son. 

"  Beloved  Son."  God's  love  to  his  Son  is  eternal, 
infinite,  inexpressible.  "  The  Father  lovetli  the 
Son,  and  hath  given  all  things  into  his  hand,"  John 
iii.  35.  "  Thou  lovedst  me  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world,"  John  xvii.  24.  He  "  translated  us  into 
the  kingdom  of  his  dear  Son,"  Col.  i.  13.  "  His  dear 
Son;"  the  Son  of  his  love:  1.  Because  he  is  most 
worthy  of  all  to  be  loved :  as  Judas  is  called  the  son 
of  perdition,  because  he  was  most  worthy  to  be  de- 
stroyed. 2.  Because  he  was  begotten  of  his  Fathei-'s 
love  from  evcrhisting.  3.  Because  he  is  infinitely 
filled  with  this  love.  So  they  are  said  to  be  children 
of  the  bride-chamber,  that  are  full  of  joy  in  respect 
of  the  wedding.  4.  Because  he  makes  other  sons  to 
be  beloved,  filius  dilectiis,  qui  facit  dilectos.  5.  In 
respect  of  his  human  nature  ;  for  God  poured  his  love 
upon  him  with  gifts  beyond  measure,  wherewith  that 
nature  is  admirably  qualified.  "  Beloved :"  here  are 
two  scandals  taken  away  by  this  word.  First,  that 
we  may  not  think  Christ  to  be  sent  in  the  flesh  from 
God  the  Father  being  angr)- ;  for  he  is  his  beloved 
Son.  Next,  that  when  we  are  afflicted,  we  should 
not  think  ourselves  to  be  the  less  beloved  of  God ;  for 
he  loves  the  son  whom  he  scourges. 

But  how  appears  this  love,  when  God  did  so  cast 
him  down  that  he  seemed  even  to  hate  him  ?  "  The 
Lord  hath  afflicted  me  in  the  day  of  his  fierce  anger," 
Lam.  i.  12.  (iod  afflicts  s(mie  in  mercy,  but  this  was 
in  wrath.  In  his  wratli  God  is  not  alike  to  all ;  some 
he  afflicts  more  mildly  ;  but  this  was  in  his  fierce 
wrath.  His  sufferings,  his  sweat,  and  cup,  import  so 
much  :  they  could  not  come  but  from  a  wrath  whereof 
never  was  the  like.  Two  things  especially  may  seem 
to  abate  the  Father's  love  to  his  Son.  First,  his  sweat 
in  the  garden  ;  which  "  was  as  it  were  great  drops 
of  blood  falling  down  to  the  ground,"  Liie  xxii.  44. 
When  no  manner  of  violence  was  offered  him  in  body, 
none  touching  him ;  in  a  cold  night,  for  they  were 
glad  of  a  fire  within-doors ;  lying  abroad  in  the  air, 
and  upon  the  cold  earth ;  to  be  all  of  a  sweat,  and 
that  sweat  to  be  blood,  and  that  not  a  thin,  faint  one, 
but  ofgreat  drops,  and  those  so  many  as  went  through 
his  apparel,  and  streamed  to  the  ground  in  abundance ! 
never  was  the  like  sweat.  But,  secondly,  to  be  in 
this  distress,  and  then  to  want  comfort  !  This  was 
his  most  sorrowful  complaint  ;■  not  that  his  friends 
on  earth,  but  that  his  Father  from  heaven,  had  for- 


saken him.  So  that  between  the  passioned  powers 
of  his  soul,  and  whatsoever  might  refresh  him,  there 
was  a  traverse  drawn  :  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast 
thou  forsaken  me?"  Martyrs  in  their  most  exqui- 
site pains  had  some  cheerfulness.  Augustine  answers, 
God  did  not  deliver  them,  but  did  he  forsake  them? 
He  freed  not  their  bodies,  he  left  not  their  souls. 
But  here.  Thou  hast  forsaken  me.  How  then  was  he 
beloved  ?  The  influence  was  for  the  time  restrained, 
the  power  of  darkness  let  loose  to  afflict  him,  and  the 
vision  of  comfort  not  permitted  to  relieve  him ;  yet 
still  the  Lord  loved  him.  But  this  shows  how  im- 
mensely God  loved  us,  when  he  seemed  to  forsake 
his  Son  for  a  time,  that  he  might  embrace  his  ser- 
vants for  ever.  Yea,  how  much  Christ  loved  us,  that 
would  be  content  to  suffer  a  sense  of  this  desertion 
for  awhile,  that  we  might  not  be  eternally  lost.  Thou 
wast  forsaken  for  us;  let  not  us  forsake  thee, neither 
do  thou  forsake  us,  O  blessed  Jesus  ! 

"  In  whom  I  am  well  pleased."  This  was  a  voice 
never  heard  since  the  fall  of  man  till  that  instant. 
That  God  was  justly  angiy  with  the  world,  it  was  mani- 
fest ;  but  to  have  him  now  pleased  with  the  world,  or 
any  man  in  it,  this  was  rare  and  sweet.  Never  was  man 
born  before  of  woman  that  had  this  grace.  Though 
it  were  said  to  Mar)',  Hail,  thou  art  highly  honoured, 
or  much  graced  ;  yet  this  was  for  her  .Son's  sake : 
the  honour  done  to  the  mother,  was  for  the  merit  of 
the  Son.  The  Father  took  all  delight  in  the  Son  ; 
"  Behold  mine  elect,  in  whom  my  soul  delighteth," 
Isa.  xlii.  1  ;  and  in  him  only  he  is  delighted  with 
us.  Cursed  is  that  religion,  that  makes  him  but  a 
chief  Saviour,  and  requires  other  concurring  helps  : 
we  must  have  only  Christ,  and  wholly  Christ.     Our 

Erayers  arc  heard  only  through  him,  our  wounds 
ealed  only  by  him,  our  souls  saved  only  in  him. 
To  what  end  siiould  we  join  others  with  him,  seeing 
all  are  beloved  only  for  him  ?  Let  this  make  all  sin 
abhorred  of  us,  for  if  we  displease  the  Son,  how  shall 
we  please  the  Father?  The  Father  will  be  jdeascd 
with  none,  but  for  the  Son's  sake.  O  then  let  us 
always  seek  to  please  the  Son.  Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he 
be  angry,  and  so  ye  perish,  Psal.  ii.  12.  O  dear  Sa- 
viour, give  us  hearts  to  love  thee,  and  faith  to  trust 
thee,  and  grace  to  please  thee,  that  God  may  be  pleased 
with  us  in  thee. 

This  Son  of  God  hath  made  us  also  sons :  God  hath 
right  to  us  jure  proprielalis,  so  hath  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Spirit ;  vmijurepropinquilalii,  so  hath  Christ 
only,  for  he  was  akin  to  us.  Christ  is  both  our  Brother 
and  our  Father.  Our  Father  as  he  is  God ;  our  Brother 
as  he  is  man :  "  He  that  sanctifieth  and  they  who  are 
sanctified  are  all  of  one  :  for  which  cause  he  is  not 
ashamed  to  call  them  brethren,"  Heb.  ii.  II.  This, 
is  the  Son,  that  makes  us  sons  :  To  as  many  as  re- 
ceive him,  he  gives  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God, 
John  i.  12.  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  but  not  of  the 
Trinity  ;  we  are  the  sons  of  God,  and  of  the  whole 
Trinity  ;  he  by  nature,  we  by  grace.  It  was  the  am- 
bition of  the  heathens,  to  forget  their  own  parents, 
and  to  derive  themselves  from  the  parentage  of  some 
god  ;  as  Alexander  from  Jupiter,  &c.  Behold,  as 
Christ  hath  honour  naturally,  so  we  graciously  in 
him,  to  be  called  the  sons  of  God.  How  great  is  this 
happiness,  to  be  the  Almighty's  sons !  But  perhaps 
there  are  divers  younger  brothers,  landless.  No, 
they  are  all  heirs  ;  there  is  not  a  child  of  God's,  but 
shall  inherit  the  kingdom.  Quid  Paler  negabit  Jiliis, 
qui  hoc  diiinalus  est  ut  .lit  Paler .'  What  will  the 
Father  deny  to  his  children,  who  hath  already  thus 
far  honoured  them,  to  be  their  Father?  "  He  that 
spared  not  his  own  Son  for  us,  how  shall  he  not  with 
him  also  freely  give  us  all  things?"  Rom.  viii.  32. 
Nonne  dabit  sua,  qui  tion  detinuit  se .'    AVill  he  deny  us 


178 


AN  EXPO.SITION   IPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


his  goods,  that  hath  given  us  himself  ?  Qui  dabil  se 
in  merilum,  dabil  el  sua  in  prce/iiium,  He  that  parted 
with  himself  to  merit  for  us,  will  not  withhold  his 
mercies  to  crown  us.  As  Abraham's  servant  said  of 
Isaac  to  Rebekah,  He  is  my  master's  only  son,  and  to 
him  he  gives  all  that  he  hath.  Gen.  xxiv.  36 ;  so  if  God 
give  us  liis  only  Son,  he  will  give  us  all  things  with 
him.  Therefore  was  the  Son  of  God  made  the  Son  of 
man,  that  the  sons  of  men  might  be  made  the  sons 
of  God. 

All  love  that  comes  from  God  to  us,  is  through  his 
Son  :  "  That  the  world  may  know,  that  thou  hast 
loved  them,  as  thou  hast  loved  me,"  John  xvii.  23. 
Clirist  desireth  it,  the  Father  will  not  deny  it.  Christ 
is  God's  Beloved,  and  we  are  Christ's  beluved.  All 
things  are  ours,  because  we  are  Christ's,  and  Clirist 
is  God's.  When  we  consider  how  infinitely  God 
loves  Christ,  and  how  infinitely  Christ  loveth  us,  we 
cannot  despair.  The  Father  and  the  Son  are  two  in 
person,  but  one  in  desire.  It  is  not  possible  that  he 
should  be  hated  for  whom  Christ  sulTercd.  Hence 
it  follows,  that  God  will  not  fail  to  lift  us  up  to  the 
place  where  his  own  Beloved  is.  "  Father,  I  will 
that  they  also,  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  wilh 
me  where  I  am,"  John  xvii.  24.  We  shall  also  be 
glorified  together  with  him,  Rom.  viii.  17.  It  had 
been  a  great  favour  to  be  admitted  for  door-keepers 
in  his  house  ;  great  satisfaction  to  have  our  sins  par- 
doned, and  that  the  Lord  would  be  friends  with  us, 
considering  our  rebellion.  But  to  be  restored  to  that 
Paradise  which  Adam  lost ;  this  had  been  more  :  but 
to  be  advanced  further  and  higher  than  ever  Adam 
was,  even  to  the  Lord's  own  throne ;  this  is  most  of 
all.  If  all  men's  hearts  were  one  heart,  it  could  not 
comprehend  the  measure  of  this  love.  God  hath  life, 
for  he  is  the  sole  fountain  of  it :  but  how  shall  we 
come  at  it?  Who  shall  approach  "  the  devouring 
fire  ?  who  among  us  shall  dwell  with  everlasting 
burnings?"  Isa.  xxxiii.  14.  Yes,  the  blood  of  the 
Son  hath  qualified  this  fire,  and  quenched  the  wrath 
of  the  Father:  thus  that  life  is  made  ours.  "God 
hath  given  us  eternal  life,  and  this  life  is  in  his  Son," 
^1  John  V.  11.  Excellent  favour,  not  only  to  give  us 
place  and  grace  with  the  angels,  but  even  with  his 
own  Son  !  We  are  made  lords  of  all  creatures  but 
the  angels  ;  and  our  Head,  Jesus,  is  also  Head  of 
the  angels.  For  his  sake  they  are  all  ministering 
spirits,  for  the  good  of  all  those  that  are  the  heirs  of 
salvation,  Heb.  i.  14.  If  we  be  thus  loved  in  the 
Beloved,  we  may  be  sure  of  all  neccssaiy  things.  For 
howsoever  God  halh  distinguished  the  tilings  of  this 
world  in  a  propriety,  yet  we  have  such  intcresl  in  (hem, 
that  the  sun  should  not  shine,  nor  the  world  stand,  but 
for  the  clect'ssake.  The  wicked  are  excluded  from  the 
tree  of  life,  and  therefore  from  all  things  that  should 
maintain  life ;  and  though  they  be  fat  on  earth,  yet 
they  shall  have  double  torment  for  their  single  merri- 
ment :  for  they  are  never  in  their  own  house  ( ill  they 
be  in  hell.  Acts  i.  25.  For  us,  they  shall  be  as  well 
able  to  save  themselves  without  God",  as  to  hurt  us  hav- 
ing God  ;  and  the  worst  they  can  do,  is  but  to  send 
us  to  God ;  and  our  desire  is  to  be  with  God  for  ever. 
To  conclude.  Christ  was  God's  Son,  his  only  beloved 
Son  ;  fl'c  scrN'ants,  hateful  servants ;  yet  was  this 
Sou  born  and  slain  for  these  servants.  This  is  (he 
point  we  are  bound  to  consider;  how  far  God  sus- 
pended his  love  to  his  Son,  and  extended  his  love  to 
his  servants:  even  so  far,  that  this  Son  of  love  died 
for  those  sons  of  wrath.  Here  methinks  we  should 
even  stay  and  wonder.  "  Behold,  what  manner  of 
love  the  Father  hath  bestowed  upon  us,  that  we 
should  be  called  the  sons  of  God,"  1  John  iii.  1.  This 
is  a  depth  that  cannot  be  sounded :  cold  language 
may  utter  it,  and  regardless  attention  hear  it ;  but 


men  and  angels  stand  amazed  at  it.  That  the  Crea- 
tor should  die  for  the  creature  ;  that  the  Son  of 
God,  and  the  servant  of  man,  should  meet  in  one 
jjerson!  That  (he  same  who  is  the  Lord  of  all, 
should  be  made  our  sacrifice ;  that  the  Son  of  love 
should  die  for  the  sons  of  wrath!  There  liave  been 
many  demonstrations  of  love  in  the  world.  Reuben 
yielded  much  to  his  father;  "Slay  my  two  sons,  if  I 
bring  him  not  to  thee,"  Gen.  xlii.  37 :  it  was  in  the 
behalf  of  Benjamin.  Here  were  two  sons  to  be  lost, 
if  their  uncle  was  lost.  His  own  sons  were  dear  to 
him,  as  the  objects  of  a  descending  love  ;  but  intrust- 
ed to  their  grandfather,  whose  love  commonly  tran- 
scends an  immediate  father's,  Judah  tenders  more 
for  Benjamin;  "I  will  be  surety  for  him;  of  my 
hand  shalt  thou  require  him,"  Gen.  xliii.  9  :  he  en- 
gaged himself,  but  it  was  a  son  ventured  upon  the 
mercy  of  Iris  father.  He  goes  further  when  Joseph 
ofTered  to  detain  Benjamin,  for  whom  Judah  had  thus 
interposed  himself;  he  tenders  his  own  person  for 
redemption;  "  I  pray  thee,  let  thy  seivant  abide  in- 
stead of  the  lad  a  bond-man  to  my  lord;  and  let  the 
lad  go  up  with  his  brethren,"  Gen.  xliv.  33.  Yet  he 
would  be  but  a  bond-man,  and  that  for  his  brother, 
and  that  in  respect  of  his  father ;  and  all  to  save  all 
from  the  deslniction  of  famine.  Therefore  this  is  a 
poor  pattern  to  match  with  the  love  of  God,  that  did 
not  deliver  up  a  son  for  the  father's  sake,  or  compel- 
led by  any  exigent ;  but  for  his  enemies,  and  tnat 
wilh  a  voluntary  donation.  The  poet  speaks  of  a 
great  love  betwixt  Kisus  and  Eurialus ;  Me,  me,  ad- 
sum  qui  feci,  in  me  converlite  ferrum :  mea/raus  omnis, 
nihil  isle  nee  ausus,  nee  poluit. 

Two  friends  arc  said  to  come  into  Vulcan's  shop, 
and  to  beg  a  boon  of  him :  it  was  granted.  What 
was  it  ?  that  he  would  either  beat  them  on  his  anvil, 
or  melt  them  in  his  furnace,  both  into  one.  But 
without  fiction,  here  is  a  far  greater  love  in  Christ; 
for  he  would  be  melted  in  the  furnace  of  wrath,  and 
beaten  on  the  anvil  of  death,  to  be  made  one  with 
us.  And  to  declare  the  exceeding  love,  here  were 
not  both  to  be  beaten  on  the  anvil,  or  melted  in  the 
furnace ;  but  ^Wthout  us,  he  alone  would  be  beaten 
on  the  anvil,  he  alone  melted,  that  we  might  be 
spared.  "  The  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquity 
of  us  all,"  Isa.  liii.  G.  They  talk  of  an  Athenian 
king,  that  offered  his  own  life  to  save  his  people. 
And  no  doubt  the  zeal  of  Moses  and  Paul  was  great, 
when  they  desired  to  pei-ish  themselves  for  the  re- 
demption of  others.  Jonathan's  love  was  great  to 
David,  hazarding  his  own  life  for  him ;  "  "Thy  love 
to  nu'  was  wonderful,  passing  the  love  of  women," 
2  Sam.  i.  26.  David's  love  was  great  to  an  e\\\  son, 
••  Would  God  I  had  died  for  thee,  O  Absalom,  my 
son,  my  son ! "  2  Sam.  xviii.  33.  Alas,  all  these  copies 
are  short  of  this  original.  Come  we  yet  nearer : 
Abraham  had  but  one  son,  the  son  of  his  old  age, 
likely  to  have  no  more ;  the  heir  of  his  estate,  tlie 
pledge  of  the  promise  of  his  salvation  :  yet  in  love 
to  his  Commander,  he  sufTered  him,  not  to  be  ban- 
ished, but  killed;  not  behind  his  back,  but  before 
his  own  face ;  not  by  another,  but  by  his  own  hand. 
This  was  much ;  yet  it  was  but  to  lose  a  son  for  a 
Father,  a  mortal  son  for  an  immortal  Father,  that 
could  give  him  more  sons,  or  raise  up  that  son  again 
to  life.  But  here  God  did  give  a  Son,  not  for  an  im- 
mortal father,  but  for  mortal  enemies.  He  loved 
him  ten  thousand  degrees  better  than  Abraham 
could  love  Isaac  ;  yet  he  gave  this  Son,  not  by  com- 
mand, as  Abraham,  but  willingly ;  not  into  the  hands 
of  them  that  sorrowed  to  kill  him,  but  to  butchers 
that  delighted  to  torment  him  ;  not  for  his  friends,  as 
Abraham  did,  but  for  traitors  that  would  have  pulled 
liim  out  of  his  throne  ;  not  to  a  death  that  only  parts 


I 


Ver.  17. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


179 


Iwdy  and  soul,  and  instantly  directs  to  heaven,  as 
Isaac's  should,  but  to  a  death  cursed  and  detestable  : 
this  not  to  be  done  in  a  secret  place,  as  Abraham's 
was  appointed,  but  before  all  his  scornful  enemies ; 
not  to  (lie  as  an  innocent,  like  Isaac,  but  to  han?  as 
a  notorious  sinner  ;  his  accusation  being  no  less  tnan 
blasphemy  ;  to  have  a  murderer  preferred  before  him 
in  the  people's  ojiinion ;  to  be  sconied  of  the  basest, 
whose  fathers  he  might  disdain  to  set  with  the  dogs  of 
his  flock.  Job  XXX.  1.  Yea,  and  which  is  yet  most;  while 
all  this  is  doing  on  earth,  that  even  then  his  Father 
should  arraign  him  above;  that  he  should  take  oil' 
the  burden  of  vengeance  from  the  head  of  his  adver- 
saries, and  lay  it  all  on  his  Son.  The  comfort  of  all 
comforts  is  from  above :  Let  all  forsake  me,  but  let 
not  my  Father  leave  me  :  but  the  Lord  afflicted  him. 
The  high  priest  took  him  to  be  an  offender  in  his 
own  person,  but  God  took  him  to  be  an  offender  in 
our  person.  He  that  deser\-cd  no  sorrow,  felt  much; 
that  we  who  deserved  much,  might  feel  none :  by 
his  wounds  we  are  healed. 

Now  take  the  Person  upon  whom  as  one  centre  all 
these  sorrows  met:  my  text  says,  it  "  is  my  beloved 
Sun."  Son :  this  is  enough :  man  loves  his  own  son,  the 
walking  image  of  himself.  Mitie ;  that  is  more,  the 
Son  of  God ;  as  is  the  person,  so  is  the  passion.  Be- 
loved :  if  possible,  yet  more  ;  for  the  love  of  God  far 
transcends  all  love  of  man.  If  he  had  been  but  as 
Pilate  said,  "  Behold  the  man,"  it  was  much ;  we 
pity  a  dumb  creature  suffering  this,  much  more  n 
man.  Yea,  but  he  was  a  righteous  man,  says  the 
judge's  wife:  now  we  pity  malefactors,  much  more 
the  innocent.  Yea,  besides  his  integrity,  he  was  a 
noble  person,  a  royal  Prince  ;  for  whom  men  might 
justly  complain,  Alas,  that  noble  Prince.  All  these 
are  short :  this.  Behold  the  Man,  behold  the  Lamb, 
behold  the  Prince,  are  true,  but  not  enough.  Here, 
Behold  my  Son,  as  the  centurion  acknowledged. 
Truly  this  is  the  Son  of  God,  is  above  all  gradation. 
If  he  had  not  been  the  Son  of  God,  it  had  been  im- 
possible for  him  to  sustain  it ;  and  yet  being  thus,  he 
was  brought  so  low  that  an  angel  was  despatched 
from  heaven  to  comfort  him.  Here  all  words  forsake 
us,  we  bless  the  Lord,  and  hold  our  peace. 

Take  the  sum  of  this  application.  We  have  heai-d 
much  of  God's  Son,  and  of  nis  deaniess  to  the  Father. 
Now  join  with  it  another  text ;  "  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,"  John  iii. 
16.  Here  meditate,  wonder,  ana  weigh  the  sentence ; 
who,  what,  how,  to  what  end.  Who  loved  ?  God ; 
that  made  us  his  friends  by  creation  ;  whose  enemies 
we  made  ourselves  by  prevarication.  What  did  he 
love  ?  The  world ;  a  bad  world,  a  mad  world,  a  blind 
world,  a  bloodv  world;  that  hated  him  and  all  his, 
John  XV.  19.  It  was  no  wonder  that  he  should  love 
the  angels,  for  they  serve  him ;  or  the  very  reason- 
less creatures,  for  they  obey  him  ;  but  that  he  should 
love  the  rebellious  and  hateful  world,  this  is  bound- 
less mercy  !  How  did  he  love  it  ?  So  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son.  If,  like  Gideon,  he  had  had 
threescore  and  ten  sons,  Judg.  \'iii.  30,  it  had  been 
much  to  part  with  one  of  them ;  but  his  only  Son ! 
Jacob  rent  his  clothes,  and  went  mourning  in  sack- 
cloth many  days,  for  losing  one  son  of  twelve.  Gen. 
xxxvii.  34.  Even  a  harlot  pitied  the  fruit  of  her 
womb,  and  Iter  bowels  yearned  upon  her  son ;  "  O 
my  lord,  give  her  the  living  child,  and  in  nownse 
slay  it,"  1  Kings  iii.  26  :  but  God  gave  the  only  Son 
of  his  love.  'To  what  tnd?  "That  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlast- 
ing life."  Where  observe  two  things;  the  felicity 
that  is  gotten,  and  the  facility  to  get  it.  The  feli- 
city consists  of  two  things ;  a  deliverance,  and  an 
inheritance.     He  shall  not  perish;  there  is  the  de- 


liverance. He  shall  have  everlasting  life ;  there  is  the 
inheritance.  For  the  facility  ;  it  is  not  to  keep  the 
law,  but  only  to  believe.  Lord,  what  is  man,  that  thou 
shouldst  soregardhim?Psal.viii.4.  Yea,  that  to  regard 
him,  thou  didst  not  regard  thyself?  It  is  reported  of 
a  great  soldier,  that  the  veiy  jingling  of  his  spur  was 
a  terror  to  his  enemies.  So  the  very  sound  of  this 
text  makes  all  the  devils  in  hell  roar,  all  the  foes  of 
man's  salvation  to  quake.  This  is  the  Christian's 
armoury,  that  "  tower  of  David,  whereon  there  hang 
a  thousand  bucklers,  all  shields  of  mighty  men, 
Cant.  iv.  4.  If  thy  conscience  be  assaulted  with 
guiltiness  of  thy  sins,  remember  first  that  this  Christ 
was  the  Son  of  God,  and  then  that  this  Son  was  given 
for  the  world.  God  gave  not  a  servant,  but  a  Son ; 
not  another's,  but  his  own  Son ;  not  one  of  many,  but 
his  only  Son.  If  Satan  now  object.  Yes,  but  he  gave 
him  only  for  the  holy  and  just ;  answer.  Nay,  he  so 
loved  the  world;  munduni  tmmu7uluni :  niH?irfK«i,  there- 
fore mundanum  :  he  gave  him  not  for  the  righteous, 
but  for  sinners.  I  am  of  that  number,  therefore  I 
have  my  part  in  that  favoiu'.  Paul  says,  "  Put  on 
the  whole  armour  of  God,"  Eph.  vi.  II  ;  and,  "  Put 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  Kom.  xiii.  14.  In  the 
one  place,  all  those  pieces  of  armour  is  but  the  Lord 
Jesus  taken  asunder;  in  the  other,  the  whole  armour 
is  but  the  Lord  Jesus  put  together.  "  Kiss  the  Son, 
lest  he  be  angry,"  Psal.  ii.  12.  To  make  peace  wth 
the  Father,  kiss  the  Son.  "Let  him  kiss  me,"  was 
the  church's  prayer.  Cant.  i.  2 :  let  us  kiss  him,  that 
be  our  endeavour.  Indeed,  the  Son  must  first  kiss 
us  by  his  mercy,  before  we  can  kiss  him  by  our  piety. 
Lord,  grant  us  these  mutual  kisses  and  interchange- 
able embraces  now,  that  we  may  come  to  the  plenary 
wedding  supper  hereafter;  when  the  choir  of  heaven, 
even  the  voices  of  angels,  shall  sing  epithalamiums, 
nuptial  songs,  at  the  bridal  of  the  spouse  to  the 
Lamb. 


Verse  18.  • 

And  this  voice  which  came  from  heaven  tee  heard,  tchen 
we  were  with  him  in  the  holy  mount. 

This  is  a  clear  description  of  the  place  where  they 
had  that  heavenly  vision,  "  the  holy  mount."  Be- 
fore he  professed  them  eye-\vitnesses,  now  also  ear- 
witnesses.  This  voice  came  not  m  secret,  it  was  no 
whispering  voice ;  not  in  terror,  it  was  no  thundering 
voice  ;  not  in  a  strange  language,  it  was  no  unintel- 
ligible voice.  It  was  not  like  the  voice  at  Babel, 
confused.  At  the  building  of  Babel  there  were 
strange  tongues,  that  one  could  not  understand  an- 
other :  at  tne  building  of  Zion  were  also  strange 
tongJies,  but  readily  understood,  Acts  ii.  This  voice 
they  heard,  this  they  understood,  this  they  declared. 

"The  body  of  this  verse  reflects  upon  the  trans- 
figuration of  Christ,  whereof  we  shall  find  many  con- 
siderable members.  But  first  let  us  look  upon  the 
outside  of  the  text,  and  the  garments  it  wears. 
There  is. 

Something  vocal,  a  voice,  This  voice  which  came, 
&c. 

Something  local,  a  place,  In  the  holy  mount. 

There  are  two  annexions  to  these  two  circum- 
stances. 

To  the  voice,,audience.  This  voice  we  heard. 

To  the  place,  presence,  We  were  with  him. 

"  This  voice  which  came  from  heaven."  First  for 
the  vocal  part.  We  have  already  considered,  what 
this  voice  was,  and  from  whence  it  came.     Here  is 


ISO 


AN  EXPOSITION   UPON  THE 


("imp.  I. 


only  some  variation  of  the  latter  phrase :  there  it 
Wiis  "  from  the  excellent  glorj' ;"  nere  it  is  "  from 
heaven."  Now,  as  when  Paul,  speaking  of  his  rap- 
ture and  revelation,  says  in  one  place  that  he  was 
caught  up  to  the  third  heaven,  and  in  another,  into 
paradise,  2  Cor.  xii.  2,  4 ;  we  may  safely  infer,  that 
paradise  is  heaven,  a  place  of  infinite  joy  :  so  find- 
ing that  here  called  heaven,  which  was  before  called 
glory,  we  conclude  tliat  it  is  a  place  of  infinite  glory. 
The  earth  liad  many  cities,  only  Jerusalem  was  tlic 
holy  city  :  many  mountains,  but  Zion  was  the  mount 
of  joy  ;  "The  joy  of  the  whole  earth  is  Mount  Zion," 
Psal.  xlviii.  2.  The  courts  of  princes  have  glorious 
sliows,  only  the  court  of  God  hath  "  the  excellent 
glory."  The  Athenians  thought  all  the  world,  as 
barbarous  in  knowledge,  so  infamous  in  honour,  in  re- 
Bpect  of  Atliens;  therefore  they  would  go  heavily 
forth,  but  make  haste  home.  We  know  that  to  be 
Irae  of  our  counfr>',  what  they  dreamed  of  Atliens  : 
the  i)ridc  of  the  world  is  vanity  of  vanities,  the  mean- 
est of  heaven  is  glorj'  of  glories. 

Good  things  are  known  by  their  contraries,  where 
they  cannot  be  seen  in  their  own  perfections.  To 
contemplate  this  glorj-,  let  us  look  lower  than  liea- 
ven,  upon  earth;  lower  than  earth,  upon  hell;  and 
so  learn  to  judge  of  heaven. 

Look  upon  this  world,  what  is  found  in  it  but 
vanity,  which  is  evil  ?  misery,  which  is  worse  ? 
jniquity,  which  is  worst  of  all  ?  For  vanity  ;  there 
have  you  some  building  houses,  as  the  ostriches  lav 
i'ggs,  or  as  children  make  ovens,  to  bake  no  bread 
in:  there  is  vanity.  Another  wastes  his  time,  brains, 
means,  to  find  out  ridiculous  projects:  only  studies 
tricks ;  as  if  his  soul  could  be  made  happy  by  a  trick  : 
there  is  vanity.  Another  sweats,  not  for  riches,  which 
is  also  vain  ;  but  for  the  barren  air  of  empty  com- 
mendation, which  is  most  vain.  The  world  itself  is 
vanity,  and  a  mistress  that  makes  her  idolaters  most 
vain :  if  you  look  upon  her,  she  will  beguile  you  ; 
if  you  kiss  her,  she  will  bewitch  you.  For  miseries  : 
one  shakes  a  jiained  head,  another  roars  for  tlie  tor- 
ment of  his  reins,  a  third  complains  the  racking  of 
his  gouty  joints  ;  another  is  half  dead  with  a  palsv, 
that  it  may  be  said  of  him,  more  truly  than  of  sea- 
farers, he  is  neither  amongst  the  living  nor  amongst 
the  dead.  Which  of  this  whole  multitude  can  say 
he  is  so  well,  that  he  feels  no  distemper?  Show  me 
the  man  that  says  he  ails  nothing,  and  I  will  answer, 
that  he  is  in  most  danger  :  the  proximity  to  death  is 
the  insensibility  of  sickness.  Ingressus  debilia,  pro- 
gressus  labilis,  egresntn  fhbilix.  (Bern.')  Our  entrance 
is  full  of  wccikness,  our  proceeding  full  of  wickedness, 
our  departure  full  of  wretchedness.  If  thy  body  be 
hcaltliful,  doth  nothing  about  thy  estate,  tliy  friends, 
tliy  neighbours,  thy  children,  trouble  thee?"  Lastly, 
for  inifjuity ;  this  is  a  moral  corruption,  worse  than 
ihat  mortal  corruption.  There  fly  a  crew  of  oaths, 
like  night-ravens.  There  stalks  pride,  blustering 
through  tlie  streets  ;  the  language  of  whose  pace  is, 
AVlio  makes  me  ?  Drunkenness  is  reeling  to  the 
ground,  and  uneleanness  strives  to  hold  it  up.  Hy- 
pocrites dare  lie  God  in  tlie  face,  as  if  he  had  no  win- 
dow into  the  heart  ;  or  He  that  hath  eyes  like  a 
llanie  of  fire,  could  see  men  no  otherwise  from  heaven, 
llian  (he  lialf-cureil  man  in  tlie  gospel,  that  saw  them 
walking  like  trees.  Profane  persons  swear,  as  dogs 
bark,  not  ever  for  curstncss,  but  for  custom.  If  these 
external  offences  did  not  vex  thee,  yet  thou  hast 
«noiigh  at  home ;  ever  sinning,  before,  after,  yea, 
<  ven  while  thou  repentest.  None  of  these  conveni- 
ences are  in  heaven.  No  misery,  but  habitation  with 
God,  near  whom  sorrow  can  never  come.  No  vanity, 
for  the  former  things  are  passed  awav.  No  iniquit'v, 
for  God  shall  make  all  things  new,"  Kcv.  xxi.  3— '5. 


"  Blessed  are  they  which  are  called  unto  the  marriage 
supper  of  the  Lamb,"  Rev.  xix.  9.  Feasts  have  more 
than  ordinary  diet ;  marriage  feasts  more  than  common 
abundance.  This  exceeds  all ;  new  wine,  pure  manna, 
great  cheer,  and  an  answerable  welcome.  "  Eat,  O 
friends,  drink,  vea,  drink  abundantlv,  0  beloved," 
Cant.  V.  1.         ' 

Look  yet  lower,  and  considc  r  the  infernal  pit,  full  of 
liorror  and  amazedness  ;  where  is  no  remission  of 
sin,  no  dismission  of  pain,  no  intermission  of  sense, 
no  permission  of  conifort.  (Bern.)  Where  friend 
shall  cry  to  friend  ;  Percale,  dilacera  ;  infer  prunas, 
el  ebullientibus  impone  tebetibus.  That  Parisian  mas- 
sacre was  but  a  fence  school  to  this  bloody  field  :  yet 
think  of  that  dismal  cr\'  there ;  of  enemies  insulting 
and  butchering,  Kill,  kill  ;  of  innocents  suffering  and 
dying.  Save,  save.  But,  "  There  shall  be  weeping 
and  gnashing  of  teeth,"  Matt.  viii.  12.  Weeping, 
for  the  fire  that  never  shall  he  quenched  ;  gnashing 
of  teeth,  for  the  gnawing  worm  that  shall  never  be 
satisfied.  (Bern.)  Weeping  of  eyes,  the  effect  of  a 
passive  agony  ;  gnashing  of  teeth,  the  effect  of  an 
impatient  ftir)-.  (Gregor.)  If  the  rod  of  affliction 
which  scourgeth  the  dear  ones  of  God  be  so  smart, 
what  are  their  plagues,  in  whose  righteous  confusion 
God  insulteth;  "I  will  avenge  me  of  mine  enemies  !" 
Isa.  i.  24.  Bernard  observes  on  the  25th  of  St.  Mat- 
thew, That  the  blessed  are  first  called  to  the  king- 
dom, before  the  cursed  be  cast  into  thraldom  ;  that 
the  ungodly  may  be  the  more  vexed,  seeing  what 
joys  they  have  missed;  and  the  faithful  the  more 
solaced,  seeing  what  sorrows  they  have  escaped.  If 
our  mortal  eyes  were  suffered  to  view  the  horrors  of 
that  lake,  how  would  we  loathe  sin  which  only  can 
endanger  us  thither ! 

Thus  because  I  cannot  tell  you  what  heaven  is,  I 
have  showed  you  what  it  is  not.  For  the  pleasures 
of  that  place,  let  us  not  so  much  stand  to  examine 
what  they  be,  as  whether  they  belong  to  us.  Inqm're 
not  too  curiously  of  them,  as  Manoah  did  for  the 
angel's  name,  lest  thou  receive  such  a  snib  :  "  Why 
askest  thou  thus  after  my  name,  seeing  it  is  secret  ?" 
Judg.  xiii.  17.  18.  It  is  secret,  or  wonderful ;  the 
original  signifies  both.  So  this  excellient  glory  of 
heaven  is  both  wonderful  and  secret.  When  a  ser- 
vant was  carrying  a  covered  mess,  another  was  in- 
quisitive what  might  be  in  it :  the  bearer  answered,. 
To  what  end  then  was  it  covered  ?  The  covering  of 
this  mystery,  as  it  denies  intelligence,  so  it  forbids 
inquisition.  There  is  now  no  window  to  look  into 
it ;  there  is  a  door  for  our  foot  to  enter  into  it  :  let 
us  take  it  at  a  venture,  it  is  the  best  match  we  can 
make  ;  and  the  Lord  bring  us  to  it  through  the  merits 
of  .Jesus  Christ. 

"  We  heard  this  voice."  The  circumstance  an- 
nexed to  this  vocal  part,  is  audience ;  "  we  heard." 
Formerly  there  was  provision  for  the  eye,  now  God 
.supplies  the  ear  also.  There  we  have  seen  his  ma- 
jesty, here  we  have  heard  his  te-stimony.  The  object 
to  the  eye  was  the  glory  of  the  person  exhibited ; 
the  object  to  the  ear  was  the  voice  of  the  person  wit- 
nessing. These  are  the  two  principal  organs  of  sense ; 
an<l  the  wise  love  oC  God  by  the  exercise  of  them 
both,  brings  us  to  a  certain  persuasion  of  these  holy 
mysteries.  It  is  a  philosophical  question,  whether 
of  these  senses  be  better  in  itself.  To  answer  ac- 
cording to  nature,  certainly  the  sight  is  most  excel- 
lent ;  both  for  celerity  and  perspicacity,  quickness 
and  sharpness.  Segniiis  irn'lani  ani'mos  dimissa  per 
aures.  But  according  to  grace,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
soul,  hearing  far  esccUeth  ;  and  that  both  for  .ampli- 
tude and  altitude.  I.  For  amplitude.  We  sec  not 
many  things  in  comparison  of  them  we  hear.  Few 
can  say,  '"I  have  seen  all  the  works  that  are  done 


Ver.  18. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


181 


under  the  sun,"  Eccl.  i.  14.  Unless  he  mean  by  all 
works,  all  kind  of  works ;  or  by  vision,  considera- 
tion ;  as  there  certainly  Solomon  doth.  But  we  have 
lieard  wliat  Solomon  saw ;  a  large  inventory  of  world- 
\y  things,  tlic  total  sum  whereof  is  vanity.  The 
actions  and  events  of  former  times  are  brought  home 
to  us  by  liearing-,  whose  authors  and  agents  went  to 
darkness  before  we  came  to  light :  we  have  heard 
far  more  than  seen.  2.  For  altitude.  M'e  liave 
heard  higher  things  than  we  have  seen.  The  eye 
may  reach  almost  to  the  ceiling  of  this  lower  worhl, 
but  it  cannot  pierce  the  pavement  of  heaven.  The 
ear  hears  wliat  is  done  within  those  everlasting  doors ; 
that  God  beholds  our  thoughts,  and  accepts  his  Son's 
intercession  and  merits  for  us.  "  As  we  have  heard, 
-so  have  we  seen  in  tlie  city  of  our  God,"  Psal.  xlviii. 
8 :  first  heard,  then  afterwards  come  to  see.  "  Lo, 
we  heard  of  it  at  Ephratah,"  Psal.  cxxxii.  6,  a  strange 
land  ;  but  we  only  shall  see  it  in  Mount  Zion,  in 
the  glorious  kingdom  above.  Let  a  deaf  man  see 
some  new  and  strange  object,  the  husk,  colour, 
and  visible  part  is  only  apprehended  by  him  :  let 
his  ear  be  open  to  diseouree,  and  relation  shall  give 
him  the  intelligible  sense. 

The  queen  of  Sheba's  eye  was  pleased  with  Solo- 
mon's royalty,  but  her  ear  was  more  ravished  with  his 
wisdom  :  I  believed  not  the  report  of  thy  glor)-,  until 
mine  eyes  had  seen  it,  1  Kings  x.  7  ■  there  she  saw. 
But  the  thing  she  most  admired  and  blessed,  was  his 
wisdom,  let  into  her  soul  by  her  ear ;  Happy  are  they 
that  hear  thy  wisdom,  ver.  H.  "  Blessed  are  your  eyes, 
for  they  see,"  Matt.  xiii.  16;  that  was  proper  to  iht 
disciples :  "  Blessed  arc  your  ears,  for  they  hear  ;" 
that  blessing  is  left  to  us.  But  blessed  are  the  hearts 
that  understand  and  embrace,  this  is  the  height  of 
blessedness:  "  Blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen, 
and  yet  have  believed,"  John  xx.  29.  We  may  be- 
lieve without  seeing,  but  how  shall  we  believe  with- 
out hearing  ?  For  "  faith  conieth  by  hearing," 
Rom.  X.  17.  But  saith  Augustine,  Seeing  is  applied 
to  all  the  senses.  To  tasting;  "Taste  and  see  that 
the  Lord  is  good,"  Psal.  xxxiv.  S.  To  touching  or 
feeling ;  "  Thou  wilt  not  suffer  thine  Holy  One  to  sec 
corruption,"  Psal.  xvi.  10;  that  is,  to  feel  corruption. 
He  that  keeps  my  sayings,  "shall  never  see  death," 
John  viii.  51  ;  that  is,  feel  destraction.  To  suffer  is 
sensibly  to  feel,  yet  called,  to  see,  John  xx.  27, 
"Reach  hither  tliy  finger,  and  see  my  hands."  Had 
Thomas  his  eyes  in  his  fingers  ?  if  iiot,  then  seeing 
is  touching.  To  smelling  :  SnuU  and  sec  how 
sweet  the  flower  is.  Taste  and  see  how  well  the 
fruit  rclisheth.  Touch  and  see  how  I  am  wounded. 
So,  Hear  and  see  how  pleasant  the  music  is.  The 
phrase  is  not  unknown  to  the  Scriptures  ;  '•  1  turned 
to  see  the  voice  that  spake  with  me,"  Rev.  i.  12.  To 
see  the  voice,  for  the  person  that  utter  it.  Or  else, 
video  is  put  for  inlelligo;  I  see  mentally,  not  element- 
ally. "  The  man  of  wisdom  shall  see  thy  name," 
Micah  vi.  9,  that  is,  understand  it. 

The  eye  as  a  mere  organ  of  sense,  must  give  place 
to  the  ear.  Therefore  it  is  wittily  observed,  that  our 
Saviour  commanding  the  abscission  of  the  offending 
hand,  foot,  and  eye,  Mark  ix.  43 — 17,  yet  never  spake 
of  the  ear  :  If  thy  hand,  thy  foot,  or  thine  eye,  cause 
thee  to  offend,  deprive  thyself  of  them  ;  but  part  not 
with  thine  ear,  for  that  is  an  organ  to  derive  unto 
thy  soul  salvation.  As  Christ  says  there,  a  man 
may  enter  into  heaven,  lamed  in  his  feet,  as  Mephi- 
Irosheth,  blind  in  his  sight,  as  Bai-zillai,  maimed  in 
his  hand,  as  the  dry-handed  man  in  the  Gospel ;  but 
if  there  be  not  an  ear  to  hear  of  the  way,  there  will 
be  no  foot  to  enter  into  heaven.'  If  God'  be  not  first 
in  the  ear,  he  is  neither  sanctifiedly  in  the  mouth, 
nor  comfortably  in  the  heart.     The  Jews  had  eyes 


to  see  Christ's  miracles,  but  because  they  had  no 
ears  to  hear  his  wisdom,  therefore  they  had  no  feet 
to  enter  into  his  kingdom.  The  way  into  the  house 
is  by  the  door,  not  by  the  window :  the  eye  is  but 
the  window  of  the  heart,  the  ear  is  the  door.  Now 
Christ  stands  knocking  at  the  door,  not  at  the  win- 
dow. Rev.  iii.  20.  And  he  will  not  come  in  at  the 
window,  but  at  the  door ;  "  He  that  entercth  in  by 
tile  door  is  the  shepherd  of  the  sheep,"  John  x.  2. 
He  comes  now  in  by  his  oracles,  not  by  his  miracles; 
"  To  him  the  porter  openeih ;  and  the  sheep  hear 
his  voice,"  ver.  3.  The  way  to  open  and  let  him  in, 
is  by  the  ear;  to  hear  his  voice.  There  was  a  man 
in  the  Gospel  blind  and  deaf:  blind  eyes  is  ill;  but 
deaf  ears,  worse.  It  is  bad  to  have  the  eyes  seeled, 
but  worse  to  have  the  ears  sealed  up. 

Open  your  ears  therefore  to  this  heavenly  voice. 
Bernard  hath  this  description  of  a  good  ear  ;  Which 
willingly  hears  what  is  taught,  wisely  understands 
what  it  heareth,  and  obediently  practises  what  it  un- 
derstandeth.  O  give  me  such  an  ear,  and  I  will  hang 
on  it  jewels  of  gold,  ornaments  of  praises.  "  I  will 
hear  what  God  the  Lord  will  speak,"  Psal.  Ixxxv.  B. 
We  have  those  will  hear  what  a  tempting  harlot  can 
say  for  luxury,  what  a  false  prophet  can  say  in  the 
behalf  of  usury,  what  a  lawyer  can  say  in  the  behalf 
of  sacrilege,  what  a  factious  schismatic  can  say  for 
separation,  w'liat  a  Jesuited  seminary  can  say  for 
treason.  Christ  promised  his  presence  to  all  those 
that  are  assembled  in  his  name:  these  meet  not  in 
the  name  of  Christ,  but  of  antichrist.  Where  in- 
stead of  the  flowers  of  God's  garden,  they  gather  the 
poisonous  weeds  of  the  forest ;  and  the  devil  gets  in 
at  the  Lord's  door.  I  may  say  of  these  convents, 
confederating  to  mischiefs,  what  Chrysostom  said  of 
the  virgin  possessed  by  the  devil  at  a  theatre.  When 
God  rebuked  him.  How  durst  thou  be  so  bold  as  to 
enter  into  my  house  ?  Satan  answers.  Because  I 
found  her  in  my  house.  In  the  congregation  of 
saints,  the  Holy  Ghost  enters  in,  and  the  devil  is  cast 
out ;  but  in  these  houses  of  sedition,  and  places  of 
malicious  error,  the  company  of  sinners  and  seducers, 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  shut  out,  and  the  devil  is  let  in. 
I  know  that  the  common  streets  are  not  free  from 
offences  to  honest  ears  ;  but  it  is  one  thing  to  hear 
things  that  are  to  be  hated,  and  another  thing  to 
listen  after  things  that  are  not  to  be  heard.  Be- 
tween finding  evil  against  our  wills,  and  seeking  evil 
with  our  delights,  there  is  great  difference:  "  Woe 
is  me,  that  I  sojourn  in  ^lesech ;  that  I  dwell  in  the 
tents  of  Kedar!"  Psal.  cxx.  5.  Bless  yourselves  from 
Mesech,  but  love  Mount  Zion  :  there  are  the  songs 
of  peace.  Thus  after  hearing  the  voice  of  God  from 
heaven,  you  shall  come  to  hear  the  voice  of  God  in 
heaven.  You  have  heard  hosannas,  you  shall  hear 
hallelujahs :  here,  God  praised  by  his  ministers ; 
there,  praised  by  his  angels.  There  we  shall  both 
hear  others,  and  bear  a  part  ourselves,  in  the  ever- 
lasting praises  of  God,  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

"  When  we  were  with  him  in  the  holy  mount." 
We  are  come  to  the  local  part  :  what  this  mount 
was,  and  how  holy,  we  shall  hear  presently.  First, 
consider  the  adjacent  circumstance,  "  we  were  with 
him."  The  voice  had  their  audience,  the  mount 
their  presence :  aiv  alinp,  with  him.  Oh  blessedness 
to  be  with  Christ !  What  meant  Peter  to  be  ashamed 
of  this,  when  the  damsel  said,  This  man  was  with 
Jesus?  Matt.  xxvi.  /I.  What!  deny  to  be  with  Je- 
sus? Alas,  it  was  his  weakness  then :  afterward  he 
was  so  glad  to  be  with  him,  that  he  was  content  to 
die  for  liim ;  he  refused  not  the  sharp  and  bloody 
way  of  martyrdom,  to  be  with  Jesus.  What  meant 
Nicodemus  to  be  with  him  only  by  night,  as  if  he 
feared  to  be  seen  in  his  company  by  day  ?     Shall  a 


I^ 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THK 


Chap.  I. 


man  fear  his  joy,  his  comfort,  his  salvation  ?  Marj' 
Magdiilene  so  longed  to  be  with  him,  that  she  was 
not  where  she  was,  for  her  whole  heart  was  witli 
liim.  I  had  rather  at  all  not  he,  than  to  be  without 
Christ.  It  is  impossible  (o  be  with  him,  and  to  be 
without  comfort.  When  they  saw  their  boldness,  and 
miraculous  working,  they  marvelled,  and  took  know- 
ledge of  them,  that  they  had  been  with  Jesus,  Acts 
iv.  13.  If  there  be  courage  of  zeal  and  peace  of  con- 
science in  men,  we  may  well  conclude  they  have 
been  with  Jesus.  When  Gehazi  went  from  Elisha, 
he  presently  fell  into  sin :  so  do  all  they  that  keep 
not  with  Christ.  With  him  is  comfort  and  peace  ; 
Lord,  whither  shall  we  go  from  thee  ?  ihou  hast  the 
words  of  eternal  life,  Jolm  vi.  C8. 

"  When  we  were  with  him  in  the  holy  mount." 
Our  Saviour  had  foretold  the  great  gloiy  and  power 
of  his  second  coming,  to  the  comfort  of  his  servants, 
to  the  terror  and  conviction  of  his  enemies ;  "  The  Son 
of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father  with 
his  angels ;  and  then  shall  he  reward  every  man  ac- 
cording to  his  works,"  Matt.  xvi.  27.  There  is  his 
justice,  and  the  distribution  of  his  justice.  "  He 
shall  reward  every  man,"  there  is  his  justice :  kutu 
Ti'iv  TTpaJiv,  "  according  to  his  works,"  there  is  the 
distribution  of  his  justice.  It  is  distinguished  plainly, 
Matt.  XXV.  46 ;  to  them  that  have  done  ill,  everlast- 
ing punishment ;  to  them  that  have  done  well,  life 
eternal.  Now  lest  his  disciples  should  doubt  of  that 
gloiy,  which  he  hath  ascribed  to  himself  at  his 
second  appearing,  and  stagger  at  the  ignominy  of 
his  present  estate;  immediately  upon  it  he  makes 
them  a  promise,  that  they  should  see  it,  or  at  least  a 
glimpse  and  abridgement  of  it ;  that  so  enjoying  this 
vision,  they  might  more  confidently  and  authorita- 
tively give  their  testimony  to  it.  "  There  be  some 
standing  here,  which  shall  not  taste  of  death,  till 
they  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  his  kingdom." 
And  this  promise  is  prefixed  by  the  thi-ee  evangelists, 
that  record  this  story,  immediately  before  Christ's 
transfiguration  on  the  mount,  Matt.  xvi.  28  ;  Mark 
ix.  1 ;  Luke  ix.  27.  AVhich  words  of  Christ  have 
divers  expositions.  Some  take  it  meant  of  his  glori- 
ous resurrection,  as  if  the  sense  were  thus  :  There  be 
some  standing  here,  that  shall  not  die  till  they  see 
the  Son  of  man  in  his  glory,  and  conquest  of  sin  and 
death.  Some,  not  all,  for  this  must  exclude  Judas  : 
all  the  rest  of  the  apostles,  but  only  Judas,  did  live 
to  see  it.  Bede  and  some  others  take  it,  for  the  en- 
largement of  his  church.  As  if  this  were  the  sense : 
There  be  some  standing  here,  that  shall  live  to  see 
my  kingdom  flourish,  and  spread  powerftilly  over  the 
face  of  tlie  earth ;  and  the  despised  name  of  Jesus  to 
command  the  sceptres  of  kings  and  reign  over  the 
dominations  of  the  earth.  Some  understand  by  it 
the  last  coming  to  judgment ;  as  if  there  were  some 
apostles  yet  living,  and  that  should  live  unto  the 
latter  day;  because  he  says,  Some  stand  here  that 
shall  not  die,  till  they  see  this  gloiy.  But  that 
opinion  as  frivolous,  hath  always  been  exploded,  ex- 
cluded. The  last,  best,  and  most  agreeable  to  I  lie 
history,  and  context  of  tlie  Scripture,  is  to  understand 
it  eoueeming  his  transfiguration,  which  immediately 
iollows.  This  was  clearly  promised,  manifestly 
performed,  and  the  concealment  of  it  for  a  time  com- 
manded. Matt.  xvii.  9.  This  Christ  promised  under 
the  form  of  an  oath,  Amen,  verily  1  say  unto  you. 
Tliere  are  certain  circumstances  of  this  transfigura- 
tion inlierent  in  the  text ;  otheradhcrent  to  it,  which 
we  will  borrow  from  the  evangelists,  and  so  makeup 
the  discourse.     The  points  are, 

The  time,  when  this  was  done. 

The  place,  where  this  was  done. 

The  manner,  how  this  was  done. 


The  witnesses,  before  whom  this  was  done. 

The  event,  that  followed  this  being  done. 

The  time,  to  expound  our  apostle's  when,  is  ex- 
pressed, Matt.  xvii.  1,  and  Mark  ix.  2,  "After  six 
days."  Only  St.  Luke,  chap.  ix.  28,  seems  to  differ 
from  them ;  for  he  says  "  eight  days  after."  Now 
between  six  days  and  eight  days  there  seems  to  be 
some  difference  of  the  time.  St.  Hierome  easily 
reconciles  them  thus  :  Matthew  and  Mark  speak 
only  of  the  intcnenient  days,  that  went  between  the 
promise  and  the  performance.  Lidie  adds  both  the 
first  day,  in  which  he  promised  it,  and  the  last  day, 
in  which  he  pcrfonnecf  it.  Eight  days  exclusively  ; 
six  days  inclusively.  Some,  mystically,  by  these  six 
days  understand  the  six  ages  of  the  world,  as  they 
call  th.cm ;  which  being  past,  we  shall  come  to  that 
glorious  vision  of  our  Lord  Jesus  in  heaven.  But 
why  did  not  Christ  presently  vouchsafe  to  his  disci- 
ples this  sight,  but  defer  the  peiformance  of  it  till 
six  days  after  the  promise  ?  C'hrysostom  answers  j 
He  deferred  it  to  increase  their  desires  before  it  came, 
their  joys  when  it  came.  To  inflame  their  desires, 
for  tilings  easily  come  by  are  little  set  by.  To  in- 
crease their  joys,  for  that  which  hath  been  long 
detained  is  at  last  more  sweetly  obtained.  Moreover, 
if  Christ  after  the  promise  of  this  vision,  had  imme- 
diately singled  out  some  to  the  participation  of  it, 
this  would  have  bred  envy  and  gnidging  in  the  rest, 
who  were  apt  enough  to  quarrel  about  such  busi- 
nesses. That  extraordinaiy  gracing  of  some,  would 
have  been  held  a  disparagement  to  all  the  rest. 
Therefore  as  Clirist  concealed  their  names  in  the  pro- 
mise, Some  of  these,  not  naming  who  they  were ;  so 
for  six  days  he  deferred  the  performance,  that  with- 
out emulation  of  the  rest,  he  might  give  satisfaction 
to  them  he  had  chosen. 

The  place  is  delivered  in  the  text,  "the  holy 
mount."  St.  Matthew  says  it  was  a  high  mountain ; 
St.  Peter,  a  holy  mountain.  By  common  consent 
this  mountain  was  Tabor,  though'  it  be  not  nomina- 
tively  expressed  in  Scripture  ;  a  fair  hill  in  the 
territory  of  Galilee,  of  so  wonderful  a  roundness, 
that  you  would  think  rather  art  than  nature  had 
fashioned  it.  The  ascent  of  it  was  thirty  furlongs  ; 
it  was  a  sea-mark  to  mariners.  It  was  full  of  herbs, 
fniits,  flowers,  fountains.  Thus  it  was  high  and  con- 
spicuous for  situation,  fertile  by  condition,  and  lastly, 
holy,  by  this  most  holy  apparition.  (Hicron.)  True 
it  is,  that  all  places  are  of  their  own  nature  equal ; 
nor  is  one  more  wortliy  or  more  holy  than  another, 
but  by  the  accession  of  some  special  blessings  and 
lirivileges.  ^^^lithersoeTer  the  Lord  comes,  that  is 
the  fountain  of  holiness,  such  is  the  odour  and  per- 
fume of  his  gracious  presence,  that  he  .sanctifies  the 
place.  It  was  his  presence  which  caused  Jacob  to 
turn  Luz  into  Bethel;  "  Tliis  is  none  other  but  the 
house  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven,"  Gen. 
xxviii.  17.  So  God  himself  testified  to  Moses  in 
lloreb,  "  The  place  whereon  thou  standest  is  Iwly 
ground,"  Exod.  iii.  5.  And  the  captain  of  the  Lord's 
liost  to  Joshua,  "  Loose  thy  shoe  from  off  thy  foot ; 
for  the  place  wlierr;  u  thou  standest  is  holy,"  Josh. 
V.  15.  'Thus  became  this  mount  holy:  there  being 
God,  the  Father  of  holiness,  heard  speaking;  Christ, 
tliat  Holy  of  holies,  by  liis  body  for  that  time  glo- 
rified ;  Moses  and  Elias.  those  holy  saints ;  Peter 
James,  and  Jolm,  those  holy  apostles;  needs  must 
this  mount  be  holy.  Nicepho'rus  writeth,  that  Helena 
built  upon  that  hill  a  cathedral  church,  and  dedicated 
it  to  St.  Peter.  And  in  process  of  time,  others  also 
added  two  monasteries,  endowed  with  fair  revenues; 
in  allusion  or  answer  to  Peter's  desire,  "  Let  us  build 
here  three  tabernacles."  But  now  there  is  not  left 
any  (so  much  as)  ruin,  to  tell   the  passenger,  Here 


VeR.    18. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


183 


stood  such  monuments;  and  that  holy  mountain  is 
become  ;i  habitation  for  wolves  and  foxes.  Jerome 
upon  Hosca,  writes  liberally  of  this  mount,  and  calls 
it  Thabor.  "  Tabor  and  Il'ermon  shall  rejoice  in  thy 
name,"  Psal.  Ixxxix.  12.  It  had  canse  to  rejoice, 
when  it  bore  the  glorious  person  of  Jesus  Christ. 
He  interprets  it  to  signify,  "  Light  coming."  Not 
unfitly,  tliat  Christ,  who  is  the  Light  of  the  world, 
upon  a  mountain  of  light,  should  gire  remonstrance 
of  that  glorious  hght  of  his  majesty.  But  why  did 
our  Saviour  choose  a  mountain  for  this  apparition, 
wliy  not  rather  a  valley  ?  True  glory  is  not  to  be 
sought  in  the  low  bottoms  of  this  world ;  but  on  high : 
"  Set  your  affections  on  things  above,  where  Christ 
sitteth'on  the  right  hand  of  God,"  Col.  iii.  1,  2.  All 
that  come  to  God's  gloi-y,  must  ascend  on  high : 
"Who  shall  ascend  into  the  hill  of  the  Lord?"  Psal. 
xxiv.  3.  The  devil  took  Christ  into  a  mountain, 
when  he  showed  him  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and 
the  glory  of  them.  So  our  Saviour  took  his  apostles 
lip  into  a  mountain,  when  he  showed  them  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  and  glory  of  the  world  to  come.  Moses 
went  up  to  a  mountain  to  speak  with  the  Lord  ; 
now  the  Lord  goes  up  to  a  mountain  to  speak  with 
Moses. 

The  manner  is  set  down;  he  "was  transfigured 
before  them  ;  and  his  face  did  shine  as  the  sun,  and 
his  raiment  was  white  as  the  light,"  Matt.  xvii.  2. 
Some  are  of  opinion,  that  this  clarity  was  in  the  air 
about  him,  not  in  the  body  of  Christ ;  but  that  is 
false,  for  himself  was  transfigiired,  not  the  air  about 
him.  Some  have  said  that  his  ver)'  substance  was 
changed  from  mortality  to  immortality  for  the  time ; 
but  tnat  is  false,  for  transfiguration  is  properly  from 
one  figure  to  another,  notfrom  one  nature  to  another. 
Some  say,  this  transition  was  not  by  any  change  into 
that  which  was  not  before,  but  by  a  manifestation  of 
that  which  was  (not  revealed)  before.  These  aliirm, 
that  Clirist  took  from  his  mother  an  immortal  and 
impassible  body  :  but  this  is  a  most  impossible  opi- 
nion. How  then  could  this  be  ?  If  Christ  rcser^-ed 
mortality,  how  was  he  capable  of  glory  ?  If  he  took 
immortality,  then  was  there  a  change  of  his  substance. 
Neither,  but  only  a  change  of  his  form.  And  why 
is  this  impossible  to  his  miraculous  hand  ?  He  that 
could  show  his  scars  in  a  body  immortal,  why  not  also 
liis  glory  in  a  Ixidy  mortal  ?  "  The  fashion  of  his  coun- 
tenance was  altered,"  Luke  ix.  29.  There  is  a  change, 
not  of  his  person,  but  of  his  look:  not  yet  is  it  said,  his 
countenance,  but  the  fashion  of  his  countenance  ;  not 
alia,  ned  altera,  that  is  allerata.  This  was  done  by  the 
clarity  that  was  in  his  body,  as  in  the  very  subject. 
This  splendour  was  after  one  manner  in  his  body, 
after  another  in  his  garment.  In  his  body  intrinsic- 
ally and  inherently;  in  his  garment  by  an  external 
whiteness  poured  upon  it.  "  His  face  did  shine  as 
the  sun."  The  sun  is  the  cause  of  shining ;  ascrib- 
ing to  Christ  the  greatest  degree  of  splendour  that 
our  understandings  can  apprehend.  Not  as  the 
brightness  of  the  sun,  but  as  the  sun  itself.  "  His 
garments  were  white  as  the  light."  The  light  is  the 
cause  of  whiteness,  and  whiteness  is  received  and 
perceived  by  ilie  benctit  of  light.  St.  Mark  says, 
ihey  were  ••white  as  snow;"  and  what  can  be 
« liitcr  ?  Thus  our  Lord  Jesus  put  off  his  despicable 
form,  wherein  he  was  contemned  of  the  world  ;  and 
ihe  veil  of  his  humble  mortality,  wherewith  his  glory 
was  shadowed  :  yet  as  he  retained  the  same  garments, 
^t>  he  put  not  off  the  same  substance.  Only  he  put 
majesty  upon  his  countenance,  his  habit,  his  whole 
body;  that  he  might  give  his  apostles  a  show  of  their 
future  glory.  So  shall  the  faithful  one  day  shine  ; 
as  the  stars,  Dan.  xii.  3;  as  the  sun.  Matt.  xiii.  43. 
For  Christ  "shall  change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may 


be  fashioned  like  unto  his  glorious  body,"  Phil, 
iii.  21. 

The  witnesses  before  whom  this  was  done  were  of 
two  sorts ;  some  that  Christ  took  with  him,  others  that 
met  him.  The  disciples  he  took  with  him  were 
three,  Peter,  James,  and  John;  a  number  able  to 
give  a  sound  and  sufficient  testimony.  Here  two 
(lucstions  are  moved ;  first,  why  Christ  chose  but 
tlircc?  secondly,  why  only  these  three?  Why  three 
and  no  more  ?  why  these  three  and  no  other  ?  First, 
why  but  three  ?  To  show  unto  us,  that  few  are 
chosen.  God  doth  not  reveal  his  glorious  mysteries  to 
all,  but  to  some  whom  his  own  good  pleasure  calleth 
and  cuUeth  out  :  God  did  show  him  openly,  "  not  to 
all  the  people,  but  unto  witnesses  chosen  before  of 
God,"  Acts  X.  41 .  Besides,  three  can  give  a  sulHcient 
testimony  :  In  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses 
every  matter  shall  be  established,  Deut.  xix.  15  ; 
Matt,  xviii.  IG.  Next,  why  these  three,  and  none  of 
the  rest  ?  I.  I  do  not  answer  with  Fevardentius,  be- 
cause these  three  were  the  (lower  and  prime  of  all 
Chnst's  apostles,  and  the  princes  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, I  never  read  that  Christ  gave  unto  them  any 
such  prerogative  or  superexcellency  above   the  rest. 

2.  Nor  do  1  fetch  an  answer  from  the  mystery  of 
their  names,  with  Gorrhan.  He  that  will  see  the 
glory  of  God,  must  be  a  Peter,  to  acknowledge  Christ 
by  faith  :  a  James,  to  supplant  sin;  a  John,  to  work 
good  by  the  grace  of  God.  For  in  these  three,  to 
believe  that  is  true,  to  root  out  that  is  evil,  and  to 
practise   that    is  good,   he   placeth   all    perfection. 

3.  Nor  yet  do  I  answer,  because  these  tnree  were 
more  eminent  in  virtue  and  graces  than  the  rest. 
Three  sorts  of  men  are  qualified  to  see  God  :  such  as 
love  him :  If  a  man  love  me,  I  will  love  him,  and  I 
mil  manifest  myself  to  him,  John  xiv.  21.  Such  as 
are  humble  :  "Thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the 
prudent,  <ind  hast  revealed  them  unto  babes,"  Matt. 
xi.  25.  Such  as  are  of  a  pure  heart  and  clean  life : 
"  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart ;  for  they  shall  see 
God,"  Matt.  V.  8.  "  To  him  that  ordere'th  his  con- 
versatiou  aright,  will  T  show  the  salvation  of  God," 
Psal.  1.  23.  These  are  all  gracious  (pialities ;  and 
with  them  were  the  rest  of  the  apostles  as  truly 
sanctified,  that  were  not  here  admitted.  4.  What,  was 
it  then  because  Christ  did  love  these  three  above  the 
rest  ?  Indeed  his  love  was  great  to  John ;  and  there- 
fore among  all  his  honourable  titles,  he  mentioneth 
that  ever  in  the  first  place,  "  The  disciple  whom  Jesus 
loved."  But  his  love  to  John  was  greater  by  way  of 
extension,  not  by  way  of  intent  ion.  He  showed  more 
signs  of  familiarity  to  him  than  to  the  rest  of  the 
company,  but  he  ecpially  loved  and  prized  them  all. 
5.  Because  the  wisdom  and  unquestionable  goodness 
of  God  chose  them  out,  and  accepted  them  to  the  par- 
ticipation of  his  secrets.  Thrice  he  called  out  those 
three,  and  made  them  witnesses  to  three  great  works. 
The  first  was  to  the  raising  of  Jairus's  daughter. 
"  He  suffered  no  man  to  follow  him,  save  Peter,  and 
James,  and  John,"  Mark  v.  3/.  He  did  put  forth 
the  mourners,  the  musicians,  the  people,  and  left  be- 
hind the  rest  of  the  apostles ;  only  these  three  he  ad- 
mitted. The  next  election  was  to  this  glorious  trans- 
figuration ;  singularly  the  same  three  again.  The 
last  was  to  his  agony  in  the  garden  ;  he  charging  his 
disciples  to  stay,  "taketh  with  him  Peter  and  James 
and  John,  and  began  to  be  sore  amazed,"  Mark  xiv. 
33.  He  made  them  three  particularly  witnesses,  in 
the  first  work,  of  his  power ;  in  the  second,  of  his 
majesty;  in  the  last,  of  his  agony.  6.  Lastly,  if  men 
may  give  any  reason  of  the  Lord's  actions,  whose 
wisdom  is  unsearchable,  I  do  not  think  that  Christ 
chose  them  because  they  were  more  excellent  than 
the  rest,  but  rather  because  they  were  more  weak 


184 


AX  EXPOSITION  ITOX  THE 


Chap.   I. 


than  the  rest.  It  was  to  help  their  infirmity,  and  to 
strengthen  them  in  the  assurance  of  their  Master  and 
Saviour's  glory. 

The  company  that  came  from  heaven,  were  Moses 
and  Elias.  Some  have  thought  that  these  did  not 
appear  truly  and  personally,  but  angels  in  their 
likeness  ;  but  that  is  a  manifest  error,  for  themselves 
appeared,  not  angels  in  their  similitude.  Some  are 
of  another  opinion,  that  they  did  not  only  appear  per- 
sonally, but  that  in  their  veiy  bodies  with  their  souls. 
Because  it  is  said  that  Elias  was  taken  up,  and  no 
man  knew  what  became  of  Moses'  body,  which  occa- 
sioned that  disputation  betwixt  the  archangel  and 
the  devil,  Jude  9.  But  it  is  most  plain  that  the 
body  of  Moses  was  buried  "  in  a  valley  in  the  land 
of  Moab,  over  against  Beth-peor;  "though  "  no  man 
knowcth  of  his  sepulchre  unto  this  day,"  Dcut. 
xxxiv.  6.  Neither  are  all  of  that  opinion,  that  the 
very  body  of  Elias  was  taken  up  into  heaven ;  some 
be  persuaded  there  is  no  human  body  in  heaven,  but 
the  body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  only :  "  No  man  hath 
ascended  up  to  heaven,  but  he  that  came  down  from 
heaven,"  John  iii.  13.  But  here  it  is  questioned, 
why  did  Moses  and  Elias  appear,  rather  than  David 
and  Abraham,  from  whose  loins  Christ  Jesus  came, 
and  who  were  so  famous  among  the  people  ?  Reasons. 

To  omit,  that  those  three  great  fasters  met  toge- 
ther, Moses,  Elias,  and  Christ ;  each  of  them  having 
fasted  forty  days  and  forty  nights ; 

1.  To  manifest  a  diflerence  between  the  Lord  and 
the  servants.  Moses  and  Elias  were  of  high  esteem 
with  the  Jews,  Christ  not  regarded,  a  man  of  no 
repute  among  them ;  therefore  he  would  now  show 
that  he  was  the  Lord,  and  they  but  the  ser\'ants  to 
wait  upon  him  :  that  he  was  not  Elias,  but  the  God 
of  Elias;  not  Jeremiah,  but  he  that  sanctified  Jere- 
miah J  not  one  of  the  prophets,  but  the  Lord  of  the 
prophets,  that  sent  them. 

2.  If  it  be  granted  that  Moses  was  dead,  and  that 
Elias  died  not ;  this  declareth  that  Christ  is  the  Sa- 
viour of  both  quick  and  dead,  whether  of  men  living 
with  Elias,  or  dead  as  Moses.  To  manifest  that  he 
hath  the  power  both  of  life  and  death  ;  both  living 
Elias  and  dead  Moses  are  brought,  both  saved  by 
this  Jesus  Christ. 

3.  To  come  nearer  home :  Moses  was  called  the 
lawgiver,  and  Elias  was  (after  a  sort)  the  law-restorer ; 
now  the  Jews  traduced  Christ  for  a  law-breaker. 
Their  common  imputation  against  him  was,  that  he 
transgressed  the  law,  and  was  contrary  to  the  j)ro- 
phets.  Therefore  he  was  content  to  be  put  to  his 
purgation  and  to  justify  himself:  "  Think  not  that 
I  am  come  to  destroy  the  Law,  or  the  I'rojdiets :  I 
am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil,"  Matt.  v.  17. 
And  for  a  further  testimony  of  this,  Moses  that 
brought  the  law,  and  Elias  that  revived  the  law, 
witness  that  lie  was  obedient  to  the  law.  "  God  sent 
forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law, 
to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,"  Gal.  iv.  4. 

4.  They  meet  that  brought  the  law,  with  Christ 
that  brought  the  gospel  ;  to  show  that  law  and  gos- 
pel must  be  joined  together.  But  we  are  freed  by 
Christ  from  the  law?  1  answer,  there  is  a  double 
<ibligation  of  the  law;  the  obligation  of  penalty,  and 
tile  oldigation  of  duty.  We  are  freed  from  the  obli- 
salion  of  penalty,  but  not  from  the  obligation  of 
duty.  "  Let  every  one  that  nameth  the  name  of 
Christ  depart  from  iniipiity,"  2  Tim.  ii.  19.  He 
hath  taken  from  the  law  all  power  to  condenm  <is, 
but  not  all  power  to  rule  us.  We  must  still  serve 
God  according  to  his  law,  <u-  he  will  not  save  us  ac- 
cording to  his  gospel.  Our  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  our  obedience  to  the  law,  must  be  joined  logc- 
llicr,  as  Moses  and  Christ  met  upon  the  mountain. 


"  Tlie  law  was  given  by  Moses,  but  grace  and  truth 
came  by  Jesus  Christ,"  John  i.  17. 

5.  To  show  that  this  was  the  true  Messias,  to  whoni/ 
botli  law  and  prophets  bare  witness.  Moses  in  tbp 
law,  as  it  is  cited  by  St.  Peter;  "A  prophet  shall  '/he 
Lord  your  God  raise  up  unto  you  among  your  bre- 
thren, like  unto  me  ;  him  shall  ye  hear  in  all  things," 
Acts  iii.  2"2.  And  Elias  instead  of  all  the  prophets, 
wlio  was  the  clearest  of  all  the  prophets.  Now  that 
trath  is  sus])eeted,  which  barely  testifieth  of  itself. 
(Ambros.)  Therefore  as  Christ  had  three  witnesses 
from  the  earth,  Peter,  James,  and  John ;  so  he  had 
three  from  heaven,  the  voice  of  the  Father,  Moses, 
and  Elias ;  that  now  he  which  fulfilled  both  the  Tes- 
taments, might  enjoy  both  the  testimonies. 

6.  Lastly,  Christ  i)roposed  two  such  famous  men 
as  Moses  and  Elias  to  his  apostles  for  patterns,  that 
their  spirits  might  be  well  tempted  in  them.  Closes, 
a  man  most  meek  on  the  earth  ;  Eli;is,  a  man  exceed- 
ing zcaliius.  Twice  he  doubles  this  testimony  of 
himself,  "  I  have  been  very  jealous  for  the  Lord  God 
of  hosts,"  1  Kings  xix.  10,  14.  He  had  such  a  sacred 
fire  of  zeal  in  his  heart  upon  earth,  that  God  advanced 
him  in  a  chariot  of  fire  into  heaven.  Therefore  are 
these  two  brought  hither,  that  the  apostles  might 
learn  to  mix  Moses'  meekness  with  Elias'  ferventness. 
Yet  this  rare  and  excellent  composition  they  forgot ; 
when  they  could  not  be  entertained  in  a  Samaritan 
village,  say  James  and  John,  (and  that,  as  it  seems, 
not  long  after  their  descending  from  the  mount,) 
"  Lord,  wilt  thou  that  we  command  fire  from  heaven 
to  consume  them,  as  Elias  did?"  Luke  ix.  54. 
There  they  thought  of  Elias,  but  forgot  Moses  ;  they 
had  too  much  of  the  one's  fire,  but  too  little  of  the 
other's  water;  zeal  enough,  but  without  the  mercy 
of  meekness.  Again,  at  the  apprehension  of  Clirist, 
when  Peter  denied  him,  and  all  the  rest  fled  from 
him,  there  they  had  too  much  of  Moses,  but  forgot 
the  spirit  of  Elias ;  they  had  meekness  enough,  but 
wanted  zeal ;  both  together  make  a  good  temper. 

The  events  or  consequents  of  this  transfiguration, 
are  these.  First,  the  testimony  of  the  Father  from 
heaven,  which  came  out  of  a  bright  cloud  oversha- 
dowing them.  It  was  from  a  cloud,  saith  Chrysostom, 
that  they  might  the  more  confidently  receive  it  for 
the  voice  of  God,  who  was  wont  to  speak  to  their 
fathers  iu  a  cloud:  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,"  &c. 
They  could  formerly  see  his  mother  poor,  his  sui>- 
jiosed  father  labouring  for  his  living,  Christ  himself 
liungry,  thirsty,  weary,  despised.  Therefore  now 
they  hear  a  voice  from  heaven  to  make  amends  for 
all ;  recompensing  his  supposed  baseness  with  attri- 
Imtes  of  great  gloiy.  God  speaking  that  to  him, 
which  he  never  spake  to  any,  "  This  is  my  Son." 
Not  to  the  angels;  "  Unto  which  of  the  angels  said 
he  at  any  time.  Thou  art  my  Son  ?  "  Ileb.  i.  5.  Christ 
was  shortly  to  die,  and  to  suffer  hard  and  unjust 
usage  of  his  enemies;  and  all  this  in  humility  to 
bear.  Therefore  now  he  shows  his  power  before  his 
passion,  his  glory  before  his  injur)-,  his  honour  before 
lie  come  to  feel  his  horror;  that  when  they  should 
afterwards  see  him  taken,  bound,  scourged,  scorned, 
crucified,  buried,  they  might  then  know  and  s;iy,  that 
this  was  effected  not  by  reason  of  their  power  over 
him,  but  by  reason  of  his  patience  under  them ;  not 
because  tliey  could  inflict  it,  but  because  he  would 
sufler  it ;  not  by  a  miserable  necessity,  but  by  his 
own  gracious  mercv.  (August.) 

Another  event  was  St.  Peter's  counsel.  The  point 
whereof  Moses  and  Elias  conferred  with  Christ,  was 
concerning  "  his  decease,  which  he  should  accom- 
plish at  Jerusalem:"  Peter  hearing  this  news  of  his 
Master's  death,  and  that  by  the  testimony  of  two 
such  famous  prophets,  he  thinks  it  good  to  provide 


Ver.  18. 


SFX'ONI)  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


Ifi5 


betimes  for  his  safety.  Such  a  course  he  had  former- 
ly attempted  ;  "  Be  it  far  from  thee,  Lord  :  this  shall 
not  be  unto  thee,"  Matt.  xvi.  22.  But  Christ's  re- 
buke was  then  so  sharp,  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Sa- 
tan," that  Peter  durst  no  more  in  plain  tenns  advise 
him  again  to  that  favouring  of  himself.  Therefore 
now  he  doth  it  covertly,  and  by  involved  insinuation. 
"  Lord,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  lure :"  we  are  now 
in  a  safe  place  ;  a  mountain  high,  sure,  solitary, 
pleasant ;  guarded  by  the  company  of  two  such  po- 
tent men  ;  a  cloud  to  compass  us,  glory  to  sustain 
us,  delight  to  content  us.  I^et  us  tarry  here,  where 
no  harm  can  find  us  out.  Were  it  not  madness  to 
leave  a  place  of  such  security,  and  expose  thyself  to 
the  fury  of  thine  adversaries  ?  It  is  good  to  be  here. 
But  alas,  it  was  his  error;  for  if  this  were  to  have 
been  a  permanent  and  durable  glon,-,  Peter  should 
not  have  called  for  tabernacles,  but  for  mansions. 
"  Let  us  build  here  three  tabeniacles,"  movable  tilts? 
No;  fundamental  and  constant  habitations.  What 
sayest  thou,  Peter?  doth  the  whole  world  perish, 
and  must  fire  bum  it  all,  .-ind  eallest  thou  only  for  a 
mountain  ?  (August.)  His  error  was  both  ways  cul- 
pable ;  either  to  seek  his  country  in  the  way,  or  a 
tabernacle  in  his  country.  If  he  knew  this  to  be  but 
the  earth,  why  doth  he  seek  for  heaven  upon  it?  if 
he  took  this  to  be  heaven,  why  doth  he  call  for  an 
earthen  tabernacle  ?  "  One  for  thee,  and  one  for 
Moses,"  &e.  Why  not,  one  for  me,  another  also  for 
James,  and  John  ?  No,  he  mentions  none  for  them, 
for  he  hoped  that  Christ  himself  would  be  their 
tabernacle.  Thou  seekest  three;  make  three,  one 
for  the  Father,  another  for  the  Son,  another  for  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  none  for  Moses,  none  for  Elias  :  do  not 
join  the  servants  with  the  Creator.  Mystically  there 
be  still  three  tabernacles :  one  outward,  which  is  the 
church;  another  inward,  which  is  llie  conscience; 
the  last  upward,  which  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Let  us  dwell  faithfully  in  the  former,  lot  God  dwell 
spiritually  in  the  other,  that  we  may  all  dwell  to- 
gether comfortably  in  the  latter,  that  is,  for  ever  in 
the  peace  of  glory. 

Lastly,  this  glorious  vision  and  voice  from  heaven 
amazed  the  disciples;  that  "  they  ft  11  on  their  face, 
and  were  sore  afraid."  Christ  with  the  touch  of  his 
hand  recovered  them ;  "  And  when  they  had  lifted 
up  their  eyes,  they  saw  no  man,  save  Jesus  only," 
Matt.  xvii.  8.  Because  indeed  he  was  that  person 
only,  to  whom  both  law  and  prophets  bare  witness. 
They  have  done  their  office,  and  then  they  vanish, 
that  Christ  may  be  all  in  all.  There  is  only  one 
Mediator,  Christ;  it  is  he  only  that  satisfies  the  law, 
and  sanctifies  the  conscience ;  he  only,  that  recon- 
ciles us  to  God.  Let  Moses  and  Elias,  and  all  others, 
disappear  to  the  work  of  our  salvation  ;  only  give  us 
Jesus  Christ.  This  testimony  tluy  heard,  but  might 
not  presently  utter,  for  Christ  forbad  them  ;  "  Tell 
the  vision  to  no  man,  until  the  Son  of  man  be  risen 
again  from  the  dead,"  Matt.  xvii.  9.  The  reasons  of 
this  interdiction  may  be,  1.  Because  the  Jews  were 
to  have  no  sign,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas: 
they  had  seen  enough  to  leave  their  unbelief  without 
excuse.  2.  Because  among  the  rude,  after  the  |)ubli- 
calionof  sucha  glory,  the  following  cross  would  have 
bred  scandal.  If  he  were  invested  with  such  glory, 
why  could  he  not  keep  himself  in  it  ?  3.  Because 
till  his  resurrection  had  made  way  for  it,  the  world 
would  never  have  given  credit  to  this  wonder.  But 
perceiving  his  power  in  raising  himself  from  the 
dead,  they  might  easily  embrace  the  faith  of'thnt 
clarification.  Lastly,  according  to  that,  Ecehis.  xi.  28, 
Judge  no  man  blessed  before  his  death.  Then  they 
witnessed  it,  then  they  preached"it,  then  they  wrote 
it :  we  hear  it,  let  us  all  believe  it,  that  we  may  one 


dav  enjov  it,  in  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

I  conclude :  Peter  and  the  rest  knew  Moses  and 
Elias  on  the  mount,  whom  they  never  saw  before ; 
they  being  departed  many  hundred  years  before  the 
other  were  bom.  Yet  they  could  distinguish  Moses 
from  Elias,  Elias  from  Moses,  and  both  from  Christ ; 
and  say,  This  is  Moses,  this"  is  Elias,  and  that 
is  Christ.  This  is  a  lively  type  and  shadow  of  that 
glory  in  heaven,  where  every  saint  shall  perfectly 
know  all.  Not  Abraham  nor  any  of  the  patriarchs, 
not  David  nor  any  of  the  kings,  not  Elias  nor  any  of 
the  prophets,  not  Peter  nor  any  of  the  apostles,  not 
Stephen  nor  any  of  the  martyrs,  not  any  of  our 
friends,  kindred,  acquaintance,  none  of  the  now  un- 
known believers  scattered  on  the  face  of  the  broad 
earth,  shall  in  that  place  be  strangers  to  us.  Our 
knowledge  shall  extend  to  cveiy  individual  person  ; 
all  shall  know  every  one,  and  every  one  shall  know- 
all.  Now  let  us  love  one  another,  pray  for  one 
another,  do  good  one  to  another;  then  and  there  we 
shall  know  one  another,  and  all  be  eternally  known 
and  loved  of  our  blessed  God. 


Verse  19. 

H'e  have  also  a  more  sure  irord  of  prophecy  ;  trhereunlo 
ye  do  well  thai  ye  lake  heed,  as  unto  a  light  that  shin- 
elh  in  a  dark  place,  until  the  day  dawn,  and  the  dai/ 
star  arise  iti  your  hearts. 

The  apostle  had  formerly  delivered  a  certain  tnith, 
such  as  both  their  ears  had  heard  and  their  eyes 
seen,  and  by  many  strong  arguments  confirmed  i'. 
Yet  because  the  Jews  to  whom  he  wrote  did  much 
adhere  to  the  prophets,  he  refers  them  thither,  to 
compare  the  events  manifested  with  their  predic- 
tions. As  if  he  did  answer  a  challenge,  with  Paul 
to  his  Corinthians;  Since  ye  seek  a  proof  of  Christ, 
2  Cor.  xiii.  3,  you  shall  have  one  more ;  in  itself  pro- 
fitable, and  to  you  plausible ;  a  word  of  prophecy. 
That  as  Festus  said  to  Paul,  "  Hast  thou  appealed 
unto  Crcsar  ?  unto  Ca>sar  shalt  thou  go,"  Acts  xxv. 
12;  so,  have  you  appealed  to  the  prophets?  to 
the  prophets  you  shall  go.  They  also  shall  witness 
to  you  the  same  Christ. 

You  see  the  apostle  comes  to  a  new  manner  of  tes- 
tifying the  former  truth.  We  have  a  word.  A  word, 
what  is  this?  so  we  had  before.  Nay,  but  a  word 
of  prophecy.  Why,  what  strength  hath  this  above 
the  other?  Yes,' it  is  more  sure.  Well,  say  it  be 
more  sure,  what  is  this  to  us  ?  we  heard  it  not.  Yes, 
we  have  it  visible  lo  our  eyes.  But  men  may  have 
it,  and  not  regard  it ;  as  the  Indians  that  were  own- 
ers of  all  the  gold,  yet  were  the  iioorest  beggars. 
Nay,  but  we  take  heed  lo  it,  attend  it.  Say  we 
should,  is  this  a  thing  so  commendable  ?  may  we  not 
rest  satisfied  with  your  word  and  assertion,  that  saw 
these  things?  Nay,  but  ye  do  well  in  taking  heed 
(o  it.  Well,  say  we  should  observe  it,  what  shall  wc 
find  it  to  be  ?  Not  an  obscure  and  involved  matter, 
as  it  was  before  the  completion ;  but  a  light.  What 
need  have  we  of  a  light,  that  live  in  the  broad  day 
of  knowledge  ?  Nay,  but  the  world  is  full  of  dark- 
ness ;  and  in  a  dark  place  a  light  is  comfortable.  But 
this  may  be  some  dim  candle,  that  can  cast  ns  no 
rays  or  beams  of  illumination.  No,  it  is  a  shining 
light  ;  like  John  Baptist,  a  burning  and  a  shining 
light.  A  light  that  sliinelh  in  a  dark  place.  How 
long  .shall  this  light  continue  ?  i'nttl  the  day  dawn, 
till  the  glorious  presence  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 


186 


AN   EXPOSITION   IPON  THK 


Chap.  I. 


be  fully  manifested  to  us,  and  that  we  see  no  longer 
through  a  window  or  spectacles  of  faith,  but  behold 
with  clear  eyes  the  Sun  himself.  We  shall  then  say 
of  this  light  of  knowledge  here  compared  with  that, 
as  John  Baptist  said  of  himself  compared  with  Christ : 
"  He  must  increase,  but  I  must  decrease,"  John  iii. 
30.  Or  as  Paul,  "  When  that  which  is  perfect  is 
come,  then  that  wliichis  in  part  shall  be  done  away," 
1  Cor.  xiii.  10.  Then  that  same  day-star  of  blessed- 
ness shall  arise,  and  tell  us  that  the  night  is  quite 
past,  the  day  is  come,  the  Sun  of  righteousness  ap- 
pears, and  that  we  shall  appear  with  him  in  glory. 
Let  us  all  therefore  first  walk  faithfully  in  the  light 
of  grace,  that  we  may  walk  joyfully  in  the  light  of 
glory  for  ever. 

"  AVe  have  also  a  more  sure  word,"  &c.  The  whole 
verse  may  be  distinguished  into  four  general  parts : 

A  conference  :  wherein  he  compares  the  propheti- 
cal predict  ion  wit  h  the  evangelical  predication,  ascrib- 
ing it  to  some  greater  certainty.  We  have  a  more  sure 
word  of  prophecy. 

A  reference  ;  whereto  he  refers  their  scrutation, 
and  commends  their  attention,  Whereunto  ye  do  well 
that  ye  take  heed. 

A  preference ;  wherein  he  prefers  that  excellent 
light  to  the  common  darkness  of  the  world.  For  the 
comparison  is  not  between  the  prophetical  and  evan- 
gelical light,  but  between  the  light  of  the  Scripture 
and  the  darkness  of  nature.  As  unto  a  light  that 
shineth  in  a  dark  place. 

A  difference  ;  wherein  he  gives  that  fixture  daylight 
a  transcendency  to  the  former  candlelight :  that 
being  but  like  a  lamp  in  a  dark  night,  this  like  a  star 
that  brings  in  the  day.  Until  the  day  dawn,  and  the 
day-star  arise  in  your  hearts. 

The  word  of  prophecy.  There  are  four  sorts  of 
prophets.  1.  Some  write  of  things  past,  as  Moses: 
"  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  th^' 
<  arth  :"  penning  an  hexameron  many  years  after  the 
world  was  made.  The  Samaritan  woman  hearing 
Christ  relate  unto  her  the  things  which  she  had  done, 
concluded,  "  Sir,  I  perceive  that  thou  art  a  pro- 
phet," John  iv.  19.  2.  Some  prophesy  of  things  to 
come:  "As  God  foretold  by  the  moutli  of  his  holy 
prophets."  Tlioso  did  tell  of  tilings  done,  these  did 
])redict  of  things  to  be  done  :  the  one  was  a  relation, 
the  other  a  prediction.  3.  Some  prophesy  of  things 
present :  such  a  prophet  was  old  Simeon,  whose  eyes 
saw  that  present  salvation.  Thus  John  the  Bajitist 
was  a  prophet,  and  more  than  a  prophet.  A  prophet, 
because  he  did  point  liim  out  with  the  linger  that 
was  all  the  prophets'  aim :  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God."  More  than  a  prophet,  because  he  baptized 
the  Lord  of  the  prophets.  (Jcr.)  4.  Those  that  ex- 
pound the  prophets.  An  evangelical  preacher  is 
called  a  prophet :  "  Desire  spiritual  gifts,  but  rather 
that  ye  may  prophesy,"  1  Cor.  xiv.  I .  "  We  know 
in  part,  and  we  prophesy  in  part,"  chap.  xiii.  9.  He 
that  interprets  the  prophets,  is  called  a  prophet. 
(Aquin.)  But  here  the  apostle  intends  principally 
thai  .-ort  which  foretold  fiiture  things.  Some  of 
I  Ik  ir  words  were  more  dark,  some  more  plain.  Daniel 
and  John  wrote  darkly  :  the  reason  is  given,  because 
they  wrote  in  times  of  persecution;  so  that  if  lliey 
had  done  otherwise,  themselves  and  their  books  had 
been  burned.  The  events  were  the  clearest  exjiosi- 
lions  (if  them.  It  is  the  property  of  a  prophecy,  to 
be  fulfdled  before  it  be  understood.  (August.) 

A  imiiihel  is  railed  of  the  Hebrews,  Naba,  a  pro- 
phet ;  and  Roeh,  a  seer.  Of  the  Grecians,  7rpo0i;rrK : 
such  as  did  foresee  and  foretell  the  purposes  of  God. 
Of  the  Latins,  f'ale.s,  that  is,/o/c»'.-  for  ralicinalio  is 
faiicinah'o,fulum  cattere,  to  preindicate  an  inevitable 
event.     The  words  they  spake,  came  to  them  by  a 


divine  instinct.  "  I  cannot  go  beyond  the  command- 
ment of  the  Lord :  but  what  he  saith,  that  will  I 
speak,"  Xumb.  xxiv.  13.  So  soon  as  ever  the  Lord 
had  a])iiearcd  to  Samuel,  presently  the  people  took 
notice  of  him  for  a  i)rophct:  "  All  Israel  knew  that 
Samuel  was  established  to  be  a  prophet  of  the  Lord," 
1  Sam.  iii.  20.  They  cannot  know  God's  will  in  fu- 
ture things,  but  by  his  relation  or  revelation :  '•  Such 
knowledge  is  too  wonderful  for  me:  it  is  high,  I 
cannot  attain  unto  it,"  Psal.  cxxxix.  6.  A  vision  of 
their  own  heads,  a  fiction  of  their  own  brains,  were 
accursed.  He  that  coins  money  out  of  base  metal, 
though  he  stamp  upon  it  the  image  of  the  prince,  is 
a  traitor.  So  is  he,  that  to  his  own  invention  shall 
put  a  The  Lord  spake  it.  The  prediction  that  comes 
not  by  Divine  instniction,  is  but  a  delusion  ;  for  none 
can  foreknow,  but  he  that  did  fore-purpose. 

Devils  and  men  may  guess  by  observation,  and 
collection  of  causes  probable  to  beget  such  events ; 
only  God  knows:  "  Ask  me  of  things  to  come,"  Isa. 
xlv.  11.  If  men  could  tell  as  much,  they  would  be 
even  with  God.  How  wise  were  God,  if  he  should 
write  the  secrets  of  his  will  on  the  fop  of  his  gate, 
the  doors  of  heaven !  yet  your  astrologer  presumes 
to  know  all  things  by  the  heavens;  as  if  the  stars 
Were  so  many  letters,  the  planets  syllables,  and  the 
constellations  express  sentences.  So  they  make  the 
whole  heaven  a  Syntaxis,  or  discourse  of  God's  pur- 
poses. Will  any  king  engross  the  secrets  of  his 
council  on  the  door  of  his  palace  ?  That  late  charac- 
ter which  was  set  on  the  brow  of  heaven,  did  certainly 
mean  the  world  some  news.  But  who  could  under- 
take to  translate  the  letters  of  it,  or  expound  the 
meaning?  To  break  into  God's  council  chamber, 
will  be  dangerous  treason  :  only  the  hand  that  wrote 
it,  can  interpret  it.  If  men  could  by  their  own  wis- 
dom prophesy,  they  were  not  only  "wiser  than  the 
children  of  light,"  Luke  xvi.  8,  but  as  wise  as  even 
light  itself.  "The  very  devils  that  hover  in  the  air, 
(like  Adam,  who  being  east  out  of  Eden,  dwelt  as  near 
it  as  he  could,)  and  by  reason  of  their  vicinity  to  the 
stars,  can  read  them  better  than  mortal  men,  sundered 
from  us  so  far  as  earth ;  y  et  are  they  all  dunces  in  respect 
of  prophecy.  They  can  tell  you  what  may  happen, 
never  what  will  happen.  Therefore  they  delivered 
theiroraeles  in  a  doubtful  and  bastard  language ;  that 
if  the  event  did  not  answer  the  prediction,  they  might 
then  expound  the  prediction  according  to  the  event. 
Only  God  can  make  prophets,  and  put  into  their  mouths 
the  foretelling  of  future  things.  "  Son  of  man,  I  have 
made  thee  a  watchman  unto  the  houseof  Israel :  there- 
fore hear  the  word  at  my  mouth,  and  give  them  warn- 
ing from  me,"  Ezek.  iii.  17-  It  is  God  that  speaks  by 
the  mouth  of  his  holy  prophets,  which  have  been 
ever  since  the  world  began.  He  speaks  by  the  pro- 
phets for  the  good  of  our  souls,  let  us  hear  his  pro- 
phets for  the  honour  of  his  holy  name. 

"A  more  sure  word  of  prophecy."  B«/3nior«pov  ruy 
Trpo<pi]TiKuv  \nyot:  Why,  was  not  the  apostolical  tes- 
timony sure  enough?  could  there  be  more  than  ocu- 
lar and  auricular  witness  ?  The  prophets  foretold 
what  they  never  saw,  the  apostles  saw  what  they  told. 
Besides,  did  not  one  and  the  same  God  speak  bv 
iliem  both?  Heb.  i.  1,  c<.ufcrrcd  with  Matt.  x.  20, 
jdainly  demonstrates,  that  the  .same  God  who  "spake 
unto  the  fathers  by  the  iirophets,"  speaks  also  by  the 
a])ostles ;  "  For  it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit 
of  your  Father  which  spcaketh  in  you."  How  then 
can  this  be  a  more  sure  word,  seeing  the  prophets  be 
a  dark  lantern,  which  himself  here  eonfessclh  hard 
to  be  understood  ?  This  point  hath  troubled  many 
expositors:  it  was  some  trouble  to  me  to  find  it,  let 
it  be  no  trouble  to  you  to  read  it. 

1.  Some  answer,  that  here  a  comparative  is  put  for 


\f.r.  19. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


187 


a  positive,  more  sure,  for  sure ;  or  for  a  superlative, 
j3c,'5<iiorcpov,  for  (ii^aiorarov,  more  sure,  for  surest.  A 
place  is  insl.inccd,  Acts  xxv.  10.  Paul  cleared  him- 
self to  Fcstus ;  "  To  the  Jews  have  I  done  no  wrong, 
as  thcu  very  well  knowcst."  The  word  is  not  KoXuif, 
but  KoKKiov;  not  well,  but  better;  the  comparative 
for  the  positive,  as  thou  better  knowesf.  This  same 
enallage  of  degrees  is  not  rare  among  the  Greeks  and 
Latins.  The  F'rencli  write  Trcsnoble  for  Noble  ;  we, 
Most  Honourable,  for  Honourable  ;  and  some.  To  my 
worthier  friend,  for  worthy.  But  this  answer  satis- 
fies not;  for,  first,  I  do  not  see  but  that  speech  of 
Paul  might  very  well  be  lranslatc<l,  as  thou  better 
knowest.  For  Festus  being  a  Roman  judge,  did  bet- 
ter know  that  Paul  had  done  nothing  against  the 
Roman  laws,  than  could  the  Jews.  But  it  is  object- 
ed, that  Paul  appeals  to  Festus'  knowledge,  that  to 
the  Jews  he  had  done  no  wrong.  True,  and  why  might 
not  the  judge  better  (hscem  of  the  cause  than  the 
plaintiff?  Every  man  is  well  affected  to  liis  own 
cause,  and  the  Jews  were  blinded  with  malice,  charg- 
ing Paul  with  many  things,  but  proving  nothing. 
Festus  therefore  seeing  their  malice,  and  Paul's  in- 
noccncy,  did  better  know  that  he  had  done  them  no 
wrong, -tlian  themselves.  Besides,  the  context  mani- 
festly intends  a  comparison  ;  it  must  be  admitted  to 
be  a  more  sure  word. 

2.  Beda,  with  some  others,  answer,  that  this  may 
be  a  surer  word,  not  simply  and  absolutely,  but  in  re- 
spect of  the  Gentiles;  who  might  haply  calumniate 
the  vision  of  the  apostles,  but  durst  not  the  oracles 
of  the  prophets.  As  if  Peter  should  say,  You  may 
perhaps  doubt  that  particular  sight  we  had  in  secret, 
but  none  will  contradict  the  prophecies  manifested 
in  public.  Infidels  being  so  well  acquainted  with 
necromancy,  might  ascribe  this  voice  to  magic.  As 
Psaphon  was  accepted  of  the  Libyans  for  a  great 
god,  because  certain  birds  had  been  first  taught  to  sing 
this  lesson,  and  afterwards  being  let  loose  into  the 
air,  did  sing  it  ;  Magnus  deus  Psaphon.  Or  as  Ma- 
homet got  the  reputation  of  a  great  saving  prophet, 
by  a  pigeon  trained  to  come  to  his  ear,  and  there 
pick  out  corn,  which  his  credulous  followers  believed 
to  be  the  conference  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  by  a 
bull  taught  and  tamed  to  carry  the  Alcoran  on  his 
lioms.  To  prevent  any  sucli  suspicion  here,  tlie  pro- 
phets are  brought  in,  who  did  foretell  all  these  things 
long  before  Christ  came  himself.  Could  Christ  be  a 
magician  before  he  was  born  ?  Thus  there  was  a 
celestial  word,  whereby  believers  are  confirmed ;  and 
a  prophetical  word,  whereby  unbelievers  are  con- 
vinced. But  this  answer  falls  also  short  of  satisfac- 
tion ;  for  St.  Peter  wrote  not  to  infidels,  but  to  be- 
lievers, such  as  had  already  embraced  the  truth  of 
the  gospel. 

3.  There  is  another  solution.  (Aquin.  Lyran.  Hugo, 
Catharinus,  Calv.)  The  apostle  speaks  this  in  re- 
spect of  the  Jews  unto  whom  he  wrote.  Here  the 
truth  of  the  gospel  is  proved  by  a  double  testimony ; 
by  the  assertion  of  God,  and  by  the  prediction  of  the 
prophets.  Now  this  were  an  absurd  thing  to  ima- 
gine, that  the  prophetical  witness  should  be  surer 
than  the  Divine  and  paternal.  First,  because  their 
word  did  merely  depend  upon  the  authority  of 
the  same  God.  Secondly,  because  Christ's  coming 
had  performed  what  they  promised.  Now  if  cither 
of  the  two  can  challenge  the  greater  firmness, 
it  is  the  latter ;  for  let  a  promise  be  never  so 
sure,  yet  the  performance  is  surer.  Words  yield  to 
deeds  ;  it  could  not  be  more  sure  in  their  prophecy 
that  Christ  should  come,  than  in  the  apostles'  sight 
that  he  was  come.  "  He  cam.e  unto  nis  own,"  he 
dwelt  among  us  ;  there  could  be  nothing  surer  :  then 
he  only  promised,  now  he  hath  paid  the  debt.     Well, 


yet,  albeit  God's  testimony  were  most  sure  with  the 
apostles,  yet  the  prophets'  word  was  more  sure  will) 
tlie  Jews.  They  knew  them  to  be  the  lawful  minis- 
ters of  God ;  they  were  brought  up  in  their  schools ; 
of  tiicir  words  there  was  no  suspicion.  Antiquity  it- 
self challengelh  reverence.  Go<l  here  said,  "  This  is 
my  beloved  Son;"  tliis  they  had  read  before  in  the 
prophets:  "  I  will  declare  the  decree ;  the  Lord  hath 
said  unto  me,  Thou  art  my  Son ;  this  day  have  I  be- 
gotten thee,"  Psal.  ii.  7.  Thus  was  it  a  surer  word, 
not  in  its  own  nature,  nor  to  the  apostles,  but  to  the 
Jews.  To  this  consents  Augustine  ;  It  is  not  said  to 
be  better,  nor  truer,  but  only  surer.  This  testimony 
was  as  good  as  that,  as  true,  as  useful ;  but  in  tliis  re- 
spect that  is  surer,  because  it  makes  more  strongly 
to  confirm  such  hearers.  If  you  will  not  believe  me, 
have  recourse  to  your  prophets  ;  "  Search  the  Scrip- 
lures,"  they  all  testify  of  Jesus  Christ,  John  v.  39. 

4.  Some  by  this  word  of  prophecy  would  under- 
stand only  the  preaching  and  writing  of  the  gospel ; 
and  extend  it  all  no  further  than  evangelical  pro- 
phecy. But  the  context  will  not  bear  such  an  ex- 
position, for  the  apostle  speaks  of  forewritten  pro- 
phecies, "prophecy  of  the  Scripture,"  ver.  20. 

5.  Some  would  have  this  word  of  projjhecy  to  be 
the  verj'  testimony  of  the  Father  concerning  his  Son. 
But  there  is  no  such  trajection  of  phrases  in  the 
Scripture.  We  find  Christ  to  be  called  the  Prophet 
of  God,  not  God  to  be  the  prophet  of  Christ. 

6.  Some  read  it  thus,  More  sure  tlian  the  prophet*', 
in  the  genitive  case  plural ;  but  no  copy  so  hath  it. 

7.  Bradford  resolved  it  thus,  in  his  answer  to  this, 
among  other  questions  put  to  him  by  the  papists: 
That  the  apostles  in  this  did  humble  themselves  ;  as 
if  men  not  giving  credit  to  their  private  testimony, 
would  yet  with  all  reverence  receive  the  prophets. 
But  if  they  should  thus  disable  themselves,  wlio  would 
believe  them  ?  whei-cas,  they  were  to  write  jure 
apostolico. 

8.  Lastly,  the  answer  that  seems  to  me  most  proba- 
ble and  profitable ;  and  wherein  I  have  few  or  none 
before  me,  doubtless  many  will  follow  me;  is  this: 
The  foundation  is  ever  more  sure  than  the  building ; 
that  being  sound,  though  the  edifice  itself  should  fell, 
will  firmly  stand.  Now  the  New  Testament  was 
not  yet  written,  I  mean,  the  Gospel  of  the  four  evan- 
gelists ;  nor  was  it  collected  into  a  volume  till  eight 
and  twenty  years  after.  But  the  prophets  were  extant, 
and  their  writings  miraculously  preserved:  these  the 
Jews  readily  had,  and  might  pei^usc  at  their  pleasure. 
Therefore  the  mere  and  nsiked  report  of  Christ's 
glory  on  the  mountain,  was  not  so  sure  as  the  pro- 
phecy inspired  by  God,  and  engraven  in  the  tables  of 
their  hearts.  And  this  authcntical  proof  w<is  the 
surest,  until  the  day  (hd  fully  dawn,  and  the  Divine 
hand  had  made  the  gospel  known  and  visible.  Thus, 
were  the  things  related  never  so  true  in  themselves, 
the  question  here  is  not  C(mceming  the  truencss,  but 
the  surencss;  and  certainly,  thus  far,  the  Scriptures 
of  the  prophets  were  surer  to  tlic  Jews,  than  the  un- 
written doctrines  of  the  apostles,  or  the  naked  de- 
livery of  their  particular  visions. 

Now  whatsoever  may  be  said  for  exception;  "niat 
the  j)rophets  had  only  involved  promises,  not  under- 
stood till  they  were  fulfilled;  in  a  promise  there  are 
marfy  doubts ;  men's  minds  may  change,  occasions 
divert,  their  power  be  defective  :  but  in  a  performance 
there  is  nothing  wanting.  Now  the  gospel  was 
established  by  the  ministrj'  of  the  senses.  It  is  tnie 
that  in  the  Scripture  there  is  no  difference  concern- 
ing the  truth  and  certainty  of  all  places  and  jiarts  of 
it ;  but  there  may  be  .some  difference  in  the  material 
and  formal  parts ;  for  things  may  be  more  plainly, 
more  comfortably  set   down  in  one  place  than  in 


188 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1. 


another.  Therefore  Augustine  gives  this  praise  to 
the  gospc],  in  allusion  to  that  miracle  of  turning  the 
water  into  wine,  John  ii.,  that  Christ  did  turn  the 
prophetical  water  into  evangelical  wine.  There 
nave  been  some,  that  through  disability  to  clear  this 
doubt  in  my  text,  have  thrust  the  whole  Epistle 
out  of  the  canon  ;  and  it  was  four  hundred  years 
almost  before  it  was  received,  as  Eusebius  testifies. 
This  was  like  Alexander,  when  he  could  not  undo 
tlie  Gordian  knot,  to  cut  it.  That  was  to  make  quick, 
but  sacrilegious  despatch.  There  is  no  such  need  to 
put  out  the  light,  because  we  are  blind  and  cannot 
see  it. 

But  to  conclude  plainly :  Christ  had  not  yet  gotten 
so  much  credit  with  the  Jews,  as  had  their  prophets; 
for  their  common  opinion  W'as,  that  all  Jesus  did  was 
by  magic.  This  they  expressly  objected,  when  he 
had  cast  out  a  devil,  "  This  fellow  doth  not  cast  out 
devils,  but  by  Beelzebub  the  prince  of  the  devils," 
Matt.  xii.  24.  And  when  the  voice  of  such  a  glori- 
ous testimony  came  from  heaven,  "  the  people  that 
stood  by,  and  heard  it,  said  that  it  thundered,"  John 
xii.  29.  They  would  not  believe  it  to  be  the  voice 
of  the  Father.  Do  you  speak  of  a  voice  from  heaven  ? 
who  heard  it  ?  Do  you  tell  us  of  his  rising  from  the 
dead  ?  who  saw  him  ?  Therefore  the  apostle  refers 
them  to  the  prophets,  those  ancients,  whose  word 
was  (as  it  were)  the  foundation  of  the  gospel :  We 
are  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  prophets,  as 
well  as  of  the  apostles ;  the  same  Jesus  Christ,  the 
centre  of  them  both,  being  the  chief  comer-stone, 
Eph.  ii.  20.  Now  the  foundation  is  surer  than  the 
house;  antiquity,  the  foundation,  is  more  surely  re- 
ceived. Thus  the  Scriptures  of  the  prophets  stop 
the  mouth  of  the  Jews,  who  referred  all  the  actions 
of  Christ  to  a  bad  spirit.  We  call  that  most  sure, 
that  can  give  best  satisfaction  to  the  scholar:  we  are 
late  reporters,  but  the  prophets  are  ancient.  There- 
fore their  word  is  surer  in  your  judgment,  though 
not  in  itself.  (August.)  Christ  is  an  infinite  mass  of 
gold,  but  they  were  so  tired  with  expectation,  that 
«  hen  it  came  they  were  not  able  to  finger  the  money  ; 
therefore  he  refers  them  to  the  prophets,  that  com- 
paring both  these  together,  they  might  be  more 
assured. 

To  conclude.  All  this  doth  ser^-c  to  manifest  that 
iisual  government,  whereby  God  will  guide  his 
church  :  this  is  not  by  visions,  but  by  the  word.  He 
hath  appointed  us  to  be  sons  and  daughters  of  faith, 
not  of  sense.  He  that  will  not  believe  without  a 
miracle,  is  himself  a  miracle  ;  yea,  and  it  will  be  a 
miracle  if  ever  he  be  saved.  When  that  rich  man 
in  hell  requested  a  sign  for  his  brethren,  he  was  an- 
swered, "  If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophet.s, 
neither  will  they  be  persuaded,  though  one  rose  from 
the  dead,"  Lulie  xvi.  31.  Thus  tlie  prophets  had 
the  more  svire  word,  until  the  gospel  was  written. 
But  now  it  being  written,  let  us  ask  for  no  shadows, 
that  have  the  substance  ;  demand  we  no  signs,  that 
have  Jesus  Christ. 

"  A  more  sure  word  of  lu-opheey."  This  may  seem 
to  a.scribe  some  more  credit  to  the  prophets,  than  to 
the  gospel.  No,  they  were  all  written  by  divers 
men,  in  divers  ages,  at  divers  places,  on  divers  occa- 
sions ;  yet  they  all  have  the  same  truth,  the  same 
authority.  Though  the  Jews  acknowledge  the  Old 
Testament,  abhor  the  New  ;  though  Turks  disclaim 
both,  athei.sts  despise  both,  sinners  neglect  both  ;  yet 
as  the  disciples  had  but  one  Master,  and  were  'all 
brothers,  so  the  books  have  but  one  Father,  and  thev 
are  all  sisters.  One  Lord  is  original  and  subject  of 
them,  one  Spirit  indited  them,  one  blood  of  the'Lamb 
sealed  them,  one  InUh  is  maintained  in  them,  one 
spouse  of  Christ  hath  withun  impartial  respect  equallv 


received  them  and  miraculously  preserved  them  ; 
and  rather  than  any  rent  or  maim  sfiould  be  made  in 
their  sacred  body,  she  hath  sent  her  members  dis- 
membered, and  bereft  of  their  dearest  blood,  into 
heaven.  These  are  the  gages  of  our  Saviour's  love, 
God's  royal  covenants,  the  oracles  of  his  sanctuarj-, 
the  key  of  his  revealed  counsels,  milk  from  his  sacred 
breast,  the  light  of  our  eyes,  the  joy  of  our  hearts, 
the  pillars  of  our  faith,  the  anchor  of  our  hope,  the 
evidences  and  deeds  of  our  eternal  blessedness.  It 
is  true  that  one  star  differs  from  another  in  glory, 
and  the  rule  of  the  day  is  given  to  the  sun,  of  the 
night  to  the  moon.  Tlie  captains  of  the  sons  of  God 
may  hear  an  unequal  report,  the  least  could  resist  an 
hundred,  the  greatest,  a  thousand,  1  C'hron.  xii.  14; 
and  no  wrong  was  done  in  that  anthem,  "  Saul  hath 
slain  his  thousands,  and  David  his  ten  thousands," 
I  Sam.  xviii.  7.  One  Plato  may  be  of  more  value 
than  a  thousand  vulgar  men  ;  and  our  Saviour  pre- 
fers the  old  wine  to  the  new,  "  The  old  is  better," 
Luke  V.  39.  But  the  whole  Scripture,  as  it  came  by 
the  inspiration  of  one  Author,  so  it  preser\-es  the 
equality  of  one  honour.  Moses  is  no  better  than 
Samuel,  Samuel  than  David,  David  than  Solomon, 
the  father  than  the  son  ;  David  a  king,  than  Amos  a 
herd-man ;  Peter  first  chosen,  than  Paul  born  out  of 
due  time.  Some  portions  of  it  sometimes  lend  more 
useful  apidication  to  our  souls ;  but  all  of  it  is  like 
manna,  which  relisheth  to  even,-  faithful  conscience, 
as  his  heart  desireth.  Oil  is  best  at  the  bottom,  wine 
at  the  midst,  milk  at  the  top  ;  but  the  fountain-wafer 
is  all  alike.  This  is  the  spring-water  of  life;  clear, 
cooling,  healthful,  helpful  in  every  part.  One  part 
is  not  surer  than  another,  but  all  is  so  sure,  that  it 
is  sealed  by  him  that  is  Yea  and  Amen.  These 
words  arc  true  and  faithfid  ;  they  arc  sure  in  God's 
promise,  sure  in  Christ's  performance,  may  they  be 
siu'e  in  our  believing  hearts  for  ever. 

"  We  have  a  more  sure  word."  I  come  to  the  third 
circumstance,  the  persons  to  whom  these  prophecies 
were  committed;  the  apostle  joining  himself  with 
the  Jews,  "  Wc  have."  The  Jews  might  well  attend 
to  the  word  of  prophecy,  for  they  had  it.  They 
had  many  privileges,  but  this  was  the  chiefest : 
"  What  advantage  tlien  hath  the  Jew  ?  or  what  profit 
is  there  of  circumcision  ?  Much  everj-  way  :  chiefly, 
because  that  unto  them  were  committed  the  oracles 
of  God,"  Rom.  iii.  2, 3.  They  had  the  patriarclis,  the 
sacraments,  the  sacrifices,  the  promise  of  the  Messias; 
but  chiefly  the  oracles,  as  com)irehending  all  the 
rest.  Moses  "  received  the  lively  oracles  to  give 
unto  us,"  Acts  vii.  38.  He  received  the  lively  oracles : 
to  what  purpose  ?  To  give  unto  us  ;  we  have  them. 
They  were  not  nlie>i<F  rei  deposita,  but  their  own  pro- 
per treasure.  And  indeed  they  were  faithful  keepers 
of  them,  preser\-ing  them  from  falsity  and  cormp- 
tion :  and  to  this  day  senaiil,  elsi  iion  observant ;  they 
keep  them  in  custody,  though  they  keep  them  not 
in  obedience.  Therefore  in  our  Savioui-'s  days,  when 
many  cornqifions  both  of  life  and  doctrine  were  ob- 
jected against  them,  yet  they  were  not  charged  to 
be  falsifiers  of  the  Scripture.  Therefore  well  might 
the  ajjostle  say.  We  have  them:  for  to  them  pertain 
llie  covenants,  Rom.  ix.  4.  To  them  it  was  credited, 
to  them  it  pertained,  they  had  it,  they  kept  it,  ami 
from  them  wc  receive  it.  "  Out  of  Zion  shall  go 
forth  the  law,  and  the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusa- 
lem," Isa.  ii.  '.i.  So  Christ  himself  testified ;  "  Sal- 
vation is  of  the  Jews,"  John  iv.  22.  This  was  Paid's 
farewell  to  them,  able  to  have  melted  their  hearts, 
«ho  had  been  keepers  of  that  sacred  word  for  so 
many  himdred  years  :  "  It  was  necessary  that  the 
won!  of  God  should  first  have  been  spoken  to  you : 
but  seeing  ye  put  it  from  you,  and  judge  yourselves 


Ver.  19. 


•SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


189 


unworthy  of  everlasting  life,  lo,  we  turn  to  the  Gen- 
tiles," Acts  xiii.  46. 

Thus  they  had,  but  now  they  have  lost,  not  the 
letter,  but  the  spirit  and  life  of  this  prophetical  word. 
Deus  misit,  Judapus  amisit,  God  gave  it,  and  they  lost 
it.  And  as  it  is  fit  he  that  eontemns  the  sun  should 
not  have  a  star  to  light  him ;  so  they  that  refused 
that  Sun  of  rigliteousness,  should  not  retain  the  light 
of  prophecy.  Esau  hath  sold  his  birth-right  to  Jacob: 
the  Jews  are  to  us  Christians,  imprecalores  in  cor- 
tlibus,  siiJt'ragatore.t  in  codicibiLi,  enemies  in  their 
hearts,  but  friends  in  their  books.  They  have  only 
the  word  prophesying,  we  have  the  word  prophesied  j 
they  the  prophetical  shadow,  we  the  evangelical 
truth,  Jesus  Christ.  This  word  is  now  devolved  to 
us,  we  have  it.  "Whatsoever  things  were  written 
aforetime  were  written  for  our  learning;  that  we 
through  patience  and  comfort  of  the  Scriptures  might 
have  hope,"  Rom.  xv.  4;  the  letter  for  our  eyes,  the 
history  for  our  tongues,  the  mysterj-  for  our  heads,  the 
comfort  ofall  for  our  hearts.  God  grant  we  neverinherit 
the  sins  of  the  Jews  with  the  Scriptures  of  the  Jews. 
Like  Gehazi,  that  could  not  take  Naaman's  money, 
but  must  also  t.ike  his  leprosy.  Or  Nadab,  that  suc- 
ceeded Jeroboam,  both  in  his  crown  and  in  his  sin. 
Or  as  Satan  offered  Christ  gloiy,  but  idolatr)'  withal. 
No;  the  Lord  that  hath  given  us  their  light,  keep 
us  for  ever  from  their  darkness.  We  will  be  content 
with  Esau's  birth-right  and  his  blessing,  we  will 
none  of  his  profaneness.  While  these  oracles  were 
with  them,  they  were  like  jewels  in  an  infected 
house,  or  the  precious  stone  in  the  toad's  forehead  ; 
we  might  say  of  them,  as  it  was  proverbed  of  Galba's 
wit,  The  Romans  loved  his  policy,  but  not  his  com- 
pany. The  prophets  foretold  things  they  could  not 
see,  the  Jews  beheld  things  they  would  not  see.  Our 
Saviour  made  distinction  between  the  Pharisees' doc- 
trines and  doings ;  "  Whatsoever  they  bid  you  observe, 
that  obser%-e  and  do ;  but  do  not  ye  after  their  works," 
Matt,  xxiii.  3.  So  we  say  to  them  still.  Give  us  your 
doctrines,  we  will  none  of  your  deeds  ;  you  rejected 
that  Jesus  Christ,  whom  your  prophecies  teach  us  to 
embrace.  When  a  deboshcd  limner  had  drawn  an 
exquisite  piece,  many  desired  the  picture,  but  all  dis- 
dained the  painter.  The  Jews  had  the  word  of  pro- 
phecy, not  the  faith  of  prophecy.  They  were  the  most 
miserable  men,  for  whose  sake  there  was  so  much 
cost  and  pains  to  make  them  happy.  God  in  his  good 
time  turn  their  hearts  :  that  sanguis  ejfusionis,  which 
was  to  them  sanguis  con/tisionis  ;  the  blood  of  Christ 
which  they  shed,  may  be  to  their  seed  sanguis  per- 
fusionis,  the  blood  of  redemption.  That  they  be 
saved  by  him,  whom  their  fathers  condemned,  Jesus 
Christ. ' 

And  for  us,  let  us  remember  St.  Paul's  caution, 
"  Because  of  unbelief  they  were  broken  off,  and  thou 
standest  by  faith.  Be  not  liigh-minded,  but  fear," 
Rom.  xi.  20.  We  have  the  same  means  to  be  saved, 
yet  we  see  it  is  no  impossible  thing  to  go  to  hell. 
Micah  thought  himself  so  sure,  when  he  nad  i;ot  a 
Levile  to  his  priest,  that  God  must  needs  bless  liim, 
Judg.  xvii.  13.  So  we  think  it  enough  to  have  the 
Bible  in  our  house  ;  yet  we  may  come  to  complain, 
as  Micah  to  the  Danites,  "  Ye  liave  taken  away  all 
that  I  have."  Or,  as  Christ  threatened  the  Jews, 
The  kingdom  of  heaven  shall  be  taken  from  you,  and 
given  to  nations  that  will  bring  forth  answerable 
fruits.  Or  you  shall  call  the  fruit  of  your  sin,  as 
Phineas'  wife  called  the  fruit  of  her  womb,  Ichabod, 
because  the  glory  is  departed  from  you,  1  Sam.  iv.  22. 
If  the  naked  liabit  of  the  truth  in  our  understanding, 
or  approbation,  vel  sensu,  vet  assensu,  could  save  men, 
w  ho  would  go  to  hell  ?  We  see  it,  we  know  it,  we  con- 
fess it,  we  profess  it ;  we  do  it  not.  Those  are  wretched 


and  perverse  men,  and  show  that  the  sacramental 
water  was  spilt  on  their  faces,  that  curse  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  bless  their  sins  ;  that  had  rather  east  the 
law  behind  their  backs,  than  not  foster  their  lusts  in 
their  bosoms.  I  hope  there  are  few  so  bad;  but,  oh  that 
men  were  so  good,  as  truly  to  expound  the  prophets 
by  their  lives!  A  Christian's  good  conversation  is 
the  Scripture's  best  comment  and  exposition.  We  do 
expound  them  in  our  words,  do  you  expound  them 
in  your  works.  Be  you  a  counterpart  to  that  blessed 
original.  Oh  that  their  lines,  and  our  lives,  did  con- 
sort and  match  together!  (iod  hath  given  the  word 
of  life  to  us,  oh  let  him  find  the  life  of  the  word  in  us  ! 
But,  alas  !  this  is  our  fault ;  we  have  the  Scripture 
in  our  houses,  we  have  it  in  our  churches,  we  have  it 
in  our  hands  ;  we  have  it  not  in  our  hearts.  What 
shall  we  answer  to  the  Lord  for  all  his  means  to  make 
us  good?  Our  God  is  good,  our  time  is  good,  our 
health  is  good,  our  peace  is  good,  our  truth  is  good, 
our  preaching  good,  all  good ;  we  are  not  good.  We 
have  this  word,  we  have  it  to  show;  so  that  evil  ser- 
vant had  his  talent,  and  he  could  show  his  talent.  We 
call  it  our  evidence  of  God's  favour  toward  us ;  and 
we  dare  say.  By  this  we  know  that  thou  favouresl; 
us,  Psal.  xli.  II.  It  is  an  evidence  that  God  doth 
love  us,  let  it  not  be  an  evidence  whereby  he  shall 
judge  us.  All  is  made  ours,  saith  Paul :  the  prophets 
ours,  the  evangelists  ours,  the  apostles  ours,  the  fathers 
ours,  the  promises  ours,  the  sacraments  ours,  things 
present  ours,  things  to  come  ours  ;  oh  let  us  be 
Christ's,  for  Christ  is  God's.  They  were  written  for 
our  leamins;,  they  arc  preached  for  our  living;  let 
us  believe  tiiem  with  resolution,  and  obey  them  to 
our  salvation,  through  Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 

"  Whereunto  ye  do  well  that  ye  take  heed."  I 
come  to  the  second  general,  which  we  called  the  re- 
ference. .Seeing  this  word  of  prophecy  is  so  sure  and 
authentieal,  that  no  exception  can  be  taken  to  the 
truth  of  it,  I  refer  you  to  it.  Try  and  peruse  it ;  you 
shall  find  it  speaking  the  same  that  you  have  heard 
from  us.  There  is  no  disparity  in  their  prediction 
and  our  predication  ;  in  their  So  it  shall  be,  and  our 
So  it  is.  The  apostle's  argument  is  strongly  per- 
suasive :  all  men  will  give  affiance  to  a  sure  thing  : 
but  the  word  of  prophecy  is  sure ;  therefore  let  us 
adhere  to  it.  What  he  propounds,  is  by  demonstra- 
tion ;  what  he  assumes,  is  by  concession ;  what  he 
concludes,  is  by  just  illation.  Give  heed  to  a  thing 
that  is  sure.  'There  is  no  worldly  thing  sure,  yet  wc 
give  heed  to  such  things. 

Not  riches.  God  so  hedged  Job  in  on  every  side, 
and  made  such  a  fence  about  him,  that  the  devil 
himself  knew  not  where  to  break  in  upon  him,  Job  i. 
10  ;  yet  the  Lord  again  took  down  the  pale,  and  Job 
became  poor  to  a  proverb.  Yet  to  wealth  we  take 
heed:  our  eyes  are  still  open  to  watch  it,  our  hands 
open  to  catcii  it ;  and  when  we  have  it,  we  house  it 
with  as  great  affection  as  the  spouse  did  her  Beloved : 
"  I  held  him,  and  would  not  let  him  go,  until  I  had 
brought  him  unto  my  mother's  house,  and  into  the 
chamber  of  her  that  conceived  me,"  Cant.  iii.  4. 
Men  hold  it,  and  %vill  not  let  it  go,  but  rather  bury  it 
in  the  earth,  that  house  of  their  mother.  The  covet- 
ous, as  if  they  would  revenge  Korah's  death,  seek  to 
swallow  up  the  earth,  that  swallowed  up  him.  But 
alas,, they  take  heed  to  a  thing  most  unsure.  Be- 
fore the  covetous  man  can  gain  any  thing,  he  loseth 
himself.  (August.)  Therefore  Paul  charged  Ti- 
mothy to  charge  us,  that  we  put  not  our  trust  in 
uncertain  or  unsure  riches,  I  Tim.  vi.  17.  If  we  do, 
we  are  sure  to  be  deceived. 

Pleasure  is  not  sure  ;  alas,  nothing  is  more  unsure, 
not  only  in  respect  of  continuation,  but  even  of  pre- 
sent fruition.    It'  is  a  question  whether  the  carnal 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


man  doth  truly  joy  when  he  smiles;  or  whether  a 
merry  heart  be  declared  by  a  jesting  language.  For 
there  is  a  joy  like  Romncy  Marsn  ;  in  summer  of 
prosperity  bad,  in  winter  of  affliction  mad,  never 
good.  "  Even  in  laughter  the  heart  is  sorrowful  ; 
and  the  end  of  that  mirth  is  heaviness,"  Prov.  xiv.  13; 
gone,  ere  you  can  say  it  is  here. 

Honour  is  not  sure ;  it  comes  with  a  breath,  and 
goes  with  a  breath :  as  a  boy  that  can  blow  up  a 
bubble  unto  air,  and  presently  blow  it  into  air.  Ctesar 
goes  an  emperor  to  the  senate,  is  brought  a  corpse 
home.  Pompey  was  great,  yet  he  begged.  Opinia- 
tive  honours  are  like  curious  peals  on  the  bells,  rung 
with  changes  :  there  may  be  sweet  music  in  the 
change,  but  ihey  arc  presently  out  of  it.  The  devil 
taking  Christ  up  into  a  high  mountain,  showed  him 
all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  in  a  moment  of  time. 
Luke  iv.  5.  In  a  moment?  How  all  the  kingdoms 
of  the  earth  should  be  shown  in  a  moment,  is  a  ques- 
tion and  wonder,  though  one  stood  in  the  body  of 
the  sun.  Therefore  this  must  be  done  by  representa- 
tion ;  which  is  indeed  more  capable  of  admiration, 
than  of  demonstration.  But  why  in  a  moment  ?  To 
teach  us  that  all  the  glory  of  this  world  is  but  for  a 
moment.  In  a  moment  of  time  there  is  neither  be- 
fore nor  after ;  and  this  is  the  term  of  all  worldly 
glory.  In  the  midst  of  their  lifting  up,  thou  didst 
cast  them  down,  saith  the  Psalm :  not  afterward,  but 
even  then ;  in  the  moment  of  exaltation.  These 
things  are  only  showed,  not  possessed;  and  while 
they  please  us  they  pass  away  from  us.  (Sen.) 

Not  friends ;  alas,  even  they  are  unsure :  our  Sa- 
viour found  his  Hosanna  turned  to  a  Crucify  him. 
Doth  any  ask  him  how  he  came  by  his  wounds  ?  he 
answers,  Thus  was  I  wounded  in  the  house  of  my 
friends,  Zech.  xiii.  G.  Yea,  my  own  familiar  friend, 
in  whom  I  trusted,  conspired  against  me,  Psal.  xli. 
9.  Thus  were  Paul  and  Barnabas  sei'ved,  Acts  xiv. ; 
the  same  people  become  ready  to  kill  them,  that 
were  a  little  before  ready  to  kill  sacrifice  to  them. 
There  are  still  innumerable  such  Lystrians,  that  are 
always  in  extremes ;  either  they  will  defy,  or  deify. 
"  A  man's  foes  shall  be  they  of  his  own  household," 
Matt.  X.  36.  Whom  to-day  thou  leftest  Jidum,  a 
counsellor,  to-morrow  thou  shall  fmA  perjidum,  a  trai- 
tor. Be  not  tooboldintrustingthy  secrets  to  another; 
he  that  now  loves  thee  dearly,  may  come  to  hate  thee 
deadly. 

Not  life ;  alas,  nothing  is  more  uncertain.  Bel- 
shazzar  is  sitting  at  a  feast,  on  a  sudden  comes  death 
like  a  voider  to  take  him  away,  hereupon  his  face, 
so  coloured  with  the  wine,  begins  to  look  pale  and 
ghastly  with  fear.  His  hands,  that  lifted  up  the 
massy  goblets  in  defiance  of  their  Owner,  tremble 
like  a  leaf  in  a  storm.  His  knees,  that  never  stooped 
to  his  Creator,  arc  loosened  with  a  sudden  palsy  of 
terror.  All,  because  death  hath  written  him  a  chal- 
lenge on  the  wall,  and  he  dares  not  answer  it.  As 
Noah's  dove  went  out  of  the  ark  and  came  into  the 
ark,  went  out  again  and  came  in  again,  at  last  went 
out  and  came  in  no  more  :  so  it  is  with  our  breath ; 
it  goes  out  arid  comes  in,  comes  in  and  goes  out,  at 
last  goes  out  and  comes  in  no  more. 

There  is  no  surcness  in  all  these  things,  yet  is  our 
affection  too  strongly  set  upon  them.  They  are  all 
"  lying  vanities,"  Jcmah  ii.  8.  If  they  promise  you 
any  certainty,  they  lie  irato  you.  All  is  unsure,  only 
the  word  of  God  is  sure.  The  heavens  are  a  lasting 
piece,  and  "  the  earth  abidcth  for  ever,"  Eecl.  i.  4; 
yet  they  are  all  unsure  in  respect  of  the  Lord's  word. 
We  may  say  of  all  that  wrote  his  will,  as  of  Samuel, 
None  of  their  words  ever  fell  to  the  ground,  1  Sam. 
III.  19.  Kiches  are  inconstant,  friends  inconstant, 
pleasures,  honours,  life,  the  whole  worid  inconstant ; 


only  "  I  the  Lord  change  not,"  Mai.  iii.  6.  "  The 
commandment  of  the  Lord  is  pure,  enlightening  the 
eyes.  The  testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure,  m^ing 
wise  the  simple,"  Psal.  xix.  His  word  is  both  pure 
and  sure,  and  so  shall  be  for  ever. 

"  Whereunlo  ye  do  well  that  ye  take  heed."  In 
this  branch  there  are  two  things  considerable. 

The  attention,  Ye  take  heed,  intend,  observe. 

The  commendation.  Ye  do  well  in  this  attention. 

"  Ye  take  heed."  It  is  a  special  means  to  settle 
our  faith,  by  conferring  the  prophets  with  the  evan- 
gelists. Take  heed  to  the  word  of  prophecy.  This 
is  a  sure  and  convertible  rule.  Nothing  was  done  by 
Christ,  which  was  not  foretold  by  the  prophets ; 
nothing  was  foretold  by  the  prophets,  whicn  was  not 
done  by  Christ.  It  would  take  up  a  life  to  observe 
all  the  analogies  and  exact  cadences  of  the  events  to 
the  predictions,  and  to  compare  the  prophecy  with 
the  history  ;  the  sum  whereof  is,  "That  it  might  be 
fulfilled."  This  is  the  music  of  that  sweet  harmony, 
the  term  wherein  they  meet :  "  All  this  was  done, 
that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the 
prophet,"  Matt.  xxi.  4.  One  said,  that  Plato  was 
nothing  else  but  Moses  translated  out  of  Hebrew  into 
Greek ;  and  Virgil  nothing  but  Homer  versed  out  of 
Greek  into  Latin  :  so  the  New  Testament  is  but  an 
exposition  of  the  Old.  Divines  make  the  same  dif- 
ference between  the  law  and  the  gospel,  that  philoso- 
phers (hd  between  logic  and  rhetoric  ;  the  law  like 
the  fist  shut,  the  gospel  like  the  hand  open.  The  law 
is  a  concealed  gospel,  the  gospel  a  revealed  law.  The 
New  Testament  lies  hidden  in  the  Old  :  the  Old 
Testament  lies  open  in  the  New.  (August.)  They  go 
arm  in  arm,  like  inseparable  friends ;  the  two  daugh- 
ters of  the  great  King;  with  their  faces,  like  the 
cherubims,  one  toward  another,  and  both  toward  the 
mercy-scat.  Though  the  Jews  deny  the  Scriptures 
of  the  Cluistians,  yet  the  Christians  will  hold  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Jews  to  the  death. 

Now  that  we  know  how  to  take  heed  to  the  pro- 
phets, we  will  consider  this  reference  in  some  par- 
ticular instances.  Prophet.  That  Christ  should  come 
in  the  flesh.  Gen.  iii.  15.  Completion.  "  God  sent  his 
Son  made  of  a  woman,"  Gal.  iv.  4 ;  and,  "  The  Word 
was  made  flesh,"  John  i.  14.  Prophet.  That  he  should 
be  bom  of  a  virgin,  Isa.  vii.  14.  Compl.  "  A  virgin 
espoused  to  a  man,"  Luke  i.  '27 ;  that  rod  of  Aaron, 
which,  without  the  common  generation  of  plants, 
flourished  and  fructified.  Prophet.  That  he  should 
be  God  and  man,  expressed  in  his  name,  Immanuel, 
Isa.  \'ii.  14.  Compl.  That  Person  came  in  the  flesh, 
•'  who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  for  ever,"  Rom.  ix.  5. 
The  prophet  describes  the  time  of  his  coming,  upon 
the  departure  of  the  sceptre  from  Judah,  Gen.  xlix. 
10.  The  completion  answers,  Augustus  (-'a-sar  had 
Set  Herod,  an  alien,  upon  the  throne  of  David,  Luke 
ii.  1.  Prophet  points  to  the  place  of  his  birth ;  Thou, 
Bethlehem,  in  the  land  of  Judah,  Micah  v.  2.  The 
(icispel  verifies  it ;  "  Jesus  was  bom  in  Bethlehem," 
and  without  all  evasion,  that  same  Bethlehem  of 
Judah,  Matt.  ii.  I.  The  prophets  foretold  his  mira- 
cles and  wonders :  The  eyes  of  the  blind  shall  be 
opened,  the  deaf  shall  be  made  to  hear,  the  lame 
man  shall  leap  as  an  hart,  and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb 
shall  sing,  Isa.  xxxv.  5,  6.  This  was  fulfilled.  Matt.  xi. 
5;  in  tlic  presence  of  John's  disciples,  that  they  might 
know  liini  tlie  ver>'  Christ.  His  precursor  was  spe- 
cified in  the  prophet,  Isa.  xl.  3,  "  The  voice  of  him 
tliat  crieth  in  the  wilderness."  It  is  fulfilled,  Matt. 
iii.  3.  He  must  be  ajiprehcnded ;  it  was  projihesied 
by  Jeremiah,  "The  Lord's  anointed  was  taken  in 
their  pits,"  Lam.  iv.  20.  But  how  ?  He  must  be 
sold.  For  what  ?  Thirty  pieces  of  silver.  What 
must  those  do?     Buy  a  potter's  field,  Zech.  xi.  12, 


Ver.  19. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


191 


13.  By  whom  must  he  be  taken  ?  By  that  child  of 
perdition.  What  was  he  ?  His  familiar  friend, 
whom  he  trusted,  his  steward,  his  almoner?  It  was 
prophesied,  Psal.  xli.  9.  What  shall  his  disciples 
doi"  Run  away  :  so  it  was  prophesied,  Zceh.  xiii.  ", 
I  will  "  smite  the  Shepherd,  and  the  sheep  shall  be 
scattered."  What  must  now  be  done  to  him  ?  He 
must  be  scourged,  spit  upon.  It  was  prophesied, 
Isa.  1.  6,  "  I  hid  not  my  face  from  shame  and  spit- 
ting." Those  filthy  excrements  of  his  enemies  fell 
not  upon  his  face  without  a  prophecy.  What  then  ? 
He  must  be  led  to  death :  it  was  prophesied,  Dan. 
ix.  a;,  The  Messiali  shall  be  cut  oil".  What  death 
must  he  suffer?  Crucifying,  prefigured  by  tl\e  lift- 
ing up  of  the  brazen  serpent.  Whil her  must  he  be 
lined  up?  To  the  cross;  hanging  on  a  tree,  saith 
Moses.  How  ?  He  must  be  nailed  to  it :  it  was  the 
prophecy,  Psal.  xx.  1(>,  "They  pierced  my  hands  and 
my  feet."  With  what  company  ?  Two  malefactors : 
it  was  the  prophecy,  Isa.  liii.  V2,  "  He  was  numbered 
with  the  tiansgressors."  AVhat  becomes  of  his  gar- 
ments? The  prophet  tells,  Psal.  xxii.  IS,  "  Tluy 
part  my  garments  among  them,  and  cast  lots  upon  my 
vesture."  They  cannot  so  much  as  throw  the  dice, 
for  his  coat,  but  it  is  prophesied.  There  was  not  a 
bone  broken  of  him  :  it  was  plainly  presignified  in 
his  tyi)e,  the  paschal  la:nb,  Exod.  xii.  4(j.  Not  a 
bone  broken !  what  hinders  ?  Lo,  there  he  hangs 
neglected,  at  their  mercy  ;  yet  not  all  the  raging 
Jews,  nor  roaring  devils,  could  break  one  bone  of  him. 
What  then  follows  ?  He  must  be  pierced  in  the  side  : 
1  lie  spear  could  not  do  this,  but  directed  by  a  pro- 
phecy ;  "  They  shall  look  upon  me  whom  they  have 
|)ierccd,"  Zech.  xii.  10.  His  ver)'  words  were  not 
imforetold  :  the  resignation  of  his  spirit  into  tlie 
hands  of  his  Father,  Psal.  xxxi.  5.  His  prayer  for 
pardon  to  them  that  killed  him  ;  that  same,  "  Father, 
forgive  them ;  for  they  know  not  what  they  do,"  Luke 
xxiii.  34.  It  was  prophesied  by  Isaiah,  chap.  liii.  12, 
He  prayed  for  the  transgressors.  There  is  one  yet 
behind,'  Jolin  xix.  28,  "I  thirst."  Thirst!  this"  is 
.-.Irange,  that  a  dying  man  should  complain  of  thirst. 
Could  he  endure  those  tortures  of  body,  horrors  of 
soul,  the  curse  of  our  sins,  the  unsupportable  wrath 
of  Glod,  and  yet  shrink  at  thirst  ?  It  was  surely 
not  the  necessity  of  nature,  but  the  necessity  of 
his  Father's  decree,  which  drew  from  him  that  "  I 
thirst."  He  could  have  borne  his  draught  un- 
satisfied, he  could  not  bear  his  Scrinture  unfulfil- 
led. They  offered  him  drink  before.  Vie  refused  it ; 
now  he  calls  for  it,  now  he  receives  it :  "  In  my  thirst 
they  gave  me  vinegar  lo  drink,"  Psal.  Ixix.  21  :  the 
ven,'  (juality  and  kind  of  his  drink  is  prophesied. 
His  triduan  sepulture  was  prefigured  in  Jonas,  Matt. 
xii.  40.  His  glorious  resurrection,  and  conquest  over 
death,  Psal.  xvi.  10,  "  Thou  wilt  not  suffer  thine  Holy 
One  to  see  corruption."  So  Paul  derives  it  from 
Hosea,  chap.  xiii.  14,  "  O  death,  I  will  be  thy 
plagues;  O  grave,  I  will  be  thy  destniction."  His 
ascension  was  prophesied,  Psal".  Ixviii.  IS,  "Thou 
hast  ascended  on  high,  thou  hast  led  captivity  ca|)t  ive." 
The  vocation  of  the  Gentiles  was  prophesied,  Hos.  ii. 
2.3,  "  I  will  say  to  them  wliieh  were  not  my  people, 
Thou  art  my  people."  His  coming  lo  judgment  pro- 
[ihesied,  Isa.  xiii.  His  first  coming  was  "as  a  lamb, 
without  crying,  or  havinLC  his  voice  heard  in  tlio 
street,  ver.  2.  His  second  coming  as  a  lion,  "The 
Lord  shall  go  fortli  as  a  mighty  man,"  ver.  13.  Thus 
in  reading  the  Scriptures,  let  us  still  have  an  eye  to 
Christ.  They  are  a  field,  and  the  precious  jewel  hid 
in  it  is  Jesus  Christ. 

Can  there  be  now  any  Jew  that  will  more  that 
question,  "  Art  thou  he  that  should  come  ?  or  do  we 
look  for  another?"  Matt.  xi.  3;  or  that  will  keep 


in  the  old  tune  of  tliat  tempting  devil,  "  If  thou  be 
the  Son  of  God  ?  "  Matt.  iv.  3.  If.  Certainly  he  hath 
upon  him  the  brand  of  that  old  stiff-ncckedncss,  that 
will  not  relent  with  the  yoke  of  sixteen  hundi-ed 
years'  conviction.  Let  them  show  one  prophecy  un- 
fulfilled; one  other  in  whom  they  can  be  fulfilled.  It 
was  the  great  question  of  the  world,  Who  is  that 
Christ  ?  It  is  the  great  ouestion  of  the  church,  Who  is 
that  antichrist  ?  In  bolli  these  are  the  Jews  ignorant. 
Let  them  beware  their  doom :  Bring  those  my  ene- 
mies that  would  not  have  me  reign  over  them,  and 
slay  them  before  me,  Luke  xix.  27.  But  I  would  to 
God  there  were  no  vipers  of  this  monstrous  genera- 
tion among  us:  no  compounded  gallimaufry  of  re- 
ligions; a  Christian's  face,  Jew's  heart,  a  worldling's 
foot,  an  atheist's  hand.  That  confess  a  God,  and 
know  him  not :  profess  a  Christ,  and  believe  him 
not.  Tile  worst  kind  of  fools,  Psal.  xiv.  1.  In  this 
worse  than  the  de^^ls  ;  for  they  could  say,  "  Jesus  I 
know,"  Acts  xix.  15.  0  God,  that  after  so  many 
miraculous  confirmations,  thousands  of  martyrdoms, 
glorious  victories  of  truth,  confessions  of  angels,  of 
men,  of  devils,  universal  contestation  of  all  ages ; 
that  there  should  be  any  spark  of  tliis  damned 
infidelity  left  !  Whom  have  the  prophets  fore- 
showed, what  have  they  foreshowed  that  he  hath 
not  fulfilled  ?  Who  could  foretell  them  but  the 
Spirit  of  God  ?  who  could  fulfil  them  but  the 
Son  of  God?  He  hath  prophesied,  lie  hath  accom- 
plished; one  true  God  in  both.  No  other  wisdom 
could  say,  this  shall  be  done  ;  no  other  power  could 
make  manifest,  this  is  done.  The  law  was  a  word 
prophesied  ;  the  gospel  a  word  pronounced.  Christ 
is  the  Alpha  of  the  prophets,  the  Omega  of  the  evan- 
gelists;  All  in  all.  Therefore,  "  If  any  man  love  not 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  let  him  be  Anathema  Maran- 
atha,"  I  Cor.  xvi.  22. 

For  ourselves,  let  us  be  confirmed  by  this  reference, 
and  persuaded  in  consience,  that  the  Scripture  is  the 
book  of  God.  If  Ptolemy  was  amazed  at  the  seventy 
interpreters,  because  they,  being  placed  in  sundry 
rooms,  never  conferring,  nor  seeing  one  another,  did 
yet  upon  the  same  text  write  the  same  thing,  not 
only  for  sense  of  matter,  but  even  for  sound  of  words, 
as  Augustine  reports  ;  how  should  we  be  moved  with 
the  Divine  concordance  between  the  prophets  and 
the  apostles,  who  wrote  in  divers  ages  and  places,  yet 
so  agreeing  in  one,  that  they  seem  not  divers  penmen, 
but  divers  pens  of  one  writer.  The  devil  raged,  the 
Pharisees  stormed,  Herod  and  Pilate  vexed,  Caia- 
phas  prophesied ;  all  intended  against  the  Lord's 
Anointed.  Yet  they  all  did  against  their  wills,  as 
no  more  than  God  determined,  so  no  less  than  was 
prophesied.  For  the  determination,-  read  Acts  iv. 
28 ;  they  did  what  "  thy  counsel  determined  before 
to  be  done."  For  the  prediction,  read  Acts  xiii.  27; 
they  not  knowing  the  prophets,  "fulfilled  them  in 
condemning  him."  Even  by  this  also  we  know  him 
to  be  the  right  promised  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Ye  do  well."  I  proceed  to  their  commendation ; 
the  apostle  praiseth  them.  Goodness  descrveth 
pniise,  and  let  it  have  the  merit  :  let  no  man  be  afraid 
to  bless,  where  God  hath  blessed.  If  Mary  be  bless- 
ed of  God,  all  generations  shall  call  her  blessed. 
"  Now  I  praise  you,  brethren,"  1  Cor.  xi.  2.  Our 
Savionr  praiseth  John  the  Baptist ;  "Among  them 
that  are  born  of  women,  there  hath  not  risen  a 
greater,"  Matt.  xi.  II.  If  .Mexander  so  envied  the 
hapiiiness  of  Achilles,  that  found  such  a  trumpet  of 
his  Honour  as  Homer ;  what  glory  was  it  for  John,  to 
be  commended  by  Christ,  who  neither  would  flatter, 
nor  could  falter !  Indeed  adulation  is  dangerous  ; 
The  word  of  a  flatterer  is  worse  than  the  sword  of  a 
persecutor.  (Greg.)     A  malicious  enemy  often  doth 


192 


AN  EXPOSITION  LPON  THE 


Chap.  I 


us  good,  !)>•  telling  our  vices  ;  but  a  fawning  friend 
doth  us  hurt,  in  telling  our  virtues.  This  is  verbal 
simony ;  to  commend  what  we  have  not,  or  to  extol 
too  much  what  we  have.  "  Let  your  speech  be 
alway  with  grace,  seasoned  with  salt,"  Col.  iv.  6. 
There  musi  be  salt  in  our  language,  a.i^  well  as  honey. 
(Plaut.)  The  parasite  hath  bread  in  one  hand,  and  a 
stone  in  the  other;  using  a  man  as  the  Jews  did 
Christ,  carry  him  up  to  the  top  of  a  hill,  and  then  strive 
to  throw  him  down  lieadlong,  Luke  iv.  29.  But 
withal,  as  even  beasts  will  draw  better  or  run  faskr 
by  being  encouraged;  so  just  praises  upon  due  de- 
serts are  spurs  to  virtue.  AVhen  God  had  given  sucli 
an  appi'oval  of  Job,  that  he  was  a  perfect  and  upright 
man,  one  that  feareth  God  and  eschewetli  evil,  who 
but  a  devil  would  pick  quarrels  against  him  ?  It  is  a 
breach  of  tliat  justice,  which  is  due  from  man  to  man  : 
"  Render  to  all  their  dues  ;  honour  to  whom  lionour," 
Rom.  xiii.  7-  The  whole  time  is  not  to  be  spent  in 
reproof  of  evil,  there  is  some  to  commend  what  is 
done  well.  That  you  do  attend  to  sermons,  in  this 
you  do  well ;  I  fear  not  to  jiraise  you.  But  then  be 
sure  you  are  such  hearers.  Sophocles  ever  made 
women  good  in  his  plays  ;  Euripides  ever  made  them 
bad.  Sophocles  being  asked  the  reason  of  this  dis- 
parity, answered,  I  make  tliem  such  as  they  should 
be,  Euripides  makes  them  such  as  they  are.  AVhen 
I  tell  you  of  attentive  auditors,  I  speak  of  such  as 
you  should  be  ;  when  I  mention  negligent  and  for- 
getful hearers,  I  speak  of  such  asyou  are.  First  come 
hither  mended,  then  depart  commended. 

But  what  is  the  virtue  here  praised  in  them  ?  At- 
tention to  the  Scripture.  This  is  the  mirror  and  rule  of 
life.  When  the  lawyer  asked  Christ  what  he  should 
do  to  inherit  eternal  life?  he  answered,  "What  is 
written  in  the  law?  how  readest  thou?"  Luke  x. 
2.3,  2fi.  This  was  Abraham's  answer,  "  They  have 
Moses  and  the  prophets ;  let  them  hear  them,"  Luke 
xvi.  29.  "  To  the  law  and  to  the  testimony,"  Isa. 
viii.  20.  De  rebus  fidei  suadeamur  ex  Uteris  fidei. 
(Tertul.)  It  is  an  old  proverb,  The  letters  of  princes 
are  to  be  read  thrice:  but  the  epistles  of  the  King  of 
kings  would  be  read  over  seventy  times.  Noclurna 
rersate  mmm,  versale  diurna.  (Horat.)  Meditate  in 
this  law  day  and  night,  Psal.  i.  2.  And  in  this  let 
us  apply  ourselves  more  to  the  sense  of  the  matter, 
than  sound  of  the  letter.  "  The  letter  killeth,  the 
spirit  giveth  life,"  2  Cor.  iii.  6.  The  letter  not  un- 
derstood kills,  but  being  understood  helps.  One 
sharply  rejjrehended  an  ignorant  priest :  Thou  hast 
taken  heed,  Ne  le  uUa  occidere  possit  lilera,  non  vlla 
est  litera  nota  tibi.  The  nobles  of  Berea  were  praised 
for  .searching  the  Scriptures  daily,  Acts  xvii.  II.  I 
would  to  God  this  just  praise  would  be  inherited  with 
tlie  gospel :  we  have  the  same  happiness  to  hear,  but 
not  to  consider. 

Give  me  a  man  that  takes  heed  to  the  word. 
They  that  settle  themselves  to  their  cups,  as  if  they 
meant  so  much  love  to  the  wine  that  tlicy  are  con- 
tent to  make  themselves  sick  with  it,  do  not  take 
heed  to  the  word,  "Be  not  drunk  with  wine,"  Eph. 
V.  18.  The  fury  of  the  law,  I  do  not  say  the  lawyer, 
that  sits  in  his  study  like  a  fox  in  his  burrow,  glad 
to  spy  a  goose  that  hath  feathers  on  the  back,  (such 
a  one  as  will  be  content  to  part  with  a  wing,  so  his 
adversary  may  lose  a  quill,)  and  will  sell  truth  and 
conscience  for  a  fee,  takes  not  heed  to  the  word, 
"  Buy  the  (rutli  and  sell  it  not,"  Prov.  xxiii.  2.3.  The 
miserable  trader,  that  did  shut  up  the  fear  of  God 
the  same  day  he  first  opened  his  shop  ;  that  married 
his  wife  and  the  world  at  once,  to  save  the  charges  of 
a  double  wedding ;  that  bids  a  good  conscience  fare- 
well for  thirty  years,  and  chargelh  it  to  meet  him 
again  when  he  is  alderman  ;  that  took  one  and  the 


same  oath,  to  be  the  city's  free-man,  and  money's 
bond-slave:  this  man  takes  no  heed  to  the  word, 
"  That  no  man  go  beyond  and  defraud  his  brother, 
because  that  the  Lord  is  the  avenger  of  all  such," 
1  Thess.  iv.  (S.  The  griping  usurer,  who  proclaims 
■nith  a  Noverint  iiniversi.  that  he  hath  money  to  let, 
and  a  soul  to  sell,  which  interest  shall  buy;  who 
though  tlie  husbandman  cry  for  rain,  or  the  merchant 
for  fair  weather;  though  the  shepherd  complains  of 
the  rot,  the  grazier  the  drought,  and  every  man  that 
de])cnds  upon  God's  blessing  sustains  loss ;  yet  he 
liath  a  trick  beyond  God,  and  beside  heaven's  leave 
to  be  rich  :  he  takes  no  heed  to  the  15th  Psalm,  which 
denies  his  soul  any  room  in  heaven.  The  proud, 
painted  woman,  whom  the  devil  hath  dressed  up  for 
temptation  ;  that  gives  occasion  to  others  of  lust,  al- 
beit she  intends  it  not ;  yet  is  like  a  man  that  shoots 
an  arrow  at  a  venture  :  a  fool  comes  in  at  the  moment 
of  emission,  and  it  kills  him  :  he  did  it  not  by  his 
will,  yet  the  sting  of  conscience  doth  not  so  leave 
him  ;  he  could  wish  that  he  had  not  shot.  Though 
tlie  alluring  woman  do  not  perish  herself,  yet  slie 
destroys  another.  Into  the  church  evciT  one  should 
come  with  preparation  to  die  :  painting  is  no  sign  of 
preparing  for  death,  but  filling  up  tlie  wrinkles  of 
age.  These  take  no  heed  to  the  word.  Give  no  oc- 
casion of  evil.  The  oppressor,  that  undoes  many 
hundreds,  and  helps  two  or  three ;  like  a  tyrant,  that 
hath  robbed  and  killed  the  father  and  mother,  and 
then  gives  the  child  a  coat ;  that,  like  Socrates,  Avills 
his  executors  to  ofl'er  a  cock  lo  Esculapius,  perhaps 
lest  he  should  die  in  the  devil's  debt,  and  be  im- 
pleaded in  hell  :  he  takes  no  heed  to  the  word,  "  Owe 
no  man  any  tiling,"  Rom.  xiii.  8.  Do  thou  restore 
according  to  equity,  or  the  Lord  will  not  restore  thee 
according  to  mercy.  We  arc  not  heedy,  but  heady  ; 
we  do  not  tarr>'  for  the  direction  of  the  word. 

But  as  the  architect  without  his  rule  will  never 
build  a  good  house  :  nor  the  traveller  come  to  the  end 
of  his  journey,  that  neither  knows  nor  asks  a  step  of 
the  way  ;  so  there  is  no  hope  of  salvation  without 
submission  to  the  rule  of  eternal  truth.  As  it  is  in 
the  fable  of  the  golden  chain ;  men  and  gods  were 
not  able  to  draw  Jupiter  down  to  the  earth,  but  Ju- 
piter was  able  to  draw  them  up  into  heaven.  As  we 
must  submit  our  reason  unto  faith,  not  faith  to  rea- 
son ;  so  we  must  subject  our  aflections  to  God's 
word,  not  God's  word  to  our  affections.  The  word  of 
God  is  that  herb  of  life,  able  to  cure  all  diseases  of 
the  conscience.  A  sage  observing  that  many  pass- 
ing by  an  unseen  cockatrice,  fell  down  dead;  only  a 
shepherd  with  a  garland  of  herbs  and  flowers  went 
by  unharmed ;  he  called  the  shepherd  to  him,  and 
begged  his  garland,  then  sent  him  back  to  the  jilace 
from  whence  he  came.  But  by  the  way  the  sirpent 
struck  him  dead,  infecting  his  vison,-  spirits  with  her 
unprevented  poison.  The  old  man  hastened  to  him, 
and  began  to  rub  his  eyes  with  one  herb  of  the  gar- 
land ;  that  failing,  with  another ;  and  so  continued, 
till  he  lighted  upon  that  herb  which  effected  his  re- 
cover}-. Thus  he  came  to  know  the  herb,  preserved 
it,  prescribed  it,  and  defended  all  that  had  such. 
Sut'h  a  saving  herb  is  the  word  of  God  :  when  that 
old  serpent  the  devil  hath  killed  men,  and  laid  them 
dead  in  sins  and  trespasses,  yet  if  their  hearts  be 
nibbed  with  this  flower,  it  shall  revive  them  :  "  The 
dead  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God ;  and 
tliey  that  hear  shall  live,"  John  v.  25.  Now  the 
Spirit  of  God  fill  the  gardens  of  all  our  consciences 
with  it ;  that  the  poison  of  this  world,  the  venom  of 
Satan,  may  not  hurt  us :  but  that  obedience  and  faith 
may  bring  us  to  the  paradise  where  it  grows;  even 
that  eternal  Word  of  God  himself,  who  sits  at  the 
right  hand  of  his  Father  in  heaven. 


Vtn.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETKR. 


193 


"  As  unto  .1  light  tluit  shineth  in  a  dark  place." 
Tliis  is  the  third  general,  the  prelation.  V  e  have 
heard  how  the  word  of  prophecy  is  said  to  be  the 
surer;  because  that  was  written,  visible,  legible,  the 
known  will  and  word  of  God,  whercunto  they  gave 
a  universal  consent  and  attestation;  whereas  llie 
gospel  was  not  then  committed  to  writing.  Now 
lurtlier,  we  must  not  think  here  is  any  comparison 
made  bctwc^^n  the  law  and  the  gospel  :  but,  as  for- 
merly, between  the  written  Scripture  and  their  par- 
ticular revelation  ;  so  here,  between  the  said  extant 
and  manifest  light,  and  the  darkness  of  this  world. 
For  ;ill  m(-n  that  are  not  acquainted  with  the  word 
of  Christ,  wander  in  darkness;  their  foolish  heart  is 
darkened,  Rom.  i.  21.  And  no  otherwise  doth  he 
shine  inito  us,  than  as  we  look  on  the  light  of  his 
blessed  truth.  Now  to  a  man  shut  up  in  a  dark  pri- 
son, and  cooped  about  with  a  black  night,  nothing  is 
more  comfortable  than  a  light.  So  from  the  caligi- 
nous  shades  of  error  and  ignorance  we  cannot  be  ex- 
tricated, but  by  this  manuduction,  the  lamp  of  truth, 
maintained  by  the  oil  of  love,  which  is  the  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

Melhinks  the  parcels  of  this  point  may  be  distin- 
guished into  Egypt  and  Goshen  ;  in  the  same  state 
they  stood.  In  Egyjit  "  ihcy  saw  not  one  another, 
ncitluT  rose  any  from  his  place  ft)r  three  days  :  but 
all  the  children  of  Israel  liad  light  in  their  dwell- 
ings," Exod.  X.  23.  The  world  is  great  and  spacious, 
in  respect  of  the  church ;  so  was  Egvpt  a  large  coun- 
try, Goshen  but  a  comer  of  it.  ^et  it  was  day  in 
Goshen,  when  it  was  night  in  Egy-pt  ;  so  the  church 
seeth  clearly  in  the  broad  day,  when  the  world  gropes 
in  the  dark  night.  Darkness  is  an  orbily  and  pri- 
vative thing,  that  necessarily  follows  the  absence  of 
light.  Man  hath  seen  light  ;  who  could  ever  see 
darkness?  Yes,  let  us  take  this  light  in  our  hands, 
and  by  it  we  .shall  discern  this  dark  place.  First,  let 
us  consider  tliis  Egyptian  darkness,  and  then  come 
to  the  light  of  Goslun.  There  is  a  sixfold  darkness, 
all  expelled  by  this  blessed  light. 

I.  Natural  darkness;  caused  by  no  positive  thing, 
but  necessaiily  following  upon  the  secession  or  ab- 
sence of  the  sun,  and  again  dispersed  by  the  succes- 
sion of  the  next  light.  "  Over  them  was  spread  a 
heavy  ni"ht,  an  image  of  that  darkness  which  should 
afterward  receive  them,"  Wisd.  xvii.  21.  Such  was 
the  judgment  upon  Elymas  the  sorcerer :  Thou  shalt 
not  see  the  sun  ;  and  then  necessarily  and  immedi- 
ately there  fell  upon  him  a  mist  of  darkness.  Acts 
xiii.  II.  We  all  know  this  darkness,  God  bless  us 
from  ever  knowing  a  worse.  If  that  darkness  be 
t.  dious  to  oin-  unsleeping  eyes,  which  we  know  after 
(•  w  hours  will  liave  a  morning,  and  to  which  God 
li.ith  promised  a  rising  sun  ;  how  intolerable  is  that 
darkness  which  shall  never  be  enlightened,  where 
men  shall  wish  in  vain  for  the  moniin'r  star  to  rise  ! 
Therefore  said  the  wise  man,  ever)-  niglit  is  an  image 
r  that  swallowing  darkness.  Melhinks,  then,  we 
■iild  not  dare  to  \n\t  out  the  light,  till  we  had  made 
■  ;r  i>eace  with  the  God  of  mercy;  lest  his  justice 
throw  us  from  this  short  to  an'  eternal  darkness, 
("onsidcr  the  horror  of  Egypt  in  that  thick  and  sick 
night.  As  the  grasshopp'ers.had  lately  taken  from 
them  the  sight  of  earth,  so  now  this  gross  darkness 
takes  away  the  sight  of  heaven.  Other  darknesses 
were  but  privative,  this  real  and  sensible.  They 
thought  this  a  long  night :  alas,  how  should  they 
choose,  when  it  was  the  space  of  six  nights  in  one? 
Joshua  and  Hczekiah  had  the  longest  days,  but 
Egypt  had  the  longest  night.  God  enlarg'eth  the 
day  to  his  friends,  the  night  to  his  enemies.  No  man 
could  rise  to  talk  with  another,  but  was  necessarily 
confined  to  his  own  bed  and  thoughts.    One  thinks 


the  fault  in  his  own  eyes,  which  he  often  rubs  in  vain. 
Another,  that  the  firmament  hath  quite  lost  the  sun, 
and  that  it  is  set  for  ever.  Another,  that  all  things 
are  retuniing  to  their  first  confusion.  •  All  think 
themselves  past  remedy  miserable  ;  and  wish,  what- 
soever had  befallen  them,  they  might  have  had  but 
light  enough  to  see  themselves  die.  How  joyfully 
do  we  look  up  to  heaven  after  a  tedious  darkness'! 
"  Truly  the  light  is  sweet,  and  a  pleasant  thing  it  is 
for  tlie  eyes  to  behold  the  sun,"  Eecl.  xi.  7-  Yet 
how  forgetfully  do  we  omit  praise  to  Him,  that  hath 
both  placed  the  light  there,  and  given  us  eyes  to  see 
it !  AVe  look  on  it,  yet  we  do  not  duly  prize  it ;  or  if 
we  prize  it,  we  live  not  worthy  of  it,  by  neglecting 
to  bless  him  that  gives  it. 

2.  The  darkness  of  calamity  and  trouble :  for  so 
the  Hebrews  took  it  ;  and  by  light,  the  deliverance 
from  it,  the  comfort  that  doth  follow  it.  Sorrow- 
lasts  for  a  night ;  that  is,  misen,- ;  the  effect  is  put 
for  the  cause,  the  daughter  for  the  mother;  "  but  joy 
Cometh  in  the  morning,"  Psal.  xxx.  5.  Though  a 
man  rejoice  many  years,  yet  "  let  him  remember  the 
days  of  darkness;  for  they  shall  be  many,"  Eccl.  xi. 
8 :  that  is,  the  days  of  sorrow.  So  many  days  of 
trouble,  so  many  days  of  darkness.  "Thou  shalt 
not  be  afraid  for  the  terror  by  night,"  Psal.  xei.  5. 
This  same  terror  by  night  is  of  all  fears  most  terrible. 
Pray  that  your  flight  be  not  in  the  night ;  it  was 
Christ's  warning  to  the  Jews.  Nothing  is  more 
without  comfort  than  darknes.s,  nothing  more  without 
joy  than  calamity.  Hence  it  is  that  comforts  in  holy 
writ  are  set  down  under  the  name  of  light.  "  Unto 
the  upright  there  ariscth  light  in  the  darkness," 
Psal.  cxii.  4 ;  that  is,  comfort  in  trouble.  "  The 
light  of  the  wicked  shall  be  put  out,  and  the  spark 
of  his  fire  shall  not  shine,"  Job  xviii.  5 ;  all  his  joy, 
comfort,  hope  shall  be  extinguished.  So  miseries 
are  called  darkness :  David  in  his  afflictions  com- 
plains, that  the  darkness  had  covered  him.  Here- 
upon some  have  derived  lugere,  quasi  luce  egere.  The 
godly  are  called  "  the  chiKlrcn  of  light,"  L,uke  xvi. 
8.  Now  can  the  children  of  light  mourn,  while  the 
Sun  of  comfort  is  with  them  ?  No  more  than  the 
children  of  the  bridechamber,  in  the  presence  of  the 
bridegroom.  Matt.  ix.  15.  He  is  mad  that  can  be 
merrj-  in  darkness  ;  he  is  worse  than  mad  that  can 
laugh  and  sing  in  wretchedness.  "  There  is  a  time 
to  laugh,  and  a  time  to  weep,"  Eccl.  iii.  4:  there  is 
a  time  of  light,  and  a  time  of  darkness.  There  is  a 
time  to  laugh,  and  that  is  the  time  of  li»ht :  there  is  a 
time  to  weep,  and  that  is  the  time  of  darkness.  Do  you 
require  of  us  a  song  in  our  heaviness  ?  "  How  shall 
we  sing  the  Lord's  song  in  a  strange  land?"  Psal. 
cxxxvii.  4.  The  captivity  in  Babylon  might  well 
mar  the  mirth  of  Jerusalem.  When  God  troubles 
the  state  of  our  peace,  he  would  trouble  the  eyes  of 
our  heads :  as  when  the  thunder  shakes  the  air, 
the  clouds  weep  to  still  it.  Shall  we  compassionate 
others'  miseries,  and  not  our  own  ?  As  August. 
Confess.  1.  cap.  13;  What  is  more  wretched  than 
he  that  pities  not  himself?  that  can  lament  the  death 
of  Dido,  which  came  by  over-loving  .Eneas,  and  not 
lament  his  own  death,  which  comes  by  not  loving  the 
Lord?  "Though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil,"  Psal.  xxiii.  4. 
Calamity  is  this  shadow ;  there  is  no  comfort  in  it, 
but  only  the  light  and  presence  of  Christ. 

3.  The  darkness  of  ignorance,  the  worst  kind  of 
cecity.  The  seeing  man  says  in  the  night,  I  have 
eyes,  but  here  is  no  light.  The  blind  man  says  in  the 
day.  There  is  light,  but  I  have  no  eyes.  The  blind 
papist  among  Christians  may  say,  Here  is  light,  but 
I  have  no  eyes.  The  believing  Christian  among 
papists  must  say',  I  have  eyes,  but  here  is  no  light. 


194 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


The  infidel  fails  in  both ;  he  hath  neither  an  eye  for 
the  light,  nor  light  for  the  eye ;  neither  the  truth 
visible,  nor  an  understanding  capable  :  this  is  a 
wretched  darkness.  Pagans  have  a  darkful  niglit ; 
papists  have  a  doubtful  light,  we  call  it  twilight;  we 
have  the  broad  day.  Our  "  eyes  have  seen  Ihy  sal- 
vation," Luke  ii.  30.  When  I  considered  well  that 
same  popish  doctrine,  how  they  extol  and  obtrude 
ignorance  to  their  people ;  yea,  justify  it  to  the  world, 
and  commend  it  as  the  special  means  to  hold  them 
to  the  line  of  obedience,  and  within  the  lists  of  God's 
sen-ice ;  methoughl  I  did  wonder,  whicli  of  Satan's 
transformations  had  brought  Rome  to  this  inextrica- 
ble darkness.  First,  he  came  like  a  lion,  roaring  out 
persecution  and  blood :  there  he  tried  the  patience 
of  the  church ;  "  Here  is  the  patience  of  the  saints," 
Rev.  xiii.  10.  Then  he  came  like  a  serpent,  winding 
himself  in  by  heresy :  there  he  exercised  the  wisdom 
of  the  church ;  "  Here  is  wisdom.  Let  him  that 
hath  understanding,"  &c.  Rev.  xiii.  IS.  Then  he 
came  transformed  like  an  angel  of  light ;  for  he  could 
work  nothing  upon  us  if  he  should  jirofess  himself  to 
be  the  very  same  that  he  is  :  there  he  exercised  the 
faith  of  the  church ;  whether,  renouncing  all  aber- 
rations, we  would  adhere  to  the  manifested  will  of 
God.  Try  the  spirits;  and  then  this  spirit  of  bor- 
rowed light  will  prove  a  spirit  of  veiy  darkness.  But 
what  shape  or  semblance  took  he,  what  kind  of 
devil  was  he,  when  he  came  to  persuade  men  to  ignor- 
ance ?  Oil  impudence  !  he  durst  then  profess  liim- 
self  to  be  what  he  is,  a  spirit  of  darkness.  Ask  him. 
What  art  thou  ?  he  answers  plainly,  I  am  the  devil, 
and  come  to  put  out  thine  eyes.  Oh  who  but  a  be- 
witched Romist  will  thus  entertain  him?  "  There- 
fore night  shall  be  unto  you,  and  it  shall  be  dark, 
that  ye  shall  not  have  a  vision  ;  the  sun  shall  go 
down  over  the  prophets,  and  the  day  shall  be  dark 
over  them,"  Micah  iii.  6.  Oh  fearful!  The  centinel 
perceives  a  passenger :  Who  goes  there  ?  A  friend. 
Give  the  word.  I  am  for  the  light  of  the  gospel. 
Though  he  be  a  false  friend,  yet  the  word  admits 
him.  But  the  centinel  asking,  Who  goes  there  ? 
it  is  answered,  A  friend.  Give  the  word.  I  am  for 
darkness  and  ignorance.  Shall  he  pass  ?  he  is  a 
friend  to  the  pope.  As  Demosthenes  got  more  by 
silence  than  otner  advocates  by  pleading,  so  the  pope 
hath  got  more  by  darkness  than  any  bishop  of  the 
Christian  world  by  light.  Others  get  only  iieaven, 
but  he  hath  got  heaven,  and  earth,  and  purgatory 
(and  pcrhajis  hell)  to  boot. 

Simplicity,  sometimes  a  sin  personal  in  the  lay 
people,  is  now  become  a  sin  cathedral  in  the  teachers. 
But  though  the  people  may  not  read  the  Scripture, 
yet  they  preach  Scripture.  But  alas,  how  should 
the  people  know  whether  they  preach  Scripture  or 
■not  ?  who  can  discern  a  wolf  from  a  sheep,  withotit 
some  light  ?  They  tell  you  the  miracles  of  such  a 
block,  the  wonders  of  a  crucifix,  what  prayers  you 
must  number  to  saints.  They  make  sermons,  as 
they  did  their  church  windows;  so  much  painting  in 
them,  that  they  quite  keep  out  the  light.  And  in 
conclusion,  they  persuade  the  people  to  love  dark- 
ness ;  for  this  will  bring  them  to  devotion,  just  as 
sure  as  the  devil  would  bring  them  to  salvation.  Con- 
sider and  pity  their  estate :  exterior  darkness  hath 
caused  interior  darkness.  'WTjen  the  heavens  are 
shadowed  with  thick  clouds,  the  glorious  sun  retired 
to  his  descent,  the  moon  afraid  to  put  (orth  her  silver 
homs,  the  stars  not  able  to  twinkle  in  their  spheres ; 
not  ii  little  candle,  not  a  spark  of  fire  to  be  gotten : 
oh  uncomfortable  confusicm !  Ten  thousand  times 
more  wretched  is  the  soul's  estate  in  this  spiritual 
darkness :  what  are  the  companions  of  it,  but  error 
and  terror?    First,  as  in  the  night  all  things  have 


lost  their  colours,  in  respect  of  our  appreliension  ; 
who  could  know  the  blue  fricirs  from  the  grey,  or 
the  white  from  the  black,  or  Nicholas  Clarke's  from 
either?  so  the  darkened  soul  thinks  blessing  and 
cursing  all  one ;  to  worship  our  lady  as  good  as  to 
worship  our  Lord :  to  sacrifice,  and  not  to  sacrifice ; 
to  swear,  as  to  fear  an  oath,  Eccl.  ix.  2.  Again,  as 
in  the  night  a  man  is  often  amazed  and  affriglited, 
his  hair  staring,  and  his  thoughts  distracted  witli 
fear;  so  tlierc  is  nothing  but  dread  and  perturba- 
tion of  conscience  in  this  inward  darkness.  They 
know  not  whether  they  shall  be  saved  or  damnetl, 
till  they  come  to  heaven  or  hell.  Oh  fearful 
death,  when  souls  depart  to  know  whether  there 
be  a  heaven  or  hell,  or  no.  Suppose  they  do 
slumber  in  this  darkness,  yet  it  is  not  without  start- 
ing. All  the  glimpse  of  their  hope  consists  in  some 
perfunctory  prayers  to  our  lady :  this  is  the  main 
jiopish  light.  Whereof  a  hermit  tells  us  in  good 
earnest ;  that  he  saw  a  great  light  descending  from 
heaven,  like  unto  fire,  and  lighting  upon  her  church 
at  Loretta.  It  was,  saitli  he,  twelve  feet  high,  and 
six  feet  broad ;  and  this  was  concluded  by  the  loving 
divines  at  Louvaine,  to  be  our  lady,  who  came  down 
in  her  own  person  to  see  her  feast  solemnized.  For 
this,  you  must  note,  happened  on  the  8th  of  Septem- 
ber, the  veiy  day  of  her  birth ;  in  those  days  when 
beasts  spake,  and  houses  did  fly :  and  then  the  cock 
crew,  and  it  waxed  day.  This  story  for  demonstra- 
tion is  written  in  the  church  of  Loretta :  let  us  there 
leave  it.  And  for  those  poor  souls,  led  in  blindness, 
let  us  pray,  that  the  Lord  would  translate  them  out  of 
darkness  into  the  kingdom  of  liis  dear  Son,  Col.  i.  13. 

4.  The  darkness  of  iniquity.  Sins  are  called  "the 
works  of  darkness,"  Rom.  xiii.  12.  "  Have  no  fel- 
lowship with  the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness,"  Eph. 
v.  11.  When  that  great  sin  was  a  committing,  the 
murder  of  the  innocent  Lamb  Jesus,  there  was  a 
darkness  over  all  the  earth,  Luke  xxiii.  44;  to  show 
that  this  was  a  great  work  of  darkness,  the  hour  of 
darkness,  and  power  of  darkness,  consented  and  con- 
vented  to  assist  it.  The  black  night-raven  will  foster 
her  own  bird  :  the  mother  darkness  makes  much  of 
tlic  daughter.  There  was  a  liellish  dance  led  by 
five,  the  men  of  darkness,  a  deed  of  darkness,  hour 
of  darkness,  power  of  darkness,  and  the  prince  of 
darkness,  to  make  uj)  number  and  measure.  The 
sun  was  darkened,  as  if  shame  would  not  suffer  it  to 
behold  so  black  a  deed.  A  heathen  obser\-ing  it, 
concluded,  either  that  God  suffered  or  the  world 
perished.  There  was  no  interposition  of  the  moon 
betwixt  sun  and  earth,  to  make  a  natural  eclipse; 
but  the  invention,  inter\-ention  of  a  foul  and  cloudy 
sin.  Men  could  endure  to  do  it ;  the  sun  could  not 
endure  to  behold  it.  Men's  eyes  have  dazzled  to 
beliold  the  sun ;  but  now  the  sun's  eyes  dazzled  to 
look  upon  men.  The  sun  is  called  the  eye  of  the 
world  :  that  eye  winked  and  was  shut,  lest  beholding 
their  dark  and'  dismal  work,  it  should  have  dropped 
from  heaven,  set  the  world  on  fire,  and  burned  it  up  to 
ashes.  The  whole  canopy  of  air  was  drawn,  and  all  the 
face  of  the  sky  hung  with  black,  to  witness  their  com- 
passion, like  mourners  at  the  funeral  of  their  Maker. 
This  malicious  darkness  is  terrible ;  the  other  is  a 
blind  and  jiassivc,  this«n  active,  operative  darkness. 

Now  "  what  communion  hath  light  with  dark- 
ness ?"  2  Cor.  vi.  14.  Let  a  child  of  light  be  brought 
into  the  ring  or  circle  of  these  darklings,  who  arc 
indeed  the  epitome  and  abridgement  of  that  greater 
world  which  lies  in  wickedness;  and  they  conspire 
to  afflict  his  eyes  with  imchaste  and  liorrid  visions, 
his  ears  with  "fearful  oaths,  his  unwilling  aiipctitc 
with  dnuiken  salutations.  And  if  they  can,  like  that 
Babylonish  harlot,  make  him  taste  poison  in  a  golden 


Ver.  19. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


195 


cup,  wrap  him  in  a  mist  of  darkness,  they  presently 
sing,  Vicimiui ;  and  rejoice,  as  in  tlie  division  of  ;i 
spoil,  that  they  have  drenched  sobriety,  and  blinded 
the  light.  He  may  be  a  good  taper,  but  they  will 
ever  after  become  his  snuffers.  But  let  such  an  error 
be  thy  mirror  ;  see  thy  weakness  in  that  glass,  and 
trust  no  more  the  company  of  sinners.  Let  this 
antiperistasis  recover  the  more  zeal  :  Nee  tu  cede 
malts,  sed  te  mdioribus  ofer  ;  think  not  that  counsel 
available,  noclem  peccatis,  et  fraudibus  objice  iiubem  ; 
the  mantle  of  nijjht  shall  cover  them.  For  an 
ill  companion  is  like  a  promoter,  that  in  Lent  eats 
flesh  at  thy  table,  and  yet  is  the  first  that  accuseth 
thee  to  the  magistrate  :  so  he  will  drink  at  thy  cost, 
and  then  whisper  thee  abroad  for  a  drunkard. 

Beware  these  night-works ;  "  They  tliat  be  drunken 
arc  dnmken  in  the  night,"  1  Thcss.  v.  7-  Noctiva- 
gants  are  negligent  in  their  habits  :  an  old  gown  will 
scire  the  turn ;  neither  decency,  nor  hardly  modesty, 
is  respected.  But  in  the  day  men  desire  to  go  hand- 
some, according  to  their  quality.  So  let  us  put  off 
our  night-clothes,  and  put  on  apparel  fit  for  the  day. 
The  drunkard  is  in  liis  night-gown,  as  if  God  could 
not  then  see  his  luxury.  The  adulterer  is  in  his  night- 
gown, he  presumes  that  the  dark  shall  cover  him. 
The  hypocrite  is  in  his  night-gown,  he  looks  like- 
day,  but  he  lives  like  night.  The  fraudulent  trader 
is  in  his  night-gown,  he  loves  either  no  light,  or  a 
false  light.  The  profane  ruffian  is  in  his  nigiit-gown, 
not  dressed  like  a  spouse  for  Christ.  The  schismatic 
in  his  night-gown,  he  cannot  abide  that  comeliness 
and  order  which  the  day  requireth.  The  thief  is  in 
his  night-gown ;  "  In  the  dark  they  dig  through 
houses,  which  they  had  marked  for  themselves  in 
the  day-time,"  Job  xxiv.  IC.  All  these  night-walkers 
are  night-attired;  and  unless  timely  repentance  help 
them,  they  will  be  benighted  ere  they  come  to  heaven. 

3.  The  darkness  of  death.  Death  is  a  putting  out 
of  light,  and  a  committing  to  darkness.  "Shall  thy 
wonders  be  known  in  the  dark  ?  shall  thy  loving- 
kindness  be  declared  in  the  grave  ?  "  Psal.  Ixxxviii. 
II,  12.  Job  calls  it,  "Aland  of  darkness,  without 
any  order,  where  the  light  is  as  darkness,"  Job  x. 
22.  "  Remember  the  days  of  darkness,"  Eccl.  xi.  8. 
Heaven  is  the  place  of  light,  the  bowels  of  the  earth 
the  place  of  darkness.  Man's  life  is  in  the  mid-way 
between  them ;  he  sees  whither  his  soul  may  go, 
wliither  his  body  must  go.  There  is  an  old  apologue : 
A  man  going  out  of  his  beaten  and  directed  way,  to 
gather  unlawful  fruits,  fell  into  a  dee])  pit.  In  his 
fall,  he  caught  hold  on  the  arm  of  a  tree  growing  in 
it.  Thus  he  hung  in  the  mid-way,  betwixt  the  upper 
light  from  which  he  fell,  and  the  lower  darkness  to 
which  he  was  falling.  He  looks  downward,  and  sees 
two  worms  gnawing  at  the  root  of  this  tree :  he  looks 
upward,  and  spies  on  a  branch  a  hive  of  honey  :  he 
climbs  up  to  it,  and  sits  feeding  on  it.  But  in  the  mean 
time  the  worms  did  bite  in  sunder  the  root,  and  down 
falls  man,  and  tree,  and  all  into  the  bottom  of  the  dark 
pit.  Man  himself  is  this  wretch,  who  straying  from 
the  way  of  God's  commandments,  fell  to  cat  of  the 
forbidden  fniit :  instantly  he  fell.  The  pit  over  which 
he  hangeth  ir,  the  grave  ;  the  tree  whereby  he  holdeth 
is  tliis  mortal  life  ;  the  two  wyrras  are  day  and  night ; 
the  hive  of  honey  is  the  pleasures  and  lusts  of  this 
world.  Hereupon  he  greedily  feeds  ;  until  the  two 
consumers,  day  and  night  in  their  vicissitudes,  have 
eaten  asunder  the  root  of  life ;  then  down  drops  earth 
to  earth,  corpus  putidum  in  locum  pulridum.  There  it 
must  lodge  in  the  silent  grave,  neither  seeing  nor 
seen,  blended  in  the  forgotten  dust  and  undistinginsh- 
cd  mould,  till  it  be  w.ikened  bv  the  archangel's  trump 
in  the  great  day  of  Christ.       '    " 

6.  The  last  is  the  darkness  of  hell.     The  lost  an- 


gels are  "  reser\-ed  in  everlasting  chains  under  dark- 
ness," Jude  ().  "  They  shall  be  cast  into  outer  dark- 
ness," Matt.  viii.  12.  Whereby  a  man  may  conjec- 
ture, that  hell  is  not  the  air :  for  in  the  air  shall  be 
light,  the  splendour  of  the  sim  being  septupled ;  but 
hell  is  called  "  outer  darkness,"  Matt.  xxv.  30.  This 
is  the  place  where  sin  began,  where  it  sh<ill  end :  it 
came  from  hell,  and  to  hell  it  goes.  It  began  from 
.Satan  who  is  the  prince  of  darkness;  it  ends  in  hell, 
which  is  the  place  of  darkness.  There  is  a  natural 
propensity  of  hea\'y  things  downwards  :  sin  is  heavy, 
therefore  it  sinks  downward ;  "  The  way  of  life  is 
above  to  the  wise,  that  he  may  depart  from  hell  be- 
neath," Prov.  XV.  24.  Oh  that  is  a  place  of  intoler- 
able darkness :  here  we  are  allowed  a  candle,  though 
(he  sun  be  set,  an^  the  moon  not  risen;  there  is  not 
a  spark  of  light  in  hell.  Those  upon  earth  that  arc 
said  to  have  half  a  year  night;  yet  are  not  without 
some  trajection  of  light,  and  diffusion  of  the  sun's  re- 
llcctivc  rays,  though  he  be  not  risen  above  their  he- 
misphere. Yet  if  this  be  tedious,  what  is  that  ever- 
lasting darkness,  which  will  continue  so  long  as 
God  is  just !  This  is  that  common  sewer  whither  the 
sink  of  all  darkness  nms :  darkness  external,  dark- 
ness internal,  both  run  to  darkness  infernal,  and  there 
make  up  a  darkness  eternal.  But  there  shall  be  un- 
quenchable fire  ;  shall  not  that  lire  give  some  light  ? 
No ;  The  revenging  llame  can  burn,  but  not  illuminate. 
(Ciivg.)  There  shall  be  no  vision,  but  all  division  : 
the  sense  must  feel  what  doth  torment  it,  the  sight 
nmst  not  behold  what  may  refresh  if.  That  horror 
hath  in  it  two  things,  "weeping,  and  gnashing  of 
teeth,"  Matt.  viii.  12.  Weeping  proceeds  from  heat, 
gnashing  of  teeth  from  coldness.  (Greg.)  This  is  a 
strange  compound;  unquenchable  fire,  unlightable 
darkness  !  But  how  then  shall  they  know  one 
another  in  hell  ?  If  there  be  any  light,  it  shall  be  -a 
glimpse  to  aggravate  torment ;  as  the  sight  of  their 
partners  in  sin,  to  be  partakers  in  punishment.  But 
though  their  bodies  see  not,  their  understandings  may 
discern ;  their  cars  shall  hear  their  shrieks,  and  re- 
probates may  be  distinguished  by  their  cries.  But 
let  us  not  be  curious  to  know  what  we  so  abhor  to 
feel.  It  is  a  dark,  desolate,  disconsolate,  torturing 
place ;  where  is  no  hope  of  light,  nor  light  of  hope. 
Now  the  blood  of  our  blessed  Saviour  deliver  us  all 
from  it  for  ever. 

Thus  you  have  the  description  of  many  darknesses, 
and  haply  have  thought  yourselves  in  the  mist  of 
darkness  all  this  while.  Egypt  hath  been  too  tedi- 
ous to  you,  you  ask  for  Goshen :  indeed  you  have 
been  all  this  time  in  the  light,  that  you  have 
looked  upon  darkness.  For  darkness  could  never  be 
seen  by  itself,  but  by  the  light :  '•  All  things  that  are 
reproved  arc  made  manifest  by  the  light :  for  what- 
soever doth  make  manifest,  is  light,"  Eph.  v.  13. 
But  now,  would  you  see  all  these  black  clouds  dis- 
jiersed  in  a  moment  ?  Behold  the  light  that  doth  it, 
the  true  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  sun  doth 
no  sooner  show  his  face,  but  the  darkness  vanisheth. 
Cicsar  did  no  sooner  look  upon  his  enemies,  but  they 
were  gone  ;  I'idi,  vici.  Egj-pt  swarmed  with  locusts 
till  the  west  wind  came,  that  left  not  one.  Sennache- 
rib's army  was  innumerable,  yet  the  angel  arose  and 
struck  them  ;  and  behold,  they  were  all  dead  corpses. 
"Let  God  arise,  let  his  enemies  be  scattered:"  he 
shall  drive  them  away  like  smoke,  Psal.  Ixviii.  1,  2. 
It  is  the  light  of  the  gospel  that  dispels  all  these  sha- 
dows. Our  air  is  full  of  this  light :  our  air,  I  say  ;  if 
our  hearts  be  full  also,  we  are  blessed  for  ever. 

For  the  darkness  of  nature,  it  must  indeed  liavc 
the  due  course  by  creation  ;  "  While  the  earth 
remaincth,  day  and  night  shall  not  cease,"  Gen. 
viii.  22.    So  the  Maker's  hand  hath  disposed  it; 


196 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1. 


and  Ijy  tlic  vicissitude  of  time,  and  alternation 
of  the  wheeling  heavens,  it  continues  ;  until  all 
men  arrive,  either  at  that  eternal  day  in  heaven, 
or  eternal  night  in  hell.  As  that  Spanish  hishop, 
staggering  in  the  questioTi  whether  Solomon  was 
saved  or  lost,  eauscd  him  to  be  pictured  in  his  chapel, 
the  one  half  in  hell,  the  other  in  heaven  ;  or  as  Pro- 
serpina was  censured  by  her  father  Jupiter,  to  live 
half  the  year  in  heaven,  and  the  rest  in  hell ;  so  we 
spend  half  our  time  upon  earth  in  light,  and  half  in 
darkness.  But  if  this  light  be  in  us,  our  night  shall 
be  turned  to  day  ;  Tlie  night  shall  be  light  above  us, 
and  shall  shine  as  the  day,  Psal.  cxxxix.  11,  12. 
What  djirkness  can  ofTend,  where  the  Father  of  lights 
shineth  ?  or  what  clouds  can  keep  olT  that  Sun  of 
Righteousness  ?  '•  The  Lord  will  lighten  my  dark- 
ness," 2  Sam.  xxii.  29.  No  darkness  shall  afflict  thy 
body,  while  there  is  this  saving  light  in  thy  soul. 

For  the  darkness  of  affliction,  true  it  is  that  the 
brightest  day  hath  a  cloud,  the  most  quiet  mind  her 
disturbance.  Our  best  estate  hath  ague  fits;  but  he 
that  is  Father  of  light  beholds  us ;  "  Tliou  hast  known 
my  soul  in  adversities,"  Psal.  xxxi.  7-  This  comforts 
us  in  misery,  as  the  suffering  child  that  knows  his 
father  seeth  :  "  Make  thy  face  to  shine  upon  thy  ser- 
vant ;  save  me  for  thy  mercies'  sake,"  ver.  16.  We 
cannot  be  so  broken,  but  the  light  of  his  countenance 
will  make  us  whole.  Peter  was  in  hard  bondage  by 
Herod,  "  sleeping  between  two  soldiers,  bound  with 
two  chains;"  yet  even  then  "a  light  sliined  in  the 
prison,"  Acts  xii.  G,  7-  Say  that  thou  liest  between 
usury  and  oppression,  as  Peter  between  two  soldiers  ; 
bound  with  two  chains  of  debt  and  penury;  yet  if 
the  comfort  of  this  light  shine  in  thy  heart,  thy  pri- 
son shall  be  a  heaven,  thy  keepers  angels,  thy  chains 
thy  glory,  and  thy  deliverance  salvation. 

For  the  darkness  of  ignorance,  indeed  it  is  tetrieal 
and  dangerous  ;  whether  it  be  intrinsical  by  an  in- 
disposition in  the  instnunent,  natural,  or  accidental ; 
or  through  want  of  medium,  which  may  transmit  the 
object  to  the  sense.  Knowledge  is  to  these  as  the 
sun  to  the  blind,  or  a  crack  of  thunder  to  the  deaf. 
But  now  there  is  no  darkness  so  invincible,  but  the 
Lord  can  enlighten  if :  "  To  them  which  sat  in  the 
region  and  shadow  of  death  light  is  sprung  up,"  Matt, 
iv.  IG.  Thou  wantest  knowledge,  despair  not  ;  he 
hath  none  that  says  he  hath  enough:  "  The  Lord 
will  show  them  his  covenant,"  Psal.  xxv.  14.  If  any 
man  lack  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God  that  will  give 
him,  Jam.  i.  5.  For  direction,  two  words  are  as  good 
as  twenty.  Pray  for  it,  and  use  the  means  to  get  it. 
Love  the  light,  and  have  the  light.  It  is  more  true 
of  God's  truth,  than  it  was  of  that  Greekish  beauty: 
No  man  loved  her  that  never  saw  her;  no  man  ever 
saw  her,  but  he  loved  her.  Hear  attentively,  pray 
intentively ;  and  doubt  not  but  God  will  send  thee 
light  enough  on  earth  to  bring  thee  to  the  light  of 
heaven. 

For  the  darkness  of  sin,  indeed  it  is  fearful  for  the 
wicked  ;  but  this  shining  light  shall  expel  it  out  of 
thy  heart ;  that  light  which  shineth  in  darkness,  and 
the  darkness  comprehendeth  it  not,  John  i.  5.  The 
wicked  shall  fret  themselves,  and  curse  their  king 
and  their  god;  and  when  they  look  upon  the  earth, 
behold  trouble  and  darkness,  Isa.  viii.  21,  22.  When 
others  curse  their  darkness,  tliou  shalt  bless  this  light. 
As  the  wicked  have  a  prelibation  of  that  darkness 
tliey  shall  go  imto  hereafter;  so  have  the  faithful  an 
earnest  of  that  light  which  is  prepared  for  them. 
The  light  of  heaven  must  first  enter  into  a  man's 
soul,  before  his  soul  can  enter  into  the  light  of 
heaven. 

For  the  darkness  of  death,  know  it  is  but  dust  and 
ashes  that  suffers  it,  which  is  insensible  of  the  pri- 


vation. It  is  but  like  the  laying  up  of  thy  garment 
in  a  trunk :  what  matters  it,  so  long  as  thy  soul  hath 
the  light  of  blessedness  ?  Lord,  lighten  mine  eyes, 
the  eyes  of  my  soul,  that  they  sleep  not  in  death,  it 
is  sufheient. 

For  that  infernal  and  eternal  darkness,  it  shall  not 
come  nigh  thee.  Keep  thy  face  of  faith  still  toward 
the  sun,  and  thou  shalt  leave  that  darkness  behind 
thee.  '•  There  is  no  condemnation  to  them  which 
are  in  Christ  Jesus,"  Rom.  viii.  1.  He  shall  deliver 
us  from  the  en-or  of  darkness  and  from  the  terror  of 
darkness;  from  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death; 
and  advance  us  to  that  light  wherein  himself  dwell- 
eth  :  and  that  Lord  send  us  all  the  light  of  heaven. 

"  Until  the  day  dawn,  and  the  day-star  arise  in 
your  hearts."  Some  refer  darkness  here  to  that 
shadowy,  misty,  or  at  best  mystical  time,  which  was 
under  the  law  ;  when  they  saw  their  redemption  only 
in  figure,  the  blood  of  Christ  in  the  blood  of  lambs, 
the  perfoi-manee  in  the  promise.  And  duinng  that 
darkness  the  word  of  prophecy  was  of  singidar  use. 
Thus  by  faith  they  beheld  the  Messias  that  was  to 
come,  as  if  he  already  was  come.  "  Your  father  Abra- 
ham rejoiced  to  see  my  day,  and  saw  it,"  John  viii. 
56.  Christ  was  come  when  Peter  wrote  this  ;  but 
because  he  was  yet  a  stranger  to  their  minds,  and 
had  not  gotten  sufficient  credit  in  their  hearts,  he 
commends  their  attention  to  the  prophets.  For  they 
spake  concerning  Christ's  birth  and  passion,  as  him- 
self spake  concerning  his  rising  and  ascension  : 
"  These  things  I  have  told  you,  that  when  the  time 
shall  come,  ye  may  remember"  the  prediction,  Jolm 
xvi.  4.  When  we  know  the  way  the  King  will  come, 
and  have  his  idea  imprinted  in  our  minds,  whereby 
«e  may  discern  him  when  he  is  come,  we  shall  with 
more  readiness  welcome  him,  with  less  doubt.  Thus 
Zaeharias  sung,  "  The  day-spring  from  on  high  hath 
visited  us,"  Luke  i.  7^.  "This  was  that  day-dawning, 
and  morning-star,  when  that  great  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness had  newly  risen  from  the  womb  of  the  virgin, 
and  began  to  east  abroad  his  saving  beams.  For  he 
was  not  sooner  made,  than  made  manifest.  The 
wise  men  saw  the  star  that  waited  on  the  Sun,  and 
worshipped  that  Sun  that  made  the  star.  The 
angels  proclaimed  it  to  the  shepherds,  the  shepherds 
divulged  it  to  others,  and  made  it  known  all  abroad, 
Luke  ii.  Ilerod  hears  and  fears  :  he  suspected  that 
this  day  would  be  his  night ;  therefore  would  have 
put  out  the  Light  in  the  morning  of  it ;  but  he  could 
with  more  case  have  plucked  a  fixed  star  from  hea- 
ven. Clouds  may  hide  the  sun,  nothing  can  hinder 
the  Ijord  of  glor)',  when  he  purposeth  to  shine  in  his 
majesty. 

But  "they  that  thus  understand  it ;  by  darkness, 
that  time  which  preceded  the  clear  knowledge  of 
Christ ;  and  by  day,  a  free  and  liberal  apprehension 
of  him  ;  come  too  sliort.  For  this  were  a  verj-  cold 
connnendation  of  the  prophets,  to  be  regarded  no 
longer  than  until  Christ  be  manifested  to  us  in  the 
flesh.  But  it  is  objected,  "  All  the  prophets  prophe- 
sied until  John,"  5latt.  xi.  13.  True,  for  what  need 
they  further  prophesy  Him  to  come  that  was  present  ? 
But  doth  the  use  of  their  pro|>hccy  last  no  longer  to 
us  ?  Yes.  certainly,  the  benefit  of  the  prophets  died 
not  with  the  jjrophets. "  There  is  no  end  of  the  use 
of  their  sayings,  till  there  be  an  end  of  the  world's 
being.  This  is  then  the  sense  we  settle  upon ;  that 
this  full  day  here  spoken  of,  is  the  plenar>-  and  per- 
fect light  w'luch  shall  be  given  us  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  For  as  the  former  darkness  is  to  be  extend- 
ed to  the  whole  course  of  our  life  ;  so  this  day-dawn- 
ing, and  day-star  arising,  is  our  entrance  into  the 
celestial  glor)'.  For  in  the  other  acceptation  there 
would  follow  absurdities :  as  that  the  prophets  should 


Ver.  19. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


197 


be  iiUe  and  superfluous  to  those  that  knew  Christ, 
which  are  necessary  to  the  world's  end.  But  how 
can  that  glory  be  called  a  day-dawning,  or  day-star? 
Not  that  that  clarity  hath  any  morning  in  itself,  but 
in  regard  of  us  that  newly  arrive  to  it.  Tlie  world 
is  five  thousand  years  old,  in  the  very  evening ;  yet 
to  the  child  new  bom  it  is  but  a  morning.  Certainly, 
so  long  as  we  are  pilgrims  here,  we  see  through  a 
glass,  darkly  J  there  our  hearts  shall  be  fdled  with 
that  glorious  light  of  perfection ;  and  we  that  were 
dwarfs  below,  shall  be  made  tall  men  in  Jesus  Christ : 
when  "  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  tne  fulness  of  Christ," 
Eph.  iv.  13. 

They  that  object  against  this  exposition,  say  that 
the  word  until,  is  not  always  taken  limiting,  bound- 
ing, or  confining  a  set  time.  So  that  the  word  of 
prophecy  may  sliine  like  a  light  in  a  dark  place,  un- 
til tne  promulgation  of  the  glorious  gospel ;  and  yet 
not  then  be  rejected  as  useless,  but  remain  still, 
though  a  dim  light  in  respect,  yet  a  light.  So  Matt, 
xxviii.  20,  I  am  with  you  unto  the  world's  end.  What, 
will  he  leave  us  then  ?  No,  but  as  spiritually  he  is 
with  us  here,  so  locally  and  personally  we  shall  be 
with  him  hereafter.  Tl;e  heavens  must  receive 
Christ  until  the  restitution  of  all  things,  Acts  iii.  '21. 
Shall  heaven  lose  him  then?  No,  he  sits  on  the 
right  hand  of  Eternity  for  ever.  The  faithful  man 
"  shall  not  be  afraid,  until  he  see  his  desire  upon  his 
enemies,"  Psal.  cxii.  8 :  and  I  hope  he  hath  less  cause 
to  be  afraid  afterwards.  God  saith  to  Jacob,  "  I  will 
not  leave  thee  until  I  have  done  what  1  have  spoken 
to  thee,"  Gen.  xxviii.  15  :  when  this  was  performed, 
God  did  not  forsake  the  seed  of  Jacob.  'Tlic  word  of 
God  shall  not  pass  until  heaven  and  earth  pass,  Matt. 
V.  18 :  no,  nor  then  neither.  "  In  the  shadow  of 
thy  wings  will  I  make  my  refuge  until  these  calami- 
ties be  overpast,"  Psal.  Ivii.  1.  Did  he  mean  to 
leave  that  refuge  after  his  deliverance  ?  No  ;  Thou 
art  my  rest  for  ever.  "  I  held  my  Beloved,  and  would 
not  let  him  go,  until  I  had  brought  him  into  my 
mother's  house,"  Cant.  iii.  4.  Did  she  let  him  go 
then  ?  No,  she  held  him  fast  in  her  nuptial  bed  of 
faith  for  ever.  AVaken  not  my  Love  till  he  please. 
Cant.  ii.  7-  Disquiet  not  my  Saviour,  nor  grieve  his 
Spirit,  nor  dishonour  his  name,  nor  by  any  provoca- 
tion of  sin  interrupt  his  peace,  till  he  please  ;  but  he 
will  never  be  pleased  with  such  a  disturbance.  The 
reprobate  shall  not  come  out  of  the  prison,  till  he  hath 
paid  the  uttermost  farthing.  Matt.  v.  '26  ;  and  that 
will  be  never.  But  again,  sometimes  until  excludes 
the  time  past,  doth  not  infer  the  time  future  :  Joseph 
knew  not  Mary  "until  she  had  brought  forth  her 
first-born  son,"  Matt.  i.  25 ;  it  doth  not  follow  that 
he  knew  her  afterward.  So  Christ  is  called  her  first- 
bom;  yet  this  insinuates  no  probability  of  conse- 
quence that  she  had  more  sons.  Who  durst  touch 
that  sacred  vessel,  which  God  had  hallowed  to  bear 
his  own  Son  ?  "  Michal  had  no  child  until  the  day  of 
her  death,"  2  .Sam.  vi.  23  ;  and  it  is  certain  she  had 
none  afterwards.  But  now,  when  until  is  used  by 
way  of  precept,  it  always  defines  and  determines. 
Walk  until  thou  hast  performed  thy  journey,  then 
thou  shalt  rest.     Fight  till  thou  overcome,  tlien  have 

Scace.  "  That  ye  have  already  hold  fast  till  I  come," 
lev.  ii.  25.  The  Lord  sends  preachers  to  edify  the 
church,  until  we  all  meet  to  a  perfect  man,  Eph.  iv. 
l.'J;  then  shall  that  oftice  cease.  .So  here,  attend  to 
the  light  of  prophecy,  until  the  day  dawn,  until  you 
come  to  that  full  day  of  glory  in  heaven.  So  that 
the  point  of  doctrine  intends  the  diiTerence  be- 
tween that  measure  of  knowledge  w  hich  God's  grace 
affords  us  in  our  pilgrimage,  and  that  measure  which 


his  glory  shall  endue  us  with  in  the  kingdom  of  hca- 
vtn.  For  method  of  tractation,  first  let  us  consider 
the  light  in  general  ;  and  then  pass  through  the  de- 
grees of  it,  till  we  ascend  to  the  perfection. 

The  light  was  made  three  days  before  the  sun. 
Junius  thinks  that  light  was  the  element  of  fire. 
Nazianz.  and  Theodor.  a  light  without  a  subject,  aflt-r- 
wards  dispei-sed  and  fastened  to  divers  bodies,  of  sun, 
moon,  and  stars.  So  Mercer,  Those  lightsome  bodies 
were  made  the  receptacles  of  the  former  created 
lights.  But  if  God  created  the  light,  it  seems  that 
he  was  before  in  darkness.  No,  he  needs  not  a  tem- 
poral and  created  light,  that  is  himself  a  spiritual  un- 
created light.  But  if  God  made  the  light,  who  made 
darkness  ?  Darkness  is  nothing,  it  need  no  creation, 
being  but  the  absence  of  light,  and  nakedness  is  the 
want  of  clothing.  But  God  saw  that  the  light  was 
good,  therefore  he  knew  it  not  before.  It  follows 
not ;  his  approval  of  it  being  brought  forth  in  action, 
doth  not  prejudice  his  foresight  in  intention.  Christ 
marvelled,  and  wondered  at  the  centurion's  hhh, 
Matt.  viii.  10,  which  indeed  himself  wrought  in  him. 
Thus  did  God  begin  with  the  light,  to  show  that  he 
is  that  Father  of  lights,  in  whom  is  omnia  pripslantia 
et  compositus  ordo,  Jam.  i.  17.  The  Persian  magi 
used  to  call  their  god,  Oromasten.  "  God  is  light, 
and  in  him  is  no  darkness  at  all,"  1  John  i.  5.  None, 
not  actively  to  deceive,  not  passively  to  be  deceived. 
Christ  is  called  that  "  true  Light,  whicli  lighteth 
every  man,"  John  i.  9.  But  as  he  calls  himself,  so 
also  his  apostles,  the  light  of  the  world:  but  with  a 
ditrerence.  Christ  is  the  fountain  of  lights,  that 
greater  Light.  The  apostles  shine  with  the  borrow- 
ed light  of  the  sun,  are  a  less  light.  Lux  ano  r^j 
Xi'Ktte  dicta  :  Kvktiv  the  ancient  Greeks  understood  for 
the  first  light,  or  early  morning.  So  the  apostles 
were  aurora  solis,  being  sent  to  preach  the  Light  ; 
as  John  Baptist  was  the  foremnner  of  the  Light.  In- 
deed in  respect  of  their  successors  they  were  great 
lights.  First,  by  a  transcendency  ;  aslight  of  the  re- 
public, &c. ;  we  call  an  eminent  man  the  light  of  the 
state  ;  the  light  of  religion ;  the  light  of  poets.  So 
David  was  called  "  the  light  of  Israel,"  2  Sam.  xxi. 
17.  In  respect  of  their  life  and  doctrine  they  were 
more  famous  lights  that  any  that  followed  them. 
Then,  because,  like  blessed  lights,  they  did  not  only 
instruct  us  by  their  doctrines,  but  direct  us  by  their 
doings ;  but  now,  in  respect  of  God,  they  were  dim :  we 
say  of  them,  as  John  Baptist  said  of  himself,  they  were 
"not  that  Light, but  sent  tobear  witness  of  that  Light," 
John  i.  8.  There  is  one  glor\-  of  the  sun,  another  glory 
of  the  moon,  and  another  glory  of  the  stars,"  1  Cor. 
XV.  41.  There  is  a  light  that  doth  enlighten,  is  not 
enlightened  ;  as  the  sun,  that  carries  about  with  him 
the  light  of  the  world.  The  heathens  say  of  the  sun, 
that  he  doth  put  light  out  to  usury.  There  is  a  light 
that  doth  not  enlighten,  but  is  enlightened,  as  the 
firmament.  There  is  a  light  that  is  enlightened 
and  doth  enlighten  ;  as  the  moon  and  stars.  The 
faithful  arc  such  lights,  they  "  shine  as  lights  in  the 
world,"  Phil.  ii.  15.  In  the  absence  of  the  sun,  the 
moon  is  a  great  light.  A  torch  cannot  light  itself, 
yet  being  kindled  is  able  to  give  light  to  others  ;  so 
no  man  can  illuminate  himself,  yet  being  illuminated 
by  that  Sun  of  justice,  he  can  give  a  light  of  direc- 
tion to  others.  Therefore  the  cnurch  is  compared  to 
heaven,  Rev.  xii. :  the  church  shines  with  teachers  as 
the  heaven  with  stars.  They  are  lights,  both  with 
the  minisin"  of  conversion,  and  the  example  of  con- 
versation. In  the  one  is  the  word  of  life  ;  in  the 
other  the  life  of  the  word.  The.  light  in  the  win- 
dow doth  not  only  give  light  to  them  that  are  in 
the  house,  but  also  passengers  in  the  street.  The 
other  ships  guide  their  course,  not  only  by  the  star 


AN  KXPO.SITION   UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


in  heaven,  but  also  liy  the  light  in  the  admiral. 
So  there  is  the  light  of  life  in  doctrine,  the  life  of 
light  in  cxemplarj'  conversation.  John  "  was  a  burn- 
ing and  a  shining  light,"  John  v.  35.  Lights  burn- 
ing and  not  shining,  are  like  hell-fire  ;  lights  shining 
and  not  burning,  like  glow-womis.  Our  God  is  not 
only  a  consuming  fire,  but  also  a  shining  light ;  both 
formally  and  cflfectivcly.  "  Out  of  Zion,  the  perfect  ion 
of  beauty,  God  hath  shined,"  Psal.  1.  2.  Suel'.  a 
light  is  his  sacred  truth,  able  to  illuminate  all  the 
dark  corners  of  the  world.     There  is  a  fourfold  light. 

1.  The  light  of  nature ;  this  was  goodly  in  Adam. 
"They  are  of  those  that  rebel  against  the  light," 
Job  xsiv.  1.3;  that  is,  against  the  light  of  nature. 
Plato  was  of  opinion,  that  cveiy  soul  had  this  light 
till  it  came  into  the  body;  and  by  that  mixture  it 
was  only  muffled  and  blinded.  Hence  was  that  his 
maxim,  that  to  know,  was  nothing  else  but  to  re- 
member. But  this  opinion  presupposeth  a  seminar}^ 
or  promptuary  of  souls,  from  whence  they  are  derived 
to  their  bodies ;  which  is  false.  The  Scripture  saith, 
God  "  formeth  the  spirit  of  man  within  him,"  Zeeh. 
xii.  1  :  it  is  created  with  infusion,  and  infused  with 
creation.  Yet  when  the  spirit  and  flesh  meet,  and 
man  is  made,  this  light  is  defaced;  for  the  soul,  even 
when  it  is  infused,  is  infected. 

2.  The  light  of  the  gospel.  "  I  am  the  light  of 
the  W'Orld :  he  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in 
darkness,  but  have  the  light  of  life,"  John  toI.  12. 
This  was  the  intent  of  our  Saviours  coming,  "  to 
give  light  to  them  that  sit  in  darkness  and  in  the 
shadow"  of  death,  to  ffuide  our  feet  into  the  way  of 
peace,"  Luke  i.  79.  It  is  true,  that  the  law  was  a 
light,  lex  est  lux  ;  but  like  a  lamp,  far  short  of  that 
day  which  comes  by  the  rising  of  the  glorious  Sun, 
Jesus  Chiist.  Thy  word  is  a  lamp  to  my  feet,  and  a 
light  to  my  paths,  Psal.  cxix.  105;  but  thy  Christ  is 
a  Sun,  that  hath  saving  health  under  his  wings,  Mai. 
iv.  2.  In  the  night  a  man  is  glad  of  the  light  of  a 
candle;  so  was  the  word  of  prophecy  a  great  help 
during  the  darkness  w'hich  oppressed  the  whole 
world.  But  now  the  day  is  broken,  and  the  splen- 
dour of  the  Sun  shines  in  our  faces.  There  is  in  the 
world,  Psal.  xci.  5,  6,  "  terror  by  night,"  the  trouble 
of  a  vexed  conscience  ;  "  the  arrow  that  flieth  by 
day,"  the  temptations  of  Satan  in  prosperity  and 

Eeace ;  "  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness," 
eresy  to  pervert  the  mind;  "the  destruction  that 
wasteth  at  noon-day,"  profaneness  to  corrupt  the 
affections  :  none  of  these  shall  destroy  us,  because  we 
have  the  light  of  the  gospel  to  avoid  them.  This 
light  shall  defend  us  from  all  dangers,  open  or  hid- 
den, external  or  internal,  corporal  or  spiritual.  "  To 
the  law  and  to  the  testimony  :  if  they  speak  not  ac- 
cording to  this  word,  there  is  no  light  in  them,"  Isa. 
viii.  20.  He  that  doth  not  direct  iis  by  that  rule,  we 
can  sec  there  is  no  morning  in  him.  Some  have  God, 
and  know  him  not,  as  infants.  Some  know  God,  and 
have  him  not,  as  baptized  reprobates.  Some  neither 
ha\e  him  nor  know  him,  as  pagans.  Others  have 
him  and  know  him,  as  all  faithful  Christians. 

.3.  The  light  of  grace.  Thus  we  are  made  "par- 
takers of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light,"  Col. 
i.  12.  This  is  wrought  in  us  by  the  light  of  the  gos- 
pel, the  Holy  Spirit  opening  the  window  of  our  heart, 
that  this  day  might  shine  into  it.  For  men  may  be 
in  the  light,  and  yet  the  light  not  be  in  them  ;  and 
it  is  one  thing  to  have  the  light  in  a  man's  head, 
another  to  have  it  in  his  heart.  The  light  of  know- 
ledge may  illuminate  the  brain,  and  yet  leave  a  man 
unblessed;  but  thty  are  saints  in  whose  hearts  the 
day-star  is  risen.  That  man  knows  the  good  he  hath 
not  done  ;  this  man  doth  the  good  he  hath  known. 
They  say,  he  plays  best  that  wins ;  but  I  am  sure  he 


knows  best  that  docs.  When  the  apostles  prayed  for 
that  decision,  Acts  i.  24,  that  God  would  be  j)leased 
to  show  whether  of  the  two,  Barsabas  or  Matthias, 
he  had  chosen  into  Juda.s'  episcopal  room;  they  said, 
"  Thou,  Lord,  which  knowest  the  hearts  of  all  men :" 
not  the  heads,  but  the  hearts.  Many  have  lightened 
head.s,  but  dark  hiarts:  "Their  foolish  heart  was 
darkened,"  Rom.  i.  21.  The  apostle  there  saith 
"  they  knew  God,"  there  was  light  in  their  heads ; 
but  darkness  was  in  their  hearts.  Never  had  age 
more  light  in  their  understandings  than  ours  ;  I  fear 
never  less  light  in  their  hearts.  "  This  is  the  con- 
demnation, that  light  is  come  into  the  world,  and 
men  love  darkness  rather,"  John  iii.  19.  The  Day- 
star  is  risen,  and  shineth,  and  we  see  his  glory ;  "  the 
glorj-  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of 
grace  and  truth,"  John  i.  14:  God  grant  withal,  that 
he  be  risen  in  our  hearts. 

4.  The  light  of  glory.  "  In  thy  light  shall  we  see 
light,"  saith  the  prophet,  Psal.  xxxvi.  9.  Wlien 
they  shall  need  no  candle,  nor  the  light  of  the  sun, 
for  the  Lord  God  giveth  them  light,  they  shall  reign 
for  ever  and  ever.  Rev.  xxii.  5.  The  light  of  nature 
is  like  a  spark,  the  light  of  the  gospel  a  lamp,  the 
light  of  grace  a  star,  but  the  light  of  glory  the  sun 
itself.  The  higher  our  ascent,  the  greater  our  light. 
God  dwelleth  "  in  the  light  which  no  man  can  ap- 
proadi  unto,"  1  Tim.  vi.  I'i :  no  man,  while  he  carries 
mortality  and  sin  about  him ;  but  when  those  two 
corrupt  and  uncapajale  qualities  shall  be  put  off,  then 
shall  we  be  brought  to  that  light.  We  are  now  glad 
of  the  sun  and  stars  over  our  heads,  to  give  us  light, 
what  light  and  delight  shall  that  be,  when  these  shall 
be  under  our  feet !  That  light  must  needs  go  as  far 
beyond  their  light,  as  they  now  go  beyond  us.  But, 
alas !  they  are  only  ;rblc  to  discourse  of  that  light, 
that  do  enjoy  it,  to  whom  ihat  eternal  day  is  risen  ; 
not  we  that  live  in  the  humble  shade  of  mortality, 
and  natural  cUmness.  I  leave  it  therefore  to  your 
meditations  :  it  is  a  glorious  light,  which  we  do  well 
often  to  consider,  considering  to  admire,  admiring  to 
love,  loving  to  desire,  desiring  to  seek,  and  finding 
to  enjoy  for  ever. 

"  Until  the  day  da«n,  and  the  day-star  arise  in 
your  hearts."  The  kingdom  of  grace  is  both  an  en- 
trance to  and  a  resemblance  of  the  kingdom  of  glory. 
This  evangelical  day  on  earth,  is  a  glimpse  of  that 
angelical  (lay  in  heaven.  And  Christ  is  our  day- 
star  here,  in  respect  of  his  gracious  light,  as  he  will 
be  hereafter,  in  respect  of  his  glorious  light.  Christ 
hath  been  often  called  a  star,  and  that  without  dis- 
paragement to  him,  that  is  the  Sun  himself.  It  was 
given  him  both  by  prophetical  prediction,  "There  ' 
shall  come  a  star  out  of  Jacob,"  Numb.  xxiv.  17; 
and  by  evangelical  ascription,  "  I  am  the  root  and 
ofl'spring  of  David,  and  the  bright  and  morning-star," 
Rev.  xxii.  IG.  Christ  hath  in  the  Scripture  divers 
names  of  light  given  him.  according  to  the  different 
degrees  of  his  emication.  Sometimes  he  ea.slcth  forth 
a  scanter  beam,  and  then  he  is  called  the  day-dawii- 
ing.  Sometimes  he  gives  so  much  light,  as  only 
presignifies  a  bright  day  at  hand;  then  he  is  called 
Lucifer,  the  morning-star.  Other  times  he  diffuseth 
his  knowledge,  then  he  is  the  light  and  the  day  :  then 
he  shines  out  in  his  glon,-,  and  is  the  sun  himself. 
This  is  the  star  we  sail  by,  over  the  sea  of  this  world : 
other  stars  are  under  us  in  service,  though  they  be 
above  us  in  situation.  The  heavens,  moon,  and  stars ; 
"  thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet,"  Psal.  viii. 
().  If  it  be  true  thai  the  stars  govern  men,  vet  it  is 
more  true  that  God  governs  the  stars  :  this  star 
commands  all.  Here  tne  trouble  and  philosopliical 
query  concerning  the  morning-star  is  decided.  (Plin. 
Natiir.  Hist,  lib.2.  cap.  8.)     Some  take  this  star  to 


Ver.  19. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


199 


be  Venus,  some  Isis,  some  Juno,  some  the  mother 
of  the  gods.  Ve  need  not  trouble  our  he.ads  about 
it ;  our  morning-star  is  Jesus  Christ.  That  Baby- 
Ionian  monarch  was  called,  "  Lucifer,  son  of  the 
morning,"  Isa.  xiv.  12  ;  a  morning-star,  but  a  falling- 
star  :  he  rose  against  this  day-star,  and  therefore 
was  turned  out  of  his  high  orb,  wherein  he  had  ad- 
vanced himself  above  the  kings  of  the  earth.  So 
tread  down  ;dl  thine  enemies,  OLord;  but  to  thy 
clmrch  give  this  day-star,  Christ,  for  ever. 

This  gracious  day  hath  dawned  unto  us,  and  shin- 
el  h  upon  US;  but  it  will  not  last  ever,  it  must  have  an 
evening.  "  Are  there  not  twelve  hours  in  the  day  ?  " 
saith  Clirist,  John  xi.  9.  If  no  more,  certainly  the 
last  hour  will  come.  "  While  yc  have  light,  believe 
in  the  light,  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  light," 
John  xii.  .3(5.  Wc  all  say  we  are  the  children  of  light ; 
but  we  make  not  the  light  our  guide.  So  the  jfews 
said,  We  have  Abraham  to  our  father,  yet  showed 
themselves  degenerate  bastards.  "  If  we  say  we 
have  fellowshi])  with  God,  and  walk  in  darkness,  we 
lie,"  1  John  i.  6.  It  is  as  if  a  clod  of  squalid  earth 
should  boast  itself  to  be  the  daughter  of  fire.  "  He 
that  saith  he  is  in  the  light,  and  hateth  his  brother, 
is  still  in  darkness,"  I  John  ii.  9.  But  no  man  will 
be  thought  to  hate  his  brother.  He  will  scorn  his 
brother,  strike  his  brother,  belie  his  brother,  oppress 
his  brother,  undo  his  brotlicr;  yet,  forsooth,  he  will 
not  hate  his  brother.  Palpable  darkness,  if  he  knows 
not  this,  in  his  head ;  if  he  Knows  it,  then  in  his  heart. 
"Woe  to  them  that  put  light  for  darkness,  and  dark- 
ness for  light ! "  Isa.  v.  20.  If  such  a  man  pci-sist,  he 
shall  go  to  bed  at  noon,  and  drop  down  to  hell  like  a 
meteor,  when  all  the  .slars  remain  in  their  glory. 
For  it  is  just  with  God  to  take  the  light  from  Ihine 
eyes,  when  thou  Iiast  taken  thine  eyes  from  the  light. 

This  day  is  oui-s,  let  us  be  the  day's.  Let  us  not 
be  noctivaganis,  straying  abroad  with  Dinah,  lest 
our  chaste  soul  come  home  delloured.  Or,  as  the 
poets  say  of  Proseq)inc,  that  while  she  was  gadding 
abroad  with  her  mother  Ceres,  Pluto  rapt  her  to 
hell;  so  if  men  wilfully  nm  from  the  light,  they  may 
be  violently  ravished  by  the  prince  of  darkness.  A 
virgin  being  tempted  by  a  dissembling  lover,  followed 
him :  in  this  pursuit  of  her  vain  desires,  she  escapes 
many  unsuspected  dangers,  and  found  expected  de- 
liverance. For  though  her  lover  led  her  over  deep 
pits  and  deadly  snares,  purposing  to  ravish  her  and 
destroy  her,  yet  still  an  angel  was  present  to  defend 
her.  A  glorious  show  had  attracted  lier  eyes,  she 
thought  hiiri  a  person  of  all  delights ;  and  still  as 
she  went,  she  found  scattered  gold,  which  she  gather- 
ing minded  not  whither  she  strayed.  When  he  had 
brought  her  to  his  cave,  and  was  even  ready  to  de- 
flour  ner  with  violence,  and  to  wound  her  to  death, 
the  angel  steps  in,  and  puts  him  to  flight.  He  dis- 
covers nimscU  to  be  an  angel  of  light,  and  the  other 
an  impostor  and.  traitor  to  her.  He  brings  her  to  the 
guirs  side,  and  shows  her  the  bottomless  depth  of 
the  pit  which  she  escaped,  and  the  serpent  that  was 
ready  to  devour  her.  He  bids  her  examine  the  gold ; 
lo  it  was  base  metal,  counterfeit  and  venomous  dross. 
Tells  her  what  loss  of  a  failhfiil  betrothed  lover  she 
hath  hazarded.  Hereupon  the  virgin  breaks  forth 
into  lamentations  and  bitter  tears  ;  begins  to  swoon 
with  despair,  and  dares  not  look  up  to  that  light  she 
hath  so  offended.  The  angel  lifts  her  up,  revives 
her  spirits,  promiseth  to  bring  her  to  a  fountain  that 
shall  wash  ofT all  lur  defilenient^.  Being  thus  wash- 
ed, he  shows  her  true  husband  coming  towards  her 
with  a  gracious  aspect.  He  takes  her  in  his  arms, 
wipes  her  eyes,  drys  her  tears,  and  seals  on  her  cheeks 
millions  of  kisses.  Lo  now  slic  begins  to  recover, 
on  her  bended  knees  she  entreats  his  constant  love 


to  her,  and  promiseth  chaste  adlierence  to  him  for 
ever.     This  virgin  is  man's  soul,  her  false  lover  the 
de\-il,  her  betrothed  husband  Christ,  the  angel  is  the 
gospel ;  the  night  wherein  she  wanders  is  ignorance, 
the  gold  profit  or  pleasure,  the  sea  is  this  world,  the 
pit  hell,  the  bridge  whereby  she  escapes  is  God's 
mercy.     Satan  transformed  like  a  friend  woos  her, 
gets  her  good-will  to  follow  him.     If  she  will  admit 
of  this  or  that  sin,  at  every  step  she  shall  take  up 
gold,  have  her  desires  satisfied.     This  golden  tempt- 
ation so  strongly  takes  her,  that  she  runs  from  vice 
lo  vice,  from  error  to  error;  thinks  all  is  safe,  and 
that  she  is  in  the  company  of  one  who  dearly  loves  her. 
At  last  she  is  brought  to  some  foul  and  capital  of- 
fence, to  the  very  doors  of  hell,  ready  to  be  turned 
in.     But  behold  then,  he  that  never  forsakes  his, 
seiuleth  an  angelical,  evangelical  light,  opens  her 
eyes,  unhands  the  devil,  and  sets  her  at  liberty.    The 
day  dawns,  and  the  day-star  arises  in  her  heart :  and 
now  obser\e,  the  course  is  taken  to  bring  this  poor 
soul  to  salvation.     First,  the  gospel  shows  lier  that 
the  lover  she  so  doted  upon  was  an  adversarj-,  Satan ; 
not  the  spirit  of  light,  but  the  prince  of  darkness. 
Oh  how  ugly  does  this  monster  appear  in  her  eye ! 
how  doth  she  hale  herself  for  loving  him !     Next, 
it  discovers  the  counterfeit  gold,  that  all  the  vanity 
of  this  world  is  but  sli{)-coin ;  so  far  from  making 
man  rich  or  blessed,  that  it  is  the  devil's  poison  to 
make  him  cursed.     Then  it  brings  her  to  the  deep 
gulf  of  perdition,  which  she  passed  over  without  fear 
because  without  knowledge :  wherein  she  had  been 
drowned  for  ever,  but  for  the  saving  bridge  of  God's 
mercy ;  who  was  good  to  her,  even  while  she  was  so 
bad  to  him.     Lastly,  it  describes  to  her  the  beauty 
and  perfections  of  that  Husband  she  had  forsaken, 
the  Son  of  glory,  fairer  than  all  the  children  of  men; 
white  and  ruddy,  of  the  purest  complexion,  the  cliief- 
est  among  ten  thousand.     Hereupon  she  breaks  into 
amazed  complaints :  Wretch  that  I  am,  what  shall 
become  of  me  ?  ttu  re  is  nolhinc  but  death  and  damna- 
tion due  unto  me.     I  dare  not  look  up  to  that  heaven 
1  have  so  offended,  nor  speak  to  that  Father  I  have 
so  provoked,  nor  hope  for  that  Husband  I  have  so 
wronged.     Did  my  redem])tion  cost  him  the  dear 
blood  of  liis  heart,  and  do  I  sell  myself  to  Satan  for 
gold,  for  vanity,  for  nothing  ?     O  look  not  upon  me, 
ye  daughters  of  Jerusalem,  for  I  am  black,  swarthy, 
and  polluted.     Time  was  that  the  King  did  greatly 
desire  my  beauty,  Psal.  xlv.  11.     But  now  I  lie  de- 
filed in  my  own  blood,  my  shame  is  upon  me,  and  my 
confusion  hath  covered  me.     I  am  sick,  my  heart- 
strings burst ;  let  me  groan  and  die.     Now  steps  in 
this  blessed  light  of  the  gospel,  takes  the  swooning 
soul  by  the  hand,  lifts  her  np  fi-om  the  dust  of  despair, 
and  puts  into  her  mouth  that  song,  "  I  had  fainted, 
unless  I  had  believed  to  see  the  goodness  of  the  Lord 
in  the  land  of  the  living,"  Psal.  xxvii.   13.     Tliis 
brings  her  to  a  fountain,  yea,  brings  a  fountain  out  of 
her:  her  heart  bleeds  the  tears  of  compunction,  and 
they  run  not  by  drops,  but  by  floods  from  her  eyes. 
She  weeps  like  David,  until  she  can  weep  no  more, 
1  Sam.  XXX.  4.      But  lest  this  shower  should  melt 
her  to  nothing,  the  Sun  of  mercy  comes  to  st.iy  it : 
and  now  this  light  directs  her  in  the  voice  of  John, 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  which  t.akcth  away  the 
sin  (,r  the  world,"  John  i.  29.     She  lifts  up  her  eyes 
of  faith,  and  sees  him  come  "  leaping  upon  the  moun- 
tains, and  skipping  upon  the  hills,"  Cant.  ii.  8.     She 
rum    ih  to  him,  throws  herself  in  the  dust  at  his  feet, 
bath  <  t!iem  with  her  tears  like  Mar)';  and  with  a 
humolc  heart  and  suppliant  voice  beseechcth  him. 
Lord,  be  morcifid  lo  me  a  sinner.     Slie  takes  hold 
of  him,  as  Jacob,  I  will  not  let  thee  go  till  thou  hast 
blessed  me.   The  Lord  takes  her  in  his  arms  of  mercy, 


200 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


puts  his  left  hand  iinrler  her  head,  and  with  his  right 
hand  embracith  her,  Cant.  ii.  6.  He  speaks  peace 
and  comfort  to  her  conscience,  heals  all  her  wounds 
with  his  own  blood,  promiseth  to  mediate  for  her  to 
liis  Father,  and  to  make  her  peace  in  heaven.  She 
kisscth  his  hand  with  faith,  he  kisseth  her  cheeks 
with  blessings.  There  is  a  betrothing  of  fidelity,  and 
constant  love  of  either  to  other.  She  prays,  Lord, 
forsake  not  the  soul  which  thou  hast  redeemed:  he 
promises,  I  was  thy  redemption,  I  will  beihy  salva- 
tion; nothing  shall  separate  thee  and  me.  O  blessed 
light,  whereby  that  darkness  is  expelled  !  O  blessed 
soul,  by  this  light  delivered  !  O  blessed  Saviour,  that 
sent  this  light !  O  blessed  Father,  that  sent  this  Sa- 
viour! O  blessed  Trinity,  that  blesscst  all  unto  us; 
mayst  thou  be  b«»ssed  of  us  and  in  us  for  ever  and 
ever!  Amen. 


Verse  20,  21. 

Knowing  this  first,  that  vo  prophecy  of  the  Scripture  is 
of  any  private  interpretation.  For  the  prophecy  came 
not  in  old  time  (or,  at  any  lime)  by  the  trill  of  man : 
but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  icere  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

The  apostle  had  fonnerly  commended  reading  of 
the  prophets  by  the  benefit  of  them ;  now  in  reading 
them  he  gives  warning  from  the  difficulty  of  under- 
standing them.  There  are  things  in  them  hard  to  be 
understood  ;  the  history  is  not  without  the  mystery  ; 
and  there  often  lies  a  deep  and  hidden  sense  under  a 
familiar  and  easy  sentence.  Let  not  men  rush  into 
their  exposition,  like  hasty  soldiers  into  a  thicket, 
without  seeking  direction  from  the  captain.  When 
we  come  to  read  them,  we  must  throw  away  the  sense 
of  flesh  and  blood,  and  subject  ourselves  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Spirit.  Some  copies  have  read,  sjrijXiVfOf, 
which  signifies  some  kind  of  motion  :  then  the  sense 
were  thus,  No  Scripture  is  of  any  private  motion.  But 
the  most  and  best  read,  tTriKvaioe,  interpretation.  Now 
let  him  that  gave  the  proposition  give  also  the  expo- 
sition :  the  .Spirit  which  inspired  the  prophets,  can 
only  declare  the  prophecies.  We  grant  this  to  men, 
giving  every  one  leave  to  be  his  own  interpreter,  and 
to  expound  his  own  meaning.  Deny  not  this  to  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  that  which  God's  Spirit  hath  indited 
must  be  by  the  same  Spirit  interpreted. 

This  impossibility  of  true  and  sound  interpretation 
without  God's  Spirit,  occurs  not  to  some  scriptures, 
but  to  all.  "On  Traaa  Trpo^i/rtia  oli  yivtrai :  to  the  let- 
ter, all  projihccy  is  not  of  any  private  interpretation. 
A  Hebraism,  for  "  no  prophecy  is  of  any,"  &:c. 
Such  a  phrase  there  is,  Rom.  iii.  '20,  oii  SiKaiueiiatrat 
TTaaa  aan^,  kc.  all  llesli  shall  not  be  justified,  for 
"  no  fiesh  shall  be  justified."  As  the  prophets  durst 
not  proferrcdictamina  sua,hroa.c\\  their  own  inventions, 
so  we  must  not  ingerere  acumina  nostra,  crowd  in  our 
own  constmctions,  but  beseech  Him  that  decreed  them 
to  tell  us  the  meaning  of  them.  Samson's  riddle  eoiild 
not  be  dissolved  but  by  Samson's  own  mouth.  The 
Jews  came  to  the  prophet :  "  Wilt  thou  not  tell  us 
what  these  things  are  ?"  Ezek.  xxiv.  19.  This  was 
the  angel's  proclamation,  "  Who  is  worthy  to  open  the 
hook,  and  to  loose  the  seals  thereof?"  Rev.  v.  2. 
Who  ?  "  No  man  in  heaven,  nor  in  earth,  neither 
imder  the  earth,  was  able  to  open  the  book,  neither 
to  look  thereon,"  vcr.  3.  None  in  heaven,  not  the 
angels  :  none  in  earth,  not  living  men  ;  none  under 
the  earth.     This  could  not  be  meant  of  devils  or 


damned  spirits;  for  they  of  all  have  no  worthiness  to 
open  this  book.  Therefore  most  probably  it  is  meant 
of  the  saints,  who  as  touching  their  bodies  sleep  in 
the  graves;  whom  he  speaks  of  in  respect  of  that 
part  which  comes  nearest  to  our  sense.  Jacob 
says,  "  I  will  go  down  into  the  grave  unto  my  son," 
Gen.  xxxvii.  35.  I  ;  yet  was  it  but  his  body  that 
could  go  down  thither.  So  that  the  place  is  too  cold 
to  kindle  the  fire  of  purgatory.  Who  then  ?  "The 
Root  of  David  hath  prevailed  to  open  the  book,"  ver. 
5:  none  but  the  Lamb  can  do  it.  All  doth  exceed 
our  capacity,  we  can  say  nothing  but  what  the  Lord 
doth  tell  us.  By  his  help  and  instinction  only,  we 
preach  and  expound  the  prophets.  He  did  write  by 
all  the  prophets  and  apostles.  By  him  did  the 
fathers  interpret  them  to  us  ;  by  him  we  do  interpret 
them  to  you;  only  the  Holy  Ghost  himself  interpret 
them  to  us  all. 

For  method's  sake,  I  desire  to  lead  your  attention 
through  these  three  principal  passages  ;  the  sugges- 
tion, conscription,  and  exposition  of  Holy  Scriptures. 
There  be  certain  adjacent  circumstances  which  shall 
find  their  due  places. 

The  inspiration  from  God  ;  it  was  not  a  vision  of 
their  own  heads,  but  they  spake  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  conscription  ;  which  albeit  it  were  not  by  the 
will  of  man,  yet  was  it  done  by  the  hand  of  man  : 
they  were  men,  holy  men,  holy  men  of  God. 

The  exposition ;  which  is  by  no  private  spirit,  but 
by  the  Holy  Spirit's  illumination  of  man's  mind,  and 
directing  the  church :  for  as  the  invention  of  them 
came  not  by  the  will  of  man,  so  neither  doth  the  ex- 
position of  them  come  by  the  wit  of  man. 

"  The  prophecy  came  not  by  the  will  of  man,  but 
men  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 
This  is  the  first  point,  their  inditation,  inspiration,  sug- 
gestion. St.  Augustine  from  this  place  condemns  their 
damnable  heresy,  that  esteemed  the  Holy  Ghost  less 
and  inferior  to  the  Father  and  Son ;  or,  which  is  worse, 
rather  a  servant  to  God.  But,  saith  he,  shall  we  call 
him  a  creature,  who  created  the  humanity  of  Clirist  ? 
WhosenttheSonofGod:  "  The  Spirit  of  tlie  Lord  hatll 
sent  me  to  heal,"  kc.  Luke  iv.  18.  Qui  plane  Deus,  Who 
is  jdainly  called  God :  Thou  hast  lied  to  the  Holy 
Ghost.  What  is  he  ?  I  lie  apostle  directly  explains  it, 
Thou  hast  lied  unto  (iod,  Acts  v.  4.  "  Ye  are  the 
temple  of  God,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  (who  is  that  God) 
dwelleth  in  you,"  1  Cor.  iii.  16.  Here  that  Spirit 
speaketh  in  the  prophets:  Matt.  x.  20,  he  speaketh 
in  the  apostles;  "  It  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit 
of  your  Father  which  speaketh  in  you."  Who  is  he 
that  doth  all  this  ?  "  All  Scripture  is  given  by  in- 
spiration of  God,"  2  Tim.  iii.  Iti :  it  is  God  hiriiself. 
Will  you  consider  with  me  some  reasons,  arguments, 
and  demonstrative  proofs,  whereby  our  faitn  may  be 
confirmed,  that  all  Scripture  cometh  by  the  inspiration 
of  God. 

1.  Consider  the  infallible  completion  of  things  long 
before  prophesied,  in  their  due  seasons.  '•  Behold,  a 
child  shall  be  born  unto  the  house  of  David,  Josiah 
by  name,"  &c.  I  Kings  xiii.  2.  A  man  was  named 
five  hundred  years  before  he  was  born.  A  right  famous 
man  may  in  that  space  be  easily  forgotten  vipon  earth  : 
but  to  tell  now  who  shall  live,  or  what  such  a  one 
shall  do,  a  thousand  years  hence  ;  this  can  be  done 
by  none,  but  only  by  Him  who  with  one  look  beholds 
ail  things;  with  whom  nothing  is  piist  or  to  come, 
but  all  present. 

2.  Consider  that  their  being  hath  continued  from 
Moses  unto  this  day.  This  is  miraculous,  that  in  so 
great  hurly-burlies  and  alterations  they  should  not 
be  lost  !  We  must  yield,  that  the  devil  would  fain 
have  extinguished  their  light  for  ever ;  and  his  in- 


Ver.  20,  21. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETEK. 


•201 


strumcnts  were  not  backward  to  attempt  it :  the  same 
Almighty  hand  that  made  it,  preserved  it,  and  will 
not  let  it  pcrisli. 

3.  That  the  scope  of  it  should  be  to  build  up  no 
worldly  thing,  but  only  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and 
to  direct  us  to  Jesus  Christ:  "  The  Scripture  hath 
concluded  all  under  sin,"  to  make  way  for  the  pro- 
mise by  faith  of  Christ,  Gal.  iii.  22.  It  condemns 
sin  in  all,  and  all  for  sin ;  that  only  such  might  be 
saved  as  trust  in  him  that  died  for  their  sins. 

4.  That  it  should  pass  with  credit  through  the 
wliole  world,  and  find  approbation  of  all  languages, 
nations,  and  places ;  and  where  it  meets  with  oppo- 
sitions, should  make  way  through  them,  as  thunder 
through  the  clouds. 

5.  That  the  Hebrew  tongue,  wlicrein  the  Old  Tes- 
tament was  written,  doth  so  excel  all  tongues,  in 
antiquity,  sanctity,  majesty.  Full  of  meaning,  and 
modest  in  expression.  (Ambros.)  lie  "  knew  her," 
or  "  went  in  to  her,"  or  "  slept  with  her."  Such  is 
the  gracious  modesty  of  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

fi.  The  majesty  of  the  style,  which  yet  is  not  only 
powerful  in  words,  but  effectual  in  working ;  rending 
the  heart,  "  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of 
soul  and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,"  Heb. 
iv.  12.  ^\  hen  I  read  them,  methinks  they  are  not 
words,  but  thunders.  (Hieron.)  Other  authors,  sweet 
like  mermaids,  had  enchanted  my  intellect ;  Virgil 
is  sweet ;  but  now  the  son  of  Jesse  is  more  pleasant 
than  all.  (Bern.)  We  have  heard  the  writings  of 
poets  ancient  and  new  so  commended,  as  if  wisdom 
itself  had  lived  and  died  with  them.  And  it  may 
be,  this  is  the  sin  of  our  Samaria,  to  commit  idolatry 
with  such  books.  The  Turkish  History,  Herodotus' 
lies,  poetical  fictions,  scurrilous  pamphlets,  have 
thrust  the  Bible  out  of  our  windows  :  as  Angelus 
Politianus  preferred  Pindarus'  Odes,  before  David's 
Psalms.  But  Hierome  othci-wisc  to  Paulinus  ;  They 
may  talk  of  Simonides,  Pindarus,  Flaccus,  and  the 
rest ;  one  David,  that  sweet  singer  of  Israel,  is  to  us 
more  worth  than  all  those.  "I  determined  not  to 
know  any  thing  among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ,  and 
him  crucified,"  1  Cor.  ii.  2.  Methinks  there  is  no 
text  but  Christ's  cross,  no  theme  but  the  hole  in  his 
side,  no  ink  but  our  Saviour's  blood,  no  conference 
but  his  merits,  no  object  but  his  obedience,  no  ora- 
tory but  Love  the  Lord  Jesus,  no  music  but  Bless  our 
God  for  evermore.  We  should  choose  music,  as  he 
chose  his  friend;  not  him  that  would  be  plausible  to 
his  Immour  for  a  day,  but  liim  that  should  be  profit- 
able to  his  mind  during  life :  so  not  that  music  which 
to  flesh  is  sweetest,  but  that  which  lasteth  longest. 
This  is  the  song  of  Hallelujah,  praising  the  Lord  ; 
this  music  shall  continue  for  ever. 

7.  From  the  very  baseness  of  falsehood,  we  learn 
to  admire  the  lustre  of  truth.  Consider  Satan's 
ambition,  though  he  be  the  father  of  lies,  to  imi- 
tate the  Scriptural  truth.  He  had  his  sorcerers 
in  Egj'pt,  to  follow  Moses  in  his  wonders ;  albeit 
they  came  far  short  of  him.  To  disgrace  and  weak- 
en the  credit  of  the  Scriptures,  he  had  his  poets 
and  fabulist.s,  whose  mythologies  were  obtruded  for 
true  reports.  But  there  arc  three  main  differenecs 
between  them:  First,  there  dross  was  mingled  wilh 
the  gold,  water  with  the  wine :  haply  it  was  truth, 
but  wronged  in  the  reporting,  as  a  good  tale  is  mar- 
red in  the  telling.  Tliat  the  great  army  of  Senna- 
cherib was  destroyed,  both  Isaiah  and  Herodotus 
agree.  But  Isaiah  says,  it  was  by  the  angel  of  God  ; 
Herodotus  says,  it  was  by  an  infinite  number  of  mice, 
V^  which  in  the  night-time  did  eat  up  the  leathers  of 
\lheir  armours,  targets,  arul  bridles,  and  hereupon 
fl«"y  fled.  Secondly,  that  it  is  jsaid  to  be  derived 
from  the  Gentiles  to  the  Jews,  which  indeed  came 


from  the  Jews  to  the  Gentiles.  Plutarch  says  that 
some  of  the  Jews'  feasts,  yea,  their  sabbath  day,  and 
the  word  sabbos,  was  derived  from  the  feasts  of  Bac- 
chus. But  indeed  the  solemnities  of  Bacchus  came 
from  iheni,  being  nothing  so  ancient  as  Moses. 
Thirdly,  there  have  been  like  reports,  but  under 
borrowed  names,  as  Augustine  obser\-es.  In  allusion 
to  the  true  history  of  Jonali,  his  swallowing  and 
egestion  by  the  whale ;  Herodotus  writes  of  one  Arion, 
wlio  for  his  money  being  thrown  over  ship-board,  a 
dolphin  took  him  on  liis  back,  and  being  delighted 
with  his  music,  carried  him  to  Tananis,  from  whence 
lie  went  to  Penander  at  Corinth,  informing  him  of 
his  received  injuiy,  and  strange  deliverance.  But 
we  may  justly  suspect,  that  the  Greek  tale  of  the 
one  meant  the  Hebrew  truth  of  the  other.  Satan 
knowing  that  it  was  prophesied  of  Christ,  that  he 
should  open  the  blind  eyes,  unstop  the  ears  of 
the  deaf,  make  the  lame  leap  like  liarts,  and  the 
t<7ngues  of  the  dumb  to  sing,  Isa.  xxxv.  5,  6;  xlii.  7; 
he  feigned  an  Jisculapius,  and  gave  out  .is  strange 
wonders  of  him  ;  and  for  better  facilitating  his  pur- 
pose, he  called  him  the  son  of  God.  Now  to  wound  the 
devil  with  his  own  weapon,  even  this  argument  proves 
the  Divine  and  indubitatc  verity  of  the  Scripture ; 
for  counterfeits  do  ever  presuppose  that  there  is  ever 
some  such  thing  as  they  attempt  to  resemble.  Per- 
kin  Warbeck  in  England,  that  pretended  himself  to 
be  Edward  the  Fifth,  did  manifestly  declare  that 
tliere  had  been  one  of  that  name.  Coiners  of  false 
metal,  imply  by  their  art  that  there  is  some  of  that 
stamp  good  and  current.  Alchymists  that  labour  to 
make  gold  by  projection,  intend  that  there  is  natural 
gold.  Painters,  though  they  have  the  liberty  of 
attempting  any  thing,  yet  account  their  art  to  be  a 
resemblance  of  that  which  is  or  halh  been.  So  the 
afiected  imitation  of  holy  stories  is  a  clear  re- 
monstrance, that  the  subject  which  they  take  for 
pattern  is  of  justifiable  truth,  and  without  exception. 
8.  Lastly,  this  is  an  argument  of  the  finger  of 
God,  and  supernatural  power  in  holy  writ,  that  the 
penners  of  it  renounced  all  afiiction,  and  delivered 
the  true  message  even  against  their  own  reputations. 
So  did  this  Holy  Spirit  overrule  their  pens,  that  they 
depress  and  disgrace  themselves,  and  remain  exposed 
as  wonderments  to  all  succeeding  ages ;  that  all  glory 
may  be  the  Lord's.  If  they  did  amiss,  their  errors 
are  recorded  either  by  themselves  or  their  friends. 
The  faults  of  Noah  and  Lot  are  not  concealed  by 
him  that  honoured  the  memorj'  of  Noah  and  Lot. 
Luke  loved  Paul  and  Barnabas,  yet  writing  their 
Acts,  he  speaks  of  an  unbecoming  strife  between 
them ;  w  hieh  grew  so  sharp  and  hot,  that  they  part- 
ed. Acts  XV.  39.  Moses  in  his  Five  Books,  as  he 
spared  not  his  brother,  nor  his  sister,  nor  his  wife, 
neither  Aaron,  Miriam,  nor  Zipporah,  when  they 
came  in  his  way ;  so  he  least  of  all  spared  himself. 
That  God  had  almost  slain  him  for  neglect  of  cir- 
cumcision ;  that  when  the  people  murmured,  he  was 
one;  that  he  was  only  permitted  to  see.  not  to  enter 
into  Canaan  :  all  this  he  writes  of  himself.  Jere 
miah  records  his  own  impatience,  Jer.  xv. ;  David  his 
own  blood-guiltiness ;  Jonah  his  own  uncharitable- 
ness,  frowardness,  and  repining  at  God's  mercy.  He 
was  the  writer  that  was  the  oflender;  yet  he  reports 
the  fault  as  if  it  had  been  of  a  stranger.  He  sets 
aside  aflcction  to  his  own  credit  ;  runs  not  into  a 
bush  wilh  Adam,  but  writes  his  fault  on  his  brow, 
points  the  finger  at  the  transgressor  under  his  own 

firopcr  and  individual  name.  He  tells  such  a  tale  of 
limself,  that  if  all  his  enemies  had  studied  to  lash 
him,  they  could  not  have  matched  it.  Men  are 
naturally  ambitious,  desirous  either  to  blaze  their 
own  virtues,  or  to-  blanch  their  own  errors.    Look 


202 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I. 


upon  human  pens,  how  they  are  dipped  in  the  oil  of 
ostentation !  They  profess  to  chronicle  the  truth ; 
but  this  friend,  or  that  faction,  shall  have  a  partial 
favour.  They  will  not  detect  the  evil  that  is,  but  in- 
sert the  good  tliat  is  not.  But  that  one  should  in 
sobriety  write  a  treatise  to  declare  his  own  faults, 
this  is  not  found  in  any  heathen.  Tully  will  not 
have  it  buried,  that  Rome  was  beholden  to  him  in 
the  cause  of  Catiline.  Plutarch,  Aristotle,  Plato, 
Socrates,  may  write  much  in  their  own  praise  :  I 
never  read  in  I  htm  one  line  of  their  wickedness.  Dion 
will  have  the  world  know,  that  he  was  a  man  em- 
ployed in  matters  of  state.  Joscphus  is  abundant  in 
relating  his  own  stratagems.  Horace  says  of  his 
Poems,  that  he  had  set  up  monumenlum  lere perennius, 
regale  situ  pyramidum  altius.  Ovid  of  his  Transmuta- 
tions; Jamque  opus-  exegi,  quod  nee  Jovis  ira,  nee 
'gnis,  &c.  And  llle  ego  sum  nulii  nugarum  laude  se- 
cundus.  Mahomet's  writings  extol  him  for  an  only 
prophet ;  that  he  received  oracles  from  heaven  ;  that 
lie  shall  rise  from  the  dead,  but  eight  hundred  years 
after,  a  pretty  time  to  try  a  conclusion  in;  but  there 
is  not  a  syllable  of  all  his  damnable  vices.  Thus 
men  will  be  men,  humorous,  ambitious,  self-loving. 
This  cannot  be  refrained,  nor  restrained,  but  that 
directly  or  indirectly  it  will  break  out.  But  those 
whom  God  employs,  cast  dung  on  their  o^^^l  faces, 
publish  their  own  errors  to  the  ends  of  the  world  ; 
that  eveiy  eye  may  see,  and  eveiy  tongue  confess. 
All  men  are  sinners ;  God  is  only  good,  and  wise, 
and  holy ;  who  is  blessed  for  ever.     Amen. 

"  Holy  men  of  God  spake."  This  is  the  second 
general,  the  conscription  of  God's  word.  God  would 
have  his  word  written :  though  it  be  here  said,  they 
spake ;  yet  that  they  spake  is  called  Scripture,  a 
thing  written :  "  Whatsoever  things  were  written 
aforetime,  were  written  for  our  learning,"  Rom.  xv. 
4.  AVherein  observe  the  authority,  antiquity,  utility 
of  the  Scriplurcs.  It  is  written,  there  is  the  autho- 
rity, yt/orelime,  there  is  the  antiquity.  For  our 
learning,  there  is  the  utility.  The  voice  is  vanishing : 
ask  for  the  voice,  and  find  it  in  the  ear;  ask  for  the 
Scripture,  find  it  written  for  the  eye  to  look  upon. 
Therefore  would  God  have  it  written  in  books,  that 
the  syllables  might  be  always  in  our  eyes,  as  well  as 
the  sound  in  our  ears.  Hereby  vie  may  come  to  ex- 
ercise ourselves  in  it  day  and  night,  Psal.  i.  2.  By 
this  means  no  man  shall  add  to  it,  or  detract  from  if, 
Deut.  iv.  2.  Though  the  sound  of  the  thundering 
apostles  "  went  into  all  the  earth,  and  their  words 
unto  the  ends  of  the  world,"  Rom.  x.  IS;  yet  the 
Holy  Ghost  would  have  a  treatise  written  of  all  that 
.lesus  did  and  taught.  Acts  i.  1.  And  this  shall  be 
entitled  "The  book  of  the  generation  of  Jesus  Cln-ist," 
Matt.  i.  1.  The  Scripture  is  a  Bible,  because  it  is 
written;  and  the  Bible,  because  it  excels  all  other 
books,  both  for  the  matter  and  the  Maker.  God 
would  not  have  his  instruments  only  Naphtalis,  lo 
give  goodly  words.  Gen.  xlix.  21  ;  but  that  his  will 
be  committed  to  Zebulun,  the  handler  of  (he  pen, 
Judg.  v.  1-1.  "  Oh  that  my  words  were  written!  oh 
that  they  were  printed  in  a  book!"  Job  xix.  23. 
What  would  he  have  written  ?  the  words  of  his  pas- 
sion ?  No,  but  the  words  of  his  faith,  even  the  truth 
of  God  ;  "  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,"  ver. 
25.  Schismatics  are  all  for  a  speaking  Scripture ; 
anabaptists  all  for  an  infused  Scripture  ;  papists  are 
all  for  a  painted  Scripture:  they  \ovq  testes  fenestras  : 
with  them  no  leaf  of  the  Bible  is  .so  anthentical  as 
the  jiainter's  work  in  the  window.  But  all  true 
catholics  are  only  for  the  written  Scripture ;  and  the 
Lord  make  this  our  light  and  delight  to  the  end. 

The  persons  that  are  the  manuaries,  directed  by 
God.  as  a  schoolmaster  guides  the  hand  of  a  young 


writer,  have  here  a  threefold  description.  They  are 
men,  men  of  God,  holy  men  of  God.  Men,  there  is 
their  condition  :  men  of  God,  there  is  their  dispen- 
sation :  holy  men  of  God,  there  is  their  qualification. 

Men.  Why  did  not  God  choose  some  other  nature 
of  greater  authority  and  credit?  1.  That  no  glory 
might  be  ascribed  to  the  means :  "  We  have  this 
treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  that  the  excellency  of  the 
power  may  be  of  God,  and  not  of  us,"  2  Cor.  iv.  J. 
When  Samson  with  the  jaw  of  an  ass  slew  so  many ; 
the  weaker  the  weapon,  the  stronger  the  man.  The 
infirmity  of  the  instrument  makes  for  the  glorj'  of  the 
agent.  2.  In  commiseration  of  man's  weakness:  "They 
said  unto  Moses,  Speak  thou  with  us,  and  we  will 
hear:  but  let  not  God  speak  with  us,  lest  we  die," 
Exod.  XX.  19.  The  voice  of  the  Lord  is  like  thunder, 
it  will  shake  in  pieces  the  timorous  heart  of  flesh. 
3.  For  the  security  of  our  souls.  If  our  preacher 
were  an  angel,  Satan  could  transfonn  himself  into 
that  show.  If  one  from  the  dead,  the  devil  can  ap- 
pear in  the  shape  of  Samuel.  If  by  miracles,  Jannes 
and  Jambres  withstood  Moses,  and  antichrist  shall 
do  wonders.  If  by  visions,  the  pagans  had  their 
apparitions.  4.  In  fit  respondence  to  the  work  of 
our  redemption :  a  man  died  for  us,  therefore  is  a 
man  fit  to  preach  this  to  us.  Acts  iii.  22. 

Men  of  God.  This  is  an  ancient  attribute  :  Men 
of  God,  holy  men  of  God,  messengers  of  God,  pro- 
phets of  the  Lord,  prophets  of  the  Most  High,  I 
Kings  xWi.  18;  1  Tim.  vi.  11;  2  Tim.  iii.  17.  Men 
of  God.  Men  not  only  in  request  living,  but  even 
dead :  pi-inces  over  princes ;  these  reign  but  during 
life,  those  even  after  death.  But  especially  they  are 
called  men  of  God,  because  their  dispensation  comes 
from  God :  "  We  sjieak  not  in  the  words  which  man's 
wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teach- 
eth,"  1  Cor.  ii.  13.  So  the  prophets  came:  "The 
mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it."  I  received  of 
the  Lord  what  I  delivered  unio  you,  1  Cor.  xi.  23. 
David  in  spirit  called  him  Lord,  Malt.  xxii.  43. 
"  My  tongue  is  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer,"  Psal.  xlv. 
1  :  that  is,  the  pen  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  vulgar 
reads,  Psal.  Ixxxv.  8,  I  will  hear  what  the  Lord  will 
speak  in  me.  Hence  was  it  that  the  Lord  did  not 
manifest  all  things  to  them,  together;  but  as  Paul 
said  to  the  churcli,  so  God  to  Paul,  "  I  have  kept 
back  nothing  that  was  profitable  to  you,"  Acts  xx. 
20.  Elisha  knew  the  king  of  Syria's  stratagems  and 
plots,  which  he  consulted  in  his  bed-chamber,  2  Kings 
vi.  12;  yet  he  did  not  know  at  firet  the  purpose  of 
the  army  lo  Dothan,  imtil  his  servant  told  him.  He 
could  foretell  to  the  Shunammite  that  she  should 
have  a  son,  yet  the  death  of  that  child  was  hidden 
from  him;  "The  Lord  hath  hid  ii  fi-om  me,  and 
hath  not  told  me,"  2  Kings  iv.  27.  He  did  not  pre- 
sently resolve  the  three  kings  concerning  the  event 
of  the  war;  but  called  for  a  minstrel,  "and  when 
the  minstrel  played,  the  hand  of  the  Lord  came  upon 
him,"  2  Kings  iii.  15. 

Holy  men ;  the  Lord  that  sent  them  qualified 
them.'  But  was  this  a  necessary  and  inseparable 
annexion  to  all  the  secretaries  of  God,  holiness?  was 
not  prophecy  (without  this)  incident  to  some  repro- 
bates ?  Indeed  some  transient  revelations  might 
pass  through  them,  themselves  meantime  remaining 
as  wise  as  trunks.  Balaam  is  called  a  great  prophet ; 
God  opened  his  mouth  :  yet  did  he  not  in  this  more 
favour  him  than  his  ass ;  he  made  them  both  lo  speak 
his  glory  and  Balaam's  shame.  Saul  does  prophesy ; 
vet  he  was  as  far  from  the  grace  of  God,  as  he  was 
from  the  God  of  grace,  when  he  had  cast  him  off. 
Caiai)has  could  prophesy  the  expediency,  that  one 
should  die  for  the  people :  "  This  spake  he  not  of 
himself:  but  being  high  priest  that  year,  he  prophe- 


Ver.  20,  21. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


203 


sied  lh;it  Jesus  should  die  for  that  nation,"  John  xi. 
51.  His  ollicc  prophesied,  rather  than  himself.  They 
shall  say  in  the  latter  day,  We  have  prophesied  in 
thy  name  ;  yet  be  rejected  with  a  Depart  from  me,  I 
know  you  not,  Matt.  vii.  22,  23.  But  it  is  on  all  sides 
consented,  that  God's  public  notaries,  the  canonical 
writers,  were  all  regenerate  and  holy,  the  children 
of  light  and  life  ;  once  gracious  saints  on  earth,  now 
glorious  saints  in  heaven. 

Thus  are  they  qualified :  one  may  be  a  man,  yet 
not  a  man  of  God ;  a  man  of  God,  yet  not  holy.  To 
be  a  man  is  noble,  an  cmphatical  word.  "  Men  of 
Galilee,"  Arts  i.  II.  "Men  of  Judea,"  Acts  ii.  14. 
"  Men  of  Athens,"  Acts  xvii.  22.  "  Men  of  Ephcsus," 
Acts  xix.  35.  "  Show  thyself  a  man,"  I  Kings  ii.  2. 
One  mav  be  Adam,  not  Ish ;  homo,  not  liV ;  as  David 
said  to  Abner,  "  Art  not  thou  a  valiant  man  ?  "  1  Sam. 
xxvi.  15.  But  to  be  a  man  of  God,  this  is  more  noble ; 
to  be  intrusted  with  the  secrets  of  heaven,  the  mys- 
teries of  salvation.  The  ambassador  of  a  king  is  of 
no  small  account ;  but  these  are  the  Lord's  legates : 
whosoever  harmed  them,  found  God  himself  their 
avenger;  "He  that  despiseth  you  despiseth  me," 
Luke  X.  IR.  Yet  there  be  some  that  dare,  and  that 
in  extremity  do  it,  though  they  are  sure  to  be  con- 
demned for  it.  But  lastly,  to  be  holy,  this  is  most 
noble.  Prophecy  shall  cease,  preaching  cease,  mi- 
nistration of  sacraments  cease,  holiness  shall  never 
cease.  There  are  divers  gifts,  to  be  an  apostle,  to 
prophesy,  to  teach,  to  work  miracles,  to  speak  with 
tongues;  but  let  us  "  covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts," 
I  Cor.  xii.  31,  even  our  sanctification.  The  rest  are 
needful  for  you,  this  for  ourselves  :  they  bring  you  to 
heaven,  this  must  bring  us  to  heaven.  Tliat  blessed 
Spirit  which  hath  made  us  men,  and  men  of  God, 
make  us  also  holy  men ;  that  our  Nazarites  may  be 
whiter  than  the  snow,  and  our  priests  purer  than  the 
sapphires.  Lam.  iv.  7- 

"  No  prophecy  of  the  Scripture  is  of  any  private 
interpretation."  These  holy  men  were  the  sacrarics 
and  secretaries  of  God,  the  registers  of  his  royal  cove- 
nant. Now  as  they  could  not  speak  or  write,  but  by 
the  Spirit's  inspiration ;  so  neither  can  we  expound 
what  they  have  written,  but  by  the  same  Spirit's  in- 
terpretation :  interpretation  is  given  by  the  Spirit, 
I  Cor.  xii.  10.  He  that  expounds  the  Scripture  upon 
the  warrant  of  his  own  spirit  only,  doth  lay  the 
brands  of  the  fire  together  without  the  tongs,  and  is 
sure  at  least  to  bum  his  own  fingers.  Solomon  con- 
fessed that  he  studied  for  his  doctrines  ;  "  The 
preacher  sought  to  find  out  acceptable  words,"  Eccl. 
xii.  10;  yet  was  he  the  wisest  man.  Daniel  was  a 
famous  prophet,  yet  he  desired  respite  to  expound 
Nebuchadnezzar's  dream,  Dan.  ii.  Ki.  Is  the  Scrip- 
ture lighter  than  a  dream  ?  or  art  thou  wiser  than 
Daniel  ?  It  is  true  that  all  right  and  sober  exposi- 
tion is  of  God;  it  is  "  God  in  heaven  that  revcaleth 


secrets,"  Dan.  ii.  28.  But  the  Lord  doth  not  now  re- 
veal this  to  us  in  visions  and  dreams  ;  but  sets  us  to 
ordinary  means ;  conferring  with  orthodox  writers, 
turning  over  many  books,  zealous  invocation  to  the 
Father  of  lights,  studious  observing  the  context  of 
Scriptures.  You  think  our  preaching  and  expounding 
the  word  to  be  very  easy ;  indeed  so  it  might  be,  if 
we  should  do  with  our  sermons  a-s  you  do  with  your 
monies.  They  are  not  scrmoas,  that  come  forth  like 
untimely  births,  from  uncircumciscd  lips  and  unwashen 
hands.  I  know  there  are  some,  that  think  scorn  to 
bring  a  premeditated  sermon  ;  That  were  to  tie  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  an  ink-horn.  No,  turn  the  cock,  and 
let  it  run.  They  say,  they  bring  sermons  of  God's 
own  making,  because  they  took  no  pains  in  the  com- 
posing. As  if  this  were  to  preach  in  the  evidence  of 
the  Spirit,  and  demonstration  of  power.  But  as 
every  sound  is  not  music,  so  every  sermon  is  not 
preaching.  Speaking  is  from  custom,  but  saying 
from  art.  "  My  heart  is  inditing  a  good  matter," 
Psal.  xlv.  I :  it  was  a  speech  first  conceived  and  bom 
in  his  heart.  John  Baptist  went  before  Christ  to 
prepare  his  ways ;  so  our  heart  must  go  before  our 
tongue  to  prepare  our  words.  We  must  hew  the 
stones  before  we  bring  them  to  the  building,  or  they 
will  never  couch  in  order.  He  that  cometh  wildly 
to  this  holy  work,  shall  be  driven  to  beat  the  air,  and 
to  seek  up  and  down  for  matter,  as  Saul  sought  for 
his  fatlicr's  asses.  As  we  study  for  your  good,  so  do 
vou  pray  we  may  study  to  your  good ;  that  we  may 
bring  you  to  the' Scripture,  and  the  Scriptures  bring 
vou  to  salvation. 

I  conclude.  The  sum  of  this  whole  chapter  hath 
been  a  sweet  garden  of  grace  and  mercy.  The  first 
(lower  was  a  salutation,  and  that  is  a  wish  of  mercy. 
"The  second,  a  promise,  and  that  is  a  word  of  mercy. 
The  third,  a  consolation,  and  that  is  a  work  of  mercy. 
The  fourth  an  exhortation,  and  that  is  the  way  to 
mercy.  The  fifth,  a  witness  of  our  election,  and  that 
is  an  assurance  of  mercy.  The  sixth,  an  induction 
to  heaven  upon  earth,  and  that  is  a  high  degree  of 
mercy.  The  seventh,  a  testimony  from  heaven,  and 
that  was  the  voice  of  mercy.  Tlie  eighth,  a  word  of 
performed  prophecy,  and  that  was  an  argument  of 
mercy.  The  ninth,  an  illumination  of  the  gospel, 
and  that  is  a  light  of  mercy.  The  last,  is  the  glory 
of  heaven,  and  that  is  the  'full  day  and  perfection  of 
mercy.  Through  these  blessed  degrees  my  discourse 
bath  brought  you  :  first  we  begim  with  peace,  then 
dwelt  long  with  grace,  and  lastly  arc  come  to  gloiy. 
This  peace  possess  your  consciences,  this  grace  beau- 
tify vour  hearts,  and  this  glory  cvown  all  your  souls. 
"  Now  unto  him  that  is  able  to  keep  you  from  falling, 
and  to  present  you  faultless  before  the  presence  of 
his  glory  with  exceeding  joy,  to  the  only  wise  God 
our  Saviour,  be  glory  and  majesty,  dominion  and 
I  power,  both  now  and  ever.     Amen,"  Jude  24. 


EXPOSITION 


THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  THE  HOLY  APOSTLE 


SAINT     PETER. 


CHAPTER  II. 


VERSE  I.  BVT  THERE  WERE  FALSE  PROPHETS  ALSO  AMONG  THE  PEOPLE,  EVEN  AS  THERE  SHALL  BE  FALSE 
TE.iCHERS  AMONG  YOU,  WHO  PRIVILY  SHALL  BRING  IN  DAMNABLE  HERESIES,  EVEN  DENYING  THE  LORD 
THAT    BOUGHT    THEM,    AND    BRING    UPON    THEMSELVES    SWIFT   DESTRUCTION. 


The  conclusion  of  the  former  chapter  was  in  a  sweet 
closure  of  truth,  the  induction  of  this  he^ns  with  a 
discovery  of  error:  damnable  doctrine  bound  up  in  a 
fair  cover;  resembling  that  Koinish  practice,  of  poi- 
soning an  emperor  in  the  sacrament.  Here  is  a  true 
prophecy  of  a  false  prophecy  ;  I  tell  you  truly,  that 
some  shall  come  to  teach  you  falsely.  The  church 
of  God  cannot  escape  this  danger,  so  long  as  there  is 
a  sheep-skin  to  be  gotten  for  a  wolf  to  mask  in ;  or 
a  sorcerer  Elymas  can  put  on  the  name  of  Bar-jcsus, 
Acts  xiii.  6.  These  have  been  ;  these  will  be ;  as  it 
was  then,  so  is  it  now.  Gal.  iv.  29 :  and  so  it  will 
continue,  imtil  time  hath  housed  all  God's  friends, 
and  imprisoned  all  his  enemies ;  till  it  hath  melted 
the  world  in  a  furnace,  and  cast  it  in  a  new  moidd. 
You  have  a  sure  word,  sit  fast  in  your  adherence  : 
there  will  come  furious  champions  to  thnist  you  from 
your  handfast ;  beware  that  tiiey  do  not  weaken  your 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ. 

There  were  proidiets  indeed,  but  durst  there  be 
false  prophets  ?  Yes,  false  projihets.  But  it  may 
be  they  were  among  uncircumciscd  ]iagans.  not  in 
Israel.  Yes,  iv  rCi  \aip,  amo?ig  the  people,  tliat  people, 
cmpliatically ;  diosen  for  the  Liu'd's  own  peculiar. 
Well,  but  that  danger  is  past,  they  are  condemned 
and  gone.  Nay,  be  not  too  secure,  there  will  be  still 
faise  teachers.  The  devil  loves  no  vacancy ;  if  he 
can  help  it  with  supply,  the  chair  of  antichrist  shall 
never  be  empty.  Indeed  these  may  be  admitted 
amongst  the  heretics  of  their  own  tribe,  in  tliat  land 
of  darkness  where  the  truth  is  forgotten;  but  they 
will  not  presume  into  the  liglit.  Yes,  iv  vftiv,  amotig 
you,  that  know  the  truth,  and  to  whom  the  glorious 
Sun  shineth.  They  will  venture  to  vent  the  devil's 
commodities  even  among  you.  \Vhat  are  those  wares  ? 
Heresies.  Alas,  that  is  but  their  own  election  or 
opinion,  and  can  do  little  hurt.  Yis,  they  are  damn- 
able heresies,  a\p'tatt<:  «7roX(Inc,  cxitial  of  destruc- 
tion. If  they  do,  I  hope  we  shall  easily  distinguish 
them.  Howsoever,  they  will  brinir  them  in,  speed  as 
they  can.  But  the  ehiirch  discerning  it,  will  shut 
her  doors  against  them.     Nay,  but  they  will  do  it 


priiil'j,  cunningly,  steal  them  in.  Oh  what  perni- 
cious malice  are  those  impostors  ?  So  impudent,  that 
they  dare  deni/  the  Lord  their  Maker;  the  Lord  that 
bought  them,  their  Saviour.  What  shall  be  iheir  end  ? 
Destruction.  How  long  shall  it  be  deferred  ?  Not  a 
jot,  it  shall  be  suif'l and  sudden.  How  shall  it  come  ? 
It  shall  be  brought.  Who  shall  bring  it  ?  Themselves 
upon  themselves :  they  bring  upon  themselves  swift 
destruction.  This  is  the  exposition,  now  for  the  dis- 
position of  these  words.     Three  generals  : 

A  narration,  Tliere  were  false  prophets,  &c. 

A  caution,  There  shall  be  false  teachers. 

A  description  how  to  know  them,  They  shall  pri- 
vily, &c. 

In  the  narration  consider  these  particulars : 

Tlie  connexion  of  the  words,  Also. 

The  corniption  of  the  persons,  False  prophets. 

The  intrusion  of  their  mischief,  Among  the  people 
of  God. 

In  the  caution  we  observe  three  other  branches, 
by  which  we  i)crccive  and  find, 

Who  they  be  that  assault  us.  False  teachers. 

Whither  they  press,  Among  you,  even  Cliristians. 

The  unavoidable  necessity  of  them,  They  will  be 
with  you,  you  cannot  help  it. 

In  the  description,  they  were  declared  to  us  by 
three  mischiefs  or  evils  : 

One  that  issues  from  them,  seminale  malum,  nox- 
ious to  others  ;  They  bring  in  damnable  heresies. 

One  that  abides  in  them,  criminale  malum,  making 
themselves  guilty ;  Denying  the  Lord  that  bought 
them. 

One  that  falls  upon  them,  pcenale  malum,  their 
own  plague  ;  They  bring  on  themselves  swift  de- 
struction. 

In  the  former  mischief  or  evil,  consider  two  things  ; 
both 

What  they  bring  in.  Damnable  heresies. 

How  they  bring  them  in.  Privily. 

The  second  evil  is  aggravated  by  a  threefold  gra- 
dation: 

That  they  do  not  only  neglect,  but  deny  him. 


Yer.  1. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


That  not  a  man,  not  a  king,  not  an  angil,  but  (he 
Lord. 

That  not  only  their  Creator,  but  Saviour,  that 
bought  them. 

Tlie  last  evil  is  tlescribcil  by 

The  measure,  it  is  no  less  than  destruction. 

Tile  manner,  it  is  swift,  sudden,  unprivented. 

The  author,  even  themselves ;  They  bring  on  them- 
selves. 

"  There  were  false  prophets  also  among  the  pco- 
jile."  I  begin  with  the  narration,  which  hath  recur- 
rence to  tliose  past  times,  the  state  of  the  church 
under  the  law;  who  being  the  beloved  people  of 
God,  yet  were  not  exempted  from  that  exercise  of 
their  "faith,  by  the  sedueements  of  false  prophets. 
To  proceed  in  order. 

"  There  were  also."  This  is  the  connexion ;  rni, 
also,  implies  that  there  were  always  true  prophets, 
such  as  he  formerly  had  specified  ;  otherwise  he 
could  not  say  here,  also  false  prophets.  AVhere  be- 
hold God's  careful  indulgence  to  his  children,  that 
never  leaves  them  without  tutors.  The  prophets  do 
not  live  for  ever,  Zech.  i.  5 ;  there  is  no  everlasting 
priest  but  Jesus  Christ.  Moses  and  Samuel  are  dead  j 
Paul  and  John  have  laid  down  their  tabernacles. 
Yet  still  the  Lord  raiseth  up  ministers  to  stand  be- 
fore his  altar,  and  to  keep  the  holy  fire  of  the  sane- 
tuar)'  from  going  out.  Some  have  observed  that 
Jonah  began  nis  propheev  with  And,  or  Also.  Vhich 
intends  a  conjunction,  cither  of  Jonah  with  other  pro- 
phets, or  Nineveh  with  other  cities,  or  of  the  business 
rclatcil  with  other  affairs ;  as  if  it  began  a  book 
without  a  beginning,  and  continued  a  couKe  of  some 
precedent  dealings.  When  one  lamp  is  spent,  God 
will  also  send  another;  when  one  star  sets,  another 
rises.  The  church  shall  be  no  more  destitute  of 
ministers  than  the  firmament  can  be  without  stars. 
God  will  not  leave  his  house  without  buildei^s,  till 
the  edifice  be  perfectly  finished.  He  placeth  pastors 
and  teachers,  to  the  edifying  of  liis  body,  until  we 
all  meet  unto  a  perfect  man,  Eph.  iv.  II  — 13.  This 
comforts  us,  that  if  our  sins  cause  not  God  to  remove 
our  candlestick  from  us,  we  shall  have  shining  lamps 
in  our  church,  until  we  be  all  lighted  to  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  The  Greeks  of  Constantinople  had  store 
of  wealth  ;  but  because  they  would  spare  none  of  it 
to  the  reparation  and  defence  of  the  city,  they  lost 
all  to  the  Turks,  which  afterwards  no  money  could 
recover.  The  foolish  virgins,  to  spare  a  shilling, 
bought  no  oil ;  but  when  their  lamps  were  out,  and 
the  bridegroom  came,  what  would  they  have  given, 
what  would  they  not  have  given,  for  a  little  oil !  I 
pray  God  this  prove  not  the  unfortunate  case  of  this 
land :  we  have  store  of  lamps  to  light  us  to  heaven, 
but  we  arc  so  niggardly  of  oil  to  feed  them,  that  they 
must  needs  at  last  go  out,  and  leave  us  darkling.  It 
is  no  wonder,  if  God  take  from  us  allaria,  our  altars  ; 
who  have  taken. from  him  allaragia,  his  tithes  and 
offerinKS.  "  They  have  bunicd  up  all  the  synagogues 
in  the  land,"  Psal.  Ixxiv.  8:  if  men  do  so,  no  mar\el 
though  they  complain,  as  it  is  in  the  next  verse,  "  \Ve 
see  not  our  signs,  there  is  no  more  any  prophet " 
among  us.  Ve  have  done  our  best,  or  rather  our 
worst,  to  make  our  souls  one  day  complain  ;  there  is 
not  a  prophet  left  among  us. 

"There  were  false  prophets."  Falsehood  is  an 
aberration  from  the  truth;  they  are  false  prophets 
that  teach  false  things.  "  Beware  of  false  prophets," 
Matt.  vii.  15.  The  ^Iasler  there,  as  the  servant  here, 
having  first  showed  the  right  way,  cautioneth  ns  of 
things  hurtful  in  the  way.  Beware  of  heresy,  which 
corrupteth  the  pure  fountains  of  holy  faith.  False 
prophets  may  be  taken  in  a  threefold  sense  ;  literally, 
mystically,  or  as  they  are  taken  here. 


Literally  :  so  are  tell-tale  astrologers,  who  have 
learned  in  the  devil's  academy  to  cozen  the  world 
with  false  alarms.  They  enrich  others'  ears  with 
words  that  they  may  enrich  themselves  with  goods. 
Alas,  how  can  they  tell  another's  end  or  infelicity, 
that  are  ignorant  of  their  own  ?  What  can  he  know, 
that  does  not  know  himself?  Christ  bids  us  beware 
of  false  prophets;  what  will  he  judge  of  those  that 
run  to  them?  A  thief  hath  stolen  thy  beast,  and 
thou,  in  going  to  the  wizard,  nmnest  after  him  with 
thy  soul.  Thus  when  one  takes  away  the  child's 
apple,  he  throws  the  bread  after  him.  Will  not  the 
devil  laugh  to  see  two  such  thieves  meet  together  in 
his  kingdom  ?  "  Regard  not  them  that  have  familiar 
spirits,  neither  seek  after  wizards,  to  be  defiled  by 
them,"  Lev.  xix.  31.  Regard  them  not;  if  you  do, 
the  Lord  will  not  regard  you. 

Mystically.  Tiie  devil  is  a  false  prophet ;  he  calls 
evil  good,  and  promiseth  to  bad  attempts  good  events. 
Either  he  conceals  the  end  from  the  way,  or  the  way 
from  the  end.  Thou  mayst  travel  the  way  of  lust, 
yet  not  come  to  the  end  of  it,  damnation.  Or  thou 
m:iyst  come  to  the  end  of  thy  hope,  salvation ;  yet 
never  limit  thyself  to  the  way  of  grace.  These  are  all 
false  prophecies,  and  this  is  that  false  prophet  which 
cozens  the  world.  He  sped  so  unhappily  with  our 
first  parents :  You  may  eat  of  the  forbidden  tree,  yet 
be  like  gods.  It  was  false,  for  he  knew  that  so  eating 
would  make  them  like  devils.  The  world  is  such  a 
false  ])rophet,  like  those  lying  spirits  to  Ahab  :  "  Go 
up  to  Ranioth-gilead  and  prosper,"  1  Kings  xxii.  12. 
It  promiseth  like  a  lord,  as  the  lord  of  it  did  to  the 
Lord  of  all ;  "  All  these  will  I  give,"  Matt.  iv.  9. 
It  was  false,  for  all  this  eXory  is  but  a  shadow;  tlie 
shadow  passes  away,  and  leaves  the  substance  of  bit- 
terness behind  it.  The  world  says,  Your  houses 
shall  continue  for  ever:  it  is  a  false  prophecy;  for 
man  abides  not  in  honour,  Psal.  xlix.  II,  12.  The 
world  says.  Your  gold  shall  make  you  blessed ;  it  is  a 
false  prophecy,  it  rather  makes  men  cursed. 

The  flesh  is  a  false  prophet.  "  The  fool  hath  said 
in  his  heart.  There  is  no  God,"  Psal.  xiv.  I  :  false, 
for  he  shall  find  a  God  to  judge  the  earth.  Every 
affected  sin  is  a  false  prophet  to  the  soul.  False- 
hood, if  it  cannot  deceive  another,  will  deceive  hself: 
as  Chn,-sostom  observes  on  the  Psalm,  Wickedness 
lied  to  itself.  Worldliness  flattered  the  rich  man 
with  immortality  in  his  bams,  Luke  xii. :  false,  for  his 
passing-bell  went  that  night.  Presumption  of  health 
whispers  that  thou  art  at  a  league  with  death :  false, 
for  death  is  at  no  league  with  thee.  Be  not  beguiled, 
as  Alexander's  flatterers  would  have  gulled  him  with 
the  title  of  Jupiter's  son;  lest  being  wounded,  thou 
cry  to  thy  flesh,  as  he  did  to  his  friends,  This  is  the 
blood  of  a  man,  not  such  as  issuelh  from  the  gods. 
Love  of  wine  prophesies  to  the  drunkard,  "  To-mor- 
row shall  be  as  to-day,  and  much  more  abundant," 
Isa.  Ivi.  12.  False;  for.  Awake  and  howl,  ye  drunk- 
ards, for  the  wine  is  cut  off  from  your  mouth,  Joel  i.  5. 
Ambition  flatters  the  haughty :  '•  I  will  exalt  my  throne 
above  the  stars  of  God,"  I  will  arise  out  of  the  dust 
to  sit  with  princes :  false,  for  thou  shalt  be  brought 
down  to  the  grave,  and  to  the  sides  of  the  pit ;  thou 
shalt  fall  from  the  throne  to  the  dust,  Isa.  xiv.  13,  14. 
Infidelity  persuades  there  shall  be  no  reckoning.  Epi- 
curism dreams  of  no  future  life :  false,  for  the  Lord 
"  shall  take  them  away  .as  with  a  w  hirlwind  ; "  so 
that  a  man  shall  say,  "  Verily  there  is  a  God  that 
judgeth  in  the  earth,"  Psal.  Iviii.  9,  11.  Pleasure 
says  like  Babylon,  I  am  a  (jueen,  I  shall  see  no  mourn- 
ing. Rev.  xviii.  7  '•  false,  for  the  day  of  lamentation 
comes,  worse  than  the  wailing  of  Hadadrimmon  in 
the  valley  of  Megiddon,  Zech.  xii.  II.  Pride  whis- 
pers the  beautiful,  "Nature's  colours  will  last ;  if  not, 


206 


AN  EXPOSITION  LPOX  THE 


Ciup.  II 


artificial  ones  shall  help:  false,  for  art  itself  shall 
make  a  fool  of  naturt-,  time  make  a  fool  of  art,  death 
make  a  fool  of  all.  But  presumption  saj's,  God  will 
have  mercy  upon  all :  false,  for  a  small  number  is 
saved.  But  C'hrisl's  blood  paid  for  all  men's  sins  : 
false,  for  some  tread  that  sacred  blood  imder  I  heir 
feet.  But  if  the  worst  come,  says  carnal  hope,  I  will 
be  sure  to  repent :  false  prophecy,  for  thousands  are 
in  hell  that  promised  themselves"  this  evasion  :  thou 
hast  no  patent  of  repentance. 

Thus  .Satan  is  a  false  prophet,  in  making  sour  to 
seem  sweet ;  tliis  is  deception  of  taste.  The  world  a 
false  prophet,  in  making  shadows  appear  substances ; 
this  is  deception  of  the  sight.  The  flesh  a  false 
prophet,  in  calling  frail  tilings  durable  ;  this  is  de- 
ception of  hearing.  In  a  word,  every  man  is  natural- 
ly a  false  prophet  to  himself,  lying  to  his  own  soul. 
Woiddst  thou  punish  a  liar  ?  punish  thyself.  Do  not 
kill  thy  life,  but  kill  thy  lust:  mortify  thy  false- 
hearted aflections,  that  thyself  mayst  live.  Let  the 
sin  be  mortified,  that  the  sinner  may  be  saved.  Thou 
needest  no  falser  a  prophet  than  thou  art  to  thyself. 
"  Deliver  me,  O  Lord,  from  the  evil  man,"  Psal.  cxl. 
1.  Augustine  studiously  considers  who  this  evil  man 
should  be  :  he  knew  that  he  had  many  enemies,  per- 
haps Satan  might  be  that  evil  man  :  at  last  he  lights 
upon  the  evil  man,  and  that  was  himself.  Lord,  de- 
liver me  from  myself;  deliver  Augustine  from  Au- 
gustine. Let  me  ask  my  soul  this  question,  Who 
did  hinder  me,  that  I  should  not  obey  the  truth  ? 
Gal.  V. /.  Who?  I  have  been  false  to  myself.  Hence 
there  is  so  little  fidelity  of  man  to  man,  because  there 
is  so  little  faith  of  man  to  himself.  He  that  is  not 
true  to  his  own  soul,  will  never  be  good  to  me.  An 
oppressor  gaping  for  a  young  gentleman's  estate 
lately  mortgaged  to  him,  sent  him  in  pretence  of  love 
a  loose  fellow  to  accompany  him,  and  increase  his 
lusiirj-  :  he  smelt  it,  and  wittily  returned  this 
answer  ;  I  thank  him  for  his  care  to  set  me  fonvard  ; 
but  tell  him,  1  can  spend  my  estate  fast  enough  my- 
self, I  need  no  help.  So  what  need  Satan  send  false 
prophets  to  them  that  are  false  prophets  to  them- 
selves ?  If  we  desire  to  prevent  all  instruments  of 
error  from  working  upon  ws,  let  us  be  faithful  to  our- 
selves, in  being  faithful  to  Christ. 

The  last  sort  of  false  prophets,  are  these  meant 
here,  which  are  of  two  sorts.  1.  'They  that  came  in 
the  name  of  God,  but  were  never  sent  from  God.  "  I 
have  not  sent  these  prophets,  yet  they  ran  :  1  have 
not  spoken  to  tlicm,  yet  they  have  prophesied,"  Jer. 
xxiii.  2! .  Therefore  it  is  said,  "  The  word  of  the  Lord 
came  to  Jeremiah,"  came  to  all  the  true  prophets  : 
it  was  of  the  Lord's  sending,  not  of  their  own  fetching. 
"Who  hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord"  at  any 
time  ?  Rom.  xi.  34.  Surely  none  but  they  to  whom 
he  taught  it.  "  1  have  received  of  the  Lord,"  saith 
Paul,  1  Cor.  xi.  23.  God  must  infuse,  before  we  cfl'usc : 
the  springs  of  our  hearts  must  be  filled  from  that 
ocean,  before  wo  can  derive  drink  to  the  thirsty. 
Christ  must  give  us  this  bread,  and  then  we  cause 
the  people  lo  sit  down,  and  we  break  it  unto  them. 
Moses  would  not  go  to  Pharaoh,  till  he  had  learned 
liis  lesson  of  God.  "  The  voice  said.  Cry  :"  the  pro- 
phet replied,  "What  shall  I  cry?"  He  will  not 
trust  his  own  invention,  but  take  his  text  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Lord :  what  was  it  ?  "  All  flesh  is  grass," 
Isa.  xl.  6.  They  that  preach  the  visions  of  their  own 
heads,  have  their  woes  shadowed  out,  and  yet  but 
shadowed,  with  wormwood  and  gall :  "  I  will  feed 
I  hem  with  wormwood,  and  make  them  drink  the 
water  of  gidl,"  ,]er.  xxiii.  15.  Their  cup  is  so  tem- 
pered by  Ezekiel,  the  head  and  foot  of  their  curse 
being  full  of  unhnppiness ;  their  welcome  a  woe, 
their  farewell  an  anathema  :  "  Woe  unto  the  foolisli 


prophets,  that  follow  their  own  spirit!  They  shall 
not  be  written  in  the  writing  of  the  house  of  Israel," 
Ezek.  xiii.  3,  9. 

Secondly,  they  that  come  in  God's  name,  and  are 
sent,  but  deliver  a  false  message  when  they  are  come. 
They  are  called  false,  because  they  be  falsifiers  of 
God's  holy  word ;  like  the  cunning  lapidan,-,  that 
sells  a  byral  for  a  diamond.  No  messenger  of  the 
Lord  must  go  beyond  the  bounds  of  his  commission, 
by  adding  his  own  devices  ;  nor  come  too  short  of  it, 
by  keeping  back  his  Master's  counsels.  It  is  a  fear- 
ful protestation  in  the  end  of  the  Bible,  summing 
and  sealing  up  all  the  curses  and  woes  that  went 
before.  "  If  any  man  shall  take  away  from  the  words 
of  this  book,  God  shall  take  away  his  part  out  of  the 
book  of  life.  If  any  man  shall  add  unto  these  tilings, 
God  shall  add  unto  him  the  plagues  that  are  written 
in  this  book,"  Kev.  xxii.  18,  19.  It  hath  terror 
enough  to  amaze  all  those  that  dare  set  their  sacri- 
legious hands  to  these  nice  and  religious  mysteries. 
He  that  ventures  to  broach  the  dregs  for  wine,  tra- 
ditions of  men  for  the  constitutions  of  God ;  unwrit- 
ten truths,  untrue  writings,  for  those  sacred  sanctions ; 
to  father  lies  on  the  Father  of  truth,  and  teach  the 
bastards  of  his  own  brain  to  call  the  Wisdom  of 
heaven  Father ;  He  hath  said  it,  when  he  said  it  not ; 
this  is  the  false  prophet.  This  was  St.  Paul's  earnest 
charge  to  Timothy  :  "  I  give  thee  charge  in  the  sight 
of  God,  who  quickeneth  all  things,  and  before  Christ 
Jesus,  who  before  Pontius  Pilate  witnessed  a  good 
confession,"  I  Tim.  vi.  13.  "  Keep  that  whim  is 
committed  to  thy  trust,"  ver.  20  ;  doubling  his  charge 
with  intensive  adjuration.  Keep  it,  for  enemies  watch 
to  purloin  it :  a  thing  intrusted  to  thee,  not  invented 
of  thee ;  a  matter  not  of  thy  mt,  but  of  thy  learning ; 
whereof  thou  art  a  scholar,  not  a  master.  How 
keep  it ;  as  the  miser  keeps  in  his  com  ?  No;  feed 
the  poor  with  it,  divide  it  in  right  order  and  matter : 
thou  hast  received  gold,  return  gold ;  be  sure  to  im- 
part the  same,  neither  more  nor  less,  but  just  weight : 
though  thou  speak  in  a  new  method,  let  it  be  old 
substance.  Some  have  too  many  fingers  on  their 
hand,  like  the  giant  of  Gath ;  some  too  few,  like 
those  whom  Adonibezek  maimed :  some  offend  in 
excess,  some  in  defect.  But  keep  thou  a  steady 
flight :  so  did  a  bad  prophet  against  his  will,  when 
his  fingers  itched  for  the  gold.  Numb.  xxiv.  13:  so 
did  a  good  prophet  resolutely  ;  "  What  the  Lord 
saith  unto  me,  that  will  I  speak,"  1  Kings  xxii.  14. 
If  men  add  to  that  word,  lie  that  hath  power  to 
add  plagues  while  everlastingness  can  add  years, 
shall  increase  them  to  a  thousandfold.  If  they  di- 
minish, he  that  can  diminish  blessings  so  low,  that 
not  the  least  dram  shall  remain,  will  retail  their 
doings  into  their  own  bosoms. 

"  Among  the  people."  This  is  the  intrusion  of  these 
false  prophets,  even  among  the  people  of  God.  But 
durst  these  black  impostors  press  into  so  famous  a 
light,  and  not  fear  discerning  ?  Yes  ;  examine 
1  Kings  xviii.  19,  and  xxii.  G ;  they  come  by  the 
hundreds.  Korah  had  his  confederates,  who  would 
with  violence  have  snatched  the  priests'  office  out  of 
their  hands.  Naikib  and  Abihu  had  their  strange 
fires.  Let  us  go  after  other  gods,  Deut.  xiii.  2. 
Was  this  charge  in  vain  ?  were  there  never  any  such  ? 
These  unblest  tares  have  ever  sprung  up  in  God's 
field;  and  no  man  can  doubt  of  such  prophets  on 
earth,  that  knows  there  is  a  devil  in  hell.  It  hath 
been  his  impudent  malice,  thus  ever  to  oppose  him- 
self against  God's  omnipotence.  God  had  his  true 
prophets  to  instruct  the  people ;  Satan  had  his  false 
prophets  to  seduce  the  people.  As  the  Lord  had 
angels  of  his  majesty ;  so  had  Satan  angels  of  his 
cruelty.     God  had  his  laws  written  in  two  tables, 


Ver.  I. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


207 


Satan  had  his  counlcrfeil  laws  in  twelve  tables. 
God  had  ponlijices  suos,  Satan  hadjlamvie.i  suos.  He 
had  his  temples,  sacrifices,  altars,  oracles,  in  a  bravery, 
as  well  as  God.  If  God's  people  sing,  "  Great  is  the 
Lord,  and  greatly  to  be  praised ;"  the  devil  hath  his 
people  that  can  cry  loud  enough  two  hours  tdgetlier, 
"  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians."  God  had  his 
Levites  to  keep  the  fire  peipetually  alive  on  his 
altar ;  Satan  had  his  vestal  virgins,  perpetual  guard- 
ians of  the  sacred  fire.  Neither  had  ne  these  false 
instruments  abroad  only  in  the  wild  forest  of  the 
world;  but  he  brought  them  ii\lo  (iod's  own  garden. 
He  that  durst  presume  to  be  proud  in  heaven,  and 
to  play  the  devil  in  Paradise,  trust  him  not  in  his 
own  walk  and  rcgimcni.  Well,  we  may  do  our  best 
to  bar  them  out,  and  beseech  Him  that  keejis  Israel 
to  shut  them  out ;  but  in  they  will  come,  into  our 
doors;  the  Holy  Ghost  keep  them  out  of  our  hearts 
for  ever. 

I  conclude.  It  was  thus  with  them ;  in  it  we  may 
see  our  own  case.  Cemmu.s  in  /msco  jam  nostra 
pericula  muiido.  They  8;iy,  it  is  half  a  ])rotection  to 
foreknow  a  danger:  behold  the  apostle's  fidelity, 
and  therein  God's  mercy  ;  we  are  forewarned.  Pre- 
cedents give  light  to  succeeding  times :  we  see  farther 
than  the  fathers,  because,  like  dwarfs,  we  get  up  on 
their  shoulders  ;  we  see  with  their  eyes  and  our  own 
also.  So  Diogenes  might  brag  that  he  had  more  wit 
than  his  mother,  because  he  had  his  mother-wit  and 
his  own  too.  There  is  no  treasure  so  much  cnricheth 
our  mind  as  learning ;  no  learning  .so  applicable  to 
our  life  as  history  ;  no  historj'  so  directing  as  exam- 
ple ;  no  example  so  worthy  our  obsernng  as  that 
which  is  written  by  God's  own  finger.  It  was  an  old 
saying,  To  get  knowledge  by  another's  expense  and 
experience,  is  as  it  were  to  feed  fat  on  another  man's 
cost.  Israel  was  God's  people  as  well  as  we ;  yea,  in 
respect  of  their  faith,  our  fathcre :  therefore  if  they 
were  tempted  by  false  prophets  and  sinned,  if  they 
sinned  and  were  punished,  let  not  us,  having  the 
same  danger,  and  erring  in  the  same  manner,  think 
to  escape  the  same  punishment.  "  All  these  things 
happened  unto  them  for  cnsamples,  and  are  written 
for  our  admonition,"  I  Cor.  x.  U.  God  hath  set  up 
these  sins  as  crocodiles  to  terrify-  us,  and  wc  entertain 
them  as  sirens  to  seduce  us.  "  Neither  be  yc  idola- 
ters, as  were  some  of  them,"  ver.  7-  Paul,  like  a 
good  scribe,  brings  out  of  his  treasure  things  both 
old  and  new :  there  is  both  an  historical  narration, 
and  a  theological  application.  Now,  read  the  historj- 
of  others,  lest  thou  be  made  a  history  to  others.  If 
the  errors  of  former  ages  cannot  teach  us  for  the  time 
present,  our  delinquishments  wherein  we  perish  shall 
teach  the  succeeding  ages  for  the  time  to  eonic. 
Cannot  the  example  of  Judas  teach  thee  to  be  no 
traitor?  of  Elymas,  to  be  no  sorcerer?  of  Gehazi,  to 
be  no  bribe-taker  ?  of  Achan,  to  abhor  sacrilege  ?  of 
Nabal,  to  be  no  churl  ?  Then  the  wretched  exorbi- 
tances coupled  with  God's  fearful  judgments  sliall 
teach  others  hereafter.  The  third  captain  seeing 
the  two  former  miscarrying  in  the  business,  could 
learn  to  humble  himself;  "  Let  my  life  be  precious 
in  thy  sight,"  2  Kings  i.  14.  They  were  miserable, 
that  thou  mightest  be  happy:  if' thou  wilt  not  re- 
pent, others  shall  be  made  happy  by  thy  being  miser- 
able. This  a  very  Jezebel  could  oppose  to  Jehu. 
"  Had  Zimri  ijcace,  who  slew  his  master  ?  "  2  Kings 
ix.  31.  As  if  she  had  concluded,  Seeing  thou  wilt 
not  take  example  by  Zimri,  tliou  shalt  be  an  example 
to  others.  The  Lord  left  not  Israel  without  true 
prophets  :  "  Yet  he  sent  prophets  to  them,  to  bring 
them  again  to  the  Lord;  but  they  would  not  give 
ear,"  2  Chron.  xxiv.  19 ;  therefore  he  suffered  felsr 
prophets,  and  to  them  they  hearkened.     Behold  now 


their  example  exposed  unto  us  :  God  sends  us  preach- 
ers that  declare  the  right  way  of  salvati<m,  deliver- 
ing their  message  from  his  own  word  ;  fur  Scriplum, 
prcescriplum,  the  Scripture  is  their  theme.  They 
say.  Give  obedience  to  kings,  "  Let  every  soul  be 
subject  unto  the  higher  powers,"  Rom.  xiii.  1  :  there 
bo  others  that  say,  An  heretical  king  (and  he 
must  be  so  that  an  heretical  pope  so  pronounces) 
can  challenge  no  faithful  allegiance :  are  not  these 
false  prophets  ?  The  true  prophets  say,  Of  all  that 
thou  hast  thou  shalt  give  me  the  tenth  ;  this  isadiiit 
Domimts,  the  Lord's  rcseiTation.  Some  say,  thou  art 
bound  neither  to  give  tenth  nor  twentieth,  but  what 
thou  list ;  is  not  tnis  a  dixit  sacrilegus  y  Is  not  this 
a  false  prophet  ?  As  the  former  absolve  subjects  of 
their  duties  to  kings;  so  these  latter  absolve  men  of 
their  duties  to  the  church.  The  true  prophets  say, 
Thou  shalt  not  take  usury  of  thy  brother  :  some  say, 
thou  mayst,  if  not  above  ten  in  the  hundred ;  are  not 
these  false  prophets  ?  Observe  how  Israel  sped  : 
"  In  the  time  othis  distress  did  he  trespass  yet  more 
against  the  Lord :  this  is  that  King  Ahaz,"  2  Chron. 
xxviii.  22.  That,  emphatically,  that  infamous,  that 
impious  king ;  branded  with  a  note  in  the  margin,  a 
dash  of  the  Holy  Ghost's  pen ;  like  a  sea-mark  to 
point  out  a  shelf,  that  no  vessel  be  spilt  by  such  a 
wickedness.  What  did  he?  "  He  sacrificed  unto  the 
gods  of  Damascus,  which  smote  him,"  ver.  23.  Fran- 
tic idolatry,  to  do  service  to  idols  that  smote  him  ! 
Then  he  turned  to  the  gods  of  Syria  :  he  would  take 
no  warning:  they  kill  him;  "  they  were  the  ruin  of 
him,  and  of  all  Israel."  When  you  follow  other  gods, 
is  it  a  wonder  if  God  destroy  you  ?  Deut.  viii.  20. 
Did  he  not  for  this  cause  cast  out  the  nations  before 
you  ?  were  not  they  your  precedents  ?  So  saith 
Christ,  "  Remember  Lot's  wife,"  Luke  x^•ii.  32.  These 
things  are  recorded  in  holy  writ,  not  for  imitation, 
but  for  prevention.  When  the  comical  poet  was  ac- 
cused, because  he  brought  a  |)rofane  fellow  upon  the 
stage,  and  so  gave  bad  example  to  young  men :  True, 
replies  he,  but  I  hanged  him  before  he  went  off,  and 
so  gave  good  warning  to  young  men.  Having  such 
a  caution,  if  we  fall  into  the  same  transgression,  we 
shall  be  rewarded  with  a  double  aflliction:  "  There- 
fore whosoever  slayeth  Cain,  vengeance  shall  be 
taken  on  him  sevenfold,"  Gen.  iv.  15.  Therefore, 
because  Cain's  example  of  murder  went  before,  so 
Lamcch  concludes  to  his  wives,  "  If  Cain  shall  be 
avenged  sevenfold,  then  truly  Lamech  seventy  and 
sevenfold,"  ver.  24.  Now  the  Lord  give  us  wary 
hearts,  that  being  warned  of  sin,  we  may  be  armed 
against  sin  :  that  the  dangers  of  others  may  make 
us  circumspect,  the  troubles  of  others  strengthen  our 
patience,  the  sinfulness  of  others  quicken  our  peni- 
tence ;  that  the  pride  of  others  may  make  us  humble, 
and  the  miseries  of  others  occasion  our  eternal 
blessedness. 

"  Even  as  there  shall  be  false  teachers  among  you." 
Do  not  you  think  to  speed  better  than  God's  beloved 
cliurch  of  Israel ;  for  this  is  that  kind  of  temptation 
wherewith  he  is  wont  to  exercise  his  children.  There 
is  no  other  condition  of  the  church  under  the  gospel, 
than  was  under  the  law.  When  this  trial  comes,  let 
not  the  novelty  of  it  molest  you  ;  what  was  common 
with  them,  let  it  not  seem  strange  to  you.  But  the 
prophets  did  promise  solid  peace,  clear  light,  and  the 
perfection  of  all  good  things  at  the  coming  of  Christ : 
The  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the  child 
shall  play  at  the  hole  of  the  asp.  They  shall  not 
hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy  mountain,  Isa.  xi.  6, 
8,  9.  To  him  was  reserved  that  honour,  that  though 
"  the  law  was  given  by  Moses,  grace  and  truth  came 
by  Jesus  Christ,"  John  i.  17.  "Therefore  there  is  no 
disquictncss  expected  in  the  state  of  the  Christian 


203 


AX  EXPOSITION  .UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


church.  But  there  was  no  promise  of  such  a  peace, 
as  should  utterly  acquit  the  faithful  from  combats 
and  conflicts.  There  is  peace  from  the  dominion  of 
sin,  damnation  of  the  law,  and  terror  of  conscience. 
But  there  is  still  a  devil,  and  a  serpentine  breed  ; 
who  finding  that  the  gospel  hath  given  a  wound  to 
the  peace  of  hell,  are  the  more  busy  to  give  a  wound 
to  the  peace  of  the  gospel.  Let  us  quiet  our  hearts 
in  the  remembrance  of  this,  which  the  Spirit  of  God 
halh  pronounced  ;  there  must  be  expected  on  earth 
no  immunily  from  this  intestine  evil.  The  same  trial 
abides  the  children,  which  set  upon  the  fathers :  I 
am  not  better  than  my  fathers.  There  shall  be,  an 
indefinite  word,  comprehending  all  future  times  ;  so 
that  no  age  hath  had  a  vacation  from  these  turbulent 
falsehoods.  He  speaks  of  them  generally,  and  doth 
not  paint  them  out  in  their  particular  kinds  and  co- 
Jours  :  but,  tliey  will  be  ;  and  among  you,  among  us  ; 
God  grant  they  be  not  of  us.  Now  because  these 
evil  spirits  threaten  to  haunt  the  house  of  Christ,  and 
to  run  like  familiars  up  and  down  the  earth,  to  do  the 
devil's  errands,  that  their  purpose  may  be  infatuated, 
let  us  unmask  their  faces.  For  I  called  this  second 
general  point,  the  caution  or  premonition  :  and  I  de- 
sire to  method  my  discourse  into  these  three  circum- 
stances :  1.  Who  they  be  that  assault  us.  2.  'Whither 
they  press.  3.  Their  unavoidable  necessity.  The 
use  of  all  which  is,  in  conclusion,  how  they  may  be 
discerned  and  eschewed. 

"  False  teachers."  What  this  falsehood  is,  j'ou 
have  formerly  perceived ;  observe  now  how  it  insinu- 
ates itself:  this  is  always  in  the  semblance  of  truth. 
For  error  is  so  foul  a  hag,  that  if  it  should  come  in  its 
own  shape,  all  men  would  loathe  it.  If  Jezebel  had 
not  painted  herself,  she  had  not  gotten  so  manv 
doting  adulterers.  Those  wolves  come  evermore  in 
sheep's  clothing,  Matt.  vii.  15.  As  the  fowler  by  the 
benefit  of  his  stalking-horse  murders  the  fowls  ;  who 
but  for  their  familiar  knowledge  of  the  beast  their 
friend,  would  mistrust  the  man  their  enemy.  "  Many," 
saith  Christ,  "shall  come  in  my  name,"  Matt.  xxiv. 
5  :  not  in  their  own  name,  for  then  their  words  would 
not  be  taken.  The  sects  of  former  ages  came  in  other 
names  :  as  the  name  of  Stoics,  of  Peripatetics  ;  and 
in  the  church,  the  name  of  Pharisees,  the  name  of 
Sadducees  :  but  since  Christ  all  come  in  his  name. 
They  wound  the  truth  in  her  own  coat :  as  Jacob  put 
on  tile  garments  of  Esau  his  brother,  to  deceive  Isaac 
his  father  ;  so  these  in  the  apparel  of  their  elder 
Brother  Christ,  seek  to  beguile  the  church  their 
mother.  It  is  no  wonder  if  there  be  false  teachers, 
when  there  shall  be  false  Christs,  Matt.  xxiv.  24. 
Strong  impudence  of  men,  that  they  dare  call  them- 
selves by  liis  name  on  earth,  that  sits  on  the  right 
liand  of  Majesty  in  heaven.  Now  that  this  prophecy 
of  our  Saviour  was  true,  experience  hath  justified. 
Among  the  Persians,  one  Manes,  with  his  twelve 
apostles,  called  himself  the  Comforter  of  Israel.  Ben- 
cosben  was  received  of  the  veiy  rabbis  for  thirty 
years  together,  as  their  Mcssias.  Stella  in  Luc.  re- 
ports that  in  Setuval,  in  the  kingdom  of  Portugal, 
in  our  time,  arose  one  that  called  himself  the  Mcssias. 
Yourselves  have  heard  of  David  George,  and  of  un- 
gracious Hacquct,  with  his  two  prophets  of  mercy  and 
justice,  who  impiously  usurped  that  incommunicable 
name  of  the  Mcssias.' 

But  what  say  you  to  our  pope-holy  catholics  ? 
dare  not  they  obtrude  a  thin|  that  shall  say,  I  am 
Christ  ?  Yes,  if  it  could  speak  ;  but  because  it  can- 
not, Ihcy  will  speak  for  it.  Even,'  Easter  day  early 
in  the  morning  the  priest  fetcheth'his  wooden"  cruci- 
fix out  of  the  sepulchre;  and  after  walking  about 
the  church  yard  in  solemn  procession,  goes  to  the 
church  door,  ^\  here  he  knocketh,  and  saith,  Open,  0 


ye  gates,  and  be  ye  set  open,  ye  everlasting  doors, 
that  the  King  of  glory  may  come  in.  The  sexton 
knows  his  cue,  attends  within,  and  replies.  Who  is 
the  King  of  glory  ?  The  priest  holding  up  his 
cnicifix,  answers.  This  is  the  King  of  glory  ;  the 
Lord  strong  and  mighty  in  battle;  this  is  the  Lord 
of  glory,  Psal.  xxiv.  Is  not  this  just  according  to 
our  Saviour's  prediction.  Some  shall  say,  Lo,  here  is 
Christ?  Matt.  xxiv.  23.  Alas,  that  is  not  a  glori- 
ous king,  but  an  inglorious  idol,  unable  to  wipe  the 
dust  from  its  own  face.  Among  them,  who  can  make 
the  wcU-favouredst  god,  is  the  best  catholic.  The 
baker  and  the  painter  contended  who  should  make 
the  best  Christ :  the  one  well  skilled  in  the  use  of 
his  colours,  the  other  in  the  use  of  his  oven.  Painter. 
I  can  make  a  fair  god  with  my  colours.  Baker.  No, 
thou  makcst  but  the  shadow;  it  is  1  that  make  the 
substance.  Painter.  Thy  god  is  torn  with  men's 
teeth.  Baker.  And  thine  is  gnawed  with  worms. 
Painter.  My  god  lasteth  many  years,  whereas  one 
hour  swallows  a  hundred  of  thine.  Baker.  Thou 
caiv«t  scarce  make  one  god  in  a  month  ;  I  can  make 
a  thousand  in  half  an  hour.  Hereupon  the  mass- 
priest  came  in  as  moderator,  fretting;  I  am  sorry, 
sirs,  you  are  no  wiser:  who  can  make  god?  none 
but  the  sacrificer.  But  we  say  of  suen  gods,  as 
Clemens  Alexandrinus,  I  have  learned  to  tread  upon 
the  earth,  not  to  worship  it. 

Thus  doth  false  teachers  come  in  the  counterfeit 
of  truth.  Indeed  the  Jews  were  apt  to  embrace  any 
that  came  in  their  own  name;  If  one  come  in  his 
own  name,  him  will  ye  receive,  John  v.  43.  It  is  not 
so  now;  the  world  is  wiser,  therefore  the  devil  must 
double  his  subtlety.  And  if  he  would  bring  men  to 
the  kingdom  of  hell,  he  must  make  them  believe 
that  he  is  altogether  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  If 
Hushai  had  not  said,  I  am  for  Absalom,  and  whom 
Israel  chooseth,  his  will  I  be,  2  Sam.  xvi.  18  ;  he  had 
not  disappointed  the  counsel  of  Ahilhophel,  which 
was  then  like  the  oracle  of  God,  nor  re-established 
David  in  his  kingdom.  So  if  these  false  doctors 
should  not  say.  We  are  for  Christ ;  they  could  not 
withstand  the  true  ministers  that  deliver  the  words 
of  God,  nor  enthrone  antichrist  in  the  seat  of  Christ. 
Thus  in  our  time,  the  Romish  heretics  cr)-.  The 
church,  the  church ;  and  the  schismatics  in  their  in- 
vective pamphlets  usually  make  bold  with  the  pro- 
phet's words,  For  Zion's  sake  I  will  not  hold  my 
peace.  But  the  one  seek  to  bring  upon  God's  Israel 
a  tyranny,  the  other  an  anarchy  ;  both  meet  in  one 
third  term,  corniption  of  doctrine,  and  destruction  of 
conscience.  They  both  crj'  for  the  church,  yet  fight 
against  the  church.  (Cyprian.)  Their  pretences  are 
friendly,  their  intentions  malicious.  (Bern.)  You  see 
how  they  come,  and  but  for  so  coming  their  powder 
would  not  take ;  if  the  cup  of  their  poison  was  not 
rubbed  with  honey,  it  would  not  down.  There  be 
two  defects  which  make  a  man  either  an  unfit  teach- 
er, or  a  false  teacher:  when  cither  they  have  not 
learned  their  lesson  before  they  come,  and  so  lack 
ability ;  or  do  not  deliver  it  faithfully  when  they  are 
come,  and  so  lack  honesty. 

I.  They  that  want  aptitude  and  requisite  graces. 
God  touched  Isaiah's  tongue  with  a  live  coal  from 
his  altar  ;  gave  Ezekiel  a  roll  to  cat ;  shut  up  that 
sacred  fire  in  Jeremiah's  bones;  teacheth  the  lips  to 
preserve  knowledge,  to  minister  a  word  in  due  sea- 
son to  him  that  is  wean,',  Isa.  1.  4  ;  so  ordering  the 
words,  that  they  shall  "be  "  like  amdes  of  gold  in 
pictures  of  silver,"  Prov.  xxv.  II.  Tlurc  is  no  ability 
to  preach  without  God  ;  "  They  shall  all  cover  their 
lips;  for  there  is  no  answer  of  God,"  Mieah  iii.  /• 
V  c  look  now  for  no  enthusiasms,  nor  venture  our 
sermons  upon  cxlemporal  rhapsodies,  with  a  dabitur 


Ver.  I. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


209 


in  hora :  no  more  but  turn  the  cock,  iirnl  let  it  run. 
It  may  run  indeed,  but  still  we  complain  as  they  did 
of  the  waters  of  Jericho,  "  The  water  is  naught,  and 
the  ground  still  barren,"  2  Kings  ii.  19.  It  may  run, 
and  run  apace,  because,  like  Ahimaaz,  it  runs  by  the 
way  of  the  plain.  For  this  cause  are  schools  and 
universities  erected,  to  be  the  nurseries  of  learning  ; 
being  like  that  Persian  tree,  which  at  the  same  time 
doth  bud,  and  blossom,  and  bear  fruit.  Some  are  in 
the  bud  of  hope,  others  in  the  flower  of  knowledge, 
others  ripe  for  practice.  "  Moses  was  learned  in  all 
the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,"  Acts  vii.  22.  Paul 
was  brought  up  at  the  feet  of  a.  great  doctor.  Acts 
xxii.  3.  Timothy  knew  the  Scriptures  of  a  child, 
2  Tim.  iii.  1.5.  Augustine  was  beautified  with  variety 
of  gifts.  Hierome  excellent  at  the  three  most  famous 
languages.  The  apostles  themselves  went  not  im- 
mediately out  of  the  ship-boat  into  the  pulpit :  they 
were  first  Christ's  scholars,  before  they  became  the 
world's  teachers.  "  Wisdom  is  justified  of  her  chil- 
dren," Matt.  xi.  19.  If  they  come  without  this  quali- 
fying, they  arc  the  world's  own  changelings,  wTong- 
fuUy  laid  at  Wisdom's  doors.  They  enter  in  at  a  non 
licet  gate  ;  and  they  that  admit  them,  sufler  wise 
men's  rights  to  be  entailed  to  fools.  While  barbar- 
ous ignorants  steal  into  the-  church,  the  same  way 
that  Totilas  entered  Rome  ;  porta  asinaria.  As  Pope 
Adrian  inscribed  his  college,  The  bishop  of  Trajcc- 
tum  planted,  of  Louvaine  watered,  but  Caesar  gave 
the  increase  :  no  more.  Another  therefore  in  scorn 
subcribcd.  Here  God  did  nothing.  So  simony  plant- 
ed, ambition  watered,  and  covetousncss  gives  the  in- 
crease ;  but  let  them  take  heed  lest  they  find  tliis 
under-written.  Here  the  Lord  had  no  hand,  here  he 
will  give  no  blessing. 

2.  They  that  have  gotten  knowledge,  but  want 
honesty ;  and  these  are  the  most  dangerous  seducers : 
"  Such'  are  false  apostles,  deceitful  workers,  trans- 
forming themselves  into  the  apostles  of  Christ,"  2 
Cor.  xi.  13.  When  Ahithophel's  head  stands  upon 
Simon  Magus'  shoulders,  there  is  a  world  of  mischief 
towards.  A  will  bent  to  do  harm,  and  a  wit  able  to 
prosecute  it,  like  cannon-shot,  makes  a  lane  where  it 
goes.  Such  a  pro\>hct  was  Balaam,  he  could  not 
make  Israel  cursed  by  his  prophecy,  therefore  he 
tries  to  effect  it  by  his  policy.  He  sends  a  troop  of 
Moabitish  harlots  among  them;  that  so  they  might 
be  tempted  to  offend  God,  and  God  might  cease  to 
defend  them.  He  had  confessed  before,  that  there 
could  be  no  enchantment  nor  witchcraft  against 
Israel,  Numb,  xxiii.  23.  No  devils  but  those  she- 
devils  could  do  it.  A  harlot  is  that  damnable  witch 
that  often  brnigs  a  saint  in  danger  of  a  curse.  In 
this  rank  is  that  rank  rabble  of  Jesuits :  they  have 
fired  their  brains  at  Machiavcl's  forge,  and  cast  their 
hearts  in  the  mould  of  antichrist ;  and  now  they  are 
fitted  to  steal  away  souls  from  Jesus.  These  are 
Satan's  emissaries,  the  pope's  seminaries,  the  land's 
incendiaries,  the  world's  voluptuaries,  tlie  bane  of  a 
kingdom  that  harbours  them.  The  cruellest  mur- 
derers !  He  that  lets  out  the  blood,  the  body  kills ; 
but  he  that  breaks  heart's  peace,  the  dear  soul  spills. 
Oh  that  these  foxes  were  unearthed  from  their  thiev- 
ish burrows,  and  our  land  preser\ed  from  that  kind 
of  false  teachers  !  Their  very  mercies  are  cruel ;  we 
know  their  bloody  purposes  both  to  souls  and  bodies. 
The  Lord  of  his  mercy  cast  them  for  ever  far  from 
us  ;  and  let  all  people  that  have,  or  desire  to  have, 
in  themselves  and  their  postcritv  the  heads  of  good 
subjects,  and  the  hearts  of^good  CViristians,  say  Amen. 
"  Among  you."  This  is  the  second  point,  the 
place  whitner  these  false  teachers  come ;  unto  you, 
to  the  church.  So  Matt.  vii.  15,-"  Beware  of  false 
prophets  which  come  to  yon."    Not  to  the  Turks,  or 


Gentiles,  or  other  heretics  only;  but  to  you,  that 
have  the  gospel.  They  seem  to  come  unto  you,  but 
indeed  thev  come  against  you  ;  they  promise  your 
good,  but  tlicy  perform  your  hurt.  Here  may  be  de- 
manded, why  God  doth  suffer  such  in  the  church? 
For  Paul  saith,  "  There  must  be  heresies  among 
you,"  1  Cor.  xi.  19.  Now  there  is  a  must  of  neces- 
sity, and  of  duty  :  in  respect  of  the  latter.  There 
must  not  be  heresies,  saith  Augustine.  This  is  a 
must  of  consequence  :  the  apostle  concludes  it  neces- 
sarily, upon  the  presupposition  of  Satan's  malice  and 
man's  wickedness.  Neither  is  this  prediction  any 
cause  of  it :  a  man  sees  some  loose  c<>mi)anions  set 
close  to  drinking;  hereupon  he  says.  These  men 
will  be  drunk :  the  necessity  is  not  liecause  he  said 
so,  but  because  they  will  do  so.  Another  sees  men 
quarrelling,  and  multiplying  incensive  teniis ;  he 
says.  These  men  will  fight :  he  doth  not  cause  their 
combat ;  they  would  have  done  it  though  he  had 
never  said  it.  So  we  perceive  the  air  cloudy,  the 
weather  muddy ;  we  say.  It  must  needs  rain :  it  doth ; 
yet  never  the  sooner  because  we  spake  it.  So  Peter's 
will  be,  and  Paul's  must,  do  not  cause  this  false  teach- 
in"^  but  premonish  it. 

First,  God  suffers  these  for  the  trial  of  our  faith  : 
There  must  be  heresies,  that  the  approved  among 
you  may  be  made  manifest,  1  Cor.  xi.  19.  When  a 
prophet  or  dreamer  shall  say  to  us.  Come,  let  us  go 
and  serve  other  gods ;  hearken  not  to  him,  for  now 
the  Lord  proveth  you,  Deut.  xiii.  I — 3.  Many  pass 
for  gold,  whom  this  touchstone  often  proves  counter- 
feit. A  man  is  what  he  is  when  he  is  tried :  accedit 
tentatio,  quasi  interragatlo,  a  temptation  is  like  a  ques- 
tion, that  examines  what  is  in  a  man.  Joseph's 
chastity  never  shone  out  so  fairly,  as  when  he  fled 
from  the  arms  of  his  tempting  mistress.  He  that 
hears  the  siren's  song,  and  with  a  holy  scorn  comes 
oflT  fairlv,  God  seals  him  up  with  a  Probatus  est.  Thus 
was  Balaam  lost,  when  Balak  told  him,  "  Km  not  I 
able  indeed  to  promote  thee  to  honour?"  Numb, 
xxii.  37.  But  not  so  Moses,  who  chose  rather 
"  affliction  with  the  people  of  God,  than  the  plea- 
sures of  sin  for  a  season,"  Heb.  xi.  2.5.  Yet  he  well 
enough  knew  the  delights  of  the  court,  being  the 
place  where  he  had  his  education. 

Secondly,  God  suff'ers  them,  that  the  true  pastors 
migiu  more  painfully  and  patiently  exercise  their 
knowledge.  If  Arius  and  Sabellius  had  not  vexed 
the  church,  the  deep  mysteries  of  the  Trinity  had  not 
been  so  accurately  cleared  by  the  catholic  doctors. 
Heresy  makes  men  sharpen  their  wits,  the  better  to 
confute  it ;  as  wormwood  is  bitter  to  the  taste,  but 
good  to  clear  the  eyes.  Paul  foretelling  this  dan- 
ger, gave  an  earnest  charge,  "  Take  heed  to  your- 
selves and  to  all  the  flock,  over  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  hath  made  you  overseers,"  Acts  xx.  28.  Why  ? 
"  For  after  mv  departing  grievous  wolves  shall  enter 
in  among  you,"  ver.  29.  For  this  cause  we  root  up 
the  weeds  of  Rome  in  our  sermons  as  we  go,  because 
we  fear  that  their  pestilent  seedsmen  have  cast 
tlicm  in.  As  Absalom  said  toTamar,  "  Hath  Amnon 
been  with  thee  ?"  2  Sam.  xxiii.  '20;  so,  hath  the  false 
teacher  met  with  thee  ?  beware  a  ravished  soul. 

Thirdly,  God  permits  them  for  mens  ingratitude. 
Because  Ahab  will  not  believe  Micaiah,  therefore  a 
1  ving  spirit  shall  deceive  his  prophets,  to  deceive  him, 
l'  Kings  xxii.  22.  "  Thev  shall  build  up  Zion  with 
blood,"  Micah  iii.  10.  Because  the  true  prophets 
might  not  be  suflcred  to  build  up  Zion  with  good, 
therefore  the  false  ones  shall  build  it  up  with  blood. 
They  had  forbidden  the  sober  proohets  to  prophesy, 
Micah  ii.  6;  therefore  they  shall  nave  drunken  pro- 
phets, that  shall  prophesy  of  wine  and  strong  drink, 
and  walk  in  the  spint  of  falsehood,  ver.  II.    Tliis  is 


210 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


:i  sure,  but  a  sore  judgment :  "  Because  they  received 
iii;t  the  love  of  tlie  Irulb,  that  they  might  be  saved: 
for  this  cause  God  shall  send  them  strong  delusion, 
to  believe  a  lie,"  2  Thess,  ii.  10,  II.  Will  they  not 
adhere  (o  the  God  of  truth?  they  shall  be  turned 
over  to  the  father  of  lies.  Tremble  at  this  judgment, 
lest  God  deliver  you  up  to  erroneous  teachers,  who 
have  despised  his  tiiie  ministers. 

Lastly,  these  false  teachers  intrude  themselves; 
as  sometimes  a  gamester,  being  flushed  with  his 
luck :  and  they  meet  with  tlirce  encouragements : 
I.  The  numbers  and  applaudings  of  their  auditors: 
"  The  prophets  prophesy  falsely,  and  my  people  love 
to  have  it  so,"  Jer.  v.  31.  They  tell  you  lies,  and 
you  Ihank  them  for  it.  They  set  their  mouth  against 
the  heavens,  therefore  the  people  turn  in  tmther, 
Psal.  Ixxiii.  9,  10.  And  commonly,  the  more  crowd, 
the  worse  men.  2.  The  honour  and  respect  that  is 
done  them.  Baal  had  four  hundred  and  lifly  pro- 
phets, while  God  liad  but  one  aj)parent :  they  were 
fed  at  the  queen's  table,  while  Elijah  was  glad  to  be 
served  by  the  ravens.  These  are  in  favour  witli 
Ahab,  while  he  says  of  good  Micaiah,  "  I  hate  him," 
2  Chron.  xviii.  7.  True  prophets  are  not  for  evil 
princes'  courts ;  they  have  chaplains  in  ordinary  to 
lorbid  them :  Prophesy  not  at  Bethel,  for  that  is  the 
king's  court,  said  Amaziah,  the  priest  of  Bethel,  Amos 
vii.  13.  3.  Large  gifts  and  riches :  "'Every  one  for 
his  gain  from  his  quarter,"  Isa.  Ivi.  II.  Like  soldiers 
in  a  camp,  or  like  cheaters  in  a  city,  they  know  their 
quarters.  Rather  than  ftvil,  they  will  be  such  as  arc 
spoken  of,  Micah  iii.  5 ;  mouth  prophets,  trencher 
chaplains,  held  in  by  the  teeth  :  and  out  they  will 
not  go,  so  long  as  their  teeth  can  hold  them  in. 

"  There  shall  be  false  teachers  among  you."  The 
last  point  is,  their  unavoidable  necessity ;  they  will 
press  in,  and  we  cannot  easily  stave  them  off.  There- 
fore let  me  reflect  this  point  upon  ourselves,  by  way 
of  use.  Seeing  we  know  there  shall  be  such,  be  it 
our  principal  care  to  prevent  them.  To  foreknow 
evil  and  to  prevent  it,  is  wisdom  ;  not  to  foreknow  it 
when  God  hath  foretold  it,  is  foolishness ;  to  fore- 
know it  and  not  to  prevent  it,  is  slothfulness  ;  to  fore- 
know it  and  cannot  prevent  it,  is  dcspcrateness.  Here 
is  no  such  extremity;  for  God  that  doth  foretell  the 
signs,  doth  also  prescribe  the  remedies.  The  par- 
ticular notes  I  refer  a  little  further:  only  now  in 
sum ;  it  is  Jesus  Christ  that  must  enlighten  our 
hearts,  to  decline  these  false  teachers.  All  w-isdom 
Cometh  from  him,  that  is  called  the  Wisdom  of  the 
Father.  In  him  is  the  fountain  of  all  spiritual 
knowledge,  as  all  the  senses  are  in  the  head.  There 
were  two  olive  branches,  which  through  two  golden 
pipes  did  empty  the  golden  oil  out  of  themselves, 
Zech.  iv.  12.  The  oil  that  was  in  the  gold,  came 
from  the  two  golden  pipes ;  that  which  passed 
through  the  tw"o  golden  pipes,  came  from  the  two 
olive  trees;  these  two  olive  branches  were  the  two 
anointed  ,ones  ;  and  they  stood  before  the  Lord  of 
the  whole  earth.  What  knowledge  soever,  through 
what  instnmients  soever,  we  receive,  it  proceeds 
originally  from  Christ;  "In  whom  are  hid  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,"  Col.  ii.  3.  As 
at  the  creation,  the  light  which  lay  diiTuscd  abroad 
throughout  the  rude  mass  of  the  world,  was  after- 
wards aggregated  into  the  body  of  the  sun,  that  from 
thence  it  might  be  communicated  to  the  creatures  ; 
so  that  wisdom  which  spake  in  the  prophets  and 
other  holy  men  of  God,  may  seem  to  concentre  all 
in  Christ.  Now  the  means  whereby  Christ  Icaeheth 
ns,  is  the  Scripture,  which  is  able  to  make  us  wise 
unto  salvation,  2  Tim.  iii.  15.  Here  is  the  sun  and 
the  beam,  the  spring  and  the  stream,  Christ  and  his 
gospel  ;    the   one  the   matter  and  end,  the   other 


the   manner  and   means,  of  all  saving  revelation. 

0  then,  pray  earnestly  for  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  But 
what  success  if  we  do  ?  Yes,  we  have  it  already  pro- 
mised, "  Your  heavenly  Father  will  give  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him,"  Luke  xi.  13.  •  Christ's 
Spirit  will  more  surely  teach  you  to  confute  Christ's 
enemies,  than  learning  and  gold  could  teach  Ter- 
tullus  to  plead  for  his  own  friends. 

This  snail  instruct  us  to  destroy  and  defy  im- 
postors :  and  though  heresy  hath  crept  in  like  a 
serpent  through  secret  holes,  and  by  subtle  insinua- 
tions, scarce  leaving  a  print  behind  it ;  yet  if  we  find 
not  the  entrance  by  some  slime  or  track,  wheresoever 
we  do  find  it,  we  shall  abhor  it.  Our  knowledge  to 
abounds,  that  scarce  ever  had  nation  more  means  to 
avoid  false  apostles.  That  as  Paul  said,  '■  If  I  be 
not  apostle  unto  others,  yet  doubtless  1  am  to 
you,"  1  Cor.  ix.  2 ;  so  Christ  may  say  to  us.  If  I 
be  not  knowledge  unto  others,  yet  doubtless  I  am 
so  unto  you.  Mention  is  made  of  Kirjath-sepher, 
Josh.  XV.  15,  which  signifies  a  city  of  books :  sure 
this  our  country  may  be  called  Kirjath-sepher;  for 
"  we  speak  wisdom  among  them  that  are  perfect," 

1  Cor.  ii.  6.  If  not  perfect  in  all  degrees  of  know- 
ledge, like  the  gospel's  champions ;  yet  perfect  in 
all  parts  of  knowledge,  like  the  gospel's  children. 
Our  eyes  be  good,  we  know  ;  our  hands  be  good,  we 
can  ;  God  grant  our  hearts  be  good,  that  we  will,  de- 
fend Christ's  cause.  But  as  it  is  reported  of  a  Roman 
senator,  a  man  somewhat  over-matched  by  his  wife  ; 
after  lie  had  discharged  Catiline  his  house,  and  for- 
bidden her  to  entertain  him,  which  she  obeyed  not, 
he  said  of  her,  Her  wit  is  in  health,  her  purse  is  in 
health,  her  tongue  is  in  health,  her  courage  is  in 
health ;  only  her  will  is  sick.  And  that  is  one  reason 
why  women  are  not  suffered  to  make  their  will  when 
Ihey  die,  because  they  had  their  will  so  much  while 
they  lived.  So  God  hath  charged  our  souls,  his 
spouse,  not  to  ailmit  his  enemies,  spiritual  adulterers, 
false  teachers ;  but  to  keep  them  out  of  his  house, 
the  church.  We  have  hands  able  to  do  it,  stomachs 
able  to  do  it,  wits  able  to  do  it,  wealth  and  means 
able  to  do  it ;  only  our  hearts  are  sick,  we  want  wills 
to  do  it.  What  fools  are  we,  when  God  hath  shut  our 
foe  out  at  the  gate,  to  let  him  in  again  at  the  postern! 
He  that  entertains  a  seminary  of  heresy  into  his 
house,  whereas  God,  by  his  command,  and  the  mu- 
nicipal laws  of  the  prince,  hath  excluded  him,  will 
speed  at  last  as  he  that  betrayed  a  city  to  a  tyrant ; 
which  when  he  had  conquered,  he  first  hanged  up 
him  that  helped  him  to  it.  They  that  let  in  the 
Romish  enchanters,  contrar>'  to  tlieir  .express  bond 
of  allegiance,  meet  with  the  first  bane  themselves ; 
the  poison  working  to  the  ven,-  nipture  of  their  heart- 
strings, and  without  extraordinary  mercy,  to  the 
jTerdition  of  their  souls.  God  tells'  them  such  shall 
come,  and  they  rejoice  that  they  are  come.  Now 
the  Spirit  of  grace  open  our  eyes,  and  fortify  our 
hearts,  that  neither  principalities  nor  powers,  neither 
height  nor  depth,  neither  false  prophet,  nor  false 
apostle,  nor  false  angel,  may  ever  separate  us  from 
the  love  of  God,  nor  from  the  truth  of  God,  that  is 
in  Christ  Jesus. 

And  let  not  this  trial  discourage  us,  nor  discomfort 
us.  The  devil  is  let  loose  for  a  season.  Rev.  xx. 
For  a  season,  to  try  the  patience  of  the  church ;  and 
but  for  a  season,  to  fortify  the  courage  of  the  church. 
"  The  devil  .shall  cast  some  of  you  into  prison,  that 
ye  may  be  tried;  and  ye  shall  have  tribulation  ten 
days,"  Rev.  ii.  10.  Into  prison ;  why  not  unto  death? 
no'thanks  to  Satan  ;  he  would  fain  kill  them.  Some 
of  you  ;  why  not  all  ?  no  tlianks  to  Satan  ;  he  would 
destroy  all.  And  for  ten  days;  why  not  longer?  no 
thanks  to  Satan,  he  would  enthral  them  for  ever. 


Ver.  1. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


211 


There  are  three  limitations  to  liis  power  and  malice : 
for  time,  but  ten  days,  not  ten  months ;  for  number, 
some,  not  all ;  for  extremity,  into  prison,  not  to  death : 
they  shall  feel  tribulation, not  destruction;  that  they 
might  be  tried,  not  overwhelmed.  These  false  teach- 
ers may  prevail  for  a  time;  but  we  shall  say  truly 
by  inversion,  what  the  Aramites  spake  by  supposi- 
tion. Upon  the  hills  they  are  stronger  than  we  ;  but 
let  us  fight  against  them  in  the  plain,  and  surely  we 
shall  be  stronger  than  they,  1  Kings  xx.  23.  On  the 
contrary,  they  are  too  hard  for  us  in  the  plains,  but 
we  shall  be  too  hard  for  them  orr  the  hills :  they 
prevail  against  us  in  this  valley  of  tears,  we  shall 
triumph  over  them  in  the  mountain  of  blessedness. 
Let  (falsity  vomit  her  poison,  we  shall  find  saving 
health  in  the  truth  of  Christ. 

"  Who  pri\'ily  shall  bring  in  damnable  heresies," 
&c.  We  come  now  to  the  description  of  these  per- 
nicious liars,  concerning  whom  we  find  a  threefold 
mischief;  one  that  issues  from  them,  another  that 
abides  in  them,  a  third  that  is  inflicted  on  them. 
Here  first  we  are  to  consider  their  seminary  mischief, 
offensive  and  noxious  to  others.  They  "  shall  privily 
bring  in  damnable  heresies."  Here  observe  two  cir- 
cumstances, the  matter  and  the  manner.  The  mat- 
ter, what  they  bring  in,  damnable  heresies ;  the  man- 
ner, how  they  bring  them  in,  privily.  In  the  matter 
conceive  four  things :  the  notion  of  the  word,  heresy; 
the  number  of  them,  which  is  plural,  indefinite,  mul- 
titudinous, many  heresies  ;  the  necessity  of  their 
being,  they  shall  be  brought  in  ;  lastly,  the  effect 
and  malignancy  of  them,  they  arc  damnable. 

Heresy  was  at  first  taken  in  a  good  sense ;  it  signi- 
fies election,  and  was  referred  both  to  good  and  bad 
sects.  It  seems  to  be  taken  from  the  schools  of  phi- 
losophy, wherein  every  one  chose  a  faction  to  which 
he  sided.  Among  the  Latins,  it  was  called  secta,  a 
secando :  because  that  part  did  single  oat  itself,  and 
was  cut  off  and  separate  from  the  rest.  Tertullian 
used  the  word  for  true  religion,  and  a  confession  of 
the  Christian  verity.  (Lib.  de  Fuga.)  And  Cyprian, 
(Eph.  23,)  Celerimts  confessor,  timore  noslr<e  seclcp 
terecundu-i,  &c.  St.  Paul  is  not  afraid  to  use  it  ; 
"  After  the  way  which  they  call  heresy,  so  worship  I 
the  God  of  my  fathers,"  Acts  xxiv.  14:  yet  he  does 
not  altogether  justify  it,  because  Tertullus  had  put 
a  scandal  upon  it ;  "A  ringleader  of  the  sect  of  the 
Nazarenes,"  ver.  5.  "  After  the  most  straitest  sect 
of  our  religion,  I  lived  a  Pharisee,"  Acts  xxvi.  5.  In 
like  manner,  magi  at  the  first  were  but  sages  ;  but 
tim«  adulterated  the  word,  and  made  it  magic.  So 
that  heresy  is  now  taken  for  that,  which  doth  dia- 
metrically oppose  the  truth,  and  sets  up  an  opinion 
against  it. 

There  is  difference  betwixt  error,  schism,  and 
heresy.  Error  is  when  one  holds  a  wrong  opinion 
alone  ;  schism,  when  many  consent  in  their  opinion ; 
heresy  runs  further,  and  contends  to  root  out  thii 
truth.  Error  offends,  but  separates  not;  schism  of- 
fends and  separates ;  heresy  offends,  separates,  and 
rageth,  making  the  party  good  ri  et  armis,  if  not  witli 
arguments  of  reason,  yet  with  arguments  of  steel 
and  iron.  Error  is  weak,  schism  strong,  heresy  oI>- 
stinale.  Error  goes  out,  and  often  comes  in  again ; 
schism'eomes  not  in,  but  makes  a  new  church ;  heresy 
makes  not  a  new  church,  but  no  church.  Error  un- 
tiles the  house,  schism  pulls  down  the  walls,  but 
heresy  overturns  the  foundation.  Error  is  as  a  child, 
schism  a  wild  stripling,  heresy  an  old  dotard.  Error 
will  hear  reason,  schism  will  wrangle  against  it, 
heresy  will  defy  it.  Error  is  a  member  blistered, 
schism  a  member  festered,  heresy  a  member  cut  off. 
He  that  returns  quickly  from<rror,  is  not  a  schismatic ; 
he  that  returns  from  schism,  is  not  a  heretic.     Error 


is  reproved  and  pitied,  schism  is  reproved  and  punish- 
ed, heresy  is  reproved  and  excommunicated.  Schism 
is  in  the  same  faith,  heresy  makes  another  faith. 
Though  they  may  be  thus  distinguished,  yet  without 
God"s  preventing  grace,  one  will  run  into  another; 
error  will  prove  a  schism,  and  schismatical  follies 
will  prove  stigmatical  furies.  When  Augustine  said, 
I  may  err,  I  cannot  be  a  heretic  ;  it  proceeded  from 
the  confident  pereuasion  of  God's  mercy,  and  the  re- 
solution of  his  own  heart,  to  adhere  constantly  to 
the  truth.  The  heretic  exceeds  the  schismatic;  the 
one  hates  only  peace,  the  other  hates  truth.  "  My 
soul  hath  long  dwelt  with  him  that  hatetli  peace," 
Psal.  cxx.  6.  But,  "  Do  not  I  hate  them,  O  Lord, 
that  hate  thee  ?"  Psal.  cxxxix.  21.  He  may  dwell 
with  them  that  hate  peace ;  he  W'ill  not  endure  them 
that  hate  the  truth.  All  faults  are  not  of  the  same 
degree ;  there  is  a  mote  and  a  beam,  there  is  stubble 
and  lead.  "  If  any  man  teach  othcr^vise,  and  con- 
sent not  to  the  words  of  Christ,"  I  Tim.  vi.  3.  If  he 
consent  not,  that  is  scliismatical ;  if  he  teach  other- 
wise, that  is  heretical.  "  Whosoever  shall  break  one 
of  these  least  commandments,  and  teach  men  so,"  &c. 
Matt.  V.  19.  If  he  break  the  law,  that  is  a  personal 
sin ;  but  if  lie  teach  so,  that  is  a  pestilent  sin.  To 
teach,  is  commendable  ;  to  teach  that  which  is  incon- 
gruent,  is  dangerous ;  to  teach  that  which  directly  con- 
tradicts the  truth,  is  heretical.  If  a  man  be  oi)inioned 
against  the  truth,  this  is  not  answerable ;  if  a  man 
teach  such  a  doctrine,  this  is  abominable.  Let  them 
teach,  but  not  otherwise  ;  for  othenvise  they  had 
better  hold  their  peace.  We  may  say  of  doctrines, 
as  Jeremiah  said  of  his  figs,  Jer.  xxiv.  3,  Than  the 
the  good  and  true,  nothing  can  be  spoken  better; 
than  the  bad  and  false,  nothing  is  more  perilously 
worse.  None  sing  more  sweetly  than  the  true  mu- 
sicians of  Israel.  None  howl  more  tetrically  than 
the  dogs  of  Baal,  of  Babel,  of  Belial ;  that  often  the 
devil  himself  cannot  roar  out  a  more  detestable  cry 
above-ground,  whatsoever  he  doth  in  hell :  as  tlie 
doctrine  of  murdering  princes,  &c.  Satan  is  then 
the  most  dangerous  tempter,  when  he  comes  as  he 
came  to  Christ,  with  an  It  is  written :  and  heretics, 
while  with  this  sound  they  tickle  the  people's  ears, 
often  for  want  of  true  discerning  suck  the  blood  of 
their  souls.  Lord,  give  not  over  our  souls  a  prey  to 
their  teeth  ;  but  rescue  them  from  their  destructions, 
our  darlings  from  the  lions,  Psal.  xxxv.  17. 

"  Heresies,"  in  the  plural,  to  point  at  a  multitude. 
The  troubles  of  the  church  seldom  come  single  ;  but 
either  they  unite  their  forces,  as  the  five  Amorite 
kings  combined  against  Gibeon,  Josh.  x.  5;  or  sepa- 
rately and  apart,  they  vex  her  on  every  side  :  as  Solo- 
mon was  assaulted  with  Hadad  the  Edomile,  Rezon 
the  Syrian,  and  Jeroboam  the  Ephrathile,  1  Kings 
xi. ;  finding  that  true  whereof  his  father  complained. 
Mine  enemies  compass  me  in  on  ever)'  side.  We  read, 
that  out  of  the  camp  of  the  Philistines  came  three 
regiments,  all  with  a  purpose  to  destroy,  yet  all 
taking  several  ways ;  one  comjiany  of  spoilers  to 
Oplirah,  another  to  Bethoron,  and  the  third  to  Ze- 
boim,  I  Sam.  xiii.  17.  18.  This  is  too  true  a  portraiture 
of  the  church's  conchtion :  as  Israel  then  was  tempo- 
rally wasted,  so  the  church  is  now  spiritually  assault- 
ed; and  will  be  so  used,  until  hell  hath  swallowed 
up  all  her  enemies.  For  these  Egyptians  will  not 
cease  pursuing  Israel,  till  they  all  be  drowned  in  the 
deep.  There  is  a  treble  band  of  them,  all  bent  to 
murder  several  ways ;  the  licentious  by  his  scandal 
ous  life,  the  persecutor  by  his  drawn  s\vord,  the  here- 
tic by  his  pestilent  doctrine.  And  every  one  of  these 
blows  his  tnmipet  to  sedition,  with  Sheba  the  son  of 
Bichri ;  "  Every  man  to  his  tents,  O  Israel,"  2  Sara. 
XX.  I.    Our  case  is  not  unlike  theirs:  there  were  three 


212 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Ciup.  II. 


garrisons  of  enemies,  all  armed  with  all  manner  of 
weapons  for  offence ;  yet  against  all  these,  the  Israel- 
ites had  but  two  swords  for  defence  ;  yet  it  pleased 
God  that  tliose  two  were  enough.  One  is  the  sword 
of  the  Spirit,  tliat  is  doctrine  ;  the  other  the  sword 
of  the  cluircli,  that  is  discipline.  Tliat  as  Peter  said, 
"  Bcliold  two  swords:"  but  two  swords  for  so  many, 
and  against  so  many  ?  a  word  of  extreme  want.  It 
is  enough,  saith  Clirist,  those  two  shall  suffice;  a 
word  of  supreme  mercy  :  mercy  to  tliem,  comfort  to 
us ;  that  our  God  can  defend  us  with  small  means, 
with  no  means.  The  sword  of  the  Spirit  shall  over- 
come Satan's  fiery  darts  ;  though  the  sword  of  (he 
church  prevail  not  against  their  bloody  falchions. 
"  In  the  last  days  perilous  times  shall  come ;  men 
shall  be  lovers  of  their  own  selves,  covetous,"  &c. 
2  Tim.  iii.  1,2.  Oh  what  a  rabble  is  there  !  you  may 
say.  They  are  Legion ;  as  the  devil  called  his  name, 
Liuke  viii.  30:  Legion,  they  are  so  many.  Or,  Here 
comes  a  company,  as  Leah  said  at  the  birth  of  Gad, 
"  A  troop  Cometh,"  Gen.  xxx.  II.  Be  they  never  so 
many,  we  weigh  not  their  numbers,  so  long  as  Christ 
is  with  us.  It  is  his  good  Spirit  that  can  stanch  tlie 
ivounds,  and  dry  up  the  festered  Ijlood,  wherewith  our 
Syrophcnician  woman,  the  church,  hatli  been  so  long 
vexed.  Indeed  we  must  spend  the  ink  of  our  pens 
upon  these  creeping  ring-worms ;  but  be  God  only 
implored  to  cure  the  lazar  of  his  inveterate  sore. 
They  have  not  so  many  swords,  as  he  hath  sliields  : 
there  cannot  be  so  much  venom  in  tlic  seed  of  the 
sci-pent,  as  there  are  antidotes  in  the  Seed  of  the 
woman,  saving  health  in  Jesus  Christ. 

They  "  shall  bring  in."  Here  is  the  necessity,  as 
the  apostle  tokl  us  before  of  these  impostors;  they 
shall  be.  Shall ;  though  provision  spend  all  her  wit, 
and  prevention  all  her  strength,  yet  no  avoiding  it. 
St.  John  tells  us,  that  many  spirits  are  gone  abroad 
uilo  the  world,  that  would  be  tried  before  they  be 
trusted,  1  John  iv.  I.  They  "creep  into  houses,  and 
lead  captive  silly  women  laden  with  sins,  and  led 
jiway  with  divers  lusts,"  2  Tim.  iii.  6.  Vou  have 
the  picture  of  them  drawn  to  the  life,  Jude  16.  Do 
you  think  it  impossible  for  the  truth  to  forsake  some 
private  breasts,  yea,  even  whole  regions  ?  Tliis  were 
a  popish  conceit :  so  they  give  out  of  tlieir  infallible 
Rome  ;  that  she  hath  clipt  the  wings  of  truth,  as  old 
Home  chd  once  the  wings  of  victoiy,  that  it  might 
not  fly  away.  This  were  to  imagine  the  Holy  Ghost 
bound  to  every  pulpit,  as  they  bind  him  to  their  chair. 
No,  there  shall  be  some  pen-erters  :  some  ?  yea,  too 
many.  There  be  some  yellow  seeds  that  abound; 
we  might  well  spare  them,  they  mar  the  field.  AVe 
daily  pray  for  labourers  in  the  Lord's  great  har\est; 
but  for  such  as  labour  for  the  Lord,  not  against  the 
Lord ;  for  such  as  row  us  in  the  vessel  of  the  church 
toward  heaven,  not  such  as  hurry  us  in  a  man  of  war 
to  bondage.  For  then  we  should  complain  of  multi- 
tudes, "  Many  pastors  have  destroyed  my  vineyard," 
Jer.  xii.  10.  They  were  pastors,  and  many  pastors, 
Imt  evil  ones.  What  do  they  ?  Tliey  destroy  my 
vineyard.  We  say  not  then,  the  harvest  is  great, 
and  the  labourers  are  too  few ;  but  the  haiTest  is 
great,  and  these  labourers  are  too  many.  Would 
Ihey  all  hibour  for  Christ  ?  but  when  will  that  be  ? 
Oil  it  were  special  news  to  be  told  in  Gath,  and  would 
sound  terribly  in  the  streets  of  Askelon  ;  it  would  go 
cold  to  the  heart  of  the  devil,  and  shake  the  gates  of 
hell  ;  lliat  the  church  had  escaped  tlie  ingenious 
solicitations  of  these  fiends,  who  not  only  trouble  the 
waters  of  her  peace,  but  poison  her  vei-y  springs  of 
life.  They  shall  bring  them  in,  tlie  Lord  of  liis 
mercy  cast  them  out. 

"  Daniuable  heresies."  This  is  thelast  circumstance, 
the  malignity  of  them ;  airc\tias,  they  arc  corruptive, 


destructive,  damnable  heresies,  doctrines  of  perdition. 
1.  Because  they  are  reprobated  of  God:  so  Judas 
was  called  the  son  of  perdition,  because  God  for  his 
sin  had  rejected  him.  A  wicked  person  is  called  the 
son  of  Belial,  because  Belial  had  bred  him  up;  the 
son  of  strife,  because  contention  liad  begotten  him, 
and  he  begotten  contention.  So  here,  the  heresies 
of  damnation,  because  damnation  did  bring  forth 
them,  and  they  bring  forth  damnation.  2.  Because 
they  arc  cxitial  and  pestilent  to  the  kingdoms  and 
nations  where  they  arc  admitted.  How  great  a 
plague  did  Ariaiiism  bring  to  the  East,  Pclagianism 
to  the  West,  now  papism  to  all  the  world !  3.  Be- 
cause they  bring  destruction  to  all  their  followers 
and  defenders  :  sometimes  temporal ;  "  That  prophet 
shall  die,"  Dcut.  xviii.  20.  Sometimes  spiritual  j 
the  Lord  turning  their  rivers  into  blood,  that  no  man 
can  drink  of  their  waters  to  comfort :  the  increase  of 
their  labours  being  given  to  the  locust,  and  all  tlieir 
vines  destroyed  witli  hail :  their  priests  falling  by 
the  sword,  slain  (if  not  with  the  sword  of  othei's) 
with  their  own  malice ;  and  their  widows  making  no 
lamentation,  Psal.  Ixxviii.  64:  no  widows,  or  but 
one  at  the  most,  to  make  lamentation.  For  who  can 
pity  them  that  hate  the  truth  ?  the  wickedness  of 
their  cause  drowiis  all  compassion  of  their  case.  The 
last  of  all  is  the  worst  of  all,  their  eternal  perishing ; 
for  those  transformed  ministers  shall  receive  an  end 
according  to  their  works,  2  Cor.  xi.  15.  For  how 
should  the  cross  of  Christ  be  a  friend  to  them,  that 
are  enemies  to  his  cross?  Phil.  iii.  18,  19.  'Their 
end  is  destruction,  that  is  much;  but  their  destruc- 
tion is  without  end,  that  is  more.  There  is  nothing 
but  damnation  in  their  ways.  "  They  build  up  Zion 
with  blood,"  Micah  iii.  10.  "  As  trooi'S  of  robbers 
wait  for  a  man,  so  the  company  of  priests  murder  in 
the  way  by  consent,"  Hos.  vi.  j).  A  robber  waits  for 
his  prey,  but  being  single  he  may  either  be  avoided 
or  conquered ;  but  here  are  many  robbers.  Yet  their 
divided  forces  may  be  subdued.  Nay,  but  they  join 
themselves  in  troops.  Thieves  may  do  thus,  that  pro- 
fess not  God.  Nay,  but  even  apostatized  priests. 
It  is  much  that  they  fall  to  robber\-,  but,  I  hope,  no 
further.  Yes,  even  to  murder.  The  priest  and  Le- 
vite  are  condemned  that  did  not  succour  the  wounded 
man ;  what  shall  become  of  them  that  give  wounds, 
yea,  murderous  ones  ?  It  may  be  there  is  some  one 
such  reprobate.  Yea,  they  do  it  by  consent.  Or 
it  were  but  one  act.  Nay,  they  commit  it,  it  is 
their  practice.  Let  us  all  then  pray  with  our  church, 
"  From  sedition  and  privy  conspiracy,  from  all  false 
doctrine  and  heresy.  Good  Lord,  deliver  us."  Amen. 
We  see  what  kind  of  heresies  shall  be;  consider 
we  then  (pardon  it  if  it  be  a  digression)  what  may 
be  the  causes  that  produce  such  inevitable  effects. 
The  efficient  cause  is  double  :  the  primary  or  remote 
is  the  just  will  of  God,  who  hereby  provclh  his  friends, 
as  some  of  the  Canaanites  were  left  to  teach  the 
Israelites  war,  Judg.  iii.,  and  punishelh  his  enemies. 
The  secondary  or  proximate,  the  natural  rebellion, 
ambition,  and  cecity  that  is  in  men.  The  end  is  double; 
that  the  good  might  be  made  good  by  their  trial,  1 
Cor.  xi.  19:  that  the  evil  might  be  left  more  evil  j 
'•  That  they  all  might  be  damned  who  believed  not 
the  truth,  2  Thess.  ii.  12.  The  fonu  is  error  itself. 
The  matter,  arlicitlus  ille  in  quoveccalur,  the  very 
point  of  their  prevarication.  "The  main  fountain 
whence  they  arc  all  derived,  is  the  devil,  that  f  ither 
of  lies,  and  depraver  of  all  goodness.  But  seeing  he 
cannot  well  effect  this  immediately  by  himself,  how 
may  he  facilitate  his  plot?  By  corrupling  certain 
instruments.  But  what  seeds  of  hell  can  he  plant  in 
their  hearts,  that  should  grow  up  to  such  pernicious 
fruits  ?    For  the  devil  can  work  no  man  to  do  evil 


Ver.  1. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


213 


to  another,  unless  he  hath  first  wrought  him  to  admit 
evil  in  himself.  No  reprobate  will  serve  Satan's 
turn  for  nothinpr;  but  there  must  be  some  end  pro- 
jiounded  to  his  lust,  for  the  satisfaction  whereof  he 
precipitates  himself  to  such  a  hellish  course.  Vhat 
may  those  infernal  fires  be,  wherewith  he  sets  them 
on  burning,  and  with  which  they  madly  run,  like  a 
rotten  inllamtd  vessel,  among  the  whole  navy  ?  Let 
us  a  little  examine  the  motives  to  this  pestilent 
sedition. 

First,  pride,  for  that  loves  at  all  hands  to  be  fore- 
most. Heresies  arc  set  on  foot  by  men  that  thought 
well  of  themselves  j  and  perhaps  had  some  cause  so  to 
do,  if  they  could  have  done  it  within  any  good  compass. 
Never  mean  parts  set  schisms  abroach  against  Clirist : 
the  stronger  wit,  the  stronger  heretic.  Excellent 
gifts  bind  to  excellent  modesty  i  m  humilitate  sapie7i- 
tia,  wisdom  is  seen  in  humbleness.  They  that  blow 
abroad  their  own  praises,  justly  incur  the  suspicion 
of  windiness.  Thy  praise  would  sound  better  in  thy 
neighbour's  mouth.  Virtue  never  was  a  gadding 
Dinah,  that  runs  abroad  to  be  seen  of  the  daughters 
of  the  land.  But  rather  an  Elisabeth,  that  hid  her- 
self six  months  together:  lo,  then  was  she  fruitful, 
and  bred  a  child,  and  that  so  famous  a  one  as  Jolin 
the  Baptist.  Stand  further  from  me,  I  am  purer  than 
thou  J  this  is  the  voice  of  a  proud  sinner.  Depart 
from  me.  Lord,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man;  this  is  the 
voice  of  a  penitent  saint.  The  wise  man  never 
vrote  upon  his  doors.  Here  dwells  wisdom;  nor  did 
goodness  ever  dwell  at  the  sign  of  ostentation.  It  is 
for  liypocrisy  to  declare  its  own  worth,  othenvise  it 
would  never  be  understood  for  sincerity.  As  the 
foolish  painter,  having  pictured  a  lion  so  nidcly  and 
without  such  due  shape  that  no  passenger  could  know 
it,  he  was  fain  lo  help  his  art  with  under-writing. 
This  is  a  lion :  so  it  is  for  pride,  when  she  cannot 
make  her  charity  understood,  to  proclaim  it  herself, 
This  is  charily.  Sincere  ministers  never  publish  their 
own  sufferings  and  virtues :  it  is  enough  for  them  if 
tliey  be  found  one  day  among  those,  in  whose  mouth 
was  found  no  guile.  Rev.  xiv.  5;  that  is,  according 
to  St.  Augustine's  gloss,  who  confessed  meekly  that 
they  were  sinners,  and  sought  no  other  glor)-  than 
humility.  AVhereas  pride,  saith  Cyprian,  is  ever 
looking  in  her  glass :  at  least  the  gla.ss  must  say  she 
is  fair:  yet  is  this  Jezebel's  paint  no  better  than  the 
jilastcr  of  a  leprous  countenance.  Thus  "  professing 
themselves  to  be  wnse,  they  became  fools,"  Rom.  i. 
22:  a  just  judgment  to  light  on  them,  that  thought 
it  nothing  worth  lo  be  counted  wise,  unless  the  whole 
world  >\ere  fools  besides.  None  more  thrust  them- 
selves forward  into  the  battle,  than  these  dwarfs 
and  demi-lances ;  mere  atomies  in  true  being,  yet  big 
as  giants  in  their  own  opinion.  But  indeetl,  if  only 
artists  might  censure  arts,  and  the  common  people 
were  admitted  no  judges  in  the  court  of  faculties; 
never  was  dumbness  more  incident  to  him  that  is 
bom  deaf,  than  ignorance  is  to  heresy.  He  is  proud, 
or  a  fool,  rirt'^urac;  'he  word  signifying  both,  as  if 
it  would  teach  us  that  every  proud  man  is  a  fool ;  and 
fiTj^iv  iTricTufiet'Oi,  knowcth  nothing,  !  Tim.  vi.  4. 
Alexander  would  be  drawn  in  colours  by  none  but 
Apellcs,  and  graven  by  none  but  Lysippus,  both  ex- 
cellent in  their  qualities.  God  will  have  none  med- 
dle with  his  Scriptures,  but  holy  and  illuminate 
minds ;  and  they  are  most  humble  and  circumspect. 
The  most  blind  are  the  most  proud,  and  soonest  ven- 
ture on  the  deepest  mysteries.  Of  the  two  bad  states, 
to  be  a  Pharisee  is  worse  than  to  be  a  publican  :  to 
be  proud  of  good  endowments  is  worse  than  to  have 
reilller  pride  nor  good  endowments.  To  be  proud, 
theii,  according  to  St.P.nul's  method  in  ranking  their 
attributes,  is  the  first  brand  of  the  sectary ;  that  same 


radical  cause  of  every  sin,  especially  of  schism.  This 
is  the  common  proceeding ;  first  the  devil  brings  in 
pride,  then  pride  brings  in  singularity,  and  singularity 
brings  in  heresy. 

The  next  cause  is  envy  and  malice :  if  this  furj-  be 
in  the  heart,  the  devil  may  save  a  labour  of  driving. 
As  they  talk  of  a  coach  that  moves  without  horses, 
being  set  forward  by  some  vices  and  devices  within, 
certain  wheels  and  weights;  so  malice  hurries  away 
itself,  and  tarries  not  for  the  driver.  All  heretics 
are  malicious,  and  carried  with  a  rancorous  hale  lo 
pervert  others.  As  Arehytas  took  no  pleasure  in 
viewing  heaven,  with  all  the  celestial  beauties,  unless 
he  may  have  one  lo  tell  it  lo  again ;  so  the  sectary 
takes  no  pleasure  in  his  error,  unless  he  can  work 
others  to  the  same  faction.  The  Pharisees  would 
compass  sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte.  Mall, 
xxiii.  15  :  it  was  but  a  trick  of  their  father,  the  devil 
coinpasseth  the  whole  earth  to  spill  a  soul.  Like 
men  sick  of  the  plague,  they  have  an  itching  desire 
lo  infect  others,  l/oc  fotile  derivala  clades,  that  docs 
in  patriam  pnpulumque  Jluere  :  this  is  the  head  from 
whence  springs  all  mischief.  If  Ahab  must  be  de- 
ceived, there  is  no  fitter  means  to  deceive  him  by 
than  a  lying  spirit.  Generally  all  the  corruptions  of 
Israel  are  fathered  upon  the  tongues  of  false  pro- 
phets ;  their  responsive  oracles  being  not  God's  word, 
but  their  own  conceit.  This  God  acknowledged, 
that  their  sour  grape  had  set  the  people's  teeth  on 
edge:  and  they  might  excuse  themselves  with  Eve, 
The  ser])ent  gave  it  them,  and  they  gave  it  the  peo- 
ple. But  it  was  an  old  saying.  Cursed  is  he  that 
poisons  our  current.  The  Jews  did  so  once  in  Eng- 
land, and  would  have  spilt  lives :  the  emissaries  of 
Rome  strive  still  to  be  the  Jews'  successors,  but  with 
a  worse  event,  for  they  spill  souls.  Now  when  the 
spring  by  the  high-way  is  poisoned,  the  poor  traveller 
that  drinks  of  it  dies  for  it.  Such  a  place  is  to  give 
drink  to  every  beast  of  the  field,  and  there  the  wild 
asses  quench  their  thirst,  Psal.  civ.  11.  Now  that 
being  envenomed,  infeclelh  all  the  beasts  of  the  forest, 
all  the  birds  amonjj  the  branches,  and  especially  the 
wild  asses,  that  there  quench  their  thirst.  Ala.s, 
what  have  the  jioor  lambs  deser\-ed,  that  they  must 
be  thus  deceived  ?  alas,  that  they  cannot  be  content 
to  go  to  hell  alone  !  He  that  hath  once  made  him- 
self a  villain,  studies  how  to  make  all  others  fools. 
Abner  calls  it  play,  though  it  be  with  edge-tools. 
Samson's  foxes  make  a  sport  to  toss  firebrands, 
though  they  burn  corn-fields.  The  skittish  kine 
care  not  what  becomes  of  the  ark,  so  they  may  be 
frisking.  If  the  church  finds  them,  and  smiles  them, 
straight  they  complain  of  persecution;  but  indeed 
it  is  not  the  church,  but  Ihey  that  persecute.  Hagar 
beats  Sarah,  not  Sarah  Hagar,  though  you  would 
think  it  otherwise  when  you  read  the  stor)'-  Hagar 
halh  hope  of  a  child,  and  now  she  domineers  over 
her  mistress  :  Sarah  doth  but  just,  to  strike  when 
she  is  provoked.  Thus  the  Jesuits  come  against 
us  with  new  malice,  though  with  old  arguments : 
they  cannot  leave  their  old  and  own  i'tgare,  pseudo- 
Ingia.  Therefore  concerning  their  tenets,  let  us  not 
so  much  weigh  the  malice,  as  the  validity  and  force. 
For  they  dip  their  pens  in  the  gall  of  the  red  dragon, 
and  write  l)itter  things;  as  if  they  loved  cursing, 
Psal.  cix.  17.  But,  Lord,  let  blessing  be  the  prayer 
of  our  lips,  blessing  the  desire  of  our  hearts,  and 
blessing  the  end  of  our  hopes  and  crown  of  our  heads 
for  ever. 

Another  cause  or  motive  is  discontent.  lie  is  not 
fed  with  such  broth  as  he  loves,  finds  not  preferment 
as  he  would,  and  thinks  himself  worthy  of,  but  nobody 
else  thinks  so.  Hereupon  he  inveighs  most  lewdl7 
and  loudly,  against  them  that  scorned,  and  haply 


214 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


CUAP.   II. 


had  good  cause  to  scorn,  to  set  his  fathers  or  his 
fathers'  fathers  with  the  dogs  of  their  flock.  Now 
the  trumpet  of  Moses  is  made  a  trunk  to  shoot  pellets 
at  truths,  and  Moses'  friends  ;  and  the  characters 
of  slander  must  he  drawTi  in  the  oil  of  the  taberna- 
cle, to  the  abomination  of  God  and  man.  Arius 
driving  ambitiously  at  a  bishopric,  was  prevented  by 
Alexander  his  competitor,  the  worthier  man,  though 
not  esteemed  his  match  for  heat  of  zeal.  Upon  the 
missing  his  suit,  he  piu-sued  his  spite,  by  broaching 
a  heresy  ;  that  after  the  repulse  he  might  seem 
somebody,  and  draw  a  world  of  mal-contcnts  after 
him.  (Thcod.  Eccl.  Hist.  hb.  1.  cap.  2.)  How  many 
hath  this  motive  sent  over  to  Rome  ! 

Another  cause  is  confidence  of  power  and  numbers. 
Seneca  reports  that  the  senators  of  ancient  Rome 
ordained,  that  the  slaves  should  go  distinginshed 
from  the  free-bom  in  apparel :  as  it  might  be  the 
cap  which  made  a  difference  between  a  slave  and  a 
citizen.  But  at  last  they  perceived  that  there  might 
be  inconvenience  in  this  ;  for  the  slaves  might  chance 
to  fall  a  numbering  their  owna  side,  and  upon  the  un- 
derstanding of  their  own  strength,  might  break  forth 
into  open  rebellion,  and  shake  off  the  yoke  of  servi- 
tude. So  let  every  man  do  as  he  list,  and  every 
assembly  assume  what  fashion  it  list ;  it  will  be  at 
last  considered  who  have  the  most  of  their  side.  And 
where  is  the  greater  number,  the  worst  men  will 
follow ;  they  will  be  followers  of  the  camp,  partly  for 
company,  and  partly  for  booty.  So  they  will  come 
to  perform  in  deed,  what  Hushai  dissembled  in  word, 
Whom  tlie  people  choose,  his  will  I  be,  and  with  him 
will  I  abide,  2  Sam.  xvi.  18.  Thus  the  ringleaders 
begin,  not  only  to  vaunt  of  their  virtues,  but  to  crack 
of  theii'  forces,  and  that  by  the  hundreds  and  the 
thousands.  But  yet  numbers  should  not,  shall  not, 
prevail  against  the  right.  It  was  God's  charge, 
"Thou  shalt  not  follow  a  multitude  to  do  evil," 
Exod.  xxiii.  2.  You  have  often  a  multitude  of  the 
simple  led  by  one  that  is  subtle  ;  but  one  good  man 
will  not  be  led  by  a  bad  multitude.  Error  steals  in  at 
a  little  hole,  through  wantonness  and  neglect  of  order. 
Therefore  to  prevent  it,  St.  Paul  did  heartily  charge 
us  to  observe  order ;  "  Let  all  things  be  done  decently, 
and  in  order,"  1  Cor.  xiv.  40.  "  For  God  is  not  the 
author  of  confusion,  but  of  peace,"  ver.  33.  I  rejoice 
in  "  beholding  your  order,  and  the  stedfastness  of  your 
faith,"  Col.  ii.  5.  Such  is  the  excellency  of  order, 
that  the  apostle  ranketh  it  with  faith.  Tlie  church 
is  compared  to  an  army,  because  of  the  goodly  aiTay 
and  equipage  wherein  she  raarcheth.  Cant.  vi.  10. 
Without  this,  so  many  assemblies,  so  many  rents  in 
Christ's  garments ;  so  many  congregations,  so  many 
distractions.  As  many  schismatics  as  persons.  (Hi- 
erome.)  It  is  not  well  to  see  a  church  like  Jeremiah's 
speckled  bird,  Jer.  xii.  9,  a  bird  of  divers  colours. 

They  shall  "  privily "  bring  them  in.  We  have 
done  with  the  matter,  let  us  come  to  the  m;i:iner  of 
this  induction:  underhand,  privily.  Whiei.  word 
notes  to  us  their  subtlety,  their  vigilancy,  their  hy- 
pocrisy. 

First,  their  subtlety  and  politic  craft,  whereby  they 
insinuate  their  unseen  poisonous  seeds.  Paul  calls  it 
the  "  sleight  of  men,  and  cunning  craftiness,  where- 
by they  lie  in  wait  to  deceive,"  Eph.  iv.  14.  As 
scandalizers  scatter  their  libels ;  if  it  be  liked,  they 
know  the  authors;  if  it  be  dangered  to  penalty, 
it  is  none  of  theirs.  Sin's  agents  are  brought  up 
in  her  own  liouse,  and  taught  the  rudiments  of  her 
own  discinline:  as  your  decoys  teach  voung  prac- 
titioners their  trade  of  cheating.  It  is  the  brand  of 
sin,  to  be  deceitful  ;  "  Take  heed,  lest  vou  be 
hardened  through  the  deceitfulness  of  sin,"  Heb.  iii. 
13.     Tills  art  of  cozenage  she  teacheth  to  all  her 


litter.  Oh  it  is  the  subtlest  dam  that  erer  the  devil 
engendered  withal,  and  most  pregnant  in  generation ! 
He  w£us  in  llic  serpent  when  he  begat  iniquity  on 
man ;  but  now  he  hath  made  sin  more  subtle  than 
the  serpent,  Ecchis.  xxi.  2.  We  see  the  craftiest  jtoli- 
ticians  overreached  by  sin:  they  have  tricks  beyond 
all  men,  sin  hatli  a  trick  beyond  them.  Sin,  like  the 
fencer,  may  teach  his  scholars  many  postures,  and 
wards,  and  tricks  ;  but  still  reserves  one  for  himself. 
Tliey  can  cozen  other  men  of  their  estates,  but  sin  can 
cozen  them  of  their  souls.  Let  us  therefore  pray  for  that 
blessed  illumination,  to  find  out  the  deceits  and  cun- 
ning of  sin ;  that  albeit  it  once  deceived  us  of  our 
birth-right,  it  may  not  now  deceive  us  of  our  blessing. 
It  stole  from  us  the  happiness  of  nature,  let  it  never 
steal  from  us  the  happiness  of  grace. 

Secondly,  their  vigilant  care  to  spy  out  the  oppor- 
tunity, how  they  may  j)rivily  bring  heresy  in.  She 
that  will  lay  her  bastard  at  an  honest  man's  door, 
must  watch  the  time  when  the  whole  family  is  either 
far  enough  ^vithout,  or  is  fast  asleep  witliin.  Never 
was  more  watchfulness,  than  where  is  most  purpose 
of  wickedness.  The  ungodly  caimot  sleep  unless  he 
do  mischief.  They  devise  iniquity  on  their  beds,  and 
when  the  morning  is  light  they  practise  it,  Micah  ii. 
1 .  They  lie  waking  all  night,  that  they  may  be  work- 
ing in  the  morning.  "  The  children  of  this  world  are 
wiser,"  yea,  and  watchfuUer,  "  than  the  children  of 
light,"  Luke  xvi.  8.  You  seldom  hear  of  them  that 
watch  all  night  to  prayer,  and  the  service  of  God. 
"  In  the  dark  they  dig  through  houses,  which  they 
liad  marked  for  themselves  in  the  day,"  Job  xxiv. 
16  :  they  spy  their  opportunity  by  day,  but  act  their 
villany  by  night.  That  is  the  j)rivate  and  secret  sea- 
son of  bringing  in  their  damnable  traffic  :  they  have 
found  the  key,  and  when  all  are  asleep,  they  land 
their  merchandise.  The  biting  cur  barks  not  before- 
hand ;  nor  did  he  that  meant  to  rob,  send  a  messen- 
ger before  to  tell  the  passengers.  Ware  the  thief. 
These  rcpentine,  serpentine  mischiefs  sting  before 
they  hiss;  and  like  the  musket,  kills  dead  before  it 
gives  the  report.  The  lion  first  roars,  and  then  preys ; 
the  wolf  first  preys,  and  then  roars :  the  heretic  preys, 
but  roars  not  at  all.  As  the  woman  that  loves  credit 
more  than  conscience,  will  sin,  so  it  be  in  private  ; 
so  this  incendiar)'  resolves  to  adulterate  the  truth, 
and  to  prostitute  his  soul  to  falsehood ;  but  his  hope 
and  help  is  in  the  shadow  of  darkness ;  privily.  When 
all  is  quite  sure,  (the  good  man  absent,)  God  not  pre- 
venting, (the  good  wife  suspectlcss,)  the  church  with- 
out mistrust,  (the  ser\'ants  asleep,)  the  ministers  re- 
tired ;  then  doth  this  incarnate  fiend  begin  to  work 
upon  the  children.  And  in  confidence  of  his  two 
confederate  thieves,  place  and  occasion,  he  so  bestirs 
himself,  that  from  poor  innocent  souls  he  often  steals 
the  best  of  blessings,  a  good  conscience.  Never  did 
opportunity  meet  with  one  that  makes  more  use  of  it ; 
he  will  husband  it  to  proof,  and  like  a  cunning  anta- 
gonist, lose  not  an  inch  of  Ids  advantage.  The  dili- 
gence of  such  is  admirable  :  the  Pharisees  would  take 
great  i)ains  to  damn  a  proselyte,  Matt,  xxiii.  15.  The 
children  of  light  are  not  always  the  forwardcst  in 
their  generation.  Besides,  they  have  many  obsta- 
cles :  "  We  would  have  come  unto  you  once  and  again, 
l)Ut  Satan  hindered  us,"  I  Thess.  ii.  18.  Our  way  is 
like  Ciishi's,  full  of  rubs;  but  they,  like  Ahiraaaz, 
take  the  plain  way,  2  Sam.  xviii.  Mischief  is  nim- 
ble, and  he  that  intends  evil,  will  break  his  sleep  to 
do  it.  It  is  the  servants  that  sleep  ;  it  is  the  enemy 
that  watcheth  to  sow  tares.  Matt.  xiii.  25.  I  would 
we  had  their  wings  and  speed ;  I  wish  not  their  talons 
nor  their  flight.  If  Hazael's  feet  did  belong  to  Solo- 
mon's head,  and  both  these  to  David's  heart,  oh  there 
was  a  man  for  God,  a  man  of  God  !     The  shepherd 


SECON©  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


215 


watchcth  to  puanl  his  flock,  the  wolf  watchcth  to  de- 
stroy his  flock  :  llie  wolf  hath  the  advantage,  fur  he 
may  sleep  out  of  fear  ;  but  whensoever  the  shepherd 
sleeps,  the  flock  is  in  danger.  Our  comfort  is,  that 
though  the  wolf  l)e  waking,  though  the  lambs  sleep. 
though  the  shepherd  sleep,  though  tlie  church  sleep, 
yet  He  that  kecpeth  Israel  neither  slumbers  nor 
sleeps ;  and  this  Keeper  watdi  over  us  evermore. 

Lastly,  their  hypocrisy,  with  the  covertly  carriage 
of  their  intended' plagues  :  "  By  good  words  and  fair 
speeches  tiicy  deceive  the  hearts  of  the  simple," 
Rom.  xvi.  18.  Without  this  there  could  be  no  pri\-ily  ; 
appearance  would  condemn  them.  Vice  dares  not 
walk  without  a  borrowed  shape :  like  an  old  courte- 
san, guilty  of  her  own  withcredness,  she  never  goes 
without  a  mask.  Countenances  furthest  from  na- 
tive beauty,  love  artificial  shadows.  Never  ill  would 
appear  itself,  if  it  could  be  hid.  Hypocrisy  is  the 
usher  of  heresy,  a  marshal  that  makes  way  for  her, 
and  cries,  Room,  here  comes  my  lady.  Like  the  wench 
that  led  Si.  Peter  into  the  high  priest's  hall  ;  but 
not  with  the  same  purpose,  to  declare  him.  Ignorant 
people  are  beguiled  with  glosses  and  colours,  as  girls 
are  with  dolls,  and  Indians  with  rattles  and  such  pretty 
toys.  Satan  himself  seems  fair,  when  he  is  drest  up 
like  an  angel  of  light ;  and  a  wolf  cunningly  ap- 
parelled in  a  sheep-skin,  cozens  the  poor  lambs. 
That  damnable  heretic  Pelagius,  was  a  man  of  austere 
conversation:  and  false  prophets  come  with  a  rough 
garment  next  their  skins,  like  a  Gibeonite  in  his  old 
shoes.  Therefore  we  must  learn  to  distinguish  be- 
tween Samuel  and  the  devil,  which  the  witch  of  En- 
dor  suborned  in  his  likeness ;  and  we  way  easily  do 
it,  by  his  ascending  out  of  the  earth.  Hypocrites 
think,  as  Brutus  said  when  he  was  dying,  that  virtue 
itself  was  but  a  name  ;  that  all  piety  is  but  a  name. 
and  that  name  they  get.  Who  were  they  that  op- 
posed Paul's  sermon  at  Antioch  ?  "  Devout  and 
honourable  women,  and  the  chief  men,"  Acts  xiii. 
50.  Devout !  That  they  were  honourable  persons, 
no  wonder ;  that  they  were  wise  after  the  flesh,  no 
wonder ;  that  they  were  mighty,  no  wonder ;  for, 
"  Not  many  wise  men  after  the  flesh,  not  many 
mighty,  not  many  noble,  are  called,"  1  Cor.  i.  26. 
But  that  devout,  religioiis,  zealous  persons  should 
resist  the  truth ;  this  is  strange,  yet  tnie.  Korah, 
Dathan,  and  Abiram,  those  three  resisters  of  Moses, 
were  the  most  famous  and  eminent  men  in  the  con- 
gregation. I^et  us  therefore  pray  God,  that  they 
may  be  either  inwardly  lambs,  as  they  are  not ;  or 
appear  outwardly  wolves,  as  they  are  :  either  to  turn 
their  hearts  from  their  woltish  condition,  or  to  pull 
their  sheep-skin  over  their  cars ;  that  no  jugglers 
may  privily  by  their  mists  and  mysteries  pervert  the 
flock  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Who  privily  shall  bring  in  damnable  heresies." 
I  am  not  yet  quite  wound  out  of  this  labyrinth  of 
heresies  :  I  could  wnsh  myself  well  rid  of  them,  wish 
you  all  well  rid  of  them,  wish  the  land  well  rid  of 
them,  wish  the  world  well  rid  of  them  :  but  oh  that 
I  could  as  soon  tiuTi  them  out  of  the  church,  as  I 
can  out  of  my  discourse.  Now  at  most  they  do  but 
trouble  your  ears;  let  them  pass  undiscovered,  and 
they  will  trouble  your  hearts.  All  I  have  done,  is 
but  to  show  you  the  mazes  and  windings  of  error ; 
and  now  I  am  ready  to  lead  you  out,  and  with  due 
speed  to  bring  you  to  a  clearer  coast.  That  remains 
is  for  application  ;  to  denominate  those  birds  of  thLs 
feather,  whereof  we  at  this  present  are  in  danger.  I 
will  discover  to  you  three  sorts ;  one  that  would  dis- 
turb your  peace,  another  that  would  pencrt  your 
faith,  a  last  that  would  corrupt  your  manners ;  all  of 
which  would  wound  your  consci(^ces. 

They  that  would  privily  wrong  yom-  peace,  are 


seditious  schismatics;  who,  when  the  bread  of  life  is 
broken  to  the  people,  throw  in  crooked  pins  to  choke 
them.  These  are  they  that  vellicate  authority,  that 
cnlumniatr  our  Service  Book,  because  the  form  is 
uniform.  Wlien  we  beseech  Christ  by  his  agony  and 
bloody  passion,  this  they  call  conjuring.  When  the 
minister  to  the  penitent  pronounceth  absolution,  this 
they  call  a  pope's  pardon.  When  we  pray  for  all 
men,  this  they  say  is  against  God's  election.  When 
we  pray  for  all  those  that  travel  by  land  or  by  water, 
this  they  say  is  to  pray  for  thieves  and  pirates. 
When  against  lightning  and  thunder,  this  prayer 
they  would  have  used  oiUy  in  summer  j  otherwise, 
they  say,  wc  pray  against  sparrow-blasting.  When 
we  pray  that  our  forefathers'  sins  may  not  be  laid  to 
our  charge,  this  they  say  is  to  acknowdcdge  purgatory. 
Thus  they  have  made  our  Service  to  stink  in  the  nos- 
trils of  men ;  but  our  comfort  is  that  it  smells  sweet 
in  the  nostrils  of  God.  Our  surplices  and  vestments, 
they  say,  arc  not  made  of  the  camel's  skin,  but  of 
the  dragon's  tail.  Take  heed  of  these,  who  privily 
bring  in  ort'ences  to  your  peace.  And  botmm  pacia 
marlijrioprfpferimtis.  (Liber.)  Indeed  they  are  zealous 
against  all  errors  but  their  own :  but  St.  Augustine 
would  not  have  men  such  confuters,  that  one  error 
shall  be  convinced  by  another,  and  the  less  by  the 
greater.  Is  this  holiness,  to  be  always  finding  faults  ? 
Is  this  zeal,  to  like  nothing  but  their  own  inventions? 
I  remember  what  Augustine  said  to  Julian  the  Pe- 
lagian, When  thou  shalt  master  that  stomach  where- 
of thou  art  possessed,  thou  shalt  possess  that  truth 
wherewith  thou  art  mastered.  "  Now  I  beseech 
you,  brethren,  mark  them  which  cause  divisions  and 
offences  contrarj-  to  the  doctrine  which  ye  have  learn- 
ed; and  avoid  them,"  Rom.  xvi.  17;  for  their  con- 
viction, and  your  own  security. 

They  that  would  privily  bring  in  corruptions 
to  your  faith,  as  the  pajjists.  Here  antichrist  had 
cause  to  be  angn,-,  and  plead  that  he  had  not  his 
right,  if  he  were  not  brought  in  for  the  ringleader ; 
whose  profession  is  to  make  your  souls  drunk  with 
the  wine  of  his  fornications.  Rev.  xvii.  2.  Beware 
of  these  Romish  agents  and  instruments :  all  their 
desire  is  to  intoxicate  your  hearts,  and  proudly  to 
tyrannize  over  your  consciences.  He  is  that  man  of 
sin,  that  man  of  pride,  "  who  opposeth  and  exalteth 
himself  above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  wor- 
shipped," 2  Thess.  ii.  4.  He  rose  first  above  bishops, 
then  above  councils,  then  above  kings,  then  above 
.Scriptures,  and  now,  so  far  as  it  is  possible,  above 
God  himself  All  that  are  not  dead  in  sense,  know 
his  malice  ;  killing  all  those  that  worship  not  the 
image  of  the  beast,  Rev.  xiii.  15.  St.  Paul  tells  us. 
All  things  are  yours.  If  all  be  ours,  what  insuffer- 
able wrong  dotli  he  to  us,  that  takes  away  from  us 
hair  a  sacrament,  the  whole  Scripture!  For  what 
purpose  sends  he  over  his  seminanes,  those  flies  that 
come  humming  out  of  the  larder  of  hell  P  They 
envy,  they  inveigh,  they  write,  they  rail.  But  as  the 
Jews  did  with  Stephen,  when  they  could  not  confute 
him  with  arguments,  they  did  it  with  stones ;  so  what 
they  cannot  evince  by  the  word,  they  will  convince 
by  the  sword.  They  have  always  powder  in  the 
pan ;  and  when  they  spy  their  time,  they  will  turn 
their  pens  into  pen-knives,  and  their  ink  into  blood. 
O  butnow  they  plead  king's  truce  :  yet  as  in  France, 
when  it  was  said  there  should  be  a  consultation  at 
Paris,  to  hear  complaints,  to  redress  wrongs,  and  set 
all  things  even  ;  and  that  the  protestants  should 
have  free  access  to  declare  their  grievances,  and  safe- 
conduct  to  return ;  one  answered.  Promise  what  they 
list,  for  St.  Bartholomew  eve's  sake  I  will  not  trust 
them:  so,  however  they  show  themselves,  looking 
smoothly,  and  speaking  fairly,  yet  for  the  fifth  of 


216 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE^ 


Chap.  II. 


Novemljcr's  sake  let  ih  never  frast  them.  Only 
bless  we  our  God,  that  though  they  do  as  much  mis- 
chief as  they  can,  yet  they  cannot  do  so  much  as  they 
would.  And  if  our  sins  provoke  him  not,  Clirist  will 
prescr\-e  his  flock  from  being  a  prey  to  their  teeth 
for  ever. 

They  that  infect  our  manners  are  evil  companions, 
Satan's  agents;  who  is  still  scattering  his  fierj-  darts 
among  the  army  of  Israel.  And  when  they  light 
upon  wood  they  kindle,  when  upon  flax  they  flame, 
when  upon  gunpowder  they  blow  uj)  all.  Infirmity 
is  as  the  wood;  desire  to  sin,  that  is  the  flax;  de- 
light in  sin,  that  is  the  powder.  If  we  be  naked,  or 
only  clothed  with  hypocritical  outsidcs,  or  with  the 
thin  coat  of  reason,  these  darts  will  wound  us :  only 
the  shield  of  faith  rebates  the  points,  and  quenches 
all  the  fire.  Some  are  afraid  of  meeting  the  devil 
in  a  dark  night :  alas,  he  will  not  scare  thee  from 
himself:  what  should  he  get  by  that  ?  No,  it  is 
worse  meeting  him  like  an  angel  of  light  ;  by  an 
orator  persuading,  by  a  poet  delighting,  by  a  friend 
flattering,  by  a  wife  seducing  :  thus  is  the  devil  often 
brought  in  like  concealed  ware.  Some  make  ques- 
tion whether  there  be  a  devil  or  no,  because  they 
never  saw  any  :  but  thou  niayst  see  him  in  his  effects, 
tempting  thee  to  lewdness.  In  the  time  of  super- 
stition, the  devil  did  often  appear  in  some  bodily 
shape,  and  he  had  reason  for  it ;  for  by  that  means 
he  drove  men  forAvard  to  desperation,  to  which  in 
those  days  they  were  most  inclined.  But  in  these 
times  of  profaneness,  he  will  not  appear  in  his  like- 
ness, lest  he  should  hold  men  back  from  presumption,  - 
to  which  they  were  running  headlong.  For  he  is 
never  a  worse  devil,  than  when  he  conies  lapped  up 
in  Samuel's  mantle  ;  privily  under  the  cloak  of  holi- 
ness: so  that  now  all  the  wisdom  is  to  see  the  devil. 
If  a  man's  eye  be  too  near  the  object,  the  beams 
of  his  sight  will  be  confounded ;  there  must  be  a 
mediocrity  of  distance.  As  in  the  optics,  if  a  man 
would  perceive  the  art  of  a  perspective  picture,  he 
must  go  a  distance  from  it,  and  then  look  on  it  with 
artificial  eyes,  or  spectacles  fitted  for  the  puipose; 
so  if  a  man  would  apprehend  the  prospects  of  Satan, 
with  all  his  shadowings  and  deep  deceits,  he  must 
not  stand  too  nigh  him,  but  go  further  off.  And 
then  he  must  look,  not  with  the  eyes  of  nature  or 
reason,  so  he  shall  never  descry  him;  but  with  the 
eye  of  faith  in  the  glass  of  the  Scripture,  this  shall 
plainly  represent  him. 

Fear  Satan  then  most,  when  with  the  fairest  pre- 
tences of  good  he  seeks  to  j\istify  evil.  When  the 
woman  of  Tekoah  with  a  subtle  parable  procured 
Absalom's  repeal  from  banishment,  David  replied, 
"  Is  not  the  hand  of  Joab  with  thee  in  all  this  ?  " 
2  Sam.  xiv.  19.  When  thou  beholdest  sacrilege 
coloured  under  the  title  of  an  impropriation,  is  not 
the  hand  of  the  devil  in  this  ?  When  oppression  pass- 
eth  under  the  name  of  reasonable  and  allowed  in- 
terest, is  not  the  hand  of  the  devil  in  this  ?  If  you 
see  secret  malice  strike  under  the  semblance  of  jus- 
tice, is  nol  the  hand  of  the  dc\-il  in  this?  If  covet- 
ous worldliness  pass  for  honest  thriftiness,  is  not 
the  hand  of  the  deWl  in  this?  If  flatten,-  creep  up 
to  preferment,  under  the  title  of  humility,  is  not 
the  hand  of  the  devil  in  this?  If  plumes,  paint- 
ing, gaudy  purfles,  the  ornaments  of  popinjays, 
to  the  inversion  of  nature,  and  destruction  of  mo- 
desty, march  all  under  the  colours  of  comeliness,  and 
going  according  to  their  state,  is  not  the  hand  of  the 
devil  in  this  ?  Let  us  find  out  his  privy  inductions 
of  these  damn:iblc  heresies,  and  resist  him  there ; 
resist  him  stedfast  in  the  faith,  1  Pet.  v.  9:  this 
wrings  his  sword  out  of  his  hand ;  he  and  all  his  ad- 
herents shall  fall  before  us.  "  The  prince  of  this  world 


shall  be  cast  out,"  John  xii.  31  :  what  folly  is  it  for 
the  wicked  to  fight  on  his  side,  that  is  sure  to  be 
vanquished !  Fear  thy  sin,  never  fear  Satan  :  let 
him  not  have  lust,  that  secret  factor  in  thy  city,  that 
intelligencer  in  thy  soul,  and  he  can  do  thee  no  harm. 
Through  sin  only  is  their  force  and  fury  so  terrible 
to  us  ;  "  spiritual  wickedness,"  or  wicked  spirits, 
Eph.  vi.  12  :  but  spiritual  wickedness  is  more  to  be 
feared  than  wicked  spirits.  But  the  God  of  peace 
shall  shortly  tread  Satan  under  our  feet,  Rom.  xvi. 
20.  Now  the  Lamb  that  hath  the  key  of  the  bottom- 
less pit,  and  the  great  chain  in  his  hand,  bind  that 
dragon  with  everlasting  darkness.  But  for  thy  church, 
send  forth  thy  mercy  and  tnith,  and  save  us ;  and 
let  thy  face  shine  ui)on  us  for  ever. 

"  Denying  the  Lord  that  bought  them.".  This  I 
called  their  criminal  evil,  a  sin  that  seems  to  keep 
the  circle  of  their  own  selves;  and  not  to  extend  to 
the  mischief  of  others,  but  only  by  the  force  of  ex- 
ample. In  handling  whereof,  I  will  first  consider 
the  general  doctrine,  what  it  is  to  deny  Christ,  and 
wherein  these  false  teachers  deny  him  ;  and  then  the 
apjilication  of  it,  who  they  be  that  in  these  times 
deny  him.  In  special  we  find  the  aggravation  of 
their  apostacy  in  three  heinous  ascendings.  First, 
they  rff?iy;  it  were  bad  enough  to  slight  him,  worse 
to  forget  him,  yet  woree  to  forsake  him;  but  to  deny 
him,  this  is  fearful.  Secondly,  the  Lord :  not  a  crea- 
ture, not  a  man,  not  a  father,  not  a  friend,  not  an 
angel,  not  themselves ;  but  the  Lord,  this  is  more 
fearful.  Thirdly,  Ikat  bouglit  :  it  is  much  to  deny  a 
benefactor,  more  to  deny  a  parent,  more  to  deny  a 
Creator;  but  yet  there  is  a  step  higher,  to  advance 
this  blasphemy  to  the  full  altitude;  to  deny  a  Re- 
deemer, Him  that  with  the  precious  blood  of  his 
heart  bought  them  ;  this  is  most  execrable. 

Denying  of  Christ  is  of  two  sorts  ;  either  in  judg- 
ment, or  in  practice ;  denial  in  faith,  or  denial  in 
fact.  The  latter  is  of  infirmity,  the  other  of  infidelity. 
Some  have  Jiut  away  faith  and  a  good  conscience ;  and 
"  concerning  faith  have  made  sliipwreck,"  I  Tim.  i. 
19.  There  is  a  denial  of  faith.  Some  having  a  form 
of  godliness,  deny  the  power  of  it,  2  Tim.  iii.  5; 
"  They  profess  that  they  know  God,  but  in  works 
they  deny  him,"  Tit.  i.  IG.  There  is  a  denial  of  fact. 
The  former  makes  a  man  no  Christian ;  the  other 
makes  him  not  no  Christian,  but  an  evil  Christian. 
The  denial  of  Christ  in  judgment  hath  many  degrees. 
1.  Apostacy,  a  falling  ofl"  from  Christ,  and  from  the 
known  tmth  into  wilful  errors.  "Take  heed  lest 
there  be  in  any  of  you  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief,  in 
departing  from  the  living  God,"  Heb.  iii.  12.  2.  A 
violent  opposing  that  truth  which  they  have  rejected, 
both  with  tongue  and  hand ;  justifying  and  defending 
their  own  mischievous  opinions  against  the  go.siiel  of 
Christ.  Lastly,  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost. 
First  men  forsake  Christ,  then  deny  him,  lastly  blas- 
pheme him.  This  is  indeed  that  which  truly  rents 
a  man  off  from  Christ,  and  deprives  him  of  all  hope 
to  be  saved.  The  denial  in  fact  is  a  dangerous  pit, 
yet  the  mercy  of  God  hath  helped  some  out  of  it.  So 
was  Peter  delivered;  the  servant  denied  his  Master, 
but  the  Master  loved  his  servant.  Paul  did  not  only 
deny  him,  Imt  persecute  him  ;  yet  he  "  obtained 
mercy,"  1  Tim.  i.  13.  Many  of  the  Jews  did  not 
only  deny  him,  but  cnicify  him ;  "  Ye  denied  the 
HoivOnc,  and  the  Just,"  Acts  iii.  14;  yet  were  they 
nricked  in  heart  at  Peter's  sermon,  gladly  received 
his  word,  and  were  baptized,  Acts  ii.  41. 

Every  action  that  gives  way  to  God's  dishonour, 
and  heartens  others  to  superstition,  is  a  denial  of 
Christ  in  some  degree  of  fact :  "  The  things  which 
the  Gentiles  sacrifice,  they  sacrifice  to  devils,  and 
not  to  God :  and  I  would  not  that  ye  should  have 


Ver.   1. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETEIt. 


217 


fellowship  with  devils,"  1  Cor.  x.  20.  He  tlmt  tasl- 
eth  the  mcatoffired  to  idols,  hath  denied  Christ  with 
his  tasting.  If  he  doth  not  so,  yet  let  him  but  touch 
those  things  with  pleasure,  he  hath  denied  Christ 
with  his  touching.  Though  he  doth  not  touch,  yet 
if  he  stand  to  look  upon  the  idolatrj-,  he  hath  denied 
Christ  with  his  eyes.  Though  he  forhear  to  look, 
yet  if  he  listen  to  those  charms,  he  hath  denied  Christ 
with  his  ears.  Though  he  omit  all  these,  yet  if  he 
smell  to  the  incense,  he  hath  denied  Chri^t  with  his 
smelling.  He  may  he  denied  with  the  voice,  when 
men  speak  to  dishonour  him,  though  inwardly  they 
reverence  him ;  with  the  garment,  when  they  wear 
idolatrous  fashions  of  attire  to  escape  notice;  with 
the  countenance,  when  they  seem  delighted  to  be- 
hold the  breaden  god  carried  in  a  box  ;  with  the  diet, 
when  only  to  give  content  to  some  popish  spirits, 
they  will  forbear  certain  meats  on  certain  days. 
These  be  all  degrees  of  denial  in  them,  that  rather 
seek  to  please  men,  than  to  be  the  constant  servants 
of  Christ.  (Chr)-sost.  Oper.  Imp.  in  Matt.) 

He  that  dissembles  a  false  faith  is  thus  guilty. 
Faith  may  be  feigned,  c.r  parte  ohjecti,  when  it  doth 
not  credit  all  the  word  j  ex  parte  subjecti,  in  respect 
of  the  false  heart  of  man  ;  ex  parte  exterioris  actionis, 
when  a  man  keeps  the  true  faith  of  Christ,  but  dares 
not  profess  it.  Nicodemus  had  a  good  mind  to  Christ, 
but  he  durst  not  be  known  of  it :  now  in  that  he  did 
not  openly  acknowledge  him,  he  did  in  a  sort  deny 
him.  It  is  objected,  "  Hast  thou  faith  ?  have  it  to 
thyself  before  God,"  Rom.  xiv.  22.  Therefore  a  man 
may  conceal  his  faith.  But  the  apostle  speaks  not 
there  concerning  the  faith  of  those  things  we  must 
necessarily  believe;  but  concerning  the  faith  of  in- 
different things.  Shall  I  change  my  faith  in  these  ? 
No,  do  not  change  it,  but  hide  it.  Shall  my  faith  then 
be  quite  concealed  ?  No,  God  sees  it.  To  what 
purpose  have  I  faith,  and  not  to  show  it  ?  Yes,  show- 
it  to  God.  Thy  faith  is  to  be  concealed,  not  can- 
celled. But  then  a  man  may  hide  his  faith  in  time 
of  persecution,  and  be  present  at  idolatrous  services  ? 
No,  for  the  apostle  speaks  not  of  that  faith,  qiue  ad 
do^ata  perlinet,  sed  de  rebus  medit's  ;  but  only  of 
things  indifferent,  and  therein  sometimes  to  hide 
our  faith  is  not  to  offend.  (Chrysost.)  Our  own  faith, 
I  say  ;  for  a  man  may  sometimes  dissemble  his  own 
faith,  but  he  must  never  counterfeit  a  strange 
faith. 

Here  may  be  questioned,  whether  it  is  lawful  to  be 
present  at  a  mass,  so  long  as  we  reserve  our  own 
faith  ;  and  vrhether  this  be  to  deny  Christ  in  any  sort. 
The  apostle  clears  it,  1  Cor.  x.  14,  "  Flee  from  idola- 
trj'." This  exhortation  he  strengthens  with  two 
special  reasons ;  the  one,  ver.  20,  thev  that  jiartake  of 
things  offered  to  idols,  "  have  fellowship  with  devils." 
The  other,  ver.  21,  "  Ye  cannot  be  partakers  of  the 
Lord's  table,  and  of  the  table  of  devils."  Besides 
offending  of  the.  weak  Christian,  and  confirming  the 
strong  papist.  A  protestant  cannot  possibly  com- 
municate with  the  papists  without  sin ;  yet  they  may 
communicate  with  us  without  sin.  Our  service  is 
without  all  fear  of  idolatry,  even  themselves  being 
judges  :  so  that  a  papist  remaining?  a  papist,  mav 
communicate  with  us;  and  it  is  rather  out  of  pride, 
than  conscience,  that  they  refuse  it.  Yet  it  sticks 
upon  the  stomach  of  some  toy-headed  professors,  that 
tney  may  lawfully  see  a  mass,  going  with  their  kin- 
dred, for  sport ;  and  rather  than  want  excuses,  that 
they  might  more  detest  it.  But  Paul  cuts  off  all 
these  reasons  :  "  Do  we  provoke  the  Lord  to  jealousy  ? 
are  we  stronger  than  he  ?"  1  Cor.  x.  22.  God  shall 
condemn  all  colourable  shifts,  and  expose  thee  to  his 
wrath.  To  exhort  this  allowasce,  nothing  is  more 
commonly  cited  than  the  example  of  Naaman,  "  When 


my  master  goeth  into  the  house  of  Riminon  to  wor- 
ship there,  and  he  leaneth  on  my  hand,  and  I  bow  in 
the  house  of  Kimmon  ;  the  Lord  pardon  thy  servant 
in  this  thing,"  2  Kings  v.  18.  To  which  Elisha  doth 
seem  to  give  apjirobation  ;  "  Go  in  peace."  This 
place  in  their  opinion  doth  prove  it,  when  indeed 
this  place  makes  most  strongly  against  it.  First, 
Naaman  speaks  of  a  civil  worship  to  his  master,  not 
a  superstitious  one  to  the  idol  :  the  king  leaning  on 
his  hand ;  either  for  weakness  or  for  state.  Second- 
ly, he  professed  the  resolution  of  his  heart  to  worship 
only  the  God  of  Israel,  that  had  healed  him  ;  beg- 
ging earth  to  make  an  altar,  erecting  an  altar  for 
sacrifice,  and  sacrificing  that  he  might  be  thankful. 
Thirdly,  he  puts  the  doubt  of  his  own  weakness,  that 
notwithstanding  his  resolved  sincerity  ;  yet  being 
with  his  master  in  that  cursed  place,  he  did  not  know 
how  temptation  might  work  upon  him  ;  therefore  he 
says,  God  be  merciful  to  me  in  this  ;  pray  forme  that 
I  may  not  fall,  pray  for  me  that  I  may  find  mercy. 
Fourthly,  some  think  that  Elisha  did  not  approve, 
but  suffer  Naaman's  fault ;  but  there  is  no  dispensing 
with  sin.  Fifthly,  Go  in  peace,  is  as  much  as,  God 
be  with  you,  sir;  a  valediction;  not  the  words  of 
one  that  granted  a  request,  but  one  that  gave  him 
licence  to  depart.  Sixthly,  indeed  the  prophet's 
meaning  was  to  comfort  the  Syrian  in  God's  mercy  ; 
whose  strength  should  be  glorified  in  his  weakness. 
Who  would  either  wholly  keep  him  from  idolatry, 
or  if  he  fell  upon  infirmity,  afford  him  gracious  for- 
giveness. If  such  a  thing  happen;  but  either  thou 
shalt  die,  or  thy  master  die;  howsoever,  God  will 
prevent  it ;  go  in  peace.  Seventhly,  Naaman  did 
confess  that  the  bowing  in  the  house  of  Rimmon 
was  a  sin,  or  else  he  would  not  have  begged  pardon 
for  it.  AVhen  I  go  to  mass,  I  reserve  my  heart 
unto  God  :  so  did  Naaman,  yet  he  cried,  Lord, 
be  merciful  to  me  in  this.  He  desired  mercy,  as 
fearing  beforehand  :  we  have  those  that  will  do  it, 
and  never  beg  mercy  afterwards;  that  never  say. 
In  this.  Lord,  pardon  me.  Thus  they  have  a  fair 
warrant  from  this  place ;  for  Naaman  condemns  it, 
and  yet  they  would  by  his  example  find  arguments  to 
allow  it.  If  it  were  not  a  sin,  why  doth  he  crave 
pardon  for  it?  if  it  be  a  sin,  why  do  we  seek  to  justify 
it?  But  we  go  to  behold  it  as  a  player:  but  plays 
are  for  stages,  not  for  churches.  Darest  thou  go  to 
a  temple,  to  see  religion  made  a  mockery,  and  th.e 
name  of  thy  God  a  jest.  But  we  would  see  it,  that 
we  may  confute  the  absurdities  of  it.  But  would 
any  sober  man  go  to  a  drunken  meeting,  that  he 
might  leaiTi  to  condemn  diunkenness  ?  he  knew  it 
was  bad  enough  before.  But  we  would  go  to  convert 
others.  Goodly  !  as  if  the  wool  should  undertake  to 
turn  the  pitch  white  by  touching  it ;  will  not  the  pitch 
rather  black  the  wool?  Peter  durst  abroad  draw  his 
sword  against  a  whole  troop,  in  defence  of  his  Master ; 
yet  after  all  his  protestation  of  inscparableness  from 
Christ,  he  was  infected  with  the  air  of  tlic  high 
priest's  hall.  But  yet  we  would  see  it,  that  no  longer 
by  report,  but  by  ocular  testimony,  we  might  hate 
it.  But  would  any  man  desire  to  see  murder  or  in- 
cest, that  he  might  more  loathe  it  ?  All  reasons  are 
lost  that  make  for  sin  :  therefore  resolve  against  this 
danger  of  temptation,  lest  you  be  found  to  deny 
Christ. 

This  for  the  general  doctrine ;  now  for  the  appli- 
cation, that  we  may  perceive  who  they  are  which  in 
any  measure  or  degree  deny  Jesus  Christ. 

I .  The  Jews  and  Turks.     For  the  Jews,  their  re- 

ftisal  of  hiin  more  strongly  approves  him  :  neither 

could  he  be  justified  to  be  that  Messias,  if  they  re- 

.  jected  him  not.     Lo,  now,  how  the  Lord  hath  re- 

f  quited  them  :  they  denied  him,  and  he  hath  denied 


218 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


them.  Their  sin  is  capitally  written  in  their  long 
and  desperate  ruin.  If  they  would  compare  their 
former  captivities  with  their  former  sins,  they  should 
now  find  that  they  have  committed  some  sin  more 
heinous  than  all  former  sins,  hecause  they  suffer  a 
plague  more  grievous  than  all  fqrmcr  plagues.  This 
sin  was  the  denial  of  Christ,  and  this  plague  for  that 
denial.  For  the  Turks,  they  have  taken  the  name  of 
Saviour  from  Christ,  and  given  it  to  Mahomet,  that 
cozening  Arabian.  Their  malice  is  not  only  to  deny 
Jesus,  but  to  murder  him  ;  and  by  all  stratagems,  se- 
conded with  bloody  violence,  to  waste  Christendom, 
and  to  bring  his  name  to  nothing.  But  arise,  O  Lord, 
thou  and  the  ark  of  thy  strength ;  convert  or  confound 
thine  enemies,  and  remember  those  tjTants  that  say 
of  thy  Jerusalem,  "  Rase  it,  rase  it,  even  to  the 
foundation  thereof,"  Psal.  exxxvii.  7- 

2.  The  Greekish  church  of  the  Russes  and  Muscov- 
ites have  reser\-cd  from  forgetfidness  the  name  of 
Christ,  but  in  the  foundations  of  their  religion  have 
denied  him.  They  are  the  basest  dregs  of  all  Chris- 
tians, and  so  to  call  them  is  to  allow  them  the  most 
favour  that  can  be.  They  will  admit  none  of  the 
Christian  world  to  their  font,  but  such  as  solemnly 
renounce,  spit  at,  and  abjure  their  former  God,  re- 
ligion, baptism.  They  are  as  ignorant  as  Turks,  as 
idolatrous  as  pagans,  as  obstinate  as  Jews,  and  more 
superstitious  than  papists.  If  the  worst  of  the  Ro- 
man and  best  of  the  Russian  were  compared,  it  would 
be  hard  to  judge  which  were  least  evil.  They  give 
more  honour  to  St.  Nicholas,  if  at  least  he  was  a 
saint,  if  an  honest  man,  than  they  do  to  Christ.  They 
usually  put  a  scroll  into  the  hands  of  their  dead, 
when  they  bury  him;  it  is  this,  A  Russ  of  Russes ; 
which  they  call  a  certificate  to  St.  Peter.  It  is  their 
wickedness  and  infelicity  to  have  denied  Christ. 

3.  Such  other  heretics  as  have  kept  the  name  of 
Christians,  yet  have  spoiled  the  just  honour  of  Christ. 
These  differ  from  the  other,  and  are  not  properly 
called  religions,  but  opinions.  Every  heresy,  though 
fiindamental,  makes  not  a  religion:  we  say  not,  the 
religion  of  the  Arians,  Neslorians,  Sabellians,  Mace- 
donians ;  but  the  sect  or  heresy.  Not  to  discuss  the 
propriety,  no  opinion  ehallengeth  the  name  of  a  reli- 
gion in  our  usual  speech.  Such  were  the  Valentinian 
and  Manichean  heresies,  that  denied  Christ's  hu- 
manity. The  Arian  and  Samosetanian,  that  denied 
his  Divinity.  The  Nestorian,  that  distracted  him 
into  two  persons.  Eutyehian,  that  confounded  the 
two  natures.  The  Sabellian,  that  mixed  him  with 
the  hypostasis  of  the  Father.  Donatus,  that  denied 
his  kingdom,  that  is,  his  church,  to  be  perpetual  and 
catholic.  Pelagius,  that  denied  him  to  be  the  Re- 
deemer of  little  ones  in  baptism.  Novatus,  that  de- 
nied his  grace  and  mercy  to  sinners  fallen.  There  were 
innumerable  such  whom  the  Lord  with  his  fan  hath 
cast  out,  purging  his  floor  from  such  damnable  cliafT 
The  same  gracious  hand  purge  it  still  ;  that  all  men 
may  come  with  heart  and  tongue,  to  acknowledge 
one  true  God,  and  one  blessed  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ. 

4.  Tlie  religion,  or  rather  faction,  of  papism.  It 
is  most  wonderfid  to  read,  how  Fevardentius  and 
others  of  them  upon  this  text,  do  challenge  us  for 
the  principal  men  that  deny  Christ.  But  when  «e 
come  to  examine  the  weight,  their  very  arguments 
against  us  do  strengthen  us,  and  we  find  ourselves 
the  more  comforted  in  being  so  scandalized.  Let 
indifrercnee  be  judge.  We  adore  and  trust  upon 
Christ  for  our  only  Saviour,  and  ascribe  to  him  the 
■whole  of  our  redemption;  they  join  other  saviours, 
other  mediators,  with  liim  :  now  which  of  us  do  most 
deny  Christ?  Do  you  look  for  more  evidence?  you 
shall  have  it :  that  both  the  cold  neuters  who  treat 
of  a  reconcilement  between  us,  and  the  hot  sepa- 


ratists that  say  we  have  not  left  them  at  all  because 
we  retain  some  ceremonies  which  they  use,  may  be 
at  once  [satisfied  and  ashamed.  It  is  not  matter  of 
order,  but  matter  of  faith,  that  hath  divided  us ;  not 
ceremony,  but  substance ;  not  a  bush,  but  a  wall  of 
stone ;  that  we  can  scarce  imagine  the  separation 
greater  whicii  divided  Abraham  from  the  rich  man 
in  hell.  "  MTio  is  a  liar,  but  he  that  denieth  that 
Jesus  is  the  Christ  ?  He  is  antichrist,  that  denieth 
the  Father  and  the  Son,"  I  John  ii.  2.  But  they 
deny  not  the  Father,  albeit  the  Son.  Yea,  in  this 
they  have  denied  the  Father :  where  Clirist  is  but 
half  a  Saviour,  God  is  but  half  a  Father.  "  Whoso- 
ever denieth  the  Son,  the  same  hath  not  the  Father," 
vcr.  23.  They  worship  images,  adore  relics,  invoke 
angels;  here  they  deny  Jesus.  They  sacrifice  for 
the  sins  of  quick  and  dead  with  a  wafer-cake, 
hold  a  purgatory  for  the  scouring  up  of  souls,  as  if 
Christ's  blood  was  not  able  to  do  it ;  here  they  deny 
Jesus.  They  tread  down  the  deputies  of  God  from 
their  thrones,  and  set  up  a  usurping  prelate,  whom 
all  ages  have  acknowledged  a  vassal  to  princes ;  here 
they  deny  Jesus.  They  take  away  Scriptures,  mangle 
sacraments,  license  stews,  condemn  marriage,  wrap 
up  the  treasures  of  our  conscience  in  the  strange 
liverj'  of  an  imknown  language,  sell  pardons  for  six- 
pence, opeti  heaveii  where  Christ  shuts  it,  and  shut 
heaven  where  Christ  opens  it ;  here  they  deny  Jesus. 
They  mingle  the  blood  of  martyrs,  yea,  of  traitors, 
with  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  of  God  which  is  spot- 
less ;  which  only  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world, 
only  quencheth  the  wrath  to  come,  only  abateth  the 
edge  of  the  Father's  justice,  even  that  sword  cherub- 
ical  which  glitters  before  paradise:  this,  this  is  to 
deny  the  Lord  that  bought  them.  They  are  all  for 
traditions,  we  for  the  Scriptures.  The  goods  of  our 
Father  are  in  question  ;  whither  shall  we  go  but  to 
his  will  and  testament  ?  Thither  we  fly ;  we  do  not 
deny  thy  word,  O  Lord,  we  do  not  deny  thee  :  but 
they  that  deny  the  word  of  Christ,  deny  Christ  him- 
self. 

Under  this  rank  of  deniers  come  those  whilom 
professors  of  religion,  that  have  now  accepted  the 
mark  of  the  beast ;  who  are  so  foolish,  that  having 
begun  in  the  Spirit,  they  will  now  be  made  perfect 
by  the  flesh.  Gal.  iii.  3.  They  despise  the  chaste 
spouse  of  their  Saviour,  and  are  bewitched  with  the 
painted  beauty  of  an  ill-favoured  strumpet.  They 
that  have  seen  her  in  her  gayest  dress  with  Christian 
eyes,  have  loathed  her:  others  have  looked  on  her 
with  the  eyes  of  flesh,  and  adored  her.  Divers  have 
come  to  Rome  with  a  purpose  to  be  confirmed  pa- 
pists :  by  hearsay  they  magnified  her ;  they  came, 
saw,  and  scorned  her.  They  looked  for  religion,  and 
found  rank  idolatrj- :  the  fire  of  their  zeal  brought 
them  to  the  flames  of  martyrdom.  We  have  some 
that  sufler  their  zeal  there  to  die,  where  those  good 
men's  zeal  began  to  live  ;  and  delight  to  live,  where 
they  would  but  die.  Our  mother  weeps  for  them, 
not  for  need,  but  for  pity,  for  piety,  for  love.  Troops 
of  better-informed  souls  flock  daily  into  her  bosom, 
disdaining  their  late  antichristianism,  and  embracing 
her  knees  on  their  own.  The  Mighty  One  of  Israel, 
that  leaves  the  ninety-nine  to  reduce  one  lost  slu'ei>. 
fetch  them  home  to  his  fold,  though  with  shame, 
though  by  death :  that  they  may  shame  the  dcWl, 
forsake  that  harlot,  love  their  own  mother,  bless  their 
own  Father,  and  lastly  save  their  own  souls. 

5.  Tlie  renegade,  that  being  once  baptized  unto 
Christ,  is  afterward  circumcised  unto  Mahomet.  It 
is  in  vain  to  charge  them  with  Paul's  testimony, 
"  If  ye  be  circumcised,  Christ  shall  profit  you  no- 
thing," Gal.  V.  2 ;  for  they  desire  not  that  Christ 
should  profit  them.     Miserable  men,  that  forsake  the 


Veb.  I. 


SECOND  EPISTLK  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


219 


blood  of  their  Saviour,  lo  accept  the  tyranny  of  an 
impostor  !  I  have  read  of  a  Christian,  that  to  save 
his  life  turned  Turk  ;  but  it  could  not  save  him  :  for 
they  presently  in  derision  hanged  him  up,  w'ith  these 
words,  However  thou  livest,  thou  shalt  die  a  Turk. 
Thev  arc  so  conscious  of  their  own  great  prophet's 
weakness,  that  if  any  man  deny  Christ,  tlicy  will 
never  trust  him  in  the  acknowledgment  of  Mahomet. 
(!.  The  neuter,  that  is  of  either  side,  of  neitlicr 
side;  to-day  a  Romist,  to-morrow  a  jirotestant,  next 
day  no  man  can  tell  what,  nor  himself;  this  man  de- 
nies Christ.  They  think  him  theirs,  we  think  him 
ours,  his  own  conscience  finds  him  neither's.  O  but 
our  differences  trouble  him :  but  shall  a  man  deny 
Christ  because  liis  coat  is  divided?  In  religion  and 
faith  there  is  no  wavering;  he  that  doth  not  believe 
and  profess  the  truth,  denies  it.  There  is  no  medium ; 
we  must  be  either  for  it  or  against  it.  "  Curse  ye 
the  inhabitants  of  Meroz,  because  they  came  not  to 
the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty,"  Judg.  v. 
23.  Tney  did  not  fight  against  him,  but  because 
they  did  not  fight  for  him  they  arc  cursed.  Let  us 
say,  as  that  martyr  answered,  when  he  was  offered 
both  torments  and  rewards ;  rewards  if *he  did  deny 
Christ,  torments  if  he  would  not,  with  time  of  de- 
liberation :  The  case  is  so  clear,  that  I  need  not 
study  about  it.  Let  us  much  rather  lose  ourselves, 
than  our  Saviour  Christ. 

7.  The  separatist,  that  speaking  of  his  countrj-, 
cries,  he  is  fled  out  of  B<ibel :  he  nath  forsaken  his 
mother,  therefore  denied  his  Father.  And  whither 
runs  he  ?  Out  of  the  free  and  clear  air  of  the  gospel, 
into  the  stench  and  irksome  mixture  of  Jews,  Arians, 
Anabaptists.  Who  but  a  mad-man  would  forsake  the 
Church  of  England,  which  Rome  envies,  all  the  world 
admires,  to  go  to  Amsterdam  ?  It  is  their  delight  to 
be  thwartingly  peevish  ;  and  where  the  gate  stands 
open,  to  be  ever  seeking  for  a  stile.  They  will  be  cross, 
though  they  be  absurd  ;  and  because  tiic  law  enjoins 
abstinence  on  some  certain  days,  therefore  their 
^eatest  feasts  shall  be  on  Fridays.  Like  certain 
islanders  near  to  China,  that  salute  by  putting  off 
their  shoes,  because  the  men  of  China  do  it  by  their 
hats.  He  that  wrongs  the  wife,  is  no  friend  to  the 
husband :  in  refusing  the  church,  they  have  denied 
Christ. 

8.  The  persecutor,  that  invades  the  liberty  of 
those  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus,  denies  Christ.  Joab 
smote  Absalom's  body,  but  therein  David's  heart. 
The  rebel  says,  he  means  no  hurt  to  the  person  of 
the  king;  but  because  he  doth  it  to  the  subjects,  he 
is  therefore  a  traitor :  so  he  that  strikes  the  Chris- 
tian, strikes  Christ.  Such  shall  not  escape  unpunish- 
ed, either  here  or  hereafter.  Not  even  Paul  himself 
was  transmitted,  without  feeling  what  he  inflicted. 
Examine  his  own  testimony,  2  Cor.  xi.  2.3,  &c.  Did 
he  make  havoc  of  the  church  ?  the  world  made  havoc 
of  him  for  it.  Did  he  liale  men  and  women  to  pri- 
son ?  himself  was  often  clapped  up  for  it.  Did  he 
help  to  stone  Stephen  ?  himself  was  stoned  for  it. 
Dia  he  afflict  his  own  countrj-men  ?  his  own  countrj-- 
men  afflicted  him  for  it.  Did  he  lay  stripes  upon 
the  saints  ?  the  Jews  laid  stripes  uixm  him  for  it. 
Was  he  weary,  painful,  diligent  to  beat  down  the 
gospel  ?  he  was  in  weariness,  painfulness,  frequent 
watchings  and  fastings,  in  hunger  and  thirst,  cold 
and  nakedness,  to  defend  the  gospel,  ver.  27.  Thus 
he  endured  when  he  was  Paul,  wnat  he  inflicted  as 
he  was  Saul.  They  that  persecute  Christians,  and 
escape  judgment  here,  shall  find  everlasting  judg- 
ment hereafter.  Let  this  point  bind  us  all  to  the 
good  bcha'i-iour,  that  wc  do  good  to  them  who  love 
the  Lord  Jesus. 

This  is  the  superior  and  more  immediate  manner 


of  denying  Christ :  there  is  also  an  inferior  and  more 
remote  manner  ;  which  is  of  such  as  tuni  the  grace 
of  God  uito  wantonness,  and  evacuate  to  their  own 
souls  the  virtue  of  his  cross;  who  being  redeemed  to 
serve  Christ,  deny  that  service :  there  is  a  world  of 
these.  The  grace  of  God  that  bringcth  salvation  hath 
appeared  to  all  men,  teaching  us  that,  denying  ungod- 
liness and  worldly  lusts,  we  should  live  soberly, 
righteously,  and  godly,  in  this  present  world,"  Ti't. 
ii.  1 1,  12.  It  persuades  to  holiness  by  this  token,  that 
it  brings  salvation  with  it.  It  is  grace,  a  sweet  na- 
ture :  that  brings  salvation,  oh  more  sweet,  most  wel- 
come !  But  it  might  lie  hid  in  unknown  obscurity  : 
nay,  it  appears  ;  not  to  Paul  or  Peter  (nily,  but  to  all 
men.  Deliverance  from  danger  binds  to  gratitude  : 
this  was  David's  security  to  Bathsheba  concerning 
the  succession  of  Solomon,  "  As  the  Lord  livcth,  that 
hath  redeemed  my  soul  out  of  all  distress,"  1  Kings 
i.  29.  But  advancing  to  great  preferment  bindeth 
more :  this  was  Joseph's  apology  to  his  tempting 
mistress ;  "  My  master  hath  committed  all  to  my 
hand ;  ttiere  is  none  greater  in  his  house  than  I : 
how  then  can  I  do  this  great  wickedness  ?  "  Gen. 
xxxix.  8,  9.  We  were  all  justly  condemned  for  trea- 
son, to  hell ;  the  stroke  of  damnation  was  near  us  : 
at  an  instant  and  exigent  cometh  our  pardon  ;  not 
by  the  hand  of  an  angel,  God's  special  courtier,  but 
in  the  hand  of  a  Mediator;  not  written  with  ink,  but 
with  blood  ;  not  %-ulgar  blood,  that  runs  in  common 
veins,  but  blood  royal,  no  meaner  than  ran  from  the 
side  of  his  own  Son.  Now  our  Sovereign  Creator 
commends  a  suit  to  us,  that  we  would  serve  him,  by 
this  token,  that  he  hath  redeemed  us  at  such  a  price. 
If  we  break  the  covenant,  vilipend  the  mercy,  refuse 
the  service,  trample  under  our  profane  feet  the  pre- 
cious token,  deny  him  that  bougrit  us  ;  what  remains 
but  a  fearful  expectation  of  judgment,  and  fiery  in- 
dignation to  devour  us  ?  Heb.  x.  27,  29.  Under  this 
kind  I  will  touch  but  four  offenders. 

1.  The  dissolute  and  scattering  rioter,  that  draws 
his  patrimony  through  his  throat;  he  denies  Christ. 
Will  he  not  believe  it  ?  let  him  read  I  Tim.  v.  8,  "  If 
any  provide  not  for  his  own,  he  hath  denied  the  faith, 
and  is  worse  than  an  infidel."  Where  is  no  humanity, 
there  can  be  no  piety  :  he  that  is  not  a  good  moral 
man,  will  never  be  a  good  Christian.  He  is  worse 
than  an  infidel,  because  he  transgresseth  nature, 
which  teacheth  us  all  providence,  even  the  very  beast, 
much  more  man.  He  sinneth  against  the  knowledge 
he  hath  received,  therefore  is  the  worst  offender. 
The  purest  ivory  is  turned  by  the  fire  into  the  deep- 
est bladk.  We  use  to  extenuate  the  sinfulness  of 
such  a  one,  He  hath  no  fault,  but  a  little  too  kind- 
hearted  :  it  is  all  one,  He  hath  no  fault,  but  that  he 
hath  denied  the  faith.  He  is  no  man's  foe  but  his 
own  :  yes,  he  is  his  posterity's  foe,  and  no  friend  unto 
Christ! 

2.  The  oppressor.  Paul  says  directly,  "  They  have 
erred  from  tnc  faith,"  I  Tim.  vi.  10.  Yea,  the  very 
uncharitable  :  In  that  ye  have  denied  it  to  my 
brethren,  ye  have  denied  it  to  me,  saith  Christ,  Matt. 
XXV.  45.  Little  thinks  the  engrosser,  that  he  denies 
Christ :  what,  to  take  advantage  of  the  law,  is  this  to 
deny  the  gospel?  Yes,  the  poor  hath  lost  their 
right ;  thou  hast  multiplied  nnjust  gain,  j)referrcd 
mammon  before  the  Lord  ;  thou  hast  denied  him 
that  bought  thee.  But  that  whosoever  rcfuseth  to 
do  mercy  to  the  poor,  denies  Christ ;  this  is  a  point 
of  doctrine  which  the  world  will  not  receive,  let  God 
say  what  he  will.  But  he  that  said.  Whosoever  giveth 
you,  giveth  me,  hath  said  also.  Whosoever  denieth 
you,  denieth  me.  I  send  to  my  friend  for  a  poor 
courtesy  in  his  easy  power,  that  have  done  him  many 
great  favours ;  he  denies  it ;  il  is  all  one,  he  denies 


220 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


CllAP.    If. 


me  for  his  friend.  He  that  hath  the  world's  goods, 
and  takes  no  compassion  on  him  that  hath  none  of 
them,  how  dwells  the  love  of  God  in  liim  ?  1  John  iii. 
17.  He  that  being  able,  gives  not  to  them  whom  the 
Lord  hath  boii<?ht,  denies  him  that  bought  them. 

,3.  Tlie  blasphemer  denies  Christ ;  for  doth  any  man 
love  him  against  whom  lie  inveighs?  "He  that  is 
not  with  me  is  against  me,"  Matt.  xii.  30.  Indeed, 
the  greatest  denial  of  all  is  verbal,  and  the  greatest 
sins  against  God  are  words.  Obliquities  in  speccli 
offend  more  than  those  of  action ;  tliereforc  the  sin 
never  to  be  forgiven,  is  called  "  blasjihemy  against 
the  Holy  Ghost,"  Matt.  xii.  31.  He  that  commits  a 
sin,  offends  the  law ;  he  that  blasphemes,  striketh 
God  himself  There  is  no  greater  grace  than  thankful- 
ness ;  no  greater  sin  than  blasphemy.  I  would  the 
common  swearer  would  think  of  tliis,  that  rashly, 
yea,  rancorously,  blasjihemeth  that  sacred  side,  tliose 
wounds,  that  blood,  whereby  our  souls  are  redeemed ; 
he  doth  in  this  deny  the  Lord  that  bought  him. 

4.  Tlie  desperate,  that  rejects  the  offer  of  .salvation 
by  Christ ;  this  is  a  fearful  denial.  Let  all  the  rivers 
and  streams  that  make  glad  the  city  of  God  nin  unto 
it,  they  are  driven  back  ;  there  is  no  entrance  for  the 
graciousness  of  God,  tliough  it  be  preached  a  thou- 
sand times.  When  the  Lord,  like  a  loving  physician, 
promiseth  to  cure  the  sore,  the  desperate  patient 
thrusteth  his  nails  into  it;  Nay,  it  shall  not  be  heal- 
ed. What  can  be  more  derogatory  and  injurious  to 
Christ,  than  to  change  his  truth  into  a  lie,  and  Sa- 
tan's lies  into  truth,  and  to  justify  the  devil  more 
than  God?  When  God  on  the  one  side  shall  bind 
by  promise,  confirm  by  oath,  ratify  by  seal,  exhibit, 
by  the  blood  of  his  only-licgoften  Son,  pardon  and 
mercy  to  all  accepting  penitents ;  that  thougli  ho 
hath  broken  he  will  bind  up,  though  he  hatli  made 
a  wound  he  will  heal  it,  though  he  hath  killed  he 
will  give  life;  yet  he  is  not  believed.  When  Satan 
on  the  other  side  shall  suggest,  that  the  justice  of 
God  will  never  be  satisfied,  the  heinousness  of  sins 
cannot  be  pardoned,  (as  if  he  liad  lost  the  name  of 
being  the  father  of  lies,)  he  is  credited.  God  hatli 
made  a  decree  in  heaven,  it  belongs  to  the  New 
Testament,  sealed  l)y  the  death  of  the  testator,  wit- 
nessed by  tlirec  in  heaven,  and  as  many  on  earth, 
never  to  be  altered  :  At  what  time  soever  a  sinner 
shall  repent  of  his  wickedness  heartily,  I  will  forgive 
him.  ()  heaven  before  heaven!  and  he  that  denies 
it  finds  hell  before  hell,  and  damnation  before  his  time. 
Tlic  greatest  sins  are  those  that  are  opposed  to  the 
tliree  theological  virtues,  faitli,  hope,  and  charity  ; 
such  are  infidelity,  hatred,  desperation.  The  other 
be  monstrous  sins,  to  the  denial  of  God's  justice  ;  but 
desperation  in  this  is  the  worst,  because  it  denies  his 
mercy ;  and  his  mercy  is  over  all  his  works.  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God,  accept  your  remedy,  deny  not  him 
tliat  bought  you. 

"  Denying  the  Lord  that  bought  them."  We 
have  considered  the  general  doctrine,  let  us  come  lo 
a  particular  examination  of  the  words,  and  an  ag- 
gravation of  their  wickedness;  wliich  discovers  itself 
in  three  degrees : 

The  quality  of  their  act,  They  denied.  So  far 
from  fearing  or  loving,  that  Ihey  fall  to  denying. 

The  excellency  of  the  object ;  no  mean  jiersnn, 
not  a  ser\ant,  not  an  equal,  but  their  master,  Tlic 
Lord. 

The  near  relation  that  was  between  them,  and  the 
right  that  he  liad  in  them,  by  purchase,  That  bought 
them. 

They  denied.  It  had  been  very  much  not  to  have 
feared  him,  especially  seeing  himself  so  warned  us. 
Fear  him  that  can  cast  into  hell,  Luke  xii.  5.  The 
wrath  of  a  king  is  frightful ;  we  fear  an  ague,  won- 


der at  a  comet,  tremble  at  thunder:  and  fear  wc  not 
God,  the  commander  of  all  these  ?  Oh  he  is  of  infi- 
nite majesty  !  mathematicians  wonder  at  the  sun, 
that  being  bigger  than  the  earth,  it  docs  not  burn  it. 
But  this  is  the  wonder,  that  God  being  so  infinitely 
great,  and  we  so  infinitely  wicked,  we  are  not  con- 
founded. "  He  formeth  the  mountains,  createth  the 
wind,  maketli  tlie  morning  darkness,  and  treadeth 
upon  the  high  places  of  the  earth,"  Amos  iv.  13:  can 
lie  do  this,  and  not  punish  sinful  man  ?  To  fear  him 
is  the  whole  duty  of  a  man;  not  to  fear  him  is  the 
way  to  be  left  worse  than  if  we  never  had  been.  To 
want  tliis  fear  is  a  wretched  orbity  ;  but  to  deny  him, 
this  is  worse.  It  had  been  very  much  not  to  have 
believed  on  him,  considering  the  oracles  that  he  spake 
and  the  miracles  that  he  wrought.  They  that  haled 
him,  were  forced  to  testify  both  these  of  him  ;  Never 
man  spake  as  this  man  doth ;  and,  We  never  saw  it 
on  this  fashion:  yet,  This  ye  have  seen,  and  believe 
not,  John  vi.  36.  They  saw,  they  heard,  they  won- 
dered, they  were  convinced,  yet  they  believed  not. 
Their  own  eyes  in  seeing,  their  own  ears  in  hearing, 
their  own  hearts  in  wondering,  their  own  convicted 
reasons,  shall  witness  against  their  unbelief.  The 
Holy  Ghost  shall  "  reprove  the  world  of  sin,  because 
they  believe  not  on  me,"  John  xvi.  9.  If  faith  comes, 
the  guilt  of  all  sin  departs  ;  if  faith  departs,  the  guilt 
of  all  sin  remains.  Israel  had  gross  sins,  as  tempting 
of  God,  unlhankfulness,  adultery  with  Moab,  idolatry 
with  Baal-pcor;  cveiy  one  able  to  have  kept  them 
out  of  Canaan,  to  have  swept  them  out  of  the  world ; 
yet  Paul  imputes  all  to  their  want  of  faith  :  "  They 
could  not  enter  in  because  of  unbelief,"  Heb.  iii.  lij. 
"  Because  of  unbelief  they  were  broken  off,"  Rom. 
xi.  20.  Tlicre  is  destniction  enougli  wrapt  up  in  this, 
not  to  believe  on  him  that  bought  us ;  but  to  deny 
him,  is  yet  worse. 

It  were  very  much  not  to  have  loved  the  Lord,  who 
is  eveiy  way  so  beautiful,  that  no  soul  can  behold 
him  but  she  must  needs  affect  him.  But  the  wicked 
never  saw  him  ;  they  look  after  him  with  carnal  eyes, 
which  are  no  more  able  to  discern  him,  than  a  blear 
eye  can  look  upon  the  sun ;  their  spiritual  eyes  and  in- 
tellectual faith  never  saw  him.  They  behold  him  liang- 
ing  on  the  cross,  sleeping  in  a  sepulchre,  not  sitting  on 
a  throne  ;  as  a  man  of  sorrows,  forsaken  of  his  friends, 
alllieted  by  his  enemies,  exercised  with  terrors,  killed 
with  torments ;  yet  even  then  he  was  lovely.  But 
look  upon  his  innocency,  that  immaculate  Lamb  ; 
upon  his  righteousness,  Christ  the  Just  One :  behold 
him  waited  on  with  angels,  worshipped  witli  prostrate 
knees,  holding  out  a  white  hand  of  mercy,  speaking 
gracious  words  to  penitent  suitors,  smiling  upon  his 
saints,  kissing  the  souls  he  bought :  lo,  now,  his 
beauty  !  If  any  ask  the  church,  "  What  is  thy  Be- 
loved more  than  another  beloved?"  she  answere 
tliat  knoweth,  "  My  Beloved  is  while  and  ruddy,  the 
eliiefest  among  ten  tliousand.  His  head  is  as  the 
most  fine  gold,"  &-c.  Cant.  v.  9 — II.  If  every  mem- 
ber of  liim  be  so  beautiful,  how  excellent  is  the  whole 
composition!  "  He  is  altogether  lovely ;"  take  your 
clioices  where  you  will.  "  This  is  my  Beloved,  and 
this  is  my  Friend,"  ver.  Ifi.  This  is  my  choice.  "Thou 
art  fairer  than  tlie  children  of  men,"  Psal.  xlv.  2  :  all 
that  arc  fair,  are  fair  only  in  thee.  "  Therefore  do 
the  virgins  love  thee,"  Cant.  i.  3.  Suppose  in  a 
country  there  is  a  young  shepherd,  whose  face  hath 
but  newly  discovered  to  the  world  of  what  sex  he  is ; 
his  exquisite  jiroportion  and  admirable  beauty  far 
transcending  all  (lie  rest.  Tlie  virgin  shepherdesses 
desire  his  company,  arc  glad  to  be  in  his  sight,  to  do 
him  any  service,  to  tend  his  flock  ;  and  all  for  a  kind 
word  or  a  smile :  striving  like  rivals  one  with  another, 
who  shall  be  most  near  him  j  and  if  it  were  possible, 


Ver.  1. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


221 


would  every  one  enjoy  him.  So  ten  thousand  limes 
fairer  than  all  the  sons  of  men  is  the  Shepherd  of  our 
souls,  Jesus  Christ :  all  the  virgins  love  him,  every 
good  soul  seeks  him,  and  remembers  his  love  more 
than  wine,  striving  in  a  holy  emulation  who  shall 
most  acceiitable  to  him :  they  will  do  him  all  ser- 
vice and  worship,  honouring  his  name,  feeding  his 
flocks,  making  much  of  his  followers;  glad  of  a 
smile,  but  ravished  with  a  kiss  of  his  lips:  all  would 
possess  him  ;  and  lo,  all  shall  possess  him  that  truly 
believe  on  him.  On  earth  one  husband  is  for  one 
wife,  but  our  infinite  Saviour  is  a  Husband  for  all 
faithful  souls.  As  many  as  believe  on  him,  he  makes 
the  sons  of  God,  John  i.  12.  Christ  being  thus  sweet, 
it  were  much  not  to  love  him.  They  that  love  not 
thee,  0  Lord,  shall  be  written  in  the  dust.  "  If  any 
man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  let  him  be  Ana- 
thema Maran-atha,"  I  Cor.  xvi.  22.  But  now  to 
deny  him,  &e. 

It  was  very  much  not  to  acknowledge  Christ. 
To  hold  a  man's  peace  when  his  honour  is  in  ques- 
tion, is  to  mistake  the  end  of  our  redemption.  Ye 
are  bought  with  a  price  :  therefore  glorify  Christ 
in  your  body  and  spirit,  which  are  the  Lord's,  I 
Cor.  vi.  20.  Now  he  is  poorly  glorified,  when  his 
name  is. concealed.  It  is  said  of  John  Ba])tist,  that 
"  he  confessed,  and  denied  not,"  John  i.  20.  If  he 
confessed,  it  might  seem  a  pleonasm  to  say,  he 
denied  not;  but  this  declares  that  whosoever  doth 
not  openly  confess  Christ,  doth  secretly  deny  Christ. 
The  Merozians  opposed  not,  they  denied  not,  they 
only  stood  still,  did  nothing,  said  nothing  :  they  were 
cursed,  Judg.  v.  23.  Think  of  this,  ye  that  hide 
Christ,  as  the  woman  of  Bahurini  hid  the  spies,  2 
Sam.  xvii.  18,  19,  in  the  deep  well  of  your  hearts, 
and  cover  the  mouth  of  it  with  corn ;  that  would 
keep  in  with  Christ,  and  yet  not  fall  olT  from  the 
world.  "  AVilh  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  right- 
eousness, and  with  the  mouth  confession  is  made 
unto  salvation,"  Rom.  x.  10.  Confession  is  Iheefiect 
of  faith  ;  I  believed,  and  therefore  I  spake,  Psal.  cxvi. 
10.  If  it  were  enough  to  believe  in  the  heart,  to 
what  purpose  did  God  give  thee  a  mouth  ?  (Chrj-sost.) 
If  it  be  sufficient  for  thee  to  know  Christ,  and 
not  to  acknowledge  him  thy  Lord ;  then  it  shall  be 
sufficient  for  Christ  to  know  thee,  but  not  to  ac- 
knowledge thee  for  his  servant.  lie  denies  Christ, 
that  doth  not  profess  himself  a  Christian.  Nor  is  it 
any  help  for  thee,  to  sav  that  silence  argues  consent ; 
for  tliou  art  bound  both  to  consent  and  to  confess ; 
and  indeed  here  lacere  is  negare.  Christ  loves  this 
free  and  humble  acknowledgment,  and  commands  it. 
"  Be  ready  always  to  give  an  answer  to  every  man 
that  asketh  you  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in  you 
with  meekness  and  fear:"  thus  you  "sanctify  the 
Lord  God  in  your  hearts,"  1  Pet.  iii.  15.  Doth  the 
persecutor  question  Ihv  faith  ?  Fear  him  not.  What 
then?  Sanctify  the  Lord  in  thy  heart.  How?  By 
giving  an  answer,  not  silence.  To  whom  ?  Not  only 
to  the  magistrate,  but  to  eveiy  man  that  asketli, 
whether  friend  or  foe,  home-bom  or  stranger.  Of 
what  ?  The  reason  of  thy  hope,  the  ground  of  thv 
expectation  of  eternal  bliss.  Where  and  when"? 
Not  only  in  time  of  peace,  and  assembly  of  saints,  but 
always,  be  ever  ready  to  do  it.  Christ  no  sooner 
said  to  her,  "Mar>;"  but  she  presently  confessed 
him,  "  Rabboni,"  John  xx.  I(i.  It  was  but  one  word, 
to  him  that  is  the  Word ;  it  was  taken  for  an  acknow- 
ledgment. And  can  it  be  that  we  should  not  ac- 
knowledge our  Saviour  ?  He  that  will  not  confess 
a  benefit,  hath  arrived  at  the  utmost  confines  of  in- 
gratitude ;  but  he  that  denies  his  benefactor,  is  fallen 
so  low,  that  he  can  fall  no  lower,  except  it  be  into 
hell.     It  may  be  we  have  not  feared  Christ  with  due 


reverence,  nor  believed  with  true  confidence,  nor 
loved  hira  with  sincere  afleclion,  nor  acknowledged 
him  with  free  confession ;  but,  Lord,  keep  us  from 
denying  him :  let  us  never  deny  the  God  that 
bought  us. 

'*  The  Lord."  One  that  by  just  right  callengeth 
their  service.  Not  a  creature  ;  yet  the  natural  man 
will  not  deny  his  own  horse  or  dog  that  hath  done 
him  service.  A  man  will  not  deny  his  own  house : 
wilt  thou  acknowledge  thy  house,  and  deny  thy  Mas- 
ter, thy  Maker  ?  Not  a  ser\'anl :  Philemon  would 
not  deny  Onesimus,  a  runagate  ser\"ant,  whin  Paul 
had  written  for  him :  wilt  thou  prefer  thy  servant 
before  thy  Lord  ?  Not  a  friend :  he  is  a  prodigy 
that  denies  his  friend.  Nabal  was  branded  for  a 
churl,  because  he  showed  not  kindness  lo  David  his 
friend  ;  and  such  a  friend  as  protected  him,  his  w  hole 
family,  his  substance,  1  Sam.  xxv.  IG.  It  goes  near 
when  a  man's  own  familiar  friend  shall  do  him  a 
mischief,  Psal.  Iv.  13.  This  Absalom  objects  to 
Hushai;  "Is  this  thy  kindness  to  thy  friend?"  2 
Sam.  xvi.  1".  Indeed  men  are  sometimes  so  drunk 
with  the  honours  of  this  world,  that  they  forget  their 
friends.  Like  as  I  have  heard  of  a  lawyer,  that 
l>Ieaded  a  case  very  strongly  on  the  one  side,  yet  be- 
fore the  trial  of  it  being  advanced  to  the  bench,  ad- 
judged it  on  the  other:  yet  thus  answered  all  im- 
putation ;  I  spake  then  as  an  advocate  for  my  client, 
1  speak  now  as  a  judge  of  the  cause.  Or  as  when 
another  challenged  his  friend,  You  were  wont  to  visit 
me  every  day,  now  you  keep  at  distance ;  he  plainly 
answered,  I  then  needed  you,  now  I  am  ;ifraid  you 
will  need  me.  A  good  man  would  not  thus  use  his 
friend;  but  is  there  any  friend  like  the  Lord?  Not 
a  father :  how  unnatural  is  it  for  the  fniit  to  deny  the 
Irec;  and  to  forget  the  rock  whence  he  was  hewn! 
Solomon  a  king  did  not  despise  his  mother,  but  set 
her  at  his  right  hand.  There  is  nothing  but  the  love 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  must  make  a  man  leave  his  parents, 
Luke  xiv.  201.  Indeed  a  man  is  bound  to  forsake  his 
father  and  mother  to  adhere  to  his  wife.  Matt.  xix. 
5.  But  tliis  is  to  be  understood  with  a  limitation,  if 
the  competition  be  impossible.  But  for  Christ, 
"  Hearken,  O  daughter,  forget  thine  own  people, 
and  thy  father's  house,"  Psal.  xlv.  10.  But  otlier- 
wise  how  cursed  a  thing  is  it  to  deny  parents  !  Let 
them  that  glitter  like  the  sun,  and  deny  to  their  poor, 
obscure  parents  part  of  their  superMuities,  remember 
the  doom :  The  ravens  of  the  valley  shall  pick  out 
that  eye,  and  the  young  eagles  eat  it,  Prov.  xxx.  17. 
But  what  is  the  father  of  our  fiesh,  to  the  Father  of 
our  spirits  ?  Not  a  wife ;  and  yet  she  is  not  to  be 
denied  but  in  case  of  known  adultery.  Matt.  xix.  9. 
Hath  God  made  you  one  of  two,  and  shall  one  deny 
the  other?  deny' yourself?  No  man  doth  this,  but 
he  lapscth  into  fornication ;  denying  a  chaste  wife, 
to  embrace  an  unchaste  harlot.  Not  a  sovereign : 
Home  only  hath  broached  those  lees  of  rebellion,  and 
unloosed  the  bonds  of  allegiance.  And  no  marvel 
though  she  hath  denied  God's  deputies  on  earth, 
which  hath  first  denied  God  himself  in  heaven.  If 
kings  do  not  serve  her,  she  forbiddeth  all  subjects  to 
serve  them ;  she  excommunicates  them  as  profane. 
Yet  Saul  himself,  though  he  had  not  sanctity  of  life, 
had  sanctity  of  calling.  Therefore  David  both 
lionoured  him  living,  and  avenged  liim  being  dead. 
(August.) 

Tlicse  be  all  sinful  denials  in  their  several  degrees ; 
but  now  to  deny  the  Lord,  that  is  the  supreme  apos- 
tacy.  If  it  be  ill  to  deny  the  creature,  what  is  it  to 
deny  the  Creator!  If  to  deny  a  servant  that  fears 
thee,  what  is  it  to  deny  a  Master  whom  thou  shouldst 
fear!  If  ill  to  deny  a  friend  that  may  change, 
what  is  it  to  deny  Christ  that  is  the  same  yesterday, 


222 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


and  to-day,  and  for  ever !  If  to  deny  a  father  that 
begat  the  body,  what  is  it  to  deny  God  that  created 
the  soul !  If  to  deny  a  wife  wnth  whom  tliou  art  made 
one  flesh,  what  is  it  to  deny  the  Lord  with  whom  thou 
art  made  one  spirit !  I  Cor.  vi.  17.  If  to  deny  a 
soverci^  be  treason,  what  is  it  to  deny  the  King  of 
kings  !  We  are  subject  to  the  prince  for  the  Lord, 
to  tlie  Lord  for  himself.  The  very  word  the  apostle 
here  useth  is  litrTrorrji,  and  not  cupioc.  Ajcrworije  ^ovXoi", 
Kvpiog  (\ev9ipov  :  Lord  hath  reference  to  a  bond-man, 
master  to  a  free-man.  (Yarin.)  Intimating  in  the 
very  propriety  of  syllables,  that  man  is  a  veiy  bond- 
man under  the  despotical  power  of  God. 

Here  is  then  the  second  aggravation  of  their  sin ; 
Tov  ^lairoTtiv  apvovnivoi.  The  Lord  that  hath  given 
them  his  liveiy,  allowed  them  maintenance,  to  whom 
they  have  vowed  homage,  and  who  can  pour  on  them 
vengeance.  First,  his  liveiy  they  take  and  wear. 
Question  them,  as  Ihe  mariners  did  Jonah,  What  art 
thou?  they  will  answer  with  him,  I  fear  the  Lord 
God  of  heaven.  Yea,  they  will  profess  with  David, 
"  O  Lord,  I  am  thy  seri-ant,"  Psal.  cxvi.  16.  But, 
alas,  they  put  on  this  cloak  that  they  may  be  the  more 
securely  wicked  under  it :  and  if  you  trust  them  not, 
you  shall  be  sure  they  will  not  deceive  you.  But 
how  can  they  jirofess  him  and  deny  him  too  ?  Yes, 
they  may  profess  him  in  words,  and  deny  him  in 
works.  They  bear  Cesar's  stamp  upon  base  metal. 
There  was  one  condemned  for  coming  to  the  mar- 
riage without  his  wedding-garment :  these  have  the 
garment,  but  they  come  not  to  the  wedding:  God 
shall  pluck  their  coat  over  their  ears.  Secondly,  his 
maintenance  they  take  and  live  on :  the  bread  they 
eat,  the  air  they  breathe,  the  clothes  they  wear,  all 
are  his ;  they  are  maintained  only  at  his  cost  and 
charges ;  yet  they  deny  the  Lord  that  feeds  them. 
We  are  to  worship  God,  both  for  his  glorious  sove- 
reignty and  gracious  bounty.  If  thou  do  not  wor- 
ship him,  thou  art  unjust;  if  thou  deniest  him,  thou 
art  unthankful.  Methinks  thou-  shouldst  fear,  that 
the  bread  should  choke  thee,  the  air  infect  thee,  the 
water  drown  thee,  when  thou  considerest,  I  have 
denied  the  Lord  of  all  these.  Think  of  this,  ye  that 
forget  God  and  his  benefits  :  he  that  riseth  from  the 
table  without  giving  of  thanks,  goes  his  way  and 
owes  for  his  ordinary' ;  and  because  he  will  not  pay 
God  in  his  thanks,  God  will  pay  himself  in  his  tor- 
ments. Shall  I  take  my  Mastei-'s  food,  and  deny 
my  Master  ?  Thirdly,  they  have  vowed  homage  to 
him,  and  faithful  adherence ;  Christ  covenanting 
with  his  blood  to  wash  away  their  sins  ;  they  to  for- 
sake his  enemies,  and  continue  his  faithful  soldiers 
and  servants  to  the  end  of  their  lives.  Now  what 
kind  of  soldier  is  he  that  runs  away  from  his  colours, 
and  denies  his  general  ?  Fourthly,  they  deny  that 
Lord,  who  can  destroy  all  those  that  rebel  against 
him :  Those  mine  enemies  that  denied  me  to  reign 
oyer  them,  bring  hither,  and  slay  before  me,  Luke 
xix.  '27.  They  have  not  refused  a  weak,  titular,  mor- 
tal lord,  but  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  that 
spake  the  word  and  they  were  made,  that  can  speak 
again  and  they  shall  be  marred.  "  The  earth  trem- 
bled, the  foundations  also  of  the  hills  moved,  because 
he  was  wroth,"  Psal.  xviii.  7  :  it  was  this  Lord. 
"  Tophet  is  ordained  of  old;  tJie  pile  thereof  is  fire 
and  much  wood  ;  the  breath  of  the  Lord,  like  a  stream 
of  brimstone,  doth  kindle  it,"  Isa.  xxx.  33:  it  was 
this  Lord.  "  His  lord  was  wroth,  and  delivered 
Lim  to  the  tormentors,"  Matt,  xviii.  34:  it  was  this 
Lord ;  a  Lord  that  is  every  where  to  sec  his  wrongs, 
that  hath  a  just  hand  to'  requite  them,  and  an  al- 
mighty i>nwer  to  revenge  them:  from  the  wrath  of 
this  Lord,  the  Lord  himself  deliver  us.  Lord,  who 
knows   thy    greatness,  and  dares   denv   thee?  who 


knows  thy  goodness,  and  will  deny  thee  ?  who 
knows  thy  mercy,  and  can  deny  thee  ?  Thou  art  our 
God,  and  we  will  praise  thee  ;  thou  art  our  Lord,  and 
we  will  serve  thee  ;  thou  art  our  Father,  and  we  will 
honour  thee  ;  thou  art  our  Judge,  and  we  will  fear 
thee ;  thou  art  our  Advocate,  we  will  not  deny  thee; 
thou  art  our  hope,  our  joy,  our  blessedness,  our  sal- 
vation, and  we  will  love  thee  for  ever. 

"  That  bought  them."  This  last  aggravation  is 
derived  from  the  consideration  of  the  unspeakable 
good  which  this  Lord  hath  done  them ;  in  tliat  they 
were  delivered  by  the  most  excellent  benefit  that 
ever  came  to  mankind,  which  is  redemption  by  the 
blood  of  Christ.  For  howsoever  it  was  a  singular 
work  and  favour  of  God,  to  give  us  by  creation  a 
blessed  being ;  yet  was  it  no  otherwise  given  us,  than 
with  a  possil)ility  to  keep  it  or  lose  it :  but  redemiv 
tion  hath  instated  us  to  a  blessedness  nevc^o  be  lost. 
Here  then  is  a  doubt  to  be  resolved  :  how-they  may 
perish  from  Christ  if  they  were  redeemed  ?  how  were 
they  redeemed  if  they  can  perish? 

First,  we  must  lay  this  ground  of  truth,  that  no 
soul  which  Christ  hath  tnily  bought  can  perish  eter- 
nally. "  This  is  the  Father's  will,  that  of  all  which 
he  hath  given  me  I  .shoidd  lose  nothing,"  John  vi. 
39.  But  all  they  are  given  to  Clu-ist  whom  he  hath 
purchased  :  "  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life ;  and 
they  shall  never  perish,  neither  shall  any  man  pluck 
them  out  of  my  hand,"  John  x.  28.  If  I  give  them 
eternal  life,  nothing  shall  bring  them  to  eternal 
death ;  and  to  pluck  them  out  of  his  hand  that  is  Al- 
mighty, requires  an  adversary  stronger  than  himself. 
And  our  Saviour  there  adds,  "  My  Father,  which  gave 
them  me,  is  greater  than  all ;  and  no  man  is  able  to 
pluck  them  out  of  my  Father's  hand,"  ver.  29. 
Hereupon  Paul  makes  a  fi'ee  challenge  to  all  the 
aetore,  and  pleaders,  and  powers  that  ever  damnation 
had  :  "Neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  prin- 
cipalities, nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things 
to  come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,"  (and  if  all  this  be 
not  enough,)  "  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able 
to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  Rom.  viii.  38  :  none  can  do  it.  And  whether 
they  be  Romish  or  Arminian,  that  seek  to  weaken 
the  grace  of  God,  and  pennil  the  redeemed  ones  of 
the  Lord  to  perish ;  let  us  know  them  for  the  brokers  of 
Satan,  the  seminaries  of  despair,  and  deniers  of  Christ. 

But  against  this  doctrine  is  opposed,  "Destroy  not 
him  mth  thy  meat,  for  whom  Christ  died?"  Rom. 
xiv.  15.  "Through  thy  knowledge  shall  thy  weak 
brother  perish,  for  whom  Christ  died,"  1  Cor.  viii. 
II.  But  those  places  may  be  understood  not  kot 
aXifitiav :  not  that  they  can  perish  through  thy  de- 
fault, but  that  thou  dost  what  thou  canst  to  make 
them  perish.  But  here  it  seems  most  plain,  that  they 
may  be  lost  in  denying  Christ,  whom  ne  bought.  To 
clear  this,  we  say  that  reprobates  may  be  said  to  be 
redeemed  in  divers  respects. 

1.  In  regard  of  the  all-sufficient  price  paid  for 
them.  So  Christ  is  said  to  be  that  Lamb  which  taketh 
away  the  sins  of  the  world.  Though  he  meant  not 
to  save  all,  yet  he  died  for  all,  performing  his  part. 
(Chrj'sost.)  For  he  doth  not  really  take  away  all 
sin  from  the  world ;  and  this  himself  declares  by  not 
praying  for  the  world,  "  I  pray  not  for  the  world," 
John  xvii.  9.  Othenvise  the  two  main  parts  or  offices 
of  his  priesthood  were  disjoined,  and  he  should  sa- 
crifice for  them  for  whom  he  doth  not  supplicate. 
Now  for  his  mediation,  it  concludes  his  own  in  it, 
excludes  the  world  out  of  it  j  "  I  pray  not  for  the 
world." 

2.  They  are  said  to  be  redeemed,  in  respect  of  out- 
ward appearance.  So  all  the  Jews  were  called  the 
elect  people  of  God ;  yet  Paul  saith  expressly,  that 


Ver.  I. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


223 


"  with  many  of  them  God  was  not  well  pleased," 
and  they  were  de.stroyed,  1  Cor.  x.  5.  Now,  if  any 
of  the  elect  perish,  God  is  deceived ;  but  God  cannot 
be  deceived.  (August.)  They  were  then  of  his  court, 
they  were  not  of  his  council ;  I  mean,  not  of  that 
number  which  in  his  eternal  counsel  he  decreed 
to  save.  Inward  sincerity  is  not  without  external 
profession,  but  external  profession  may  be  without 
mward  sincerity.  If  the  form  of  godliness  could  save, 
hell  should  be  filled  with  none  but  pagans  and 
infidels,  not  a  Christian  should  conic  thither.  But 
we  know  that  a  man  may  unhallow  that  blood  where- 
with he  was  hallowed,  and  so  deserve  sorer  punish- 
ment, Hcb.  X.  29;  and  a  wicked  spirit  rejected,  may 
make  his  re-entry  with  seven  other  worse  than  him- 
self, Matt.  xii.  45;  and  their  fire  in  hell  shall  be 
hottest,  that  rc-admit  a  devil,  which  the  grace  of  God 
had  once  cast  forth.  As  the  wicked  here  say  of  the 
elect,  That  Iiis  life  is  madness,  and  his  end  to  be 
without  honour,  in  regard  of  their  estate  so  outwardly 
miserable ;  so  the  elect  judge  of  the  reprobate.  We 
number  him  among  the  children  of  God,  and  think 
his  lot  to  be  among  the  saints,  in  regard  of  \'isible 
appearance  :  at  last  they  find  him  cast  like  an  un- 
profitable and  hypocritical  servant  into  outer  dark- 
ness, Wisd.  V. 

3.  They  are  said  to  be  redeemed,  in  respect  of  their 
own  opinion  ;  they  thought  themselves  to  be  re- 
deemed, and  did  apportion  Christ.  There  is  a  tem- 
porary faith,  which  for  awhile  believes,  and  in  time 
of  temptation  falls  away,  Luke  viii.  13;  neither  should 
it  be  said,  "Be  thou  faithful  unto  the  death,"  Rev. 
ii.  10,  unless  there  was  a  faith  that  might  fail  before 
death.  St.  James  says,  there  is  a  faith  without  cha- 
rity ;  which  indeed  may  be,  but  never  be  good,  saith 
Augustine.  This  faith  is  like  a  high  ladder  ;  if  men 
have  got  up  many  rounds,  and  then  let  go  their  hold, 
they  tiike  the  greater  fall.  Some  reprobates  may 
taste  the  heavenly  gift ;  and  yet  fall  so  far  away,  that 
no  repentance  can  renew  them,  Heb.  vi.  4 — 6.  They 
tasted  it,  but  it  seems  they  took  it  but  upon  liking, 
and  could  not  digest  it.  Some  are  so  impudently 
bold  of  their  salvation,  and  presume  themselves  so 
familiar  with  God,  that  they  dare  challenge  him  to 
talk  extempore  with  him.  They  may  think  them- 
selves God's  darlings  and  favourites,  that  never  had 
their  names  registered  in  his  book. 

4.  They  seem  to  be  redeemed,  in  respect  of  the 
judgment  of  charity  ;  which  holds  all  men  jiartakers 
of  redemption,  that  arc  of  the  profession.  We  must 
cast  off  none,  until  we  are  sure  that  the  Lord  hath 
cast  them  off.  Let  us  not  abridge  or  limit  God's  mer- 
cy. How  often  have  our  sins  deserved  his  wrathful 
doom,  which  yet  our  prayers  and  tears  have  reversed ! 
How  often  hath  the  scroll  of  divorce  been  drawn  and 
signed,  and  yet  again  withdrawn  and  cancelled  upon 
our  submission !  Let  us  not  grudge  others  that  mer- 
cy we  have  found.  Why  is  man  cruel,  where  God 
relents?  If  the  .creditor  be  pleased  to  forgive  the 
debt,  do  standers-by  complain  ?  Well  then,  we 
hoped  that  these  men  were  redeemed :  they  were  not : 
we  desired  it,  we  endeavoured  it ;  our  charity  did 
them  no  good,  it  did  ourselves  good ;  our  prayer  re- 
turned into  our  own  bosom,  Psal.  xxx\'.  13. 

This  truth  then  remains,  that  Christ  only  bought 
his  church,  and  salvation  for  liis  church.  '•  Feed  the 
church  of  God,  which  he  hath  purchased  with  his 
own  blood,"  Acts  xx.  28.  "  Christ  loved  the  church, 
and  gave  himself  for  it,"  Eph.  v.  25.  His  name  is 
Jesus,  yet  he  shall  save  only  his  own  people.  Matt, 
i.  21.  For  the  rest,  "  they  went  out  from  us,  but 
they  were  not  of  us,"  1  John  ii.  19 ;  howsoever,  the 
price  was  paid  for  them,  and  there  was  a  sufficient 
ransom  in  the  blood  of  Jesus,  if  their  faithful  appre- 


hension had  made  il  theirs.  Tlie  king  hath  granted 
a  pardon  for  all  malefactors  at  the  parliament ;  we 
say,  they  are  all  pardoned :  yet  perhaps  some  after- 
wards arc  condignly  punished,  because  they  never 
sued  out  this  pardon,  nor  took  the  benefit  of  it.  First, 
therefore,  consider  what  God  hath  done  for  them, 
then  what  they  have  done  against  him  :  the  height 
of  his  mercy  adds  to  the  weight  of  their  iniquity. 

God  in  his  love  redeemed  us  by  the  blood  of  his 
Son.  Now  there  are  four  kinds  of  redemption  : 
First,  when  a  slave  is  freely  released  to  liberty  :  we 
could  not  be  so  discharged;  for,  besides  that  God  is 
just,  and  his  debts  must  be  paid,  Satan  would  not  so 
part  with  us.  Secondly,  when  a  man  is  set  free  by 
commutation  or  exchanging  another  into  liis  room: 
we  could  exchange  no  creature  to  supply  our  seni- 
tude.  Thirdly,  when  a  man  is  rescued  by  a  forcible 
surprisal ;  as  Abraham  redeemed  Lot :  but  herein 
God  was  far  too  strong  for  us.  Fourthly,  by  a  price 
paid;  and  thus  were  we  bought  with  a  price,  even 
the  blood  of  that  unspotted  Lamb.  His  payment 
consisted  in  suffering  for  our  delinquishments,  and 
in  performing  a  sufficient  obedience  to  God  for  us. 

Here  admire  we  the  infinite  love  of  God.  The 
Eg)-ptians  in  their  hieroglyphics,  or  expressions  of 
morality  by  pictures,  used  to  paint  Love  naked,  Mi- 
nerva veiled ;  to  show  that  wisdom  may  be  concealed, 
love  cannot  be  smothered.  The  cherubims  covered 
their  faces,  which  is  the  seat  of  wisdom ;  but  not 
their  breasts,  which  is  the  seat  of  affection.  David 
by  his  dissembled  madness  kept  his  wisdom  unseen 
from  Achish ;  but  spying  Balhsheba  from  the  battle- 
ments of  his  palace,  he  could  not  smother  his  affection. 
God  reser\'cs  his  wisdom  to  himself,  and  the  reason 
of  his  actions ;  but  his  love  is  visible,  breaking  forth, 
and  read  by  every  running  eye.  "  Many  waters  can- 
not quench  love,"  Cant.  viii.  7-  It  is  an  unsuppress- 
ible  fire ;  much  water  cannot  quench  it ;  water  and 
blood  could  not  put  it  out.  Now  whom  did  God  thus 
love  ?  The  world :  not  the  frame  of  heaven  and 
earth,  but  the  little  world,  man;  the  compendium  and 
abridgement  of  all  creatures:  that  whatsoever  is  im- 
printed with  capital  letters  in  that  large  volume,  as 
in  folio,  is  sweetly  and  harmoniously  contracted  in 
decimo-sexto,  in  the  brief  text  of  man,  who  includes 
all.  Planets  have  being,  not  life ;  plants  have  life, 
not  sense ;  beasts  have  sense,  not  reason  ;  angels 
have  being,  life,  reason,  not  sense  :  man  hath  all ; 
being  with  planets,  life  with  plants,  sense  with  beasts, 
reason  with  angels.  Therefore  he  is  called  the  world. 
This  world  God  loved,  affective  before  all  time,  effec- 
live  in  time. 

But  what  good  could  man  do  to  him,  to  induce  this 
love  ?  None ;  our  well-doing  extendcth  not  unto 
him,  Psal.  xvi.  2.  When  we  were  made,  we  added 
nothing  to  God ;  if  we  were  dissolved  to  nothing,  we 
take  nothing  from  God.  That  which  the  Lord  saw 
in  us,  was  apostacy  and  rebellion.  Every  creature 
obeys  God,  in  nmning  that  course  which  he  disposed 
to  them.  But  how  was  this  true,  when  the  sim,  being 
appointed  to  move  his  incessant  race,  did  yet  stand 
still  in  Gibeon  ?  when  the  sea,  being  charged  to  keep 
within  his  bounds,  doth  yet  burst  out  with  inunda- 
tions? I  answer,  God  bade  them  do  so,  dispensing 
with  his  former  command,  and  they  obeyed  him. 
Well,  yet  man,  rebellious  man,  he  loved:  what  did 
he  give  for  him  ?  Paradise,  large  kingdoms,  or  mines 
of  gold  ?  No,  they  are  but  a  farthing  token  to  the 
price  of  this  purchase.  He  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son :  as  he  says.  What  could  I  do  more  for  my  vine- 
yard ?  Isa.  v.  4 ;  so,  what  could  I  give  more  for  my 
vineyard  ?  This  Son  he  gave  for  unthankful  men, 
that  offered  not  so  much  as  a  prayer  for  him ;  for  un- 
righteous men,  that  denied  Him  that  was  not  denied 


224 


AX  EXPOSITION   UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


to  ihem.  Here  was  a  n'c  dUe3.it ;  no  man  could  ever 
find  u  sicut  for  it.  Augustine  supposeth  that  some 
great  prince  had  a  poor  dcsertless  subject,  maimed  in 
mind,  without  reason  or  honesty  :  lepi'ous  in  body, 
without  any  soundness ;  yea,  so  full  of  stench  tliat 
none  could  endure  him ;  yea,  more  than  all,  so  arrant 
a  traitor  to  the  same  prince,  that  he  would  vex  him, 
kill  liim.  He  hath  one  only  son,  a  sweet  and  liope- 
fiil  prince,  the  joy  of  his  heart,  the  light  and  deliglit 
of  his  eyes,  the  singular  heir  of  liis  kingdom  ;  yet 
when  nothing  will  cure  this  forlorn  wretch  of  his 
leprosy,  but  only  this  young  prince's  blood,  he  freely 
gives  that  to  bathe  and  cleanse  him.  This  is  mucli, 
and  such  as  never  was  found,  yet  still  short  of  this 
precedent.  For  if  the  life  of  a  prince  was  given  for 
a  gnat,  it  is  not  so  much  as  for  God's  Son  to  be  given 
for  man.  He  is  worth  ten  thousands  of  us,  more 
worth  than  all :  O  unspeakable  love,  gift,  i)rice ! 

St.  Peter  tells  us  what  was  the  price  of  this  pur- 
chase, the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  a  Lamb  without 
blemish,  1  Pet.  i.  19.  Had  he  emptied  the  veins  of 
the  earth,  and  spoiled  them  of  their  richest  ores; 
had  he  plucked  the  spangles  from  heaven,  and  im- 
poverished the  firmament  of  her  sparkling  beauties; 
had  he  given  the  whole  inheritance  of  the  world  ;  yet 
all  had  been  infinitely  less.  When  David  said  to 
Mepliibosheth,  "  Thou  and  Ziba  divide  the  land  ; " 
he  answered,  "  Yea,  let  him  take  all,  forasmuch  as 
my  lord  the  king  is  come  again  in  peace,"  2  Sam. 
six.  29,  30.  This  was  much,  yet  Mephibosheth's 
content  was  for  David,  a  friend,  a  king  ;  but  God 
parts  not  with  an  inheritance,  but  with  his  Son  ;  and 
litis  for  man,  an  enemy,  a  sen'ant.  Let  death  seize 
on  my  Son,  that  my  sen-ant  may  come  again  in  peace. 
Oh  never  was  so  poor  a  purchase  at  so  high  a  price ! 
That  he  might  show  love  to  «s,  he  forbore  love  to 
himself.  Now  see,  O  renegade,  whom  thou  refusest : 
thou  knowcst  not  whom  thou  deniest,  therefore  thou 
deniest.  If  thou  hast  liought  honour  by  thy  valour, 
thou  callest  it  thine;  if  endeared  a  friend  by  thy 
loyalty,  thou  callest  him  thine ;  if  purchased  a  house 
with  thy  money,  thou  callest  it  thine :  Christ  hath 
bought  thee  with  his  blood,  and  yet  thou  deniest  to 
be  his.  This  ransom  is  paid,  and  now  in  a  merciful 
offer  he  tenders  it  to  thee ;  wilt  thou  in  a  peevish 
sullenness  refuse  it  ?  Conceive  this  dialogue  between 
the  Redeemer  and  the  denier,  lied.  Open  to  me. 
Den.  No,  I  know  not  whence  thou  art.  Red.  Rise 
and  see.  Den.  No,  I  am  in  my  warm  bed  of  plea- 
sures and  carnal  satisfactions,  I  will  not  rise :  who 
art  thou?  Red.  I  am  Jesus,  thy  Redeemer:  wilt 
thou  still  swear  and  forswear,  I  know  none  such  ?  I 
bought  thee,  thou  art  mine  :  I  come  to  embrace 
thee,  deny  me  not.  Den.  Yes,  take  me,  when  all 
other  delights  forsiike  me;  let  me  be  thine  when  I 
am  not  mine  own:  till  then  keep  thy  cheer  to  thy- 
self, I  have  married  my  pleasure,  and  I  cannot  come. 
Oh  obstinate  hearts,  whom  the  King  of  heaven  must 
buy  with  his  blood,  woo  with  his  grace,  wait  upon 
with  liis  patience,  enrich  with  proffers  of  mercy,  and 
yet  at  last  be  denied  !  Lord,  turn  to  such  as  love 
thee ;  we  deny  not  thee,  deny  not  us,  O  good  Lord 
Jesus.     Amen. 

This  is  the  latitude  and  dimension  of  their  wicked- 
ness ;  wherewith  I  will  have  done,  when  I  have  de- 
clared the  penalty  of  it.  Their  punishment  is  pro- 
portioned to  their  fault :  they  denied  him  that  bought 
them,  and  he  that  bought  them  will  deny  Ihem ;  "  If  we 
deny  him,  he  also  will  deny  us,"  2  Tim',  ii.  12.  How, 
where,  and  when  will  he  deny  them  ?  They  surfeit 
on  pleasures,  and  enjoy  the  wish  of  their  own  hearts ; 
how  then  doth  he  deny  them  ?  Doth  not  God  bless 
whom  he  loves,  and  love  whom  he  blesses  ?  Alas, 
those  blessings  to  such  men  prove  curses  ;  wealth  is 


granted,  but  mercy  is  withholden.  The  earth  seems 
their  own,  the  world  applauds  them;  and  is  not  the 
voice  of  the  people  the  voice  of  God?  No.  for  the 
whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness.  But  here  they  are 
honoured,  where  then  shall  they  be  denied  ?  The 
echo  answers.  Here :  even  where  Saul  would  be  hon- 
oure(<,  there  was  he  denied,  before  the  people.  They 
spend  their  days  in  peace,  their  minds  are  not  trou- 
bled, they  sit  not  sighing  and  blubbering  for  their 
offences;  sure  God  is  not  angiy  with  them;  when 
shall  they  be  denied  ?  Xow ;  even  in  that  they  la- 
ment not,  their  ease  is  most  lamentable :  their  pulse 
hath  left  beating,  this  argues  God's  direlietion ;  that 
their  life-breath  is  panted  out,  and  they  have  given 
up  the  (Holy)  Ghost.  AVill  you  hear  how,  wnere, 
and  when  ?  Take  it  from  Christ's  own  mouth  : 
"  Whosoever  shall  deny  me  before  men,  him  will  I 
also  deny  before  ray  Father  which  is  in  heaven," 
Matt.  X.  33.  For  the  manner  how  :  /  icill  den;/  him  : 
not  conceal  him,  nor  excuse  him,  not  hold  my 
peace  and  silence  it,  but  deny  him.  For  the  place 
where :  before  my  Father,  where  my  word  will  be 
taken ;  for  I  have  the  key  of  heaven,  to  let  in  and 
keep  out  whom  I  please.  Before  my  Father,  who 
hath  committed  all  judgment  to  me,  and  set  me  to 
sentence  every  man  according  to  his  works.  Before 
my  Father:  if  it  had  been  only  before  men  where 
thou  deniest  me,  ihey  would  approve  my  justice; 
if  before  the  devils,  they  woidd  be  glad  of  thy  com- 
Jiany,  and  with  a  hasty  rape  hurr)'  thee  to  perdition ; 
if  only  before  the  angels,  (which  is  also  expressed, 
"  He  that  deuicth  me  before  men  shall  be  denied 
before  the  angels  of  God,"  Luke  xii.  9,)  they  would 
witness  how  often  I  h;\\e  sent  them  to  guard  thee, 
how  little  thou  didst  regard  me.  But  what  is  the  de- 
testation of  men,  the  rejection  of  angels,  the  derision  of 
devils,  to  the  loss  of  my  Father's  love  ?  This  "  before 
my  Father"  shall  strike  thee  with  horror.  When 
the  Father  sent  Christ,  he  said,  "  They  will  reverence 
my  Son;"  but  they  conspired,  "This  is  the  heir; 
come,  let  us  kill  him,"  Matt.  xxi.  37, 3S.  Reject  them, 
O  Father,  for  they  rejected  me.  Away  must  their 
faces  be  turned,  from  joy,  from  light,  from  blessed- 
ness ;  to  wander  in  horrid  darkness,  to  lie  bound  in 
chains  of  torment ;  where  unquencliable  fire  and  un- 
satiable  death  shall  not  be  denied  them,  that  denied 
everlasting  life.  For  the  time  when :  in  heaven. 
AVhen  they  knock  with  hope  to  be  let  in  at  that 
gate,  when  they  shall  see  millions  of  confessors  enter 
in  and  be  made  welcome ;  in  heaven  I  will  deny 
them,  that  is,  in  the  day  of  judgment.  On  earth  they 
spake  their  pleasures,  their  tongues  were  their  own, 
they  denied  me  without  control ;  but  when  I  have 
denied  them  in  heaven,  and  they  have  acknowledged 
me  in  hell,  then  shall  they  gnaw  those  tongues  for 
pain.  Rev.  xvi  10,  and  wish  that  they  had  been  born 
dumlj,  never  to  have  denied  him  that  bought  them. 
This  is  a  fearful  plague,  when  God  will  suffer  men 
to  fall  off  from  Clirist,  and  to  reject  their  Redeemer; 
alas,  they  do  no  less  than  split  and  sink  that  ship  in 
the  midst  of  the  sea,  which  alone  should  save  them. 
Whom  shall  they  trust  to  make  them  righteous  ? 
none  can  do  tin's  but  Christ,  and  they  have  denied 
him.  Who  shall  condemn?  it  is  Christ  that  justifi- 
eth,  Rom.  viii.  3.3  :  so  who  shall  justify,  when  Christ 
condemm  111  ?  They  have  sinned,  and  God  is  offend- 
ed, who  shall  make  an  atonement  for  them  ?  Only 
Christ  can  do  this :  if  any  man  sin,  he  is  our  Advo- 
cate and  propitiation,  1  John  ii.  1,  2;  and  this  Ad- 
vocate they  liavc  denied.  \\Tiom  shall  they  call 
ujion  for  love  and  favour  ?  there  is  none  to  be  had 
but  in  Christ,  and  him  they  have  denied.  "  I  have 
somewhat  against  thee,  because  thou  hast  left  Ihy 
first  love,"  Rev.  ii.  4.     He  that  hath  once  broken 


Vf.r.  1. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


225 


hia  faith,  will  not  easily  be  trusted.  Ilim  that  hath 
once  vowed  love  to  a  virgin,  and  after  fallen  off  with 
breach  of  covenant,  no  wise  maid  will  ever  admit 
w  ithin  distance  of  liking.  They  "  wax  wanton  against 
Christ,  having  damnation,  because  they  have  east  off 
their  first  faitli,"  1  Tim.  v.  II,  12.  Whom  shall  they 
call  upon  in  the  day  of  trouble  ?  the  Lord.  This 
was  the  voice  of  Elijah  in  his  agony,  of  Jonah  in  his 
fur>- ;  '•  Lord,  take  away  my  life :"  of  the  apostles  in 
their  fear;  "  Lord,  save  us;  we  perish,"  Matt.  viii. 
25:  of  the  malefactor  dying  on  the  cross;  "Lord, 
remember  me  in  thy  kingdom,"  Luke  xxiii.  42:  of 
Stephen  under  the  stones ;  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my 
spirit,"  Acts  vii.  .59 :  of  Saul  cast  down  from  his 
horse  ;  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?  "  Acts 
is.  6.  This  is  the  echo  of  misciy,  the  suppliant  for 
mercy :  but  alas,  how  shall  they  call  on  tliis  Lord, 
that  have  denied  him?  "  IIow  shall  they  call  on 
him  in  whom  they  have  not  believed,"  Rom.  x.  14; 
yea,  whom  they  have  denied  ?  AVhat  wonder  is  it,  if 
God  doth  not  hear,  where  he  hath  not  been  heard  ? 
if  he  shut  against  them,  that  would  not  open  to  him  ? 
Complainest  thou,  Why  hast  thou  forsaken  me,  O 
Lord?  he  replies,AVhy  hast  thou  denied  me,  Oser\ant? 
There  is  grievous  punishment  for  them  that  fear  not 
God;  Pour  out  thine  indignation  upon  them  that 
fear  thee  not,  saith  the  prophet.  Grievous,  for  them 
that  seek  him  not;  "The  wicked  will  not  seek  after 
God,"  Psal.  X.  4,  therefore  are  lost  in  the  devices 
of  error.  Grievous,  for  them  that  call  not  on  him  ; 
for  he  will  be  a  stranger  to  their  acquaintance. 
Grievous,  for  them  that  trust  not  on  him;  for  they 
shall  be  left  to  themselves.  Grievous,  for  them  that 
love  him  not ;  for  they  shall  be  written  in  the  dust. 
But  most  grievous  for  them  that  deny  him  here,  for 
they  shall  be  denied  for  ever  hereafter. 

The  use  that  we  are  to  make  of  it,  is  by  this  con- 
sideration to  fortify  our  faithfulness  and  loyalty  to 
Christ.  Let  us  not  deny  him,  yea,  let  us  deny  all 
things  for  him.  For,  saith  Hierome,  if  necessity  re- 
quire it,  it  is  godliness  to  hate  our  own  delights  in 
respect  of  the  Lord.  What  good  thing  can  be  lost 
by  our  profession,  which  Jesus  requites  not  in  himself? 
Lose  we  riches  ?  In  him  dwells  all  fulness.  Liberty? 
The  Son  makes  us  free  indeed.  Wife?  heisallusband. 
Children?  he  is  a  Father.  Life?  he  is  the  true  life. 
Therefore  is  he  called  All  in  all ;  that  he  which  hath 
left  all  for  Christ,  may  find  Christ  instead  of  all,  and 
sing  cheerfully.  The  Lord  is  my  portion.  (Ilieron.) 
Why  should  we  deny  him?  he  never  denied  us. 
Not  to  the  riiarisces :  "  Why  eateth  your  Master 
with  publicans  and  sinners?"  this  was  their  ques- 
tion. "  I  am  not  come  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sin- 
ners to  repentance,"  Matt.  ix.  II,  l.'5  :  this  was  his 
answer.  Not  to  Pilate:  "Before  Pontius  Pilate  he 
witnessed  a  good  confession,"  1  Tim.  vi.  13.  Not  to 
the  angels;  for  he  makes  them  ministering  spiiits 
for  our  good.  Not  to  God  the  Father  himself;  They 
are  all  mine,  and  thine,  John  XN-ii.  When  he  was 
betrayed  and  taken,  he  denied  us  not  to  Judas;  "  I 
am  he."  When  he  was  scourged,  he  denied  us  not : 
when  he  was  condemned,  and  nailed  to  the  cross,  lo, 
he  did  not  then  deny  us.  Though  enemies  denied 
him  mercy,  by-standers  denied  him  pily,  angels  must 
deny  him  help,  God  himself  seemed  to  deny  him 
ease  and  comfort ;  so  he  cries.  My  God,  why  hast 
thou  denied  me  ?  yet  even  then  he  did  not  deny  us. 
But  he  confessed  us  to  the  death,  "  Father,  forgive 
them,"  Luke  xxiii.  34;  and  after  death,  as  appears 
by  his  charge  to  Peter,  "  Feed  my  sheep,"  John  xxi. 
I(J;  and  for  ever,  "  Whosoever  shall  confess  me  be- 
fore men,  him  will  I  confess  before  my  Father  in 
heaven,"  Matt.  x.  32.  Away  theiv  with  all  excuses 
of  denial :  there  are  two  temptations  or  causes  of  it; 


infirmity,  and  intidelily.  Infirmity  ariseth  from  fear 
of  pain,  infidelity  from  love  of  pleasure.  Is  any  pain 
like  the  separation  from  Christ  ?  think  of  that,  "  De- 
part from  me,  ye  cursed,"  Matt.  xxv.  41.  Is  any 
pleasure  like  the  pleasures  at  the  right  hand  of  God 
for  ever  ?  Awa)-*  with  that  coldness  of  heart,  that 
like  northern  cloth  shrinks  in  the  wetting,  I  mean, 
in  the  floods  of  persecution.  Away  with  that  thin- 
dawned  profession,  that  like  mown  grass  withers  in 
the  sun,  with  the  heat  of  prosperity.  Let  us  deny 
our  owni  worth,  and  become  nothing  in  ourselves, 
that  we  may  be  wholly  all  in  Christ.  The  poor  man 
depends  not  upon  the  relief  of  others  till  he  find 
nothing  at  home.  Until  our  hearts  be  purged  of 
pride  and  self-love -we  never  depend  on  the  favour  of 
God.  Be  ever>-  thing  denied  that  is  not  ?«  ordine  ad 
Deiim,  and  hath  no  relation  to  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us 
deny  our  ple.Tsurcs,  deny  our  hists,  deny  our  wills, 
deny  our  covetous  desires,  deny  our  seducing  friends, 
deny  ourselves ;  but  let  us  never  deny  the  Lord  that 
bought  us.  To  this  blessed  Lord  of  our  redemption, 
with  the  Father  of  our  creation,  and  the  Spirit  of  our 
adoption,  three  Persons  and  one  most  holy  God,  be 
praise  and  glory  for  ever.     Amen. 

Tliey  "bring  upon  themselves  swift  destruction." 
We  have  anatomized  the  fault  of  these  false  teachers, 
in  denying  their  Redeemer.  Which  haply  was  not 
with  an  open  and  manifest  recusancy,  for  then  ortho- 
dox Christians  would  have  refused  conversing  with 
them,  and  the  church  excommunicated  them ;  but 
rather,  because  such  a  denial  did  arise  by  just  conse- 
quence out  of  their  dogmatical,  stigmatical  assertions. 
For  if  wc  understand  St.  Peter  by  St.  Jude,  the  very 
parallel  and  harmony  one  of  the  other,  we  find  these 
heretics  ch.illengcd  for  turning  the  grace  of  God  into 
lasciviousncss,  Jude  4.  Whereupon  is  inferred,  that 
they  deny  the  only  Lord  God,  and  Jesus  Christ.  So 
that  to  turn  gnice  into  wantonness,  is  to  deny  Christ. 
Neither  was  this  only  exemplar)'  in  their  practice, 
but  also  doctrinal  in  their  profession.  For  he 
that  calls  himself  Christian,  and  teachetli  that  in 
Christ  is  granted  liberty  of  sinning,  denies  the 
Redeemer.  We  are  delivered  out  of  the  hands  of  all 
our  enemies,  that  we  might  serve  him  without  fear, 
Luke  i.  74.  That  we  might  ser\-e  him  without 
fear,  not  sin  without  fear.  Christ  came  to  unbind 
us  from  Satan,  and  to  vex  him  at  our  new  good- 
ness, not  to  make  him  laugh  at  our  wickedness; 
that  we  should  sin  less,  not  sin  more,  and  more  se- 
curely. "Shall  we  continue  in  sin,  that  grace  may 
abound?  God  forbid,"  Rom.  vi.  1,2.  Shall  there 
be  presumption  in  sin  because  there  is  abundance  of 
grace  ?  God  forbid.  This  a  true  position :  What- 
soever the  Lord  Jesus  worketh  for  us,  that  he  also 
worketh  in  us.  If  he  hath  freed  us  from  the  damna- 
tion of  sin,  then  also  from  the  dominion  of  sin.  If 
with  his  blood  he  hath  quenched  the  fire  of  hell  for 
us,  he  hath  quenched  the  fire  of  lust  in  us.  They  are 
miserable  men,  thai  are  wanton  in  Christ  :  as  if  the 
law  had  lost  itself  in  the  gospel ;  and  the  statutes 
against  blasphemy,  adultery,  idolatry,  covetousness, 
were  now  repealed,  to  stand  in  no  more  force,  but, 
like  an  almanac  out  of  date,  to  be  sacrificed  to  forgel- 
fulncss.  This  is  a  left-handed  taking  of  Christ  : 
Christ's  humility  doth  not  comfort  the  proud;  his 
paticnc<?  .shall  do  no  good  to  the  revengeful,  nor  his 
love  to  the  uncharitable.  He  was  a  prodigal  yonng 
heir  that  encouraged  his  companions.  Come,  let  us 
drink,  revel,  throw  the  house  out  at  the  windows  ; 
the  man  in  the  scarlet  will  pay  for  all ;  meaning  his 
father,  who  was  a  judge  :  but  he  adjudged  the  patri- 
mony from  him  to  one  of  his  younger  sons  more  obe- 
dient. So  say  the  luxurious.  Let  us  swear,  oppress, 
abuse,  be  wanton,  be  merry,  be  mad ;  the  man  in  the 


326 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  U. 


scarlet  hath  paid  for  all ;  meaning;  Christ,  that  he  in 
his  scarlet  and  bloody  robes  shall  justify  and  nccjuit 
them.  But  be  not  deceived  ;  as  good  men  as  we, 
.■md  as  jolly  (hey  were,  that  stood  upon  the  father- 
hood of  Abraliam.  (Wc  may  put  away  our  wivc«,  we 
may  swear,  we  may  nate  our  enemies  ;  we  may  kill 
the  prophets,  subject  God's  word  to  our  traditions, 
and  follow  our  own  ways.  Why?  "  Abraham  is  our 
Father,"  John  viii.  39.)  But  by  their  leave,  Christ 
calls  them  bastards,  and  finds  out  another  father  fo» 
them.  "  Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil,  and  the  lusts 
of  your  father  ye  will  do,"  ver.  44.  So,  ye  profane 
wretches,  bear  yourselves  as  long  as  you  will  upon 
Christ,  and  flesh  your  lusts  on  his  merits;  if  you  Ihink 
to  lake  wilful  sin  in  one  hand,  and  Christ  in  the  other, 
you  shall  find  both  your  hands  full  indeed,  but  Christ 
in  neither  of  them ;  the  one  being  full  of  wicked- 
ness, the  other  full  of  vengeance :  you  have  denied 
the  Lord  Jesus. 

They  "  bring  upon  themselves  swift  destniction." 
This  is  the  punishment.  There  are  plagues  enough, 
that  wound  the  flesh,  and  fetch  blood  of  the  soul, 
without  perishing;  but  this  is  the  utter  ruin,  destruc- 
tion. But  yet  this  may  be  far  ofl",  and  haply  doth 
wait  the  succession  of  ages,  and  intervention  of  many 
years ;  and  when  it  cometh,  it  shall  give  warning  of 
the  approach,  like  a  porpoise  before  a  storm:  nay,  it 
comes  on  a  sudden,  it  is  sicift  destruction.  But  who 
shall  inflict  this,  that  they  may  fortify  themselves 
against  it  ?  Themselves :  here  need  no  engines,  no 
enemies,  no  invasions;  themselves  bring  it,  or,  they 
bring  it  on  themselves.  So  that  their  punishment  is 
described,  by  the  author,  measure,  and  manner.  The 
author,  themselves;  tlie  meastn-e,  no  less  than  de- 
struction J  the  manner,  swift  and  sudden. 

They  "  bring  upon  themselves."  Veiy  kind  men  ! 
what  would  they  do  with  others,  that  destroy  them- 
selves? He  that  is  evil  to  himself,  to  whom  will  he 
be  good?  Everyman  thinks  that  he  loves  himself 
far  better  than  his  enemy  ;  yet  while  he  afTecteth 
sin,  he  loves  his  enemy  better  than  himself  All  men 
would  be  happy,  albeit  most  men  take  the  course  of 
infelicity.  (August.)  We  hate  our  foes :  thou  hast 
no  worse  foe  than  thyself:  hate  thy  sinful  self  If 
there  were  no  harlot,  no  drunken  associate,  no  thief 
to  cry.  Cast  in  thy  lot  with  us,  no  devil  to  do  his 
office,  wicked  men  would  beget  destruction  on  them- 
selves. They  send  for  destruction,  so  some  read ;  as 
a  man  despatcheth  messenger  after  messenger,  be- 
cause the  expected  parly  delays  his  coming.  So,  as 
if  damnation  were  leaden-heeled,  they  send  anger  to 
fetch  it  to  them,  after  that  malice,  after  that  murder, 
a  bloody  messenger.  So  worldlings  send  covetous- 
ncss  for  it,  after  that  lying,  after  that  swearing,  after 
that  usury,  after  all  onjiression.  Lest  vengeance 
should  be  too  slow,  and  forget  itself,  these  be  the 
messengers  to  bring  it.  "  By  swearing,  and  lying, 
and  killing,  and  stealing,  and  committing  adultery, 
they  break  out,  and  blood  toucheth  blood.  There- 
fore shall  the  land  mourn,  and  every  inhabitant  lan- 
guish," IIos.  iv.  2.  Now  when  the  plague  comes, 
and  says.  Here  I  am  ;  they  cry  as  the  devil  did  to 
Christ,  What  have  we  to  do  with  thee  ?  why  comesl 
thou  to  torment  us  before  our  time?  Before  your 
time?  replies  destniction.  Why,  did  you  not  send 
for  me  ?  Was  not  pride  rapjiing  at  my  door,  blas- 
jihemy  thundering  in  mine  ears,  sacrilege  pulling 
me  by  the  hand;  all  crying.  Vengeance,  come  away, 
thou  art  sent  for?  And  especially,  when  sacrilege 
hastened  me,  it  was  high  time  to  come.  As  Ahazias' 
three  captains  and  their  fifties  that  were  sent  to  fetch 
Elijah  :  one  said,  "  Come  down  ;"  another,  "  Come 
down  quickly  ;"  the  last  on  his  knees  entreat :  lo 
then  God  saith,  "  Go  down  with  him,"  2  Kings  i. 


9 — 15.  AViekedness  says,  Wrath,  come  down  :  pre- 
sumption says,  Come  down  quickly  ;  but  rebellion 
begs  it  without  nay:  and  then  God  saith.  Go  down 
with  it.  Yi'a,  as  if  sending  for  it  were  not  speedy 
enough,  and  they  would  not  in  this  business  trust  a 
messenger,  they  put  ofl'  all  state,  and  go  themselves 
lo  fetch  it :  they  bring  it  on  themselves.  They  "  draw 
iniquity  with  cords  of  vanity,  and  sin  as  it  w'ere  with 
a  cart-rope,"  Isa.  v.  18.  That  same  threefold  cord, 
not  easily  broken,  that  St.  John  speaks  of,  "The  lust 
of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of 
life,"  I  John  ii.  16  ;  this  draws  it  home.  But  lest  all 
these  cords  shall  not  hold,  hard-heartcdness  is  the 
cart-rope  tliat  shall  fetch  it  with  a  mischief.  Why 
then  doth  a  man  complain  for  the  punishment  of  his 
sins  ?  Lam.  iii.  39.  Punishment  reasons  with  the 
wicked;  Why  dost  thou  murmur  in  thy  sufferings? 
Hast  thou  been  so  many  years  a  bringing  me,  sent 
so  many  messengers  for  me,  and  now  I  am  here 
complainest  thou  ?  I  was  long  a  coming,  I  will  be 
longer  a  departing.  No  man  becomes  miserable  on 
the  sudden  ;  such  is  God's  patience  :  but  being  once 
made  miserable,  it  is  long  before  happiness  returns; 
such  is  God's  justice.  Misery  comes  on  horse-back, 
but  goes  away  (m  foot  :  sin  quickly  brings  her,  long 
repentance  must  drive  her  gone.  From  this  point  of 
doctrine  may  be  deduced  three  collections. 

I.  That  the  wicked  arc  the  causers  of  their  own 
condemn;ition.  "  Which  of  my  creditors  is  it  to 
whom  I  have  sold  you  ?  Behold,  for  your  iniquities 
have  ye  sold  yourselves,"  Isa.  1.  1.  1  took  no  money, 
saith  God,  no  price  of  any  creditors,  for  you  ;  ye 
have  sold  yourselves.  "  His  own  iniquity  shall 
take  the  wicked  himself,"  Prov.  v.  22 ;  there  need 
no  gins,  nor  snares,  nor  plots  to  surprise  him ;  his 
own  sins  shall  do  it.  Tnou  mayst  say  of  thy  sin, 
(as  of  thy  son,)  It  is  a  child  of  thine  own  beget- 
ting :  concupiscence,  the  mother,  lays  it  to  thee, 
and  thou  must  father  it.  "They  shall  make  their 
own  tongue  to  fall  upon  themselves,"  Psal.  Ixiv. 
8.  Let  there  be  no  plaintiffs  to  indict,  no  devils 
to  accuse,  their  own  tongues  shall  condemn  them. 
"Hast  thou  not  procured  this  unto  thyself?"  Jer. 
ii.  17.  Self  do.  self  have.  Procuring  is  a  dili- 
gent labouring  of  a  business  :  so  they  study  to  bring 
evil  on  themselves.  They  meditate  mischief,  Micah 
ii.  I  ;  study  lo  be  naught.  Let  our  providence  be 
never  so  vigilant,  our  circumspect  ion  heedful,  sorrow 
will  come  :  but  these  men  study  for  it  ;  they  beat 
their  brains,  and  break  their  sleeps,  plot,  consult, 
contrive;  and  all  to  bring  on  themselves  swift  de- 
stniction. It  is  true,  that  this  is  not  their  immediate 
])roposed  end,  but  it  is  a  necessary  consequent.  He 
that  to  dig  for  some  hidden  treasure  undermines  the 
foundation  of  a  house,  his  end  is  wealth;  yet  he 
knows  the  whole  building  \v\\l  fall  on  his  head,  and 
(|iiash  him  to  pieces  :  if  he  do  perish,  let  him  thank 
himself. 

2.  ObseiTe  that  God  is  not  the  cause  of  man's  trans- 
gression or  damnation.  "  Let  no  man  say  when  he 
is  tempted,  I  am  tempted  of  God,"  Jam.  i.  1:3.  Se- 
nec;i  hath  a  saying  not  unlike  of  the  gods  ;  Dii  jiec  ha- 
betif,  iiec  dant  malum.  But  it  is  objected.  It  is  God's 
will  that  I  should  thus  sin,  and  thus  fall:  "Why 
doth  he  yet  find  fault  ?  who  hath  resisted  his  will  ?" 
Kom.  ix.  19.  My  will  is  borne  by  the  stream  of  his 
inevitable  will,  I  sin  by  compulsion ;  why  doth  he 
then  complain?  O  detestable  speech,  that  charges 
(iod  with  our  iniquity;  than  which  the  grand  devil 
could  not  roar  a  worse  above-ground.  Consider  their 
ililemnia  :  evil  is  done,  and  God  doth  suflcr  it ;  whe- 
ther then  doth  he  suflir  it  against  his  will,  or  with 
it  ?  If  against  his  will,  this  takes  away  his  omnipo- 
tence: if  with  his  will,  then  he  willed  it.     For  an- 


Ver.  1. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


bwcr,  ihc  will  of  God  is  partly  secret,  wholly  just :  it 
i»  two  ways  considered.  First  as  it  is  written  in 
tables,  imblishcd  by  a  trumpet,  seconded  with  bless- 
ings, curses.  Then  as  concealed,  written  in  another 
book,  wrapped  up  in  the  counsels  of  his  own  breast. 
What  God  formerly  wills,  is  not  done  always,  yea,  is 
done  seldom :  what  in  the  other  respect  he  wills,  is 
infallible.  Sennacherib  is  a  fool  to  challenge  to 
himself,  What  god  can  deliver  out  of  my  hand? 
Nero,  to  pleail.  My  authority  gives  me  licence  to  do 
all  things  :  Rome,  to  challenge  to  her  chair  an  im- 
petuous, imperious,  and  masterless  will ;  to  whom  no 
man  must  s;iy,  as  to  the  Lord,  Why  dost  thou  so? 
Thus  they  ground  it :  "  Shall  the  saw  magnify  itself 
against  him  that  shaketh  it?"  Isa.  .x.  15.  The  saw 
must  nut  lift  up  itself  against  him  that  moveth  it; 
ergo  let  no  man  judge  the  pope.  But  they  shall  find 
to  their  woe,  that  (his  is  only  true  of  God,  who  doth 
whatsoever  he  will.  If  we  press  further  into  his  se- 
crets, we  arc  bid  stand  back.  Adam  was  driven  out 
of  Paradise  for  affecting  too  much  knowledge  :  the 
Israelites  had  died  the  death,  had  they  passed  their 
bounds,  and  climbed  up  to  the  mount.  Fifiy  thousand 
threescore  and  ten  men  of  the  Bethshemitcs  were 
slain  for  looking  into  the  ark,  1  Sam.  vi.  H).  There 
are  some  unsearchable  mysteries,  as  high  as  the 
highest  heavens,  covered  with  a  curtain  of  sacred 
secrecy,  not  to  be  drawn  till  the  day  come  wherein 
we  shall  know  as  we  are  known.  Now  when  men 
have  spilt  blood,  defded  the  marriage-bed,  provoked 
heaven  with  rapes,  treasons,  depopulations,  blasphe- 
mies; what,  have  they  then  done  the  will  of  God? 
Indeed,  in  respect  of  his  hidden  purpose  they  have 
done  his  will,  gpite  of  all  their  malicious  and  sworn 
contradictions.  For  upon  them  that  will  not  do  as 
he  would  have  it,  he  will  do  himself  as  he  would 
have  it.  But  in  respect  of  themselves  the  wicked 
have  done  wliat  God  willed  not;  for  he  commanded 
the  contrary,  and  hath  expressed  that  will  in  his 
word. 

But  yet  he  wills  their  dcstniction,  therefore  they 
bring  it  not  on  themselves.  God  found  them  revolted 
to  sin,  indisposed  to  believe,  and  so  he  leaves  them : 
he  will  not  give  them  faith  ;  he  needs  not,  he  is  not 
bound  to  it.  This  is  God's  hardening,  when  he  will 
not  soften.  His  making  blind  is  wlien  he  will  not 
enlighten.  His  casting  off  is  when  he  will  not  call 
home.  Neither  is  this  only  a  mere  pemiission ;  for 
there  is  a  degree  of  some  forwarder  disposition  in 
God  concerning  the  actions  of  unrighteous  men,  than 
a  bare  toleration.  There  is  great  difference  between 
these  speeches,  and  between,  he  liath  not  a  will  to 
do  it,  and,  he  hath  a  will  not  to  do  it.  The  former 
argues  a  careless  neglect,  this  a  bent  and  resolved 
decree.  A  |x)or  man  asketh  alms;  some  are  not 
willing  to  relieve  him,  as  not  weighing  his  necessity; 
another  hath  a  will  not  to  do  it,  a  determinate  refvisal 
of  mercy.  This. is  then  the  conclusion;  Miiiti  ne 
laberentur  detenti,  nu/li  ut  laberentur  inipuhi :  God 
lifteth  many  up,  there  are  none  whom  he  properly 
casteth  down.  By  him  we  stand,  we  fall  off  our- 
selves. "  O  Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed  thyself;"  if 
there  be  any  help,  it  is  in  me,  Hos.  xiii.  9.  Indeed 
it  is  my  hand  of  justice  that  strikes,  but  thou  by  thy 
wickedness  didst  draw  out  the  sword,  and  put  the 
arrow  into  my  bended  bow  :  thy  pestilent  and  stink- 
ing sins  have  contlatcd  the  plague  wherewith  I  strike 
thee,  (iod  would  have  spared  ihem,  they  would  not 
be  spared;  they  bring  destruction  on  themselves; 
and  still  thou  continuest  holy,  O  thou  Worship  of 
Israel. 

3.  Observe  that  themselves  bring  it;  therefore 
not  any  fatal  necessity  out  of  themselves,  but  their 
oxvn  malice  within  them.     There  be  some  that  say, 


It  is  my  destiny  to  do  this  or  that  sin,  the  siars  have 
signed  it.  Mercur>'  committed  the  theft,  Mars  the 
murder,  Veiuis  the  adultery.  This  is  a  barking  at 
God's  justice  indirectly,  involvedly,  and  somewhat 
afar  off,  to  charge  the  inlUienccs  of  heaven.  As  if, 
forsooth,  God  did  not  instigate  them  to  sin  imme- 
diately by  himself,  yet  by  other  instruments.  Thus 
Adam  insinuated  an  imputation  upon  (iod ;  The 
woman  which  thou  gavest  me  ;  as  if  God  had  given 
him  a  woman  to  tempt  him.  This  is  the  fcarfuUest 
ruin  of  all,  to  accuse  the  Lord  for  the  cause  of  our 
niin.  There  is  no  fatal  necessity  from  above,  that 
drives  man  to  sin.  St.  Augustine  confutes  them  that 
used  to  charge  the  stars  witn  their  impiety.  A  woman 
was  given  to  lust,  and  often  played  the  harlot  :  whicli 
when  her  husband  found,  and  objected  to  her,  she 
excused  herself,  and  pleaded  that  it  was  Venus  which 
caused  her  to  do  so.  Hereupon  he  took  a  staff",  and 
cudgelled  her  for  it.  Then  she  complained  of  his 
unnaturalness,  to  strike  his  own  (Icsh ;  that  she  was 
his  wife,  dear  unto  him,  and  he  ought  not  to  beat 
her.  He  replied,  It  is  not  you,  wife,  that  I  strike, 
but  Venus :  declaring,  that  as  it  was  not  she  that 
played  the  harlot,  but  Venus  in  her;  so  it  was  not 
she  that  he  did  beat,  but  Venus  out  of  her.  A  thief 
hath  stolen  my  goods ;  thou  takest  him  in  the  man- 
ner :  he  cries.  Let  me  alone,  and  charge  Mercury 
with  it,  he  stole  the  goods.  No  wise  judge  would 
indite  or  arraign  Mercury,  call  a  star  from  heaven ; 
but  cut  off  an  ill  member  from  the  earth.  Thus 
neither  can  the  wicked  charge  the  stars  or  any  other 
creatures  with  their  destruction.  True  it  is  that  God 
useth  their  instrumental  means  often  in  executions. 
"  They  fought  from  heaven;  the  stars  in  their 
courses  fought  against  Sisera,"  Judg.  v.  20.  In  the 
days  of  Noah  the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened  so 
wide,  that  they  drowned  the  world.  Fire  came  down 
from  heaven,  and  consumed  those  that  came  to  ap- 
prehend the  prophet,  2  Kings  i.  10.  But  there  could 
be  no  destruction  about  us,  if  there  were  no  cornip- 
tion  within  us.  Who  or  what  shall  harm  you,  if  ye 
follow  that  which  is  good?  I  Pet.  iii.  I.J.  Nothing. 
It  is  our  wickedness  that  makes  the  earth  barren, 
the  air  infections,  the  influences  of  heaven  unkindly. 
If  Pharaoh's  heart  had  not  been  hard,  all  those 
plagues  had  fallen  beside  him.  Let  us  go  into  our- 
selves ;  the  head  aches,  the  members  are  sick,  but 
the  stomach  is  in  fault.  Neither  man  nor  devil  could 
destroy  us,  if  we  did  not  destroy  ourselves.  God 
makes  a  wicked  man  fhnulontimoreumenon,  a  self- 
troubler  :  it  is  a  sore  punishment  when  men  are 
forced  to  punish  themselves.  The  whip  that  must 
scourge  the  wicked  is  of  their  own  making,  every 
cord  whereof  they  have  curiously  twisted.  The  po- 
tion of  bitterness  which  they  must  drink  off,  hath 
all  the  ingredients  of  their  own  putting  in.  Indeed, 
.saith  the  Psalm,  the  Lord  h:itli  mixed  it:  he  may 
compound  it,  but  of  their  materials:  he  need  not 
put  in  a  dram  more,  for  they  afford  themselves  de- 
stniction  enough.  "  As  he  clothed  himself  with 
cursing  like  as  with  his  garment,  so  let  it  come  into 
his  bowels  like  water,  and  like  oil  into  his  bones," 
Psal.  cix.  H.  He  made  cursing  his  clothing;  it  is 
fit  he  should  wear  his  o«ti  garment.  In<lecd  hell  was 
not  made  for  nothing,  and  Tophet  was  prepared  for 
them':  but  they  should  never  feel  it,  till  they  had 
prepared  themselves  for  Tophet.  God  in  his  justice 
would  not  bring  them  to  destruction,  unless  they  first 
by  their  wickedness  did  bring  destruction  to  them- 
selves. We  see  the  punishment  of  denying  Christ : 
O  let  us  never  be  such  enemies  to  ourselves,  that 
have  so  good  a  friend  as  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Destruction."  -  This  is  the  measure  of  tlieir  pim- 
ishment.     Oh  yet  if  the  justice  of  God  would  but 


£28 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  If. 


cliide  them,  not  beat  iliem ;  or  if  it  did  beat  them, 
yet  with  rods,  not  with  scourges  ;  or  if  it  did  scourge 
them,  yet  with  whips,  not  with  scorpions;  or  if  witli 
scorpions,  yet  not  with  burning  thimes ;  or  if  witli 
burning  flames,  yet  not  willi  unquenchable  flames: 
oh  yet  if  any  tiling  might  serve  but  utter  and  endless 
ruin  ;  destruction  !  This  is  an  indeflnite  word,  of 
full  latitude,  that  knows  neither  measure  nor  cessa- 
tion ;  but  comprehends  all  plagues,  external  on  body, 
internal  on  soul,  eternal  on  both ;  a  punishment  of 
extremity,  of  universality ;  destruction. 

God  concealeth  the  manner,  but  denounceth  the 
measure.  Destruction  is  either  temporal  in  this 
world,  or  eternal  in  the  world  to  come.  If  we  first 
consider  it  temporally,  we  shall  find  it  heavy  enough : 
tiicerti  generis,  sed  cerlissimi  ponderis.  Yet  forty 
days,  and  Nineveh  shall  be  destroyed,  Jonah  iii.  4. 
He  lets  them  know  of  a  destruction,  but  he  tells 
them  not  how:  the  quantity  is  plain,  the  quality  is 
hidden.  Nineveh  might  have  been  plagued  many 
ways,  and  yet  stood  upon  her  foundation  still  :  with 
want  of  rain,  as  Samaria  in  the  days  of  Ahab ;  with 
want  of  bread,  that  women  did  eat  their  own  chil- 
dren, as  in  the  days  of  Jehoram  ;  with  pestilence,  as 
in  the  days  of  David  ;  with  the  siege  of  enemies,  as 
was  Bethulia  ;  with  the  tyranny  and  exaction  of  her 
own  kings,  as  once  was  Rome.  But  these  are  all  too 
light  in  God's  balance,  and  nothing  will  satisfy  his 
justice  but  her  final  subversion.  So  is  it  denounced 
against  the  wicked,  "  Destruction  unto  them  !  be- 
cause they  have  transgressed  against  me,"  Hos.  vii. 
13.  "  Pride  goelh  before  destruction,"  Prov.  xvi. 
18.  Thus  they  understand  the  general,  not  the 
tpecial :  this  holds  them  in  suspense,  and  adds  to 
their  fear,  when  they  know  not  what  they  should 
study  to  prevent.  God  hath  always  enough  to  do 
it;  milte  nocendi  artei.  He  speaks  of  four  grievous 
plagues,  "  the  sword,  the  famine,  the  noisome  beast, 
and  the  pestilence,"  Ezek.  xiv.  21.  If  he  should 
particularly  threaten  the  famine,  how  would  they 
hoard  up  corn,  like  Joseph;  fill  their  bams,  their 
granaries,  penuaries,  and  store-houses !  If  the  beasts, 
how  would  they  be  provided  of  engines  to  kill  them ! 
If  the  pestilence,  how  would  they  shift  ground,  and 
run  from  their  countrj',  as  vermin  from  a  house  on 
fire  !  If  the  enemies'  sword,  what  mustering  of  men, 
scouring  of  armour,  preparing  of  munition,  levying 
of  forces,  exercise  of  arms,  would  there  be !  Cities 
would  be  victualled,  ramparts  repaired,  holds  forti- 
fied ;  art  and  labour  would  study  the  best  prevention, 
at  least  so  far  as  their  wisdom  reached.  Though  in- 
deed the  best  is  flying  to  God  by  penitent  supplica- 
tion. Thus  will  I  do  unto  thee  :  and  because  I  will 
do  thus,  prepare  to  meet  thy  God,  0  Israel,  Amos  iv. 
12.  Divers  plagues  are  threatened  in  that  chapter  ; 
from  which  the  prophet  proves  there  is  no  evasion, 
but  by  repentance.  Yet  are  men  so  averse  from 
goodness,  tnat  as  a  guilty  person  before  the  magis- 
trate, seeks  not  to  amenil  nis  fault,  but  to  know  his 
accuser,  and  to  be  quit  ^v^th  him.  Which  of  these 
shall  belt,  God  knows:  the  least  will  serve;  what 
havoc  will  the  greatest  make  ! 

"  Destruction."  There  is  nothing  to  be  bated  of 
total  ruin.  "  If  grape-gatherers  come,  w'ould  they 
not  leave  some  gleaning  grapes  ?  if  thieves  by  night, 
they  will  destroy  till  they  have  enough,"  Jer.  xlix.  9. 
This  justice  will  leave  none,  but  the  wicked  shall  be 
preyed  upon  by  insatiate  judgment,  till  nothing  be 
left.  "  His  lord  commanded  him  to  be  sold,"  Sec. 
Matt,  xviii.  25.  That  servant  owed  ten  thousand 
talents  ;  what  had  he  received  ?  But  to  pay  this 
debt  he  had  not  wherewithal.  No  works,  no  prayers, 
nothing.  "  Then  liis  lord  commanded  him  to  be 
sold,  and  his  wife,  and  children,  and  all  that  he  had. 


and  pavment  to  be  made."  He  might  have  been 
sold  himself;  but  his  wife.'  Or,  himself  and  his 
wife ;  but  his  poor  children  ?  Or,  if  himself,  wife, 
and  children,  yet  also  all  that  he  had?  Nothing  to 
be  left  him,  not  so  much  as  bread  to  sustain  him,  nor 
apparel  to  hide  his  nakedness  ?  No,  all  must  be 
sold,  that  all  mav  be  paid:  here  is  utter  destruction. 
Ciod's  judgment,  like  a  canker  on  a  tree,  first  eats  up 
the  leaves ;  but  leaves  not  there  ;  at  last  consumes 
tree  and  all. 

Let  this  teach  us  how  to  think  of  our  sins,  and 
their  violent  precipitating  us  to  destruction.  Unless 
we  value  the  wealtli  of  our  countrj-,  the  health  of  our 
friends,  the  peace  of  our  consciences,  the  life  of  our 
bodies  and  souls,  at  so  low  a  rate,  as  Honorius,  lying 
quietly  at  Ravenna,  prized  Rome.  When  he  heard 
that  Rome  was  taken,  he  looked  pale,  fearing  it 
had  been  his  hen,  called  Roma ;  but  understanding 
it  to  be  no  worse  than  the  city's  loss,  he  laughed 
at  the  news.  So,  except  we  esteem  our  own  lusts 
and  vanities  more  than  the  welfare  of  the  whole 
land,  and  think  the  loss  of  all  no  more  than  if 
a  fly  were  taken  in  the  web  of  a  spider,  let  us  con- 
fess and  redress  our  sins.  Do  we  marvel  in  this  re- 
bellious age,  why  the  ban-en  turf  yields  pale  and 
hungrj-  grass,  if  the  hail  spoil  the  vine,  whirlwinds 
the  olive,  if  pestilent  breaths  corrupt  the  air ;  let  us 
look  to  our  sins,  and  cease  marvelling.  Not  that 
there  is  destruction,  but  that  there  is  not  destruction, 
is  the  wonder.  No  mar\'el  if  miseries  come,  the 
marvel  is  that  they  stay  so  long.  Let  it  not  be  so 
with  us,  as  Josephus  thought  of  Jerusalem;  that  if 
the  Romans  had  not  invaded  them,  the  ver)-  earth 
would  have  swallowed  them.  Let  us  fall  to  our  sea- 
sonable deprecation,  that  the  Lord  destroy  us  not. 
"  Retum,  ye  backsliding  children,  and  I  will  heal 
your  backslidings.  Behold,  we  come  unto  thee  ;  for 
thou  art  the  Lord  our  God,"  Jer.  iii.  22.  Be  our 
sins  less,  and  our  prayers  more,  that  we  may  find 
mercy. 

We  have  yet  but  lightly  weighed  the  unsupport- 
able  load  of  their  punishment,  and  confined  it  to 
the  circle  of  this  present  world.  Now  this  wound 
will  be  deep  enough,  especially  when  an  Almighty 
hand  shall  give  it.  "  I  will  overturn,  overturn,  over- 
turn it ;  and  it  shall  be  no  more,"  Ezek.  xxi.  27.  If 
the  first  subversion  sen'e  not,  the  second  shall  effect 
it ;  if  they  both  leave  any  thing  undone,  the  third 
shall  accomplish  it.  Overturn  his  diadem,  (for  there 
it  is  spoken  of  the  evil  prince's  crown,)  yet  he  re- 
mains a  man  :  overturn  his  life,  yet  there  is  hope  of 
another  :  nay,  but  overturn  his  soul,  here  is  dcstnic- 
tion  in  her  extremcst  spoil.  So,  "  Let  the  sword  be 
doubled  the  third  time,"  ver.  14  ;  if  the  two  first 
should  leave  any  life  behind  them.  What  the 
palmer-worm  leaves,  let  the  locust  cat  ;  what  the 
locust  leaves,  let  the  canker-worm  eat  ;  what  the 
canker-wonn  leaves,  let  the  caterpillar  devour,  Joel 
i.  4.  If  the  sword  have  left  aught,  the  plague  shall 
consume  it ;  if  the  glutted  plague  leave  any  scraps, 
the  famine  shall  eat  them  up.  So,  what  the  hail  had 
left,  that  the  locusts  devoured,  Exod.  x.  15.  Punish- 
ment shall  grow  like  a  gangrene,  and  never  rest  rank- 
ling till  all  lie  festered.  "  Why  should  ye  be  stricken 
any  more  ?  "  Isa.  i.  5.  He  smites  hard,  when  there 
shall  be  no  need  of  a  second  blow.  "  He  will  make 
an  utter  end  :  affliction  shall  not  rise  up  the  second 
time,"  Nah.  i.  9.  Here  destniction  is  like  Sodom 
fire,  that  left  nothing  behind  it :  they  were  stricken 
but  once,  that  once  was  enough.  As  Abishai  said 
to  David  concerning  Saul  in  the  trench,  "  Let  me 
smite  him  with  the  spear  even  to  the  earth  at 
once,  and  I  will  not  smite  him  the  second  time," 
I  Sam.  xxvi.  8.     Let  this  destruction  take  away 


Ver.  I. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


229 


their  friends,  yet  thev  can  live  of  themselves  ;  let 
it  take  away  their  riclies,  they  can  begin  the  world 
again,  and  set  up  their  trade  afresh,  though  they  were 
broken;  let  it  take  away  their  liberty,  they  can  beg 
through  a  grate  ;  let  it  take  away  their  life,  they  are 
then  destroyed.  This  is  part  of  their  portion,  one 
bitter  ingredient  of  their  cup  :  "  In  the  liand  of  the 
Lord  there  is  a  cup,  and  the  wine  is  red ;  it  is  full  of 
mixture  ;  and  he  pourcth  out  of  the  same  :  but  the 
dregs  thereof,  all  the  wicked  of  the  earth  shall  wring 
them  out,  and  drink  them,"  Psal.  Ixxv.  8.  It  is  a 
cup  :  well,  there  is  a  cup  that  David  thirsts  for,  "  I 
will  take  the  cup  of  sjilvation,"  Psal.  ex\'i.  13.  There 
is  uiue  in  it:  better;  for  wine  cheers  the  heart,  and 
puts  alacrity  into  the  spirits.  That  wine  is  i-erf .-  bet- 
ter still;  60  it  should  be,  this  argues  the  hislre  and 
goodness  of  it :  "  Look  not  upon  the  wine  when  it  is 
red,  when  it  giveth  his  colour  in  the  cup,"  Prov. 
xxiii.  31  :  the  colour  adds  to  the  pleasure.  But  now 
h  is  full  of  mixlure  :  alas,  this  mixture  spoils  all.  It 
is  compounded,  brewed,  made  unwholesome  :  this 
ehangeth  the  condition  of  the  cup,  of  the  wine,  of 
the  colour,  of  all.  It  is  mixed  with  the  wrath  of 
God,  malice  of  Satan,  the  anguish  of  soul,  the  gall 
of  sin,  the  tears  of  despair:  it  is  red,  that  is,  of  a  san- 
guine colour,  the  wine  of  blood.  But  yet  so  long  as 
it  is  in  the  cup  they  need  not  meddle  with  it  :  nay, 
but  the  Lord  will  pour  it  out ;  he  shall  hold  their 
mouths  to  it,  and  make  them  drink  it :  the  rankest 
poison  in  the  world,  the  gall  of  dragons,  and  venom 
of  asps,  is  pleasant  and  healthful  to  it.  Yet  be  it  but 
a  little  of  the  top,  let  them  but  taste  it  :  nay,  they 
must  drink  il  off,  to  the  very  bottom,  the  sediments, 
dregs,  lees,  and  all ;  even  the  very  filth  of  vengeance. 
And  lest  any  drops  should  be  left  behind,  they  shall 
irring  them  out,  and  suck  them  down  to  their  confu- 
sion. The  cup  is  all  bitter,  and  full  of  sorrow,  saith 
Augustine  :  the  godly  do  often  taste  the  top,  and  feel 
the  bitterness,  but  then  it  is  suddenly  snatched  from 
them ;  but  the  ungodly  shall  drink  the  ver)'  grounds, 
and  extremest  poison.  "  Though  hand  join  in  hand, 
he  shall  not  be  unpunished,"  Prov.  xvi.  5.  Though 
head  be  laid  to  head  for  counsel,  and  hand  knit  in 
hand  for  strength,  yet  shall  there  be  no  prevailing 
against  it.  Though  Ahithophel  side  with  Absalom, 
Herod  conspire  with  Pilate,  Dathan  confederate  w-ith 
Korah  ;  though  the  drunkard  join  hands  with  the 
blasphemer,  the  blasphemer  with  the  adulterer,  the 
adulterer  with  the  idolater,  the  idolater  with  the  per- 
secutor, the  i)ersecutor  with  the  traitor,  the  traitor 
with  the  Jesuit,  the  Jesuit  with  the  devil  ;  yet  they 
shall  not  escape  unpunished.  Destruction  shall  stick 
as  faithfully  to  them,  as  the  skin  to  their  flesh.  Our 
sins  deserve  destruction,  our  repentance  is  no  satisfac- 
tion ;  it  is  only  God's  mercy  in  Christ  that  gives  ab- 
solution. 

Yet  is  all  this  but  a  temporal  or  corporal  .subver- 
sion ;  there  is  more  behind,  even  eternal  perishing. 
This  is  the  sore  extent,  which  reaeheth  to  hell  itself. 
Therefore  we  find  these  two,  hell  and  destruction, 
most  commonly  united;  "  Hell  and  destruction  are 
never  full,"  Prov.  xxvii.  20.  Their  "  end  is  destnie- 
tion,"  Phil.  iii.  19,  that  is  miserable;  their  destruc- 
tion without  end,  that  is  more  mi.serable.  If  man 
only  smarted  with  the  dislodging  of  his  soul,  alas, 
she  might  by  Jesus  find  a  better  bed:  death  being 
to  the  faithful  but  a  busy  dream ;  when  they  awake, 
they  shall  behold  the  face  of  God  in  righteousness, 
and  be  satisfied  with  his  likeness,  Psal.  xvii.  15.  Like 
the  Red  Sea,  it  puis  them  over  to  tlic  land  of  pro- 
mise. There  is  a  "  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,  where 
the  beast  and  the  false  prophet  are,  and  shall  be 
tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  and  ever,"  Rev. 
ss.  10.     Tliis  is  the  place  of  residence  for  these  false 


projdiets  ;  this  is  destruction  in  her  full  pay,  weighti 
and  measure. 

They  "  bring  ujxjn  themselves  swift  destruction." 
Swift. "  You  sec  the  authors  of  their  punishment, 
themselves;  the  measure,  which  is  beyond  all  mea- 
sure, destruction:  two  full  aggravations  of  their  un- 
happiness.  Themselves  :  oh  yet,  that  they  might 
complain  of  others,  and  acquit  themselves!  Needs 
must  those  sins  be  sown  like  hemp-seed  with  curses, 
which  must  make  halters  for  themselves.  They 
might  say  to  an  enemy,  or  to  their  old  companion  in 
errors, 

Liceat  perituris  viribus  ignis, 
Igne  perire  tuo ; 

and  this  might  seem  cludem  aulhore  lerare.  But 
themselves  bring  it :  not  that  they  lay  violent  hands 
upon  their  own  flesh  or  spirit,  but  by  eonsequcnt ; 
as  no  man  properly  and  immediately  calls  the  dropsy 
to  him,  yet  by  insatiate  drinking  of  unwholesome 
liquors  lie  procures  it :  "  For  the  end  of  those  ihings 
is  death,"  Rom.  vi.  21.  Destruction  is  tied  to  the 
end  of  sin,  as  Samson  tied  fire  to  the  foxes'  tails  :  or, 
as  a  great  weight  of  lead  is  bound  to  a  small  cord  ; 
it  seems  nothing  to  pull  the  cord,  but  the  lead  comes 
withal,  and  quashetn  the  puller  to  pieces.  This  is 
the  vexation,  when  they  feel  extreme  tonncnts,  they 
shall  curse  themselves  for  the  cause.  True  it  is, 
they  shall  blaspheme  God  desperately.  Rev.  xvi.  11, 
curse  the  devil  maliciouslv,  and  execrate  other  com- 
pany ;  expressed  by  gnasliing  their  teeth,  the  effect 
of  an  impatient  fury  :  but  at  last  they  shall  be  con- 
vinced, and  have  this  acknowledgment  extorted 
from  them.  We  have  destroyed  ourselves.  Besides, 
the  measure  of  this  self-procured  woe  is  destruction: 
all  the  dregs  of  the  vial,  all  the  plagues  in  the  store- 
house of  Almighty  justice,  so  far  as  man's  passive 
nature  is  capable  ;  infinite  in  extension,  what  falls 
short  in  breadth  to  be  supplied  in  length  ;  infinite 
in  everlasting  passion.  Now  the  last  ingredient  to 
Ihisbitter  potion  remains;  to  the  author  and  measure, 
the  manner,  swift.  When  it  shall  come,  it  makes 
no  sparing ;  before  it  do  come,  it  gives  no  warning. 
Notliing  is  more  sure  to  despatch  them,  nothing 
more  quick  to  attach  them  ;  it  is  swift  destruction. 

Sudden  destruction  seizeth  on  the  wicked.  There 
are  judgments  that  creep  on  a  man  by  degrees,  every 
pull  of  pain  being  a  warning  of  dissolution.  These 
are  easier,  1.  Because  preparation  is  tendered,  and  so 
the  mind  begins  to  be  fortified  against  them.  The 
first  seen  cockatrice  is  less  noxious.  Either  we  may 
hide  ourselves  ;  "  A  prudent  man  foreseeth  the  evil, 
and  hideth  himself,"  Prov.  xxii.  3.  Where  ?  The 
Lord  is  a  refuge  in  the  time  of  trouble,  Psal.  ix.  9. 
I'ndcr  the  wings  of  mercy,  he  hideth  himself  in  the 
Lord,  from  the  Lord.  ()r,  by  a  well-fumished  and 
resolute  opposition ;  putting  it  to  a  courageous  ven- 
ture for  the  victoiy.  Or,  by  a  well-tempered  pa- 
tience to  sustain ;  as  wool  meets  iron,  and  turns  the 
stem  violences  to  soft  embraces.  2.  Because  the 
mind  is  the  better  inured  to  bear  or  encounter  those 
evils,  to  which  it  hath  been  exercised  :  as  with 
wooden  weapons  men  learn  to  fight  at  the  sharp. 
"  It  is  good  for  a  man  that  he  bear  the  yoke  in  his 
youth,"'Lam.  iii.  27-  In  the  fable,  when  the  new 
and  old  cart  went  together,  the  new  made  a  creaking 
noise  under  the  load,  and  wondered  at  the  silence  of 
the  old;  which  answered,  I  am  accustomed  to  these 
burdens,  therefore  bear  them  and  am  quiet.  This  is 
the  benefit  of  sustaining  crosses  in  youtii,  such  a  one 
knows  how  to  bear  them  still.  Thus  death  becomes 
welcome  to  us,  because  we  are  acquainted  with  his 
messengers.  For  when  life,  which  is  held  a  friend, 
becomes  an  cneniy,  then  death,  which  is  an  enemy. 


230 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THt 


Chap.   11. 


becomes  a  friend.  It  was  promised  to  one  Israelite, 
that  he  should  beat  ten  enemies :  now  he  that  con- 
quered the  odds,  will  not  cowardly  shrink  at  the 
equality.  3.  Because  the  sense  is  weakened  by 
much  suffering.  Usual  beating  makes  the  child  less 
to  fear  the  rod.  The  faithful  are  so  well  acquainted 
with  God's  gentle  chastisements,  that  they  know  it 
is  the  same  hand  that  strikes  still  ;  perhaps  now  in 
death  a  little  smarter  at  once,  that  it  may  never 
strike  them  more.  Thus  a  consumption  doth  so  by 
degrees  spend  up  the  choleric  humours,  exhaust  the 
spirits,  and  weaken  the  sense,  that  the  tyranny  of 
death  is  lost  in  the  want  of  our  feeling.  .  Some  of 
the  martyrs  that  were  tumbled  down  from  exceeding 
high  rocks,  left  the  bittemess  of  the  pangs  of  death 
in  the  midway  of  their  journey,  and  their  souls  went 
up  to  heaven  before  their  bodies  came  down  to  earth. 
4.  Lastly,  threatened  punishment  hath  lost  the  na- 
ture of  suddenness,  though  not  in  the  passion,  yet  in 
the  person  ;  it  may  despatch  with  speed,  but  the 
patient  before  expected  it.  So  when  God  menaccth, 
and  formally  gives  notice,  he  means  not  to  destroy. 
Jonah  comes  to  Nineveh,  and  peremptorily  threatens 
destruction,  with  the  determinate  limits  of  forty  days ; 
but  God  gave  a  feeling  of  it  in  the  licart,  that  tliere 
might  not  be  a  feeling  of  it  in  the  flesh.  A'ott  est 
eversa,  sed  eonrersa ;  the  sin  of  the  city  was  over- 
thrown, the  city  stood.  All  menaces  are  not  cate- 
gorical, some  are  hypothetical  ;  neither  doth  this 
argue  in  God  levity,  but  mercy.  God  sometimes 
altereth  his  sentence,  but  he  never  altereth  his  pur- 
pose. If  men's  apprehensive  hearts  repent,  there  is 
a  retraction  of  the  judgment.  If  God  give  not  his 
preventing  sorrow,  the  punishment  shall  be  new 
enough  to  the  sutl'erer,  how  old  soever  it  be  in  re- 
spect of  the  decreer.  "The  consumption  decreed 
shall  overflow  with  righteousness,"  Isa.  x.  22. 

But  this  is  swift  perdition.  A  man  thinks  lingering 
evils  swift  enough,  though  they  come  the  tortoise 
pace,  yea,  sliding  on.  Though  the  fabric  of  his  body 
be  as  long  a  plucking  down  as  the  temple  of  Jerusa- 
lem w'as  a  building  up,  six  and  thirty  years  ;  yet  still 
they  say  to  sickness,  as  the  devils  said  to  Christ,  Why 
comest  thou  to  tonnent  us  before  our  time?  Matt.  viii. 
29.  Yea,  could  it  give  us  as  long  warning  as  Noah  gave 
the  old  world,  a  hundred  and  twenty  years;  yet,  Lord, 
thou  art  too  hasty  :  they  lind  fault  with  the  precipi- 
tation. Let  the  siege  to  thy  life  be  as  the  Grecians' 
to  Troy,  of  ten  years'  continuance;  yet  still  thou 
sayest.  It  conies  on  a  sudden,  I  did  not  look  for  it  so 
soon.  But  we  know  whose  mouth  hath  spoken  it. 
Men  of  bloods  and  deceit  shall  not  live  out  half  their 
days,  Psal.  Iv.  23  ;  not  half  those  which  in  the  course 
of  nature,  and  opinion  of  the  world,  they  miglil  have 
run.  Herod  was  taken  away  quickly,  in  the  midst  of 
his  popular  applause ;  and  the  angel  of  God  immedi- 
ately smote  him,  Acts  xii.  23.  "  God  shall  shoot  at 
them  with  an  aiTOW;  suddenly  shall  they  be  wounded," 
Psal.  Ixiv.  7  ;  as  a  man  sees  not  the  thunderbolt  till  it 
strike  him  dead.  "  How  are  they  brought  into  deso- 
lation, as  in  a  moment !  they  are  utterly  consumed 
with  terrors,"  Psal.  Ixxiii.  19 :  in  a  moment ;  there  is 
neither  before  nor  after.  "  As  a  dream  when  one 
awaketh,"  &c.  ver.  20.  All  their  prosperity  is  but 
a  dream  :  they  laugh  in  their  sleep,  but  they  awake 
howling.  Yet  a  little  while,  and  the  wicked  shall 
not  be :  thou  shalt  diligently  seek  for  his  place,  and  it 
shall  not  be  found,  Psal.  xxxvii.  10.  Destruction  shall 
leave  neither  the  man  nor  his  place.  The  wicked 
spreads  himself  like  a  green  bay-free  :  yet  he  passed 
away,  and,  lo,  he  was  not :  I  sought  him,  but  lu-  could 
not  be  found,  ver.  35,  3G.  Thou  sawest  him  to-day 
aspiring  like  the  cedars;  seek  for  him  lo-morrow', 
and  thou  relurnesi  willi  a  von  imenlux.    "The  house 


of  the  wicked  shall  be  overthrown,"  Prov.  xiv.  II. 
How  ?  What  seest  thou  ?  A  flying  roll,  Zech.  v.  2. 
What  shall  it  do  ?  It  shall  enter  into  the  house  of 
t-iie  wicked,  and  shall  remain  in  tlie  midst  of  his 
house,  and  shall  consume  it  with  the  timber  and 
•stones  of  it,  ver.  4.  It  is  a  flying  roll,  a  winged  curse, 
not  seen  till  it  be  felt.  It  shall  destroy,  not  with  a 
lingering  consumption,  to  "dwell  in  his  tabernacle," 
and  do  it  by  a  long  succession  of  plagues  ;  but,  in  al- 
lusion to  Sodom,  "  brimstone  shall  be  scattered  upon 
his  habitation,"  Job  xviii.  15.  By  the  civil  law, 
every  man's  house  is  his  castle ;  no  man  may  be  drag- 
ged out  of  his  own  door  by  the  civil  power :  yet  in 
such  as  we  call  crown  cases,  treasons  and  contuma- 
cies, great  houses  have  been  thundered  down  over 
tlie  owners'  heads  ;  and  like  the  house  of  Baal,  2 
Kings  X.  27,  and  of  such  idolaters,  Dan.  iii.  29,  they 
may  be  converted  into  filthy  draughts,  dunghills, 
and  receptacles  of  excrements.  When  God  saw 
his  own  temple  made  a  den  of  thieves,  he  destroyed 
it  ;  therefore  how  much  less  will  he  spare  private 
houses,  wlien  they  are  made  shops  of  mischief  and 
monuments  of  iniquity  !  "  The  stone  shall  cry  out  of 
the  wall,  and  the  beam  out  of  the  timber  shall  answer 
it,"  Hab.  ii.  11.  The  stones  at  everj'  joint  shall  weep 
like  marble,  and  the  timber  at  every  pin  shall  bleed 
like  the  vine;  both  joining  in  a  mournful  anthem; 
one  beginning,  the  other  answering,  "  Woe  to  him 
that  buildetli  with  blood!"  ver.  12.  Yet  if  the  man 
himself  might  escape,  more  houses  might  be  had  for 
money :  nay,  saith  Bildad,  "  He  shall  be  chased  out 
of  the  world,"  Job  xviii.  18.  But  though  his  body 
be  accursed  like  the  barren  fig-tree,  "  Never  fruit 
grow  on  thee  more ;"  yet  he  might  have  his  estate 
continued  to  his  posterity.  No,  "  He  shall  neither 
have  son  nor  nephew  among  his  people,  nor  any  re- 
maining in  his  dwellings,''  ver.  19.  His  house  shall 
be  destroyed  ;  and  this,  in  Scripture,  contains  the 
whole  family  :  I  and  my  house  will  serve  the  Lord, 
Jo.sli.  xxiv.  15.  The  materials  and  formals  shall  be 
destroyed.  But  though  body,  house,  and  posterity 
be  lost ;  yet  still  he  may  say  as  Absalom  said,  and  do 
as  Absalom  did  ;  he  "  reared  up  for  himself  a  pillar, 
for  he  said,  I  have  no  son  to  keep  my  name  in  re- 
membrance :  and  he  called  the  pillar  after  his  own 
name,  Absalom's  place,"  2  Sam.  xviii.  18.  So,  "  Their 
inward  thought  is,  that  their  houses  shall  continue  for 
ever,  and  their  dwelling-places  to  all  generations : 
they  call  their  lands  after  their  own  names,"  Psal. 
xlix.  11.  Let  me  build  a  house,  and  rear  a  monument 
after  mine  own  name.  No,  down  with  it  to  the 
ground :  "  His  remembrance  shall  perish  from  the 
earth,  and  he  shall  have  no  name  in  the  street,"  Job 
xviii.  17.  As  Valerius  speaks  of  those  Romans,  who 
besides  their  own  deatns,  peiiatium  quoque  strage 
puniimlHf.  This  is  a  fearful  destruction,  to  be  so 
rooted  out  as  Ravillac,  that  their  very  name  becomes 
a  stench.  But  that  all  this  should  be  done  suddenly, 
uiio  aclu,  uno  ictii;  vengeance  itself,  men  think,  can 
do  no  more. 

He  shall  be  destroyed :  might  it  not  be  said,  much 
ruinated  ?  As  a  house  hath  the  windows  broken,  yet 
it  stands ;  the  covering  is  strijiped  off,  yet  it  stands ; 
the  walls  arc  beaten  down,  yet  it  stands :  take  away 
the  foundation,  then  you  may  say.  Here  was  a  house. 
"  If  he  destroy  him  from  his  place,  then  it  shall  deny 
him.  .saying,  1  have  not  seen  thee,"  Job  viii.  Is. 
May  it  not  be  said  of  man,  as  of  a  clock;  which 
growing  foul,  the  maker  resumes,  takes  it  in  pieces, 
lays  it  wlieel  by  wheel,  and  pin  by  pin ;  scours  it, 
puts  it  logetlier  in  frame  again,  and  sets  it  going? 
No,  alas,  the  wicked  is  destroyed,  put  out  of  tune  for 
ever,  and  that  as  swiftly  as  if  a  clock  were  dashed 
against  the  stones.     Oh  that  it  had  any  other  mea- 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


231 


sure  but  perdition,  any  other  manner  but  celerity  '. 
"  There  is  hope  of  a  tree,  if  it  be  cut  down,  that  it 
will  sprout  again,  and  that  the  tender  branch  thereof 
will  not  cease.  Tliough  the  root  thereof  wax  old  in 
the  earth,  and  the  stock  thereof  die  in  the  ground ;  yet 
through  the  scent  of  waler  it  will  bud,  and  bring  forth 
boughs  like  a  plant.  Butmandieth.andwasfethaway, 
andwliereishe?"  Jobxiv.7 — 10.  Helhat  .shoiildroad 
the  chronicle  of  some  great  man's  life,  find  liim  endow- 
ed witli  singular  gifts  of  nature,  beautified  with  rare 
qualities  of  art,  befriended  with  the  successes  of  for- 
tune ;  whom  his  prince  had  highly  lionoured,  the  peo- 
ple admired,  flatterers  adored;  wlicre  nothing  wanted 
to  the  concurrence  of  hap]iiness:  and  thus  ]mrsuing 
the  sloiT,  measuring  the  hopes  of  future  glory  by  the 
experience  of  present  prosperity,  should  now  turn 
over  the  leaf  to  read,  and  find  a  blank,  no  more  to  be 
read,  an  abrupt  suspension  ;  he  would  either  think 
the  writer  had  mistook,  or  that  some  leaves  were  torn 
out  of  the  book.  No;  there  was  a  high  finger  that 
blotted  it  out,  and  broke  ofi"  the  history  with  an  un- 
expected catastrophe.  For  Haman,  the  second  man 
in  the  court,  to  forfeit  all  his  glories  at  the  gallows ! 
as  if  destruction  had  the  charge  that  Christ  gave  to 
Judas,  "  That  thou  docst,  do  quickly,"  John  xiii.  27- 

The  dejection  of  Job  was  sudden,  but  it  was  not 
destruction  :  "  While  he  was  yet  speaking,  there 
came  also  another,"  &e.  Job  i.  16 ;  as  if  he  might 
not  be  allowed  rest  to  consider  of  the  former  wretch- 
edness. The  fall  of  Jehoram  was  destruction,  but  it 
was  not  sudden :  "  In  process  of  time,  after  the  end 
of  two  years,  his  bowels  fell  out  by  reason  of  his  sick- 
ness," 2  Chron.  xxi.  19 ;  day  by  day,  for  two  years 
together.  But  here  it  is  both  destniction,  and  s-wih 
destruction ;  as  to  Nabal,  the  Lord  smote  him,  and 
he  died,  1  Sam.  xxv.  38.  It  is  sudden,  both  because 
it  prevents  the  expectation  of  nature,  and  because 
the  blow  is  like  to  that  which  David  with  his  sling 
gave  to  Goliath,  that  sunk  him  doivn  for  ever.  Such, 
according  to  our  apostle's  prophecy,  hath  been  the 
destruction  of  the  church's  enemies :  Pharaoh  by 
the  sea,  Korah  by  the  earth,  the  haters  of  those  three 
faithful  ser\'ants  by  the  fire,  Simon  Magus  in  the 
air ;  all  destructions,  by  all  the  elements,  and  all 
sudden,  with  a  fearful  expedition. 

"  Swift  destruction."  There  are  many  swift  tilings, 
none  swifter  than  the  reprobate's  destniction,  when 
God  will  hasten  it.  Birds  are  swift,  the  eagle  cuts 
the  air  and  is  gone.  Therefore  Solomon  compares 
the  suddcnest  vanisher,  riches,  to  an  eagle,  that 
makes  herself  wings  and  flies  away,  Prov.  xxiii.  5. 
Yet  is  this  destruction  swifter.  An  arrow  is  swift : 
"  A  certain  man  drew  a  bow  at  a  venture,  and  smote 
the  king  of  Israel,"  and  rid  him,  I  Kings  xxii.  ,34. 
Destruction  is  a  swift  arrow;  that  same  "  arrow  that 
flieth  by  day,"  Psal.  xci.  5.  Surer  and  swifter  than 
the  arrow  of  Ccphalus;  Consequitnr  quodcunqxte  petit. 
(Ovid,  Metam.  7-)  Or  that  Hercules  sliot  into 
Nessus.  (Metam.  9.)  When  he  ran  away  with  his 
Deianiza,  he  told  him  that  though  he  could  not  come 
to  him,  he  would  send  after  him  :  Vulnere,  nnn  pedi- 
hiis  te  consequar :  and  he  made  it  good ; 

Fugientia  terga  sagilla 
Trajicit. 

These  are  not  Jonathan's  prick-arrows,  to  give  warn- 
ing ;  but  destructive  arrows,  such  as  God  shot  against 
Sodom,  feathered  with  fire  ;  consuming  in  a  moment. 
Such,  Psal.  xviii.  14,  "  He  sent  out  his  arrows  .ind 
scattered  them  ;  he  shot  out  lightnings,  and  discom- 
fited them."  Thunder  and  lightning,  a  swift  and 
despatching  arrow:  "  Cast  forth  lightning,  and  scat- 
ter them :  shoot  out  thine  arrows,  and  destroy  them," 
Psal.   cxliv.  6.     Man  may  shoot  and   miss,  or   his 


arrow  be  so  slow  of  flight  that  it  may  be  avoided ; 
but  if  God  shoots,  he  hits  and  kills.  The  Parthian 
arrow  was  so  admired  for  swiftness,  that  Lucan  says 
of  Caesar,  he  was 

Torlo  Balettris  verbere  funda- 
Oct/or,  et  mista  Parthi  post  terga  sagilla. 

And  Philoctetes'  arrows  are  noted  by  Sophocles  for 
fatal  deadliness;  jrpojro;«iroi»rff  ijmvov,  forerunners  of 
death  :  el  habent  sub  arundine  plumbum,  headed  with 
heavy  vengeance.  Yet  are  all  these  both  weaker  in 
fight,  and  duller  in  flight,  than  God's  arrows,  which, 
as  the  jjsalmist  speaks,  come  from  the  hand  of  a 
giant.  AVhcn  he  shall  draw  them  up  to  the  head, 
they  wound  with  an  incurable  blow  :  "The  bow  of 
steel  shall  strike  him  through;"  it  shall  come  glit- 
tering through  his  gall,  Job  xx.  24,  25.  The  sun  is 
swift,  he  "  rejoiceth  as  a  strong  man  to  mn  a  race," 
Psal.  xix.  5.  Yet  the  same  day's  sun  hath  seen  a 
man  high  mounted  with  pomp  in  the  morning,  yet 
covered  with  destruction  before  the  evening.  But  as 
Moses  told  Israel  concerning  the  Egy-ptians,  "  Whom 
ye  have  seen  to-day,  ye  shall  see  them  again  no  more 
for  ever,"  Exod.  xiv.  13;  thus  swift  is  God's  judg- 
ment, and  outrunning  the  sun.  Flame  is  swift ;  the 
poets  feign  that  she  is  the  daughter  of  Titan  and 
Terra,  the  sun  and  the  earth.  "The  sun  giving  her 
such  an  aerial  and  spiritual  swiftness  by  his  genera- 
tion, that  if  the  motlur  by  her  grossncss  had  not  a 
little  bated  her  agility,  she  would  the  first  hour  of 
her  birth  have  run  out  of  the  world.  Indeed  she 
still  flies  apace,  and,  like  a  channel,  by  continual  ac- 
cessions grows  up  to  a  river ;  fires  acqiiint  eundo.  As 
a  little  ball  rolled  in  the  snow,  gathers  itself  to  a 
great  lump  :  the  report  that  is  but  a  little  spark  of 
lire  at  London,  proves  a  great  flame  by  that  time  it 
comes  to  York.  But  alas,  even  fame  is  slow-footed, 
and  besides  the  invention  of  lies,  must  have  inter- 
vention of  space,  before  it  arrives :  and  though  it 
outnm  the  clouds,  as  Ahimaaz  overran  Cushi,  be- 
cause he  ran  by  the  way  of  the  plain ;  yet  still  judg- 
ment is  swifter,  and  so  despatching  that  it  leaves 
none  to  carry  the  report.  When  Job  was  aflflictcd, 
there  was  one  reser\-ed  to  bring  news  to  him ;  what 
the  Sabeans  had  done  upon  the  oxen,  the  Chaldeans 
upon  the  camels,  the  fire  upon  the  sheep,  all  these 
upon  the  ser\ants;  I  am  alone  escaped  to  tell  thee. 
But  destniction  is  surer  and  sorer,  when  it  leaves 
none  to  bear  tidings.  "  All  the  host  of  Sisera  fell 
upon  the  sword,  and  there  was  not  a  man  left,"  Judg. 
iv.  16.  His  mother  and  her  wise  ladies  insult ;  "  Have 
they  not  sped?  have  they  not  divided  the  prey?" 
Judg.  v.  30.  No,  forsooth,  for  there  was  nobody 
left  to  carry  news.  Lightning  is  swift,  it  "  cometn 
out  of  the  east,  and  shineth  even  unto  the  west," 
Matt.  xxiv.  27;  a  similitude  used  by  Christ  himself 
to  describe  the  suddenness  of  his  second  appearing. 
The  thunder  is  called  the  Lord's  voice ;  "  'The  voice 
of  the  Lord  is  upon  the  waters ;  the  God  of  glory 
thundereth,"  Psal.  xxix.  3.  This  breaketh  the  cedars, 
makes  them  skip  like  calves ;  Lebanon  and  Sirion 
caper  like  a  unicorn.  This  is  a  sudden  manner  of 
destroying,  as  the  Lord  smote  the  Philistines  with 
a  great  thunder,  I  Sam.  %ni.  10.  When  the  Lord 
rains  this  storm,  he  kills  quickly :  "  When  he  is 
about  to  fill  his  belly,  God  shiill  cast  the  fury  of  his 
wratli  upon  him,  and  shall  rain  it  upon  him  while  he 
is  eating,"  Job  xx.  23.  There  is  another  swift  per- 
dition :  the  ordnance  charged  with  that  salt  mineral, 
maki^  quick  destniction;  it  bruiscth  and  quashcth 
to  I  ii'ces  before  it  gives  the  report,  and  therein  is 
tnily  sudden.  Innumerable  lives  have  fallen  by  this 
engine ;  a  thing  that  can  send  the  errand  of  death  a 
great  way  off.    I  know  not  to  what  to  compare  it,  un- 


232 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


less  to  the  pestilence  that  kilkth  afar  off,  Ezek.  vi.  12. 
Gunpowder,  the  invention  of  a  monk,  of  a  devil,  the 
daughter  of  salt  and  sulphur,  the  mother  of  death's 
nimblest  children  ;  nothing  maketh  a  quicker  end. 

The  fifth  of  November  puts  us  in  mind  of  this  fatal 
destruction  ;  intended  by  the  malice  of  men,  but  pre- 
vented by  the  mercy  of  God.  Those  smoky  locusts 
Jiad  prepared  and  furnished  a  black  |)it,  the  very 
image  of  hell ;  and  had  resolved  on  that  desperate 
ciy,  Incendium  extinguatur  ruina  :  they  had  devised 
a  common  bonfire,  a  universal  combustion,  both  of 
mortal  men  and  immortal  monuments ;  churches, 
charters,  and  records  of  antiquity.  Bloody  priests '. 
that  would  have  offered  a  whole  bunit  sacrifice,  and 
made  our  sons  and  daughters  pass  througli  the  fire, 
an  oblation  to  their  Moloch  of  Rome.  Think,  coun- 
trymen, and  let  it  never  die  in  your  memories,  while 
the  mercy  of  God  may  find  a  room  in  your  hearts : 
consider  a  swift  destruction ;  never  was  example  of 
so  facinorous  an  enterprise,  the  ;j>c('mum  ^eHiW  of  all 
sin,  a  crying,  a  roaring,  a  thundering  sin,  as  our  sove- 
reign truly  termed  it :  a  sin  not  only  of  blood,  but 
of  fire,  fire  mingled  with  brimstone,  such  as  the  at- 
tempters  (without  extraordinary  mercy)  now  feel  in 
hell.  Ask  from  east  to  west,  from  one  pole  to  the 
other,  search  all  records  under  heaven,  if  ever  there 
was  the  like.  Their  vault  was  a  penuary  and  store- 
house of  destruction  ;  against  us  in  the  intent, 
against  themselves  in  the  event.  Let  us  say  as  those 
four  lepers.  This  day  is  a  day  of  good  tidings,  and 
we  do  not  well  to  hold  our  peace:  if  we  tarry  till 
the  morning  light,  some  miscliief  will  fall  upon  us, 
2  Kings  vii.  9.  Consider  with  them,  1.  The  speci- 
jility  of  the  time,  this  day.  "2.  The  occasion  of  that 
speciality,  it  is  a  day  of  good  new-s.  3.  The  duty  of 
that  occasion,  not  to  hold  our  peace.  4.  The  ne- 
cessity of  that  duty,  lest  mischief  fall  upon  us.  But 
you  will  say,  the  day  is  past,  and  let  it  pass  with  the 
day ;  sufHcicnt  to  the  day  is  the  sorrow  thereof.  I 
answer,  "  Day  unto  day  uttcreth  speech,  and  night 
unto  night  showeth  knowledge,"  Psal.  xix.  2.  The 
day  gone  reads  a  lecture  to  the  day  pre,sent ;  that 
day  tells  news  to  all  days,  without  which  they  had 
not  been^days  to  us.  In  regard  of  the  marvellous 
attempt,  a  day  of  news ;  in  regard  of  the  gracious 
deliverance,  a  day  of  good  news.  News  in  the  in- 
tention, good  news  in  the  prevention  :  a  privative,  a 
positive  good;  for  a  negative  is  made  an  affirmative 
by  reduction.  Suppose  you  had  seen  it  done ;  the 
king,  prince,  nobles,  senators,  priests ;  the  flowers 
and  ornaments  of  the  land;  without  distinction  of 
majesty,  dignity,  sex  or  age,  degree  or  merit,  reason 
or  religion  ;  tossed  up  with  barrels  and  billets,  jjieces 
of  timber,  bars  of  iron,  and  great  stones,  the  mur- 
dering artillery  together  with  the  murdered  bodies, 
into  the  air,  up  toward  heaven,  their  flesh  accom- 
panying their  souls  so  far  as  that  violence  could  send 
them ;  till  their  mangled  carcasses  fell  down  again 
to  the  mother  earth,  to  receive  their  remaining  blood 
crying  vengeance  against  their  butchers.  Behold 
here  the  type  of  the  deflagration  of  Sodom,  the 
model  of  Tophef,  the  nearest  representation  that 
earth  could  afl^ord  of  the  fieiy  deluge  at  the  last 
day ;  yea,  the  image  of  that  fiery  Gehenna,  which 
God  liatli  prepared  for  the  wicked.  When  father 
and  son,  dam  and  young  in  a  nest  together,  had  been 
hlown  away  with  a  blast,  a  whirlwind  of  destruction  ; 
the  whole  state  of  a  kingdom  dissolved,  and  that  in 
an  instant  of  time,  before  they  could  have  swallow- 
■cd  their  spittle,  or  in  remembrance  and  remorse  of 
their  sins  liave  said,  Lord,  have  mercy  on  us.  This 
had  been  destruction  in  the  winged  precipice,  and 
most  desperate  suddenness.  As  it  was  threatened  to 
the  house  of  Jeroboam,  to  be  cut  ofl"  in  a  day :  but 


what  ?  even  now,  in  a  moment;  before  they  had 
leisure  to  think  of  it.  But  as  the  three  servants  cf 
God  were  cast  into  a  fiery  furnace  that  burned  them 
not,  and  as  Moses  saw-  a  bush  that  flamed  and  con- 
sumed not,  so  the  good-will  of  Him  that  dwelt  in  the 
bush  defended  us,  Deut.  xxxiii.  16.  The  Lord 
brought  us  back  from  death  to  life,  and  we  were 
comforted  as  men  awaked  out  of  a  fearful  drcarn. 
Their  destruction  was  swift,  but  the  mercy  of  God 
was  swifter.  There  wanted  nothing  but  an  actor  to 
bring  on  that  catholic  doomsday;  yet  before  the 
match  could  be  brought  to  the  powder,  their  artificial 
fireworks  were  discovered,  their  projection,  prodition, 
dcperdition,  all  disclosed,  and  seasonably  returned  on 
their  own  heads. 

So  perish  all  thine  enemies,  O  Lord.  Now  the 
mercy  of  God  turn  destruction  into  salvation,  and 
then  be  as  swift  as  he  please  ;  the  sooner  we  get 
home,  the  sooner  ease :  therefore,  Come,  Lord  Jesus, 
come  quickly.     Amen. 


Vebse  2. 

.liul  many  shall  foUoic  their  pemicwui  ways;  by  rea- 
ioii  of  uhom  tlie  way  of  truth  shall  be  evil  spoken  cf. 

We  have  in  these  heretics  contemplated  their  access 
to  the  church,  now  consider  their  success  in  the 
church.  "  Many  shall  follow,"  &c.  It  hath  ever 
been  the  devil's  aim,  that  seeing  he  must  of  necessity 
be  wretched,  not  to  be  wretched  alone.  Now  the 
company  he  desires,  is  not  beasts  and  irrational  crea- 
tures, (save  where  he  may  do  their  owners  a  mis- 
chief,) but  his  ambition  flies  man  height,  his  en%y 
strikes  at  the  image  of  God,  because  he  hath  no  other 
way  to  extend  his  malice  to  the  Deity  itself.  To 
eflcctuate  this,  he  works  man  to  betray  man :  as  man 
makes  one  fowl  catch  another,  or  one  beast  surprise 
another,  the  hawk  the  patridge,  the  hound  the  hare, 
all  to  make  him  sport ;  so  Satan  sets  Ephraim  against 
Manasseh,  Manasseh  against  Ephraim,  and  both 
against  Judah,  Isa.  ix.  21  ;  himself  against  all. 
And  because  he  thinks  the  pagan  world  sure  enough 
his  own,  have  at  the  Christian.  There  of  all  places 
God  is  glorious,  there  of  all  places  he  will  be  per- 
nicious. The  devil  hath  a  desire  to  all,  but  espe- 
cially he  loves  a  religious  soul:  he  would  eat  up  that 
with  more  greediness  than  Rachel  did  her  man- 
drakes. He  is  a  black  lion  rampant  in  a  bloody 
field.  Christ  is  King  of  the  whole  world.  Nay, 
soft,  quoth  the  devil,  I  have  the  air.  He  is  called 
"  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,"  Eph.  ii.  2.  He 
hath  loaded  heretics  with  seed  from  hell,  and  sets 
them  a  sowing  in  the  church ;  that  at  the  day  cf 
harvest  his  crop  may  be  greater  in  the  bam  of 
hell,  than  the  Lord  Christ's  is  in  heaven.  In  the 
former  verse  we  had  him  sowing,  his  seminaries  at 
work ;  in  this  verse  behold  with  what  a  prosperous 
and  lucky  hand  he  doth  it.  "  Many  shall  follow:" 
I  heir  cursed  lares  shall  spread  far  and  wide,  et  miri- 
/icc  7iiullij)licabu»lur.  It  is  little  content  for  them  to 
be  reprobates  aline;  but  as  falling  Lucifer  drew 
nimicrous  angels  with  him,  so  all  his  adherents  and 
agents  are  firebrands  to  burn  others  with  themselves. 
The  Pharisees  would  travel  sea  and  land  to  work 
proselytes  to  their  own  inheritance,  yea.  to  procure 
them  a  double  portion  to  themselves,  Mali,  xxiii.  15. 
The  emissaries  of  Rome  have  that  charge  given 
them,  to  corrupt  others.  Like  men  sick  of  the  pesti- 
lence, they  have  an  itching  desire  to  infect  their 
neighbours.     Here   there  fnre   behold   their  success, 


Ver.  2. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


233 


"Many  shall  follow  their  pernicious  ways."  If  we 
take  the  verse  asunder,  it  will  thus  fall  into  parts ; 
generally  two : 

An  attraction,  Many  shall  follow  their  pernicious 
ways. 

A  detraction.  By  whom  the  way  of  truth  shall  be 
scandalized. 

In  the  attraction  or  congestion  of  this  tumult,  con- 
sider. 

The  ringleaders.  They  that  broach  these  heresies. 

The  rabble  or  tatterdemalion  that  adhere,  Manv 
follow. 

In  the  detraction,  derogation,  or  injur)'  done  to  the 
gospel,  by  these  rcvolters  from  the  truth,  let  us  ex- 
amine, 

The  patient  that  suffers,  Tlie  way  of  truth. 

The  injury  that  it  suffers.  Evil  spoken  of. 

In  the  patient  observe. 

The  singularity,  The  way,  the  only  way. 

The  sincerity.  Of  truth,  uncorrupted  truth. 
"  Thus  here  are  many  points,  one  into  two,  two  into 
four,  four  into  eight.  Now  you  will  say,  as  Leali  of 
her  son  Gad,  "A  troop  cometh,"  Gcn.xxx.  11,  or,  Here 
comes  a  company:  yet  all  these  branches  have  but 
one  root,  all  tnese  members  but  one  head ;  they  arc 
but  wheels  of  a  clock  taken  a  little  in  sunder  to  view, 
then  to  be  put  together  again.  When  a  wealthy 
favourite  of  the  world,  that  had  more  livings  than 
virtues,  sent  his  servant  before  to  take  up  lodging 
for  him;  the  servant  charged  the  host  to  provide 
good  cheer;  for  here,  says  he,  will  come  the  lord  of 
such  a  manor,  the  landlord  of  such  a  town,  the  keeper 
of  such  a  forest,  the  master  of  such  an  office,  the  lay- 
parson  of  such  a  parish,  a  justice  of  peace,  a  gentle- 
man, a  usurer,  and  my  master.  The  liost  blest  him- 
self; Alas,  I  have  not  room  for  half  so  many.  Nay, 
quoth  the  ser^-ant,  all  these  are  but  one  man.  So  if 
you  distrust  that  you  have  not  room  in  your  memories 
to  lodge  so  many  points,  yet  be  comforted,  all  these 
are  but  one  text. 

The  first  general  is  the  attraction,  and  the  first 
particular  the  ringleaders;  whence  occur  two  ob- 
servations. 

First,  the  necessity  of  a  head  to  every  schism  and 
faction :  never  was  breach  made  in  the  vineyard  of 
Christ,  but  some  principal  beast  led  the  whole  herd.' 
There  had  been  no  treason  nor  insurrection  against 
David,  but  for  Absalom  to  set  it  on  foot.  Gamaliel 
spake  of  two  such  factions;  Theudas,  to  whom  a 
number  of  men  joined  themselves;  and  Judas,  that 
drew  much  people  after  him,  Acts  v.  .36,  37 :  these 
schisms  had  their  heads.  If  Smith  and  Robinson 
";  had  not  led  the  way  to  Amsterdam,  how  many  silly 
souls  had  stayed  still  with  their  mother  in  England ! 
Their  blind  zeal  misled  them,  and  they  others ;  their 
flight  was  not  so  much  as  their  misguidance.  Though 
the  ijartics  in  sin  have  their  parts  in  the  punishment, 
yet  to  the  principal  authors  be  the  principal  plagues. 
If  their  reward  in  heaven  be  so  great  that  save  one 
soul  from  death,  how  great  shall  their  torment  be  in 
hell  that  pervert  many  souls  to  dcstnietion!  Mitii- 
iiius  in  carlo,  ma.rinii«  t'»i  inferno.  He  shall  be  least 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  greatest  in  the  king- 
dom of  hell.  Matt.  v.  19.  He  that  can  damn  a  soul 
besides  his  own,  overdoes  the  devil's  expectation ; 
he  supererogalcs  of  Satan,  and  he  shall  give  him  a 
double  fee,  a  double  portion  of  hell-fire  for  his  pains. 
Salus  capitis,  caput  saliUis  :  so  error  capitis,  caput 
erroris.  Our  Saviour  pitied  the  people,  because  they 
were  as  sheep  without  any  shepherd,  Mark  vi.  34 ; 
but  how  would  he  have  wept  to  sec  the  poor  lambs 
misled  by  an  evil  shepherd  '.  It  is  miserable  to  want 
food,  yet  as  good  notliing  at  aH  as  only  poison. 
Christ' is  the  only  Head  of  his  church,  they  that  fall 


off  from  him  must  have  a  new  hiad,  and  join  them- 
selves to  a  new  body  :  thus  shall  both  head  and  tail 
be  cut  off  together,  Isa.  ix.  14.  This  obser\'ation 
ministers  two  useful  lessons  to  us. 

1.  That  the  way  to  suppress  a  schism,  is  to  cut  off 
the  head ;  for  it  will  be  hard  for  a  body  to  move 
headless.  "  Smite  the  shepherd,  and  the  sheep  shall 
be  scattered,"  Zech.  xiii.  7-  These  be  strong  colts, 
swift  dromedaries  traversing  their  own  ways;  wild 
asses  that  snuff  up  the  wind  at  their  pleasure,  and 
whisk  it  about  in  the  wilderness  of  their  own  bound- 
less fancy  and  transportivc  fun.-.  I  do  not  say,  per- 
cule  ferro  ;  like  empirics  that  can  cure  no  disease 
without  letting  blood:  no,  I  prefer,  with  TertuUian, 
suffusion  of  it  before  effusion  of  it ;  shame  before 
smart ;  knowing  that  not  only  Christianity,  but  heresy, 
increases  by  persecution;  and  some  have  thought 
their  cause  good,  only  because  it  was  their  happiness 
to  be  in  prison  about  it.  But  howsoever,  ubi  non 
prosint  ubera ,  non  desint  rerbera :  supprinie  crroreta 
reprimendo  errantem.  If  their  wickedness  hath  been 
fonnerly  illustrated  with  the  commentaries  of  the 
church's  patience,  if  sternness  hath  given  place  to 
mildness  without  success,  let  now  mildness  be  turned 
into  sternness.  Let  the  wheel  of  admiration  tui-n 
about,  and  let  the  law  begin  to  prick  them  a  little, 
that  have  not  felt  it,  but  laughed  at  it  a  long  time, 
and  made  connivance  their  warrant  for  contempt. 
Lay  the  medicine  close  to  them,  as  Christ  did  to  tne 
cripple  at  Belhesda ;  AVilt  thou  be  mended,  or  not  ? 
Let  such  wilful  revolters  take  heed  ;  if  they  will  not 
be  converted,  let  them  fear  to  be  confounded. 

2.  Seeing  there  are  such  cornipters  of  our  truth, 
and  disturbers  of  our  peace,  let  ns  be  sure  to  hold 
the  truth  in  peace ;  leaving  all  heads,  and  cleaving 
to  our  only  one  Head  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  hold 
"  the  Head,  from  which  all  the  body  by  joints  and 
bands  having  nourishment  ministered,  and  knit  to- 
gether, increaseth  with  the  increase  of  God,"  Col.  ii. 
19.  Cursed  is  he  that  seeks  to  separate  us  from  this 
Head.  The  Lord  is  our  God  and  our  Guide  ;  him  we 
follow,  but  all  false  ways  we  utterly  abhor.  That 
which  you  have  learned  and  received,  do  ;  and  the 
God  of  peace  shall  be  with  you,  Phil.  iv.  9.  If  we 
adhere  to  the  tnith  peaceably,  the  God  of  truth 
and  peace  shall  be  with  us ;  even  that  God  of 
peace,  whom  such  incendiaries  would  turn  out  of  our 
land.  "My  soul  hath  long  dwelt  with  him  that 
hateth  peace,"  Psal.  cxx.  6.  Doth  he  hate  peace  ? 
then  peace  shall  hate  him.  "  I  am  for  peace ;  but 
when  I  speak,  they  are  for  war,"  ver.  7-  Well  then, 
God  shall  be  even  with  him,  and  be  for  war  when  he 
speaks  for  i)cacc.  Deus  pads  nobixcum.  Oh  the  sweet 
habit  of  peace  to  appear  in  !  Oli  the  gracious  form 
of  peace  for  our  God  to  present  himself  to  us !  Let 
him  always  appear  to  me  in  that  shape,  always  pre- 
sent himself  to  me  in  that  form  ;  not  in  burning  fire, 
nor  tempcstuons  wind,  nor  trembling  earthquakes, 
but  in  tne  soft  air  and  still  breath  of  peace :  the 
God  of  peace  be  with  us.  The  more  busy  the  devil  is 
to  scatter  dissensions,  the  more  unitedly  let  us  hold 
together.  As  when  the  enemy  assaults  a  town,  and 
the  men  are  defending  it ;  the  children  meantime 
may  not  be  allowed  to  keep  what  coil  and  misrule 
they  wnll  in  the  house,  but  are  rather  to  live  so 
much  "the  more  orderly.  The  tyranny  of  the  one 
must  not  encourage  the  liberty  of  the  other  ;  nor  arc 
these  to  be  excused  because  the  other  are  increased. 
The  common  adversary  assaults  our  substance ;  if  we 
wrangle  one  with  another  about  circumstance,  it 
argues  a  confederacy,  and  brings  on  us  a  suspicion  of 
combination;  as  if  we  expected  advantage  by  the  thriv- 
ing of  the  contrary  foction,  rather  than  fidelity  to  our 
mother,  and  vowed  adherence  to  her  Husband  Christ. 


234 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  If. 


The  second  observation  is,  the  great  force  of  ex- 
ample. Tliesc  ringleaders  soon  get  abundance  of 
followers:  tluy  shall  give  heed  to  the  spirits  of 
error,  1  Tim.  iv.  1.  Men  should  be  led  by  precepts, 
and  overled  by  precedents.  The  car  hath  put  off 
her  business  to  the  eye,  to  be  despatched;  and  (as 
Coisar  droWTied  Bibulas'  consulship)  tliat  fetcheth  in 
all  the  informations  to  the  heart,  deriving  from 
others'  actions  the  wan'ant  of  practice.  As  Jacob's 
ewes  did  bring  forth  lambs  according  to  the  colour 
of  the  objected  rods,  so  the  people  produce  works 
according  to  the  patterns  before  them.  St.  James 
saith.  Be  ye  doers  of  God's  word,  not  of  man's  work. 
It  is  preposterous  for  the  feet  to  follow  the  toyish 
imaginations  of  the  fancy,  and  not  the  voice  of  rea- 
son. The  papist  would  follow  Christ  in  the  gospel, 
but  for  this  same,  First  let  me  buiy  my  father,  kiss  my 
mother,  ask  my  grandam  whether  I  shall  do  so  or 
not;  my  forefathers  followed  other  ways.  We  all 
say  that  we  serve  the  Lord,  but,  as  the  psalmist 
speaks,  other  lords  rule  us.  They  that  are  "  led  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  are  the  sons  of  God,"  Rom.  viii. 
14.  By  the  Spirit  of  God,  not  by  the  spirit  of  man  : 
our  natural  spirit  is  a  giddy  guide,  yea,  our  sancti- 
fied spirit  is  insufficient :  a  spirit  must  guide,  and 
this  should  be  God's  Spirit.  The  very  heathen  had 
their  imaginary  gods  for  guides,  as  Jupiter  or  Mer- 
cury ;  them  they  invocated,  them  they  imitated. 
There  is  no  such  authority  given  to  sin,  as  by  ex- 
ample. He  that  is  most  eminent,  hath  most  followers. 
Augustus,  a  learned  prince,  filled  Rome  with  scholars; 
Tiberius,  with  dissemblers  ;  Conslantine,  with  Chris- 
tians ;  Julian,  with  atheists.  Indeed  the  people  will 
sometimes  lead  themselves,  and  run  without  their 
rulers,  as  without  rule.  As  in  the  days  of  Jehosha- 
phat,  though  idolatry  were  defaced  much,  yet  the  high 
places  were  not  taken  away.  How  was  this  ?  The 
king  knew  it  not,  the  prophets  condemned  it,  the 
priests  Avere  against  it ;  the  fault  was  in  the  i)eople  ; 
they  would  not  cleave  to  the  God  of  their  fathers. 
But  if  Jeroboam  set  up  calves  in  Dan  and  Bethel,  the 
people,  like  beasts  in  herds,  go  a  lowing  after  them. 
The  force  of  imitation  makes  many  follow  Rome  ; 
and  because  .she  once  sent  to  this  land  some  light, 
they  will  not  forsake  her  though  she  lie  now  in  dark- 
ness. "SVe  were  beholden  to  Rome  for  our  foiTner 
conversion,  we  will  not  be  beholden  to  her  for  her 
present  religion :  we  will  not  follow  her  a  step  fur- 
ther when  she  leaves  Jesus  Christ.  There  is  a  dou- 
ble beneficial  use  to  be  made  of  this  doctrine. 

First,  let  this  teach  men  of  place  to  look  unto  their 
exemplary  lives;  lest,  as  they  have  made  themselves 
examples  of  transgression,  God  make  them  examples 
of  destruction.  They  that  tempt  to  sin  by  their  life, 
shall  deter  from  sin  by  their  death.  The  life  of  Ju- 
lian made  many  infidels,  the  death  of  Julian  made 
many  Christians.  The  pride  of  the  wicked  doth  per- 
vert many,  their  falls  shall  convert  many.  God  will 
teach  men  to  fear  him,  even  by  their  ruin  that  taught 
them  not  to  fear  him.  Magtslratus  indical  riritm, 
saith  Aristotle  :  a  private  man,  like  an  empty  vessel, 
may  have  many  flaws  unseen ;  but  in  full  vessels  the 
chinks  and  fissures  are  descried  by  the'  leakage  of 
tlie  wine.  Infirmities  in  lay-men  seem  small  faults  ; 
in  teachers  and  governors,  blasphemies.  The  more 
honourable,  the  more  remarkable.  Actual  prece- 
dence, or  silent  connivance  in  them,  heartens  and 
hardens  the  inferiors.  The  high  priest's  money 
tempted  an  apostle :  if  the  pope  command,  commend, 
<i>r  reward  treason,  the  conspirator  takes  it  to  be  reli- 
gion. Therefore  in  men  of  high  place,  love  should 
bind  more  than  law.  He  should  do  least,  that  may 
do  most  mischief.  Such  are  superiores  ceeteris,  but 
there  is  superior  supremts :  "  He  that  is  higher  than 


the  higliest  regardeth ;  and  there  be  higher  than 
they,"  Eccl.  v.  8.  With  God  there  is  no  respect  of 
persons  :  the  poorest  may  say  to  the  richest,  as  the 
malefactor  to  his  fellow  on  the  cross.  Thou  art  in  the 
same  condemnation.  God  charged  Moses,  "  Take  all 
the  heads  of  the  people,  and  hang  them  up,"  Numb. 
XXV.  4.  They  were  princes,  some  of  them  :  and  these 
often  think  that  no  law  can  hold  them,  that  they  may 
live  as  they  list ;  but  God  spares  not  princes.  Yea, 
mighty  sinners  shall  be  mightily  punished.  As  they 
that  carry  not  their  light  reservedly  to  themselves, 
but  communicate  it  to  others,  in  turning  them  to 
righteousness,  shall  shine  as  the  stars,  the  brightest 
part  of  their  orbs,  Dan.  xii.  3.  Men  from  high  places 
are  either  lifted  up  to  a  great  measure  of  glory  in 
heaven,  or  cast  down  to  a  low  degree  of  torment  in 
hell.  Against  the  unjust  officer  of  God's  kingdom, 
he  i\'ill  horribly  and  suddenly  appear  :  an  hard  judg- 
ment shall  they  have  that  bear  rule.  The  mighty 
shall  be  mightily  tormented,  and  for  the  potent 
abideth  the  sorer  trial,  Wisd.  vi.  5.  Tophet  is  pre- 
pared for  the  evil  king,  Isa.  xxx.  33.  Wicked  sub- 
jects shall  have  room  enough,  but  the  wicked  prince 
shall  have  the  chief  place.  Some  reading  the  rich 
man  so  earnestly  requesting  Abraham  to  send  one 
from  the  dead,  to  bring  his  brethren  to  repentance, 
Luke  x\-i.  27,  2S,  would  think  he  had  some  charity 
in  hell.  But  this  was  not  out  of  love,  but  out  of 
fear;  he  would  have  his  brethren  reclaimed,  lest 
himself  should  be  more  tormentefl  ;  because  his  ex- 
ample, as  being  their  elder  brother,  had  increased 
their  wickedness  on  earth,  and  should  withal  increase 
his  damnation  in  hell.  A  reprobate  soul  already 
swallowed  into  that  lake,  finds  his  torment  everj-  day 
augmented,  as  the  brood  and  generation  of  sins  is 
multiplied  by  the  seed  of  his  cursed  example.  Take 
heed,  the  fire  of  hell  will  be  hot  enough  for  a  man's 
own  iniquities  ;  he  needs  not  the  iniquities  of  others, 
like  fuel  and  bellows,  to  blow  and  increase  the  flame. 
Lord,  make  them  ^ood  whom  thou  hast  made  great ; 
and  teach  them  to  honour  thee,  as  thou  hast  honoured 
them.  They  that  travel  in  meekness,  righteousness, 
and  truth  ;  let  them  ride  on  prosperously  with  their 
honour,  Psal.  xlv.  4 ;  through  the  cities  and  courts 
of  the  earth,  to  the  city  that  is  above,  the  court  of  the 
great  King  in  heaven,  the  inheritance  of  all  those 
that  love  the  Lord  Jesus. 

Secondly,  seeing  we  are  all  apt  to  be  followers, 
let  us  seek  out  the  best  patterns.  It  is  the  custom 
of  the  wicked  to  pretermit  all  good  precedents, 
and  to  single  out  such  as  they  would  have,  not 
such  as  they  should  have.  As  the  dorr,  that  pass- 
eth  by  all  the  sweet  flowers  of  the  meadow,  humming 
in  scorn,  and  ends  his  flight  in  a  dung-hill.  Or  as 
the  Egyptians,  that  behold  the  sun,  the  moon,  the 
stars,  all  the  glories  of  nature,  without  admiration, 
yea,  without  common  regard;  until  they  spy  a  cro- 
codile, an  ugly  serpent,  and  then  down  on  their  knees 
to  worship  it.  It  is  an  unhappy  thing  to  converse 
with  the  wicked  ;  to  be  "a  brother  to  dragons,  and 
a  companion  to  owls,"  Job  xxx.  29;  to  "sojourn  in 
^lesech,  and  to  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Kedar,"  Psal. 
cxx.  5.  He  that  is  a  parasite  to  a  great  man's  lust, 
is  not  a  ser\-ant  to  the  great  God's  law.  "  If  I  yet 
pleased  men,  I  should  not  be  the  servant  of  Christ," 
Gal.  i.  10.  Noah  abhors  the  fashions  of  the  old  world, 
Lot  of  Sodom,  Job  of  Uz ;  yea,  they  have  ojiposed 
themselves  :  one  Reuben  was  opposite  to  the  rest  of 
his  fraternity,  one  pair  of  spies  to  the  rest  of  their 
faint-hearted  company,  one  Lot  to  the  rest  of  the 
city,  one  Luther  to  the  rest  of  his  country,  one  Noah 
to  the  whole  world.  Suppose  the  example  bates  of 
multitude,  and  is  supplied  with  magnitude,  will  it  be 
a  good  answer  to  the  tribunal.  Ego  et  rex  meus.  The 


Ver.  2. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


prince  and  I  ?  True,  I  did  so,  but  there  were  better 
men  in  the  company  I  durst  not  displease.  But 
whether  is  better,  to  follow  man's  humour,  or  God's 
honour?  At  the  day  when  sceptres  and  sepulchres 
shall  be  all  one,  what  protection  is  there  in  thy  lord 
against  the  Lord  of  hosts  ! 

Let  us  then  look  out  better  precedents  to  follow  : 
"  Be  followers  together  of  me,  and  mark  them  whieli 
walk  so  as  ye  have  us  for  an  ensample,"  Phil.  iii.  1". 
We  must  not  imitate  every  one,  but  such  as  Paul  ; 
nor  Paul  in  everj-  thing,  but  wherein  he  follows 
Christ,  I  Cor.  xi.  l'.  That  great  apostle  encouraged 
our  imitation,  but  gave  a  limitation :  Do  not  you  fol- 
low after  me,  unless  you  see  the  track  of  Christ  be- 
fore me.  Let  us  follow  good  men,  but  only  in  what 
they  are  good.  As  rhetoricians  make  a  double  imi- 
tation of  orators ;  one  absolutely  and  always  neces- 
sary ;  as  Demosthenes  among  the  Grecians,  and  Tully 
among  the  Latins :  others  but  at  some  times,  and  in 
some  things ;  as  poets  and  historians.  So  in  our 
Christian  imitation,  there  is  one  example  necessar)- ; 
Christ,  who  is  called  the  way  ;  J'l'o  i«  eiemplo,  verila.i 
in promisso,  vita  inprtpmio  ;  others  but  in  some  actions, 
and  at  some  occasions  ;  their  lives  being  lines  so  far 
to  be  followed,  as  they  swerve  not  from  the  original 
copy,  Christ.  We  are  not  bound  to  be  good  men's 
apes :  let  us  follow  David  where  he  followed  God's 
heart,  not  where  he  followed  his  o\ni  heart  ;  if  he 
turn  toward  lust  and  blood,  let  us  leave  him  there. 
Let  us  follow  Peter*!  confession,  not  his  abnegation  : 
Judas  Maccabeus'  hearty  devotion  and  hearty  valour ; 
not  in  bestowing  money  to  make  a  sacrifice  for  the 
dead,  2  \liicc.  xii.  43.  All  our  following  hath  the  so 
far  ;  if  our  precedents  go  out  of  the  way,  let  us  shake 
hands  and  bid  tliem  farewell.  Two  of  us  are  going 
toward  Jerusalem;  but  saith  one,  I  must  needs  call 
in  at  Rome,  or  go  a  little  about  by  Samaria.  Nay, 
then  I  leave  you  j  here  our  ways  part. 

Thus  let  us  cull  out  the  best  patterns  ;  be  our  de- 
light to  the  saints  on  the  earth,  and  such  as  excel  in 
virtue,  Psal.  xvi.  3.  Now  every  saint  excels  in  some 
virtue ;  one  excels  in  knowledge,  another  excels  him 
in  faithfulness,  a  third  excels  him  in  zeal,  a  fourth  ex- 
cels him  in  humility,  another  excels  him  in  that 
Christian  virtue,  yea,  Christ's  virtue,  forgiving  of 
wrongs  :  and  yet  a  poor  man  may  outgo  them  all  in 
an  admirable  patience.  Now  as  when  Paul  had  pro- 
pounded many  rare  graces,  he  concludes,  Desire  you 
earnestly  the  best  gifts,  I  Cor.  xii.  31 ;  take  the 
best  of  every  man,  and  so  make  up  an  excellent 
man  ;  learn  of  him  zeal,  of  him  knowledge,  of  him 
patience.  A  proud  dame  will  propose  to  herself  the 
fashion  of  such  a  woman  for  her  apparel,  of  another 
for  her  attendance,  of  another  for  her  diet,  of  another 
for  her  carriage,  of  another  for  her  place  and  pre- 
cedency ;  of  none  for  humility.  Now  as  she  that 
takes  tlie  worst  of  every  woman,  will  make  herself 
an  extreme  bad  woman ;  so  she  that  gathers  obedi- 
ence from  Sarah,  wisdom  from  Rebekah,  chaste  love 
from  Rachel,  faith  from  Mary,  hos]iitality  from  Mar- 
tha, humility  from  Anna,  charity  from  Dorcas;  .she 
shall  make  herself  a  most  excellent  woman  ;  the  joy 
of  men,  the  delight  of  angels,  and  the  beauteous 
spouse  of  Jesus  Christ.  All  these  were  the  properties 
of  that  good  wife  Solomon  speaks  of:  and  in  what 
woman  soever  you  liud  them,  you  may  say  with  him, 
"  Many  daughters  have  done  virtuously,  but  thou 
cxcellcst  them  all,"  Prov.  xxxi.  29.  Tliesc  be  good 
patterns  to  follow.  As  we  pray  for  our  sovereign, 
that  not  only  he  may  be  like  some  former  prince, 
but  have  the  virtues  of  them  all:  the  courage  of 
Jnshua,  the  heart  of  David,  the  head  of  Solomon,  the 
!  of  Josiah,  the  integrity  of  Hezetiah,  &c;  so  all 
eminences:  which  we  find  in  the  ancient  saints, 


we  desire  to  be  concentred  in  our  own  heart.  He 
that  would  plant  a  garden,  borrows  here  a  choice 
Hower,  there  an  herb,  there  a  plant ;  till  at  length 
his  own  surpasseth  all  the  rest.  But,  alas,  where  is 
this  imitation  of  goodness  to  be  found  among  us? 
We  are  led  by  whom  we  arc  fed,  without  respect  to 
him  that  feeds  both  them  and  us.  Some  spoil  many 
of  God's  creatures  to  confer  all  on  their  own  creature, 
which  is  some  licking  cur  that  they  have  drest  up  in 
high  fortunes.  Now,  what  cannot  extreme  malice  do 
in  a  supreme  place  ?  Thus  Absalom  charged  his 
servants  concerning  his  brother  Amnon,  "  Kill  him, 
fear  not ;  have  not  I  commanded  you  ?  "  2  Sam.  xiii. 
28.  Yet  such  prodigious  comets  are  followed  in  all 
their  dcliraments  and  aberrations.  Men  will  lie  by 
pattern,  swear  by  pattern,  drink  by  pattern,  whore 
by  pattern :  what  is  this  but  to  go  to  hell  by  pat- 
tern ?  Tliere  is  another  way  to  heaven,  and  divers 
have  gone  it  before  us ;  who  now  being  mounted 
above  the  clouds,  and  trampling  under  their  victo- 
rious feet  all  the  vanities  of  this  world,  seem  to  waft 
us  up  with  their  hands,  and  call  us  with  their  voices 
to  follow  them ;  saying.  We  have  the  sweet  rest  of 
peace,  tlie  rich  apparel  of  glorj',  the  society  of  an- 
gels, the  blessed  vision  of  God.  Follow  us,  O  follow 
us  on  earth,  that  you  may  come  tons  in  heaven  ;  that 
we  with  you,  and  you  with  us,  and  all  together  with 
angels,  may  sing  glorj-  and  honour  to  our  God  for  ever. 

We  have  considered  the  ringlciiders,  now  we  come 
to  the  matter  of  their  mischiefs  :  which  are,  for  plu- 
rality, ways ;  and  for  pestilence,  pernicious  or  damn- 
able ways. 

"  Their  ways."  There  is  a  plurality,  diversity,  num- 
ber of  them.  Sin  is  called  "  tlic  way  of  the  ungodly," 
Psal.  i.  6 ;  because  of  their  familiarity  with  it  who 
are  continually  travelling  that  cursed  thoroughfare. 
The  way  is  broad  that  leadeth  to  destruction.  Matt, 
vii.  13.  There  is  room  enough  for  all  Satan's  jour- 
neymen to  pass  in  triumph,  without  justling  for 
the  wall,  or  without  a  flourishing  fencer  to  scour 
them  a  conveyance.  The  extortioner  and  the  lavish- 
er,  the  common  harlot  and  the  conniving  officer,  the 
thief  and  the  corrupt  lawj-cr,  the  griping  citizen  and 
the  usurer;  they  have  all  room.  Oh  it  is  a  dancing, 
a  capering  way  :  tliey  go  to  hell  as  merrily  as  beg- 
gars to  a  fair  ;  but  then  the  house  of  correction  mars 
all.  Ways :  truth  is  but  one,  errors  are  infinite : 
truth  hath  but  one  face,  error  is  a  Proteus.  Good- 
ness is  a  uniform  simple,  sin  a  multiform  compound. 
"  As  the  lily  among  tnorns,  so  is  my  love  among  the 
daughters,"  Cant.  ii.  2.  There  is  one  health,  many 
diseases ;  one  way  to  do  well,  infinite  to  offend.  The 
soul  is  more  subject  to  aberrations  tlian  the  body  to 
surfeits.  There  are  innumerable  diseases  to  the 
body,  whenas  two  hundred  are  incident  to  the  eye  ; 
yet  are  there  more  sins  to  endanger  the  soul.  "The 
tongue  is  a  world  of  wickedness.  Jam.  iii.  6.  The 
tongue  is  but  a  little  part  of  man  ;  if  that  be  a  world 
of  sin,  what  is  the  wiiole  ?  even  a  world  of  worlds. 
St.  Paul  hath  twice  gone  about  to  number  these 
ways ;  yet  breaks  off  his  catalogue  in  both  places 
with  a  silent  supplement :  Adulterj-,  uncleanness, 
idolatn.-,  &e.  and  such  like,  Gal.  v.  21.  Here  is 
pretty  store,  yet  lest  lie  should  never  have  done,  he 
supplies  :ill  with  an  el  ctelera,  a  "  such  like."'  Law- 
less disobedience,  &c.  and  if  there  be  any  other  thing 
of  the  same  nature,  I  Tim.  i.  10.  There  is  a  whole 
hospiuil,  or  St.  Paul's  spital  of  incurable  wretches; 
yet,  ;is  if  there  were  more  behind,  he  concludes  with 
a  '•  whatsoever  is  like  to  these."  God  knows  all 
their  ways;  they  are  as  clear  before  him,  as  if  they 
were  written  with  the  brightest  sunbeams  upon  a  wall 
of  glass.  (Laclant.)  Will  men  flatter  themselves  that 
God  sees  not  all  their  ways  ?     Yes,  there  is  not  one 


236 


AN  EXPOSITIOX  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


"hid  from  liis  siglit :  he  can  read  tlic  most  crooked 
lines  that  ever  man  wrote,  and  pick  out  the  meaning 
of  every  word,  yea,  and  make  the  offender's  con- 
science read  them  witli  horror.  Wc  cannot  reckon 
up  God's  Rood  deeds  to  us  in  order,  but  lie  can  reckon 
up  our  evil  deeds  against  him  in  order.  Not  we  his  : 
Tiiou  hast  made  thy  wonderful  works  so  many,  that 
none  can  count  them  in  order  to  thee,  Psal.  xl.  5. 
But  he  ours :  I  will  reprove  thee,  and  set  them  in 
order  before  thine  eyes,  P.sal.  1.  21.  His  ways  arc 
far  above  out  of  our  sight ;  but  he  searcheth  the  ways 
of  the  wicked,  and  knowelh  all  their  paths.  "  What- 
soever is  like  to  these,"  saith  Paul :  no  bill  of  Ig- 
noto's,  all  come  within  the  catalogue;  if  not,  there 
is  a  "  whatsoever  is  like  to  these"  to  bring  it  in. 
Paul,  in  that  scroll,  Gal.  v.,  hath  neither  blasphemy, 
nor  perjury,  nor  sacrilege ;  but  whatsoever  is  left 
out,  there  is  a  "such  like"  to  fetch  it  in.  Because 
a  man  is  not  in  extreme  rage  of  madness,  is  he  there- 
fore no  fool  with  God?  Because  he  cannot  satiate 
his  lascivious  purposes,  is  he  therefore  no  adulterer 
with  God?  Shall  none  be  shut  out  of  the  kingdom, 
but  those  who  are  there  precisely  mentioned  ?  Yes, 
without  shall  be  dogs.  Rev.  xxii.  15,  that  is,  blas- 
phemers, scomers,  liars ;  which  are  silenced  in  that 
roll,  saving  that  they  are  made  belonging  to  the 
ulcerous  told  by  a  "  whatsoever  is  like  to  these." 
Hast  thou  none  of  those  sins  ?  thou  hast  other,  per- 
haps not  lighter.  Discipline  is  one  ;  now  there  are 
as  many  ways  of  sin,  as  deviations  from  doctrine. 
(August.)  Although  every  particular  be  not  reckoned, 
yet  there  is  a  writ  of  "  if  there  be  any  thing  else," 
to  bring  the  sinner  in  compass. 

The  devil  makes  much  of  this  variety  of  ways ; 
that  whom  he  cannot  draw  to  hell  one  way,  he  may 
do  it  another.  Tlicre  arc  some  spirits  sinful  enough, 
that  will  not  yet  be  wrought  to  fetch  treason  from 
Rome ;  they  hate  Rome  above  hell,  and  will  lie  with 
any  harlot  in  Europe  before  the  whore  of  Babylon. 
Well  then,  Satan  hath  another  way  for  him;  he  will 
fetch  him  a  little  sneezing-powder  from  Amsterdam, 
fire  him  with  a  puritan  zeal ;  and  then,  though  he 
dares  not  with  the  Jesuit  discharge  pistols,  yet  he 
will  shoot  squibs,  and  curse  those  that  love  his  mother. 
Some  trouble  their  heads  about  no  religion  at  all, 
rather  than  venture  the  danger  of  being  a  party  ;  the 
devil  hath  another  way  for  him  :  Sit  still,  ply  your 
business,  take  your  case ;  though  you  be  not  so  hot 
as  the  rest,  you  shall  be  saved  as  soon  as  the  best, 
I  warrant  you.  Others  are  not  so  sluggishly  mind- 
ed; well  then  he  hath  another  way  for  them,  that 
damned  path  of  luxuriousness :  What  say  you,  Sam- 
son, to  a  Delilah  ?  Yes,  I  will  venture  my  life  for 
her.  What  say  you  to  a  knot  of  boon  companions, 
a  pack  of  sound  cards,  that  will  leave  their  wits  ra- 
ther than  the  wine  behind  them  ?  Excellent  well  ; 
drawer,  give  us  an  ocean.  Are  you  for  yet  another 
way?  What  say  you  to  a  trick  that  will  prostrate 
him  you  hate  under  your  feet?  Yes,  I  will  hazard 
all  my  blessing  in  heaven,  to  bring  a  curse  upon  him 
on  earth  ;  I  will  undo  myself  to  beggar  him.  Is  not 
this  to  the  grain  of  your  affection  ?  What  say  you 
to  be  a  monarch's  favourite,  to  ride  in  triumph 
through  the  populous  streets,  and  hear  the  acclama- 
tion. This  is  the  man  whom  the  king  will  honour; 
vassals  kissing  the  dust  your  feet  trod  upon:  but  then 
you  must  be  proud  and  forget  God:  there  is  another 
way  for  you.  Do  not  all  these  satisfy  you  ?  Will 
you  be  rich,  and  purse  up  gold?  O,  there  is  a  wav 
indeed!  will  1  ?  will  I  not  ?  Ask  me  if  I  will  live. 
He  that  speaks  to  us  of  money  and  wealth,  cheers 
our  bloods  with  a  tickling  heat. 

Tlie  devil  would  be  undone  but  for  these  various 
ways.     All  will  not  be  adulterers,  nor  all  idolaters, 


nor  all  usurers.  But  thcugh  it  be  true  that  by  nature 
all  sins  are  potentially  in  us,  yet  there  is  a  predomi- 
nance ;  and  all  temptations  delight  to  run  with  the 
current  of  concupiscence.  It  is  easy  for  a  beggar  to 
be  no  usurer  ;  alas,  there  are  many  other  ways  to  be 
damned.  Satan,  like  the  fisher,  baits  his  hook  ac- 
cording to  the  appetite  of  the  fish.  And  as  Christ 
took  men  in  their  own  element,  m;iking  fi.shcrs  of 
animals  fishevs  of  souls ;  changing  in  his  apostles 
not  the  condition,  but  the  intention,  of  fishing;  thus 
he  apjjcared  to  ^laiy  in  the  garden  like  a  gardener  : 
so  doth  Satan  to  pervert;  becomes  all  things  to  se- 
duce all  men.  Some  Danae  will  not  be  won  to  play 
the  harlot,  unless  her  lover  appear  in  a  shower  of 
gold :  he  hath  that  way  for  her.  Another  will  not 
bow  in  the  house  of  Rimmon,  crouch  at  a  mass,  but 
for  his  master's  favour :  he  hath  that  way  for  him. 
A  third  will  not  rend  tlie  church  with  schism,  but  to 
get  himself  a  name :  he  hath  a  way  for  him  too ;  he 
shall  not  be  inglorious,  though  he  be  infamous.  A 
Jesuit  will  not  strike  at  the  anointed  blood,  unless 
the  pope  will  canonize  him  for  a  saint :  there  is  a 
way  for  him.  One  will  have  this  way,  another  that 
way :  so  they  go  to  hell  any  way,  Satan  cares  not. 
One  trembles  at  the  main  ocean,  that  ventures  to  be 
drowned  in  a  shallow  puddle  :  No  matter  how,  says 
Satan,  so  he  be  drowned. 

To  conclude ;  he  studies  many  ways  to  make  you 
wretched,  do  you  study  one  way  to  make  yourselves 
blessed.  The  devil  is  the  father  of  lies,  he  would 
have  showed  Christ  the  way  down  from  the  pinnacle, 
but  it  was  a  false  way,  by  a  precipice  :  if  thou  stand- 
cst  in  a  quandary,  and  he  should  point  thee  a  way ; 
that  is,  if  thine  own  lust,  his  town  clerk,  say  this 
way  ;  be  thou  sure  to  take  the  other,  for  he  means 
to  murder  thee.  If  thou  be  in  the  path  of  obedience, 
and  he  say  unto  thee,  as  Elisha  to  the  Syrian  army, 
This  is  not  the  way,  but  follow  me,  and  I  will  bring 
you  whither  you  desire,  2  Kings  vi.  19;  answer  him 
with  a  Depart,  thou  lying  spirit,  this  is  the  way  of 
righteousness  which  the  Holy  Ghost  prescribcth. 
Now  seeing  that  of  many  ways,  one  special  way  is 
hard  to  hit.  Lord,  guide  us  the  right  way,  open  our 
eyes  to  see  it,  incline  our  hearts  to  walk  in  it,  and 
bring  our  souls  to  the  end  of  it,  through  him  that  is 
the  way  of  truth,  and  the  truth  of  way,  and  life  of 
both,  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Their  pernicious  ways."  We  have  done  with 
the  number,  let  us  come  to  the  nature  of  their  ways ; 
which  are  i)ernicious,  or  damnable.  The  word  is 
divcrsly  read ;  by  some  uffwriaif,  by  some  dviXyiiaic, 
in  the  later  copies  nTroXtmic;  for  luxuries,  lascivi- 
ousnesses,  or  destructions.  If  understood  in  the  for- 
mer acceptations,  we  have  this  observation  : 

That  the  end  of  heresy  is  to  make  men  proud  and 
insolent,  or  riotous  and  excessive;  contrary  to  the 
doctrine  of  mortification  which  the  gospel  preacheth. 
For  that  which  promiseth  that  the  llesli  shall  not  kill 
us,  chargeth  us  also  to  kill  the  flesh.  The  one  is 
promised,  Rom.  viii.  1  ;  the  other  imposed,  Col.  iii. 
5.  Ahab  was  assured  by  the  pronhet  that  Bcnhadad 
should  not  slay  him.  but  withal  lie  was  commanded 
to  .slay  Bcnhadad,  that  proud  enemy  of  God  and  his 
church  ;  but  because  he  did  not,  "  Thy  life  shall  go 
for  his  life,  and  thy  people  for  his  people,"  saith  the 
Lord,  I  Kings  xx.  42.  But  now  the  doctrine  which 
cncouragcth  and  flesheth  the  ffesh,  which  admireth 
and  admittcth  the  world,  doth  also  make  much  for 
the  devil.  His  first  policy  was  to  catch  the  soul 
through  the  treason  of  her  guard,  the  senses.  For 
unless  the  sense  had  first  submitted,  the  consent  of 
the  soul  would  never  have  followed.  .■\iid  still  he  in- 
sinuates to  the  soul,  as  the  men  of  Tyre  lo  llerod.by 
Blastus  the  chamberlain,  Acts  xii.  20.     The  flesh  is 


VEn.  2. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


237 


a  perfumed,  fawning  Blastus,  that  docs  all  with  the 
great  one.  Here  is  then  tlie  difTerence  between 
ime  doctrine  and  false;  the  former  only  intends  to 
imI)ody  the  body  of  death;  and  the  scope  of  the 
oilier,  is  to  turn  the  grace  of  God  into  licentiousness, 
and  to  enlarge  (he  jurisdiction  of  sin. 

The  gospel  intends  our  newness  of  life,  and  pcr- 
acts  this  through  four  degrees ;  in  allusion,  yea,  in 
conformity,  to  tne  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ. 
1.  His  body  was  wounded  and  beaten  with  thorns 
and  buffets :  answerable  in  u,s  there  must  be  contri- 
tion :  Irajectuin  vulnere  corpus:  when  the  publican 
did  but  knock  his  breast,  he  gave  this  wound  to  his 
flesh.  Strike  it  soundly  with  remorse  of  heart,  set 
it  a  bleeding.  2.  Christ's  body  w!is  pursued  with 
incessant  afflictions  ;  so  follow  thy  sin  with  continual 
blows,  till  thou  make  it  so  weak  that  it  cannot  creep  : 
I  beat  down  my  body,  and  bring  it  into  subjection, 
1  Cor.  ix.  27.  Though  sin  will  not  say,  as  the  pro- 
phet to  his  neighbour,  "  Smite  me,  I  pray  thee ;" 
yet  God  bids  us  smite  it ;  and  if  we  deny  to  do  it,  his 
w  rath  will  smite  us,  as  the  lion  slew  that  refuser, 
I  Kings  XX.  35,  .36.  Therefore  let  us  deal  with  it  as 
the  other  man  did  with  the  prophet,  ver.  37;  smite 
it  soundly,  and  smite  it  daily  :  a  little  sorrow  is  not 
sufficient.  Oemilus,  quati  geminatu^ :  I^et  us  water 
our  bed  every  night  with  our  tears,  Psal.  vi.  6.  Do 
not  only  blow  upon  it  with  intermissive  blasts,  for 
then  like  fire  it  will  resurge  and  ilamc  the  more. 
Sin  is  like  a  stinking  candle  newly  put  out,  it  is  soon 
lighted  again.  It  may  receive  a  wound,  but  like  a 
dog  it  will  easily  lick  itself  whole ;  a  little  forbear- 
ance multiplies  it  like  Hydra's  heads.  Therefore, 
whatsoever  aspersion  the  sin  of  the  day  hath  brought 
upon  us,  let  tne  tears  of  the  night  wash  away.  3. 
They  crucify  Christ ;  so  when  sin  is  thus  wounded 
and  weakened,  let  us  have  it  to  the  cross,  and  nail  it 
fast:  let  our  old  man  be  cnicified  with  him,  that  the 
body  of  sin  may  be  destroyed,  that  henceforth  we 
may  not  serve  sin,  Rom.  vi.  (>.  It  is  fit  we  should 
crucify  that  enemy,  which  crucified  our  best  Friend, 
Christ ;  yea,  that  we  should  kill  that  which,  if  we 
destroy  not,  will  destroy  us.  It  is  written  of  Ahaz, 
that  he  sacrificed  to  the  gods  of  Damascus,  which 
plagued  him,  2  Chron.  xxviii.  2.3.  Let  us  never  seek 
to  please  sin,  which  seeks  to  confound  us.  He  is  a 
fool  that  loves  his  sin  better  than  his  soul.  No,  let 
the  sin  die,  that  the  sinner  may  live.  Neither  dally 
this  execution :  save  this  malefactor  from  the  gal- 
lows, and  he  will  be  the  first  that  shall  hang  thee : 
be  sure  it  is  dead.  4.  Lastly,  as  Christ  was  taken 
down  from  the  cross,  and  laid  in  his  grave ;  so,  is  it 
dead  ?  O  bury  it.  The  gospel  will  not  bate  one 
degree  of  this  proceeding,  even  to  burial ;  "  We  are 
buried  with  Inm,"  &c.  Rom.  vi.  4.  Mortification 
may  begin  at  some  few  principals,  as  an  arm  is 
stricken  dead  with  a  palsy ;  but  burial  covers  all  : 
therefore  rest  not  until  all  be  laid  in  the  grave.  Yea, 
as  Christ  was  buried  in  a  grave  of  rock,  lest  the  softer 
matter  of  the  earth  should  seem  easily  possible;  in 
one  entire  rock,  lest  the  clefts  and  fissures  should 
breed  cavil ;  yea,  to  the  mouth  of  the  rock  was  a 
stone  rolled,  that  stone  sealed,  and  that  seal  watched : 
so  make  sure  work  with  thy  sinful  flesh;  bur)-  it  in 
a  rock  ;  if  thou  find  none  ready,  in  Christ's  grave ; 
there  arc  no  seams  for  Satan  to  steal  it  out,  and  bring 
it  in  judgment  against  thee.  Roll  a  stone  to  the  mouth 
of  the  sepulchre,  that  is,  detestation  of  sin;  hate  it, 
as  Amnon  hated  Tamar,  more  than  ever  thou  lovedst 
it.  Seal  the  stone,  bind  it  with  a  vow  of  resolution ; 
"  I  have  sworn,  and  will  perfonn  it,"  Psal.  cxix.  10(). 
Set  a  guard  about  it,  watch  it ;  with  all  diligence 
keep  thy  heart  from  it.  There  are  three  watchmen ; 
fasting,  circumspection,  and  prayer.    Fasting  is  a 


plot  to  cheat  iniquity,  for  slie  is  no  pinglcr,  but  loves 
pamiJcring.  By  fasting  keep  the  body,  by  circum- 
spection the  soul,  by  prayer  both.  This  is  the  doc- 
trine of  the  gospel,  to  kill  the  lusts  of  blood  and 
flesh ;  that  the  soul  may  live  without  the  tyranny  of 
sin  in  this  world,  and  without  the  company  of  sin 
in  the  world  to  come. 

Now  the  aim  and  scope  of  false  doctrine,  is  to 
hearten  this  Jezebel  that  bewitehcth  us ;  that  who- 
soever is  led  by  it,  may  share  the  testimony,  the  in- 
famy, the  penalty  with  Ahab ;  "AVhich  did'sell  him- 
self to  work  wickedness  in  the  sight  of  God,  whom 
Jezebel  his  wife  stirred  up,"  I  Kings  xxi.  2.5.  The 
doctrine  of  Rome  may  here  justly  be  indicted  for 
asotical,  the  nurse  of  voluptuousness.  O  you  wrong 
it ;  nothing  is  more  corrective,  restrictive,  austere. 
Doth  it  not  command  fasting  ?  No.  "What  not 
Rome  ?  No,  not  Rome  :  it  commands  abstaining 
from  some  kind  of  food,  but  not  fasting.  A  mer- 
chant is  following  his  business  all  day,  at  night  comes 
home ;  he  must  have  no  flesh :  but  he  hath  his 
cuUiees,  his  jellies,  his  junkets,  ten  times  more  pro- 
voking than  moderate  flesh.  "The  poor  labourer,  if 
at  ni^tit  he  eats  a  piece  of  bacon,  0  he  is  a  heretic, 
but  the  other  an  excellent  catholic.  But  docs  it  not 
forbid  marriage,  and  commend  vows  of  chastity  and 
celibate?  Yes,  that  it  may  allow  stews,  and  have 
large  fees  out  of  harlots'  hires.  But  there  is  a  curse 
against  them ;  They  "  gathered  it  of  the  hire  of  an 
harlot,  and  they  shall  return  to  the  hire  of  an  har- 
lot," Micah  i.  7.  Why  do  they  not  boast  their  Paul- 
ine order,  founded  by  Ghastalia,a  countess  of  Mantua  ? 
How  contrary  was  their  doctrine  of  mortification  to 
that  taught  by  St.  Paul ;  "  Mortify  therefore  your 
members  which  are  upon  the  earth;  fornication,  un- 
eleanness,  inordinate  affection,  evil  concupiscence, 
andcovetousness,  which  isidolatiy ;  forwhicii  things' 
sake  the  wrath  of  God  Cometh,"  &c.  Do  they  not  com- 
mend prodigality,  when  they  tempt  a  young  landed 
man  to  part  with  all  he  hath,  to  undo  his  parents 
that  depend  upon  him,  that  he  may  take  their  order, 
and  they  divide  his  inheritance  ?  Do  they  not  ap- 
prove lasciviousness,  when  they  forbid  marriage  to  a 
chaste  wife,  and  tolerate  turpitude  with  an  unchaste 
courtesan  ?  Whether  then  we  take  it  for  the  first  or 
second,  the  third  will  fit  all,  as  our  translation  reads 
it,  damnable  ways.  In  that  third  they  all  meet ; 
whether  it  be  a  luxurious  way,  or  a  lascivious  way,  it 
is  still  a  damnable  way. 

If  it  be  taken  for  riot  and  voluptuousness,  that  is  a 
pestilent  doctrine  which  shall  teach  a  man  to  cast 
away  God's  blessings  like  troublesome  nibbish  ;  "  If 
any'provide  not  for  his  own,  he  hath  denied  the 
faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel,"  I  Tim.  v.  S!.  It 
is  pernicious  to  both  the  estates,  present  and  future. 
First,  for  this  world,  it  hastens  beggary  ;  it  is  the 
rioter's  phrase,  when  he  calls  for  supplies  to  his  lusts. 
It  is  but  begging  a  year  the  sooner.  Diogenes  re- 
(piested  of  a  prodigal  a  talent :  he  asked  him  what  he 
meant,  to  desire  so  much  of  him,  and  so  little  of  others : 
he  answered.  Because  thou  hast,  and  they  will  have ; 
I  shall  beg  of  thee  but  once,  of  them  often :  give  me 
now  a  talent,  I  may  live  to  give  thee  a  groat.  Second- 
ly, for  the  world  to  come,  when  the  account  must  be 
given,  the  matter  will  be  worse.  If  the  servant  that 
but  hid  his  talent  was  cast  into  utter  darkness  for  not 
improving  it,  what  answer  shall  he  make  that  hath 
riotously  wasted  it?  Luke  xvi.  I.  There  shall  be 
more  fire,  because  there  wa.s  less  faithfulness. 

If  it  be  taken  for  wantonness,  then  that  is  a  damn- 
able doctrine,  that  shall  teach  a  man  to  go  to  heaven 
by  ui'.eleanness.  .Such  a  pestilence  is  derived  from 
the  papal  faction,  that  fornication  is  but  a  venial  sin. 
Paul  saith,  "  Shall  I  take  the  members  of  Christ, 


238 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


C'lIAl".    11 


and  make  them  the  members  of  an  harlot  ?  God  for- 
bid," 1  Cor.  vi.  15.  That  sacrilege,  to  make  ihc  mem- 
ber of  Christ  a  limb  of  the  devil  by  the  congrcssion 
of  lust,  is  with  tlicm  venial.  Paul  saith,  God  forbid 
it;  but  Rome  allows  it,  and  in  some  sort  commends 
it.  But  he  that  so  taught  it,  shall  never  so  find  it. 
"  They  wax  wanton  against  Christ."  What  is  their 
reward  ?  It  follows,  "  having  damnation,  because 
they  have  cast  off  their  first  faith,"  1  Tim.  v.  11,  12. 
Such  a  damnable  opinion  was  hatched  by  the  Famil- 
ists,  that  a  man  might  lie  with  his  neighbour's  wife 
while  her  husband  slept ;  as  if  the  sleep  of  the  in- 
nocent excused  or  acquitted  the  guilt  of  the  waking. 
But  let  them  all  pretend  what  they  will,  as  the  woman 
that  presumed  so  much  of  her  husband's  love,  that  if 
he  should  find  her  in  the  bed  of  incontinence,  he 
would  not  harm  her;  but  it  proved  far  otherwise,  to 
her  shame  and  ruin.  So  there  is  another  judgment 
must  pass;  and  let  them  not  tliink  they  are  so  sure 
of  God's  favour,  that  he  will  not  find  fault  though 
they  be  lascivious ;  for  "  whoremongers  and  adul- 
terers God  w'ill  judge,"  Heb.  xiii.  4. 

To  conclude,  observe  the  horror  of  false  doctrine, 
and  the  inextricable  confusion  it  wraps  the  followers 
in:  raij  aVoXti'aif,  pernicious ;  literally,  destructions, 
or  damnations.  The  wicked  never  rest  till  they 
meet  with  final  ruin.  Pharaoh,  though  by  one 
plague  he  had  lost  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  by  another 
the  fruit  of  his  cattle,  by  a  third  the  light  of  his 
eyes,  by  a  fourth  the  fmit  of  his  loins,  even  all  the 
first-born  of  Egypt ;  yet,  as  if  all  this  could  not  con- 
tent him,  he  would  not  give  over  till  he  met  with 
utter  destruction,  till  he  was  di-ow'ned  and  damned. 
Yea,  they  follow  it  as  if  a  man  should  woo  and  court 
unhappiness :  one  would  think  it  were  enough  to  say 
to  destruction,  as  Ahab  to  Elijah,  "  Hast  thou  found 
me,  0  mine  enemy?"  I  Kings  xxi.  20.  But  so  to 
pursue  it,  as  not  to  give  it  over  till  they  overtake  it, 
is  a  desperate  madness.  Like  flies  that  still  hover 
about  the  candle,  and  the  burning  of  a  wing  serves 
not  their  turn;  they  must  sacrifice  their  lives  in  the 
flame.  So  busy  are  the  wicked  about  hell-fire,  play- 
ing on  this  side  and  on  that,  dancing  through  it  as 
boys  through  a  bonfire;  yea,  as  in  tne  sacrifices  of 
children  to  Moloch,  and  that  with  pipes  and  melody 
in  the  valley  of  Hinnom ;  never  ceasing  I  ill  God 
make  an  utter  destruction,  affliction  not  rising  up 
the  second  lime,  Nah.  i.  9.  It  is  a  fearful  protesta- 
tion of  the  prophet  against  them,  "  As  he  clothed 
himself  with  cursing  like  as  with  a  garment,  so  let  it 
come  into  his  bowels  like  water,  and  like  oil  into  his 
bones,"  Psal.  cix.  18 :  as  he  loved  it,  so  shall  he  have 
it,  and  be  alway  girded  with  it.  For  us  that  love 
salvation,  let  us  never  rest  till  we  are  assured  of  it ; 
not  sutfering  our  eyes  to  sleep,  nor  our  eye-lids  to 
take  any  slumber,  till  we  be  possessed  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

"  Many  shall  follow  their  pernicious  ways."  Thus 
for  the  ringleaders,  now  view  the  rabble ;  and  there- 
in their  multitude  and  their  aptitude  :  their  number. 
Many  :  their  forwardness,  tractableness,  easiness  to 
be  tempted.  Shall  follow. 

1.  Their  multitude.  Many.  Wickedness  walks 
with  numbers,  and  is  never  scanted  of  followers : 
"  Many  shall  come  in  my  name,  and  deceive  many," 
Matt.  xxiv.  5.  Paul  says,  they  shall  Araw  a  world 
after  them.  Goodness  hath  few  adherents,  because 
the  gate  is  narrow  that  leadeth  to  life ;  the  wicked 
in  a  jproud  disdain  blanch  heaven-gate,  as  too  strait 
for  their  greatness.  All  that  the  master  graciously 
invited,  disdainfully  rcfiised  ;  all  with  one  mind  make 
excuse,  Luke  xiv.  18:  well,  his  eheer  shall  not  be 
lost.  Goodness  may  complain  with  Paul,  At  my  an- 
swering no  man  assisted  me,  but  all  forsook   me; 


yet  still  prays  for  them,  that  it  may  not  be  laid  to 
their  charge,  2  Tim.  iv.  16.  Christendom  is  the 
least  part  of  the  world ;  they  that  profess  Clirist 
truly  the  least  part  of  Christendom;  and  of  this 
little  part  there  be  many  that  may  be  called  heretics, 
not  so  much  in  their  lips  as  in  their  lives,  not  in 
their  doctrines,  but  in  their  doings  :  they  colour  for 
Christ,  but  confederate  underhand  with  the  world. 
Therefore,  "  Many  are  called,  but  few  are  chosen," 
Matt.  xxii.  14.  It  is  said,  that  the  books  shall  be 
opened,  and  another  book  which  is  the  book  of  life. 
Rev.  XX.  12.  There  is  but  one  book  of  life,  wherein 
the  elect  are  registered ;  but  the  books  of  the  re- 
])robates  are  many,  for  one  book  wll  not  hold  them. 
But  if  I  forbear  the  common  customs,  I  shall  be  held 
singular,  and  irregular,  a  by-word  of  the  people,  and 
as  a  tabret  before  them.  Job  xvii.  6.  And  what, 
must  thou  prefer  fame  before  conscience  ?  Remem- 
ber the  philosopher  when  the  people  applauded  him, 
he  asked  what  evil  he  had  done  ?  Socrates  ever  sus- 
jiccted  that,  W'hich  passed  with  the  general  most  com- 
mendation. Augustine  reckons  up  two  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  several  opinions  concerning  the  supreme 
good  ;  (Civit.  lib.  19.  cap.  1.)  but  amongst  all  these 
we  never  found  any  so  mad,  as  to  place  his  happiness 
upon  common  fame.  Indeed  so  long  as  great  men 
be  good  men,  and  the  most  the  best,  we  may  follow 
both ;  but  because  this  is  rare,  let  us  not  do  as  the 
most,  but  do  as  we  must.  It  is  better  to  have  good 
company  in  heaven,  than  great  company  in  hell.  It 
was  a  satirical,  an  atheistical  answer  of  a  jester, 
when  a  great  lord  asked  him  whether  he  would  go  to 
heaven  or  to  hell :  he  said.  To  hell ;  for  there  I  shall 
be  sure  to  meet  your  Lordship,  and  the  most  part  of 
my  acquaintance.  But  he  little  loves  Christ,  that 
will  not  love  him  without  company  ;  and  his  zeal  is 
cold  to  heaven,  whom  the  example  of  numbers  can 
tuni  another  way.  No,  let  us  say  as  much  as  Peter 
said,  and  do  more  than  Peter  did ;  Though  all  men 
should  forsake  thee,  yet  I  will  not  leave  thee,  O 
Saviour.  Neither  magnitude  of  princes,  nor  multi- 
tude of  people,  shall  prevail  with  me :  I  am  thv 
sheep,  I  will  follow  my  .Shepherd.  Lead  me  on  with 
the  bands  of  love,  and  hold  me  with  the  hand  of 
mercy ;  knit  me  to  thyself,  now  with  saving  grace, 
and  hereafter  with  everlasting  glory. 

2.  Their  tractableness,  Shall  follow.  There  is  a 
pliable  disposition  in  all  men  naturally  to  evil,  in 
these  a  desperate  and  unstayable  precipitation. 

They  need  not  be  compelled  with  scourges,  nor 
tormented  to  it ;  their  own  willingness  saves  the  la- 
bour of  painful  coaction.  It  is  only  a  Job  that  the 
devil  delights  to  vex  with  anguish ;  he  knows  an 
Absalom  will  run  laughing  to  hell.  Satan  hath  de- 
sired to  winnow  you,  Luke  xxii.  31.  To  winnow 
you;  there  arc  some  all  chaff',  he  will  not  meddle 
with  them.  "Ephraim  is  joined  to  idols;  let  him 
alone,"  Hos.  iv.  17.  Let  him  alone,  says  Satan,  he  is  as 
safe  as  I  would  wish  him.  No  general  wounds  his 
own  soldiers,  that  march  under  liis  colours ;  but  his 
enemies.  "  If  Satan  he  divided  against  himself,  how 
shall  his  kingdom  stand?"  Luke  xi.  18.  He  never 
makes  reprobates  feel  liis  hale,  till  they  feel  his  heat, 
even  his  fire  in  the  burning  lake. 

They  need  not  he  drawn  with  cords,  haled  with 
authority  and  command.  Indeed  if  Doeg  hear  a  Saul 
bid  him  murder  the  priests,  he  will  nm  upon  them, 
and  quickly  despatch  them,  1  Sam.  xxii.  18.  If  Ne- 
buchadnezzar charge  the  people  to  adore  his  new- 
erected  idol,  they  quickly  fall  down,  as  soon  as  the 
music  gives  warning,  Dan.  iii.  7-  John  shall  not 
want  a  death' s-man,  if  Herod  send  for  his  head. 
The  centurion's  servants  never  ran  faster  on  his 
errands,  than  these  to  do  mischief.     Such  headlong 


Ver.  2. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  (iENERAL  OF  ST.  PETEK. 


L'31» 


followers  of  false  teachers  arc  the  papists,  who  have 
learned  Mind  obedience,  to  be  so  tractable  as  to 
follow  their  leaders  blindfold.  They  practise  an  in- 
discreet surrendering  up  of  themselves  to  the  com- 
mand of  their  superior.  Like  those  unclean  beasts, 
Deut.  xiv.  they  swallow  and  never  chew  the  cud. 
It  is  an  inconsiderate,  undiscursive  apjtlyment  of 
themselves  to  another's  will,  without  weighing  the 
goodness  or  fitness  of  the  action.  An  abbot  com- 
mands one  to  cast  his  crying  child  into  the  river,  and 
drown  it :  he  doth  it,  and,  saith  my  author,  God  did 
reveal  that  he  accomplished  Abraham's  work.  (Cas- 
sian.)  Another  was  desirous  to  be  instructed  in  the 
point  of  predestination  :  his  superior  turned  him  to 
a  place  in  Augustine,  and  bade  him  read  there : 
when  lie  came  to  the  end  of  the  page,  not  of  the 
sense  or  sentence,  he  durst  not  turn  over  the  leaf,  be- 
cause his  superior  bade  him  read  there.  This  follow- 
ing they  so  commend,  that  if  a  man  were  dignified 
to  talk  with  angels,  if  his  superior  called  him,  he 
must  come  away.  When  one  of  them  was  in  dis- 
course with  our  lady,  a  friar  called  him,  and  he 
very  unmannerly  quitted  her.  (Climach.)  They 
stick  not  to  affirm,  tliat  it  is  a  greater  pride  to  do  a 
good  work  against  a  superior's  command,  than  to  do  a 
bad  one  with  it  j  because  that  is  vice  under  pretence 
of  virtue.  That  it  is  better  to  sin  against  God,  than 
against  our  spiritual  father;  because  he  can  recon- 
cile us  to  God,  but  nobody  can  reconcile  us  to 
him.  Here  is  a  ducible  disposition  indeed,  a  gener- 
ation that  will  follow  upon  the  least  hint.  If  Peter 
should  have  asked  them  that  question.  Whether  it 
is  better  to  obey  God  or  man,  judge  ye,  Acts  iv.  19  ; 
they  would  have  answered,  Man,  so  he  be  a  supe- 
rior. Yet,  saith  Eli,  "  If  one  man  sin  against  an- 
other, the  judge  shall  judge  him  :  but  if  a  man  sin 
against  the  Lord,  who  shall  entreat  for  him  ? " 
1  Sam.  ii.  25.  Yea,  these  men  would  follow  were 
they  never  called.  They  would  be  glad  to  hear  it 
from  the  mouth  of  their  Joab,  Run;  and,  like  Cushi, 
they  would  bow  themselves  for  it,  2  Sam.  xviii.  21. 
Yea,  like  Gehazi,  they  run  though  they  were  never 
sent. 

They  need  not  be  led  on  with  flatteries,  as  Absa- 
lom stole  the  hearts  of  Israel.  When  a  courtier,  to 
work  Sejanus  out  of  favour  with  Tiberius,  had  lux- 
uriously flattered  and  gilded  him  with  liis  own  vir- 
tues; and  the  emperor  found  that  the  intention  of 
all  his  design  was  to  overthrow  Sejanus  ;  he  replied, 
Alas,  you  might  have  spared  all  this  pains  and  ora- 
tory, for  I  meant  before  to  ruin  Sejanus.  So  to  per- 
suade a  covetous  man  to  become  a  usurer,  and  to 
flatter  him  with  the  siife  and  easy  gain,  it  is  but 
labour  lost ;  he  meant  to  do  it,  though  he  were  never 
counselled  to  it. 

They  need  not  be  hired  with  rewards :  yet  this  same, 
I  will  give  to  thee,  goes  far:  it  tempted  Balaam  to  curse, 
where  he  should  bless;  Judas  Mo  betray,  where  he 
should  adore.  Saul  thought  that  this  only  would  stay 
the  Benjamitcs  from  revolting  to  David';  "Will  the 
son  of  Jesse  give  you  fields  and  vineyards,  and  make 
you  all  captains  of  thousands,  and  captains  of  hun- 
dreds?" 1  Sam.  xxii.  7.  This  engine  Satan  planted 
against  the  walls  of  eternitv,  "  All  these  will  I  give 
thee,"  Matt.  iv.  9  :  as  God  said  to  Abraham,  "  All 
the  land  which  thou  scest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it," 
Gen.  xiii.  15.  But  these  men,  though  they  had  no 
reward,  yet  insani  sine  niu?iere  currunt.  Though  the 
tempter  says  not  as  Balak  to  their  cursed  false  pro- 
j)het,  "  Am  I  not  able  indeed  to  promote  thee  to 
honour?"  Numb.  xxii.  37;  j-ea,  though  he  confess 
plainly,  I  have  neither  silver  nor  gold,  lands  nor 
vineyards  to  give  you;  yet  they  resolutely  pro- 
ceed in  the  satisfaction  of  their  own  malice :  "  We 


will  eat  our  own  bread,  and  wear  our  own  apparel," 
Isa.  iv.  I ;  only  do  thou  own  us,  and  let  us  be  thy  re- 
tainers. Though  upon  our  own  cost,  we  will  follow. 
So  greedy  is  the  wicked  man  of  his  own  ruin,  that 
himself  will  bear  the  charges  of  it. 

From  this  point  of  their  tractablencss,  ducible  and 
easy  disposition  to  be  led  on  to  evil,  we  may  raise 
five  observable  deductions. 

I.  The  greediness  of  the  ungodly  to  sin,  that  they 
scarce  tarry-  for  temptation.  They  are  past  feeling, 
(sick  without  sense,)  and  have  given  themselves 
(witliout  hire,  or  pay,  or  compulsion,  but  by  a  deed 
of  gift,  not  only  to  think,  but)  to  work  (not  a  light 
kind  of  immodesty,  but)  uncleanness,  (not  some 
little,  but)  all  uncleanness,  (not  with  indifferent  ap- 
petite, or  some  fonvard  disposition,  capable  of  dis- 
suasion, but)  with  unsatiable  and  desperate  greedi- 
ness, Eph.  iv.  19.  The  apostle  sets  down  here  two 
especial  marks  of  their  self-violence.  1.  They  have 
given  themselves  :  not  ravished,  as  Tamar,  but  they 
have  prostituted  their  own  souls,  like  that  impudent 
strumpet,  that  sits  at  the  door,  and  calls  in  passen- 
gers, Prov.  ix.  14.  So  Ahab  sold  himself  to  work 
wickedness ;  he  had  no  hire.  I  remember  David's 
lamentation  over  slain  Abncr,  2  Sam.  iii.  33.  How 
died  Abner  ?  how  ?  His  hands  were  not  bound,  nor 
his  feet  tied  with  fetters  of  brass ;  yet  he  fell  down 
at  the  feet  of  the  conqueror  ;  yesterday  a  man,  to- 
day a  corpse.  Nobody  compelled  these,  nobody 
forced  them ;  but  their  own  will  was  their  own  over- 
throw, their  own  following  their  own  undoing,  and 
the  battle  is  fought  between  them  and  themselves. 
2.  With  greediness :  they  follow  as  the  iron  ada- 
mant, by  a  natural  and  hidden  propensity  ;  or,  as  a 
lackey  follows  his  lord,  and  hath  no  course  of  his  own 
but  which  way  his  master  pleaseth:  to  be  sure  of 
not  being  behind,  they  will  be  before.  Or,  as  a  dog 
follows  his  master,  through  foul  or  fair,  thick  or  thin, 
whether  north  or  south,  which  way  soever  he  doubles 
his  point ;  howling  and  questing  if  he  be  at  a  loss. 
Or,  more  properly  according  to  the  phrase  here,  as 
scholars  following  their  master,  novices  their  supe- 
riors ;  subjected  to  their  doctrine  and  discipline, 
without  questioning  what  they  learn,  or  why  they 
suffer.  Marching  like  Jehu  the  son  of  Nimshi, 
driving  as  if  they  were  mad,  2  Kings  ix.  20.  Hast- 
ening as  a  bird  to  the  snare,  or  a  fool  to  the  stocks  : 
as  if  they  had  fire  at  their  heels,  like  Samson's 
foxes ;  whereas  indeed  the  fire  is  before  their  faces ; 
they  run  not  from  it,  but  unto  it. 

2.  Sin  is  strong  when  it  meets  with  a  weak  re- 
sister.  How  easy  is  it  for  error  to  domineer  over 
ignorance !  They  lead  captive  silly  women,  led 
away  with  divers  lusts,  2  Tim.  iii.  6.  Silly  women 
are  easily  led  captive  by  subtle  men.  The  devil  is 
called  a  strong  man,  yet  the  faith  of  the  weakest 
Christian  is  able  to  beat  him  back.  Give  no  place 
to  the  devil,  Eph.  iv.  2" ;  for  there  is  no  place  for 
him  but  where  it  is  given  him.  When  Satan  had 
Christ  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple,  one  would 
think  that  a  child  for  strength  might  have  turned 
him  olT.  No,  his  commission  extended  not  so  far : 
ho  met  now  with  a  strong  defendant,  and  he  is  as 
weak  as  water.  It  is  man's  infirmity  that  sets  off" 
the  glor>'  of  his  strength.  '•  He  is  a  king  over  all 
the  children  of  pride,"  Job  xli.  34.  Satan  is  a  tyrant ; 
but  over  whom  ?  None  but  the  children  of  pride. 
He  is  called  the  prince  of  the  world,  but  indecfl  only 
of  worldlings;  yet  let  not  this  so  disgrace  his  strength, 
that  you  become  secure.  Though  the  devil  stands 
at  God's  courtesy,  let  us  not  be  fearless  or  careless 
of  such  an  enemy.  Sin  is  strong,  it  could  fetch 
angels  out  of  heaven,  arrest  God's  courtiers  before 
his  own  ftice.    A  whole  world  could  not  withstand 


2-10 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


the  fury  of  it,  when  it  came  marching  against  tliem 
with  a  Hood.  It  wa.s  strong  enough  to  lay  all  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  Adam  in  the  dust.  The  devil 
is  strong  as  a  lion,  yea,  stronger  than  a  thousand 
lions;  that  coimleth  darts  as  straw,  and  laughs  at 
tJieir  shaking  of  the  spear,  Job  xli.  29.  Death  is 
strong,  a  stalking  giant,  that  like  Goliath  dares  all 
tlic  world  to  match  him  with  an  equal  combatant. 
Hell  is  strong,  it  can  hold  Alexanders,  Casars,  Ta- 
merlancs,  the  sons  of  Anak,  sure  enough  for  ever 
breaking  forth.  But  now  whence  have  all  these 
their  strength  ?  Tluy  fetch  it  from  the  life  of  sin, 
which  only  souls  thein  all  with  their  vigour:  take 
away  that,  and  tliey  arc  as  weak  as  a  bulrush.  What 
jiower  hath  death  but  by  sin?  It  is  the  sting  of  it : 
all  a  serpent's  power  is  in  his  venomous  sting.  Yea, 
death  had  never  been,  had  not  sin  engendered  it. 
"  Sin  bringeth  forth  death,"  Jam.  i.  15.  It  is  be- 
holden to  sin  for  its  vciT  being;  for  it  is  none  of 
those  positive  things  that  God  made.  The  devil  had 
been  damned  alone,  but  for  sin  ;  and  all  the  world 
had  mocked  his  malice.  But  intra  te,  quod  contra  le : 
lie  fetcheth  the  poison  from  within  thee,  whereby  he 
tightcth  against  thee.  He  finds  that  weapon  in  our 
own  lusts,  wherewith  he  runs  through  our  souls. 
Mark  the  Philistines'  policy,  to  leave  the  Hebrews 
not  a  smith  in  all  Israel,  lest  they  should  make  them 
spears  or  swords,  1  Sam.  xiii.  19.  Let  this  be  our 
stratagem,  to  disappoint  the  devil  of  his  weapons. 
Oh  that  he  had  no  smith  amongst  us !  howsoever, 
let  not  us  be  his  smiths,  to  hammer,  work,  and 
fashion  his  temptations  in  the  forges  of  our  own 
breasts.  And  for  hell,  though  without  sin  it  have 
the  strength  of  retention,  yet  loscth  the  strength  of 
attraction  :  it  may  be  powerful  to  keep  those  it  hath, 
but  not  to  draw  in  those  it  hath  not.  That  great 
gulf  may  hold  the  prisoners  from  coming  forth,  but 
the  gates  of  hell  are  too  weak  to  scramble  in  a  be- 
lieving soul. 

But,  alas,  when  sin  invades  a  weak  natural  man, 
it  boasteth  the  power  in  present  conquest.  Man's 
strength  is  wounded  by  an  original  blow  ;  and  as 
wlicn  sickness  hath  gotten  the  better  of  him,  and 
cast  him  down,  still  as  the  patient  grows  weaker, 
the  disease  grows  stronger;  and  the  more  that  ty- 
rant usurps,  the  less  able  is  the  sufferer  to  resist. 
At  first  Samson  was  hard  enough  for  all  the  princes 
of  the  Philistines,  at  last  they  set  a  boy  to  lead  him. 
Abimelech  was  a  stout  prince,  yet  had  his  death's 
wound  by  a  woman.  Totylas,  that  mighty  conqueror, 
who  vanquished  Rome,  which  vanquished  the  world, 
was  slain  by  Narscs  a  eunuch,  a  semi-iir.  It  is  re- 
corded of  Solyman,  a  late  Turk,  that  having  a  great 
German  brought  prisoner  unto  him,  in  spite  and  de- 
rision of  the  German  nation,  he  caused  his  dwarf,  a 
very  piginy,  to  take  him  in  hand  after  he  was  bound, 
to  hack  him  and  hew  him,  to  run  at  tilt  at  liim  with 
many  courses,  and  at  la-st  to  kill  him.  Let  little 
David  maze  Goliath  with  his  sling,  and  he  will  cut 
off  his  head.  Tlnis  may  the  lion  and  leopard  be 
tamed,  and  a  little  child  lead  them,  Isa.  xi.  ti.  The 
Scythians  had  a  pestilent  enemy  that  infested  their 
country:  they  levied  a  troop,  and  with  a  great  con- 
flict took  him.  'When  they  had  him,  they  were  yet 
troubled  to  hold  him :  they  then  so  scanted  his  diet 
and  sleep  that  six  men  could  master  him  :  at  last,  by 
degrees  they  brought  him  so  low,  that  they  set  a 
dog  to  lead  him.  Thus  Satan  first  sets  on  man  with 
troops  of  spirits;  and  if  he  be  unnily,  they  starve 
him  by  detaining  the  food  of  the  soul,  the  word  of 
God  :  at  last,  when  he  is  brought  low,  tliey  set  a  dog 
to  lead  him,  his  own  lust.  This  Naaman  feared,  and 
escaped;  Hazael  scorned,  yet  admitted:  Am  I  a  dog, 
tlwt  I  should  do  this?  2  Kings  viii.  13.     He  became 


that  dog,  or  at  least  was  led  by  that  dog.  Thus 
prone  are  we  to  sin,  and  therefore  let  us  pray  Him 
that  is  the  strongest  to  fortify  us.  If  we  be  left  to 
ourselves,  sin  no  sooner  calls  than  we  follow:  all  our 
help,  all  our  hope,  is  in  the  preventing  grace  of  God. 

.3.  Observe  the  power  of  evil  men  over  their  asso- 
ciates; whether  in  perverting  the  higher  faculties  of 
the  soul,  rciison,  and  understanding,  and  conscience  ; 
or  in  cori-upting  the  lower,  will  and  affections.  There 
is  some  respondence  between  a  physical  and  this 
ethical  or  moral  corruption.     It  is  wrought, 

Either  by  privation,  withering  the  good  qualities 
in  us:  like  an  evil  north  wind,  they  blow-  upon  the 
buds  of  our  grace,  and  nip  them.  Whether  the  ill 
companion  be  a  wliite-skinned  hypocrite,  or  a  black- 
hided  ruffian  ;  the  one  like  fair  water,  the  other  like 
foul ;  but  any  water,  fair  or  foul,  may  quench  the 
fire  of  God's  altar  in  thee.  He  doth  work  a  tabe  and 
consumption  into  his  fellows'  virtues  ;  and  wasteth 
tliem  from  an  ounce  to  a  dram,  from  a  dram  to  a 
scruple,  to  a  grain,  to  nothing.  He  Chat  hath  money 
will  beware  of  thieves  :  if  thou  have  any  grace,  ven- 
ture it  not  among  these  rifiers.  Art  thou  inclined  to 
pray  ?  he  tempts  thee  to  play.  V.'ouldst  thou  go  to 
a  sermon  ?  by  his  persuasion  the  theatre  stands  in 
the  way.  Wouldst  thou  relieve  the  poor  ?  No,  says 
he,  this  will  help  to  bear  charges  at  the  tavern.  A 
certain  man  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho, 
and  fell  among  thieves,  thai  robbed  him,  &c.  Luke 
X.  30.  He  that  will  go  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho, 
shall  fall  among  thieves,  that  will  rob  him  of  his 
good  conditions.  The  devil  hath  such  agents,  that 
practise  the  art  of  debauching  men.  As  Amilcar  swore 
his  young  son  Hannibal  to  the  revenge  of  the  Romans ; 
and  as  Rome  now  swears  her  proselytes  to  the  revenge 
of  the  protestants;  so  the  devil  swears  all  his  instm- 
ments  to  the  revenge  of  Christians.  So  that  a  man 
may  say  with  Christ  in  the  crowd.  Who  touched  me  ? 
for  I  feel  virtue  gone  out  of  me. 

Or  by  position,  infusing  his  own  bad  qualities  into 
thee.  Lot  hath  a  little  tang  from  Sodom,  that  sticks 
by  him  in  the  mountain.  Jacob  sware  by  the  fear  of 
his  father  Isaac ;  but  Joseph  learned  in  Egypt  to 
swear  by  the  life  of  Pharaoli.  Peter  durst  draw  liis 
sword  against  a  whole  troop  in  his  Master's  quarrel ; 
but  after  all  protestations  of  inseparableness,  was  in- 
fected with  the  air  of  the  high  priest's  hall ;  and 
then  he  fell  to  cursing :  it  is  likely  that  was  their 
fashion,  to  get  credit  to  their  speeches.  Herod  was 
loth  to  give  away  John  Baptist's  head,  but  for  the 
company.  Matt.  xiv.  9.  As  a  musician  tunes  his  in- 
strument, so  he  will  stretch  all  thy  cords,  till  he  hath 
brought  thee  to  his  own  key  :  thou  shalt  be  forced  to 
sing  as  he  will  have  thee,  Psal.  cxxxvii.  3.  Let  sin 
be  but  an  embryo  in  thee,  he  will  so  midwife  it  that 
ho  will  deliver  thee  of  it  by  action  ;  yea,  so  nurse  it. 
till  he  make  it  the  darlinjj  of  thy  affection.  Is  thy 
soul  thus  ravished  of  her  chaste  love  to  Christ  ?  thou 
mayst  say  to  her  as  Absalom  to  his  sister  Tamar, 
"  liath  Amnon  been  with  thee?"  hath  the  bad  as- 
sociate met  with  thee?  This  poison  is  never  more 
dangerous  than  when  it  comes  in  a  golden  cup.  AH 
the  spite  of  Joseph's  brethren  was  not  such  a  cross 
to  him,  as  the  inordinate  affection  of  his  mistress. 
Temptations  on  the  right  hand  are  more  perilous,  be- 
cause they  are  most  plausible  and  glorious.  Joseph 
saw  this  pleasure  would  advance  him ;  he  knew  what 
it  was  to  be  the  minion  of  one  of  the  greatest  ladies 
in  Egypt.  Yet  he  contemns  it ;  "  How  can  I  do  this 
great  wickedness,  and  sin  against  God  ?  "  Gen.  xxxix. 
[).  He  knew  tliat  all  the  fioods  of  honour  could  not 
wash  off  the  guilt  of  one  sin.  He  shuns  her  society. 
Oh  that  we  were  so  wise  to  avoid  the  occasions  of 
evil  company  I     She  impu.lontly  catchcth  hold  of  his 


Ver.  2. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


241 


garment,  her  hand  seconds  her  tongue.  But  Joseph 
will  rather  lose  his  cloak  than  his  faith,  rather  be 
spoiled  of  his  liverv  than  of  his  chastity  ;  refuse  all, 
rather  than  blemisfi  her  honour,  his  master's  in  her, 
his  own  in  both,  God's  in  all.  Were  we  all  such 
Josephs,  the  pcdler  of  hell  durst  not  open  his  pack ; 
his  damned  wares  might  lie  like  dead  commodities 
stinking  upon  his  own  hands. 

Letthis  teach  usall  to  flee  thesocietiesof  the  wicked, 
lest  we  follow  them  home,  through  their  traasgres- 
sion  to  their  desf ruction.  But  if  I  consort  with  tlicm, 
I  do  it  to  convert  them.  Alas,  there  is  a  great  deal 
more  danger  of  poisoning  the  physician  than  curing 
the  patient.  They  are  such  as  have  taken  the  de- 
vil's oath  of  allegiance ;  that  what  he  cannot  do  im- 
mediately by  himself,  he  may  do  mediately  by  his 
instruments.  To  err  is  the  part  of  man ;  but  to  seduce 
is  the  part  of  a  devil.  It  is  ill  to  play  the  wanton, 
worse  to  play  the  beast,  worst  of  all  to  play  the  devil. 
There  have  been  such  cursed  men,  that  delight  in  the 
murder  of  souls.  Paul  fought  with  such  beasts  at 
Ephesus.  The  men  of  Nazareth  were  worse  to  Christ 
than  the  devil:  he  says.  Cast  down  thyself;  they 
would  violently  throw  him  down,  and  that  on  the 
sabbath  day,  when  they  took  exception  against  him 
for  curing  on  the  sabbath  day,  Luke  iv.  29.  The 
Gadarencs  but  besought  him  to  depart :  his  own 
countrymen  were  worse,  for  they  drove  him  out. 
Cain  replied,  "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ?  "  yet  he 
could  be  his  brother's  butcher.  These  violences  in- 
deed are  not  always  in  sociable  fellows,  but  subtle 
and  supple  fomentations.  Persecution  hath  made 
martyrs,  schism  apostates  :  the  former's  corrosives 
are  not  so  noxious  as  the  other's  balsam.s.  (Terlul.) 
We  call  some  devils,  familiars.  It  was  thou,  my 
guide,  my  companion,  my  familiar,  that  didst  me 
the  mischief,  Psal.  Iv.  13  :  he  that  eats  our  salt  be- 
trays us.  There  is  no  such  spceihng  engine  of  de- 
struction, as  the  friendly  seducer ;  that  damns  a  man 
in  kindness.  As  a  man  sinking  into  the  deep  water, 
catcheth  hold  of  him  that  is  next  him  ;  so  men  diving 
into  the  bottom  of  iniquity,  pull  down  their  adherents. 
The  sheep  make  the  ground  fniitful  wheresoever 
they  lie  ;  so  the  godly  make  all  places  blessed 
where  they  dwell.  But  the  wicked,  like  the  weed 
gosses,  make  the  land  barren  where  they  grow. 
When  such  a  one  provokes  thee  to  sin,  though  with 
the  smoothest  face  ;  if  thou  say  not  to  him  as  Christ 
to  Peter,  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan,"  yet  take  thy 
leave  of  him,  as  the  angel  did  of  the  devil,  "  The 
Lord  rebuke  thee,"  Jude  9. 

Oh  that  we  could  see  the  mischief  that  evil  com- 
pany doth  us  !  the  sins  unpurposed,  unthought-of, 
come  thus  to  be  committed.  Let  a  tempter  but  hold 
up  his  finger,  the  sabbath  shall  be  profaned,  the  word 
relinquished,  and  all  religion  suspended.  This  man 
is  a  harpy  that  pecks  up  all  the  good  seed,  a  great 
beast  that  breaks  through  the  fence  of  God's  law ; 
makes  a  vast  gap  or  breach,  and,  as  my  text  says,  the 
whole  herd  follows  him.  How  does  Dives  in  hell 
now  curse  his  flatterers !  If  thou  knewcst  whose 
factor  thy  ill  companion  is,  thou  wouldst  hate  him. 
He  is  such  a  pleasing  murderer  that  he  tickles  thee 
to  death;  and,  like  Solomon's  fool,  thou  diest  laugh- 
ing. A  good  man  accompanying  an  evil,  is  like  a 
living  body  bound  to  a  dead  corjise,  noisome  and 
irksome.  A\Tien  God  shall  charge  thy  soul  with  sin, 
wilt  thou  answer,  Such  a  one  brought  me  to  it  ; 
as  Adam,  The  woman  gave  me  ?  thou  shalt  be 
wretched  in  sinning,  though  he  be  more  wretched  in 
tempting.  He  hath  helped  thee  to  much  of  thy  sin, 
he  shall  bear  none  of  thy  torment.  Be  circumspect 
rather  with  whom  thou  eatest  and  drinkest  than 
what  thou  eatest  and  drinkest.  (Sen".)    Leave  them ; 


we  offer  you  better  things.  Leave  ihem  ?  then 
must  we  go  out  of  the  world,  1  Cor.  v.  10.  But  have 
no  fellowship  with  the  unfruitful  works  ;  and  if  thou 
canst  avoid  it,  neither  with  the  workers  of  darkness. 
If  we  must  converse  with  evil  men,  yet  let  it  not  be 
in  evil  matters.  Love  evil  men,  not  in  that  they  are 
evil,  but  in  that  they  are  men.  Love  what  they  are, 
not  what  they  do ;  as  God  made  them,  not  as  they 
make  themselves.  Affect  the  man,  not  his  fault;  as 
in  relieving  an  evil  beggar,  we  give  to  the  man,  not 
to  his  manners.  But  if  by  admitting  their  persons, 
we  cannot  avoid  their  vices,  let  us  deny  both.  How 
should  we  hope,  feasting  with  Job's  children,  the 
house  should  not  fall  down  on  our  heads?  When 
we  find  ourselves  following  evil  men,  I  wonder  we  do 
not  tremble  at  their  ends.  Can  we  walk  in  the 
midst  of  the  fire,  and  feel  no  scorching  ?  Man's 
nature  is  like  the  fire ;  if  there  be  any  infection  in 
the  room,  it  draws  it  straight  to  itself.  Like  jet,  it 
omits  all  precious  objects,  and  attracts  straws  and 
dust.  Trust  not  thyself  with  these  incendiaries :  cull 
out  the  best  and  follow  them :  oh  sweet  is  the  com- 
munion of  saints!  Worldly  mirth  is  more  talked  of 
than  felt,  spiritual  joy  is  more  felt  than  talked  of. 
I  appeal  to  any  man's  conscience,  that  hath  been 
softened  with  the  unction  of  grace,  and  truly  tasted 
the  powers  of  the  world  to  come ;  suppose  thou  hast 
tried  both,  been  mad-merry  with  thy  friends  at  a 
luxurious  feast,  sung  psalms  with  the  saints  in  the 
church  ;  whether  of  tnese  have  most  refreshed  thy 
heart  ?  Alas,  temporal  mirth  is  like  the  widow's 
joy,  a  blaze  and  good-night :  spiritual  rejoicing  leaves 
an  impression  in  the  soul  behind  it,  the  unspeakable 
comforts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  never  to  be  rased  out. 

I  conclude  with  three  cautions  given  by  three 
several  saints  from  one  most  holy  Spirit.  Follow 
not  a  multitude  to  do  evil,  Exod.  xxiii.  2.  Foolish 
birds  follow  the  kite  in  hope  of  a  part  of  the  expect- 
ed prey,  when  she  draws  her  treasure  after  her. 
Fasiiion  not  yourselves  to  this  world,  Rom.  xii.  2 : 
it  is  a  fashion  that  must  be  washed  off  with  fire  and 
brimstone.  Blessed  is  the  man  that  feareth  alway, 
Prov.  xxviii.  14.  Salvianus  gives  the  reason  ;  No 
man  so  truly  loves,  as  he  that  fears  to  offend.  I 
confess,  there  be  many  things  lawful  that  the  com- 
mon people  do,  but  I  will  suspect  that  which  the 
common  people  do.  The  Jews  might  give  offenders 
forty  stripes  by  the  law,  yet  they  gave  Paul  but 
nine  and  thirty.  Perhaps  they  thouglit  that  if  they 
had  given  the  full  number,  their  fingers  might  have 
itched  to  give  one  more.  He  that  abstains  from  no- 
thing that  is  lawful,  neighbours  upon  that  which 
is  unlawful.  .Vaj»  mala  sunt  xicina  bonis.  The  note 
which  comes  too  near  in  the  margin,  will  skip  into 
the  text  at  the  next  impression.  Of  all  studies,  let 
us  never  study  to  range  in  the  borders  and  extremities 
of  our  liberty :  as,  how  much  of  this  world  we  may 
swallow,  and  riches  not  choke  us  ;  how  near  we  may 
come  to  the  skirts  and  suburbs  of  hell,  and  hell  not 
wholly  devour  us ;  how  much  we  may  drink,  and  be 
no  drunkards ;  how"  far  wc  may  wade  in  usury,  and 
yet  escape  hell.  The  devil  is  crafty  and  watchful : 
if  he  spy  our  venturous  outroads,  and  find  us  extra- 
vagant out  of  our  own  grounds,  he  will  not  lose  one 
inch  of  his  advantage. 

4.  Wc  must  not  fall  off  from  the  faith  and  church 
of  Christ,  because  multitudes  travel  another  way. 
He  that  proclaims  pleasure  and  carnal  content  to  all 
his  followers,  shall  have  many  scholars  in  courts, 
palaces,  colleges,  senates,  fields,  shops,  offices ;  for 
all  they  love  darkness  whose  deeds  are  evil.  There 
are  few  whose  faith  finds  a  passage  through  the 
strait  gate.  Of  six  hundred  thousand  Israelites  but 
two  entered  into  the  land  of  promise. 


242 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


Non  facile  invetiies  multig  e  milibus  unum, 
Virlutem  prelii  qui  putat  esse  sui. 

The  papists  fable  to  us  of  St.  Bernard,  that  the 
lifteenth  day  after  his  death  he  appeared  to  a  ccrlain 
monk  ;  and  when  the  monk  asked  wliether  it  were  a 
difficult  thing  to  be  saved,  he  should  thus  answer 
him :  The  same  day  I  died  there  died  also  four 
thousand  three  hundred,  and  of  all  them  only  my- 
self and  one  hermit  were  received  into  heaven ;  there 
was  one  cast  into  the  fire  of  purgator)-,  and  all  the  rest 
went  to  hell.  For  the  story,  I  have  not  so  spacious 
a  faith  as  to  credit  it ;  but  I  fear  of  the  many  thou- 
sands which  every  day  depart  this  life,  the  greater 
number  take  the  wrong  way.  If  this  be  so,  strive  we 
to  make  sure  our  own  salvation ;  that  when  many 
follow  these  damnable  ways,  we  may  be  found  of  that 
number  that  followed  Jesus  Christ.  When  Agcl- 
mond  king  of  the  Lombards  (be  it  reported  upon 
Sigebert's  credit)  passed  by  a  pond  into  wliich  seven 
infants  were  cast,  he  thrust  down  his  spc:>r,  and  tliat 
infant  which  took  hold  of  it  he  brought  up  from  the 
pool,  brought  home  to  his  house,  and  brought  up  at 
his  house  like  the  king's  son  ;  and  at  last  he  succeed- 
ed him  in  the  kingdom ;  he  was  called  Lanussio,  or 
Lamussius,  from  Lama,  a  ditch  out  of  which  he  was 
fakc-n.  So  when  the  great  King  of  heaven  came 
into  the  world,  and  the  world  knew'  liim  not,  he 
found  us  all  drenched  in  the  wliirlpool  of  sin,  and 
ready  to  be  everlastingly  drowned  :  he  thrust  down 
his  spear,  the  sa\'ing  gospel ;  and  as  many  (not 
many,  scarce  one  of  seven)  as  received  him,  (took 
hold  on  his  spear,  as  it  followeth  there  exegetieally,) 
that  believed  in  his  name,  to  them  he  gave  (not 
only  obtaining  for  them,  nor  proclaiming  to  them, 
but  to  them  he  gave)  power  to  be  the  sons  of  God, 
John  i.  12;  to  be  repossessed  of  the  kingdom,  and 
to  divide  the  inheritance  with  the  principal  Heir, 
himself. 

5.  Lastly,  seeing  there  is  such  certain  danger  in 
following  after  common  copies,  give  me  leave  to 
avert  you  from  all  these  pestilent  examples,  and  pro- 
pose to  you  one  worth  your  praise  and  imitation.  It 
is  the  glor)'  of  all  precedents,  the  life  and  excellency 
of  what  is  good  in  man,  that  man  of  God,  and  God 
of  man,  Jesus  Christ.  Here  is  a  pattern.  The 
godly,  like  the  eagle,  disdain  all  objects  but  the  sun. 
It  is  the  marrow  of  religion  to  imitate  him  whom 
thou  worshippest.  The  Italians  got  up  all  the  ex- 
cellent jiictures  in  the  world,  that  out  of  them  all 
they  might  make  one  master-piece,  or  most  excellent 
picture.  The  sweetness  of  all  the  best  (lowers  makes 
most  sweet  honey.  Christ  in  the  whole  course  of 
his  life  was  a  pattern  of  goodness :  in  his  birth  a 
pattern  of  humility,  in  his  life  a  pattern  of  innoceney, 
in  his  death  a  pattern  of  patience,  in  all  a  pattern  of 
holiness.  If  thou  wilt  not  follow  him  in  his  word 
commanding,  yet  follow  him  in  liis  work  directing. 
(Lactant.)  Now  saith  Paul,  Put  on  Christ.  He  is 
put  on  two  ways;  by  imputation,  and  by  imitation  : 
the  first  justifies,  the  other  sanctifies.  He  is  jmt  on 
sacramentally  by  baptism  :  all  that  arc  baptized  into 
Christ,  have  put  on  Christ,  Gal.  iii.  27.  He  is  put 
on  internally  by  faith,  externally  by  imitation.  Look 
unto  Jesus  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith,  Heb. 
xii.  2  :  look  upon  him,  and  so  eye  him  that  you  may 
follow  him,  and  so  follow  him  that  you  may  live  like 
him.  That  you  may  say,  when  thine  eyes  be 
haughty  with  ambition,  Did  he  earn,-  his  eyes  so? 
Like  a  lamb  before  that  bloody  wolf  Pihile,  his  look 
-was  meek  and  lowly,  tliough  lovely.  When  thou 
curscst  him  that  angers  lliee,  did  he  carry  liis  mouth 
80?  No,  "  Father,  forgive  them."  Thou  art  provok- 
ed with  words,  and  returnest  blows;  did  he  carr>-  his 


hands  so  ?  No,  being  stricken,  he  struck  not  again. 
"  Consider  him  that  endured  such  contradiction  of 
sinners,"  Heb.  xii.  3.  Against  covetousness  put  on 
the  contentedness  of  Christ ;  against  anger  put  on 
the  meekness  of  Christ ;  against  wrongs  put  on  the 
patience  <jf  Christ ;  against  pride  put  on  the  humble- 
ness of  Christ.  For  as  he  told  Peter,  "  If  I  wash 
thee  not,  thou  hast  no  part  with  me,"  John  xiii.  8; 
so  he  says  to  every  one,  If  I  lead  thee  not,  thou  shall 
never  come  to  my  kingdom.  The  painter  went  to 
one  virgin  for  an  eye,  to  another  fo^a  lip,  to  a  third 
for  a  forehead,  to  a  fourth  for  a  chin,  to  make  exqui- 
site the  lace  of  his  goddess.  We  need  not  go  to  one 
saint  for  this  virtue,  to  another  for  that :  for  perfec- 
tion, take  Christ,  and  take  all.  In  him  dwells  the 
fulness  of  Godliead :  tliere  can  be  no  want  where  all 
is  infinite.  Let  the  many  follow  their  own  fancies, 
or  the  fancies  of  others ;  let  us  follow  Christ.  This 
is  the  praise  of  those  virgin  saints,  that  they  "  fol- 
low the  Lamb  whithersoever  he  goeth,"  Rev.  xiv.  4. 
The  inseparable  ell'ect  of  justification  is  obedience: 
now  we  follow  him  in  following  his,  relieving  them 
whether  in  want  or  prison,  sickness  or  persecution. 
And  this  he  will  acknowledge  at  the  last  day,  with 
a  "  Come,  ye  blessed."  Come  to  me,  for  you  have 
followed  me  wheresoever  I  w'ent.  I  was  hungry, 
and  you  followed  me  with  meat ;  thirsty,  and  you  fol- 
lowed me  with  drink ;  a  stranger,  and  you  followed 
me  with  lodging;  naked,  cold,  and  sick,  and  you 
followed  me  with  clothes,  warmth,  and  comfort. 
Whithersoever  I  went,  I  had  your  company ;  now 
you  shall  have  my  company  for  ever.  You  followed 
me  in  the  regeneration ;  you  shall  be  with  me  in 
eternal  glorification,  Malt.  xix.  28. 

"  By  whom  the  way  of  truth  shall  be  evil  spoken 
of."  I  come  to  the  detraction,  the  cursed  effect  of 
their  per\ersion ;  w liich is  not  only  pernicious  to  their 
own  souls,  but  also  derogative  to  tne  glory  of  God. 
Herein  I  considered  two  generals,  the  patient  and 
the  injury  :  in  the  patient,  the  singularity  and  the 
sincerity. 

1.  Tlie  singuhuity  ;  "  the  way,"  tliat  excellent 
way.  There  is  only  one  way  of  truth,  and  of  salva- 
tion by  it.  There  are  many  ways  in  the  world,  yet 
but  one  way  of  truth.  "  There  is  one  Lord,  one 
faith,"  &c.  Eph.  iv.  5.  The  Turk  hath  his  way,  the 
Jew  liis  way,  the  Gentile  his  way,  heretics  their  way, 
schismatics  their  way  :  though  there  be  almost  as 
many  ways  as  feet  to  walk  in  those  ways,  yet  the 
way  of  truth  is  but  one.  Diversity  of  ways  is  sought 
out  ;  tillur  for  pcevislmess,  they  cannot  abide  the 
common  road ;  because  most  men  pass  through  the 
gate,  they  will  climb  over  the  wall ;  and  if  others 
climb,  tliey  will  creep  through.  They  are  so  cross, 
that  if  autliorily  should  command  them  to  wear  clean 
linen,  rather  than  not  rebel  they  would  go  woolward. 
Or,  for  pride,  when  men  scorn  to  go  the  king's  high- 
way, because  there  they  liave  the  company  of  beg- 
gars and  base  fellows.  There  are  some  that  disdain 
tlie  poorer  sort,  and  will  rather  forbear  the  common 
duties  of  religion.  But  alas,  what  brag  of  estate 
should  there  be  in  the  church  ?  there  is  no  si)irit- 
ual  difference ;  bond  or  free,  all  are  one  in  Christ. 
Tlie  emperor  eats  of  the  same  bread  that  his  lackey 
doth :  the  beggar's  child  is  baptized  in  the  same 
font  as  the  king's.  This  they  disdain,  and  therefore 
«ill  have  sacraments  by  themselves,  a  synagogue  of 
their  own.  Or  else  for  glor)-,  that  their  singularity 
may  be  pointed  at.  Diogenes  was  ducking  himself 
in  cold  water  in  a  frosty  morning :  the  people  beheld 
and  pitied  him:  Alas,  saith  a  philosopher,  depart 
you  to  your  houses,  and  leave  gazing  on  him,  I  war- 
rant you  lliat  he  will  come  out  quickly,  and  keep 
himself  warm.     There  arc  many  ways;  as  it  is  said 


Vkr.  2. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


243 


of  Poland,  if  a  man  chance  to  lose  his  religion,  he 
shall  find  it  there,  or  give  it  gone  for  ever.  But  truth 
hath  one  way,  not  a  second,  not  another.  What  so 
near  one  as  "two,  yet  a  Christian  must  not  go  so  far 
from  one  as  two.  "  He  that  is  not  with  me  is  against 
me,"  Luke  xi.  23  :  whatsoever  is  not  with  this  way, 
is  against  it.  Now  it  is  near  to  impossibility,  ut 
res  oppnsitan  mens  feral  una  duos ;  to  write  with  two 
pens  together,  to  hunt  two  games  together,  to  fight 
with  two  swords  together,  to  travel  two  ways  together, 
is  a  troublesome  folly.  "  Woe  to  the  sinner  that 
goeth  two  manner  of  ways!"  Ecclus.  ii.  12.  It  is 
said  of  Solomon  that  he  went  two  ways,  the  way 
of  the  Lord,  and  the  way  of  Ashteroth,  1  Kings 
xi.  5,  6. 

Let  us  all  seek  this  one  way,  and  all  false  ways 
utterly  abhor.  You  have  but  one  Father  in  heaven, 
Matt,  xxiii.  9,  and  but  one  way  to  iilease  him,  which 
is,  to  walk  in  this  one  way  of  trutn.  "  As  many  as 
walk  according  to  this  rule,  peace  be  on  them,  and 
mercy,"  Gal.  \\.  16  :  all  other  rules  are  warped  and 
out  of  square.  "  One  thing  is  needful,"  Luke  x.  42. 
"  Wherewithal  shall  a  young  man  cleanse  his  way  ? 
by  taking  heed  thereto  according  to  thy  word,"  Psal. 
cxix.  9 :  all  other  ways  defile,  do  not  cleanse.  There 
are  innumerable  ways  to  hell :  you  may  go  thither 
by  pride,  by  avarice,  by  malice,  by  hypocrisy  ;  any 
way  will  scr\-e  to  meet  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill,  that 
infernal  centre :  but  still  to  heaven  tliere  is  but  one 
way.  There  is  a  way  to  honour,  by  flattering  insinu- 
ations into  tlie  bosom  of  princes  :  there  is  a  way  to 
pleasure,  by  making  the  flesh  mistress,  and  denying 
her  nothing :  there  is  a  way  to  be  rich,  by  usur>'  and 
oppression ;  there  is  a  way  to  get  offices  and  livings, 
by  swallowing  a  simoniacal  oath,  or  putting  out  the 
giver's  eye  by  bribery :  but  there  is  but  one  way  to 
make  a  man  blessed,  and  that  is  the  way  of  truth. 
Withal  it  shall  make  thee  great  enough,  and  merrj- 
enough,  and  rich  enough  ;  but  howsoever,  happy 
enough.  Refuse  all  to  take  this  way.  They  write 
of  the  stone  pyrrhenus,  that  so  long  as  it  is  whole  it 
swimmeth,  but  being  broken,  every  part  sinketli. 
So  is  man's  heart ;  if  divided,  it  sinks  all  to  confu- 
sion ;  keep  it  whole  to  the  way  of  truth,  it  shall  be 
saved. 

2.  The  sincerity ;  the  way  "  of  truth."  Which  is 
that  way  ?  as  Pilate  asked  Christ  what  was  the  truth, 
when  the  Truth  stood  before  him,  John  xviii.  38. 
There  is  a  legal  truth ;  God's  law  is  the  tmth.  It 
was  a  custom  among  the  heathen,  to  derive  the  au- 
thority of  their  laws  from  their  gods,  that  they  might 
be  received  foi  truth;  Trismegist  to  the  Egyptians 
from  Mcrcun,',  Erontes  to  the  Carthaginians  from 
Saturn,  Solon  and  Draco  to  the  Athenians  from  Mi- 
nerva, Numa  Pompilius  to  the  Romans  from  Egeria. 
But  we  have  from  the  true  God,  the  truth  of  God. 
"  What  nation  is  there  so  great  ?  "  &c.  Dent.  iv.  8. 
Now  if  they  magnified  their  laws  so  full  of  error,  how 
shall  we  dare  to  blaspheme  God's  law  so  full  of  truth  ? 
No,  let  us  bless  it,  and  obey  it.  David  inhis  I19thPsalm 
beats  in  ever>-  verse  upon  that  one  string.  The  law, 
the  statutes,  the  ordinances,  commandment,  truth, 
&c.  of  God.  There  is  also  the  truth  of  the  gospel, 
Gal.  iii.  1.  But  if  this  be  the  troth,  then  is  the  other 
excluded  ?  No,  for  the  gospel  is  not  contrar>'  to  the 
law  ;  neither  delighteth  m  tne  other's  overthrow,  but 
both  csiK)use  friendship  in  a  kiss  of  peace.  But  it  is 
said,  "  the  law  was  given  by  Moses,  but  grace  and 
troth  came  by  Jesus  Christ,"  John  i.  17.  But  then 
the  law  was  not  the  truth ;  for  here  seems  to  be  a 
comparative  opposition.  No  ;  troth  is  not  denied  to 
the  law,  but  only  the  troth  of  justification  :  the  law 
is  troe,  but  not  the  true  means  of  salvation  to  us. 
The  law  is  a  condemning  truth,  the  gospel  an  absolv- 


ing tmth.  For  if  the  law  could  have  justified  us, 
God  might  well  have  spared  his  own  Son :  but  the 
grace  of  justification,  and  the  truth  of  salvation,  is  only 
by  Christ.  If  ye  believed  Moses,  much  more  believe 
me,  saith  Jesus:  if  you  embraced  your  thraldom, 
then  much  rather  accept  your  fi-eedom.  Only, 
"  Ye  shall  know  the  truth,'  and  the  truth  sha'll 
make  you  free,"  John  x\\\.  32.  Christ  is  called  the 
end  of  the  law;  not  a  terminating,  but  a  fulfilling 
and  accomplishing  end.  Having  then  received  the 
troth,  so  gracious  a  truth,  such  promises  of  everlast- 
ing life,  from  a  God  so  troe,  they  are  wretched  men 
that  blaspheme  it.  Thus  it  is  the  troth  both  for  the 
infallibility  and  excellency  of  it. 

It  is  certain.  It  is  called  "  the  testimony,"  Isa. 
viii.  20,  because  it  bears  witness  unto  itself:  so  it  is 
called  "the  truth,"  because  it  shall  accomplish  ilself. 
God  doth  promise  Abraham  a  seed  like  the  stars  for 
number ;  and  Solomon  says,  I  am  in  the  midst  of  a 
people  tliat  cannot  be  numbered :  here  is  an  accom- 
plisncd  truth.  All  the  promises  of  God  are  yea  and  ■ 
Amen  in  Christ,  2  Cor.  i.  20.  Abraham  in  affiance 
of  this  trutli,  ventured  to  forsake  his  countrj-,  oll'ered 
to  sacrifice  his  only  son.  Noah  upon  this  troth  lays 
out  money  to  build  an  ark.  Moses  upon  this  troth 
forsook  the  eour(,  to  sufFer  affliction  with  the  children 
of  God.  We  must  all  venture  on  this  truth,  or  per- 
ish. When  the  soul  is  to  leave  the  body,  woe  to 
him  that  hath  not  a  firm  dependence  on  this  truth  ! 

It  is  excellent,  as  being  the  letters  patent  of  our 
salvation.  The  law  was  a  killing  troth,  this  is  a 
saving  troth.  Incomparably  fairer  is  the  troth  of  the 
Christians,  than  that  Helen  of  the  Grecians.  Let 
my  soul  not  be  deficient  in  believing,  and  as  sure  as 
Christ  is  truth,  I  shall  be  saved.  On  far  be  it  from 
me  to  vilipend  that  truth,  without  which  I  were  eter- 
nally lost !  If  we  had  an  antidote  warranted  to  us 
by  some  naturalist,  to  preserve  our  life  temporal, 
how  would  we  esteem  it !  But  for  that  troth  which 
preserves  our  life  eternal,  how  precious  is  it,  and  be- 
yond value !  Let  heaven  thunder,  earth  reel,  and  hell 
roar,  I  will  hold  fast  this  truth,  and  be  blessed  for 
ever. 

"  By  whom  the  way  of  troth  shall  be  evil  spoken  of." 
We  have  considered  the  patient  that  suffi?rs,  let  us 
look  upon  the  injury  that  is  offi>rcd  to  it.  "By 
whom  : "  and  herein  two  things  ;  the  instruments  or 
occasioners  of  this  scandal,  those  misled  proselytes  ; 
and  the  effi?ct  or  aspersion  east  upon  the  gospel  by 
their  means,  which  is  blasphemy. 

"  By  whom."  The  seminaries  of  infection  have 
poisoned  them,  and  they  divulge  that  pestilence,  to 
the  dishonour  of  Clirist  and  the  scandal  of  his  gospel 
Nay,  as  if  their  teachers  could  not  do  mischief  enough, 
these  strive  to  go  beyond  them  in  wickedness.  Ac- 
cording to  that,  Matt,  xxiii.  15,  they  make  them  two- 
fold more  the  children  of  hell  than  themselves.  And 
indeed,  albeit  the  other  were  originally  the  worse, 
yet  these  are  instromentallv  and  operatively  worse 
than  they.  For  if  false  teachers  had  not  store  of  fol- 
lowers, their  heretical  positions  would  fall  to  the 
ground,  and  themselves  slink  away  with  reproach  and 
shame.     Here  occur  two  notes  to  our  observation. 

First,  that  not  only  the  principals,  but  even  the 
accessaries  in  schism  arc  guilty  of  sin,  and  liable  to 
punishment.  The  receiver  is  worse  than  the  thief;  and 
the  abettors  of  sin  do  more  mischief  than  the  authors. 
.So  long  as  the  infected  person  is  shut  up,  his  plague 
doth  not  spread  :  while  I  he  evil  man  doth  only  be  mad 
at  home,  his  evil  lives  and  dies  with  himself;  the  diffii- 
sion  or  dispersion  of  it  is  the  banc.  Let  it  wander 
like  a  fatherless  child  up  and  down,  no  man  taking 
it  in,  but  all  shutting  their  doors  against  it ;  the  very 
air  will  stifle  it,  it  will  l>e  its  own  death.     But  when 


244 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


it  becometh  Jiliua  pcptili.  and  ever)-  one  challcngeth 
a  part  in  the  generation  of  it,  the  multitude  fostering 
it ;  now  it  stands  up  in  defiance,  and,  altliough  a 
bastard,  dares  challenge  the  true  heir,  and  wrangle 
for  the  inheritance.  How  ridiculous  appears  a  fan- 
tastical fashion,  while  it  is  singular  in  the  inventor's 
wearing  and  habit!  The  first  apparition  of  a  hie 
mulierwas  like  a  monster;  but  when  it  had  stolen  an 
approbation  into  w'omen's  hearts,  and  gotten  a  custom 
on  their  backs,  now  it  stood  on  the  terms  of  justifica- 
tion, called  itself  a  noble  accoutrement,  and  scorned 
to  be  dashed  out  of  countenance.  It  is  the  many's 
acceptation  of  evil,  that  brings  a  scandal  on  the  truth. 
When  Thcudas  had  gotten  four  hundred  followers, 
he  thought  himself  a  jolly  fellow.  Acts  v.  36.  The 
pope  did  once  send  usurers  into  this  land  ;  they  were 
at  first  hooted  at,  like  owls  in  a  desert  :  but  necessity 
forced  men  to  borrow;  and  when  they  had  store  of 
customers,  they  stood  upon  their  points  for  very  hon- 
est men,  (in  their  own  opinions,)  and  thus  the  way 
of  truth  was  blasphemed.  The  pone  might  be  the 
father  and  founder  of  the  sin,  but  these  executioners 
gave  occasion  of  the  blasphemy. 

Secondly,  the  authors  of  this  seducement  are  not 
discharged,  though  their  scholars  have  dissipated  the 
evil.  The  breeder  of  a  sin  is  the  father  of  a  bastard ; 
and  he  that  kindles  a  mischievous  fire,  shall  answer 
for  all  the  harms  it  doth.  Those  whom  thou  hast 
taught  to  do  ill,  increase  thy  sin  as  fast  as  the)'  in- 
crease their  own.  He  that  breaketh  the  law,  and 
teacheth  others  to  do  so,  shall  be  called  least  in  the 
kingdom  of  God,  Matt.  v.  19.  It  is  easy  to  be  guilty 
of  another's  wickedness;  forif  hedoth  evil  by  thy  sug- 
gestion, thou  shalt  answer  for  it.  The  parent  that 
either  commands,  connives,  or  exemplifies  sin  to  his 
child  by  pattern,  makes  himself  liable  to  all  the  ini- 
quities which  that  infused  habit  shall  produce.  Be 
not  partaker  of  other  men's  sins,  1  Tim.  v.  22. 
Therefore  a  man  may  be  partaker  of  others'  sins. 
This  may  be  done  nine  ways. 

1.  By  counselling.  Thou  advisest,  he  practiseth, 
both  are  guilty  of  the  sin  that  but  the  one  doth. 
Ahithophel  counselling  Absalom  against  his  liege, 
was  guilty  of  treason  :  so  was  Caiaphas,  counselling  to 
put  Christ  to  death.  Some  advise  and  instigate 
others  to  that  mischief,  wherein  they  will  not  be 
seen  themselves,  thinking  thus  to  extricate  and  de- 
liver their  own  souls  ;  but,  as  the  prophet  says, 
they  shall  perish  in  their  own  counsels. 

2.  By  commanding.  Thus  David  sinned  in  the 
murder  of  Uriah  ;  Saul  in  charging  Docg  to  kill  the 
priests ;  Jezebel  in  commanding  the  nobles  of  Jezreel 
to  stone  Naboth.  This  is  a  sin  that  sticks  to  many 
tradesmen ;  they  command  their  servants  to  lie,  and 
their  falsehood  shall  lie  on  their  master's  soul.  () 
st.-iy  this  running  sore  ;  and  when  thou  repentest, 
think  not  only  on  thine  own  i>ersonal  sins,  but  upon 
others'  committed  at  thy  bidding. 

3.  By  consenting.  Thus  Saul  sinned  in  keeping 
their  garments  that  stoned  Stephen  :  "  When  the 
blood  of  thy  martyr  Stephen  was  shed,  I  was  con- 
senting to  his  death,  and  kept  the  raiment  of  them 
that  slew  him,"  Acts  xxii.  20 :  it  was  the  confession 
of  St.  Paul  himself.  It  is  God's  charge,  "  If  sinners 
entice  thee,  consent  thou  not,"  Prov.  i.  10.  It  is  the 
reprobates'  brand,  that  they  not  only  do  evil  things, 
but  consent  with  them  that  do  them,  Rom.  i.  32. 
They  that  consent  to  the  same  sin,  shall  feel  tlie 
same  punishment.  Every  man's  hand  is  not  an  able 
instrument  of  mischief;  but  whosoever  the  instru- 
ment be,  the  consenter  is  as  deep  both  in  the  sin  and 
penalty.  For  ijund  deesl  operi,  inest  voliinlali :  and 
God  values  (both  in  good  actions  and  eviU  the  will 
for  the  deed.     Joab  for  consenting  to  David  in  the 


murder  of  Uriah  and  numbering  of  the  people,  bore 
a  part  in  those  sins. 

4.  By  provoking.  All  they  sin  that  provoke  others 
to  sin.  "  Fathers,  provoke  not  your  children  to 
wrath,"  Eph.  vi.  4.  Potiphar's  wife  was  a  strumpet, 
because  she  provoked  Joseph  to  have  made  her  one. 
"  .She  caught  him,  and  kissed  him,  and  with  an  im- 
pudent face  said  unto  him.  Come,  let  us  take  our  fill 
of  love,"  Prov.  \'ii.  13.  Thus  libidinous  women  feed 
their  paramours  high,  to  provoke  them  to  lust.  Drink 
is  given  to  provoke  shameful  drunkenness  ;  oflcnces, 
to  provoke  indignation  and  blows,  that  the  stricken 
miglit  be  revenged  on  the  striker  :  but  they  that 
thus  provoke  others  to  wickedness,  provoke  God  to 
vengeance.  "  Do  we  provoke  the  Lord  to  jealousy  ? 
are  we  stronger  than  he?"  I  Cor.  x.  22. 

5.  By  flattering.  When  we  soothe  up  others  in 
their  sins,  this  is  to  make  them  our  own,  Isa.  ix.  16. 
They  bless  the  people  in  their  errors,  and  cause  their 
delinquishments  by  flatten*.  "  The  wicked  blesseth 
the  covetous,  whom  the  Lord  abhorreth,"  Psal.  x.  3. 
The  flatterer  thinks  to  make  all  his,  his  patron's  fa- 
vour his,  his  wealth  his  ;  but  withal  he  makes  his 
sin  his,  his  damnation  his.  He  gets  all ;  he  gets 
entertainment,  he  gets  riches,  he  gets  respect,  he 
gets  wickedness,  he  gets  hell,  he  gets  the  devil  and 
all.  "  Woe  unto  them  that  call  evil  good,  and  good 
evil ! "  &-C.  Isa.  v.  20. 

6.  By  partaking.  Be  not  partakers  with  the  chil- 
dren of  disobedience,  Eph.  v.  7-  If  you  partake  of 
their  sins  you  must  partake  of  their  plagues.  Rev. 
xviii.  4.  It  is  just  that  they  who  have  made  them- 
selves partners  in  sinning,  should  not  be  separated 
in  suflering.  The  same  law  condemns  the  receiver, 
that  judges  the  thief.  They  may  say  one  to  another, 
as  that  malefactor  on  the  cross  to  his  fellow,  "  Thou 
art  in  the  same  condemnation,"  Luke  xxiii.  40.  In 
the  matter  of  briben,-,  the  taking  hand  and  the  giv- 
ing band  shall  be  equally  punished.  As  they  shook 
hands  in  the  iniquity,  so  they  shall  shake  hands  in 
the  penalty.  For  this  sin  Jehu  reproved  Jehosha- 
phat,  "  Shouldst  thou  help  the  ungodly,  and  love 
them  that  hate  the  Lord?  therefore  is  wrath  upon 
thee,"  2  Chron.  xix.  2.  In  this  predicament  they  stand 
that  prefer  bad  men  to  good  ofticcs  ;  the  faults  of 
that  man's  insufliciency  lie  upon  the  head  of  his  pro- 
moter. "  Thou  hast  been  partaker  with  adulterers," 
Psal.  1. 18.  To  give  entertainment  to  them  we  know 
dissolute,  is  to  communicate  with  their  sins :  "  He 
that  biddeth  him  God  speed,  is  partaker  of  his  evil 
deeds,"  2  John  11.  There  are  cases,  wherein  to  give 
a  God  speed  to  the  wicked,  is  said  to  make  one  a 
partaker  of  his  evil  deeds.  '•  He  that  worketh  de- 
ceit shall  not  dwell  within  my  house,"  Psal.  ci.  ". 
If  thou  bestow  on  them  the  ofiices  of  thy  friendship, 
thou  rcceivest  the  blemishes  of  their  fellowship. 

7.  By  silence  or  connivance.  When  our  tongviea 
ought  to  reprove,  and  our  hands  to  correct,  the  for- 
bearance of  those  duties  draws  us  into  guiltiness  of 
other  sins :  "  Have  no  fellowship  with  the  unfruitful 
works  of  darkness,  but  rather  reprove  them,"  Eph.  v. 
11.  While  we  rebuke  not  their  sins  who  belong  to 
us,  we  make  them  our  own.  Eli,  concerning  the  sins 
of  his  sons,  did  not  connive,  nor  altogether  hold  his 
peace;  b\it  because  he  touched  them  so  lightly,  and 
reproved  them  so  slightly,  this  brought  a  temporal 
destruction  upon  himself  and  his  family.  If  this 
fault  befall  a  minister,  it  is  grievous.  If  a  man  of- 
fend in  blaspheming,  another  hearing  it,  and  being 
witness  of  it,  "  if  he  do  not  utter  it,  he  shall  bear 
his  iniquity,"  Lev.  v.  I.  Nothing  more  plain;  that 
sin  he  hath  concealed,  is  as  much  as  if  by  himself 
committed.  When  God  says  to  the  wicked,  Thou 
shalt  surely  die,  and  the  watchman  gives  him  not 


Ver.  2. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


245 


warning,  "  liis  blood  will  I  require  at  tliy  hand," 
Ezck.  iii.  18.  Pardon  us  then  in  our  reprehensions ; 
if  we  reprove  not,  your  transgressions  become  our 
afflictions  ;  and  we  have  reason  to  love  our  own  souls 
better  than  your  sins.  Not  to  reprove,  were  the  way 
to  harden  your  hearts,  to  make  you  think  well  of 
evil,  and  to  justify  that  God  condemneth.  Two  ways 
thou  mayst  escape  the  guiltiness  of  another's  evil ; 
if  thou  consent  not  to  him,  and  if  thou  rejirove  him. 
Thou  shalt  not  hate  thy  brother  in  thine  heart,  but 
shall  rebuke  him,  and  not  suffer  sin  upon  him.  Lev. 
xix.  17.  Not  to  rebuke  him,  is  to  hate  him  in  thy 
lieart :  the  original  carries  it  thus,  that  thou  bear  not 
fiin  for  him. 

8.  By  defending.  When  others'  iniquities  are  not 
considered  of  us  in  their  true  value,  but  find  an  esti- 
mation far  lighter  than  the  gravity  of  them  requires, 
this  is  a  sin  that  God  abominates.  He  that  justifieth 
the  wicked  (as  he  that  condemneth  the  just)  is  an 
abomination  unto  the  Lord,  Prov.  xvii.  15.  Justice 
would  punish  a  malefactor,  but  the  protection  of 
some  great  one  delivers  him;  and  now  the  law  may 
put  up  his  dagger.  Thus  a  lewd  person  need  not 
fear  to  off"end,  that  hath  a  great  man  to  his  friend,  or 
liath  not  a  great  man  to  liis  enemy.  "  The  shady 
trees  cover  him  with  their  shadow,"  Job  xl.  22.  The 
robber  rifles  a  passenger,  is  apprehended  and  indict- 
ed:  the  booty  ne  gives  to  some  mighty  one  to  pro- 
cure his  pardon,  and  escapes.  Thus  the  poor  travel- 
ler is  robbed  doubly,  both  of  his  money,  and  all  relief 
of  the  law;  and  the  protector  of  the  lewd  person 
is  become  the  greater  thief.  This  is  a  common  appro- 
priation of  others'  sins,  when  men's  wits  are  set  on 
work  to  make  that  good  which  their  malice  hath 
made  necessary.  Covetousness  begot  usur)',  injustice 
doth  practise  it,  and  some  are  feed  to  defend  it. 
Pride  and  profanencss  make  tithes  arbitrary' ;  and 
is  there  no  man  will  take  pains  to  justify  it  ?  This 
is  to  bring  the  sins  of  all  men  that  transgress  in  that 
nature  to  become  that  man's  whose  pen  did  patronize 
such  sacrilege. 

9.  In  giving  bad  example.  He  that  leads  men  to 
sin  is  guilty  of  their  sin.  An  unnily  beast  breaks 
the  hedge,  and  feeds  in  a  forbidden  pasture ;  the 
whole  herd  follows :  the  owner  must  answer  for  all 
these  harms.  The  reproach  of  Jeroboam  was,  that 
he  made  Israel  to  sin;  not  only  by  commanding,  but 
also  by  leading  them  in  precedent :  and  the  wicked- 
ness of  Israel  will  not  be  taken  off"  from  his  soid  for 
ever.  In  a  rebellion,  the  captains  intend  nothing 
but  some  reformation  ;  but  the  multitude  is  not  so 
qualified;  they  break  into  houses,  pillage,  spoil,  and 
commit  outrages :  shall  not  the  exemplar)-  leaders 
be  guilty  of  all  this  ?  If  the  master  love  quaffing, 
there  will  scarce  be  a  sober  family:  he  shall  answer 
for  that  sin  in  his  servants.  One  peevish  teaclier 
broacheth  a  schism  or  pernicious  doctrine  ;  presently 
many  calch  hold  of  it :  thus  the  truth  hath  a  wound, 
and  suflTers  blasphemy.  He  that  gave  the  occasion 
shall  bear  the  burden,  unless  timely  and  hearty  re- 
pentance recant  it,  retract  it,  and  his  soul  find  mercy. 

Thu.s  easy  is  it  to  be  guilty  of  others'  sins.  Indeed 
we  believe  that  no  sins  shall  hurt  us  but  our  own ; 
but  by  all  these  ways  we  make  other  men's  sins  our 
own.  "  His  own  iniquities  shall  take  the  wicked  him- 
self," Prov.  V.  22.  His  own  ?  why  not  another's  also  ? 
Yes,  if  he  make  them  his  own  by  any  of  the  former 
conveyances.  AVe  have  all  sins  enough  of  our  own, 
we  need  not  attract  others.  We  deser^•e  punishment 
enough  for  what  we  have  done  in  our  own  persons ; 
it  were  heavy  for  ns  to  add  lo  our  vengeance  by  i>ar- 
ticipation  of  others'  wickedness.  In  all  this  let  us 
confess  our  own  guiltiness,  and  for  all  this  implore 
God's  mercifulness  in  Jesus  Christ". 


'•  The  way  of  truth  shall  be  evil  spoken  of."  Last- 
ly, we  come  to  the  effect,  or  aspersion  laid  upon  the 
gospel  by  their  means ;  whicn  is  blasphemy,  the 
worst  kind  of  evil  speaking.  Be  the  way  of  truth 
taken  for  Christ,  who  is  both  the  way  and  the  truth  ; 
then  woe  to  him  that  dares  blaspheme  Christ !  Or, 
be  it  taken  for  the  true  means  of  bringing  man  to 
everlasting  blessedness ;  will  any  man  blaspheme 
the  means  of  his  own  salvation  ?  Is  the  sacred  word 
of  truth,  which  the  saints  have  valued  above  all  gold 
and  jewels,  treasures  and  pleasures,  of  so  poor  an 
esteem  with  them,  that  they  should  blaspheme  it  ? 

Blasphemy  is  now  the  subject  of  our  discourse ; 
and  therefore  first  begin  we  with  the  definition,  next 
with  the  distinction  of  it.  It  is  called  blasphemy, 
aV6  Tov  /SXa'jrrtiv  tj)v  #i/^i)i',  it  blemisheth  the  credit 
of  another.  It  differs  not  from  aiuxpoXoyia,  or  eoto- 
\oyia,  evil  speaking.  They  that  would  derive  it  from 
/3Xd£,  a  fish  so  vile  that  the  ver\-  dogs  will  not  touch 
it,  come  short ;  for  it  is  more  than  a  stolidity  or  stu- 
pidity, even  a  cursed  malice  of  the  heart  desiring  to 
nurt.  The  contrary  virtue  is  ivfriitia,  a  study  to 
speak  well  of  others.  It  is  a  vice  that  offends  i« 
de/ectii,  depressing  and  disgracing  that  is  good,  and 
in  ejrcessit,  extolling  and  magnifying  that  is  evil. 
For  distinction,  blasphemy  is  a  speech  of  derogation, 
cither  against  the  truth  of  God,  or  against  the  God 
of  truth,  or  against  the  friends  of  both  God  and 
truth.  That  blasphemy  which  is  against  God's 
friends  and  true  worshippers,  I  will  lightly  pass,  be- 
cause it  is  not  here  witliin  the  centre  of  the  text, 
though  not  out  of  the  circumference. 

The  son  of  Kapha  defied  Israel,  and  Jonathan 
slew  him,  I  Chron.  xx.  7-  This  sin  is  interdicted ; 
"  Thou  shall  not  revile  the  gods,  nor  curse  the  ruler 
of  thy  people,"  Exod.  xxii.  28.  This  is  the  vulgar 
sin  of  this  world,  for  the  greater  sort  are  apt  to  blas- 
pheme the  better  sort.  The  apostles  could  not  escape 
it  :  "  Being  defamed,  we  entreat,"  1  Cor.  iv.  13. 
Such  were  the  aspersions  of  the  infidels  against  the 
Christians  in  Justin's  and  Tertullian's  times,  that 
their  feasts  were  Thycstean  ban(iuets,  that  they  had 
promiscuous  mixtures,  &c.  They  spake  evil  of  us, 
as  of  cAnl-doers,  accusing  our  good  conversation  in 
Christ,  I  Pet.  iii.  16.  This  blasphemy  what  saint 
hath  escaped  ?  Because  God  wrought  miracles  by 
Moses,  they  called  him  a  conjuror.  Because  John 
Baptist  lived  an  austere  life,  they  said  he  had  a  devil. 
Because  Paul  spake  of  Christ's  death  and  our  re- 
demption by  him,  Fcstus  called  him  a  mad-man. 
They  abused  holy  Cyprian  with  the  nickname  of 
Caprion.  When  Christ  himself  cast  out  devils,  they 
blasphemed  that  he  did  it  by  Beelzebub.  Now  all 
these  maledictions  offer  injury  and  ignominy  to  God 
himself:  because  his  saints  arc  the  organs  whereby 
he  will  propagate  the  glor\-  of  his  name,  they  do 
what  they  can  to  obscure  his  majesty.  When  that 
proud  Philistine  defied  the  armies  of  Israel,  I  Sam. 
xvii.  10.  David  says  directly  that  he  had  blasphemed 
God  himself;  "  I  come  to  thee  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  whom  thou  hast  defied,"  ver.  45. 
Uabshakeh  defied  the  Jews;  yet  saith  Hczekiah, 
he  hath  reproached  the  living  God,  Isa.  xxxvii.  4. 
The  weight  of  this  sin  is  felt  in  the  punishment.  If 
it  be  against  the  magistrate,  "  a  bird  of  the  air  shall 
earn.-  the  voice,  and  that  which  hath  wings  shall  tell 
the  matter,"  Eccl.  x.  2(1.  If  it  be  against  jiarents,  the 
ravens  of  the  valley  shall  (lick  out  that  eye,  and  the 
young  eagles  shall  cat  it,  Prov.  xxx.  1 7.  He  that  de- 
spisclh  you  despiseth  me,  saith  Christ  to  his  apostles. 
.\nd  in  that  you  have  done  it  to  these  little  ones, 
y»ii  have  done  it  to  me,  saith  the  Lord  Jesus. 

Bl.isphemy  immediate  agiiinst  God  is,  either  by 
denying  God  his  own,  or  by  ascribing  to  him  that  is 


246 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Cfiap.  II. 


not  his  own,  or  by  abusing  that  maliciously  which  is 
to  be  referred  to  his  glory.  I.  Such  as  deny  his 
wisdom,  justice,  mercy,  providence ;  as  if  he  had 
neither  care  nor  power  to  redeem  his  people :  The 
rulers  make  the  people  to  howl,  as  if  God  had  for- 
gotten them ;  and  thus  is  my  name  blasphemed,  Isa. 
lii.  5.  2.  Such  as  make  him  the  author  of  evil,  load 
him  with  affections,  charge  him  with  injustice.  "  Ye 
say.  The  way  of  the  Lord  is  not  equal,"  Ezck.  xviii. 
25  ;  as  if  the  Lord  had  dealt  unjustly  with  them.  3. 
Such  as  execrate  and  curse  the  Lord :  and  this  is 
the  proper  acceptation  of  blasphemy  ;  "  They  blas- 
phemed the  God  of  heaven,  because  of  their  pains," 
Rev.  xvi.  11.  Thus  too  many  make  that  sacred 
blood  which  saves  the  world,  and  washetli  all  our 
souls  white,  the  subject  of  a  furious  oath ;  and  fortify 
the  credit  of  a  trifle  with  those  wounds  that  cost  the 
Son  of  God  his  life.  What  is  this  but  to  rend  in 
pieces  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  to  subject  him  to  new  suf- 
ferings, so  far  as  their  malice  can  extend  ?  For  they 
sin  no  less,  that  revile  Christ  reigning  in  heaven, 
than  they  that  crucified  him  living  on  earth.  Oh 
that  we  should  be  more  insensible  of  this  injurj-,  than 
the  very  senseless  creatures !  The  veil  of  the  temple 
was  rent,  the  earth  did  quake,  and  the  rocks  clove 
asunder.  Matt,  xxvii.  51.  When  the  Jews  heard 
blasphemy,  it  was  their  custom  to  rend  their  gar- 
ments. So  when  the  apostles  heard  the  superstitious 
Lystrians'  intention,  they  rent  their  clothes,  Acts 
xiv.  14.  Lo  now  when  the  Son  of  God  was  blas- 
phemed upon  the  cross,  because  men's  hearts  were 
so  hard,  the  very  temple  itself  rent  her  veil,  her  gar- 
ment, the  earth  rent  her  bosom,  yea,  her  very  ribs, 
the  stony  rocks.  So  execrable  is  the  sin  of  blas- 
phemy :  some  have  observed  that  the  greatest  sins 
against  God  are  words :  obliquities  in  speech  offend 
more  than  those  in  action.  Their  blows  cannot 
reach  God,  but  their  blasphemies  shall  fly  upon  him. 
Therefore  the  sin  that  is  never  to  be  forgiven,  is  l)las- 
phemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  that  doth  a  sin, 
breaks  God's  law ;  he  that  blasphemes,  strikes  the 
person.  Such  offenders  were  to  bo  stoned  by  the 
Mosaical  law.  Lev.  xxiv. :  by  the  civil  law,  to  have 
their  tongues  cut  out ;  as  most  unworthy  to  have  a 
tongue,  that  abused  it  to  their  Maker's  dishonour. 
In  a  word,  to  derogate  any  thing  from  God,  is  blas- 
phemy. When  Christ  pronounced  remission  of  sins 
to  the  paralytic,  the  Jews  said,  "  This  man  blas- 
phemeth,"  Matt.  ix.  3.  Why,  wherein?  Because 
lie  forgive! h  sins;  and  "who  can  forgive  sins  but 
God  only?"  Mark  ii.  7-  For  man  to  arrogate  that 
which  is  God's  peculiar,  they  call  blasphemy.  For 
otherwise,  to  heal  both  body  and  soul,  to  cure  his 
sickness  and  to  forgive  his  sin,  had  not  been  to  blas- 
pheme, if  they  had  known  Christ  to  be  God.  "  The 
high  priest  rent  his  clothes,  saying.  He  hath  siioken 
blasphemy :  ye  have  heard  his  blasphemy,"  Matt, 
xxvi.  G5.  Why,  what  was  it  ?  "  Ye  shall  are  the 
Son  of  man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  power,"  ver. 
64.  This  is  God's  right,  therefore  when  he  chal- 
lenged it,  they  say,  he  blasphemed.  Say  ye  lo  me, 
Thou  blasphemest ;  because  I  said  I  am  the  Son  of 
God?  John  x.  36.  Now  which  way  the  Romists, 
in  giving  that  honour  to  the  creatures,  which  is  only 
due  to  the  Creator,  can  qiiit  themselves  from  blas- 
phemy, let  themselves  look  to  it. 

Blasphemy  against  Scriptural  doctrine,  this  way 
of  truth.  Paul  confesscth  that  in  his  persecution  of 
the  church  he  enforced  men  to  this  blasphemy  ;  "  I 

fiunished  them  oft  in  ever)'  synagogue,  and  compel- 
ed  them  to  blasnhemy,"  Acts  xsvi.  11.  "Do  not 
they  blaspheme  that  worthy  name  by  which  ye  are 
called?"  Jam.  ii.  7.  He  meanelh,  they  reproach 
the  doctrine  of  Christianitv.     "  I  know  the  blas- 


phemy of  them  which  say  they  are  Jews,  and  are  not," 
Rev.  ii.  t).  This  is  done  two  ways,  according  to  the 
difference  and  quality  of  the  persons  blaspheming; 
and  they  are  either  enemies  or  friends.  If  they  be 
enemies,  they  disgrace  it  by  their  language ;  if  friends, 
by  their  lives  and  conversations. 

Enemies  by  their  tongues,  casting  foul  aspersions 
on  the  fair  cheek  of  truth.  They  accuse  the  very 
sun  of  darkness,  and  peace  itself  of  contradictions. 
To  omit  the  Turkish  calumnies,  and  Jewish  contume- 
lies, even  they  that  call  themselves  Christians,  have 
not  stuck  to  vilipend  the  truth  of  Christ.  The 
Romists  have  called  it  a  shipman's  house,  a  waxen 
nose:  it  is  little  beholden  to  them,  for  it  hath  heard 
as  ill  of  them,  as  David  did  of  Shimei,  or  the  living 
God  of  Rabshakeh.  God  says,  it  makes  wise  to  sal- 
vation ;  but  they  seal  it  up  under  an  unknown  tongue, 
that  the  people  might  be  fools  still.  Harding  called 
it  a  spiritual  dumbness  :  such  a  mouth  should  be 
made  dumb  for  ever.  How  do  they  magnify  the 
writings  of  their  own,  how  vilify  the  writings  of  God  ! 
Those,  they  say,  will  make  men  good  catholics ;  these 
will  mcikethem  heretics.  O  blasphemy  in  the  height, 
that  a  Jesuit's  pen  should  make  saints,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost's  pen  should  make  sinners!  What  devil  durst 
roar  out  such  a  blasphemy  above  ground  ?  These 
are  they  that  speak  evil  of  the  truth  of  God ;  the  God 
of  truth  be  their  Judge. 

Friends  by  their  bad  lives :  "  The  name  of  God  is 
blasphemed  among  the  Gentiles,  through  you,"  Rom. 
ii.  24.  That  men  should  be  in  profession  Christians, 
and  in  conversation  jiagans,  the  devils  look  on  it,  and 
laugh  at  it.  The  profession  of  faith,  and  operation 
of  good  works,  are  the  integral  parts  of  Christianity  ; 
and  in  the  children  of  God  admit  of  no  divorce. 
"  God  hath  not  called  us  to  uncleanncss,  but  to  holi- 
nes,"  I  Thess.  iv.  7.  But  this  is  to  be  called  one  way, 
and  to  nm  another ;  as  Jonah,  being  sent  to  Nineveh, 
went  to  Tarshish.  "  If  ye  live  after  the  flesh,  ye  shall 
die,"  Rom.  viii.  13.  God  shall  render  to  every  man 
according  to  his  works.  In  our  baptism  we  give  a 
defiance  to  sin  and  Satan ;  shall  we  re-entertain  what 
we  have  sworn  to  renounce  ?  In  the  Lord's  supper 
we  profess  to  be  made  one  with  Christ;  now  can  we 
partake  of  the  Lord's  table,  and  the  table  of  devils? 
1  Cor.  X.  21.  Tliese  are  imcompatible.  Nature 
itself  loves  nothing  simulated  or  counterfeit ;  but 
would  have  us  know  the  verity  of  things  from  their 
effects.  We  know  the  nightingale  by  her  sweet  notes, 
and  can  discern  the  eagle  from  the  vulture  by  the 
crj' :  our  manners  distinguish  us  from  unbelievers. 
Suppose  a  Christian  and  a  pagan  were  together,  and 
both  should  swear  and  forswear ;  how  could  a  stran- 
ger tell,  which  was  the  pagan,  which  the  Christian  ? 
Anacharsis  approved  operum  copiam,  verborum  parsi- 
moniam.  Socrates  among  philosophers,  and  Hippo- 
crates among  the  physicians,  desired  practical  ora- 
tions, and  would  have  their  scholars  speak  little  and 
do  much.  And  if  any  did  not  philosophize  in  his 
life,  they  rejected  him  as  a  blaspliemer  of  their  pro- 
fession. This  is  a  weighty  point,  whereon  the  Scrip- 
ture liberally  spends  itself:  and  out  of  that  armon," 
I  will  produce  five  weapons,  lo  convince  this  kind  of 
blasphemy. 

Ezck.  xxxvi.  22,  Ye  have  profaned  my  holy  name 
among  the  heathen,  whither  ye  went,  ^hey  should 
have  converted  the  heathen  to  the  true  God,  and 
they  suffered  themselves  to  be  perverted  by  the  hea- 
tlicn  to  false  gods  :  They  leamed  their  works,  served 
their  idols,  and  sacrificed  their  children  unto  devils, 
Psal.  cvi.  35 — 37.  Thus  they  became  twice  their 
slaves  ;  their  bodies  conquered  by  their  weapons,  and 
their  hearts  by  their  vices.  Thus  the  Jews  brought 
them  out  of  love   with   God,   and   to   mislike  nis 


Ver.  2. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


24- 


religion,  whicli  they  might  judge  to  jiroduce  such 
cursed  effects.  .So  the  cruelty  of  the  Spaniards  to 
the  Indians  made  them  cry,  With  a  mischief  what 
god  is  this,  that  hath  such  blood-hounds  and  tigers 
to  his  ser\'ants. 

I  Tim.  vi.  1,  Let  the  servants  that  are  under  the 
yoke  count  their  own  masters  worthy  of  all  honour, 
that  the  name  pf  God  and  his  doctrine  be  not  blas- 
phemed. Let  Christian  servants  honour  their  un- 
christened  masters,  lest  their  rebellion  be  laid  as  an 
imputation  upon  God,  and  as  a  blasphemy  upon  reli- 
gion. And  the  same  apostle  says  that  even  scrv.ints 
may  "  adorn  the  doctrme  of  God  our  Saviour  in  all 
things,"  Tit.  ii.  10.  The  lowest  condition,  blessed 
with  an  honest  conversation,  may  grace  the  gospel. 
Often  it  is  true,  that  the  lowest  in  the  world's  eye  may 
be  the  highest  in  God's  estimation.  While  superstition 
dwelt  in  this  land,  how  was  it  adorned !  the  garments 
of  an  idol  cost  hundreds;  and  the  appurtenances  to 
some,  thousands :  men  gave  their  estates,  as  the  Is- 
raelites their  ear-rings  and  most  precious  jewels,  to 
make  a  golden  calf.  Now  the  truth  is  advanced 
among  us,  we  are  so  far  from  adorning  it,  that  we 
shame  it. 

I  Pet.  ii.  12,  Have  your  conversation  honest,  that 
they  who  speak  against  you  as  evil-doers,  may  by 
your  good  works,  which  they  shall  behold,  glorify  God 
in  tlie  day  of  visitation.  There  be  many  elected 
that  are  not  yet  called ;  they  arc  yet  out  of  the  fold, 
but  they  belong  to  the  covenant  by  God's  everlasting 
decree.  Now  the  clew  whereby  God  will  unwind 
them  out  of  the  labyrinth  of  error,  may  be  the  manu- 
duction  of  your  exemplary  life.  There  be  some  that 
shall  believe  on  Christ  through  our  word,  John  xvii. 
20.  Now  if  we  live  as  they  live,  how  can  we  hope 
they  will  believe  as  we  believe  ?  The  pagan  con- 
cludes, If  I  saw  their  works  better  than  mine,  I  should 
think  their  faith  better  than  mine.  Suppose  the 
robbed  and  wounded  passenger  (Luke  x.  30)  had 
been  a  heathen  ;  finding  no  mercy  of  the  Jew,  much 
of  the  Samaritan,  would  he  not  have  embraced  the 
Samaritans'  religion  sooner  than  the  Jews'  ?  yet  the 
Jews'  religion  was  true,  and  not  the  Samaritans' ;  as 
our  Saviour  said,  "  Salvation  is  of  the  Jews,"  John 
iv.  22.  Thus  as  at  the  bar  truth  is  often  wronged  by 
an  ill  pleader,  so  religion  is  scandalod  by  an  ill  pro- 
fessor. The  Jews  call  themselves  the  sons  of  Abra- 
ham ;  yet  they  wanted  faith,  which  was  the  most 
glorious  grace  of  Abraham.  So  many  style  them- 
selves the  children  of  God,  yet  have  not  so  much 
holiness  as  should  make  them  in  any  respect  like 
their  Father. 

Matt.  V.  16,  Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men, 
that  they  may  see  your  good  works,  and  glorify 
your  Father  in  heaven.  Shall  that  which  should 
lighten  others  to  heaven,  be  itself  darkened?  As 
Naaman  said,  I  thought  that  he  would  come  and  do 
something,  strike  his  hand  on  the  sore,  &c.  2  Kings 
V.  11;  so  we  look  for  deeds,  but  behold  nothing  but 
words :  to  mine  ears  he  is  a  saint,  to  mine  eyes  a 
devil.  The  king  sends  an  ambassador  to  magnify 
his  state  in  a  foreign  country,  and  he  to  contract 
something  to  himself,  by  penurious  and  dishonour- 
able cou^^e^,  brings  his  sovereign's  majestic  worth 
into  quesrion.  When  God  put  the  sun  into  heaven, 
he  bade  him  shine  there  :  when  he  placeth  a  Chris- 
tian in  his  lower  orb,  he  imposeth  upon  him  an 
actual  remonstrance  of  that  which  he  meant  him. 
Every  Christian  is  a  lamp  that  should  shine  to  God's 
glory  :  all  sins  damp  the  light,  continued  wickedness 
puts  it  out ;  and  then  darkness  internal  must  unto 
darkness  eternal. 

■Solomon  says,  A  wicked  son  is  a  grief  to  his 
father,  and  a  shame  to  his  mother."    If  a  man  nourish 


the  son  of  a  stranger,  and  he  prove  rebellious,  the 
sorrow  sits  as  far  from  his  heart  a.s  the  offender  is 
from  his  blood :  when  his  own  son  degenerates,  the 
shame  redounds  to  himself.  If  we  belong  to  God's 
family,  let  us  show  what  house  we  come  of,  not  only 
by  our  liver)',  but  by  our  living.  How  do  the  devil 
and  his  limbs  triumph  at  the  falls  of  professors ! 
The  saints  are  reproached,  the  truth  disgraced,  and 
religion  itself  scandalized :  this  is  to  shame  our 
Father.  The  blame  shall  be  laid  on  the  religion, 
whereas  it  is  because  men  are  not  enough  religious. 
Yea,  our  mother  suffers  for  us,  the  church  is  dis- 
honoured :  and  if  .'iny  one  protestant  could  be  found 
a  traitor,  Rome  would  justify  her  many  thousand 
treasons  by  that  singular  exprobration.  His  life  is 
bad,  therefore  his  doctrine  is  false,  I  confess,  is  a 
harsh  non  xequltur :  yet  will  the  world  so  conclude 
it ;  and  it  is  a  thousand  times  better  that  our  good 
lives  should  prevent  it,  than  afterwards  be  driven  by 
our  arguments  to  disprove  it.  We  are  but  sorry 
friends  to  God,  that  give  advantage  against  him  to 
his  enemies.  We  beseech  him  to  honour  us  in 
licaven,  and  he  forbids  us  to  dishonour  him  upon 
earth  :  how  should  men  look  to  be  advanced  by  tiiat 
trutli  they  have  disgraced?  Preserve  we  it  from 
malediction  of  men,  and  it  shall  j)reserve  us  from  the 
malediction  of  God  :  let  us  vindicate  the  truth  from 
present  blasphemy,  and  the  truth  shall  deliver  us 
from  everlasting  misery,  through  him  that  is  truth 
and  life,  Jesus  Christ. 

To  conclude ;  the  truth  is  not  the  less  glorious  in- 
deed, but  in  the  world's  estimation.  It  lies  not  in 
the  power  of  men,  or  malice  of  devils,  to  disgrace  the 
tnitli ;  for  it  shall  shine  glorious,  when  heaven  and 
earth  perish,  and  all  her  maligncrs  subjected  under 
her  conquering  feet.  It  is  of  the  nature  that  God 
himself  is,  whose  glory  is  not  capable  of  any  aug- 
mentation, nor  passive  of  any  diminution.  He  is 
said  to  be  dishonoured  by  our  sins,  to  be  magnified 
and  glorified  by  our  good  works.  But  let  our  works 
be  good  or  evil,  still  thou  continucst  holy,  O  thou 
Worship  of  Israel.  Whether  the  Turks  despise  Jesus, 
or  the  Christians  adore  him,  still  he  abides  the  same 
yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  for  ever.  Such  is  the  im- 
mutabililv  of  truth,  the  patrons  of  it  make  it  not 
greater,  tlie  opposers  make  it  not  less;  as  the  splen- 
dour of  the  sun  is  not  enlarged  by  them  that  bless  it, 
nor  eclipsed  by  them  that  hate  it.  That  thing  which 
may  be  extended,  may  also  be  contracted;  if  it  ad- 
mit addition,  it  may  also  suffer  diminution :  God  and 
his  truth  are  liable  to  neither.  Indeed  the  blessed 
Virgin  sung,  "My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord," 
Luke  i.  46.  This  Word  may  naturally  seem  to  sig- 
nify, to  make  great ;  but  cannot  there  so  be  under- 
stood. God  is  so  immense,  that  nothing  can  be 
added  to  him  nor  taken  from  him.  The  sea  may  be 
multiplied,  the  earth  swollen  bigger,  the  heavens 
stretclied  out,  hell  enlarged;  but  God  is  ever  the 
same.  There  is  nothing  greater  or  more  than  infi- 
nite. In  himself  he  is  neither  magnified  nor  vili- 
fied, but  in  respect  of  others.  When  we  blas- 
pheme his  name,  we  do  what  we  can  to  lessen 
his  greatness ;  when  we  praise  his  name,  we  do 
what  we  can  to  augment  his  greatness  ;  because  the 
former  teacheth  others  to  contemn  him,  the  latter 
to  admire  him.  So  magnificare  is  only  magnum 
stgtiificare ;  to  magnify  him,  is  to  express  him  great. 
Let  men  be  won  bv  vour  good  works,  to  glorify 
God,  1  Pet.  ii.  12.'  I'hy  contempt  of  the  truth 
makes  not  it  worse,  but  thyself;  tny  advancing  it 
makes  not  it  greater,  but  thyself  better.  Therefore 
for  Mary's  giving  her  soul  to  magnify  God,  God  doth 
magnify  her  soul;  He  that  is  mighty  hath  magnified 
me,  Luke  i.  40.     It  is  not  we  that  make  free  the 


24S 


AN  EXrOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  U. 


truth,  but  the  tnith  that  makes  us  free  ;  "The  truth 
shall  make  you  free,"  John  viii.  32.  When  we  pro- 
fess it  with  our  lips,  and  confess  it  in  our  lives,  the 
truth  is  not  beholden  to  us,  but  we  arc  beholden  to 
it,  that  our  testimony  may  be  accepted.  Our  grace 
is  the  Lord's  glory ;  the  more  we  are  amended,  the 
more  he  is  commended.  Thus  we  may  cause  the 
truth  to  appear  greater  in  us,  though  it  cannot  be 
made  greater  by  us. 

So  contrarily,  by  the  wickedness  of  their  con- 
versation, whose  profession  promiseth  most  holiness, 
the  truth  appears  more  inglorious  to  others,  is  no 
whit  less  glorious  in  itself.  The  truth  is  great  and 
will  prevail  ;  and  how  big  soever  they  look  that 
blaspheme  it,  yet  still  "  wisdom  is  justified  of  her 
children,"  Matt.  xi.  19.  The  Lord  will  always  keep 
some  defenders  on  foot,  that  shall  glorify  the  truth: 
it  shall  be  strong  enough  in  those  weak  and  single 
adherences,  to  lay  all  the  enemies  on  the  ground. 
What  hope  was  there  of  this  event  in  Martin  Luther, 
when  he  disliked  only  one  point  of  poperj-,  the  base 
prostitutions  of  indulgences  in  Germany  ?  yet  will 
that  God  (who  glorifies  his  o^vni  power  in  the  dis- 
ability of  his  instruments)  by  that  one  man  vindicate 
the  truth  from  the  universal  blasphemies  of  those 
ajiostate  times.  As  Beza  wrote  of  him,  not  without 
admiration  : 

Roma  orbem  donmil,  Pomam  sibi papa  subegit. 

Viribus  ilia  suis,  fraudibus  iste  suis. 
Quanta  ilia  major  Lutherus,  major  et  isto : 

Iltam  islumque  lino  qui  domuil  calamo  .' 

Rome  overcame  the  world  by  her  power,  the  pope 
overcame  Rome  by  his  cunning,  and  Luther  over- 
came them  both  by  his  pen.  If  we  now  shall  wound 
tliat  truth  by  our  sins,  which  God  hath  sent  to  save 
our  souls,  no  wonder  if  we  perish  by  her  forsaking 
us,  that  have  lost  ourselves  by  forsaking  her.  No, 
let  us  keep  her,  and  keep  her  from  unjust  aspersions : 
let  us  bear  her  in  our  hearts,  wear  her  in  our  lips, 
and  rear  her  up  in  our  lives,  that  othei-s  may  see, 
and  our  own  consciences  feel,  we  are  the  friends  of 
truth.  She  hath  made  that  proffer  to  the  Romanists 
that  Paul  did  once  to  the  Jews :  The  truth  hath  been 
fust  spoken  to  you ;  but  seeing  you  put  it  from  you, 
and  judge  yourselves  unworthy  of  everlasting  life, 
lo,  I  turn  unto  others.  Acts  xiii.  46.  Hither  she  is 
come,  and  by  the  mercy  of  God  hath  long  dwelt ;  let 
us  now  leave  off  to  offend  her,  lest  she  Hy  to  others 
that  will  give  her  more  honour  and  better  enfertain- 
mcut.  Woe  were  it  to  us,  if  the  kingdom  of  God 
should  be  taken  from  us,  and  given  to  a  nation  that 
would  bring  forth  the  fmits  thereof.  Matt.  xxi.  43. 
Ko :  Lord,  give  us  hearts  to  love  thy  truth,  that  thy 
truth  may  love  us;  let  her  dwell  with  us  while  we 
live  here,  and  let  us  dwell  with  her  in  heaven  for  ever. 


Verse  3. 

j4nd  through  covelousiiess  shall  they  with  feigned  words 
make  merchandise  of  you :  whose  judgment  now  of  a 
long  lime  lingereth  not,  and  their  danmalion  slumier- 
elh  not. 

The  apostle  in  this  verse  makes  a  continuation  of 
their  sins,  and  a  declaration  of  their  plagues.  Tliev 
extend  the  thread  of  their  mischief  ver>'  long,  till 
hell-fire  burn  it  off;  and  then  thev  shall  find  that 
they  have  spun  a  fair  thread.  They  broach  here- 
sies, cornipt  multitudes,  sell  souls,  as  merchants  do 
their  wares ;   cozen  men's  consciences,  colour  foul 


natures  with  fair  words,  blaspheme  the  gospel,  deny 
Jesus  Christ  :  oh  how  constant  and  long-winded  are 
they  in  their  wickedness  !  But  there  is  a  judgment,  an 
unsleeping  judgment ;  a  damnation  that  wakes  while 
they  slumber,  and  shall  at  last  take  them  napping. 
The  root  of  their  noxious  intentions  is  covetousness  ; 
that  makes  (hem  merchants  ;  they  traffic  in  the  bar- 
gain of  souls,  to  buy  them,  not  for  Christ,  but  from 
Christ.  Being  once  cunning  merchants,  they  get 
smooth  tongues,  milky  language  ;  and  like  practi- 
tioners in  that  legal  thievery,  embrace  men  in  their 
arms,  and  laugh  in  their  faces,  while  they  pick  their 
purses. 

Their  heart,  tongue,  and  hand  are  employed  in 
this  project ;  all  have  their  distinct  offices,  and  they 
accomplish  their  duties.  The  heart  dictates  to  the 
tongue,  the  tongue  prepares  the  way  for  the  hand. 
Their  hearts  covet,  their  tongues  fiatter,  their  hands 
traffic.  They  covet  your  goods,  they  flatter  your  sins, 
they  sell  your  souls.  The  root  is  covetousness,  the 
branches  feigned  words,  the  fruit  merchandise  of  men ; 
and  there  follows  the  axe  of  judgment  to  hew  them 
dowTi,  and  the  fire  of  damnation  to  burn  them. 

In  this  description  of  false  teachers  consider  gene- 
rally. 

Their  prodition.  Through  covetousness,  &c. 

Their  perdition.  Their  judgment,  &c. 

In  their  prodition,  or  treachery  against  the  church, 
observe  that  the  metaphor  of  mercliandising  is  used ; 
wherein  examine  four  concurrences, 

The  traders.  False  prophets. 

The  wares.  You. 

The  ground  of  traffic,  Covetousness. 

The  means  of  utterance,  Feigned  words. 

In  their  perdition  or  ruin,  consider. 

The  severity  of  it.  Judgment  and  damnation. 

The  vicinity  of  it,  Lingers  not,  slumbers  not. 

First,  let  me  spend  a  little  time  upon  the  general 
similitude  (merchandising)  here  used  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  The  calling  of  a  merchant  is  of  great  anti- 
quity and  necessar)-  use  ;  the  stale  of  the  world  can- 
not well  stand  without  it.  iV'oJi  omnis  fert  omnia 
lellus ;  Our  northern  parts  have  no  wine  for  the 
sacrament.  Meshcch  king  of  Moab  was  a  lord  of 
sheep,  Hiram  had  store  of  timber,  Ophir  was  famous 
for  gold,  Chittim  for  ivorj',  B;ishan  for  oaks,  Lebanon 
for  cedars;  therefore  there  must  be  a  path  from 
Egypt  to  Ashur.  Merchants  ai-e  the  feet  of  the 
world,  whereby  remote  and  distant  countries  meet 
together.  Yet  it  is  a  dangerous  profession,  not  only 
for  wreck  of  life  and  goods,  but  also  for  wreck  of 
conscience ;  which  is  not  always  made  in  their  ships 
abroad,  but  too  commonly  in  their  shojis  at  home. 
There  be  the  quicksands  of  nimble  fraud,  and  the  rocks 
of  perjury.  Gain  is  a  busy  temptation,  and  they  can 
neither  use  measures  nor  balances,  but  the  deWl  is 
at  one  end  to  do  some  office.  The  quest  of  wealth 
is  dangerous ;  to  seek  it  by  war  is  injur)',  by  falsehood 
ignominy,  by  sea  danger,  by  husbandry  honest  and 
safe.  I  will  not  say  with  Clirj-sostom,  Come  not 
near  the  market,  fur  fear  of  deceiving  or  being  de- 
ceived. (Mic.  b.  10.  Cassian.) 

It  is  a  lawful  calling  if  it  be  lawfully  used.  No 
man  is  bound  to  stay  at  home  ;  he  may  visit  foreign 
countries  if  cither  authority  or  necessity  send  him 
forth.  A  calling  is  a  good  warrant,  and  it  cannot 
want  danger  to  go  unsent.  But  t^vo  things  are  to  be 
weighed;  who  must  go,  and  whither.  Who:  not  a 
feeble  and  ungrounded  Christian.  Religion  hath  in 
it  all  statures,  all  strengths,  children  and  men.  Let 
a  child  or  a  fool  be  turned  loose  into  theapothecarj-'s 
shop,  that  gallipot  which  looks  fairest  shall  soonest 
have  their  fingers,  though  there  be  poison  in  it.  He 
that  is  unsettled  endangers  his  own  infection ;  he  had 


Veh.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


24'J 


need  be  a.  resolute  Caleb  that  goes  to  view  the  land 
of  the  Canaanites.  Whither :  not  a  place  of  enfoice  J 
blindness  and  compulsion  to  idolatry,  but  where  holy 

f)rofession  is  free.  Is  there  no  trade  allowed  with 
leretics  ?  Yes,  but  not  with  heresies.  We  may 
converse  with  men,  not  with  idolatries  ;  civilly,  not 
in  religion  ;  deal  with  them  in  the  business  of  com- 
merce, not  communicate  with  them  in  their  super- 
stitious ser\ices.  How  hateful  is  a  Binimonite,  pre- 
tending an  upright  heart  in  a  prostrate  body  !  Trade 
with  their  persons,  not  with  tlieir  vices  :  traffic  is  al- 
lowed, not  amity ;  not  friendship,  but  peace. 

All  company  with  unbelievei-s  or  misbelievers  is 
not  condemned.  We  find  a  Lot  in  Sodom,  Israel  with 
the  Egyptians,  Abraham  and  Isaac  with  their  Abi- 
mclechs  ;  roses  among  thorns,  and  pearls  in  mud ; 
and  Jesus  Christ  among  publicans  and  sinners.  So 
neither  we  be  infected,  nor  the  name  of  the  Lord 
wronged,  to  converse  with  them,  that  we  may  con- 
vert them,  is  a  holy  course.  But  still  we  must  be 
among  them  as  strangers  :  to  pass  through  an  in- 
fected place  is  one  thing,  to  dwell  in  it  another.  The 
earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  men  are  his :  wheresoever 
God  shall  find  the  merchant,  let  him  be  sure  to  find 
God  in  every  place. 

Howsoever,  it  is  a  profession  not  without  great 
danger  of  iniquity ;  it  is  a  hard  thing  to  keep  sin  out 
of  trading.  A  merchant  shall  hardly  keep  himself 
from  doing  wrong:  and  the  very  name  of  it  dotli  in 
the  common  dialect  sound  unhappily  ;  when  to  be 
a  deceiver  is  said,  in  a  phra.se,  to  play  the  merchant. 
Nor  is  the  suspicion  of  it  without  all  probable  ground, 
for  the  world  hath  had  tradesmen  in  a  continual 
jealousy.  I  do  not  derive  merchants  from  so  wicked 
a  patron  as  Mercurj- ; 

Experlos furandi  homines,  hac  imbuit  arte 
Mercurius ; 

says  the  verse.  But  certainly  our  Saviour  would 
have  found  another  name  for  buyers  and  sellers 
in  the  temple,  than  thieves,  if  to  buy  and  sell  had 
been  of  so  clear  and  innocent  a  consequence.  But 
our  customers  (say  they)  are  either  acquaintance  or 
strangers.  If  acquaintance,  they  come  in  love,  and 
our  aflfection  keeps  us  from  deceiving  them.  If 
Strangers,  we  lose  our  trade  in  losing  our  credit,  if 
we  deceive  them.  But,  alas,  what  do  men  talk  of 
acquaintance  and  love,  where  covetousncss  admits  of 
no  friend  but  gain  ?  And  for  strangers,  they  are 
soon  forgotten;  you  think  never  to  meet  again,  till 
J'ou  meet  in  heaven  or  meet  in  hell.  Desire  of  i>rofit 
in  overprizing,  pride  of  wit  in  overreaching ;  these 
arc  the  principles  of  broker)-,  that  foul  the  fairest 
merchandise. 

Such  a  conceit  in  a  pasquil  I  have  read,  where 
bringing  in  the  states  of  the  world,  he  appropriates 
cozenage  to  the  merchant.  He  placctn  together 
Charles  the  Fifth  and  the  jwpc  reconciled.  To  them 
comes  kneeling  a  husbandman,  saying,  I  feed  you 
two.  To  them  a  merchant ;  I  cozen  you  three.  To 
them  a  lawyer;  I  rob  you  four.  To  them  a  phy- 
sician ;  I  kill  you  five.  To  them  a  divine  ;  I  absolve 
you  six.  But  of  all  sorts  of  merchants,  two  especially 
would  be  whipped  out  of  the  state  ;  merchants  of  time 
and  temple.  Such  as  sell  time,  which  is  God's  fee- 
simple  ;  and  such  as  sell  tithes,  which  is  Christ's  in- 
heritance. For  us,  let  us  only  be  merchants  of 
Christ:  the  kingdom  of  heaven  belongs  to  such  a 
merchant  as  will  sell  all  he  hath  to  purchase  it.  Of 
all  purchases,  let  us  buy  Jesus.  Be  thou  never 
so  poor,  Christ  will  sell  himself  unto  thy  soul. 
(Ambr.) 

I.  The  tradesmen  or  merchants  are  false  teachers. 
Christ  came  into  the  world  to  buy  Souls,  and  he  paid 


a  dear  price  for  them ;  not  silver  and  gold,  and  sucli 
corruptible  things,  but  the  dear  blood  of  his  imma- 
culate heart,  1  Pet.  i.  18,  19.  All  his  ministers  level 
their  courses  at  the  same  end,  to  buy  souls  for  Christ. 
The  price  they  pay  for  them,  is  their  labour,  vigi- 
lancy,  prayers.  They  break  their  sleeps,  spend  their 
spirits,  consume  their  bodies  ;  suffer  infamy,  poverty, 
misery ;  and  yet  think  all  nothing  so  they  may  pur- 
chase one  soul.  No  usurer  was  so  griping  and  pinch- 
ing for  money,  as  Paul  was  for  souls.  He  had  a  bank 
in  ever)-  place  ;  in  Macedonia,  Antioch,  Ephcsus.  "  I 
will  tarry  at  Ephesus  until  Pentecost,"  1  Cor.  xvi.  8. 
Why  ?  Because  "  a  great  door  and  effectual  is  open- 
ed unto  me ;"  there  is  a  market  of  souls.  I  must  to 
Jerusalem.  Why?  To  purchase  souls.  After  these, 
he  takes  God  to  witness,  he  did  greatly  long  in  the 
bowels  of  Jesus  Christ,  Phil.  i.  8.  We  have  a  de- 
posit with  God,  God  a  deposit  with  us.  Our  deposit 
with  him  is  our  own  soul.     I  know  he  will  keep  tliat 

1  have  committed  to  him.  There  is  laid  up  for  me 
a  crown  of  righteousness,  2  Tim.  i.  12;  iv.  8.  His 
deposit  with  us  is  the  souls  intrusted  to  our  charge. 
If  the  depositar)'  do  not  return  what  he  may,  he  is 
the  son  of  death.  Take  heed  to  the  Hock  whereof 
the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  vou  overseers,  to  feed 
the  church  of  God  which  he  Viath  bought  with  his 
own  blood.  Acts  xx.  28.  The  whole  verse  is  a  pur- 
chase ;  you  shall  see  the  good  minister's  part  in  it. 
The  seller  is  God ;  the  buyer,  Christ ;  the  thing  sold 
and  bought,  the  church ;  the  price  paid,  blood ;  the 
great  Steward  of  this  purchase  is  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
the  overseers,  and  lookers  to  it,  are  ministers  and 
pastors.  Some  arc  two  lazy,  not  tendentes  sed  Ion- 
detites ;  others  too  busy,  eontradenles :  good  pastors 
are  superintenden/es,  and  good  hearers  attend entes. 

Goa  doth  not  impose  on  us  a  purchasing  price, 
that  is  for  Christ ;  nor  a  converting  power,  that  is  for 
the  Holy  Ghost :  no  more  than  one  man  can  make 
another;  creation  is  for  himself.  Paul  says  not,  I 
have  profited  more  than  all ;  but,  I  have  laboured 
more  than  they  all,  I  Cor.  xv.  10.  God  judgeth  us  not 
by  the  souls  we  have  converted,  but  by  the  pains  we 
have  taken.  He  will  not  call  us  to  account  for  his 
own  work,  which  is  to  convert  souls.  A  great  patron 
who  is  now  gone  some  whither,  was  wont  to  say  when 
a  minister  petitioned  for  a  living,  Can  he  make  the 
drunkard  sober,  the  covetous  man  liberal,  the  ma- 
licious charitable,  then  he  shall  have  it  freely  ;  else 
not.  But  if  God  should  give  us  no  reward  unless  we 
converted  you,  woe  were  to  us.  We  would  have 
cured  Babel,  but  she  would  not  be  cured.  We  can 
so  far  testify  ;  we  would  have  saved  you,  but  you  will 
not.  Ask  your  souls.  Who  hath  believed  our  saying  ? 
Still  we  preach,  and  still  you  continue  the  same. 
Nature  is  bountiful  though  men  slight  it ;  flowers 
grow  though  nobody  gather  them  ;  rivers  run, springs 
fill  wells,  though  none  drink  of  them ;  we  do  good, 
though  we  be  neglected.  Indeed  our  preaching 
something  shortens  the  horns  of  sin  :  though  we  can- 
not dissuade  men  from  swearing,  yet  we  get  them  to 
forbear  it  at  the  church,  in  holy  scr>-ices. 

Thus  wc  desire  to  buy  you  for  Christ,  these  seek 
to  sell  you  from  Christ.  The  gospel  speaks  still  of 
Christ's  buying ;    "  Ye  are  bought  with  a   price," 

2  Cor.  vi.  20;  vii.  23.  To  sell  that  he  bought,  is  to 
cross  the  proceedings  of  Christ.  The  seller  of  a  man 
shall  die ;  it  wa-s  God's  law.  If  any  man  steal  an 
Israelite,  and  sell  or  make  merchandise  of  him,  that 
thief  shall  die,  Deut.  xxiv.  7;  though  he  sold  but 
his  body  :  what  shall  become  of  them  that  sell  his 
soul ;  and  that  not  to  man,  but  to  Satan  ?  God  com- 
plains by  the  prophet.  They  have  sold  my  people ; 
as  the  brethren  sold  Joseph  to  the  Ishmaelltes  :  little 
did  those  merchants  know  what  a  treasure  thev  had 


250 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


bought !  As  Judas  sold  Christ  to  the  Jews  for  thirty 
pieces:  poorly  did  he  value  the  pennyworth!  Thus 
they  sell  men  to  sin,  little  esteeming  the  price  that 
a  soul  cost.  The  prodigal  selling  out  his  inheritance 
by  parcels,  now  a  part  and  then  a  part ;  a  friend  told 
him  that  he  never  knew  the  price  of  it ;  his  progeni- 
tors paid  dearly  for  it.  His  lands  being  gone,  he 
sold  his  goods  :  being  asked  what  he  would  do  at 
the  last,  he  answered,  1  will  sell  myself.  When  they 
have  sold  you,  they  will  sell  themselves  after  you ; 
as  Judas,  having  betrayed  his  Master,  betrayed  him- 
self. They  shall  pay  dearly  for  that  they  sold  base- 
ly. When  "  he  had  not  to  pay,  his  lord  commanded 
him  to  be  sold,  and  his  ^vife,  and  children,  and  all 
that  he  had,  and  payment  to  be  made,"  Matt,  xviii. 
25.  His  principal  jewels  must  be  sold  for  satisfac- 
tion. Hai)ly  the  wicked  would  part  with  his  wife 
and  children  without  pity,  if  he  might  so  escape 
himself:  nay,  himself  also  must  be  sold,  that  the 
justice  of  God  may  be  satisfied. 

2.  The  wares,  "  you ; "  your  estates,  your  liberties, 
your  lives,  your  souls.  They  set  up  a  mark  of  holy 
things,  and  with  their  impostures  fill  their  purses. 
As  Simon  Magus  so  wrought  upon  the  mad  Samari- 
tans, that  by  selling  them  to  the  devil  he  stuffed  his 
coffers  with  the  treasures  of  blood.  And  Mark  his 
scholar  so  bewitched  the  noble  women,  that  they 
sold  their  husbands  to  buy  their  sorrows  ;  as  Irenccus 
writes.  Of  this  bran  are  the  Romish  merchants, 
whom  we  may  see  in  this  text  as  pointed  out  by  the 
apostle's  finger.  Their  main  doctrines  are  points  of 
merchandise  :  wherein  the  devil  is  beholden  to  them; 
for  they  are  content  to  enrich  him  with  souls,  to  en- 
rich themselves  with  monies.  They  enlarge  his  do- 
minion in  hell,  to  extend  their  own  possession  on 
earth.  What  is  their  auricular  confession  but  a 
trick  of  merchandise  ?  A  man  must  t-onfess  all  his 
sins,  or  have  none  of  them  pardoned :  well,  he  hath 
disgorged  all  the  crudities  of  his  stomach ;  what 
then  P  Then  must  he  make  satisfaction  according 
to  their  prescription.  You  are  content  to  buy  out  a 
pardon.  Yes,  what  must  I  pay  for  it  ?  You  shall 
give  such  a  sum  of  money  to  such  a  church :  so  much 
land  to  such  a  college  ;  such  a  pension  to  that  friarj'. 
Here  is  a  cunning  traffic,  a  market  made  to  purpose  ; 
thus  they  increase  their  revenues  through  all  Europe. 
Their  distinction  between  the  fact  and  punishment 
is  a  merchant's  doctrine  :  the  fact  may  be  remitted, 
the  punishment  retained ;  what  then  ?  Oh  here 
creeps  in  purgatorj',  a  milder  fire  than  that  of  hell, 
to  eat  out  the  penalty  hereafter.  AVhat  profit  is 
this?  Yes,  the  pope  is  lord  of  purgatory,  he  keeps 
the  keys,  which  lie  will  turn  never  without  a  round 
fee.  Indulgent  he  is  to  them  that  will  pay,  either  for 
merits  of  others,  or  masses  of  their  own.  This 
painted  fire  in  his  parlour,  maintains  the  material 
fire  in  his  kitchen.  Thus  are  the  people  sold,  for 
who  would  not  empty  his  purse  to  escape  that  burn- 
ing ?  Yea,  if  he  be  rich,  and  have  any  charity,  he 
will  pay  the  fees  for  all  his  friends,  and  "release  them 
out  of  prison.  Still  the  priests  laugh,  how  for  main- 
taining a  jest  they  get  money  in  good  earnest. 

Their  forbidding  of  marriage  to  many  degrees  of 
men  is  a  pretty  trade  of  merchandise ;  when  they  i-u 
purpose  forbid  them,  that  they  may  dispense  with 
them.  So  still  the  more  prohibitions,  the  more  dis- 
pensations; and  the  more  dispensations,  the  more 
accumulations  of  treasure.  The  truth  is,  policy  hath 
quite  eaten  up  their  religion;  and  to  make'them- 
aelvcs  great,  they  care  not  for  making  themselves, 
or  any  other  man,  good.  Roma  dat  onmibun  omnia 
danttbus.  The  foundation  of  the  popedom  was  laid 
in  pride,  the  building  set  up  with  rapacity,  and  now 
It  18  kept  in  reparation  with  tyrannv.     The  pope  is 


ponli/ex  majiimus;  si  non  doclrina,  lamrn  pecunia 
majcimui:  Paul  says,  "  I  liave  coveted  no  man's 
silver  or  gold,"  Acts  xx.  .33 :  but  with  them,  no 
penny,  no  Paternoster ;  they  covet  your  gold  more 
than  yourselves.  Paul  says,  "  I  seek  not  yours,  but 
you,"  2  Cor.  xii.  14:  they  seek  not  you,  but  yours. 
They  sell  men's  estates  to  beggary,  their  freedom  to 
slavery,  their  lives  to  treachery,  their  souls  to  danger 
of  perdition. 

They  sell  you.  An  evil  pastor  may  sell  his  flock 
three  ways ;  by  flattery,  by  heresy,  by  silence. 

1.  By  flattery.  He  that  encourageth  a  man  in  his 
errors,  sells  him  for  his  own  gain.  These  are  they 
that  sew  pillows  where  they  should  quilt  thorns  ; 
that  proclaim  peace  instead  of  war ;  that  skin  ulcers 
with  lenitives ;  and  say,  All  is  well,  when  God  sees 
and  says.  All  is  stark  naught.  There  is  a  faithful  zeal 
required  in  ministers,  but  it  hath  many  hinderances. 
Such  are  aiTcction  ;  when  jiarents  (not  unlike  Zale- 
dicus)  put  out  one  of  their  own  eyes,  that  they  may 
not  see  their  children's  faults.  Corruption ;  when 
they  are  guilty  of  the  same  sins.  The  people  argue 
thus ;  Such  a  preacher  taxeth  many  sins  bitterly, 
but  you  never  heard  him  find  fault  with  usury; 
therefore  certainly  it  is  lawful.  Fear  of  great  men ; 
who,  like  mules,  kick  when  they  should  suck.  Bash- 
ftdness ;  which  is  in  a  woman  a  great  virtue,  in  a 
preacher  a  great  vice.  Now  this  boldness  must  not 
be  without  meekness.  If  a  man  be  fallen,  restore 
him  with  the  spirit  of  meekness.  Gal.  vi.  1.  The 
original  implies,  jiut  him  gently  into  joint  again. 
Some  are  over-bold ;  that  send  much  talk  out  of  their 
mouths,  before  discretion  come  into  their  heads. 
Nothing  is  more  wordy  than  ignorance ;  "  A  fool's 
voice  is  known  by  multitude  of  words,"  Eccl.  v.  3. 
Imp\ident  speakers  arc  like  the  gaping  oysters ;  when 
you  open  them,  either  they  stink,  or  there  is  nothing 
in  them.  He  that  professeth  ignorance,  and  hatn 
knowledge,  is  culpable  of  ingratitude :  he  that  pro- 
fesseth knowledge,  and  is  ignorant,  is  guilty  of  a 
proud  rashness.  There  is  a  difference  between  a 
dumb  dog  and  a  barking  cur. 

Many  have  too  cowardly  spirits :  a  John  Baptist 
were  now  a  great  miracle.  To  do  well,  and  hear  ill, 
is  the  fate  of  greatness ;  but  to  do  ill,  and  hear  well, 
is  the  fault  of  greatness.  Envj-  follows  upon  justice; 
therefore  often  doing  well  is  made  to  hear  ill.  But 
flattery  waits  upon  unrighteousness  ;  therefore  doing 
ill  is  made  to  hear  well.  Tell  my  people  their  sins : 
there  is  no  greater  contradiction  to  that  charge,  than 
to  conceal  men  from  themselves,  or  in  a  false  glass  to 
show  them  their  own  faces.  He  that  forbears  to  tell 
the  people  their  sins,  doth  not  forbear  to  sell  their 
souls.  I  could  say  something  to  them  that  control 
the  mild  freedom  of  ministers:  "  Prophesy  not  again 
any  more  at  Bethel,"  Amos  vii.  13.  And  indeed 
greatness  carries  too  strict  a  hand  over  some,  that 
they  are  fain  to  run  at  their  stirrups,  and  come  in  at 
the  least  rebuke.  They  are  muzzled  for  barking, 
and  dare  not  quest  ;  but,  like  silent  setters,  hear,  and 
see,  and  keep  counsel.  This  is  miserable,  when  the 
jireacher  nnist  stoop  at  the  pulpit  door,  to  take  mea- 
stire  of  the  people's  feet. 

2.  By  heresy  ;  broaching  schisms,  and  factions, 
and  erroneous  opinions  ;  as  it  were  feeding  the  peo- 
ple with  bones,  or  rather  with  poisons,  instead  of 
wholesome  meat.  The  apostle  speaks  of  such,  not 
with  malice  and  contempt,  but  with  sorrow  and 
tears :  I  tell  you  of  them  weeping,  Phil.  iii.  18. 
They  so  fill  their  hearers'  heads  with  crotchets  and 
scruples,  that  they  nin  about  like  frantics,  and  cry 
down  all  plain-song  with  their  divisions.  He  that 
dissolves  your  union,  and  breaks  your  peace,  doth 
what  he  can  to  sell  your  souls. 


ViR.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


251 


3.  By  silence.  The  advocate  that  ought  to  plead, 
betrays  the  cause  by  his  voluntary  silence.  The 
watchman  that  doth  not  ring  the  alarm  bell  at 
the  approach  of  danger,  betrays  the  city  to  the 
enemy.  If  the  minister  hold  his  peace  when  he  sees 
Satan  in  the  market  bargaining  for  souls,  he  doth  as 
it  were  make  merchandise  of  tnem,  and  take  money 
for  them.  I  grant  that  as  Demosthenes  had  a  great 
fee  for  his  silence  in  a  cause,  so  many  have  gotten 

Frcfermcnts  by  rarity,  or  rather  nullity,  of  sermons, 
envy  not  their  purchase,  nor  desire  a  partnership  in 
their'merchandisc.  The  Lord  keep  me  from  selling 
that  by  holding  my  peace,  which  he  bought  by  dying 
on  the  cross,  I  will  sell  any  riches  to  buy  a  soul ;  I 
will  never  sell  a  soul  to  buy  riches. 

They  sell  you.  Perhaps  they  bought  you  first, 
may  they  not  then  sell  you?  If  they  bought  you 
dear,  would  you  have  them  sell  you  cheap?  One 
might  buy  a  benefice  haply  of  some  unsanctified 
patron  (for  no  hallowed  man  will  sell  hallowed 
things);  and  will  that  merchant  live  by  the  loss? 
But  to  buy  is  simony,  to  sell  is  sacrilege.  Cliristians 
arc  the  Lord's  proprieties,  sanctified  and  set  apart 
from  the  world  for  himself.  He  that  sells  them,  is 
guilty  in  some  proportion  of  Judas's  merchandise, 
when  he  sold  Christ  himself.  He  went  to  the  chief 
priests,  and  said,  What  will  you  give  me  ?  &c.  Matt. 
xxvi.  14,  15.  First,  against  the  custom  of  the 
market,  he  did  not  tarry  in  his  shop  or  stall,  till 
customers  came  to  cheapen  and  buy  ;  but  he  went  to 
them,  like  a  pedler  that  had  no  standing :  he  sought 
chapmen,  exposing  his  wares;  quite  contrary  to  the 
reason  of  modesty,  which  observes  that  proffered 
ware  stinks.  Thus  do  these  merchants  keep  no 
markets  nor  warehouses  in  public,  but  ran  up  and 
down  to  get  trading  for  souls.  They  seek  buyers, 
as  their  master,  that  seeks  whom  he  may  devour, 
1  Pet.  V.  8.  Many  a  cursed  patron  and  pattern  of 
atheism  holds  a  benefice  vacant  in  his  hands,  till  he 
hath  sounded  many  chapmen  with  a  Who  gives  more  ? 
And  then,  if  Balaam's  ass  can  but  give  him  silver 
enough,  he  will  sell  him  all  the  souls  of  the  parish. 
Yea,  they  are  worse  than  Judas :  he  came  to  the 
priests  with  a  How  much  will  you  give?  he  set  no 
price  on  his  commodity,  but  left  it  to  the  buyer : 
not,  Thus  much  you  shall  give  for  him,  or  not  have 
him;  but,  Give  what  you  think  good,  make  your 
own  match.  But  these  patrons  set  a  precise  rate  on 
their  livings  :  Thus  much  you  shall  give  :  it  is  worth 
a  hundred  pounds  a  year,  and  I  will  have  three 
years'  purchase  for  it ;  and  yet  say  that  I  use  you 
kindly ;  for  such  and  such  have  taken  six,  seven, 
nine  years'  purchase  for  their  mere  donations.  Yea, 
they  are  craftier  merchants  than  Judas;  for  it  is 
probable  that  he  had  neither  ready  money  nor  good 
assurance,  but  these  will  be  sure  of  their  monies 
beforehand,  or  else  a  good  pawn.  And  let  the  best 
preacher  in  the  land  come  at  such  a  season,  if  he 
bring  nothing,  he  may  depart. 

Thus  are  the  poor  souls  that  Christ  died  for  sold 
into  the  hands  of  ignorance  or  impiety ;  for  neither 
learned  nor  honest  men  will  be  the  buyers  of  sacred 
things.  But  when  Judas  is  the  patron,  Simon  Ma- 
gus must  be  the  priest.  Yea,  Judas  is  overdone  by 
these  merchants ;  he  sold  Christ  but  once,  anil 
thought  that  once  too  much ;  these  sell  him  often, 
over  and  over  again :  as  one  of  them  thanked  God, 
that  he  had  turned  over  three  incumbents  in  one 
benefice  for  his  time ;  but  he  was  a  popish  one,  as  it 
is  said.  Now  the  chapman  that  buys  this,  pur- 
poseth  to  sell  it  again  and  to  make  a  commodity  of 
the  sheep's  wool,  whatsoever  become  of  themselves. 
Like  the  wolf,  who  sucks  the  ewe  while  he  is  a  little 
one,  and  devours  her  when  he  is  grown  a  great  one. 


But  let  this  be  spoken  to  the  horror  of  their  con- 
sciences, that  make  merchandise  of  the  church's  en- 
dowments. Such  a  patron  shall  find  it  hard  enough 
to  answer  for  his  own  soul ;  but  to  have  the  blood  of 
so  many  souls  required  at  his  hands,  it  is  a  question 
when  he  comes  to  hell,  whether  Judas  himself  will 
change  torments  with  him.  It  is  horrible,  and  would 
make  any  heart  shudder  and  tremble,  to  think  that 
poor  people  bought  and  sold  on  earth,  should  lie 
blended  in  torments  with  their  patrons  and  priests; 
cursing  the  one  for  selling,  the  other  for  buying, 
their  souls. 

They  sell  you.  You  are  private  persons  perhaps, 
and  this  text  concerns  not  you.  Yes,  strongly  in 
another  sense.  Beloved,  we  sell  not  you,  but  you 
sell  us ;  the  pastor  doth  not  make  merchandise  of 
the  flock,  but  the  flock  of  the  pastor.  Our  hand  is 
against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hand  is  against 
us;  our  hand  is  against  your  sins,  and  your  hand  is 
again.st  our  livings.  There  is  no  fraud  or  cozenage 
that  less  troubletli  your  consciences,  than  that  where- 
by you  rob  the  church  :  yea,  this  sacrilege  is  held  an 
action  of  justice.  While  you  had  leaden  priests,  you 
paid  golden  tithes ;  and  were  then  persuaded,  that 
blasphemy  and  drunkenness  were  tolerable  sins  in 
respect  of  sacrilege.  But  now  those  that  in  your 
own  consciences  teach  you  the  true  way  to  blessed- 
ness, you  will  be  sure  to  make  exemplary  subjects  of 
poverty  and  miserableness.  You  were  then  glad  to 
lick  up  the  dust  that  fell  from  their  feet  (no  whit 
beautiful)  :  we  are  glad  to  pick  up  the  cnunbs  that 
fall  from  your  superfluous  tables.  It  is  the  pride  of 
this  sacrilegious  city,  that  the  minister  be  always  the 
poorest  man  in  the  parish. 

I  do  not  think  it  a  curse  upon  us,  (as  it  was  upon 
Eli's  house,  to  beg  a  priest's  office  for  necessity'  sake, 
that  they  might  eat  a  piece  of  bread,  I  Sam.  ii.  36,) 
for  we  have  learned  to  want ;  and  it  is  a  small  matter 
to  fast  a  day,  that  we  may  feast  the  whole  year,  in 
heaven  for  ever.  But  it  is  a  curse  upon  yourselves, 
of  your  owTi  begetting,  that  you  may  perish  in  your 
incorrigible  sins ;  while  the  poor  minister  must  not 
dare  to  reprove  his  rich  benefactor :  if  he  do,  he 
is  sure  the  next  quarter  to  lose  his  benevolence, 
Luther's  obser\-ation  is  too  true ;  so  soon  as  the 
gospel  revived,  money  grew  dead.  Ministers  shall 
not  be  both  wealthy  and  faithful :  rich  and  not  true, 
or  true  and  not  rich ;  both  together  were  a  miracle. 

It  is  Satan's  policy,  that  they  who  maintain  the 
truth,  should  not  have  to  maintain  themselves.  I 
know  that  some  divines,  transported  with  fanciful 
views,  have  refused  the  positive  and  unquestionable 
rights  of  the  church,  to  feed  upon  arbitrary  contribu- 
tions; wherein  they  are  more  foolish  than  those 
friars  that  have  made  themselves  volimtary  beggars. 
I  know  that  they  would  retract  it  now,  and  shut  the 
door  when  the  steed  is  stolen ;  repenting  too  late  that 
they  have  betrayed  the  Lord's  inheritance  into  the 
hands  of  impious  tyrants,  who  laugh  at  the  poor 
minister,  when  he  comes  to  beg  a  straw  of  his  own 
sheaf.  This  fanatical  opinion  is  not  quite  dead ;  we 
have  had  such  transportive  furies  amongst  us,  who 
would  persuade  all  preachers  to  live  upon  bene- 
volences, in  confidence  of  their  own  merits  and  popu- 
lar approbation ;  for  so  they  hope  the  biggest  share 
would  fall  to  themselves.  But  if  we  appeal,  as 
Bishop  Grostead  did  from  Pope  Adrian  private,  to 
Pope  Adrian  public;  or,  as  another,  from  his  passion 
as  Clement,  to  his  holiness  as  Peter ;  so  from  them 
then  out  of" their  wits,  to  them  now  come  again  to 
themselves ;  we  shall  find  it  concluded,  that  it  is 
better  for  Christ  to  keep  his  inheritance  in  his 
own  hands,  than  to  stand  at  their  courtesies,  who 
had  rather  there  were  no  gospel  nor  preacher  in 


252 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1 1. 


the  world,  than  that  their  heir  should  want  a  par- 
sonage. 

That  the  altar  should  have  maintenance  for  her 
servants,  none  but  those  who  would  give  sin  a  passport 
to  offend,  can  deny.  "  Let  him  that  is  taught  in  the 
word,  communicate  unto  him  that  teachcth  in  all 
his  goods,"  Gal.  vi.  G.  To  go  close  home  to  tliat 
place,  or  to  bring  that  place  close  home  to  your  con- 
sciences, would  appear  narsh  to  these  times.  If  any 
man  does  not  communicate,  "  God  is  not  mocked  :  " 
you  see  how  it  falls,  and  I  fear  it  falls  heavy  on  manv 
amongst  us.  Make  him,  not  them  :  you  hear  many, 
one  is  your  pastor;  make  him  partaker.  Some  will 
give  little  to  their  own  minister,  hut  somewhat  to 
another  of  their  own  humour.  He  can  tickle  their 
heads  with  crotchets,  bring  info  suspicion  the  inte- 
grity of  church  government,  discredit  their  poor  pas- 
tor. I  will  tell  you  one  mark  of  a  fox  ;  though  a  puri- 
tan, yet  a  puritan  fox:  such  a  one  as  disgraceth  your 
own  minister,  that  he  might  get  you  to  heed  him,"  and 
feed  him.  If  he  were  a  Paul,  he  would  never  suffer 
thee  to  do  Peter  any  wrong.  If  he  were  a  good 
teacher,  he  would  never  teach  thee  to  injure  thy  own 
minister.  "  Let  him  communicate."  Pastors  have 
tithes,  that  they  may  have  a  fellow  feeling  of  the 
people's  loss,  and  fellow  comfort  in  their  increase. 
That  the  priest  as  well  as  the  merchant  might  pray 
to  God  in  a  storm,  and  praise  him  in  a  calm  ;  both 
alike  depending  on  God's  providence.  I  know  they 
should  do  so  howsoever,  but  we  are  men,  not  angels'; 
the  wisdom  of  God  thought  it  fit  by  a  portion  to  en- 
courage us. 

I  know  that  nothing  is  more  enviously  grudged 
than  the  livings  of  our  clergy.  The  gentry  hath 
gotten  near  uj)on  three  parts  of  the  spiritual  mainte- 
nance, and  left  the  church  but  one  quarter ;  and  yet 
they  could  eat  her  with  salt  for  having  so  much. 
The  Levites  under  the  law,  besides  their  tithes,  offer- 
ings, first-fruits,  sacrifices,  vows,  had  forty-eight 
walled  cities,  with  large  suburbs  for  their  cattle, 
large  glebes  to  plant  and  sow  in  ;  whenas  their  whole 
land  was  not  so  big  as  England.  Now  men  think  it 
arbitrary',  at  their  choice  whether  they  will  give  the 
minister  any  thing  or  not.  You  shall  have  a  civil 
libertine  give  a  commissary  more  for  a  licence  to  eat 
flesh  in  Lent,  than  to  his  pastor  for  feeding  his  soul 
all  the  year.  But  thou  sayest,  I  give  him  as  much  as 
tile  law  allows  :  but  the  law  must  needs  leave  some- 
thing to  the  liberty  of  thy  conscience,  to  be  answer- 
ed in  a  higher  court.  A\'ilt  thou  perform  no  more 
duties  to  God  or  man,  than  human  law  can  extort 
from  thee  ?  If  we  should  preach  to  you  no  more 
sabbath  days  in  a  year  than  the  law  doth  exact  at 
your  hands,  you  would  think  we  dealt  injuriously 
with  you.  Who  feedeth  a  flock,  and  receives  none 
of  the  milk?  1  Cor.  ix.  7-  You  partake  preachers' 
goods,  and  shall  not  they  partake  your  goods  ?  You 
must  not  only  give  an  ear,  but  an  earring  ;  not  only 
put  on  their  wedding-garment,  bvit  also  give  them 
garments  to  put  on.  You  have  read  how  villanously 
the  Ammonites  entreated  David's  messengers,  cutting 
off  their  garments,  &c.  2  Sam.  x.  4.  We  are  messen- 
gers of  the  Son  of  DaWd  ;  but,  O  Son  of  David,  send 
lis  not  to  such  Ammonites,  as  will  do  us  no  more 
good  than  stripping  us  of  all  we  have.  Nehemiah 
complained,  that  in  his  time  the  Levites,  for  want  of 
maintenance,  were  fain  to  leave  the  temple  and  follow 
the  plough.  Luther  says,  this  was  the  cause  wliy 
the  clergy  invented  such  pointsof  superstition  as  were 
advantageous  to  them  ;  prayer  for  the  dead,  indul- 
gences, ^-c.  This  was  not  for  the  people's  souls,  but 
for  the  priests'  bodies;  not  for  piety,  but  for  the 
stomach.  As  Ahasucnis  said  of  Haman,  Will  he  force 
the  queen  before  my  face  ?  Esth.  vii.  8 ;  so  may  Christ 


say  of  these  sacrilegers.  Will  they  force  my  church 
before  my  face  ?  If  the  buyers  and  sellers  in  the 
temple  deserved  whipping,  certainly  the  buyers 
and  sellers  of  the  temple  deserve  hanging.  Who 
knows  whether  they  therefore  escape  correction  here, 
that  they  may  liave  the  greater  damnation  hereafter ! 

Men  woulci  have  fire  kept  in  the  sanctuarj',  but  al- 
low no  fuel ;  they  would  have  the  lamp  burn  without 
oil.  To  take  away  the  provant  from  the  army,  is  to 
betray  it  to  the  enemy.  In  darkness  they  did  strain 
it,  now  they  restrain  it.  The  world  thinks  we  can 
live  like  John  Baptist,  by  miracle  ;  who  was  in  his 
diet,  habit,  carriage,  indeed  a  miracle.  Offer  to 
God,  saith  the  psalmist,  Psal.  iv.  5  :  iiistead  of  this 
offerre,  the  common  course  is  auferre.  He  that  will 
be  a  voluntary  minister,  must  be  content  to  be  a  ne- 
cessary beggar.  So  llie  mendicant  friar  told  the  woman 
of  her  three  sons'  fortunes ;  that  one  should  be 
a  thief,  another  a  homicide,  the  third  a  beggar. 
Which  for  a  second  alms  he  would  teach  her  how  to 
prevent,  or  at  least  so  to  qualify  their  fates,  that  they 
might  retain  their  trades  without  danger.  He  that 
shall  be  a  thief,  make  him  a  lawyer;  so  he  may  steal 
by  law.  He  that  shall  be  a  homicide,  make  him  a 
physician  ;  so  he  may  be  rewarded  for  killing.  He 
that  shall  be  a  beggar,  make  him  a  priest,  a  friar ; 
so  he  may  beg  by  authority.  God  hath  made  their 
profession  honourable,  the  world  hath  made  their  con- 
dition contemptible.  Yet  they  bring  saving  truth  in 
their  mouths,  which  the  lawyers  cannot  say.  A  di- 
vine can  say,  This  is  true  divinity  :  a  physician  can 
say,  This  is  proper  physic  :  what  lawyer  can  say, 
This  is  true  law,  and  I  will  warrant  it  ?  Yet  we  re- 
ward the  latter,  and  disgrace  the  former.  If  our  state 
be  questioned,  we  go  to  the  lawyer  for  counsel,  thank 
and  fee  liim.  Being  sick  we  send  for  the  physician, 
credit,  thank,  and  pay  him.  We  send  for  the  priest, 
but  neither  reward,  nor  so  much  as  thank  him,  for 
we  hold  it  liis  duty.  How  rarely  hath  the  minister 
the  tenth  of  the  others'  fee  !  Yet  we  falsely  say,  that 
we  prefer  our  souls  before  our  estates  or  our  bodies. 

Tnus  you  sell  us ;  and  what  is  the  event  ?  with 
the  price  which  sacrilege  takes  for  the  churches  of 
Christ,  is  purchased  a  field  of  blood.  A  field  of  blood 
indeed,  to  bury  their  own  souls  that  thus  merchandise, 
and  many  thousand  innocents  that  are  the  chaffer  of 
their  cursed  bargains.  The  end  of  all  these  merchants 
always  hath  been,  and  always  shall  be,  fearful.  For 
Magus,  the  father  of  them,  he  presuming  in  a  public 
theatre  at  Rome  to  fly  up  into  heaven,  caught  such 
a  fall  that  he  brake  his  legs,  say  some  ;  that  he  who 
attempted  to  tly,  was  not  able  to  walk.  Nay,  this 
bold  adventure  broke  his  neck,  say  others.  Felix, 
Satan's  choice  friend,  died  vomiting  of  blood.  In  a 
word,  none  that  ever  robbed  churches,  and  merchan- 
dise holy  things  to  fill  their  own  purses  or  fulfil  their 
own  humours,  but  they  were  overtaken  with  some 
horrible  judgment.  As  the  eagle  that  took  a  piece 
of  flesh  from  the  altar,  but  a  hot  coal  withal  that  set 
her  nest  on  fire.  And  if  the  rest  do  so  perisli,  no 
good  Christian  will  lament.  If  they  be  made  like 
Oreb  and  Zeeb,  that  say,  Come,  let  us  take  to  ourselves 
the  houses  of  God  in  possession,  we  shall  not  mourn  : 
yea  rather,  our  mouth  shall  be  filled  with  laughter, 
and  our  tongue  with  joy,  Psal.  cxxvi.  2.  God  of  his 
infmite  mercy  forgive  England's  ingratitude  in  this 
kind  ;  and  grant  that  the  burning  lamps  in  our  tem- 
ples may  be  supplied  with  sufficient  oil,  that  the  light 
of  Israel  go  not  out. 

3.  "  Through  covetousness."  This  is  the  ground 
or  motive  of  tneir  traffic.  It  is  true  of  every  schism, 
what  was  said  of  Lucilla's  faction,  with  a  little  in- 
version :  Anger  bred  it,  pride  fostered  it,  and  covet- 
ousness confirmed  it.  Here,  indeed,  pride  ciiallengeth 


\ 


Vbr.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


253 


the  uppermost  seat ;  it  is  a  high  and  audacious  con- 
ceit, which  scorns  to  go  in  the  common  path  that 
begets  it.  Anger  and  impatience  of  contradiction 
nurseth  it  ;  and  what  it  cannot  maintain  by  reason,  a 
feminine  tcstiness  shall  outwrangle.  Covetousness 
binds  it  up  with  the  indissoluble  knots  ;  while  the 
sweetness  of  private  gain  (not  unlike  our  monopolists) 
neglects  all  public  good.  But  as  it  is  the  humility 
of  the  best  judgments,  to  apply  their  studies  to  the 
confirmation  of  received  tniths ;  and  the  meekness 
of  blest  understandings,  to  disaffect  singularities  ; 
and  the  charity  of  Christian  teachers,  rather  to  be 
losers  of  their  own  than  extorters  of  others,  or  to 
press  and  oppress  the  unripe  grapes  unwilling  to 
yield  their  juice  :  so  false-hearted  schismatics,  to  do 
themselves  profit,  undo  they  care  not  whom.  Let 
their  bodies  famish,  and  their  souls  perish,  so  their 
own  state  may  flourish :  building  up  tiicir  Jericho  in 
the  blood  of  all  their  spiritual  cliildrcn. 

This  sin  of  covetousness  is  iniquity  in  all  men, 
blasphemy  in  a  clergyman.  As  our  doctrines  are, 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord ;"  so  our  lives  should  be,  if 
not  like  God,  (for  who  can  match  the  sanctity  residing 
in  that  pure  essence  ?)  yet  like  men  of  God.  The 
titles  we  bear,  the  office  we  sustain,  the  person  we 
present,  the  nearness  of  our  calling  to  that  absolute 
integrity,  are  remembrancers  unto  us  that  we  be  not 
covetous.  We  are  men  of  God,  and  "  tliou,  O  man 
of  God,  flee  these  things,"  1  Tim.  vi.  1 1  :  the  apostle 
insists  there  upon  covetousness.  God  is  a  God  of 
knowledge,  and  of  inconceivable  holiness  ;  therefore 
the  Urim  and  Thummim,  the  light  of  knowledge 
and  conscience,  must  be  upon  lYie  breasts  of  his 
Aarons.  The  minister  is  to  the  people  as  the  body 
is  to  the  shadow;  if  the  body  stoop  to  the  earth,  the 
shadow  will  not  be  upright  toward  heaven.  Our 
Master  is  in  heaven,  not  on  earth ;  our  doctrine  is 
from  heaven,  not  from  earth;  our  directing  Spirit  is 
of  heaven,  not  of  earth  :  and  shall  our  conversation 
cross  all  these,  and  be  of  earth,  not  in  heaven  ? 

There  is  no  fault  in  a  minister  like  covetousness, 
because  there  is  no  sin  reigning  in  the  world  like  world- 
liness.  We  may  spend  our  spirits,  and  preach  our 
hearts  out,  to  dissuade  men's  affections  from  this 
W'Orld ;  if  we  embrace  it  ourselves,  they  will  never 
believe  us.  When  a  preacher,  as  if  he  had  lost  all 
his  former  time  spent  in  learning,  and  were  now  to 
recover  it  by  a  preposterous  imitation  of  the  hungri- 
est muck-eaters,  gives  over  himself  to  that  as  most 
precious,  which  he  bids  other  men  give  over  as  most 
superfluous ;  men  now  hearing  his  sermons  will  think 
his  doctrine  possible  to  be  taught ;  but  seeing  his 
life,  they  will  think  it  impossible  to  be  kept.  What 
scholar  is  not  ready  to  imitate  his  master's  exercise  ? 
There  is  nothing  further  from  heaven,  nothing  more 
unlike  our  Maker,  than  worldliness.  It  is  obscr\-able, 
that  those  creatures  which  are  nearest  the  earth  are 
most  busy  in  hoarding,  those  more  remote  are  less 
careful.  What  an  abundant  provision  makes  the  ant, 
which  is  a  creature  housed  in  the  earth  !  The  birds 
of  the  air,  that  fly  next  heaven,  neither  sow  nor  reap, 
nor  carry  into  the  barn.  Matt.  vi.  26.  How  unnatural 
is  it,  that  they  who  by  their  vocation  arc  next  hea- 
ven, should  yet  by  their  conversation  be  furthest  off. 
How  confidently  doth  the  apostle  draw  on  their  af- 
fections, upon  his  known  unguiltiness  of  this  sin ! 
"  Receive  us ;  we  have  wronged  no  man,  we  have  de- 
frauded no  man,"  &c.  2  Cor.  vii.  2.  Receive  us  in 
understanding,  obedience,  charity.  Why  ?  Thougli 
we  rebuke  sin,  yet  we  have  wronged  no  man  in  liis 
reputation ;  though  we  preach  mysteries,  have  cor- 
rupted no  man  in  his  conscience;  though  we  receive 
our  own  dues,  we  have  defrauded  no  man  in  his  state 
and  condition.     False  teachers  are  otherwise  minded, 


subverting  whole  houses  for  filthy  lucre's  sake.  Tit. 
i.  H.  As  physicians  give  to  sick  men  potions,  that 
themselves  may  live;  so  all  their  conceptions  are 
others'  consumptions.  Their  mouths  shall  be  stop- 
ped, saith  the  apostle:  if  not  with  the  hand  of  hu- 
man authority,  yet  with  the  fire  of  hell.  They  are 
such  as  the  psalmist  describes,  Psal.  Ixxiii.  9,  10. 
Their  tongues  walk  against  heaven,  therefore  tlie 
people  turn  in  unto  them,  and  thereout  suck  they  no 
small  advantage.  But  he  that  warreth  entangleth 
not  himself  with  the  affairs  of  this  life,  2  Tim.  ii.  4. 
A  priest  in  a  town  is  like  a  fish  out  of  water.  What 
should  a  priest  do  in  the  world's  market,  or  a  mer- 
chant in  the  Lord's  pulpit  ? 

This  vice  of  covetousness  is  an  epidemical  disease, 
the  Grand  Cairo  of  mischief,  the  metropolis  of  wicked- 
ness, a  universal  plague  that  halh  infected  all  con- 
ditions of  people.  Therefore  albeit  the  point  here 
do  centrally  concern  the  church,  and  such  as  have 
negociation  in  ecclesiastical  business  ;  yet  circum- 
stantially it  fctcheth  in  all.  One  moved  Christ  to 
persuade  his  brother  to  a  division  of  the  inheritance 
with  him ;  and  "  He  said  unto  them,"  Luke  xii.  15. 
After  he  had  given  him  his  errand,  he  directed  his 
speech  to  the  whole  auditory,  which  is  said  to  be  an 
innumerable  multitude  of  people,  treading  one  upon 
another.  So,  Luke  xiii.  23,  "  One  said  unto  him.  He 
said  unto  them  ;"  applying  and  amplify'ing  his  doc- 
trine to  them  all.  "  What  I  say  unto  you  1  say  unto 
all,"  Mark  xiii.  37.  Some  sins  are  peculiar  to  some 
vocations,  as  to  the  magistracy  or  ministry  alone; 
other  to  some  conditions,  as  to  the  rich  or  poor  alone ; 
but  this  pestilence  is  incident  to  all  :  "  From  the 
least  to  the  greatest,  every  one  is  given  to  covetous- 
ness," Jer.  vi.  1.3.  But  because  most  men  are  like 
bashful  guests,  that  will  fast  for  want  of  a  carver,  that 
office  falls  to  me  here ;  to  cut  every  one  a  morsel  of 
this  dish ;  which  haply  may  be  against  his  stomach,  but 
let  him  well  digest  it,  and  his  soul  will  bless  me  for  it. 

Now  accordmg  to  the  rule  of  discreet  and  wi-ll- 
disposed  charity,  let  me  begin  at  home,  which  is  the 
heart  of  my  text.  In  the  reproving  of  this  sin  among 
others,  God  hath  used  to  begin  at  his  own  sanctuary. 
Let  not  us,  that  bid  men  look  upward,  cast  our  own 
eyes  downward.  They  will  think  that  we  abuse 
them,  when  we  call  them  from  the  world,  as  Elislia 
did  the  Syrian  army  ;  "  This  is  not  the  way,  neither 
is  this  the  city,"  2  Kings  vi.  19  :  like  foxes,  dissuad- 
ing other  beasts  from  that  booty  w  hich  we  mean  to 
make  our  own.  God  and  mammon  are  two  contrary- 
cures,  we  cannot  serve  them  both.  Some  have  dis- 
pensations for  cures  (hstant  many  miles ;  but  no 
Court  of  Faculties  can  dispense  with  this,  for  they 
are  so  remote  one  from  the  other,  that  heaven  and 
hell  scarce  exceed  them.  "  Thou,  O  man  of  God 
flee  this."  We  find  "  men  of  the  world,"  Psal.  xvii. 
14,  and  "  nations  of  the  world,"  Luke  xii.  .30;  they 
"  seek  after  these  things;"  but  this  "  man  of  God" 
o|n)oseth  those.  Paul  says  not,  as  at  other  times, 
"0  Timothy;"  but,  "O  man  of  God:"  it  becomes 
not  the  men  of  God  to  be  men  of  the  world. 

Let  me  also  reflect  this  point  upon  the  impro- 
priators of  ecclesiastical  rights,  before  I  leave  the 
church.  Whether  they  be  popish,  that  steal  away 
our  portions  to  give  them  to  the  Romish  eraissariis ; 
who  suck  their  bloods  as  they  suck  our  bloods,  and 
laugh  at  them  as  they  laugh  at  us.  They  fat  the 
rich  epicures  of  Rome,  and  grudge  Lazarus  their  very 
crumbs.  Their  conscience  serves  them,  that  God's 
ministers  should  want  maintenance  rather  than  their 
horse-heels  shall  want  litter.  Or  whether  they  be 
puritans,  or  any  thing,  or  rather  nothing,  (to  speak 
most  favourably  of  them,)  men  without  God.  How- 
impossible  is  it  that.they  should  not  perish  with  that 


254 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


covctousncss  whicli  hath  been  the  perishing  of  many 
souls  !  They  will  have  the  tenth  of  their  neighbours' 
estates,  let  their  salvation  go  whither  it  will.  They 
will  sooner  lose  their  lives  than  their  livings  ;  as  an 
impropriator  once  rebelliously  and  traitorously  spoke, 
when  mention  was  made  of  the  king's  willingness  in 
their  restitution. 

That  which  the  bad  servant  spake  to  his  good 
master  wickedly.  Thou  reapest  where  thou  didst  not 
sow,  Matt.  XXV.  24,  may  be  charged  upon  them 
justly;  do  they  not  reap  where  they  never  sow  ?  It 
is  we  that  sow  spiiitual  things,  and  they  that  reap 
our  temporal  things.  They  thrust  their  sickle  into 
our  liar\-est ;  making  that  profane  which  God  hath 
sanctified  to  his  ministers ;  putting  an  Egyptian  trick 
upon  the  world,  to  take  away  our  straw  of  means, 
and  exact  our  number  of  brick  in  preaching  and 
hospitality.  We  are  put  to  labour  in  our  ministry', 
to  tne  care  of  getting  bread  for  our  family ;  while 
they  look  on  us  with  scorn,  laugh  at  us  with  con- 
tempt, and  domineer  over  us  with  pride.  Men  dis- 
solutely proud,  inordinately  avaricious,  unservieeably 
idle,  are  entered  on  the  means  of  honest  labourers. 
What  if  the  chui-chmen  in  those  former  times  were 
corrupt  in  opinion,  must  their  maintenance  be  given 
to  those  that  are  ten  thousand  times  more  corrupt 
in  conversation  ?  This  were  as  Cominccus  writes  of 
the  French  king ;  who  having  a  gallant  in  his  army 
that  cowardly  ran  away,  he  took  all  his  offices  from 
him,  and  gave  them  to  one  that  ran  ten  miles  farther 
than  he.  Meantime,  that  curse  which  eveiy  eye  sees 
upon  the  predecessors  before  them,  will  continue  up- 
on themselves  and  their  posterity  after  them,  so  long 
as  the  spoilers  of  Jesus  Christ  be  found  with  them. 

For  the  common  defrauders  of  our  poor  remaining 
dues,  as  they  swann  like  locusts  over  all  the  land,  so 
their  principal  borough  is  this  principal  city.  For 
men  that  most  plainly  and  impudently  defraud  their 
pastors,  of  all  places  in  England  commend  me  to 
London.  Honest,  honest  Pharisees,  you  are  too  good 
to  live  here,  for  you  pay  just  tithes !  You  would  be 
such  an  example  of  equity,  that  some  would  quickly 
trounce  you,  and  teach  you  to  be  such  a  precedent. 
A''on  ignota  cano :  some  would,  and  dare  not,  pub- 
licly render  their  legal  dues  according  to  the  bond 
of  their  conscience,  for  fear  the  city  should  punish 
them.  They  have  found  out  busy  lawyers,  to  ques- 
tion the  tenure  of  tithes,  by  what  right  they  are  due  : 
and  some  are  cunninger  in  this  point  than  in  the 
fundamental  point  of  salvation.  But  who  examines 
by  what  right  impropriators  hold  the  church's  main- 
tenance ?  Let  that  case  be  disputed  in  the  court  of 
conscience  ;  and  if  God  determine  on  their  side,  we 
have  done,  much  good  do  it  them.  Let  God  say 
what  he  will,  thou  shalt  pay  me  the  tenth  :  thev 
have  a  trick  to  withhold  it ;"  but  the  devil  hath  k 
trick  beyond  them.  And  howsoever  they  have  wit 
to  fool  their  innocent  mother,  they  shall  never  be- 
guile their  Almighty  Father,  who  hath  eyes  like  a 
flame  of  fire.  Rev.  ii.  18.  The  book  whereby  man's 
law  judgeth  the  church,  and  the  book  whereby  God's 
law  judgeth  them,  have  infinite  difference.  All  this 
obstinate  opposing  the  truth,  is  for  covctousncss  and 
ambition.  Paul  proves  Melchiscdec  the  better  man, 
because  Abraham  paid  him  tithes,  Heb.  vii.  4. 
Therefore  by  St.  Paul's  argument,  lawyers  are  far 
better  men  than  ministers;  because  men  are  fain  to 
pay  them  the  tithes  due  to  the  ministers.  Simon 
Magus  is  now  justified  ;  sacrilege  hath  found  a  Chris- 
tian patronage.  And,  men  of  God,  look  to  your- 
selves, the  Ammonites  had  took  awav  half  "vour 
apparel  before,  now  thev  have  a  warrant  to  turri'you 
out  naked.  Mend  them,  O  Lord,  or  end  them  :'  let 
them  be  converted  or  "  confounded  that  hate  Zion. 


Let  them  be  as  the  grass  upon  the  house-tops,  which 
withereth  afore  it  groweth  up  :  wherewith  the  mower 
filleth  not  his  hand;  nor  he  that  bindeth  sheaves 
his  bosom.  Neither  do  they  which  go  by  say.  The 
blessing  of  the  Lord  be  upon  you,"  Psal.  cxxix.  5 — 8. 

For  the  patrons  of  church  donations,  too  many  of 
them  have  so  locked  up  our  livings  in  this  hutcli  of 
covetousness,  that  they  cannot  be  unscrewed  without 
a  gulden  key.  They  look  to  the  gifts  of  the  hand, 
not  to  the  gifts  of  the  heart.  One  would  think  that 
Judas's  halter  should  make  them  afraid  of  Judas's 
question,  "What  will  ye  give  me?"  What  will 
you  give  me  ?  Satan  gave  him  a  rope.  Take  heed, 
lest  while  you  ask  the  same  question,  God  do  not 
suffer  you  to  receive  the  same  answer.  That  sin 
made  Judas  a  thief,  and  it  makes  you  no  better :  and 
what  can  a  thief  look  for  but  a  halter?  We  find 
other  merchants  selling  jiearls,  and  purple,  and 
scarlet,  and  silks:  but  these  sell  also  the  souls  of 
men.  Cursed  merchants !  that  traffic  in  the  blood  of 
souls.  Rev.  xviii.  12,  13.  These  bring  into  God's 
sanctuary,  instead  of  Levites  to  divide  the  word, 
Gibeonites  not  worthy  to  divide  wood.  But  seeing 
they  are  content  to  venture  themselves  upon  God's 
vengeance,  I  leave  them  to  their  Judge. 

This  sin  is  not  here  confined :  covetousness  in 
divers  others,  though  it  do  not  make  merchandise  of 
men's  souls,  yet  of  their  estates.  Bribery  in  officers, 
which  is  a  burning  sin,  Job  x\'.  34.  It  is  one  of 
those  three  that  are  called  mighty  sins,  .\mos  v.  12. 
They  sell  a  man  and  his  heritage ;  they  are  very 
thieves,  Isa.  i.  23.  Why  thieves  ?  Because  thev 
love  gifts,  and  take  bribes  for  the  widow  and  father- 
less. They  are  thieves,  not  for  taking  purses  in  the 
high-way,  but  bribes  in  their  chambers.  Their  lan- 
guage is.  Give,  Hos.  iv.  18 ;  and  the  thieves'  is  but, 
Deliver.  Now-  what  is  the  difference  betwixt  Give 
and  Deliver ;  yet  often  Give  walks  in  chains  of  gold, 
while  Deliver  lies  in  chains  of  iron.  Evil  men  in  the 
places  of  judicature  make  merchandise  of  the  poor, 
while  they  spin  one  cause  throughout  three  genera- 
tions; like  surgeons  that  keep  the  wound  raw,  to 
draw  out  of  it  the  more  money ;  that  often  the  re- 
coveiy  of  a  man's  right  by  law,  is  as  dear  as  if  he 
had  bought  it  by  purchase.  Corrupt  lawj'ers  are 
also  merchants  in  this  trade  of  covetousness,  and 
selling  of  men.  Absalom's  tongue  is  in  their  heads, 
that  says  to  all  clients.  Thy  cause  is  good,  2  Sam. 
XV.  3  :  so  he  stole  away  their  hearts,  and  these  steal 
their  estates.  The  buyer  says  of  a  good  commodity 
with  less  sin.  It  is  naught  ;  than  these  speak  of  a 
naughty  cause.  It  is  good.  Let  them  meditate  the 
objection  of  Joash,  "  Will  ye  plead  for  Baal  ?"  Judg. 
vi.  31.  But  they  do  it  out  of  a  good  mind,  to  sift 
out  the  ti-uth.  Yes,  as  Judas  did,  (according  to  the 
heresy  of  the  Cainites,  as  St.  Avtgustine  relates  it,) 
that  betrayed  Christ  out  of  a  good  and  honest  mind, 
foreseeing  the  infinite  good  tliat  his  death  should 
bring  to  the  world. 

All  oppressors  are  free  of  this  company  of  mer- 
chants; they  also  sell  men.  "Thou  fool,"  Luke 
xii.  20:  God  lays  the  imputation  of  folly  upon  him 
that  hoarded  but  his  own  abundance.  Whereupon 
Augustine  infers,  If  he  be  a  fool  that  lays  up  his  own 
goods,  find  out  a  name  for  him  that  extorts  other 
men's.  What  name?  It  is  found,  Eccl.  iii.  18;  they 
are  beasts.  What  only  kine  ?  Amos  iv.  1.  No,  they 
are  not  so  kind  beasts ;  but  lions  and  wolves,  thai 
are  beasts  of  prey.  Beasts  they  are,  and  should 
be  served  like  beasts;  Nebuchadnezzar's  destiny,  lo 
be  turned  to  grass.  There  is  but  a  company  of  mer- 
chants, a  company  of  mercers,  ftc. ;  but  these  mer- 
chants are  not  in  themselves  a  company,  because 
indeed  they  be  of  every  company.   There  be  personal 


veb.  a 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


255 


sins,  and  conditional  sins,  and  local  sins,  and  national 
sins  ;  but  this  covetousncss  is  a  universal  sin. 

We  are  troubled  about  many  things,  but  neglect 
that  one  thing  most  necessary.  Other  creatures  are 
content  with  a  little ; 

Nonitamortales,  quos  urget  habendt, 
Tanlus  amor  ;  domibus  domut;  arvis  additur  arvum, 
Monlicului  nionti,  maribus  mare,  jungere  mundo 
Conantur  mundum,  i-ua  dicae  cuncla  lolentes. 
This  sin  is  like  a  talent  of  lead  lied  to  a  man's  heels, 
that  utterly  disables  him  to  climb  up  the  ladder  of 
blessedness.  Our  Saviour  hath  described  eight  stairs. 
Matt.  V.  3 — 10;  the  covetous  cannot  get  up  one  step. 
First,  "Blessed  are  the  poor  inspirit:"  the  covetous 
may  have  a  poor  spirit,  cannot  be  poor  in  spirit.  To 
be  poor  in  purse  is  his  fear,  to  be  poor  in  spirit  is 
none  of  his  desire.  Per  mare  pauperiumfugtens,  per 
nazOiper  ignex,  Through  the  sea  of  deep  policy,  the 
rocks  of  stony  bowels,  through  the  fire  of  lust,  the 
fire  of  hell,  he  seeks  riches.  Nothing  humbles  him 
to  the  Sense  of  his  sins,  but  the  loss  of  his  goods ; 
and  this  so  despairs  him,  that  he  will  be  at  the  charges 
of  lus  own  lialter.  "  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn :" 
alas,  the  trolling  in  of  riches  makes  his  heart  too 
merry  for  that  blessing.  If  Peter  will  weep  he  must 
go  out  of  the  priest's  hall.  It  must  be  some  premu- 
nire  or  confiscation,  or  such  a  loss  that  brings  him  to 
repentance.  "  Blessed  are  the  meek."  But  if  he 
lose  his  money,  he  will  trouble  his  own  heart,  his 
own  house,  the  whole  city,  and  outswear  a  ruffian. 
If  his  servant  but  break  a  glass,  it  shall  be  deduced 
out  of  his  wages.  He  had  rather  be  damned,  than 
damnified.  "Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  tliirst 
after  righteousness."  But  his  appetite  stands  not 
that  way  :  let  him  glut  himself  on  the  filthy  garbage 
of  ill-gotten  goods,  he  cares  not  for  manna.  To  lap 
in  the  foul  puddles  of  usury,  he  refiiscth  the  streams 
of  mercy  that  make  glad  the  city  of  God.  "  Blessed 
are  the  merciful :"  but  that  stands  not  witli  his  pro- 
fession. For  the  penny  which  comes  out  of  liis  purse, 
it  is  like  a  drop  of  blood  from  his  heart.  His  reward 
must  be  accordingly,  to  have  "judgment  without 
mercy,"  Jam.  ii.  13.  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart." 
What  purity  can  you  look  for  in  a  stable  ?  There  is 
no  mischief  so  tetrical,  but  if  it  be  covered  with  gold, 
they  will  swallow  it.  "  Who  shall  ascend  into  the 
hill  of  the  Lord  ?  who  shall  stand  iii  his  holy  place  ? 
He  that  hath  clean  hands,  and  a  pure  heart,"  Psal. 
xxiv.  3,  4.  Innocens  majiibus  ascertdet,  but  mundus 
corde  tlabit.  The  covetous  keeps  his  hands  too  guilty 
to  ascend,  his  heart  too  foul  to  stand  there.  "  Bless- 
ed are  the  peace-makers."  He  loves  peace  so  long  as 
it  waits  upon  profit :  if  otherwise,  he  hates  it ;  and 
instead  of  a  making  it,  will  make  it  nothing :  he  hath 
a  lawyer  for  the  purpose.  All  his  dues  to  pay,  he 
out  wrangles :  if  a  debtor  fall  into  his  hands,  the 
devil  will  as  soon  pardon  a  forfeit.  Tlie  last  stej)  is, 
"  Blessed  are  they  which  are  persecuted  for  right- 
eousness' sake.  'This  lie  will  never  endure.  If  it 
should  come  to  that  choice  that  he  must  leave  either 
Martha  or  Mary,  righteousness  or  riches,  he  loves 
God  well,  but  his  money  better.  What,  part  with  a 
certainty  for  an  uncertainty?  If  he  can  keep  both, 
well  and  good  ;  if  not,  whatever  betides,  he  will 
keep  his  money.  It  would  sound  terrible,  to  invert 
our  Saviour's  terms  upon  him :  Cursed  is  the  covetous, 
for  he  is  not  poor  in  spirit,  but  proud  in  spirit ;  there- 
fore his  is  the  kingdom  of  hell.  Cursed,  for  he  never 
mourns  for  his  sins ;  therefore  shall  not  be  comforted. 
Cursed,  for  he  is  not  meek,  but  froirard  in  heart ;  there- 
fore he  shall  not  inherit  the  earth  he  so  desires.  Cursed, 
for  he  longs  not  after  righteousness,  but  after  riches ; 
therefore  shall  never  be  satisfied.     Cursed,  for  being 


unmerciful,  he  never  shall  have  mercy.  Cursed,  for 
he  not  makes  pence,  but  breaks  peace ;  therefore  shall 
be  called  the  child  of  the  devil.  For  pureness  of  heart, 
and  patience  of  hurt  for  Christ's  sake,  he  is  a  professed 
enemy  to  them  both ;  therefore  must  inherit  the  curse. 
4.  The  means  of  tlieir  utterance,  "  feigned  words." 
Heresy  was  never  found  disjoined  from  hypocrisy. 
As  it  is  said  of  the  liar  and  the  thief.  Show  me  a 
liar,  and  I  will  show  you  a  thief;  so,  show  me  a 
schismatic,  and  I  will  show  you  a  hypocrite.  Their 
speeches  are  so  ambiguous  and  e(|uivoeal,  that  they 
seem  to  hold  both  ours  and  our  adversaries'  tenets. 
With  heretics  they  are  heretics,  with  catholics  they 
are  catholics.  The  cup  of  poison  had  need  be  anoint- 
ed with  honey,  to  allay  the  bitterness.  What  they 
cannot  perform  by  the  evidence  of  truth,  they  seek  to 
attain  by  the  eloquence  of  art.  St.  Paul  aflirms  his 
preaching  to  be,  "  not  with  enticing  words  of  man's 
wisdom,  but  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of 
power,"  1  Cor.  ii.  4.  They,  on  the  contrary,  come 
not  with  the  demonstration  of  the  Spirit,  but  with 
the  impostiu-es  of  oratory.  Thus  are  all  those  Ita- 
lianated  emissaries  (lualified,  whom  the  grand  Cacus 
of  thi'  western  world  sends  abroad  ;  being  first  tho- 
roughly instructed  in  the  cunning  legerdemain  of 
their  divinity.  The  fittest  denomination  and  funda- 
mental principle  is,  that  "  gain  is  godliness,"  1  Tim. 
vi.  5.  For  their  doctrine  emptieth  itself  from  point 
to  point  into  the  church's  treasure.  They  most  un- 
justly exchange  their  lead  for  gold,  which  the  French 
lawyers  account  no  better  than  robbery.  Hereupon 
their  Paternoster  and  Avemaria  have  been  worthily 
called,  the  two  Neapolitan  thieves.  They  "  devour 
widows'  houses,  and  for  a  show  make  long  prayers," 
Luke  XX.  47.  "rhey  arc  thieves  in  that  spiritual  kind 
of  sacrilege,  that  do  TrXdaroig  Xoyoic,  with  feigned 
words  cozen  men's  souls.  Neitlier  doth  this  art  of 
dissimulation  limit  and  content  itself  with  the  bare 
narration  of  untruths,  and  suggestion  of  errors  in  the 
credulous  adherents ;  but  it  extends  to  perjury,  and 
that  we  call  equivocation. 

Thus  they  do  not  only  speak  vainly,  but  swear 
falsely,  which  is  proper  perjury.  Morally  the  end 
doth  determine  natures ;  and  that  which  doth  pre- 
cisely cross  the  good  end,  must  needs  be  most  di- 
rectly opposite  to  the  virtuous  nature.  The  scope 
and  purpose  of  an  oath  is  for  confirmation,  therefore 
none  so  directly  crosseth  it  as  false  swearing;  whether 
it  testifies  falsely  of  things  past  or  present,  as  in  an 
oath  assertory ;  or  undertake  things  dejure  rel  de facto, 
possible  without  performance,  as  in  an  oath  promis- 
sor)'.  Which  principles  of  perjury  being  their  dog- 
matical jKisitions,  we  have  good  cause  to  mist  rust  them; 
for  by  the  benefit  of  this  politic  invention,  they  can  say 
what  they  will,  swear  w-hat  they  will,  against  know- 
ledge, against  conscience ;  provided  that  they  reserve 
in  mind  the  contrarj-.  Think  of  this,  you  that  have  an 
itch  of  travelling  beyond  the  Ali)S  upon  you.  With 
what  security  can  you  converse  with  iheni,  that  pervert 
llic  formal  intent  ofwords?  as  if  speechhad  been  ordain- 
ed for  concealment,  and  not  for  discovery  of  oiu-  minds. 
What  fiuit  or  safety  is  in  their  society,  that  poison  the 
remedy  of  contention,  and  cancel  all  seals  of  confirm- 
ation ?'  But  they  that  have  broken  their  faith  with 
God,  will  keep  no  faith  with  us.  When  they  had  lost 
the  sincere  truth  of  the  gospel,  they  determined  on 
this  doctrine  of  the  devil ;  to  keep  no  faith  with 
heretics:  They  can  feign  words,  and  coin  distinctions, 
but  all  is  their  old  trade  of  merchandise.  Rev.  xviii. 

Here  is  the  description  of  hyiiocriles ;  tluy  are  all 
words,  smooth,  unctuous,  and  feigned  words.  Chris- 
tians in  the  skin,  devils  at  the  core.  Like  the  Arme- 
nian dragons,  that  have  cold  and  squalid  bodies;  yet 
cast  fire  out  of  their  mouths.     Such  was  that  Dio 


256 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


genes  Sinopensis;  in  opinion  a  Stoic,  in  conversation 
an  Epicure,  a  fool  in  botli.  That  apostate  Julian  so 
wrote  of  himself,  that  he  had  a  busy  tongue  but  a 
lazy  hand.  Tlieir  rhetoric  is  pretty  and  their  lo^ic 
witty,  but  their  practice  is  naughty.  They  gape  like 
sea-fishes,  so  wide  as  if  they  would  devour  the  whole 
ocean :  rip  tliem  up,  and  search  their  interior,  and 
you  find  no  water  within  them.  Cruelty,  that  is, 
open  malice,  is  hurtful ;  but  hypocrisy,  secret  ma- 
lice, is  most  pernicious.  A  player  and  a  hypocrite 
are  all  one  with  the  Greeks :  hypocrites  are  the 
devil's  company  of  players.  As  men  sometimes  play 
in  the  shapes  of  devils,  so  devils  play  in  the  sliapes 
of  men.  As  Christ  to  deceive  the  devil  took  man 
upon  him,  so  divere  to  deceive  man  take  the  devil 
upon  them.  Satan's  best  trading  is  by  melamor- 
phoscs  and  transformations.  lie  once  changed  him- 
self from  an  angel  of  light  to  a  devil ;  .so  now  he 
would  change  himself  from  a  devil  to  an  angel  of 
light.  What  is  true  of  eveiy  evil,  Quanio  inlerius,  tanto 
deterius,  holds  strongest  in  hypocrisy.  Pagans  allow 
us  peace,  heretics  peace,  hypocrites  no  peace.  The 
churcli's  persecution  by  tyrants  was  bitter,  by  here- 
tics more  bitter,  by  hypocrites  most  bitter.  There 
is  scarce  a  house  in  the  world,  but  it  is  haunted  with 
this  kind  of  spirits ;  familiars,  visible  and  carnal 
devils,  familiar  hypocrites.  "  Fear,  and  the  pit,  and 
the  snare  are  upon  thee,  O  inhabitant  of  the  earth," 
Isa.  xxiv.  17.  Either  the  fear  of  tyranny,  or  the 
deep  pit  of  policy,  or  the  snare  of  hypocrisy,  con- 
tinually assault  us.  But  as  Christ  said  to  his  apostles, 
"  He  that  receiveth  you  receiveth  me  ;  "  so  he  that 
deceiveth  you  deceiveth  me.  Ananias  lied  unto 
Peter;  Peter  tells  him  that  he  had  lied  to  the  Holy 
Ghost.  It  is  well  observed,  that  many  men's  re- 
ligion is  like  the  adverb  quasi;  which  denotes  a 
picture,  not  a  nature ;  an  appearance  rather  than  an 
existence ;  likeness,  than  a  true  being  :  "  as  it  were." 
So  the  locusts  are  described;  As  it  were  horses  pre- 
pared to  the  battle,  and  on  their  heads  as  it  were  the 
faces  of  men,  &c.  Rev.  ix.  7-  They  were  not  horses, 
but  as  it  were  horses ;  had  not  crowns,  but  as  it  were 
crowns ;  not  faces,  but  as  it  were  faces  of  men  ;  not 
hair,  but  as  it  were  hair  of  women  ;  not  teeth,  but  as 
it  were  teeth  of  lions  ;  not  breastplates,  but  as  it  were 
breastplates  of  iron.  Their  whole  description  runs 
upon  as  it  were :  they  had  not  fails,  but  as  it  were 
tails  of  scorpions;  but  in  those  tails  were  stings,  not 
as  it  were  stings,  but  stings  indeed  :  the  farewell  of 
liypocritcs  is  deadly.  All  their  balms  are  as  it  were 
balms ;  but  their  stings  are  pernicious  indeed.  They 
draw  near  to  God  with  tlieir  lips,  not  with  their 
hearts;  so  God's  blessing  may  shine  upon  their  out- 
ward estates,  but  it  shall  never  come  near  their 
hearts.  A  hypocrite  is  like  the  Sicilian  Etna,  llaming 
at  the  mouth  when  it  hath  snow  at  the  foot :  their 
mouths  talk  hotly,  but  their  feet  walk  coldly.  With 
the  Jews  they  cry  thrice  over  for  failing,  The  temple 
■  of  the  Lord ;  without  once  regarding  the  Lord  of 
the  temple.  One  writes  of  the  onyx,  that  about  the 
centre  it  is  of  an  earthen  colour;  on  the  circumfer- 
ence, azure,  or  sky-colour.  Hypocrites  have  a  hea- 
venly garb  on  the  outside,  but  an  earthly  heart  in 
the  centre.  They  think  themselves  so  holy,  that 
they  cannot  choose  but  be  saved ;  but  confusion  of 
sins  becomes  the  just,  and  defence  of  merits  the 
proud.  (Royard.)  Good  men  give  God  fruchim  la- 
borum,  the  fruit  of  their  labours ;  hypocrites  think  it 
enough  to  give  fructum  labioruin,  the  frait  of  their 
lips.  Four  days  in  a  week  he  will  spend  in  hearing, 
not  one  hour  in  a  month  in  doing  good.  The  Latins 
Jo  not  so  much  call  him  fallens  as  falsus  ;  more  bv 
the  passive,  than  the  active ;  he  but  thinks  to  deceive, 
he  is  sure  to  be  deceived.     Yet  methinks  he  should 


not  so  flatter  himself,  as  to  think  that  he  can  be  too 
cunning  for  Satan. 

As  rebels  make  their  proclamations  in  (he  name  of 
the  king,  and  pirates  intending  to  rob  merchants 
hang  out  the  flags  of  other  nations,  both  to  scandal 
them  and  to  conceal  themselves  ;  so  do  hypocrites 
wear  Christian  colours  that  they  may  be  the  devil's 
cozeners.  I  would  they  were  no  worse  than  the 
nightingale,  tox  el  prteterea  tiihil,  nothing  but  voice ; 
but  they  have  a  sweet  voice  and  a  pestilent  hand. 
Rome  broacheth  all  her  poison  under  the  name  of 
Christ ;  but  pull  off  her  borrowed  livery,  and  she  is 
a  church  apostotatical,  not  apostolical ;  not  militant, 
malignant ;  not  for  God  and  for  Gideon,  but  for  anti- 
christ and  for  Babylon.  Their  prfplati,  Pilali ; 
speculalorea,  xpiculalores.  (Bern.)  The  hypocrite 
loads  Christ  with  many  sins,  therefore  Christ  loads 
him  with  many  woes  and  curses,  Matt,  xxiii.  It  is 
not  enough  dicere  facienda,  hat  facere  dicenda  :  Saul 
was  not  a  saint  because  he  did  once  prophesy,  nor  is 
every  one  a  believer  that  talks  of  faith.  An  appa- 
rent wickedness  of  life  cannot  be  excused  by  pure 
language  among  wise  men  :  that  deceives  the  ignor- 
ant, and  upon  such  a  ground  the  simple  man  thought 
Pontius  Pilate  a  saint,  because  his  name  was  put  in 
the  creed.  Hypocrites  refuse  our  ministry,  our  con- 
gregations, our  society,  they  scorn  to  be  with  us; 
but  herein  they  do  us  a  kindness,  for  we  are  blest  in 
being  out  of  their  company. 

Hypocrites  think  that  they  do  all  their  villany 
now  unseen  ;  but  the  Judge  beholds,  and  the  day  of 
retribution  shall  lay  them  open.  The  just  Lord 
doth  bring  his  judgment  to  light  every  moming;  but 
the  unjust  knoweth  no  shame,  Zepli.  iii.  5.  The  un- 
righteous will  not  yet  be  sensible  of  shame,  though 
the  Lord  bring  his  judgments  to  light  every  morning. 
Still  he  encourageth  his  sin  with  this  supposal,  Aly 
master  is  gone  into  a  far  country,  Luke  xii.  45. 
"Because  sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  not  exe- 
cuted speedily,  the  heart  of  men  is  fully  set  in  them 
to  do  evil,"  Eccl.  viii.  11.  Tush,  the  Lord  sees  it 
not,  neither  doth  the  Highest  regard  it.  Because 
thou  art  one  of  those  scape-goats,  in  whose  tem- 
porary reprievement  the  Judge  of  all  flesh  doth 
but  represent  the  neceseity  of  nis  last  assizes,  shall 
not  thy  skin  of  hypocrisy  be  pulled  over  thine  ears, 
and  thy  feigned  words  be  made  an  evidence  against 
thy  wicked  deeds  ?  When  an  architect  proiTered 
Livius  Drusus,  a  heathen,  to  build  him  a  house  free 
from  the  sight  of  all  men ;  he  desired  him  rather,  if 
he  had  any  skill,  to  build  it  so  that  all  men  might 
sec  whatsoever  he  did.  So  clean  should  be  our 
hands,  and  so  honest  our  hearts,  as  if  our  bodies  were 
transparent,  and  men  might  see  through  us.  How- 
soever, God  sees  here,  and  men  shall  see  hereafter, 
the  shame  of  the  wicked  :  "  Their  folly  shall  be 
manifest  unto  all  men,"  2  Tim.  iii.  9.  Now  they  lie, 
dissemble,  swear,  forswear,  in  a  desperate  madness : 
as  if  a  malefactor  should  swagger  at  the  foot  of  the 
gallows,  because  there  are  some  few  rounds  of  a 
ladder  between  his  neck  and  execution.  Yet  a  little, 
and  behold  the  Judge  in  the  clouds,  the  only  visible 
Person  in  the  Trinity ;  over  a  iilace,  though  not  the 
same,  yet  as  conspicuous  as  tne  valley  of  Jehosh.i- 
phat  ;  the  books  all  open,  and  the  secrets  of  all 
Iiearts  manifest.  When  that  Sun  of  justice  shall  ap- 
pear, hypocrisy  (that  cold  glow-worm  of  the  nighl) 
shall  lose  her  vain-glorious  shining.  These  feigning 
and  fawning  counterfeits,  whose  tongues  are  the 
tongues  of  mountebanks,  their  hands  the  hands  of 
painters,  and  their  lives  the  lives  of  players ;  which 
neither  did  what  they  said,  nor  said  what  they  did, 
nor  were  in  any  point  the  same  they  seemed;  tluy 
all  must  now  appear  in  their  likeness.    The  rotten 


Ver.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


257 


inside  shall  be  turned  outwards,  and  painted  sepul- 
chres of  stones  shall  tarn  out  more  painted  sepul- 
chres of  men.  Blessed  souls  then,  in  whose  mouth 
there  is  found  no  deceit !  Rev.  xiv.  5 ;  happy  Israel- 
ites, in  whom  there  is  no  guile  I  John  i.  47-  Such 
let  us  all  be,  that  we  may  be  redeemed  from  the 
earth,  and  like  pure  virgins  be  received  into  the 
bosom  of  Christ.  Whenas  that  spurious  generation 
of  Loyollsis,  that  cozen  all  laws  and  magistrates  with 
their  bastanlly  doctrine  of  equivocation,  shall  bo  re- 
jected from  the  Lamb  because  guile  and  feigned 
words  are  found  in  their  mouths.  Our  God  is  tlie 
God  of  truih,  Christ  is  the  word  of  truth,  the  Ildly 
Ghost  is  the  Spirit  of  truth;  let  us  all  be  cliildren 
of  tnith  ;  casting  out  dissimulation  from  our  habits, 
guile  from  our  mouths,  hypocrisy  from  our  hearts ; 
that  we  may  live  on  Mount  Zion  with  the  Lamb  of 
God,  our  glorious  Jesus,  for  ever. 

"  Whose  judgment  now  of  a  long  time  lingercth 
not,  and  their  damnation  slumberctli  not."  This  is 
their  perdition :  wherein  consider  the  severity  or  ex- 
tremity of  it ;  it  is  judgment,  and  damnation :  the 
vicinity  or  propinquity  and  nearness  of  it;  it  lingers 
not,  slumbers  not.  First  for  the  extremity,  set  down 
in  two  terms,  judgment  and  damnation.  Which 
howsoever  some  refer  to  one  and  the  same  thing, 
their  eternal  confusion,  yet,  because  judgment  pro- 
perly and  in  order  goes  before  condemnation,  as  the 
malefactor  is  arraigned  and  judged  before  he  be  exe- 
cuted; so  I  am  willing  to  distinguish  these  two, 
judgment  into  their  inmishmcnt  temporal,  and  damn- 
ation into  their  punishment  eternal. 

The  sum  is  this ;  there  are  certain  plagues  or- 
dained for  liars,  and  the  teachers  of  wickedness.  Be 
not  deceived  with  their  glorious  shows,  sumptuous 
magnificence,  mountains  of  honours,  piles  of  riches, 
victorious  triumphs  (as  they  vaunt)  over  the  tnith; 
for  this  world  will  not  last  ever  with  them.  If  you 
see  faithful  ministers  discountenanced,  impoverished, 
persecuted,  and  these  impostors  advanced,  supported, 
honoured,  yet  totter  not  in  your  faith  ;  their  easting 
down  and  your  lifting  up  is  near  ;  neither  shall  they 
living  escape  judgment,  nor  dead  damnation.  God 
suffers  them  to  riot  upon  his  forbearance,  and  to 
grow  luxurious  on  his  mercies ;  but  there  is  a  rod 
of  judgment  made,  and  a  caldron  of  damnation  set  a 
boiling  for  them.  The  Lord  shall  consume  them 
with  the  breath  of  his  mouth,  and  destroy  them  with 
the  brightness  of  his  coming,  2  Thess.  ii.  8.  First, 
therefore,  lest  any  believers  should  stumble  at  their 
temporal  prosperity,  whereby  they  bluster  and  domi- 
neer in  the  world,  they  shall  see  their  judgment ; 
and  then,  that  they  may  avoid  them,  observe  the 
confusion  that  is  ready  to  swallow  them.  "  Depart 
from  the  tents  of  these  wicked  men,  lest  ye  be  con- 
sumed in  all  their  sins,"  Numb.  xvi.  26.  Be  not  in- 
volved in  their  sins,  lest  ye  be  dissolved  with  their 
plagues.  This  whole  discourse  I  will  resolve  into 
certain  extractions',  observations,  and  inferences. 

1.  Their  "judgment."  The  menaces  of  God  are 
not  always  followed  with  an  infallible  event,  being 
sometimes  on  purpose  signified,  that  they  may  be  by 
penitence  prevented.  Consider  this  fearful  curse  for 
a  part  of  God's  counsel,  then  foUowcth  an  absolute 
ratification  of  it.  "  My  counsel  shall  stand,  and  I 
will  do  all  my  pleasure,"  Isa.  xlvi.  10.  Who  hath 
resisted  his  will  ?  None  can  or  shall  do  it  by  their 
power;  if  they  do  attempt  it,  be  it  at  their  peril. 
For  even  in  that  ihcv  have  done  against  his  will,  liis 
will  is  done  upon  them,  (.\ugust.)  None  but  the 
King  of  kings  hath  right  to  the  style  imperial,  (I 
will,  or  I  will  not,)  witliout  all  limitation  :  because 
his  will  and  power  be  matches  onjy ;  and  when  his 
decree  halh  gone  before,  an  answerable  success  doth 


ever  attend  it.  Therefore  for  the  correction  of  tliose 
merchants,  who  would  traffic  without  God,  and  re- 
solve on  voyages  without  his  passport,  the  apostle 
chargeth  all  human  language  to  observe  that  neces- 
sary parenthesis,  "  If  the  Lord  will,"  Jam.  iv.  15. 
William  Rufus  proudly  threatened,  from  the  rocks  of 
Wales  to  make  a  bridge  over  into  Ireland.  But  a 
prince  there  understanding  that  he  asked  no  leave 
of  God,  answered,  that  he  never  feared  that  bridge 
wiiose  foundation  was  not  God :  the  name  of  whom 
the  king  had  omitted,  in  a  presumptuous  confidence 
of  his  own  strength. 

If  it  be  the  Lord's  determinate  decree,  this  judg- 
ment shall  come  upon  them.  But  because  God  often 
threatens  before  ne  once  strikes,  allow  it  not  so  ab- 
solute, but  that  it  may  admit  an  intervention  of  re- 
pentance. When  God  threatens  to  pull  down,  pluck 
up,  and  destroy  a  nation,  if  that  nation  shall  repent 
of  the  evil  they  have  done,  God  will  repent  of  the 
evil  he  thought  to  do,  Jer.  xviii.  7,  8.  But  whosoever 
shall  continue  in  this  blasphemous  course  of  disobe- 
dience, their  judgment  shall  hasten,  and  their  damn- 
ation not  linger.  "  The  consumption  decreed  shall 
overflow  with  righteousness,"  Isa.  x.  22.  To  close 
up  the  passage  or  hinder  the  course  of  Divine  justice, 
will  be  more  impossible  than  for  a  man  to  stop  the 
flowing  of  the  sea  with  his  arms,  or  to  beat  back  the 
lightning  into  the  clouds  with  his  breath.  The  name 
of  God  shall  be  famous  in  every  sinner's  infamy. 
The  wicked  may  as  soon  steal  the  book  of  vengeance 
out  of  God's  hand,  as  steal  themselves  from  the 
plagues  written  in  his  book :  their  judgment  shall 
come.  They  can  no  more  flee  the  power  of  their 
Judge  above  them,  than  they  could  stand  still  if  there 
were  an  earthquake  under  them.  There  is  no  appeal 
from  this  tribunal :  no  writ  of  error  lies  against  this 
Judge,  though  he  be  both  Judge  and  party :  because 
he  can  neither  be  overborne,  nor  overseen.  It  is  the 
Lord  of  hosts  that  can  muster  up  plagues  out  of  the 
dusts  of  the  earth;  that  strong  man,  that  will  break 
forth  in  a  martial  manner  against  his  enemies. 

2.  For  whose  sake  doth  God  execute  judgment 
and  confusion  upon  these  false  teachers,  and  cut  oflf 
the  instruments  of  sedition  and  error?  For  his  own 
glory  and  the  church's  good,  that  they  may  no  longer 
cozen  men's  souls  with  their  impostures.  God  liatli 
two  sorts  of  works;  some  of  position,  some  of  priva- 
tion. His  positive  works  arc  those  of  creation,  making 
heaven  and  earth;  of  supportation,  bearing  up  all 
things  with  the  word  of  his  power;  of  redemption 
and  reconciliation,  "  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling 
the  world  to  himself,"  2  Cor.  v.  19;  of  restitution 
and  reparation,  "  the  times  of  restitution  of  all 
things,"  Acts  iii.  21.  Thus  he  giveth,  mainlaincth, 
or  bettereth  the  being  of  things.  Which  we  now 
clearly  read  in  the  book  of  nature,  more  clearly  in 
the  book  of  gmce,  most  clearly  shall  read  in  the 
book  of  glorj-.  His  privative  works  are  of  judg- 
ment; corruptive,  dcstnictive  works;  acts  of  desola- 
tion ;  destroying  the  annoyances  of  his  saints.  Both 
these  he  appropriateth  to  himself;  "  I  kill,  and  I 
make  alive;  I  wound,  and  I  heal,"  Deut.  xxxii.  .39. 
Now  in  these  desolating  actions  of  his  justice,  the 
only  end  is  not  to  mar,  destroy,  and  deprive  of  being, 
but  to  further  the  growth  of  the  church ;  as  a  man 
roots  up  the  weeds  of  his  garden,  that  the  good  herbs 
may  grow  the  better.  "  Cut  it  down  ;  why  eumbcrcth 
it  the  ground?"  Lukexiii.  7:  why  docs  it  take  uji 
the  room  where  a  good  plant  might  jirospcr,  and 
bring  forth  acceptable  fruit  ?  So  that  their  corrup- 
tions are  our  generations,  their  desolations  our  con- 
solations, their  impairings  our  repairings,  judgments 
upon  them  are  creations,  recreations  to  us ;  as  God 
destroyed  the  Cana'anites,  to  make  room  for  the 


258 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


Israelites.  "  God  is  the  Judge :  he  putteth  down 
one,  and  settcth  up  another,"  Psal.  Ixxv.  /•  "  He 
breakelh  the  bow,  and  cutteth  the  spear  in  sunder  ; 
he  huiTicth  the  chariot  in  the  fire,"  Psal.  xlvi.  9. 
Those  instruments  of  spoil  and  murder ;  the  bow  that 
kills  afar,  the  spear  at  hand,  those  winged  chariots, 
with  hooks  and  scythes  to  mow  down  all  their  oppo- 
sites;  these  doth  tlie  Lord  disappoint  and  desolate. 
Those  menaces  against  his  children,  and  insolences 
against  his  own  majesty,  his  justice  dotli  retail  into 
tlieir  own  bosoms.  That  88  for  a  year,  and  5th  of 
November  for  a  day,  put  us  in  mind  of  such  an  in- 
tended destruction,  and  such  an  inten-enient  desola- 
tion; as  that  day  and  year  shall  be  for  ever  both 
famous  and  infamous  for.  It  is  the  ruin  of  enmity, 
that  is  the  resurrection  of  peace  :  unless  severity  he 
showed  to  our  adversaries,  security  cannot  dwell  in 
our  streets.  Our  redemption  was  a  work  of  this  na- 
ture :  sin  by  the  devil,  and  death  by  sin,  not  only 
entered,  but  triumphed  over  the  world  as  a  tyrant, 
Rom.  V. ;  like  Alexander,  pervenimus  ad  solis  ortam 
et  occasuni.  Now  because  no  man  hath  lived  and 
not  sinned,  or  having  sinned  should  have  lived,  or 
could  have  escaped  the  second  death  by  reason  of 
his  universal  usurjiation  of  sin  ;  therefore  tliere  came 
a  work  of  destruction  between,  that  disappointed  the 
work  of  death.  "  For  this  purpose  the  Son  of  God 
was  manifested,  that  he  might  destroy  the  works  of 
the  devil,"'  John  iii.  8.  He  razed,  spoiled,  unhar- 
nessed those  principalities  and  powers.  Col.  ii.  15 ; 
confounding  our  enemies,  that  we  might  be  saved. 
So  still  doth  he  deal  with  all  the  instraments  of 
Satan  ;  their  judgment  and  damnation  is  hastened, 
that  deliverance  may  be  to  all  that  trust  in  him. 

3.  Though  the  Lord  will  judge  these  wicked  persons, 
yet  this  forbids  not  magistrates  to  execute  their  just  ice 
upon  them.  They  that  are  called  after  God's  own 
name,  seated  on  his  own  throne,  armed  eveiy  way 
with  his  own  authority,  let  them  also  bring  fortli 
judgment,  in  imitation  of  their  Father.  It  is  a  cruel 
pity  that  is  showed  to  incorrigible  offenders  ;  like 
water  poured  upon  lime,  that  instead  of  quenching, 
doth  inllame  the  furious  heat  of  sin.  "  Let  favour  be 
.showed  to  the  wicked,  yet  will  he  not  learn  righteous- 
ness," Isa.  xxvi.  10.  I  know  that  the  life  of  man  is 
precious ;  yet  is  the  life  of  the  whole  church  more 
precious.  And  thougli  in  less  important  things 
judges  may  proceed  on  by  fair  and  not  fast  degrees, 
yet  in  such  capital  causes  as  endanger  the  whole,  the 
expedition  should  be  more  quick  and  peremptory. 
"  1  will  early,"  or  in  the  morning,  "  destroy  all  the 
wicked  of  the  land,"  Psal.  ci.  S.  It  was  David's 
morning  work,  let  none  put  it  off  to  the  evening  of 
their  declination ;  as  the  setting  sun  makes  the  larger 
shadows.  This  killing  preservation  of  notorious  and 
insuflerable  offenders,  is  a  discouragement  to  llieni 
that  in  the  most  desperate  times  dare  keep  a  gooil 
conscience.  If  popish  incendiaries  may  be  tolerated 
to  make  merchandise  of  men's  souls,  and  never  be 
judged  for  this  ;  what  remains,  but  that  we  appeal 
to  a  greater  court,  and  open  our  grievances  to  a 
higlier  Judge  ?  no  judge  dormant ;  whose  sentence  is 
no  dead  letter,  but  a  determinate  oracle,  wnthout  ad- 
mission of  either  appeal  or  reprieve.  If  they  liold 
their  peace,  enlargement  and  deliverance  shall  arise 
tons  from  another  place  :  but  they  and  their  fathers' 
house  shall  be  destroyed,  Esth.  iv.  14.  "  God  shall 
bring  every  work  into  judgment,"  Eccl.  xii.  14; 
cveiy  work,  not  one  shall  escape ;  with  every  secret 
thought :  not  the  work  only,  but  even  the  thought, 
and  that  be  it  never  so  deeply  laid  up  in  the  heart ; 
to  cut  off  all  opinion  of  secrecy,  as  well  as  of  impu- 
nity. Smners  shall  hear  and  fear  ;  and  woeful  expe- 
rience shall  wring  from  them  this  acknowledgment, 


that  when  God  enters  into  judgment,  no  sinful  flesh 
shall  be  justified.  Judgment,  that  rough  handmaid 
of  heaven,  remains  still  a  virgin  ;  neither  power  can 
force  her,  nor  wealth  win  her,  nor  any  thing  in  the 
world  corruj)t  her.  "  The  righteous  shall  rejoice 
when  he  seeth  the  vengeance :  he  shall  wash  his 
feel  in  the  blood  of  the  wicked.  So  that  a  man  shall 
say.  Verily  there  is  a  reward  for  the  righteous : 
verilv  he  is  a  God  that  judgeth  in  the  eai'th,  Psal. 
Iviii.'lO,  11. 

4.  Theii-  "judgment."  Their  own;  as  proper  to 
them  as  the  inheritance  they  have  bought  with  their 
monies.  They  "  fors;ike  their  own  mercy,"  Jonah 
ii.  8,  the  mercy  that  might  have  been  their  own,  to 
embrace  vengeance,  which  they  have  made  their  o^vn. 
So  it  is  said  of  dead  Judas,  he  w-cnt  unto  his  own 
place,  Acts  i.  25.  As  the  stone  naturally  inclines  to 
the  centre,  the  proper  place  and  home  ;  so  the 
wicked  arc  never  at  home,  and  in  their  proper  place, 
till  they  be  in  hell.  "  The  rod  of  the  wicked  shall 
not  rest  upon  the  lot  of  the  righteous,"  Psal.  cxxv. 
3.  It  is  their  rod,  made  for  them;  if  God  scourge 
his  children  a  little  with  it,  he  doth  but  borrow 
it  from  the  immediate  and  natural  use  for  which  it 
was  ordained :  their  rod,  their  judgment.  So  it  is 
called  their  cup:  "  This  is  the  portion"  and  potion 
"  of  their  cup,"  Psal.  xi.  6.  If  the  godly  be  made 
to  taste  a  little  of  the  top,  it  is  but  a  drauglit  lent 
from  their  cup;  but  the  dregs  thereof  the  wicked 
shall  wring  out,  and  drink  off,  Psal.  Ixsv.  8.  Their 
end  is  damnation,  Phil.  iii.  19;  such  an  end  can  come 
to  none  but  themselves.  Theirs ;  it  is  as  surely  their 
own,  as  if  they  already  had  it.  "  He  that  believeth 
not  is  condemned  already,"  John  iii.  18  :  as  we  say 
of  a  sentenced  malefactor.  He  is  dead  in  law. 

Whence  infer,  that  sin  doth  naturally  draw  on 
punishment ;  and  is  like  the  thunder  that  breaks  the 
cloud,  and  makes  way  for  the  lightning  of  God's 
vengeance.  Wheresoever  presumption  goes  before, 
destruction  follows  after.  When  the  evil  servant  had 
not  to  pay,  his  Lord  commanded  him  to  be  sold,  liis 
wife  and  children,  and  all  that  he  had,  and  payment 
to  be  made,  Matt,  xviii.  25.  The  wife  may  be  taken 
for  concupiscence,  the  children  for  fruits  of  it.  Or 
thus,  the  W'ife  of  the  covetous  is  avarice,  the  wife  of 
the  haughty  is  pride,  S-'c.  These  things  are  very 
dear  to  them,  but  they  must  be  sold.  Tlie  children 
of  Israel  committed  fornication,  "and  fell  in  one  day 
three  and  twenty  thousand,"  1  Cor.  x.  8.  There  is 
punishment  of  sin,  1.  In  the  fidl  measure,  they  fell; 
nothing  bated  of  utter  ruin.  2.  In  the  full  number, 
twenty-three  thousand;  a  few  examples  would  not 
sei-ve  the  turn.  3.  In  the  due  time,  in  one  day  ;  no 
long  forbearance.  For  the  measure,  it  was  not  sick- 
ness, not  flying  before  enemies,  not  scourging,  but 
death;  they  fell:  either  by  plague,  or  some  other 
immediate  judgment ;  some  of  them  were  hanged  ii)) 
against  the  sun.  For  number,  the  a])ostle  speaks  of 
three  and  twenty  thousand ;  but.  Numb.  xxv.  9, 
there  is  mention  of  one  tliousand  moi-e.  Paul  did 
not  exceed  the  number;  nor  dolh  the  Scripture  tie 
itself  always  so  precisely.  It  is  most  probable,  that 
the  princes  with  their  sen'ants  that  were  hanged  up, 
made  up  the  other  thousand.  For  time,  it  is  in  one 
day ;  no  space  of  prejiaration,  they  presently  fell. 
Thus  if  adulteiy  walk  in  our  streets,  the  plague  will 
bear  it  company.  God  is  angiy  with  all  sin,  but  his 
wrath  is  most  hot  against  universal  sin  :  thousands 
fall,  a  whole  army  of  men.  When  God  rides  his  cir- 
cuit, he  will  strike  fearfully  ;  with  death,  with  gene- 
ral death.  Universal  sin  will  bring  universal  destruc- 
tion :  and  it  is  his  great  mercy,  if  he  do  not  always 
punish  so  generally.  All  offend,  some  only  are  pun- 
ished ;    because  so  it  pleaseth  him.     There  is  no 


Ver.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


259 


policy  against  God's  judgments :  Caesar  Borgias  is 
made,  by  Machiavel,  a  precedent  of  policy  to  princes : 
yet  he  was  caught  at  nis  own  trick.  Ttie  escaping 
for  awhile,  is  no  argument  of  exemption  :  God's  tem- 
poral plagues  are  but  short  excursions  before  the 
main  battle. 

5.  Their  "  judgment :"  but  is  it  so  certain  theirs, 
that  no  repentance  can  prevent  it  ?  Yes,  serious  re- 
pentance may  avert  the  vengeance,  if  their  gracious 
God  gives  the  repentance.  For  the  apostle  makes  a 
prophetical  prediction  of  such  heretics  as  should  in- 
vade Christ's  Hock  after  his  time  ;  and  threatens 
them  with  tlie  malediction  of  God,  if  they  attempt 
such  impostures.  By  which  if  they  receive  warning, 
and  lay  it  to  heart,  they  may  avoid  the  sin,  and  so 
escape  the  denounced  judgment.  And  this  hath  ever 
been  the  mercy  of  our  God,  that  he  will  speak  be- 
fore he  strike ;  and  preach  the  lecture  of  premonition, 
before  he  pronounce  the  sentence  of  perdition.  And 
this  is  a  course  that  shall  make  men  either  prevcni- 
ently  thankful,  or  inexcusably  desperate. 

It  is  a  question  among  philosophers,  whether  if  be 
better  to  know  or  not  to  know  future  evils  ;  and  this 
dispute  is  crept  into  the  schools.  Erasmus,  opposing 
the  aslrologians,  held  all  prognostications  and  pre- 
dictions unprofitable  :  for  if  tliey  foretold  joyful  news, 
they  decrease  our  future  pleasure;  if  evil  tidings, 
they  increase  our  present  pain  ;  the  fear  of  danger 
being  often  more  bitter  than  the  danger  itself.  Thus 
Favorinus  reasons;  (Apud  Gellium.  lib.  14.)  Either 
adverse  or  prosperous  fortunes  are  foretold.  If  they 
say  prosperous,  and  those  fail  thee,  thou  art  made 
miserable  by  thy  vain  expecting ;  if  adverse,  and 
those  thou  escapes!,  yet  thou  art  made  miserable  by 
thy  vain  fearing.  Howsoever,  thus  wretched  is  a 
man  made  by  a  false  prediction.  Suppose  they  fore- 
tell a  truth:  let  it  be  calamity;  thy  own  mind 
shall  afflict  thee,  before  fate  touch  thee.  Let  felicity 
l)e  promised  and  come,  yet  here  arc  two  incommodi- 
ties.  First,  our  mind  will  be  tired  with  expectation, 
and  our  joy  be  abated  before  the  object  reach  us. 
Again,  hoping  for  a  pi'osperous  estate  to  come,  we 
grow  idle  for  the  present.  Men  of  an  indifferent 
fortune  having  (after  the  expiration  of  some  years) 
a  great  inheritance  assured  them,  prodigally  spend 
that  which  is  for  that  Avhich  shall  be ;  yea,  they 
.spend  that  which  shall  be  before  it  is. 

But  they  run  this  argument  beyond  a  gallop;  let 
them  take  truth  along  with  them.  Whatsoever 
Erasmus  and  Favorinus  have  written,  more  subtily 
than  soundly,  in  this  argument,  it  is  a  conclusion  ac- 
knowledged by  all  sober  men,  that  it  is  better  to 
know  a  calamity  before  we  feel  it,  than  to  feel  a 
calamity  before  we  know  it.  Indeed,  any  unhappi- 
ncss  that  ariscth  from  prescience,  is  only  incident  to 
a  weak  mind.  Wliere  there  is  not  a  well-fortified 
reason,  there  expectation  makes  an  evil  greater  and 
a  good  less.  But  in  a  resolved  mind,  it  digests  an 
evil  before  it  comes,  and  makes  a  future  good  long 
before  present. 

First,  they  say,  evil  foretold  racks  a  man  with  as 

much  torment  of  fear,  as,  when  it  is  present,  it  doth 

with  torment  of  pain.     Nay,  but  it  rather  pre-arms 

ucU-tempcred  mind,  cither  to  conquer  or  to  suffer, 

'  in  suffering  to  conquer.     He  that  hath  already 

ne  the  burden,  and  overcome  the  extremest  bnmt, 

takes  up  the  cross  with  joy;  he  counts  it  his  joy  to 

fall  into  trial.  Jam.  i.  2,  and  out  of  trouble  extracts 

peace.    When  the  prophet's  servant  saw  the  host  of 

chariots  compassing  the  city,  he  cried  out,  "  Alas,  my 

master!  how  shall  we  do  ? "     Elisha  answered.  Fear 

not,  there  be  more  with  us,  "2  Kings  vi.  15,  16:  he 

knew  it  before.     When  Satan  tliiilks  to  scare  thee 

with  sorrows,  and  says  as  Delilah,  The  Philistines  be 


upon  thee,  Samson,  there  is  an  army  against  thee ; 
answer,  I  fear  not,  my  soul  knew  that  before,  and  I 
have  by  prayer  made  my  provision  against  thern. 
The  burden  seems  light  that  hath  been  borne  before. 

But  then  they  say,  suppose  the  threatened  evil 
comes  not,  then  in  vain  thou  hast  disquieted  thyself 
with  a  needless  fear.  Nay,  but  I  have  bettered  my 
soul  by  a  cautionale  repentance.  Nineveh  was 
menaced.  Yet  forty  days  and  it  shall  be  destroyed. 
They  quaked,  and  repented  in  sackcloth  and  ashes, 
turning  from  their  wickedness:  Nineveh  stood  still. 
Did  they  lose  any  thing  by  their  sorrow,  fasting, 
humiliation?  No,  their  conversion  saved  them  from 
subversion  ;  had  they  not  sorrowed,  they  had  been 
destroyed  indeed.  No  man  is  the  worse  for  his  re- 
pentant grief:  if  the  evil  do  come,  it  is  a  labour  well 
spent ;  if  the  evil  do  not  come,  it  is  a  labour  well 
lost.  If  the  body  be  not  the  worse,  yet  the  soul  is 
the  better. 

But  would  it  not  have  doubled  Saul's  sorrow,  if  he 
had  known  that  he  was  to  fall  on  the  mountains  of 
Gilboa,  and  that  his  enemy  should  succeed  him  ? 
Could  Biron  the  French  marshal  have  been  so  merry 
at  the  banquet,  had  he  known  his  instant  arrest  for 
treason  ?  Would  Julius  Cn?sar  have  gone  to  the 
senate,  knowing  his  ruin  there  ?  These  be  poor  ex- 
ceptions against  the  forewarning  of  future  evils :  for, 
as  knowing  them  contingent,  they  would  have  sought 
to  prevent ;  so,  knowing  them  certain,  they  would 
have  sought  to  repent.  But  saith  Boskier,  this  made 
Clirist  himself  Jaelaslum,  kept  him  from  laughter; 
the  prescience  of  his  dire  future  passion :  he  wept 
for  other  causes,  but  for  this  especially ;  he  often 
spake  of  it,  because  it  ran  in  his  mind  ;  and  in  the 
garden,  he  sweat  blood  to  think  of  it.  Grant  this  in 
part  to  be  true  :  he  told  it  to  his  apostles,  not  for  his 
own  fear,  but  to  show  how  much  he  loved  them,  that 
would  suffer  this  for  them  ;  to  strengthen  their  faith 
in  him,  and  love  to  him.  Neither  wept  he  so  much 
for  his  own  sorrows,  as  for  our  sins.  We  were  more 
unkind  and  cniel  to  him  than  the  thonis  and  nails. 
That  which  drew  blood  from  his  side,  drew  tears 
from  his  eyes :  we  were  so  guilty,  that  he  could  not 
be  merry.  Therefore  he  foretold  his  disciples,  that 
they  should  be  sorrowful,  weep  and  lament,  John 
xvi.  20.  As  a  learned  physician  looks  not  only  to 
the  disease  of  his  patient  that  afflicts  him  for  the 
present,  but  often  administers  physic  to  prevent  a 
fiiturc  malady.  Therefore  he  called  together  his  dis- 
ciples, as  Jacob  did  his  sons;  and  told  ihem  what 
evils  they  should  suflfcr  for  his  name's  sake. 

This  then  be  the  sum ;  judgments  forewarned 
come  more  easily  on  the  prepared  heart.  The  wise 
mariner  in  a  calm  makes  all  his  tacklings  sure  and 
strong  against  a  storm.  The  fen-man  mends  his 
banks  in  summer,  lest  his  ground  be  drowned  in 
winter.  Howsoever  these  predictions  may  afflict  the 
body,  they  benefit  the  soul.  Therefore  if  the  phy- 
sician pertfeivc  evident  reasons  of  approaching  death 
in  his  patient,  he  is  bound  not  to  flatter  him  with 
hope  of  life ;  lest  seeking  his  own  gain,  he  lose 
Christ's  purchase.  But  the  conceit  will  exasperate 
his  disease,  and  the  dejection  of  mind  hinders  the 
recovery  of  body.  Yield  if ;  yet  is  this  no  reason 
of  concealment,  unless  the  Ijody  were  more  worth 
than  the  soul,  a  life  mortal  than  a  life  immortal,  the 
company  of  sinners  on  earth  than  the  communion  of 
saints  in  heaven.  I  have  seen  some  such  physicians, 
(for  not  seldom  the  physician  and  divine  meet  in  the 
sick  chamber,)  that  when  we  have  been  at  prayers 
to  the  God  of  life,  have  neither  bowed  their  knee,  nor 
uncovered  their  head ;  as  if  the  name  of  God  wei'e 
but  a  mockeiy,  and  -they  could  cure  a  man  without 
him.     But  let  not  my  body  fall  into  his  hands,  that 


260 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


hath  no  care  of  his  o\\ti  soul :  he  that  loves  not  God, 
will  never  love  me.  Alas,  how  should  that  potion 
work  health  where  the  chief  ingredient,  the  grace  of 
God,  is  left  out  ?  Or,  how  should  the  blessing  of 
God  be  found,  when  the  God  of  blessing  is  not 
regarded  ? 

Indeed  no  man  is  worthy  to  know  the  time  of  his 
own  dissolution.  God  hath  secret  steps.  "  Thy 
footsteps  are  not  known,"  Psal.  Ixxvii.  19.  Though 
we  dare  not  pray,  "  Lord,  let  me  know  the  number 
of  my  days,  that  I  may  be  certified  how  long  I  have 
to  live  ;"  yet  still  we  pray,  "  Deliver  us  from  evil ;" 
especially  from  that  e\'il,  "From  sudden  death,  good 
Lord,  deliver  us."  Some  naturalists  have  affirmed 
that  sudden  dissolution  is  the  best ;  and  seemed  to 
desire  (if  at  least  they  did  desire  in  heart)  so  to  die. 
They  looked  not  backward  to  their  sins  past,  nor 
forward  further  than  death;  of  that  they  saw  a  ne- 
cessity, therefore  wished  a  facility.  Now  the  least 
sense  is  of  the  shortest  pain ;  though  it  be  violent, 
it  is  not  pennanent.  There  is  no  protraction  of 
sorrows,  nor  extension  of  pains,  in  sudden  despatch- 
ing ;  death  doth  not,  like  a  tyrant,  keep  them  long 
a  dying,  racking  out  life  to  further  days,  and  cutting 
off  with  pining  sickness,  Isa.  xxxviii.  12;  but  quick- 
ly begins  and  makes  an  end.  But  let  it  rot  in  the 
dust  with  them,  let  that  suddenness  be  suddenly  for- 
gotten. 

There  is  a  generation  of  men  amongst  us.  Chris- 
tians, yea,  the  most  ardent  and  furious  Christians, 
that  blame  our  Liturgy  for  that  prayer,  "  From  sud- 
den death.  Lord,  deliver  us."  These  men  are  so  sure 
of  heaven,  that  let  God  take  them  where  he  will,  and 
when  he  will,  they  are  for  him.  Presumptuous  men ! 
do  they  sin,  and  would  they  in  that  sin  be  taken  away  ? 
There  is  a  time  when  the  dearest  saints  of  God  had 
rather  live  than  die.  "  What  profit  is  there  in  my 
blood,  when  I  go  down  to  the  pit?"  Psal.  xxx.  9: 
he  was  sick,  but  at  that  time  had  no  heart  to  die. 
Elisha,  when  he  knew  in  spirit  that  the  king  had 
sent  a  messenger  to  kill  him,  bade  them  "  shut  the 
door  and  hold  him  fast,"  2  Kings  vi.  32.  Sick  Heze- 
kiah  wept  and  prayed  to  live.  Jonah  cries  from  that 
dismal  prison  not  to  die  yet,  but  to  be  forborne  to  a 
longer  day.  These  saints  would  not  die  then;  they 
found  some  sins  yet  burdening  their  consciences,  to 
scour  off  which  they  wished  the  convenicncy  of  fur- 
ther time.  "  Let  me  alone,  that  I  may  take  comfort 
a  little,  before  I  go  whence  I  shall  not  rctuni,"  Job 
X.  20,  21.  It  was  a  violent  and  swift  departure  which 
David  and  Job  deprecated :  but  alas,  what  do  you 
compare  David  and  Job  to  these  men;  mere  dwarfs 
to  these  giants  ?  They  have  cast  up  their  accounts  as 
well  as  Paid,  and  are  every  moment  prepared ;  their 
reckoning  is  ever  ready  in  their  pockets  :  they  know 
themselves  chosen,  the  Spirit  told  them  so,  and  then 
the  elect  cannot  perish.  It  is  true  indeed,  that  not 
death  amongst  the  rest,  death  of  what  kind  soever, 
lingering  or  sudden,  can  separate  true  believers  from 
Christ,  Rom.  viii.  38,  39;  yet  pardon  me,  if  I  be 
charitably  jealous  of  such  presumers  of  sanctification. 
Do  they  never  lie  to  their  neighbom-,  never  lust  after 
forbidden  flesh,  never  rankle  another's  credit  with 
malicious  report,  never  pamper  the  groom  with  feed- 
ing, never  covet  penny  of  another  man's,  are  they 
never  puffed  up  with  a  self-opinion  ?  Suppose  God 
strike  thy  proud  heart  in  this  act  of  sin,  when  thou 
hast  not  so  much  leisure  or  sense  as  to  say.  Lord, 
have  mercy  on  me  ;  goes  not  thy  soul  theii  to  the 
judgment-seat  without  a  prepared  "answer  ?  AVe  leave 
thy  censure  and  sentence  to  him  that  knows  thy 
heart ;  but  though  charily  hopes  n  mercy  inter  pontein 
ttfontem;  inter  actum  ciilptp,  et  ictum  pccixe,  vet  be 
not  angry  with  me  for  praying,  God  keep  my  soul 


from  such  a  venture.  There  proceed  from  heaven 
lightnings,  from  earth  damps,  from  the  body  palsies 
and  apoplexies,  from  men  those  murderous  engines, 
pistols  and  poniards:  these  make  sudden  riddance, 
and  allow  not  the  leisure  and  liberties  of  repentance. 

Think,  ye  secure  wretches,  that  have  promised 
your  own  souls  to  repent  when  you  are  sick :  alas, 
the  least  of  a  thousand  things  can  kill  you,  and 
give  you  no  leisure  to  be  sick.  Lo  now  if  there  be 
any  hope,  it  is  the  extraordinary  mercy  of  God  in 
Jesus  Clirist.  For  us,  rita  est  in  indicium,  mors  est 
in  judicium.    We  have  charity,  God  hath  mercy. 

To  conclude ;  we  condemn  not  him  that  so  dies, 
yet  we  pray  against  such  a  death.  We  say  of  death, 
as  David  of  Absalom,  "  Make  speed  to  depart,  lest 
he  overtake  us  suddenly,"  2  Sam.  xv.  14.  Lord, 
never  let  the  sin  of  our  souls,  and  the  end  of  our  lives, 
come  so  near  together.  Give  us  grace  to  break  dtf 
our  sins  by  rcpenlance,  before  thou  break  off  our 
lives  by  death;  let  us  have  time  to  repent,  grace  '.<■> 
our  time,  thy  mercy  to  both,  and  the  merits  of  <  iir 
Saviour  Christ  to  all  ;  and  then,  come.  Lord  Jes;K. 
come  quickly.  Oh  it  is  swift  Avlien  the  prayers  i.f 
our  hearts  shall  usher  the  journey  of  our  souls  ;  when 
our  faith  hath  unlocked  the  gates  of  heaven,  ready 
for  our  spirits  to  enter  ;  when  by  our  comfortable 
declarements,  we  have  testified  our  assurance  of 
blessedness,  left  the  perfume  of  a  good  conscience 
to  sweeten  our  death-beds,  and  our  virtues  and 
graces,  like  fragrant  flowers,  to  stick  round  about  our 
hearse  ;  when,  after  a  consoling  valediction  to  our 
mourning  friends,  we  have  commended  our  spirit* 
into  the  hands  of  Jesus  Christ.  Let  the  confidence 
of  others  be  as  bold  as  it  pleaseth,  let  my  soul  pray, 
and  let  them  that  love  their  souls  join  with  me,  and 
the  God  of  mercy  hear  us  all,  "  From  sudden  death, 
good  Lord,  deliver  us.  Amen." 

6.  Their  "judgment,  and  their  damnation."  Ob- 
serve the  proportion  and  aptation  of  their  puni~!'.- 
ment  to  their  sin.  It  holds  in  divers  analogies.  1. 
They  denied  the  Lord  that  bought  them,  therefore 
the  same  Lord  shall  judge  them.  It  is  fit  ut  qucm 
fecerunt  suum  carnificcm,  invetiiant  suum  judiccm. 
They  made  the  profession  of  Christ  a  colour  for  their 
bloodiness,  and  under  the  coimterfeit  seal  of  his  name 
committed  outrages;  now  therefore  the  same  injured 
King  shall  sit  upon  them  and  condemn  them.  2. 
They  acted  all  their  villany  in  secret,  therefore  now 
it  shall  be  laid  open.  3.  The  way  of  truth  hath 
been  blasphemed  by  them,  therefore  now  it  is  fit  that 
it  be  glorified  on  them.  4.  Before  they  sold  men  in 
covetousness,  therefore  now  they  shall  be  sold  them- 
selves in  justice.  God's  debts  must  be  paid,  and 
they  that  made  merchandise  of  others  are  fit  to  be 
made  merchandises  themselves.  5.  Before  they 
brought  in  the  heresy  of  damnation,  therefore  now 
they  shall  sustain  the  penalty  of  damnation.  (!. 
Before  they  did  pull  ontnemscives  destruction  volun- 
tarily, therefore  now  must  father  the  child  of  their 
own  begetting,  and  suffer  destruction  necessarily. 
7.  Their  sin  did  hasten  punishment,  and  make  it 
swift,  therefore  fit  it  should  no  longer  tarry  ;  it 
"  lingereth  not."  You  see  with  what  a  proper  ana- 
logy their  sinning  meets  with  their  suffering,  and 
makes  way  for  this  note  : 

God  always  punisheth  de  condigno,  sometimes  de 
cmigrun.  For  the  former,  as  the  school  tnily  says, 
that  God  rcwardeth  his  elect  above  their  deserts ;  so 
it  tcachcth,  that  he  punisheth  the  reprobate  short  of 
their  demerits.  But  as  he  will  requite  any  thing  in 
mercy,  that  \rill  recompense  a  cup  of  cold  water, 
^latt.  X.  42;  so  he  will  deny  any  thing  in  justice, 
that  will  deny  a  cup  of  cold  water,  Luke  xvi.  24. 
Christ's  tribunal  is  said  to  be  a  white  throne,  Rev. 


Ver.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


261 


XX.  11 J  milk  white,  without  any  drop  of  injustice  to 
alter  the  colour,  or  stain  the  seat.  Moral  men  have 
commended  justice  :  the  Grecians  placed  her  between 
Leo  and  Libra,  courage  and  indifference.  The 
Egyptians  in  their  hieroglyphics  had  the  figure  of  a 
man  without  hands,  winking  with  his  eyes.  And 
our  emblem  is  <is  good  as  the  rest,  as  the  best ;  the 
pictm-e  of  a  man  holding  a  balance  in  one  hand, 
and  a  sword  in  the  other;  by  the  balance  intending 
judgment,  and  by  the  sword  due  execution.  Tlie 
balance  puts  no  difference  between  gold  and  lead, 
but  gives  them  equal  or  unequal  poise ;  not  at- 
tributing more  to  the  gold  for  the  excellency  of  the 
metal,  nor  less  to  the  lead  for  the  drossy  baseness, 
but  with  an  even  hand  weighs  the  poor  man's  case 
with  the  rich.  It  is  said  of  the  throne  of  David's 
house,  that  it  was  placed  in  the  gate  of  the  city  to- 
wards the  sun-rising.  In  the  gate,  that  all  might 
have  access  to  it,  poor  and  rich  ;  for  all  sorts  had 
egress  and  regress  through  the  gate.  Towards  the 
6un-rising,  to  signify  that  their  judgments  should  be 
as  clear  from  corruptions  and  errors  as  the  sun  in  his 
glorious  brightness.  Now  he  that  calls  upon  magis- 
trates to  do  justice,  shall  he  not  do  it  himself? 
"Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right?" 
Gen.  xviii.  25.  Yes,  certainly  ;  as  he  will  crown  the 
faithful  with  eternal  glory  above  their  deserts,  so  he 
will  load  the  wicked  with  eternal  torments  according 
to  their  deserts :  so  that  a  man  shall  say,  "  Verily 
there  is  a  reward  for  tlte  righteous :  verily  he  is  a 
God  that  judgeth  in  the  earlli,"  Psal.  Iviii.  11. 

For  the  oilier,  as  he  will  punish  all  sin  in  some 
kind,  so  he  will  punish  some  sin  in  its  own  kind. 
For  it  is  just  with  him  "  to  recompense  tribulation  to 
them  that  trouble  you,"  2  Thess.  i.  C.  With  the 
froward  he  will  show  himself  froward,  Psal.  xviii.  26. 
"Whoso  shcddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his 
blood  be  shed,"  Gen.  ix.  6.  But  sometimes  it  is  not 
SO;  but  always  it  should  be  so,  and  certainly  the 
magistrate  that  omits  it  shall  find  his  case  like 
Ahab's ;  "  Thy  life  shall  go  for  his  life,"  1  Kings 
XX.  42.  "They  that  take  the  sword  shall  perish 
with  the  sword,"  Matt.  sxvi.  52 :  they  that  take  it, 
before  it  be  given  them  by  lawful  authority.  His 
punishment  is  qualified  to  his  sin,  that  is  made  to 
perish  by  the  sword,  who  did  destroy  with  the  sword. 
He  that  stoppeth  his  ears  at  the  ciy  of  the  poor, 
sliall  cr>-  himself  and  not  be  heard,  Prov.  xxi.  13. 
Judgment  without  mercy  shall  be  to  him  that  shows 
no  mercy.  Jam.  ii.  1.3.  In  vain  he  seeks  mercy  out 
of  himself,  that  had  none  within  himself.  Woe  to 
thee  that  spoilcst,  for  thou  shalt  be  spoiled!  Isa. 
xxxiii.  1.  It  is  just  that  they  who  ruin  others, 
should  be  ruined  themselves.  "  If  ye  bite  and  devour 
one  another,  take  heed  ye  be  not  consumed  one  of 
another,"  Gal.  v.  15.  If  the  greater  serpent  devours 
the  less,  there  is  a  dragon  to  devour  him.  The  fire 
of  the  Sodomites'  lusts  flamed  up  to  heaven,  there- 
fore heaven's  fire  of  wrath  flamed  down  upon  them. 
Nadab  and  Abihu  offered  strange  fire,  and  therefore 
they  suffered  strange  fire.  Lev.  x.  2.  They  have 
gone  a  whoring  from  their  God ;  therefore  their 
daughters  shall  commit  whoredom,  and  their  spouses 
adultery,  Hos.  iv.  12,  13  :  spiritual  fornication  shall 
be  punished  with  corporal  pollution.  If  we  consider 
that  shop  of  pride,  Isa.  iii.,  we  shall  find  every 
ornament  made  an  abhorment.  Instead  of  sweet 
smell,  there  shall  be  a  stink;  for  the  girdle,  a  rent; 
for  well-set  hair,  baldness,  ver.  24.  Observe  how- 
tile  particular  plagues  are  proportioned  to  the  nature 
of  the  particular  sins.  Tliey  loved  the  redness  of 
wine,  they  shall  feel  the  redness  of  eyes,  Prov.  xxiii. 
29.  Do  they  detain  Abraham's  wife?  none  of  their 
wives  shall  be  pregnant,  Gen.  xx.  18.    Tills  Job  ac- 


knowledged to  be  just ;  "  If  mine  heart  have  been 
deceived  by  a  woman,  then  let  ray  wife  grind  unto 
another,"  Job  xxxi.  U,  10.  Beasts  they  worshipped, 
and  by  beasts  lliey  shall  be  devoured.  That  they 
miglit  know  wherewithal  a  man  sinneth,  by  the 
same  he  shall  also  be  punished,  Wisd.  xi.  15.  Let 
not  the  people  break  through  unto  the  Lord,  lest  the 
Lord  break  forth  upon  them,  Exod.  xix.  24.  Jonah 
crossed  to  the  sea,  therefore  he  was  lost  in  the  sea. 
He  would  needs  to  the  water,  he  shall  have  water 
enough.  Their  flesli  was  torn  with  briers  and  thorns, 
that  were  briers  and  tliorns  to  tear  others,  Judg.  viii. 
16.  "They  have  shed  the  blood  of  thy  saints,  and 
thou  hast  given  them  blood  to  drink,"  Rev.  xvi.  6  ; 
as  Tomyris  gave  Cyrus  :  to  give  one  blood,  is  to  put 
him  to  death.  I  will  cause  thee  to  be  slain,  as  men 
are  slain  in  the  burning  rage  of  wrath  and  jealousy. 
Thou  didst  lay  open  thy  nakedness  in  sin,  I  will 
therefore  lay  open  thy  nakedness  in  shame,  Ezek. 
xvi.  37 — 39.  To  allow  the  sins  of  others,  is  to  be- 
come guilty  of  the  same  sins :  as  Christ  condemned 
the  living  Jews  for  killing  of  Zacharias,  whom  their 
ancestors  slew  many  ages  before  ;  because  they  ap- 
proved their  courses,  and  therefore  justly  inherited 
their  fathers'  sins  and  judgments.  Matt,  xxiii.  35. 

I  might  be  endless  in  the  prosecution  of  this  doc- 
trine. "They  shall  bury  in  Tophet,  till  there  be  no 
place,"  Jer.  vii.  32.  In  Tophet  they  had  committed 
that  monstrous  abomination,  burning  their  children 
in  the  fire  to  Moloch  ;  in  Tophet  they  shall  find  de- 
struction. The  Jews  report  that  in  Tophet  there 
was  a  deep  pit  or  ditch,  called  the  moutli  of  hell, 
never  filled ;  in  that  pit  the  Chaldeans  threw  their 
slain  bodies.  "  His  lord  commanded  him  to  be  sold, 
and  his  wife,  and  children,  and  all  that  he  had,"  Matt, 
xviii.  25.  Perhaps  he  sinned  in  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren, therefore  was  punished  in  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren. He  might  turn  his  wife  into  an  idol,  and  set 
her  in  the  place  of  God;  he  might  be  indulgent  to 
the  vices  of  his  children ;  therefore,  "  Let  his  chil- 
dren be  fatherless,  and  liis  wife  a  widow,"  Psal.  eix. 
9.  How  usual  is  it  for  men  to  obey  the  will  of  their 
wives  before  the  will  of  God!  How  just  is  it  with 
the  Lord  to  suffer  the  wife  so  luxuriously  allowed, 
to  dote  on  forbidden  pleasures,  and  for  another's 
sake  to  break  her  faith  with  her  husband  who  for 
her  sake  had  broke  his  faith  with  God !  Why  doth 
such  a  man  find  ftmlt  ?  he  doth  by  his  servile  aflbrd- 
ments  what  he  can  to  make  his  wife  a  harlot,  and 
then  complains  that  she  is  so.  Immoderate  diet,  in- 
ordinate will,  immodest  apparel,  himself  proudly 
vouchsafes  her :  what  are  t  nese  but  midwives  to 
bring  forth  that  shame  he  is  loth  to  hear  of  ?  What 
more  usual  than  to  buy  places  in  reversions,  expect- 
ant on  the  lives  of  three,  four,  six,  to  be  served  and 
expired,  before  theirs  bear  date  ?  Therefore  what 
more  just,  than  to  cut  them  short,  and  extend  the 
decaying  terms  of  the  other  ?  "  Let  his  days  be  few, 
and  another  take  his  office,"  Psal.  eix.  8.  They 
have  admitted  invasions  upon  their  own  honesty, 
secretly  to  wish  that  the  days  of  others  might  be 
few,  that  they  might  take  their  office  ;  therefore 
shall  their  own  days  be  few,  and  another  take  their 
office.  The  proverb  fits  them.  He  that  waits  for  dead 
men's  shoes,  shall  go  barefoot.  The  rivei-s  that  Pha- 
raoh bloodied  with  the  slain  infants,  are  turned  into 
biood ;  that  he  might  read  the  colour  of  his  sin  in  the 
sanguine  waters.  Thus  murderous  men,  so  prodigal  in 
sluicing  out  blood,  have  been  affronted  and  affrighted 
with  bloody  visions.  They  think  their  eyes  see  no- 
thing but  blood,  their  ears  hear  nothing  but  the 
sound  of  blood,  all  their  meat  tastes  of  blood,  their 
drink  hath  a  bloody  colour,  the  very  ways  they 
travel  are  sanguine ;   they  dream  of  nothing  but 


262 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


blood,  till  their  heads,  like  Nero's,  be  soaked  in 
blood :  Thou  hast  thirsted  for  blood,  of  blood  take 
thy  fill.  This  suffering  could  not  even  David  escape; 
liis  house  was  haunted  with  the  sword.  He  sinned 
in  a  pi-oud  numbering  of  his  people,  therefore  wiis 
punished  in  shortening  the  number  of  his  people. 

Herodias'  daughter,  that  like  a  dancing  whirligig 
footed  away  the  head  of  John  Baptist,  was  herself 
cut  shorter  by  the  head  with  ice.  Cccsar  had  undone 
three  and  twenty  countries;  he  died  of  three  and 
twenty  wounds.  Cra?sus,  that  loved  gold  insatiately, 
had  of  gold  his  throat  full.  Many  penurious  fathers 
are  so  scraping  for  their  children,  that  they  ravish 
the  poor  children  of  God  ;  but  the  hand  of  the  Lord 
shall  be  against  their  young  lions,  Nah.  ii.  13.  They 
join  house  to  house,  and  field  to  field;  but  their 
children  shall  be  vagabonds,  and  beg ;  seeking  their 
bread  out  of  their  desolate  places,  Psal.  cix.  10. 
How  many  a  covetous  mole  is  now  digging  a  house 
in  the  earth  for  his  posterity,  and  never  dreams  of 
this  sequel,  that  God  should  make  those  children 
beggars,  for  whose  sake  the  fathers  have  made  so 
many  beggars  !  This  is  a  quittance  which  the  sire 
will  not  believe,  but  as  sure  as  God  is  just  the  son 
shall  feel.  Now  if  he  had  but  leave  to  come  out  of 
hell  for  an  hour,  and  see  this,  how  should  he  curse 
his  folly  !  sure,  if  possible,  it  would  double  the  pain 
of  his  infernal  torture.  Be  moderate,  then,  ye  that 
so  insatiately  devour,  as'  if  you  had  an  infinite  capa- 
city ;  you  overload  your  stomachs,  it  is  fit  they  should 
be  disburdened  in  shameful  spewing.  How  quickly 
doth  a  worldly-minded  man  grow  a  defrauder,  from 
a  defrauder  to  a  usurer,  from  a  usurer  to  an  oppressor, 
from  an  oppressor  to  an  extortioner  !  if  his  eyes  do 
but  tell  his  heart  of  a  booty,  his  heart  will  charge 
his  hand,  and  he  must  have  it,  Micah  ii.  2.  They  do 
but  see  it,  like  it,  and  take  it.  ObseiTe  their  due  pay- 
ment. "  Let  the  extortioner  catch  all  that  he  hath," 
Psal.  cix.  II  :  they  got  all  by  extortion,  they  shall 
lose  all  by  extortion.  They  spoiled  their  neighbours, 
strangers  shall  spoil  them.  How  often  hath  the 
poor  widow  and  orphan  cried,  wept,  groaned  to  them 
for  mercy,  and  found  none  !  They  have  taught  God 
how  to  deal  with  themselves  ;  "  let  there  be  none 
to  extend  mercy  to  them,"  Psal.  cix.  12.  They  have 
advanced  houses  for  a  memorial,  and  dedicated  lands 
to  their  own  names,  Psal.  xlix.  II;  all  to  get  them  a 
name;  and  even  in  this  they  shall  be  crossed:  In 
the  next  generation  their  name  shall  be  quite  put 
out,  Psal.  cix.  13. 

Our  neighbours  of  Rome  presume  that  they  have 
the  keys  of  heaven  and  hell :  some  they  bring  down 
from  heaven  to  hell,  as  they  did  that  blessed 
queen,  Elizabeth  ;  others  they  lift  up  from  hell 
to  heaven,  canonizing  bloody  traitors  :  they  censure 
as  they  will,  not  as  God  will.  But  their  punishment 
is  fitted  by  Christ ;  "  With  what  judgment  ye  judge, 
ye  shall  be  judged,"  Matt.  vii.  2 ;  when  they  shall 
find  that  they  have  mistaken  the  keys,  and  learn 
what  it  is  to  condemn,  by  being  condemned.  Be- 
cause they  have  put  away  sacred  marriage,  therefore 
they  are  given  up  to  unclean  cloisters,  and  unholy 
practices. 

Not  to  be  favourable  to  ourselves  at  home  ;  what  is 
the  reason  that  this  land  is  so  defiled  with  blood, 
and  that  (not  feeling  the  sword  of  an  enemy)  a  man 
complains,  I  am  wounded  in  the  house  of  my  friends  ? 
Zech.  xiii.  6.  Nor  is  this  alone  in  those  unmanly 
trials  of  manhood  in  the  fields  ;  but  even  in  the 
streets,  in  the  houses ;  no  place  is  safe,  but  a  mis- 
taken word  is  requited  with  a  stab  or  some  mortal 
blow.  And  when  this  comes  to  be  censured,  it  is 
found  chance-medley,  at  worst  manslaughter,  and  that 
perhaps  self-defence.     Whereupon   these  homicides 


are  so  fleshed  with  blood,  that  they  make  no  more  to 
kill  a  man,  than  a  fly.  Oh,  they  may  mend,  and  be- 
come good  Christians,  good  subjects:  but  that  sin  is 
rarely  repented  of.  If  he  had  been  cut  off  for  the 
first  murder,  the  second  man  had  been  alive.  Why 
do  we  presume  to  cozen  God  by  the  warrant  of  law, 
to  purloin  the  maintenance  of  the  minister,  and  to  put 
ourselves  in  God's  place  ?  What  is  this,  but  to  point 
God  the  way  to  plague  us,  and  to  send  upon  us  a 
famine  of  preaching,  who  have  brought  a  famine 
upon  the  preachers  ?  Is  it  not  just  with  God.  to  take 
away  the  lamp  from  that  nation,  which  hath  taken 
aw-ay  the  holy  oil  that  should  niaintam  it  ?  And, 
Lord,  that  I  might  herein  be  a  false  prophet !  I  fear 
that  England  shall  want  the  gospel,  when  the  bar- 
barians receive  it ;  because  England  had  the  gospel, 
and  would  not  give  a  penny  to  keep  it.  We  hope 
this  nation  shall  live  to  see  the  fall  of  Rome  and 
antichrist :  so  we  may,  if  our  sins,  and  among  the 
rest  unthankful  sacrilege,  do  not  first  give  Rome  a 
triumph  over  us.  Consider  how  immediately  upon 
this  charge  of  rendering  the  teacher  his  portion,  the 
Holy  Ghost  infers,  "  Be  not  deceived ;  God  is  not 
mocked  :  for  whatsoever  a  man  sows,  that  shall  he 
also  reap,"  Gal.  vi.  7-  You  may  deceive  yourselves, 
you  shall  never  mock  God  :  you  shall  drink  as  you 
have  brewed.  Thus  when  we  see  surfeits  do  we  not 
point  at  gluttony  precedent  ?  when  a  body  is  drowned 
with  a  dropsy,  do  we  not  say.  There  hath  gone  an 
inundation  of  drink  before  ?  When  that  Neapolitan 
evil  hath  wasted  the  marrow  and  rotted  the  flesh,  we 
know  this  fire  was  fetched  from  the  hearth  of  iniijui- 
ty.  The  matter  of  sin  is  written  with  capital  letters 
in  the  punishment.  God  is  just,  he  hath  ways  enough 
to  punish  us,  we  have  no  way  to  escape  him.  If  he 
doth  not  punish  the  adulterer  with  rottenness  in  liis 
bones,  yet  he  can  add  fire  to  fii'e ;  to  the  flame 
of  lusr,  the  flame  of  hell.  If  the  usurer  escape  bonds 
here,  yet  he  that  bound  others  above,  may  be  bound 
himself  below.  The  litigious  may  get  the  better, 
until  God  comes  to  enter  his  action  against  him. 
Tliere  is  no  evasion  but  seasonable  repentance ;  let 
us  punish  ourselves,  that  God  be  not  put  to  do  it. 
Let  us  correct  di'unkenness  by  abstinence,  pride  by 
humility,  covetousness  by  charity,  cruelty  by  mercy, 
uneleanness  by  chastity,  anger  by  patience,  usury  by 
restitution.  "This  is  to  take  a  congruous  and  propor- 
tionate vengeance  on  ourselves,  that  God  may  spare 
us  in  the  day  of  reckoning. 

7.  "  Damnation  "  is  principally  taken  for  the  cen- 
sure or  sentence  condemning ;  as  the  sentence  follows 
the  trial,  and  the  execution  the  sentence :  here  it  in- 
tends the  execution  of  the  judgment.  But  if  damna- 
tion be  meant  for  the  execution,  how  doth  it  precede 
the  sentence  ?  Seeing  it  seems  very  unjust  to  exe- 
cute a  man  before  his  judgment  ;  after  that  old  scan- 
dal of  the  stannaries  law,  that  hanged  a  man  in  the 
forenoon,  and  sat  in  judgment  on  him  in  the  after- 
noon. The  day  of  judgment  is  the  second  appearing 
of  Christ.  Now'  for  evil  men  to  receive  their  damn- 
ation beforehand,  were  to  antedate  the  sentence, 
and  to  execute  persons  unjudged.  It  is  easily 
answered  :  Every  inibeliever  must  pass  through  two 
judgment  days  :  a  particular,  when  his  guilty  soul 
leaves  his  unfortunate  body  ;  a  general,  when  both 
body  and  soul  having  been  co-instruments  of  sin, 
shall  be  made  co-partners  in  punishment.  Hence 
the  soul,  as  it  hath  been  the  principal  in  offending, 
being  that  part  of  man  wherein  God  hath  placed  na- 
tural reason  and  knowledge  of  his  will,  shall  be  the 
first  in  suffering.  Leaving  the  body  a  dead  and  in- 
sensible piece  of  earth,  while  herself  grows  under 
the  burden  of  unsupporlable  torments  alone,  till  the 
body  comes  to  suffer  with  it. 


Ver.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OP  ST.  PETER. 


2G3 


If  it  be  olijected,  What  need  any  second  judgmcnl, 
seeing  the  world  stands  wholly  either  of  believers  or 
imbeUevers  ?  And  the  believer  shall  not  come  into 
condemnation,  but  is  already  passed  from  death  unto 
life,  John  v.  24;  and  the  nnbeliever  is  already  con- 
demned ;  why  then  any  further  judgment  ?  Yes, 
for  though  the  believer  shall  not  come  into  the  judg- 
ment of  condemnation,  yet  he  must  also  pass  the 
judgment  of  absolution ;  and  as  he  is  made  just  by 
Christ,  so  must  he  before  all  the  world  be  pronounced. 
The  first  justifies  the  person,  the  second  justifies 
God's  righteousness.  So  the  unbeliever  is  condemned 
already  in  efl'ect  three  ways.  1.  By  the  predeter- 
mined will  of  God ;  God  did  foresee  and  fore-appoint 
his  damnation,  as  it  is  the  ])unishment  of  sin,  and 
execution  of  his  justice.  2.  By  the  word  of  God, 
which  sets  down  his  (Linination,  finding  him  in  the 
number  of  those  to  wlumi  it  is  due,  and  out  of  Christ, 
by  whom  alone  he  might  escape  it.  3.  By  the  ver- 
dict of  his  own  conscience;  which  doth  so  judge 
him  here,  as  God  will  judge  him  hereafter;  there- 
fore it  is  called,  ;i  deputy  god.  But  if  there  be  a 
precedent  damnation  upon  tne  reprobates,  why  is  it 
here  said,  their  damnation  hastens  ?  That  cannot 
be  called  closely  proptnquant,  nearly  future,  which 
is  actually  present,  yea,  which  hath  been  before.  If 
they  were  damned  in  the  purpose  of  God  for  their 
sin,  and  are  damned  in  the  word  of  God  judging  sin, 
how  are  they  said  to  be  hereafter  damned,  or,  their 
damnation  lingers  not?  1  answer:  for  their  former 
damnation  in  the  decree  of  God,  they  know  it  not  ; 
for  their  present  damnation  in  the  word  of  God,  they 
mind  it  not  ;  and  for  the  damnation  of  their  own 
conscience,  they  feel  it  not.  Therefore  the  execu- 
tion of  this  shall  fall  upon  them,  and  then  they 
shall  know  it,  mind  it,  feel  it. 

Thus  death  shall  execute  his  office  to  kill  their 
bodies,  and  hell  his  office  to  receive  their  souls,  and 
the  devil  his  office  to  inllict  torments,  when  God 
hath  pronounced  on  them  the  particular  sentence  of 
his  justice.  This  damnation,  then,  is  that  fearful 
punishment  of  sin  imposed  on  reprobates,  made  up 
of  an  extremity,  universality,  and  eternity  of  tor- 
ments; so  extreme  that  they  reftise  addition,  so  uni- 
versal tlwt  no  part  hath  exemption,  so  everlasting 
that  they  never  admit  conclusion.  Their  extremity 
is  undefined,  their  universality  unconfined,  their  eter- 
nity without  hope  of  end. 

But  how  doth  this  stand  with  the  justice  of  God, 
for  finite  transgression  to  give  infinite  destruction  ? 
Sins  are  the  actions  of  time,  done  in  a  temporality, 
limited  in  a  certain  space.  Now  if  the  punishment 
be  proportionate  to  the  sin,  how  can  the  one  be  tem- 
poral, the  other  eternal;  sin  transient,  plague  per- 
manent ?  I  answer,  this  equity  and  equality  is  ob- 
servable in  our  civil  pimitions  :  the  thief  despatcheth 
a  robbery  in  half  an  hour;  he  lies  many  days  in 
irons  for  this,  and  at  last  answers  it  with  his  neck. 
Adultery  is  soon  perpetrated  ;  a  long  and  infamous 
shame  depends  upon  it.  Treason  may  be  a  villany 
of  no  length;  yet  the  delinquent  finds  mercy  if  he 
but  lie  in  prison  for  it  all  his  life,  and  lose  his  pos- 
sessions for  ever.  A  man  quickly  gives  himself  a 
wound,  but  the  surgeon  cannot  so  quickly  heal  him. 
David  was  not  long  in  killing  I'riah  with  the  sword, 
yet  did  the  sword  never  depart  from  his  house.  A  man 
commits  murder  but  once,  and  it  was  soon  done :  yet 
he  is  condemned  to  the  perpetual  galleys.  There 
was  one  sick  thirty-eight  years,  and  Christ  says,  this 
was  because  of  his  sin,  John  v.  14.  Consider  some 
reasons  why  their  punishment  is  not  less  than  damn- 
ation eternal. 

1.  Because  their  sins  are  infinity  in  number.  Da- 
vid propounils  a  How  oft ;  who  can  find  a  So  oft  for 


it  ?  Who  can  tell  how  oft  he  offcndeth  ?  Psal.  xix. 
12.  No  man.  The  hairs  of  a  man's  head  may  be 
told ;  the  stars  appear  in  multitudes,  yet  some  have 
luidertaken  to  recKon  them ;  but  no  arithmetic  can 
number  our  sins.  Before  we  can  recount  a  thousand, 
we  shall  commit  ten  thousand  more ;  and  so  rather 
multiply  by  addition,  than  divide  by  subtraction : 
there  is  no  possibility  of  numeration.  Like  Hydra's 
head,  while  we  are  cutting  off  twenty  by  repentance, 
we  find  a  hundred  more  grown  up.  It  is  just,  then, 
that  infinite  sorrows  should  follow  infinite  sins. 

2.  Because  they  are  committed  against  an  infinite 
Majesty.  He  that  clippeth  the  king's  coin,  or  de- 
faceth  the  king's  arms,  or  counterfeits  the  broad 
seal  of  England,  or  the  privy  seal,  is  adjudged  to 
die  as  a  traitor ;  because  this  fact  offers  a  disgrace 
against  the  person  of  the  king :  much  more  doth  he 
deserve  the  second  death,  that  violates  the  law  of  the 
King  of  kings  ;  seeing  that  breach  doth  not  only 
tend  to  the  defacing  of  his  own  image  in  us,  but  re- 
flects upon  the  person  of  God  himself,  who  in  every 
sin  is  contemned  and  dishonoured.  "  If  one  man 
sin  against  another,  the  judge  shall  judge  him :  but 
if  a  man  sin  against  the  Lord,  who  shall  entreat  for 
him  ? "  1  Sam.  ii.  25.  Compare  protash  with  apo- 
tlosis,  sequel  with  sequel,  the  former  with  the  latter, 
by  the  rules  of  opposition.  What  doth  the  former 
affirm  ?  no  more  but  a  civil  meditation  for  a  tem- 
poral satisfaction.  What  doth  the  latter  deny?  a 
religious  or  divine  intercession  for  eternal  satisfac- 
tion. Sins  receive  their  nature  from  their  objects 
in  a  formal  consideration :  to  be  plain  with  all  ca- 
pacities, sins  take  their  nature  fi-om  their  aim. 
When  the  will  from  within  shall  give  the  king  of 
Aram's  charge,  "  Fight  neither  with  small  nor  great, 
save  only  with  the  king  of  Israel,"  1  Kings  xxii.  31, 
this  must  needs  be  immediate  treason.  According 
to  worth ;  that  sin  is  foulest  that  strikes  at  the  fair- 
est. Therefore  the  sin  directed  against  an  infinite 
Majesty  deserves  infinite  penalty.  Ask  a  recusant 
what  that  servant  merits,  which,  like  an  Onesimus, 
is  a  fugitive  from  his  master.  What  will  he  kiv,  but 
the  whipping-post,  or  house  of  correction?  But 
what  deserves  he  that  changeth  his  God,  his  religion  ? 
yet  there  must  be  no  whipping-post  for  such  a  rene- 
gade, no  correction-house  for  him;  whatsoever  he 
condignly  suffers,  is  held  persecution.  Ask  the  sacri- 
legious what  shall  be  done  to  him  that  steals ;  Hang 
him,  he  cries.  But  what  shall  be  done  to  him  that 
robs  his  God  ?  here  he  can  see  no  felony  :  he  shall 
feel  it.  Ask  a  man  abused  in  his  name  whither  he 
will  send  his  reviler :  he  presently  curseth  liim,  as 
if  he  meant  him  to  hell ;  but  howsoever  he  will  send 
him  to  the  consistory.  IBut  whither  shall  he  go  that 
dishonours  the  name  of  God?  Doth  that  bear  no 
action  ?  No,  cursing  and  swearing  infers  no  defama- 
tion. Yes,  he  is  damned  of  his  own  self,  Tit.  iii.  11. 
If  they  could  satisfy  an  infinite  justice  at  once  to- 
gether, their  plague,  though  it  admits  of  no  latitude 
or  weight,  being  a  universal  extremity,  yet  it  should 
have  an  end.  But  what  to  the  imcapable  subject  is 
defective  in  place,  must  be  made  up  in  durance.  He 
shall  not  come  forth,  till  he  hath  paid  the  uttermost 
farthing.  Matt.  v.  26.  He  might  pay  this  at  once  if 
he  had  it ;  but  because  he  hath  it  not,  he  must  be 
paying  it  continually,  and  answer  it  with  his  own 
imprisomnent  for  ever. 

3.  Because  they  fnistrate  a  price  of  redemption 
that  is  infinite.  Did  the  Son  of  God  accept  their  na- 
ture, shed  his  precious  blood,  and  pay  that  infinite 
debt  to  God's  justice  for  all  believers;  and  will  they 
make  void  to  themselves  that  work  of  unspeakable 
goodness  ?  He  is  worthy  of  eternal  tlamnation,  that 
despiscth  the  redemption  of  him  that  is  eternal.    It 


264 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPOX  THE 


Chap.  I[. 


is  just  will]  Christ  to  forsake  them  fur  ever,  that  for- 
sake him  for  ever.  There  remains  no  more  sacrifice 
for  them,  Ileb.  x.  26;  therefore  till  Christ  die  again 
they  must  lie  in  hell,  that  is,  fjr  ever.  They  that 
fall  from  everlasting  grace,  justly  meet  with  everlast- 
ing wrath ;  from  salvation  eternal,  to  destruction 
eternal.  Every  drop  of  Christ's  blood  doth  save  the 
Ijclieving  soul  for  ever:  if  that  inestimable  treasure 
be  trod  under  foot,  the  soul  is  justly  lost  for  ever. 
Who  pities  that  man's  death,  who  having  the  medi- 
cine by  him  which  can  help  him,  dies  and  will  not 
take  it?  Serjeants  are  out  to  arrest  thee,  the  law 
hath  condemned  thee;  we  may  say  of  thee  as  of  a 
sentenced  malefactor,  thou  art  dead  in  law:  speed 
then  to  Christ;  if  thou  be  taken  before  thou  gel  to 
thy  Surety,  thou  wilt  be  laid  up  for  ever. 

4.  Because  they  are  unthankful  for  blessings  and 
graces  infinite.  God  gives  them  life  while  they  can 
live  ;  if  they  be  ingrate,  he  will  give  them  death 
while  fliey  can  die.  His  mercy  strove  the  utmost  to 
make  them  blessed,  his  justice  shall  strive  the  utmost 
to  make  them  cursed.  If  any  deliverance,  prefer- 
ment, or  content  come  to  an  unthankful  person,  let 
him  know  that  it  is  but  his  impropriation,  God  will 
make  him  pay  for  it.  Contribution  of  blessings  re- 
quires retribution  of  thanks,  or  will  bring  distribu- 
tion of  plagues.  We  have  many  adeodates,  but  re- 
turn few  deodalea.  God  gives  freely  and  continually, 
so  let  us  praise  him  with  the  voice  and  the  heart : 
not  the  voice  alone,  for  then  the  heart  is  tied ;  not 
the  heart  alone,  for  then  we  are  tongue-tied.  Con- 
tinually ;  for  if  thou  canst  find  one  hour  wherein  he 
doth  not  give  thee  something,  take  that  hour  to  re- 
turn him  nothing.  Yet  is  there  thanks  enough  owing 
for  the  former;  but  there  is  no  new  hour  which  is 
not  witness  of  new  benefits.  Thy  mercies  are  new 
every  morning,  Lam.  iii.  23.  Christ  hath  bouglit  us 
both  in  body  and  soul ;  we  must  glorify  him  in  both, 
or  he  will  destroy  us  in  both.  He  will  be  glorified 
either  in  our  voluntaiy  obedience  or  necessary  venge- 
ance. Thus  how  easy  is  it  for  a  repi'obate  to  bring 
upon  himself  damnation  !  The  more  God  loads  him 
with  benefits,  the  more  he  loads  himself  with  ac- 
counts. Be  thankful,  this  is  the  way  to  ease  thy 
reckoning ;  fiee  to  Christ,  this  is  the  way  to  get  it 
quite  taken  off.  As  Alcibiades  told  the  steward, 
when  he  complained  of  his  trouble  about  making  his 
accounts,  that  his  care  were  better  bestowed,  how 
to  make  no  account  at  all,  than  how  to  make  his  ac- 
counts even.  If  our  faith  have  gotten  Christ  to 
account  for  us,  we  shall  make  no  reckoning  at  all. 
Eveiy  benefit  forgotten  in  present  gratitude,  must  be 
remembered  in  future  servitude.  Thus  he  that  re- 
ceives infinite  favours,  and  remains  unthankful,  de- 
serves infinite  pains. 

5.  Because  they  have  omitted  infinite  duties.  The 
hours  that  are  not  spent  in  obedience  against  sin,  are 
spent  in  sin  against  obedience.  Wicked  men  think 
they  commit  but  a  single  sin,  when  indeed  they  al- 
ways double  it;  for  while  they  do  what  they  should 
not,  they  leave  undone  what  they  should,  and  so  bind 
two  sins  together.  The  sabbath  ranger,  that  is  gone 
about  the  business  of  the  pot,  thinks  he  only  ofl'ends 
in  his  excess,  forgets  his  not  serving  God  at  the 
church.  It  is  one  sin  to  be  absent  from  the  house 
of  God,  though  he  did  not  admit  the  other,  to  be 
present  in  the  house  of  sin.  Uoth  the  oppressor 
barely  transgress  in  wringing  the  poor?  yea,  at  that 
very  time  he  shoidd  have  relieved  the  iio'or.  Think 
not  thy  hours  waste  papers,  to  fill  them  up  with 
nothing  but  blanks,  as  if  God  would  take  this  for  a 
good  reckoning.  When  the  book  of  thv  conscience 
comes  to  be  opened,  all  those  blanks  are  filled  up 
with  indictments ;  and  thou  shalt  find  it  a  nerjmnn, 


which  thou  thoughtest  a  ■nequicquam.  Xo  greatness 
of  blood  can  privilege  idleness,  no  more  than  mucli 
money  can  justify  usury.  When  God  calls  thee  to 
account,  Why  wast  thou  not  industrious  ?  It  will  be 
no  good  answer.  Because  thou  liast  made  me  ricli. 
Xow  that  these  omissions  deseiTc  eternal  destruction, 
it  is  manifest,  because  we  are  bound  to  the  duties. 
Therefore  in  the  form  of  Christ's  judicial  proceeding, 
the  wicked  are  condemned  for  sins  of  omission,  per- 
petrations not  being  spoken  of,  as  if  there  were  no 
question  of  their  guiltiness  ;  to  show  that  there 
is  damnation  enough  wrapped  up  in  those  very  omis- 
sions. Xeither  shall  they  be  only  punished  with  the 
])rivation  of  all  joys  and  peace,  and  no  further,  for 
then  they  were  mere  indiflcrences ;  but  with  the 
position  of  torments,  to  declare  that  good  works 
were  imposed  ;  not  voluntary,  but  necessary.  Now 
if  these  be  as  innumerable  as  our  waking  minutes, 
how  infinite  must  be  the  unrepentant's  destruction 
for  them ! 

6.  Because  sin  is  infinite  in  their  desires,  and  the 
desire  of  sinning  God  judgeth  sin  itself.  As  the  de- 
sire of  grace  is  grace,  and  the  desire  of  repentance  is 
one  degree  of  repentance ;  so  the  concupiscence  of 
iniquity  is  the  iniquity.  He  that  lusts  after  a  woman, 
hath  already  committed  adultery  with  her  in  his 
heart.  Matt.  v.  2S.  Now,  what  is  more  insatiate  than 
the  desires  of  the  wicked  ?  They  enlarge  them- 
selves beyond  all  bounds,  and  are  scarce  limited  with 
the  world.  How  unsatisfied  is  the  adulterer's  desire ! 
he  goes  from  woman  to  woman,  as  the  sick  man  from 
fountain  to  fountain,  and  none  can  quench  his  thirst. 
For  woman  is  not  the  bounds  of  lust,  but  womankind. 
Love's  number  is  no  number  but  one  :  he  that  errs 
from  that  is  incessant  in  concupiscence,  and,  if  it 
were  possible,  would  embrace  all  the  beauties  he 
sees  in  his  luxuriant  arms.  Vice  hath  no  mean, 
measure,  nor  cessation,  till  it  hath  no  being.  One 
wife  is  the  desire  of  love,  but  lust  would  have  infi- 
nite. And  though  it  be  straitened  to  enjoy  but  one 
at  once,  yet  it  hath  an  infinite  desire  to  many;  nei- 
tlicr  doth  all  the  variety  of  the  earth  change  it ; 
whensoever  his  pleasure  is  served,  he  is  the  same 
man  lie  was  before,  and  begins  again  to  desire  afresh. 
For  lust  is  still  a  beginning,  and  woidd  be  more  com- 
mon than  any  one,  could  it,  as  other  sins,  be  done 
alone.  But  age  ceaseth  it,  therefore  not  infinite ; 
then  desire  faileth,  Eccl.xii.  5:  yet  many  in  age, 
though  they  cannot  desire,  yet  desire  to  desire. 
Xow  an  infinite  fire  of  lust  must  have  an  infinite  fire 
of  hell.  What  limits  hath  the  ambitious  desire? 
what  degrees  of  honour,  though.  Phaeton-like,  to  sit 
in  the  chariot  of  the  sun,  would  content  him?  Let 
him  reduce  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  to  one 
monarchy,  and  possess  as  much  as  ever  the  de- 
vil promised  Christ  ;  yet  ipstual  inf(plix  atigiisto 
liiiiilc  immdi,  he  wants  elbow-room.  He  calls  for 
more  worlds,  or  is  angrj'  that  God  made  this  no  big- 
ger ;  yea,  erects  his  statue,  and  would  be  worshipped 
as  the  Lord  himself.  He  thought  the  whole  earth 
too  little  for  him,  and  why  should  God  think  the 
whole  hell  too  much  for  him  ?  The  angel  that  would 
have  all  the  glory  in  heaven,  is  justly  damned  to  all 
the  pains  in  hell.  If  thou  be  infinite  in  thy  sinning, 
why  may  not  God  be  infinite  in  thy  jiunishing? 

What  confines  have  ever  hedged  \n  covetousncbs  ? 
who  ever  lieard  it  say,  O  Lord,  I  have  enough  ?  A 
handful  of  corn  cast  into  the  bushel  makes  it  the 
fidler ;  put  water  into  the  sea,  it  hath  by  so  much  the 
more;  but  "  he  that  loveth  silver,  shall  not  be  satis- 
fied with  silver,"  Eecl.  v.  10.  One  desire  may  In- 
satisfied,  but  another  comes.  Crc.ictI  amor  nummi 
quantum  ipsa  pecunia  crescit.  Natural  desires  are 
finite;  as  the  tnirst  is  satisfied  with  drink,  the  hungry 


Ver.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


265 


apf  etite  wiUi  meat.  But  unnatural  desires  arc  in- 
finite ;  as  it  is  with  the  body  in  burning  fevers,  the 
more  they  drink  tlic  more  they  thirst.  Now  as  these 
proceed  not  from  natural  causes,  but  from  diseases  ; 
so  exorbitant  afTections  arise  not  from  the  temper, 
but  from  the  distemper,  of  the  soul.  Grace  can  never 
fill  tlie  purse,  nor  wealth  fill  the  lieart.  Here  is  an 
infinite  sin  ;  why  should  it  not  have  an  infinite  jiun- 
ishment ?  Hence  covctousness  is  compared  to  lull 
itself,  for  the  near  affinity  between  them;  both  alike 
promise  at  once  to  be  satisfied.  "  Hell  and  destruc- 
tion are  never  full :  so  the  eyes  of  man  are  never 
satisfied,"  Prov.  xxvii.  20.  As  the  covetous  cnhirge 
their  mouths  to  swallow  the  earth,  so  "  hell  hath 
enlarged  herself, and  opened  her  mouth"  to  swallow 
them,  Isa.  v.  14.  Let  not  our  oppressors  now  flatter 
themselves,  that  hell  is  full,  and  there  is  no  room  for 
them ;  for  the  Lord  hath  made  it  large,  of  immense 
capacity,  Isa.  x.^.t.  3.3.  It  is  a  great  lake.  Rev.  xix., 
able  to  receive  all  that  are  cast  into  it.  If  it  were 
not  so  spacious,  and  there  seemed  to  want  room  for  op- 
pressors, vet  God  would  take  out  thieves,  and  harlots, 
and  dnmkards,  I  had  almost  said,  liars,  and  swearers, 
to  put  in  oppressors  ;  they  must  have  room.  Hell 
from  beneath  is  moved  for  them  to  meet  them  at 
their  coming,  Isa.  xiv.  9.  Hell  itself  will  come  to 
meet  them  in  state,  as  glad  to  give  them  entertain- 
ment. Now  if  the  usurer  can  Keep  himself  out  of 
the  number  of  oppressors,  he  may  hap  to  escape. 
But  are  not  their  desires  unlimited,  that  "join  field 
to  fichl,  till  there  be  no  place?"  Isa.  v.  8.  They 
would  leave  no  room  for  others,  but  engross  all  the 
earth  to  themselves ;  therefore  though  there  should 
want  room  for  others,  they  shall  have  all  hell  to 
fhcmsclves.  If  sin  have  an  infinite  desire  to  offend 
God,  God  will  have  an  infinite  hand  to  punish  it. 

7.  Grcgorj-  adds  another  reason  of  this  infinite 
punislmient.  He  that  dies  without  repentance,  is 
presupposed  by  justice,  that  if  he  could  have  lived  for 
ever  he  would  have  sinned  for  ever.  And  it  is  just, 
if  thou  wilt  rcbcUiously  sin  so  long  as  thou  livcst, 
God  should  punish  so  long  as  he  liveth.  Nothing  is 
more  proportionable,  than  that  those  who  will  sin 
against  (iod  so  long  as  they  have  a  being,  without 
repentance,  should  perish  from  God  so  long  as  he 
hath  a  being,  without  mercy.  It  is  the  Lord's  just 
judgment,  ut  nunquam  mortuus  careal  supplicio,  qui 
nunquam  virus  carere  voluil  ueccato ;  ut  7iullus  delur 
iniquo  lerminus  ullionis,  qui  quamdiu  raluil,  habere 
noluil  leriniiiuiH  criminis.  (Greg.)  They  would  have 
lived  for  ever,  that  they  might  have  sinned  for 
ever.  Their  injustice  would  put  no  date  to  their 
sins,  God's  justice  shall  put  no  date  to  their  suffer- 
ings. On  earth,  he  that  will  still  run  in  debt  while 
he  lives  at  liberty,  shall  at  last  be  east  into  prison  to 
lie  while  he  lives  in  miser)-.  Shall  man  have  tliis 
law  against  his  brother,  and  not  God  against  his 
creature  ?  Yes,  there  will  come  a  day  when  all 
reckonings  shall  be  cast  over,  when  justice  must  be 
satisfied  to  the  full ;  at  least  so  full  as  the  delinquent 
can  satisfy  it,  not  with  ready  money,  the  merits  of 
Christ :  then,  with  eternal  durance,  he  must  lie  by 
it  for  ever,  till  he  hath  paid  the  uttermost  farthing. 
Matt.  V.  "it; ;  and,  which  is  lamentable,  he  hath  not 
one  farthing  towards  it.  The  reprobate  cannot  do 
many  tilings  he  would :  the  needy  drunkard  cannot 
be  a  usurer  ;  the  base  pilferer  cannot  be  a  rich  com- 
monwcaltlrs  oppressor  :  no  thanks,  they  would  but 
they  cannot.  The  power,  not  the  will,  is  wanting  in 
them  to  anv  wickedness.  Now  it  is  just,  he  that 
doeth  what  lie  will,  must  suffer  what  God  will. 

8.  The  sinner  is  often  admonished,  often  threaten- 
ed;  dealt  withal  mildly,  and  taken  up  roundly; 
now  tempted  with  a  crown,  then   terrified  with'  a 


scourge ;  allured  with  the  promises  of  heaven,  af- 
frighted with  the  menaces  of  hell ;  encouraged  to 
grace  by  the  gospel,  thundered  against  for  sin  by  the 
law;  offered  either  a  cui-sed  devil  to  torment  him,  or 
a  blessed  Christ  to  save  him.  Neither  is  life  and 
death  set  before  him  only  once,  but  all  his  days : 
All  day  long  hath  God  stretched  forth  his  hands 
unto  him,  Rom.  x.  21.  This  choice  is  put  to  him  so 
long  as  he  lives  on  earth  ;  therefore  if  he  make 
election  of  sin,  it  must  stick  l.y  him  so  long  as  he 
lives  in  hell.  What  could  God  do  more  in  mercy, 
what  can  he  do  less  in  justice?  The  sinner  is  show- 
ed an  easy  way  to  salvation  ;  Believe  in  Christ  the 
remission  of  sins,  and  endeavour  in  thyself  an  auKiul- 
nient  of  life,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved.  The  publican 
said  but  only,  "God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner:" 
what  great  labour  or  pains  was  this  ?  (Chrysost.) 
Tlie  malefactor  on  the  cross  declared  three  things; 
reprehension  of  his  fellow's  sins,  confession  of  his  own 
sins,  sujiplication  for  mercy  ;  and  he  was  taken  up 
into  that  glorious  paradise.  He  that  will  not  take 
so  little  pain  to  get  so  much  ease,  is  worthy  of  little 
ease  and  much  pain.  If  men  make  God  lose  all  the 
labour  of  his  mercy  to  save  them,  he  will  not  lose  all 
the  labour  of  his  justice  to  punish  them. 

9.  Though  it  be  true  that  every  sin  is  finite  as 
considered  in  respect  of  the  act ;  as  it  is  a  transient 
action  it  is  finite,  but  it  is  infinite  in  respect  of  the 
inherence  in  the  subject.  For  the  soul  of  man  io 
immortal,  and  so  the  sin  which  sticketh  on  it  is 
made  immortal  with  it.  For  the  guilt  can  no  ways 
be  taken  from  it,  but  by  imputing  it  to  Christ.  And 
besides  the  guilt  contracted  by  the  fact,  there  is  a 
blot  that  doth  stain  the  soul ;  as  the  scarlet  or 
crimson  dye  doth  the  silk  or  wool  ;  which  can  no 
ways  be  undycd  or  gotten  out  but  by  the  blood  of  tlie 
Lamb.  All  the  saints  had  stains,  blemishes,  and 
polluted  colours;  but  they  "washed  their  robes,  and 
made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,"  Rev. 
vii.  14.  "  Such  were  you ;  but  ye  are  washed,"  ^-c. 
1  Cor.  vi.  11.  Now  those  tuqiitudes  and  aspersions 
so  dyed  in  grain  by  sin  in  the  soul,  if  they  be  not 
purged  by  Yiira,  remain  for  ever  inseparable  ;  and 
can  no  more  be  taken  from  it,  than  the  spots  from 
the  leopard,  or  the  scarlet  can  fade  till  the  cloth  be 
worn  out.  So  long  therefore  as  this  stain  abides,  the 
wrath  of  God  abides  ;  and  as  that  tincture  can  never 
be  gotten  off,  so  the  fire  of  hell  can  never  be  burnt 
out.  There  is  no  more  extinguishing  the  one,  than 
relincpiishing  the  other ;  both  remain  for  ever. 

10.  There  is  a  liabit  of  evil  in  the  wicked.  Some 
think  that  sin  in  itself  is  nothing,  because  it  hath  no 
formal  being  or  subsistence  ;  but  pimishment  is  a 
thing  of  being  and  position.  Now  sliall  that  which 
is  nothing  be  punished  with  something  ?  shall  a 
creature  be  punished  for  nothing?  This  were,  as 
David  complained  of  his  persecutors,  a  course  of  in- 
justice ;  They  hated  me  without  a  cause.  But  that 
which  is  held  nothing  in  a  positive  existence,  will  be 
found  something  in  a  privative  sufferance.  To  clear 
this  point,  we  must  examine  what  sin  in  itself  is.  In 
its  own  proper  nature  it  is,  saith  St.  John,  an  anomy, 
or  want  of  conformity  to  the  law  of  God:  or  an 
ataxy,  and  absence  of  goodness  and  integrity  in  the 
thing  that  subsisteth.  In  Adam  before  his  fall  were 
three,  not  indistinguishable,  yet  inseparable,  things. 
I.  His  substance.  2.  The  faculties  and  powers  of 
his  body  and  soul.  3.  And  the  image  of  God,  con- 
sisting in  straiglitness,  conformity,  and  rectitude  of 
all  these  to  his  will.  What  then  was  his  sin  ?  not 
the  want  of  the  two  former,  he  had  his  substance 
and  faculties  still ;  but  of  the  latter,  the  conformity 
to  God's  will.  In  a  musical  instrument  there  is  not 
only  the  substance  of  it,  and  the  sound,  but  also  the 


266 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chai'.  I[. 


harmony  in  the  sound.  That  which  is  contrary  to 
harmony,  is  none  of  the  two  former;  but  only  the 
last,  that  is  the  disorder  or  discord  in  music,  which 
is  the  absence  or  want  of  harmony,  we  may  call  it 
disharmony.  Neither  is  this  a  mere  absence  of 
goodness,  but  also  a  presence  or  habit  of  evil.  As  it 
is  received  into  man's  nature,  it  is  only  a  privation  of 
good ;  but  as  being  received  it  continues,  it  is  a  habit 
of  evil.  But  it  may  be  said,  that  a  mere  and  single 
privation  can  perform  no  act :  as  darkness,  which  is 
the  absence  of  light,  can  stir  nothing  ;  silence  can- 
not move  or  produce  an  effect.  But  concupiscence 
draws  away  the  heart  from  God's  service,  and  en- 
ticeth  it  to  evil :  now  this  is  an  action,  and  no  action 
can  proceed  of  a  mere  privation.  To  answer  this  we 
must  distinguish  of  original  sin :  as  it  is  of  its  own 
nature,  so  it  is  no  inclination  or  action,  no  moving 
power,  but  only  a  want  j  but  as  it  is  mixed  with  the 
subject  wherein  it  is,  it  inclines,  moves,  compels 
to  evil. 

The  like  reason  holds  in  actuals.  In  murder  are 
two  things.  1.  The  moving  of  the  body,  and  exer- 
cise of  the  weapons :  this  considered  as  an  action  is 
properly  no  sin ;  because  every  action  comes  fi-om 
God,  the  first  cause  of  all  things  and  actions.  2. 
The  killing  of  a  man,  defecing  the  image  of  God : 
this  is  the  misorder  and  aberration  of  the  action, 
whereby  it  is  disposed  to  a  wrong  use  or  end ;  and 
thus  it  is  sin. 

For  the  sum,  then,  the  nature  of  sin  lies  not  in  the 
action,  but  in  the  manner  of  doing  the  action.  So 
that  it  holds,  sin  is  nothing  formally  subsisting,  (for 
then  God  should  be  the  author  of  it,  as  being  creator 
and  ordainer  of  every  thing  and  action,)  but  a  want 
of  that  wliich  ought  to  be  and  subsist,  partly  in  the 
nature  of  man,  and  partly  in  the  actions  of  nature. 
In  sin  there  is  nothing  positive,  as  the  school  in  this 
truly.  But  now  to  the  question;  If  there  be  no 
positive  thing  in  sin,  why  should  there  be  a  positive 
thing  in  punishment ;  if  it  be  only  the  want  of  good- 
ness, why  is  it  not  revenged  only  with  the  want  of 
blessedness  ?  so  here  should  be  no  place  for  damna- 
tion or  the  torments  of  hell.  Certainly  if  it  were  no 
more,  this  was  punislmicnt  enough,  to  be  deprived 
of  the  glory  of  God  ;  "  All  have  sinned,  and  come 
short  of  the  glory  of  God,"  Rom.  iii.  23.  But  there 
is  more,  for  upon  the  absence  of  goodness  there  ne- 
cessainly  follows  the  presence  of  evil.  And  the  sin- 
ner doth  not  only  omit  what  he  should  do,  but  also 
commit  what  he  should  not  do.  And  as  there  can 
be  no  difference  between  not  good  and  bad ;  so  at 
the  same  instant  when  a  man  loseth  his  goodness  he 
contracts  badness.  There  is  in  sin  four  things :  the 
fault,  whereby  God  is  offended;  the  guilt,  whereby 
the  sinner  is  bound  to  punishment;  the  punishment 
itself,  which  is  damnation  ;  and  the  blot  or  stain, 
which  defiles  the  person.  Now  it  is  not  the  second 
and  third,  but  the  first  and  last,  whi'-la  nuike  man  a 
sinner.  Hereupon  it  follows,  that  after  a  man  hath 
committed  a  sin,  and  the  offence  is  done  and  gone 
as  to  its  act  twenty  years,  yet  he  does  not  therefore 
cease  to  be  a  sinner.  Now  why  is  he  called  a  sinner 
in  the  time  present,  that  did  the  sin  in  a  time  so  far 
jiast  ?  It  is  the  stain,  as  it  were  the  froit  of  the 
fault,  that  so  denominates  him  ;  and  this  is  an  indis- 
position of  the  heart  to  all  good,  and  an  inclination 
to  all  evil.  He  that  hath  forfeited  his  goodness,  is 
like  the  dropsy  patient;  the  more  he  sins,  the  more 
he  is  apt  to  sin,  and  the  more  desirous  of  sin.  As  he 
tliat  t\ims  his  face  from  the  sun,  remains  so  till  he 
turn  again  unto  it ;  once  turning  fiom  God,  we  con- 
tinue naughty  till  we  return  to  him  by  repentance. 
David  was  not  only  a  sinner  in  the  very  act  of  his 
adultery,  but  when  the  act  was  done  and  past  he  re- 


mained still  an  adulterer;  because  a  proneness  to 
sin  had  got  place  and  strength  in  his  heart,  till  he 
rid  himself  of  all  by  unfeigned  repentance.  There 
being  therefore  in  the  reprobate  an  inconformity  to 
goodness,  an  unchangeable  disposition  to  evil,  and 
an  uncleansable  pollution  by  evil,  there  must  remain 
an  interminable  damnation  for  evil. 

H.  God's  temporal  plagues  are  images  of  his  eter- 
nal judgments :  but  the  temporal  often  last  all  the 
days  of  their  life  on  earth,  why  not  the  other  all  the 
days  of  their  death  in  hell?  There  be  some  sins 
that  may  he  called  sinning  sins  ;  for  they  leave  a 
pci-petual  venom  and  malignity  behind  them,  and 
continuate  a  pestilent  act  without  any  less  termina- 
tion than  the  world ;  as  oppression,  sacrilege,  &c. 
There  be  also  public  sins,  that  leave  a  bad  example 
behind  them ;  and  such  men  do  sin  as  long  as  they 
cause  sin.  Such  was  Jeroboam's  making  Israel  to 
sin :  let  himself  be  dead,  yet  so  long  as  any  worship- 
ped his  calves,  Jeroboam  sinned.  This  urged  the 
rich  man  to  desire  one  from  the  dead,  to  warn  his 
brethi'en ;  because  he  felt  his  omi  torment  increase 
so  long  as  their  sin  increased,  which  they  had  de- 
rived from  his  cursed  precedent.  There  be  sins  not 
so  manifest,  and  exposed  to  tlie  common  eyes  or 
sense ;  not  hurting  others  in  their  posterity,  nor  cor- 
rupting them  by  lewd  pattern,  but  do  intra  orbem 
suum  furere;  as  private  lusts:  yet  these  turn  the 
soul  into  a  blackamoor ;  and  for  mortal  endeavours 
to  wash  them  out,  we  may  call  it  the  labour  in  vain. 
The  sins  that  damnify  our  brethren,  without  restitu- 
tion, are  perpetual;  and  so  is  the  wrath  of  God  upon 
them:  "  It  shall  remain  in  the  midst  of  his  house," 
Zeeh.  V.  4.  This  argues  not  only  a  domineering 
and  reigning  nature,  which  shrinks  not  into  comers, 
but  takes  possession  in  the  middle  and  most  honour- 
able room.  Like  princes  that  liave  chosen  the  mid- 
dle places  of  kingdoms  for  their  seats.  According  to 
the  old  similitude  ;  The  way  to  keep  a  stiffened  hide 
from  rising  at  the  sides  round  about,  is  to  set  your 
feet  on  the  midst.  He  that  stands  in  the  centre,  may 
the  readilier  see  the  whole  circumference  that  en- 
virons him.  But  it  further  intimates  the  stubborn 
and  indomitable  (]uality  of  vengeance ;  it  doth  re- 
main: if  once  admitted  it  will  not  suddenly  remove, 
nor  yet  remaining  will  ever  be  ijuiet.  Atlianasius 
pronounced  of  Julian's  hot  persecution,  It  is  a  cloud, 
and  will  soon  be  blown  over.  The  ground  of  that 
heroical  persuasion  and  confidence,  w;is  the  know- 
ledge of  God's  temporary  castigations  and  trials  of 
his  church.  But  to  the  unbeliever,  "  The  wrath  of 
God  abideth  on  him,"  John  iii.  36.  Which  words, 
like  Janus,  have  a  double  aspect.  One  backwards, 
as  if  it  were  a  wrath  of  great  antiquity  :  it  comes  not 
now,  it  was  before  upon  him.  (August.)  Another 
aspect  forwards,  as  some  expound  it ;  noting  the 
countenance  of  wrath,  it  sliall  not  depart  from  him. 
Upon  him,  as  another  noteth  on  the  word  "  upon;" 
the  intimation  of  advantage  from  an  upper  place  ;  as 
though  vengeance  did  stand  continually  preying 
upon  him:  as  in  the  poet,  the  ravenous  bird  uf)on 
Prometheus,  or  that  other  upon  Titius,  in  hell. 

If  any  impenitent  sinner  complain,  Why  is  my 
heaviness  continual,  my  plague  desperate,  and  cannot 
be  healed?  there  is  matter  within  himself  to  make 
him  answer.  "  Wherefore  doth  a  living  man  com- 
plain, a  man  for  the  punishment  of  his  sins  ?  "  Lam. 
iii.  39:  there  is  the  inquisition  of  the  proper  cauv. 
"  Let  us  seai'ch  and  try  our  ways,  and  turn  again  i 
the  Lord,"  ver.  40:  there  is  the  application  of  tla 
proper  remedy.  No  wonder  if  the  curse  continue 
with  them  that  continue  in  obslinateness;  impeni- 
tence can  have  no  hope  of  mercy.  Though  they 
suffer  that  extreme  burning  for  sin,  yet  they  repent 


Ver.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


267 


not  of  their  sin.  They  blaspheme  God  for  their 
sores,  yet  repent  not  of  their  misdeeds,  Rev.  xvi.  y, 
II.  It  is  an  argument  of  their  vain  ignoranee,  to 
wonder  that  the  term  of  their  heavy  visitation  is  not 
yet  expired;  while  their  sins  are  mirepented,  their 
lives  unamended.  Correct  the  passion  of  thy  heart, 
and  direct  it  to  contrition  for  sin ;  or,  expect  no  ces- 
sation of  penalty.  As  when  the  sinner  is  dead,  all 
the  while  :iny  moisture  remains  the  worms  will  not 
forsake  his  carciiss  ;  so  while  he  lives  in  his  sin,  the 
curse  will  wait  close  upon  the  cause:  still  a  sinner, 
and  still  a  sufferer.  Israel  could  not  stand  before 
their  enemies,  till  they  had  put  away  the  execrable 
thing.  Nor  will  the  plague  forsake  oppressors  and 
sacrilegioiu  usurpers,  till  their  treasures  of  wicked- 
ness be  relumed  back  to  the  right  owners.  Let  the 
example  of  little  Zaccheus,  the  greatest  example  that 
ever  was  for  effectual  and  substantial  restitution, 
teach  them  to  break  off  their  injustice  with  right- 
eousness, which  giveth  every  man  his  own,  and  their 
iniquity  with  mercy  to  the  poor;  lest  they  find  this 
sin  Heavier  thiui  a  millstone,  when  the  shallow  rivers 
of  temporary  punishments  shall  run  into  the  ocean 
sea  of  eternal  tormentjs.  Where  is  no  restitution, 
there  is  no  remission ;  where  is  no  remission  of  the 
guilt  of  sin,  no  decrease  of  the  power  of  sin;  and 
where  the  power  of  sin  is  not  lessened,  there  the 
plague  of  sin  will  be  augmented. 

12.  Lastly,  this  equity  and  equality  of  damnation 
to  sin,  is  illustrated  and  proved  by  the  contrary.  As 
every  good  deed  shall  have  a  hundreilfold  of  com- 
forts, Mark  x.  30,  so  evcrj*  bad  deed  a  hundredfold  of 
torments.  God's  mercy  is  for  ever  to  them  that 
please  liim ;  so  his  wrath  is  for  ever  upon  them  that 
offend  him.  The  f;iithful  ftnd  eternal  mercy,  there- 
fore the  unfaithfiil  shall  find  eternal  misery.  He 
that  endurcth  to  the  end,  shall  be  saved.  By  what 
rule  or  proportion  ?  Because  God  in  his  goodness 
doth  presuppose,  if  that  man  had  continued  for  ever 
living  he  would  have  continued  for  ever  well  doing. 
Josiah  feared  God  all  the  days  of  his  life,  therefore 
God  hath  crowned  his  everlasting  life  in  heaven. 
"  Be  thou  faithfid  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a 
crown  of  life,"  Rev.  ii.  10.  Fidelity  for  a  short  ser- 
vice, hath  a  diadem  of  never-cntling  glory.  Thus  as 
God  in  his  good  mercy  doth  reward  perseverance  in 
good  with  immortal  life,  so  in  his  just  judgment  he 
(loth  punish  impenitence  with  eternal  death.  Thus 
is  guilty  man  punished,  and  the  just  God  cleared,  in 
this  damnation  of  the  wicked;  though  it  be  a  total, 
firuU,  (call  it  what  you  will,)  an  extreme,  universal, 
eternal  punishment.  But  to  cease  preaching  of  it, 
and  fall  to  praying  against  it :  "  Spare  us,  good  Lord, 
spare  the  people  whom  thou  hast  redeemed."  For 
tile  death  of  thy  eternal  Son,  let  us  not  be  the  sons 
of  eternal  death.  Be  not  angry  with  us ;  or,  if  we 
do  provoke  thee,  let  not  thy  anger  be  for  ever.  Let 
not  thy  wrath  burn  like  fire ;  but  whensoever  our 
sins  have  kindled  it,  Lord,  quench  it  in  the  blood  of 
Christ.  Let  us  not  undergo  the  malignity  of  one 
sin,  even  the  least,  the  shortest ;  for  it  deserves  great 
and  ctemiil  torment.  Our  greatest  goodness  merits 
not  the  least  glory,  but  our  least  wickedness  deserves 
great  pain.  A  small  leak  will  sink  the  vessel,  un- 
stopped; a  great  one  will  not  do  it,  if  well  calked. 
Tile  weakest  instrument  can  pierce  the  flesh,  and 
take  away  the  life,  unarmed;  but  armour  of  proof 
^vill  beat  off  strong  assaults.  There  is  no  wickedness 
so  weak,  but  it  can  destroy  us  without  Christ :  none 
so  strong  as  to  destroy  us  with  Christ.  As  Rachel 
cried  to  Jacob,  "  (iive  me  children,  or  else  I  die," 
Gen.  XXX.  I ;  so,  give  us  our  Father,  or  else  we  perish. 
Lord,  behold  us  not  out  of  Christ,  though  robed  with 
all  our  righteousness ;  but  behold  us  in  Christ,  though 


with  all  our  sinfulness.  Preserve  us  in  him,  crown 
us  with  him,  that  we  may  give  all  glory  to  him,  toge- 
ther with  thyself,  and  most  Holy  Spirit. 

8.  Sleepeth  not,  lingcrcth  not,  slumbereth  nol. 
Though  it  be  not  yet  present,  it  is  propinquant ;  if 
not  extant,  yet  instant.  If  it  be  not  visible,  yet  it 
doth  not  linger;  if  it  linger,  it  doth  not  slumber;  if 
it  seem  to  shimbcr,  it  doth  not  sleep.  To  sleep  is 
more  than  to  slumber,  to  slumber  more  than  to  wink, 
to  wink  more  t.han  to  look  upon  a  thing  though  with 
disregjird,  not  minding  it.  Neither  sleep,  nor  slum- 
ber, nor  connivance,  nor  neglect  of  any  thing,  can 
be  incident  to  God.  Because  he  doth  not  execute 
present  judgment  and  visible  destruction  upon  sin- 
ners, therefore  blasphemy  presumptuously  inferrelh, 
Will  God  trouble  himself  about  such  petty  matters  ? 
So  they  imagined  of  their  imaginary  .lupiter ;  A'oit 
vacat  exigiiis  rebus  adesse  Jovem.  What  a  narrow 
and  finite  apprehension  this  is  of  God !  He  that 
caoseth  and  produceth  every  action,  shall  he  not  be 
present  at  every  action  ?  What  can  we  do  without 
Iiim,  that  cannot  move  but  in  him  ?  He  that  takes 
notice  of  sparrows,  and  numbers  the  seeds  which 
the  very  ploughman  thnists  in  the  gfround,  can  any 
action  of  man  escape  liis  knowledge,  or  slip  fi'om 
his  contemplation  ?  He  may  seem  to  wink  at  things, 
but  never  shuts  his  eyes.  He  doth  not  always 
manifest  a  reprehensive  knowledge,  yet  he  always 
retains  an  apprehensive  knowledge.  Though  David 
smote  not  Snimei  cursing,  yet  he  heard  Shimei  curs- 
ing. As  judges  often  determine  to  hear,  but  do  not 
hear  to  determine  ;  so  though  God  do  not  see  to  like, 
yet  he  likes  to  see.  It  is  only  the  forbearance  of  his 
correction,  that  makes  sinners  presume  of  his  con- 
nivance. These  things  thou  hast  done,  and  I  held 
my  peace ;  therefore  thou  thoughest  that  I  was  alto- 
gether such  a  one  as  thyself,  Psal.  1.  21.  Impune 
f'erens  peccatum,  Deum  cugilat  pacalum.  God  holds 
his  hands,  and  he  holds  nis  peace,  but  he  does  not 
hold  his  eyes ;  and  he  sees,  whatsoever  he  says.  All 
things  are  naked  and  open  to  his  eyes ;  not  because  he 
will  observe  them,  but  because  he  cannot  look  be- 
side them.  But,  The  time  of  your  ignorance  God 
winked  at.  He  is  said  to  connive,  because  he  doth 
not  correct.  It  is  the  promise  of  his  mercy  to  pass 
over  the  sins  of  converts,  as  a  father  winks  at  the 
error  of  his  little  child.  So  we  pray,  "  Turn  away 
thine  eyes  from  our  sins."  "  Hide  thy  face  from  my 
sins,  and  blot  out  all  mine  iniquities,"  Psal.  li.  9. 
That  is,  omitte,  remit te,  demit tc  iiidemnahim.  Still 
the  Lord  sees;  "  I  have  done  this  evil  in  thy  sight," 
ver.  4.  He  doth  observe  all  sin  in  knowledge,  he 
doth  not  reserve  all  to  vengeance.  He  is  said  not  to 
make  it,  because  he  doth  not  punish  it.  But  if  the 
Lord  do  wink  at  the  aberrations  of  his  servants,  must 
he  therefore  slumber  ?  Poth  every  one  that  shuts 
his  eyes,  presently  fall  into  a  slumber  ?  Or,  if  he 
seem  to  slumber,  can  he  sleep  ?  Sleep  is  to  refresh 
the  weary  :  can  rest  itself  be  weary  ?  "  Behold,  he 
that  keepeth  Israel  shall  neither  slumber  nor  sleep," 
Psal.  cxxi.  4.  He  is  so  far  from  sleeping,  that  he 
doth  not  put  his  eyes  together.  This  might  be 
Juno's  opinion  of  her  Jupiter:  whom  Homer  relates 
making  an  earnest  suit  to  Somnus.  Obsoporare  ociUoa 
Jovis.  This  is  for  a  Baal ;  "  Cry  aloud,  for  per- 
adventure  he  sleepeth,"  1  Kings  xviii.  27  :  a  neces- 
sary slumber  for  a  temporarj-  god. 

Sleep  (such  is  the  nature  of  it,  that  it)  cannot  occur 
to  the  nature  of  God  ;  who  is  an  eternity  of  rest,  with- 
out any  vicissitude  or  change.  There  is  no  mutation 
in  himself,  nor  mutuation  or  borrowing  from  another. 
PhaibitJS  ab  exiemo  radios  non  mttJuattir :  much  less 
God.  "  Who  hath  first  given  to  him,  and  it  shall  be 
recompensed  ? "  Rom.  xi.  35.     Who  hath  laid  out 


263 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


any  thing  for  him,  and  it  shall  be  paid  him  again  ? 
an  sleep  the  exterior  senses  are  bound  up,  and  there 
follows  a  quicseence  from  motion.  As  of  the  con- 
trarj- ;  wakefulness  is  the  remission  and  unbinding  of 
the  senses,  that  they  may  freely  officiate  the  require- 
ments of  nature.  But  the  Lord  moves  all,  and 
created  things  derive  their  first  motion  from  him. 
Aristotle  says,  sleep  is  a  retirement  of  the  heat  to  llie 
inward  parts,  and  a  conflux  of  that  natural  exhalation 
which  ariseth  from  our  sustenance.  But  God  lives 
not  by  nourishment,  therefore  hath  no  need  of  sleep. 
Galen  defines  it  to  be  a  remission  of  the  soul,  accord- 
ing to  nature,  ob  extremis  ad  principium  ;  binding  up 
the  mind,  and  discharging  the  sensitive  instruments 
of  their  offices ;  the  heat  which  is  taken  up  in  those 
organs  being  recalled  to  the  heart  and  lungs.  Others 
thus  summarily  :  Sleep  is  the  rest  of  the  animal  vir- 
tues, together  with  the  intention  of  the  natural  facul- 
ties, stirred  by  a  profitable  humour  in  the  brain ; 
wherein  the  soul  suspends  her  functions  in  the  out- 
ward parts,  to  relieve  the  inward  and  principal,  for 
the  health  of  the  whole.  But  God  is  not  capable  of 
any  weariness,  therefore  not  liable  to  any  sleep. 
Nothing  needs  sleep  but  what  is  nourished  or  wearied. 
No  spirit  is  subject  to  such  a  nutrition,  therefore  not 
desirable  of  such  a  cessation.  The  sword  of  God 
may  be  said  to  sleep  in  the  scabbard,  while  he  for- 
bears to  draw  it,  but  he  that  wears  it  sleepeth  not. 

9.  This  wakeful  and  prepared  vengeance  is  threat- 
ened against  the  ungodly  very  fitly  ;  for  nothing  is 
more  proper  to  the  nature  of  sin,  than  to  sleep  in  se- 
curity. "Awake,  thou  that  slecpest,"  Eph.  V.  14;  that 
is,  Repent,  thou  that  sinnest.  The  godly  have  their 
naps,  the  wicked  their  sound  sleeps.  Continuance 
in  sin  may  be  compared  to  sleep  in  many  resem- 
blances. 

1.  For  the  cause  of  sleep  :  the  natural  heat  draw- 
ing in  its  virtue,  stirs  up  a  vapour  or  exhalation, 
which  ariseth  from  the  meat,  or  from  labour,  sorrow, 
■weariness ;  this  ascending,  the  coldness  of  the  brain 
beats  back  again,  and  so  comes  sleep.  Thus  the  heat 
of  concupiscence  in  the  sinner  first  reigns  within,  and 
strives  to  fortify  itself  in  a  complacency  of  evil ;  and 
when  the  conscience  sends  any  motions  or  consider- 
ations to  the  intellect,  like  vapours  to  the  brain,  they 
arc  reverberated  back  again  by  the  extreme  cold  and 
grossness  which  possL'sselh  the  rational  part ;  and 
thus  follows  the  sleep  of  sin.  When  the  conscience 
cannot  prevail  with  the  concupiscence,  it  is  rocked 
asleep  in  sin,  and  all  the  organical  forces  are  called 
in  to  wait  upon  lust. 

2.  As  Aristotle  delivers  the  formal  cause  of  sleep 
to  be  an  antiperistasis  ;  it  being  made  by  a  recipro- 
cal motion,  the  stomach  sending  up  fumes  to  the  head, 
and  the  head  sending  them  back  to  the  heart ;  so  by 
i-eason  of  this  conflict  they  obstruct  all  the  organs  of 
sense,  locking  up  the  exterior  parts  as  they  pass  in 
their  journey.  As  a  river  that  ebbs  and 'flows,  is 
driven  by  her  own  floods.  The  heat  drives  these 
vapours  from  the  heart,  tl>c  coldness  from  the  brain, 
and  they  must  needs  rest  some  where :  hinc  faciuut 
{•raiedinem  oppilando,  et  hide  somnus.  In  the  spi- 
ritual sice)),  the  coldness  of  the  brain  is  ignorance, 
the  heat  of  the  heart  is  concupiscence,  the  exhala- 
tions are  lusts :  while  these  witn  a  sensitive  jileasure 
arc  bandied  up  and  down,  the  whole  man  becomes 
fast  asleep  ;  and  sin  reigns  like  an  undisturbed  lord 
in  all  faculties  of  body  and  mind,  neither  feeliijg  nor 
suspecting  the  danger. 

.3.  As  there  is  a  difierenee  in  corporal  sleep,  so  in 
the  spiritual  slumber,  i'ttvoj  from  rb  vjroirriui'.  is  call- 
cil,  to  draw  the  breath  ;  for  the  lungs  do  not  fail  their 
office  in  sleep.  Now  some  bodies  are  so  well  com- 
posed, that  Ihcy  send  forth  a  soft  and  gentle  air,  and 


respire  an  easy  spirit.  Others  that  labour  of  some 
error  in  the  lung-pipe,  draw  their  breath  with  such 
difficulty  and  distance,  as  if  they  were  in  danger  of 
suflljcation  :  that  the  wind  being  held  in,  breaks 
forth  with  a  troublous  noise ;  it  comes  out  liy  manv 
circuits  and  windings,  involved  in  the  muscles  ;  and 
the  breath  being  gathered  into  those  straits,  with  a 
forcible  eluctation  opens  the  arterj',  breaking  out 
with  an  allision  and  murmur,  as  the  pent  air  at  an 
evaporation.  Thus  spiritually :  some  take  a  quiet 
sleep,  an  unmolested  security  in  wickedness,  without 
the  least  starting  or  jogging  of  their  conscience. 
"  The  Lord  hath  poured  out  upon  them  the  spirit  of 
deep  sleep,"  Isa.  xsix.  10.  The  breath  they  draw  is 
te?iuis  aura,  such  as  sometimes  in  summer  riseth  from 
the  earth  with  an  insensible  cfTumigation.  Ducunt 
mollem  anhelitum,  they  sin  without  trouble  about  it ; 
as  a  great  part  of  England  now  sleeps  in  sacrilege, 
and  their  hearts  are  never  disturbed  for  it.  Other 
men  sleep  indeed,  but  unquietly,  full  of  startings, 
stoppings,  and  reluctatious ;  as  if  they  were  affrighted 
with  some  sudden  noise,  and  their  own  conscious 
thoughts  did,  like  fairies,  nip  and  pinch  them,  inter- 
rupting their  desired  repose.  There  is  more  hope  of 
these  than  the  former;  for  they  that  are  often  dis- 
quieted, will  at  last  be  wakened.  When  a  man  be- 
gins to  stir  in  his  bed,  we  conceive  some  likelihood 
that  he  will  before  long  arise. 

But  they  that  can  sleep  when  it  thunders  ;  like 
the  Catadupans,  inhabitants  of  the  cataracts,  who 
hear  not  the  roarings  of  Nilus,  ingenti  cum  sonitu  se 
pracipilantis  ;  drums  and  trumpets,  and  that  loud 
rupture  of  the  air  with  ordnance,  being  like  soft 
music  to  their  ears  to  play  them  asleep  ;  what  hope 
of  their  waking  ?  Declaration  of  sins,  denunciation 
of  judgments,  description  of  torments,  no  more  stir 
them,  than  a  tale  moves  a  man  in  a  dream.  Here  is 
a  supine  stupidity,  as  capable  of  excitation,  as  the 
sea-rocks  are  of  motion,  or  the  sea-billows  of  compas- 
sion. As  mori  mortem  is  to  die  an  everlasting  deatli, 
so  this  dormire  somnum  (as  the  jisalmist  speaks)  is 
to  sleep  an  everlasting  sleep.  The  Hebrews  call 
sleep  by  three  distinct  and  gradual  terms.  Theru- 
mah,  which  signifies  a  light  sleep,  capitis  mutatio, 
(juasi  prima  rudimenta  somni.  Scliemah  is  a  more 
profound  sleep.  Thardemah  exceeds  all,  as  it  were 
a  dead  sleep.  "The  Lord  caused  a  deep  sleep  to 
fall  upon  Adam,"  Gen.  ii.  21  ;  that  he  neither  had 
his  sight  oflended,  nor  his  sense  oppressed,  when  his 
side  was  opened.  TItardemah  irruit,  "  A  deep  sleep 
fell  upon  Abraham,"  Gen.  xv.  12.  So  the  Greeks 
distinguish  them  ;  ro'pof,  which  is  a  certain  necessity 
of  sleep ;  Kara(f,u()a,  which  is  a  heaviness  of  sleep ; 
and  XrjGdpyoc.  an  inexpugnable  apix-tite  of  sleeping. 
The  Latins,  if  we  consult  physicians,  distinguish  them 
into  somnuni,  soporem,  el  vetertium  :  a  natural  sleep,  a 
preternatural  sleep,  and  a  continual  slumber.  The 
faithful  cannot  avoid  some  nai^s,  their  nature  is  so 
weak;  some  sins  they  admit:  vulgar  sinners  have 
long  and  drowsy  slumbers  :  only  the  desperately 
wicked  are  cast  into  a  dead  sleep;  an  ccstatical, 
stupifying  lethargy  of  sinfulness,  hard  even  to  be 
a  little  roused.  The  first  is  a  natural,  the  second  a 
preternatural,  the  last  a  contranatural  sleep.  A  natu- 
ral sleep  is  short,  for  six  or  eight  hours,  allowed  by 
physicians,  to  the  body  ;  but  allowed  not  by  divines, 
to  the  soul.  The  preternatural  is  a  drowsy  slothful- 
ncss,  an  inordinate  desire  of  sinning.  "  Yet  a  little 
slumber,  a  little  folding  of  the  hands  to  sleep,"  Prov. 
xxiv.  3.3.  The  last,  contranatural,  is  beyond  all  mea- 
sure, a  lethargical  kind  of  death,  which  will  never 
wake  until  it  hath  no  more  power  to  sleep.  The  natural 
sleep  of  the  body  is  for  the  reparation  of  nature's 
forces,  so  much  as  may  only  be  sufficient  to  absolve  con- 


Veh.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


269 


coction  ;  but  the  last,  as  in  sweating  sickness,  sleeps 
to  death. 

4.  As  by  sleep  the  brain  is  clouded,  the  nerves 
dulled,  the  veins  obstructed;  (Arist.)  so  by  customary 
sinning  the  understanding  is  darkened,  Eph.  iv.  IS, 
the  spirits  blunted,  the  affections  stupified,  the  re- 
ceptacles of  grace  filled  with  the  obstructions  of  lust. 
And  there  is  not  only  an  indisposition  to  goodness, 
but  a  mad  and  unrestrained  preciitice  to  all  manner 
of  mischief. 

5.  As  nothing  is  more  pleasing  to  man's  nature 
than  sleep;  quia  perpetuus  motus  natnrce  vifenori  re- 
pugnat.  It  is  most  acceptable,  illabens  aiiimanlibun 
arnica  dulcedine.  Somne  quies  rerum,  placidis.sime 
somne  deoruin.  (Ovid.)  Sleep  is  feigned  to  love  Pa- 
sithea,  because  it  is  a  common  benefit  Ui  all  living 
creatures.  Qua  a  rerum  veritate  ad  fabuias,  Grreca 
Initas  et poetica  ia7iitas  tran.-ilulit.  (Aret.)  So  there 
is  nothing  more  pleasing  to  corrupt  nature  than  prn- 
vity :  it  is  a  delight  to  the  wicked  to  do  evil  ;  and 
sleep  is  not  more  welcome  to  the  body,  than  that  is 
to  the  lust  of  the  soul. 

6.  As  sleep  is  justly  called,  the  brother  of  death  ; 
so  is  sin,  the  sister  of  pain.  There  is  little  difference 
between  him  that  sleeps  and  the  dead,  save  only  in 
time:  both  are  void  of  sense,  both  like  trunks;  both 
blind,  deaf,  dumb.  Either  of  them  appcaseth  our 
cares,  finishcth  our  labours ;  only  death  is  the  longer 
and  more  perfect  privation.  Stulte,  quid  est  somnus 
gelida;  nisi  mortis  imago  ?  (Ovid.)  Sleep  partakes  of 
the  nature  of  death.  A  certain  middle  thing  betwixt 
life  and  death.  (Arist.)  Dulcis  et  alma  quies,  pla- 
cidtpque  simillima  morli.  (.Eneid.)  Death  is  a  long 
sleep,  sleep  a  short  death.  So  sin  is  the  elder  brother 
of  death  :  if  man  had  not  sinned,  he  should  not  have 
died.  Sin  was  born  first,  but  the  elder  shall  serve 
the  younger;  for  death  shall  swallow  the  whole  in- 
heritance. Here,  the  sleep  of  rebellion  precedes  the 
sleep  of  damnation.  They  sleep,  but  their  destruc- 
tion sleepeth  not.  The  apostles  said  of  Lazarus, 
"  Lord,  if  he  sleep,  he  shall  do  well,"  John  xi.  12: 
but  if  you  sleep,  you  shall  do  ill.  As  it  is  with  the 
improvident  heir  involved  in  usurers'  bonds  ;  while 
he  sleepeth,  his  interest  runs  on.  Destruction  takes 
the  wicked  napping,  as  Baanah  and  Rechab  slew 
Ishboshcth,  2  Sam.  iv.  7;  or,  as  Somnus  is  said  to 
slay  Palinurus  ;  soporalum  in  tnarc  prmcipitarit. 
(.ICncid.  5.)  He  is  easily  subdued,  whom  his  own 
slothfulness  hath  left  unarmed.  As  death  corporal 
proceeds  of  a  cold  vapour  possessing  the  brain,  and 
oppressing  the  animal  senses  and  spirits ;  so  from 
the  cold  dregs  of  sin,  freezing  up  the  heart  in  wicked- 
ness, comes  the  sleep  of  destniction :  as  Gideon  slew 
the  secure  and  careless  host.  When  Diogenes  Syno- 
pensis  slept  much  in  his  sickness,  and  was  dissuaded 
by  his  physician,  he  was  answered.  One  brother  doth 
but  prevent  another.  Samson  could  not  be  bound, 
till  he  was  first  got  asleep.  Temporal  death  is  not 
the  only  punishmen-t  of  his  sinful  security  ;  but  while 
the  worms  are  sporting  among  the  reprobate's  bones, 
the  devils  will  make  themselves  merrj'  with  his 
torments. 

7.  Lastly,  as  sleep  turns  a  man  i'>«  nnn  hominem, 
so  doth  sin  in  non  bonum  hominem.  In  sleep  he  nei- 
ther hears  like  a  man,  nor  speaks  like  a  man,  nor 
walks  like  a  man.  So  in  this  spiritual  lethargy,  he 
neither  thinks  like  a  Christian,  nor  understands  like 
a  Christian,  nor  effects  like  a  Christian,  nor  acts  like 
a  Christian,  nor  appears  like  a  Christian.  There  be 
three  seasons,  wherein  a  wise  man  differs  not  from  a 
fool ;  in  his  infancy,  in  sleep,  and  in  silence.  For  in 
the  two  former  all  are  fools,  and  in  the  latter  we  are 
all  wise.  In  sleep  the  wisdom  of  the  wise  is  not  ex- 
ercised, and  the  folly  of  the  fool  is  not  discovered. 


In  Psal.  cxv.  b—7,  there  arc  six  impediments  orderly 
specified,  wherein  the  sinner  differs  not  from  the 
sleeper.  I .  "  They  have  mouths,  but  they  speak 
not."  He  cannot  confess  his  sins,  nor  profess  his 
faith,  nor  pour  out  his  prayers.  In  sin,  as  in  sleep, 
he  hath  a  mouth,  but  not  to  speak.  2.  "  Eyes  have 
they,  but  they  see  not."  They  have  closed  their 
eyes,  lest  they  should  see,  Matt.  xiii.  15.  They  dif- 
fer something  in  this  from  an  idol :  the  idol  hath  a 
counterfeit  eye  ;  these  a  shut  eye.  See,  that  cannot ; 
these  can,  and  will  not.  Who  is  so  blind  as  he  that 
will  not  see .'  The  object  is  exhibited,  their  sight  is 
self-darkened.  They  have  eyes,  but  not  to  sec.  .3. 
"  They  have  ears,  but  they  hear  not."  The  blind 
hath  eyes,  but  not  to  see ;  the  cripple  feet,  but  not 
to  go;  the  spiritual  sleeper  hath  ears,  but  not  to 
hear.  The  ear  is  a  benefit  of  nature,  but  an  ear  to 
hear  is  the  benefit  of  grace.  4.  "  Noses  have  they, 
but  they  smell  not."  They  give  themselves  to  sleep, 
and  never  suspect  the  danger  thtit  may  prevent  their 
waking.  Let  them  come  into  that  blessed  garden  of 
God,  where  innumerable  flowers  give  delectable 
scents;  they  neither  smell  the  odours  nor  relish  the 
fruits.  They  receive  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit, 
I  Cor.  ii.  14;  the  naturian  is  not  capable.  'They 
have  noses,  but  not  to  smell.  5.  "  They  have  hands, 
but  they  handle  not."  As  that  organum  organorum, 
the  instrument  of  instruments,  the  busy  and  active 
hand,  is  bound  in  sleep  ;  so  sin  hath  ener\'ated  the 
practice  of  goodness,  and  obsessed  the  sinner,  not 
only  with  a  dedignation  of  good  works,  but  also  with 
an  indignation  against  good  workers,  and  an  unsatis- 
fied delight  in  misdeeds.  God  reachcth  out  mercy 
to  him,  as  the  charitable  doth  an  alms  to  the  maim- 
ed ;  alas,  he  is  fast  asleep,  and  puts  not  forth  a  hand 
to  receive  it.  They  have  hands,  but  not  to  work, 
fi.  "  Feet  have  they,  but  they  walk  not."  Worsi; 
than  that  cripple,  Acts'  iii.  :  he,  though  he  could  not 
go,  would  be  carried  to  the  temple  ;  but  these  have 
feet  and  will  not  go  to  the  temple  ;  they  have  no  de- 
sire to  be  brought  into  that  vigilant  and  waking 
place.  There  the  preachers  voice  would  be  like  a 
trumpet,  and  they  cannot  endure  noise.  They  have 
feet,  but  not  to  walk. 

Nothing  is  more  dangerous  than  this  drowsiness 
and  security  in  sin ;  when  men  think  they  can  pass 
as  they  please,  through  the  womb  to  grace,  through 
grace  to  wantonness,  through  wantonness  to  glon,-. 
With  Gallio,  they  think  religion  only  a  question  of 
names  and  words,  and  therefore  will  not  meddle  with 
it,  Acts  xviii.  15.  Or,  if  they  resolve  to  hear  it, 
with  Felix  they  can  neither  get  a  convenient  time, 
nor  a  convenient  heart  for  it.  They  are  not  like  the 
bee  that  filleth  her  belly  and  thighs  with  honey  from 
the  flowers ;  but  like  the  butterfly,  which  only  dyes 
and  paints  her  wings  in  their  colours,  and  so  leaves 
them.  They  swim  like  dolphins,  playing  upon  the 
waves  of  carnal  delights;  and  are  always  merriest 
when  destruction  is  nearest.  Wake,  therefore,  and 
learn  to  die  before  thou  die ;  that  when  thou  must 
die,  thou  mayst  have  no  more  to  do  but  to  die.  While 
the  foolish  virgins  slept,  they  lost  their  entrance  into 
that  joyful  bride-chamber  for  ever.  Watch  and  pray  : 
thev  that  would  keep  themselves  waking,  do  it  best 
by  talking.  Hold  thyself  in  a  continual  conference 
and  discourse  with  God,  so  shalt  thou  not  fall  asleep 
in  sin.  If  thou  dost  fall  into  a  slumber,  yet  let  thy 
heart  wake.  Cant.  v.  2.  But  the  reprobate  doth 
sleep  soundly.  "'Therefore  let  us  not  sleeip  as  do 
others,  but  let  us  watch  and  be  sober,"  1  "Thess.  v. 
(>.  .\s  Christ  couples  watching  and  prayer,  so  the 
apostle  couples  watching  and  sobriety.  Sobriety  is 
either  corporal,  the  moderation  of  appetites;  or  men- 
tal, the  moderation  of  affections.    Now  as  drunken- 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Ch.u..  II. 


ness  cnforceth  sleep,  so  sobriety  keepeth  awake. 
But  as  physicians  rid  their  hands  of  incurable  pa- 
tients, and  send  them  to  the  mineral  or  metalline 
baths,  or  leave  them  to  God  and  nature  ;  so  I  remit 
these  to  their  Maker  to  be  wakened,  either  by  the 
evangelical  trumpet  here,  or  by  the  archangelical 
trumpet  hereafter. 

10.  Observe  that  sin  will  not  let  justice  sleep, 
but  sends  it  up  continual  challer(ges  and  defiances; 
provoking  Him  to  draw  that  sword,  which  he  had 
rather  should  rest  and  rust  in  the  scabbard,  than  be 
sheathed  in  the  bowels,  or  shine  with  the  galls,  of  his 
own  creatures.  But  impiety  will  not  let  him  alone, 
nor  give  him  aver,  till  his  righteousness  breaks  forth 
into  vengeance.  As  the  prayers  of  the  saints,  with 
a  kind  of  prevailing  importunity,  offer  holy  and 
humble  violence  to  his  mercy  ;  that  he  descends  with 
the  (lag  of  truce,  in  the  milk-white  ornaments  of  peace, 
pardoning  sins  and  healing  sorrows.  If  importunate 
solicitations  could  move  an  unjust  judge  to  equity, 
will  they  not  much  more  move  a  merciful  God  to 
pity  ?  Luke  xviii.  7-  "  Give  him  no  rest,  till  he 
establish  Jerusalem,"  Isa.  Ixii.  /.  As  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  requires  and  requites  this  holy  violence. 
Matt.  xi.  12;  so  the  King  of  heaven  is  content  to 
have  his  hands  as  manacled  from  executing  i\Tath, 
and  his  sword  locked  up  by  the  prayers  and  tears  of 
penitents.  Let  me  alone,  saith  the  Lord  to  Moses, 
that  I  may  smite  them ;  as  if  the  groans  of  his  heart 
did  hold  God's  hand.  So  do  the  sins  of  the  wicked 
hasten  judgment,  and  ciy  to  vengeance.  Come  away, 
why  tarriest  thou  so  long?  Thus  the  blood  of  Abel 
murdered,  cried  for  the  blood  of  the  murderer,  Gen. 
iv.  10.  Wickedness  is  not  grovelling,  but  aspiring; 
not  base,  shame-faced,  and  fearful  to  advance  itself, 
but  swelling  like  Jordan  above  the  banks.  "  Their 
wickedness  is  come  up  before  me,"  Jonah  i.  2.  It 
was  not  hid  in  the  secrecy  of  private  chambers,  not 
kept  close  in  the  closet  of  their  own  breasts ;  but 
an  ascending,  aspiring,  climbing  wickedness ;  so 
impudent  that  it  durst  press  into  God's  presence. 
"  Before  me  :  "  it  wakens  my  justice,  and  will  let  me 
sleep  no  longer:  "Because  the  ciy  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  is  great,  and  because  their  sin  is  very 
grievous,"  Gen.  xviii.  20. 

Sin  with  a  voice  is  sin  in  action  :  sin  with  a  ciy  is 
sin  in  presumption.  (Greg.)  Their  wickedness  pass- 
ed the  bounds  of  all  moderation  ;  the  fame  of  it  was 
not  only  spread  upon  earth,  and  blown  into  the  ears 
of  men ;  but  it  pierceth  the  air,  passeth  the  stars, 
climbs  like  the  sun  in  the  morning,  comes  up  amongst 
the  angels  of  God,  and  exposeth  her  filthiness  to  tlie 
throne  of  his  majesty.  This  iniquity  here  is  not  less 
than  a  theomachy,  a  desperate  war  against  heaven,  a 
tower  of  sin  like  Babel,  reaching  to  the  clouds.  A 
sin  which  the  Scripture  calls  lifting  up  tlie  hand, 
and  lifting  up  the  heel,  against  the  Lord  :  lifting  up 
the  hand  in  opposition,  the  heel  in  contempt. 

There  are  two  ladders  whereby  men  climb  up 
into  heaven,  and  become  acquainted  with  God.  The 
ladder  of  petition,  and  the  ladder  of  presumption. 
The  saints  ascend  by  the  one  to  their  consolation, 
the  wicked  by  the  other  to  their  confusion.  Both 
press  into  the  presence-chamber,  both  have  the  like 
access,  both  have  not  the  like  success.  The  one 
thrusts  in  like  a  conspirator,  to  practise  treachery;  the 
other  like  a  petitioner,  to  implore  mercy.  Wicked- 
ness is  saucy  and  peremptory,  and  will  be  notable 
though  it  be  notorious.  It  scorns  to  keep  low 
■w-ater,  or  live  in  an  ebb  ;  but,  like  pride,  is  only  to 
that  end  proud,  that  some  notice  mav  be  taken  of  it. 
Commonly  it  is  gone  from  the  memorj-  of  the  offender, 
ere  It  come  with  so  fierce  an  inundation  before  the 
punisher.     And  that  wind  of  rebellion  which  causeth 


justice  to  wake,  rocks  unrighteousness  .isleep.  But 
shall  our  sins  come  up  before  God,  and  not  first  come 
before  ourselves,  who  dwell  in  the  region  where 
they  were  born,  and  were  present  when  they  were 
done  ?  This  is  the  greatest  fault  of  our  ignorance,  to 
be  ignorant  of  our  faults.  Must  heaven  know  what 
is  done  on  earth,  before  earth  itself  be  acquainted 
with  itP  As  Tully  said,  he  could  hear  at  Anlium 
what  news  was  at  Rome,  better  than  at  Rome  itself. 
Shall  we  turn  our  wickedness  so  far  out  of  our  own 
remembrance,  that  we  never  think  of  it  till  we  feel 
it  in  vengeance  ?  These  be  wilful  mistakings,  tricks 
to  make  ourselves  blind.  Alceus  took  a  mole  upon 
one's  face  for  a  grace :  it  was  none,  by  his  leave.  'The 
more  quietly  and  securely  sinners  sleep  in  the  good 
opinion  of  themselves,  the  more  certainly  their  damn- 
ation slcepeth  not. 

I  know  that  some  sins  are  not  so  solicitous  and 
urging  upon  the  justice  of  God,  as  being  the  infirmi- 
ties of  his  children,  which  he  passeth  by  with  con- 
nivance. Yea,  he  doth  not  strike  at  every  provoca- 
tion of  the  wicked.  There  is  a  time  when  God  is 
said  to  tiike  especial  notice  of  sin:  "Because  thy 
rage  against  me  and  thy  ttimult  is  come  up  into  mine 
ears,"  Szc.  2  Kings  xix.  'H.  But  is  there  any  sin 
when  the  eye  of  his  knowledge  is  blinded  ?  No,  but 
this  devotes  to  us  the  order  of  the  actions  of  his 
knowledge.  He  sees  sin  in  the  book  of  eternity,  be- 
fore sinners'  hearts  do  conceive  it ;  he  sees  it  in 
their  breasts,  before  their  hands  do  commit  it ;  he 
sees  the  conception,  birth,  and  commencement  of  it : 
but  then  he  sees  it  to  purpose,  when  being  in  the 
mature  ripeness  he  lanceth  it.  "  They  that  seek  her 
will  not  weary  themselves  ;  in  her  month  they  shall 
find  her,"  Jer.  ii.  24.  When  the  measure  is  fiill, 
God  will  find  them  out ;  as  the  wild  ass  in  her  month, 
great  with  foal.  Thus  he  sees  it  with  fiery  eyes, 
bent  to  vengeance.  There  are  some  aspiring  sins, 
pressing  unto  God's  throne,  like  presumptuous  moun- 
tains darted  at  his  own  majesty.  They  arise  with  a 
vocal  ascension ;  the  wings  that  mount  them  up  so 
high,  being  the  ciy*  of  their  malignity  in  the  ears  of 
God  :  as  oppression,  Jam.  v.  4.  Prom  this  Job,  in 
his  apology  presented  to  his  Judge,  excused  himself: 
"  If  my  land  cry  against  me,"  Job  xxxi.  38.  "  The 
stone  shall  cry  out  of  the  wall,  and  the  beam  out  of 
the  timber  shall  answer  it,"  Hab.  ii.  U.  "Violence 
and  spoil  is  heard  in  her;  before  me  continually  is 
grief  and  wounds,"  Jer.  vi.  7-  So  the  prophet  tells 
Israel,  that  God  being  displeased  with  Judah,  and 
delivering  them  into  their  hands,  they  had  slain  them 
in  a  rage  that  reacheth  up  even  to  heaven.  This  is 
an  outrageous  impudence,  that  is  ambitious  of  en- 
hancing sin,  despising  the  censures  of  men,  and  judg- 
ments of  God.  Though  they  have  been  plagued, 
they  change  not  the  colour  of  one  hair  of  their  heads, 
one  work  of  their  lives;  nor  add  a  cubit  to  their 
statures,  one  inch  to  their  Christian  growths.  This, 
this  is  the  way  to  fall  upon  that  irrevocable  sentence, 
which  God  hath  purposed,  and  he  will  not  repent, 
nor  turn  back  from  it.  As  the  wicked  cannot  sleep 
till  they  have  offended,  so  they  will  not  let  God  sleep 
till  he  be  avenged. 

II.  Long  ago.  There  is  a  preordination  of  plagues 
for  reprobates,  and  the  very  moment  of  the  execution 
appointed.  They  were  "of  old  ordained  to  this  con- 
demnation," Jude  4;  as  if  they  were  booked,  en- 
rolled, and  billed  to  this  confusion,  and  their  particu- 
lar names  set  down  in  a  book.  God  keepeth  a  book 
of  registr)'  and  records,  in  which  he  cngrosseth  the 
persons'  behaviours,  and  eternal  state  of  ;J1  men. 
Besides  the  book  of  providence,  wherein  are  all  our 
members  written,  Psal.  cxxxix.  10;  and  the  book  of 
life,  which  contains  the  names  of  the  faithful,  Phil. 


Ver.  3. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


271 


iv.  3 ;  there  is  also  the  book  of  judgment,  out  of 
which  the  wicked  shall  be  judged,  Rev.  xx.  12.  To 
think  these  material  books,  were  a  gross  conccotion: 
they  are  the  counsel,  providence,  pleasure,  know- 
ledge, and  justice  of  God;  which  comprehend  all 
things  as  if  they  were  written  in  a  book.  Therefore, 
howsoever,  in  respect  of  men,  things  be  contingent 
iind  casual ;  yet  in  regard  of  God,  there  is  no  chance, 
nor  event  by  it,  for  he  hath  all  things  written  before 
him  with  their  causes.  God's  providence,  and  for- 
tune, are  direct  contraries.  Hereupon,  the  verj- 
actions  of  men  come  not  to  pass  without  God's  pur- 
pose. He  not  only  foreseeth,  but  wisely  ordereth 
them  i  and  even  that  which  is  done  against  the  will 
of  God,  is  not  done  without  the  will  of  God.  He 
doth  not  command  it,  he  doth  suffer  it.  Albeit  he 
esteem  not  evil  to  be  good,  yet  he  accounteth  it  good 
that  evil  should  be. 

This  serves  to  qualify  our  impatience,  when  we  see 
some  reject  (he  means  of  salvation,  despise  the  word, 
vilipend  the  ministers  of  it,  rob  God  of  his  church's 
patrimony,  malign  the  professors  of  the  truth,  and 
give  over  themselves  to  a  resolute  contradiction  of 
godliness  ;  knowing  that  some  are  of  old  and  long 
ago  ordained  (o  this  condemnation,  and  that  their 
judgment  (a destruction  which  is  properly  their  own) 
is  long  ago  prepared.  And  for  ourselves,  though  we 
be  confident  in  Jesus  Christ,  through  the  testimony 
of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  yet  "  be  not  high-minded,  but 
fear,"  Rom.  xi.  20.  Our  fidelity  must  take  heed  of 
security. 

This'  point  is  not  barren,  but  useful  to  us  in  a 
double  application;  the  one  of  caution,  the  other  of 
consolation. 

1.  Seeing  God  doth  not  sleep  in  his  justice,  let  not 
us  sleep  in  our  injustice.  When  Alexander  had  a  great 
battle  to  fight,  he  was  found  fast  asleep  in  his  tent. 
We  have  lists  to  enter  with  the  justice  of  God  ;  O 
let  not  the  slumber  of  our  souls  and  the  judgment  of 
our  sins  come  so  near  together.  "  Jonah  w;\.s  gone 
down  into  the  sides  of  tlie  ship ;  and  he  lay,  and  was 
fast  asleep."  The  air  is  troubled,  and  sends  out  a 
tempest,  tne  waves  roar,  the  winds  blow,  the  sea  is 
disturbed,  the  ship  almost  broken,  the  mariners  afraid, 
(happy  man  that  can  pray  fastest !)  the  burden  of  the 
vessel  unladen;  and  all  this  for  the  prophet's  cause  : 
yet  the  prophet  alone  is  ignorant  of  the  matter,  he 
is  fitst  asleep.  It  could  not  be  but  he  much  forgot 
himself:  though  he  had  refused  to  preach  at  Nine- 
veh, yet  here  was  an  auditory  and  an  occasion  that 
required  a  sermon ;  and  the  conversion  of  one  sinner 
is  a  blessed  work,  because  he  covers  a  multitude  of 
sins.  Jam.  v.  20,  which  either  the  converter  or  the 
converted  hath  committed.  The  very  uncircumcised 
master  wakens  him  ;  "  What  meanest  thou,  O  sleeper  ? 
arise,  call  upon  thy  God."  An  infidel  leads  him 
that  knew  God  to  liis  prayers.  The  prophet  is  be- 
come an  auditor,  and  the  auditor  a  prophet ;  the 
sheep  leads  the  shejiherdj  the  patient  heals  the  phy- 
sician ;  the  Gentiles  are  devout  in  their  superstition, 
the  Israelite  cold  in  his  religion.  Truth  is  truth 
wheresoever  we  find  it ;  "  Call  upon  thy  God,"  was 
good  counsel  from  a  heathen. 

It  is  desperate  for  men  over  shoes,  to  nm  over 
shoulders ;  and  having  transgressed  the  bounds  of 
obedience,  to  neglect  any  desire  of  revocatiim.  Cy- 
prian, who  was  at  last  a  martyr,  wrote  of  himself, 
that  being  a  persecutor,  he  was  so  far  in,  that  he  had 
no  hope  of  getting  out ;  therefore  freely  welcomed 
all  vice,  as  resolving  upon  the  worst  that  could  befall 
him.  Sleep  departeth  from  the  eyes  of  distressed 
and  anguished  spirits  :  "  I  am  full  of  tossings  to  and 
fro  unto  the  dawning  of  the  day,".  Job  vii.  4.  He 
that  is  troubled  in  liis  conscience  for  his  iniquities, 


will  resolve  with  David,  not  to  suffer  his  eyes  to  slceji, 
nor  his  eyelids  to  be  closed  down  with  slumber  :  as 
he,  till  he  found  a  resting-place  for  God,  Psal.  cxxxii. 
4,  5;  so  this,  till  he  find  rest  for  his  own  soul. 

Yet  how  hath  this  sleep  ])ossessed  even  God's 
children!  David  being  full  slips  into  idleness;  from 
idleness  he  passeth  to  coneui>iscence,  concupiscence 
begets  adultery,  adiiUerj-  lialcheth  murder.  And 
when  all  these  ingredients,  put  together,  would  have 
troubled  the  strongest  and  most  retentive  stomach, 
he  takes  a  sleep  with  tliem  of  almost  a  year  long. 
Thus  are  sinners  like  a  man  surcliarged  widi  a  glut- 
tonous meal,  who  is  apt,  his  belly  being  full,  to  lay 
his  bones  at  rest.  Christ  came  to  his  disciples  and 
found  them  asleep.  Matt.  xxvi.  40.  He  had  often  in- 
culcated this  admonition  to  them,  "  Watch ; "  yet 
now  in  the  greatest  extremity  they  are  fast  asleep. 
I  know  that  sleep  is  necessary  to  human  nature;  all 
living  creatures  on  earth  have  their  sleeps.  Tliough 
the  poet  salse  sed  false  of  the  nightingale,  Tu  canlare 
simul  node  dieque  poles :  that  she  sings  night  and 
day  ;  if  at  least  he  mean,  without  intermission :  as 
Pliny  also  too  confidently  avers,  lib.  10.  cap.  75. 
The  credit  of  ^lian  is  engaged  for  as  much,  that  she 
is  without  all  sleep ;  but,  by  his  leave,  it  was  an  error. 
Sleep  is  that  natural  help, 

Quod  corpora  dun's 
Fessa  tmniateriis  mulcel,  reparatque  lahori. 

Therefore  the  Pythagoreans  used  to  play  a  lesson  on 
the  harp  and  sing  to  it,  when  they  were  going  to  bed  : 
Quo  citius  el  blatidius  obdormirent.  (Quintil.  lib.  9. 
cap.  4.)  The  apostles  therefore  having  supped  late, 
drank  wine,  wearied  with  travel,  now  being  midniglit, 
sleep's  principal  season,  not  walking  but  sitting  still ; 
all  which  were  valde  suadenlia  somnum,  as  Virgil 
speaks,  inovoking  and  attractive  of  sleep;  why  then 
doth  Christ  reprove  them,  for  not  watching  with  him 
one  hour  ?  But  is  there  not  a  time  to  wake,  and  a 
time  to  sleep?  Eccl.  iii.  2.  What!  in  that  very  hour 
when  the  Lord  of  life  was  betrayed  into  the  hands 
of  death,  the  King  ready  to  die  for  his  people,  the 
Creator  as  it  were  unmade  to  new-make  his  creatures, 
the  innocent  suffering  for  the  nocent,  could  they  not 
even  tlien  forbear  sleeping?  Not  one  liour  ;  it  was 
short :  watch  ;  it  was  easy  :  not  be  exposed  to  scorn, 
not  cast  into  prison,  not  beaten  with  scourges ;  but 
only  spectare  el  expeclare,  to  look  and  wait,  while 
their  Master  was  finishing  that  great  work  of  their 
own  redemption.  Not  watch  with  me,  me  your 
Saviour;  one  hour,  I  say  not  a  whole  night.  He 
found  them  all  sleeping,  but  directs  his  reprehension 
to  St.  Peter,  Mark  xiv.  37  i  because  he  before,  with 
fervent  zeal,  had  confidently  ^iromised  this,  yea,  far 
more  than  this,  to  lay  down  his  life  for  Christ :  "  Si- 
mon, sleepest  thou  ?  "  There  is  a  time  to  sleep  «nth- 
out  reproof.  Samuel  slept.  Da\-id  slept,  Psal.  iv.  8. 
Christ  himself  slept.  Matt.  viii.  24.  Peter  had  often 
slept  before  without  reprehension ;  yea,  and  after- 
wards too  with  consolation,  angels  guarding  and 
delivering  him,  Acts  xii.  7-  But  novr  to  sleep! 
"  Couldst  thou  not  watch  with  me  one  hour?"  I 
say  not  a  thousand,  nor  a  hundred,  nor  a  score,  but 
one:  not  month,  or  week,  or  day,  or  whole  night, 
but  iiour;  and  this  not  to  fight  for  me,  but  to  watch 
with  me :  Simon,  dermis  Y  Simon,  signifies  obedi- 
ence :  Christ  calls  him  not  Peter,  nor  Cephas,  but 
Simon ;  arguing  his  forgetfulness,  not  only  of  his 
Master's  love,  but  of  his  own  name.  But  if  it  be 
such  a  sin  to  sleep,  what  is  it  to  betray  ?  Judas, 
traJisf  was  worse  tlian,  5iHiiMi,  t/ornn'.v ."  It  is  better 
to  sleep  with  Peter,  than  to  betray  with  Judas. 
He  that  sleeps  well  thinks  no  harm;  but  there 
be  some  that  study  mischief  in  their  beds,  Micah 


272 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


ii.  I.  I't  jugulent  homines  surgunt  de  nocle  la- 
trones.  We  may  better  suffer  desidiosum  monachum, 
miam  insidiosum  ,/esuitam,  than  the  pope's  wakeful 
Judas,  discipuhim  decipulum,  his  snare  and  gin  to  en- 
trap poor  souls,  and  send  them  to  Rome,  like  virgins 
taken  up  for  the  Turk,  to  suffer  his  antichristian 
ravishments. 

To  conclude ;  seeing  that  sleep  comes  from  cold 
and  moist  humours  dominant  in  the  brain,  and  wake- 
fulness from  hot  and  dry  reigning  in  the  luad,  let  us 
cast  away  the  cold  and  crude  humours  of  sin,  and 
stir  up  the  holy  and  almost  extinguished  fire  of  zeal. 
That  as  Christ  at  his  first  coming  found  the  shep- 
herds by  nirfit  watching  over  their  flocks ;  so  at  his 
second  commg,  whether  by  diiy  or  night,  he  may 
find  us  all  watching  over  our  souls. 

2.  As  this  is  tenor  to  the  ungodly,  so  comfort  to 
the  righteous.  As  justice  is  ever  waking,  so  mercy 
is  never  asleep.  He  tliat  keeps  Israel,  never  lets 
his  providence  fall  into  a  slumber.  Yea,  even  in 
the  lethargy  of  our  disobedience,  when  we  remit  of 
our  uprightness,  the  hand  of  this  ever-watching  God 
prcser\"es  us.  David  was  asleep  a  long  while  toge- 
ther, but  the  Lord  that  chose  David  slept  not 
for  his  good.  Upon  this  confidence  he  betaketh 
himself  to  rest  :  "  I  laid  me  down  and  slept,  for  the 
Lord  sustained  me."  "  I  will  both  lay  me  down  in 
peace,  and  sleep  :  for  thou.  Lord,  only  makest  me 
dwell  in  safety."  As  he  sets  his  angels  to  guard  us 
in  the  natural  sleep  of  our  bodies,  so  his  preventing 
grace  doth  keep  us  in  the  spiritual  slumber  of  our 
consciences.  But  let  not  this  make  us  presume  upon 
his  mercy  too  much  ;  nor  so  trespass  upon  God's  un- 
sleeping protection,  as  to  take  our  ease  in  our  corrup- 
tion. Thou  saycst,  Others  have  long  slumbered,  and 
yet  been  graciously  awakened;  as  David,  Paul,  Zac- 
cheus  ;  why  not  I  ?  I  dispute  not :  God  will  measure 
out  his  graces  at  his  own  pleasure ;  and  though  they 
run  over  to  some,  they  are  plentiful  enough  to  all. 
"  The  same  Lord  is  rich  unto  all  that  call  ujion  him," 
Rom.  X.  12.  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee,"  was 
Paul's  answer ;  and  it  may  suffice  all  suitors. 

God  hath  given  us  no  small  space,  not  a  few  mer- 
cies :  if  we  will  sleep  with  Peter,  we  put  it  to  the 
hazard  whether  we  shall  ever  rise  with  Peter.  We 
cannot  expect  miraculous  revocations  ;  a  whale  to 
reduce  us,  as  Jonah  ;  or  the  sun  to  stand  still  for  us, 
as  to  Joshua  ;  or  the  sea  to  divide  itself,  as  to  Israel  ; 
or  a  voice  heard  from  heaven,  as  to  Paul.  Shall  we 
say.  The  arm  of  God  is  shortened,  because  we  see 
not  these  wonders  ?  Will  we  not  be  wakened  with- 
out miracles  ?  Must  the  course  of  nature  be  altered, 
the  pillars  of  earth  moved,  the  channels  of  the  sea 
discovered ;  must  we  see  signs  in  the  sun  and  moon, 
and  have  some  rise  from  the  dead  to  warn  us,  or  we 
will  not  be  wakened  ?  "  The  Jews  require  a  sign,  and 
the  Greeks  seek  after  wisdom  :  but  we  preach  Christ 
crucified,"  1  Cor.  i.  22,  23.  Woe  unto  us,  if  the  open 
face  of  the  gosjiel  cannot  rouse  us  without  a  sign, 
and  the  simplicity  of  Christ  persuade  us  without 
further  wisdom !  "  They  that  sleep,  sleep  in  the 
night,"  1  Thess.  v.  7.  But  the  night  is  past ;  let  us 
therefore  give  over  slumbering.  The  less  sleep  we 
give  sin  in  our  souls,  the  sweeter  sleep  we  shall  find 
to  our  bodies.  Thus  shall  we  be  sure,  that  while  the 
wicked  are  overtaken  with  this  unsleeping  damna- 
tion, we  shall  be  guarded  and  guided  with  a  vigilant 
preserN-ation.  For  Christ "  died  for  us,  that,  whether 
we  wake  or  sleep,  we  should  live  together  with  him," 
1  Thess.  v.  10 ;  to  whom  be  praise  for  ever. 


Verse  4. 


For  if  Cod  spared  not  ihe  angels  that  sinyied,  but 
caxi  them  down  to  hell,  and  delivered  them  into  chains 
of  darkness,  to  be  reserved  unto  judgment. 

The  apostle  having  dogmatically  confuted,  and  pro- 
phetically condemned,  tile  depravers  of  true  doctrine, 
proceeds  to  an  exemplar)'  demonstration  of  the  judg- 
ments of  God  upon  sinners.  For  God  cannot  be 
unlike  to  himself;  nor  doth  tolerate  that  in  one, 
which  he  doth  punish  in  another;  but  hates  iniquity 
wheresoever  he  finds  it,  and  preser\es  one  immutable 
tenor  of  his  justice.  Whensoever  sin  goes  before, 
punishment  shall  certainly  follow  after,  unless  season- 
able repentance  come  between.     Of  this  he  makes 

A  relation,  to  ver.  8. 

An  illation,  vcr.  9. 

The  relation  considers  two  generals  ;  God's  justice 
in  punishing  offenders,  mercy  in  sparing  his  servants. 
This  holds  in  three  histories.  1.  Oftheangels:  they 
that  fell  are  confounded ;  there  is  his  justice  :  they 
that  stood  are  conserved;  there  is  his  mercy.  2.  Of 
the  old  world  :  when  the  impenitent  were  swept  away 
with  a  flood ;  there  is  his  justice  :  and  righteous 
Noah,  with  seven  more  for  his  sake,  were  saved  in 
the  ark ;  there  is  his  mercy.  3.  Of  Sodom  and  her 
sister  cities :  when  fire  from  heaven  burnt  up  the  re- 
probates ;  there  is  his  justice :  and  righteous  Lot  was 
delivered;  there  is  his  mercy. 

Now  upon  all  these  premises  comes  the  illation, 
ver.  9,  "  'The  Lord  knoweth  how  to  deliver  the  godly 
out  of  temptations,  and  to  reserve  the  unjust  unto 
the  day  of  judgment  to  be  punished."  If  our 
faith  be  as  much,  his  mercy  is  not  less;  if  their  re- 
bellion be  no  less,  his  justice  is  as  much.  The  first 
judgment  takes  hold  on  altitude,  the  second  on  lati- 
tude, the  third  on  plenitude.  For  height  and  excel- 
lency, the  angels  were  glorious  in  heaven,  yet  some 
are  cast  into  hell.  For  breadth  and  numerous  ampli- 
tude, no  less  than  a  whole  world  were  drowned.  For 
fulness  and  opulcncy,  the  Sodomites  lived  in  a  second 
Paradise,  yet  were  they  burned.  There  is  no  wicked- 
ness so  high,  none  so  broad,  none  so  rich,  but  God's 
justice  can  overthrow  it.  Let  men  be  as  high  as 
angels,  as  many  as  will  make  a  world,  as  rich  as  the 
Sodomites  ;  yet  if  they  be  unrepentant  sinners,  they 
shall  perish. 

We  begin  aloft  first,  and  behold  the  angels  revolt- 
ing from  heaven,  and  for  their  fault  turned  out  of 
heaven.     Wherein  we  have  considerable, 

Their  excellency,  by  nature  angels. 

Their  apostacy,  they  sinned. 

Their  penalty,  were  not  spared. 

In  the  former  I  will  touch  upon  four  points  : 

1.  Their  creation,  which  though  it  be  not  precise- 
ly specified  by  Moses,  is  most  certainly  included. 
"  By  him  were  all  things  created,  that  are  in  earth 
or  in  heaven  ;"  who  were  created  in  heaven  but  the 
angels?  "  whether  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  prin- 
cipalities, or  powers,"  Col.  i.  16.  Which  though 
some  understand  of  empires,  orders,  and  govern- 
ments ;  others,  the  palaces  of  God's  majesty,  and 
seats  of  immortality.  But  the  opinion  approved 
of  the  most,  and  the  most  approved  opinion,  con- 
ceives all  there  spoken  of  angels.  He  "  makelh  his 
angels  spirits,"  Psal.  civ.  4.  Some  philosophers  con- 
ceited that  angels  had  their  beginning  of  the  souls  of 
men ;  that  good  souls  became  angels,  and  bad  souls 
devils.  And  some  would  fatlier  this  opinion  upon 
Plato,  but  inconsiderately.  Plato,  indeed,  thought  and 
taufht  a  metempsvchosis,  a  transmigration  of  souls 
into  new  bodies.     Such  was  that  Homcrical  fiction  of 


Ver.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


273 


Ulysses'  comi)anions  turned  into  hogs  and  bears. 
But  he  said  nevor,  tliat  of  souls  were  made  angels. 

But  why  was  this  omitted  by  Moses  in  his  history 
of  the  creation  ?  I .  Some  think  it  was  to  avoid  idol- 
atry in  the  Israelites,  who,  if  they  had  known  angels, 
would  have  falkn  to  their  adoration.  (Chrj-sost. 
Thcodor.)  But  ihey  could  not  be  ignorant  of  the 
angels,  which  had  so  often  appeared  to  their  fathers, 
and  done  them  so  many  miniliterial  kindnesses.  2. 
Others  thus:  Moses  treated  of  things  that  had  their 
beginning  with  the  material  world,  but  angels  were 
created  before  the  risible  world.  (Basil.  Damasc.) 
But  this  is  a  false  supposition  ;  for  before  the  world 
there  was  netliing  created.  3.  Others  thus:  Their 
creation  is  comprehended  under  the  names  of  heaven 
and  light,  because  they  are  set  over  all  heavenly 
things.  (August.  Bed.)  But  this  were  to  leave  the 
literal  sense,  and  to  divert  it  unto  allegory,  which 
may  not  be  admitted  in  so  plain  a  histoiy.  The  best 
opinion  is,  that  their  creation  is  omitted  for  two 
reasons.  1.  Because  Moses  applielh  himself  to  the 
simple  capacity  of  the  people,  and  describeth  the 
creating  of  visible  and  sensible  things,  leaving  spirit- 
ual as  above  their  understanding.  (Hieron.  Ep.  139. 
ad  Cyprian.)  2.  Lest  men  should  think  that  God 
needed  the  help  of  angels,  in  the  production  or  dis- 
position of  the  other  creatures.  As  if  the  fabric  of 
tlie  world  had  been  too  great  a  business  for  himself 
alone  to  undertake ;  and  tlicrcfore  should  be  required 
the  ministration  of  those  angelical  powers. 

That  they  were  created  is  undeniably  plain ;  now 
the  next  query  is,  when.  1.  Some  think  they  were 
made  long  before  the  world.  (Origen  Tract.  35.  in 
Matt.  Damascen.  lib.  2.  cap.  3.  de  Fide.)  But  the 
fcJeripturc  testifies  that  the  evil  angels  apostatized 
as  soon  as  ever  they  were  created.  "  He  abode  not 
in  the  truth,"  John  viii.  44.  And  our  text  infers, 
that  as  soon  as  they  sinned,  they  were  east  into  hell. 
But  before  heaven  was  made  there  was  no  hell.  Be- 
fore the  constitution  of  the  world,  there  could  be  no 
distinction  of  place  ;  for  there  was  nothing  but  God. 
2.  Some  from  the  first  verse  of  Genesis  would  prove, 
that  the  angels  were  created  together  with  the 
world;  "  the  heaven"  comprehending  angels,  as  the 
continent  doth  the  content,  the  house  doth  the  in- 
habitant. And  whereas  it  is  said,  "  darkness  was 
on  the  face  of  the  deep ; "  Origen  thinks  this  deep 
to  be  that  place  whither  the  devil  and  his  angels 
were  cast.  But  the  Holy  Ghost  showing  the  eternity 
of  Wisdom,  saith,  "  I  was  from  everlastmg,  from  the 
beginning,  or  ever  the  earth  was.  When  there  were 
no  depths,  before  the  mountains  were  settled,  before 
the  hills  was  I  brought  forth,"  Prov.  viii.  23—25. 
The  angels  therefore  were  not  before  the  earth  and 
hills ;  for  then  this  should  be  no  good  argument  to 
prove  the  antiquity  and  eternity  of  Wisdom,  which 
is  the  Son  of  God.  3.  It  is  most  probable,  that  they 
■were  created  upon  the  fourth  day,  when  the  stars 
and  other  ornaments  of  heaven  were  made.  "  When 
the  morning-stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of 
God  shouted  for  joy,"  Job  xxxviii.  7.  They  are  said 
to  rejoice  and  praise  God  together  with  the  stars ; 
therefore  then  it  seems  they  took  their  being  and  be- 
ginning; for,  questionless,  immediately  upon  their 
creation  they  praised  God.  Besides,  the  heavens 
vore  that  day  perfected,  the  matter  of  them  being 
only  before  prepared.  It  is  fit  that  the  house  should 
be  formed,  before  the  inhabitant  be  produced.  And 
this  may  satisfy  any  honest  inquisitor,  unless  he 
rather  desires  to  wrangle  than  to  learn.  But  these 
be  the  Lord's  own  secrets,  whereof  we  may  be  ig- 
norant without  danger.  Howsoever,  we  have  proved 
that  the  angel  is  a  created  substance ;  which  confutes 
that  Pythagorean  dotage  of  philosophers  with  this 


two  beginnings,  one  of  good  and  another  of  evil :  to- 
gether wnth  that  Manichean  heresy  among  some 
Christians,  of  which  rank  were  the  Arehonitick  and 
Caian  heretics,  of  whom  we  rend  in  Epiphanius; 
that  the  angels  were  from  everlasting,  coetemal  with 
God;  whereas  it  is  plain  that  they  are  creatures  of 
his  making. 

2.  Their  nature  ;  an  incon)oreal  substance,  subtile 
and  powerful,  created  after  tne  image  of  God,  resem- 
bling him  as  they  are  spiritual  and  immortal,  but 
especially  as  they  are  holy  and  just,  and  full  of  divine 
created  perfections.  They  are  suUslanecs,  though 
invisible,  that  have  being,  life,  sense,  understanding; 
and  not  mere  qualities.  Pure  qualities  can  neither 
sin  nor  be  cajiable  of  punishment ;  but  my  text 
lirovcs  both  these  concurring  in  the  reprobate  angels. 
But  how  can  an  incorporeal  substance  be  capable  of 
punishment  ?  Yet  who  would  ask  that  question, 
that  finds  a  soul  within  himself  troubled  witli  pas- 
sion ;  even  when  no  offence  or  distemperature  risetli 
from  that  gross  and  corporal  part?  yet  is  his  soul 
vexed  with  the  sense  of  sin,  with  sorrow,  care,  and 
l)erturbation  of  conscience.  Though  the  angels  be 
spiritual,  they  are  capable  of  punishment,  for  the 
torments  of  hell  are  spiritual.  This  confutes  the 
Sadducees  of  our  times,  who  think  angels  to  be 
notliing  but  motions,  and  melancholy  passions ;  or 
those  that  take  evil  spirits  to  be  only  evil  qualities 
and  dispositions  inherent  with  us ;  or  the  Libertines, 
that  think  good  or  evil  angels  to  be  nothing  else 
but  good  or  bad  fortunes  and  successes.  But  whom 
they  would  not  beware  of  in  their  sins,  they  shall 
feel  in  their  torments.  As  they  that  live  like  angels 
on  earth,  shall  be  made  like  angels  in  heaven ;  so 
they  that  will  not  believe  any  devils,  yet  live  like 
devils,  must  have  their  portion  with  devils ;  and 
sltillu.s-  in  culpa,  will  be  made  sapims  in  poena. 

2.  Their  office.  Angel  is  not  a  name  of  nature, 
but  of  office.  (Greg.)  They  stand  round  about  the 
Lord  as  attendants,  and  execute  his  imposed  bests 
like  ready  servants.  (August.)  .4  quo  dominatio,  ab 
en  denominalio:  this  name  is  given  them  for  some 
supereminent  quality.  "  He  rode  upon  a  cherub, 
and  did  fly,"  Psal.  xviii.  10.  They  are  said  to  have 
wings  for  their  sjieed  of  obedience.  Therefore 
Gregory  says,  that  their  titles  are  according  to  their 
messages.  They  that  are  sent  on  business  of  less 
moment,  arc  called  angels;  they  that  of  greater  im- 
portance, archangels.  The  angel  sent  to  contract 
that  sacred  match  between  the  King  of  heaven  and 
the  Virgin  Mary,  was  called  Gabriel,  Luke  i.  19. 
Gabriel  signifies,  the  power  of  God :  a  fit  ambassador 
for  such  a  message  ;  because  the  conception  of  Christ, 
and  by  it  the  redemption  of  the  world,  is  called,  the 
strength  of  God's  arm,  Luke  i.  51.  Gabriel  was 
sent,  1.  I  do  not  think,  with  Ilierome,  because  virgins 
are  as  angels :  as  Isidor.  Coelibaluji,  as  if  fa7i  bealus. 
Indeed  Christ  says,  that  in  heaven  "  they  neither  mar- 
rv,  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  but  are  as  the  angels  of 
God,"  Matt.  xxii.  30.  But  so  all  the  faithful  are  vir- 
gins to  Christ,  and  shall  be  made  as  angels  by  Christ. 
2.  Nor  yet  so  much  to  show  that  he  was  a  high 
angel,  because  of  his  high  and  glorious  message. 
,3.  But  indeed,  as  Aquinas  in  this  truly,  that  our 
liuman  nature  might  be  repaired  after  the  same 
manner  it  was  ruinated.  As  a  serpent  was  sent  to 
Eve  by  the  devil,  to  work  our  woe  ;  so  an  angel  was 
sent  to  Mar)-  by  God,  to  bring  news  of  our  bliss.  By 
Eve  man  was  separated  from  God,  in  Mary  God  was 
united  to  man:  an  evil  angel  was  the  worker  of  the 
separation,  a  good  angel  was  the  messenger  of  the 
conjunction.  So  great  is  their  office,  that  Christ 
himself  accepted  the  name,  "the  Angel  of  the  cove- 
nant," Mai.  iii.  1.    Popish  writers  deny  that  Christ 


374 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Cum:  It. 


was  ever  called  an  angel  in  the  Old  Testament.  For 
that,  Gen.  xlviii.  16,  they  would  thence  prove  prayer 
to  angels.  "  The  Angel  which  redeemed  me  from 
evil,  bless  the  lads  :"  but  no  angel  redeemed  us,  but 
Jesus  Christ.  They  say.  If  at  any  time  the  Son  of 
God  appeared,  it  was  most  likely  to  be  in  Mount 
Sinai,  at  the  giving  of  the  law;  that  being  the  most 
noble  apparition  of  all.  Yet  saith  Stephen,  Ye  "  re- 
ceived the  law  by  the  disposition  of  angels,  and 
have  not  kept  it,"  Acts  vii.  53.  Angels  then  ap- 
peared, not  Christ.  But  the  angels  there  were  minis- 
tering spirits,  giving  their  attendance,  and  executing 
their  office.  It  is  no  good  argument.  Because  the 
law  was  given  by  angels,  therefore  not  by  Christ. 
St.  Paul  clears  it,  "  The  law  was  ordained  by  angels 
in  the  hand  of  a  ^lediator,"  Gal.  iii.  19.  The  minis- 
try was  of  angels,  the  authority  of  Christ.  Tliey 
further  object.  If  Christ  had  appeared  at  any  time 
before  his  birth,  it  was  most  likely  then  when  word 
was  brought  to  Mary  of  the  incarnation  of  God's 
Son;  both  for  the  dignity  of  the  person  to  whom, 
and  of  the  ministry  vwiat.  But  the  messenger  was 
Gabriel,  not  Christ.  Ansu:  1.  Mary  was  not  yet  so 
great  a  person,  as  to  be  preferred  before  all  the  patri- 
archs, Christ's  progenitors.  Her  dignity  came  not 
by  her  own  worthiness,  but  by  God's  special  grace  : 
freely  beloved.  2.  There  was  greater  reason  that 
the  same  angel  Gabriel,  the  first  revcalcr  of  the  pro- 
phecy to  Daniel  concerning  the  Messiah,  should  also 
be  the  messenger  of  the  accomplishment  of  it.  3. 
It  was  not  fit  that  the  Son  of  God  himself  should  be 
the  messenger  of  his  own  coming  into  the  world. 
Princes  send  their  officers  before,  to  give  tidings  of 
their  coming ;  and  should  not  that  great  Prince  send 
his  angels  before,  that  it  might  appear  he  was  Lord 
of  the  angels  ? 

This  is  their  office,  wherein  they  are  patterns  to 
us.  "  BUss  the  Lord,  ye  his  angels,  that  excel  in 
strength,  that  do  his  commandments,  hearkening  unto 
the  voice  of  his  word,"  Psal.  ciii.  20.  For  this  we 
pray,  that  the  will  of  God  may  be  done  by  us  on 
earth,  as  it  is  done  by  the  angels  in  heaven,  Matt. 
vi.  10.  Our  obedience  cannot  be  like  in  perfection, 
must  be  like  in  proportion ;  for  quality  here,  for 
equality  hereafter.  We  must  obey  like  the  angels, 
if  we  desire  to  shine  like  them.  In  life  we  are  men, 
in  hope  angels :  now  while  we  want  the  perfection 
of  angels,  God  bless  us  from  the  presumption  of  the 
devils.  (August.)  Let  us  confess  Christ  before  men, 
that  he  may  confess  us  before  the  angels,  Luke  xii.  9. 

4.  Their  glory.  When  the  Scripture  attributes 
the  highest  praise  to  inferior  creatures,  the  compa- 
rison is  drawn  from  the  glorj- of  angels.  Jacob  com- 
mending the  countenance  of  his  reconciled  brotlier 
says,  I  have  seen  thy  face,  as  the  face  of  an  angel. 
Gen.  xxxiii.  10.  "  Man  did  eat  angels'  food,"  Psal. 
Ixxviii.  25 ;  which  was  manna,  a  most  excellent  meat, 
that  if  the  angels  needed  sustenance,  they  could  wish 
no  better.  "  Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of 
angels,"  1  Cor.  xiii.  1.  Si  (iua>  .shit  angetnnim  Iw^uip: 
if  the  angels  had  tongues,  they  must  needs  be  admir- 
able. They  looked  stedfastly  on  Stephen,  and  "saw 
his  face  as  it  had  been  the' face  of  an  angel,"  Acts 
vi.  15.  David  admiring  man's  creative  glory,  with 
uncontained  passion  breaks  forth,  "  Thou  hast  made 
him  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,"  Psal.  viii.  5. 
Man  in  his  greatest  glory  is  inferior  to  angels.  Fa- 
mous men  in  the  church  arc  called  angels.  So  John 
Baptist :  "  I  send  my  angel  before  thy  face,"  Matt. 
XI.  10.  "  The  angels  of  iieace,"  Isa.  xxxiii.  j.  "  To 
the  angel  of  the  church,"  Rev.  ii.  1.  The  preacher 
of  repentance  was  called  the  "  angel  of  the  Lord," 
Judg.  n.  I.  The  prophet  is  called  the  Lord's  angel. 
Hag.  I.  13.    "  He  is  the  angel  of  the  Lord  of  hosts," 


Mai.  ii.  7-  The  king  of  Tyrus  is  called  an  "  anointt^d 
cherub,"  Ezck.  xxviii.  14.  The  widow  of  Tekoah 
put  the  term  ujion  David,  "  As  an  angel  of  God,  so 
is  my  lord  the  king  to  discern  good  and  bad,"  2 
Sam.  xiv.  17.  Tliis  was  their  happy  estate,  unto 
which  nihil  def'uit,  iiixi  quod  non  immutabilis  fuit, 
there  was  nothing  wanting,  but  the  unchangeable- 
ni'BS  of  it.  But  opiimi  corruptio  pessimu  :  they  were 
the  best  of  all  creatures,  they  are  the  worst  of  all 
creatures :  being  not  content  to  remain  angels,  tht y 
became  devils. 

"  The  angels  that  sinned."  I  come  to  their  apos- 
tacy ;  wherein  consider  four  circumstances ;  the  per- 
sons, the  cause,  the  manner,  and  the  measure  of  their 
fall. 

1.  The  persons  that  fell:  some  of  the  angels,  not 
all :  they  that  sinned ;  for  they  that  sinned  not,  stand 
for  ever  conser\-ed  by  the  mercy  of  God.  This  is 
St.  Paul's  distinction,  "  I  charge  thee  before  God, 
and  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  the  elect  angels,"  1  Tim.  v. 
21.  Some  are  elected;  and  because  election  pre- 
supposeth  refusal,  the  rest  are  rejected.  Upon  this 
falling,  they  are  not  properly  any  more  angels,  but 
devils  and  spirits  of  darkness.  Satan,  in  Hebrew ; 
an  enemy,  or  detractor.  Solomon  acknowledging 
his  peace  saith,  1  have  not  an  adversary',  1  Kings  v. 
4.  'The  princes  of  the  Philistines  put  the  word  upon 
David;  "Lest  he  be  an  adversary  to  us,"  1  Sam. 
xxix.  4.  So  David  to  the  sons  of  Zeruiah ;  Why  are 
you  adversaries  unto  me  ?  2  Sam.  xix.  22.  So  Christ 
to  Peter  ;  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan,"  Matt.  xvi. 
23.  The  Greeks  have,  diabolus,  Sia  fSaWu,  insidiose 
capere.  His  whole  exercise  is  to  deceive  man,  and 
to  reduce  him  to  his  own  ruin.  Thus  he  is  called. 
The  father  of  lies,  the  prince  of  darkness,  &c.  all 
corruptive,  destructive  names.  Beelzebub,  the  god 
of  flies,  or  the  master-fly.  Flies,  though  beaten  off, 
will  return  again  ;  so  doth  Satan  after  many  repulses. 
The  red  dragon;  dyed  into  that  sanguine  hue  with 
the  blood  of  souls.  The  tempter ;  "  unclean  spirits," 
Matt.  X.  1.  Which  discovers  their  folly  that,  pro- 
verbially, The  (\e\i\  is  not  so  black  as  painters  make 
him.  But,  by  their  leaves,  let  us  not  trust  him  ;  but 
endeavour  by  a  good  life,  and  a  holy  faith,  to  keep 
ourselves  out  of  his  clutches. 

Proclus,  and  Psellus  a  Greek  writer,  make  many 
kinds  of  devils.  Some  fiery  spirits,  Lelurion,  con- 
versant about  the  orb  of  the  moon :  some  aerial,  in 
that  part  of  the  air  next  us  :  others  watery,  earthy, 
subterrane,  metalline  spirits,  which  obsess  the  covet- 
ous and  metal  men.  And  the  Scripture  in  some  sort 
allude  to  it,  which  calls  them  powers  of  the  air,  and 
wanderers  through  the  earth.  "Woe  to  the  inhabit- 
crs  of  the  earth !  for  the  devil  is  come  down  unto 
you,"  Rev.  xii.  12 :  down,  as  if  before  he  had  been 
hovering  in  the  air.  They  delight  in  filthy  places, 
deserts,  and  sepulchres,  and  hogs.  They  drove  one 
into  the  wilderness,  Luke  viii.  29.  Another  amongst 
the  tombs,  Matt.  viii.  28:  from  whom  being  cast 
they  entered  the  swine,  and  drove  them  into  the  sea; 
as  if  they  delighted  in  the  waters,  sporting  like  the 
leviathan  in  the  ocean.  They  make  some  deaf,  other 
dumb,  other  furious,  all  miserable  whom  they  pos- 
sess. They  insinuate  themselves  into  men  by  sly 
temptations,  and  therefore  are  called  familiars.  The 
best  and  blest  angels  seem  also  to  have  their  distinc- 
tions; "  thrones,  dominions,  jirincipalities,  power> 
Col.  i.  16.  I  do  not  speak  of  those  nine  orders, 
the  bold  Dionysius,  and  the  over-venturous  papis-N 
But  they  are  so  called,  because  God  by  them  governs 
the  nations,  moves  the  heavens,  restrains  deWls,  works 
miracles,  conveys  prophecies,  protects  his  servants, 
and  executes  judgments  upon  his  enemies.  Yet  so 
as  these  names  may  be  given  to  all  angels,  by  oc- 


Ver.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


275 


•asion  of  divers  employments ;  or  to  some  for  a  time, 
and  not  for  ever. 

2.  The  cause,  which  was  indeed  wholly  in  them- 
selves. For  either  God  or  man  must  be  the  cause  of 
their  sin,  or  themselves ;  but  neither  man,  nor  God, 
therefore  themselves.  Not  man;  for  had  not  the 
angels  fallen  first,  they  could  not  have  been  the 
cause  of  his  fall.  That  nature  continuing  good  itself, 
would  never  have  procured  evil  to  others.  But  now 
their  whole  endeavour  is  spent  upon  hindering  man's 
ascent  to  that  glor)-,  from  whence  they  are  justly 
dejected.  Man  either  was  not  then  made,  when  the 
angels  revolted;  or  if  he  were,  how  could  he  living 
on  earth  ruin  the  spirits  in  heaven  ?  The  devil  can- 
not challenge  man,  but  man  may  thank  the  devil, 
for  this  perdition.  He  first  tempered  the  cup  for 
himself,  and  then  tempted  man  to  drink ;  but  he  had 
better  never  have  pledged  him. 

Not  God;  for  then  that  were  injustice,  to  condemn 
them  for  that  which  himself  caused.  It  were  un- 
righteous to  make  them  fall,  and  then  punish  them 
for  falling.  But  he  did  foresee  it  and  would  not  pre- 
vent it,  and  in  not  hindering  it  he  seemed  to  cause 
it.  Indeed,  this  holds  in  the  creature ;  who  is  bound, 
foreseeing  an  evil,  to  do  his  best  in  preventing  it, 
and  otherwise  is  made  accessory  to  it.  But  God  is 
an  absolute  Lord  of  all,  and  not  bound  to  any  of  his 
creatures,  further  than  he  bindeth  himself.  In 
Christ  he  hath  bound  himself  to  believers,  and  all 
his  promises  are  yea  and  Amen ;  and  he  will  keep 
his  word.  But  shall  any  creature  challenge  him  for 
not  doing  that  he  never  promised  to  do  ?  But  God 
did  not  confirm  them  in  their  created  grace,  there- 
fore caused  their  fall.  Answ.  God  did  not  purpose 
their  confirmation :  he  gave  them  power  of  willing, 
not  will  of  standing.  He  is  not  tied  to  confer  more 
grace  upon  his  creature,  than  himself  pleaseth.  It 
was  enough  that  he  created  them  righteous,  without 
addition  of  their  confirming.  He  is  not  bound  to  do 
whatsoever  he  can,  nor  to  give  account  of  whatsoever 
he  doth. 

In  a  word,  the  angels  had  in  themselves  the  proper 
cause  and  beginning  of  their  own  fall ;  whicn  was, 
a  free  and  flexible  will.  They  might  will  good,  and 
perseverance  in  good ;  and  that  will  being  mutable, 
they  might  also  will  evil,  and  so  fall  from  God.  The 
same  kind  of  will  was  in  innocent  Adam.  But  good 
trees  cannot  bring  forth  bad  fruit ;  therefore  the 
angels  being  good,  could  not  sin  of  themselves. 
Answ.  Those  words  must  be  construed  sensu  coin- 
posito,  non  disjunclo.  Indeed  a  good  tree,  remaining 
good,  cannot  produce  ctU  fruit ;  but  being  changeable, 
it  may.  But  God  foresaw  it,  therefore  the  angels  could 
not  escape  it.  Answ.  Yet  is  not  his  prescience  any 
cause  of  their  fall,  but  only  an  antecedent.  Because 
we  sin,  therefore  it  was  foreknown  to  God ;  not  be- 
cause it  was  foreknown  to  God,  therefore  we  sin.  God 
saw  Judas's  treason  in  the  glass  of  liis  prescience  before 
Judas  had  a  member  composed,  or  the  world  was 
formed ;  yet  was  not  this  the  cause  why  Judas  betrayed 
Christ.  He  foresaw  it ;  he  did  neither  compel  it, 
nor  command  it,  nor  allow  it.  Prescience  is  to  God, 
as  memory  is  to  us  ;  memory  presents  to  us  tilings 
past,  prescience  to  God  things  to  come.  Our  memor)- 
IS  not  the  cause  why  things  past  were  done;  nor  is 
God's  foreknowledge  the  cause  why  things  to  come 
shall  be  done.  We  remember  some  things  we  do, 
we  do  not  all  the  things  we  remember.  So  God  fore- 
sees all  he  does,  he  does  not  all  he  foresees.  We 
remember  an  orchard  such  a  time  planted,  that  now 
yields  good  fruits,  by  nature,  not  by  violence ;  so 
God  foresaw  it.  Wc  remember  a  murder  done,  by 
will,  not  compulsion;  so  God  foresaw  it.  Neither 
our  memory,  nor  God's  prescience,  caused  these ;  but 


Ihiy  come  to  pass,  natural  by  nature,  voluntary  by 
will,  contingent  by  hap,  necessary  by  necessity.  But 
did  God  only  foresee  it?  No,  he  also  decreed  it: 
why,  then,  how  could  they  avoi<l  it?  Answ.  He 
decreed  to  leave  them  to  themselves,  that  they  might 
fall  if  they  will,  and  then  to  give  them  no  grace  of 
rising.  But  then  as  good  hit  me,  as  throw  me  :  it  is 
all  one  to  thrust  an  old  man  down,  as  to  take  away 
his  staff  that  should  keep  him  up.  Nay,  but  the  old 
man  throws  away  his  own  stair,  and  God  doth  not 
reach  it  him  :  they  did  forsake  their  own  grace,  and 
fall  by  their  own  folly.  But  here  let  us  fall  from  dis- 
])utation  to  admiration.  "  Oh  the  depth  of  the  wis- 
ilom  of  God  !  how  unsearchable  are  nis  judgments, 
and  liis  ways  past  finding  out ! "  Rom.  xi.  33. 

3.  The  manner:  this  was  by  sin,  saitli  our  apostle. 
But  what  was  this  sin?  Though  it  be  no  where 
precisely  expressed  in  the  Scripture  ;  yet  from  two 
places  it  may  be  collected,  that  it  was  a  rebellion 
against  God  arising  from  pride.  "  Ye  shall  be  as 
gods,"  Gen.  iii.  5.  He  tempted  man  to  this  sin,  an 
ambitious  pride  of  bettering  his  estate.  Now  it  is 
probable,  that  he  sought  to  overthrow  him  by  the 
same  way  he  fell  himself  "  He  charged  his  angels 
with  folly,"  Job  iv.  18.  The  sin  whereof  Eliimaz 
would  accuse  Job,  was  a  justifying  or  lifting  up  him- 
self before  God.  From  this  hypothesis  or  supposi- 
tion he  reasons,  that  if  God  so  plagued  pride  in  those 
angelical  natures,  how  will  he  dissemble  it  in  man, 
who  dwelleth  in  a  house  of  clay,  whose  foundation  is 
in  the  dust !  Some  say,  God  subjected  the  world  to 
man,  not  to  angels ;  "  What  is  man,  that  thou  hast 
put  all  things  under  his  feet  ?  "  Psal.  viii.  6.  This 
the  reprobate  angels  could  not  endure,  therefore  re- 
belled and  fell.  Yet  still  the  maimer  and  matter  of 
their  revolt  appears  to  be  pride  ;  an  insinuating  sin : 
it  crept  into  Paradise,  and  robbed  us  of  our  birth- 
right ;  we  may  curse  it  to  this  day.  It  climbed  into 
heaven,  and  robbed  angels  of  their  gloiy  ;  they  may 
curse  it  for  ever.  It  is  an  impudent  and  stupid  sin, 
more  insensible  than  Solomon's  dnmkard.  We  have 
not  only  thrust  thorns,  and  needles,  and  goads,  but 
even  swords  and  spears  into  her  heart  to  make  her 
bleed  ;  and  yet  she  is  proud  to  be  spoken  against. 

I  speak  not  of  pride  in  the  husk,  but  in  tlic  heart. 
Her  tailor,  fashion,  is  now  held  an  honest  man ;  I 
am  sure  a  powerful  one.  How  ridiculous  soever  a 
garb  appears,  fashion  can  persuade  men  to  it.  Oh 
that  our  preaching  were  iu  fashion  too!  then  we 
should  hope  to  persuade  you.  Wc  tell  pride,  that  as 
the  freshest  rivers  run  into  the  salt  sea;  so  all  the 
honours  of  the  world  shall  end  in  baseness,  all  the 
pleasures  of  the  world  in  bitterness,  all  the  treasures 
of  the  world  in  emptiness,  all  the  garments  of  the 
world  in  nakedness,  all  the  delicates  of  the  world  in 
rottenness.  If  Christ  bids  us  cut  off  and  cast  away 
the  offending  eye,  hand,  foot,  all  which  are  needful 
membei-s  tied  with  joints  and  ner»-es  to  the  body,  we 
may  well  spare  these  unnecessary  dependants,  no 
parts  of  our  flesh,  but  Hags  of  our  shame.  The 
Pharisee  prays  not  for  supply  of  defects,  nor  acknow- 
ledgeth  a  defect  of  supplies;  but  tells  his  own  ful- 
ness, and  that  great  difference  which  his  mistaken 
eyes  saw  between  himself  and  the  publican,  Luke 
xviii.  11,  12  ;  swelling  with  his  own  wind  till  he 
burst.  They  plough  with  the  oxen  of  their  own 
imaginar)-  righteousness,  and  contemplate  the  fiinn 
wliicli  their  own  works  have  purchased,  and  many 
themselves  to  merit  as  to  wife  ;    therefore  in   the 

Eride  of  their  percmptorj-  stomachs  they  scorn  the 
iamb's  supper.  Therefore  Christ  refuseth  them  in 
his  call,  but  seeks  sinners ;  not  sinners  in  per\erse- 
ness,  but  sinners  in  sense  and  conscience,  in  plea, 
action,  confession,  and  condemnation  of  themselves. 


276 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


It  is  a  needy  ami  acknowledged  emptiness,  that  lies 
at  his  gate  who  is  rich  in  mercy,  like  Lazanis  with 
all  his  ulcers  open,  and  begging  the  very  crumbs  of 
commiseration. 

Humility  is  the  hardest  of  all  virtues;  all  vices 
are  against  it,  yea,  all  virtues  arc  against  it ;  men 
are  proud  of  their  wisdom,  proud  of  their  beneficence. 
Yea,  humility  itself  is  against  humility,  and  by  a 
strange,  prodigious  birth  brings  forth  pride  :  as 
Diogenes,  and  that  worse  Cisterian,  is  proud  of  liis 
very  patches.  How  common  is  it  for  men  to  dis- 
claim vain-gloiy  vain-gloriously  !  making  a  remon- 
strance of  that  within  tliem,  wliereof  they  study  a 
renouncement  from  them.  But  the  best  things  are 
always  most  humble.  The  boughs  of  trees,  the 
more  laden  with  fruits,  the  nearer  they  hang  to  the 
ground.  The  best  gold  goes  down  in  the  balance, 
the  lighter  stays  above.  Good  corn  lies  in  the 
bottom  of  the  heap,  the  chaff  keeps  aloft.  The  good 
angel  lifts  him  up  that  would  worship  himj  "See 
thou  do  it  not  ;  I  am  thy  thy  fellow  sen-ant,"  Rev. 
xix.  10.  The  bad  angel  aflTeets  it ;  "All  these  will  I 
give  thee,  if  thou  wilt  fall  down  and  worship  me," 
Matt.  iv.  9.  Good  angels  arc  fearful  to  be  worship- 
ped of  that  nature,  \vhieh  they  see  exalted  in  Christ ; 
evil  angels  desire  to  be  worshipped  of  that  nature, 
■which  they  know  is  made  after  the  image  of  God. 
•'Satan  is  "a  king  over  all  the  children  of  pride," 
•Job  xli.  34.  Pride  turned  angels  into  devils ;  hu- 
mility shall  turn  men  into  angels.  Of  all  sins,  let  us 
bless  ourselves,  yea,  the  Lord  keep  us,  from  pride ; 
that  humbling  ourselves,  we  may  be  exalted  by  Jesus 
Christ. 

4.  The  measure :  they  left  their  condition  totally 
and  wholly  ;  they  quite  forsook  God,  his  image, 
heaven  itself,  and  the  office  therein  assigned  them. 
"  He  abode  not  in  the  truth,"  John  viii.  44:  by  this 
truth  is  meant  the  image  of  God ;  which  Paul  says, 
■consists  in  righteousness,  and  the  holiness  of  truth, 
Eph.  iv.  24.  It  is  called  truth,  1.  Because  it  never 
deceived  any  man,  as  unrighteousness  doth ;  which 
promiseth  pleasure,  profit,  content,  and  performs  no- 
thing but  grief  and  shame.  2.  There  is  no  hypocrisy 
jn_  it,  it  makes  no  show  of  other  than  it  is.  This 
original  condition  the  angels  voluntarily  left,  for- 
saking their  place,  as  St.  Jude  spcaketh.  God  in 
the  beginning  appointed  most  excellent  places  for 
his  several  creatures,  wherein  they  were  to  perform 
their  required  homage  and  scnice.  Heaven  was 
the  proper  place  assigned  to  the  angels ;  to  man  in 
his  innocency.  Paradise  j  after  his  fall,  the  families 
of  the  patriarchs ;  before  and  in  Christ's  time,  the 
temple ;  now,  the  congregations  of  the  faithful.  These 
were  our  appointed  places  to  set  forth  the  praises  of 
our  Maker.  This  place  the  angels  left,  forsaking 
the  presence  of  God,  and  their  owti  office  wherein 
they  should  have  been  for  ever  employed. 

But  do  not  the  devils  keep  in  the  air?  Some  do 
by  God's  jiermission ;  but  not  as  in  their  proper 
])lace  and  first  habitation,  for  that  was  in  the  com- 
fortable presence  of  God  in  heaven.  But  whereso- 
ever they  are,  they  carry  a  hell  about  them  ;  if  they 
be  not  in  hell,  yet  hell  is  in  them :  as  the  militant 
saints  have  in  them  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  though 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  do  not  yet  contain  thcni. 
And  the  blessed  angels  protecting  us  on  earth,  are 
still  in  a  heaven,  by  reason  of  the  gracious  and  glo- 
rious presence  of  the  infinite  God  tliat  is  with  them. 
So  the  devils  arc  never  remote  from  their  hell. 
"  lie  was  a  murderer  from  the  beginning,"  John  viii. 
44  :  whereupon  Manichee  grounds.  The  wickedness 
of  the  devil  had  no  beginning  :  hence  came  that 
conceit  of  two  beginnings.  Answ.  1.  He  was  not  so 
from  the  beginning,  as  Christ,  who  had  no  beginning. 


The  latter  confutes  it ;  it  is  not  said,  in  the  begin- 
ning, but,  from  the  beginning.  2.  Neither  was  he 
made  so  in  his  own  beginning  of  being;  as  some 
sottishly  draw  that  literal  leviathan  into  any  alle- 
gory :  "  There  is  that  leviathan,  whom  thou  hast 
made  to  play  therein,"  Psal.  civ.  26;  as  if  God  had 
made  him  a  devil.  3.  Nor  yet  so  from  the  begin- 
ning, that  in  the  same  instant  he  took  of  God  a  being, 
and  of  himself  an  evil  being  ;  as  it  is  said  of  our 
soul,  cum  infundilur,  injicitur,  the  infusion  and  in- 
fection meet  together.  For  he  was  first  made  good, 
and  therefore  must  by  intervention  of  space  become 
bad.  4.  But  because  there  was  a  little  time  be- 
tween his  creation  and  apostacy  :  "  He  abode  not  in 
the  tmth."  "  How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven,  O 
Lucifer,  son  of  the  morning!"  Isa.  xiv.  12.  He  was 
a  son  of  the  morning,  not  a  son  of  the  day  ;  he  stood 
not  so  long.  5.  Esjiecially,  he  was  a  murderer  from 
the  beginning,  not  of  himself,  but  of  mankind.  And 
St.  Austin's  reason  is  good,  Man  could  not  be  mur- 
dered before  he  was  made :  the  devil  could  not  be  a 
murderer  before  he  had  something  to  kill ;  unless  we 
say,  he  was  his  own  murderer.  But  from  the  begin- 
ning he  murdered  \is  ;  and  we  should  never  have  re- 
covered that  wound,  unless  it  had  been  by  a  second 
murder,  the  killing  of  Jesus  Christ. 

But  if  the  angels  in  their  innocency  and  excellency 
fell  wholly  and  utterly  from  God,  then  much  more 
may  weak  man  rend  himself  from  God  by  sin,  yea, 
and  also  from  Christ.  Ansa:  The  grace  of  creation 
came  far  short  of  the  grace  of  redemption.  There 
was  a  power  to  stand  or  to  fall ;  but  that  power  was 
in  itself  Here  :s  a  power  to  stand,  none  to  fall  ;  but 
this  power  is  not  of  ourselves.  The  power  stands  in 
the  promise  of  G^d,  and  gracious  covenant  in  Christ. 
"  I  will  make  an  everlasting  covenant  with  them, 
and  they  shall  not  depart  from  me,"  Jer.  xxxii.  40. 
We  so  stand  as  never  to  fall.  God  doth  not  trust  our 
salvation  in  our  own  hands  ;  but  we  are  dead,  and 
our  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God,  Col.  iii.  3.  If  our 
portion  were  in  our  own  hand,  we  would  quickly 
spend  it,  as  that  prodigal  did  his  patrimony,  Luke 
XV.  We  are  the  foolish  chikb-en  of  Adam,  and  would 
part  with  our  salvation  for  an  apple ;  and  by  nature 
the  brothers  of  profane  Esau,  that  sold  his  birthright 
for  a  mess  of  pottage.  But  it  is  there  laid  up,  where 
we  can  never  spend  it,  nor  the  devil  find  it.  There 
is  a  difference  between  the  state  of  nature,  and  that 
which  is  above  nature ;  betwixt  a  created  and  a  re- 
generated will :  not  that  the  latter  is  not  also  created ; 
but  because  the  former  is  in  the  will  by  creation,  so 
is  not  the  latter.  1.  The  created  will  had  a  freedom 
to  will  that  is  good  ;  so  hath  this.  2.  The  created 
will  had  a  power  to  will  pei  severance  in  goodness ;  so 
hath  this.  3.  The  created  will  had  not  the  will  it- 
self, nor  the  act  of  perseverance  ;  the  regenerate  will 
hatii  both  these. 

Here  the  doctrine  of  the  Romish  school  errs,  which 
tcacheth,  that  in  conversion  the  will  hath  a  freedom 
to  receive  grace,  or  not  to  receive  it ;  so  man's  power 
of  faith  and  salvation  should  be  in  his  own  hand. 
But  the  unconverted  will  rcfusetli  grace,  yea,  rebel- 
leth  against  it;  and  no  man  can  come  unto  Christ, 
vmless  the  Fatlier  draw  him,  John  vi.  44.  It  is  not 
the  will  itself,  but  the  conversion  of  the  will,  that 
makes  it  willing  to  goodness.  The  will  of  regenerate 
man  is  not  as  the  will  of  created  angels,  able  to  stand 
or  fall ;  but  God  hath  conformed  it,  and  confirmed 
it,  to  will  its  own  standing  for  ever.  True  saving 
grace  is  never  lost ;  without  Christ  man  could  never 
get  it,  but  when  Christ  hath  given  it  him,  he  shall 
never  lose  it.  Some  schoolmen  say,  that  God  doth 
ciealuris  dignitatem  cauialitalis  commu7)icare,  and 
Austin  seems  to  favour  it ;  but  man  could  as  well 


Ver.  4 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


277 


make  himself,  as  mnke  himself  good.  And  if  he 
were  naturally  worthy  to  have  grace,  where  had  he 
that  grace  to  be  naturally  worthy  ?  Sure  this 
makes  him  little  beholden  to  God,  that  gives  him 
but  the  grace  whereof  he  is  worthy.  As  we  say, 
God  could  do  no  more  in  mercy ;  so  this  says,  God 
could  do  no  less  in  justice.  But  they  for  the  latter 
object,  "  Hold  that  fast  which  thou  hast,  that  no 
man  take  thy  crown,"  Rev.  iii.  II.  Now  si  alius 
polesl  accipere,  tu  poles  perdere,  if  another  may  take 
It,  then  thou  mayst  lose  it,  and  so  fall  from  grace. 
Indeed  common  graces  a  man  may  have  and  lose,  b\it 
not  that  grace  which  makes  him  accepted  with  God : 
he  can  as  soon  lose  the  being  of  nature,  as  the  being 
of  this  grace.  The  Romists,  as  they  establish  a  free- 
will to  get  grace,  so  they  confess  a  power  to  lose  it ; 
on  both  sides  they  run  into  gross  errors.  As  August. 
contr.  Tul. :  I't  statueret  libenwi  arbilrium,  negaiit 
prepscientiam/uturonim  :  itaque  dum  vult  facere  liberos, 
facit  aacrilegos.  But  our  seed  is  immortal  whereof  we 
are  made  holy  ;  therefore  our  holiness  is  immortal. 
Three  things  can  never  be  lost ;  the  love  of  God 
in  Christ,  the  grace  of  the  Spirit,  and  our  inherit- 
ance in  heaven.  We  are  in  Christ ;  and  unless  Christ 
could  be  severed  from  God,  we  cannot  be  severed 
from  Christ.  Indeed  for  pagans,  that  arc  not  in 
Christ,  but  in  darkness;  and  lor  Jews,  that  are  not 
in  Christ,  but  in  the  law;  and  for  Libertines,  that 
are  not  in  Christ,  but  in  the  flesh  :  these  all  may  per- 
ish ;  but  they  that  be  united  to  Christ,  never.  There 
is  a  cordial  union,  of  friend  to  friend ;  a  carnal  union, 
of  man  to  wife  ;  a  vital  union,  of  soul  to  body  :  these 
may  be  parted;  but  a  spiritual  union,  never.  As 
Christ  is  ni  God,  and  God  in  Christ,  so  are  we  in  him. 
Prove  it ;  "That  they  may  be  one,  as  we  are  one  : 
1  in  them,  and  thou  in  me,"  John  xvii.  22.  But, 
"  Thou  hast  left  thy  first  love,"  Rev.  ii.  4.  Not 
fallen  from  love,  but  from  such  a  degree  of  love. 
Besides,  there  is  a  counterfeit  charity,  but  true  can 
never  be  lost.  To  conclude,  we  stand  not  of  ourselves, 
but  by  the  grace  of  Christ,  and  mercy  of  God.  We 
may  look  on  our  right  hand  for  comfort,  on  our  left 
for  supportance,  and  find  refuge  to  fail  us,  no  man 
caring  for  our  soul;  but  if  we  erj- unto  the  Lord, 
Thou  art  our  refuge,  thy  mercies  fail  us  not,  Psal. 
cxlii.  4,  5.  The  sea  halh  no  mercy,  the  fire  hath 
no  mercy,  the  earth  hath  no  mercy,  beasts  have 
no  mercy,  man  hath  no  mercv,  the  world  hath  no 
mercy,  the  devil  least  of  all  liath  mercy ;  but  the 
Lord  hath  mercy.  David  by  experience  gives  it, 
the  children  of  God  affirm  it,  and  let  no  man  at  the 
peril  of  his  own  soul  deny  it. 

Thus  we  have  considered  the  apostacy  and  fall 
of  these  angels ;  a  point  somewhat  intricate  and 
thorny,  and  would  have  been  much  more  confused, 
had  I  followed  all  the  perjilexful,  barren,  and  unne- 
cessary qi'.eslions  of  the  school;  which  have  in  them 
more  subtlety  than  doctrine,  more  doctrine  than  use  ; 
full  of  schoiastical,  yea,  sophistical  doubts.  One 
charged  a  painter  to  draw  him  equum  rolilantem,  a 
trotting  or  prancing  horse  ;  and  he  (mistaking  the 
word)  drew  him  eqitiim  rolulanletn,  a  wallowing  or  a 
tumblin"  horse,  with  his  heels  upward.  Being 
brought  home,  and  the  bespeaker  blaming  his  error ;  I 
would  have  had  him  prancing,  and  you  have  made  him 
tumbling:  If  that  be  all,  quoth  tHe  painter,  it  is  but 
turning  the  picture  the  wrong  side  uppennost,  and 
you  have  your  desire.  Thus  in  their  quodlibetical 
discourses  they  can  but  turn  the  lineaments,  and  the 
matter  is  as  they  would  have  it.  I  speak  not  this  to 
disgrace  all  their  learning  ;  but  their  fruitless,  need- 
less disputes  and  arguments  ;  who  find  themselves  a 
tongue,  where  the  Scripture  allows  them  none.  It 
speaks  of  the  angels'  sin  generally,  without  particular- 


izing what  it  was :  hereupon  say  the  papists,  it  is  an  in- 
sufficient judge  to  decide  all  doubts  and  controversies. 
But  because  it  doth  not  answer  punctually  the  curi- 
osity of  their  idle  brains,  can  it  not  therefore  decide 
all  profitable  questions,  and  satisfy  all  just  doubts  ? 
Yes,  it  determines  all  things  that  concern  our  con- 
sciences, and  everlasting  salvation.  In  unnecess,iry 
things  it  is  silent,  as  if  it  forbade  us  to  inquire.  For 
use  to  ourselves : 

1.  Seeing  the  fault  for  which  God  confounded  the 
angels  was  the  leaving  of  their  being  and  first  estate, 
this  should  humble  us  to  bewail  the  same  sin  in  our- 
selves, for  we  have  also  left  our  beginning.  The  image 
of  God  was  imprinted  on  us,  as  well  as  on  them. 
They  defaced  it  in  themselves.  When  the  devil 
telleth  a  lie,  he  telleth  it  of  his  own,  John  viii.  44; 
no  man  suggested  it  to  him.  To  this  they  also 
tempted  us,  so  that  we  lost  our  beginning  :  a  thing 
that  few  of  us  truly  lament ;  our  original  corruption. 
Sometimes  men  sorrow  for  their  actuals,  but  seldom 
for  their  originals  :  as  if  that  should  not  trouble  them 
which  they  brought  into  the  world  along  with  them  ; 
or  as  if  tliat  were  their  parents'  fault,  none  of  their 
own.  But  the  royal  prophet  confessed.  I  was  con- 
ceived and  bom  in  sin,  Psal.  li.  5.  When  a  little 
child,  I  was  a  great  sinner.  (August.)  I  dispute  not 
problems,  whether  this  comes  to  us  by  imitation, 
which  was  the  Pelagian  heresy ;  for  certainly  it 
comes  to  us  by  propagation.  The  good  man  may 
generate,  cannot  regenerate,  the  children  of  his 
llesh.  (.\ugust.)  Nor  is  it  material  to  be  decided, 
whether  the  soul  be  infected  by  the  contagion  of  the 
body,  as  good  unction  is  by  a  fusty  vessel ;  for  the 
soul  is  infected  as  soon  as  ever  it  is  infused ;  or 
whether  in  the  very  moment  of  infusion  God  did  for- 
sake it.  Only  let  our  care  be,  as  in  a  common  fire,  . 
not  to  question  or  examine  how  it  came,  till  first  we 
have  put  it  out.  A  passenger  brought  to  a  pit  by 
the  cries  of  one  fallen  into  it,  fell  a  Avondering  how- 
he  came  there:  to  whom  ihc  poor  man  replies.  For- 
bear marvelling  how  I  fell  in,  and  do  thy  best  to 
help  me  out.  IMiseiable  parents  have  brought  forth 
a  miserable  child  into  this  miserable  world  ;  A^ec 
ci/iiis  litleniiil  nalitm,  quant  damnatum.  (Bern.)  We 
are  sure  we  have  it ;  oh  that  half  so  sure  we  were 
all  delivered  from  it !  IIow  should  this  humble  us, 
to  look  unto  the  rock  whence  we  were  heA\Ti,  and  the 
pit  whence  we  were  digged !  Deny  not  thy  pollution, 
but  cleanse  it.  All  our  tears  are  few  enough  to  wash 
out  our  original  stains :  what  are  left  for  our  actual 
and  continual  aspersions  ?  Men  rail  on  fortune, 
challenge  the  stars,  blame  bad  company,  curse  the 
devil,  for  their  sins;  still  they  miss  the  proper  cause, 
their  original  apostacy,  and  corrupt  beginning.  Satan 
could  not  make  men  profane  rcbellers,  unless  tl»eir 
unclean  nature  had  first  made  them  sinners.  From 
this  impure  beginning  comes  all  iniquity;  for. na- 
turally the  seeds  of  all  sins  are  within  us,  and  if  cor- 
ruption precede,  eruption  will  easily  follow.  And 
God  will  smite  him  that  sins,  though  (as  Saul  said) 
it  be  my  son  Jonathan.  Indeed  he  smote  his  own 
Son  Jesus  for  our  sake,  not  for  angels'.  Christ's  side 
was  lanced,  to  let  out  our  imposthume.  It  is  his 
grace  alone  that  reduceth  us  to  our  beginning ;  yea, 
to  a  far  better  beginning,  such  a  one  as  shall  never 
have  ending. 

2.  Seeing  the  angels  sinned,  let  him  that  thinks 
he  standeth  t.-ike  heed  lest  he  fall.  No  height  of 
man  can  match  the  angels :  if  justice  spared  not  sin 
in  them,  how  will  it  forbear  us  ?  No  strength  of 
man  can  match  the  ansfcls :  if  they  were  not  able  to 
resist  the  judgment,  Avhat  can  we  do?  Heaven  is 
a  great  w.iy  farther  from  hell  than  is  earth :  if  sic 
could  tumble  down,  angels,  how  much  more  easily 


278 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


the  sons  of  men,  from  so  low  and  conterminate  a 
place !  Adam  was  excellent  in  Paradise,  yet  short 
of  the  angels  in  heaven  ;  their  beauty  and  glory  was 
far  greater:  but  if  God  punished  sin  in  the  angels, 
how  will  he  dissemble  it  in  men  ?  The  Jews  thought 
it  a  high  privilege  to  say.  We  are  the  sons  of  Abra- 
ham ;  yet  Abraham  was  but  a  man.  We  go  further, 
and  say,  We  are  the  sons  of  God :  but  how  ?  By 
creation  only :  so  were  the  lost  angels :  we  must 
have  a  better  title  than  so,  or  else  sin  will  confound 
us  with  the  angels.  God  forbore  not  sin  in  those 
his  selected  and  eldest  sons  on  earth,  the  Israelites ; 
not  in  his  celestial  children,  the  angels;  yea,  he  is 
so  far  from  sparing  it  in  any,  that  to  save  some  he 
spared  not  his  own  Son.  What  then  is  our  title  ? 
In  Christ:  indeed  there  it  is  only  good;  a  blessed- 
ness which  was  not  granted  to  the  lost  angels.  But 
then  let  us  walk  worthy  of  this  Christ,  that  we  may 
confirm  an  argument  of  comfort  to  our  own  souls. 

"  But  cast  them  down  into  hell,  and  delivered," 
&c.  I  come  to  their  penalty ;  the  first  branch 
whereof  is  their  dejection  ;  he  "  cast  them  down  into 
hell."  Herein  is  locus  a  t/uo  implied,  the  place  from 
which  they  were  cast,  heaven ;  and  locus  ad  quern 
expressed,  the  place  into  which  they  were  cast,  hell : 
there  is  poena  damni  in  the  fonner,  pmna  sensus  in 
the  latter.  The  one  privative,  a  loss  of  all  blessed- 
ness ;  the  other  positive,  an  infliction  of  all  cursed- 
ness. 

"  Cast  them  down."  This  implies  some  place  from 
W'hence  they  were  cast;  and  that  is  heaven,  the 
place  of  their  creation,  the  seat  of  blessedness,  the 
palace  of  glory,  the  eternal  mansion  of  joy.  Lift  up 
your  hearts  awhile,  to  contemplate  that  place,  from 
whence  they  fell,  and  whither  we  desire  to  rise. 

First,  take  it  generally  ;  there  is  a  heaven  where- 
.socver  God's  gracious  presence  shineth.  Yea,  as  the 
father  said,  I  had  rather  be  out  of  heaven  with 
Christ,  than  in  heaven  without  Christ ;  so  we  had 
better  be  on  earth  with  God's  favour,  than  in  heaven 
without  it.  For  as  the  sun  makes  a  day,  so  the 
countenance  of  God  makes  a  heaven,  wheresoever  it 
shineth.  Absence  of  light  causeth  darkness ;  if  God 
turn  away  his  face,  nothing  remains  but  wretched- 
ness. "  In  thy  presence  is  fulness  of  joy,"  Psal.  xvi. 
II.  If  the  fulness  of  joy  be  in  his  presence,  then  the 
fulness  of  sorrow  is  in  his  absence.  "  Thou  didst 
hide  thy  face,  and  I  was  troubled,"  Psal.  xxx.  7- 
For  the  light  of  God's  countenance  David  often 
praises ;  nothing  w'as  so  terrible  as  the  hiding  of  liis 
face  from  him ;  especially  if  it  be  true  wliat  the 
French  nightingale  sung.  That  hell  is  eveiy  where, 
where  God  is  not.  If  the  kind's  favourite  be  for 
ever  dccourted,  and  banished  the  royal  presence, 
this  more  afflicts  him  than  those  that  never  saw  it. 
An  unknown  good  is  uncared  for:  many  men  little 
afiect  heaven,  because  they  never  apprehended  the 
sweetness  of  it.  But  that  which  is  retained  with 
great  sensible  joy,  cannot  be  lost  without  great  sen- 
sible grief.  Had  these  wicked  angels  never  known 
the  dclectableness  of  God's  presence,  their  own  ex- 
pulsion out  of  heaven  had  been  less  plague  unto 
them.  Now  they  may  name  all  their  thoughts,  those 
children  of  their  minds,  Ichabods;  for  the  glory  is 
departed  from  them,  I  Sam.  iv.  21.  It  was  Absalom's 
cxiremcst  discontent  to  be  kept  from  the  court; 
therefore  in  passion  he  solicits  Joab,  "  Let  me  see 
the  king's  face,"  2  Sam.  xiv.  32. 

This  is  their  eternal  misery,  never  to  see  God's 
pleased  countenance.  Darkness  is  the  more  intoler- 
able to  them,  because  they  were  created  children 
of  light ;  their  dismal  plaints,  extorted  bv  flames, 
more  irksome,  because  Ihcy  once  bore  a  part  in  the 
music  of  heaven,  the  melody  of  angels.     As  Elisha 


said  to  that  great  lord,  "  Thou  shall  see  it  with 
thine  eyes,  but  shalt  not  eat  thereof,"  2  Kings  vii. 
2.  There  is  good  cheer,  and  they  for  whom  it  was 
provided  must  never  taste  it:  "None  of  those  men 
which  were  bidden  shall  taste  of  my  STipiR-r,"  Luke 
xiv.  24.  Thus  miserable  are  they  that  live  out  of 
the  orb  of  mercy,  drawing  their  unhappy  breath 
without  repentance ;  upon  whom  fury  and  indigna- 
tion waits,  the  length  and  breadth  whereof  cannot 
be  measured;  with  a  diligent  train  of  insufferable 
plagues,  that  will  never  cease  to  punish  so  long  as 
there  is  a  will  of  God  to  bid  them.  It  is  a  rjuestion 
whether  the  rich  man's  own  positive  and  sensible 
torments  more  afflicted  him,  or  tlie  sight  of  his  once 
despised  Lazarus  in  the  bosom  of  rest.  "  The  wicked 
shall  see  it,  and  be  grieved  ;  he  shall  gnash  with  his 
teeth,  and  melt  away,"  Psal.  c.xii.  10.  What  so  vex- 
eth  him  ?  The  horn  of  the  righteous  exalted  with 
honour.  There  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of 
teeth,  when  you  shall  see  the  saints  in  the  king- 
dom of  God,  and  yourselves  thrust  out,  Luke  xiii.  28 : 
when  you  shall  see  it. 

We  may  also  consider  this  point  at  home ;  and 
think  how  it  afflicted  our  first  parents  to  see  that 
Paradise,  out  of  which  they  were  cast  and  kept  with 
a  flaming  sword.  Every  earth  was  not  fit  for  Adam, 
but  a  garden,  a  Paradise.  Excellent  pleasures  have 
been  found  in  gardens  planted  by  men;  yet  is  the 
least  leaf,  twig,  or  pile  of  grass  past  all  men's  making. 
When  he  that  creates  the  matter  undertakes  the 
form,  this  must  needs  be  transcendently  perfect.  No 
tree,  herb,  flower,  was  there  wanting,  that  might  be 
for  ornament  or  use,  for  sight,  scent,  or  taste.  The 
bounty  of  God  extended  itself  fitrther  than  to  neces- 
sity, even  to  delight  and  recreation.  Yet  for  all  this, 
if  God's  gracious  presence  had  not  shone  there,  no 
abundance  could  have  made  him  blessed.  Yet  be- 
hold, God  offered  him  all  fruits  there,  and  restrained 
but  one ;  Satan  offered  him  but  one,  and  forbore  all 
the  rest ;  and  man  chose  rather  to  be  at  Satan's 
finding,  than  at  God's.  Then  did  the  justice  of  God 
turn  him  out  of  his  gates  wath  a  curse  :  why  sliould 
he  feed  a  rebel  at  his  own  board  ?  That  God  from 
whose  face  he  Hed  with  fear  in  the  garden,  now 
makes  him  fly  with  shame  out  of  the  garden.  The 
angels  that  should  have  kept  him,  now  keep  Para- 
dise against  him.  It  was  easy  to  have  kept  happi- 
ness, easier  to  lose  it,  but  most  hard  to  recover  it. 
That  very  cause  which  drove  man  out  of  Paradise, 
hath  also  mthdrawn  Paradise  from  the  world.  Now 
as  when  man  was  toiling  in  the  cursed  and  weedy 
earth,  what  a  vexation  must  arise  in  his  conscience, 
by  the  sight  of  his  discharged  Paradise!  so  terrible 
is  it  to  the  devils  sailing  in  the  air,  to  contemplate 
that  heaven  from  which  they  are  banished  for  ever. 

Secondly,  more  specially,  and  in  a  stricter  accept- 
ation, heaven  is  the  local  receptacle  of  infinite  and 
interminate  joy.  "  In  thy  presence  is  fulness  of  joy  ; 
at  thy  right  hand  there  are  pleasures  for  evermore," 
Psal.  xvi.  II.  For  quality,  they  are  pleasures;  for 
((uantity,  fulness ;  for  dignity,  at  God's  right  hand  ; 
for  eternity,  for  evermore.  There  shall  be  no  fear  to 
have  the  eyes  dimmed  with  tears,  or  the  soul  sur- 
prised by  death,  or  the  heart  dejected  with  sorrow, 
or  the  ears  disturbed  with  cries,  or  the  senses  dis- 
tracted with  pain.  There  are  possessions  without 
impeachments,  kingdoms  without  cares,  length  of 
years  with  strength  of  delights,  greatness  of  state 
without  conscience  of  corruption,  love  of  all  without 
jealousy  of  any.  There  men  shall  be  good  and  not 
persecuted,  happy  and  not  envied,  rich  and  not  rob- 
bed, kings  and  not  flattered.  The  inhabitants  are  at 
the  same  instant  rnvished  with  seeing,  satisfied  with 
enjoying,  and  secui-ed  for  retaining.     There  is  the 


Vbr.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


279 


glory  of  Giod,  whose  brightness  they  behold;  safely 
from  foes,  whose  ruin  they  rejoice  at;  ("The  right- 
eous sliall  rejoice  when  he  seeth  the  vengeance  ;  he 
shall  wash  his  feet  in  the  blood  of  the  wicked,"  Psal. 
Iviii.  10;)  the  company  of  saints,  whose  comforts 
they  i>articipate ;  the  receipt  of  a  kingdom,  and  with 
it  the  full  possession  of  the  fee-simple  of  life,  the 
tenure  whereof  is  inviolable.  Joy  so  tempered,  that 
it  shall  satiiify  and  not  glut ;  persons  so  sublimed, 
that  what  makes  them  everlastingly  happy,  shall 
never  make  them  wear)-.  There  is  a  river,  and  the 
spring  the  throne  of  God,  the  water  crj-stal,  the 
banks  set  with  the  trees  of  life.  There  is  a  city,  the 
gates  of  it  pearl,  the  streets  of  it  gold,  the  w-alls  of 
it  precious  stones,  the  temple  in  it  God,  the  light  of 
it  the  Lamb,  the  vessels  to  it  kings  of  the  earth ;  the 
cheer  joy,  the  exercise  singing,  the  city  praise,  the 
subject  God,  the  quire  angels. 

Such  is  heaven,  which,  alas,  man's  par\-ity  is  as 
£ir  from  comprehending,  as  his  arms  be  from  com- 
pa£t>ing.  Heaven  shall  receive  us,  we  cannot  con- 
ceive neaven.  Do  you  ask  what  death  is  ?  saith 
one  :  if  I  could  show  you,  I  were  first  dead.  Do  you 
ask  what  heaven  is  ?  when  I  meet  you  there  I  will 
tell  you.  Could  tliis  ear  hear  it,  or  this  tongue  utter 
it,  or  this  heart  conceive  it,  it  must  needs  follow, 
that  they  were  translated  already  thither.  Howso- 
ever, what  hath  been  spoken  may  remonstrate  this, 
how  great  an  infelicity  the  privation  of  heaven  is. 
One  spake  truly,  that  the  tears  of  hell  are  not  suffi- 
cient to  bewail  the  loss  of  heaven.  This  fully  ap- 
pears by  that  judicatory  sentence,  Matt.  xsv.  41 ; 
when  the  wicked  shall  haply  reply.  Though  we  may 
not  ascend  with  thee  unto  gloiy,  yet  let  us  have  thy 
presence  on  earth :  let  us  be  any  where,  so  thou,  O 
Christ  be  «-ith  us.  No,  depart  from  me  ;  from  peace, 
from  joy,  from  comfort,  from  my  presence,  from  my 
salvation,  from  my  gloiy,  for  ever.  Oh  wretched- 
ness, that  disdains  all  comparison !  if  there  were  no 
hell,  this  were  enough  to  wring  out  everlasting 
tears. 

Application.  Seeing  both  these  angels,  and  also 
men,  were  cast  out  of  their  original  ancl  proper  resi- 
dence by  sin,  and  God  hath  made  ours  recoverable 
by  Christ,  which  is  not  granted  to  them,  let  us 
studiously  seek  an  entrance  into  that  eternal  rest. 
"We  transgress  daily,  yet  the  Lord  shutteth  not 
heaven  against  us ;  we  find  more  mercy  than  our 
forefather.  His  strength  was  worthy  of  severity, 
our  weakness  finds  pity.  We  lost  a  paradise  that 
cannot  be  found,  but  we  may  find  a  paradise  that 
cannot  be  lost.  Here  is  no  fiery  sword  to  keep  us 
out :  we  care  not  to  seek  where  that  paradise  is 
which  we  lost,  but  this  we  both  care  to  seek  and 
hope  to  find.  As  man  is  the  image  of  God,  so  was 
that  paradise  the  image  of  heaven :  both  the  images 
are  defaced,  both  the  fii-st  patterns  are  eternal.  The 
first  Adam  was  in  the  first  paradise,  and  stayed  not ; 
the  Second  Adam  is  in  the  second  paradise,  and  there 
abides.  "This  day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  para- 
dise," was  his  promise  to  the  penitent  malefactor. 
Paul  was  there,  and  heard  and  saw  what  he  conld 
not  utter.  By  how  much  the  third  heaven  exceeds 
the  richest  earth,  by  so  much  doth  that  paradise 
which  Christ  hath  found  exceed  that  which  we  have 
lost.  Now  if  we  desire  to  have  oin-  salvation  per- 
fected above,  we  must  begin  it  below.  The  gate  of 
heaven  is  opened  on  earth.  The  place  where  God 
manifested  his  favour,  Jacob  called  Bethel,  heaven 
gate;  "This  is  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the 
gate  of  heaven,"  Gen.  x>r\-iii.  I"  :  as  a  man  calls 
that  the  court,  where  he  was  fii-st  brought  to  the 
presence  of  the  king.  Now  this  is  done  by  a  holy 
expectance,   he.irty   affection,    patient    forbearance. 


prepared  assurance,  constant  perseverance,  and  rav- 
ished exultancc. 

By  a  holy  expectation,  and  a  life  expressive  of 
such  hope.  He  that  looks  to  wear  a  crown,  habitu- 
ates himself  to  royal  affections.  "Our  conversation 
is  in  hcav(n,  whence  we  look,"  &c.  Phil.  iii.  20. 
They  that  hone  to  carry  earth  up  to  heaven,  strive 
first  to  bring  heaven  down  to  eartli. 

By  a  hearty  affection.  If  we  cannot  get  in,  yet 
let  us  get  as  near  iis  we  can,  and  keep  about  the 
gates  of  the  city :  where  the  faithful  are  congregated, 
there  heaven  itself  is  opened.  Cain  thought  it  not 
the  least  part  of  his  curse,  to  be  cast  out  from  the 
face  of  God;  from  Adam's  family,  where  the  face  of 
God  was  seen  in  his  holy  worship. 

By  a  patient  forbearance  and  withdrawing  our 
affections  from  terrene  things.  This  world  is  but  an 
inn  ;  and  no  man  seeks  for  his  inheritance  in  his  inn. 

By  a  prepared  assurance  armed  for  all  encounters. 
No  prisoner  fears  that  gaoler,  look  he  never  so  stem, 
who  knows  that  his  commission  is  but  to  bring  him 
to  the  court  safe.  To  the  saints,  death  is  not  a 
penalty,  but  a  remedy.  It  is  not  so  much  a  death  of 
nature,  as  of  comiption  and  calamity. 

By  a  constant  perseverance,  resoh-ing,  upon  the 
worst  disasters,  not  to  turn  back  :  knowing,  that  if 
the  gospel  take  away  riches,  it  will  requite  them ;  if 
it  take  away  life,  it  will  restore  it  better.  Patience 
shall  never  be  a  loser  by  it. 

Lastly,  by  a  i-avished  exultancc  and  joy,  that 
ariseth  from  the  meditation  of  heaven.  Which  so 
transports  us,  that  for  the  time  we  think  ourselves 
there ;  and  conceive  of  former  sorrows,  as  men 
awaked  from  a  busy  dream.  What  shall  be  the  pos- 
session of  that  place,  whereof  the  contemplation  is 
so  sweet !  It  is  a  pleasure  to  sit  on  the  quiet  and 
secure  shore,  and  discourse  of  escaped  wrecks.  This 
is  our  true  paradise  ;  the  lower  remains  as  it  is  a 
))Iace,  not  as  it  is  a  paradise.  On  earth  w-e  lost  it, 
in  heaven  we  shall  find  it.  There  faith  shall  be 
turned  into  beatifical  vision,  expectation  lost  in 
possession.  There  we  shall  know  the  truth  of 
things  we  argue  here  below.  How  sweet  now  wotild 
the  Knowledge  of  some  secrets  be  unto  us !  yet  are 
many  not  worth  the  knowing:  there  those  deep  and 
glorious  mysteries  shall  be  made  plain,  and  we  shall 
discourse  them  one  to  another.  Discourse  them,  I 
say ;  for  now  the  souls  in  heaven  have  the  language 
of  intelligence,  and  when  their  bodies  are  joined 
they  shall  have  the  language  of  utterance.  And  be- 
cause the  perfection  of  all  shall  be  a  blest  everlast- 
ingness.  I  will  give  you  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
saith  Christ ;  this  disg'racefh  all  earthly  kingdoms. 
I  will  give  you  an  incorruptible  crowTi  ;  this  dis- 
graceth  all  corruptible  crowns.  I  will  give  you  eter- 
nal joy;  this  disgraceth  all  momentary  pleasures. 
Eternal  life  is  the  gift  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ, 
Rom.  vi.  2.3. 

"  Down  to  hell."  This  is  locus  ad  queni,  the  next 
part  of  their  punishment ;  a  sensible  pain,  the  posi- 
tion of  intolerable  and  interminable  plagues.  In 
handling  whereof  consider  three  circumstances  ;  that 
it  is.  what  it  is,  where  it  is. 

First,  that  there  is  a  hell,  is  plain ;  for  they  could 
not  be  cast  into  a  place  that  had  no  being.  Yea,  it 
is  manifest  that  it  had  a  being  before  sin  ;  and  God 
made  it  before  he  had  present  and  actual  use  of  it. 
It  was  constituted  ere  the  angels  fell,  that  it  might 
receive  them  when  they  fell.  Hell  was  made  before 
sin  was  hatched,  as  heaven  was  formed  and  fitted  be- 
fore the  inhabitant  was  produced.  For  we  must 
observe  that  God  created  angels  and  men  after  his 
own  image,  wise,  innocent,  powerful.  But  withal 
he  gave  them  a  mutable  condition,  which  had  power 


280 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


of  standing,  and  possibility  of  falling.  Po'.ver  to 
stand  was  of  God  the  Creator;  possibility  to  fall  was 
of  themselves  the  creatures.  To  be  unchangeably 
good  is  only  proper  to  God.  (August.)  Augustine 
in  his  Confessions  gives  the  reason.  Because  God 
created  man  of  nothing,  he  left  in  liim  possibility  to 
return  unto  nothing.  If  God  had  given  them  an  im- 
mutable nature,  he  had  created  them  gods,  not  crea- 
tures. (Basil.)  Now  out  of  the  whole  host  of  angels 
he  kept  some  from  falling;  and  when  all  mankind 
was  fallen,  he  redeemed  some  by  his  own  Son.  And 
as  he  shows  mercy  upon  some  in  their  salvation, 
so  it  is  fit  he  should  show  justice  upon  others  in  their 
just  damnation.  Now  because  there  must  be  distinct 
places  for  the  exercise  of  both  these,  which  are  in 
God  equally  infinite,  by  an  irrevocable  decree  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  a  glorious  habitation 
was  ordained  for  the  one,  and  a  terrible  dungeon  for 
the  other.  "  These  shall  go  away  into  everlasting 
punishment ;  bat  the  righteous  into  life  eternal," 
ilatt.  XXV.  4G.  So  certain  are  both  these  places, 
that  they  were  of  old  prepared  :  "  Inherit  the  king- 
dom prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world,"  ver.  34.  "  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlast- 
ing fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels,"  ver. 
41.  "  Tophet  is  ordained  of  old,"  Isa.  xxx.  33  :  nei- 
ther about  to  be  prepared,  nor  certain  to  be  prepared, 
but  prepared.  Of  old ;  for  the  Lord,  that  beholds 
all  things,  past,  present,  future,  uno  aclii,  uiio  iciii,  at 
once,  and  at  tlie  same  time:  as  he  foresaw  the  differ- 
ent estates  of  men  and  angels,  so  he  provided  for 
them  different  places.     That  there  is  a  hell. 

First,  tlie  Scripture  plentifully  testifies,  Mark  ix. 
43,  Ike.  I  know  that  many  have  wrangled  against 
it ;  Danreus  reckons  up  nineteen  several  sorts  of 
heretics  that  denied  it.  But  say  what  they  will,  the 
wicked  would  give  much  to  be  sure  that  the  Scrip- 
ture was  not  true.  They  will  not  believe,  and  yet 
they  cannot  choose  but  believe :  their  case  is  fearful. 

The  heathen  affirmed  a  hell  and  place  of  torment 
for  bad  men  ;  they  retained  so  much  light,  as  to  know 
of  that  future  darkness.  Some  of  them  have  been 
terrified  with  their  owu  inventions,  and  distracted  with 
horror  of  the  torments  described  by  their  own  pens. 
As  Pygmalion  doted  on  his  own  picture,  so  were  they 
amazed  with  their  own  comments.  How  much  more, 
if  they  had  known  those  intolerable  horrors  as  they 
are,  not  as  they  were  described !  Par  nulla  Jigura 
Ge/iemiie. 

Besides,  many  wicked  men  are  punished,  and  many 
as  wicked  escape.  Now  it  is  fit  that  partners  in  sin 
should  not  be  severed  in  torment.  God  doth  not 
punish  all  here,  that  he  may  allow  some  space  of  re- 
pentance ;  nor  doth  he  forbear  all  here,  lest  the  world 
should  deny  his  providence.  He  spares  tliat  he  may 
punish,  and  he  iiunishclh  that  he  may  spare.  He 
afllictoth  some  in  the  suburbs  of  hell,  that  they 
might  never  come  into  the  city  itself.  But  ijuos  ma- 
les fert  incruciatos,  ri-fert  cruciandos.  The  evil  he 
now  suffers  uncorrected,  he  refers  to  be  condemned. 
Sin  knows  the  doom ;  it  must  smart,  either  here  or 
hereafter. 

Further,  in  all  things  natural  and  supernatural, 
there  is  an  opposition  and  contrariety.  There  is 
good,  there  is  evil ;  light  and  darkness;  sorrow  and 
joy.  Now  as  there  be  two  ways,  so  there  must  be 
two  ends  :  heaven,  whither  the  good  angels  shall 
carry  the  saints  ;  hell,  whither  the  black  and  grisly 
spirits  shall  hurry  the  reprobates. 

Again,  all  men  naturally  do  honour  the  good,  and 
punish  the  evil.  The  barbarians  themselves  have 
laws  of  castigation,  and  executions  to  cut  ofl'  irregu- 
lar persons.  Shall  the  Lord  in  his  justice  come 
short  of  creatures,  of  barbarous  creatures  ?     The  law 


of  nations  requires  that  malefactors,  if  they  escape 
with  life,  be  banished  for  ever.  And  shall  not  God 
banish  rebels  on  earth,  from  his  glorious  presence  in 
heaven,  into  that  fearful  island  of  hell  ?  If  this  were 
not,  Nero  was  as  good  a  man  as  Paul ;  Esau  should 
still  have  Ills  birthright  in  bliss,  and  Cain  be  a  saint 
as  well  as  Abel.  As  believers  say,  "  If  in  this  life 
only  we  have  hope  in  Christ,  we  are  of  all  men  most 
miserable,"  1  Cor.  xv.  19 ;  so  might  the  wicked  say, 
If  in  this  life  only  we  have  sense  of  sorrow,  we  are 
of  all  men  most  happy. 

Lastly,  everj'  prince  is  allowed  this  concurrence  to 
his  state  ;  that  as  he  hath  a  pleasant  palace  for  him- 
self and  his  ser\'ants,  so  he  hath  a  gaol  and  prison 
for  rebels  and  traitors.  That  heaven  is  glorious 
where  the  high  King  keeps  his  magnificent  court, 
the  outer  side  of  whose  pavements  we  delight  to  be- 
hold, and  admire  for  beauty.  So  is  that  hell  a  dis- 
mal dungeon  where  he  puts  his  enemies,  the  outside 
whereof  men  are  not  suffered  to  see,  lest  they  should 
die  with  horror  of  the  sight.  They  that  have  seen  the 
flames  and  heard  the  roarings  of  Etna,  now  Monte 
Gibillo,  the  flashings  of  Vesuvius,  the  thunderings 
and  burning  flakes  evaporating  from  marine  rocks, 
have  not  yet  seen  the  very  glimmerings  of  hell.  A 
painted  fire  is  abetter  shadow  of  these,  than  these  are 
of  hell-torments. 

I  am  sure  I  speak  to  no  atheists ;  I  could  say,  dost 
thou  think  there  is  no  hell  ?  What  devil  will  so 
affirm  ?  they  know  it,  and  feci  it :  Why  art  thou 
come  to  torment  us  before  our  time  ?  Sliall  not  men 
tremble  to  deny  what  the  devils  confess?  (Chrj'sost.) 
What,  eat,  drink,  and  play,  epicure  ;  no  pleasure 
after  death  ?  None  indeed  to  reprobates ;  there  is 
nothing  but  hell  for  them,  and  they  shall  find  small 
pleasure  in  that.  Believe  it,  and  avoid  it :  by  believ- 
ing thou  shalt  avoid  it.  We  are  sure  God  hath  made 
it;  let  us  be  but  half  so  sure  that  we  shall  escape  it. 
A  good  king  having  ordained  positive  laws  by  which 
he  would  govern,  caused  instruments  of  execution  to 
be  made,  gibbets,  wheels,  racks,  and  such  torturou-.- 
engines.  And  being  made,  he  commanded  them  tn 
be  brought  forth,  and  exposed  to  open  view;  and 
upon  every  one  was  written,  Ne  noceat,  ne  noceal, 
Tiiat  it  may  do  no  liarm:  observe  it,  that  you  may 
never  feel  it.  So  God  admonisheth  us  of  hell,  ne 
noceal :  he  doth  as  it  were  show  it  us,  that  it  may 
never  hurt  us.  "  Thou  hast  showed  thy  people  hard 
things,"  Psal.  Ix.  3 ;  but  showed  them,  not  inflicted 
them.  By  threatening  us,  he  would  save  the  labour 
of  plaguing  us. 

But  shall  God  menace  this,  and  we  not  be  moved  ? 
Is  the  hand-writing  on  the  wall,  and  Belshazzar  still 
merry?     God  loves  him  that  trembles  at  his  word, 
Isa.  Ixvi.  2.     Do  we  not  tremble  at  it?  how  should 
we  then  escape  it !     We  read  of  a  bird  of  paradise, 
so  called  for  her  excellent  beauty,  that  being  taken 
in  the  fowler's  net,  she  doth  groan  and  weep  night  I 
and  day,  and  so  langiish  away.     We  were  once  such  ' 
birds  of  paradise,  but  by  sin  taken  in  Satan's  nets ; 
captivcd  in  wickedness,  and  condemnablc  to  this  hcl! 
of  wretchedness.    Oh  how  should  we  groan  and^vcl•p 
till  we  get  out  of  this  prison  where  we  are,  into  the 
liberty  where  we  would  be !  ;  Sin  must  have  sorrow  ; 
either  here  by  attrition  lcg!e^';-d  contrition  evangel- 
ical, or  hereafter  by  destnuf.'?;'?'''ifornal.     Let  us  b'.- 
as  ready  for  repentance,  as  ever  >;-c  have  been  for  '' 
obedience.  (Isidor.)     It  is  too  common  for  men  ■ 
faraway  from  them  the  cWl  day."  ^''cv  iniurious*'"^ 
press  others,  and  luxuriously  riot  fhcmsclves.   ^\  . 
"  My  Lord  delaycth  his  coming,"  Luke  xii.  45. 
if  it  would  be  long  before  he  be  present,  that  is  in  '4 
place,  at  no  time,  absent.     Whereas  the  shadow  dot 
not  more  diligently  wait  upon  the  body,  than  doth 


Ver.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


2sl 


confusion  upon  sin.  Therefore  so  live  to-day,  as  if 
thou  wcrt  not  to  live  to-morrow.  Seeing  for  the 
wicked  is  prepared  a  hell,  let  us  seek  for  heaven. 
Corrupt  nature  prepared  us  all  for  the  former,  let 
holy  grace  prepare  us  for  the  other.  It  is  said  of 
heaven.  It  is  open  to  the  prepared,  shut  to  the  un- 
prepared. The  contrar)'  is  true  of  hell ;  to  the  pre- 
pared it  is  shut,  to  the  unprepared  it  is  open.  God 
showed  tlu'  prophets  many  fearful  visions,  to  their 
terror  and  astonishment ;  but  withal  he  encouraged 
them,  that  the  judgments  should  light  upon  others, 
and  he  would  deliver  their  souls.  Ezekiel's  quaking 
and  trembling  was  but  for  a  sign,  Ezek.  xii.  18 :  Is- 
rael's siiould  be  in  sense  and  anguish  of  heart.  If 
we  tremble  at  these  torments  while  the  wicked  laugh 
and  are  jovial,  we  shall  put  olT  our  fear  to  thciu, 
laugh  and  be  merry  when  they  tremble.  As  Daniel 
said  to  that  monarch,  "  Let  not  the  dream  troulde 
thee  J  the  dream  be  to  them  that  hate  thee,  and  the 
interpretation  to  thine  enemies,"  Dan.  iv.  1!) :  let  our 
hearts  repent  and  believe,  and  let  not  this  terror 
trouble  us ;  the  terror  be  to  the  devils  that  hate  God, 
and  to  the  reprobates  his  enemies.  "  His  enemies 
will  I  clothe  with  shame;  but  upon  himself  shall  his 
crown  flourish,"  Psal.  cxxxii.  18.  For  tormenting 
cares,  we  shall  have  flourishing  crowns,  in  the  com- 
munion of  saints  and  angels. 

The  next  nuestion  is,  What  is  hell?  It  is  that 
place  where  the  justice  of  God  confineth  reprobates 
to  their  etci-nal  punishments.  The  plagues  thereof 
are  internal,  external,  eternal.  Internal,  that  con- 
sist in  a  plenary  desertion  of  God ;  so  that  they  are 
continual  sinners  and  continual  sufferers ;  two  con- 
trarieties being  reconciled  in  them,  extreme  presum])- 
tion  and  extreme  desperation.  Presumption,  for 
witli  bitter  malice  and  curst  heart  they  shall  perpe- 
tually blaspheme,  and  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost, 
Rev.  xvi.  1 1.  Desperation,  without  all  hope  of  mercy, 
or  admitting  one  thought  of  peace.  The  one  being 
<i  sin  against  God's  justice,  the  other  against  his  mercy. 
External,  that  consist,  I.  In  a  deprivation  of  all 
comfort;  that  they  do  feel  being  not  more  bitter 
than  the  thought  of  that  they  cannot  feel.  (Chryeost.) 
A  privative  cause  hath  a  positive  effect.  Tully  ban- 
ished from  Italy,  though  it  were  into  Greece,  wept 
bitterly  when  he  remembered  Rome.  Exiled  De- 
mosthenes, though  he  found  much  kindness  amongst 
his  enemies,  yet  would  weep  when  he  looked  towards 
Athens.  The  captive  Jews  hung  up  their  harps  when 
they  remembered  Zion.  Another  laments  that  Itoma 
relinquenda  est ;  but  when  he  considers,  Scythia  est 
quo  mittitur,  bursts  out  into  tears.  It  is  the  most  un- 
happy part  of  unhappiness  to  remember  former  wel- 
fare. Dura  satis  mi'seris  memoralio  prisca  bnnorum. 
2.  In  a  sensible  passion  of  universal  anguish;  as  a 
brand  in  a  great  fire,  no  part  free  from  burning. 
Eternal,  not  determinable  with  time,  for  then  time 
shall  be  no  more :  everlastingncss  shall  make  abso- 
lute their  sorrows :  man's  arm  may  be  weary  of  smit- 
ing, not  God's.  It  is  fabled  of  Jupiter,  that  if  he 
should  spend  his  artillery  as  fast  as  men  sin,  his 
quiver  would  soon  be  empty.  Vulcan  could  not 
make  his  thunderbolts  fast  enough.  But  the  damned 
are  punished  in  hell,  so  long  as  there  is  a  God  in 
heaven. 

The  Scripture  speaks  sometimes  of  hell  figura- 

L  ■"ly;  Gehinnon,  Tophet:  which  was  a  valley  by 

fuller's  field  near  to  Aceldama,  on  the  south  side 

.  .ion.  Called  Gehinnon,  because  it  was  in  the 
°r,'ire  of  a  man  named  Hinnom.  (Aret.)  There 
°,  e  Jews,  after  the  example  of  the  Ammonites,  sacri- 

ed  their  children  to  Woloch  in  the  fire.  An  idol 
jVhich  they  worshipped  for  Mercury.  (Montan.) 
Others  say  for  Saturn,  whom  the  poets  feign  a  de- 


vourer  of  his  own  children.  It  was  of  brass  or  cop- 
])cr,  with  hands  stretched  out  to  receive  the  infants 
that  were  to  be  sacrificed.  His  priests  were  called 
Chemmarim,  because  they  were  reescd  or  smoked 
with  the  incense  offered  to  the  idol.  It  was  defaced 
and  defiled  by  good  King  Josiali,  2  Kings  xxiii.  10, 
and  made  a  draught  or  common  sewer  for  the  filth 
of  Jerusalem.  "The  Chaldeans  cast  the  slain  Jews 
into  that  place,  Jer.  vii.  32.  Therefore  it  was  called, 
the  mouth  of  hell,  that  could  not  be  filled.  For  fur- 
tluT  description  of  hell,  the  Scripture  uselh  three 
principal  terms ;  the  worm,  outer  darkness,  and  un- 
quenchable fire,  Mark  ix.  44. 

First,  the  worm.  This  we  must  not  understand  a 
corporal  worm,  which  were  terrible  enough ;  for  a 
man  (o  live  always  dying,  and  die  always  living,  with 
an  adder  sucking  and  slinging  his  vital  parts.  "The 
vengeance  of  the  ungodly  is  fire  and  worms,"  Ecclns. 
vii.  17.  But  we  must  know  that  after  the  world's 
dissolution,  there  shall  remain  no  mixed  body,  but 
only  man's ;  no  generation  nor  corruption  in  the  re- 
vived bodies.  Therefore  the  worm  cannot  be  corpo- 
ral, but  spiritual ;  the  stinging  of  a  vexed  conscience. 
As  from  the  corruption  of  dead  bodies  breed  the 
worms  that  devour  them,  so  from  the  corruption  of 
sin  riseth  tliis  worm  of  conscience.  Some  under- 
stand it  to  be  the  memorj-  of  past  sins,  which  shall 
so  long  gnaw  their  souls  and  bodies,  like  a  vulture 
preying  on  their  hearts,  as  the  remembrance  of  com- 
mitted iniquities  continues,  which  will  be  for  ever. 
Object.  But  if  the  memory  be  so  perfected,  then  the 
recognition  of  former  joys  shall  be  some  case.  An 
old  soldier,  after  his  exhausted  strength,  glories  in 
the  battles  he  hath  won.  Ansu-.  Nay,  this  shall 
rather  be  matter  of  sorrow:  to  remember  the  evils 
they  have  done,  bitter ;  the  good  they  once  had, 
more  bitter;  the  good  they  might  have  had,  most 
bitter.  Object.  The  torments  of  hell  are  far  beyond 
any  pains  of  this  world ;  but  a  man  here,  lying  under 
some  lethargical  and  stupifSing  pressure,  cannot 
consider  those  intelligible  conclusions,  as  he  might 
being  abstracted  from  his  pain.  Ansu:  The  soul  is 
here  joined  to  a  corruptible  body,  straitened  by  the 
organ ;  so  that  while  the  body  is  afflicted,  the  con- 
sideration of  the  soul  is  hindered.  But  there  the 
soul  cannot  be  inclined  by  an  incorruptible  body ; 
but  while  the  flesh  suffers  according  to  the  capable- 
ness  thereof,  the  soul  is  prostrated  to  all  the  pains 
she  can  endure.  Object.  But  the  damned  are  the 
subjects  of  time,  and  time  causeth  forgetfulness. 
Anxtr.  Time  is  the  cause  of  forgetting,  but  only  by 
accident ;  because  motion,  which  is  the  measure  of 
time,  is  the  cause  of  transmutation.  But  after  this 
world  there  shall  be  no  more  motion  of  the  heavens ; 
and  even  the  soul  that  is  now  separated,  is  not 
changed  from  her  disposition  by  the  motion  of  hea- 
ven. "Son,  remember,"  Luke  xvi.  25:  this  is  a 
gnawing  worm ;  which  if  it  hath  made  some  acknow- 
ledge a  hell  on  eartli,  what  shall  it  be  to  their  sense 
in  hell  itself?  The  eyes  which  sin  hath  shut  damn- 
ation shall  open.  (Greg.) 

Therefore  it  is  good  counsel  now.  Foresee  with 
fear  the  evil  that  shall  be  hereafter,  lest  you  remem- 
ber with  grief  the  good  that  hath  been  heretofore. 
Oh  thai  our  foresight  were  but  half  so  sharp  as  our 
sense !  Jjct  us  now  consider  seriously  the  pains  that 
shall  be,  that  we  never  be  put  to  remember  griev- 
ously the  joys  that  have  been. 

Secondly,  outer  darkness :  "  Cast  him  into  outer 
darkness,"  >Iatt.  xxii.  13.  But  it  is  objected,  that 
the  sight  of  their  miserj-  shall  aggravate  the  sense  of 
(heir  misery;  but  nothing  can  be  seen  without  the 
light,  therefore  not  outer  darkness.  Again,  the 
damned  shall  have  a"visory  power  after  the  rcsnmp- 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


tion  of  their  bodies,  which  were  superfluous  if  they 
sliould  see  notliing  with  it.  They  shall  see,  and 
without  light  they  cannot  see ;  how  then,  outer  dark- 
ness ?  Anxtc.  Though  that  fire  do  not  shine  to  any 
comfort,  yet  for  their  extremer  vexation  it  shall  give 
some  light ;  so  much,  as  to  show  their  fellows  their 
torments,  and  them  the  torments  of  their  fellows. 
(Greg.)  Basil  in  Psal.  xxix.  7,  "The  voice  of  the 
Lord  divideth  the  flames  of  fire:"  God's  power 
.shall  sejiarate  the  clarity  of  fire  from  the  aduslive 
virtue.  That  the  clearness  may  delight  the  right- 
eous, and  the  sharpness  attlict  the  wicked.  So  Theo- 
dor.  in  Psal.  xcvi.,  The  shining  property  shall  be 
extracted  to  comfort  the  saints;  tlie  burning  property 
remain  to  jmnish  reprobates.  But  then  vision  itself 
is  some  delight :  as  Aristot.  in  his  Metaphys.,  The 
sight  of  the  eyes  is  pleasant ;  and  to  the  same  ))ur- 
pose  Solomon.  Yet  by  accident  it  becomes  afllictive  ; 
as  when  men  are  forced  to  see  what  they  would  not 
see.  In  hell  there  shall  be  nothing  diaphanous, 
perspicuous,  clear ;  but  a  shady,  foggy  vision,  like  a 
distracted  dream.  They  shall  see  that,  which  to 
avoid  they  would  wish  themselves  to  have  no  eyes. 

Let  us  lliercfore  decline  the  works  of  darkness,  as 
we  desire  to  escape  the  place  of  darkness.  Interior 
darkness  must  be  doomed  to  inferior  darkness.  What 
is  more  just,  than  that  they  who  refused  the  light 
when  they  might  have  it,  should  be  denied  the  light 
when  they  desire  it  ?  Many  now  nuzzle  themselves 
in  ignorance,  as  if  they  meant  to  make  their  own 
beds  in  hell.  Voluntary  blindness  shall  be  confined 
to  necessary  blindness  ;  and  they  that  might  now  see 
if  they  would  open  their  eyes,  shall  there  open  their 
eyes  and  not  see.  Let  us  be  children  of  the  light,  not 
of  the  night :  and  as  we  wish  to  see  that  gloiy  with- 
out us  which  may  make  us  happy,  so  let  us  strive  to 
see  that  grace  within  us  which  may  make  us  holy. 
Now  the  Father  of  lights  defend  us  from  that  prince 
and  place  of  darkness. 

Lastly,  fire,  unquenchable  fire.  It  hath  been  much 
controverted,  whether  in  hell  be  true  substantial 
fire,  or  only  fire  allegorical.  Calvin  is  only  for  the 
allegory-;  aud  so  some  others,  that  give  this  reason  : 
There  is  mention  of  wood  and  of  worm,  as  well  as 
of  fire :  now  these  are  allegorical,  why  not  therefore 
the  fire  ?  But  in  Scripture  things  spoken  together 
arc  not  always  taken  in  the  same  nature  and  manner. 
Christ  is  called  I  lie  Rock  of  our  salvation  :  the  rock 
is  allegorical ;  is  our  salvation  therefore  allegorical  ? 
Ye  shall  "  eat  and  drink  at  my  table  in  my  king- 
dom," Luke  xxii.  30:  eating  and  drinking' is  alle- 
gorical ;  is  therefore  the  kingdom  allegorical  too  ? 
It  is  then  to  be  concluded  that  there  is  true  and  sub- 
stantial fire  in  hell.  "  The  Lord  will  come  with 
fire,  to  render  his  anger  with  fiiry,  and  liis  rebuke 
with  flames  of  fire,"  Isa.  Ixvi.  15.'  If  he  will  judge 
them  in  fire,  why  not  condemn  them  to  fire. 

Grant  it  substantial  fire,  then  it  is  questioned 
whether  it  be  material,  corporeal,  or  spiritual.  It  is 
not  material ;  that  is  fire  nourished  \nt\i  fuel.  Etna, 
and  other  places  of  the  earth,  burn  continually  with- 
out fuel ;  much  more  that  infernal  fire.  He  that 
makes  the  damned  live  without  food,  is  able  to  main- 
tain this  fire  williout  wood.  Not  spiritiuil :  indeed 
Gregor)'  calls  it  an  incorporeal  fire;  but  it  passeth 
the  nature  of  fire  to  be  spiritual ;  and  he  that  makes 
it  spiritual  only,  goes  about  to  make  it  no  fire  at  all. 

It  is  therefore  a  corporeal  fire  :  but  being  so 
granted,  there  arise  some  exceptions.  Object.  If  it 
be  corporeal,  how  can  it  diversely  torment  divers  re- 
probates ?  There  is  but  one  fire  in  hell,  but  it  doth 
not  crucisite  all  after  one  manner  and  measure:  as 
every  one  hath  been  more  wicked,  he  shall  be  more 
wretched.     Answ.  But  we  must  know  that  this  fire 


is  the  instrument  of  the  Divine  justice :  now  no  in- 
strument works  only  by  its  own  virtue,  and  after  its 
own  measure,  but  is  regulated  by  the  virtue  of  the 
])rincipal  mover.  The  fire  in  a  furnace  is  increased 
or  qualified  according  to  the  will  of  the  kiudler;  so 
is  this  disposed  by  the  power  of  God;  "  the  breath 
of  tile  Lord,  like  a  stream  of  brimstone,  doth  kindle 
it,"  Isa.  XXX.  3;i  We  know  that  one  and  the  same 
fire  doth  otlierwise  bum  iron,  than  wood  or  straw. 
According  to  the  nature  of  the  incensed  matter  is  the 
rage  of  the  fire.  AU  men  on  earth  are  under  one 
sun,  yet  do  not  all  equally  feel  the  burning  of  that 
sun:  one  is  hotter  than  another,  a  Moor  than  a 
Briton.  So  in  that  one  fire  there  is  not  one  manner 
of  burning.  That  which  is  here  wrought  by  the 
diversity  of  bodies  is  there  by  the  diversity  of  sins. 
(Greg.  Dial.  lib.  4.)  There  may  be  a  several  degree 
of  pain  to  every  one,  and  yet  one  common  fire 
to  all. 

Object.  But  if  it  be  corporeal  fire,  it  must  be  main- 
tained with  fuel,  or  else  it  will  go  out :  but  there  is 
no  fuel  in  hell.  Atisic.  Yes,  the  bodies  and  souls  of 
the  damned  shall  be  instead  of  fuel.  And  because 
those  materials  are  everlasting,  therefore  it  follows 
that  hell-fire  can  never  go  out,  for  it  is  against  the 
nature  of  fire  to  cease  so  long  as  it  liath  combustible 
matter  to  feed  it.  Object.  But  if  it  be  corpore:d, 
then  is  it  of  the  same  species  with  our  fire ;  now  man 
knows  the  nature  of  this,  but  not  of  that.  Amu: 
Fire  is  found  in  two  j)laces  and  manners  ;  cither  in 
the  proper  matter,  as  it  is  in  its  own  orb  or  sphere  ; 
or  in  another  matter,  whether  earthly,  as  appears  in 
a  coal,  or  airy,  as  appeai-s  in  the  flame.  But  howso- 
ever or  wheresoever  it  is  found,  it  is  always  in  re- 
spect of  the  nature  in  specie,  fire.  In  the  bodies 
which  are  the  matter  of  the  fire  there  may  be  ditfer- 
cnce  ;  as  burning  wood  and  burning  iron  differ.  Still 
is  it  fire,  though  diverse  from  ours  in  certain  proprie- 
ties which  are  unknown  to  us;  and  may  we  never 
know  them. 

Gregoiy,  upon  Job  xx.  2G,  "  A  fire  not  blown 
shall  consume  him,"  objects,  that  if  it  be  corporeal 
fire,  it  needs  fomentation.  Indeed  our  elementarj' 
fire  must  be  kindled  :md  nourished,  because  it  is 
brought  artificially  and  by  violence  upon  the  com- 
bustible subject.  But  hell-fire  needs  not,  because  it 
either  subsists  in  the  proper  matter,  or  in  an  alien 
subject,  not  by  violence,  but  by  nature  a  principio 
intn'tiseco.  The  wrath  of  God  makes  it  unquencha- 
ble, so  that  it  neither  needs  feeding  nor  wants  raging. 
But  our  fire  is  corruptible,  that  eternal ;  how  then  of  tlu 
same  nature?  So  arc  the  reprobate  bodies  now  cor- 
ruptible, then  made  incorruptible;  therefore  thesanu 
nature  of  fire  shall  become  everlasting,  to  torment  the 
same  bodies  become  everlasting.  Object.  But  the  na- 
ture of  our  fire  is  to  shine  and  give  light,  which  hell-fire 
doth  not :  "  The  light  of  the  wicked  shall  be  put  out. 
aud  the  spark  of  his  fire  shall  not  shine,"  Job  xviii.  .'5. 
Amu:  The  fire  doth  not  shine  in  the  proper  mannci 
of  existing  :  it  shines  not  in  its  own  orb,  saith  tlu 
]jliilosopher.  Besides,  gross  and  foggy  smokes,  and 
lliick  cuirkness,  may  keep  fire  from  giving  lustre; 
yet  still  it  remains  fire.  The  conclusion  then  is  for 
corporeal  fire  in  hell;  I.  Because  there  is  not  only 
the  punishment  of  loss,  which  answers  to  the  aversion 
from  the  Creator,  but  also  the  punishment  of  sense, 
which  answers  the  conversion  to  the  creature.  Now 
what  plague  so  terrible  to  the  sense  as  fire  ?  2. 
"  Wherewithal  :i  m:m  sinneth,  by  the  same  shall  he 
1r>  puni.shed,"  Wisd.  xi.  IG:  but  by  scnsibe  things 
they  sinned,  therefore  by  sensible  things  punished. 

But,  lastly,  if  it  be  corjioreal  fire,  then  it  torments 
only  the  body ;  for  how  can  a  corporeal  fire  work 
upon  a  spiritual  substance  ?     Bernard  thus :  There 


Veh.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


2S3 


is  a  double  punishment,  the  worm,  and  fire.  Tlie 
one  gnaws  the  conscience,  the  other  bums  the  car- 
cass. The  one  outwanlly  burning,  the  other  inter- 
nally corroding.  And  Meditat.  cap.  4:  In  came 
cruciabunlur  per  ignem,  m  suiritu  per  conscienliie  ver- 
mrm.  So  Isidor.  de  Sum.  Bon.  lib.  1.  cap.  31  :  The 
pain  of  the  damned  is  double  i  MetUem  urit  Iristilia, 
corpun  Jiamma.  So  Bed.  in  Marc.  9.  lib.  3  :  Igm'x 
rnl  ptena  exin'nsecus  stPi'ieng,  vermis  dolor  intenwi 
nccusans.  These  seem  to  restrain  that  fire  from  work- 
ing on  the  soul.  But  it  is  plain  the  fire  is  "  prepared 
for  the  devil  and  his  angels,"  Matt.  xxv.  41.  But  the 
devil  hath  no  body,  yet  he  bums  in  fire.  The  ricli 
man  cried  out,  and  shall  cry  for  ever,  "  I  am  tor- 
mented in  this  flame,"  Luke  xvi.  24 ;  yet  was  his 
body  in  the  grave,  and  his  sonl  only  in  hell :  neither 
is  that  altogether  a  parable;  for  then  Christ  would 
only  have  propounded  the  example,  and  concealed 
the  name.  He  that  denieth  spirits  to  be  tormented 
in  fire,  let  him  take  heed  lest  his  own  spirit  feel  it. 
But  how  this  corporeal  fire  shall  tomient  devils  and 
damned  spirits,  who  knows  ?  I  do  not  doubt  but  that 
rich  man  was  in  the  burning  of  pains,  and  the  poor 
man  in  the  refreshing  of  joys ;  but  how  to  apprehend 
that  tlame  of  hell,  that  bosom  of  Abraham,  that 
tongue  of  the  rich  and  finger  of  the  poor,  that  thirst 
of  torment,  that  drop  of  comfort,  shall  hariUy  be 
found  of  them  that  seek  humbly,  never  of  them  that 
seek  curiously.  It  is  more  s;\fe  to  doubt  of  that  is 
secret,  than  to  dispute  of  that  is  uncertain.  It  is 
miserable  by  seeking  what  God  hath  secreted,  to  lose 
what  God  hath  granted.  Seeing  then  this  is  .sub- 
stantial and  corporeal  fire,  wherein  ditTers  it  from  our 
elementary  fire  ?     In  five  respects. 

1.  In  regard  of  heat.  The  fire  in  a  landscape 
which  is  painted  fire,  or  their  purgatory  fire,  which 
is  fabled  fire,  is  a  better  representation  of  elemental 
fire,  than  elemental  is  of  eternal  fire.  That  furnace 
whose  lieat  was  septupled,  and  the  fiames  licked  up 
them  for  whom  it  was  not  meant,  was  raging,  but  not 
a  glowing  spark  to  hell. 

2.  In  regard  of  light.  Our  fire  comforts  in  shining, 
that  is  oppressed  willi  liorrible  darkness.  It  retains  the 
property  of  burning,  it  hat  h  lost  the  property  of  shining. 
(Basil.)  Therefore  it  is  called  Hades  sine  soie  domus : 
jude  calls  it  the  black  darkness.  The  darknessof  Egypt 
was  St  range  and  fearful,  so  thick  that  it  was  palpable  ; 
yet  a  mere  holiday  to  hell.  The  poets  described  it 
by  Cimmerian  darkness  ;  an  Italian  territory-  betwixt 
Bai.t  and  Cumae,  where  the  Cimmerii  inhabit  j  so 
environed  with  hills,  and  overshadowed  with  super- 
cilious and  hanging  promontories,  that  the  sun  never 
comes  at  it. 

3.  Elemental  fire  bums  the  body  only,  eternal 
also  the  soul.  The  passion  of  the  body  is  but  the 
body  of  passion ;  (he  soid  of  pain  is  the  pain  of  the 
soul  :  yet  if  a  consumable  Ixidy  be  not  able  to  endure 
burning  flames  for  a  day,  liow  will  an  unwastable 
soul  endure  them  for  ever ! 

4.  Elemental  fire,  as  it  burns,  so  it  con.sumes;  hell- 
fire  rageth  more  and  wasteth  less.  The  reprobate 
shall  have  the  punishment  to  be  burned ;  not  the 
hapjiincss  to  be  wasted.  Pcena  gehcnnales  puniunt, 
non  Jiniunt  coqmrn.  (Prosper.)  Iron  will  hold  burn- 
ing long,  yet  consumeth ;  in  hell  there  is  neither  ces- 
sation of  fire  burning  nor  of  matter  burned.  It  is  a 
fire  of  eon.summation,  not  of  consumption.  If  it  were 
terminable,  it  might  be  tolerable  ;  but  being  endless, 
it  must  be  easeless. 

."i.  Our  elemental  fire  may  be  quenched,  that  never 
-   out.     This  is  maintained  with  wood,  and  put 
ith  water  ;  that,  as  it  hath  nothing  to  maintain 
nothing  to  extinguish  it.     There  shall  be  weep- 
ing of  eyes,  no  mitigation  of  flames  :  if  there  be  any 


tears,  they  shall  rather  be  like  oil  to  feed  and  nourish 
il,  than  like  water  to  put  it  out. 

These  are  three  principal  expressions  of  hell ;  but 
is  there  notliin^  of  pain  besides  these  ?  It  seems 
they  sufler  nothing  else  but  fire,  because  Christ 
dooms  them  only  unto  fire.  Matt.  xxv.  41.  Indeed 
fire  is  the  princiiml,  but  there  are  other  accessories 
and  concomitances.  (Basil.)  In  the  last  purgation 
of  the  world  there  shall  be  a  seitaration  made  in  the 
elements.  Wluilsoever  is  pure,  refined,  sublimed, 
and  perfect,  shall  remain  above  for  the  solace  of  the 
blessed.  Whatsoever  is  feculent,  sordid,  and  ignoble, 
shall  be  cast  down  to  the  punishment  of  the  damned. 
That  as  every  creature  becomes  matter  of  the  saints' 
joy ;  so  every  creature  be  made  matter  of  the  repro- 
bates' sorrow.  "  God  shall  make  the  creature  his 
wea|)on  for  the  revenge  of  his  enemies ;  and  the  world 
shall  fight  with  him  against  the  unwise,"  Wisd.  v. 
17,  20.  As  they  have  departed  from  that  one  God, 
one  good,  by  sin  in  many  material  things,  wliich  are 
various  and  vain  ;  so  that  one  justice  shall  by  many 
material  things  confound  them.  But,  Ad  calorem 
nimium  transibit  ab  aquis  iiivium.  Job  xxiv.  19;  as 
the  vulgar  Latin  reads.  Now  the  variety  and  vicissi- 
tude of  passions  yields  some  refreshing  ;  as  when  a 
man  passeth  from  extreme  cold  to  extreme  heat, 
there  is  a  mediate  intermission :  but  there  is  no  re- 
freshing admitted  in  hell.  Answ.  The  damned  may 
pass  from  extremity  of  cold  to  extremity  of  heat, 
without  any  refreshing,  because  tlie  passing  shall  not 
be  by  any  transmutation  of  the  body  from  the  former 
natural  disposition,  nor  by  reduction  to  any  equality 
of  temper,  but  sensible  pains  working  upon  the  sen- 
sible parts ;  secundum  esse  spirituale,  twn  secundum  esse 
matericde,  in  orsanum.  (Aquin.)  The  sum  is  this  ; 
the  torments  oi  hell  are  comprised  under  fire,  be- 
cause that  is  most  violent,  vehement,  and  sharply 
afllictive.  Water  doth  only  kill ;  fire  doth  vex  also, 
and  torment ;  yea,  which  is  worse,  this  fire  doth 
never  kill.  It  shall  be  so  extreme,  that  the  damned 
shall  prize  a  cup  of  cold  water  above  ten  thousand 
worlds. 

The  use.  As  we  desire  to  escape  the  fire  of  hell, 
let  us  avoid  the  fire  of  sin.  There  be  certain  fiery 
sins,  which  shall  find  fiery  punishments  ;  as  Nadab 
both  oflered  and  sulTered  strange  fire.  There  fire  is 
properly  neither  burning  nor  shining,  but  only  stinks 
and  makes  a  smother :  sin,  a  spiritual  fire.  There  is 
fire  both  burning  and  shining ;  that  we  call  elemental 
fire.  There  is  fire  shining  and  not  burning,  as  the 
sun.  There  is  fire  burning  and  not  shining,  and  that 
is  the  fire  of  hell.  Thus  Paul  calls  lust  a  burning; 
"  It  is  better  to  marry  than  to  bum,"  1  Cor.  vii.  9. 
Who  then  would  burn  in  lust,  that  fears  to  bum  in 
hell  ?  I  read  of  a  man,  that,  when  he  was  tempted 
to  lust,  would  lay  his  hand  on  burning  coals,  con- 
cluding. If  I  cannot  endure  this  for  a  while,  how 
should  I  endure  hell-fire  for  ever?  Rage  and  malice 
are  burning  sins.  The  angry  man  beholds  not  the 
law,  but  the  law  beholds  the  angry  man.  Therefore 
is  anger  called  a  great  heat.  They  that  nourisli 
that  fire  within  them,  are  nourished  for  a  worse  fire 
without  them.  Blasphemy  is  a  burning  sin.  The 
tongue  is  a  fire  that  fireth  the  whole  course  of  nature, 
and  is  fired  of  hell,  Jam.  iii.  6.  Let  them  whose 
mouths  flame  with  oaths  fear  the.sc  flaming  torments. 
The  rich  man's  tongue  was  tormented  in  fire,  be- 
cause it  was  used  to  spit  fire  against  heaven.  Drunk- 
enness is  a  burning  sin  :  too  much  wine  is  the  oil  of 
hell's  own  lamp.  They  inflame  the  reckoning,  till 
they  inflame  their  brains,  inflame  their  bloods,  inflame 
their  bodies  ;  buy  as  much  sickness  as  will  m;ike  up 
a  burning  fever,  and  as  much  sin  as  will  serve  to 
inflame  their  own  hell.     In   the  German  proverb, 


284 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


fire  is  of  all  the  genders.  Hie  ipiin,  that  is  fire ;  Iktc 
ignis,  that  is  a  harlot  ;  hoc  ignts,  that  is  wine.  The 
first  chaptir  of  John,  verse  5,  A/undus  posilus  est 
in  nuiltfuio,  that  is,  iVi  igne  mato  :  all  the  world  is  on 
fire  Willi  sin,  to  make  work  for  the  fire  of  hell.  "  A 
fire  i.s  kindled  in  mine  anger,  and  shall  bum  unto  the 
lowest  hell,"  Dcut.  xxxii.  22.  "  When  his  wrath  is 
kindled  but  a  little.  Blessed  are  all  they  that  trust 
in  him,"  Psal.  ii.  12.  "The  coals  thereof  are  coals 
of  fire,  which  hath  a  most  vehement  flame,"  Cant, 
viii.  G.  Wild-fire  may  be  tamed,  streams  of  fiie 
have  been  ijuenehed;  only  that  fire  can  never  be  ex- 
tinguished in  the  subject  it  hath  possessed.  One 
thing  only  now  can  put  it  out,  the  water  and  blood 
that  came  out  of  Christ's  own  side.  Only  that  water 
can  quencli  the  fire  of  lust  in  us,  and  tliat  blood 
quench  the  fire  of  hell  against  us. 

"Down  to  hell."  Let  me  a  little  further  enlarge 
this  discourse  of  hell;  wherein  if  you  do  not  find  a 
due  method,  know  that  the  nature  of  the  place  de- 
nies it.  Who  can  speak  methodically  and  orderly 
of  that,  that  knows  no  method,  no  order?  If  any 
expect  an  absolute  description,  I  excuse  myself. 
But  as  Pythagoras  guessed  at  the  stature  and  pitch 
of  Hercules  by  the  length  of  his  foot,  and  we  say  in 
the  proverb,  h'x  iingue  leonem  ;  so  by  shadow  anfl  re- 
semblance we  may  a  little  conceive  what  it  is  in 
sufferance.  This  is  a  cup  of  the  deadliest  wine  that 
ever  was  tasted;  those  deep  graves  in  the  Psalm, 
from  whence  there  is  no  rising  again.  The  gates  of 
that  infernal  prison  being  kept  from  egress,  as  the 
gates  of  Paradise  were  warded  from  entrance  ;  not 
by  cherubims  with  a  (laming  sword,  but  by  the 
angels  of  .Satan,  with  all  the  instruments  of  death, 
and  the  seal  of  God's  eternal  decree  set  upon  tliem. 
This  is  that  outer  darkness,  to  compreliend  and 
Avrap  up  the  damned.  Outer,  because  in  extremity, 
without  the  limits  of  any  mercy  to  be  extended  ; 
where  no  light  of  sun,  moon,  or  star,  much  less  the 
face  of  God,  shall  ever  shine;  where  the  eyes  shall 
distil  like  fountains,  and  the  teeth  clatter  like  armed 
men,  and  the  mind  muse  on  nothing  but  sad  desper- 
ation. Many  and  fearful  agonies  nave  wrinig  and 
wrestled  the  spirit  of  man,  since  the  spirit  of  life  was 
first  breathed  into  him  ;  yet  if  all  were  put  together, 
to  answer  the  measure  of  hell-torments  amongst 
them,  the  hand  of  Tophet  hath  an  unmcasurable 
portion  left  behind  to  distribute  to  her  children,  an 
endless  patrimony  of  howling  and  gnashing  of  teeth. 
Balance  them  together,  and  the  least  pain  of  hell  is 
prcflter  than  the  greatest  of  this  world.  (Aquin.) 
Horrible  torments  have  been  inflicted  on  moral  de- 
linquents;  they  are  all  but  ticklings  to  tho.se  lor- 
turings.  There  is  a  threefold  woe,  Rev.  viii.  1.3 ; 
woe  for  the  bitterness,  woe  for  the  multitude,  woe 
for  the  everlastingness  of  those  pains.  It  had  been 
better  for  that  man  never  to  have  been  bom.  Matt. 
xxvi.  24.  A  woe,  ten  thousand  times  more  than  can 
be  imagined  by  any  heart  as  deep  as  the  sea.  These 
are  those  waters  of  gall,  vials  of  unmerciful  plagues, 
pestilence  and  blood,  and  huge  hailstones,  fire  and 
brimstone.  Not  such  as  fell  upon  Sodom,  the  wit- 
nesses whereof,  for  many  succeeding  ages,  were 
heaps  of  ashes  and  elomls  of  pitch ;  but  fire  and 
brimstone  from  a  bottomless  mind,  whicli  bnmelh  in 
the  lake  of  death,  and  shall  never  be  quenched. 

Of  all  these  torments  there  are  two  dire  and  dismal 
effects,  "Weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth,"  Matt, 
viii.  12.  F/i'lHs  lie  ardore,  stridor  dentitim  de  frifforc. 
(Uaban.)  Fletiis  oh  ignem  qui  non  e.rtinguitur,  stridor  ob 
vermem  imi  nnn  moriltir.  Flettis  rj'  dotorr,  stridor  r.r 
/urorf.  (llern.)  They  are  cast  into  darkness,  for  the 
inordinateness  of  their  concupisciblc  ;  weep,  for  the 
inordinatcness  of  their  iniseible ;  gnash  their  teeth, 


for  the  inordinateness  of  their  irrational  [lart.  (Gorrh.) 
This  manifesteth  two  extremities  in  hell ;  incompar- 
able cold,  and  intolerable  heat.  (Greg,  in  MatL  viii.) 

"  Weeping."  Here  are  some  questions  moved, 
whether  this  be  a  corporeal  weeping.  Some  aflirm 
it ;  because  the  sorrow  which  is  in  pain  shall  aaswer 
the  pleasure  that  was  in  sin.  As  sue  hath  lived  de- 
liciously,  give  her  so  much  torment  and  sorrow,  Rev. 
xviii.  7.  But  reprobates  in  their  sinning  had  both 
an  inward  pleasure  and  an  outward  delighting ; 
tlierefore  they  must  have  in  punishment  both  an  in- 
ward grief  and  an  outward  weeping.  Anstc.  But 
then  damnation  being  eternal,  this  effusion  would 
also  be  eternal ;  and  so  the  tears  would  make  an  in- 
undation larger  than  the  ocean,  able  in  lime  to  put 
out  the  fire  of  hell.  Therefore  we  must  distinguish; 
in  corporeal  weeping  there  are  two  things,  a  rcsolu-  . 
tion  of  tears,  and  a  commotion  or  perturbation  of  the 
head  and  eyes.  This  weeping  is  not  the  resolution 
of  tears,  because  then  the  motion  of  the  first  mover 
ceasing,  there  is  no  generation,  nor  corruption,  nor 
alteration  of  the  body.  But  there  must  be  a  genera- 
tion of  that  moisture  which  distils  itself  into  tears,  if 
that  weeping  were  corporeal.  Yet  there  shall  remain 
a  weeping,  wliicli  ariseth  from  the  perturbation  of  the 
soul,  and  anguish  of  the  body.  There  may  be  here  a 
howling  like  dragons,  whenas  yet  no  tears  fall.  It 
is  observable  that  the  expense  of  tears  outwardly 
mitigates  the  sorrow  within,  and  easeth  the  heart, 
the  Ijurden  of  indigestible  grief  emptying  and  vent- 
ing itself  at  the  eyes  ;  but  hell  by  eternal  tears  could 
never  qualify  eternal  pains. 

It  is  further  objected,  weeping  is  the  effect  of  sor- 
rowing, and  sorrow  of  repenting;  therefore  it  seeni<, 
if  the  damned  weep  in  hell,  that  they  repent  in  hell. 
"  And  they  repenting,  and  groaning  for  anguish  of 
spirit,"  Wisd.  v.  3.  So  Aristot.,  They  shall  be  grieved 
for  that  wherein  they  were  delighted.  Ansic.  To 
repent  may  be  understood  two  ways ;  either  in  re- 
s|)ect  of  sin,  or  of  the  punishment  annexed  to  sin. 
To  repent  of  sin  for  itself,  is  to  hate  it  for  no  otl.' 
cause  but  because  it  is  sin  and  displeasing  to  Gn.l 
thus  they  do  not  sorrow.  To  repent  of  it  for  ll  _ 
punishment  bound  to  it,  is  a  sorrow  by  accident  ; 
that  ariseth  not  from  their  evil  doing,  but  from  their 
evil  suffering.  The  will  of  the  damned  is  never  bet- 
tered by  their  torment.  To  wish  they  had  not  sin- 
ned, without  further  relation,  were  a  good  will ;  but 
a  good  will  and  they  are  everlasting  strangers.  The 
will  of  the  devil  is  still  invcrtible;  nor  doth  he  gri(\ 
for  his  pride,  but  for  the  punishment  of  his  pri<I  . 
Again,  there  shall  be  a  greater  perversencss  of  llii 
damned  in  hell  than  is  of  sinners  on  earth ;  but  di- 
vers sinners  here,  through  blindness  of  mind  ai;  1 
hardness  of  heart,  do  not  repent  of  their  sins ;  though 
the  most  savage  beasts,  through  grief  and  pain,  are 
restrained  from  their  sensual  pleasures.  On  earth 
there  may  be  rejienting  without  weeping,  in  lull 
there  shall  be  weejiing  without  repenting. 

But  is  there  no  recovery-  of  original  good  in  hell  ? 
If  the  damned  are  sorry  for  their  sins,  this  argu. 
repentance.      If  they  were  readmitted  to  life  ill. 
would  spend  their  life  in  obedience ;  this  argues 
will  to  goodness.     That  rich  man  had  some  care  ■ 
his  living  brethren  ;  this  argues  charity.     No,  tlu  ■ 
is  no  repentance,  no  rectifie<l  will,  no  charily  ;  hajil;. 
some  remnants  of  natural  light,  none  of  supemalun.l 
grace. 

There  is  no  repentance.  They  are  scorched  with 
heat,  and  blaspheme  God's  name  ;  but  repent  not  to 
give  him  glory.  Rev.  xvi.  9.  They  rursu  liim  for 
tlieir  pains  and  sores,  but  repent  not  of  their  deeds, 
vcr.  II.  True  repentance  ariseth  from  faith  and 
hope  J    but  there  can   be  no  faith  of  releasemcnt 


VEn.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


where  is  certain  knowledge  of  ctcmnl  punishment  : 
knowledge  and  sense  exclude  faith.  There  can  be 
no  hope  of  tennination,  where  be  chains  of  despera- 
tion. There  .shall  be  a  desperate  sorrow  for  pain, 
no  penitent  sorrow  for  sin.  None  are  now  saved  but 
by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb;  but  when  the  world  is 
ended,  that  fountain  is  dried  up.  The  worm  of  con- 
science shall  j;naw  them  with  this  remorse,  bringinfj 
to  their  minds  the  cause  of  their  present  calamities; 
how  often  they  have  been  invited  to  heaven,  how 
easily  they  might  have  escaped  hell.  They  shall 
weep  for  the  loss  of  the  one  and  gain  of  the  other, 
not  for  the  cause  of  either,  which  were  repentance. 

There  is  no  will  to  good,  or  at  least  no  good  will. 
As  the  will  of  the  blessed  is  wholly  set  upon  good,  so 
the  will  of  the  damned  is  wholly  set  upon  evil. 
Neither  can  the  saints  in  heaven  will  that  which  is 
evil,  nor  the  reprobates  in  hell  will  that  which  is 
good.  This  we  perceive  in  the  devils,  who  have 
been  so  long  damned,  yet  even  to  this  day  their  un- 
changeable will  is  totally  bent  to  wickedness.  But 
evil  is  altogether  against  the  will ;  (Dionys.)  if  there- 
fore they  will  any  thing,  it  is  good  cither  in  existence, 
or  in  appearance.  Anstr.  There  is  a  double  will  in 
them  :  natural,  which  is  not  of  themselves,  but  of 
the  Founder  of  nature  :  deliberative,  that  is  of  them- 
selves ;  which  being  wholly  averted  from  the  supreme 
end  ofgoodness,  cannot  but  be  evil.  So  that  if  natural- 
ly they  could  will  good,  yet  the  form  of  that  will 
being  so  corrupted,  it  must  necessarily  be  bad.  In- 
deed evil  as  it  is  properly  evil,  moves  not  the  will; 
but  as  it  is  an  estimative  good.  Such  is  their  malice, 
that  they  never  will  any  tiling  but  evil,  though  they 
esteem  it  good.  So  that  if  they  were  now  repealed 
again  to  this  world,  they  would  neither  repent  their 
sins,  nor  amend  their  lives,  nor  glorify  God,  nor  seek 
Jesus.  Let  us  now  labour  to  rectify  our  wills,  and 
order  them  to  the  seeking  of  good  ;  lest  we  there  lose 
both  the  good  itself,  and  flie  very  will  unto  it.  For  i>i 
infirno  eril  stimulus  pccnilitdinis,  nulla  lamen  correclio 
rolunlatis :  ila  culpabitur  iniqnitas  sua,  ut  nullatenus 
possit  diligi  vel  desiderari  justitia.  (August.)  They 
shall  curse  their  own  wicKcdness,  yet  neither  love 
nor  desire  righteousness. 

There  is  no  charity ;  not  so  much  as  any  love  to 
God,  the  infinite  good;  much  less  to  man.  None  to 
God.  But  goodness  and  beauty  is  every  one's  love  ; 
therefore  much  more  God,  the  cause  and  fountain  of 
it.  Nay,  they  shall  hate  God ;  '•  Do  not  I  hate  them 
that  hate  thee?"  Psal.  cxxxix.  21.  Indeed  if  God 
could  be  seen  of  them  in  his  goodness,  mercy,  bounty, 
they  could  not  hate  him  ;  but  they  no  further  appre- 
hend him  but  by  the  sense  of  their  own  torments, 
the  effects  of  his  justice,  and  so  hate  him.  They 
suffer,  and  they  blaspheme  ;  there  is  in  them  a  furi- 
ous malice  against  him;  being  cursed  of  him,  they 
reeurse  him.  Rev.  xvi.  9,  II,  21.  They  curee  him  for 
milking  them,  curse  him  for  condemning  them,  curse 
him  because,  being  adjudged  to  death,  they  can  never 
find  death.  They  curse  his  punishments,  because 
they  are  so  insufferable  ;  curse  his  mercies,  because 
they  may  never  taste  them ;  curse  the  blood  of  Christ 
shed  on  the  cross,  because  it  hath  satisfied  for  thou- 
sands, and  done  their  unbelieving  souls  no  good ; 
curse  the  angels  and  saints  in  heaven,  because  they 
see  them  in  joy  and  themselves  in  torment.  Curs- 
ings shall  be  their  sins,  blasphemies  their  prayers, 
tears  their  notes,  lamcnt.ition  all  their  harmony. 
These  shall  be  their  evening  songs,  their  morning 
songs,  their  mourning  songs  for  ever. 

No  charity  to  man ;  for  they  rather  wish  all  damn- 
ed with  themselves,  than  any  to  be  freed  from  their 
own  prison.  As  in  the  blessed  ther&is  perfect  chari- 
ty, so  in  the  damned  perfect  envy.    Now  nothing  is 


more  repugnant, to  charity  than  malice  and  hatred. 
But  it  is  objected,  that  inordinate  ad'eclions  are  not 
taken  awav  from  tlie  damned ;  therefore  they  would 
not  have  tliem  condemned  in  hell,  whom  they  inor- 
dinately affected  upon  earth.  Answ.  The  love  that 
is  grounded  \\\wn  virtue,  is  constant  and  durable  j 
such  charity  we  shall  bear  with  us  to  heaven,  and  be 
made  perfect  in  it.  But  the  afl'ection  grounded  upon 
lust  and  sinful  passion,  a  disease  that  runs  in  the 
blood,  doth  quickly  vanish  ;  like  fire  in  wet  straw, 
that  only  makes  a  smother,  and  goes  out  in  stencli. 
Therefore  the  adulterer,  though  he  so  dotes  on  liis 
mistress,  that  he  is  content  to  venture  his  soul  for 
her  embraces ;  yet  having  lost  that  soul,  he  doth  as 
heartily  wish  her  in  the  same  bed  of  torment ;  that 
as  they  have  been  delighted  together,  so  tluy  might 
be  afflicted  together.  Object.  But  as  by  the  multi- 
tude of  participants  the  joys  of  heaven  are  enlarged, 
so  are  the  sorrows  of  hell  increased :  how  then  will 
they  desire  more  company,  when  thereby  they  en- 
hance their  own  penalty  ?  Ansie.  Yet  such  is  their  un- 
changciible  malice,  that  it  contents  them  not  to  sufler 
their  ohti  singular  torments;  but  had  rather  endure 
more  grievous  miser)-,  to  have  a  more  numerous 
society.  And  for  the  rich  man's  prayer  fur  his  bre- 
thren, Luke  x\-i.,  it  proceeded  not  from  a  charitable 
soul,  but  from  fear  and  horror  of  more  torments  to 
be  multiplied  on  himself;  he  desired  not  their  salva- 
tion, but  his  own  less  damnation.  He  knew  that, 
being  the  elder  brother,  his  vicious  example  might 
draw  on  their  greater  disobedience ;  and  as  their  sins 
increased,  so  he  felt  his  own  tortures  enlarged. 
Therefore  no  grace  in  hell,  but  everlasting  sin;  no 
devotion,  but  extreme  damnation. 

The  wicked  in  hell  still  remain  sinners.  So  Clirist 
sailh,  "  All  that  came  before  me  are  thieves  and  rob- 
bers," John  X.  8 :  arc ;  in  propriety  of  speech  he 
should  have  said,  they  were  thieves:  no,  tliey  are 
still,  they  remain  so.  "  Depart  from  me,  all  ye  work- 
ers of  inifiuity,"  Luke  xiii.  27.  Workers,  in  reference 
both  to  the  act  past,  and  present  habit.  (Chrj-sost.) 
For  he  doth  not  say,  ye  that  have  wrought,  but 
workers.  They  that  die  sinners,  remain  sinners  even 
dead;  although  they  cannot  sin,  yet  they  retain  the 
desire  of  sinning;  and  he  that  is  a  liar  in  purijose, 
ecascth  not  to  be  a  liar  in  practice.  Death  separates  the 
soul  from  the  Qesh,  it  separates  not  sin  from  the  soul. 

Seeing  the  effect  of  those  horrors  is  weeping 
which  shall  never  be  comforted,  let  us  prevent  them 
by  weeping  where  we  may  be  comforted.  The  time 
of  living  is  the  time  of  repenting.  If  a  man  dies 
without  repentance,  repentance  is  dead  to  him  for 
ever.  If  we  compare  Matt.  v.  4  with  Luke  vi.  25, 
we  shall  find,  that  the  decree  of  God  hath  disposed 
weepers  to  laugliing,  and  laughers  to  weeping. 

"  Gnashing  of  teeth."  This  is  the  effect  of  an  in- 
expressible sorrow.  A  just  and  fit  punishment,  that 
they  who  once  gnashed  their  teeth  at  others  in  con- 
temi)t,  should  gnash  their  teeth  at  themselves  in 
torment.  The  psalmist  complains,  They  gnashed 
their  teeth  at  me,  Psal.  xxxv.  16;  and  the  Jews 
gnashed  on  Stephen  with  their  teeth,  Acts  vii.  54. 
Therefore  they  shall  gnaw  their  tongues  for  pain, 
Rev.  xvi.  10:  their  tongues  gnawed  their  neighbours, 
now  they  shall  gnaw  their  own  tongues.  They  show- 
ed their  teeth  in  derision,  tliey  shall  gUiish  their  teeth 
in  damnation.  No  part  of  the  damned  shall  be  free 
from  anguish;  the  memory  afflicted  with  pleasures 

Sast,  the  apprehension  with  terrors  present,  the  un- 
erstanding  with  torments  to  come  and  continue,  the 
eve  with  darkness,  the  ear  witli  hideous  screechings, 
tfie  smell  with  killing  stenches,  the  taste  with  gall 
of  bitterness,  the  very  teeth  with  such  an  anguish, 
that  the  extrcmest  tooth-ache  here  is  but  a  pleasure 


286 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


,^  to  it.  Such  is  the  est  remity,  universality,  and  eternity 
of  those  pains:  if  they  be  so  universal  in  all  parts, 
oh  that  they  were  not  so  extreme !  if  so  extreme, 
oh  tliat  not  so  universal !  if  both  so  universal  and 
extreme,  oh  that  not  so  everlasting;  each  torment 
easeless,  endless,  remediless !  There  be  ignilw  lu- 
chrtfmof,  and  J'rigidi  anheh'tus.  Therefore  called 
Avemus ;  abuque  vera  temperalura,  where  the  freezing 
cold  shall  not  mitigate  the  scorching  heat,  nor  the 
scorching  heat  qualify  the  freezing  cold.  Avernus 
is  a  lake  in  Italy,  that  C'a?sar  purged;  evaporating 
such  a  mortal  steam,  that  it  killed  the  birds  which 
flew  over  it.  Therefore  called  Avemiis,  quasi  avibim 
adversus.  Profundus  sine  fundo  ;  full  of  incompara^ 
ble  heat,  intolerable  stench,  innumerable  griefe. 

Vermis  cum  tenebris,  JUigel/um,  frigiis,  et  ignis: 

Dttmonis aspeclus, sceterumconJ'usio,laclus.  (Hugo.) 
From  all  these  must  needs  arise  the  gnashing  of  teeth. 
Two  things  would  seem  to  mitigate  the  terror  of  hell, 
patience  and  hope :  this  gnasmng  of  teeth  excludes 
them  both. 

For  patience.  Many  grievous  extremities  have 
--the  saints  of  God  digested  on  earth  by  patience,  that 
universal  antidote  against  future  evils,  and  fjualifica- 
tion  of  present  severities.  It  hath  blunted  the  edge 
of  tyranny,  and  made  the  sufferers  smile  in  the  midst 
of  those  pangs,  the  very  sight  whereof  hath  aston- 
ished the  beholders.  Whatsoever  the  damned  suffer, 
let  them  have  but  patience :  nay,  there  shall  be  no 
patience  in  hell;  this  gnashing  of  teeth  is  the  effect 
of  a  most  impatient  fury.  Men  commonly  say,  in 
necessitated  sufferings,  What  remedy  but  patience  ? 
Patience  therefore  is  a  confessed  remedy,  but  all  re- 
medy is  denied  to  the  reprobates  there ;  even  that 
poorest  succour  which  the  anguished  heart  can  ima- 
gine, patience.  Oh  the  universal  privation  in  that 
dismal  plaoe  I  where  every  thing  is  present  that  may 
vex  them,  every  thing  absent  that  may  comfort  them"; 
where  they  must  suffer  everlastingly,  and  cannot 
suffer  patiently. 

For  hope,  there  is  none.  The  proper  object  of 
hope  is,  saith  the  school,  a  difficult  good.  A  good  of 
difficulty,  not  of  impossibility  :  where  is  no  possibility 
can  be  no  hope.  There  is  no  hope  of  good,  no  de- 
spair of  evil.  (Hugo.)  Men  say  in  extreme  passions, 
If  it  were  not  for  hope,  the  heart  would  burst  :  there 
is  no  hope,  yet  the  heart  must  hold ;  the  misery  is, 
that  it  cannot  burst,  but  lies  (like  a  tormented  male- 
factor) upon  the  wheel,  ever  dyin^,  yet  without  all 
hope  to  die.  There  is  no  hope  in  hell,  no  hope  with 
us  on  earth  for  them  that  are  in  hell.  We  cannot 
hope  for  the  devils,  they  are  condemned  to  hell  and 
past  hope ;  nor  can  we  hope  for  the  dead,  because 
there  is  no  purgatorj'.  Indeed  concerning  the  dead, 
there  may  be  hope  of  their  happy  condition,  but 
none  of  their  permutation.  This  is  a'doublc  torment ; 
neither  deliverance,  nor  hope  of  deliverance.  Sad 
and  heavy  despair  absolves  their  infelicity  ;  comfort 
they  neither  feel,  nor  have  hope  to  feel. 

Seeing  only  hope  is  confined  to  this  life,  let  us 
make  much  of  it,  that  it  may  enrich  us.  "  Hope 
maketh  not  ashamed,"  Rom.  v.  5,  because  it  is  never 
disappointed ;  for  if  it  could  be  illuded,  it  would  be 
ashamed.  The  hope  of  life  immortal,  is  the  life  of  our 
life  mortal.  (August.)  The  poets  feign,  that  all  the 
gods  and  goddesses,  that  is,  virtues  and  graces,  did  once 
dwell  upon  the  earth  ;  but  finding  all  things  so  cor- 
nipt,  and  men  so  bad  company,  they  all  went  up  to 
heaven  with  justice  ;  terras  Astrira  reUquif .  all  but 
only  hope,  and  she  stayed  behind  still.  But  now  if 
we  hope  well,  we  must  do  well.  He  tempts  God, 
does  not  hope  m  God,  that  hoping  doth  nothing  for 
himself.  (August.)     Though  there  be  hope  of  the 


barren  fig-tree,  yet  still  the  dresser  labours  in  the 
manuring  of  it,  Luke  xiii.  8.  It  is  in  vain  for  a  man 
lo  hope  his  children  shall  do  well  when  he  tcacheth 
them  ill.  The  means  must  be  used,  where  hope  is 
nourished.  Hope  is  only  for  the  present :  the  saints 
in  heaven  have  no  hope,  for  they  are  in  full  posses- 
sion of  joy ;  the  damned  in  hell  have  no  hope,  for 
they  are  in  full  possession  of  torment.  Only  the 
living  have  hope,  and  in  the  living  God  is  "their 
hope ;  which  himself  bless  and  answer  in  Jesus  Christ. 
The  last  question  is,  What  is  the  place  of  hell  ? 
My  text  says,  it  is  downward.  So  doth  the  Scrip- 
ture frequently.  "  Let  them  be  cast  into  deep  pits, 
that  they  rise  not  up  again,"  Psal.  cxl.  10.  Bring 
them  down  into  the  pit  of  destruction.  They  are 
in  the  depths  of  hell,  Prov.  ix.  18.  "  The  way  of 
life  is  above  to  the  wise,  that  he  may  depart  from 
hell  beneath,"  Prov.  xv.  24.  So  the  "terms  declare 
it,  and  the  word  describes  it ;  Sheol,  which  is  taken 
for  a  pit,  grave,  or  hell ;  all  downwards.  Mercer,  in 
Gen.  xxxvii.,  says  that  Sheol  signifies  all  places  under 
the  earth.  It  must  be  below,  because  it  is  every 
where  opposed  to  heaven,  which  is  highest  of  all. 
Abi/ssus,  which  is  a  great  deep,  a  vast  gulf  under  the 
earth,  a  bottomless  pit :  the  devils  entreated  Christ 
not  to  send  them  to  that  place,  into  the  abyss,  Luke 
viii.  31.  The  apostles  that  preached  to  the  Jews, 
used  the  word  Gehenna  ;  "  It  is  set  on  fire  of  Gehen- 
na, hell,"  Jam.  iii.  6.  They  that  preached  to  the 
Gentiles,  used  Hades  ;  which  they  took  to  be  a  place 
under  the  earth  ordained  for  punishment.  The  word 
here  used  is  Tartarus.  Hesiod  affirms  it  to  be  so 
far  under  the  earth,  as  heaven  is  above  it.  So  the 
Rabbins  held ;  Sheol  is  absolutely  below,  the  very 
centre  :  "  Hell  from  beneath  is  moved,"  Isa.  xiv.  9. 
"  It  shall  bum  to  the  lowest  hell,"  Deut.  xsxii.  22. 
Nic.  de  Lyr.  affirms  it  Circa  centrum  terra;.  Tertul. 
in  Apologet.,  Hell  is  a  subterrane  treasure  of  hidden 
fire.     The  poets  so  took  it ; 

Facilis  descensus  Averni ; 
Sed  revocare  gradum,  superasque  eiadere  ad  auras, 
Hoc  opus,  hie  labor  est. 

All  things  perishing,  sink  downwards. 

But  against  this  it  is  objected,  that  Dives  in  hell 
saw  Abraham  and  Lazarus  ;  which  he  could  not  do, 
if  hell  was  so  deep  and  remote  a  bottom  wherein  he 
lay  overwhelmed.  And  albeit  hell  is  below  and 
downward  in  respect  of  heaven,  yet  haply  it  is  not 
so  in  regard  of  earth.  "  Woe  to  the  inhabiters  of 
the  earth !  for  the  devil  is  come  do'wn  unto  you," 
Rev.  xii.  12:  yet  he  was  then  cast  no  lower  than  the 
superficies  of  the  earth.  There  be  divers  arguments 
on  both  sides.  First,  as  they  that  live  know  not  the 
state  of  the  dead,  so  the  dead  know  not  the  state  of 
the  living  on  earth,  much  less  of  the  saints  in  heaven. 
(Greg.)  So  August.,  As  the  rich  man  had  a  care  of 
his  brethren  living,  yet  he  knew  not  what  they  did ; 
so  have  men  a  care  of  their  dead  friends,  yet  know 
not  how  they  speed.  Against  this  is  opposed,  that 
if  they  in  hell  had  not  the  sight  of  heaven,  their  o»ti 
sufferings  would  less  afflict  them;  for  their  most 
grievous  torment  shall  arise  from  the  vision  of  what 
joys  they  have  lost.  When  they  shall  see  it,  "  thi 
shall  be  troubled  with  terrible  fear,"  Wisd.  v.  2,  an. 
be  amazed  at  the  saints'  salvation.  So  Bern.,  Th- 
faithftil  shall  have  a  sight  of  hell,  and  the  unfaithful 
a  sight  of  heaven;  that  the  one  may  be  rejoiced,  by 
seeing  what  horrors  they  have  escaped;  and  the 
other  may  be  afflicted,  by  seeing  what  comforts  they 
have  forfeited.  "  The  wicked  shall  see  it,  and  be 
grieved  ;  he  shall  gnash  with  his  teeth,  and  melt 
away,"  Psal.  txii.  10.  Bar  the  sight  of  their  eyes, 
and  you  case  the  grief  of  their  hearts.    That  weep- 


Ver.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


287 


ing  and  gnasliing  of  teeth  proceeds  from  sight ; 
"  when  ye  shall  see  Abraham,  &c.  in  the  kingdom 
of  God,"  Luke  xiii.  2H.  It  is  the  exile  from  the  pre- 
sence of  the  Laiiilj,  from  the  society  of  saints  and 
angels,  from  the  felicity  and  joys  they  see,  that  most 
bitterly  scmirgeth  them.  The  not  knowing  of  earth- 
ly affairs  never  troubles  them;  but  heaven  they 
must  in  part  see  and  know,  else  they  cannot  be  tor- 
mented Willi  the  loss.  But  on  the  other  side  it  is 
said,  that  the  sight  of  heaven  is  never  aflbrded  to 
saints  in  the  flesh  but  as  an  inestimable  favour.  Il 
was  Paul's  greatest  grace,  and  that  which  had  like 
to  liave  endangered  him  unto  pride,  to  be  rapt  up 
into  the  third  heaven,  and  behold  the  life  which  the 
blessed  live  with  God.  But  what  extraordinarj- 
grace  was  this,  if  it  be  also  granted  to  the  repro- 
bates? Ansic.  St.  Paul  saw  it  by  tasting  it;  and 
hoped  again  to  see  it  by  possessing  it.  Such  a  sight 
is  not  permitted  to  the  children  of  perdition ;  they 
only  see  it  to  the  grief  of  their  hearts,  that  they  can- 
not enjoy  it. 

The  school  gives  this  conclusive  sum,  that  the 
damned  shall  behold  the  glory  of  heaven  before  the 
day  of  judgment,  but  not  after;  neither  shall  they 
know  it  as  it  is  in  itself,  but  only  by  a  kind  of 
luscous  and  glimmering  sight  perceive  it  to  be  an 
invaluable  glory.  And  this  shall  vex  them,  both 
that  they  can  no  better  see  it,  and  shall  never  taste 
it.  Aftenvards  they  shall  be  deprived  of  that  vision, 
and  shut  up  in  everlasting  night ;  neither  shall  the 
withdrawing  of  this  vision  diminish  their  tortures, 
because  the  remembrance  of  that  once  seen  shall  for 
ever  stick  by  them.  Hence  they  shall  continually 
grieve,  finding  themselves  unworthy,  even  to  sec 
those  pleasures,  which  the  godly  are  vouchsafed  to 
inherit  and  inhabit  for  ever.  But  how  could  that 
rich  man,  or  can  the  damned  spirits,  be  said  to  see 
the  glory  of  heaven,  whenas  they  want  those  lumi- 
nary organs  of  the  body,  the  disposition  of  sight,  be- 
sides the  thick  interposed  darkness  ?  Ansu\  This  is 
no  reason,  for  even  spirits  see,  and  have  the  eyes  of 
intelligence  and  apprehension,  able  to  distinguish 
between  light  and  darkness.  They  apprehend  this 
glory  either  universally  or  particularly.  A  universal 
apprehension  they  have,  whereby  they  perceive  the 
saints  to  be  in  great  glory ;  in  particular,  what  this 
glory  is  they  know  not.  At  a  great  feast,  the  beggar 
at  the  door  sees  in  part  the  joy  and  cheer  of  the 
guests  ;  but  not  so  well  as  the  guests  themselves  that 
are  banqueting.  And  as  this  must  needs  grieve  the 
beggar,  to  see  it  and  not  to  taste  it ;  so  shall  the 
damned  vex,  for  envy  both  at  others'  plenty  and 
their  own  want. 

Thus  if  we  grant  that  the  damned  shall  sec  the 
glory  of  heaven,  then  it  will  probably  follow  that 
hell  is  in  the  air,  only  separated  with  an  impassable 
gulf.  If  they  do  not  see  it,  then  is  it  likely  to  be  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Howsoever,  it  is  below, 
downwards,  in  the  inferior  parts  of  God's  workman- 
ship. But  precisely  to  say  where,  whether  in  the 
air,  wafer,  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  or  in  the  centre 
of  the  world's  centre,  we  may  safely  be  ignorant  of 
it,  we  cannot  but  dangerously  dispute  it.  Only,  as 
just  spirits  dissolved  from  their  bodies,  presently  as- 
cend to  the  empyreal  heaven ;  so  the  souls  of  the 
lost  tarry  below,  confined  to  the  inferior  elements, 
there  to  be  punished.  If  any  ask  further  about  the 
local  place  of  hell,  I  answer  with  Socrates,  I  never 
Wcis  there  myself,  nor  spoke  with  any  that  came  from 
thence.  When  one  demanded  what  the  gods  did 
and  loved,  Euclides  answered.  Whatsoever  they  do 
or  love,  I  am  sure  they  hate  all  curious  examiners. 
Many  doubt  where  it  is ;  none  can  describe  what  it 
is ;  but  all  agree  that  it  is. 


Seeing  hell  is  a  descent,  and  a  bottom  downwards, 
let  us  keep  ourselves  as  far  as  we  can  from  it  while 
we  live,  tnat  it  may  never  devour  us  when  we  die. 
Sin  doth  naturally  sink  downward,  and  separate  from 
God  who  is  above.  A  sinner  ever  descendeth  till  he 
come  to  the  lowest  that  may  be:  his  affections  are 
downwards,  and  sure  his  hope  and  inheritance  is  not 
above.  But  as  we  bury  dead  flesh  under  the  ground, 
so  it  is  not  unlikely  of  dead  souls.  And  as  the  heavi- 
est bodies  draw  to  the  centre  of  the  ( nrth,  so  do  the 
saddest  and  heaviest  spirits,  which  the  mercy  of  God 
hath  forsaken.  We  read  of  a  woman  bowed  down 
witli  a  spirit  of  infirmity  eighteen  years,  and  could 
in  nowise  lift  up  herself,  Luke  xiii.  II.  A  woeful 
estate,  noted  by  the  evangelist :  Aigriludinis  mani- 
y«/a4',  behold ;  ipgrotanlis /ragilita.^,  a  womvin  ;  mi'se- 
ri(P  acerbilas,  it  was  a  spirit  of  infirmity ;  morbi 
diulumilas,  eighteen  years;  corporis  curvitas,  bowed 
together ;  elevandi  impossibililas,  could  not  lift  up 
herself.  Such  is  the  estate  of  wicked  sinners,  that 
if  their  bodies  were  like  their  souls,  they  would 
grovel  like  beasts.  And  indeed  Be.itialior  quam  ipsa 
beslitt  est  homo,  ralione  rigens,  et  non  rulione  vivens. 
They  cast  themselves  down,  and  none  but  Jesus 
Christ  can  help  them  up.  "A  certain  man  went 
down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho,  and  fell  among 
thieves,"  Luke  x.  30.  From  Jerusalem  down  to 
Jericho:  hell  is  down  a  hill.  Jericho  signifies  the 
moon.  (Hieron.)  He  that  walks  after  the  moon  of 
this  inconstant  world,  must  needs  fall  among  thieves. 
Sin  brings  a  man  easily  down  to  Jericho  : 

Sed  reiocare  gradum,  superasque  evadere  ad  auras, 
Hie  labor,  hoc  opus  est. 

The  rale  of  philosophy  is,  that  light  things  ascend 
upwards;  yet  is  nothing  lighter  than  vain  thoughts, 
and  they  sink  downwards :  sin  is  hell's  high-way. 
"  If  ye  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things  which 
are  above,"  Col.  iii.  I. 

First,  understand  the  things,  then  undertake  the 
search.  Though  we  cannot  thoroughly  see  them, 
yet  let  us  thoroughly  seek  them.  This  is  to  be 
wise;  but  in  audacious  curiosity,  to  measure  every 
foot  in  hell,  and  dispose  every  cabinet  and  chamber 
in  heaven  ;  this  is  to  be  wise  beyond  sobriety.  "  We 
walk  by  faith,  not  by  sight,"  2  Cor.  v.  7.  "Let  us 
lift  up  our  hearts  with  our  hands  unto  God  in  the 
heavens,"  Lam.  iii.  41.  The  Lord,  in  all  our  holy 
scr\iccs,  requires  the  heart ;  in  his  temple,  at  his 
table :  "  My  son,  give  me  thine  heart,"  Prov.  xxiii. 
26.  "  Unto  thee,  O  Lord,  do  I  lift  up  my  heart," 
Psal.  XXV.  1.  There  was  "a  woman  clothed  with 
the  sun,  and  the  moon  under  her  feet,  and  upon  her 
head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars,"  Rev.  xii.  The  head  of 
the  church  is  wrapped  in  the  stars,  and  the  world  is 
under  her  feet.  She  forgets  the  land  wherein  she  was 
born,  and  the  home-stall  wherein  she  was  bred,  and 
seeks  Jerusalem  above,  where  Clirist  sitteth  on  the 
right  hand  of  God.  "If  riches  increase,  set  not  your 
heart  upon  them,"  Psal.  Ixii.  10:  they  are  heavy 
things,  and  will  sink  you  downwards.  If  onr  love 
be  to  things  downward,  our  souls  cannot  rise  to  God 
upward.  We  never  minister  the  blessed  sacrament, 
but  we  tell  you  of  a  "Lift  up  your  hearts:"  you 
then  answer  us,  "  We  lift  them  up  ; "  but  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  many  hearts  arc  so  heavy  that  they  can- 
not be  lift  up.  The  philosopher  being  asked  which 
was  the  heavest  part  of  the  earth,  answered,  That 
which  bears  an  ignorant  person.  How  little  a  piece 
of  flesh  so  ever  a  wicked  heart  be,  a  talent  of  lead 
is  light  unto  it. 

The  merry  wanton  that  dissolutely  lives,  being 
asked  how  he  escapes  sickness,  lives  so  long  and  so 
jovial,  answers,  I  have  a  light  heart.    But  when  this 


288 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chai>.  II. 


man  comes  to  foci  the  weight  of  his  sins,  let  him  tell 
me  then  whether  he  be  light-hearted.  Nabal  could 
be  di-unk  in  his  health ;  but  when  he  is  sick,  his 
heart  lies  and  dies  in  him  like  a  stone ;  nothing  in 
the  world  can  lift  it  up.  The  heart  cannot  raise 
itself,  it  is  the  Lord  that  draws  it  up,  John  vi.  44. 
"And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw 
all  men  unto  me,"  John  xii.  32.  The  apothecaiy  hatli 
no  drugs  so  cordial,  the  sycophant  no  jest  so  jovial, 
the  vintner  no  wine  so  sprightly,  the  musician  no 
stroke  so  lusty,  that  it  can  lift  up  a  sinful  heart. 
Down,  down  it  sinks,  without  the  animation  of  God's 
Holy  Si'.irit. 

But  if  Christ  be  our  delight,  our  hearts  are  with 
him.  His  body  doth  not  descend  down  to  us,  we 
must  ascend  up  to  it.  (August.)  Indeed,  if  in  so 
large  a  quantity  it  be  presently  real  in  the  sacra- 
ment, as  it  was  on  the  cross,  in  full  dimensions,  what 
need  any  man  lift  up  his  heart  to  that  he  holds  in 
liis  hand  ?  No,  he  is  above,  contained  in  the  heavens, 
till  the  time  of  restitution  :  and  if  he  be  our  joy, 
thither  we  also  aspire.  The  finger  points  to  the 
grief,  the  eye  follows  the  pleasure,  and  the  heart 
follows  the  treasure.  God  hath  given  us  both  a  face 
to  look,  and  a  faith  to  climb  upwards.  Let  us  send 
up  our  hearts  before,  that  our  souls  may  follow  after. 
(August.)  How  preposterous  and  mismatched  is  an 
erected  countenance  and  a  grovelling  spirit ! 

Things  nearest  heaven  take  least  care  for  earth : 
the  fowls  of  the  air  neither  plough,  nor  sow,  nor  carry 
into  the  bam.  But  men  most  love  what  they  must 
leave,  and  think  seldom  or  never  of  the  place  where 
they  should  be  for  ever.  Some  are  too  precise  for 
public  prayers,  without  a  sermon  ;  as  if  God  were 
only  to  serve  them,  and  they  not  bound  to  serve 
God.  Arc  there  not  many  that  will  bestow  more 
upon  a  licence  to  eat  flesh  in  Lent,  than  upon  their 
souls  all  the  year?  and  arc  their  thoughts  upward? 
The  poorest  piece  of  garment  they  wear,  their  hats, 
their  cufl's,  their  shoes,  their  shoe-ties,  cost  them 
more  than  their  souls  :  and  are  not  their  thoughts 
downwards  ?  They  will  rather  lose  their  inherit- 
Jince  in  heaven,  than  let  Christ  have  his  inheritance 
on  earth :  and  what,  are  their  desires  upwards  ? 
Down,  downwards  they  sink,  like  the  trash  tnat  God 
Messeth  not ;  their  minds  buried  in  their  collers,  as 
dead  bodies  are  nailed  up  in  their  colhus.  And  when 
they  have  dejected  themselves  as  low  as  they  can, 
then  must  this  bottomless  bottom  receive  them,  and 
overwhelm  them  with  everlasting  pressures.  A  ma- 
terial millstone  hung  about  their  necks,  cannot  sooner 
or  surer  carry  them  into  the  depth  of  the  sea.  For 
us,  let  our  hearts  be  upward,  that  our  souls  may  never 
sink  downward.  St.  Bernard  mentions  four  degrees 
of  ascending  :  The  first  ascent  is  of  knowledge,  the 
second  of  faith,  the  third  of  love,  the  last  of  glory. 
Let  us  know  Godj  this  is  the  first  step  to  blessed- 
ness: knowing,  let  us  believe  on  him;  that  is  the 
next:  believing,  let  us  love  him  j  that  is  the  third: 
and  loving,  we  shall  live  with  him ;  that  is  the 
height  and  perfection  of  eternal  joy. 

"  And  delivered  them  into  chains  of  darkness,  to 
he  reserved  unto  judgment."  Here  are  two  things ; 
tlie  measure  of  their  present  confusion,  and  the  time 
of  their  future  damnation  :  as  a  malefactor  is  first  cast 
into  a  dungeon,  at  the  assizes  brought  forth  to  judg- 
ment, and  then  led  to  execution.  Now  they  are  over- 
wlielmed  with  the  desertion  of  favour,  then  shall  be 
confounded  with  impositiim  of  plenaiy  torture.  To 
be  chained  in  a  black  and  confused  vault,  seems  an 
insulTcrable  plague  to  tlie  delimiuent ;  yet  had  he 
rather  abide  there  still,  than  come  forth  to  the  light, 
when  he  is  sure  to  be  punished  with  death.  There- 
fore they  cry  to  the  mountains  and  rocks,  to  fiill  on 


them,  and  cover  them.  Rev.  vi.  16  :  the  reprobates 
rather  desire  the  loads  of  rocks  and  pressure  of 
mountains  for  concealment,  than  be  summoned  unto 
judgment.  Tlieir  punishment  is  just ;  they  broke 
God's  bonds  before,  Psal.  ii.  .3,  now  they  shall  have 
chains  to  hold  them.  Lucifer's  I  will  be  like  the 
Most  High,  hath  made  him  lower  than  the  lowest. 
Tlie  highest  seat  in  heaven  could  not  content  him, 
the  lowest  bed  in  hell  must  contain  him.  Not 
pleased  with  the  glorious  light  above,  he  is  cast  into 
the  hideous  darkness  below. 

He  is  delivered  into  the  chains  of  darkness  ;  where 
we  must  suppose  God  sitting  as  a  just  judge  on  his 
throne,  and  liaving  summoned  the  revolting  angels 
before  him,  doth  here  sentence  them  to  present  suffer- 
ings. Not  but  they  shall  also  pass  under  another 
trial,  at  that  day  of  universal  retribution,  when  Christ 
shall  sit  on  his  tribimal,  judging  rpiick  and  dead. 
But  as  a  justice  finding  a  transgressor,  makes  his 
mittimus,  and  sends  him  to  the  gaol,  there  to  lie  in 
chains  till  the  sessions  ;  so  we  have  here  three 
answerable  circumstances  :  The  mittimus,  He  deliver- 
ed them.  The  gaol.  Into  chains  of  darkness.  The 
sessions.  To  be  reserved  unto  judgment. 

He  "delivered  them:"  but  into  whose  hands? 
Indeed  he  delivers  guilty  mortals  into  the  hands  of 
guilty  angels.  He  "  delivered  him  to  the  torment- 
ors," Matt,  xviii.  34  ;  that  he  might  be  their  slave  in 
suffering,  whose  subject  he  had  been  in  sinning. 
This  night  they  shall  fetch  away  thy  soul,  Luke  xii. 
20  :  they  to  whom  I  have  given  commission  to  do  it ; 
devils.  They  shall  require  it,  that  did  defile  it.  This 
was  part  of  St.  Paul's  excommunication,  "  to  deliver 
unto  Satan,"  1  Cor.  v.  5,  who  is  the  hangman.  So 
he  writes  of  Hymenai'us  and  Alexander,  "  Whom  I 
have  delivered  unto  Satan,  that  they  may  learn  not  to 
blaspheme,"  1  Tim.  i.  20:  to  Satan,  that  executioner 
of  condemned  souls.  But  to  whom  doth  the  Lord 
deliver  Satan  himself?  Some  answer,  that  them- 
selves are  the  instruments  to  torture  themselves. 
After  a  sort,  every  transgressor  is  his  own  tormentor  ; 
and  wickedness  is  a  vexation  to  itself  Ambition 
racks  the  aspiring ;  envy  cats  the  marrow  of  his  bones 
that  cnvicth  ;  the  covetousness  which  would  be  most 
rich,  keeps  the  affected  with  it  most  poor;  ebriety  I 
begets  the  head-ache ;  lust  afflicts  the  body  that  | 
nourisheth  it ;  and  we  say  of  the  prodigal,  he  is  no  ' 
man's  foe  but  his  own,  therefore  we  grant  that  he  is 
his  own  foe.  It  is  a  foolish  powder,  that  thinks  to 
blow  up  the  house,  and  to  escape  itself  from  burning. 
If  it  were  but  so,  that  he  delivered  him  over  to  him- 
self, such  is  the  power  of  God's  justice,  that  without 
the  least  trouble  to  himself,  he  can  make  an  offender 
his  own  afflicter.  How  many  impious  wretches,  after 
obstinate  presumptions  against  God,  have  wrought 
desperate  executions  upon  themselves  ! 

How  should  this  teach  us  to  hate  sinj  We  think 
ourselves  certainly  our  own  friends.  No,  by  sin  we 
become  our  owti  enemies.  That  which  makes  us  at 
enmity  with  God,  will  make  us  at  fond  with  our- 
selves. Though  the  Lord's  hand  should  not  touch 
us,  nor  were  any  malicious  devil  to  rack  us,  nor 
any  other  creature  to  scourge  us,  we  should  thus 
punish  ourselves.  If  God  speak  the  word,  the  hand 
shall  rebel  and  strike  the  nead,  the  nails  tear  llic 
skin,  the  teeth  gnaw  the  flesh,  the  feet  precipitate 
the  shoulders,  the  stomach  famish  the  members. 
These  that  are  made  to  take  one  another's  jiart,  and 
to  assist  the  whole  in  a  neaceable  comnunuon,  shall 
become  mutinous  like  tne  Midianites,  and  sheathe 
their  swords  in  their  fellow's  bowels.  It  is  a  plague 
woeful  enough,  when  God  shall  deliver  a  man  over 
to  himself.  "  Let  me  not  fall  into  the  hand  of  man," 
was  David's  desire,  2  Sam.  xxiv.  14.    No,  as  I  am 


Ver.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


man,  not  into  mine  own  hand.  There  is  not  loss  mercy 
in  all  Nero's  ononiics,  than  in  desperate  Nero's  own 
heart  to  himself.  But  every  man  will  do  good  to 
himself?  Yes,  .so  long  as  he  is  his  own  man;  but 
when  he  becomes  God's  instnimcnt,  let  liim  fear  liim- 
self.  When  the  prophet  had  told  Hazael  the  tyran- 
nous massacres  he  should  do  to  Israel,  he  replies,  Am 
I  a  dog,  that  I  should  do  this?  2  Kings  viii.  13.  No, 
he  was  not  yet  a  dog;  but  afterwards  God  forsook 
him,  tlien  lie  became  a  dog,  and  did  it.  Libera  me 
a  ma/o  homine :  that  is,  as  Augustine  glosscth  it,  a 
vieipso.  "  Deliver  me  from  the  evil  man,  O  Lord  ; " 
and  because  I  am  an  evil  man,  and  there  is  no  worse, 
deliver  me  from  myself.  Such  a  deliver)'  should  have 
been  to  us  all,  but  for  another  deliverance  that  came 
between :  a  b'beravit,  not  a  tradidit.  He  hath  "  de- 
livered us  out  of  the  hands  of  our  enemies,"  Luke  i. 
74.  Tradidit  d(pmones,  liberavit  liomines.  He  de- 
livered his  own  Son  to  death,  that  he  might  deliver 
us  from  death. 

"  Into  chains  of  darkness."  Into  darkness,  there 
is  their  misery.  Into  chains,  there  is  their  slavery. 
Darkness  signifies  the  wrath  of  God,  and  is  opposed 
to  that  favour  of  his,  which  is  called  the  light  of  his 
countenance,  Psal.  iv.  G.  There  is  true  light  where 
tlie  Father  of  lights  shineth  ;  and  his  absence  eauscth 
darkness.  Tiiat  city  hath  no  need  of  the  sun  or 
moon  to  shine  in  it;  for  the  glory  of  God  doth  light- 
en it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  of  it.  Rev.  xxi.  23 ; 
such  a  glorious  light,  that  the  very  sun  is  obscurity 
•■o  it.  Created  lights,  which  now  so  comfort  us,  and 
which  some  worship  for  deities,  shall  then  resign 
their  honours.  "  The  sun  shall  be  darkened,  and 
the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light,"  Matt.  xxiv.  29. 
Shall  not  then  the  sun  shine  at  that  day  ?  Yes,  it  is 
not  darkened  by  loss  of  its  own  light,  but  by  the  com- 
parison of  a  greater  light ;  as  a  torch  i.s  of  small  benefit, 
when  tlie  sun  appearetli.  Otherwise,  "  the  light  of  (lie 
moon  shall  be  as  the  I  ight  of  the  sun,  and  the  light  of  t  he 
sun  shall  be  sevenfold,  as  the  light  of  seven  days,"  Isa. 
XXX.  26.  But  then  these  lights  shall  be  overshincd ;  as 
the  moon  that  rejoiceth  travellers  in  the  night,  gives 
place  when  the  sun  riscth ;  and  men  do  not  mind  a 
lord  when  the  king  appeareth.  Therefore  it  is  called 
a  "light  which  no  man"  (in  his  mortality  and  sin) 
"can  approach  unto,"  I  Tim.  vi.  16.  In  heaven 
there  is  all  light  and  no  darkness,  in  hell  all  dark- 
ness and  no  light.  As  the  joy  of  the  saints  and  an- 
gels in  heaven,  so  the  wretchedness  of  the  lost  in 
hell,  is  so  great  that  it  cannot  be  enlarged. 

This  is  an  unspeakable  terror,  to  be  cooped  up  in 
everlasting  night.  If  Job  calls  the  grave  a  tctncal 
place  because  of  this  darkness,  where  the  organ  of 
seeing  is  not  yet  exercised;  "A  land  of  darkness 
and  the  shadow  of  death,  where  the  light  is  as  dark- 
ness," Job  X.  22 ;  how  intolerable  is  the  darkness 
of  hell !  But  how  agreelh  this  with  otlier  scriptures, 
that  allow  the  devils  to  wander  about  the  world,  and 
to  be  conversant  in  the  air  ?  I  Kings  xxii.  22  ;  Job 
i.  7 ;  Luke  viii.  31 ;  Eph.  ii.  2.  "  Shortly,"  Rom. 
xvi.  20,  therefore  not  yet  trodden  down.  How  then 
are  they  shut  up  under  darkness  ?  jliixir.  It  was  (lie 
devil's  censure  to  be  cast  into  hell ;  yet  so  that  he- 
fore  tlie  day  of  judgment,  the  wisdom  of  God  hath  dis- 
posed a  permissive  egress  into  the  world,  and  that 
for  some  of  them ;  that  as  a  great  number  of  them 
are  in  hell,  there  tormenting  the  damned  souls,  so  the 
rest  wander  in  the  world  to  tempt  sinners.  This  is 
manifest.  Rev.  ix.  3,  where  the  bottomless  pit  being 
opened,  tllere  came  out  of  the  smoke  innumerable 
locusts  upon  the  earth,  and  the  purpose  of  their  coming 
is  expressed,  that  they  miglit  hurt  those  that  had  not 
the  seal  of  God  in  tlieir  foreheads..  So,  Rev.  xx.  2, 
Salan  is  bound  for  a  thousand  years,  at  the  expiration 


2S'J 

wh.ereof  it  follows  that  he  be  loosed.    Until  the  judg- 
ment day  God  doth  lengthen  his  chains. 

Let  us  love  the  light,  that  darkness  may  never 
swallow  us.  All  sins  are  therefore  called  the  works 
of  darkness;  not  only  because  the  evil-doer  hates 
the  light,  but  also  because  Satan,  the  prince  of  dark- 
ness, IS  the  founder,  and  shall  be  the  confounder  of 
them.  "  They  that  sleep  sleep  in  the  night ;  and  they 
that  be  drunken  are  drunken  in  the  night,"  1  Thess. 
V.  7.  This  was  wont  to  be  the  custom,  sin  durst  not 
show  her  ugly  face  by  day.  But  now  men  are  grown 
so  impudent,  that  they  make  the  works  of  darkness 
become  the  works  of  light,  committing  them  in  the 
sunshine.  So  Absalom  liad  "  a  tent  spread  upon  the 
top  of  the  house,  and  went  in  unto  his  father's  concu- 
bines in  the  sight  of  all  Israel,"  2  Sam.  xvi.  22. 
Zimri  brought  a  liarlot  to  his  tent  in  the  sight  of  all 
Israel,  even  when  they  were  weeping  before  the 
tabernacle,  Numb.  xxv.  6.  Vice  was  once  like  the 
owl,  only  a  night-bird  ;  now,  proud  of  her  borrowed 
feathers,  she  dares  oulfaee  virtue  at  noon-day. 
These  be  the  strange  Ejiiphanies  of  the  time  :  as  one 
observed  on  Matt.  ii.  2,  "  We  have  seen  his  star,  and 
are  come  to  worship  him,"  There  were  two  blessed 
Ejjiphanies ;  a  manifestation  of  Christ's  star  to  them, 
and  a  manifestation  of  their  piety  to  him.  Instead 
of  these,  pride  struts  in  pomp,  homicide  stands  on 
terms  of  justification,  drunlcenness  reels  up  and  down 
the  streets.  "  The  works  of  the  llesh  are  manifest," 
Gal.  V.  19.  These  be  monstrous  Epiphanies;  yet 
still  the  works  of  darkness,  and  precipitate  into  the 
place  of  darkness,  to  the  enlargement  of  Satan's 
kingdom.  The  pope  scatters  his  emissaries  abroad, 
to  augment  idolaters,  and  augment  his  supremacy; 
the  Turk  amplifies  his  territories;  and  other  princes 
expatiate  their  dominions :  all  these  kingdoms  are 
extended,  but  the  kingdom  of  darkness  surmounteth 
them  all.  For,  though  never  was  more  light  in 
men's  brains,  never  more  universal  darkness  in  their 
hearts. 

The  stream  of  wickedness  is  so  violent,  that  many 
(who  had  some  inceptions  of  goodness)  are  even  con- 
tent to  run  with  it,  rather  than  swim  against  it,  or 
especially  reprove  it.  Usury  and  sacrilege  seom  to 
be  reprehended,  and  he  is  taxed  of  indiscretion  that 
meddles  with  them :  whereupon  some  let  all  alone, 
resolving  to  sit  down  and  hold  their  peace.  A  friar 
that  had  been  for  his  boldness  decourted,  afterward 
admitted  to  preach  to  the  king  of  Spain,  told  this 
fable :  The  lion  was  faulted  by  the  lioness,  that  his 
breath  stank.  Being  mad  angrj-  with  this  imputa- 
tion, he  traversctli  the  forest,  to  be  more  certainly 
informed.  The  first  subject  beast  he  met  wilhal  was 
an  ass,  and  breathing  upon  him,  he  demanded  the 
relish  of  his  breath  :  the  ass  plainly  told  him  that  it 
was  verj'  unsavouni-.  Thou  art  too  bitter,  quoth  the 
lion,  and  tore  him  in  pieces.  Next  he  met  with  the 
hound,  and  put  the  same  question  to  him ;  who  an- 
swered. It  is  verj-  sweet.  'Thou  art  a  flatterer,  quoth 
the  lion,  and  tore  him  in  pieces.  Last  he  lighted  on 
(he  fox,  and  examining  nim  concerning  his  breatk 
(he  subtle  villain  replied,  Indeed  I  cannot  tell  whe- 
ther it  be  sweet  or  sour,  for  I  have  caught  such  a 
cold  that  I  cannot  smell.  If  we  should  commend  the 
times  for  devout  and  holy,  you  might  justly  condemn 
us  for  fawning  llatlerers.  If  we  should  say  ihey  are 
stark  naught,  full  of  impiety  and  darkness,  then  we 
are  held  too  cynical  and  censorious.  What  then? 
shall  we  answer.  We  have  caught  a  cold,  and  cannot 
smell  or  tell  ?  No,  we  are  bound  to  love  our  own 
souls  belter  than  you  can  love  your  own  sins.  In  a 
word,  let  us  receive  the  light  of  grace,  that  the  light 
of  glorj-  may  receive  us. 

"  Into  chains."     These  cannot  be  understood  liter- 


290 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IT. 


ally,  for  material  chains ;  but  metaphoricallj' :  and 
so  they  are  two ;  the  powcrfulness  of  Divine  justice, 
and  the  guiltiness  of  their  own  conscience.  The 
devils  are  bound,  like  madmen  or  bandogs,  in  the 
chains  of  eternal  damnation.  Wheresoever  they  are 
permitted  to  wander,  their  own  guilty  consciences 
are  those  chains  which  bind  them  over  unto  judg- 
ment. Such  are  the  horrors  of  that  place,  that  the 
damned  are  bound  to  insufferable  torments ;  they 
must  endure  what  they  caimot  endure,  witliout  being 
able  to  remove  a  foot.  Tliese  chains  shall  so  hamper 
them,  that  not  one  part  of  body,  or  faculty  of  soul, 
shall  have  the  ])ower  of  activity  to  gratify  their 
owner  withal.  The  mind  is  bound  to  contemplate 
nothing  but  endless  infelicity,  the  memory  bound  to 
recount  nothing  but  fearful  sins,  the  fantasy  bound 
to  present  nothing  but  horrid  visions,  the  eyes  bound 
to  see  nothing  but  offensive  objects,  the  ears  bound 
to  hear  nothing  but  bowlings  and  roarings,  the  nos- 
trils to  smell  nothing  but  the  stench  of  brimstone, 
the  hands  to  catch  hold  of  nothing  but  flames,  and 
the  feet  to  walk  no  further  than  these  chains  will 
give  them  leave.  "  Delivered  them  into  chains  of 
darkness : "  the  collections  and  inferences  here  ob- 
servable are  divers. 

1.  Conclusion,  that  there  is  certainly  a  God,  for 
how  else  should  Satan  be  bound  ?  He  is  that 
strong  man,  and  therefore  there  must  be  a  stronger 
than  ne  tobind  him,  Luke  xi.  21,  22.  If  there  be  a 
destroying  power,  witliout  question  there  is  a  pre- 
sennng  power,  superior  to  it,  and  correcting  it ;  for 
if  the  devils  were  not  curbed,  they  would  confound 
us  all  in  a  moment.  It  is  not  more  natural  for  fire 
to  burn,  nor  for  heaviness  to  sink  downward,  than 
for  Satan  to  destroy.  "  He  is  a  king  over  all  the 
children  of  pride."  Upon  earth  none  can  match 
him.  Job  xli.  33,  34 ;  but  there  is  one  in  heaven  that 
chains  him.  If  there  be  a  roaring  lion  that  would 
devour  us,  certainly  there  is  a  blessed  power  that 
I)rescrvcs  us. 

Let  this  teach  us  to  get  as  close  as  we  can  to  God, 
that  Satan  may  not  reach  us.  The  chickens  be  safe 
under  the  wings  of  their  mother,  and  we  under  the 
providence  of  our  Father.  So  long  as  we  hold  the 
tenor  of  obedience,  we  are  the  Lord's  subjects  ;  and  if 
we  serve  him,  he  will  presence  us.  But  when  a  man 
is  fallen  to  the  state  of  an  outlaw  or  rebel,  the  law 
dispenseth  with  them  that  kill  him,  because  the 
prince  hath  excluded  him  from  the  benefit  of  his  pro- 
tection. All  the  fear  of  Satan  ariseth  from  the  want 
of  the  due  fear  of  God.  The  more  a  man  fears  God, 
the  less  he  fears  every  thing  else.  "  Fear  God, 
honour  the  king :"  he  that  fears  God,  doth  but 
honour  the  king,  he  need  not  fear  him.  It  would 
affright  a  weak  Christian,  to  consider  the  presence 
and  number,  malice  and  power,  of  wicked  spirits. 
But  when,  with  the  prophet's  seiTant,  he  sees  those 
good  angels  on  his  side,  as  present,  as  diligent,  more 
able  to  help  than  the  other  to  hurt,  he  takes  heart 
again.  He  knows  that  God  (most  good)  bounds  the 
temptation  of  the  one,  and  dii-ccts  the  protection  of 
the  other.  Though  there  be  many  legions  of  devils, 
and  everj'  one  stronger  than  many  legions  of  men, 
and  more  malicious  than  strong;  yet  Christ's  little 
Hock  lives  and  prospers.  "  I  am  tlic  Lord,  I  change 
not ;  therefore  ye  sons  of  Jacob  are  not  consumed," 
Mai.  iii.  6.  The  devil  would  do  it,  and  doth  attempt 
it ;  but  God's  unchangeable  mercy  prevents  it.  That 
we  here  meet,  pray,  worship,  is  against  the  devil's 
will ;  only  our  gracious  God  maintains  it.  That 
ever)-  moment  we  perish  not  in  tlic  jaws  of  that  lion, 
let  our  hearts  acknowledge,  and  our  tongues  praise 
the  Lord  our  Maker. 

2.  Conclusion,  that  Satan  can  do  nothing  but  by 


God's  permission  :  he  is  bound  in  a  tether,  and  can- 
not go  one  inch  beyond  his  chain.  Christ  tells 
Peter,  that  Satan  had  desired  to  winnow  him,  Luke 
xxii.  31  :  desired;  he  must  beg  an  ill  turn  before  he 
can  do  it.  Whatsoever  he  doth  is  by  a  limited  power 
and  by  dispensation  from  God.  He  could  not  seduce 
a  prophet,  nor  take  one  poor  sheep  from  Job,  nor 
enter  a  hog,  without  licence.  It  is  an  ethnical  error 
of  our  times,  in  strange  accidents  to  give  the  honour 
of  God  to  sorcerers  and  conjurers.  If  a  tempest  arise 
beyond  common  experience,  presently,  as  if  the  God 
of  heaven  were  fallen  fast  asleep,  and  minded  nothing, 
the  judgment  is  given.  There  is  some  conjuring : 
there  must  needs  be  a  pestilent  convention  and 
stipulation  betwixt  men  and  devils ;  as  if  God  were 
not  able  to  raise  as  great  a  storm  as  the  devil.  Look 
upon  the  witches  of  Egypt :  their  cunning  failed  in 
the  most  contemptible  creatures  :  and  they  are  forced 
to  cr)',  "  This  is  the  finger  of  God."  Though  the 
circuit  of  Satan  be  very  large,  even  to  compassing  of 
the  whole  earth;  yet  he  hath  his  days  assigned  to 
stand  before  the  Lord  for  the  renewing  of  his  com- 
mission, and  there  is  a  chain  tied  to  his  power  that 
he  cannot  move  beyond  his  allowance.  Yet  hath  he 
a  little  liberty  to  tempt ;  for  the  probation  of  some, 
for  the  reprobation  of  others,  in  all  for  the  gloiT  of 
God.  He  is  the  basest  of  all  creatures,  a  slave,  a 
scullion  :  now  how  is  that  person  shamed,  that  is 
given  up  to  a  base  slave  to  be  corrected ! 

So  little  he  fears  to  tempt  us,  that  he  ventured 
upon  Christ  himself.  Matt.  iv.  As  we  read  there 
was  a  great  battle  in  heaven,  Rev.  xii.  7,  so  here  was 
a  monomachy  or  single  combat  on  earth.  It  was  a 
dainty  sight  to  behold  little  David  grappling  with 
great  Goliath,  and  great  Goliath  grovcllingunder  little 
David ;  a  lamb  matched  \rith  the  wolf,  and  the  wolf 
overmatched  by  the  lamb.  First,  the  devil  tempts 
him  to  diffidence.  Art  thou  hungrj'?  turn  these 
stones  into  bread,  ver.  3 :  not  into  quails,  pheasants, 
dainties;  but  into  bread,  without  which  man  could 
not  live.  Then  to  presumption,  "  If  thou  be  the  Son 
of  God,  cast  thyself  down,"  ver.  C.  That  he  might . 
get  credit  to  his  ministry,  he  would  have  him  show 
the  people  some  strange  device.  Lastly,  toapostacy, 
ver.  8  ;  which  was  the  sin  that  turned  himself  out  of 
heaven :  wherein  first  he  propounds  a  promise,  All 
these  will  I  give  thee ;  and  indents  a  bargain,  if  fall- 
ing down  thou  wilt  worship  me.  He  is  like  an  old 
bitten  cur,  that  being  fleshed  to  the  game,  will  not 
be  staved  off;  hell's  bandog,  fed  with  the  livers  of 
God's  cast-aways.  He  tries  all  courses,  like  Balaam, 
or  some  superstitious  gamester  on  the  losing  hand ; 
shifts  places,  still  in  hope  to  win.  He  look  him  up 
into  a  mountain :  Cyprian  says,  he  went  on  foot  with 
him  ;  for  Christ  would  not  use  him  pro  rehiculo,  quern 
novit  pracipitalorem.  This  opinion  is  not  against 
the  text,  nor  the  te.Kt  against  it.  For  n-npaXa/i/SoVii 
doth  not  imply  portage;  no  more  than  Matt.  xvii.  1, 
Christ  took  them:  it  were  gross  to  think  that  lie  car- 
ried them  on  his  back.  But  that  he  carried  him  is  the 
most  received  opinion,  because  it  is  said  that  he  set 
him  on  the  pinnacle.  This  was  no  disparagement  to 
Christ ;  no  more  than  to  suffer  apprehension,  ligation, 
crucifixion  of  his  enemies. 

He  reserves  the  old  malice  to  all  Christ's  mem- 
bers. Why  should  any  serve  him  ?  there  is  no  good- 
ness in  him.  He  is  the  greatest  sinner  of  all;  for 
quicquiil  efficit  tale,  ipsum  magis  est  talc.  Wicked 
Pharisees  mav  make  their  proselytes  twofold  more 
the  children  of  hell  than  themselves;  but  the  malice 
of  the  devil  cannot  be  matched.  He  never  gives 
man  any  thing,  but,  as  Miclml  was  given  to  David, 
to  insnare  him,  I  Sam.  xviii.  21.  St.  Peter  calls  him 
an  advcrsaiy  at  law,  I  Pet.  v.  8 :  he  wrangles  with 


Ver.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


291 


God  against  us.  Augustine  brings  him  in  thus  plead- 
ing: They  were  thine  by  creation,  they  are  mine  by 
prevarication  :  they  were  thine  bv  redemption,  they 
are  mine  by  defection;  they  left  thy  sacraments,  anil 
accepted  my  allurements.  He  pleads  many  things 
against  us,  but  we  have  one  argument  to  confute 
linn,  our  faith  ;  "  AVliom  resist  stcdfast  in  the  faith," 
1  Pet.  V.  9 :  and  all  our  defects  are  supplied  by  an 
Advocate  in  heaven,  Jesus  Christ  the  righteous.  I 
know  that  God  easteth  his  sometimes  into  the  sieve 
for  trial,  but  the  Lord  Jesus  strengthens  them. 

Satan  is  called  a  lion,  and  that  fitly ;  for  he  hath 
all  tlie  properties  of  a  lion:  as  bold  as  a  lion,  as 
strong  as  a  lion,  as  fiirious  as  a  lion,  as  terrible  as  the 
roaring  of  a  lion.  Yea,  worse :  the  lion  wants  sub- 
tlety and  suspicion  ;  herein  the  devil  is  beyond  the 
lion.  The  lion  will  spare  the  prostrate,  the  devil 
spares  none.  The  lion  is  full  and  forbears,  the  devil 
is  full  and  devours.     He  seeks  all :  let  not  the  sim- 

gle  say.  He  will  take  no  notice  of  mc ;  nor  the  subtle, 
le  cannot  overreach  me ;  nor  the  noble  say.  He  will 
not  presume  to  meddle  with  me ;  nor  the  rich.  He 
dares  not  contest  with  me ;  for  he  seeks  to  devour 
all.  He  is  our  common  adversary,  therefore  let  us 
cease  all  quarrels  amongst  ourselves,  and  fight  with 
him. 

Seeing  the  devil  is  bound  with  chains,  and  cannot 
range  further  than  his  bonds  allow  him,  let  us  not 
come  within  his  reach.  The  bandog  is  tied  up  that  he 
may  not  hurt  the  passenger;  but  how  if  the  passen- 
ger will  come  within  his  compass?  Give  no  place 
to  the  devil,  Eph.  iv.  27  ;  for  the  devil  hath  no 
place  unless  we  give  it  him.  "  Resist  the  devil,  and 
he  will  flee  from  you,"  Jam.  iv.  "J.  He  cannot  come 
in,  except  we  open  him  the  door.  Now  who  would 
open  the  door  to  let  in  his  enemy  ?  Yet  many  do  : 
by  swearing,  they  open  the  door  to  let  him  in  at  their 
mouth ;  by  lustnil  looks,  they  open  the  door  to  let 
him  in  at  the  eye.  Pride  admits  him  into  our  ward- 
robes, covetousness  into  our  purses,  adultery  into  our 
beds,  schism  into  our  studies,  drunkenness  into  our 
stomachs,  idolatry  into  our  devotions,  hypocrisy  into 
our  hearts.  As  if  his  chain  were  not  long  enough, 
wicked  men  put  themselves  in  his  way.  Think  when 
thou  art  about  to  commit  a  voluntary  sin.  Now  I  am 
running  within  the  devil's  chain.  I  durst  not  so 
venture  within  the  chain  of  a  lion,  bear,  or  other 
savage  beast,  which  can  but  tear  my  flesh.  Hatli 
God  tied  him  up  from  me,  and  shall  I  run  unto  him  ? 
shall  I  trust  his  mercy,  that  is  nothing  else  but  ma- 
licious cruelty?  O  but  the  hand  of  God  holds  his 
chain.  But  say  the  hand  of  God  let  go  his  chain,  for 
thy  presumption  ?  what  remains  then  but  ruin  ?  As 
we  nate  the  devil,  let  us  hate  those  works  that 
lengthen  his  chain  ?  Do  we  pray  to  be  delivered 
from  the  gates  of  hell,  and  yet  frequent  the  gates  of 
hell  ?  We  read  of  a  beast  that  being  too  unwieldy 
to  hunt  for  his  prey,  stands  still  and  enticcth  the  rest 
unto  him  with  his  glorious  spots  and  colours,  and  so 
devoureth  them.  But  Satan  is  quick  and  nimble 
enough  to  pursue  men,  they  need  not  wilfully  run 
into  their  own  ruin.  "  Oh  that  I  had  \\-ings  like  a 
dove !  for  then  would  I  fly  away  and  be  at  rest,"  Psal. 
Iv.  ().  Let  us  fly  from  him  as  fast  as  we  can,  and  so 
far  as  he  may  never  overtake  us ;  which  is  done  by 
turning  to  God  with  faithful  repentance  and  devout 
obedience  :  so  shall  his  chains  be  shortened,  our 
souls  delivered,  our  Creator  glorified,  and  ourselves 
everlastingly  saved,  through  the  merits  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Amen. 

3.  Observe,  that  Satan  is  punished  everlastingly, 
without  all  hope  of  recoven,- ;  bound  with  chains, 
and,  as  St.  Jude  calls  them,  everlasting  chains.  There 
was  no  deliverance  ever  ordained"for  the  de%'ils  ;  for 


Christ  took  not  the  nature  of  angels,  Heb.  ii.  16; 
he  took  not  their  nature,  therefore  was  not  their  Sa- 
viour. Now  there  are  divers  reasons  why  Christ 
should  seek  lost  Adam,  rather  than  the  lost  angels. 

(I.)  The  angel  sinned  without  instigation.  As 
there  was  none  to  tempt  him,  so  there  is  none  to  save 
him ;  "  When  he  speaketh  a  lie,  he  speaketh  of  his 
own,"  John  viii.  AA.  He  took  sin  of  himself,  no 
other  suggested  it  to  him.  He  fell  alone,  nothing 
cast  him  down  :  he  must  rise  alone,  there  is  nothing 
to  help  him  up.  The  wind  blows  out  the  torch,  we 
light  it  again ;  but  if  the  wind  blow  out  itself,  and 
cease  moving,  who  shall  raise  it  ?  If  Satan  hurt 
man,  Christ  lieals  him;  but  if  Satan  hurt  himself, 
let  him  heal  himself. 

(2.)  The  devil  was  the  party  seducing,  (man  only 
seduced,)  and  still  endeavours  what  he  can  to  destroy 
all ;  therefore  none  stands  up  to  preserve  him.  Be- 
cause his  hand  is  against  all,  therefore  all  hands  arc 
against  him.  Being  thrown  out  from  the  presence  of 
God,  in  spite  he  wounded  his  image,  that  he  might 
do  him  all  the  mischief  he  could :  therefore  he  per- 
isheth  without  redemption. 

(3.)  The  angels  were  more  excellent  and  glorious 
natures  by  creation,  and  nearer  to  God  than  men ; 
more  subtle,  more  powerful ;  their  dwelling  in  the 
highest  heaven.  W  hercas  one  half  of  man  was  but 
rehned  dust,  and  his  mansion  the  earth,  more  remote 
from  the  glorious  presence  of  God.  The  higher  the 
angel  was  in  glorj-,  the  deeper  in  miser)-.  (August.) 
But  man,  the  more  frail  he  was  bv  constitution,  the 
more  easy  he  is  to  redemption.  Therefore  God  took 
pity  on  man,  who  was  but  dust ;  and  pitied  not  the 
devils,  because  they  had  once  been  angels. 

(4.)  The  whole  human  nature  fell  with  Adam; 
"  In  Adam  all  (he,"  1  Cor.  xv.  22.  All  mankind  was 
lost,  and  unless  the  human  nature  had  been  repaired, 
man  had  been  wholly  frustrated  of  his  end.  But  all 
the  angels  did  not  fall  with  Lucifer,  but  only  some ; 
and  so  none  were  partakers  of  his  punishment,  but 
such  as  had  been  partakers  of  his  sin.  Innumerable 
multitudes  of  angels  stood  in  heaven,  as  well  as  a 
groat  company  sunk  to  hell.  "  Thousand  thousands 
ministered  unto  him,  and  ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand  stood  before  him,"  Dan.  vii.  10.  Some  of 
that  nature  stood  by  conser\-ation,  without  redemp- 
tion ;  for  redemption  presupposeth  loss  :  but  if  our 
nature  had  not  been  redeemed,  not  one  man  could 
have  been  saved. 

(5.)  Man  was  distinguished  into  sexes,  male  and  fe- 
male ;  because  they  were  to  generate  their  like :  as, 
"  Adam  begat  a  son  in  his  own  likeness,"  Gen.  v.  3.  But 
angels  have  no  sexes;  as  Christ  confuted  the  Saddu- 
cees :  In  heaven  "  they  neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in 
marriage,  but  are  as  the  angels  of  God,"  Matt.  xxii. 
30.  They  cannot  beget  a  generation  of  spirits.  Every 
devil  sinned  in  himself,  and  is  punished  in  himself 
only.  But  Adam  having  sinned,  and  being  to  multi- 
ply his  kind,  must  needs  convey  his  sin  to  his  seed. 
Therefore  was  the  Lord  Jesus  made  of  his  seed,  that 
the  guiltiness  which  Adam  to  all  his  seed  had  propa- 
gated, by  one  of  his  seed  might  be  expiated. 

(6.)  Satan  immediately  upon  his  fall  was  cast  into 
hell.  "  He  abode  not  in  the  truth,"  John  viii.  44. 
But  so  was  not  Adam  ;  for  howsoever  he  was  cast  out 
of  Paradise,  yet  not  out  of  the  world,  but  had  space 
and  grace  given  him  to  repent.  And  albeit  that 
menace,  "  In  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shall 
surely  die,"  Gen.  ii.'  1/;  yet  God  spared  him  nine 
hundred  years.  Indeed  presently  he  became  mortal, 
and  fell  into  a  consumption  ;  as  the  original  speech 
is.  "  dying  thou  slialt  die."  And  for  the  second 
death,  the  Seed  of  the  woman  excused  him ;  he  died 
not  that  death  at  all.     Indeed  Augustine  mentions 


292 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


CiiAP.  ir. 


the  Tatian  heresy,  which  held  that  Adam  was  damn- 
ed. But,  "  She  preserved  the  first  formed  father  of 
the  world  that  was  created  alone,  and  brought  him 
out  of  his  fall,"  Wisd.  x.  I.  Wliieh  is  agreeable  to 
the  scripture,  Luke  iii.  38,  which  saith  that  Adam 
was  the  son  of  God;  therefore  he  was  not  the  child 
of  death  and  hell.  God  relieved  him  with  a  promis- 
ed Messiah,  a  news  that  never  came  to  the  apostate 
angels. 

(7.)  If  the  whole  liuman  nature  had  perished,  to 
what  purpose  had  been  this  world  ?  The  world  was 
made  for  man,  not  for  angels  :  either  heaven  or  hell 
was  ordained  for  them,  this  middle  walk  for  man. 
Now  why  should  either  the  sun  shine  or  the  earth 
fructify  for  man,  if  he  were  not  redeemed  ?  Spirits 
have  no  use  of  these  things,  man  hath  the  benefit ;  and 
man  should  not  have  the  benefit  of  any  creature,  but 
for  God's  favour  in  Christ.  For  he  did  forfeit  his  patent, 
and  none  but  a  Saviour  could  renew  it.  But  for  the 
elect's  sake,  the  rain  should  not  fall,  nor  the  earth 
stand.  Therefore  if  man  had  perished,  all  this  world 
had  been  in  vain  created.  Man  is  the  sum  and  abridge- 
ment of  all  creatures,  and  contains  in  him  more  gener- 
ality than  the  angels.  Stones  have  being,  but  not 
life  ;  plants  have  being  and  life,  but  not  sense ;  beasts 
have  being,  life,  sense,  but  not  understanding;  angels 
have  being,  life,  sense,  and  understanding.  Now 
man  participates  with  all  these ;  a  being  with  stones, 
a  life  with  plants,  a  sense  with  beasts,  an  under- 
standing with  angels.  He  is  the  compendious  index 
of  God's  great  book  in  folio.  "  Preach  the  gospel 
to  everj-  creature,"  Mark  xvi.  15  :  no  creature  hath 
part  in  the  gospel ;  but  only  man  is  called  even," 
creature,  as  having  in  him  the  chief  perfections  of 
eveiy  creature.  Some  hold,  that  man  bears  the  image 
and  superscription  of  God  more  fully  than  the  angels ; 
and  hath  something  more,  an  organieal  body  united 
to  his  spirit,  which  the  angels  have  not.  He  is  the 
common  end  why  this  world  was  made ;  therefore, 
"  Unto  us  a  child  is  born,  unto  us  a  son  is  given,"  Isa. 
ix.  6  :  to  us,  not  to  angels.  To  us  is  born  a  Saviour, 
Luke  ii.  11:  to  us,  not  to  the  lost  angels.  Thei-e  is 
enmity  put  between  the  Seed  of  the  woman  and  the 
seed  of  the  serpent.  Gen.  iii.  15;  therefore  the  Seed 
which  saves  man  shall  be  at  enmity  with  the  devil. 

(8.)  Lastly,  the  principal  reason  of  all  is  the  free 
mercy  and  gracious  decree  of  God ;  who  made  both 
men  and  angels  good  in  creation,  and  finding  both 
men  and  angels  lost  in  transgression,  vouchsafed  to 
men,  not  to  angels,  a  redemption.  What  did  we  de- 
serve at  his  hands,  that  he  should  pity  us  dust  and 
ashes,  passing  by  those  celestial  spirits  ?  "  What  is 
man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  hini  ? "  Psal.  viii.  4. 
For  the  wonder  had  been  less  to  say.  What  is  the 
angel,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  that  we  should 
find  him  a  Saviour,  whom  they  find  a  just  Revenger ; 
that  we  sliould  be  loosed  from  the  chains  of  our  sins, 
and  they  delivered  into  chains  of  plagues  ;  that  the 
same  Clii'ist  should  with  his  own  blood  free  us,  that 
shall  with  his  word  sentence  Ihem ;  that  the  same 
Almighty  hand  should  lift  us  up  to  heaven,  that 
casteth  them  down  to  hell !  Oh  the  riches  of  that 
mercy,  which  even  to  taste  will  keep  a  man  from 
ever  being  poor!  Of  all  mixed  creatures  men  are 
the  best,  for  they  have  reason ;  of  all  men  Christians 
are  the  best,  for  they  have  religion ;  of  all  Christians 
holy  believers  arc  the  best,  for  they  have  salvation. 
In  the  sorest  troubles,  men  have  some  hope.  Chris- 
tians have  good  hope,  believei-s  have  sure  hope.  Let 
us  bless  God  for  making  us  men,  but  most  of  all  for 
making  us  Christian  men  j  for  in  that  he  gives  us  his 
Son,  he  gives  us  himself.  He  gave  the  water  to 
fishes,  the  earth  to  beasts,  the  air  to  fowls,  the  hea- 
ven to  angels  ;  but  he  gave  himself  to  man.     Having 


no  greater  to  swear  by,  he  sware  by  himself,  Heb.  vi. 
13;  so,  having  no  greater  to  give,  he  gave  himself. 
"Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  thee?"  saith  that 
royal  prophet,  Psal.  Ixxiii.  25.  The  Romists  in  88 
cried  out,  whether  maliciously  or  blasphemously,  God 
shows  himself  a  Lutheran,  and  the  God  of  Lutherans: 
but  indeed  he  shows  himself  a  Christian,  and  the 
God  of  Christians.  By  how  much  we  find  more  mercy 
than  all  creatures,  let  us  be  more  thankful  than  all 
creatures.  It  is  an  harmonious  sweetness,  to  have 
God's  bounty  and  our  gratitude  meeting  in  that 
middle  way,  the  hand  of  Jesus  Christ ;  without  whom 
neither  could  we  receive  his  goodness,  nor  would  he 
accept  our  goodness. 

4.  Observe  that  the  punishments  of  hell  are  eter- 
nal :  these  chains  can  never  be  broken  :  were  they 
of  cords,  of  wreathed  trees,  of  iron,  they  might  be 
burst  asunder,  but  the  chains  of  vengeance  never. 
"  Bind  him  hand  and  foot,  and  cast  him  into  outer 
darkness,"  Matt.  xxii.  13.  Now  if  a  man  were 
bound  hand  and  foot,  and  thrown  into  a  well  five 
thousand  fathom  deep,  what  hope  could  he  have  of 
coming  forth  ?  But  how  doth  this  stand  with  God's 
justice,  to  punish  temporal  offences  with  eternal 
scourges  ?  It  was  the  i-ule  of  his  own  law,  that 
pacna  non  debet  e.xcedere  culpam,  Dcut.  xxv.  3.  Antw. 
There  is  a  double  quantity  considered  in  punish- 
ment; the  one  according  to  the  intention  of  pain, 
the  other  according  to  the  duration  of  time.  In  re- 
spect of  the  former,  the  quantity  of  punishment 
must  be  answerable  to  the  quantity  of  sin.  How 
much  sin,  so  much  sorrow.  Rev.  xviii.  7  ;  the  more 
pestilent  iniquity,  the  more  torturing  fire.  For  the 
other,  we  must  not  think  that  the  continuance  of 
punishment  is  limited  with  the  continuance  of  the 
fact.  Among  men,  adulter)-  is  but  a  short  pleasure, 
yet  often  pursued  with  a  long  penance.  But  the 
duration  of  torment  respects  the  disposition  of  the 
delinquent.  Pama:  singutorum  inoequales  iyitensione, 
po?n(P  omnium  asquales  duralioyie.  (Aquin.)  The  pains 
of  all  are  equal  in  continuance,  unequal  in  grievance. 

But  a  good  judge  will  make  his  penalties  medi- 
cines and  corrections,  rather  than  destructions.  Adsw. 
So  doth  the  Lord  in  all  corrigible  offenders;  but 
those  he  cannot  mend  by  chastising,  his  justice  must 
satisfy  itself  by  confounding.  But  God  delights  not 
in  the  death  of  a  sinner,  Ezek.  xviii.  32.  "What 
profit  is  there  in  my  blood,  when  I  go  down  to  the 
pit  ? "  Psal.  XXX.  9.  The  Lord  hath  no  use  of  their 
etemal  damnation,  yhisw.  Yes,  as  mercy  hath  had 
her  place  and  day,  so  must  justice  have  hers.  Whom 
mercy  saves,  she  saves  for  ever  ;  though  their  works 
were  short,  and  nothing  unto  God,  Isa.  xli.  "29,  yea, 
the  very  effects  of  his  own  grace.  Therefore,  whom 
justice  condemns,  she  condemns  for  ever ;  not  re- 
specting so  much  the  persons  that  have  sinned,  as 
the  Person  against  wliom  they  have  sinned.  (Greg.) 
Almighty  God,  as  he  is  good,  is  not  delighted  with 
their  torments ;  but  as  he  is  just,  he  is  not  satisfied 
without  their  torments.  Factus  est  mato  dignu.^ 
(Blerno,  qui  hoc  in  se  peremit  bonum,  quod  esse  posset 
atenium.  (August.)  He  is  justly  plagued  with  an 
evil  that  is  eternal,  who  hath  corrupted  in  himself  a 
good  that  might  have  been  eternal. 

But  if  God's  justice  must  be  satisfied  upon  those 
siimers  for  whom  Christ  satisfied  not,  wliy  is  not 
this  rather  in  reducing  them  to  nothing?  Seeing 
the  unthankful  deserve  to  be  deprived  of  all  bene- 
fits J  now  one  especial  benefit  is  being;  therefore  let 
them  not  be.  Ansiv.  It  is  true,  the  creature  that 
disobeys  the  Creator,  deser\-es  to  lose  his  being  ; 
but  because  it  was  given  him  to  this  purpose,  that 
he  should  ser\'e  him,  therefore  it  shall  never  be 
taken  away.    For  God  will  have  his  homage  and 


Veh.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


293 


service  out  of  that  being  ;  whether  of  grace  ;ind  sal- 
vation to  the  praise  of  his  mercy,  or  of  punishment 
and  conftision  to  the  praise  of  his  justice. 

But  one  would  think,  that  the  mercy  of  God  should 
terminate  their  sorrows.  "  Thou  hast  mercy  upon 
all,"  and  "  thou  lovest  all  the  things  that  are,"  Wisd. 
xi.  23,  24.  "  God  hath  concluded  them  all  in  un- 
belief, that  he  might  have  mercy  upon  all,"  Rom. 
xi.  32.  He  hath  also  concluded  the  devils  under 
sin.  Neither  will  his  goodness  suffer  that  which  he 
made  for  blessedness,  to  perish  for  ever  in  torment. 
These  be  the  plausible  conceits  that  over-merciful 
Origen  hath  brought  for  the  recovery  of  lost  spirits. 
And  whereas  Christ's  doom  is,  "  Depart,  ye  cursed, 
into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devils,"  he 
would  have  these  words  rather  spoken  Iiy  way  of 
threatening  than  by  way  of  truth.  But  the  Scrip- 
ture delivers  it  plainly  and  fully  :  The  devil  shall  be 
tormented  in  the  lake  of  fire  day  and  night,  for  ever, 
Rev.  XX.  10.  Besides,  his  opinion,  as  it  straineth,  so 
it  restraineth  mercy.  It  extends  it  to  the  future  de- 
liverance of  the  damned,  so  it  extenuates  it  in  regard 
of  the  blessed.  For  if  the  lost  be  ever  to  be  taken 
out  of  hell,  then  will  it  follow  that  the  saints  also 
are  one  day  to  be  shut  out  of  heaven.  And  so  what 
the  bad  should  gain,  the  good  should  lose ;  yea,  the 
very  mercy  of  God  cannot  get  more  glory  by  the 
one,  than  it  shall  lose  by  the  other. 

But  though  the  devils  be  everlastingly  chained,  is 
there  no  mercy  for  reprobate  men  ?  shall  they  never 
get  loose  ?  "My  spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with 
man,"  Gen.  vi.  3 :  therefore  his  indignation  shall 
cease.  Doth  he  not  often  threaten,  and  not  do,  as  to 
Nineveh  ?  Answ.  God  doth  sometimes  menace  and 
not  strike,  because  our  repentance  steps  between : 
but  when  everlasting  burning  hath  wasted  all  the 
moisture  of  repenting,  will  he  do  so  then  ?  Here  in- 
deed we  may  speed  as  well  as  Nineveh  :  We  shall 
stand  if  our' sins  fall;  but  we  shall  fall  if  our  sins 
stand.  (August.)  But  at  that  day  the  date  of  re- 
pentance will  be  out.  But  such  is  the  charity  of  the 
saints  in  this  life,  that  they  pray  for  their  enemies  : 
now  this  charity  shall  be  more  perfect  in  heaven, 
therefore  they  shall  intercede  for  them  in  hell ;  and 
God  hath  promised  that  their  prayers  shall  be  heard. 
ytnsw.  Here  they  pray  for  them  that  they  may  be 
converted  j  for  if  they  knew  that  such  were  (in  God's 
decree)  reprobates,  they  would  pray  for  them  no 
more  than  they  do  for  devils.  Their  present  suit  is, 
that  they  may  he  recovered  out  of  the  snare  of  the 
devil.  Tit.  ii.  26.  Now  they  may  be  recovered,  not 
hereafter ;  there  may  be  present  conversion,  no 
future  permutation.  For  that  objected  out  of  Psal. 
Ixxvii.  7,  "Will  the  Lord  cast  off  for  ever?  will  he 
be  favourable  no  more  ?  "  there  is  meant  only  the 
tcmporar)'  affliction  of  the  church.  Still  as  the  joys 
of  heaven,  so  the  pains  of  hell,  are  eternal.  Death 
is  to  men,  as  the  fall  was  to  angels :  as  lost  angels 
after  their  apostacy,  so  lost  men  after  their  death, 
can  never  be  recovered.  Hell  is  made  deep,  Isa. 
XXX.  33  ;  so  deep,  that  there  is  no  hope  of  crawling 
out.  Ex  inferno  nulla  redeniplio.  Therefore  it  is 
called  infernit-i,  ab  inferendo,  of  casting  in  ;  for  the 
wicked  arc  so  cast  in,  that  they  can  never  get  forth. 
From  earthly  gaols  and  dungeons  there  may  be  some 
trick  of  escape  ;  but  hell  is  so  deep,  that  nor  eartli 
'  nor  heaven  can  help  out  one  poor  soul.  That  rich 
man,  Luke  xvi.,  solicited  for  his  brethren :  why  did 
he  not  beg  his  own  deliverance,  who  was  able  to 
have  taught  them  by  his  own  experience  ?  O  he 
saw  a  vast  interposed  gulf :  he  must  let  that  alone 
for  ever. 

One  deep  calleth  another  :  the  depth  of  hell  c.ills 
for  our  answerable  humiliation.-   lie  that  will  not 


be  humbled  for  his  sins  here,  must  be  tumbled  into 
that  depth  hereafter.  "Out  of  the  depths  liave  I 
cried  unto  thee,  O  Lord,"  Psal.  cxxx.  God  will 
hear  the  voice  that  comes  out  of  the  depths.  The 
deeper  we  have  been  in  the  law,  the  higher  we  are 
in  the  gospel  ;  the  deeper  in  hell,  the  higher  in 
heaven.  The  deeper  a  bucket  dives  into  the  well, 
the  more  water  it  brings  up  ;  the  lower  a  man  is 
humbled  with  sorrow  for  sin,  the  higher  he  shall  be 
exalted  with  the  grace  of  salvation.  Never  came 
prayer,  sigh,  or  groan  from  the  depth  of  repentance, 
but  it  was  heard  m  the  height  of  mercies.  ()f  David's 
prophetical  imprecation  against  his  enemies,  ("  Let 
them  go  down  (juick  into  hell,"  Psal.  Iv.  15,)  we 
may  make  a  good  apprecation  for  ourselves.  Let 
us  go  down  quick  into  hell  by  meditation,  that  we 
be  never  sent  quick  thither  by  condemnation.  Let 
us  descend  eveiy  day  while  we  live,  that  we  never 
come  there  when  we  are  dead. 

5.  Observe,  that  God  punishcth  sin  wheresoever  he 
finds  it,  though  it  be  in  the  very  angels.  For  all  the 
men  and  angels  in  the  world  are  not  so  dear  to  him 
as  his  own  honour  :  and  what  dishonours  him  but 
sin  ?  For  this  cause,  1.  He  made  a  law  against  it ; 
"  The  law  was  added  because  of  transgression,"  Gal. 
iii.  19.  lie  could  not  have  written  the  law  with  his 
own  linger,  if  he  had  not  so  abhorred  sin.  2.  Gra- 
cious are  the  promises  he  hath  made  to  obedience ; 
grievous  the  plagues  he  hath  to  threaten  disobe- 
dience. 3.  His  own  hands  have  smitten  it ;  the 
whole  world  is  a  bleeding  witness  thereof:  and  man 
may  say,  Quorum  pars  ma^nafui,  The  whole  creature 
gioaneth  in  expectance  of  his  pacification.  He  hath 
drowned  the  world  in  a  flood  of  waters,  and  he  shall 
burn  it  in  a  flood  of  fire,  because  of  sin.  The  sen- 
tence shall  stand  unchangeable,  so  long  as  heaven 
and  earth  endureth,  "Tribulation  and  anguish  upon 
every  soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil,"  Rom.  ii.  9  ;  be  he 
Jew  or  Gentile,  learned  or  simple,  poor  or  peer ; 
yea,  man  or  angel.  4.  So  doth  he  hate  sin,  that  he 
spared  not  his  own  Son,  when  he  appeared  in  the 
similitude  of  sinful  flesh.  If  the  justice  of  God 
could  ever  have  swallowed  sin,  or  dismissed  it  with 
impunity,  he  would  have  forborne  it  in  his  own 
bowels. "  Yea,  such  a  Son  as  never  knew  the  least 
thought  of  disobedience;  the  Son  of  his  love,  the 
Son  of  his  joy,  the  Son  of  his  light,  the  Son  of 
his  delight ;  a  Son  fully  as  good  and  as  great  as  his 
Father.  Yea,  because  he  stood  in  the  place  and  bore 
the  person  of  sinful  man,  he  plagued  him  as  the 
most  deadly  enemy  that  ever  he  had.  That  he 
might  slay  sin,  he  slew  his  Son. 

How  should  this  niiike  us  all  hate  sin  !  He  doth 
hate,  not  love  God,  that  loves  what  God  hates.  -Let 
us  be  content  to  meet  our  afflictions,  as  Peter  and 
Andrew  met  their  crosses,  as  their  dearest  friends; 
embracing  them  in  our  arms,  and  saluting  them  with 
the  kisses  of  peace.  Or  as  the  martyrs  welcomed 
their  deaths,  running  to  the  stakes  as  if  they  had  run 
for  a  garland.  But  for  sins,  were  they  as  dear  to  us 
as  the  sight  of  our  eyes,  the  children  of  our  bodies, 
the  spouses  of  our  bosoms,  because  they  are  traitors 
to  our  Father  and  Maker,  let  us  deal  with  them  as 
Abraham  did  with  Hagar  and  Ishmael,  put  them  out 
of  our  house  for  ever. 

G.  Obser\-e,  that  great  offenders  meet  with  great 
punishments;  and  according  to  the  condition  of  their 
place,  is  the  nature  and  proportion  of  their  fault. 
The  more  "lorious  the  angels'  excellency,  the  more 
damnable  their  apostacy.  If  the  light  become  dark- 
ness, how  great  is  that  darkness!  Matt.  vi.  23.  The 
more  notable  the  person,  the  more  notorious  the 
cormption.  The  freshest  summer's  day  doth  soonest 
taint  the  loathsome  carc.iss ;  and  festered  lilies  smell 


294 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  11, 


far  worse  tliau  weeds.  If  virtue  turn  into  Wee,  the 
shame  is  treble.  For  many  Jews  to  deny  Christ,  was 
not  so  much  as  for  one  Peter  ;  the  adulteries  of  many 
Israelites  less  infamous  than  one  David's.  If  all  the 
cities  of  the  world  had  done  fdthily,  it  were  short  of 
this  wonder.  The  virgin  daughter  of  Zion  is  become 
a  harlot.  If  Judas  become  a  traitor,  how  great  is 
his  (reason  !  If  Ahithophel  prove  a  villain,  how 
mischievous  is  his  villany  !  If  Absalom  rebel,  how 
unnatural  is  his  rebellion !  The  least  mote  that  flies 
in  the  sun,  or  between  our  eyes  and  the  light,  seems 
a  greater  substance  than  it  is.  Deep  are  the  blows 
made  by  a  mighty  axe.  Sin  in  a  magistrate  is  not 
only  sin,  but  subornation. 

There  is  no  dispensation  for  sin,  no  protection  from 
judgment.  Not  the  rich  man's  opulency,  not  Bel- 
shazzar's  monarchy,  not  .\dam's  perfection,  not  the 
angels'  glory,  could  countenance  sin,  nor  ward  pun- 
ishment. No  place,  no  robes,  no  riches,  no  excel- 
lency, can  give  it  privilege.  Clothe  an  ape  in  tissue, 
and  the  beauty  of  the  robe  adds  but  more  scorn  to 
the  beast.  The  richer  colours  or  bolder  countenance 
is  set  on  wickedness,  the  more  ugly  it  appears.  There- 
fore as  they  that  govern  well  in  high  places,  shall 
shine  with  a  higher  degree  of  gloiy  in  heaven,  be- 
cause they,  being  intrusted  with  the  treasures  of  God, 
enrich  his  churcli ;  so  they  that  are  in  good  offices 
evil  men,  for  the  mischief  of  both  their  actions  and 
examples,  shall  be  cast  deeper  into  hell.  Potenle.^ 
polenler  punienlur.  "  A  sharp  jtidgment  shall  be  to 
them  that  are  in  high  places,"  Wisd.  vi.  5.  Mercy 
may  soon  pardon  the  meanest,  but  mighty  men  shall 
be  mightily  tormented.  "  Tophet  is  ordained  of  old; 
yea,  for  the  king  it  is  prepared,"  Isa.  xxx.  33.  Kings 
are  not  exempted  from  judgments  ;  Pessimus  in  im- 
perio,  maximus  in  inferno.  What  made  the  damned 
churl  move  for  his  brethren,  but  that  every  step  they 
followed  of  his  leading,  he  felt  increasing  the  pile  of 
his  torments  ?  "If  ye  do  wickedly,  ye  shall  be  con- 
sumed, both  ye  and  your  king,"  1  Sam.  xii.  25.  For 
the  Lord  freeth  none  according  to  place,  but  accord- 
ing to  grace ;  not  for  outward  condition,  but  of  his 
own  free  favour. 

Nor  yet  let  the  poor  and  ignoble  clap  their  wings, 
as  if  they  were  the  only  men  that  God  loves.  Not 
many  rich,  not  many  wise,  not  many  noble,  are  called, 
I  Cor.  i.  26.  Not  many,  but  some  j  and  not  many 
after  the  flesh;  but  many  wise,  rich,  noble,  after  the 
Spirit.  The  gate  of  heaven  is  narrow,  and  but  few 
enter  of  any  concUtion  ;  yet  certainly  the  noble  sooner 
than  the  rabble ;  more  wise  men  are  admitted  than 
fools ;  for  morality  is  the  first  step  to  Christianity. 
And^at  the  last  dreadful  day,  it  is  the  bond-man,  as 
well  as  the  great  man,  that  calls  upon  the  rocks  to 
cover  him,  Rev.  vi.  15.  But  do  any  of  the  rulers  be- 
lieve on  him?  John  vii.  48.  Yes,  Christ  had  his 
church  even  in  Cn?sar's  family.  They  were  the  noble 
men  and  honourable  women  at  Berea,  which  received 
the  word,  Acts  xvii.  11  ;  it  was  the  people  tliat  per- 
secuted it.  There  was  one  Lydia,  a  seller  of  purple, 
converted.  Acts  xvi.  14  :  God  saved  a  purple  seller  ; 
why  not  then  a  pur))le  wearer  ?  The  poor  that  is 
murmuring  against  God,  and  seditious  against  the 
rich,  is  in  more  danger  of  judgment,  than  another 
that  hath  not  more  opulency  than  charity.  Wealth 
doth  not  damn  the  rich,  but  when  the  gettin"  or 
kecpingof  it  doth  damnify  the  poor.  Rich  Abraham 
is  in  heaven,  not  because  he  was  rich,  but  because  he 
was  good.  Poor  Lazarus  is  there,  not  for  his  poverty, 
but  for  his  piety.  (August.)  Howsoever,  let  them 
that  must  be  patterns,  be  good  patterns  :  the  life 
that  cannot  be  but  exemplary,  should  not  be  but 
holy. 

7.  Lastly,  infer,  that  if  God  spared  not  the  angels. 


so  near  to  his  own  person,  (a  thing  which  the  very 
children  of  God  tremble  to  think,)  how  much  less 
will  he  spare  dust  and  ashes !  He  put  no  trust  in  his 
angels ;  "  how  much  less  in  them  that  dwell  in  houses 
of  clay,  whose  foundation  is  in  the  dust  ! "  Job  iv. 
18,  19.  What  is  the  manliest  prowess  on  earth,  when 
the  loins  be  girded  up  with  strength,  and  decked  in 
the  greatest  glory,  to  encounter  with  the  fortitude  of 
God?  "The  lion  hath  roared,  who  will  not  fear?" 
Amos  iii.  8.  The  Lord  hath  thundered  from  heaven, 
in  casting  down  angels  to  hell  j  shall  not  flesh  and 
blood  quake  for  fear?  The  Scripture,  as  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  pride  of  man's  nature,  hangs  talents 
of  lead  at  the  heels  to  keep  it  down.  The  8th  Psalm, 
which  is  a  circular  Psalm,  ending  as  it  began ;  "  0 
Lord,  our  Lord,  how  excellent  is  thy  name  in  all  the 
earth!"  that  whithersoever  we  turn  our  eyes,  we 
may  see  ourselves  beset  with  his  glory  round  about. 
How  doth  the  prophet  discountenance  man,  by  his 
disdainful  interrogation,  "What  is  man?"  Then 
still  as  the  Psalms  go  in  order,  they  grow  in  strength 
to  deject  the  haughtiness  of  man.  "Arise,  Lord; 
let  not  man  prevail :  let  the  nations  know  themselves 
to  be  but  men,"  Psal.  ix.  19,  20.  We  are  men,  and 
the  sons  of  men,  not  the  generation  of  angels ;  to 
show  our  descent.  Men  in  our  knowledge,  gross  and 
dull-brained ;  not  quick,  free,  subtile,  and  celestial 
spirits  ;  the  conscience  of  our  own  infirmity  doth 
convince  us.  Men  of  the  earth,  not  of  the  air,  fire, 
stars,  sun,  heavens  j  much  less  of  the  substance  of 
angels  ;  but  earth  is  the  matter  whereof  we  are 
framed.  The  disgrace  is  yet  deeper ;  "  I  am  a  worm, 
and  no  man,"  Psal.  xxii.  6.  The  prophet  either  in 
his  own  name,  regarding  his  personal  contempt  ; 
or  in  the  name  of  Christ,  whose  figure  he  was  ;  or  in 
the  representation  of  all  mankind,  as  if  it  were  a 
robbeiy  and  presumption  to  take  upon  him  the  name 
of  man,  he  says,  "  I  am  a  worm,  and  no  man."  Thus 
Abraham  conferring  with  God,  sifts  liimself  to  the 
coarsest  bran ;  "  I  am  but  dust  and  ashes,"  Gen.  xviii. 
27.  If  any  of  the  children  of  Abraham,  that  have 
succeeded  him  in  the  faith,  or  any  of  the  children  of 
Adam,  tliat  succeed  him  in  the  flesh,  think  otherwise, 
their  own  catastrophe  shall  confute  them. 

Man  is  an  excellent  creature,  if  we  compare  him 
with  the  fairest  flower  of  the  garland,  the  tallest  cedar 
of  the  forest,  the  stateliest  beast  in  the  wilderness. 
Nay,  the  sun  and  stars  are  not  so  excellent,  for  they 
want  sense,  and  man  hath  reason  ;  not  one  of  them 
was  formed  after  the  image  of  God,  there  are  no 
sparks  of  Divinity  in  them.  But  if  we  look  up  to  the 
angels,  there  is  a  large  and  ample  diflerence.  We 
have  bodies,  and  they  are  full  of  gross  corruptions; 
so  many  diseases,  that  who  is  physician  good  enough 
to  number  them,  I  say  not,  to  cure  them  ?  There  is 
in  the  soul  uncleanness,  in  the  understanding  blind- 
ness, in  the  will  perverseness,  in  the  affections  wan- 
tonness, in  the  whole  man  sinfulness.  The  angelical 
nature  is  subject  to  none  of  these  infimiities.  If  thou 
wert  a  sinful  angel,  thou  shouldst  be  punished  ;  there- 
fore if  a  sinful  man,  what  hone  to  be  soared  ?  It  was 
the  page's  note  to  King  Philip  of  Macedon  every 
morning.  Remember  thou  art  a  man :  for  in  remem- 
bering this,  we  remember  all  unworthiness. 

If  any  soul  be  humbled  with  this  meditation,  (and 
indeed  who  are  fit  for  so  precious  seed  but  the  tilled 
ground?  comfort  is  well  bestowed  on  a  broken  heart,) 
let  this  cheer  them:  God  that  spared  not  ofTending 
angels,  neither  hath  spared  ofTending  men;  but  he 
punished  one  man  for  many  men,  he  spared  not  the 
man  Christ  Jesus.  All  believing  men  have  answered 
his  justice  in  that  one  man  :  hence  my  faith  is  bold 
to  say.  Lord,  thou  art  just,  and  hast  not  spared  me ; 
but  thou  art  merciful,  and  hast  not  spared  him  for 


Ver.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OP  ST.  PETER. 


295 


me.  Thou  hast  punished  our  siiis  through  his 
sides. 

"  To  be  reserved  unto  judgment."  Tliis  is  tlicir 
bindin?  over  to  the  assizes;  the  sum  whereof  is, 
That  the  fulness  and  extremity  of  their  torments  is 
not  yet  come,  but  there  abideth  a  more  fearful  and 
final'  condemnation  for  them.  They  are  now  entered 
into  divers  degrees  of  penalty,  but  the  plenary  wrath 
of  God  is  not  poured  on  them  till  the  last  judgment. 
They  are  already  damned,  and  they  know  it ;  "  The 
devils  believe,  and  tremble,"  Jam.  ii.  19.  It  is  so  cer- 
tain, that  justice  admits  no  revocation  of  it,  nor  do 
themselves  study  any  evasion  from  it.  And  yet  there 
is  still  a  reservation  of  greater  plagues.  Hut  they 
have  no  bodies,  and  therefore  are  not  capable  of  re- 
ceiving more  by  addition.  A)Uiw.  Their  punishment 
ariseth  from  the  wrath  of  God,  which  tlieu  shall  in 
a  greater  measure  empty  itself  upon  I  hem.  The 
hand  of  man,  while  he  strikes,  can  make  his  blow 
heavier  or  lighter  as  himself  pleaseth. 

They  are  now  suffered  to  tempt  men,  which  is  a 
pleasure  to  their  malice,  thinking  themselves  by  this 
means  somewhat  revenged  on  God  :  as  he  that  de- 
faceth  the  picture  of  his  enemy,  when  he  cannot 
come  at  his  person,  easeth  his  spleen  a  little.  So 
the  dog  gnaws  the  stone,  that  cannot  reach  the 
thrower.  In  a  word,  now  they  are  suffered  lo  wander 
abroad,  then  they  shall  be  confined  to  their  prison. 
The  prisoner  that  is  allowed  to  w'alk  abroad,  though 
with  tiis  keeper,  is  not  so  miserable  as  the  dungeoned. 
Now  they  contain  their  hell,  then  their  hell  also 
shall  contain  them.  Now  they  seem  to  rejoice  at 
our  sinning,  then  they  shall  have  enough  to  grieve 
at  their  own  suffering.  Now  the  bottomless  pit  hath 
been  opened  for  the  egress  of  those  locusts,  then  it 
shall  be  locked  up  for  ever  with  the  eternal  seal  of 
justice.  But  he  is  judged  already ;  "  The  prince  of 
this  world  is  judged,"  John  x\n.  11.  Yet  still  he  is 
reserved  to  another  judgment.  There  is  a  double 
judgment,  one  of  discussion,  another  of  retribution. 
For  the  discussive  judgment,  these  bad  angels  come 
not  under  it,  their  rebellion  is  so  apparent.  What 
need  a  juiy  pass  upon  the  malefactor,  that  confess- 
eth  his  fault?  For  that  of  retribution,  they  shall 
then  receive  it  in  the  view  of  the  whole  world ;  that 
the  justice  of  God  may  universally  be  acknowledged, 
when  he  shall  render  to  every  one  according  to  his 
works.  "  Know  ye  not  that  we  shall  judge  angels  ?  " 
1  Cor.  vi.  3.  Good  men  shall  have  the  honour  to 
judge  bad  angels.  For  this  they  challenged  Christ, 
that  he  eame  to  torment  them  before  the  time.  Matt. 
viii.  29.  They  confess  thai  there  is  a  time  designed 
for  the  plenitude  and  perfection  of  their  torments. 

He  is  reserved ;  but  till  the  judgment  come,  let  us 
watch  him,  for  he  watcheth  us.  There  is  no  cor- 
poreal enemy,  but  a  man  naturally  fears ;  the  spiritual 
loe  appears  less  terrible,  because  we  are  less  sensible 
of  him.  We  talk  of  travellers  that  have  seen  the 
world  over;  none  ever  saw  so  much  as  he.  He  hath 
seen  earth,  seen  the  sea,  seen  hell,  seen  heaven.  He 
compasseth ;  as  the  hunter  that  makes  as  though  he 
would  raise  a  mound  about  the  deer  to  preserve 
them,  when  indeed  he  lays  a  toil  to  destroy  tlieni. 
Great  cone^uerors  have  been  chronicled  for  victories, 
and  extension  of  their  kingdoms ;  Satan  is  beyond 
them  all.  Saul  hath  slain  liis  thousands,  and  David 
his  ten  thousands;  but  Satan  his  millions.  He  that 
fights  with  an  enemy,  whom  nothing  but  his  blood 
can  pacifv,  will  give  him  no  advantage.  If  we  know 
that  we  have  an  adversary  at  the  next  door,  that 
pries  into  all  our  courses,  and  upon  the  least  error 
will  sue  us  on  an  action  of  trespass,  we  will  be  cir- 
cumspect to  disable  him  of  advantage.  Satan  no 
sooner  spies  our  wanderings,  but-  he  presently  runs 


with  a  complaint  to  God,  bills  against  us  in  the  star- 
chamber  of  heaven ;  where  the  matter  would  go  hard 
with  us,  but  for  the  great  Lord  Chancellor  of  peace, 
our  Advocate  Jesus  Christ.  As  God  keeps  all  our 
tears  in  a  bottle,  and  registereth  the  very  groans  of 
our  holy  passion  in  a  book ;  so  Satan  keeps  a  record 
of  our  sins,  and  solicits  justice  against  us.  Were 
God  like  man,  subject  to  passions,  or  incensiblc  by 
the  suggestions  of  the  common  barrator,  woe  were 
us.  But  he  will  hear  one  son  of  truth  before  ten 
thousand  fathers  of  lying.  No  matter  what  the 
plaintiff  libelleth,  when  the  judge  acquittcth.  We 
have  forfeited  our  estates  by  treason,  and  the  busy 
devil  begs  us  ;  but  there  is  one  that  steps  in,  and 
pleads  a  former  grant,  and  that  both  by  promise  and 
purchase.  "  Lord,  rescue  my  soul  from  destructions, 
my  darling  from  the  lions,"  Psal.  xxxv.  17.  Lord 
Jesus,  challenge  thine  own ;  let  not  Satan  enter  upon 
by  force  or  fraud,  what  thou  hast  bought  with  thine 
own  blood. 

Thus  in  general,  the  particulars  here  considerable 
are  two  (for  I  purpose  no  common-place  of  the  day 
of  judgment) :  First,  the  necessity  of  it,  in  that  they 
are  reserved  to  it.  Then  the  severity  of  it,  in  that 
it  is  a  judgment.  These  be  inherent  in  the  words ; 
there  be  some  short  adherent  circumstances  which  I 
shall  salute  as  I  pass ;  they  may  be  within  the  cir- 
cumference, these  are  in  the  heart  and  centre. 

The  necessity.  Asthecreation  was  that  beginning, 
which  did  produce  things  to  their  being ;  so  judg- 
ment is  that  conclusion,  which  shall  perduce  things 
to  their  ending.  There  is  a  double  operation  of 
God:  one  that  wrought  the  production  of  things,  the 
institution  of  nature,  and  distinction  of  places; 
from  this  God  rested  the  seventh  day.  Another  of 
providential  govcnmieni,  whereby  he  conserves  and 
disposeth  things ;  from  this  he  resteth  not.  "  My 
Father  worketli  hitherto,  and  I  work,"  John  v.  if. 
iVccording  to  both  these  there  is  a  double  judgment : 
one  at  the  departure  out  of  this  life,  wliich  answers 
to  God's  disjiosition ;  that  they  which  kept  not  the 
appointed  rule  of  their  Maker,  might  undergo  the 
justice  of  their  Avenger.  The  other  at  the  last  day, 
when  God  to  all  things  determines  an  end,  as  imme- 
diately of  himself  he  gave  them  a  beginning.  But 
it  is  objected.  Judgment  shall  not  rise  up  a  second 
time,  Nah.  i.  9 :  there  is  one  judgment  at  the  end  of 
life,  if  there  be  another  at  the  end  of  the  world, 
then  there  is  judgment  a  second  time.  I  might  an- 
swer, that  the  prophet  speaks  there  of  a  temporal 
destruction,  which  shall  make  an  utter  end,  that  there 
shall  be  no  need  of  a  second  blow  ;  "  Aflliction  shall 
not  rise  up  the  second  time."  But  to  take  it  in  (heir 
reading :  Every  man  must  be  considered  as  he  in  an 
individual  person,  and  with  relation  as  he  is  part  of 
mankind.  So  there  is  a  double  judgment  propor- 
tioned; one  at  his  death  respecting  the  singularity  of 
his  person,  the  other  at  last  respecting  his  partner- 
ship of  the  world:  and  thus  as  he  is  a  member  of  the 
universe,  his  judgment  must  be  in  the  universal. 

But  judgment  is  the  determination  of  doubtful 
things,  and  every  one  before  that  day  shall  be  put 
past  doubting  of  his  future  estate.  Yet  there  must 
be  a  general  judgment,  that  the  equity  of  every  one's 
sentence  may  be  iipproved,  and  tlie  justice  of  God 
glorified.  Object.  But  it  is  against  the  proper  form 
of  judgment,  to  let  execution  go  before  sentence. 
Now  every  soul,  as  she  departs,  receives  her  reward, 
and  is  presently  possessed  of  joy  or  punished  with 
sorrow;  if  therefore  there  be  a  future  judgment, 
here  is  execution  before  sentence.  Atuu;  The  first 
is  but  the  effect  of  the  latter:  by  that  they  presently 
feel,  they  know  what  they  shall  eternally  feel.  Be- 
sides, but  one  part  of  man  only  passeth  that  censure. 


2&G 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


the  soul  iilone  is  blessed  or  cursed ;  therefore  a  ge- 
neral judgment  must  pass  upon  the  reunited  body ; 
which  as  it  hath  served  the  soul  in  holiness  or  sin, 
so  must  accompany  the  soul  in  bliss  or  pain.  Object. 
The  body  is  but  an  instrument  of  the  soul  :  so  tlie 
philosophers  ;  because  the  soul  doth  use  it  as  an 
organ.  Therefore  it  is  for  the  soul  alone  to  suffer: 
the  body  feels  no  pain  when  the  soul  is  departed 
from  it.  Answ.  Let  it  be  but  an  instrument,  yet  was 
it  a  living  instrument :  as  therefore  the  soul,  being 
the  mistress  in  sinning,  shall  be  no  less  in  suffering; 
yet  the  body  must  have  its  due  share  in  being  punish- 
ed, as  it  had  the  full  part  in  being  delighted. 

But,  he  that  believeth  not  is  already  judged,  John 
iii.  18:  what  need  then  any  more  judgments  ?  Ansu: 
He  is  judged  by  God's  prescience,  judged  by  his  own 
conscience,  not  by  the  last  sentence.  There  is  a 
fivefold  judgment.  I.  The  judgment  of  disposition; 
so  all  unbelievers  arc  now  judged.  2.  The  judgment 
of  comparison :  "  Tlie  men  of  Nineveh  shall  rise  in 
judgment  with  this  generation,  and  shall  condemn 
it,"  Matt.  xii.  41.  Evil  men  shall  thus  judge  them 
that  be  worse ;  not  according  to  the  opinion  of  the 
accuser,  but  according  to  the  weight  of  the  crime. 
So  Jerusalem  is  said  to  justify  Sodom,  Ezek.  xvi., 
yet  were  th2  Sodomites  then  in  hell.  3.  The  judg- 
ment of  approbation :  so  the  saints  shall  judge  the 
angels,  1  Cor.  vi.  .3 ;  judge  the  nations,  Wisd.  iii.  8  ; 
judge  the  tribes  of  Israel,  Matt.  xix.  28;  judge  the 
whole  world,  1  Cor.  vi.  2.  4.  The  judgment  of  de- 
finition; so,  "  The  Father  hath  committed  all  judg- 
ment unto  the  Son,"  John  v.  22.  5.  The  judgment 
of  remuneration,  which  shall  reward  eveiy  man  ac- 
cording to  his  practice. 

Thai  there  shall  be  a  judgment,  is  universally 
granted :  "  I  speak  to  them  that  know  the  law," 
Rom.  vii.  1.  Though  there  be  a  particular  judgment 
precedent,  this  hinders  not  the  general  subsequent. 
Here  the  wicked  condemn  themselves,  there  God 
shall  condemn  them.  As  is  their  conscience,  such 
shall  be  their  sentence.  "  If  our  own  heart  condemn 
us,  God  is  greater  than  our  heart,"  1  John  iii.  20. 
Besides  the  common  reasons  that  be  given,  1.  That 
the  godly  here  suffer  for  well-doing,  therefore  shall 
be  crowned  for  well-suffering.  It  is  fit  that  they 
whom  the  world  hath  unjustly  condemned,  shall  by 
the  Lord  be  justly  acquitted.'  If  there  be  Judas  to 
censure  Mary,  and  not  a  Jesus  to  justify  Mary,  truth 
shall  be  utterly  lost.  2.  That  many  notorious  sin- 
ners are  punished  here  ;  which  is  but  the  little  image 
and  earnest  of  the  general  sessions  hereafter.  God 
strikes  some,  to  save  themselves ;  and  some  again, 
lest  they  should  destroy  others.  Graceless  sinners, 
imboldening  themselves  to  riot  by  the  remoteness 
of  judgment,  are  often  cut  off  beforehand.  "  Some 
men's  sins  are  open  beforehand,  going  before  to 
judgment,"  1  Tim.  v.  24.  They  have  not  the  pa- 
tience to  tarry  so  long  for  their  own  damnation.  As 
when  the  desperate  jiirate,  ransacking  and  rifling  a 
bottom,  was  told  by  the  master,  that  though  no  law- 
could  touch  him  for  the  present,  he  should  answer  it 
at  the  day  of  judgment;  replied,  Nay,  if  I  may  stay 
so  long  ere  I  come  to  it,  I  will  take  thee  and  thy 
vessel  too.  A  conceit  wherewith  too  many  land- 
thieves,  oppressors,  (latter  themselves  in  their  hearts, 
though  they  dare  not  utter  it  with  their  lips.  These 
God  judgeth  beforehand,  as  he  did  Herod  immedi- 
ately upon  his  elevation  :  the  people  called  him  a 
god,  but  the  worms  soon  confuted  their  ridiculous 
deity.  That  as  when  Moses  had  powdered  the  calf, 
he  might  upliraid  Israel,  Behold  your  god;  so  when 
llie  angel  had  wormed  that  idol,"  he  might  say,  Be- 
hold your  king.  Beside  these,  and  many  other  beaten 
jirgumenis,  I  fasten  upon  two  instances. 


1.  Many  perverse  sinners  are  forborne  here  :  they 
transgress  in  health.  They  trouble  others,  tremble 
not  themselves :  all  feel  their  plagues,  no  plagues 
do  they  feel,  Psal.  Ixxiii.  5.  They  sink  others'  eyes 
into  their  heads  with  leanness,  while  their  own  eyes 
stand  out  with  fatness,  ver.  7-  What,  shall  tliey 
never  be  called  to  an  account  for  this  ?  Shall  a  man 
covet  and  take,  take  and  keep,  keep  and  devour,  de- 
vour and  never  bring  it  uj)  again  ?  Shall  an  extor- 
tioner make  every  hour  advantageous,  laugh  at  the 
groans  of  the  oppressed,  dance  to  their  tears,  and 
yet  escape  ?  Every  sin  is  sometimes  suspended, 
saving  only  the  usurer's :  others  sin  by  day  only,  or 
by  night  only,  and  the  most  violent  ague  of  wicked- 
ness hath  some  intermission;  but  he  sins  day  and 
night  continually  :  and  is  there  no  day  nor  night  of 
answer?  Shall  a  man  eat  the  bread'  of  sacrilege, 
drink  the  wine  of  sacrilege,  sleep  in  sacrilege,  clothe 
his  family  with  sacrilege,  leave  to  his  children  an 
inheritance  in  sacrilege,  and  no  reckoning?  What 
though  no  judge,  no  court,  no  parliament  question 
or  medicine  this  disease ;  shall  not  the  Judge  of  all 
condemn  it  ? 

Many  sins  have  been  punished,  that  are  now  for- 
borne ;  because  the  Lord  hath  appointed  a  day  to 
judge  the  world  in  righteousness.  Acts  xvii.  31. 
The  wickedness  of  the  old  world  is  as  abundant  in 
the  new  world ;  yet  is  not  the  world  drowned  with 
water,  because  God  hath  ordained  for  it  a  deluge  of 
fire.  The  sins  of  Sodom  are  practised  every  where  ; 
yet  do  the  committers  escape  fire  and  brimstone  on 
earth,  because  they  are  reserved  to  fire  and  brim- 
stone in  hell.  Do  not  many  persecute  the  church  as 
violently  as  Pharaoh,  with  chariots  and  armies,  who 
yet  escape  drowning  ?  There  is  a  reservation  of  a 
deeper  and  bottomless  sea  for  them.  Divers  murmur 
at  God  who  are  not  stung  with  fiery  serpents,  as  the 
Israelites,  because  they  arc  reser\'ed  to  a  fiery  ser- 
pent in  hell.  !Ma:iy  take  bribes,  like  Gehazi,  witll- 
out  a  leprosy,  because  of  that  eternal  leprosy  which 
waits  for  them.  How  many  a  deceitful  trader  says 
and  swears,  (with  a  little  inversion  of  Ananias'  lie, 
I  sold  it  for  so  much,)  It  cost  me  so  much,  yet  is  not 
stricken  with  death  temporal,  because  he  is  reserved 
to  death  eternal !  Are  not  many  monopolists  amongst 
us,  as  bad  as  those  Philippians,  Acts  xvi.  Ifi,  that 
got  a  patent  of  the  very  devil  ?  It  is  plain  that  they 
did  monopolize  the  damsel,  and  the  damsel  had 
monopolized  the  devil.  Satan  was  wont  to  be  a 
spirit  latent ;  now  he  durst  be  a  spirit  patent :  it  is 
time  that  this  patent  devil  were  cast  out. 

But  there  is  a  reservation  of  all  to  jlidgment. 
Alercy  now  stretcheth  out  her  wings  like  a  hen  ; 
then  justice  shall  stretch  out  her  wings  like  an 
eagle.  God's  hands  seem  now  so  fraught  with  mer- 
cies, that  judgment  hath  no  room  to  be  grasped  in 
them.  But  shall  wicked  men  live,  sin,  die,  and 
there  on  end?  No,  the  Lord  hath  sworn  the  con- 
trary. He  swears  that  unljclievers  shall  not  enter 
into'  his  rest,  Heb.  iii.  18.  An  oath  among  men  is 
the  end  of  all  strife  ;  and  shall  not  faith  be  given  to 
God  when  he  swears?  The  less  evil  they  feel,  the 
more  let  them  fear.  If  mercy  allows  a  toleration, 
justice  hath  a  reservation;  there  will  come  a  day  of 
reckoning. 

2.  To  oniit  the  demonstration  of  the  prognostic 
sympton'  .  forerunning  this  judgment:  that  same 
trumpet  »  i'  war  in  every  corner,  the  divulgation  of 
the  gospel,  not  only  by  the  antichristian  seminaries, 
who  at  imce  have  named  it  and  shamed  it ;  the  reve- 
lation of  antichrist,  whereof  all  Christendom  is  a 
bleeding  witness;  the  incorrigibility  of  sin.  that  it 
is  evi  n  dangerous  to  be  good,  and  God's  reproofs  do 
not  weaken,  yea,  scarce  waken  sinners  :  the  general 


I 


Veb.  4. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


297 


decay  of  nature  assures  us  this  judicial  conclusion 
of  the  world.  Tliat  which  David  said  should  be, 
now  is :  the  world  is  waxed  old  like  a  garment ;  so 
old  that  most  men  are  turned  botchers,  spending 
their  times  and  studies  to  patch  it.  Tlic  lawyer 
talks  of  a  tenure  called  a  perpetuity;  that  is  his 
patch.  The  usurper  thinks  to  amplify  his  dominions 
by  fire  and  sword;  that  is  his  patch.  One  says  the 
world  is  naught,  yet  he  aspires  to  be  a  great  man  in 
it;  that  is  his  patch.  The  covetous  says,  it  is  but 
transitory  and  short,  yet  he  hoards  as  if  it  were  ever- 
lasting; that  is  his  patch.  Another  would  dip  it  in 
new  colours,  make  us  believe  it  is  an  honest  world ; 
this  is  like  painting  of  an  old,  withered,  and  worm- 
eaten  face.  Some,  as  old  as  this  garment  is,  would 
still  bestow  lace  and  gauds  upon  it,  as  if  tliey  meant 
to  make  it  a  fool's  coat :  these  are  proud  and  haughty, 
who  only  seem  to  affect  new  clothes  and  new 
fashions ;  yet  love  the  world,  that  is  so  old  a  gar- 
ment, and  quite  out  of  fashion. 

If  we  see  a  man  whose  eyes  grow  dim,  his  cars 
deaf,  his  face  furrowed,  his  hairs  white,  his  legs 
doubling  under  him ;  we  say,  his  living  date  is  al- 
most expired.  Such  a  dotage  doth  the  world  labour 
[  of,  yet  men  covet  as  if  there  were  a  thousand  gcncr- 
',  ations  to  provide  for.  As  a  man  that  is  dying  lialh 
many  fantasies,  so  the  declining  world  is  troubled 
witli  many  delirements  and  errors.  In  a  surfeited  body 
the  corruption  labours  downwards,  to  the  feet,  and 
makes  an  issue  there  ;  so  the  putrefaction  and  turpi- 
tude of  all  times  is  sunk  down  to  this  latter  age, 
and  one  extremity  answers  another.  Faith  is  rare, 
though  there  be  many  Christians  ;  and  cliarity  so 
cold,  as  if  a  continual  February  of  indevotion  had 
frozen  it.  There  was  lately  a  great  frost,  and  we 
called  it  a  hard  time;  the  rivers  were  crusted,  the 
teeming  earth  obstructed,  and  the  conveyances  of 
water  locked  up  ;  yet  it  is  thawed  and  dissolved  by 
the  imperious  and  friendly  sun.  But  there  is  still  a 
spiritual  frost,  a  hardness  of  men's  hearts,  that  ex- 
tinguisheth  the  heat  of  zeal,  the  warmth  of  charity, 
the  spark  of  faith.  "  Out  of  whose  womb  came  the 
ice  ?  and  the  hoaiy  frost  of  heaven,  who  hath  gen- 
dered it?"  Job  xxxviii.  29.  Out  of  wliosc  womb 
comes  this  sinful  ice,  but  the  devil's  ?  It  is  not  a 
frost  of  heaven,  but  the  hoaiy  frost  of  hell.  Tlic 
fruits  of  piety  are  withered,  the  springs  of  grace 
dried  up,  and  the  waters  of  charity  that  should  make 
glad  our  city  of  God,  arc  congealed  to  eovctousness. 
Who  can  loose  these  bands  of  Orion?  Job  xxxviii.  31. 
The  sun  of  grace  shmeth,  yet  this  frost  melts  not : 
it  is  reserved  unto  judgment,  to  be  melted  with  the 
fire  of  hell. 

Thus  truly  is  the  world  grown  an  old  man.  I.  It 
stoops  like  an  old  man,  as  if  the  head  were  too 
lieavy  for  the  shoulders ;  sinks  downward  with  pon- 
derous cares.  2.  It  is  full  of  raw  humours  like  an 
old  man;  the  stomach  is  so  oppressed  with  crude 
and  unwholesome  vanities,  that  it  is  mortally  feverish. 
3.  It  is  cold  like  an  old  man  ;  that  the  blood  cannot 
be  warmed,  no  heat  of  zeal  can  be  got  into  it.  4.  It 
is  testy  like  an  old  man,  weary  of  his  own  desires, 
angry  at  the  doing  of  that  he  commands  to  be  done : 
desires,  obtains,  and  then  despises  ;  nothing  can 
•  please  him.  5.  Picking  with  the  fingers  like  an 
lid  man;  scratching  all  together  into  heaps,  in  de- 
l"i;ince  of  any  future  dissipation.  6.  It  hath  lost  all 
the  senses  like  an  old  man :  his  ears  so  deaf  that  he 
cannot  hear  the  gospel,  his  eyes  so  blind  that  he 
cannot  see  the  evil  of  his  sins,  his  tongue  so  faltering 
that  he  cannot  utter  his  prayers,  his  feet  so  lame 
that  he  halts  with  his  best  friend:  even  ready  to 
1  lose  up  his  lights,  the  sun  and  moon  be  put  out : 
the  great  spiritual  court  is  breakiiig  up,  all  officers 


discharged;  and  he  that  takes  their  accounts,  ready 
to  .appear  in  the  clouds,  the  Judge  of  all,  Jesus 
Christ.  We  see  the  necessity  of  this  general  judg- 
ment ;  it  is  necessary  for  the  justice  of  God,  ne- 
cessary for  the  good  of  man,  necessary  for  the  glory 
of  him  that  is  both  God  and  Man. 

The  severity  of  it  follows;  it  is  such  a  judgment, 
as  shall  leave  nothing  unexamined,  unccnsured.  He 
that  was  the  trae  Saviour  will  be  a  severe  Judge ;  the 
God  of  the  universe,  the  universal  Judge.  There  are 
many  gods,  many  kings,  many  jiricsls,  innumerable 
men.  Now  he  that  is  God  shall  judge  all  those  ^ods ; 
he  that  is  King,  shall  judge  all  those  kings ;  he  that  is 
Priest,  shall  judge  all  those  priests  ;  he  that  is  Man, 
shall  judge  all  men.  The  apostle  Jude  calls  it  the 
great  day.  Great,  for  there  shall  be,  1.  A  great  con- 
gregation ;  never  did  so  many  meet  together  before, 
never  shall  after.  All  shall  be  summoned,  and  all  must 
appear,  though  they  were  resolved  into  dust  many 
tliousand  years  before ;  and  this  citation  shall  be  made 
by  the  sound  of  a  trumpet.  2.  A  great  examina- 
tion; when  not  only  visible  and  actual  works  shall 
be  revealed,  but  even  the  most  secret  thoughts,  re- 
served intentions,  and  scarce  born  conceptions.  No- 
thing is  so  hid,  that  it  can  be  kept  from  his  sapience, 
or  escape  his  sentence.  3.  A  great  judication,  giving 
sentence  of  absolution  unto  the  fiilhful,  and  sen- 
tence of  condemnation  upon  the  wicked.  And  this 
shall  be  done  suddenly  :  no  subpeenas  to  fetch  in 
witnesses,  they  are  all  ready  ;  no  appeal,  for  there  is 
no  higher  court  ;  no  tedious  pleading,  for  then  all 
sinners  are  struck  dumb.  Matt.  xxii.  12  ;  no  demur, 
for  the  Judge  is  perfect  in  the  law,  it  was  of  his  own 
making ;  no  writ  of  error,  for  he  must  needs  judge 
wisely  and  truly,  that  is  wisdom  and  truth  itself;  no 
reprieve,  for  there  is  no  hope  of  pardon ;  no  psalm  of 
mercy,  that  day  is  past,  this  is  the  time  of  justice. 

4.  A  great  retribution ;  every  man  shall  receive  his 
reward  according  to  his  work  ;  to  the  godly  there  is 
the  free  reward  of  life  and  glory,  to  the  ungodly  de- 
served death  and  torment.  This  king  hath  treasure 
enough  for  all ;  not  one  of  the  foithful  shall  want 
mercy,  not  one  reprobate  shall  escape  without  pe- 
nalt)-.  Great  was  the  lamentation  of^  the  drowning 
Egyptians,  and  no  less  the  rejoicing  of  Israel  safe  on 
the  shore  :  but  oh  the  unspeakable  joy  of  the  sheep 
on  Christ's  right  hand,  and  the  nnventable  sorrow 
of  the  goats  on  his  left  ;  when  both  the  songs  of 
I'ood  men  and  angels,  and  the  cries  of  bad  men  and 
devils,  shall  echo  to  the  glory  of  one  most  holy  God  ! 

5.  A  great  resignation,  when  Christ  shall  deliver  up 
the  kingdom  to  God  the  Father,  1  Cor.  xv.  24  ;  and 
cease  to  reign,  not  as  God,  for  so  he  is  equal  with 
the  Father,  but  as  Mediator.  For  then  all  his  re- 
deemed ones  are  embraced  W'ith  the  everlasting 
arms  of  blessedness ;  and  for  the  rest  he  shall 
never  make  intercession,  for  they  had  never  part  in 
his  redemption.  Up  go  the  saints  and  angels  in 
their  eternal  quire,  down  sink  the  reprobates  and 
devils  to  their  eternal  fire,  where  the  one  shall  live 
singing,  and  the  other  live  burning,  as  long  as  there 
is  a  God  in  heaven. 

Thus  Power  had  her  day  in  creation,  Providence 
hath  her  day  in  preser\-ation,  Mercy  had  her  day  in  re- 
demption,and  Justice  must  haveherday  in  retribution. 
That  great  Sun  of  righteousness  appearct  h  in  four  signs 
of  his  zodiac.  In  his  conception  he  came  through 
Virgo,  he  was  born  of  a  virgin.  In  his  birth,  through 
Gemini,  two  natures  being  united  in  one  person. 
In  his  resurrection  he  was  found  in  Leo,  triumphing 
like  a  victorious  lion  over  all  his  enemies.  When  he 
comes  to  judgment,  lie  shall  appear  in  Libra  the 
Balance  ;  justly  weighing  out  to  every  man  a  portion 
of  reward,  according  to  the  proportion  of  his  work. 


29G 
th 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


j,,nis  is  his  second  coming;  the  first  was  of  grace, 
this  is  of  justice.  The  first  was  to  propitiate,  not  to 
judge :  God  sent  not  llis  Son  to  condemn  the  world, 
but  to  save  it,  John  iii.  17.  The  second  shall  be  to 
judge,  not  to  propitiate  :  "  The  Father  judgeth  no 
man,  but  hath  committed  all  judgment  unto  the  Son," 
John  V.  22.  In  the  first  he  came  a  Physician  to 
heal,  in  the  next  an  Avenger  to  punish  those  that 
would  not  be  healed.  Then  a  Lamb  to  sufler,  now  a 
Lion  to  triumph  and  conquer.  His  first  coming  was 
soft,  as  the  dew  upon  the  mown  grass;  his  second 
shall  be  terrible,  in  lightning  and  fire. 

Seeing  there  must  be  a  judgment,  and  we  must  all 
be  judged,  let  us  prepare  our  souls  for  a  good  answer. 
Christ  bade  his  disciples,  when  they  were  brought 
before  men's  judgment-seats,  to  study  no  answer; 
but  let  every  one  study  an  answer  before  he  comes 
to  this  judgment-seat.  Yet  alas,  what  answer  can 
be  made  ?  If  God  contend  with  us,  we  cannot 
answer  him  one  of  a  thousand,  Job  ix.  3.  Christ's 
word  must  stand.  "  What  shall  I  do  when  God 
riseth  up?  and  when  he  visiteth,  what  shall  I  an- 
swer him?"  Job  xxxi.  14.  If  great  men  honour 
themselves  more  than  God,  what  shall  they  do  ?  If 
covetous  men  love  money  more  than  Christ,  what 
shall  they  do  ?  If  men  have  robbed  the  Lord  of  his 
patrimony,  what  shall  they  do  ?  Here  is  a  What  shall 
they  do  for  all  ?  Men  have  now  their  colours,  rea- 
sons, pretences,  and  qualifications;  but  then  what 
shall  they  answer  ?  The  wicked  shall  plead  to 
Christ,  We  are  the  work  of  thy  hands  ;  but  he  will 
reply,  You  have  lost  my  image  and  superscription. 
But,  Lord,  remember  thy  passion.  Yes,  but  this  is 
no  time  of  compassion.  The  sentence  is  terrible, 
"  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  iirepared 
for  the  devil  and  his  angels,"  Matt.  xxv.  41.  When 
they  shall  cry,  Lord,  though  we  may  not  ascend  with 
thee  unto  glory,  yet  let  us  abide  still  on  the  earth. 
Nay,  go,  de])art.  If  we  must  go,  let  it  not  yet  be  far, 
not  out  of  thy  sight  and  gracious  presence.  Nay, 
depart  from  me.  If  we  must  go,  and  go  from  thee, 
yet  let  us  have  a  blessing  with  us.  Nay,  depart, 
ye  cursed.  If  we  must  go,  and  from  thee,  and 
with  a  curse,  yet  somewhat  qualify  thy  anger,  and 
let  our  curse  be  but  easy.  Nay,  depart,  ye  cursed, 
into  fire.  If  we  must  depart  from  thee,  cursed,  and 
into  fire,  yet  let  not  that  fire  bum  long,  sulTer 
it  to  be  soon  extinguished.  Nay,  but  go  into  ever- 
lasting fire.  If  there  be  no  remedy,  but  we  must  go 
from  thee  the  God  of  glory,  and  with  a  curse,  the 
character  of  infelicity,  and  into  fire,  torment  in  ex- 
tremity, and  that  everlasting,  without  hope  of  re- 
covery, yet  let  us  have  some  pleasant  and  loving 
com|)any.  Nay,  but  the  veiy  devil  and  his  angels. 
A  heavy  doom,  which  if  we  desire  to  evade,  let  us 
before  the  day  of  trial  make  sure  of  the  Judge:  if 
we  can  get  him  our  friend,  we  shall  speed  well  in  the 
judgment. 


Verse  5. 

jind  spared  not  the  old  world,  but  saved  iVoah  the 
eighth  person,  a  preacher  of  righteousness,  bringing 
in  thejiood  upon  the  world  of  the  ungodly. 

This  is  the  apostle's  second  exemplary  argument 
against  the  indemnity  of  sin :  his  first  instance  was, 
how  it  sped  in  heaven  ;  now  he  expresscth  the  mis- 
chief it  did  upon  earth  ;  after  the  expulsion  of  angels, 
the  submersion  of  terrene  creatures.  The  first  judg- 
ment took  hold  on  altitude,  this  prevails  against  mul- 


titude: for  sublimity,  they  were  angels;  for  univers- 
ality, this  is  a  whole  world.  There  God  used  his 
own  immediate  power,  in  the  dejection  of  those  re- 
volting spirits ;  here  is  the  same  offended  power 
working  by  a  mediate  instrument.  The  angels  were 
above  the  elements,  therefore  no  clement  was  exer- 
cised in  their  punishment :  here  is  element  against 
element,  water  against  earth  ;  that  man,  who  was  of 
elements  composed,  and  by  elements  preserved,  might 
also  by  elements  be  destroyed.  When  man  forsakes 
his  own  end,  which  is  to  glorify  his  Maker,  the 
creatures  also  forsake  their  (less  principal)  end, 
which  is  to  serve  man  their  master.  The  elements 
rebel  against  man,  when  man  rebels  against  God  : 
becoming  a  traitor  to  his  Creator,  they  owe  him  no 
more  service  ;  but  instead  of  serving  him,  they  serve 
God  against  him. 

"  Deep  ealleth  unto  deep  at  the  noise  of  the  water- 
spouts," Psal.  xlii.  7 :  the  deluge  of  sins  called  for  a 
deluge  of  waters;  deep  iniquity,  for  deep  calamity. 
The  world  was  grown  so  foul,  that  God  saw  it  was 
high  time  to  wash  it :  yea,  so  was  the  unclcanness 
dyed  in  grain,  that  when  the  pollutei-s  were  wiished 
away,  the  pollution  stuck  on  still ;  as  the  plague 
cleaves  to  the  house,  even  when  the  infecter  of  it  is 
dead.  And  as  a  sordid  cloth  lies  long  a  soaking  be- 
fore it  be  cleansed,  so  deeply  had  impiety  sized  itself 
into  the  earth,  that  God  saw  it  meet  to  steep  it  long 
under  the  waters,  even  a  hundred  and  fifty  days, 
Gen.  vii.  24. 

God's  blessing  did  not  more  multiply  than  Satan's 
curse ;  there  came  an  Increase  and  multiply  from 
them  both.  God  spake  it  to  his  creatures,  men  ; 
Satan  to  his  creatures,  men's  sins.  Mankind  began 
but  with  one ;  yet  he  that  saw  the  first  man  lived  to 
see  the  earth  peopled  with  a  world  of  men.  Men 
grew  not  half  so  fast  as  sins ;  "  As  they  were  increas- 
ed, so  they  sinned  against  me,"  Hos.  iv.  7-  One  man 
could  soon  multiply  a  thousand  sins ;  never  man  had 
so  many  children;  so  that  still  the  number  of  trans- 
gressions exceeded  the  number  of  persons.  When 
the  earth  was  scarce  sprinkled  with  men,  the  whole 
world  was  filled  with  sins ;  so  that  the  top  of  the 
conspiracy  bore  up  to  heaven,  and  carried  ill  news 
to  the  Maker  of  all.  Whereat  offended,  he  sent 
down  a  watery  messenger  of  destruction  ;  which  as 
it  came  from  heaven,  so  swelled  up  back  again  to 
heaven,  with  tichngs  that  God's  justice  was  now  glo- 
rified on  them,  whose  mercy  would  not  be  glorified 
by  them.  The  corruption  of  the  world  is  not  less 
now,  yea,  more  :  it  is  past  all  purging  by  water, 
therefore  hath  God  resened  it  to  fire.  Only  as  the 
ark  did  save  Noah  in  the  day  of  water,  so  Christ  will 
preserve  us  in  the  day  of  fue. 

"  And  spared  not  the  old  world,"  &c.  Here  is  a 
double  act ;  of  justice,  of  mercy  :  that  of  justice  on 
a  whole  world,  the  other  of  mercy  upon  eight  per- 
sons. It  is  often,  God  doth  strike  few  to  save  many ; 
here  he  strikes  many  and  saves  few.  His  judgments 
are  sometimes  particular,  that  his  mercy  may  be 
general ;  here  his  judgments  are  general,  and  his 
mercy  particular.  So  the  whole  may  be  distinguish- 
ed into, 

The  vengeance.  Spared  not  the  old  world. 

The  deliverance.  Saved  Noah  the  eighth  person. 

In  the  vengeance  or  execution  of  wrath  consider, 

The  matter  passive.  Sinful  world. 

The  instnnnent  executive,  The  Hood. 

The  subject  suffering  is  described  by. 

The  universality.  The  whole  world. 

The  antiquity,  The  old  world. 

The  impiety.  The  ungodly  world. 

For  the  penal  instrument  let  us  meditate, 

1.  Whence  it  proceeded. 


Ver.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


299 


2.  How  far  it  prevailed. 

3.  How  long  it  continued. 

In  the  deliverance  arc  two  special  things  ; 

The  manner  implied,  By  the  ark. 

The  number  expressed,  Eight  persons. 

Thus  are  our  meditations  fetched  a  great  way 
backward,  that  our  souls  may  be  set  somewhat  fur- 
ther fonvard  :  let  us  consider  the  old  world,  that  we 
may  become  the  better  for  it  in  the  new.  History  is 
delightful  to  all,  and  gives  us  means  to  travel  former 
times;  that  we  may  in  some  sort  know  wliat  is 
done  before  us,  though  we  cannot  see  what  shall  be 
done  after  us.  In  all  this  plentiful  discourse,  your 
good  apprehension  must  be  my  best  persuasion  ;  your 
capacity,  my  oratory.  Secure  we  ourselves  first  in 
the  ark,  and  then  launch  into  this  ocean  of  water : 
the  Spirit  of  God  direct  us  in  our  voyage,  and  bring 
our  souls  to  the  haven  of  eternal  peace. 

To  begin  with  the  vengeance  :  God  was  angiy  with 

the  whole  world  because  of  sin ;  neither  was  this  a 

'i  :ht  or  easy  wrath,  but  a  fire  Ion";  a  kindling.     It 

ntcth  me  that  I  made  man:  here  is  a  displea- 

indeed,  when  the  Lord  shall  repent  his  own 

k.     The  wrath  of  God  came  upon  them  to  the 

rraost,  I  Thess.  ii.   16:  n'c  t(\os,  that  is,  such  a 

'  ;is  consumes  cither  totally  or  finally.  The  wrath 
III'  God  is  either  in  resolution  or  execution.  In  reso- 
lution, it  is  either  suppressed  in  his  bosom,  or  ex- 
pressed in  his  threatening.  In  execution,  it  is  either 
temporal  in  body,  or  spiritual  in  soul :  as  Peter  said. 
Behold  two  swords,  or  rather  one  sword  with  two 
edges.  This  i;  Spyrj,  the  wrath :  God  hath  armies  of 
.itilictions,  but  if  the  wicked  escape  them  all,  this 
■;  une  great  wrath  will  surprise  them.  Neither  nmst 
wc  think  here  God  subject  to  passions  ;  what  be  af- 
fections in  us,  are  perfections  in  him.  But  to  the 
purblind  one  candle  seems  many.  As  God  is  said  to 
nave  an  arm,  because  the  arm  is  the  instrument  of 
Diir  power;  an  eye,  because  he  discerns  all  things; 
a  foot,  because  he  is  present  eveiy  where,  &c.  And 
that  he  will  preserve  unharmed  is  called,  "  the  apple 
of  his  eye,"  Zech.  ii.  8.  His  essential  substance  is 
called  his  soul :  benephesho,  by  his  life,  or  soul,  that 
is,  by  himself,  Amos  vi.  8.  And,  wicked  men  his 
soul  hateth,  Psal.  xi.  5.  Thus  he  is  said  to  be 
angrv,  and  to  repent.  But  as  man  repents  by  retract- 
ing his  purpose,  so  God  by  changing  his  sentence. 
When  God  is  said  to  alter  his  will,  that  he  becomes 
offended  with  the  man,  with  whom  he  was  formerly 
pleased,  the  man  is  changed,  not  the  Lord.  (August.) 
He  repents  not  as  man  does,  for  he  cannot  delire  and 
err  as  man  does.  He  is  not  angry,  but  all  his  actions 
proceed  from  a  perfect  love  of  virtue  and  hate  of 
vice.  We  cannot  properly  grieve  the  Spirit,  nor  cni- 
cify  Christ ;  but  our  sins  do  all  that  is  possible  lo  it ; 
and  as  much  as  in  us  lies,  we  bring  melancholy  into 
heaven,  that  court  of  joy.  If  the  king  lose  a  subject 
he  is  so  much  the  weaker ;  take  a  drop  from  the  ocean, 
it  hath  the  less;  but  what  is  the  loss  of  thee  or  thy 
harlot  to  God  ?  he  is  never  the  poorer,  nor  are  they 
missed.  But  when  he  repents  of  all  the  generation 
of  men,  this  shows  sin  to  be  exceeding  heinous.  In 
a  word,  man's  is  a  passive  repentance,  God's  is  an 
operative  repentance.     Let  this  teach  us, 

1.  To  glorify  God,  lest  he  repent  that  he  made  us. 
"  I  am  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made;"  (all  God's 
works  are  admirable,  man  wonderfully  wonderful ;) 
"  marvellous  are  thy  works ;  and  that  my  soul  know- 
eth  right  well."  What  infers  he  on  all  this  ?  There- 
fore "  I  will  praise  thee,"  Psal.  cxxxix.  14.  If  we 
will  not  praise  him  that  made  us,  will  he  not  repent 
that  he  made  us?  Oh  that  we  knew  what  the  saints 
do  in  heaven,  and  how  the  sweetness  of  that  doth 
swallow  up  all  earthly  pleasures !    They  sing  honour 


and  glor)-  to  the  Lord.  Whyi>  Because  he  hath 
created  all  things.  Rev.  iv.  11.  When  we  behold 
an  exquisite  piece  of  work,  we  presently  inquire 
after  him  that  made  it,  purposely  to  commend  his 
skill  :  and  there  is  no  greater  disgrace  to  an  artist, 
than  having  perfected  a  famous  work,  to  find  it  neg- 
lected, no  man  minding  it,  or  so  much  as  casting  an 
eye  upon  it.  All  the  works  of  God  are  considerable, 
and  man  is  bound  to  this  contemplation  :  "  When  I 
consider  the  heavens,"  Sec.  I  say,  "What  is  man?" 
Psal.  viii.  3,  4.  He  admires  the  heavens,  but  his  ad- 
miration reflects  upon  man  ;  Quishomo/  There  is 
no  workman  but  would  have  his  instruments  used, 
and  used  to  that  purpose  for  which  they  were  made. 
The  cutler  hath  made  thee  a  knife;  to  cut  thy  own 
meat,  not  thy  neighbour's  throat.  If  thou,  like  the 
envious  man,  will  keep  thy  knife  in  thy  hand,  and 
swallow  thy  meat  whole  ;  or,  like  the  fool,  cut 
another's  meat,  and  thy  own  fingers ;  this  is  to  abuse 
that  instrument,  and  pervert  the  end  for  which  it  was 
framed.  Man  is  set  like  a  little  world  in  the  midst 
of  the  great,  to  glorify  God  ;  this  is  the  scope  and 
end  of  liis  creation.  If  he  shall  apply  himself  to 
proud  desires,  base  designs,  covetous  courses ;  here 
God's  meaning  is  misunderstood,  his  work  misapplied. 
He  is  created  for  the  service  of  God ;  if  he  cannot 
be  wrought  and  brought  to  that,  he  sliall  be  beaten 
in  pieces.  As  the  potter  turns  and  works  a  piece 
of  clay  ;  frames  it  for  such  a  vessel,  it  will  not  do ; 
then  tries  to  make  another  fashion  of  it,  yet  it  fadgcth 
not;  till  at  last,  after  many  eluded  trials,  he  dashelh 
it  against  the  walls.  God's  Spirit  will  not  alway 
strive  with  this  world,  more  than  it  did  with  that ; 
but  if  we  still  strive  against  him,  let  us  see  wlio  in 
the  end  shall  have  the  worst  of  it.  Ariosto  going 
through  the  streets,  and  hearing  a  potter  basely  sing 
his  odes,  took  a  cudgel  and  broke  his  pots ;  answer- 
ing his  complaint.  Thou  hast  marred  my  verses,  and 
I  have  marred  thy  vessels.  If  we  abuse  God's  crea- 
tures, he  will  spoil  our  pleasures. 

2.  Let  us  repent  of  our  sinning,  lest  God  repent  of 
our  making.  Oh  that  for  want  of  a  little  sorrow,  we 
should  hazard  the  loss  of  such  a  joy,  as  the  delight 
of  our  Creator  !  When  we  sin,  we  give  him  cause  to 
grieve  at  our  doing,  but  wliile  we  continue  impeni- 
tent, we  give  him  cause  to  grieve  at  our  being.  Shall 
our  Maker  repent  that  we  are,  and  we  not  repent 
that  we  are  so  evil  ?  Did  he  not  make  us  of  nothing  ? 
and  is  he  not  able  to  reduce  us  to  notliing,  to  worse 
than  nothing  ?  and  yet  do  we  provoke  him,  and  put 
him  to  it  by  our  rebellions  ?  Repentance  is  a  grace  of 
continual  use,  because  sin  is  a  thing  of  continual 
practice.  It  is  better  going  to  the  house  of  mourn- 
ing, than  of  mirth,  saith  Solomon  ;  more  expedient 
for  the  soul's  health  :  through  his  own  experience,  he 
taught  us  this  experience.  In  pride  we  patch  our 
clothes,  in  repentance  we  rend  them  in  pieces.  It 
unmakes  a  man  that  which  sin  made  him  ;  whereas 
impenitence  keeps  him  for  ever  the  same.  They 
that  lived  unconverted  sinners  on  earth,  remain  the 
same  in  hell.  "  All  that  came  before  me  are  thieves 
and  robbers,"  John  x.  8 :  in  congruity  of  speech  he 
should  have  said,  were  thieves :  yes,  not  only  were, 
but  are  so  still.  Saul  is  still  a  homicide ;  you  cannot 
say  so  of  David,  that  he  is  still  an  adulterer,  because 
he  repented,  and  by  that  was  renewed. 

Our  repentance  is  said  to  appease  God :  now  ap- 
peasing presupposeth  anger,  and  God's  anger  is  two- 
fold ;  of  a  Judge,  and  of  a  Father.  As  he  is  a  Judge, 
offended  with  his  enemies,  and  this  wrath  is  only 
appeased  by  Christ.  As  he  is  a  Father,  and  so  our 
repentance  may  please  him  in  Christ ;  not  in  respect 
of  ourselves,  but  God's  Spirit.  Thus  our  repentance 
through  Clirist  may  pacify  his  paternal  wrath.     This 


300 


AK  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


is  an  excellent  rcmcfly.  but  not  so  easy.  The  king  of 
Nineveh  and  his  pcojilc  put  on  sackcloth,  and  fasted  ; 
but  yet,  "Who  can  tell"  whether  the  Lord  will  turn 
to  mercy  ?  Jonah  iii.  9  :  we  are  not  sure  of  it,  it  may 
be  so,  but  who  can  tell.  Though  the  Jews  rent  their 
hearts,  yet  it  is  but  "Who  knoweth"  whether  God 
will  return?  Joel  ii.  14.  Though  they  gnaw  their 
tongues  for  pain,  yet  they  repent  not  of  their  deeds. 
Rev.  xvi.  10,  11:  so  hard  a  task  is  repentance. 

Neither  is  repentance  without  amendment,  any 
more  than  continual  pumping  without  mending  the 
leak.  The  bird  fighting  with  the  serpent,  ever  anon 
Hew  to  an  herb,  which  was  her  medicine,  and  cured 
her  of  the  poison  ;  but  at  last,  the  herb  being  wasted, 
tlie  bird  died.  Repentance  is  that  herb,  which, 
while  opportunity  lasts,  will  help  the  poison  of  sin  ; 
but  that  once  gone,  and  it  will  not  be  ever  present 
to  presumptuous  sinners,  what  remains  but  perish- 
ing ?  The  medicine  is  made  for  the  wound,  not  the 
wound  for  the  medicine.  The  argument  of  our 
liberty  is  repentance  ;  the  bonds  of  sen-itude  are 
broken  with  a  broken  heart.  Is  the  mourning  voice 
of  that  Dove,  the  Holy  Ghost,  heard  in  thy  bosom  ? 
Demosthenes  would  not  plead  for  his  client,  till  he 
cried  to  him  ;  and  then  answered  his  sorrow.  Now  I 
feel  thy  cause.  Let  our  penitent  contrition  ciy  unto 
Christ,  and  then  he  will  plead  for  us. 

God  "  spared  not  the  old  world."  Thus  in  general, 
now  more  specially  to  the  parts.  World  hath  divers 
significations:  it  is  taken,  1.  For  this  whole  visible  en- 
gine, the  fabric  of  all  things  contained  under  heaven 
and  earth.  2.  For  the  vicious  and  miserable  condi- 
tion of  it,  contracted  by  sin,  and  inherent  in  all  things. 
3.  For  the  noblest  and  most  excellent  part  of  it, 
man ;  and  thus  sometimes  only  for  the  saints  :  "  God 
was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself," 
2  Cor.  v.  19.  Commonly  for  the  wicked;  "The 
whole  world  lielh  in  wickedness,"  1  John  v.  19.  So 
the  world  is  opposed  generally,  vel  numero  vocatonim, 
rel  mimcro  elecloruiii.  The  first  circumstance  we  light 
upon,  is  the  universality  of  this  destruction,  which 
seizeth  on  a  whole  world.  Wherein  the  answer  to 
three  questions  may  satisfy  us. 

1.  Why  the  creatures  \\ere  punished  with  man's 
ruin,  that  were  not  guilty  of  man's  sin.  This  was 
just  with  God,  1.  Because  they  were  all  made  for 
man's  use,  and  therefore  man  suflcrs  in  their  loss. 
As  a  foul  traitor  being  executed,  hath  his  house  fired, 
his  very  land  harrowed  with  brambles,  and  sown 
with  stones.  2.  Seeing  they  were  made  for  man's 
use,  he  being  taken  away,  they  were  of  no  further 
use.  Tlie  general  being  slain,  the  amiy  perisheth ; 
the  head  being  cut  off,  the  members  die.  (Chrysost.) 
3.  Such  was  the  greatness  of  sin,  that  it  brought  de- 
struction, not  only  upon  the  sinner,  but  on  all  that 
belonged  to  him.  4.  Because  brutish  men  had  abused 
the  creatures  by  their  filthy  riot  and  excess,  therefore 
God  saw  it  just  to  punish  the  instniment  with  the 
principal ;  so  that  there  is  not  a  creature  which  is 
not  subject  to  some  vanity,  Rom.  viii.  20.  He  that 
requites  his  prince's  favours  with  treason,  not  only 
suffers  in  his  own  person,  but  every  thing  about  him 
feels  the  smart.  His  followers  are  suspected,  his 
favourites  disgraced,  his  children  disinherited,  his 
friends  discomforted,  his  house  decayed,  all  things 
droop  with  him ;  his  gardens  are  overrun  with  weeds, 
his  orchards  lie  uncouth,  man  and  beast  is  made  sen- 
sible of  his  judgment.  Adam,  that  was  beholden  (o 
God  for  his  very  self,  apostatizing  into  treason,  his 
house  grew  out  of  fashion  to  him,  his  pleasures  were 
turned  to  thorns,  the  arms  of  his  nobility  were  de- 
faced ;  and  he  that  was  made  a  master  of  living 
bodies,  breaking  his  allegiance  with  God,  became 
despised  of  his  own  servants,  some  of  them  shaking 


off  the  yoke  of  our  government  when  we  shook  off 
our  Maker's.  Especially  the  greatest  and  the  small- 
est of  them :  the  greatest,  as  lions,  tigers,  panthers, 
are  hardly  tamed  ;  but  the  least,  as  bees  and  gnats, 
not  at  ail.  In  a  general  destruction,  when  the 
enemy  triumphs,  not  only  men,  women,  and  children 
lose  their  lives;  but  the  houses  are  fired,  the  trees 
cut  down,  the  walls  razed,  the  horses  slain  in  fight, 
the  cattle  burnt  in  the  stalls :  as  Saul  had  his  charge 
for  Amalek,  Spare  neither  man  nor  beast,  1  Sam. 
XV.  3.  Are  there  not  rots  of  cattle,  and  murrains 
of  beasts,  as  well  as  mortalities  of  men  ?  In  a  spoil- 
ing war  or  plague,  who  remains  to  fill  the  empty 
crib  or  manger .'  Do  they  not  suffer  with  their 
masters  ?  Do  not  the  very  beasts  of  the  rich  fare 
the  better  for  the  prosperity  of  their  owners  ;  where- 
as the  poor  man's  cattle  partake  of  the  poor  man's 
want  ? 

I  do  not  think  that  all  manner  of  creatures  perish- 
ed in  the  waters ;  for  besides  them  preserved  in  the 
ark,  the  fish  escaped.  The  rabbins  conceited,  that 
the  fish  also  perished,  growing  hot  in  the  flood,  as  in 
a  caldron;  but  Moses  confines  this  destruction  to 
things  on  the  dry  land.  Gen.  vii.  22.  The  fishes 
wera  spared.  1.  Man  had  not  so  abused  them,  as 
the  other  kinds :  and  herein  our  sinfulness  exceeds 
theirs ;  for  not  only  the  delicacies  of  the  land,  but 
neither  can  the  rarities  of  the  sea,  satisfy  our  riot. 
They  were  then  more  separate  from  man's  sin,  there- 
fore from  his  punishment.  But  in  the  fiery  deluge, 
to  show  that  even  thither  our  excess  hath  reached, 
the  very  fishes  shall  not  escape.  2.  They  lived  in 
tliat  element  wherewith  God  purposed  to  overthrow 
the  world;  so  that  the  same  thing  that  was  ordain- 
ed for  subversion,  was  to  them  rather  for  preserv- 
ation. 3.  Tliey  were  not  partakers  of  the  earth : 
now  the  earth  was  cursed,  not  the  sea ;  because  Adam 
did  unlawfully  eat  the  fruit  of  the  earth,  not  of  the 
sea.  4.  Such  was  the  good  pleasure  of  God,  that 
among  other  creatures  he  would  then  spare  the 
fishes:  then,  I  say,  for  at  other  times  he  hath  both 
threatened  and  destroved  them  also;  he  "slew  their 
fish,"  Hos.  iv.  3  ;  Psal  cv.  29. 

Further,  from  the  number  of  those  preseried  in 
the  ark,  divines  have  probably  exempted,  1.  Those 
creatures  that  live  as  well  in  the  water  as  on  the  land  ; 
as  otters,  sea-wolves,  water-serpents,  and  water-fowls. 
2.  Such  as  come  of  corruption,  and  do  not  breed  by 
generation  ;  as  worms  of  dung,  moths  of  putrified 
herbs,  kc.  3.  Such  as  are  of  a  mixed  kind,  en- 
gendered b)'  male  and  female  of  diverse  kinds ;  as 
the  mule  cometh  of  the  horse  and  ass  :  these  needed 
not  come  into  the  ark,  it  was  enough  that  the  breed- 
ers of  them  were  there.  (August.)  Some  of  the  rab- 
bins have  conceited,  that  the  seeds  of  herbs  and 
plants  were  kept  in  the  ark  ;  but  they  might  by 
God's  providence  grow  in  the  earth,  under  the 
waters;  as  did  the  olive  which  the  dove  found  at  the 
sinking  of  the  deluge.  Yea,  some  of  them,  more 
ridiculously,  amongst  the  living  things  preseiTed, 
would  thrust  in  the  spirits  of  the  air  to  the  ark. 
But  neither  are  they  male  and  female,  nor  subject 
to  the  submersion  of  waters  ;  and  it  were  better  for 
man  to  have  that  kind  destroyed  than  conseiTcd. 
For  the  phenix,  amongst  many  ambiguities,  I  yield 
to  their  persuasion,  who  thinli  there  is  none  ;  and 
that  by  tlie  disagreements  of  her  most  justifying  re- 
porters. For  her  country,  some  make  her  of  Arabia, 
otliers  of  India.  For  lier  life,  some  five  hundred 
years,  others  six  himdred  and  sixty.  For  her  death, 
some  say  she  sings  and  dies  ;  others,  that  with  the 
motion  of  her  wings  she  sets  her  nest  a  fire.  Pliny, 
and  Pompon.  Mela,  write,  that  of  her  ashes  comes 
a  worm,  and  of  the  worm  another  phenix ;  wliich 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


Ver.  5. 

t.ikes  the  bones  of  the  old  phcnix  with  her  nest,  and 
ccirrics  it  to  HcUoiiolis,  the  city  of  the  sun  in  Egypt ; 
there  hiying  it  on  the  ahar,'  and  solemnizing  the 
funeral.  But  who  would  not  smile  at  the  nonsense 
of  this  fiction  ?  For  if  the  phcnix  be  burnt  to  ashes, 
where  are  her  bones  left  for  this  transportation  ? 
But  one,  say  they  ;  and  what  creature  is  without  sex, 
among  beasts,  fishes,  or  fowls  ?  God's  "  Increase 
and  multiply "  had  been  a  vain  and  supertluous 
■  arge  to  her.     If  there  were  but  one  before,  then 

riainly  that  perished  in  the  flood;  for  none  were 
,  :  1  served  in  tlie  ark  but  by  pairs  and  couples.  So 
il.at  if  formerly  but  one,  now  consequently  there  is 
1  <.iu'.  The  siiy'ing  of  St.  Ambrose  is  objected :  Phoc- 
;iii  cum  mortua  sil,  reiiiiscit :  solos  non  credimus  ho- 
titines  resuscilari.  We  answer,  he  doth  not  deliver 
his  opinion,  that  the  phenix  being  dead  reviveth ; 
but  by  that  which  the  heathen  affirmed,  out  of  their 
own  grounds,  he  proves  the  resurrection  which  they 
denied.  Let  not  this  first  question  pass  without  a 
double  meditation. 

It  instructs  our  understanding  what  the  horror  of 
sin  is,  whose  contagion  hath  infected  all  the  creatures 
tliat  belong  to  us.  Cursed  be  the  earth  for  thy  sake  : 
the  earth  thou  treadest  on,  the  earth  meriting  no 
curse,  the  earth  made  before  thee,  made  for  thee, 
and  thou  made  of  it ;  cursed  be  this  earth  for  thy 
sake.  What  have  the  poor  creatures  done  ?  AVe 
are  not  content  with  their  rule,  without  their  ruin  : 
t  lirugh  they  be  ad  iisum  el  csum  nostrum,  yet  we  tyran- 
i:i/.e  over  them,  and  are  scarce  satisfied  with  their 
~\ni\\.  Oh  that  the  guilty  should  thus  dare  to  domi- 
neer over  the  innocent;  and  hold  himself  more  ab- 
solute lord  over  his  beast,  than  he  thinks  God  over 
himself!  He  that  shows  no  mercy  to  his  beast,  (whieli 
yet  is  not  his  creature,  but  bought  with  his  money,) 
teacheth  God  how  to  deal  with  him,  who  is  his  crea- 
ture, and  bought  with  his  Son's  blood.  The  pro- 
phets, when  the  Lord  hath  been  angiy,  and  the  plague 
heavy,  and  no  excuse  for  the  people's  iniquity,  not 
knov.ing  what  to  say  for  themselves,  ashamed  in 
their  own  name  to  crave  pardon,  have  put  him  in 
mind  of  the  brute  creatures :  "  How  do  the  beasts 
groan,"  &:e.  Joel  i.  18.  Not  that  God  is  more  re- 
spective of  beasts  than  of  men ;  Hath  God  care  of 
oxen  ?  1  Cor.  ix.  9 ;  but  when  men  become  bruter  than 
beasts,  God  will  pity  beasts  sooner  than  men.  The 
I>enitcnt  Ninevites  imposed  a  fast  upon  their  very 
(locks  and  herds  with  themselves,  Jonan  iii.  J.  Hath 
God  care  of  beasts,  or  have  beasts  care  of  God  ? 
Are  they  not  without  religion,  yea,  without  reason  ? 
O  pardon  repentance,  a  greater  absurdity  than  this ! 
It  was  a  glass  to  reflect  their  own  estate;  the  bel- 
lowing of  half-famished  cattle  puts  them  in  mind 
how  themselves  ought  to  be  staiTcd.  Such  a  use 
was  of  the  Levitical  sacrifices :  to  see  them  slain,  their 
blood  exhausted,  their  flesh  burnt  to  ashes,  might 
well  strike  them  at  heart  with  the  survey  of  their 
own  demerits.  It  teacheth  the  young  lion  obedience, 
when  he  sees  the  dog  whom  he  loves  and  plays  with- 
al, cudgelled  before  him.  When  the  prince's  gar- 
ment is  beaten,  he  soon  conceives  himself  blame- 
worthy by  that  representation.  The  moan  and 
misery  of  the  dumb  thing  schools  us,  as  stripes  on 
our  garments,  to  tell  us  we  have  parts  in  that  bargain. 
Tliat  which  wants  reason  is  punished,  that  we  who 
have  reason  might  be  humbled.  We  are  little  better 
than  beasts,  if  we  find  no  other  use  of  beasts  than 
to  serve  our  own  riot :  they  may  teach  us  as  well  as 
serve  us.  The  looking-glass  is  an  insensible  thing, 
yet  it  reflects  to  a  nicin  his  own  form.  This  is  the 
lirst  lesson. 

It  also  informs  us  to  moderate  our  affections,  and 
not  to  surfeit  on  this  world  which  we  have  made  so 


corrupt  by  our  sins.  What  creature  is  there,  on 
which  our  impiety  hath  not  stuck  some  blemish  ? 
what  do  we  use,  whereon  we  read  not  engraven  the 
characters  of  our  own  obliciuities  ?  Our  apparel  is 
but  the  cover  of  our  shame ;  by  our  bravest  accoutre- 
ments we  may  take  measure  of  our  delinquishments. 
Adam  was  more  glorious  without  raiment,  than  all 
his  posterity  can  be  by  it :  neither  can  the  glory  we 
seek  in  our  clothing,  conceal  or  countenail  the  ig- 
nominy that  came  by  our  sinning.  For  our  meat,  is 
not  our  life  maintained  by  the  death  of  other  crea- 
tures, our  preservation  by  their  destruction?  Sin 
brought  this  necessity  ;  without  that  no  creature 
should  have  lost  his  life  to  become  our  food.  This 
was  not  from  the  creation,  creatures  were  not  made 
to  this  end.  Innocency  would  have  preserved  all  to 
a  higher  a:id  more  excellent  use.  We  should  have 
had  meat  far  sweeter,  and  such  as  should  have  cost 
no  creature  its  life.  Let  my  soul  thus  meditate; 
Tliis  creature  dieth  not  for  itself,  but  for  me ;  not  for 
its  own  fault,  but  mine:  if  I  had  my  desert,  I  should 
rather  die  than  it.  Do  we  not  read  our  steaming  and 
sordid  lusts  in  the  infected  air;  our  blasphemies  in 
the  blemished  moon,  glimmering  stars,  and  blushing 
sun ;  our  oppressions  in  the  harrowed  and  wounded 
earth ;  our  impieties  in  the  groaning  of  all  creatures  ? 
If  a  rich  man  should  heap  all  his  wealth  together, 
and  then  set  his  house  on  fire,  hath  he  cause  of  joy 
to  see  this  ?  There  is  an  ataxy  and  disorder  in  all 
the  world  wrought  by  our  sins ;  the  trees  must  fall 
under  the  wounding  axe,  the  bowels  of  the  earth  be 
rent,  to  build  us  a  dwelling;  and  shall  not  this  move 
us  ?  Can  we  glory  in  our  shame,  with  that  insulting 
monarch.  This  is  my  Babel  ?  Dan.  iv.  30.  We  had 
a  better  mansion  once,  wthout  any  of  this  violence, 
Paradise.  Thus  as  he  that  rifled  the  poor  scholar, 
robbed  ten  men  at  once,  he  having  borrowed  of  one 
his  horse,  of  another  his  spurs,  &c. ;  or  as  when 
.Esop's  jay  was  stripped  of  her  brave  plumes,  there 
were  twenty  birds  undone,  that  had  lent  her  their 
feathers ;  so  when  death  deprives  man  of  his  life,  he 
finds  many  creatures  to  have  spent  their  bloods  and 
beings  towards  his  maintenance.  Our  comfort  be  it, 
that  our  patent  is  renewed  in  Christ;  the  Second 
Adam  regetting  what  the  former  had  lost.  And  he 
that  was  content  to  become  a  creatute,  and  to  proffer 
his  blood  to  us,  thinks  now  no  creature  too  dear  for 
us.  For  his  sake  they  are  our  senants,  let  us  be- 
come his  servants :  to  us  the  use,  to  him  the  thanks 
and  glory  for  ever. 

2.  In  the  next  place  we  are  to  examine,  whether 
no  other  creatures  escaped  the  deluge  besides  the 
forc-cxeepted.  The  waters  prevailed,  until  "  all  the 
liigh  hills  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven  were 
covered,"  Gen.  vii.  19.  Yes,  saith  Cajetan,  those 
under  the  aiiT  heaven  :  nay,  saith  Moses,  under  the 
whole  heaven.  Some  have  wrangled  about  the 
mountains :  as  Athao  in  Macedonia,  so  high,  that  it 
casteth  the  shadow  to  Myrinum,  a  towni  in  Lemnos, 
eighty-six  miles  off.  Atlas  is  said  to  have  a  top  higher 
than  the  clouds ;  and  Tabor,  to  rise  up  thirty  fur- 
longs ;  Caucasus,  to  be  lightened  with  the  sun  above, 
when  day-light  is  shut  in  below.  (Joseph.)  But 
Moses  affirms  expressly,  that  all  these  high  moun- 
tains were  surmounted,  and  covered  by  the  waters. 
Cajetan  excepts  the  mountain  of  Paradise  from  this 
inundation:  but  where  doth  he  find  that  Paradise 
was  situate  on  a  mountain?  Out  of  Eden  went  a 
river  to  water  the  garden.  Gen.  ii.  10;  but  rivers  do 
not  use  to  run  upon  hills.  His  vain  fear  was,  lest 
then  Enoch  should  have  been  drowned  in  the  flood, 
whom  he  supposeth  to  be  in  Paradise.  But  indeed 
Enoch  was  taken  up  into  heaven,  a  higher  paradise, 
where  no  flood  could  reach  him. 


302 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


Bellarmine  thinks  that  all  the  mountains  were  not 
overflowcfl,  but  only  those  where  the  wicked  dwelt. 
And  Josephus  reports  a  hill  in  Armenia,  where  all 
that  fled  thither  for  succour  were  saved  from  the 
deluge.  But  what  speak  we  of  fantastical  dreams, 
against  evident  scriptures  ?  Thus  the  Hebrews' 
fable,  that  Og  the  king  of  Bashan,  who  lived  till 
Moses'  time,  was  one  of  those  giants  before  the 
flood.  When  I  read  in  Pliny  of  a  giant's  body 
found  in  Crete  forly-six  cubits  in  length,  I  believe 
it  as  I  do  the  ballad  of  Gargantua.  The  waters 
being  fifteen  cubits  above  the  greatest  mountains, 
those  giants  must  needs  be  of  incredible  height  that 
escaped. 

But  then,  say  they,  the  flood  seemed  to  ascend 
unto  the  middle  region  of  the  air ;  for  it  was  so  many 
cubits  higher  (ban  the  mountains,  and  some  moun- 
tain-tops ascend  to  the  middle  region,  yea,  above  the 
clouds.  As  Olympus,  which  Zenagoras  by  mathe- 
matical instruments  found  to  be  ten  stadia  high; 
insomuch  that  the  ashes  remaining  of  the  sacrifices, 
are  neither  dispersed  by  the  wind,  nor  dissolved  by 
the  rain.  So  the  waters  should  seem  to  rise  higher 
than  the  place  where  the  rain  is  engendered.  Ansa: 
The  report  of  Olympus  is  found  to  be  untrue,  by  the 
testimony  of  Philadclphius,  who  went  up  the  hill  on 
purpose  to  make  experiment.  (Ludovicus  Vives.) 
Besides,  no  hill  is  above  four  miles  in  height ;  and 
the  middle  region  is  at  least  fifty  miles  from  the 
earth.  Again,  divers  inhabited  those  places,  who 
are  said  to  live  half  as  long  again  as  olher  men. 
This  showed  it  to  be  a  wholesome  site  for  air,  which 
could  not  be  the  middle  region,  full  of  clouds  and 
foggy  mists. 

The  conchision  then  goes  strong  for  the  universal- 
ity ;  a  whole  world  perished,  save  only  what  the  ark 
preserved.  The  day  of  vengeance  is  come,  the 
guests  arc  entered  their  wooden  castle,  the  door  of 
the  ark  shut,  and  the  windows  of  heaven  opened. 
Now  those  deridors,  seeing  the  violence  of  the  waters, 
some  rising  up,  other  coming  do^vn,  both  joining 
their  forces  to  drown  the  earth,  come  wading  middle 
deep,  and  bitterly  crj-ing  out  for  safety  in  that  vessel 
floating,  which  they  had  flouted  in  making.  But 
now  they  are  justly  rejected,  and  find  no  room  in 
God's  mercy,  whose  word  could  find  no  room  in  their 
hearts.  Others  hope  to  outrun  the  destmction ;  and 
being  clambered  up  to  the  tops  of  the  highest  moun- 
tains, they  look  down  upon  the  waters  with  some 
transient  ilatteiT  of  hope.  Still  the  waters  rise,  and 
their  liills  appear  to  them  like  floating  islands. 
They  give  many  a  look  when  the  heavens  will  clear 
up,  and  those  bottles  of  rain  be  exhausted.  Oh  how 
would  one  hour's  sunshine  have  cheered  their  hearts ! 
And  yet  suppose  it  should  cease  spouting  down, 
where  was  the  provision  which  should  keep  life  and 
soul  together,  till  the  channels  of  the  sea,  veins  and 
hollow  ventricles  of  the  earth,  should  suck  up  that 
inundation  ?  The  beasts  and  fowls  hovering  in  those 
mountains,  were  rather  ready  to  prey  upon  their  car- 
casses than  become  their  food:  hunger  will  make 
those  dcvourers  of  men,  which  before  yielded  to  be 
devoured  by  men.  There  were  wolves  howling,  dogs 
barking,  lions  roaring,  owls  screeching,  cranes  chat- 
tering, serpents  hissing;  men,  women,  children  cry- 
ing; all  in  one  forlorn  place. 

Still  their  death  comes  nearer,  and  overtakes  the 
refuges  of  their  confidence.  Then  from  the  drowning 
hills  they  climb  up  to  the  highest  trees,  and  there 
with  paleness  and  horror  behold  their  threatening 
death,  which  they  would  strive  to  avoid,  and  know 
they  cannot.  From  the  tops  of  all  they  descr\-  afar 
off  the  ark  floating  on  the  waves:  and  now"  look 
on  that  with  envy,  wltich  they  formerly  beheld  with 


scorn;  cursing  their  impenitent  hearts,  which  God 
must  needs  kill  ere  he  could  waken. 

But  in  vain  tliey  flee  whom  God  pursues :  there  is 
no  mountain  so  high  but  liLs  hand  can  reach  it ;  no 
depth  so  low,  but  his  eye  sees  it,  and  power  rules  it. 
There  is  no  way  to  escape  him,  but  by  coming  to 
him.  At  last  their  destruction  surpriseth  them,  poor 
miserable  creatures,  half  dead  with  fear  and  hunger, 
and  now  wholly  dead  with  water.  Lo  here  tlie  full 
conquest  of  justice,  and  the  whole  world  overwhelmed 
with  a  universal  ruin.  God  hath  fetched  back  again 
all  that  life,  wliich  he  had  given  to  his  unworthy 
creatures ;  and  the  world  was  reduced  to  that  form 
wherein  it  stood  in  the  third  day  of  the  creation, 
waters  being  over  the  face  of  the  whole  earth. 

Let  this  contemplation  be  useful  to  us  :  the  season 
of  repentance  is  before  the  beginning  of  vengeance  ; 
but  if  judgment  be  gone  out,  men  crj-  too  late. 
While  the  gospel  moves  us,  the  doors  of  the  ark  are 
open :  if  we  now  neglect  it,  we  may  seek  it  with 
tears,  and  not  find  it.  Mercy  to  impenitence  would 
be  injurj-  to  justice.  Let  every  soul  take  this  very 
time  to  redeem  the  time ;  for  he  is  so  fugitive,  that 
he  will  not  tarry  the  pleading  of  his  own  cause. 

3.  Lastly,  we  are  to  examine  how  in  all  this  the 
righteousness  of  God  may  be  justified.  What,  all 
the  world  ?  might  it  not  have  been  satisfied  with  a 
family,  as  the  monstrous  children  of  Lamech  ?  or 
with  a  cily,  as  Sodom  ?  or  with  a  country,  as  Canaan? 
or  with  a  fourth  part  of  the  world,  as  Europe  ?  but 
all  ?  Because  a  man's  garden,  that  hath  been  fruitful, 
is  overran  with  cankers,  will  he  therefore  destroy  it  ? 
Doth  not  God  threaten  only  the  barren  tree,  such  a  one 
as  cumbers  the  ground,  Luke  xiii.  7i  not  the  whole 
vineyard  ?  The  husbandman  fells  not  all  his  green 
and  unripe  com,  because  some  \\eeds  are  growni  up  in 
it :  yea,  Christ  himself  forbids  it,  with  a  "  Let  both 
grow  together,"  Matt.  xiii.  30.  Nor  because  a  man's 
scr\-ants  have  abused  his  house,  and  left  it  slutlishly 
noisome,  will  he  therefore  straight  pull  it  down  ;  but 
rather  see  it  cleansed  and  aired,  the  rubbish  swept 
out,  and  the  uncleanness  washed  away.  The  Lord 
doth  no  more  here ;  he  punisheth  the  defilers  with 
due  destmction,  washeth  and  scoureth  this  great 
house  of  the  world,  but  then  lets  it  stand :  he  makes 
it  clean,  he  doth  not  make  it  nothing.  But  to  clear 
this  point,  two  subordinate  questions  must  be  scanned. 

1.  Whether  all  that  were  temporally  destroyed, 
also  everlastingly  perished.  If  so,  then  Abraham 
could  object.  Far  be  it  from  thee  to  destroy  the 
righteous  with  the  wicked :  shall  not  the  Judge  of 
all  the  earth  do  right  P  Gen.  xviii.  25.  Shall  infants 
and  innocents  share  in  the  same  confusion  with  ob- 
stinates? 1.  Some  say,  that  all  were  temporally 
punished,  that  they  might  be  eternally  saved ;  as 
St.  Hierome  of  the  Sodomites,  They  received  in  this 
life  their  full  punishments.  But  if  reprobates  might 
escape  thus,  hell  would  not  be  so  fiiU.  2.  Some  ex- 
tenuate their  sin,  as  Cajctan;  tliat  they  were  not 
wholly  void  of  faith,  but  believed  not  Noah  in  this 
particular.  But  it  is  not  safe  for  man  to  extenuate 
what  the  Lord  does  aggravate,  that  the  whole  "  earth 
was  filled  with  violence,  and  all  flesh  had  corrupted 
his  way,"  Gen.  vi.  II,  12.  They  were  not  only  full 
of  incredulity,  but  foul  with  all  manner  of  impiety. 
3.  Others  say,  that  they  were  condemnctl  to  hell, 
yet  redeemed  thence  by  Christ's  descension ;  who 
went  and  preached  to  the  spirits  in  prison,  which 
were  disobedient  in  the  davs  of  Noah,  1  Pet.  iii.  ID, 
20.  Thus  the  pontificians  have  conceited  that  Plato, 
at  Christ's  preaching  in  hell,  believed;  and  was, 
with  manv  others,  delivered;  .as  the  soul  of  Fal- 
conilla,  by  the  prayci-s  of  St.  Tecla,  and  Trajan's,  at 
the  intercession  of  Gregory.     But  these  imaginations 


Ver.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


.303 


cross  God's  determinntions,  who  hath  interposed  a 
great  gulf,  Luke  xvi.  26 :  their  worm  never  dieth, 
and  out  of  hell  there  is  no  redemption.  4.  Others, 
that  they  were  not  cast  into  hell,  but  many  of  Ihcm 
into  purgatory,  and  from  thence  delivered  by  Christ's 
descending.  But  to  answer  both  these  errors,  so 
falsely  grounded  on  the  apostle's  words,  Being 
quickened  in  spirit,  he  went,  &c. :  Christ's  soul  could 
not  be  said  to  be  quickened,  for  his  soul  never  died ; 
therefore  by  his  soul  he  did  not  preach  either  in  hell 
or  purgatory.  Christ  hath  two  spirits,  one  as  man, 
another  as  God ;  so  the  Holy  Ghost  is  called  the 
Spirit  of  Christ.  But  the  Spirit  here  is  properly 
neither  of  these,  but  his  Dinne  power ;  by  which  he 
preached  in  Noah,  in  all  the  prophets  before  him, 
and  the  apostles  after  him.  But  if  it  be  not  meant 
of  purgator)-,  what  is  then  this  prison  ?  Augustine 
says,  this  prison  was  the  body ;  and  the  men  were 
called  spirits  from  the  better  part ;  but  we  seldom 
find  living  men  called  spirits.  Montanus  says,  this 
prison  was  the  ark  ;  but  then  there  had  been  in  the 
prison  too  few  spirits,  for  in  the  ark  were  but  eight. 
Some  will  have  this  prison  to  be  ignorance,  accord- 
ing to  that  prophecy  of  Christ,  that  he  was  sent  to 
preach  "  liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of 
the  prison  to  them  that  are  bound,"  Isa.  Ixi.  I.  But 
to  those  Christ  could  not  be  said  to  preach  in  spirit, 
but  in  person.  Some  would  have  this  prison  the 
grave ;  but  then  souls  should  lie  in  graves  by  that 
consequent.  Others,  to  be  hell ;  and  that  is  indeed 
a  prison,  without  light,  without  liberty,  wnthout  com- 
fort. Let  us  keep  ourselves  free-men,  and  beware  of 
multiplying  our  debts,  that  we  be  never  cast  into 
this  prison.  But  certainly  there  is  no  preaching  in 
hrll.  because  there  is  no  repenting  in  hell  :  Shall 
tliy  lo^nng-kindness  be  declared  in  hell,  &c.?  Psal. 
Kxxviii.  11.  To  conclude;  the  Scripture  never  call- 
ed I  lie  receptacle  of  believing  souls  a  prison  :  to 
think,  therefore,  that  first  they  were  condemned,  and 
afterward  redeemed,  is  a  point  of  contradiction.  The 
same  Christ  that  came  in  his  flesh,  and  preached  the 
gospel  to  the  world,  came  to  them  in  the  days  of 
Noah  by  his  Spirit,  and  in  Noah  preached  repent- 
ance to  those  unbelievers  ;  who  because  they  re- 
pented not,  but  continued  in  disobedience,  are  now 
damned  spirits  in  hell.  This  I  take  to  be  the  true 
sense  and  orthodox  exposition. 

Charity  may  seem  to  except  from  everlasting  ruin, 
innocents  and  ignoranls.  Innocents,  as  infants,  that 
w^ere  not  capable  of  faith  and  repentance.  Ignorants, 
such  as  did  not  hear  of  the  forewarned  vengeance. 
The  one  could  not  believe  for  want  of  discretion  ; 
the  other,  not  be  called  unbelievers  if  they  had  no 
premonition  :  on  these  our  charity  hopes  there  was 
mercy.  In  the  first  judgment,  when  the  angels  fell ; 
in  the  last  judgment,  when  Christ  shall  come  ;  only 
the  elect  shall  be  saved,  and  only  the  reprobate  con- 
demned. In  this  middle  and  intervenient  judgment, 
some  were  preserved,  that  were  not  elected,  as  Ham, 
cursed  of  his  father :  so  we  think,  some  were  drown- 
ed, which  yet  were  saved.  Our  probable  reasons 
are  four. 

1.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  whole  posterity  of  Me- 
thuselah and  Enoch,  and  of  other  noly  patriarchs, 
were  condemned  ;  for  the  Lord  hath  promised  to  be 
good  to  the  children  for  their  fathers'  sakes. 

2.  Howsoever  they  believed  not  Noah  at  the  first, 
but  thought  him  a  fantastical  fellow ;  yet  when  they 
saw  the  event  answering  his  prediction,  and  death 
climbing  up  to  their  latest  refuges,  their  Souls  might 
be  humbled  to  repentance.  Many  having  learned 
that  godliness  in  one  day's  miser)",  which  many  years' 
prosperity  could  not  teach  them. 

3.  The  apostle  resembles  baptism  to  the  ark,  1  Pet. 


iii.  21  ;  but  as  all  dying  without  baptism  are  not 
damned,  so  neither  all  that  were  without  the  ark 
eternally  perished.  They  might  be  drowned  in  the 
deluge  on  earth,  yet  escape  the  abyss  of  hell. 

4.  If  God  had  meant  to  destroy  their  souls  with 
the  confusion  of  their  bodies,  he  would  not  so  have 
lingered  the  execution.  It  was  forty  days  a  coming. 
Gen.  vii.  4,  whereas  God  could  have  despatched  it  in 
four  hours;  that  by  degrees  their  hearts  might  be 
softened  with  sorrows,  as  the  earth  was  soaked  with 
waters. 

But  if  they  repented,  why  is  it  not  recorded  in 
Scripture  ?  So  neither  is  Adam's  repentance,  nor 
Solomon's :  it  expressly  says  they  sinned,  not  ex- 
pressly they  repented  ;  though  of  their  repentance 
there  is  no  question  to  be  made.  But  it  is  concealed 
to  deter  us  from  the  like  rebellion,  lest  it  become  so 
doubtful  of  our  conversion.  But  if  they  did  repent, 
why  then  were  they  not  saved  from  the  deluge  ?  Be- 
cause they  repented  not  in  time,  at  Noah's  preach- 
ing. Repentance  is  never  too  late  to  save  the  soul, 
but  it  may  be  too  late  to  deliver  the  body. 

Let  us  repent  betimes,  before  the  judgment  come ; 
for  if  it  be  once  come,  we  may  save  our  souls,  but 
our  bodies  must  perish.  They  that  were  even  akin 
to  Noah,  because  they  repented  not  at  the  preaching 
of  Noah,  could  not  be  saved  with  Noali ;  but  losing 
this  opportunity,  they  too  late  wish  themselves  in 
the  ark  :  albeit  mercy  shall  never  be  denied  to  true 
repentance,  yet,  speed  well  their  .souls,  they  must 
lose  their  lives.  When  the  Lord  strikes  a  city  with 
his  pestilence,  many  sinners  begin  then  to  relent,  and 
bleed  in  contrition  for  their  offences  :  this  shall  hap- 
pily deliver  them  from  hell  and  the  wrath  of  God, 
yet  this  exempts  them  not  from  death  of  that  plague. 
Men  commonly  fear  God's  temporal  blows  more  tnan 
his  eternal,  yet  of  both  they  neglect  the  antidote 
and  prevention.  This  will  make  him  strike,  if  not 
home.  A  wise  man  will  not  be  drunk,  if  only  for 
the  head-ache  ;  nor  a  good  man  sin,  if  only  to  avoid 
the  heart-ache.  If  we  have  not  repented  so  early, 
but  that  he  will  punish  us ;  yet  let  us  not  repent  so 
late,  but  that  he  may  save  us. 

How  was  this  just,  to  punish  the  infants  and  inno- 
cents for  the  sins  of  their  parents  ?  Doth  not  God 
say,  "  The  son  shall  not  bear  the  iniquity  of  the 
father  ? "  Ezek.  xviii.  20.  Doth  not  he  make 
this  to  the  enraged  prophet  an  argument  of  spar- 
ing Nineveh ;  the  many  thousand  little  ones,  "  that 
cannot  discern  between  their  right  hand  and  their 
left  ? "  Jonah  iv.  1 1  ;  that  cannot  speak,  cannot 
help  themselves ;  (hat  stick  to  their  motliers'  breasts, 
as  apples  to  the  tree ;  if  you  pluck  them  away,  they 
perish.  Is  this  the  babes'  welcome  into  the  world, 
the  milk  to  feed  them  :  when  they  ciy,  to  quiet  them 
with  death  ?  Is  this  the  nursing  of  their  tender  and 
ungrown  limbs,  to  wrap  them  upin  waves  of  swaddling 
cloths,  and  to  rock  them  asleep  with  pitiless  destruc- 
tion? Whose  ears  can  endure  the  lamentable  and 
confused  cry  of  so  many  infants,  and  not  cr)'  for  com- 
pany ?  The  midwives  of  Egypt  had  more  mercy  ; 
Pharaoh's  daughter  was  moved  to  take  up  weeping 
Moses.  It  is  the  property,-  of  a  cniel  nation,  not  to 
show  favour  to  the  little  ones,  Dcut.  xxviii.  50. 
When  the  prophet  foretold  Hazael  of  this  cruelty, 
in  dashing  infants  against  the  stones,  he  asked  if  he 
thought  him  a  dog,  2  Kings  viii.  12,  13;  so  brutish  he 
held  such  a  villain.  Men  have  more  years  and  sins, 
but  what  have  infants  done  ?  The  Scripture  hath 
many  circumlocutions  of  their  ignorance  and  simpli- 
city. God  gave  a  special  charge  concerning  them, 
in  the  bloodiest  victorj-  of  war,  unless  for  some  na- 
tions which  he  had  accursed,  Deut.  xx.  14 — 16. 
Christ  took  them  up  in  his  arms,  blessed  them,  and 


304 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


placed  one  in  the  midst  j  proposing  them  as  patterns 
for  the  imitation  of  riper  years.  Whose  eyes  can  be- 
hold the  shrinking  of  their  soft  members  at  every 
pull  of  grief,  their  limbs  sprawling  on  the  ground, 
their  flesh  scorched  with  heat  as  a  scroll  of  parch- 
ment, or  sinking  on  the  waters,  without  pity  ? 

Thus  justly,  concerning  little  ones,  doth  God  ex- 
postulate with  men;  but  men  may  not  thus  expostu- 
late with  God ;  for  to  him  alone  they  are  not  innocent. 
Man's  rule  is  to  punisli  him  only  that  offends,  and 
not  to  put  the  children  to  death  for  the  fathers,  Deut. 
xxiv.  16.  Yet  so  far  as  afflictions  go  untouching  life, 
children  oft  suffer  for  their  parents  ;  being  deprived 
of  liberty,  goods,  honours;  as  in  cases  of  treason. 
The  Lord  ilireatens  to  visit  the  sins  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children,  even  unto  the  fourth  generation, 
Exod.  XX.  5 ;  so  long,  that  (by  the  course  of  naliire) 
their  parents  may  live  to  see  their  wickedness  plagued 
in  their  posterity :  yet  if  the  son  repent,  the  same 
God  liath  promised  that  he  shall  escape.  And  how- 
soever this  judgment  be  not  always  verified,  yet  it  is 
enough  to  tcrrilj-  us  all.  But  it  never  misseth,  where 
the  parents'  sins  are  become  the  children's  by  imita- 
tion. They  are  then  called  their  fathers'  sins;  be- 
cause they  were  by  their  age  the  founders,  by  their 
example  the  teachers,  and  in  their  own  persons  the 
beginners  of  those  sins :  as  it  is  commonly  said.  We 
may  know  what  house  such  come  of,  by  some  tricks 
of  their  ancestors. 

Jew  and  Gentile  have  excepted  against  the  Divine 
justice  for  tliis.  Bion  took  on  against  the  gods,  that 
the  parents'  demerits  were  devolved  and  translated 
upon  the  progeny ;  which  he  scornfully  matched 
as  if  a  physician  for  the  fathei^'s  disease  should  minis- 
ter physic  to  the  son.  The  Jews  had  such  an  ungra- 
cious proverb,  "  The  fathers  have  eaten  a  sour  grape, 
and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge,"  Jer.  xxxi. 
29.  But  the  Lord  answers  them,  "  Plead  with  your 
mother,"  Hos.  ii.  2  :  for  the  husband  may  lawfully 
put  away  his  prostituted  wife,  and  her  adulterous 
brood,  because  they  are  none  of  his  children.  "  All 
souls  are  mine  ;  as  the  soul  of  the  father,  so  also  the 
soul  of  the  son  is  mine,"  Ezek.  xviii.  4.  If  it  were 
as  Horace  sung  to  his  friend ;  Delicla  majorum  im- 
meritus  litis ;  but  who  can  say,  My  heart  is  clean  ? 
Is  it  possible  to  be  bom  Morians,  and  to  have  none 
of  their  lawny  and  swarthy  complexions  ?  Again,  is 
it  not  just  with  God  to  punish  our  fond  indulgence, 
in  the  very  object  of  our  idolatry  ?  We  hope  these 
young  plants  shall  succour  us  with  their  fniits,  when 
we  are  grown  sapless  ;  but  doth  not  tlie  staff  we  so 
nourish  to  bear  us,  become  often  a  cudgel  to  beat  us  ? 
David  cursed  the  wicked  both  ways  :  in  their  descent ; 
Let  his  children  be  vagabonds,  and  beg  their  bread 
in  desolate  places,  Psal.  cix.  10.  In  their  ascent  ; 
Let  the  ini<iuity  of  his  father  be  had  in  remembrance, 
and  let  not  the  sin  of  his  mother  be  blotted  out,  ver. 
14.  We  have  seen  the  blood  of  the  church  exhaust- 
ed by  sacrilegious  parents,  required  at  the  hands  of 
their  posterity  with  ruin ;  God  so  cui-sing  their  gener- 
ations, that  we  might  read  the  nature  and  quality 
of  the  sin,  in  the  visible  characters  of  the  punishment. 
Tlie  whole  world  was  so  foul,  tliat  the  very  fruit  of 
their  bodies  (without  contraction  of  actual  sins) 
Mcmed  odious  to  God ;  and  in  his  justice  he  punished 
those  innocent  babes  with  a  death  temporal,  whom 
he  might  yet  deliver  from  the  wrath  eternal. 

But  some  haply  were  not  so  heinous  transgressors, 
hut  would  have  believed  had  tlicy  been  informed  ; 
why  should  tluy  suffer  ?  They  had  all  sin  enough 
to  drown  them  in  one  deep,  if  some  found  the  mercv 
to  save  them  from  the  other  deep.  God  doth  no't 
punish  many  for  the  sins  of  some  ;  but  all  men  are 
sinners.    Although  one  be  not  principal  in  respect 


of  the  fact  presently  inquired,  as  David  was  in  num- 
bering the  people  ;  yet  none  fall  but  for  their  own 
offenefing.  He  may  be  accessary  in  consenting,  or 
concealing:  if  he  be  neither  principal  nor  accessary 
in  that,  yet  he  may  be  culpable  in  a  thousand  others ; 
secret,  perhaps,  to  men,  but  kno^vn  to  God.  The 
serpent  hath  a  sting,  though  he  doth  not  always  put  it 
forth  ;  and  man  hath  malice,  though  he  show  it  not. 

Who  then  can  say,  I  have  paid  the  things  that  I 
never  took  ?  Jonah  is  the  offender,  the  whole  ship 
is  in  danger  ;  but  he  that  had  not  sitmed  with  the 
])roi)het,  had  sinned  in  somewhat  else.  They  had 
all  offended  at  sundry"  times  ;  what  wrong  is  it  if  they 
were  all  whipped  at  once  ?  Here  is  all  the  differ- 
ence, their  faults  had  several  places,  their  punishment 
shall  have  but  one.  All  Israel  smarts  with  David, 
not  for  David's,  but  their  own,  disobedience.  The 
Loid  need  not  beat  his  brains,  or  break  his  sleep,  to 
invent  an  accusation  against  us.  We  have  no  thought, 
word,  work,  but  yields  liim  cause  and  matter  enough. 
It  cannot  be  denied,  but  the  sins  we  sever  in  cur 
conceits,  according  to  the  distance  of  time  or  place  ; 
some  of  old,  some  late ;  some  in  one  quarter  of  the  world, 
some  in  another  ;  these  the  knowledge  of  God  imites, 
and  views  all  at  once.  In  France  one  hath  followed 
incontinence  ;  may  not  that  countrj-  disease  overtake 
him  in  England  for  it  ?  A  young  man  is  a  voluptu- 
ous rioter  ;  shall  not  his  old  age  rue  it  ?  Will  any 
time  or  place  exempt  him  from  diseases  incident  to 
that  sin  ?  Thou  art  the  same  person  still,  unless  re- 
pentance have  made  thee  new. 

It  is  true  that  some  are  more  noxious  than  others  ; 
as  Bias  said  to  a  savage  crew  in  a  dangerous  storm, 
when  they  cried  to  their  gods.  Do  not  speak  so  loud, 
lest  the  gods  shoidd  hear  you.  Intimating  them  so 
wicked,  that  it  was  the  hazard  of  a  worse  vengeance 
to  have  them  taken  notice  of  But  the  best  of  all 
have  sins  enough  ;  and  optimus  ille  est  qui  7ninimis 
uruetur.  Thieves  are  brought  out  of  divers  quarters, 
have  trespassed  at  sundry  times,  committed  several 
offences  ;  yet  are  all  imprisoned  in  one  gaol,  punish- 
ed in  one  day,  hanged  upon  one  and  tlie  same  tree. 
A  company  of  men  makes  a  body,  and  the  whole  body 
is  punished  for  the  fault  of  one  member.  The  tongue 
talks  treason,  the  whole  man  is  plagued  for  it.  In 
felony  (which  is  contreclatio  rei  aliencp  invito  domino, 
animo  furandi,  as  the  law  defines  it)  the  hand  only 
takes,  and  bears  away ;  but  the  feet  are  clapped  in 
iron,  the  belly  pinched  with  famine,  the  bones  lie 
hard,  and  the  neck  is  in  danger.  The  eye  may  be 
sore,  and  a  vein  pricked  in  the  arm  to  cure  it.  The 
hoof  of  the  beast  is  tender  and  weak,  the  top  of  the 
horn  anointed  for  remedy.  Besides,  God  hath  seve- 
ral intentions  in  one  judgment.  The  principal  he 
plagues,  the  same  punishment  shall  teach  a  second 
obedience,  tiy  the  patience  of  a  third,  prevent  some 
grievous  sin  in  a  fourth,  humble  another,  call  home 
another  to  grace  and  repentance.  In  all,  he  judgeth 
some,  bettereth  others,  honourcth  himself,  and  gets 
glory  to  his  blessed  name.  But  to  conclude  the 
generality  of  this  ruin  : 

Universal  sin  brings  universal  punishment.  If  all 
flesh  be  corrupted,  all  flesh  must  be  destroyed.  Find 
me  one  just  man  in  the  city,  saith  God,  and  I  will 
spare  it,  Jer.  v.  1.  How  great  had  been  this  mercy, 
ii  there  had  not  been  a  general  apostacy !  Sodom  had 
been  spared  for  ten,  Jerusalem  for  one  ;  and  yet  he 
might  rather  have  looked  for  ten  in  Jerusalem,  than 
for  one  in  Sodom.  By  swearing,  &c.  they  breakout, 
till  blood  toucheth  blood,  Hos.  iv.  2  :  their  sins  w^ere 
rounded  into  a  ring,  no  room  for  piety  to  get  in 
amongst  them.  Therefore  the  whole  land  shall 
mourn,  and  every  one  tliercin  languish,  ver.  3:  uni- 
versally wicked,  universally  punished.     If  the  Lord 


VtR.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


305 


bhould  make  such  a  judicial  scrutiny,  and  strict  in- 
(juisition  for  sinners,  as  Jehu  did  for  true  worshippers, 
2  Kings  X.  23,  who  could  plead.  Not  guilty  ?  Lac- 
tantius  reports  a  prophecy  of  Sibylla,  The  fisher's  hook 
i;hall  take  the  Roman  empire.  If  they  mean  hy  the 
empire,  all  the  souls  in  the  empire,  I  could  wish  that 
St.  Peter's  net  had  caught  and  brought  more  to  heaven 
than  it  hath.  But  if  by  empire  they  intend  the  im- 
perial dignity,  titles,  privileges,  honours,  and  royal 
augusteity,  I  could  wish  for  their  own  sakcs  (that 
now  usurp  that  office)  they  had  caught  less  than 
they  have.  For  when  the  majesty  of  a  prince  came 
in,  the  piety  of  a  priest  went  out.  But  will  you  hear 
the  hooK  that  hatli  caught  tlicm  and  all ;  the  hook  of 
covctousness,  baited  with  riches.  Doubtless  there  are 
some  elect,  otherwise  the  world  could  not  stand  ;  but 
the  greater  part  drowns  the  better  part.  Is  the  fear 
of  God  amongst  men  ?  Who  would  ask  such  a  ques- 
tion ?  But  if  we  fear  God,  we  will  serve  him  ;  if  we 
love  him,  we  will  obey  him.  Now  the  question 
grows  bitterer  and  bitterer,  from  wormwood  to  gall. 
The  devout  man  is  even  flouted  out  of  his  holiness, 
and  zeal  counted  an  irregularity.  Hypocrisy  is  the 
world's  apparel,  malice  his  diet,  pride  his  wife, 
greediness  his  dog ;  and  thus  he  solaceth  himself  in 
a  wilful  rebellion.  We  have  all  run  into  a  pra>mti- 
nire  against  our  high  Sovereign,  and  deser\'e  confis- 
cation of  all  we  have,  of  nil  we  are. 

But  I  am  willing  to  leave  this  spittal  of  incurable 
tiinners  ;  for  who  can  endure  to  look  long  upon  ul- 
cers ?  Therefore  to  touch  at  the  way  to  cure  uni- 
versal wickedness,  is  by  universal  repentance.  We 
may  perceive  how  willing  God  is  to  save  us  ;  for  all 
this  while  we  forbore  not  sinning,  yet  he  forbore 
plaguing.  None  can  be  so  bad  as  God  is  good.  Sin 
reigning  in  men  is  a  tyrant ;  Satan's  possessing  them, 
worse :  Christ  threw  them  out  both.  Man  may  be 
willing  to  forgive  a  mite,  the  Lord  a  million  :  three 
hundred  pence,  and  ten  thousand  talents,  are  all  one  to 
his  mercy.  Satan  hopes  well  of  our  sins,  but  let  Christ 
hope  better  of  our  repentance.  Let  us  all  disappoint 
Satan,  and  answer  the  gracious  mercy  of  our  Re- 
deemer. He  made  us  in  the  world,  he  made  us  not 
for  the  world,  but  chose  us  before  the  world,  and 
came  himself  into  the  world,  to  call  us  out  of  the 
world,  that  we  might  not  perish  with  the  world,  but 
live  after  the  world,  in  a  blessed  and  glorious  world, 
his  own  immortal  kingdom  in  heaven.  This  for  tlie 
universality,  the  next  the  antiquity  of  it. 

"The  old  world."  Old?  It  rather  seemed  to  be 
the  young  world,  and  this  the  old ;  according  to 
David's  prophecy,  "They  shall  wax  old  as  doth  a 
garment,"  Psal.  cii.  2fi.  A  man  of  twenty  is  young; 
ne  of  eighty,  old.  The  world  of  a  thousand  years 
standing,  is  young  in  respect  of  the  same  world 
grown  up  to  five  thousand  years.  The  more  lime 
upon  the  back,  the  more  aged  a  thing  is.  That  then 
seemed  to  be  the  world's  infancy,  this  the  vetcrity  ; 
that  the  nonage,  this  the  dotage.  The  world  then 
brought  forth  giants  ;  now,  in  comparison,  dwarfs  : 
and  it  is  the  youth  of  a  woman  that  makes  her  bear 
the  goodlier  children.  In  age  the  womb  faileth,  and 
brings  fruit  of  a  less  stature,  2  Esd.  v.  54. 

Old  is  like  Janus,  and  looks  two  ways ;  to  the  time 
long  since  passed,  and  long  hence  to  come.  So 
olim,  among  the  Latins,  extends  both  to  past  and 
future  times.  That  which  has  been,  is  called  old,  as 
done  of  old ;  that  which  shall  be  hereafter,  is  said, 
in  older  days.  It  is  used  both  ways,  Psal.  cii.  "  Of 
old  hast  thou  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth,"  ver. 
25 ;  where  old  signifies  a  thing  done  long  ago. 
"They  shall  wax  old  like  a  garment,"  ver.  '2fi ;  where 
old  is  a  quality  hereafter  to  be  fulfilled.  If  we  fake 
the  world  in  respect  of  the  matter  and  structure  of 


it ;  that  was  tlie  young  world,  this  is  the  old.  If  for 
the  men  who  arc'daily  born  into  it,  that  was  the  old 
world,  this  is  the  young.  This  is  as  clear,  as  that  the 
child  is  younger  than  the  father.  From  those  that 
were  in  the  ark,  is  the  whole  world  of  men  descend- 
ed; therefore  it  is  so  called  the  old  world.  Which 
gives  US  three  observations. 

1.  That  antiquity,  if  found  in  impiety,  is  no  privi- 
lege of  impunity.  Indeed  the  arguments  of  com- 
mendation are  often  derived  from  ancientncss ;  and 
men  commonly  love  the  things  wherewith  time  hath 
made  them  long  acquainted.  It  commcndcth  rivers, 
as  in  Deborah's  song ;  "  That  ancient  river,  the  river 
Kishon,"  Judg.  v.  21.  It  commcndcth  customs; 
"  Remove  not  the  ancient  landmark,  which  thy 
fathers  have  set,"  Prov.  xxii.  2^.  It  commcndetli 
friends;  "Thy  own  friend,  and  thy  father's  friend, 
forsake  not,"  Prov.  xxvii.  10.  "  Forsake  not  an  old 
friend,  for  the  new  is  not  comparable  to  him,"  Ecclus. 
ix.  10.  It  commcndeth  wine;  "No  man  having 
drunk  old  wine  desireth  new  :  for  he  saith,  The  old 
is  better,"  Luke  v.  39.  It  commcndcth  an  inherit- 
ance; "The  Lord  forbid  that  I  should  give  the  in- 
heritance of  my  fathers  unto  thee,"  1  Kings  xxi.  3. 
It  commendeth  wisdom ;  "  Rchoboam  forsook  the 
counsel  of  the  old  men,"  I  Kings  xii.  8,  and  that 
turned  to  his  ruin.  Concitia  senum,  hmtce  Juvenum. 
It  commcndeth  truth  ;  "  Seek  out  the  wisdom  of  the 
ancient,"  Ecclus.  xxxix.  1  :  and,  Inquire  for  the  old 
w.ay,  Jer.  vi.  16.  It  commendeth  service  in  the 
field ;  as  C'lilus  to  Alexander,  Despiscst  thou  the 
soldiers  of  thy  father  Philip  ?  Hast  thou  forgotten, 
that  unless  this  old  Atharius  had  called  back  the 
young  men  refusing  to  fight,  we  had  yet  stuck  at 
Halicarnassus. 

Yet  if  age  be  blended  with  naughtiness,  the  older 
the  worse.  An  old  river  without  water  quencheth 
not  our  thirst.  An  old  custom  without  warrant  of 
goodness  is  as  authentieal  for  practice,  as  an  old 
tattered  garment  is  for  handsomeness,  or  an  old 
cough  for  wholesomeness.  An  old  friend  that  hath 
lost  his  honesty,  is  worse  than  an  old  picture  that 
hath  lost  the  colour.  Old  wine  no  man  commends  ; 
when  it  is  turned  to  vinegar,  let  them  take  it  that 
like  it.  An  old  house  is  no  safe  harbour,  when  it  is 
ready  to  fall  on  the  inhabiter's  head.  An  old  man 
that  hath  lost  his  experience,  is  like  a  boulter ; 
much  good  flour  hath  gone  through  it,  but  there  is 
nothing  left  in  it  b.it  bran.  "Days  should  speak, 
and  multitude  of  years  should  teacli  wisdom,"  saith 
Elihu,  Job  xxxii.'  7-  But  "great  m.cn  are  not  al- 
ways wise,  neither  do  the  aged  understand  judg- 
ment," ver.  9.  Gravity  sliould  spe.ak  first,  but  if  it 
speak  worst,  better  hold  the  peace.  "Belter  is  a 
poor  and  wise  child  than  an  old  and  foolish  king," 
Eccl.  iv.  1.3,  who  will  no  more  be  admonished.  If 
an  old  man  speak  lies  with  the  same  confidence  as 
known  truths,  and  so  vehemently  iiraise  former  cus- 
toms that  are  ridiculous,  and  teacn  the  younger  as 
scornfully  as  he  would  do  a  dog  to  fetch  ;  here  age 
hath  lost'  the  credit.  The  hoary  head  is  only  then 
a  crown  of  glory,  when  it  is  found  in  the  way  of 
righteousness,  Prov.  xvi.  31. 

Custom  is  a  second  nature ;  an  old  habit  is  not 
easily  forgotten.  Nature  endures  no  sudden  alter- 
ations, sav  phvsicians.  Therefore  for  a  man  to  grow 
old  with  his  errors,  is  to  be  dead  to  all  virtues.  And 
he  will  find  it  as  hard  to  become  good,  as  to  re-enter 
the  womb,  and  be  new-born.  An  old  dog  bites  sore, 
an  old  ulcer  is  hardly  cured,  and  an  old  vice  within 
a  degree  of  impossible  to  be  amended.  Age  there- 
fore hath  no  privilege.  Look  back  upon  Shiloh, 
saith  God,  Jer.  vii.  1'2.  Shiloh's  antiquity  could  not 
countenance  Shiloh's  iniquity.    Indeed  with  us,  grey 


306 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IF. 


baits  require  reverence,  though  mixed  with  some  in- 
firmities ;  "  Thou  shall  lionour  the  face  of  the  old 
man,  and  fear  thy  God,"  Lev.  xix.  32.  And  they 
are  wretched  days,  when  "  the  child  shall  behave 
himself  i)roiully  against  the  ancient,"  Isa.  iii.  5.  Yet 
no  wonder  if  the  children  despise  the  parents,  when 
the  parents  despise  God.  That  world  might  say  to 
the  Lord,  as  Esau  to  Isaac,  "  I  am  thy  first-born," 
Gen.  xxvii.  32.  Like  a  tree,  it  grew  crooked  from 
the  first  jdanting,  no  art  could  straighten  it,  there- 
fore the  axe  must  hew  it  down.  But  whether  we 
the  younger  children,  or  that  world  the  eldest,  Cain 
and  Lamech  the  first-bom,  all  have  sinned ;  and  all 
must  have  perished,  but  for  the  sufferings  of  the  First- 
begotten  of  God. 

2.  In  this  glass  we  may  behold  the  state  of  the 
world  before  us.  Even  the  former  times  abounded 
with  sins;  they  had  their  aberrations  and  delirements 
as  well  as  we.  It  is  the  fashion  of  people  to  admire 
former  days.  "  What  is  the  cause  that  the  former 
days  were  better  than  these?"  Eccl.  vii.  10.  But 
Solomon  taxeth  that  inquiry  of  folly.  Because  we 
feel  not  our  forefathers'  evils,  therefore  we  think  they 
had  no  evils  at  all.  The  deluge  of  popery  in  this 
land  is  still  commended  by  divers  Rome-alTected, 
Rome-infected  spirits.  AVhy?  0  then  men  lived 
neighbourly  together,  without  quarrels  and  suits  of 
contention.  Did  they  so,  and  is  the  gospel  the  cause 
why  men  do  not  so  now  ?  Is  it  not  the  gospel  of 
peace,  teaching  us  to  love  others  as  ourselves  ? 
Shall  men  be  litigious  furies,  and  lay  tlie  fault  on 
God's  mercies  ?  Hath  the  Lord  opened  our  eyes  for 
no  other  purpose,  but  to  see  to  scratch  and  wound 
one  another?  But  then  were  men  merry  and  jovial, 
and  not  troubled  with  melancholy  cares.  If  they  re- 
joiced in  their  riches,  and  not  in  tlieir  graces,  it  was 
a  mirth  for  the  devil.  If  it  were  in  the  Lord,  doth 
the  "ospel  sad  us  ?  The  statutes  of  the  Lord  rejoice 
the  heart,  Psal.  xix.  8.  Is  any  mirth  like  the  medi- 
tation of  our  peace  made  by  Christ  ?  Cannot  we 
answer  the  jovial  world,  (as  the  grave  musician, 
being  called  into  company  that  sang  wanton  catches, 
and  expostulated  why  he  did  not  bear  his  part,)  I 
am  as  merry  as  they  that  sing?  It  is  God  that  puts 
more  gladness  in  our  hearts,  tlian  all  their  abundance 
can  fill  them  withal,  Psal.  iv.  7.  Shall  men  bate  of 
their  mirth,  because  God  is  near  them  in  his  favours  ? 
or  a  man  be  afraid  to  walk  abroad,  because  it  is  fair 
weatlier? 

Pleasure  is  not  gone,  when  sin  is  gone :  it  is  not 
Isaac  which  is  sacrificed,  that  is,  our  laughter  and 
mirth ;  but  the  ram,  that  is,  the  brutishness  of  it. 
(August.)  Yea,  rather  let  us  count  it  our  chiefest 
delight,  that  we  have  lost  our  former  delight. 
Because  our  forefathers  sat  uncontrollably  at  the 
pot,  and  had  priests  without  more  virtue  than  to 
Uike  up  differences  at  the  ale-house,  were  those  the 
better  times?  But  then,  say  they,  was  more  plenty 
of  all  things,  to  demonstrate  that  God  loved  us": 
com  was  cheap,  and  men  were  charitable,  they  kept 
good  houses :  and  well  fare  the  religion  that  made 
us  fare  so  well.  As  if  God  had  no  better  blessings  in 
store  for  us  than  acorns.  This  was  the  argmnent  of 
the  apostate  Jews,  We  had  plenty  of  victuals,  and 
were  well,  when  we  burnt  incense  to  the  ijueen  of 
heaven ;  but  since  we  ceased  that  sacrifice,  we  have 
wanted  all  things,  Jer.  xliv.  17,  18.  Part  of  their 
reason's  strength  they  fetch  from  antiquity.  Thus  did 
our  fathers ;  part  from  their  own  prosperity.  Thus 
sped  we.  But  how  easily  doth  the  prophet  evade 
and  dissolve  tliis  ridiculous  sojihistry  !  "  Therefore," 
for  this  cause,  "is  your  land  a  desolation,  and  a  curse, 
without  an  inhabitant,"  vcr.  22.  Did  this  bring  you 
a  blessing?     No,   rather  a   curse  and  ruin.     Our 


fathers  bestowed  their  cakes  on  the  queen  of  heaven, 
but  did  not  the  King  of  heaven  plague  them  for  it  ? 
Say  he  fed  their  bodies  with  quails,  did  he  not  put 
leanness  into  their  souls  ?  Shall  wc  call  Xabal's 
sheep-shearing  a  blessing  ?  All  their  superbtilious 
peace  was  no  better  than  the  very  revels  of  Bacchus, 
and  an  holy-day  to  the  devil.  Shall  we  seek  Christ 
no  further  than  among  the  loaves  ?  John  vi.  26. 
Jesus  was  in  the  ship,  yet,  We  have  no  bread.  Matt, 
xvi.  7 :  Jesus  was  at  the  marriage,  yet.  We  want 
wine,  John  ii.  3.  We  may  want  bread  and  wine,  and 
yet  have  Christ's  company.  If  food  fail,  it  is  because 
manna  is  to  come.  If  wine  be  absent,  yet  grace  and 
salvation  are  present.  If  God  take  away  llesh,  and 
give  manna ;  deny  sun  and  moon,  and  give  himself. 
Rev.  xxi.  'Si;  he  does  us  no  wrong.  As  the  Israel- 
ites repined  for  a  king,  when  the  Lord  was  theii- 
King;  so  our  ancestors  refused  Christ  for  their  head, 
and  chose  the  pope.  But  God  answered,  I  gave 
them  a  head  in  mine  anger,  Hos.  xiii.  11.  He  ful- 
filled on  them  what  was  written,  I  Sam.  viii.  13,  &e. 
This  head  took  away  their  fields  and  vineyards,  and 
gave  them  to  his  servants,  monks  and  friars  :  he  took 
away  the  tenth  of  their  sheep  and  seed,  and  put  their 
goodliest  young  men  to  his  work,  and  made  them 
all  his  servants;  that  they  were  forced  to  crj-  out 
because  of  their  kingwhicli  they  had  chosen.  Such 
have  they  found  their  Romish  heads ;  that,  like  ill 
physicians,  have  purged  away  the  good  humours, 
and  left  the  bad  behind  them. 

Lo  now  the  praise  of  antiquity,  when  it  liath 
swerved  from  the  rule  of  piety !  Where  is  now  the 
validity  of  that  pontifician  argument,  concerning  the 
ancientness  of  their  church?  This  plea  might  the 
Jews  still  make,  We  are  the  sons  of  Abraham ;  but 
Christ  told  them  of  another  father.  As  much  say  the 
Turks,  We  are  the  sons  of  Abraham  by  Sara,  so  call- 
ed Saracens  :  but  they  were  none  of  Sara's  sons.  It 
hath  been  unanswerably  proved,  that  the  fundamental 
heads  of  the  present  Romish  faith,  had  their  several 
births,  some  two  hundred,  some  four  hundred,  some 
eight  hundred,  some  a  thousand,  some  a  thousand 
and  four  hundred  years  after  Christ.  But  say  they 
were  old ;  yet  wanting  the  warrant  of  sacred  truth, 
tliey  are  no  better  an  argument  of  purity,  than  the 
old  world  was  of  innocency.  Truth  is  not  to  be  reject- 
ed for  mere  novelty  ;  for  old  truths  may  come  newly 
to  light,  and  God  is  not  tied  to  his  times  for  the  gift 
of  illumination.  Yet  is  this  the  foundation,  whereon 
they  rear  their  Babel,  their  babble;  whose  top  must 
reach  up  to  the  firmament,  and  command  not  earth 
only,  but  heaven  itself:  and  thus  they  mean  to  make 
them  a  name,  lest  they  be  scattered  abroad.  Gen.  xi. 
4.  The  world  was  good  when  God  framed  it,  must 
it  therefore  be  good  when  he  drowned  it  ?  Isaac  was 
strong  when  he  married  Rebckah,  must  he  there- 
fore retain  the  same  corporeal  strength  when  he 
blessed  Jacob  ?  The  cathedral  church  of  St.  Paul 
two  hundred  vears  ago  might  haply  be  in  good  case, 
may  it  not  tlierefore  now  want  reparation?  The 
church  of  Rome  was  pure  when  Paul  planted  it, 
must  it  now  be  so  when  antichrist  hath  corrupted  it? 
Show  us  the  same  integrity  that  Rome  then  had,  and 
we  are  of  the  same  faith  that  Rome  then  was.  Other- 
wise, not  liuw  old  a  thing  is,  but  how  good  it  is,  should 
be  the  inquiry  of  Christians.  The  old  man  is  corrupt- 
ed and  lost ;  he  must  become  new  that  will  be  saved. 
3.  If  that  was  an  old  world,  how  old  is  it  now? 
Have  not  the  accession  of  so  many  hundred  yeai-s 
made  it  somewliat  weaker?  Yes,  the  world  is  sick 
at  the  heart;  not  only  in  some  superfluities,  as  warts 
and  swellings,  but  in  the  integral  and  essential  parts. 
The  air,  like  a  prodigious  mother,  produceth  strange 
and  abortive  birt'is.     She  was  lately  delivered  of  a 


Ver.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


30f 


burning  child,  a  portcntful  comet ;  which  divers 
have  took  the  altitude  of,  but  God  only  knows  what  it 
meant.  The  springs,  instead  of  nourishing  the  young 
plants,  prove  sepulchres  to  bur>-  them.  Nature  is 
so  preposterous,  as  if  her  brains  were  turned,  and 
she  knew  not  wliat  she  did.  But  the  God  of  nature 
knows,  and  tells  us  by  these  tokens,  that  the  world 
is  old.  As  a  tree,  it  was  green  in  the  spring,  yellow 
in  summer,  white  in  the  autumn,  is  now  stark  and 
cold  in  the  winter  of  his  age.  As  man,  which  is  the 
little  world,  so  the  world,  which  is  a  great  man,  had 
his  infancy,  youth,  middle  age,  old  age.  From  Adam 
to  Noah  was  the  world's  infancy  ;  from  Noah  to 
Abraham,  the  childhood ;  from  Abraham  to  David, 
the  youth;  from  David  to  the  captivity,  the  middle 
age ;  from  that  to  Christ,  the  old  age ;  from  him  to 
the  end  of  all  things,  tlie  dotage.  (August.) 

God  hath  made  man's  life  shorter,  that  his  sins 
might  be  fewer.  From  nine  hundred  it  is  fallen  to 
seventy;  and  how  few  see  half  those!  Methuselah 
lived  not  one  day  to  God ;  he  saw  not  a  thousand 
years,  which  witli  God  is  as  one  day:  but  we  scarce 
live  one  hour  in  respect  of  his  day.  Of  nine  hundred 
and  sixty,  our  eighty  is  but  as  the  twelfth  part.  If 
a  man  live  to  the  tenth  part  of  Methuselah's  age, 
he  is  a  child  again ;  when  the  light  is  sent  to  liis 
windows,  and  the  glasses  there  chambered  cannot 
receive  it;  when  the  hollow  receptacles  of  sounds 
are  sliut  up,  and  the  faltering  (hscourse  is  inter- 
rupted with  harsh  parentheses,  coughs.  We  are 
now  old  in  as  short  time  as  they  were  scarce  past 
children.  "  We  are  but  of  yesterday,"  Job  viii.  9. 
And  as  our  lives  are  abridged  from  a  fathom  to  a 
span,  so  are  our  bodies  contracted.  When  the  age 
was  long,  the  proportion  was  great ;  that  a  man 
could  grapple  witli  a  savage  beast  on  some  terms  of 
equality:  as  Samson  coped  with  a  lion,  David  with 
a  bear,  and  came  ofl'  with  \-ictoiy.  These  were  bred 
in  the  world's  prime  and  youthfulness ;  we  now  in 
the  withered  and  decrepit  age.  We  are  scarce  the 
shadows  of  our  forefathers,  whether  in  length  or 
strength  of  life,  whether  in  stature  or  force  of  nature. 
We  are  not  sooner  grown  up  to  be  men,  but  straight 
we  are  none ;  death  makes  as  quick  a  riddance  of  us, 
as  it  will  do  of  all  things.  The  world's  stomach 
being  old,  is  weak  of  retention ;  and  the  cnidities  of 
sin  are  so  hard  of  digestion,  that  the  vessel  must 
.soon  be  broken.  Magistrates  are  the  arms  of  the 
world,  counsellors  the  brains,  lawyers  the  tongues, 
the  rich  the  stomachs,  the  poor  the  backs,  merchants 
the  feet,  officers  the  handi,  and  divines  the  hearts. 
Now  there  is  a  general  corruption  in  all  these,  (let 
it  not  be  understood,  all  of  every  kind,  but  every 
kind  of  all,)  this  epidemical  distemper  witnesseth  it 
is  old,  and  near  the  dissolution. 

Now  the  greater  the  corruption,  the  vaster  the  de- 
struction. Some  think  that  the  fiery  deluge  shall 
ascend  no -higher  than  did  the  water)'.  It  may  be 
the  earth  shall  be  burned,  that  is  the  worst  guest  at 
the  table,  the  common  sewer  of  all  other  creatures ; 
but  shall  the  heavens  nass  away  ?  It  may  be  the 
air)-  heaven ;  but  shall  the  starry  heaven,  where  God 
hath  printed  such  figures  of  his  glory  ?  Yes,  calum, 
etemenlum,  terra,  w-hcn  ignis  ubiijuc  ferox  ruplis 
regnabit  habenis.  The  former  deluge  is  called  the 
world's  winter,  the  next  the  world's  summer.  The 
one  was  with  a  cold  and  moist  element ;  the  other 
shall  be  with  an  element  hot  and  dry.  But  what 
then  shall  become  of  the  saints  ?  They  shall  be  de- 
livered out  of  all;  walking  like  those  three  servants 
in  the  midst  of  that  great  furnace,  tlie  burning  world, 
and  not  be  scorched,  because  there  is  one  among 
them,  to  deliver  them,  "  the  Son  of  God,"  Dan.  iii. 
"25,  their  Redeemer.     But  shall   all  quite   perish? 


No,  there  is  rather  a  mutation  than  an  abolition  of 
their  substance.  Thou  shalt  change  them,  and  they 
shall  be  changed,  Psal.  cii.  26 :  changed,  not  abol- 
ished. The  concupiscence  shall  pass,  not  the  essence  ; 
the  form,  not  the  nature.  In  the  altering  of  an  old 
garment,  we  destroy  it  not,  but  trim  it,  refresh  it, 
and  make  it  seem  new.  They  pass,  they  do  not 
l)erish ;  the  dross  is  purged,  the  metal  stays.  The 
corrupt  quality  shall  be  renewed,  and  all  things  re- 
stored to  that  original  beauty  wherein  they  were 
created.  "  The  end  of  all  things  is  at  hand,"  1  Pet. 
iv.  7  :  an  end  of  us,  an  end  of  our  days,  an  end  of  our 
ways,  an  end  of  our  thoughts.  If  a  man  could  say  as 
Job's  messenger,  I  alone  am  escaped,  it  were  some- 
wliat ;  or  might  find  an  ark  with  Noah.  But  there 
is  no  ark  to  defend  from  that  heat,  but  only  the 
bosom  of  Jesus  Christ.  "  I  have  seen  an  end  of  all 
perfection,"  Psal.  cxix.  96:  if  perfection  on  earth 
have  an  end,  imperfection  cannot  long  continue. 
There  shall  be  an  end  of  our  eating,  an  end  of  our 
building,  an  end  of  our  covetous  scraping,  an  end  of  our 
works,  and  end  of  ourselves,  but  no  end  of  our  souls ; 
and  if  we  be  found  in  the  faith,  no  end  of  our  blessed- 
ness, for  then  begins  a  world  without  end.  Of  these 
three  observations,  I  desire  to  make  three  applications. 

1.  Let  us  turn  good  with  all  the  speed  we  can,  for 
how  far  off  soever  the  general  end  may  be,  our  par- 
ticular end  is  near.  I  know  that  long  life  was  God's 
promise  to  his  servants;  but  when  long  life  ccaseth 
to  be  prosperous,  it  ceaseth  to  be  his  promise.  He 
shortens  our  life,  1.  That  we  be  not  afflicted  with 
evils  ;  the  righteous  are  prevented  of  the  evil  to 
come,  Isa.  Ivii.  I.  2.  That  we  be  not  infected  with 
evils,  corrupted  by  the  times,  as  Joseph  was  caught 
with  the  Egyptian  oath.  3.  Their  memor)'  lives 
though  they  die.  If  the  good  name  be  presented,  a 
man  is  alive  though  he  be  dead.  4.  If  God  takes 
away  temporal,  and  gives  eternal  life  for  it,  there  is 
no  hurt  done  us.  He  that  promised  ten  pieces  of 
silver,  and  gives  ten  pieces  of  gold,  breaks  no  pro- 
mise. When  Herod  promised  half  his  kingdom,  if 
he  had  given  it  all  he  had  broke  no  promise.  God's 
promise  shall  stand,  when  the  mines  of  Intlia  shall 
fail.  All  men's  lives  are  short,  why  should  I  think 
mine  long  ?  "  Our  end  is  near,  our  days  are  ful- 
filled ;  for  our  end  is  come,"  Lam.  iv.  18. 

Oh  then  let  not  the  end  of  our  days  and  the 
strength  of  our  sins  come  near  together !  It  is  said 
of  St.  Chrysostom,  that  he  made  an  end  of  nothing 
but  of  sin.     Let  it  not  be  said  of  us,  that  we  have 

f)ut  an  end  to  all  things  except  our  sins.  A  man 
lath  begun  to  build,  he  would  fain  end ;  begun  to 
travel,  he  would  fain  come  to  his  journey's  end; 
commenced  a  suit,  he  desires  an  end.  Before  all,  let 
us  strive  to  end  our  sins:  if  we  end  them  by  repent- 
ance, though  the  end  of  our  lives  prevent  the  end 
of  our  other  businesses,  we  shall  never  find  cause 
of  sorrow.  It  is  a  saying  in  schools.  From  evil 
seeds  come  evil  plants.  The  body  "  is  sown  in  dis- 
honour; it  is  raised  in  glory,"  1  Cor.  xv.  43.  If  we 
would  reap  a  glorious  body,  let  us  sow  a  gracious 
body.  Let  us  not  be  of  their  number,  whose  end  is 
a  destruction  without  end.  Let  repentance  make  an 
end  of  our  sins,  before  death  make  an  end  of  our 
days ;  and  then  our  end  is  not  properly  an  end,  but 
a  better  beginning.  Seeing  the  world  must  be 
changed,  let  us  that  have  corrupted  it,  first  change 
ourselves.  If  fire  must  purge  the  elements,  let  us 
get  that  celestial  fire  of  tne  Spirit  to  purge  us ;  that 
when  all  the  dross  and  feculency  of  tne  world  shall 
be  on  a  light  fire,  we  may  be  found  pure,  and  pre- 
sented clear  at  the  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  As  this  teacheth  all  this  old  world,  so  it  specially 
directs  itself  to  all  that  be  old  in  the  world.     I  know 


303 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


that  age  is  subject  to  infirmities,  and  hath  endangered 
even  saints  to  a  relapse.  If  all  must  once  err,  error 
falls  less  unhappily  in  youth  than  in  age.  Covetous- 
ncss,  pettishncss,  sluggishness,  pride,  are  incident  to 
old  years.  This  David  knew,  when  he  prayed  so 
earnestly,  "  Cast  me  not  off  in  the  time  of  old  age  ; 
forsake  me  not  when  I  am  grey-headed,"  Psal.  Ixxi. 
9,  IH.  Some  strive  to  keep  themselves  from  any 
need  of  that  prayer;  cither  by  artificial  tinctures, 
dying  their  hairs  into  other  colours.  So  though  they 
cannot  make  white  black,  yet  they  can  make  it  ap- 
pear black.  They  study  colnrare  capitlos  mendacio, 
as  a  father  speaks.  Or  by  lewd  and  wanton  lusts 
they  prevent  the  baldness  of  age,  and  leave  them- 
selves not  so  much  as  one  hair  of  an  honest  man. 

Apostacy  in  old  age  is  fearful.  He  that  climbs 
almost  to  the  top  of  a  tower,  then  slipping  back, 
hath  the  greater  fall.  The  patient  almost  recovered, 
is  more  deadly  sick  by  a  relapse.  There  were  stars 
struck  from  heaven  by  the  dragon's  tail.  Rev.  xii.  4 ; 
they  had  better  never  h.ave  perched  so  high.  The 
place  where  the  Israelites  fell  into  that  great  folly 
with  the  daughters  of  Moab,  was  in  the  plain,  with- 
in the  prospect  of  the  Holy  Land ;  they  saw  their 
inheritance,  and  yet  fell  short  of  it.  So  wretched  is 
it  for  old  men  to  fall  near  to  their  very  entry  of 
heaven  :  as  old  Eli  in  his  indulgence,  1  Sam.  ii. ; 
old  Judah  in  his  incest.  Gen.  xxxviii. ;  old  David 
with  Bathsheba  ;  old  Asa  trusting  in  the  physicians 
more  than  in  God,  2  Chron.  xvi.  12;  and  old  Solo- 
mon built  the  high  places.  Some  have  walked  like 
cherubs  in  the  midst  of  the  stones  of  fire,  yet  been 
cast  as  profane  out  of  God's  mountain,  Ezek.  xxviii. 
14.  1(5.  Thus  the  seaman  passeth  all  the  main,  and 
suffers  wreck  in  the  haven.  The  com  often  pro- 
miseth  a  plenteous  harvest  in  the  blade,  and  shrinks 
in  the  car.  You  have  trees  loaden  with  blossoms, 
yet  in  the  season  of  expectation,  no  fruit.  A  comedy 
that  holds  well  many  scenes,  and  goes  lamely  off  in 
the  last  act,  finds  no  applause.  "Remember  Lot's 
■wife,"  Luke  xvii.  32:  think  on  that  pillar  of  salt, 
that  it  may  season  thee. 

Old  age  is  best  in  three  respects:  I.  Because  it 
liath  passed  the  follies  and  disorders  of  youth,  which 
Job  calls  bitter  things  to  the  mcmoiy.  Job  xiii.  26. 
2.  Because  the  inconveniences  of  it,  albeit  numer- 
ous, are  but  corporeal ;  commonly  bettered  with  tile 
good  estate  of  the  mind.  ,3.  Because  it  is  nearest  to 
dissolution;  within  a  short  step  of  blessedness.  Yet 
of  all,  it  is  then  most  miserable,  when  it  desires  to 
spin  out  a  longer  thread  ;  when  it  is  far  from  Elijah's 
mind.  Let  me  die,  I  am  no  better  than  my  fathers, 
1  Kings  xix.  4.  There  is  nothing  more"  pitiable, 
than  an  old  man  that  for  his  pleasure'  sake  would  be 
yoimg  again.  We  can  scarce  say  of  such  a  one.  that 
he  hath  been  a  man  in  his  davs.  Art  thou  young?  look 
forward,  propound  goodness'to  thy  life.  Art  thou  old  ? 
look  backward,  be  sorrowful  for  sins  past.  Art  thou 
middle-aged  ?  look  both  forward  and  backward ;  repent 
the  past,  amend  the  present,  be  armed  for  the  future. 

Let  the  life  of  man  be  distinguished  into  three 
ages,  the  last  is  fully  in  proof,  then  good  or  never. 
First,  all  is  in  hope:  a  woman  hath  an  embryo  in 
her  womb;  will  it  be  born  living?  she  hopes  so. 
It  hath  life;  will  it  have  proportion?  she  hopes  so. 
It  hath  proportion  ;  will  it  have  the  exercise  of  rea- 
son and  understanding?  she  hopes  so.  In  process 
of  growing,  reason  appears ;  will  he  have  grace  and 
faith?  she  hopes  so.  Heprofesseth;  is  his  profession 
sound  at  the  heart  ?  she  hopes  so.  He  hath  all 
these;  will  he  live  long?  she  hopes  so:  all  is  in 
hope.  Now  middle  age  is  half  in  proof,  and  half  in 
liopc  :  m  proof,  how  good  it  is  ;  in  hope,  how  much 
belter  it  may  be.     Old  age  is  all  in  proof,  it  is  then 


seen  what  good  a  man  hath ;  what  interest  in 
heaven,  what  contempt  of  the  world  is  in  him.  Let 
us  beware  of  tergiversation  in  our  old  age.  "  Ye  did 
run  well ;  who  did  hinder  you  ?  "  Gal.  v.  7.  Let  our 
alpha  and  omega  be  good,  our  fii-st  and  last  alike 
gracious ;  that  we  may  come  with  joy  to  him,  who 
is  Alpha  and  Omega,  first  and  last,  the  beginning  and 
end  of  all  comfort,  Jesus  Christ. 

3.  Let  the  terror  of  this  parallel  destraction  hum- 
ble us  all.  Lord,  what  a  terrible  day  will  it  be, 
when  Christ  shall  appear  in  the  clouds,  all  the  world 
rise  out  of  their  graves,  and  the  whole  heaven  and 
earth  burning  with  flames  !  If  ever  earth  could 
sample  it  with  a  day,  it  was  the  intended  gunpowder 
treason  day,  Nov.  5.  Gunpowder,  invented  by  a 
monk,  taught  by  the  devil,  that  great  master  of  fire- 
works. It  hath  been  said,  that  Africa  brings  forth 
every  year  a  new  monster :  it  never  brouglit  forth 
such  a  one  as  this,  to  which  nihil  nisi  nomina  deximt. 
Herod  slew  all  the  children  of  Bethlehem,  yet  there 
was  some  mercy  in  that,  for  the  men  escaped.  Ha- 
man's  plot  was  damnable  enough,  even  the  ruin  of 
Israel ;  yet  they  had  a  month's  day  of  preparation. 
But  this  was  worse ;  with  suddenness  it  would  have 
prevented  doomsday,  and  sent  up  bodies  before  the 
resurrection.  It  was  cross  to  all  other  kinds  of 
death  :  that  at  other  times  sends  the  soul  upwards, 
the  body  downwards ;  this  would  have  sent  tlie  soul 
downward,  and  the  body  upward.  Let  the  memory 
of  it  live  to  their  shame  and  our  thankfulness. 
Shame,  said  I  ?  Alas,  they  make  it  their  glory !  O 
but  the  papists  condemn  it,  and  call  the  plotters 
"unfortunate  gentlemen."  Unfortunate,  because 
the  fortune  did  not  succeed  as  they  would  have  it. 
It  is  the  success  they  blame,  not  the  villany.  But 
the  papal  chair  never  approved  it ;  and  who  can  say 
the  papal  chair  ever  disliked  it  ?  The  actors  are 
seen,  however  the  poet  lies  hid :  and  the  pope  hath 
not  to  this  day  judicially  condemned  the  powder 
treason.  It  should  have  been  a  dead  day,  let  it  be 
a  red  day  in  our  calendar.  Their  rage  was  without 
measure,  so  let  our  thankfulness  be  without  end. 

That  was  a  little  image  or  figure  of  the  general 
fieiy  deluge  to  come.  If  the  horror  of  the  former  be 
able  to  shake  us  with  the  remembrance  ;  thinking 
how  fearful  it  had  been,  by  a  sudden  blast  to  have 
our  souls  sent  upward  with  our  bodies,  and  perhaps 
both  to  come  down  again  with  the  weight  of  unre- 
pented  sins,  which  then  was  no  thought  or  time  to 
retract ;  how  should  the  meditation  of  this  other 
make  us  tremble  ;  which  as  it  shall  be  more  sudden 
for  the  time,  so  more  universal  for  the  ruin !  Shall 
we  still  slumber  in  our  old  security?  The  apostles 
said  of  Lazarus,  "  Lord,  if  he  sleep,  he  shall  do  well,"' 
John  xi.  12  :  but,  Lord,  if  we  sleep  we  shall  do  very 
ill.  Worldly  men  are  like  Nicodemus  ;  they  would 
fain  come  to  Christ,  but  they  are  loth  to  go  till  it  be 
night ;  that  is,  till  death  sends  them.  But,  The  re- 
pentance that  is  wrung  out  bv  death,  we  may  fear  it 
will  be  dead  sooner  than  he  that  lies  sick.  (August.) 
Now,  now  let  us  break  off  our  sins,  by  the  contrition 
of  our  souls  ;  for  now  repentance  is  a  supersedeas  to 
discharge  all  the  bonds  of  sin.  And  lay  hold  upon 
Jesus,  who  as  he  saved  Noah  in  the  day  of  water,  is- 
able  to  preserve  us  in  the  day  of  fire.  Samson  found 
honey  out  of  that  lion  which  himself  had  killed. 
Our  sins  have  killed  the  Lion  of  Judah ;  oh  let  our 
faithful  prayers  suck  honey  out  of  him  !  there  is  no 
honey  so  sweet  as  his  mercy. 

Thus  having  considered  the  imiversality,  that  it 
was  a  whole  world ;  the  antiquity,  that  it  was  the  old 
world;  I  come  in  the  next  place  to  the  impiety,  tha' 
it  was  an  ungodly  world. 

"  The  world  of  the  ungodly."    The  sins  of  thai 


Yer.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


309 


world  were  vcn'  grievous,  and  too  heavy  for  ihe  sup- 
j'ortation  of  the  earth :  7>ec  medium  in  nialo,  7iec  renie- 
dium  a  malo.  These  sins  began  to  multiply  with  the 
multiplication  of  men:  the  seeds  of  this  mischief 
were  sown  before  the  birth  of  Noah's  sons  ;  at  their 
birth,  like  ill  weeds,  they  sprung  abundantly  ;  at  last 
they  were  so  rank  and  ripe,  that  God  could  forbear 
them  no  longer.  But  it  scemeth  that  the  great  de- 
fection was  about  the  seventh  age  :  then  Lanieeh,  of 
Cain's  race,  fell  to  bigamy  ;  then  was  Enoch  trans- 
lated, that  his  soul  might'bc  no  longer  grieved  with 
the  wickedness  of  the  times.  Then  the  righteous 
abhorring  the  filthiness  of  Cain's  posterity,  separ- 
ated themselves,  antl  began  to  call  on  God.  At 
length  the  very  righteous  seed  declined,  by  falling 
to  folly  with  the  daughters  of  the  wicked. 

Some  Hebrews  tliink  that  this  pregnancy  of  sin 
began  with  the  increase  of  women  ;  whose  number 
gave  more  occasion  of  lust.  Gen.  vi.  1.  But  this 
argues  no  special  multiplying  of  that  sex  more  than 
the  other  ;  but  when  both  were  increased  together, 
both  were  corrupted  together.  If  any  ask  how  the 
world  could  be  so  soon  peopled ;  I  reply,  how  was  it 
after  the  flood  ?  Ninus  king  of  Assyria,  who  reigned 
some  two  hundred  and  thirty  years  after  the  deluge, 
is  reported  to  have  in  his  army  seven  hundred  thou- 
sand footmen,  and  two  hundred  tliousand  horsemen. 
The  earth  was  cornipt  with  their  filthy  sins  ;  and 
they  are  said  to  be  all  flesh.  Gen.  vi.  il,  12:  not 
only  their  bodies,  for  that  is  common  to  all,  but  even 
their  souls  were  eamal.  For  flesh  is  taken  cither 
according  to  nature,  or  according  to  sin.  Man 
is  called  flesh,  when  he  is  subdued  to  carnal  sense  ; 
all  the  imaginations  of  his  heart  continually  evil. 
Wickedness  is  enlarged  by  these  respects.  I.  For 
generality  ;  all  flesh  was  corrupt  :  so  Adam's  sin  did 
spread  overall.  2.  For  continuance  ;  they  were  exer- 
cised in  it  a  thousand  yeare.  Continual  habit  had 
made  it  so  alimcntal,  so  elemental  to  them,  that  they 
could  not  live  without  it.  3.  For  adhesion  ;  as  covet- 
ousness  cleaves  to  a  man,  even  while  he  sleeps,  or 
wakes,  or  walks,  or  works,  or  lives ;  waxing  younger, 
when  all  other  sins  decay  with  age.  4.  For  abund- 
ance :  not  only  addicted  to  some  special  vices,  but 
to  all  wickedness  which  their  profane  hearts  could 
conceive.  If  their  fancies  could  but  imagine  it,  their 
hands  were  ready  to  do  it.  5.  For  supine  carelessness : 
let  Noah  preach  what  he  will,  and  build  as  he  will,  let 
it  rain  how  it  will,  they  are  the  same  men  still.  6.  For 
shamelessncss :  they  were  grownti  such  presumption, 
that  they  durst  sin  God  in  the  fate  :  "  "They  declare 
tlieir  sin  as  Sodom,  they  hide  it  not,"  Isa.  iii.  9. 
Therefore  their  corruption  is  said  to  be  "before  God," 
Gen.  vi.  II.     Thus  in  general,  now  for  the  particulars. 

The  first  act  of  degeneration  was  unlawful  mar- 
riages :  "  The  sons  of  (jod  saw  the  daughters  of  men," 
&c.  Gen.  vi.  2.  Some  think  these  sons  of  God  were 
angels,  and  that  they  fell  for  their  intemperance  with 
women.  But,  I.  God  destroyed  the  world,  not  for 
the  angels'  sin,  but  man's.  "  My  spirit  shall  not 
always  strive"  (he  says  not,  with  angels,  but)  "  witli 
man,"  ver.  3.  2.  "  The  devil  was  a  murderer  from 
the  beginning,"  John  viii.  44 :  but  if  the  angels  had 
fallen  wr  the  love  of  women,  then  they  had  not  sinned 
until  a  thousand  years  after  the  creation.  (Chrj-sost.) 
3.  In  heaven  "  thty  neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in 
marriage,  but  are  as  the  angels  of  God,"  Matt.  xxii. 
30  ;  therefore  angels  are  not  subject  to  carnal  lusts. 
Some  have  thought  these  were  devils,  who,  company- 
ing  with  women,  begat  giants.  But  this  is  ridicul- 
ous, for  the  dcWls  liave  not  generative  faculties  ; 
and  if  they  could  have,  yet  tliey  are  none  of  the  sons 
of  God.  We  read  of  a  whole  legion,  six  thousand 
devils  in  one  man,  Luke  viii.  30;  this  could  not  be, 


if  they  were  corporeal.  If  elemental  was  their  na- 
ture, then  were  tney  subject  to  mutability,  to  mor- 
tality :  as  Plutarch  writes  of  the  death  of  Pan,  a 
famous  devil  among  Ihe  jiagans.  And  how  should 
man's  soul  be  immortal,  if  tfiese  more  subtile  spirits- 
were  mortal  ?  Others  tliink  that  they  were  incttbi,  who 
assuming  airy  bodies,  in  the  act  of  generation  are 
called  nuccubi :  and  so  they  imagine  that  Merlin 
was  begotten  of  a  spirit.  Indeed  spirits  may  assume 
male  and  female  shapes,  but  are  not  true  bodies. 
They  appear  so  to  the  eye,  not  to  the  feeling ;  visi- 
ble, not  palpable.  "  Handle  me,  and  see ;  for  a 
spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones,"  Luke  xxiv.  39. 
But  it  is  objected,  that  Abraham  washed  the  angels' 
feet,  and  discerned  them  not.  For  answer,  this  is  the 
difTei'ence  between  the  apparitions  of  good  and  bad 
angels.  Unto  the  good  God  gave  the  use  of  true 
bodies  during  that  ministry  ;  so  that  they  did  eat 
and  drink.  The  other  are  not  so  allowed,  therefore 
are  called  phantasmata,  visions,  fancies. 

Others  think  that  these  sons  of  God  were  men  tall, 
and  of  a  great  stature ;  as  things  excellent  in  their 
kind  are  ascribed  to  God.  Great  cities,  the  cities  of 
God ;  tall  cedars,  the  trees  of  God,  Psal.  civ.  16.  But 
indeed,  they  were  called  the  sons  of  God,  because  they 
were  of  the  righteous  seed;  and  the  other,  the  daugh- 
ters of  men,  because  they  descended  of  lewd  parents. 
Even  the  wicked  are  the  sons  of  God  according  to 
nature,  according  to  their  works  they  are  not. 

Now  see  the  issue  of  this  unhappy  conjunction, 
giants ;  which  as  they  were  men  of  a  monstrous  stature, 
so  of  a  fierce  and  tyrannous  nature.  Thus  they  were 
called  Nephalim,  mighty  O))pressors  ;  Enim,  terrible  ; 
because  of  their  pride,  Anakim,  as  it  were,  in  chains 
of  gold ;  for  their  strength,  Gibborim ;  for  their 
naughtiness,  Zanzummim.  Such  were  Goliath,  Ish- 
bibenob,  and  ()g,  Deut.  iii.  II.  Here  they  are  called 
Nephilim,  or  falling ;  both  because  of  their  ten-or, 
they  made  men  fall  to  the  ground ;  and  for  their 
error,  falling  themselves  from  virtue  and  goodness. 
These  were  not  from  the  commixtion  of  spirits 
with  women,  but  procreated  of  men  ;  which  is  no 
more  against  nature,  than  for  dwarfs  to  come  from 
well-constituted  parents,  who  are  as  admirable  for 
their  smallness,  as  the  other  for  their  tallness.  Nor 
were  all  thus,  but  only  those  born  by  this  unlawful 
conjunction.  For  as  the  root,  so  was  the  branch ;  the 
marriage  impious,  and  the  issue  ungracious. 

That  which  was  the  first  occasion  of  sin,  was  the 
occasion  of  the  increase  of  sin.  A  woman  seduced 
Adam,  women  betray  these  sons  of  God.  The  beauty 
of  the  apple  betrayed  the  woman,  the  beauty  of  these 
women  l)etrayed  the  holy  seed.  Eve  saw  and  lusted, 
so  did  they  ;"  this  was  also  a  forbidden  fruit.  They 
looked,  liked,  lusted,  tasted,  sinned,  died.  Sins  first 
creep  in  at  the  eyes :  except  we  have  made  a  cove- 
nant with  them,  there  is  no  safety  for  our  souls.  This 
marriage  did  not  beget  men  so  fast  as  wickedness. 

Consider  here  how  dangerous  it  is  for  the  believer 
to  unite  himself  to  an  ungracious  spouse.  I  know 
that  marriage  is  honourable.  The  wife  before  man 
sinned,  wasfor  his  society  ;  after  he  had  sinned,  for 
a  remedy.  Man  in  himself  was  only  but  begun,  in 
woman  he  was  perfected  and  made  up  :  till  then  a 
great  part  of  hmiself  he  had  in  vain  and  useless. 
And  they  that  have  placed  the  chief  glory  in  virgini- 
ty, could  never  find  any  fault  in  matrimony.  lilan 
and  wife  are  the  original  match  of  all  others.  All 
other  relative  paire  and  couples,  as  father  and  son, 
master  and  servant,  king  and  subject,  come  from  this. 
When  God  made  Adam,  he  made  only  one.  When 
he  made  Eve,  he  made  not  only  her,  but  in  her  all 
the  world  to  come.  While  man  was  alone,  and  had 
both  sexes  in  himself,  what  could  he  do  to  fill  the 


310 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


earth  ?  Therefore  in  liis  body  he  bred  a  she-man  ; 
Adam  being  the  mother  of  Eve,  as  Eve  is  the  mother 
of  us  all.  Therefore  she  is  called  the  mother  of  the 
living,  because  she  is  a  means  to  continue  a  kind  of 
immortality  among-  tlie  mortal  sons  of  men ;  and  in 
some  measure  to  shadow  out  that  immortality  which  is 
in  heaven.  Families,  cities,  countries,  the  whole 
habitable  world,  the  militant,  yea,  triumphant  church, 
no  small  part  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  ariseth  from 
marriage.  St.  Hieromc  himself  praiseth  marriage, 
because  it  begets  virgins  :  The  wife  being  no  virgin, 
is  the  mother  of  virgins  that  be  no  wives.  No  mar- 
riage, no  saints  ;  no  generation,  no  regeneration ;  no 
increasing  below,  no  multiplying  above  :  if  the  earth 
be  not  replenished  with  men,  how  should  heaven  be 
so  furnished  with  saints  ? 

But  as  tlie  blessings  that  come  by  good  mar- 
riage arc  innumerable  ;  so  be  the  curses  by  ill 
matches  many  and  mischievous.  For  marriage  is 
a  new  foundation,  whereon  men  build  the  future  state 
of  their  mortality.  A  man  cannot  choose  himself, 
he  may  clioose  his  wife ;  and  in  her  choice  it  lies 
much  to  mend  or  mar  himself,  and,  which  is  more, 
even  his  posterity.  "  Be  not  unequally  yoked  with 
unbelievers,"  2  Cor.  vi.  14.  From  hence  follow  an 
Iliad  of  e\'ils,  and  the  whole  infelicity  of  life;  when 
matches  are  made  of  such  as  match  not  :  when 
planets  are  set  together  of  an  unhappy  conjunction, 
malevolent  effects  must  needs  issue  from  them.  But 
it  is  objected,  that  the  unbelieving  husband  is  sanc- 
tified by  the  believing  wife,  and  the  wife  by  the  hus- 
band :  and  "  what  knowest  thou,  O  wife,  whether 
thou  shalt  save  thy  husband  ?  and,  O  man,  whether 
thou  shalt  save  thy  wife?"  1  Cor.  vii.  14,  16.  This 
may  be,  and  was  not  in  those  times  a  sufficient  cause 
of  divorce.  But  are  not  the  good  perverted  by  the 
bad,  sooner  than  the  bad  converted  by  the  good? 
Often  have  you  heard  how  much  a  superstitious  wife, 
by  her  curtain  lectures,  hath  wrought  upon  her 
Cliristian  husband;  when  did  you  hear  a  believing 
husband  prevail  with  his  misbelieving  wife  ?  Marrj' 
not  thy  son  to  a  Canaanite's  daughter,  for  she  will 
turn  away  his  heart  from  following  the  Lord,  Deut. 
vii.  14  :  he  is  not  so  likely  to  turn  her. 

This  hath  been  full  in  examples ;  the  Israelites 
were  won  by  these  forbidden  matches,  to  serve  other 
gods,  Judg.  iii.  6.  "When  Ahab  sold  himself  to 
wickedness,  it  was  Jezebel  liis  wife  that  stirred  him 
up,  I  Kings  xxi.  25.  Thus  was  Samson  the  strongest, 
Judg.  x\-i.,  and  Solomon  the  wisest,  beguiled ;  "  his 
wives  turned  away  his  heart  after  other  gods," 
1  Kings  xi.  4.  This  was  Jchoram's  ruin;  his  wife, 
the  daughter  of  Ahab,  undid  him,  2  Chron.  xxi.  fi. 
Wlien  water  and  earth  are  tempered  together,  they 
make  but  mire  and  dirt.  AVhat  crueller  tyrant  was 
ever  begotten  than  Mahomet,  who  was  yet  the  son 
of  a  Christian  lady  ?  As  the  sons  of  Jacob  said  of 
Dinah,  We  cannot  give  our  sister  to  one  that  is  un- 
circumcised,  Gen.  xxxiv.  14;  so  let  parents  say.  We 
may  not  give  our  daughter  to  a  person  unchristened. 
Albeit  irrcligion  be  not  a  cause  of  divorce,  yet  it  is 
of  restraint.  We  may  not  marry  with  all  those  with 
whom  we  must  live  being  married.  If  adultery  mjiy 
separate  a  marriage  consummated,  may  not  idolatry 
hinder  a  marriage  not  begun  P  Let  no  man  separate 
whom  God  joins ;  so  let  no  man  join  whom  God  sepa- 
rates. We  would  not  have  our  children  marry  without 
our  will  and  consent ;  and  shall  they  many  without  the 
will,  liking,  and  consent  of  our  Father  in  heaven  ? 

This  was  Rebekah's  care ;  "  If  Jacob  take  a  wife 
of  the  daughters  of  Heth,  what  good  shall  my  life  do 
me?"  Gen.  xxvii.  4(!.  Manoali's  for  Sam'son ;  Is 
there  not  a  wife  among  thine  own  people,  but  thou 
must  go  to  the  Philislmes?  Judg.  xiv.  3.     Is  there 


no  friend  but  an  enemy  ?  no  tree  but  the  forbidden  ? 
no  helper  but  a  tempter  ?  no  wife  but  the  Canaanite  ? 
can  none  please  us,  but  such  as  displease  God  ?  He 
that  is  married  to  such  a  wife,  careth  more  to  please 
her  than  God,  I  Cor.  vii.  33.  Of  all  the  guests  bidden 
to  the  great  feast,  he  that  was  married  (likely  to  such 
a  wife)  desired  not  to  be  excused,  but  impudently 
protests,  that  he  cannot  come.  If  from  ish,  and  tiha, 
you  cast  out  jod  and  he,  there  remains  to  that  couple 
nothing  but  fire,  say  the  rabbins.  So  wretched  is  it 
to  couple  without  God;  when  the  eye  makes  the 
match  for  beauty,  or  the  ear  by  hearsay,  taking  a 
wife  upon  trust  or  the  hand  for  money  ;  marrying 
(though  not  by  picture,  yet)  for  pictures.  Themis- 
tocles  being  consulted,  whether  it  were  better  for  a 
man  to  marn,'  his  daughter  to  an  honest  poor  man, 
or  to  a  rich  of  small  virtue  and  goodness ;  answered, 
I  had  rather  have  a  man  that  wants  money,  than 
money  that  wants  a  man.  How  base  is  that  love, 
which  hath  no  other  weight  than  riches !  How  do 
parents  breed  an  ague  in  the  bones  of  their  childi'en, 
tliat  shall  shake  them  to  their  very  graves,  when  the 
tie  of  their  loves  is  either  portion  or  proportion  only, 
without  regard  of  either  religion  or  conscience  !  One 
said  truly,  He  that  weds  for  state  or  face,  buys  a  horse 
to  lose  a  race.  There  is  Csesars  stamp,  and  God's 
stamp :  most  men  marry  for  Casar's  stamp  ;  and 
these  are  worse  than  the  old  world,  for  they  married 
for  Adam's  stamp.  God's  stamp  is  grace,  Casar's 
money,  Adam's  beauty. 

The  motive  of  the  old  world  to  this  unfortunate 
conjunction,  was  beauty ;  they  saw  that  the  daughters 
of  men  were  fair.  This  is  the  common  attractive; 
men  place  their  loves  upon  Adam's  image  in  the  face, 
rather  than  upon  God's  image  in  the  soul.  Yet 
wliat  is  that  same  goodly  frame  of  flesh  and  blood, 
but  only  a  natural  colour  which  the  Creator  hath 
laid  upon  dust  and  ashes ;  but  the  efTect  of  well- 
digested  sustenance,  not  much  above  that  we  behold 
in  pictures  ;  a  thin,  weak  veil  drawn  over  a  corrupt- 
ible body;  a  transient  delight  of  the  eye;  a  glory 
that  fades  with  life,  yea,  often  before  life ;  a  piece  of 
fine  glass,  that  sickness  or  old  age  will  soon  break  ? 
Yet  is  this  the  snare  that  hath  caught  many  souls  :  to 
enjoy  this,  David  lost  his  peace  for  a  while,  Samson 
lost  his  eyes  for  ever.  Thus  the  Midianites  entrap- 
ped Israel  with  their  dancing  whirligigs ;  and  the 
wisest  king  was  WTought  to  folly.  I  do  not  lay  the 
fault  on  beauty,  God's  admirable  workmanship  upon 
clay ;  for  who  blames  a  clear  and  crystal  river,  be- 
cause some  melancholy,  distracted  man  drowns  him- 
self in  it  ?  And  when  this  outward  ornament  is  joined 
with  inward  lustre,  it  graceth  all  actions.  But  it  is 
the  mind's  beauty  that  keeps  the  other  sweet  and  de- 
lectable ;  a  fixed  and  constant  goodness,  which,  as  it 
disdains  all  the  tinctures  of  painted  hj'pocrisy,  so  is 
far  beyond  the  ruin  of  time,  sickness,  or  any  other 
mutability:  like  heaven,  which  is  fair  outwardly  to 
our  mortal  eyes,  but  shall  appear  fairer  within  to  our 
immortal  souls.  Without  this,  all  affection  is  ill- 
placed,  and  will  soon  perish.  He  that  loves  for  no 
other  end  but  to  please  his  senses,  hath  a  sensual 
love,  little  better  than  bmtish. 

I(  is  the  soul  that  requires  love;  and  for  that  only 
cause  which  makes  it  lovely,  virtue.  The  outward 
worth  of  beauty  is  nothing,  it  is  the  soul  within  that 
makes  it  precious.  When  grace  and  holiness  have 
beautified  the  principal,  then  admit  the  other  cir- 
cumstances and  additions,  as  beauty,  birth,  or  wealth. 
For  these  indifferents,  by  goodness  are  made  good, 
as  fire  turns  all  the  objects  into  itself.  Tlie  love 
built  upon  beauty  without  this,  is  not  long-lived; 
but  running  mad  with  extravagant  desires,  rests  still 
unsatisfied.      Hence   it  comes,   that    God   and  the 


Veh.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLK  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


311 


church  put  ihem  together;  the  devil  and  lust  put 
them  asunder.  "  He  that  loveth  silver  shall  not  be 
satisfied  with  silver,"  Eccl.  v.  10:  so  nor  he  that 
loveth  women,  for  one  is  not  lust's  limits.  He  that 
affect  eth  many,  shall  be  satisfied  with  none.  One 
God  hath  ordained  one  woman  for  one  man.  One  is 
love's  number :  he  which  trespasseth  upon  plurality, 
and  loseth  that  content,  may  be  all  his  life  seeking 
it,  but  shall  never  find  it.  To  the  reproof  and  re- 
proach of  them  be  it,  that  walk  the  streets,  yea,  fre- 
quent the  church,  for  no  other  purpose  but  to  feed 
their  eye  with  such  spectacles.  When  a  gallant  had 
the  name  of  a  brave  soldier,  one  obser\-ed  how  still 
in  his  walking  he  would  turn  about  to  gaze  upon 
women ;  concluding,  tliat  that  man  could  not  have  a 
valiant  and  constant  mind,  whose  head  every  weak 
woman  could  turn  and  writhe  about  with  her  very 
look.  Let  this  breed  in  our  hearts  an  abhorring  of 
carnal  lusts,  a  sin  the  verv  de\"il  docs  not  commit : 
pride  he  knows,  malice  he^nows,  flatteiy,  hypocrisy, 
murder,  treason  he  knows ;  but  incontinence  of  tksh 
he  wonders  at.  Let  no  beauty  that  slicks  upon 
mortal  cheek  so  far  prevail  over  our  affections,  as  to 
prostrate  those  bodies  to  the  service  of  harlots,  that 
are  the  dear-bought  members  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  next  apostacy  of  the  old  world,  was  by  sen- 
suality :  "  They  did  eat,  they  drank,  they  married," 
&c.  Luke  xvii.  27-  But  were  these  sins,  or  matter 
of  reprehension  ?  Nature  hath  made  them  necessary, 
discretion  voluntary,  and  only  some  circumstances 
arbitrary.  Did  God  drown  them  for  this  ?  No,  but 
their  sensuality  and  security  in  these  brouglit  de- 
struction. "  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for 
many  years ;  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry,"  Luke  xii.  19. 
This  was  not  his  fault,  tliat  he  thought  he  had 
enough,  but  that  he  meant  to  lie  down  and  wallow 
in  it.  Lawful  actions  depraved  by  bad  circumstances, 
become  damnable  sins.  Is  this  a  time  to  receive 
money,  and  garments,  and  vineyards?  saith  tliQ  pro- 
phet to  his  sen-ant,  2  Kings  v.  26;  all  which  at 
another  time,  and  in  another  manner,  had  been  ap- 
proved. Things  beneficial  in  their  use,  are  dangerous 
in  their  abuse  or  miscarriage.  Without  a  wooden 
conveyance  we  cannot  cross  the  seas;  yet  if  that 
vessel  sink,  all  the  passengers  are  lost.  That  worldly 
tilings  are  good,  is  easily  perceived  by  our  care  to 
get  them :  that  their  abuse  is  deadly,  many  souls 
feel,  that  cannot  return  to  complain.  It  is  easier  for 
a  camel  to  enter  a  needle's  eye,  than  a  rich  man  to 
enter  heaven's  gate,  Matt.  xix.  24.  It  is  not  certain, 
it  is  not  ea.sy,  it  is  not  likely,  and  (it  may  so  fall  out, 
that)  it  is  not  possible  for  a  rich  man  to  be  saved. 
Riches  commonly  cool  all  heavenly  heats,  force 
away  the  divine  meditations  of  spiritual  causes,  as 
too  melancholy  fits  ;  and  bring  a  man  to  such  a  fool's 
paradise,  as  one  among  Penelope's  suitors,  that  went 
so  oft  with  his  friend',  till  he  was  canght  himself. 

It  is  likely,  that  more  go  to  hell  for  abusing  law- 
ful things,  than  for  using  things  simply  unlawfiil. 
Gross  sins  appear  in  their  own  ugly  forms,  terrible 
as  deformities  and  devils;  but  who  suspects  his  eat- 
ing, his  drinking,  his  common  discourse  ?  Who 
fears  that  his  bu-Idins;  should  be  laid  in  the  founda- 
tion of  sin?  or  that  his  marr>'ing  a  wife  should  un- 
solder his  conjunction  with  Christ  ?  But  there  is 
nothing  better  for  a  man,  than  that  lie  should  eat 
and  drink,  and  let  his  soul  enjov  good  in  his  labour, 
Ecel.  ii.  24.  And  doth  not  St.  Paul  call  the  forbid- 
ding of  meats  and  marriage,  the  doctrine  of  devils? 
I  Tim.  iv.  I,  .3.  We  grant  it ;  neithe-  would  we  have 
any  man  make  the  way  to  heaven  harder  and  more 
rugged  than  God  himself  hath  made  it.  This  is  the 
liberty  (and  indeed  of  whom  else,  but)  of  Christians. 

Pleasures  have  their  allowance,  with  two  limits. 


The  one  of  quality,  they  must  be  good  and  lawful ; 
for  God  that  hath  given  leave  to  be  merry,  hath  not 
given  leave  to  be  mad.  There  is  a  good  mirth,  if 
men  could  hit  on  it,  called,  to  be  merry  and  wise. 
It  is  no  praise  to  be  sparing  of  a  vicious  delight,  for 
the  very  taste  is  deadly.  Admit  the  serpent's  head, 
his  body  will  ask  no  leave.  The  other  of  (piantity : 
for  measure,  God  hath  hedged  in  man's  appetite,  like 
that  foaming  element;  if  he  break  over  those  dams, 
tlic  inundation  is  perilous.  As  deliglits  have  their 
warrants,  so  also  their  terms ;  and  it  is  no  hard  mat- 
ter to  fault  in  this  indulgence.  Is  the  work  of  our 
salvation  effected,  our  common  duties  performed? 
We  may  then  cat,  drink,  and  be  merry.  We  are  not 
born  for  play ;  but  for  labour,  as  the  sparks  fly  up- 
ward. Our  recreations  should  be  like  our  physic, 
not  our  diet :  the  latter  we  take  when  we  are  well, 
to  keep  us  so ;  the  other  when  we  are  sick,  to  make 
us  well. 

Some  things  are  to  be  avoided,  not  because  they 
are  ill,  but  near  to  ill :  it  is  good  to  leave  something 
that  we  may  take,  for  fear  of  taking  that  we  should 
leave.  There  should  be  difference  betwixt  a  beast, 
tliat  devoureth  all  within  his  tether;  and  a  man,  to 
whom  God  hath  given  reason  to  rule  his  appetite. 
It  is  sin's  policy,  to  steal  in  by  the  law  ;  when  men 
range  in  the  borders  and  extremities  of  their  freedom ; 
and  oven  from  that  takes  an  argument  for  us  to  aUow 
it,  whicli  was  made  on  purpose  to  condemn  it.  The 
Jews  might  give  forty  stripes  :  yet  St.  Paul  confess- 
eth  he  received  but  nine  and  thirty  ;  their  reason  of 
forbearing  the  full  number,  was  lest  their  fingers 
should  itch  to  give  another.  What  folly  is  it,  w-hen 
a  man  hath  field-room  enough,  to  ride  on  the  brink 
of  a  river !  The  note  that  comes  too  near  in  the 
margin,  will  skip  into  the  test  at  the  next  impres- 
sion. It  is  a  dangerous  query,  how  near  a  man  may 
go  to  hell,  and  yet  escape  the  devil.  Will  any  wise 
man  try  how  near  he  may  come  to  the  infected 
house,  and  yet  escape  the  plague  ?  or  holding  by  the 
rotten  rails  of  a  turret,  presumptuously  vault  over, 
in  a  proud  glory  of  his  venturousness  ?  Israel  had 
room  enough  in  the  plains  of  Moab ;  but  venturing 
too  far,  they  were  snared  with  Midian.  Let  no  man 
cast  with  himself,  how  old  he  may  be  before  he 
needs  return,  lest  he  reckon  without  his  host.  If  I 
forget  Jerusalem  in  my  mirth,  &c.  Psal.  exxxvii.  5. 
It  is  easy  to  forget  heaven  in  our  mirth.  If  God 
allow  a  handful,  men  are  apt  to  fathom  an  armful. 
Pleasures  are  like  the  popish  relics,  the  interest  is 
more  than  the  principal. 

Through  all  creatures  let  us  look  to  their  Maker; 
through  all  delights,  to  their  Giver.  "  Rejoice  in  the 
Lord  alway,"  Phil.  iv.  4 ;  then  in  the  midst  of  all 
the  changes  and  chances  of  worklly  contents,  there 
will  be  an  immutability  of  joy  in  God.  There  are 
tw.)  sorts  reprehensible. 

First,  they  that  avoid  all  lawful  delights  for  fear  of 
sin.  As  if  it  were  not  possible  for  a  Christian  to 
separate  the  gold  from  the  dross,  but  he  must  needs 
cast  away  the  ore.  Will  any  simple  Jew  condemn 
the  clear  streams  of  Jordan,  because  they  nm  into 
the  Dead  Sea  ?  We  see  some  proud  of  their  fantas- 
tical clothes,  dressed  up  like  children's  puppets,  or 
antics  in  a  pageant  ;  must  we  therefore  go  naked  ? 
Some  are  drunk  with  wine,  may  not  therefore  a  sober 
man  drink  it  ?  Is  there  no  physic  but  opium  ?  must 
we  cither  be  sensually  wicked  or  senselessly  stupid? 
Why  did  God  place  man  in  Paradise,  but  to  solace 
himself?  why  hath  he  given  us  such  variety  of  crea- 
tures, but  for  use  ?  Doth  the  Lord  invite  us  to  this 
feast,  and  wc  depart  (like  sidlen  guests)  from  so  rich 
a  table  hungry  ?  This  pretence  of  mortified  strict- 
ness doth  injurj',  both  to  our  liberty,  and  our  Maker's 


312 


AN  EXPOSITIOX  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1 1. 


libcralily.  Everj-  good  gift  comes  from  above ;  there 
is  nothing  but  good  from  heaven :  he  that  rejects 
tile  gifts,  wrongs  tlie  Giver.  God  cannot  abide  such 
a  discontented  answer,  Keep  thy  rewards  to  thyself, 
and  give  thy  gifts  to  another,  Dan.  v.  17.  Many 
great  kings  have  been  blessed  saints:  they  could 
not  have  been  kings  without  a  number  of  earthly 
pleasures  ;  they  could  not  have  been  saints  with 
earthly  affections.  If  God  therefore  have  mingled 
us  a  pleasant  cuj),  let  us  cheerfully  drink  it,  and  give 
thanks  to  Jesus  Christ.  Charity  is  not  strait-laced, 
but  yields  much  latitude  to  the  lawful  use  of  indif- 
ferent things :  these  are  fit  for  those  that  are  fit  for 
them. 

Next,  they  are  to  be  blamed,  that  with  neglect  of 
better  things,  settle  and  fix  themselves  upon  these. 
It  is  the  heart  that  makes  all  evil,  when  that  lying 
speech  of  Satan  is  borrowed.  All  these  are  mine. 
Christ  teacheth  us,  first  to  seek  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven, then  shall  the  rest  be  cast  upon  us.  When  the 
bargain  is  made  for  salvation,  the  rest  come  in  like 
lumber.  When  you  have  fed  heartily  on  the  body 
of  your  Saviour,  and  gotten  assurance  to  drink  the 
wine  of  heaven,  then  cat,  drink,  and  be  meny.  First 
marry  thy  son's  sotil  to  Christ,  then  his  body  to  a 
virtuous  wife.  The  factor  employed  in  foreign  parts, 
first  dcsjiatcheth  his  master's  business,  then  his  own. 
How  preposterous  is  it,  to  omit  that  only  thing  in 
this  world  for  which  we  came  into  the  world,  to 
serve  our  Maker  ! 

The  last  sin  of  the  old  world,  was  security.  The 
Lord's  forbearance  did  so  little  stir  them,  that  they 
were  scarce  waked  with  his  vengeance.  The  sa- 
vagest  creatures,  lions,  tigers,  bears,  by  God's  instinct 
came  to  seek  succour  in  the  ark :  men  did  not  seek 
it.  Even  brutishness  is  more  sensible  than  corrupted 
reason.  The  Sybarites,  that  no  disturbance  might 
come  near  their  beds  of  violets,  banished  all  cocks 
and  clocks  :  the  former  must  not  break  their  sleeps, 
nor  the  other  vex  them  with  report  of  the  fugitive 
time.  Epimenides  the  Cretan  slept  fourscore  years 
in  a  cave;  some  say  but  forty,  and  that  was  enough 
in  conscience ;  beyond  a  miracle,  and  doubtless  be- 
yond the  truth.  But  the  old  world  slept  a  hundred 
and  twenty  years,  and  all  Noah's  hammering  about 
the  ark  wakened  them  not.  Oh  that  the  conscience 
of  man,  in  the  midst  of  so  many  sins  provoking  God, 
so  many  temptations  assiiulting  his  own  soul,  so  many 
enemies  against  him,  so  many  dangers  about  him, 
should  still  be  secure !  She  is  observed  by  her  own 
eye,  when  none  else  mark  her;  chased  by  her  own 
foot,  when  none  else  follow  her;  hath  a  thousand 
witnesses  within  her,  when  there  is  no  outward  stir 
against  her :  and  yet  the  wicked  sleep. 

Satan,  like  Jael  to  vSiscra,  or  Judith  to  Holofernes, 
watcheth  till  a  man  be  asleep,  and  then  kills  him. 
PrcaclnTS  cry,  but  sinners  will  not  waken :  and  as 
in  places  of  judicature  they  often  determine  to  hear 
causes,  but  do  not  hear  to  determine  causes  ;  so  men 
commonly  remember  to  hear,  but  do  not  hear  to  re- 
member. Pliny  writes  of  some  bears  so  sleepy,  that 
they  are  hardly  roused  with  blows  and  wounds.  Many 
discourse  of  religion,  as  men  talk  in  their  dreams; 
they  speak  wonders  of  goodness,  yet  are  no  such 
manner  of  men,  neither  the  one  working,  nor  the 
other  waking.  "  Tliis  wisdom  descendelh  not  from 
above,  but  is  earthly,  sensual,  devilish.  For  where 
envying  and  strife  is,  there  is  confusion  and  every 
evil  work.  Dut  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above  is 
first  pure,  then  peaceable,  gentle,  and  easy  to  be 
entreated,  full  of  love  and  good  fruits,  without 
partiality,  and  without  hvpocrisy,"  James  iii.  15 
—17. 

Let  us  take  the  apostle's  caution,  Be  sober  and 


watch.  Be  sober;  for  ebriety  is  a  drink-ofTering  to 
the  devil.  And  watch;  for  security  is  a  porpoi.se 
before  a  tempest :  keep  your  souls  waking,  then  shall 
your  bodies  sleep  in  (juiet.  As  there  may  be  a  cor- 
poreal watching  when  the  mind  sleeps,  so  there  may 
be  a  spiritual  watching  when  the  body  sleeps.  Tempt- 
ations, like  Delilah,  tell  us  a  fair  tale,  but  their  end 
is  to  bring  us  asleep,  and  pluck  out  our  eyes.  But  if 
in  all  our  earthly  business  we  still  carry  a  heavenly 
mind,  the  judgment  of  God  shall  not,  as  it  did  the 
old  world,  ever  take  us  napping.  The  house  doth 
every  day  get  some  dust,  therefore  let  it  every  day 
be  swe])t :  the  soul  contracts  some  sins,  the  besom  to 
sweep  it  is  made  of  examination  and  repentance. 
At  night,  ere  we  shut  our  eyes,  let  us  open  our  hearts, 
and  cleanse  our  consciences :  before  we  shut  the  door 
let  us  cast  out  the  dust.  He  never  breaks  liis  sleep 
for  debt,  that  pays  as  he  takes  up.  Let  us  watch  in 
righteousness,  this  is  the  way  to  sleep  in  peace. 
When  the  stomach  is  obstructed,  the  body  takes  but 
ill  rest,  and  the  slumbers  are  broken  off  with  dis- 
tracted dreams.  If  the  conscience  be  oppressed,  in 
vain  the  soul  looks  for  quiet.  If  hardness  of  heart, 
like  opium,  shall  consoporate  it,  that  sleep  is  mortal. 
The  shepherds  were  watching  over  their  flocks  by 
night,  Luke  ii.  8.  As  Christ  found  the  shepherds 
watching  over  their  flocks  at  his  first  coming,  so 
may  he  find  us  all  watching  over  our  souls  at  his 
second  coming,  in  the  glory  of  his  kingdom. 

I  conclude.  In  this  glass  let  us  see  the  present 
state  of  this  world.  Certainly  we  may  vie  sins  with 
them,  and  stand  upon  comparisons,  without  bating 
them  one  ace  for  heinousncss.  If  the  world  were 
then  foul,  it  is  now  foulness  itself.  Some  things  are 
so  clear,  that  they  refuse  trial  ;  and  some  so  filthy, 
that  they  abhor  purgation.  Nor  do  I  confine  this 
corruption  to  some  parts  of  it ;  as  there  be  national 
sins,  peculiar  to  age,  to  country,  to  constitution  : 
mores  seqmoitur  Inimoro:  But  all  the  world  is  sick 
and  rotten :  paganism  possessing  a  great  moiety  of 
the  whole,  and  heresy  perverting  the  half  of  that  is 
left.  We  may  say  of  it,  as  Tully  to  Antony,  It  is 
wretched  if  it  feel  it,  more  wretched  if  it  feel  it  not. 
Men  perish  because  they  are  ignorant  of  their  per- 
ishing: yea,  they  more  perish,  because  they  are  ig- 
norant of  their  not  knowing. 

Let  us  hear  St.  Paul  delivering  the  state  of  our  old 
world,  and  see  how  our  experience  accords  with  liis 
prophecy,  2  Tim.  iii.  2 — 4.  "  Men  shall  be  lovers  of 
their  own  selves."  Have  we  not  seen  this  self-love 
stalking  in  the  garb  of  imjmdence,  vomiting  dis- 
graces against  all  men,  and  arrogating  to  itself? 
fly-blowing  good  things  to  deter  others,  that  himself 
might  devour  them?  "Covetous."  O  they  swarm 
like  the  frogs  in  Egypt ;  that,  as  a  shrewd  censurer 
said,  stand  where  you  will,  and  of  every  ten  men 
that  pass  by,  nine  and  three-quarters  are  covetous. 
When  the  uplander  wondered  toseea  white  crow,  the 
fen-man  answered,  In  our  country  we  wonder  to  see 
any  black  ones.  It  is  no  marvel  to  sec  one  covetous, 
it  is  marvel  to  see  one  not  covetous.  "  Boasters ;"  a 
great  rabble.  Some  boast  their  portion,  others  their 
jiroportion  :  rather  than  want  matter  of  ostentation, 
they  Mill  boast  their  vices  :  as  if  one  should  be 
l)roud  of  his  scabs,  or  make  a  scarf  of  his  halter. 
"Proud:"  a  universal  disease;  the  rich  display  it  in 
their  wearing,  the  poor  in  their  swearing.  I  will 
not  tell  you,  that  this  idol  goes  in  strange  iind  fan- 
tastical dress;  that  is  indeed  an  inseparable  sign, yet 
but  one  :  vou  shall  have  her  sit  as  pertly  under  a 
broad  felt  iiuUed  down  to  the  eyes,  as  under  a  beaver; 
and  find  her  as  soon  in  a  little  Geneva-set,  as  in  a 
great  Spanish  ruff. 

"  Blasphemers."     Men    ha'C   sworn    themselves 


Ver.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


313 


hoarse  with  oaths.  There  is  a  word  that  isclothedabout 
with  death,  EccUis.  xxiii.  12;  and  that  word  is  too 
frequent  in  the  jaws  of  men,  till  the  fearful  name  of 
God  be  made  as  vile  as  common  air.  "  Disobedient 
to  parents."  Tliis  is  so  arrogated  to  the  young,  and 
so  tolerated  by  the  old,  that  for  this  cause  God  short- 
ens their  days,  and  sets  parents  a  weeping  for  the 
loss  of  their  children's  bodies,  that  regarded  not  the 
loss  of  their  souls.  "  Unthankful."  This  vice  hath 
usurped  a  jiropriely  of  that  which  is  only  borrowed  : 
customaiy  fruition  hath  made  men  scarce  think  tlicni- 
sclves  beholden  to  God.  Olhemlse,  why  do  not  rich 
men  abound  in  praises,  as  God  hath  made  them 
abound  in  riches?  Perhaps  they  do  not  think  their 
riches  came  in  God's  name,  and  tliereforc  cannot  with  a 
good  conscience  thank  him  for  them.  "Unholy,"  or 
profane.  God  hathmadeall  us,andallours;  he  reserves 
but  the  tenth  of  our  goods,  and  the  seventh  of  our  time, 
but  our  whole  selves.  We  are  his  peculiar.  Tit.  ii. 
14:  now  shall  we  make  that  virgin  common,  prosti- 
tuted to  ever>-  base  gipsy,  pride,  lust,  avarice,  which 
the  Lord  hatli  redeemed,  and  required  holy  and  pecu- 
liar to  himself? 

"Without  natural  affection."  When  men  wilfully 
transgress  against  grace,  God  suffers  them  to  sin  even 
against  nature.  Tlicy  that  have  lost  the  love  of  their 
Father,  shall  lose  the  love  of  their  children.  It  is 
just,  that  for  being  false  to  their  best  Friend  in 
heaven,  they  should  neglect  their  friends  on  earth, 
and  be  neglected  of  both.  "Truce-breakers."  There 
is  a  faith  that  knits  us  in  a  covenant  with  God,  and 
a  faithfulness  that  tics  us  in  a  covenant  with  man. 
We  are  truce-breakers  in  both ;  have  broke  the  vow 
made  in  our  baptism,  and  are  so  full  of  levity,  that 
there  is  more  credit  given  to  the  print  of  our  seals 
than  to  the  faith  of  our  souls.  If  any  nation  break 
truce  with  us,  who  wonders,  when  we  have  broken 
truce  with  God?  "  False  accusers."  This  was  wont  to 
be  the  devil's  own  office  only ;  but  now,  as  if  men 
grudged  Satan  the  honour  of  calumniation,  they  mo- 
nopolize it  into  their  own  hands.  The  makebate  runs 
from  house  to  house,  and  carries  the  burning  coals  of 
contention,  till  he  sets  them  all  a-flame,  and  then  warms 
his  own  fingers  at  the  fire.  "  Incontinent."  The  devil 
hopes  that  this  vice  in  the  next  age  will  be  held  a  vir- 
tue, for  it  is  gotten  already  out  of  the  disreputation  of  a 
sin.  Drunken  houses  and  brothels  vie  for  number :  in 
every  part  of  this  great  metropolis  you  may  see  botli 
these  snares.  "Fierce."  The  violencesof  former  times 
were  courtesies  to  ours.  Then  it  was  a  friendly  imposi- 
tion, You  shall  stay  and  eat  with  me:  now  it  is  a  friendly 
enforcement,  You  shall  stay  and  drink  with  me:  and 
if  there  be  any  failing  in  the  quantity,  they  are  as 
fierce  as  tigers.  "  Despisers  of  those  that  are  good." 
It  is  the  honest  man's  commendation,  to  contemn  a 
vile  person,  but  to  honour  them  that  fear  the  Lord, 
Psal.  XV.  4.  And  David's  delight  was  in  the  saints, 
and  such  as  excel  in  virtue,  Psal.  xvi.  3.  To  honour 
virtue :  to  honour  virtue  in  rags,  and  to  loathe  vice 
though  in  a  robe  of  state.  But  now  let  in  the  jester ; 
Ibii  llomerej'oras :  they  like  him  worse,  that  goes  about 
to  make  them  better.  "  Traitors ; "  who  because 
they  cannot  warp  a  prince's  justice  to  their  own  hu- 
mours, will  strike  at  that  sacred  blood.  If  the  for- 
mer world  had  any  actors  to  do  it,  this  world  hath 
more,  even  patrons  to  defend  it.  "  Heady :"  that 
whereas  God  hath  made  man's  reason  to  go  foremost, 
his  hand  after  it ;  these  do  first,  and  think  after- 
wards; and  then  beat  tlieir  wits  to  make  good  what 
their  wills  have  made  necessary.  "  Higlr-minded  : " 
that  arc  like  chimneys  ;  they  overlook  all  the  house, 
yet  are  the  foulest  part  of  it.  They  think  that  nei- 
ther God  nor  man  knows  their  worth,  nor  rewards 
them  to  their  merits.     "Lovers  of  pleiisures  more 


than  lovers  of  God."  After  this  long  catalogue  of 
jiarticulars,  as  if  the  apostle  were  wear>'  of  the  enu- 
meration, he  gives  you  this,  the  sum  of  all  profane- 
ness.  God  did  form  them,  pleasures  deform  them  ; 
God  would  save  them,  pleasures  would  destroy  them  : 
they  are  madmen  to  love  pleasures  more  than  God. 

Tims  I  have  showed  you  some  representation  of 
these  e\-il  times  ;  the  works  of  the  old  world,  the 
works  of  the  old  man.  They  ;ire  old  in  your  practice, 
old  in  your  remembrance  ;  oh  that  so  old,  that  they 
were  dead  in  your  performance  !  A'ovus  annus,  noius 
atiiiniti- :  let  me  tell  you  of  anew  lesson  ;  indeed  more 
truly  old  than  the  other  :  for  goodness  was  before 
sin,  truth  ancienter  than  falsehood ;  but  new  to  your 
relish,  new  to  your  apprehension,  new  to  your  appro- 
bation, new  to  your  practice.  "  Whatsoever  things  are 
true,"  that  do  not  savour  of  hypocri.-iy;  "honest," 
not  of  vanity  ;  "just,"  not  of  iniipiity ;  "pure,"  not 
of  obli(|uity  ;  "  lovely,"  not  of  deformity  j  "  of  a  good 
report,"  not  of  infamy :  if  virtue  hath  given  them 
worth  and  weight ;  and  praise,  an  ornament  of  grace 
and  beauty;  receive,  hear,  learn,  think,  do  these 
things,  "  and  the  God  of  peace  shall  be  with  vou," 
Phil.  iv.  8,  9. 

Such  is  the  fearful  estate  of  the  world  by  rea- 
son of  sin.  Oh  that  we  might  see  an  end  of  these 
tilings,  before  we  see  an  end  of  all  tilings  !  "  Help, 
Lord,  for  the  godly  fail  from  among  the  children  of 
men,"  Psal.  xii.  1.  When  ungodliness  so  reigns,  that 
piety  is  almost  quite  lost,  it  is  high  time  to  cry.  Help, 
Loril :  and  indeed,- ©Mirf /am  nisi  tola  supenant  ? 
Oh  may  the  virtue  of  that  blood,  which  is  able  to 
buy  oil"  all  our  sins,  mortify  sin  in  us,  and  purge  sin 
from  us  ;  that  our  remaining  days  may  be  spent  in  a 
due  preparation  for  our  great  audit,  at  the  second  ap- 
pearing of  Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 

"  Bringing  in  the  flood  upon  the  world  of  the  un- 
godly." Tlie  eyes  of  all  things  look  up  unto  thee,  O 
Lord,  Psal.  cxlv.  15;  not  only  expecting  their  con- 
servation by  thy  providence,  but  also  attending  thy 
direction  for  their  obedience.  The  winds  from  their 
caves,  the  rain  from  their  bottles,  the  waters  from  their 
channels,  all  answer  the  Lord,  as  the  Israelites  did 
Joshua,  "  All  that  thou  commandcst  us  we  will  do,  and 
whithersoever  thou  sendest  us  we  will  go,"  Josh.  i. 
16.  We  are  ready  to  be  charged ;  what  shall  we  do  ? 
He  saith,  Clouds,  pour  down,  seas,  break  loose,  smite 
the  world,  drown  it.  Lo,  how  they  concur  in  their 
ready  execution,  and  unite  their  forces  to  a  universal 
rtood.  The  points  I  insist  upon  are  three  ;  how  this 
deluge  was  caused,  how  far  it  prevailed,  how  long 
it  continued  ;  with  some  useful  observations  derived 
from  them. 

First,  how  it  was  caused.  It  was  a  work  of  Al- 
mighty power,  which  also  used  the  concurrence  of 
some  natural  means.  "  All  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep  were  broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven 
were  opened,"  Gen.  vii.  1 1.  The  Hebrews  have  call- 
ed fountains,  gnaiim,  which  signifieth  an  eye  ;  eyes 
being  like  fountains  to  distil  tears.  This  eruption  of 
the  great  deep,  was  not  the  Tartarean  waters  about 
the  centre  of  the  earth  :  they  could  not  surge  so  high. 
But  either  the  sea,  which  some  think  to  be  higher 
than  the  earth,  and  restrained  only  by  God's  provi- 
dence from  overflowing  it  :  "  Hitherto  shall  thou 
come,  but  no  further :  and  here  shall  thy  proud 
waves  be  stayed,"  Job  xxxviii.  11.  In  nature  it  is 
acknowledged,  that  the  place  of  waters  is  above 
the  earth  :  therefore  Aristotle  calls  it  a  strange  thing, 
that  a  light  thing  should  be  placed  below  a  heav)-. 
Indeed  the  waters  were  created  higher,  but  depressed 
by  God's  command.  At  first  thou  didst  cover  the 
earth  with  the  deep  as  with  a  garment ;  and  the 
waters  stood  above  the  mountains.    But  at  thy  re- 


314 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


buke  they  fled  ;  at  the  voice  of  thy  thunder  they 
hasted  away.  They  go  up  by  the  mountains,  and 
down  bv  the  valleys,  unto  the  place  which  thou  hast 
founded  for  them.  Thou  hast  set  a  bound  which 
they  shall  not  pass  over,  nor  turn  again  to  cover  the 
earth,  Psal.  civ.  6 — 9.  The  sand  is  this  liound  by 
"  a  perpetual  decree,"  Jer.  v.  22 :  though  they  toss 
and  roar,  they  shall  not  prevail.  And  it  is  fondly 
imagined,  that  the  sea  is  now  higher  than  the  earth. 
'■  They  that  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,"  Psal.  cvii. 
23 :  down,  therefore  not  higher.  Thou  hast  "  found- 
ed the  earth  upon  the  seas,  and  established  it  upon 
the  floods,"  Psal.  xxiv.  2 :  upon  the  seas,  therefore 
not  under  them  :  and  so  founded,  not  so  only  forced. 
He  strctcheth  out  the  earth  above  the  waters,  Psal. 
cxxxvl.  6 ;  therefore  not  the  waters  above  the  earth. 
"  All  the  rivers  run  into  the  sea,"  Eccl.  i.  7 :  hut  the 
natural  course  of  the  waters  is  downward.  But  how 
then  find  wc  springs  in  the  tops  of  mountains  ?  Not 
by  miracles,  but  natural;  God  so  disposing  them  to 
exercise  their  natural  motions.  Not  that  they  come 
of  some  vaporous  sweat  or  distillation  of  the  earth  : 
for  then  they  could  not  so  vehemently  boil  up.  Nor 
by  the  transcendent  height  of  the  sea  ;  as  a  spring 
rising  in  a  hill,  and  conveyed  in  pipes,  will  force  the 
ascent  to  the  same  height  it  bears  at  the  fountain. 
But  the  sea  doth  so  violently  rush  into  those  re- 
ceptacles of  the  earth,  which  she  finds  hollow,  that 
it  forceth  springs  even  upon  mountains.  Most  inter- 
preters by  this  "  deep,"  understand  the  deep  heads 
and  springs  of  waters  within  the  earth,  which  were 
opened  and  enlarged  to  this  inundation  ;  those  "wa- 
ters under  the  earth,"  Exod.  xx.  4,  the  rivers  and 
deep  gulf  gushing  forth. 

"  The  windows  of  heaven."  This  signifies  not  an 
eruption  of  any  waters  in  the  crystal  heavens,  as 
they  call  that  above  the  starry  sky.  Some  have  con- 
ceived waters  to  be  above  the  firmament  to  mitigate 
the  heat  of  the  stars.  But,  1.  The  waters  are  a 
heavy  substance,  and  should  be  kept  there  against 
nature.  2.  If  these  wafers  had  come  from  thence, 
there  must  have  been  a  dissolution  of  the  starrj- 
heaven.  3.  The  watery  heaven  should  then  be  a 
vacant  place.  4.  The  celestial  bodies  have  no  need 
to  be  refrigerated  ;  for  they  are  of  no  fiery  and  ele- 
mental nature,  they  admit  no  qualities ;  the  sun  it- 
self not  being  hot  really,  but  in  effect.  But  it  is 
objected,  "Ye  waters  that  be  above  the  heavens," 
Psal.  cxlviii.  4.  By  heaven  is  tmderstood  there  the 
lower  region  of  the  air.  So  it  is  said,  "  The  liOrd 
thundered  in  the  heavens,  hailstones  and  coals  of 
fire,"  Psal.  xviii.  13  :  but  thunder,  lightning,  and 
hail,  come  not  properly  from  heaven,  but  from  the 
air.  There  be  three  heavens  :  aereum  ;  so  we  called 
the  fowls  of  heaven,  that  is,  of  the  air :  syderevm  ;  so 
the  firmament  is  called  heaven:  empyreum,  the  fierj- 
heaven ;  so  called,  not  for  the  heat,  but  for  the  glory. 
If  the  air  be  so  comfortable,  that  is  but  lightened 
with  the  sun,  what  is  the  heaven,  where  the  sun  it- 
self is!  If  that  be  so  refulgent,  how  glorious  is  the 
heaven  where  God  himself  dwells  ! 

This  opening  of  the  windows  is  the  breaking  of 
llic  clouds,  wherein  the  waters  are  contained.  "  He 
liindeth  up  the  waters  in  his  (liick  clouds;  and  the 
cloud  is  not  rent  under  them,"  Job  xxvi.  8.  Here 
lie  unbound  those  vessels,  and  made  vents  for  the 
rain  like  windows.  Seneca  writing  of  the  general 
deluge,  which  he  thinks  not  past  but  to  come,  gives 
these  reasons  :  I.  Tlie  swelling  and  overflowing  of 
the  seas.  2.  The  earth  itself  putrifying  and  resolving 
into  waters.  .3.  The  conjunction  rif  celestial  bodies  : 
as  the  world  shall  be  drowned,  saith  he,  when  such 
stars  concur  in  Cancer ;  so  it  shall  be  burned  when 
the  same  company  meet  in  Capricorn.     But,  indeed 


these  seem  to  be  true  causes  :  I.  The  issuing  forth 
of  waters  from  the  earth.  2.  The  violent  eruption 
of  the  seas.  3.  The  continual  rain  from  the  clouds. 
4.  Which  were  increased  by  the  liquefaction  and 
distilling  of  the  air  into  water. 

But  the  principal  Agent  here  was  the  Lord  :  "  I 
will  cause  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth,"  Gen.  vii.  4.  It 
was  his  special  work,  by  the  ministry  of  angels,  after 
no  ordinary  manner.  There  was  no  fatal  necessity 
in  it ;  for  seeing  God  created  the  world  in  such  wis- 
dom and  order,  that  one  part  should  concur  to  the 
preservation,  not  to  the  destruction,  of  another,  it  is 
vainly  imputed  to  the  constellation  of  the  stars  ;  for 
they  can  have  no  general  operation  over  all  the 
earth,  but  only  in  that  place  where  their  influence 
w'orketh. 

The  instruction  w-e  collect  is  this,  that  all  God's 
creatures  are  at  his  beck,  even  the  greatest  lions  on 
earth,  whales  in  the  sea,  devils  in  hell.  What  is 
greater  than  the  heaven  ?  Yet  this  ever-wheeling 
body  shall  suspend  its  swift  diurnal  motion  at  his 
command,  to  do  service  to  his  servants ;  "  Sun,  stand 
thou  still  upon  Gibeon:  and  thou,  moon,  in  the  val- 
ley of  Ajalon,"  .Tosh.  x.  12.  The  sun  cometh  forth  as 
a  bridegroom  out  of  his  chamber,  and  rejoiceth  as  a 
strong  man  to  run  a  race,  Psal.  xix.  5 ;  yet  to  con- 
firm the  faith  of  Hezekiah,  he  shall  fly  back  as  a 
coward,  ten  degrees  at  once  in  the  dial  of  Ahaz,  Isa. 
xxxviii.  8.  What  is  more  huge,  firm,  and  unfit  to 
be  dealt  withal,  than  the  earth?  yet  lie  makes  it 
tremble,  and  open  the  jaws  to  devour  his  enemies : 
if  he  touch  the  hills,  they  smoke  for  it,  Psal.  civ.  32. 
The  whale  wallows  up  and  down  the  sea  like  a 
mountain,  yet  was  he  tamed  to  become  the  prophet's 
chariot,  and  bring  him  to  land,  Jonah  ii.  10.  The 
famished  lions  forbear  Daniel,  they  dare  not  touch 
the  dish  which  God  had  resei-ved  for  himself  And 
for  Jonah,  how  lie  should  lie  in  the  bowels  of  that 
leviathan  three  days,  not  concocted  and  stifled,  is  no 
wonder  to  them  that  contemplate  the  power  of  God. 
The  belly  of  the  fish  could  not  be  hotter  to  the  pro- 
phet, than  the  fiery  furnace  was  to  the  three  ser\'- 
anls  ;  neither  is  it  more  to  bring  a  living  man  after 
three  days  from  a  fish,  than  to  raise  a  dead  man  after 
four  days  from  the  grave. 

The  angels  are  of  a  powerful  nature  :  yet  the  good 
arc  made  ministering  spirits  for  the  heirs  of  salv.a- 
tion,  Heb.  i.  14;  the  bad  God  ties  in  chains,  and 
muzzles  their  malicious  forces.  Those  that  had  pre- 
pared themselves  to  slay  the  third  part  of  men,  were 
l)0und  up  in  the  great  river  Euphrates,  till  he  loose 
them,  Rev.  ix.  14,  15.  He  needs  not  the  posts  of 
Persia,  which  Haman  used,  nor  the  dromedaries  of 
Egypt,  to  signify  his  will;  but  "his  word  runneth 
very  swiftly,"  Psal.  cxlvii.  15.  The  day  is  his,  and 
the  night  is  his ;  the  open  place  and  the  secret ;  the 
very  wings  of  the  wind  shall  carry  his  precepts.  The 
sea  liad  a  charge  for  the  prophet,  as  the  prophet  had 
a  charge  for  Nineveh,  Jonah  i.  God  said  to  the  one, 
Arise  and  go,  and  he  went  not :  he  speaks  to  the 
other,  Arise  and  go,  and  it  went ;  fulfilling  its  Maker's 
command  with  all  diligence.  Thus  all  creatures  have 
arms  and  legs,  when  God  bids  them  go  ;  spirit  and 
life  !■:  put  into  them,  activity  to  use  thorn,  w'isdom  to 
direct  them,  wdien  they  should  punish.  The  mari- 
ners were  tying  a  chain  of  delays,  with  a  number  of 
shifts,  desirous  to  save  or  reprieve  the  guilty,  Jonah  i. 
13;  but  in  vain  they  labour  to  evade  the  counsel  of 
God.  While  the  nien  are  in  advice,  the  winds  and 
seas  are  in  action  :  the  men  arc  backward,  the  other 
go  forward  with  their  service:  the  men  lose  time, 
the  other  admit  no  dilation. 

It  is  the  Lord  of  hosts  to  whom  all  these  obey ; 
'•  fire  and  hail,  snow  and  vapour,  stormy  wind  and 


Ver.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


315 


tempest,  fulfilling  his  word,"  Psal.  cxlviii.  8.  There 
is  no  Neptune,  .ulmiral  of  the  seas,  nor  jEolus,  master 
of  the  winds,  nnr  Mars,  general  of  the  wars,  nor 
Jupiter,  king  of  thunders ;  but  only  the  Lord.  M'ho 
divided  and  diverted  .Jordan?  This  retrogress  was 
no  ordinary  thing :  we  might  well  say,  "  Wliat  ailed 
thee,  O  Jordan,  that  thou  wast  driven  back  ?"  Psal. 
cxiv.  5.  Many  being  crossed  by  the  creatures,  fall 
to  blaspheming  them :  but  let  us  reprove  them,  as 
the  prophet  did  Sennacherib ;  "  Whom  hast  tliou 
blasphemed?  and  against  whom  hast  thou  exalted 
thy  voice  ?  even  against  the  Holy  One  of  Israel," 
2  Kings  xix.  22.  Whom  are  you  angry  withal  ?  Do 
the  rain  and  waters  displease  you?  Alas,  they  are 
servants ;  if  their  Master  bid  smite,  they  must  not 
forbear.  They  may  say  tnily,  what  Rabshakeh 
usuri)ed.  Are  we  come  without  the  Lord?  he  said, 
Go  and  chastise  them,  Isa.  xxxvi.  10.  Thus  was  it 
in  this  deluge  ;  the  Lord  brought  the  flood.  "  The 
waters  saw  thee,  O  God,  the  waters  saw  thee,"  Psal. 
Ixxvii.  16 ;  they  heard  thy  voice,  and  came  stream- 
ing out  of  their  cells.  Wc  arc  placed  on  the  earth, 
as  in  the  midst  betwixt  two  swallowing  pits ;  the 
waters  of  the  sea  below  us,  and  the  waters  of  the 
firmament  above  us  ;  if  the  one  were  not  kept  down, 
and  the  other  held  up,  by  the  power  of  God,  they 
would  drown  us  every  moment.  But  if  it  be  easy  for 
him  to  alter  the  course  of  nature  for  the  destruction 
of  his  enemies,  he  can  with  more  ease  keep  the  course 
of  nature  for  the  preservation  of  his  friends. 

The  next  circumstance  is,  how  far  it  prevailed. 
This  was  even  to  the  overwhelming  of  the  whole 
earth;  that  not  the  tallest  cedars,  nor  loftiest  build- 
ings, nor  highest  mountains  could  appear ;  even  fif- 
teen cubits  upwards.  Some  mountains  are  said  to 
be  of  an  exceeding  height ;  therefore  cavillers  find 
impossibility  in  these  natural  causes,  for  the  waters  to 
transcend  them  fifteen  cubits.  So  neither  the  gap- 
ings  of  the  sea,  nor  the  sluices  of  the  earth,  nor  the 
cataracts  of  heaven,  with  the  help  of  all  those  signs 
which  they  call  waterj' ;  as  Cancer,  Pisces,  Pleiades, 
Orion  ;  and  among  the  planets,  Venus  and  Luna, 
could  do  it.  We  need  not  here  answer,  that  the 
superior  and  inferior  waters  did  meet  together ; 
as  the  mists,  which  are  waters  above,  and  the  springs, 
which  arc  waters  below,  meet  often  on  the  tops  of 
mountains.  But  what  need  arguments  from  natural 
causes,  when  ever^•  believer  of  tlie  Scriptures  per- 
ceives here  the  supernatural  finger  of  God?  So  he 
commanded,  so  the  creatures  obeyed,  and  so  the 
wicked  were  destroyed.  From  hence  we  may  collect 
four  meditations. 

1.  That  no  power  of  man  is  able  to  withstand  the 
will  of  God  ;  it  must  be  accomplished,  though  a  whole 
world  perish.  It  shall  stand  firmer  than  the  firma- 
ment ;  "  Whatsoever  the  Lord  pleased,  that  did 
he  in  heaven,  in  earth,  in  the  seas,  and  all  deep 
places,"  Psal.  cxxxv.  6.  What  can  a  fly  do  against 
a  bulwark  ?  or  man  against  God  ?  unless  he  could 
fee  and  corrupt  the  heavens,  with  all  that  therein  is ; 
the  earth  and  sea,  with  all  that  therein  is ;  there  is 
no  rescuing  of  that  which  the  Lord  will  smite.  This 
the  damned  prove  in  hell  by  woeful  experience ; 
always  willing  what  is  and  shall  be  ever  absent,  and 
always  nilling  what  is  and  shall  be  ever  present.  In 
eternity  they  shall  not  obtain  what  they  wish,  and 
shall  sustain  what  they  do  not  wish.  (Bern.)  The 
men  rowed  hard  to  deliver  the  prophet,  but  the  sea 
was  tempestuous  against  them,  Jonah  i,  13.  Man 
roweth,  and  God  bloweth ;  there  be  arms  for  the 
one,  winds  for  the  other ;  which  is  likeliest  to  pre- 
vail ?  How  much  against  how  little !  The  ocean 
with  his  fiiry,  against  one  wooden  vessel  ;  great 
waves    against   small    strokes.      Such   are   all    de- 


vices and  endeavours  against  the  Lord.  In  the  pro- 
verb, Ocnus  weaves  a  rope,  and  an  ass  stands  by  and 
bites  it  ofl". 

How  impossible  will  it  be  for  the  wicked  to  stand 
in  the  day  of  judgment  !  If  all  the  sinners  on  the 
earth,  with  all  the  devils  in  hell,  oppose  the  Judge, 
it  is  less  than  for  one  unarmed  man  to  set  upon  a 
legion  of  well-appointed  soldiers.  There  is  no  forti- 
fication against,  no  evasion  from,  the  Lord.  Fugitive 
Jonah  gotten  to  Joppa,  and  thence  to  sea,  might 
think  afl  safe :  but  lo,  presently  a  pursuivant  is  de- 
spatched from  heaven  to  attach  him ;  vengeance  is 
snipped  in  a  whirlwind,  and  sails  aloft  in  the  air,  to 
overtake  him.  If  a  still  spirit  cannot  charm  sinners, 
God  hath  a  turbulent  spirit,  which  is  a  more  severe 
master,  to  enforce  them.  "There  be  spirits  that  are 
created  for  vengeance,  which  in  their  fury  lay  on 
sore  strokes,  to  appease  the  wrath  of  him  that  made 
them,"  Ecclus.  xxxix.  28.  If  they  deny  appearance 
in  his  court  of  justice,  there  be  pursuivants  enough 
to  fetch  them  in  :  his  writ  of  attachment  must  be 
served.  There  is  no  dealing  with  God,  but  by  prayers 
and  pcace-ofTerings.  How  vain  were  their  shifts 
in  this  deluge !  could  they  have  laid  mountain  on 
mountain,  and  upon  the  top  of  all  erected  a  tower 
higher  than  Babel  was  ever  meant;  yet  He  that 
sitteth  in  the  heavens  would  laugh,  the  Lord  would 
have  them  in  derision,  Psal.  ii.  4;  and  smiling  at 
their  folly  make  an  end  of  their  ruin. 

2.  That  strange  sins  meet  with  strange  punish- 
ments. The  monstrous  and  giantly  sins  of  those 
monstrous  giants  we  have  heard ;  they  were  wonder- 
ful, yet  the  plague  is  of  no  less  wonder.  A  continued 
rain  of  forty  days,  a  prevailing  deluge  of  fifteen  cu- 
bits ;  this  was  without  examjile  before  it,  nor  shall 
any  match  be  after  it,  but  the  deluge  of  fire  at  the 
last.  Sodom  was  guilty  of  a  strange  and  unnatural 
sin,  therefore  destroyed  with  a  strange  and  unnatural 
plague ;  hell  out  of  heaven.  Nadab  ofl^ers  strange 
fire,  and  suffers  strange  fire.  Cain  committed  a 
strange  murder,  in  killing  his  brother,  the  fourth 
part  of  the  world;  and  strange  was  his  punishment, 
to  be  a  runagate  in  his  own  land;  till  he  finds  that 
he  killed  himself  more  than  his  brother.  Oh  how 
bitter  is  the  end  of  sin,  yea,  without  end  bitter!  Jo- 
nah admitted  a  wonderful  neglect ;  the  chastisement 
comes  little  short  of  wonder.  Pursued  by  a  tempest, 
discovered  by  a  lot,  condemned  by  himself,  thrown 
overboard  by  his  friends,  wrapped  in  weeds,  in  the 
bottom  of  a  depth,  devoured  by  a  whale ;  without 
light,  without  food,  without  company,  without  com- 
fort ;  drowned,  and  not  drowned ;  devoured,  but  not 
digested ;  alive,  and  yet  as  dead ;  so  terrified  in  con- 
science, as  if  a  reprobate ;  his  soul  in  a  swoon,  his 
life  at  the  last  east,  the  gasps  and  pangs  of  death 
tipon  him,  the  very  throbs  of  desperation  oppugn- 
ing him,  that  his  hope  of  eternal  life  was  in  his  sense 
exiled :  here  was  a  punishment  to  the  admiration  of 
all  the  world. 

The  monstrous  sin  of  this  land,  drunkenness,  (and 
we  may  so  call  it,  for  it  turns  men  into  monsters,)  is 
answered  by  as  strange  a  punishment.  What  living 
man  ever  saw  such  a  summer?  (Anno  lfi2I.)  All 
eyes  behold,  all  tongues  confess,  that  it  hath  been 
strange  weather  for  the  season  ;  but  their  hearts  con- 
sider not  how  strange  the  sin  is  that  procured  it. 
There  was  a  universal  dearth,  and  it  came  to  pass  in 
the  days  of  Claudius  Ca>sar,  Acts  xi.  28.  The  world's 
emperor  bred  the  world's  estate.  The  vices  of 
princes  infect  the  people,  that  qiialis  rex,  talis  grex. 
This  Claudius  was  an  insatiate  drinker ;  his  own 
mother  called  him  a  monster,  a  work  of  nature  be- 
gun, not  finished.  No  marvel  if  dearth  comes  in 
the  davs  of  Claudius ;  if  God  deny  fruits  to  a  drunken 


31G 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


generation.  We  may  justly  fear  a  famine,  and  ex- 
pect (not  as  Clirist  said,  The  harvest  is  great,  and 
the  labourers  are  few;  but)  that  the  harvest  should 
be  small,  and  the  labourers  many.  If  the  Lord  thus 
forbear  to  smite  us,  it  is  not  to  reward  our  repent- 
ance, but  from  the  good  pleasure  of  his  grace.  How- 
soever, let  us  abhor  the  sin,  whereupon  follow  so 
many  mischiefs.  As  murder  and  outrage ;  violenlia 
in  vinolentia.  Poverty :  the  children  come  to  weej) 
for  bread,  because  their  prodigal  fathers  have  drunk 
it.  Scandals  :  the  honours  of  the  noble  are  traduced, 
while  the  drunkard  sits  like  a  Ctesar,  taxing  all  the 
world.  Blasphemies :  for  such  are  the  graces  that 
come  by  the  inspiration  of  the  pot.  Impudent  de- 
meanours :  for  sumptuous  potations  inflame  presump- 
ttious  actions.  Uncleanness  :  Bacchus  is  but  a  pander 
to  Venus.  Discovery  of  secrets :  Noah  being  drunken 
revealed  those  secrets  that  lay  hid  six  hundred  years. 
Wicked  fellowships :  for  such  a  trick  or  quality  of 
insatiate  drinking,  the  devil  himself  was  once  called 
Robin  Good-fellow.  There  was  a  street  in  Rome 
called  the  sober  street,  because  there  was  never  a 
drinking  house  in  it ;  find  such  a  street  in  London, 
and  chronicle  it.  I  liave  no  thought  of  invecture 
against  the  creature ;  drink  wine  ad  mensam,  sed  ad 
mensuram.  Only  let  me  tell  you  of  better  wine,  out 
of  God's  own  cellar.  Cant.  ii.  5.  There  be  inebriated, 
Psal.  xxxvi.  8.  O  f'aslix  et  paiicis  nota  vohiplaK .' 
Christ  hath  begun  to  us,  let  us  pledge  him  a  health 
indeed,  Psal.  cxvi.  13  ;  a  saving  health  unto  all 
nations,  Psal.  Ixvii.  2. 

3.  God's  favour  and  anger  changeth  the  use  of 
the  creatures.  The  rain  iVom  above,  and  the  foun- 
tains below,  are  things  we  cannot  lack ;  yet  did  his 
wrath  make  these  the  instruments  of  the  world's  de- 
solation. He  can  turn  principal  helps  to  principal 
plagues.  The  wind  is  a  fan  to  purge  the  air,  as  the 
lungs  lie  by  the  heart  to  do  it  good  :  it  is  the  only 
means  of  sailing;  yet  how  often  hath  it  brought  the 
vessel  to  ruin!  Children,  the  dearest  jewels  of  love, 
the  living  pictures  of  their  parei\ts,  are  often  made 
their  heaviest  scourges.  The  wife,  one  half  of  man's 
self,  the  best  of  temporal  blessings,  becomes  not  sel- 
dom the  fearfullest  cross.  The  ([Uails,  so  dainty 
flesh,  were  Israel's  ratsbane ;  and  the  children  of  the 
prophets  died  by  a  bitter  herb  in  the  pot  ordained 
for  their  sustenance.  Fire,  so  unspareable  an  cle- 
ment, consumeth  a  whole  city  in  God's  anger.  The 
earth,  that  firmly  sujiports  us,  hath  swallowed  the 
wicked;  the  bread,  that  nourisheth,  choked  them. 
All  which  should  make  us  fearful  of  offending,  lest 
our  comforts  become  our  corrosives ;  the  delight  of 
our  eyes,  our  eye-sores ;  our  tables  a  snare,  and  that 
which  should  have  been  for  our  wealth,  an  occasion 
of  falling,  Psal.  Ixix.  22.  God's  displeasure  upon  our 
sin,  is  able  to  turn  nature  upside  down,  that,  like 
Sennacherib,  we  become  the  spoil  of  our  own  bowels. 

There  is  no  confidence  to  be  put  in  worldly 
things ;  for  if  the  earth  itself  be  destroyed,  what 
sliall  become  of  the  temporalities  it  beareth  ?  The 
foundation  being  ruined,  the  building  cannot  stand. 
What  became  of  all  that  gold  and  silver,  wliich  in 
hoards  and  heaps  the  covetous  had  gathered?  what 
became  of  their  houses  so  stately  and  sumptuous? 
what,  of  the  curious  gardens,  delightful  arbours,  the 
spacious  bounds  of  oppression  extorted  from  the 
poor?  Who  was  the  richest  man,  when  all  found 
one  swallowing  grave  ?  The  trees  grow  diflerent  in 
the  forest ;  some  greater,  some  straighter,  some 
l.'roador,  some  taller,  some  younger,  some  older,  some 
fruitful!  er,  some  doted.  But  when  they  are  hewn 
down  by  the  axe,  and  cast  into  the  fire,  who  can  dis- 
tinguish them  by  their  ashes,  and  say.  This  was  an 
oak,  that  a  cedar,  the  other  a  poplar?     So  in  death 


and  dust,  who  can  say.  This  was  the  skull  of  a  king; 
that  of  a  lawyer,  this  of  a  client ;  that  of  a  politician, 
this  of  a  fool;  tliat  of  an  officer,  this  of  a  beggar? 
Such  a  one  is  rich,  but  he  owes  much  :  tarry  till 
he  hath  paid  all  liis  debts,  what  is  he  then  ?  As  a 
man  that  hath  his  house  of  cedar,  but  owes  for  his 
fine  and  rent.  Worldly  riches  are  like  the  rivers  in 
.lob,  chap.  vi.  10,  17.  In  winter  there  is  water  enough 
in  them,  when  there  is  no  need  of  it.  In  summer, 
when  we  expect  it,  and  should  use  it  to  quench  our 
thirst,  they  are  diy. 

The  devil,  like  the  pope,  forgcth  a  donation:  All 
is  delivered  unto  me,  all  is  mine,  Luke  iv.  6.  But 
question  him  like  a  thief  at  the  bar :  How  is  it  thine  ? 
Delivered  to  me.  But  by  whom  ?  Nay,  by  whom 
he  cannot  tell ;  the  time  he  remembers  not,  the 
place  he  hath  forgotten  ;  as  much  as  to  say,  they  are 
none  of  his.  "  Riches  make  themselves  wings,  they 
fly  away  as  an  eagle  toward  heaven,"  Prov.  xxiii.  5. 
All  riches  have  wings,  and  fly  away  :  the  evil-gotten, 
like  Noah's  raven,  come  back  no  more ;  the  good 
and  well-gotten,  like  Noah's  dove,  return  with  an 
olive-branch  of  peace.  They  are  called  riches  of  this 
world ;  would  you  have  them  go  out  of  the  world, 
and  follow  you  past  the  grave  ?  The  dog  will  go 
with  you  so  long  as  you  go  with  his  master;  but  if 
you  leave  him,  ne  will  leave  you.  They  are  seldom 
profitable,  often  pernicious,  always  dangerous.  All 
those  be  good  arguments,  which  are  from  the  proper 
cause  to  the  proper  effect ;  yet  they  may  fail  by  the 
inteiTention  of  a  miracle.  It  is  proper  unto  fire  to 
burn,  yet  that  vehement  fire  did  not  burn  the  three 
servants  of  God.  It  is  projier  to  the  sea  to  drown 
those  that  be  cast  into  it,  yet  it  did  not  drown  the 
prophet  in  the  very  depth  of  it.  It  is  proper  to  the 
sun  to  move,  yet  it  stood  still  at  the  prayer  of  Joshua. 
Proper  for  it  to  go  from  east  to  west,  yet  for  Heze- 
kiah's  confirmation  it  went  from  west  to  east.  This 
was  proper  to  them,  and  that  they  did  not  produce 
such  effects,  it  was  by  miracle.  So  it  is  proper  to 
worldly  riches  to  insnare  souls  ;  if  they  do  not,  it  is 
by  miracle.  They  that  worship  the  woiid,  will  flat- 
ter the  devil. 

Let  this  teach  us  to  contemn  the  world,  which  we 
are  sure  shall  be  destroyed.  Indeed,  we  may  desire 
temporal  things,  according  to  our  condition  and  re- 
quisite measure  ;  but  still  with  the  saints'  estimation 
of  them,  that  threw  them  down  at  the  apostle's  feet. 
Acts  iv.  .3.5.  St.  Peter  forsook  all,  yet  the  pope  in  his 
right  engrosseth  all.  The  rabbins  say,  that  Moses, 
being  a  child,  had  Phaiaoh's  crown  given  liim  to 
play  withal,  and  he  cast  it  down  to  the  ground,  and 
kicked  it  about :  as  it  were  a  sign  of  his  future  vili- 
jiending  temporal  things,  that  he  should  esteem  "  the 
reproach  of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures 
in  Egypt,"  Heb.  xi."26.  Christ's  counsel  is,  Sell  all 
that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  Luke  xviii.  22 : 
sell  it,  or  if  no  man  will  buy  it,  give  it;  or  if  no  man 
will  take  it,  leave  it ;  it  is  not  worth  thy  keeping,  espe- 
cially not  worth  thy  carking:  do  thou  part  from  it, 
rather  than  it  should  part  thee  from  Christ.  He 
that  impoverisheth  his  soul  to  enrich  his  body,  is 
more  mad  than  he  that  kills  his  horse  to  lose  his 
money  at  a  race.  But,  alas,  "  how  are  the  thingrs 
of  Esau  searched  out !"  Obad.  G ;  the  things  of  this 
\vorld  sought  after,  by  opjiression,  fraud,  usuiy ;  as 
if  this  were  the  only  end  of  getting,  to  have.  But 
when  all  the  poor  members  of  Christ  are  clothed  and 
filled,  then  put  thy  money  to  the  bank.  Howsoever 
the  covetous,  for  one  scruple  of  gold,  will  make  no 
scruple  of  conscience ;  yet  let  us  love  temporal 
things,  as  poor  people  beg,  for  God's  sake.  Thus  in 
the  destniction  of  the  world  by  fire,  as  it  was  once 
by  water,  when  the  wicked  shall  lose  all,  wc  shall 


Vf.r.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  TETER. 


317 


lose  nothing ;  because  \vc  reserve  what  we  had,  the 
favour  of  God,  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  the  glo- 
rious riches  laid  up  for  us  in  Jesus  Christ. 

The  last  circumstance  is,  how  long  this  flood  con- 
tinued. The  exact  time  hath  much  puzzled  inter- 
preters: 1  will  not  perplex  you  with  it.  Only  the 
plain  text  saith  thus  :  It  rained  forty  days,  the 
waters  prevailed  a  hundred  and  fifty  days ;  then  tliey 
began  to  abate,  but  so  slowly,  that  it  was  the  tenth 
month  before  the  very  tops  of  the  mountains  did  ap- 
pear. In  all,  the  continuance  seemelh  to  be  upon  a 
full  year.  Divines  observe,  that  it  began  in  the 
spring,  the  second  month,  which  answcroth  to  our 
May.  I.  The  world  is  then  supposed  to  have  taken 
its  beginning;  the  plants  then  sprouting,  beasts 
engendering,  the  ground  aptest  for  tilling.  Now 
that  this  was  the  time  of  the  overflowing  appears, 
because  from  the  creation  to  the  flood  are  reckoned 
just  1656  even  years.  2.  The  first  month  being 
Nisan,  which  answereth  to  part  of  our  March,  part 
of  April,  and  this  being  the  second,  proves  clearly 
that  it  fell  out  in  the  spring.  Howsoever  this  reck- 
•ming  was  discontinued  in  Egypt,  (for  the  Egyptians 
began  their  year  from  the  month  Plho,  wliich  an- 
swers to  our  September,)  yet  !Moscs  here  makes  no 
new  institution,  but  rcncweth  the  old  account.  3. 
That  this  flood  might  not  be  imputed  to  any  natural 
causes,  but  only  to  God's  power  ;  the  waters  increas- 
ing in  summer,  which  is  a  time  for  drought,  and  de- 
creasing in  winter,  when  naturally  they  do  swell  and 
rise.  4.  That  it  might  be  more  grief  to  the  wicked, 
to  perish  in  the  midst  of  their  pleasure  and  abund- 
ance; eating  and  drinking,  making  marriages  and 
merriments,  Matt.  xxiv.  .3.S :  they  were  taken  away 
in  the  height  of  their  jollity.  At  this  time  the  flood 
ceased;  for  in  the  elevenih  month  after  the  flood, 
the  dove  brought  an  olive  leaf,  the  sign  of  the 
spring.  And  at  the  coming  f«-th  of  the  ark  they 
presently  began  to  multiply :  now  the  aptest  season 
for  engendering  is  the  spring,  especially  for  fowls. 
Besides,  if  it  had  not  then  been  a  growing  time, 
herbs  and  plants  putting  forth,  where  had  been  food 
for  their  sustentation  ? 

Thus  long  it  continued :  at  last  in  the  midst  of  wrath 
God  remembers  mercy  ;  and  as  he  corrected  with 
his  rod  of  affliction,  so  he  upholdeth  with  his  staff  of 
consolation,  Psal.  xxiii.  4.  As  in  the  ark  he  kept  some 
seed  alive  to  replenish  the  earth,  when  the  rest  perish- 
ed ;  so  he  ceased  the  deluge,  and  at  last  delivered  them 
out.  "  God  remembered  Noah,  and  every  living  thing," 
Gen.  viii.  I  ;  he  remembered  the  very  beast.  "  O 
Lord,  thou  preservest  man  and  beast,"  Psal.  xxxvi. 
6.  Xcnocrates  a  heathen  philosopher  is  commended 
for  his  pitiful  heart,  who  succoured  in  his  bosom  a 
poor  sparrow,  that  being  pursued  by  a  hawk  came 
flying  to  him  ;  and  aftenvard  let  her  go,  saying, 
that  he  had  not  betrayed  his  poor  suppliant. 

Thus  God  sustained  Noah  and  the  rest  for  his  sake, 
in  a  dark  place,  a  whole  year  ;  being  even  then  his 
light  and  comfort.  "  Unto  the  upright  there  ariseth 
light  in  the  darkness,"  Psal.  cxii.  4  :  a  light  shincd 
to  Peter,  when  he  lay  bound  at  midnight.  Indeed 
what  darkness  can  there  be,  where  the  Father  of 
lights  shineth?  Now  he  delivers  them  again  to 
their  long-desired  air,  and  causeth  his  sun  to  send 
forth  comfortable  beams  upon  them.  It  was  time  for 
a  renovation  to  succeed  this  destruction  ;  to  have 
continued  this  inundation  long,  had  been  to  punish 
Noah  who  was  righteous.  After  forty  days  therefore 
the  heavens  clear  up,  after  one  hundred-  and  fifty 
days  the  waters  sink  down.  How  soon  is  God  wear)- 
of  punishing,  that  is  never  weary  of  blessing  !  The 
ark,  though  it  were  Noah's  fort  against  the  waters, 
yet  was  it  also  his  prison  :  h.e  was  safe  in  it,  but  pent 


up.  Now  therefore  the  Lord,  that  gave  him  life  by 
it,  thinks  it  lime  to  give  him  liberty  out  of  it.  The 
justice  of  God  is  satisfied,  the  wicked  punished, 
the  waters  diminished,  the  creatures  delivered,  the 
world  again  revived,  .\fter  so  long  a  storm  there 
comes  a  calm  ;  that  He,  who  for  his  judgments  ought 
to  be  feared,  might  also  for  his  mercy  be  magnified. 
This  world  is  as  strait  a  prison  in  regard  of  heaven, 
as  the  ark  was  in  respect  of  the  world ;  and  our  pre- 
servation is  as  wonderful,  if  we  could  see  it.  Desire 
we  therefore  (in  fear  and  faith)  that  day  ;  that  as 
they  went  out  of  the  ark  into  the  world,  so  we  may 
go  out  of  the  world  into  that  blessed  kingdom  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

"  But  saved  Noah  the  eighth  person,  a  preacher  of 
righteousness."  What  a  wonder  of  mercy  was  this  ! 
one  poor  family  called  out  of  a  whole  world;  eight 
grains  of  corn  fanned  from  a  whole  bamful  of  chaff; 
eight  lilies  growing  amongst  a  whole  forest  of  thonis ! 
For  these  few  was  the  earth  still  preserved  under  the 
waters,  and  all  kinds  of  creatures  upon  the  waters  ; 
which  otherwise  had  all  perished.  Still  the  world 
stands  for  the  elect's  sake,  for  whom  it  was  made  and 
preserved ;  else  the  last  fire  should  consume  that, 
which  the  former  water  could  not  purify. 

Here,  first,  let  us  consider  the  person  saved,  Noah  : 
and  him  both  by  his  condition,  that  he  was  a  nreach- 
er ;  and  by  his  conversation,  which  was  in  rigliteous- 
ncss :  for  in  that  centre  both  his  doctrine  and  prac- 
tice met ;  both  verbally  and  actually  he  preached. 
He  was  ordained  into  this  ministry  by  the  Lord  :  and 
as  his  whole  life  was  an  actual  sermon,  that  taught 
obedience  by  precedent ;  so  he  continually  incited 
the  people  to  repentance,  and  forewarned  them  of  the 
threatened  vengeance.  The  observations  are  mani- 
fold. 

1.  That  Noah  had  his  calling  immediately  from 
God ;  whereas  we  are  mediately  ordained  by  the  im- 
position of  hands  ;  which  is  a  most  reverend  symbol 
in  the  church.  For  no  man  taketh  this  honour  to 
himself  uncalled,  Heb.  v.  4.  Christ  is  said  to  be  n 
Priest  after  the  order  of  Mclchisedec,  ver.  6 :  but  we 
have  priests  without  any  order  at  all ;  refusing  to  be 
ordered.  AVhat  warrant  have  they  that  they  are 
sent  ?  I  know  there  be  different  sorts  and  places  : 
as  Bishop  Jewel,  or  the  jewel  of  bishops,  observes, 
All  have  idem  ministerium,  though  diversam  poles- 
tatem.  A  bishop  and  an  archbishop  differ  not  m 
poles/ale  ordinis,  sed  in  polestale  regiminis.  Nor  doth 
a  bisho))  differ  from  a  minister,  quoad  potenliam 
■lacerdolii,  sed  quoad  polentiam  jurisdietioiiix.  Indeed 
the  apostles,  as  they  were  immediately  sent  by  Chnst, 
so  it  was  their  prerogative  royal,  ministerially  to  give 
the  Holy  Ghost  by  imposition  of  hands  ;  which 
power  died  with  them.  Yet  still  the  ministry  is  an 
indelible  character;  and  the  bishop  may  suspend  from 
execution  of  his  office,  but  not  put  him  out  of  the 
ministry,  whom  God  hath  put  in.  Christ  breathed  on 
them,  and  said,  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost,"  John 
XX.  '2'2.  The  furniture  and  provision  for  the  minis- 
ters, is  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  hear  in  every  place 
the  hissing  of  the  old  serpent;  let  the  world  hear 
from  us  the  groaning  of  that  Turtle,  the  Spirit  of 
God. 

2.  That  the  Lord  honoured  Noah  in  conferring 
this  office  upon  him.  When  he  made  him  a  preach- 
er, he  gave  him  this  dignity,  that  he  should  be 
saved  himself,  and  all  those  whom  his  ministry  con- 
verted; that  he  might  say,  Here  am  I,  and  the  chil- 
dren thai  God  hath  given  me,  Heb.  ii.  13.  I  will 
but  transiently  touch  at  the  honour  due  to  preachers. 

Certainly,  a  minister's  life  is  full  of  honour  here 
and  hereafter  too :  so  it  is  full  of  danger  here  and 
hereafter  too.    We  believe  physicians,  when  thty 


318 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


give  us  prescripts ;  we  believe  lawyers,  wlien  they 
give  us  counsel ;  we  believe  even  carpenters,  in  their 
rules  :  we  believe  not  divines,  though  they  bring 
nothing  of  their  own  invention ;  but  may  say  of  their 
sermon,  as  Jacob  did  of  his  venison,  The  Lord  hath 
brought  it  to  our  hand.  Gen.  xxvii.  20  :  sit  down  and 
eat,  that  your  souls  may  bless  us,  yea,  bless  God  for 
us.  Tet  is  every  brain  full  of  distraction  about  us, 
every  mouth  full  of  detraction  against  us,  every  hand 
full  of  retraction  from  us. 

Men  are  so  sick  of  preaching,  that  not  the  best 
and  most  honest  divine  can  escape  malignant 
tongues ;  and  rather  than  the  ungodly  will  be  saved, 
their  very  exceptions  against  the  preachei-s  shall  be 
their  colour  for  going  on  in  the  ways  of  hell.  Men 
suck  their  milk,  like  mules,  and  then  kick  them  with 
their  heels.  C'omina.'US  says,  he  that  would  be  a 
king's  favourite,  must  not  have  a  hard  name ;  that 
so  he  may  easily  be  remembered  when  preferments 
are  a  dealing.  It  seems  that  preachers  have  liard 
names,  for  few  remember  them  in  the  point  of  iionour 
or  benefit.  The  world  regards  them  as  poor  folks  do 
their  children  ;  they  would  be  loth  to  have  any  more, 
because  they  are  troubled  to  maintain  them  they 
have.  In  Jeroboam's  time,  the  lowest  of  the  people 
were  made  priests,  and  now  priests  are  made  the 
lowest  of  the  people.  A  lay-man,  like  a  mathemati- 
cal line,  runs  on  ad  infinitum;  only  the  preacher  is 
bound  to  his  competency,  thus  much,  and  no  more. 
Never  let  him  be  ricli,  lest  he  be  too  bold,  and  tell 
us  home  of  our  faults.  If  he  stoop  not  at  the  pulpit 
door,  to  take  measure  of  the  people's  feet,  let  him 
fast  when  he  comes  down ;  they  will  soon  shorten  his 
commons.  Therefore,  the  gentry  to  the  court,  and 
the  country  to  the  cart,  and  the  university  is  univers- 
ally despised.  We  ask  not  secular  honours  and  emi- 
nent places ;  the  minister,  like  the  fig-tree,  will  not 
lose  his  sweetness  to  be  preferred  over  the  trees, 
Judg.  ix.  II.  Only  find  we  honour  in  your  con- 
sciences ;  we  are  ambitious  of  no  preferment,  but  to 
be  instruments  of  your  salvation.  "  For  what  is  our 
hope,  or  joy,  or  crowii  of  rejoicing  ?  Are  not  even 
ye  in  the  presence  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  at  his 
coming  ?"  1  Thess.  ii.  19.  Yes,  ye  are  our  joy  and 
glory. 

3.  That  Noah  faithfully  executed  this  calling,  and 
continued  preaching  a  hundred  years.  In  all  wliich 
space,  he  declared  to  men  the  future  judgments  of 
God,  reproved  their  iniquities,  persuaded  them  to 
repentance,  and  upon  their  amendment  of  life,  pro- 
phetically assured  them  of  mercy  and  forgiveness. 
And  this  he  performed,  not  only  by  verbal,  but  by 
actual  preaching :  the  xcry  building  of  the  ark  daily 
preached  to  the  world.  So  that  both  in  his  doc- 
trinal instructions,  and  exemplary  life,  he  was  a 
preacher  of  righteousness.  Such  is  a  minister's 
office  ;  ipBoTOfxtiv,  and  bpSoTroiiiv.  as  they  deliver  their 
sermons  with  what  brevity  they  can,  and  with  what 
fidelity  they  ought ;  so  to  order  their  conversation, 
that  their  society  may  delight  the  good,  and  their 
very  absence  convince  the  lewd.  Christ  gave  Peter 
a  threefold  charge  of  feeding  ;  and  those  three  kinds 
are  distinguished  into  precept,  pattern,  and  benefi- 
cence. \\  e  do  jmscere  verba,  we  should  vascere  ex- 
emplo,  we  are  not  able  pascere  subsidio.  We  are  fain 
to  eat  our  own  bread,  and  wear  our  ovnti  apparel,  only 
■we  desire  to  live  with  you,  Isa.  iv.  I :  we  spend  our 
own  means,  only  let  us  preach  to  you. 

What  Solon  told  Croesus,  of  one  of  the  happiest 
men  living.  Pauper  et  jus/us,  in  tuguriolo,  ^-c.  sic 
morluus,is  true  of  the  preacher  ;  no  notice  taken  of 
him.  They  are  truly  called  ministers  or  servants; 
not  only  Christ's  servants,  but  even  yours  for  Christ's 
sake.     One  of  their  titles  is  Diaconos,  a  minister  of 


speedy  labour :  as  a  page  runs  by  his  lord,  or  as 
Elijah  girded  up  himself  and  ran  by  Ahab  ;  like 
Ahimaaz,  so  fast  that  you  carmot  see  him  for  the  dust. 
He  is  indeed  a  minister,  for  he  doth  not  work  for 
himself,  but  for  another.  But  as  he  is  a  servant,  so 
he  hath  some  special  place  in  the  house  among  the 
ser\-ants  of  God:  a  faithful  and  wise  steward,  whom 
Iiis  Lord  maketh  ruler  over  his  household,  to  give 
them  their  portion  of  meat  in  due  season,  Luke  xii. 
42.  He  is  a  servant,  but  none  of  the  inferior;  a 
steward.  He  hath  a  petty  dominion  over  the  rest  of 
the  family,  his  Lord  hath  made  Iiim  a  ruler.  This 
is  for  his  dignity ;  now  for  his  duty.  First,  he  must 
give  meat  to  all  the  servants,  young  and  old,  rich 
and  poor,  weak  and  strong.  Secondly,  in  due  season, 
that  is,  when  their  appetites  call  for  it ;  yea,  he  must 
not  evermore  stay  till  they  desire  it.  Thirdly,  he 
must  do  it  with  his  owti  hands :  he  is  but  a  deputy, 
and  therefore  must  not  always  do  it  by  a  deputy. 
Yet  the  Lord  doth,  and  the  people  must,  allow  him 
some  vacation.  He  is  an  ill  fisher,  that  never  mends 
his  net ;  a  bad  mower,  that  never  whets  his  scythe. 
Yet  such  is  the  madness  of  the  multitude,  that  they 
think  his  body  to  be  of  iron,  and  Ills  spirit  of  angel- 
ical natiu'e ;  that  he  can  preach  as  easily  and  often 
as  they  would  have  him.  And  are  in  a  hot  anger, 
with  Saul,  who  because  David  would  not  come  at 
him,  lying  sick;  "Bring  him,"  saith  he,  "to  me 
in  the  bed,  that  I  may  slay  him,"  1  Sam.  xix.  15. 
Such  is  their  pity  to  the  minister ;  Bring  him,  though 
he  lie  sick  on  his  bed;  spare  him  not,  though  his 
heat  and  heart  be  spent.  Yea,  would  it  please  God 
that  our  lives  were  made  such  a  sacrifice,  so  they 
might  be  instruments  of  his  glory,  and  your  salvation. 

4.  That  he  had  not  such  happy  success  of  liis 
preaching,  as  his  own  soul  desired,  and  he  might  in 
reason  have  expected.  A  man  may  be  lawfully  call- 
ed by  God  and  liis  church,  and  yet  not  turn  many 
souls.  Let  him  never  so  plainly  denounce  the  judg- 
ment of  God  against  sinners,  tell  them  that  the  ark 
was  made  to  preserve  believers,  when  all  out  of  it 
should  be  drowned;  though  he  wrought  that  with 
his  hand  which  he  taught  with  his  tongue,  yet  still 
they  believed  not.  Appears  it  not  strange,  that  in 
a  hundred  and  twenty  years  he  should  not  convert 
one ;  not  only  of  the  wicked  race,  but  not  one  of  the 
righteous  seed  ?  O,  it  is  the  Lord  only  that  speaks 
to  the  conscience !  He  is  that  flexanimous  Preacher, 
whose  pulpit  is  in  heaven.  Christ  is  the  Physician, 
we  are  the  apothecaries ;  and  as  we  do  not  put  into 
the  compound  one  dram  more  than  his  prescript  and 
allowance,  so  we  cannot  cure  one  soul,  but  he  must 
do  it.  He  is  "  the  author  of  eternal  salvation  to  all 
that  obey  him,"  Heb.  v.  9.  We  have  no  power  of 
ourselves  to  move  a  heart :  Non  omnis  qui  dicta  audit, 
et  audita  credit,  continue  ilia  faciendo  oblemperat : 
God  makes  a  minister  to  have  more  sorro  win  bring- 
ing forth  a  Christian  unto  the  world  to  come,  than  a 
>voman  hath  in  her  travail  of  bringing  forth  a  child 
into  this  world,  John  xvi.  21.  "  My  little  children, 
of  whom  I  travail  in  birth  again,  till  Christ  be  formed 
in  you,"  Gal.  iv.  19.  Who  can  express  the  throbs 
and  throes  he  endures?  they  are  only  known  to' the 
anguish  of  his  own  sensible  heart.  Yet  after  all 
pains,  he  is  glad  at  last  that  the  child  of  grace  is 
bom :  this  so  sweetens  all,  that  he  forgets  his  sor- 
row. Thus,  like  Jacob,  he  catcheth  a  maim,  but  a 
blessing  whhal.  But,  alas!  it  is  brought  unto  the 
birlh,  and  there  is  no  strength  to  bring  forth,  Isa. 
xxxvii.  3. 

If  they  came  to  Noah  while  he  was  building  the 
ark,  and  demanded  of  him,  as  the  Jews  did  of  the 
prophet.  Wilt  thou  not  tell  us  what  these  things 
mean?   Ezek.  xxiv.  19;    lo,  the  voice  of  his  tongue 


VEn.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


319 


interpreted  the  work  of  his  hand,  and  tlie  work  of 
his  hand  expounded  the  voice  of  his  tongue  ;  yet 
they  repented  not.  Wlien  God  is  pleased  to  convert, 
lie  can  do  it  by  the  weakest  mcan.s.  For  illumina- 
tion of  the  mind,  he  often  lights  a  great  lam])  of  the 
sanctuary  by  a  little  wax  candle ;  as  he  did  Paul  by 
Ananias.  And  for  moving  affections,  he  often  by  a 
puff  of  wind  stirs  up  the  waves  of  the  ocean-sea.  In 
the  meanest  book,  a  deep  judgment  shall  find  some- 
what it  hath  not  formerly  seen,  though  it  see  not  all 
it  hath  formerly  found.  God  is  not  straitened  accord- 
ing to  the  smallness  of  the  organ.  And  when  he 
withholds  his  contemned  grace,  Paul  himself  cannot 
move  a  soul.  I  know  that  nothing  is  more  discom- 
fortable  to  a  good  minister  than  this  ;  yet  hath  it 
been  the  lot  of  many  holy  prophets,  Isa.  vi.  10  ; 
.\Iix.  4 ;  Ezek.  iii.  7 ;  Acts  xxviii.  24.  This  is  fear- 
ful ;  wlun  i)reachers  sent  for  men's  salvation,  shall 
become  means  of  their  deeper  confusion.  There  is 
nothing  so  humbles  and  abaseth  them  as  this,  2  Cor. 
xii.  21 :  but  whether  in  them  that  are  saved,  or  in 
them  that  perish,  we  are  still  unto  God  a  sweet  sa- 
vour of  Christ,  chap.  ii.  15. 

It  is  the  measure,  not  the  success,  that  God  looks 
to  :  our  reward  shall  be  according  to  our  works,  not 
according  to  the  fruit  of  our  works  ;  which  is  our 
comfort.  Though  we  cannot  convert  men,  yet  we 
have  laboured  their  conversion ;  and  our  labour  (how- 
ever fruitless  among  men)  shall  never  be  in  vain 
with  the  Lord,  1  Cor.  xv.  58.  St.  Paul  doth  not 
say,  I  did  more  good  than  the  rest,  but,  I  took  more 
pains  than  the  rest ;  "  I  laboured  more  abundantly 
than  they  all,"  ver.  10.  If  we  should  have  no  re- 
ward but  according  to  the  number  of  the  souls  we 
have  turned,  woe  w'ere  us !  For  men's  hearts  are  so 
yoked  with  their  own  wilfulness,  that  they  will  believe 
no  preacher  in  the  world  further  than  their  owti 
fancies.  But  this  must  not  discourage  us ;  it  is  enough 
that  we  would  have  cured  Babel,  though  she  would 
not  be  cured;  and  "  if  our  gospel  be  hid,  it  is  hid  to 
them  that  are  lost,"  2  Cor.  iv.  ,3.  If  the  Lord  should 
examine  us,  what  soul  wc  have  converted,  where 
should  wc  point  him  ?  "  Charge  them  that  are 
rich,"  &c.  1  Tim.  ^^.  17.  It  was  God's  charge  to 
Paul,  and  Paul's  to  Timothy,  and  Timothy's  to  the 
people.  Command  implies  obedience,  but  we  may 
command  and  go  without.  We  have  the  keys,  and 
they  do  not  rust  upon  our  hands ;  but  the  power  is 
lost  in  the  people's  hearts.  Men  have  picklocks  of 
their  own  forging,  presumption  and  security;  with 
these  they  can  open  heaven-gates,  albeit  double- 
locked  by  our  censures.  The  father  could  have 
brought  out  the  best  robe  himself,  or  sent  his  son  into 
the  wardrobe;  but  he  commands  his  servants,  "Bring 
forth  the  robe,  and  put  it  on  him,"  Luke  xv.  22; 
wherein  he  did  grace  the  means,  and  bring  that  into 
credit.  The  Lord  will  have  his  sons  beholden  to  his 
servants  for  their  glory.  It  is  a  bold  truth,  you  shall 
never  wear  that  long  garment  of  honour,  unless  it  be 
brought  and  put  on  by  the  minister.  He  that  can  save 
you  without  us,  will  not  save  you  but  by  us.  If  our 
words  have  lost  the  power  in  men,  they  have  lost  their 
right  of  heaven.  But  though  we  cannot  save  you, 
yet  our  desire  to  do  it  shall  save  us.  We  give  God 
what  we  have,  he  desires  no  more  ;  this  is  enough  to 
honour  him,  and  crown  us. 

Tliis  should  teach  all  with  faith  and  fear  to  submit 
themselves  to  the  power  of  God's  word,  lest  every 
sermon  become  one  day  a  bill  of  indictment  against 
them.  There  is  no  dallying  with  it ;  if  it  cannot  save, 
it  kills :  like  fire,  what  it  may  not  soften,  it  will  harden. 
This  is  enough  to  make  the  wicked  tremble,  who 
have  gone  away  from  so  many  feasts  with  hungry 
souls ;  heard  so  much,  and  practised  so  little.     As 


every  good  turn  aggravates  the  unthankful  man's 
plague,  so  every  good  instruction  enhance! h  the  re- 

1>robate's  lonne'nt.  O  now  let  us  redeem  the  time, 
lear  to  learn,  learn  to  do,  and  do  to  live  for  ever. 

5.  Lastly,  observe  that  so  Ion"  as  Noah  preached, 
the  world  was  warned.  God  needed  not  to  have  given 
them  any  warning  of  his  judgments,  they  gave  him 
no  warning  of  their  sins,  no  respite.  Yet,  that  he 
might  approve  his  mercy  even  to  those  upon  whom 
he  meant  to  glorify  his  justice,  he  gives  them  long 
warning  that  they  might  have  space  enough  of  re- 
penting. Oh  how  loth  is  he  to  strike,  that  llireatens 
so  long  before  he  executes  !  He  that  takes  pleasure 
in  revenge,  suddenly  surpriseth  his  adversary,  and 
apprehends  the  speediest  advantage ;  but  the  Lord  is 
pleased  they  should  be  often  warned,  to  show  how 
willing  he  is  to  be  prevented.  God  is  so  patient,  that 
if  sinners  w'erc  not  desperate,  they  should  never 
smart.  He  doth  first  summon  a  parley,  proclaim 
peace,  Deut.  xx.  10 ;  hang  out  his  white  colours  of 
pity,  before  the  red  streamers  of  blood  be  seen.  He 
useth  the  coniminationof  hell,  as  well  as  the  promise 
of  heaven ;  and  both  equally  commend  his  goodness. 
The  sharpness  of  the  one,  and  sweetness  of  tlie  other, 
working  together  like  oil  and  wine,  make  men  wise 
to  salvation.  Nineveh  had  not  stood,  if  the  prophet 
had  forborne  to  say.  It  shall  not  stand.  The  message 
of  their  overthrow  overthrew  the  message;  the  pro- 
phecy fell,  and  the  city  fell  not,  because  her  fall  was 
prophesied.  The  denunciation  of  death  wrought 
life  ;  the  sentence  of  destruction  made  a  nullity  in  the 
sentence.  They  heard  that  their  houses  should  fall ; 
and  they  forsook  not  their  houses  but  themselves, 
and  botli  themselves  and  their  houses  stood. 

Thus  let  us  take  the  warnings  of  death,  and  turn 
them  into  inspirations  of  life.  When  it  is  threatened, 
we  shall  die  in  our  sins,  let  this  make  us  live  to  right- 
eousness. If  the  summons  of  vengeance  shall  waKen 
us  to  repentance,  we  shall  no  sooner  change  our 
minds,  but  God  will  change  his  sentence.  If  a  ma- 
ture and  reverent  consideration  of  those  fearful  judg- 
ments, plagues,  death,  dearth,  hell,  terrors  of  con- 
science, can  truly  humble  us,  we  shall  hear  an  angel 
sing,  Grace,  mercy,  and  peace,  favour  and  eternal 
blessedness  in  heaven  to  us.  God  deals  not  with  us 
as  one  did  with  Diogenes,  who  first  broke  his  head, 
and  then  bade  him  take  heed ;  but  he  beats  liis  drum 
before  he  draws  his  sword.  He  does  not  as  the  can- 
non, first  kill,  and  then  make  the  report.  But  ad- 
monisheth  us  to  repent,  or  else  he  will  come  against 
us,  Rev.  ii.  5. 

There  is  not  a  soul  among  us,  but  hath  been  often 
warned :  happy  they,  that  can  find  this  assurance  in 
their  souls  that  they  have  repented!  Let  not;  God 
continually  lose  his  labour.  Would  we  have  him  do 
nothing  but  premonish  us?  We  are  bound  to  take 
hold  of  even,-  caution,  to  make  use  of  all  motions  and 
monitions  :  he  is  not  bound  to  follow  us  up  and  down 
with  unregarded  solicitings.  Once  warned  should 
be  always  cautious.  As  Solomon  to  Shimei,  Did  not 
I  forbid  thee  to  go  over  Kedron  on  pain  of  death? 
I  Kings  ii.  41 ;  so  God  hath  warned  us  to  keep  home, 
confined  us  to  Jerusalem,  the  city  of  obedience.  If 
we  pass  the  brook  Kedron,  the  limits  he  hath  set  us, 
to  seek  our  straggling  ser\'ants,  riches  or  pleasures, 
as  did  Shimei,  he  may  justly  punish  us,  and  answer 
all  our  expostulations.  Did  I  not  give  you  warning  ? 
This  seemed  to  be  the  rich  man's  care  in  hell,  for  his 
brethren  on  earth,  that  one  might  be  sent  from  the 
dead  to  give  them  warning,  Luke  xvi.  2S.  We  have 
warnings  every  way ;  Lord,  let  some  of  thy  admoni- 
tions bring  us  to  repentance ;  let  thy  eommandment 
work  us  to  amendment :  that  hearing  what  thou 
tcachest,  fearing  what  thou  threatencst,  and  believing 


320 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


what  thou  promisest,  we  may  find  ihy  eternal  mer- 
cies. 

"  But  saved  Noah."  God's  judgments  arc  never  so 
universal  but  some  he  spareth.  Though  Israel  be 
reduced  to  a  tenth,  yet  God  will  not  lose  his  tithe. 
Though  they  be  as  the  scattering  grapes  after  the 
vintage,  yet  destruction  shall  leave  here  and  there  a 
berry.  Though  he  have  few  names  in  Sardis,  yet  he 
hath  some.  In  eveiy  loss  that  Job  had,  one  still 
escaped  to  bring  him  news.  Noah  finds  grace,  when 
the  world  found  perdition.  He  that  was  dead  to  the 
world,  shall  not  die  with  the  world :  as  he  consented 
not  to  their  sin,  so  he  partook  not  of  their  punish- 
ment. No  streams  of  water  shall  drown  liini,  whom 
the  deluge  of  sin  hath  not  ovcnvhelmed.  Now  be- 
cause the  Lord  hath  set  him  forth  as  a  precedent  to 
after-times,  that  he  who  will  escape  as  Noali  did 
must  be  such  a  one  as  Noah  was,  let  us  contemplate 
his  righteousness  in  these  four  passages:  The  war- 
rant of  his  practice.  His  faith  in  this  warrant.  The 
perfection  of  this  faith.  The  issue,  event,  or  success 
of  all. 

1.  The  warrant  or  ground  of  his  obedience,  was 
the  word  of  God.  He  was  "  warned  of  God  of  things 
not  seen  as  yet,"  Heb.  xi.  7-  This  revelation  came 
not  by  a  prophet,  (we  find  none  at  that  time  but 
Noah's  self,)  but  either  by  the  ministry  of  an  angel, 
or  immediately  from  the  Lord  himself.  "  God  said 
unto  Noah,  Tlie  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  before  me," 
Gen.  vi.  13.  Thus  doth  he  single  out  the  righteous, 
and  acquaint  them  with  liis  own  counsels.  "  Shall  I 
hide  from  Abraham  that  thing  which  I  do?"  Gen. 
xviii.  17.  The  Sodomites  lie  sucking  in  the  air  of 
security,  but  Abraham  knew  the  nearness  of  their 
calamity.  "  Surely  the  Lord  will  do  nothing,  but  he 
revealeth  his  secret  unto  his  servants  the  prophets," 
Amos  iii.  /.  Neither  is  this  the  prerogative  of  the 
projihets  only ;  but,  "  The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with 
them  that  fear  him ;  and  he  will  show  them  his  cove- 
nant," Psal.  XXV.  14.  We  dote  on  nothing  more  than 
secrets;  all  are  sick  of  an  Athenian  humour;  yet  is 
there  no  secret  which  carnal  desires  affect,  worth  the 
knowing.  AVould  we  participate  that  secret,  which 
no  afTordment  of  nature,  no  mystery  of  art,  no  secre- 
tary of  state,  no  wit  of  man,  no  cunning  of  devil,  can 
find  ?  Let  us  fear  God  :  this  is  the  key  to  open  those 
supernal  and  supernatural  secrets,  which  shall  fill 
the  heart  with  uncxpressible,  unexhaustiblc  joy. 
Christ  calls  us  more  than  sen-ants  ;  "  for  the  sei-vant 
knoweth  not  what  liis  Lord  doth ;"  even  friends,  be- 
cause he  hath  made  known  to  us  the  things  of  his 
Father,  John  xv.  15.  God  makes  all  his  friends  of 
his  counsel,  and  communicates  all  things  conducing 
to  their  blessedness,  as  one  friend  imparts  his  mind 
to  another. 

"His  secret  is  with  the  righteous,"  Prov.  iii.  32: 
tlie  just  man  shall  be  ignorant  of  nothing  that  con- 
cerns his  salvation.  But  in  our  times  there  are  no  such 
revelations;  therefore  the  state  of  the  church  before 
(-'In-ist  seems  to  be  better  than  this.  No  ;  for  albeit 
God  do  not  now  reveal  particular  and  personal  events, 
yet  the  assurance  of  salvation,  the  comfort  of  remis- 
sion, the  very  feeling  of  reconciliation,  these  he  de- 
clares to  us,  which  are  infinitely  sweeter.  Why 
should  I  inquire,  Lord,  what  shall  he  do  ?  John  xxi. 
-1  ;  it  is  enough  for  me  to  know  what  shall  become 
of  myself.  Besides,  we  are  requited  in  the  complete 
Scriptures,  we  have  the  substance  of  their  shadows, 
the  performance  of  th'-r  promises.  How  should 
this  encourage  us  all  to  bcccrme  God's  faithful  ser- 
vants; for  we  serve  not  such  a  Lord  as  is  strange 
and  austere  to  us,  one  that  will  not  give  us  a  good 
look  or  a  fair  word.  Yea,  he  is  so  far  from  denving 
lis  these  favours,  that  he  calls  us  to  his  holy  counsel,  , 


makes  known  to  us  his  secrets,  and  communicates 
himself  to  us  by  his  blessed  Spirit. 

This  is  a  sweet  comfort,  if  we  apply  it ;  especially 
considering  the  different  estate  of  the  wicked ;  who 
seeing,  cannot  perceive  ;  and  hearing,  cannot  under- 
stand, Matt.  xiii.  13:  as  Zebul  mistook  armies  cf 
men  for  shadows  of  mountains.  "The  natural  man 
recciveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit,"  1  Cor.  ii.  14. 
Nature  is  not  here  the  schoolmaster,  but  grace;  nor 
Athens  the  school,  but  Jerusalem.  They  are  hid  to 
the  wise  of  the  world,  and  revealed  to  babes,  Matt, 
xi.  25.  It  is  revealed  to  us,  that  God  is  our  Father, 
the  church  our  mother,  Christ  our  Brother,  the  Holy 
Ghost  our  Comforter,  angels  our  attendants,  all  other 
creatures  our  subjects,  tlie  whole  world  our  inn,  and 
heaven  our  everlasting  home.  That  the  joys  of  the 
wicked  do  scarce  ever  begin ;  and  when  they  do, 
their  end  borders  on  their  beginning ;  one  hour  sees 
them  both  merry  and  miserable.  But  our  pleasures 
are  eternal,  millions  of  years  being  not  a  minute  to 
evcrlastingness,  and  this  house  of  the" world  a  mere 
cottage  to  heaven.  These  things  as  God  reveals,  so 
we  must  seek.  When  the  Shunammile  would  needs 
go  to  the  prophet,  her  husband  questioned  her; 
"  Wherefore  to-day  ?  it  is  neither  new  moon  nor 
sabbath,"  2  Kings  iv.  23.  It  seems  that  at  least  on 
those  days  they  consulted  the  prophets.  O  let  not 
us  neglect  God's  clearer  rcvealings  in  the  gospel,  nor 
be  strangers  to  the  business  of  our  own  salvation. 

2.  His  faith  is  this  warrant :  the  things  that  God 
revealed,  and  he  believed,  were  these  three.  1. 
The  great  and  just  wrath  of  God  against  the  sinful 
world.  This  he  sincerely  preached,  and  this  they 
scornfully  derided.  But  as  the  frantic  laughs,  Avhen 
the  physician  weeps,  and  knows  his  end  is  near ;  so 
the  wicked  contemn  the  righteous,  yet  to  them  is 
known  their  miserable  state.  2.  "That  God  would 
save  him  and  his  family :  and  this  he  believed,  not 
only  in  the  principal  object  of  faith,  his  salvation  by 
the  Mcssias  ;  but  even  in  the  inferior  and  particular, 
his  personal  deliverance  from  this  inundation.  3. 
The  means  of  his  preservation  :  by  an  ark  which 
himself  must  make;  that  every  stroke  might  put 
him  in  mind  of  the  gracious  promise,  and  still  as 
that  was  builded,  his  faith  might  be  confirmed. 

This  faith  wrought  in  him  a  fear  ;  being  moved 
with  fear,  he  prepared  the  ark,  Heb.  xi.  /.  Yet  car- 
nal reason  might  object.  What  cause  is  there  either 
to  believe  or  fear  ?  1.  The  judgment  Avas  far  off, 
one  hundred  and  twenty  years  to  come ;  and  who 
would  fear  so  remote  a  thing  ?  2.  The  world  was 
full  of  wise  and  mighty  men ;  they  all  heard  of  this, 
not  one  of  them  feared.  Shall  Noah,  being  one 
single  man  against  all  those  strong  examples,  ex- 
pose himself  to  derision  by  a  needless  fear  ?  3.  The 
judgment  was  of  such  a  nature,  as  it  had  no  pre- 
cedent ;  for  would  any  man  in  common  reason  think, 
tliat  God  would  drown  all  the  world  with  water? 
That  by  water,  an  element  so  easily  avoidable;  and 
of  such  a  quantity  and  measure  as  to  overwhelm  the 
whole  world. 

But  lo  here  the  invincible  power  of  faith  !  it  is 
fixed  on  God's  word,  and  though  heaven  thunder, 
and  earth  shake,  and  hell  roar,  it  will  not  be  re- 
moved :  spite  of  all  contradictions  Noah  believes  that 
he  shall  be  saved;  why  he  above  all  the  rest  ?  even 
this  he  believed  with  fear.  "  With  thee,  O  Lord,  is 
mercy,  that  thou  mayest  be  feared,"  Psal.  cxxx.  4. 
Even  the  mercy  of  a  fiither  makes  a  reverent  son. 
He  might  say  with  David,  Lord,  thou  hast  spoken 
good  concerning  me  .'uid  my  house,  for  a  great  while 
to  come.  Wliat  am  I,  and  what  is  my  house,  that 
thou  hast  done  thus  for  me  ?  2  Sam.  xviii.  19.  That 
the  Lord  liath  led  us  out  of  spiritual  Eg}-pt,  first  by  a 


Ver.  5. 


child,  then  by  a  woman,  saved  us  in  the  deluge  of  super- 
stition, gives  us  just  cause  to  say,  What  are  we,  what 
are  our  people,  that  he  should  be  so  favourable  tons? 

It  was  strange  enough,  that  God  would  take  so 
weak  an  element  as  water,  to  drown  those  mighty 
giants.  Strange  enough,  that  he  would  save  Noah  by 
an  ark  :  why  not  take  him  up  into  heaven,  as  Enoch  ; 
or  build  him  a  house  on  the  top  of  some  i)romontory  ? 
By  an  ark!  alas,  what  safely  is  here?  may  not  the 
tempests  cast  it  on  the  hard  rocks,  or  dash  it  upon 
the  giants'  castles,  and  break  it  in  pieces?  No; 
Noah  must  lie  and  swim  on  the  waters,  and  yet  the 
ark  must  save  him  from  the  waters.  Thus  shall  he 
be  safe  in  tlie  sight  of  dying  sinners  ;  when  they  are 
expecting  death  on  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  they 
behold  him  secure  to  their  greater  vexation :  as  the 
pains  of  hell  arc  aggravated  upon  the  damned,  by 
seeing  their  once  despised  brethren  in  tlie  joys  of 
heaven  :  when  the  rich  that  have  run  away  from  the 
poor  in  coaches,  shall  see  the  poor  carried  from  them 
by  angels.  All  this  God  delivered,  Noah  believed 
and  feared. 

Let  this  teach  us  to  believe  God's  judgments,  and 
fear  them.  "My  flesh  tremblcth  for  fear  of  thee; 
and  I  am  afraid  of  thy  judgments,"  Psal.  cxix.  120. 
God  foretold  of  a  flood,  and  Noah  looked  for  it  a 
hundred  and  twenty  years  after.  There  is  no  man 
living,  but  within  less  than  a  hundred  and  twenty 
j'cars  he  is  sure  to  die,  and  to  be  in  danger  of 
a  flood  of  wrath :  for  quales  egiedimur,  lalex  jirtc- 
sentamur,  and  (/iVa/i'o  proves  often  dilalalio  siipplicti  ; 
tlie  deferring  of  punishment  is  the  enlarging  of 
punishment.  Yet  who  trembles  at  it?  who  sends 
this  holy  fear  to  his  heart,  that  his  heart  may 
send  forth  prayers  for  mercy  ?  If  men  cry,  Fire, 
fire;  we  slir,  run,  tremble  :  but  let  the  fire  of  God's 
wrath,  and  the  fire  of  hell,  be  cried,  we  move 
not,  care  not,  fear  not ;  as  if  this  were  a  thing  quite 
unconccrning  us.  And  as  the  fantastical  musician 
was  so  transported  with  his  own  raptures,  that  when 
tlie  people  cried  to  him,  that  his  house  was  on  fire, 
he  returned  tliem  no  other  answer,  but  that  either 
they  should  hold  their  peace,  or  cry  in  tune.  So 
when  preachers  forewarn  men  of  these  judgments, 
they  think  that  we  are  quite  out  of  tune. 

There  is  no  judgment  comes,  but  naturians  will 
find  out  other  causes  for  it  than  God.  Ill  weather  is 
from  the  clouds,  famines  from  ill  weather,  plagues 
from  famines,  or  ill  airs,  or  by  apparent  infection 
from  other  places  :  as  if  they  concluded,  as  that 
scofTer  subscribed  on  Adrian's  college,  God  hath 
here  nothing  to  do.  But  cannot  nature  have  her 
place,  unless  she  have  God's  place  ?  He  overthrows 
not  natural  means,  why  should  natural  means  over- 
throw him  ?  Shall  we  give  the  soldier's  honour  to 
his  sword  ?  Certainly,  if  men  believed  God,  they 
could  not  think,  nor  speak,  nor  look  upon  his  works, 
but  with  reverence. 

And  as  our  fear  of  God  is,  so  is  our  faith  :  little 
fear,  little  faith ;  no  fear  at  all,  no  faith  at  all.  Judg- 
ment may  be  threatened ;  but  the  stubborn  soldier 
Marius  will  not  hear  the  laws  for  the  clattering  of 
armour.  The  great  things  of  the  law  arc  drowned  in 
some  clamour ;  Satan,  that  cunning  silversmith,  rais- 
ing an  uproar  more  agreeable  to  men's  humours, 
"  Great  is  Diana."  The  shriekings  of  Moloch,  and 
the  pitiful  lamentation  of  bummg  infants,  were 
not  heard,  because  they  deafened  tnemselves  with 
the  instruments  of  music.  After  the  massacre  of 
many  Christian  virtues,  steps  in  conscience,  in  the 
phrase  of  Job's  messenger,  I  am  alone  escaped  to 
tell  thee.  We  like  not  the  message,  and  imprison 
the  bringer ;  and  if  the  subsidiar)-  grace  of  God 
come  to  succour  and  relieve  this  crying  and  dying 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


321 


conscience,  men  study  to  stupifj'  their  own  hearts. 
Thus  "  the  children  are  come  to  the  birth,  and  there 
is  not  strength  to  bring  forth,"  Isa.  xxxvii.  3. 
Strength  cuciugh,  but  it  is  to  strangle  the  birth,  not 
to  bring  it  forth.  The  midwives  of  Egypt  feared 
God,  and  prtsened  the  children  alive  ;  but  the  still- 
born motions  of  God's  Spirit  may  often  testify  to  our 
faces,  that  we  arc  bloody  midwives.  The  frowns  of 
men  we  fear,  as  ducks  use  to  dop  at  every  stone 
thrown  into  the  water:  we  fear  an  ague,  an  enemy, 
a  danger;  yet  not  the  Lord,  who  commands  all  these. 
Let  us  fear  God  more,  and  we  shall  fear  all  other 
things  less :  if  we  could  turn  all  our  fear  into  the 
fear  of  God,  we  should  then  turn  all  our  works  unto 
the  praise  of  God ;  and  he  will  honour  thena  that 
honour  him. 

3.  The  integrity  of  his  faith  :  for  this  he  is  said 
to  be  righteous ;  "  A  just  man,  and  perfect  in  his 
generations,"  Gen.  vi.  9.  Not  in  respect  of  God's 
justice,  "  For  all  have  sinned,  and  come  short  of  the 
gloiT  of  God,"  Rom.  iii.  23 ;  and  if  he  mark  iniquity, 
who'shall  stand?  Psal.  cxxx.  3.  Nor  in  respect  of  that 
perfection  which  is  appropriated  to  the  saints  in  hea- 
ven, Phil.  iii.  12  :  this  no  mortal  man  hath  attained. 
Nor  yet  so  perfect,  that  he  was  without  sin ;  "For  there 
is  not  a  just  man  upon  the  earth,  that  doeth  good,  and 
sinneth  not,"  Eccl.  vii.  20.  Nor  for  supererogating, 
and  going  beyond  his  duty  ;  in  not  only  obeying  the 
legal  rules,  but  also  in  obsening  the  evangelical 
counsels;  as  say  the  Rhemists.  But  either  compnrn- 
live,  compared  with  others  ;  therefore  it  is  added, 
"  in  his  generations."  Or  inchoative,  which  rather 
consists  in  the  desire  of  perfection,  than  in  the  per- 
feclion  of  his  desires.  Or  reputalive,  so  esteemed, 
because  he  was  without  scandal  to  the  world.  But 
especially  imputative,  by  way  of  imputation  ;  he 
'•  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord,"  Gen.  vi.  8 : 
and  this  is  the  perfection  of  faith,  which  clothes  the 
person  with  the  righteousness  of  Christ. 

There  is  a  legal  perfection,  such  as  was  in  Adam, 
is  in  Christ :  none  are  thus  perfect.  "  Though  I 
were  perfect,  yet  would  I  despise  my  life,"  saith  Job, 
chap.  ix.  21.  Though  "  I  know  nothing  by  myself, 
vet  am  I  not  hereby  justified,"  saith  Paul,  1  Cor.  iv. 
4.  They  durst  not  tnist  themselves  upon  God's  judg- 
ment. There  is  also  an  evangelical  perfection ;  and 
this  is  twofold.  It  consists  partly  in  the  apprehen- 
sion of  Christ's  righteousness,  which  is  our  justifica- 
tion ;  partly  in  the  holiness  of  life,  which  is  our 
sanctification.  The  former  is  absolutely  perfect,  for 
our  justification  admits  no  latitude  ;  the  latter  is  not 
so,  for  sanctification  is  perfected  by  degrees,  and  is 
here  but  partial,  as  in  a  child  are  all  the  parts  of  a 
man,  though  it  want  growth,  stature,  and  maturity. 
The  difference  is  not  in  the  truth  of  being,  but  in  the 
measure,  degree,  and  quantity.  There  is  to  be  perfect 
in  all  points;  so  are  none  here  below.  And  to  be 
perfect  in  all  good  endeavour,  and  in  some  good  mea- 
sure. Man  is  indeed  bound  to  keep  all  the  law,  (and 
all  those  for  whom  Christ  did  not  fulfil  it,  shall  have 
it  fulfilled  on  themselves  in  the  penally,)  and  ihat  for 
good  reason.  A  man  in  a  rich  estate  borrows  a  sum 
of  money ;  he  is  then  able  to  repay  it :  but  after- 
wards by  his  riotous  living  he  grows  unable  ;  now 
shall  his  present  and  wilfully  contracted  poverty  ex- 
cuse his  non-payment?  Adam  was  of  sufficient 
strength  to  keep  the  law:  if  he  would  forfeit  that 
grace  and  natural  sufficiency,  shall  his  self-incurred 
weakness  excuse  his  disobedience  ? 

Perfection,  now,  consists  not  in  a  justifiable  good- 
ness of  our  ovra ;  and  that  we  can  attain,  is  not  in 
great  learning,  but  good  living.  Paul  was  perfect 
expectalione  muneris,  imperfect/o/i^a/ione  cerlaminis. 
It  is  said  of  Chrysostom,  He  perfected  nothing  but 


322 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


ch.p.  n 


the  mortification  of  sin.  The  inner  man  may  be 
perfect,  not  the  whole :  but  then  hei-e  is  the  com- 
fort, what  we  have,  is  accepted ;  what  we  have  not, 
is  pardoned.  (August.)  That  which  is  perfect,  both 
justifies  itself,  and  shames  all  imperfection.  He 
that  will  be  perfect,  must  have  understanding,  what 
to  do ;  will,  how  to  do  it ;  memorj',  when  to  do  it. 
Thus  is  a  Christian  perfect :  First,  in  purpose  of 
heart,  as  Abraham  is  said  to  offer  up  his  son  Isaac, 
because  he  had  a  mind  and  resolution  to  do  it.  Se- 
condly, in  inchoation.  Solomon  "  began  to  build 
the  house  of  the  Lord,"  I  Kings  vi.  1  :  the  original 
is,  he  built :  the  beginning  is  called  the  performance. 
Thirdly,  in  comparison,  weiglied  with  the  condition 
of  others;  as  Prov.  xi.  3,  whore  integrity  is  opposed 
to  pcrverscness.  "  Walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  per- 
fect," saith  the  Lord,  Gen.  xvii.  I.  The  way  to  be 
perfect,  is  to  walk  before  God.  It  was  Hezekiah's 
comfort,  "  I  have  walked  before  thee  in  truth,"  Isa. 
xxxviii.  3.  Look  that  the  inside  be  not  rotten,  this 
is  the  way  to  have  a  perfect  heart. 

Now  because  Noah's  faith  was  the  thing  that 
wrapped  up  his  soul  in  the  favour  of  God,  the  ground 
of  all  his  perfection  and  righteousness,  the  virtue 
wliereby  he  lived,  when  all  the  world  was  drowned ; 
how  precious  should  this  jewel  be  to  us,  without 
which  we  can  neither  live  in  this  valley  of  tears,  nor 
escape  in  the  day  of  flames  [  There  is  no  life  but 
in  the  Son,  and  "  he  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life," 
1  John  v.  12,  and  he  that  hath  faith  hath  the  Son. 
Justus  exjide  vivet :  faith,  like  Eve,  is  the  mother  of 
all  that  live.  God  himself  is  content  to  divide  his 
praises  with  faith :  whereas  she  can  do  nothing  but 
by  him,  she  shall  do  any  thing  with  him.  She  can 
work  wonders  :  subduing  kingdoms,  strangling  lions, 
quenching  violent  fires,  witli  handfuls  conquering 
huge  armies,  Heb.  xi.  3.3,  34,  dividing  seas,  turning 
back  streams,  yea,  commanding  mountains  to  remove, 
overcoming  the  world  ;  what  call  you  these  but 
wonders  ?  Snch  wonders  can  faith  do.  Yea,  God  is 
pleased  to  do  nothing  for  us  without  her,  that  doth 
all  things  of  himself.  True  faith  is  not  less  than 
miraculous  in  the  sphere  of  her  activity,  and  with 
the  warrant  of  God's  tnith.  It  is  no  prccmunire,  nor 
offence  to  God's  crown  and  dignity,  to  say,  it  is  his 
own  arm  to  the  saving  of  men.  Tliere  is  a  kind  of 
omnipotence  in  faith,  when  it  shall  say  to  the  sun 
and  moon.  Stand  still,  and  Ije  obeyed.  But  as 
Christ  could  do  no  miracle  in  Capernaum,  because 
they  had  no  faith  :  so  where  men  want  faith,  it  must 
be  a  miracle,  yea,  beyond  a  miracle,  if  they  be  saved. 
I  know  it  is  ea.sy  to  say,  I  believe :  there  is  a  titular 
faith,  but  it  shall  never  save  any,  until  saying.  Be 
filled,  gives  a  man  his  dinner ;  or,  Be  warmed,  makes 
hira  hot.  But  he  that  can  believe,  with  Noah,  in  a 
storm  of  indignation,  in  a  deluge  of  destruction,  when 
the  arrows  of  vengeance  fly  about,  and  the  Lord 
raineth  coals  of  fire  like  hailstones,  in  flaming  trials, 
and  strongest  temptations  ;  then  to  believe,  shall 
bring  a  glorious  crown  in  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ. 

4.  The  event  or  success  of  all  ;  which  was  Noah's 
building  of  the  ark.  God  that  decreed  to  save  him, 
ordained  also  the  means  of  his  pi-eservation.  Now  the 
endof  liuildingit  was  double  ;  one  for  the  further  con- 
viction of  the  world,  the  other  for  the  saving  of  him 
and  his  family.     For  the  world,  the  Lord  did  not  only 

five  them  time,  but  a  faithful  and  righteous  teacher, 
t  is  happy  for  him  that  teacheth  others,  to  be  him- 
self righteous.  It  is  absurd  in  him  that  stammers,  to 
teach  others  to  speak  plain.  Great  learning  and 
good  living  are  a  fair  couple,  a  fit  match;  it  is  pity 
to  iiart  them.  Let  the  mountains  of  learning  so 
preach,  that  the  little  hills  and  valleys  may  receive 
beneHt.  ' 


Noah's  hand  taught  them,  no  less  than  histong'jo- 
his  business  in  building  the  ark  was  a  real  sermon  to 
the  world.  For  this  cause  God  set  him  a  buildin-^ 
sixscore  years  before  the  flood.  "Why  so,  when  he 
might  have  done  it  in  three  or  four  years  ?  But  be- 
cause the  Lord  would  give  them  space  to  repent, 
every  stroke  on  the  ark  for  all  that  long  time  being 
a  loud  sennon  of  repentance  to  them.  Thus  do  th 
saints  judge  the  world,  I  Cor.  vi.  2,  not  only  by  their 
faith,  but  by  their  fact :  the  examples  of  holy  men, 
arc  bills  of  indictment  against  the  wicked.  Thus 
the  Nincvites  are  said  to  judge  the  unrepentant  Jews, 
and  the  queen  of  Sheba  those  unbelieving  children 
of  Abraham.  Noah  being  told  of  a  miraculous  thing, 
and  believing  it;  being  commanded  an  unreasonable 
thing,  and  obejnng  it ;  condemns  all  them  that  will 
not  believe  God's  ordinaiy  promises,  nor  obey  his 
known  precepts.  Many  despise  those  that  sincerely 
profess  Christ ;  but  their  sincere  profession  shall  be 
the  despisers'  condemnation. 

Haply  those  monstrous  sons  of  Lamech  came  to 
Noah,  and  asked  him  what  he  intended  by  that  strange 
work  ;  whether  he  meant  to  sail  upon  the  di-y  land  ? 
to  whom  he  relates  God's  purpose,  and  his  own. 
They  go  laughing  away  at  his  idleness,  and  tell  one 
another  in  sport,  that  too  much  holiness  hath  made 
him  mad ;  that  instead  of  a  palace,  he  was  building  a 
prison ;  and  because  other  men  delighted  in  castles 
of  stone,  he  (to  be  cross  to  the  world)  would  have  a 
house  of  wood.  Yet  cannot  all  this  flout  Noah  out 
of  his  faith  :  still  he  preaches,  and  builds,  and  finishes. 
And  when  all  they,  like  ghastly  wretches,  lay  sprawl- 
ing on  the  merciless  waves,  he  lies  safe  at  the  anchor 
of  hope  and  peace.  The  faith  of  the  righteous  can- 
not be  so  much  derided,  as  their  success  is  magnified. 
How  securely  doth  he  ride  out  of  this  universal  up- 
roar, of  heavens,  earth,  waters,  elements  !  He  hears 
the  pouring  down  of  the  rain  above  his  head ;  the 
shrieking  of  men,  women,  and  children,  roaring  and 
bellowing  of  beasts  on  every  side  ;  the  rage  of  the 
waves  under  him  :  he  saw  the  miserable  shifts  of  the 
distressed  unbelievers ;  and  now,  in  the  midst  of  all. 
sits  quietly  in  his  dry  cabin,  not  feeling  evil.  He 
knew  that  the  great  Master  of  the  world,  whose  judg- 
ments now  overflowed  the  earth,  would  steer  him  in 
these  deep  waters;  and  that  the  same  hand  which 
shut  him  up,  would  preserve  him. 

Let  me  here  again  commend  to  you  the  blessed- 
ness of  faith ;  what  a  sweet  security  and  heavenly 
peace  doth  it  work  in  the  soul,  in  the  midst  of  all  the 
inundations  of  evils  !  This  is  the  adamant  which 
nothing  will  break  ;  the  palm  that  sinks  not  under 
the  weightiest  burden  ;  the  oil  that  ever  over-swims 
the  greatest  quantity  of  water  can  be  poured  on  it ; 
the  sheet-anchor  that  holds  when  all  other  tacklings 
break.  The  day  of  fire  shall  be  more  terrible  and 
imiversal  than  was  the  day  of  water;  this  defaced 
earth,  that  shall  melt  the  hciivens.  Yet  still  faith 
finds  an  ark,  not  of  combustible  wood,  but  of  indis- 
solvablc  strength ;  it  is  the  opened  side  of  Jesus  Christ. 
There,  when  the  earth  is  burning  under  her,  heaven 
above  her,  the  elements  about  her,  reprobates  shriek- 
ing beside  her,  death  and  hell  trembling  below  her, 
she  shall  fintl  assurance  and  peace ;  and  at  last  be 
metamorphosed  into  that  blessed  vision,  and  eternal 
fruition  of  such  joys;  to  which  his  mercy  bring  us. 
that  they  then  may  be  known  unto  us.     Amen. 

"  But  saved  Noah  the  eighth  person."  "  I  will  lift 
up  mine  eyes  unto  the  hills,  from  whence  cometh  my 
help,"  Psal.  cxxi.  I.  From  t lie  mountains,  not  of  the 
mountains,  but  of  "the  Lord,  which  bath  made  hea- 
ven and  earth."  While  the  justice  of  God  was  de- 
creeing confusion  to  the  world,  his  mercy  was  con- 
triving a  safety  for  his  servant.     And  as  his  majesty 


Ver.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  Vj!.TER. 


323 


was  glorious  in  so  weak  an  clement  for  the  ruin  ;  so 
was  his  mercy,  in  so  weak  an  instrument  for  the  jire- 
servation.  Here  was  omnipotency  in  both :  he  speaks 
to  the  creatures;  Clouds,  make  rain,  and  let  that 
rain  make  a  flood,  and  let  that  flood  drown  the 
world.  He  speaks  to  Noah,  Make  thee  an  ark,  and 
I  will  make  that  ark  save  thee  ;  do  thou  as  I  bid 
thee,  and  I  will  do  as  I  promised  thee. 

Generally  two  things  occur  to  our  consideration  ; 
the  building  of  the  ark,  and  the  preservation  by  it ; 
the  vessel  itself,  and  the  freight.  For  the  former, 
my  purpose  is  not  to  declare  the  matter,  measure, 
proportion,  or  fashion  of  the  ark  ;  but  to  borrow  so 
much  of  the  story  as  is  pertinent  and  instructive  to 
us.  This  summarily  consists  in  two  things  ;  Noah's 
trial,  and  God's  disposal.  For  his  trial,  God  in  build- 
ing the  ark  did  exercise  three  virtues  in  him ;  his 
patience,  his  confidence,  and  his  obedience  :  let  us 
consider  them. 

1.  For  his  patience.  Why  did  God  set  him  about 
it  a  hundred  and  twenty  years,  when  a  small  time 
might  have  finished  it  ?  This  was  for  the  trial  of 
his  patience.  Thus  he  led  the  Israelites  in  the  de- 
serts of  Arabia  forty  years ;  whereas  a  man  may 
travel  from  Ramesis  in  Egypt  to  any  part  of  Canaan 
in  forty  days.  This  God  did  to  prove  them,  that  he 
might  know  what  was  in  their  heart,  Deut.  viii.  2. 
He  promised  Abraham  a  son  in  whom  he  should  be 
blessed  ;  this  he  perfonned  not  of  thirty  years  after. 
He  gave  David  tne  kingdom,  and  anointed  him  by 
Samuel ;  yet  was  he  not  possessed  of  it  in  many  years ; 
insomuch  that  he  said,  "Mine  eyes  fail  for  thy  word," 
Psal.  cxix.  82.  Joseph  hath  a  promise  that  the 
sun  and  moon  should  do  him  reverence  ;  but  first  he 
must  lie  bound  in  the  dungeon.  This  God  doth  to  try 
us,  for  in  these  exigents  we  show  ourselves  and  our  dis- 
positions. Thus  did  he  leave  Hezekiah  in  the  busi- 
ness of  Babylon,  to  know  his  heart,  2  Chron.  xxxii. 
31.  When  he  had  made  such  a  probation  of  Abra- 
ham, in  the  sacrifice  of  his  son,  he  concluded,  "Now 
I  know  that  thou  fearest  God,"  Gen.  xxii.  12.  Did 
not  God  know  before  ?  Yes,  he  knows  the  very 
thoughts  of  men.  It  is  not  for  his  instruction,  but 
ours.  The  Lord  knows  all,  but  thus  he  would  have 
us  to  know  our  own  hearts.  "  The  heart  of  man  is 
deceitful  above  all  things,"  Jcr.  xvii.  9.  The  world- 
ling knows  his  own  house,  his  own  horse,  his  own 
garment ;  he  knows  not  his  own  heart.  "  Though  I 
were  perfect,  yet  would  I  not  know  mine  own  soul," 
saith  Job,  chap.  ix.  21.  "Cleanse  thoii  me  from 
secret  faults,"  Psal.  xix.  12.  Ye  know  not  of  what 
spirit  you  are,  saith  Christ  even  to  his  apostles, 
Luke  ix.  55. 

We  know  not  what  patience  we  have,  what  courage, 
what  zeal,  till  we  be  put  to  it.  A  man  is  that  he  is 
when  he  is  tempted.  Some  presume  more  tlian  they 
can ;  so  did  Peter,  Though  I  should  die  with  thee.  I 
will  not  deny  thee :  alas,  he  knew  not  his  own  weak- 
ness. Others  doubt  of  that  they  can,  as  Naaman; 
God  be  merciful  to  me  when  I  come  into  the  house 
of  Rimmon :  here  I  can  serve  God  constantly,  but 
when  I  wait  on  my  master  to  the  idolatrous  temple, 
what  shall  I  do  then  ?  Lord,  be  meriiful  to  me  in 
this.  Go  in  peace,  saith  the  prophet ;  God  will 
strengthen  thee.  Every  cock-boat  can  swim  in  a 
river,  every  sculler  sail  in  a  calm  ;  every  man  of  a 

Eatient  temper  or  cheerly  disposition,  can  hold  up 
is  head  in  ordinaiy  gusts.  But  when  a  black  storm 
rises,  a  tenth  wave  flows,  deep  calls  unto  (lee^i,  nature 
yields,  spirit  faints,  heart  fails  ;  here  is  the  trial,  how 
dost  thou  now?  When  our  hopes  are  adjourned, 
our  expectation  delayed,  and  instead  of  pleasing  con- 
tents we  find  bitter  sorrows  ;  this  will  discover  our 
hearts.     If  then  faith  prevail  above  sense,  and  hope 


against  all  natural  reason  and  fear,  our  graces  shall 
shine  like  orient  pearls,  in  true  and  perfect  beauty. 
After  all  the  prorogations  of  promised  ease,  still  to 
stand  erect  and  triumph ;  here  is  the  assurance  of 
faith,  that  hath  the  word  for  compass,  Christ  at  the 
helm,  and  the  voyage  is  salvation. 

2.  For  his  confidence.  Many  obstacles  might 
seem  to  stop  him  in  the  course  of  his  proceeding, 
and  to  keep  him  from  attempting  this  strange  edifice. 
1.  Tlie  great  quantity  of  the  ark,  amounting  to  many 
thousand  cubits;  a  work  of  great  labour,  and  no 
small  cliarges.  If  this  had  been  imposed  on  the 
sluggard  :  What,  shall  I  spend  all  my  days  in  build- 
ing ?  As  Floras,  an  idle  fellow,  would  evermore  say, 
I  would  not  be  Caesar,  always  marching  in  armour : 
to  whom  Cu'sar  replied,  I  would  not  be  Floras,  always 
drinking  in  a  tavern.  Or  on  the  covetous ;  he  would 
have  answered.  It  is  too  chargeable ;  shall  I  exhaust 
my  estate  to  set  up  a  fantastical  house  ?  he  will  not; 
do  it,  to  laave  a  house  in  heaven.  2.  The  length  of 
his  labour  ;  it  was  to  have  lasted  sixscore  years  :  now 
it  is  tedious  to  man's  nature,  to  be  always  doing,  and 
never  to  have  done.  3.  The  building  of  it  was  a 
matter  of  mockery  to  the  world ;  for  it  signified  to 
the  rebellious  destruction,  to  himself  preservation. 
Now  that  either  the  world  could  possibly  be  drowned, 
or  that  he  should  separably  be  saved,  this  they 
laughed  at. 

Lastly,  it  was  a  thing  most  harsh  to  natural  reason. 
I.  It  had  no  precedent ;  and  to  credit  new  and  strange 
things,  requires  a  new  and  strange  faith.  2.  It 
seemed  not  likely  that  God's  mercy  should  be  so 
wholly  swallowed  up  of  his  justice.  3.  To  live  in 
the  ark,  as  in  a  close  prison,  without  light,  without 
fresh  air,  and  comfort  of  liberty,  among  beasts  of  all 
sorts,  and  that  he  knew  not  how  long  !  Reason 
might  say.  It  is  better  to  die  with  men,  than  to  live 
with  beasts ;  better  to  die  a  free-man,  than  to  live  a 
l^risoner ;  better  to  die  with  company,  than  to  live 
alone,  i'hat  if  God  had  purposed  to  save  him,  he 
could  have  devised  means  more  direct,  more  easy, 
more  safe  than  this ;  therefore  his  deliverance  was 
to  be  doubted  of.  Thus,  indeed,  he  miglit  make  him- 
self a  derision,  and  ridiculous  story  of  the  world,  all 
this  while  :  and  if  the  wicked  should  alter  their 
practice,  God  would  alter  his  purpose,  and  so  there 
would  be  no  flood.  If  there  were,  yet  the  ark  might 
dash  against  the  mountains,  and  so  he  perish  with 
the  rest ;  and  then  he  might  with  the  same  success 
have  saved  all  this  labour :  therefore  the  best  course  is 
to  let  all  alone,  and  to  take  my  venture  with  the  world. 

All  these  had  been  strong  persuasions  in  a  natural 
man  ;  but  faith  dissolves  these  impediments,  as  the 
sun  doth  dews :  with  resolute  courage  it  breaketh 
through  all  difliculties,  and  flies  over  these  carnal 
objections  with  celestial  mngs.  As  Abraham  begat 
Isaac,  so  faith  begets  hope  ;  and  as  Isaac  begat  Ja- 
cob, so  hope  begets  obedience :  he  believes,  hopes, 
and  builds.  It  is  bounded  on  the  knowledge  of 
God's  nature  ;  knowledge  is  the  root  of  faith.  Pre- 
sumption ariseth  from  the  ignorance  of  God's  nature, 
that  he  is  just;  desperation  from  the  ignorance  of 
his  nature,  that  he  is  merciful.  Some  ai-e  of  the 
error,  that  God  will  not  be  so  cruel  as  to  damn  his 
creature,  but  he  \rill  not  be  so  kind  to  the  wicked,  as 
to  be  unjust  to  himself. 

Let  this  teach  us  to  fortify  our  faith  :  doctrines  that 
are  plausible  to  our  natural  afTcctions,  we  can  formal- 
ly obey;  but  that  which  is  above  our  reason,  beyond 
our  apprehension,  or  against  our  disposition,  we 
call  that  into  question.  The  Scripture  saith,  that 
Christ  is  in  the  sacrament  really  exhibited  to  the 
soul  of  a  Christian:  carnal  senses  deny  this.  Reason 
asks  with  the  Capernaites,  Will  he  give  us  his  flesh 


324 


AN  EXPOSITIOX  UPOX  THE 


Chap.  If. 


to  cat  ?  Faith  believeth  this,  and  the  soul  findeth  it 
with  unspeakable  comfort.  God  saith,  that  a  poor 
good  man  is  iu  better  case  than  a  rich  sinner:  reason 
and  ocular  experience  deny  it,  but  faith  believes  it, 
and  feels  it.  For  never  did  the  poorest  child  of  God 
wish  to  change  his  estate  willi  tlie  wealthiest  world- 
ling upon  earth.  God  saith,  our  bodies  shall  rise 
again,  how  strange  dissolutions  or  how  many  altera- 
tions soever  they  suffer :  this  is  a  wonder  to  nature, 
an  amazement  to  reason ;  but  the  faith  of  a  Chris- 
tian rests  upon  it,  and  the  soul  of  a  Christian  shall 
have  comfort  in  it. 

3.  For  his  obedience.  Though  Noah  understood 
by  direct  revelation  tliat  he  should  be  saved,  yet  lie 
used  the  means,  he  made  an  ark.  He  might  have 
said,  God  hath  bound  himself  by  covenant  to  jire- 
scrve  me  ;  his  word  is  his  word,  and  he  will  stand  to 
it :  let  mc  labour  or  lie  still,  his  will  cannot  be 
altered;  though  I  be  false,  he  will  be  truej  though 
I  omit  what  belongs  to  me,  he  will  not  forget  what 
belongs  to  him  :  let  me  therefore  spare  the  pains  of 
so  much  labour,  cost,  derision.  No,  Noah  is  of 
another  mind ;  the  promise  of  safety,  and  the  means 
of  safety,  be  to  him  inseparable  :  he  dares  not  but 
believe  that  God  will  do  it,  he  dares  not  but  use  the 
means  whereby  he  will  do  it.  The  pontifieians  think 
to  flout  us  with  our  assurance  of  salvation :  if  we  be 
sure  of  it,  what  need  we  then  so  trouble  ourselves 
about  it  ?  I  answer,  though  we  be  sure  of  it,  not 
only  in  the  certainty  of  faith,  but,  if  it  could  be,  by 
immediate  revelation  from  God ;  yet  still  let  us  work 
out  our  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling.  If  God 
should  say  to  a  man  by  his  veiy  name.  Thou  shall 
be  saved ;  it  is  no  more  than  here  was  said  to  Noah 
for  his  temporal  deliverance.  Yet  Noah  concludes. 
If  I  make  not  the  ark,  I  am  to  look  for  no  preserva- 
tion :  this  was  Noah's  divinit)'.  And  for  those  that 
think  they  know  a  shorter  cut  to  heaven,  let  them 
take  heed  they  be  not  cut  short  of  heaven.  If  we  be 
elected,  no  matter  how  we  live :  desperate  presumj)- 
tion!  Noah  would  not  trust  his  mortal  life  upon 
those  terms,  and  shall  secure  men  thus  venture  their 
souls  ?  No,  God  hath  decreed  the  means  unto  the 
end,  and  hath  promised  the  end  unto  the  means ; 
and  those  things  which  God  hath  joined  together, 
let  no  man  put  asunder. 

Eebekah  had  God's  oracle  for  Jacob's  life,  yet  she 
sent  him  away  out  of  Esau's  reach.  It  was  impos- 
sible for  Herod  to  hurt  tlic  child  Jesus,  yet  he  must 
flee  into  Egypt.  The  Lord  hath  promised  his  chil- 
dren supply  of  all  good  things,  yet  they  must  use 
tlie  means  of  impetration ;  by  prayer.  "  Call  upon 
me  in  the  day  of  trouble,"  Psal.  1.  15.  He  feeds  the 
young  ravens  when  they  call  upon  him,  Psal.  cxlvii. 
9.  He  feeds  the  yoimg  ravens,  but  first  they  call 
upon  him.  God  withholds  from  them  that  ask  not, 
lest  he  should  give  to  them  that  desire  not.  (August.) 
David  was  confident,  that  by  God's  power  he  should 
spring  over  a  wall ;  yet  not  without  putting  his  own 
strength  and  agility  to  it.  Those  things  we  pray 
for,  we  must  work  for.  (August.)  The  carter  in 
Isidore,  when  his  cart  was  overthrown,  would  needs 
have  his  god  Hercules  come  down  from  heaven,  to 
help  him  up  with  it.  But  whilst  he  forbore  to  set 
liis  own  shoulder  to  it,  liis  cart  lay  still.  Abraham 
was  as  rich  as  any  of  our  aldermen,  David  as  valiant 
as  any  of  our  gentlemen,  Solomon  as  wise  as  any  of 
our  deepest  naturians,  Susanna  as  fair  as  any  of  our 
painted  pieces.  Yet  none  of  them  thought  that  their 
riclies,  valour,  policy,  beauty,  or  excellent  parts  could 
save  them ;  but  they  stirred  the  sparks  of  grace,  and 
bestirred  themselves  in  pious  works.  And  this  is  our 
means,  if  our  meaning  be  to  be  saved. 

Thus   for   Noah's  trial,  now  for  God's   disposal. 


And  herein  we  must  consider  two  things ;  his  direc- 
tion, and  selection :  he  was  both  the  Pilot  of  the 
vessel,  and  the  chooser  of  those  that  should  be  in 
the  vessel. 

For  his  direction.  The  vessel  was  great  and 
huge ;  resembling  a  ship,  yet  so  unlike  it,  that  it  is 
called  an  ark  ;  capacious  of  all  kinds  of  living  crcii- 
tures,  with  suflicient  provision  for  them.  This  must 
float  above  the  water,  be  laden  with  a  hea^-y  burden, 
without  stem  to  guide  her,  without  anchor  to  stay 
her,  without  mast  to  poise  her,  without  master  to 
govern  her.  Noah  was  a  husbandman,  a  preacher, 
but  (without  question)  he  had  no  skill  to  be  a  sailor; 
the  art  of  naWgation  being  not  then  found  out. 
Therefore  this  unwieldy  vessel  must,  in  all  reason, 
be  cast  upon  hills  and  rocks,  by  the  violence  of  tem- 
pests, and  so  split  in  pieces.  No,  but  when  heaven 
and  earth  seem  to  conspire  against  it,  it  shall  pre- 
sei-ve  him.  How  so  ?  Because  God  himself  was  the 
Master  and  Steersman  of  it,  his  providence  was  witll 
it.  It  was  indeed  too  vast  a  bulk  to  be  governed  by 
human  skill ;  therefore,  when  by  no  man's  art  it 
could  be  set  afloat,  it  was  lifted  up  by  the  waters, 
and  left  to  be  guided,  not  by  human  prudence,  but 
by  Divine  Providence.  (August.) 

As  the  Lord  ordained  it,  so  he  directed  and  dis- 
posed it :  "  The  Lord  shut  him  in,"  Gen.  vii.  16. 
He  himself  shut  the  door  of  the  ark  upon  Noah,  and 
made  it  fast  after  him,  that  no  waters  might  get  in 
unto  him.  God  was  his  Porter  to  shut  him  in, 
Keeper  to  preserve  him,  and  great  Master  of  the 
vessel  during  that  whole  voyage.  Such  is  his  pre- 
sence and  providence  over  his  children  in  all  dis- 
tresses. He  for  ;ets  nothing  that  he  hath  made,  but 
his  special  eye  it  over  his  elect :  as  the  master  of  a 
family  hath  an  eye  over  his  meanest  servant,  yea, 
over  his  ver\-  cattle,  but  his  care  night  and  day  is 
for  his  children.  They  are  beset  with  no  danger  of 
water  or  fire,  but  there  is  one  among  them,  in  the 
form  of  the  Son  of  God,  Dan.  iii.  25,  to  deliver  them. 
^Vhen  Israel  was  in  so  hard  a  strait,  as  cither  to  be 
drow  ned  in  the  sea,  or  slain  by  the  sword,  how  mira- 
culously did  God  provide  an  evasion !  Wlien  Noah 
was  to  enter  the  ark,  and  to  have  the  door  shut  after 
him,  here  was  a  hard  exigent.  It  was  so  large  that 
camels  and  elephants  might  enter  into  it ;  therefore 
shut  it  himself  he  could  not,  or  at  least  not  sufliciently 
close  it  up  against  the  waters.  Nor  would  any  of 
the  world  do  it  for  him,  they  did  not  owe  him  so 
much  love  and  scr\'icc,  but  rather  laughed  at  his 
vain  endeavours.  Himself  could  not,  others  would 
not,  the  Lord  with  his  own  hand  shut  it  for  him. 
Being  thus  closed  up,  he  was  in  danger  to  be  thrown 
upon  the  rocks,  having  no  anchor,  no  stem,  no  pilot : 
lo,  God  was  all  these  unto  him. 

In  the  deepest  destitution  of  all  earthly  comforts, 
so  powerful  is  his  hand,  so  loving  his  eye,  lo  those 
that  serve  him '.  Elisha  had  a  host  of  men  sent 
against  him.  How  should  one  man  escape  from  a 
wliole  army  ?  Ilis  man  cried,  the  master  believed, 
the  Lord  protected,  2  Kings  vi.  1/.  When  men  re- 
fuse to  help  Noah,  the  angels  arc  ready.  AVhen  the 
whole  world  expected  him  to  perish  with  them- 
selves, then  the  Lord  is  his  Pilot,  and  the  last  thing 
their  eyes  must  see,  is  Noah  safe.  "  The  Lord  is 
my  light  and  my  salvation;  whom  shall  I  fear?" 
Psal.  xxvii.  1.  David  found  God  to  be  his  Vice-Ad- 
miral,  and  to  carr)-  the  light  before  him,  in  the  dark- 
est storms  and  most  violent  waves  of  his  trouble. 
There  is  no  calamity  so  potent  as  is  our  Deliverer. 
Therefore  as  the  legend  moralizeth  of  St.  Christo- 
pher, that  he  would  ser\c  none  but  the  greatest  that 
was,  and  still  as  lie  found  one  more  powerful  K. 
would  change  his  master;  till  at  last  from  man  to 


Ver.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


3-25 


man,  and  from  man  to  the  tlcviJ,  he  came  from  the 
tlcvil  to  Christ,  who  was  the  strongest  of  all.  So  if 
any  thing  in  the  world,  yea,  the  whole  world,. were 
more  potent  than  God,  there  were  some  colour  for 
demurring  upon  our  choice.  But  seeing  that  he 
only  doth  what  he  pleaseth,  in  heaven,  earth,  st:i, 
all  places,  Psal.  cxxxv.  6 ;  and  what  he  will  do,  all 
the  rest  must  do;  and  that  his  majesty  is  not  more 
infinite  than  his  mercy,  that  he  is  not  so  ready  to 
strike  the  obstinate  as  to  spare  the  prostrate ;  Lord, 
let  us  love  thee  iibove  all  things  that  be,  that  thou 
mayst  deliver  us  from  all  things  that  be  hurtful. 

In  that  the  Lord  was  here  Master  and  Pilot  of  the 
ark,  we  may  observe  the  antiquity  and  dignity  of 
mariners  and  sailors.  For  antiquity  ;  it  is  as  old  as 
Noah,  older  than  the  second  world.  The  dignity  is 
great ;  for  God  himself  was  the  first  author  and  first 
practiser  of  it.  First  author;  for  Noah  made  not 
this  ark  of  his  own  head,  but  the  Lord  instructed 
him.  Fii-st  ))ractiser ;  for  he  performed  all  those 
oflices  unto  Noah,  else  it  had  not  saved  him.  Tiiis 
is  one  of  those  few  callings,  which  may  say,  God 
himself  was  the  first  deviser  and  exerciser  of  it :  all 
callings  cannot  sav  so.  AVliy  then  do  seafarers  for- 
get that  Master  wliom  tluy  succeed ?  There  is  now 
no  vocation  so  abased  and  abused  as  it  is,  lighting 
into  the  hands  of  the  most  lewd  and  licentious  per- 
sons; no  generation  of  men  more  notoriously  disso- 
lute. How  little  do  they  remember  that  God  made 
the  first  ship,  that  he  was  the  first  Master,  the  first 
Mariner,  the  first  Pilot  of  it ;  that  their  dispositions 
are  so  utterly  unlike  to  his !  The  strange  things 
of  the  sea  they  behold ;  but  those  monsters  are 
rather  their  play-fellows,  than  occasions  of  their  fear 
and  piety.  Although  their  veiy  sleeps  be  but  so 
many  repricvals  of  their  dangers,  and  when  they 
awake  they  know  not  whether  they  shall  ever  sleep 
a?ain,  save  in  death,  yet  they  are  not  mortified. 
There  is  nothing  but  extreme  danger,  or  extreme 
hunger,  can  soften  them.  That  tottering  vessel  is 
more  safe  at  sea,  than  many  of  them  are  on  land; 
for  that  hath  a  helm  to  guide  her,  but  these  Iiave 
cast  off  not  only  religion,  that  makes  them  good 
men,  but  even  reason,  that  makes  them  men;  and 
saving  only  on  the  sea,  they  live  without  all  compass. 
As  their  ship  on  the  water,  so  they  on  the  land, 
"reel  to  and  fro,  and  stagger  like  a  drunken  man," 
Psal.  cvii.  27.  One  would  think,  that  the  terrors  of 
the  ocean,  the  wonders  of  God  in  the  deep,  should 
melt  their  very  soul,  and  humble  Ihcm,  ver.  26: 
where  the  winds  domineer,  and  tlie  waves  roar,  ro/- 
iiDitur  lit  a-qiiora  monies ;  wlierc  they  lie, 

Digilis  a  morte  remoti 
Quatiwr  aul  septem ; 

where  no  mercy  is  to  be  hoped.  He  that  hath  not 
learned  to  pray,  let  him  K-arn  to  sail.  Yes,  haply 
they  will  j)ray  and  cry  too,  while  the  tempest  beats; 
cast  up  their  eyes,  and  send  their  prayers  to  the 
offended  heavens :  but  is  not  their  piety  blown  over 
with  their  misery?  Yes,  the  God  of  their  supplica- 
tions is  on  land  become  the  object  of  their  blas- 
phemies ;  and  they  seldom  think  of  him,  but  when 
they  borrow  his  name  to  swear  by.  The  Lord  is  our 
preserver  by  sea  and  land,  there  be  dangers  enougii 
in  eveiy  place ;  therefore  by  sea  and  land,  in  every 
place,  let  us  humbly  serve,  and  confidently  trust 
in  him. 

Thus  for  God's  direction  and  providence,  over  this 
vessel ;  we  come  to  his  election  of  the  company  for 
it.  The  whole  world  being  his,  and  he  absolute 
Lord  of  all,  made  choice  according  to  his  divine  and 
inscrutable  pleasure.  In  the  most  general  judgments, 
those  that  fear  God  find  deliverance.    When  Sodom 


must  be  destroyed,  Lot  and  his  family  are  singled 
out ;  the  angels  can  do  nothing  till  he  be  safe. 
When  Jerusalem  must  bleed,  the  mourners  are  sealed 
to  redemption.  AVhen  the  destroying  angel  rides 
circuit  in  Egypt,  the  doors  sprinkled  with  the  blood 
of  the  lamb  are  passed  over.  The  deluge  of  wrath 
will  one  day  come;  what  shall  we  do  then  ?  Sprinkle 
our  hearts  beforehand  with  the  sacred  blood  of  the 
Lamb ;  then  thousands  shall  fall  on  our  left  hand, 
and  ten  thousands  beside  us,  and  the  Lord  shall  pro- 
vide one  way  or  other  an  ark  of  safety  and  deliver- 
ance for  us. 

The  number  preserved,  consisted  both  of  reason- 
able and  unreasonable  creatures ;  of  unreasonable, 
for  man's  sake;  of  reasonable,  for  God's  own  sake. 
First,  let  us  look  upon  his  election  in  the  accessarj", 
the  irrational  living  creatures. 

The  Lord  that  would  have  seed  kept  alive  on  the 
earth,  took  into  his  preser\-ation  beasts  both  clean 
and  unclean.  Some  were  even  at  that  time  unclean, 
Gen.  vii.  2;  for  Moses  wrote  not  this  by  anticipation, 
as  respecting  the  time  wherein  he  wrote,  the  law 
having  then  distinguished  them;  but  respecting  the 
time  when  the  flood  came.  Certainly  this  dilTcrencc 
was  known  to  the  patriarchs  by  Divine  revelation, 
and  contir.ued  to  tneir  posterity  by  tradition  ;  as 
was  the  use  of  sacrifice,  ofiTering  of  tithes,  and  ob- 
servation of  the  sabbath,  before  the  law.  Now  they 
were  not  unclean  by  their  own  nature  and  creation, 
for  God  made  all  good  ;  nor  in  respect  of  man's  use 
only,  some  being  more  fit  for  food  ;  but  by  God's  in- 
stitution, some  being  more  fit  for  sacrifice,  therefore 
called  clean.  Of  the  clean  God  chose  seven  ;  of  the 
unclean  but  two  :  he  would  have  the  former  to  mul- 
tiply, and  replenish  the  earth  by  a  speedy  increase  ; 
that  man  might  have  sustenance,  and  himself  sacri- 
fice. The  othe]',  he  knew,  would  annoy  them  witli 
their  multitude  :  and  albeit  he  would  have  the  kind 
of  hurtful  beasts  preserved,  even  for  the  pimish- 
ment  of  sinful  man,  for  the  noisome  beast  is  one  of 
his  four  great  plagues,  Ezek.  xiv.  21 ;  yet  would  he 
have  their  number  abridged,  that  they  might  not 
grow  too  fast  upon  him.  These  would  hurt  him, 
the  other  enrich  him ;  therefore  the  merciful  God 
provides  most  of  them  whereof  we  have  most  use. 

But  why  seven  ?  Three  male,  three  female,  and 
the  odd  one  for  sacrifice.  Not  that  we  conclude 
with  their  canon,  that  the  double  number  is  not 
good,  because  the  unclean  came  in  by  two ;  and  that 
the  odd  number  is  good,  because  the  odd  was  for 
sacrifice.  For  this  is  false.  First,  because  both 
clean  and  unclean  came  in  by  pairs  and  couples ; 
how  many  or  how  few  soever,  every  male  had  his 
female.  Gen.  vii.  9.  Secondly,  they  are  not  said  to 
be  unclean  for  their  number,  but  for  their  kind. 
Thirdly,  then  Noah  and  his  sons  had  been  unclean, 
because  they  and  their  wives  v.ent  into  the  ark  by 
couples.  But  seven,  that  God,  who  created  seven 
days  in  the  week,  and  chose  one  of  them  for  himself, 
did  here  preserve  of  seven  clean  beasts  one  for  him- 
self, for  sacrifice.  He  gives  us  six  for  one  in  worldly 
things,  in  spiritual  things  let  us  give  him  all.  Here 
are  two  things  observable. 

1.  God  is  pleased  that  some  noxious  creatures 
should  be  reserved,  for  the  correction  and  exercise 
of  man.  He  hath  use  even  of  those  fierce  and  cruel 
beasts,  and  glory  by  them.  They  being  created  for 
man,  must  live  by  him,  though  to  his  castigation  and 
punishment.  The  Manichecs  object  agamst  God's 
goodness,  that  he  made  many  things  pernicious,  as 
some  evil  weeds  and  venomous  serpents  ;  and  many 
things  superfluous,  whereof  we  have  no  use  ;  how 
then  were  all  good?  (August.)  It  is  answered :  First, 
God  made  nothing  superfluous,  though  we  know  not 


326 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


the  use  thereof:  as  in  an  artificer's  shop,  we  being 
ignorant  of  the  tools  and  instruments,  condemn  tliem 
not,  though  by  our  meddling  they  cut  our  fingers. 
Secondly,  we  have  no  cause  to  complain;  for  whether 
they  be  profitable,  they  do  us  good  ;  or  superfluous, 
they  do  us  no  hurl,  if  we  let  them  alone.  Thirdly, 
the  harm  of  any  creature  ariseth  from  ourselves  ;  if 
man  had  not  otTended  God,  nothing  should  have 
offended  him.  Fourthly,  they  are  not  altogether 
fruitless,  for  even  those  things  that  are  not  fit  for 
food,  have  their  use  for  medicine.  Venom  itself, 
well  qualified,  hath  been  physical  to  our  recoverj-. 
Fifthly,  even  by  those  that  are  hurtful,  we  are  either 
corrected  to  humble  us,  or  exercised  to  try  us,  or 
terrified  to  work  in  us  the  fear  of  God.  Therefore 
use  the  creatures  commodious,  beware  the  pernicious, 
forbear  those  thou  thinkest  superfluous.  In  all  things 
■where  our  knowledge  ends,  let  our  admiration  begin  : 
though  we  cannot  understand  the  creature,  let  us 
glorify  the  Creator. 

2.  Though  man's  sovereignty  be  abridged,  yet  he 
exerciselli  still  a  lordship  over  the  creatures.  For, 
&st,  there  is  a  natural  instinct  of  obedience  in  them, 
especially  those  that  are  for  man's  use,  as  ox  and 
horse.  Though  his  authority  extend  not  to  the  abso- 
lute command  over  those  wild  and  savage  creatures, 
lions  and  tigei'S  ;  yet  the  more  necessary  and  service- 
able ones  stoop  to  his  yoke.  Secondly,  man  some- 
times by  his  strength  subdueth  the  fiercest  beast,  as 
Samson  the  lion,  and  David  the  bear.  And  when 
strength  faileth,  his  wit  and  policy  often  prevaileth. 
Every  kind  of  beasts,  birds,  serpents,  sea-inhabitants, 
hath  been  tamed  of  mankind.  Jam.  iii.  7-  All  other 
have  been  tamed  of  man,  himself  is  tamed  of  none 
but  God.  (August.) 

3.  Though  this  dominion  be  lost  by  Adam,  it  is  re- 
stored by  Christ :  Thou  shalt  be  at  peace  with  the 
beasts  of  the  field.  Job  v.  23.  But  lastly  and  espe- 
cially, this  is  done  l)y  the  miraculous  power  of  God  : 
for  besides  the  strange  reports  of  Plutarch  and  He- 
rodotus, concerning  their  Hesiod  and  Ai-ion,  Evalus 
and  the  \'irgin,  borne  upon  dolphins'  Ijacks,  and 
brought  safe  to  shor'e  ;  and  Hierome  relates,  or  some 
one  under  his  name,  how  a  Christian,  being  pursued 
by  his  heathen  master,  fled  into  a  cave  where  was  hid 
a  lioness  and  her  whelps,  which  never  banned  him  ; 
but  when  the  pagan  came  in  with  his  other  servant, 
she  devoured  them  both ;  we  know  that  Daniel  was 
preserved  in  the  lion's  den,  Jonah  in  the  belly  of  a 
fish,  and  the  viper  had  no  power  to  hurt  Paul.  So 
here,  the  cruellest  beasts  come  tame  unto  Noah:  they 
offer  and  submit  themselves  to  their  preserver,  re- 
newing that  obedience  to  the  repairer  of  the  world, 
which  before  sin  they  yielded  to  the  first  storer  of 
the  world.  He  that  shut  them  into  the  ark  when 
they  were  entered,  did  also  shut  their  mouths  while 
they  were  entering.  The  fierce  lions  fawn  upon  Noah 
and  Daniel :  what  heart  cannot  the  Maker  of  them 
mollify  !  Let  us  fear  him  that  commands  all,  and  no 
created  power  shall  be  ever  able  to  hami  us.  "  Fear 
not;  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered," 
Lukexii.  7-  They  were  solicitous  about  their  souls, 
Christ  secures  them  of  the  very  hairs  of  their  head. 
Lord,  we  ^vill  fear  no  danger  so  long  as  thou  undcr- 
lakest  to  be  our  Keeper.  Now  to  him  that  kccpeth  us 
from  evil,  and  evil  from  us  ;  that  kcepcth  heaven  for 
us,  and  us  for  himself:  be  praise  for  ever. 

In  the  next  place,  let  us  meditate  further  of  God's 
election,  and  the  freight  of  souls  preserved  in  the 
ark  ;  eight  persons.  It  was  a  family  of  four  men  and 
four  women ;  not  men  alone,  nor  women  alone,  but 
both,  and  consisting  of  as  many  women  as  men.  The 
beginning  ^f  the  fu-st  world  was  by  one  man  and  one 
woman  ;  of  Vhc  second  world,  by  four  men  and  four 


women ;  but  always  equal.  This  is  the  fundamental 
term  of  all  mankind,  hence  beg^n  the  world ;  maa 
was  made  of  dust,  the  woman  of  nis  rib,  the  world  of 
this  woman.  AVoman  takes  her  being  fiom  man, 
man  takes  his  well-being  from  woman:  there  fi>re  Eve 
was  at  the  first  created  a  wife ;  no  sooner  a  woman, 
but  presently  a  wife ;  and  the  first  vocation  of  man 
was  to  be  a  husband.  Therefore  the  Hebrews  have  a 
proverb.  He  who  has  not  a  wife  is  not  a  man.  And 
for  woman,  as  at  first  she  took  her  essence,  so  she 
takes  the  perfection  of  her  essence,  from  man. 

But  to  reduce  the  manifold  observations  here  offer- 
ing themselves  unto  some  head,  we  must  consider 
two  things ;  the  quality  of  the  persons,  and  the  quan- 
tity of  the  number.  For  quality  of  the  persons,  they 
were  all  male  and  female,  husband  and  wife :  and 
God  so  disposed  it  for  three  causes;  society,  pro- 
priety, parity. 

1.  For  societj'.  It  had  been  uncomfortable  for  man 
to  have  lived  there  alone :  "  It  is  not  good  that  man 
should  be  alone  ;  I  will  make  him  an  help  meet  for 
him,"  Gen.  ii.  18.  Marriage  is  called  a  yoke,  too 
heavy  for  one  alone  to  bear;  therefore  each  had  a 
mutual  help,  a  wife.  In  the  participation  of  good, 
compassion  of  evil,  in  health  the  best  delight,  in  sick- 
ness the  best  comfort ;  the  sole  companion  to  whom 
we  may  communicate  our  joys,  and  into  whose  bosom 
we  unload  our  sorrows :  thus  are  our  griefs  lessened, 
our  joys  enlarged,  our  hearts  solaced.  "  A  friend  and 
companion  never  meet  amiss;  but  above  both  is  a 
wife  with  her  husband,"  Eeclus.  xl.  23.  One  in  body 
and  soul,  as  the  stock  and  the  grass  are  but  one  tree. 
God  when  he  made  man,  made  but  one ;  when  woman 
out  of  him,  he  made  two  of  one;  when  marriage,  he 
made  one  of  two.  Two  parties  and  but  one  love,  two 
souls  compacted  into  one  body ;  both  one  in  affection 
while  they  live,  both  one  in  their  posterity  when  they 
die.  Wliere  is  conjugal  faith,  an  indissolvable  cove- 
nant, an  unalterable  affection ;  here  is  a  blessed 
match,  not  to  be  matched  by  all  the  treasures  of  na- 
ture. The  fair  take  no  pleasure  in  the  beauty  of 
their  owti  face,  but  by  the  reflection  of  that  which 
others  derive  from  it.  Our  eyes  are  not  set  to  behold 
our  own  countenances,  nor  can  our  lips  take  delight 
in  their  own  kisses,  nor  our  arms  in  their  own  em- 
braces; but  in  the  society  of  a  wife,  by  exchange, 
they  have  their  use  and  perfection.  She  is  man's 
similitude ;  so  like  him,  as  bone  to  bone,  flesh  to  flesh, 
isha  to  jVi  ;  where  face  answereth  face,  as  did  the 
cherubim,  both  looking  to  the  mercy-seat ;  and  heart 
answereth  heart,  as  a  glass  that  returns  upon  a  man 
his  own  image.  Himself  before  himselfi  smother  that 
is  himself,  his  adopted  self;  that  loves  what  he  loves, 
wills  what  he  wills;  that,  as  she  wills  his  love,  so 
loves  his  will :  there  is  no  society  on  earth  that  affords 
the  like  comfort. 

2.  The  propriety  ;  Noah  and  his  wife.  Everyman 
had  his  own  wife.  Not  one  woman  formany  men,  nor 
many  women  for  one  man  ;  as  wicked  Lameeh  had 
before.  This  is  the  Lord's  combination,  Tiike  thy 
wife :  not,  to  take  and  leave,  contract  and  divorce, 
put  on  and  ofl'  like  a  garment ;  but  one  woman  for 
one  man,  no  more,  no  fewer,  no  other.  In  the  crea- 
tion, God  made  them  male  and  female:  not  both 
males,  or  both  females  ;  then  had  they  been  unlit  for 
generation :  not  male  and  females,  nor  female  and 
males,  much  less  adulterer  and  harlot ;  but  two  in 
one  flesh  ;  two,  not  three  our  four.  Every  w  ifo  should 
be  to  her  husband,  as  Eve  was  to  Adam,  the  whole 
world  of  women.  For  tiiis  cause  God  gave  her  to 
man,  as  the  centre  wherein  his  desires  might  rest. 
Lust  is  a  runag-atc,  as  if  it  had  Cain's  curse  to  be  a 
vagabond  upon  earth :  it  nms  like  a  mathematical 
line,  ad  injinitum;  still  covets,  and  still  remaiui  un- 


Ver.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


.327 


satisfied.  Nor  is  it  confined  within  the  bounds  of 
wife,  but  of  womankind;  that  which  bhould  be  for 
physic  to  cure  it,  increaseth  the  disease.  The  de- 
light IB  transient,  the  guilt  everlasting :  before  the 
sense  can  sit  do«Ti,  and  say,  it  is  pleased;  the  con- 
science riseth  up,  and  says,  it  is  afflicted.  Marriage 
is  therefore  ordained  to  qualify  desire ;  as  lire  is  ap- 
peased with  fuel,  a  medicine  of  the  same  doth  miti- 
gate ;  nor  doth  it  forbid,  but  rectify  man's  affection. 
But  lust,  because  it  cannot  be  stinted  on  earth,  the 
justice  of  God  confincth  to  hell. 

3.  The  equality  or  parity.  That  men  may  learn 
to  forbear  despising  of  that  weaker  sex,  behold  lure 
as  many  women  saved  as  men.  Not  one  man  more, 
not  one  woman  less  ;  of  the  eight,  women  make  up  the 
just  half:  yea,  whereas  one  of  the  four  men  was 
a  hypocrite,  and  after  cursed,  the  Scripture  speaks  no 
such  matter  of  any  woman  among  them.  Howsoever 
poets  in  their  satires,  songsters  in  their  drunken 
rliymes,  and  too  many  men  in  their  unrelishing  jests, 
spend  their  wits  in  invectives  against  that  sex  :  yet 
the  Lord  loveth  them  equally  with  men,  and  Jesus 
Clirist  shed  his  blood,  and  by  his  blood  (I  am  per- 
suaded) saveth  as  many  women  as  men.  As  she  is 
"  the  wife  of  thy  covenant,"  Mai.  ii.  14,  so  she  is  the 
child  of  God's  covenant;  the  daughter  of  Sarah,  as 
Well  as  thou  art  a  son  of  Abraham.  St.  Peter  says, 
they  are  co-heirs  of  the  same  grace,  1  Pet.  iii.  7 ; 
and  St.  Paul,  they  are  co-heirs  of  the  same  glory. 

If  the  body  of  cither  sex  be  made  of  the  better 
material,  it  is  the  woman's ;  Adam's  was  made  of 
dead  dust,  Eve's  of  living  flesh.  She  came  out  of 
man's  side,  and  God  hath  made  her  cleave  to  his  side, 
Gen.  ii.  24.  By  such  a  derivation,  he  fitted  such  an 
adhesion  ;  that  she  might  not  be  a  movable,  to  be 
departed  from.  From  taking  a  bone  from  man,  who 
had  a  bone  too  much,  he  closed  it  up  with  flesh,  to 
mollify  his  nature.  And  this  bone  he  added  to  the 
woman,  to  strengthen  her  that  was  too  soft.  Thus 
he  made  a  sweet  temper  between  them,  like  harmony 
in  music,  fit  for  concord.  This  bone  was  taken  out 
of  the  midst  of  man,  a  rib,  a  bone  of  his  side.  Not  a 
superior  part,  as  the  head ;  the  wife  is  not  made  to 
govern  :  not  of  an  inferior  part,  the  foot ;  she  is  not  a 
servant  to  be  trod  upon :  not  of  an  anterior  part,  as  the 
breast ;  she  is  not  to  be  preferred  before  the  man  :  not 
of  a  posterior  part,  the  back ;  she  is  not  to  be  set  behind 
in  contempt :  but  of  the  side,  a  middle  and  indifl'er- 
ent  part,  ordained  to  be  his  companion  and  equal  ; 
they  that  walk  side  to  side,  are  fellows.  She  was 
fetched  from  imder  his  arm,  that  he  should  defend 
her ;  not  far  from  his  heart,  that  he  should  love  her. 
A  vine  by  the  sides  of  his  house,  Psal.  cxxviii.  3. 
Not  on  the  roof,  nor  on  the  floor ;  the  one  is  too  high, 
she  is  no  ruler;  the  other  too  low,  she  is  no  slave  : 
but  in  the  sides,  an  equal  place  between  both. 

Neither  must  this  imbolden  the  wife  to  usurp  : 
she  was  taken  from  the  left  side,  showing  that  she 
stands  in  need  of  both  protection  and  direction  from 
her  husband.  By  God's  ordinance,  man  hath  the  pre- 
eminence. Thy  very  desire  shall  be  subject  to  him.  Gen. 
iii.  IG.  The  husband  is  the  head,  I  Cor.  xi.  3  :  there- 
fore if  a  woman  murder  her  husband,  she  is  judged  by 
the  ciWl  law  a  parricide ;  by  the  statutes  of  the  land,  a 
traitor.  The  man  had  power  to  allow  or  disannul  his 
wife's  vows,  Numb.  xxx.  13.  The  edict  of  Ahasucrus 
diflcrs  not  from  the  law  of  nature  ;  "  That  every  man 
should  bear  rule  in  his  own  house,''  Esth.  i.  20, 22.  Ubi 
til  Cains,  ego  Caia,  was  some  equality  among  the  Gen- 
tiles: but,  I  am  mistress,  and  will  rule  all,  is  postcr- 
oiis  among  Christians.  Cardinal  Wolsey's  style,  "  I 
and  my  king,"  was  intolerable  in  the  politics  ;  so  the 
wife's,  I  and  my  husband,  is  insufferable  in  the  eco- 
nomics.    The  blessed  Virgin  had  a  more  humble  car- 


riage towards  her  husband  Joseph ;  as  St.  Augustine 
notes  from  the  order  of  the  words,  "  Thy  father  and 
I  have  sought  thee  sorrowing,"  Luke  ii.  48.  Not,  I 
and  thy  father ;  but,  thv  father  and  I.  The  wife  must 
give  place  to  her  Joseph  on  earth  that  will  have  place 
with  Mary  in  heaven. 

"  Eight  persons."  Thus  much  for  the  quality  of 
the  persons,  now  for  the  quantity  of  the  nimiber, 
eight.  AVherein  we  must  consider,  first,  why  so  many 
as  eight,  then,  why  so  few  as  eight.  AVhy  so  many  ? 
for  the  speedier  increase  of  mankind.  AVhy  so  few  ? 
because  this  was  the  whole  number  of  the  righteous 
and  believers. 

"  Eight."  This  was  one  cause;  why  God  reseiTed 
so  many,  that  they  might  fructify  to  the  multiplica- 
tion of  mankind.  But  wliy  were  not  Noah  and  his  wife 
sufficient  for  that  end  ?  No,  they  were  old,  for  Noah 
was  six  hundred  years  old  when  the  flood  came ;  and 
though  he  lived  three  hundred  years  after,  yet  we 
read  not  of  any  more  children  he  had.  But  the  first 
world  was  begun  and  peopled  by  two  and  no  more  ; 
why  then  were  so  many  to  begin  the  second  world  ? 
I  answer,  1.  God  did  so  at  the  first,  to  show  that  all 
mankind  came  of  one  blood,  Acts  xvii.  26,  and  that 
there  was  no  original  diflerence  bet\*"ixt  man  and 
man.  Neither  is  this  unobserved  in  the  second  be- 
ginning ;  for  though  the  world  was  multiplied  by 
three  men,  yet  were  they  all  brethren,  and  the  sons 
of  one  man.  In  effect,  as  at  first  by  Adam  and  Eve, 
so  by  Noah  and  his  wife,  came  all  men  in  the  world. 
2.  To  begin  the  second  world  there  were  requisite 
more  lines  than  one  ;  because  now  tlie  blessed  Seed 
was  promised,  and  his  line  and  kindred  must  be  kept 
distinct  from  all  other  till  liis  incarnation.  3.  There 
was  more  cause  why  the  world  should  be  more 
speedily  replenished,  than  at  first.  For  the  earth 
had  some  beauty  and  glory  left  it  after  the  former 
curse,  so  that  (though  far  short  of  Paradise,  yet)  it 
was  still  to  Adam  a  delightful  and  pleasant  habita- 
tion. But  this  second  curse  in  the  flood  washed  oS 
all  the  remaining  beauty,  and  made  it  a  rude  and  un- 
polished desert.  Nor  was  only  the  surface  of  it  thus 
maimed,  but  the  virtue  almost  quite  perished,  as  land 
by  long  sugging  under  the  waters  hath  the  heart  of 
it  eaten  out.  Therefore  it  is  said,  that  the  earth  was 
divided  among  the  three  sons  of  Noah  :  they  lived 
not  all  together,  but  overspread  the  earth,  Gen.  ix.  19 ; 
for  it  required  many  hands  and  much  labour  to  the 
recovery  of  it.  4.  Otherwise  the  beasts,  which  '^na 
then  many,  would  have  overgrown  the  world,  if  it 
had  not  been  speedily  replenished  by  their  lords. 

For  this  cause  were  four  pairs  admitted  into  the 
ark :  not  that  Noah  and  his  wife  did  there  company 
together.  Ambrose  notes  that  they  were  not  noted 
together  in  the  going  in,  but  in  their  coming  out. 
But  indeed,  that  was  a  time  of  sorrow  and  abstinence  : 
as  the  Hebrews  note,  that  Joseph  in  Egypt  had  not 
his  children  in  the  years  of  famine,  but  before. 

Here  then  we  see  the  end  of  marriage,  which  is 
issue,  to  people  the  earth,  which  is  the  means  to  peo- 
ple heaven.  Therefore  it  is  called  matrimony,  because 
the  married  proposed  to  themselves  the  titles  of  fa- 
ther and  mother.  Man  is  but  a  part  of  time,  and 
therefore  should  not  die  till  he  hath  left  the  world 
some  in  his  room.  He  who  has  no  children  is  as  good 
as  dead  in  the  Hebrew  proverb.  Man's  best  art  can 
only  make  dead  things ;  there  is  no  work  of  his  head 
or  hand,  whereinto  he  can  put  a  life,  saving  only  in 
this,  when  he  begets  a  son  in  his  own  image,  he  is 
then  said  to  make  a  living  creature.  Herein  he  doth 
not  only  supply  a  place  in  God's  church  militant 
while  he  lives,  but  he  also  provides  a  soldier  for  the 
same  field  against  he  dies.  Our  bodies  have  no  eter- 
nity on  this  earth,  but  only  in  respect  of  those  fruits 


32R 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


they  produce.  The  Thracians  used  to  rejoice  at  the 
death,  and  to  weep  at  the  birth,  of  their  children ; 
but  God  teachcth  us  to  rejoice  when  a  child  is  born, 
John  xvi.  21  ;  Gen.  v.  29 ;  xxi.  6.  Leah  bare  one  son, 
and  called  his  name  Reuben ;  a  second,  and  called 
him  Simeon;  a  third,  and  called  him  Levi ;  but  when 
above  expectation  she  bare  the  fourth,  she  purpose- 
ly calls  his  name  Judah,  and  expressly  prolcsti'tli, 
"  Now  will  T  praise  the  Lord,"  Gen.  xxix.  .32 — 35. 

It  is  the  most  perfect  work  of  all  living  things,  to 
bring  forth  their  like  ;  to  leave  a  seed  behind,  to  pre- 
serve their  species,  to  continue  their  name  and  posteri- 
ty upon  earth,  and  to  shadow  out  in  some  sort  immor- 
tality itself,  by  perpetuating  life  from  the  father  to  the 
son,  and  son's  son,  for  many  generations  to  come. 
We  can  scarce  say  that  man  is  dead,  that  halh  left 
his  image  behind  him.  A  reverend  divine  compares 
those  two  trees  in  the  I28th  Psalm,  the  vine  and 
olive,  to  the  two  trees  in  Paradise;  the  vine  is  the 
wife,  the  olive-plants  the  children.  The  one  as  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  for  both  these  be 
in  marriage  ;  the  other  as  the  tree  of  life,  for  a  man 
liveth  in  his  children.  Quid  dulcius  in  hamania  fjiium 
gignere  sibi  similem,  quid  bealius  in  lerrin  rjuam  jiiUns 
videre  natorumy  (Jin.  Sylv.)  A  wreath  of  children 
about  (he  board,  like  a  round  of  stars  about  the 
north  pole,  or  a  garland  of  courtiers  about  the  throne. 
They  are  the  walking  pictures  and  speaking  images 
of  their  parents;  the  wealth  of  the  poor  man,  the 
honour  of  the  rich.  It  is  said  of  the  ostrich,  "  She 
is  hardened  against  her  young  ones,  as  though  they 
were  not  hers,"  Job  xxxix.  16.  Parents  unnatural 
to  their  children,  want  the  mercy  of  sea-monsiers, 
ivho  draw  their  breasts,  and  give  suck  to  their  young 
ones.  Lam.  iv.  3.  Grant  it  true,  that  children  be 
certain  cares,  uncertain  comforts;  and  that  the  poor 
man  calls  them  his  bills  of  expenses  :  yet  the  trouble 
of  infants  are  sweet  injuries  to  the  mother;  injuries, 
but  sweet.  Deo  ct  purenli  7wn  redditur  aquiruUiis. 
(Hierome.)  They  are  vinculo,  the  bonds  and  pledges 
to  ratify  and  confirm  love  betwixt  man  and  woman. 
Alcibiades  asked  Socrates,  how  he  could  endure  the 
scolding  of  his  wife  Xantippe.  Socrates  asked  him, 
how  he  could  endure  the  cackling  of  his  hens.  Be- 
cause, saith  Alcibiades,  mine  hens  bring  me  forth 
chickens.  But,  saith  Socrates,  my  wife  brings  me 
forth  children  :  this  makes  amends  for  all. 

"Eight  persons."  We  have  heard  the  reason  why 
so  many  as  eight  were  preser\'ed ;  now  consider  why 
so  few.  Even  all  Noah's  family,  for  Noah's  sake.  The 
righteous  man  procureth  blessings,  not  only  to  him- 
self, but  on  all  that  belong  to  him.  In  the  destruction 
of  Sodom,  ten  had  saved  ten  thousand.  Gen.  xviii.  32. 
Potiphar  was  a  heathen,  yet  his  house  shall  be  bless- 
ed, because  Joseph  is  there,  Gen.  xxxix.  5.  The  an- 
gels promise  Lot,  whomsoever  he  brought  out  should 
escape  for  his  sake.  Among  two  hundred  threescore 
and  sixteen  souls  there  was  but  one  Paul;  yet,  lo, 
"  God  hath  given  thee  all  that  sail  with  thee,"  Acts 
xxvii.  24.  Zaecheus  alone  believed,  yet  this  brought 
salvation  to  his  whole  house,  Luke  xix.  9. 

I  make  no  doubt,  but  Noah's  family  were  more 
orderly  and  religious  than  the  common  inhabitants 
of  the  world.  For  he  that  was  a  preacher  to  the 
whole  eartli,  would  not  omit  this  duty  to  his  own 
house  :  and  they  that  come  into  the  perfumer's  shop, 
shall  (though  against  their  wills)  bear  away  some  of 
the  scent  on  their  clothes.  He  that  was  ctireful  lo 
provide  an  ark  for  the  preserving  of  their  bodies, 
would  not  neglect  the  provision  of  grace  for  the 
saving  of  (heir  souls.  Indeed  carnal  parents,  to 
show  that  (hey  begat  not  their  children's  souls,  but 
their  bodies,  i)rovide  usually  for  their  bodies,  not  for 
their  souls.     But  as  he  that  provides  not  for  their 


temporal  estate,  is  worse  than  any  infidel,  I  Tim.  t. 
8  ;  so  he  that  provides  not  for  their  eternal  state,  is 
little  better  than  a  devil.  When  a  great  portion  is 
readied  for  them,  divers  parents  think  (liey  have 
done  enough,  and  so  (hey  may  turn  them  off.  In- 
deed the  world  may  take  them  thus,  but  the  Lord 
will  not  take  them  thus,  at  their  hands.  Joseph  and 
Mary  brought  Christ  to  the  temple  when  he  was  but 
a  little  one.  Augustine  professeth  of  his  mother 
Monica,  that  with  greater  pangs  of  care  she  had 
laboured  of  him  in  her  spirit,  than  in  her  body.  She 
travailed  of  him  in  her  tlesh,  to  bring  him  unto  this 
light  temporal;  in  her  soul,  to  bring  him  unto  the 
light  eternal.  Such  mothers  as  Monica  will  make 
such  sons  as  Augustine.  The  Africans  did  present 
their  children,  in  their  early  years,  before  serpents  : 
if  with  their  sight  they  seared  away  the  serpents, 
they  held  them  legitimate;  if  not,  bastards.  Too 
many  parents  trust  their  children  with  such  impious 
society,  that,  like  serpents,  suck  out  their  souls  with- 
out scarring  their  skins.  Zcuxis  having  artfully 
painted  a  boy  carrying  grapes  in  a  hand-basket,  and 
set  it  abroad ;  the  birds  came  and  pecked  at  them,  as 
if  they  had  been  true  grapes.  Whereat  he  being 
angry  with  himself  and  his  art,  said.  If  I  liad  drav.ii 
the  boy,  which  was  the  principal  of  my  work,  as  well 
as  the  grapes,  which  were  but  a  by-accident,  the  birds 
duist  not  have  been  so  bold  with  them.  Were  pa- 
rents as  careful  to  form  their  children's  manners,  as 
to  fdl  their  purses,  those  ravenous  harpies,  the  foul 
spirits  of  the  air,  could  not  so  violently  seize  on  them. 
I  say  to  every  father,  as  Paul  to  Timothy,  Look  to 
thy  child,  the  pledge  of  God's  goodness,  thy  comfort- 
ablest  image  in  life,  and  best  monument  after  death. 
I  commend  guarding  their  persons,  and  regarding 
their  estates ;  but  howsoever  those  things  succeed, 
let  me  so  love  my  children's  bodies  oti  earth,  that  I 
may  one  day  meet  their  souls  in  heaven. 

"  Eight."  Among  all  these  there  was  not  one 
servant.  What,  none  of  Noah's  sen'ants?  Some 
think  he  had  none;  and  that  the  simplicity  of  those 
times  refjuired  no  attendance,  but  every  man  waited 
on  himself.  This  they  collect  from  God's  charge  to 
Noah,  "  Come  thou  and  all  thy  house  into  the  ark," 
Gen.  vii.  1  ;  and  because  not  a  sen'ant  entered,  there- 
fore conclude,  that  he  had  none  in  his  house.  But 
here  is  the  wonder,  that  Noah's  own  servants  would 
not  believe  his  preaching.  They  will  rather  sin 
and  die  with  the  world,  than  repent  and  be  saved 
with  their  master.  Perhaps  they  did  Noah  ser- 
vice, and  he  might  think  well  of  them,  because  he 
could  not  discern  the  heart ;  but  they  ser\-ed  not 
God,  and  were  therefore  lost.  It  is  the  good  man's 
will,  that  all  which  serve  him  should  trulv  servo  the 
Lord.  Tlie  faithful  shall  dwell  with  m'e,  and  the 
upright  shall  serve  mc.  He  that  worketh  deceit 
shall  not  dwell  in  my  house,  Psal.  ci.  6,  7-  It  is  an 
ill  mixture  in  a  family,  when  God  shall  have  the 
parlour,  and  Satan  the  hall ;  when  saints  pray  in  the 
chamber,  and  ruffians  swear  in  the  cellar ;  when 
Noah  is  calling  upon  God,  and  his  family  doing 
sacrifice  to  Bacchus.  I  confess,  (hat  governois  are 
but  men;  they  have  but  two  eyes,  and  cannot  see 
into  all  places.  But  when  (heir  care  is  that  God  be 
honoured,  their  houses  well  ordered,  and  all  Chris- 
tian offices  solemnly  performed  ;  though  the  success 
answer  not  their  endeavours,  in  bringing  their  ser- 
vants to  heaven,  yet  their  own  souls  shall  be  saved 
in  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Eight."  What  then  became  of  those  that  built 
this  vessel  ?  Certainly,  as  Noah  was  no  sailor  to 
guide  i(,  so  no  carpenter  (o  build  it.  The  smith,  the 
carpenter,  and  many  cunning  workmen,  were  hircii 
to  frame  it:  nor  smith,  nor  carpenter,  nor  any  other 


Veh.  5. 


SECOND  KPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


S29 


workman  was  saved  by  it.  It  must  be  exceeding 
labour  to  bring  in  sufficient  provision  for  tlio  innu- 
merable kinds  of  creatures  there  reserved,  Gon.  vi. 
21;  and  not  a  few  were  employed  in  this  service  ;  not 
one  of  them  tasted  this  provision.  More  hands  went 
to  this  work  than  Noah's:  many  wrought  on  the  ark, 
that  found  no  safety  by  the  ark.  Outward  works 
cannot  deliver  us,  without  our  faith  :  men  may  help 
to  save  others,  and  perish  themselves.  And  as  divers 
hearers  are  like  the  pinnacles  on  the  belfry ;  when 
men  begin  to  ring,  they  begin  to  quake  ;  but  con- 
tinue ringing,  they  stand  as  still  as  stones,  their  fear 
is  past.  So  some  preachers  may  be  like  the  bells, 
that  ring  others  to  church,  and  come  themselves  no 
nearer  than  the  steeple.  Or  like  high  spires  and 
pinnacles,  that  point  upward,  and  poise  downward. 
God  will  shut  up  believing  Noahs  in  that  ark  which 
others  have  built;  who  are  like  foolish  porters,  that 
have  the  keys,  and  open  the  gates  to  let  in  others, 
and  never  mind  going  in  themselves.  It  is  happy 
so  to  build  up  Zion,  tnat  we  may  dwell  in  Zion  ;  so 
to  set  others  forward  to  heaven,  that  we  be  not  be- 
hind ourselves.  As  Thcodosius  said,  he  had  rather 
be  a  true  member  of  the  church,  than  head  of  the 
empire ;  it  is  better  to  be  one  of  the  eight  saved  in 
the  ark,  than  one  of  the  hundreds  commended  for 
their  admirable  skill  in  building  it. 

"  Eight."  Among  these  few  there  was  one  hypo- 
crite. Ham  ;  yet  was  he  preserved  with  the  rest  for 
Noah's  sake.  Such  is  the  mercy  of  God,  that  not 
one  good  man  shall  perish  with  the  bad,  yet  one  bad 
man  shall  be  spared  with  the  good.  The  righteous 
shall  never  be  swept  away  for  company,  yet  the  un- 
righteous are  often  forborne  for  company.  The  ship 
may  be  in  danger  because  Judas  is  there,  but  Judas 
shall  escape  because  Jesus  is  there.  Oh  that  of  a 
perishing  world  but  eight  should  be  selected,  and 
that  one  of  those  eight  should  prove  a  wicked  man ! 
that  Ham  after  all  this  should  so  profanely  oflcnd ! 
that  neither  the  wralh  of  God  in  destroying  the 
world  should  humble  him,  nor  the  mercy  of  God  in 
his  deliverance  should  better  him !  There  is  nothing 
to  be  said,  but  the  Lord  ehooseth  whom  he  will ; 
and  when  the  unrighteous  perish,  yet  Thou  rcnuiin- 
cst  holy,  O  thou  worship  of  Israel. 

"  Eight."  Of  the  whole  world,  no  more  saved  ?  a 
miserable  spectacle  !  See  what  sin  can  do ;  bring 
many  millions  to  eight  persons  in  a  short  time. 
Though  Israel  were  as  the  stars  in  Solomon's  days, 
yet  brought  to  a  tenth,  Isa.  vi.  13.  David  would 
number  them,  but  the  Lord  soon  decreased  them. 
Let  us  never  glory  in  our  multitudes,  for  if  our  sins 
provoke  him,  God  can  easily  make  us  few  enough. 
Though  our  streets  were  sown  with  men,  and  our 
children  grew  up  like  young  plants,  or  grapes  in  un- 
numbered clusters ;  yet  the  Lord  can  melt  them  as 
snow  in  the  sun,  mow  down  the  Mowers,  empty  the 
land  of  fathers,  and  leave  no  widows  to  make  lament- 
ation for  them ;  so  that  a  man  shall  be  more  precious 
than  the  gold  of  Ophir,  Isa.  xiii.  12.  But  if  we  fail 
in  our  numbers,  yet  we  hope  for  supply  from  our 
neighbours?  No,  let  not  our  adherence  with  man 
endanger  our  conjunction  with  God.  He  can  reduce 
many  thousands  to  few,  as  he  did  to  Gideon,  Judg. 
vii.  4,  that  the  glory  might  be  his.  lie  that  could 
narrow  up  a  whole  world  to  eight,  can  bring  a  king- 
dom to  two,  to  one,  to  none.  If  thousands  run  on 
the  course  of  disobedience,  they  shall  quickly  enough 
be  diminished. 

"  Eight."  Lastly,  here  is  figured  out  to  us  the 
paucity  of  souls  that  shall  be  saved.  Many  are 
called,  few  chosen.  The  gate  of  bliss  is  narrow,  and 
few  enter  into  it.  My  flock  is  a  little  flock  ;  little  in 
respect  of  the  number  drowned  in  the  deluge  of  sin. 


Questionless,  as  small  as  it  is,  eveiy  one  hopes  well 
of  himself;  and  if  Noah  had  foretold  this  definite 
number  to  that  world,  all  would  have  presumed,  I 
am  one  of  the  eight.  When  black  and  ravenous 
ruin  spreads  her  dismal  wings  to  sweep  away  the 
w  icked,  few  tremble ;  for  they  conceit  themselves  to 
be  none  of  the  forlorn  crew.  Yet  what  is  the  com- 
mon religion  of  the  world?  To  say  the  creed  is  all 
their  faith;  to  pay  what  they  must  needs,  all  their 
equity  ;  to  say  Be  filled,  all  their  charily ;  to  take  their 
own,  all  their  mercy ;  to  give  fair  words,  all  their 
bounty  ;  to  carry  a  formal  profession,  all  their  piety  ; 
to  cry  God  mercy,  all  their  penitence  ;  and  to  come 
to  church,  all  their  conscience :  but  will  all  this 
bring  them  unto  the  number  of  eight  ?  None  belong 
to  the  ark,  but  the  members  of  Christ ;  none  are  his 
members,  but  they  be  in  the  body  of  his  church  ; 
none  are  of  his  body,  but  they  live  by  his  Spirit ; 
none  have  that  life,  but  they  walk  after  the  Spirit; 
none  so  walk,  but  their  consciences  be  cleansed ;  none 
are  thus  pure,  but  they  have  repented ;  none  have 
repented,  unless  they  forsake  their  sins ;  and  none 
forsake  their  sins,  but  they  must  needs  have  amend- 
ed lives. 

Haply  each  thinks,  I  am  in  as  good  case  as  others, 
I  shall  speed  as  well  as  my  neighbours:  so  might 
the  old  world  tell  their  fellows;  and  they  all  sped 
alike  indeed,  in  one  common  destruction.  But  it  is 
not  good  to  venture  all  our  estate  in  one  uncertain 
bottom,  to  hazard  our  eternal  being  upon  the  exem- 
plary practice  of  the  multitude.  Noah  believed 
alone,  w  hen  all  the  world  contested  against  him ; 
and  Noah  was  saved  alone,  when  all  the  world 
perished  without  him.  Who  would  not  rather  afiy 
God's  word  with  one  singular  Noah,  than  be  incre- 
dulous with  the  whole  world,  and  perish?  Sinners 
so  swarm,  that  there  is  scarce  elbow-room  for  the 
righteous.  But  "  if  the  righteous  scarcely  be  saved, 
where  shall  the  ungodly  and  the  sinner  appear  ?  " 
I  Pet.  iv.  IS.  The  righteous  are  scarce,  and  even 
their  salvation  is  scarce  ;  and  shall  not  sinners  trem- 
ble ?  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate.  Matt.  vii. 
13.  There  is  a  difliculty,  it  is  strait;  but  a  possi- 
bility, it  is  a  gate ;  and  a  gate  was  made  for  entrance. 
0  then  let  us  get  assurance  to  our  consciences,  that 
we  arc  some  of  those  few.  Do  we  groan  and  bleed 
for  our  errors  ?  do  we  strive  to  rectify  our  lives  ?  do 
we  resolutely  detest  our  sins  ?  do  we  implore  grace 
by  our  prayers  ?  do  we  consecrate  to  God  our  hearts  ? 
do  we  rest  upon  Christ  by  our  faiths  ?  do  we  follow 
after  holiness  with  our  endeavours,  and  love  the 
Lord  with  all  our  souls  ?  We  shall  then  feel,  what 
no  tongue  of  man  can  express,  the  sweet  testimony 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  our  consciences,  that  we  are 
wrapped  up  in  the  bundle  of  life,  sealed  to  the  day 
of  redemption;  and  how  fiw  soever  escape  destruc- 
tion, we  arc  of  the  number  that  shall  find  salvation, 
through  the  mercies  and  merits  of  Jesus  Christ. 

THE   MYSTERY   OF    NOAU'S    ARK. 

This  miraculous  ]>reservation  halh  also  a  mystical 
sense,  and  serves  for  the  instruction  and  consolation 
of  the  militant  church  unto  the  world's  end.  There 
is  in  a  text,  as  in  a  tree,  the  bud,  blossom,  fniit;  a 
literal,  a  spiritual,  and  a  moral  sense.  "  Awake,  O 
north  wind,  and  come,  thou  south ;  blow  upon  my 
garden,  that  the  spices  thereof  may  flow  out.  Let 
my  beloved  come  into  his  garden,  and  eat  his  plea- 
sant fruits,"  Cant.  iv.  IG.  In  a  literal  sense,  Solo- 
mon's queen  desires  a  pleasant  garden  to  delight  her 
husband.  In  a  spiritual  sense,  the  church  entreats 
the  Holy  Ghost,  that  wind  which  blows  where  he 
pleaseth,  to  blow  upon  and  enlarge  her  graces,  that 


3^0 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPOX  THE 


Chap.  II. 


C  hrist,  er  Husband,  may  take  ipleaeure  in  htr.  In 
a  moral  sense,  she  would  have  all  her  children  bring 
forth  store  of  fruits,  good  works  that  they  might  be 
blessed  of  their  Fatlier.  "  O  daughter,  forget  lliine 
own  people,  and  thy  father's  house,"  Psal.  slv.  10. 
Literally,  it  is  spoken  to  Pliaraoh's  daughter,  to  for- 
get Egypt  wherein  she  was  bred  and  bom,  and  to 
adhere  to  her  husband  Solomon.  Mystically,  it 
speaks  to  the  church,  to  forget  lliis  world,  wherein 
she  was  bom  an  Egyptian,  blac4v  with  sins ;  and 
cleave  faithfully  to  her  beloved  Christ,  who  had  now 
with  his  own  blood  washed  her  fair,  and  greatly  de- 
sired her  beauty.  So  that  under  the  title  of  Pharaoh's 
daughter,  hear  what  the  Spirit  speaketh  to  the 
church.  "  Thou  hast  ravisiied  my  l>eart  with  one  of 
thine  eyes,  with  one  chain  of  thy  neck,"  Cant.  iv.  9. 
Literally,  corporeal  beauty  is  commended;  chains, 
jewels,  ornaments  allowed:  spiritually,  graces,  the 
beauties  of  the  soul,  and  good  works,  the  beauty  of 
graces,  arc  required.  Only  here  is  the  difference 
between  other  trees  and  the  tree  of  life.  They  first 
bud,  then  blossom,  then  send  forth  fruit ;  but  the  tree 
of  life  hath  all  these  at  once,  Rca'.  xxii.  2.  Yea, 
further,  as  in  a  tree  there  is  the  bark  and  the  pith ; 
so  in  a  test  are  some  things  that  lie  on  the  upper 
face,  and  some  things  in  the  bowels  of  it.  Thus 
Noah's  ark  literally  served  for  the  temporal  deliver- 
ance of  their  bodies ;  spiritually  it  taught  them  the 
eternal  deliverance  of  their  souls ;  mystically  it  pre- 
signifies  to  us  the  deliverance  of  both  our  bodies  and 
souls  from  the  vengeance  due  to  our  sins.  As  a  mu- 
sician, therefore,  first  tries  the  sound  of  his  instru- 
ment, before  he  plays  the  lesson;  so  now  having  de- 
livered the  literal  sound,  I  come  to  the  mystical 
sense. 

Herein  let  us  observe  first  what  it  taught  them, 
next  what  it  must  teach  us.  It  instructed  them  in 
two  things. 

First,  it  was  a  pledge  of  God's  love  to  then-  souls ; 
for  he  that  was  so  careful  to  save  their  bodies  from 
the  flood  of  water,  gave  them  certain  hope  that  he 
would  save  their  souls  from  the  fire  of  hell.  Tlie 
preservation  of  that  which  was  mortal  and  inferior, 
was  a  strong  argument  that  the  other  should  be  safe, 
which  was  immortal  and  far  more  precious.  When  a 
house  is  on  fire,  he  that  redeemeth  the  cabinet,  will 
not  lose  the  jewel  in  it.  Let  it  be  granted,  that  God 
doth  sometimes  reprieve  the  wicked  from  temporal 
plagues,  and  binds  them  over  to  the  general  session; 
yet  is  David's  inference  good,  "By  this  I  know  that 
thou  favourcst  me,  because  mine  enemy  doth  not  tri- 
umph overme,"  Psal.  xli.  1 1  :  from  mere)'  to  his  body, 
he  argues  grace  to  his  soul.  We  cannot  conclude  by 
inversion,  that  whom  God  doth  not  free  from  tem- 
poral judgments,  he  will  not  free  from  eternal :  none 
are  to  be  judged  for  outward  misery.  "Let  her 
alone,  for  her  soul  is  troubled,  and  the  Lord  hath 
hid  it  from  me,"  2  Kings  iv.  27.  The  cause  of  their 
troubles  is  hid  from  us.  "  If  your  soul  were  in  my 
soul's  stead,  I  could  heap  up  words  against  you,  and 
.shake  my  head  at  you,"  Job  xvi.  4.  I  could,  but  I 
would  not.  But  from  a  less  benefit  to  a  greater,  is  a 
good  collection  of  faith.  When  the  faithful  of  Israel 
saw  the  Lord's  arm  in  delivering  them  from  Eg>-pt, 
they  believed  that  he  would  bring  them  into  Canaan. 
He  that  hath  freed  us  from  superstition,  certainly 
means  us  to  salvation. 

Secondly,  it  was  a  confirmation  of  their  faith  and 
obedience.  Without  obedience  in  building  the  ves- 
sel, without  faith  in  believing  the  promise,  they  saw 
no  hope  of  preservation.  This  taught  them  for 
afterwards,  what  jircccpt  soever  was  imposed,  to  obey 
it ;  what  promise  soever  was  made,  to  trust  upon  it. 
And  what  could  be  strange  to  their  confidence,  that 


had  ofmiraculous  mercy  so  late  an  cjqiericace  ?  Some 
profess  they  believe  the  pardon  of  their  sins;  yet  fear 
t'he  want  of  bread,  or  sink  under  some  light  burden 
of  sorrow.  Is  any  load  so  heavy  as  tlic  ])re6sure  of 
sin  ?  Oh  I  lie  weight  of  one  sin  is  too  much  for  the  suft- 
j)ortation  of  one  man.  Now  hath  Christ  borne  the 
talent,  and  can  he  not  bear  the  dram  ?  Sh:dl  we  trust 
him  with  our  wounds,  and  not  with  our  medicines? 
Hath  he  given  us  the  bread  of  life,  and  can  he  not 
give  us  the  bread  of  earth  ?  Shall  we  say  with  the 
lusting  Jews,  He  gave  us  streams  from  the  rock,  but 
can  he  give  fiesh  to  liis  people  ?  PsaL  Ixxviii.  20. 
Consider,  -will  Clirist  deny  flesh  to  our  bodies,  that 
hath  given  his  own  flesh  to  our  souls  ?  Hath  he  per- 
formed such  sovereign  pieces  of  gold,  and  will  he 
stick  at  farthing  tokens  ?  He  that  spared  not  his 
own  Son  for  us,  what  good  thing  will  he  deny  us? 
Rom.  viii.  32.  Do  we  trust  in  the  Lord  for  the  re- 
mission of  our  sins,  the  resurrection  of  our  bodies, 
and  the  evcrl.asting  salvation  of  our  souls ;  and  dis- 
trust him  in  a  fever,  in  a  scandal,  in  a  fit  of  want  ? 
Certainly  if  he  have  vouchsafed  us  that  great  mercy 
to  make  us  his  own,  he  hath  given  the  whole  army 
of  afllictions  more  inviolable  charge  concerning  us, 
than  David  gave  his  host  concerning  Absalom;  See 
ye  do  the  young  man,  my  son  Absalom,  no  hai-m; 
look  you  never  hurt  them  whom  I  have  .idopted. 

Thus  for  them,  now  for  ourselves.  This  ark  hath 
also  a  symbolical  sense,  a  spiritual  use.  It  was  a 
type  and  figure  of  Chi-ist's  chuich ;  out  of  which  there 
is  no  hope  (if  salvation,  as  out  of  the  ark  was  inerita- 
ble  destruction.    Examine  we  the  resemblances. 

1.  All  that  were  preserved,  were  within  the  ark: 
all  that  shall  be  saved,  must  be  of  the  church.  In 
that  great  deluge,  when  Omnia  poiitu.i  crat,  deeravl 
(jiioque  lillora  pnnlo,  there  was  no  other  possibility 
of  escaping :  in  the  huge  pond  and  vast  sea  of  this 
world,  there  is  no  hope  of  redemption  but  by  Jesus 
Christ.  Either  we  must  be  incorporate  into  Christ, 
or  reprobate  \\-ith  the  world.  "  The  Lord  adds  to  the 
church  daily  such  as  shall  be  saved,"  Acts  ii.  47;  to 
the  church  militant,  all  souls  that  shall  be  crowned 
in  the  church  triumphant.  As  for  them  that  were 
out  of  the  ark,  no  gold  could  buy  their  preser\-ation  ; 
no  holes  could  hide  them,  no  hills  help  them,  no 
houses  hold  them,  nothing  in  the  world,  not  the 
world  itself,  could  save  them.  So  for  them  that 
be  out  of  Christ,  no  riches  can  bestead  them,  no 
honours  secure  them,  no  policy  can  deliver  them, 
no  refuges  can  shelter  them,  no  friends,  no  favour  can 
do  them  good;  but  they  must  perish  in  the  flood  of 
God's  eternal  vengeance.  What  succour  liad  they 
by  the  mountains,  or  by  taking  hold  on  the  highest 
cedars,  whom  the  ark  received  not  ?  Such  help  shall 
men  find  in  those  worldly  things  wherein  thev  have 
trusted,  when  G.od  shall  find  them  out  of  his  church. 
What  relief  in  their  honours,  upon  whose  foreheads 
the  sun  of  promotion  wantonly  plays  ?  as  if  that  arm 
should  never  ache,  that  wears  a  silken  sleeve ;  nay, 
as  if  the  highest  hills  were  not  most  subject  to  the 
lightning  flashes.  For  the  covetous,  that  like  a 
spider  eviscerates  herself,  spends  her  own  bowels 
in  making  a  web  to  catch  a  fly  ;  how  foolish  is 
his  confidence  in  that,  which  he  knows  will  never 
fail  him  but  when  he  hath  most  need!  Alas,  he  can- 
not buy  Christ  with  it;  and  therefore  must  expect 
Simon  Magus's  doom.  Thou  and  tliy  money  perish 
together.  There  is  no  other  name  given  to  men 
luuler  heaven,  to  be  saved  by,  but  the  name  of  Jesus, 
Acts  iv.  12 :  nothing  in  nature,  nothing  in  art,  nothing 
in  the  world,  no  other  creature,  no  other  name.  In 
vain  they  think  to  sail  in  their  cock-boats,  or  swim 
with  their  windy  bladders :  every  jieresy  is  a  little 
bark  by  itself,  and  while  it  is  not  troubled,  it  goes  on 


\'er.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


331 


with  proud  sails  like  a  merchant's  ship  ;  but  vexed, 
you  shall  find  it  a  man  of  war.  Every  factious  and 
discontented  humour  is  like  a  bladder,  which  the 
pee^^sh  refractory  puts  under  liis  arm,  and  he  will 
not  be  beholden  to  the  ark  for  passage,  he  can  swim 
to  shore.  Let  such  sullen  spirits  hear  and  fear  :  as 
a  man  will  not  admit  that  person  to  his  houKe  who 
loves  not  his  family,  so  they  that  forsake  the  church 
must  be  forsaken  of  Christ. 

2.  As  God  was  the  Pilot  of  the  ark,  so  Christ  is 
the  Governor  of  the  church.  The  superstitious 
Romanists  have  their  several  saints  for  several  ser- 
^•ices ;  for  the  teeth,  Apollonia ;  for  soldiers,  St. 
Maurice ;  for  seamen,  St.  Nicholas.  As  those  gross 
idolaters  in  heathen  times  marshalled  their  gods  into 
several  ranks;  allotting  heaven  for  Jnpiter,  hell  for 
Pluto,  and  the  sea  for  Neptune.  But  tile  Lord  is  all 
in  all  to  us,  our  Pilot  on  the  sea,  our  Captain  on  the 
land.  We  tender  not  our  petitions  to  tlic  no  gods  of 
the  Gentiles,  or  to  the  moe  gods  of  the  papists  ;  we 
do  not  trouble  the  blessed  virgin  for  every  thing,  as 
if  her  Son  Jesus  were  still  a  babe,  and  not  able  to 
help  us;  but  we  go  to  Christ  for  all.  That  same 
ship  in  the  prophet,  every  man  calling  upon  his  god, 
Jonah  i.  5,  is  a  map  or  model  of  Rome ;  one  calling 
on  St.  Francis,  another  on  St.  Anthony,  &c.  But  if 
we  love  learning,  the  Lord  is  our  Gregorj-,  the  God 
of  wisdom  ;  if  soldiers,  he  is  our  Mars  and  Maurice, 
the  Lord  of  hosts;  if  mariners,  he  is  our  Neptune 
and  Nicholas,  that  commands  the  winds  and  seas, 
and  they  obey  him.  Matt.  viii.  27.  As  C;esar  said  to 
the  trembling  mariner,  Confide  ?iaula,  Ctemrem  reliii; 
Be  not  afraid,  thou  earnest  Ccesar  :  so,  O  church,  be 
comforted ;  he  that  is  in  thee,  for  thee,  with  thee, 
that  guides  thee,  that  will  save  thee,  i«  the  invincible 
King,  Jesus  Clirist. 

3.  The  matter  of  the  ark  was  not  every  kind  of 
wood,  but  the  pine :  nor  is  every  one  admitted  into 
the  church,  but  such  as  the  Lord  hath  chosen ;  which 
are  not  bom  of  blood,  nor  will  of  the  flesh,  but  of 
the  will  of  God,  John  i.  13.  The  Lord  often  leaves 
the  lofty  cedar,  that  overlooks  the  rest  with  an  im- 
perious top  ;  and  the  sturdy  oak,  him  that  will  not 
stoop  to  his  word  ;  the  melancholy  yew,  the  hollow- 
hearted  elder,  the  intractable  thorn,  the  hypocritical 
i\-y,  that  by  embracing  the  tree  sucks  out  the  heart 
of  it.  He  chooseth  the  vine  for  his  orchard,  the 
pine  for  his  ark :  he  first  liews  us  out  of  the  wil- 
derness of  sin,  takes  away  the  ruggedness  of  our 
nature,  and  having  planed  us  by  grace,  puts  us  into 
his  church,  where  we  fit  with  the  rest  in  unanimous 
obedience.  (Ejiiph.) 

4.  The  ark  consisted  of  many  pieces  of  wnjod  joined 
together:  and  the  church  doth  not  consist  of  one 
man,  or  one  sort  of  men;  but  of  every  nation  and 
kindred,  language  and  people.  Rev.  vii.  9.  Many 
8ouls  compacted  into  one  body,  many  Christians  into 
one  commimion  of  saints.  And  all  these  make  but 
one  ark,  one  church.  One  world  shows  that  there  is 
but  one  God;  one  God,  that  there  is  but  one  church  ; 
one  church,  that  there  is  but  one  truth.  Therefore 
is  it  called  columna  verilalis,  and  columba  unitatiK: 
The  sweetest  music  consists  of  many  well-tuned 
voices :  if  there  be  any  jarring  and  contentious  spirit, 
he  is  out  of  tune,  none  of  the  Christian  concert. 
Let  us  live  as  we  sing,  and  our  hearts  go  with  our 
voices;  this  is  the  concent  of  the  church.  God  doth 
seldom  divide  his  graces  among  divided  spirits;  if 
we  will  not  be  at  one  with  ourselves,  he  will  not  be 
at  one  \rith  us.  A  shevelled  thread  is  hardly  got 
through  the  needle's  eye.  The  Spirit  is  one,  and 
said  to  speak  by  the  mouth  of  all  the  prophets,  Luke 
i.  ro ;  not  per  ora,  sed  per  on ;  as  if  all  tlie  prophets 
I'.ad  but  one  mouth  ;  to  show  the  singular  harmony  of 


their  concord.  That  Spirit  which  came  in  a  dove 
will  not  come  but  upon  a  dove.  When  we  delight 
in  discord,  our  assemblings  are  dissemblings,  our 
convocations  provocations,  every  man  vidtuous,  wed- 
ded to  a  \nfe  that  fouls  him,  self-will:  here  is  as 
little  argument  of  a  Christian  congregation,  as  the 
confusion  of  Babel  was  like  the  harmony  of  the  tem- 
ple. An  unsquared  stone,  a  wari)ing  board,  a  janing 
spirit,  nuist  not  be  put  into  the  building  of  Christ. 

5.  The  ark  was  pitched  within  and  without,  the 
better  to  keep  out  the  water.  So  must  ever)-  Chris- 
tian be  joined  into  the  body,  with  profession  and 
sincerity ;  sound-habited  without,  sound-hearted  with- 
in. Nor  profession,  nor  sincerity,  are  sufficient  asun- 
der; both  do  well  together.  Jericho  was  pleasant 
of  situation,  but  the  sjirings  were  naught,  2  Kings 
ii.  19:  many  men's  profession  is  fair,  but  the  foun- 
tain, the  heart,  is  infected.  Laish  was  a  barren  turf, 
but  the  heart  of  the  ground  was  good,  had  it  been 
tilled :  so  some  have  a  little  religion  hid  in  their 
consciences,  but  for  want  of  husbanding  their  graces 
it  perisluth.  But  God  cannot  abide  a  wanton  Chris- 
tian :  a  wanton  Jew,  Turk,  pagan,  is  bad  cough ;  but 
none  so  intolerable  as  a  wanton  Christian.  As  in 
many  things  we  sin  all,  so  in  some  things  we  may 
obey  all ;  but  one  line  makes  no  geometry-,  nor  doth 
one  act  put  Christianity.  Neitlier  the  timber  rotten 
at  the  heart,  how  fair  soever  to  the  eye,  nor"the  tim- 
ber crooked  and  ill-favoured  to  the  eye,  how  sound 
soever  at  the  heart,  shall  be  put  into  Christ's  ark. 
To  be  good,  and  not  to  appear ;  to  ajipear  good,  and 
not  to  be ;  is  not  the  way  to  glorify  God,  or  for  him 
to  glorify  us. 

6.  In  the  ark  were  divers  rooms,  so  in  the  church 
are  divers  places  and  gifts,  as  in  heaven  there  be 
divers  mansions.  Many  distinct  offices  in  a  ship,  the 
pilot,  captain,  boatswain,  mariners,  concur  all  in 
one  care  for  the  preservation  of  the  vessel.  In  the 
church  be  apostles,  prophets,  pastors,  teachers  ;  yet 
all  tend  to  the  edification  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
i  Cor.  xii.  28;  Eph.  iv.  II,  12.  There  is  nothing 
more  endangers  confusion,  than  for  one  to  intrude 
into  auothers  room ;  displacing  the  members  from 
their  proper  faculties  and  functions  :  when  the  rude 
hind  will  be  a  counsellor  of  state,  the  ignorant  sec- 
tary be  made  a  bishop,  and  Jack  Cade  a  justice  of 
peace.  It  is  no  easy  wisdom,  rightly  to  distinguish 
our  own  oflRce  :  all  parts  have  their  several  functions ; 
and  tractent  fubrilia  fabri.  The  foot  must  not  usurp 
the  office  of  the  hand,  nor  the  hand  intrude  upon 
the  office  of  the  head.  Jiliud  plectrum,  alhid  scep- 
Irum,  So  look  to  others'  \-incyards,  that  thou  be  sure 
to  keep  thine  own,  Cant.  i.  6.  If  we  be  Christ's 
faithful  soldiers,  let  us  keep  our  station,  and  fight  it 
out  with  victorious  courage.  What  room  in  the  ship 
soever  is  assigned  us,  let  us  make  that  good.  In 
God's  arithmetic  there  be  no  ciphers :  we  must  be 
something  on  earth,  or  we  shall  be  nothing  in  heaven. 

7.  In  the  ark  were  beasts  clean  and  unclean;  in 
the  church  are  sinners  blended  among  the  righteous. 
The  Lord  did  sow  good  seed  in  his  field,  whence  then 
hath  it  tares?  Matt.  xiii.  27.  The  devil  hath  no 
ground  of  his  own,  but  he  soweth  in  God's  field,  and 
upon  God's  seed:  so  the  corruption  of  the  good  is 
the  generarion  of  the  bad.  These  tares  are  not  of 
God's  sowing ;  it  is  none  of  his  fault ;  all  that  he 
made  was  exceeding  good,  Gen.  i.  31.  The  church 
militant  is  a  heaven,  but  on  earth ;  therefore  not 
without  the  firebrands  of  hell.  Let  no  man  leave 
God's  floor  because  there  is  some  chaff,  nor  break 
his  net  because  there  is  some  baggage,  nor  mn  out 
of  his  field  because  there  is  some  cockle,  nor  depart 
from  his  liouse  because  there  be  some  vessels  of  dis- 
honour.   God  would  have  spared  a  city  for  ten  good 


332 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


ones,  Gen.  xviii.  32,  and  shall  we  refuse  a  church  for 
ten  bad  ones  ?  I  avoid  the  chaff,  lest  I  become  chail": 
I  keep  the  floor,  lest  I  become  nothing.  (August.) 
This  their  accusation  of  the  church  is  vain  :  if  men 
cannot  prove  it,  they  shame  themselves ;  if  they  do 
prove  it,  they  deny  Christ ;  for  his  clear  answer  was, 
"  Let  both  grow  together  until  the  harvest."  Either 
Ijeeause  the  bad  may  turn  good ;  God  can  make  a 
Luther  of  a  monk,  a  St.  Augustine  of  a  Manichce ; 
or  because  the  good  are  exercised  and  tried  by  the 
bad.  If  Arius  had  not  held  a  trinity  of  substances 
with  a  trinity  of  persons  ;  and  Sabellius,  a  unity  of 
persons  with  a  unity  of  essence  ;  the  mysteries  of  the 
Trinity  had  not  been  so  clearly  explained  by  those 
great  lights  of  the  church.  If  Rome  had  not  so 
violently  obtruded  her  merits,  the  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation Ijy  faith  in  Christ  only  might  have  been  less 
digested  in  men's  hearts.  We  may  say  here,  as 
Augustine  dotli  of  Carthage  and  Rome,  Magi-i  nocuit 
liomanis  Curlluigo  lam  cito  ecerm,  ijuam  prius  nocuerat 
tarn  dill  adversa.  If  some  enemies  had  not  contested 
against  the  church,  it  might  have  gone  worse  with 
the  church.  But  let  them  bear  the  rack  of  their  own 
fancies,  whose  schismalical  torn  opinions  are  stitched 
together  with  a  skein  of  sisters'  thread,  and  rounded 
with  the  bobbin-lace  and  selvage  of  reformation. 
Critical  quarrels  argue  hypocritical  hearts ;  and  if 
they  prevent  it  not  by  hiimilily  and  unity,  the  ark 
holds  none  so  unclean  as  themselves. 

8.  The  ark  was  tossed  of  the  waves,  and  all  the 
storms  of  the  world  spent  their  furies  upon  it,  yet 
could  it  not  be  overwhelmed.  Wheii  the  winds, 
waters,  weathers,  had  done  their  worst,  still  Noah's 
preservation  was  sure.  The  more  the  water  rose 
against  it,  the  more  the  ark  rose  above  it ;  and  the 
higher  it  was  raised  by  the  flood,  the  safer  it  was  from 
the  danger  of  hills  and  rocks.  In  the  midst  of  water 
it  was  saved  from  water,  and  the  danger  itself  was 
made  a  defence  against  the  danger.  Thus  sure  of 
salvation  is  every  one  in  Christ,  nothing  can  cross  it. 
The  deluge  of  calamities  may  assault  us,  but  they 
shall  exalt  us.  The  more  thej'  seek  to  press  us  down, 
the  more  they  shall  lift  us  up  ;  the  nearer  they  would 
sink  us  to  hell,  the  higher  they  shall  advance  us  to 
heaven.  Through  all  the  gusts  of  temptations,  and 
floods  of  afflictions,  we  shall  be  borne  safe  in  Christ's 
ark.  Nothing  shall  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand, 
John  X.  28.  Satan  cannot,  he  is  cast  out :  tyrants 
cannot,  for  if  we  suffer,  we  conquer  :  sin  cannot,  for 
grace  abounds  above  sin :  sickness  cannot,  God  is 
strongest  when  we  are  weakest :  death  cannot,  that 
serpent  hath  lost  the  sting.  Indeed  all  our  voyage 
is  a  tempestuous  navigation :  the  shore  from  which 
we  launch,  is  our  nativity  ;  the  port  whither  we  are 
bound,  supernal  felicity  ;  the  sea  we  must  pass, 
full  of  raging  calamity  ;  the  ship  wherein  we  sail, 
full  of  sweet  security.  There  will  be  cross  winds, 
but  let  us  rest  in  the  ark,  the  church,  and  trust  in 
tlie  Pilot,  Clirist,  and  our  danger  is  not  half  so  sure  as 
our  deliverance :  we  may  fail  of  grievous  afflictions 
upon  earth,  we  shall  not  fail  of  glorious  salvation  in 
heaven. 

9.  Noah's  body  being  entered  into  the  ark,  seemed 
tliere  a  dead  man  ;  that  vessel  being  a  grave  or  tomb 
unto  him,  wherein  he  was  buried.  Yet  was  that,  by 
(iod's  appointment,  the  means  to  save  him,  which  in 
all  reason  seemed  to  bury  him.  And  if  Noah  will 
be  safe,  he  must  go  into  this  sepulchre,  and  be  buried 
iu  the  ark,  as  the  ark  in  the  water.  So  must  there 
bo  in  us  a  mortification  of  lusts,  and  burial  of  our  cor- 
ruptions ;  and  there  is  no  way  to  everlasting  life  but 
tliis.  The  soul  cannot  live  while  the  sin  doth  live  : 
one  of  the  two  must  die,  the  corruption  or  the  per- 
son.    Thus  is  death  the  way  to  life  ;  and  mortifica- 


tion of  lust,  to  the  resurrection  of  bliss,  lie  that 
thus  dieth  not,  never  lives ;  and  he  that  is  not  thus 
buried,  never  riseth  again  with  comfort. 

In  how  wretched  an  estate  then  are  many,  that 
scarce  know  what  mortification  means  ;  unless  it  be 
to  mortify  grace,  and  to  bury  all  holiness !  The  old 
man  reigns,  and  the  new  man  serves  :  corruption 
lives,  an(l  grace  is  dead.  To  mortify  goodness  by  our 
sins,  this  is  common ;  but  to  mortify  our  sins  by 
goodness,  this  is  rare.  What  a  preposterous  change 
is  this !  Christ  should  live  in  us,  and  we  crucify  him 
again ;  sin  should  be  crucified  in  us,  and  that  liveth. 
But  this  is  a  true  saying,  He  that  will  live  when  he 
is  dead,  must  die  while  he  is  alive.  Proceed  we  then, 
after  this  spiritual  death,  to  the  burial  of  our  sins. 
It  was  the  manner  of  the  Jews,  to  bury  their  dead 
with  odours  :  bury  we  sin  with  the  incense  of  our 
prayers  against  it,  that  it  may  never  return  upon  us. 
Only  two  things  let  us  avoid  in  the  burial  of  our  sins, 
which  we  observe  in  the  burial  of  our  friends.  1. 
When  we  bury  our  friends,  we  do  it  with  mourning, 
to  testify  our  loves,  that  we  are  loth  to  part  with 
them.  Our  sins  must  not  be  so  buried ;  no  sorrow  at 
their  departure :  no  man  weeps  to  lose  an  cm-my, 
nor  grieves  to  be  rid  of  a  tyrant.  Shall  we  sorrow  to 
lose  the  proper  cause  of  our  sorrow  ?  It  was  good 
news  for  Isl-ael,  that  Sisera  was  dead  in  the  tent  of 
Jacl ;  and  Deborah  sings.  So  perish  all  thine  enemies, 
O  Lord.  Let  them  be  buried  with  joy,  that  cannot 
be  kept  without  danger.  2.  When  we  inter  the 
bodies  of  our  friends,  it  is  done  in  hope  that  they 
shall  rise  again :  by  no  means  so  buiy  we  our  sins  ; 
let  there  be  no  desire  of  their  resurrection  ;  wrong 
not  the  sepulchres  of  the  dead,  let  them  sleep  for 
ever.  Otherwise,  like  Judas,  and  Dcmas,  and  such 
hypocrites,  they  bury  them  not  in  their  forgotten 
graves,  but  in  their  own  hearts.-  And  so  their  sins 
shall  rise  with  their  bodies,  and  go  with  them  to 
judgment. 

Lastly,  the  apostle  compares  it  to  baptism:  that 
which  was  Noah's  ark  to  them,  the  same  is  baptism 
to  us ;  the  ark  saved  them,  baptism  saveth  us.  "  The 
like  figure  whereunto,"  Sec.  1  Pet.  iii.  21.  The  par- 
ticular instance,  or  point  of  reference,  is  baptism  ; 
the  general,  is  the  church.  For  baptism  no  other- 
wise saveth  us,  than  as  it  is  a  seal  of  our  admission 
into  the  church,  and  incorporating  into  Christ. 
Therefore  it  is  a  synecdochical  speech,  the  part  for 
the  whole,  the  door  for  the  house,  baptism  for  the 
church. 

Baptism  is  the  door  of  entrance  into  this  ark ; 
therefore  the  sacred  font  is  commonly  placed  near 
the  temple  door.  As  in  Solomon's  temple  were  three 
rooms,  tlie  porch,  the  body,  and  the  holy  of  holies; 
and  they  must  pass  through  the  one  into  the  other  : 
so  in  Christianity,  we  cannot  enter  the  holiest  of  all, 
but  by  the  church ;  nor  into  the  church,  but  by  the 
porch  of  baptism.  There  must  first  be  shipping,  then 
sailing,  last  of  all  arriving  :  we  must  be  shipped  with 
Christ  by  baptism,  sail  with  him  in  the  pinnace  of  the 
church,  or  else  not  arrive  at  the  coast  of  eternal 
blessedness. 

The  end  cf  baptism  is  double ;  principal,  and  less 
principal.  The  principal  is  to  assure  us  of  two  things. 
First,  tlic  remission  of  our  sins;  "Be  bajitized  in  th.e 
name  of  Jesus,  for  the  remission  of  sins,"  Acts  ii. 
38.  And  next,  that  we  arc  within  God's  covenant, 
partakers  of  his  grace  here,  and  of  his  glorj-  here- 
after. The  less  principal  consists  in  three  things. 
1.  To  note  a  distinction  between  Christians  and  infi- 
dels; a  cognizance  or  livery,  to  tell  the  world  whose 
servants  we  are ;  the  colours  of  that  (icneral  under 
whom  we  fight.  2.  To  be  the  bond  of  Christian 
society.     "  Keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond 


Ver.  5. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


333 


of  peace."  Why  ?  Because  there  is  "  one  faith, 
one  baptism,"  Eph.  iv.  3,  5.  AVe  are  all  baptized 
into  one  Christ  :  the  remembrance  of  our  baptism  is 
enough  to  slay  contention.  3.  It  is  a  profession  of 
homage  to  that  God,  even  those  three  Persons, 
in  whose  name  we  are  baptized.  And  it  is  a  holy 
memorial  of  Christ's  baptizing  in  the  sea  of  his  Fa- 
ther's wrath  fur  us. 

Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit, 
he  cannot  enter  into  heaven,  John  iii.  5.  As  the 
Spirit  is  an  inward  necessar)'  cause,  so  baptismal 
water  is  an  outward  necessary  means,  of  our  regener- 
ation. It  incorporates  us  to  Christ;  so  that  the 
body  (if  the  baptized  is  become  the  llesh  of  him  that 
was  crucified.  The  day  of  the  infant's  baptizing,  is 
the  day  of  his  marriage,  wherein  he  is  made  the 
spouse  of  Christ  by  the  union  of  the  Spirit.  As 
Christ  was  made  our  flesh  by  being  bom,  so  we  are 
made  his  llesh  by  being  new-born  :  the  Spirit  being 
in  the  new  birth  instead  of  a  father,  and  water  in- 
stead of  a  mother. 

As  there  is  a  long  antiquity  of  sacraments,  so  a 
special  necessity.  For  antiquity  :  in  Paradise  was  a 
tree  of  knowledge  and  a  tree  of  life;  both  sacra- 
mental trees.  For  necessity  :  as  a  man  consists  of 
two  parts,  one  visible,  the  other  invisible  ;  so  re- 
spondent be  the  means  to  draw  him  to  heaven,  the 
■word  and  sacraments :  and  a  father  calls  the  sacra- 
ment, a  visible  word.  (August.)  We  fell  from  God 
to  Satan  by  visible  things  ;  God  brings  us  back  from 
Satan  to  himself  by  visible  things.  Wherein  we 
may  see  the  infirmity  of  our  natures ;  the  Lord  is 
fain  to  stay  us  up  by  many  helps,  the  word  for  our 
ears,  the  sacraments  for  our  eyes.  If  we  sec  a  house 
held  up  by  props,  pins,  columns,  and  supporters,  we 
say,  it  is  certainly  old,  sere,  and  weak  of  itself. 

I  do  not  enforce  an  absolute  necessity  of  this,  as  if 
God  could  not  save  us  without  it.  Of  its  owti  virtue 
it  hath  no  such  power  to  salvation ;  water  of  itself 
being  readier  to  drown  than  to  save;  especially  the 
infant  being  dipped  into  it.  No  man  concludes  the 
innocents  out  of  the  ark  to  be  damned  and  cast  into 
hell ;  so  nor  the  infants  of  Christians  that  die  un- 
baptizcd.  It  pleaseth  the  Lord  to  admit  infants  to 
baptism,  though  they  be  not  able  to  answer  for  them- 
selves. And  as  it  was  in  his  justice  to  impute  my 
sin  to  my  child,  to  make  it  guilty ;  so  it  pleaseth  his 
mercy  to  take  my  faith  for  my  child,  to  make  it  holy. 

"  Open  thy  mouth  for  the  dumb  in  the  cause  of  all 
such  as  are  appointed  to  destruction,"  Prov.  xxxi.  8. 
Still  the  Lord  requires  our  speech  for  those  speech- 
less little  ones,  whom  the  bloody  papists  appoint  to 
destruction.  They  cannot  answer  for  themselves; 
but  the  Lord  Jesus,  when  he  was  on  earth,  spake  for 
them ;  and  he  hath  sent  us  to  plead  their  cause. 
They  have  those  great  dukes  and  peers  of  heaven 
for  their  patrons,  the  angels,  Matt,  xviii.  10;  and 
shall  we  be  silent  ? 

Parents  love  to  hear  well  of  their  children's  states 
in  this  life,  much  more  should  they  inquire  of  their 
state  to  come.  The  greater  their  joy  in  them,  the 
greater  their  sorrow  for  them;  especially  when  they 
fall  sick  in  the  field,  and  die  at  home,  as  the  Shu- 
nammite's  son,  2  Kings  iv.  20 :  but  more  especially 
if,  like  David's  son,  2  Sam.  xii.  18,  they  die  without 
the  sacrament.  Then  their  ignorance  and  distrust 
put  them  into  a  hopeless  grief;  as  if  they  were  of 
the  stock  of  Ishmael,  and  not  the  seed  of  Israel. 
And  even  those  that  will  not  keep  their  hours  with 
God  and  the  church,  in  respect  of  state  and  outward 
compliment ;  yet  take  on  with  God  and  man  if  their 
children  miss  baptism.  I  would  they  did  think  of 
that  woman's  speech  to  Elijah,  "  Art  thou  come  to 
call  my  sin  to  remembrance,  and  to  slay  my  son  ?  " 


I  Kings  xvii.  18;  that  God  in  slaying  their  sons, 
lirings  to  remembrance  their  sins.  But  that  good 
Lord,  who  punisheth  our  neglect,  shows  mercy  to 
those  liltle  ones.  They  often  vanish  from  us  in  a 
night,  before  we  have  scarce  looked  on  their  faces; 
but  the  God  of  compassion,  who  pities  them  in  Ashur 
and  Nineveh,  will  he  forget  the  seed  of  Christians? 
We  miss  them  in  our  arms ;  behold,  they  are  in  the 
arms  of  God.  They  are  ))lucked  from  the  mothei-'s 
bosom,  but  unto  Abraham's  bosom  ;  translated  from 
a  cradle  below,  to  a  throne  of  immortality  above. 
How  oft  doth  a  friend  among  men,  take  a  babe  from 
the  poor  feeble  mother,  and  bring  it  up  as  his  own  ; 
;ls  Pharaoh's  daughter  did  Moses!  And  shall  not 
God  take  a  child  from  the  womb,  or  wean  it  from 
the  breast,  to  have  it  nursed  in  heaven,  lest  it  should 
find  ill  bringing  up  here? 

Let  this  comfort  parents  against  that  unmerciful 
doctrine  of  Rome  ;  teaching  that  if  children  die  on 
earth  without  baptism,  they  must  die  hereafter  with- 
out mercy.  That  infants  who  cannot  speak  or  do 
ill,  whose  flesh  is  but  new-quickened  in  the  womb, 
or  bones  scarce  gristled  out  of  the  womb,  should  pass 
from  the  darkness  of  the  womb,  to  outer  darkness  for 
ever ;  this  is  the  voice  of  the  dragon  gored  with 
blood.  The  Lamb  of  God  speaks  better  things,  and 
gives  his  blood  to  these  little  lambs.  David  grieved 
for  the  child  sick,  but  desired  not  respite  of  life  for 
circumcision ;  and  though  the  child  died  on  the 
seventh  day,  (which  had  been  terrible,  if  the  want 
of  a  day  had  lost  it  for  ever,)  yet  he  then  ceased 
mourning. 

The  children  of  Israel  forbore  circumcision  forty 
years,  during  all  their  journey  in  the  wilderness, 
Josh.  V.  5 :  will  they  pronounce  damnatory  sentence 
on  all  them?  If  not,  why  then  on  ours  ?  Hath  the 
state  of  the  gospel  less  mercy  and  pity  than  the 
law?  Goes  it  harder  with  the  infants  under  Christ, 
than  under  Moses  ?  They  had  a  set  day  for  circum- 
cision, the  eighth  :  we  have  none  defined :  hath  not 
the  Lord  in  this  left  it  freer?  Those  infant  martyrs, 
to  whose  memory  they  observe  a  feast  as  to  saints, 
desired  nor  baptism,  nor  their  friends  for  them ; 
much  less  that  baptism  of  blood ;  but  their  hearts 
rather  bled  for  it ;  yet  are  they  glorious  in  heaven. 
John  Baptist  seems  not  to  have  been  baptized  him- 
self, by  his  answer  to  Christ,  "  I  have  need  to  be 
baptized  of  thee,  and  comest  thou  to  me  ?"  Matt.  iii. 
14.  God's  love  is  no  fancy  that  the  want  of  baptism 
may  break  oiT.  It  were  heavy  for  the  poor  child  to 
be  lost  for  the  parent's  or  minister's  negligence. 

To  say  that  baptism,  even  the  most  ritually  and 
formally  administered,  saveth  of  itself,  is  to  deify  it, 
and  to  make  a  god  of  the  water,  with  the  Gentiles. 
But  the  Lord  saveth,  and  when  he  pleaseth,  without 
that.  "  This  day  is  salvation  come  to  this  house ; 
he  also  is  a  son  of  Abraham,"  saith  Christ  of  Zac- 
cheus,  Luke  xix.  9.  This  day,  and  yet  that  was  not 
the  day  of  his  baptism :  he  was  made  the  son  of 
Abraham,  yet  was  not  washed  in  Jordan.  The 
eunuch  by  faith,  Cornelius  by  devotion,  Lydia  by 
obedience,  received  grace  before  baptism.  Mary 
Magdalene,  that  scoured  on  to  sin  as  if  seven  devils 
drove  her,  with  tide,  wind,  and  sail,  found  mercy  be- 
fore baptism;  "  Thy  faith  hath  saved  thee;  go  in 
peace,"  Luke  vii.  50:  thy  faith,  not  thy  baptism. 

True  sanctification  may  be  without  the  visible 
sign,  as  the  visible  sign  may  be  without  true  sancti- 
fication. One  of  their  side  saith,  necessity  is  two- 
fold. 1.  Absolute,  as  meat  is  for  life.  2.  Or  conve- 
nient, as  a  horse  is  for  a  journey.  (Alzim.)  Baptism 
is  necessary  this  last  way.  Yea,  a  great  peal  of  their 
own  voices  doth  repeal  that  merciless  sentence, 
which,  like  Herod,  nath  sent  out  a  decree  against 


334 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


young  infants,  who  because  they  enjoy  but  a  little  of 
this  life,  must  lose  all  the  nest.  Indeed,  "  He  that 
believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved;"  but  it  is 
added  withal,  "  He  that  believeth  not,"  whether 
baptized  or  no,  "  shall  be  damned,"  Mark  xvi.  16. 

To  conclude,  let  us  make  a  double  use  of  this ;  the 
one  for  obedience,  the  other  for  faith.  The  former 
is  a  direction  for  our  obedience,  that  we  use  the  ap- 
pointed means,  baptism.  The  other  for  our  faith, 
that  we  build  not  our  salvation  upon  baptism,  but 
upon  God's  election  and  grace. 

1.  For  obedience.  Baptism  cannot  be  Avilfully  neg- 
lected without  great  sin.  Let  us  neither  wifli  the 
papists  make  it  absolutely  necessarj' ;  nor  with  the 
Manichees,  wholly  unnecessary  ;  nor  inconvenient 
wth  the  Anabaptists,  because  they  are  children  and 
cannot  profess.  But  seeing  children  have  sin,  they 
ought  to  be  washed;  and  seeing  they  belong  to  God, 
they  ought  to  be  sealed.  Seeing  the  Lord  hath 
commanded  it,  let  us  pcrfonn  't.  Seeing  he  hath 
promised  the  washing  away  of  sin,  by  pouring  on  of 
water;  let  us  pour  on  water  for  the  washing  away  of 
sin.  Otherwise  we  despise  not  the  minister  of  tlie 
sign,  but  the  God  of  both  sign  and  minister  :  and  for 
those  that  refuse  the  sign,  it  is  a  sign  they  refuse 
the  grace  ;  and  deserve  the  reproof  of  Ahaz,  Is  it  a 
small  thing  to  grieve  men,  but  ^^^ll  you  grieve  God 
also  ?  Isa.  vii.  13.  This  was  the  condemnation  of  the 
Pharisees  and  lawyers;  they  "rejected  the  counsel 
of  God  against  themselves,"  in  this  very  point  of  not 
being  baptized  of  John,  Luke  vii.  30.  It  is  not  only 
the  bare  element,  but  the  power  of  God  with  it,  his 
wisdom  to  establish  it,  his  constancy  to  maintain  it, 
his  holiness  to  sanctify  it,  and  his  mercy  to  bless  it. 

When  time,  place,  minister,  all  things  concur,  let 
not  us  be  wanting.  Thej^  are  young  flowers,  soon 
nipped  by  death's  cold  hand.  Perhaps  some  human 
additions  we  dislike,  yet  know  that  this  overthrows 
not  the  ordinance  of  God.  The  foundation  is  sure, 
what  stubble  soever  be  built  upon  it :  fire  shall  purge 
that,  God's  institution  shall  save  thee.  If  thou  mayst 
have  it  pure  and  uneompoundcd,  so  take  it;  if  other- 
wise, do  not  refuse  it :  let  no  ceremony  of  man  preju- 
dice the  ordinance  of  God. 

And  as  we  honour  the  sacrament,  so  let  us  honour 
the  word  ;  for  that  must  go  with  the  element,  to  make 
a  sacrament.  The  word  hath  saved  some  without 
baptism;  what  men  hath  baptism  saved  without  the 
word?  The  promise  of  the  gospel  is  the  writing, 
baptism  the  seal.  The  certainty  of  the  writing  is 
from  the  seal,  but  the  validity  of  the  seal  is  from  the 
writing.  Indeed,  neither  writing  nor  seal  can  save, 
without  the  Holy  Ghost  to  apply  them.  In  baptism, 
as  in  Bcthcsda,  if  the  Spirit  move  on  the  face  of  the 
waters,  then  there  is  healing,  John  v.  4.  The  ser- 
pent prevaileth  against  us  in  sicca,  in  the  dry  ground  : 
but  in  aqua,  in  the  water,  he  loseth  all  his  venom. 
(Cy[)rian.)  Satan's  malicious  power  is  lost  in  the  sa- 
cramental waters. 

2.  For  faith,  depend  we  upon  the  election  of  God, 
which  shall  stand  with  means,  if  he  afford  it :  without 
means,  if  he  deny  it.  Among  men,  first  the  con- 
ditions ai'C  agreed  upon,  then  the  seal  is  annexed;  so 
God  first  receiveth  into  covenant,  and  then  sealeth. 
Men  first  possess  their  sheep,  then  mark  them :  first 
We  muster  up  soldiers,  then  levy  out  some,  and  give 
them  press-money.  "The  father  being  a  good  land- 
lord, after  the  grant  of  a  tenement  to  a  poor  man,  dies 
without  sealing  if.  Yet  the  right  dies  not,  seeing  an 
honest  son  cometh  in  place,  who  will  be  a  confirma- 
tion to  his  father's  yiromisc,  a  seal  to  his  grant.  God 
the  Father  hath  gi-.-nted  a  covenant  of  grace  to  the 
believer  and  his  seciJ,  promised  them  an  estate  of 
life  in  his  Son  Jesus :   tnoiigh  haply  the  young  seed 


be  prevented  of  this  outward  seal,  baptism;  yet  the 
good  Son  Clirist  vrill  perform  to  them  his  Father's 
promise,  and  seal  them  np  to  eternal  life.  Tlie  claim 
of  the  proprietary  is  good,  albeit  no  actual  mark  beset 
upon  his  goods.  The  mark  of  God  is  invisible ;  "  The 
Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his,"  2  Tim.  ii.  19;  and, 
"  My  sheep  shall  never  perish,  neither  shall  any  man 
pluck  them  out  of  my  hand,"  John  x.  28.  Not  a 
sheep,  not  the  least  lamb  of  a  day  old,  yea,  not  that 
which  is  scarce  yeaned  and  brought  into  the  world. 
"  The  dragon  stood  before  the  woman  which  was 
ready  to  be  delivered,  for  to  devour  her  child  as  soon 
as  it  was  born ;"  he  watched  upon  the  very  birth,  yet 
the  "child  was  caught  up  unto  God,  and  to  his 
throne,"  Rev.  xii.  4,  5.  If  the  sin  of  the  first  Adam 
could  Ijring  an  everlasting  taint  upon  them,  why  can- 
not the  blood  of  the  Second  Adam  wipe  it  out  for 
ever?  The  infant  cannot  reason,  yet  hath  it  the 
seed  of  reason  ;  it  hath  a  soul,  though  it  know  not  so 
much;  why  then  may  it  not  have  faith?  Children 
must  come  to  Christ.  What  children  ?  Little  ones, 
that  have  but  little  reason ;  yet  theirs  is  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  Matt.  xix.  14.  If  so,  then  are  they  clean, 
for  no  unclean  thing  shall  enter  that  holy  city.  Rev. 
xxi.  27:  now  what  cleanseth  but  faith  ?  This  faith 
then  they  have  after  a  miraculous  inspiration,  by 
that  blessed  ^rind  that  bloweth  itself  pleaseth  where, 
and  gets  in  no  man  knows  how,  Jolm  iii.  8.  Draco's 
laws  altogether  concluded  in  death ;  death  for  this, 
death  for  that,  nothing  but  the  fatal  noise  of  death. 
But  Christ  is  no  dragon,  he  is  rather  a  Lamb  that 
takes  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  a  world  of  sins; 
much  more  will  he  heal  these  little  lambs  of  his  flock. 
The  blood  of  Abel  crieth  for  vengeance,  but  Christ 
crieth  with  a  stronger  and  more  gracious  voice,  Heb. 
xii.  24;  My  blood  for  all  blood,  my  body  for  all  sin, 
even  of  mine  enemies.  If  he  were  a  Herod  in  his 
butcherly  doom,  Rachel  might  weep  and  make  la- 
mentation for  her  little  ones,  and  refuse  comfort,  be- 
cause they  are  not.  If  the  grave  and  hell,  those 
ministers  of  vengeance,  were  to  devour  those  unbap- 
tized  little  ones  ;  then  every  mother  and  father,  sister 
and  friend,  might  howl  and  mourn,  answering  one 
another  with  doleful  plaints  and  remediless  meanings, 
and  have  no  comfort,  because  they  are  not ;  yea, 
which  is  worse,  because  they  are,  that  is,  they  are  in 
endless  sorrow.  But  blessed  be  God,  that  hath  sealed 
us  a  better  covenant ;  praised  be  he,  that  hath  given 
us  better  assurance  and  comfort,  through  the  Son  of 
his  love,  Jesus  Christ. 


Verse  6. 

And  turning  the  cities  of  Sodom  atid  Gomorrha  into 
ashes  condemned  them  with  an  overthrotr,  making 
them  an  evsample  unto  those  that  after  should  live 
ungodly. 

This  is  the  third  instance  of  God's  severity  and 
mercy;  severity  to  the  obstinate,  mercy  to  the  peni- 
tent.' First,  he  confounded  the  apostate  angels,  and 
preserved  the  obedient.  Secondly,  he  drowned  the 
secure  world,  and  saved  the  faithfiil  Noah.  Here  he 
burned  the  ungodly  cities,  and  delivered  the  just  Lot. 
He  begun  with  honour  and  sublimity,  casting  down 
angels;  to  show  that  no  celsitude  can  privilege  re- 
bellion against  his  will.  He  went  on  with  multitude 
and  universality,  drowning  a  whole  world;  to  show 
that  nonumbers,  legions,  or  armies  of  sinners  can  pre- 
vail against  his  justice.  He  concludes  witli  opulency 
and  worldly  estate,  in  this  overthrow  of  Sodom ;  to 


Ver.  6. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


335 


show  that  no  riches  and  prosperity  can  avail  in  the 
(lay  of  wrath. 

So<loni  was  a  second  Eden,  the  garden  of  the 
world ;  yet  he  that  for  transgression  did  throw 
Adam  out  of  Paradise,  did  also  for  the  same  reason 
overthrow  Sodom  with  all  lier  pleasures.  There 
only  eight  were  saved  out  of  the  whole  world,  and 
here  are  but  half  eight  delivered  from  this  niin. 
And  as  one  of  those  eiglit  was  after  cursed  by  his 
father,  and  became  a  precedent  for  all  rebellious 
children;  so  one  of  these  four  was  punished  by  the 
Father  of  all,  and  for  her  tergiversation,  or  retro- 
spection rather,  was  turned  into  a  pillar  of  salt,  and 
became  a  monument  of  apostacy  to  all  succeeding 
ages :  this  was  Lot's  wife. 

Only  this  latter  exceeded  the  former  destruction 
in  some  things.  1.  For  generality;  it  was  more 
universal  and  impartial :  eight  there  escaped,  here 
but  four.  "2.  In  regard  of  the  instmment;  that  was 
by  water,  this  by  fire,  an  element  of  greater  fury  and 
torment.  3.  For  the  suddenness  ;  the  water  drown- 
ed them  by  degrees,  so  that  by  the  continued 
ascending  it  might  soften  them  to  repentance.  The 
fire  consumed  all  those  quickly,  without  giving  them 
leisure  to  think  of  their  sins,  save  with  a  despe- 
rate consideration.  4.  The  water  choked  their  cor- 
poreal lives,  and  killed  only  that  was  mortal ;  there 
is  hope  that  some  of  their  souls  escaped.  But  here 
the  elementary  fire  sent  them  to  eternal  fire,  and 
their  destruction  was  followed  with  damnation. 

Two  principals  in  the  verse  : 

The  punishment.  Turning  the  cities,  Sec. 

The  monument.  Made  them  an  cnsamplc. 

The  punishment  is  described  by  three  terms, 
which  are. 

Burning. 

Overthrowing. 

Condemning. 

Some  would  have  them  all  signify  one  thing,  as  if 
they  were  divers  characters  of  the  same  destruction; 
but  this  dQth  not  sufficiently  honour  the  pen  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  We  may  better  resolve  it  thus  ;  re- 
ferring the  burning  to  the  devastation  of  their  cities, 
the  overthrowing  to  the  spilling  of  their  lives,  and 
the  condemning  to  the  perdition  of  their  souls.  Their 
cities  were  burned,  their  bodies  subverted,  their 
souls  condemned.  Wherein  the  Lord,  like  some 
angry  warrior,  not  only  contents  himself  to  ransack 
the  houses  of  their  goods,  but  fires  their  cities;  nor 
is  so  pacified,  but  puts  all  to  the  sword :  as  Saul  had 
a  charge  for  Amalck,  Utterly  destroy  all  they  have, 
slay  man  and  woman,  infant  and  be.'i.->t,  1  Sam.  xv. 
'  3.  Yea,  he  goes  further  than  any  mortal  conquoror; 
t  for  they  can  punish  but  temporally  and  coqHirally, 
but  the  Lord  eternally  ;  they  suflfer  "  the  vengeance 
'     of  eternal  fire,"  Judc  7- 

The  monument  hath  two  things  in  it : 

What,  An  ensample, 

T.i  whom.  To  those,  &c. 
luit  if  we  avoid  their  sins,  we  shall  escape  their 
,;ies.     Here  are  various  observations  deducible. 
rst,  the  number  of  the  cities ;  but  two  are  men- 
il  in  the  text,  but  certainly  more  were  involved 
he  ruin.     "All  the  plain,"  Gen.  xix.  25:  likely 
.  .1  more  cities  op  that  plain  than  two.     It  was  a 
^;   at  circuit  of  ground,  as  appeareth  by  the  Dead 
■-    I  there,  which  Josephus,  who  was  brought  up  in 
.ountry.  gives  to  be  threescore  and  twelve  miles 
iigth,  and  nineteen  miles  broad.     The  number 
, .  ;hem  is  most  like  to  be  four,  so  many  rehearsed 
by    Moses,    "  Sodom,   Gomorrah,   Admah,   and   Ze- 
boim,"  Deut.  xxix.  23.     But  it  is  objected,  that  the 
fire  fell  down  upon  the  five  cities,  Wisd.  x.  6 :  there- 
fore five.   Some  think  that  Zoar  also  perished,  though 


for  a  time  it  was  preser\'ed  by  the  intercession  of 
Lot.  But  this  supposition  is  false,  for  it  was  known 
by  the  name  of  Zoar  in  Isaiah's  time ;  "  His  fugitives 
shall  (lee  unto  Zoar,"  Isa.  xv.  5.  Before  it  was 
called  Bela ;  now,  as  Lot  changed  the  name,  so  God 
changed  the  condition  ;  little  in  quautity,  great  in 
the  favour  of  mercy.  And  for  that  of  the  five  cities, 
the  word  is  Pentapolis,  that  is  the  place  where  those 
five  cities  stood.  Two  more  cities  perished,  but 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  are  only  mentioned,  because 
they  were  the  capital  cities,  and  metropoles  both  in 
the  sin  and  punishment.     Where  observe, 

The  force  of  example  prevaileth  strongly  to  pro- 
duce the  likeness  of  manners.  The  aiithority  of 
greatness  doth  often  corrupt  the  integrity  of  good- 
ness. The  bad  conditions  of  popular  persons  are 
like  Jacob's  speckled  rods,  which  make  he  sheep, 
the  beasts  of  the  people,  bring  forth  the  party-colour- 
ed actions.  The  ill  custom  of  an  eminent  place  is 
drawn  up  like  some  pestilent  exhalation,  and  cor- 
rupteth  the  air  round  about.  The  proverb  speaks  of 
bad  customs,  bad  opinions,  and  bad  servants  ;  that 
they  are  better  to  hang  than  to  hold.  If  Jeroboam 
worship  calves,  how  easily  will  most  Israelites  be- 
come such  beasis!  We  may  say  of  an  exemplary 
sin,  as  Joab  of  Rabbah,  it  will  be  called  after  the 
founder's  own  name.  A  stone  thrown  into  the  water, 
makes  of  itself  but  one  circle,  but  that  one  begets  a 
hundred.  Though  few  men  will  confess  their  sins, 
yet  many  men's  sins  will  confess  their  masters.  To 
beget  a  precedent  of  vice,  is  like  the  setting  a  man's 
own  house  on  fire  ;  it  bin-ns  many  of  his  neighbours', 
and  he  shall  answer  for  all  the  ruins.  A  sick  head 
makes  a  disordered  body,  a  blind  eye  endangers  all 
the  members.  A  ruler's  unrighteousness,  like  the 
late  blazing  star,  it  hath  a  long  tail,  draws  a  train  of 
mischiefs  after  it,  and  is  ominous  to  the  whole  land. 
Whereas  piety  in  a  prince,  like  Aaron's  ointment, 
runs  down  to  the  skirts  of  his  garments,  blesseth  all 
liis  subjects. 

An  exemplary  ofTender  is  like  a  malicious  man 
sick  of  the  plague,  that  runs  into  the  throng  to  dis- 
perse his  infection.  Sodom's  filthiness  is  not  con- 
fined at  home,  but  runs,  like  Nilus,  over  all  the 
plain ;  not  a  village  but  glories  in  the  imitation. 
When  a  public  person  is  tempted  to  sin,  he  should 
answer  as  Nehcmiah,  when  he  was  tempted  to  flee  : 
"Should  such  a  man  as  I  flee?"  Neh.  vi.  11. 
Should  such  a  man  as  I  thus  grossly  offend  ?  To 
sin  before  the  face  of  God,  is  to  dishonour  him  ;  but 
withal  to  sin  before  the  face  of  men,  is  doubly  to  dis- 
honour him.  Many  an  Israelite  committed  fornica- 
tion, and  yet  upon  repentance  got  pardon  :  hut  Zimri, 
that  would  wilfully  do  it  in  the  face  of  God  and  man, 
was  sure  to  perish.  This  aggravated  David's  error, 
that  it  made  the  enemies  of  God  lo  bl.aspheme. 

Such  a  bitter  root  shall  answer  for  itself,  and  for 
all  the  corrupt  branches  ;  as  sin  that  is  done  abroad, 
ceaseth  to  be  single,  it  is  many  sins  in  one.  Let  us 
therefore  give  good  example  :  wlien  Christ  told  that 
noble  petitioner.  Thy  son  liveth,  at  the  first  hearing 
he  believed ;  but  when  he  came  home,  and  weighed 
the  matter,  not  only  himself,  but,  by  his  means,  the 
whole  household  believed,  John  iv.  50,  53.  And 
for  those  that  take  advantage  to  sin  by  precedent, 
Tulum  est  peccare  authoribu.i  illix,  let  this  be  their 
terror.  Other  cities  followed  Sodom's  lust,  and  they 
were  all  consumed  with  Sodom's  fire.  It  is  a  com- 
mon plea.  Our  fathers  did  thus  before  us,  and  the 
whole  world  doth  thus  about  us.  But  what  comfort 
is  it,  to  fulfil  the  measure  of  our  forefathers,  or  to 
perish  with  our  neighbours?  The  high  priest's  ser- 
vants can  make  Peter  deny  his  Master.  Let  Korah 
kindle  a  fire  of  conspiracy,  two  hundred  and  fifty 


336 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


captains  will  bring  wood  to  increase  it.  A  lewd 
man  draws  vengeance  on  others,  by  the  punishment 
of  his  sin,  or  by  the  infection  of  it. 

Secondly,  the  matter :  they  were  cities ;  not  ham- 
lets or  villages,  but  populous  and  walled  cities. 
Famous  cities,  not  less  than  kingdoms:  "The  king 
of  Sodom,"  &c.  Gen.  xiv.  8.  Fruitful  cities,  as  the 
garden  of  God,  Gen.  siii.  10.  Cities  lent  to  men,  but 
better  beseeming  the  majesty  of  God :  so  glorior.s 
that  they  tempted  a  saint.  Lot  seeing  the  goodly 
plains  of  Jordan,  the  commodious  springs,  delightful 
rivers,  richness  of  the  soil,  situation  of  the  towns, 
without  inquiring  further,  is  in  love  with  Sodom. 
Observe, 

1.  That  the  strongest  cities  are  not  shot-proof 
against  the  arrows  of  God;  but  even  things  ordained 
for  refuge,  are  by  his  justice  made  destructive.  There 
is  nothing  peaceable  where  God  is  an  enemy.  The 
wind  is  a  meteor  whereby  in  some  sort  we  live,  a  fan 
in  the  Lord's  hand  to  purge  the  air  :  yet  how  often 
doth  he  make  it  carry  infection  on  the  wings,  and 
ruin  buildings  with  violence  !  Children  are  comfort- 
able fruits  ;  yet  was  David  scourged,  and  Sennacherib 
butchered,  by  their  own  bowels.  Samson  is  betrayed 
by  the  wife  of  his  bosom:  and  the  Israelites  die  of 
quails  provided  for  their  sustenance.  In  vain  we 
build,  unless  the  Lord  lay  the  first  stone  ;  or  plant, 
unless  he  say,  Let  it  grow.  Blessed  is  the  city  whose 
gates  God  barreth  up  with  his  power,  and  opencth 
again  with  his  mercy,  Psal.  cslvii.  13.  There  is 
nothing  can  defend  where  his  justice  will  strike  ;  and 
there  is  nothing  can  oifcnd  where  liis  goodness  will 
presen-e. 

2.  Sin  can  bring  Aown  the  most  magnific  cities, 
and  lay  them  even  with  the  ground.  Can  Sodom's 
pomp  of  state,  confluence  of  pleasures,  abundance  of 
riches,  pride  of  inhabitants,  secure  her  life  ?  It  was 
God's  challenge  to  Nineveh,  "  Art  thou  better  than 
No?"  Nah.  iii.  8.  Let  it  be  a  challenge  to  London, 
Art  thou  richer  than  Sodom  ?  It  is  written  of  Tyrus, 
that  her  merchants  were  princes,  and  her  traffickers 
the  honourable  men  of  the  earth ;  yet  God  makes 
disport  at  her  overthrow,  "  Is  this  your  joyous  city," 
&c.  ?  Isa.  xxiii.  7-  Babylon,  a  little  world  in  itself; 
Jerusalem,  the  pride  of  the  whole  earth ;  both  found 
wickedness  to  undo  their  composition.  Rome,  styled 
tliat  eternal  city,  shall  feel  the  immortality  of  her 
soul,  supremacy  over  kings,  trodden  under  feet. 
Greatness  of  sin  will  shake  the  foundation  of  the 
greatest  cities,  though  their  heads  stood  among  the 
clouds,  and  lay  their  honour  in  the  dust. 

.3.  None  of  these  wicked  cities  escaped.  Strabo 
thinks  that  some  fled  away ;  but  men,  women,  chil- 
dren, houses,  plants,  monuments,  all  that  grew  on  thi; 
earth,  were  destroyed.  Gen.  xix.  25.  And  who  will 
wonder  that  their  ungodliness  brought  destruction 
npon  the  harmless  creatures,  that  considers,  how  we 
iiocent  wretches  caused  innocence  itself  to  be  cruci- 
fied for  us  ?  Not  only  were  the  plants  and  herbs 
smitten  for  the  time,  but  cursed  into  everlasting  bar- 
renness, Psal.  cvii.  34  :  see  Isa.  xxxiv.  9,  and  Wisd. 
X.  7.  There  now  runs  the  Salt  and  Dead  Sea,  whose 
bitterness  is  such,  that  no  fish  can  live  in  it.  (Arist.) 
Others  that  have  viewed  the  country  affirm,  that  no 
grass  groweth  there,  and  that  it  still  smoketh  :  that 
the  fruit  appeareth  fair;  but  within,  it  is  nothing  but 
embers  and  rottenness.  (Joseph.)  Insomuch,  that 
the  proverb  makes  a  Sodom  apple  the  emblem  of  a 
hypocrite.  So  universal  was  their  corni])tion,  that 
some  think  they  brought  up  their  children  to  their 
own  beastly  conditions.  Young  and  old,  a  concourse 
of  all  the  city.  Gen.  xix.  4.  With  fur\-,  envv,  and  lust 
provoked,  they  dare  attempt  that  in 'troops,  which  to 
act  single  had  been  too  detestable ;  to  imagine,  un- 


natural. Continuance  in  evil  makes  wicked  men 
worse  ;  but  company  in  evil,  worst  of  all. 

Therefore  God  destroyed  them  all ;  the  community 
of  their  sin  preceded  the  universality  of  their  ruin. 
Here  is  the  diflerence  betwixt  God's  people  and  idol- 
aters ;  the  latter  are  destroyed  utterly,  but  of  liis 
church  the  Lord  always  leaves  a  number,  some  seeds 
to  increase  his  har\-est.  "  Except  the  Lord  had  left 
us  a  seed,  we  should  have  been  as  Sodom,  and  like 
unto  Gomon-ah,"  Isa.  i.  9.  In  this  we  shall  not  be 
like  Sodom ;  wliich  is  our  special  comfort :  though 
this  whole  land  groan  under  sins,  and  all  the  founda- 
tions be  out  of  course;  yet  there  are  some  that  fear 
God  in  sincerity  of  heart,  and  Christ  hath  his  number 
of  elect  among  us.  And  so  long  as  that  number  re- 
mains, we  shall  not  be  made  as  Sodom,  the  matter  of 
fire  and  brimstone,  a  stink  to  our  neighbours  about 
us,  and  a  scorn  to  all  succeeding  generations.  But 
disclaim  we  our  own  merits,  andhonour  the  true  cause 
of  all  our  happiness,  the  mercy  of  God,  whose  com- 
passions fail  not.  Lam.  iii.  22. 

5.  Great  is  the  danger  of  livingin  opulent  and  de- 
lightful places.  That  Sodom  abounded  with  all  va- 
riety of  pleasures,  it  is  plain  ;  being  watered  with  the 
river  Jordan,  as  Paradise  with  Euphrates,  and  Egypt 
with  Nilus:  yea,  Eg)'pt  was  watered  with  more  diffi- 
culty; as  appears,  Deut.  xi.  10.  Jordan  was  the  noblest 
of  all  rivers,  rising  out  of  two  fountains,  Jor,  and 
Dan  :  from  both  the  heads,  united  in  the  valley,  it 
was  called  Jordan.  It  was  famous  for  four  occasions. 
1.  For  the  passing  of  the  Israelites  over  it,  the  waters 
being  miraculously  divided,  and  a  monument  set  up  in 
the  midst  of  it,  Josh.  iv.  18.  2.  For  the  parting  of  the 
stream  again  by  Elisha,  after  that  Elijah  was  by  the 
same  river  taken  up  in  a  fieiy  chariot,  2  Kings  ii.  14. 
3.  For  the  healing  of  Naaman  the  Syrian  of  his 
leprosy:  he  thought  as  well  of  Abana  and  Pharpar; 
but  the  Lord  was  with  Jordan,  2  Kings  v.  12.  4.  For 
the  baptizing  of  our  blessed  Saviour,  Malt.  iii.  13: 
above  all  other  waters  he  seemed  to  honour  Jordan. 

This  noble  river  ser^'ing  so  ignoble  a  country,  made 
it  fruitful,  that  Lot's  heart  was  fixed  on  it.  ()utward 
appearances  arc  deceitful  guides,  and  it  is  no  hard 
thing  for  the  affection  to  cozen  the  judgment.  He  is 
worthy  to  be  deceived,  that  values  things  as  they 
seem.  He  pays  dear  for  his  rashness  ;  war  spoileth 
Sodom,  and  Lot  is  taken  prisoner  with  all  his  sub- 
stance. Now  that  Abraham,  whom  he  forsook,  must 
rescue  him ;  and  that  wealth  which  made  him  leave 
his  uncle,  is  become  a  prey  to  merciless  heathens. 
The  place  which  his  eye  covetously  chose,  betrays  his 
life  and  goods.  How  easy  is  it  for  men,  while  they 
look  at  gain,  to  lose  themselves  ! 

Such  was  the  richness  of  Sodom,  full  of  magnificent 
buildings,  gardens,  vineyards,  pastures,  a  concurrence 
of  all  earthly  commodities ;  therefore  the  more 
likely  to  run  into  all  licentiousness.  The  people  of 
Laisii,  because  they  wanted  nothing,  would  have 
business  with  no  man,  Judg.  xviii.  /.  Where  is  no 
want  is  much  wantonness;  and  to  be  rich  in  tem- 
porals hastens  poverty  in  spirituals.  What  should 
humble  them,  that  do  not  find  themselves  to  stand  in 
need  of  God  ?  Cyrus  would  not  sutfer  his  Persians  to 
change  a  barren  soil  for  a  fruitful ;  because  dainty 
habitations  make  dainty  inhabitants.  If  we  consider 
Sibaris,  and  Campania  ;  the  storehouse  of  Rome, 
Sicily ;  the  stove  of  luxury,  Capua ;  where  can  we 
look,'  that  the  rankness  of  the  soil  hath  not  betrayed 
itself  in  the  rankness  of  sin?  Men  have  natural  in- 
clinations according  to  the  genius  of  their  country; 
and  it  is  rare  to  find  God's  piety  where  is  God's 
plenty.  In  a  scantiness,  the  things  themselves  do 
stint  and  restrain  our  appetites  ;  but  where  is  abund- 
ance, and  the  measure  is  left  to  our  own  discretion, 


Vbr.  6. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


337 


our  discretion  is  too  often  deceived.  "  The  fat  val- 
leys of  them  that  are  overcome  with  wine,"  Isa. 
xxviii.  1.  They  that  live  in  fat  valleys  are  soon 
overcome  with  wine.     To  apply  it. 

Islands  are  the  richest  soils,  therefore  islanders  are 
held  the  most  riotous  people.  We  lie  at  the  dugs  of 
a  most  fraitful  mother,  repose  ourselves  in  her  in- 
dulgent bosom ;  we  live  in  as  dangerous  a  place  for 
prosperity  as  Sodom :  and  as  the  fattest  earth  is  most 
slippery  for  footing,  we  had  need  of  special  grace  at 
every  turn,  and  urgent  cause  to  pray  for  that  grace, 
that' in  the  midst  of  all  abundance  we  may  not  want 
temperance.  Agur's  prayer  is  no  paradox,  "  Give  me 
neitner  poverty  nor  riches,"  Prov.  xxx.  8 :  both  ex- 
tremes ai-e  dangerous,  but  the  greater  peril  is  in  tlie 
excess  than  defect.  Let  us  pray  with  St.  Paul,  that 
we  may  know  how  to  want ;  but  especially  that  we 
may  know  how  to  be  full  and  abound  in  all  things, 
Phil.  iv.  12.  The  prayers  of  our  church  have  it,  let 
our  undcrslandings  mark  it,  and  our  hearts  implore 
it;  "  In  all  time  of  our  wealth,  good  Lord,  deliver 
US."  When  God  himself  tells  us,  how  hard  it  is  to  be 
made  happy  by  being  made  wealthy ;  and  we  sec  by 
experience,  how  common  a  precipice  it  is  to  destruc- 
tion ;  we  find  cause  to  redouble  that  petition,  "  In  all 
time  of  our  wealth,  good  Lord,  deliver  us." 

The  pride  of  apparel,  excess  of  cheer,  and  super- 
abundance of  ebriety,  are  the  effects  of  an  opulent 
kingdom.  Have  we  not  seen  them  that  make  arti- 
ficial conveyances  of  sin  to  posterity,  that  labour  to 
purchase  vice  a  perpetuity,  that  have  leisure  to  study 
arguments  for  the  justification  of  evil  ?  Thrice  hap- 
py he  that  can  be  chaste  in  Sodom,  that  can  be  tem- 
perate in  England.  Thus  high  are  we  grown  in 
prosperity  and  iniquity.  Let  us  all  look  back  upon 
Sodom  :  methinks  we  should  rather  wish  to  learn  at 
the  charges  and  by  the  stripes  of  others,  than  that 
the  doctrine  of  destruction  should  come  to  our  own 
doors.  We  see  great  cities,  mighty  kingdoms,  and 
the  fairest  (lowers  of  all  histories,  trampled  under 
foot  :  they  should  Icai-n  us  to  beware.  Peace  we 
have,  and  the  God  of  peace  continue  it,  to  his  glory 
and  our  good.  The  bees  may  hive  themselves  in  our 
helmets,  and  our  horses  of  war  have  little  use,  save 
to  draw  our  coaches  up  and  down  the  streets.  It  is 
the  eyesore  of  our  enemies,  and  let  envy  look  herself 
blind.  Yet  let  not  all  this  secure  us,  lest  we  be  forced 
unto  that  forlorn  cry.  Oh  that  our  fear  had  looked 
forward  to  the  prevention,  before  our  sorrow  con- 
strains us  to  look  backward  upon  this  desolation  ! 
Let  repentance  cure  our  sins,  and  procure  mercy  to 
our  souls,  and  bring  us  to  that  city  above ;  where  is 
plenty  of  riches,  plenty  of  honours,  plenty  of  plea- 
sures, plenty  of  knowledge,  love,  joy ;  plenty  of  all 
blessings,  without  all  abuse  of  plenty. 

5.  We  are  sent  to  the  Author  of  this  dire  over- 
throw, the  Lord,  He  turned  the  cities,  &c.  "  The 
Lord  rained  brimstone  and  fire  from  the  Lord  out  of 
heaven,"  Gen.  xix.  24.  It  is  not  enough  to  say,  the 
Lord  rained  from  himself;  nor  doth  it  only  signify  a 
miraculous  rain,  beside  the  course  of  nature  :  but 
well  have  the  fathers  urged  this  place  to  prove  the 
eternity  of  Christ,  to  whom  the  Father  hath  com- 
mitted all  judgment :  the  Lord  Christ  did  rain,  from 
Jehovah  the  Lord  his  Father. 

Those  wonderful  events,  which  the  ignorant  ascribe 
to  fortune,  the  atheist  to  nature,  the  superstitious  to 
their  idols,  the  politician  to  his  plots,  the  proud  to 
his  own  power,  too  many  to  second  causes ;  in  all 
these  the  servants  of  God  look  higher,  resolving  all 
such  effects  to  their  first  principle,  the  finger  of  God. 
The  fame  of  Alexander,  the  renown  of  Ca>sar,  have 
been  much  applauded  for  their  victorious  triumphs ; 
Ulysses  for  policy,  Hector  for  valour.    The  best  of 


tlicm  have  their  matches  in  the  book  of  God.  Josliua 
fought  as  magnanimously,  as  successfully  ;  yet  (when 
he  liad  contiuered  five  kin<'s  and  kingdoms)  the  glory 
is  the  Lord's,  "  God  fought  for  Israel,"  Josh.  x.  42. 
The  Ethiopian  army  was  a  thousand  thousand;  Asa 
vanquished  them  ;  yet  said,  "  The  Lord  smote  the 
Ethiopians,"  2  Chron.  xiv.  12.  Hushai  was  politic, 
and  taught  the  traitor  a  trick  to  overthrow  himself; 
yet  is  it  said.  The  Lord  destroyed  the  counsel  of 
Ahithophel,  2  Sam.  xvii.  14.  Solomon  was  magni- 
fied for  his  wisdom;  yet  in  that  admirable  proof,  the 
decision  betwixt  the  two  h;irlots,  it  is  called  "  the 
wisdom  of  God,"  1  Kin^s  iii.  2S.  It  will  suffer  no 
glory  to  cleave  unto  eartlien  vessels :  let  the  princi- 
pal and  first  mover  have  it ;  The  Lord  did  it. 

The  Lord  is  known  by  executing  judgment,  Ps:il. 
ix.  16;  upon  Sodom  and  all  the  world.  If  Pharaoh 
will  not  know  him  at  Moses'  moutli;  he  shall  feel 
him  to  his  cost  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  If  Herod 
will  not  know  to  honour  him,  he  shall  be  loathed  of 
his  flatterers  :  they  ran  to  him  as  a  deity,  they  shall 
run  from  him  as  carrion.  If  Sodom  will  not  know 
God  by  Lot's  preaching,  they  shall  know  him  by  the 
fire  about  their  ears.  God  is  known  by  his  judgments : 
his  almightiness  is  known  by  the  creation,  his  mercy 
by  our  redemption,  his  wisdom  and  goodness  by  the 
world's  conser\ation  ;  so  his  justice  is  known  by  the 
wicked's  destruction. 

That  this  is  the  Lord's  doing  appears,  in  that  he 
spares  others  that  have  been  as  guilty  ;  for  his  mercy 
every  where  matcheth  his  justice,  lie  confound- 
ed Sodom,  yet  he  hath  converted  many  as  wicked  as 
they;  his  free  grace  hath  brought  those  to  heaven, 
who  have  deserved  as  deep  a  place  in  hell.  Manas- 
seh  broke  his  covenant  with  God,  yet  his  repentance 
found  mercy.  As  tlierefoi-e  we  should  fear  to  sin, 
lest  we  perish  as  Sodom;  so  turn  we  to  God  in  hope 
of  favour,  for  he  hath  spared  some  as  sinful  as  Sodom. 
Hear  the  word,  ye  princes  of  Sodom,  and  people  of 
Gomorrah,  Isa.  i.  10.  They  arc  compared  to  Sodom, 
yet  mercy  is  offered,  if  it  be  penitently  and  faithfully 
accepted,  ver.  18. 

6.  Lastly,  yet  more  to  justify  this  judgment  of 
God,  that  is,' to  make  it  appear  just;  as  sinful  as 
Sodom  was,  yet  the  Lord  destroyed  it  not  without 
premonition.  First,  he  sent  among  them  a  bloody 
war ;  which,  whom  it  left  not  dead  on  tlie  earth,  it 
took  alive  into  bondage.  Here  was  one  warning ; 
yet  in  how  few  years  hath  Sodom  forgot  that  she 
was  spoiled  and  led  captive  !  Had  she  been  warned 
by  the  sword,  she  had  escaped  the  fire.  Yet  did  not 
that  ill  success  either  make  Lot  leave  Sodom,  or 
Sodom  leave  sin;  he  still  loves  his  commodity,  and 
she  her  impiety.  Wicked  men  grow  worse  after 
hfllictions,  as  water  grows  more  cold  after  a  heat. 

This  was  not  all,  but  according  to  the  stintless 
vicissitude  of  their  sins,  God  follows  them  with  a 
succession  of  plagues.  Yet  after  all  these  warnings, 
they  become  worse  ;  so  bad,  that  there  were  not  ten 
good  men  to  be  found  in  five  cities.  This  heap  must 
needs  be  fit  for  the  fire,  that  was  all  chaff.  Be- 
sides, God  is  said  to  come  down  from  heaven  about 
this  examination.  Gen.  xviii.  21.  Which  is  a  figura- 
tive speech ;  for  he  that  fiUeth  all  things,  neither 
goeth  nor  cometh ;  and  he  that  knoweth  all  things, 
needs  not  inquire :  but  to  show  that  he  docs  not  pro- 
ceed in  the  extremity  of  justice,  without  such  a  pre- 
cedent scrutiny  as  may  leave  them  without  excuse. 

Lot  continually  preached  to  them,  by  his  per- 
suasion to  holiness,  by  his  regidar  and  exemplary 
life :  here  was  still  further  warning.  He  had  fire  in 
his  tongue,  but  they  had  a  sea  of  water  in  their 
hearts  to  quench  it.  His  conversation  was  as  great 
a  vexation  to  them,  as  theirs  was  to  him.    He  re- 


iis 


AK  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  11. 


proved  them  the  verj'  tiiglit  before  their  ruin :  but  such 
as  be  bent  upon  villany,  are  more  exasperated  by  dis- 
suasions; like  violent  streams,  that,  when  they  are 
resisted  by  flood-gates,  swell  over  the  banks.  Not 
being  able  to  reclaim  the  multitude,  he  singles  out 
some  ;  and  when  the  rest  of  the  night  was  short  and 
dangerous,  he  being  sought  for  by  the  Sodomites, 
and  newly  pulled  in  by  the  angels,  yet  he  ventures 
abroad  to  seek  his  sons-in-law.  They  were  but  be- 
trothed to  his  daughters,  yet  such  was  his  charity, 
that  he  hazards  his  own  safety  to  preserve  theirs. 
Failh  would  never  be  saved  alone,  but  win  all  she 
can.  He  did  admonish  them  like  a  prophet,  and  ad- 
vise them  like  a  father;  but  both  in  vain.  He  seem- 
ed to  them  as  one  that  mocked,  and  they  did  more 
than  seem  to  mock  him  again.  Why  should  to-mor- 
row differ  from  other  days  ?  "Who  ever  saw  it  rain 
fire  ?  No  almanac  ever  spake  of  such  weather.  Or 
how  should  brfmstone  be  engendered,  or  exhaled  into 
the  air  ?  The  clouds  are  bottles  of  w-aters,  not  of 
flames.  Or  if  such  a  shower  should  fall,  why  must 
it  not  burn  all  the  earth,  as  well  as  the  valley  ?  Why 
not  as  universal  as  was  the  deluge  ?  Or  grant  it  do 
come,  yet  it  cannot  be  so  sudden,  but  we  shall  have 
time  to  call  for  mercy ;  it  will  be  as  long  a  despatch- 
ing us,  as  the  flood  was  a  drowning  them.  Thus 
carnal  men  count  preaching  foolishness,  devotion 
idleness,  and  prophets  madmen.  Certainly  these 
men's  unbelief  was  as  worthy  of  the  fire,  as  the  others' 
uncleanness :  "  He  that  believeth  not  is  condemned 
already,"  John  iii.  18. 

Lastly,  in  the  attempt  of  that  horrid  impiety,  the 
angels  smote  them  with  blindness.  Gen.  xix.  1 1  : 
now  this  being  so  miraculous  and  immediate  a  work, 
might  have  warned  them  enough,  that  the  business 
they  undertook  was  damnable.  They  smote  not  tlie 
medium,  which  was  the  air;  nor  the  object,  which 
was  the  door ;  but  their  sight  with  such  a  blindness, 
that  they  could  not  discern  one  thing  from  another  : 
as  the  Aramites,  that  they  could  not  descry  the  pro- 
phet, nor  the  way,  nor  the  city.  Both  their  outward 
and  inward  discerning  facidty  was  dazzled.  Yet  doth 
not  this  sensible  warning  better  them :  they  go  grop- 
ing up  and  down  the  streets,  cursing  those  men  whom 
they  could  not  find ;  and  yet  they  bethink  not  them- 
selves, that  vengeance  must  needs  be  near  them. 
All  this  while  Lot  and  the  angels  be  in  light,  and 
see  them  stumbling,  and  foresee  them  burning.  God 
first  struck  them  with  blindness,  whom  he  will  after 
consume  with  fire ;  it  is  his  use  to  besot  them  lie 
means  to  destroy.  This  darkness  was  a  forerunner 
of  eternal  darkness,  as  the  next  morning's  flame  was 
an  entrance  to  their  ever-burning  fire  in  hell. 

Let  this  teach  us  to  admire  God's  patience,  that 
will  not  destroy  a  Sodom  without  some  warning  and 
forbearance.  If  we  worms  and  dust  should  be  so 
used  of  men,  as  God  is  used  of  us,  we  should  quickly 
show  our  corrupted  stomachs.  We  have  vengeance 
in  our  will,  but  not  in  our  power:  God  hath  venge- 
ance in  his  power,  but  forbears  it  in  his  will.  We 
are  commanded  while  we  breathe  to  pray  the  Lord's 
prayer,  "Forgive  us  our  trespasses ;"  which  teacheth 
us  that  there  is  mercy  in  God  without  weariness. 
Sodom  cracked  the  earth  with  the  weight  of  her  sins, 
and  made  the  air  stink  with  her  loalhsomeness;  yet 
the  Lord  was  long  patient.  And  will  that  God'bc 
furious  and  hasty  against  that  soul  that  groans,  weeps, 
bleeds  for  her  ofTenccs  ?  If  it  were  not  for  this,  how 
could  we  escape  being  sacrificed  to  destruction,  to  ex- 
piate his  justice  ? 

God  ehargeth  Israel,  that  they  had  seen  his  glory, 
yet  provoked  him  ten  times,  Numb.  xiv.  22.  How 
often  would  I  have  gathered  you!  Luke  xiii,  34:  his 
mercies  exceed  all  numeration.    We  have  been  a 


provocation  to  him  ever  since  we  were  made,  as  Je- 
rusalem was  ever  since  it  was  built,  Jer.  xxxii.  31. 
But  though  the  Lord  be  pleased  at  some  times,  and 
lo  some  sinners,  to  trdarge  his  patience ;  let  not  us 
be  bold  to  enlarge  our  disobedience.  He  punished 
the  angels  in  heaven  for  one  fault,  Aehan  for  one  sa- 
crilege, Miriam  for  one  slander,  Moses  for  one  unbe- 
lief, Ananias  for  one  lie  :  he  may  be  as  quick  against 
our  oflences.  How  often  soever  lie  knocks,  our 
safest  course  is  to  rise  at  the  first  call.  Many  are 
prevented  by  his  justice,  their  spirits  departing  from 
them,  as  Jacob  from  Laban,  or  Israel  from  the  Egyp- 
tians, without  taking  leave,  carrying  away  tlieir 
jewels  and  dearest  treasures.  Let  us  fear  the  price 
of  angering  so  dreadful  a  Majesty,  and  abusing  so 
rich  a  patience :  he  now  looks  for  our  fruit,  or  we 
must  look  for  his  fire. 

Next,  be  w'e  taught  here  to  take  the  hint  of  God's 
warning;  and  not  to  let  him  that  is  the  breath  of 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  spend  his  breath  upon  us  in 
vain.  He  deals  with  sinners,  as  Da\'id  with  Saul, 
who  took  away  his  spear,  and  his  water-pot,  and 
sometimes  a  piece  of  his  cloak ;  as  it  were  snatches 
and  remembrances,  to  let  us  understand  that  w-e  are 
in  his  hands,  and,  if  we  take  not  warning,  he  will 
further  punish  us.  We  call,  and  he  hears  ;  we  ask, 
and  he  grants  ;  we  knock,  and  he  opens  :  cannot  all 
this  prevail  with  us  to  deal  so  with  him  ?  Which  of 
us  can  say,  he  hath  not  been  warned?  It  is  God's 
charge  to  his  prophets,  Tell  my  people,  Matt.  xxi.  5. 
We  have  told  them  ;  w'e  have  showed  his  people  their 
transgressions,  and  the  house  of  Jacob  their  sins, 
Isa.  Iviii.  I.  Hath  death  given  us  no  waniing  ?  did 
we  never  find  stitch  and  convulsion  ?  did  the  head 
never  ache,  the  stomach  never  refuse  nourishment? 
All  these  are  warnings  of  death,  as  death  is  a  citation 
to  judgment. 

There  is  scarce  any  thing  in  the  world,  but  it  may 
serve  for  a  monitor  to  us :  as  the  messengers  of  Jolj 
came  one  after  another,  to  inform  him  of  his  unhai)- 
piness  ;  every  one  saying,  "  I  only  am  escaped."  To 
what  purpose  ?  "  To  tell  thee."  Some  or  the  Jews 
are  delivered  from  that  raging  destniction.  To  what 
end?  To  declare  their  abominations  among  the 
heathen,  that  they  may  know  the  Lord,  Ezek.  xii.  IG. 
But  many  are  like  the  Sodomites,  hardened  by  the 
warnings  of  God.  Instead  of  embracing  the  counsel, 
they  rage  at  the  counsellor.  But  when  men  are 
grown  to  that  pass,  that  they  are  not  better  by  afflic- 
tions, yea,  worse  with  admonitions,  God  finds  it  high 
time  to  strike.  Now  they  have  done  sinning  God 
begins  to  plague.  Wickedness  hath  but  a  time  ;  the 
punishment  of  wickedness  is  beyond  all  time.  Even 
the  good  angels  shall  be  the  executioners  of  this 
judgment ;  and  having  first  delivered  Lot  in  Sodom, 
then  from  Sodom,  they  let  drive  at  Sodom.  There 
cannot  be  a  more  noble  act,  than  to  do  justice  upon 
obstinate  malefactors.  God  doth  not  often  pimish 
for  impurity^,  but  impenitency. 

Thus  far  we  have  walked  in  generals,  such  useful 
observations  as  the  story  affords  us  :  now  to  the  par- 
ticulars, wherein  consider  principally  two  things; 
the  measure,  and  the  manner.  The  measure  was  a 
total  niin;  the  manner,  by  fire.  First,  for  the  measure. 

Overthrew  them.  It  was  a  plenaiy  and  universal 
destruction.  Their  outward  happiness  was  so  great, 
that  like  rotten  fruit  they  could  no  longer  cleave  lo 
the  tree.  It  is  said  of  the  wicked,  "They  are  not  in 
trouble  as  other  men,"  Psal.  Ixxiii.  5.  No  misfortune  ? 
now  therefore  all  at  once.  It  is  not  good  to  be  too 
hapjiy  for  this  world  ;  there  is  danger  in  being  with- 
out dangers.  The  very  heathen  were  loth  to  surfeit 
on  pleasures,  and  took  it  an  introduction  to  further 
mischiefs.     Wlien  Philip  heard  that  his  army  had 


Ver.  r,. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


339 


got  the  conquest,  that  his  son  Alexander  was  born, 
and  that  liis  chariots  won  the  prize  at  Olympus,  all 
in  one  day,  he  called  on  fortune  to  spice  liis  joys  witli 
a  little  bitterness,  lest  he  should  forget  himself.  Tlic 
Egyptian  king  blest  himself  from  Policrates,  because 
he  was  over-fortunate;  when  he  would  try  an  expe- 
riment in  despite  of  fortune,  throwing  a  rich  jewel 
into  the  sea,  and  finding  it  at  his  house  in  the  bowels 
of  a  fish.  It  was  a  heathen  curse,  to  wish  all  good 
luck  to  their  very  enemies.  It  is  not  good  for  a  man 
to  engross  prosperity,  lest,  like  a  wasted  candle, 
Eixtremum  occupet  fumus,  f<Btor,  et  caligo.  Belshaz- 
zar  had  no  sooner  drunk  his  voluptuous  health  in 
the  cup  of  the  temple,  but  a  new  cup  was  reached 
unto  him,  the  cup  of  vengeance,  and  he  nmst  drink 
off  that  too. 

Here  was  a  sudden  alteration :  this  hour  a  land 
flowing  with  all  delights  and  riches,  whithersoever 
they  look  beholding  nothing  but  pleasures ;  and  a 
few  minutes  have  determined  all  this.  Now  nothing 
is  visible  but  ruin,  not  a  house,  not  a  tree,  not  a 
plant,  not  a  pile  of  grass  stanthng;  smoke  and  sul- 
phur, and  stench  and  barrenness,  possessing  all  the 
plain.  When  Amalek  was  destroyed,  the  trees  stood ; 
when  Jericho  was  burnt,  the  gold  was  preserved ; 
though  the  foundations  of  Troy  cannot  be  seen,  yet 
grass  grows  in  the  streets :  but  here,  silver  and  gold, 
plants  and  trees,  grass  and  beasts,  houses  and  monu- 
ments, all  consumed.  This  is  such  an  overthrow,  as 
the  like  never  went  before  it,  nor  shall  ever  any 
match  come  after  it,  but  that  one  universal  combus- 
tion of  heaven  and  earth.  Therefore  the  Scripture, 
when  it  speaks  of  an  utter  overthrow,  points  at 
Sodom,  Amosiv.  II.  She  might  have  endured  many 
plagues,  yet  stilJ  stood  upon  her  foundations;  but 
tills  is  such  a  ruin  as  admits  of  no  reparation;  such 
a  one,  as  Sodom  did  only  bear  it,  and  may  it  please 
God  that  none  but  Sodom  may  ever  feel  it. 

"  Condenmed  them."  The  spoiling  of  their  houses 
was  much  ;  yet,  had  only  their  cities  been  demolished, 
they  might  have  built  others,  or  lived  in  caves,  or 
fled  into  foreign  countries.  The  spoil  of  their  goods 
was  more  :  yet  grass  that  is  trodden  domi  may  grow 
again ;  the  world  hath  more  wealth.  The  maiming 
of  their  limbs  had  been  greater :  yet  life  is  sweet, 
and  their  coaches,  and  couches,  and  crutches,  arti- 
ficial legs,  and  hospitals;  charity  is  not  quite  dead. 
The  killing  of  their  bodies,  and  consuming  their 
lives,  yet  nearer;  the  merchant  will  lose  his  pro- 
vision, lose  his  wards,  lose  his  vessel,  to  save  his  life  : 
yet  if  life  be  lost,  is  there  not  a  day  of  reviving? 
Let  death  crumble  the  body  to  dust,  shall  not  the 
resurrection  restore  it  whole?  Or  if  they  must 
perish,  yet  let  it  not  be  by  fire,  the  extremest  of  all 
torments:  but  what  if  fire  turn  the  body  to  ashes, 
may  not  the  soul  ascend  the  heavens,  and  live  in 
peace  ?  O  but  what  ransom  shall  a  man  give  for 
his  soul  ?  He  "  condemned  them ;"  this  is  the  most 
insupportable  burden. 

To  turn  such  goodly  buildings  info  ashes ;  will  not 
this  satisfy  his  justice  ?  To  slay  the  beasts,  wither 
the  plants;  not  this?  To  sluice  out  the  bloods  and 
lives  of  so  many  thousands;  mothers  having  no 
leisure  to  cr>-  for  their  infants,  because  it  is  their 
own  turns  to  sutler :  not  all  this  ?  No,  the  soul  must 
answer  for  the  soul's  oflcnces :  he  "  condemned 
them."  The  traveller  yields  to  the  thief;  Take  my 
purse,  my  horse,  my  garments ;  only  spare  my  life. 
And  man  beseecheth  God;  Take  goods,  and  plea- 
sures, and  honours,  and  liberty,  and  life;  only  spare 
my  soul ;  let  not  that  be  a  prey  to  Satan.  Miserable 
wretches!  if  they  knew  the' worth  of  their  souls, 
they  would  bespeak  destruction,  as  the  king  of 
Sodom  did  Abraham,  Give  us  our  souls,  take  all  the 


rest.  Gen.  xiv.  21.  Let  us  save  our  houses,  if  we  can, 
and  save  our  goods,  and  save  our  lives ;  but  howso- 
ever, let  us  save  our  souls,  though  we  lose  houses, 
and  goods,  and  lives. 

All  was  sharp  enough  ;  but,  as  our  Saviour  said  to 
the  man  sick  eight  and  thirty  years,  (a  long  and 
hopeless  torment,)  "  Sin  no  more,  lest  a  worse  thing 
come  unto  thee,"  John  v.  14,  there  is  a  worse  be- 
hind: all  extremities  are  light  and  slight  to  con- 
demnation. Innumerable  are  tlie  curses  of  God 
against  sinners;  but  the  last  is  the  worst,  compre- 
hending and  transcending  all  the  rest;  a  condemn- 
ing sentence.  The  Sodomites  felt  a  dismal  judg- 
ment; fire  and  brimstone  scalding  their  bloods  to 
death;  but  what  a  slight  spark  do  they  judge  it 
to  that  they  now  feel  in  the  furnace  of  hell !  This 
is  the  Lord's  final  sword,  when  all  his  rods  be  worn 
out,  and  the  wicked  never  the  better.  A  smart  blow 
comes,  and  the  sinner  is  sensible,  cries  out  for  ease, 
and  hath  it  granted  :  now  he  thinks  this  punishment 
hatli  pacified  God's  wrath,  and  he  hath  paid  his  own 
debt.  Another  judgment  comes,  and  he  bears  it  with 
impatient  sorrow,  humbles  himself,  like  Ahab :  that 
once  removed,  he  hopes  now  God  hath  done  with 
him.  A  third  succeeds :  now  he  grumbles  under  the 
load,  thinks  that  God  doth  him  wrong;  that  he 
takes  more  than  he  should,  and  plagues  him  beyond 
his  desert :  but  all  this  doth  not  belter  him.  At  last 
the  Lord  comes  with  his  Condemn  him:  and  then 
if  all  liis  riches,  all  his  pleasures,  the  oblation  of  his 
son  for  his  sin,  the  racking  of  his  joints,  tearing  of 
his  flesh,  the  burning  of  his  body  for  the  ransom  of 
his  soul,  could  serve,  he  would  make  a  joyful  tender 
of  them  all;  but  then  they  will  not  be  accepted.  If 
any  thing  but  damnation  could  excuse  the  repro- 
bates, their  condition  were  not  so  fearful  :  but  this 
condemning  to  hell,  is  the  perfection  of  all  wretch- 
edness. 

Let  us  prevent  God's  justice,  by  doing  to  ourselves 
what  he  tlu-eatens  to  do  unto  sinners.  Let  us  over- 
throw our  sins,  that  he  may  not  overthrow  our 
houses ;  condemn  ourselves,  that  he  may  not  con- 
demn our  souls ;  turn  our  iniquities  to  ashes,  that  his 
fire  may  spare  our  cities.  As  Nineveh,  by  taking  to 
heart  the  message  of  their  overthrow,  did  overthrow 
the  message.  Their  walls  and  buildings  stood,  by 
letting  their  transgressions  fall.  They  turned  to  de- 
precation and  rei)entance,  and  God  turned  to  com- 
miseration and  forbearance.  Tlie  subversion  was 
threatened,  the  conversion  effected.  Thus  let  us 
save  God  a  labour,  that  when  he  comes  to  correct 
us,  he  may  find  it  done  to  his  hand.  Let  us  be  self- 
aftlicters,  as  we  have  been  self-tempters  ;  and  set  re- 
pentance to  do  what  God  threatcneth.  Have  we 
sinned  in  intemperance,  let  us  punish  ourselves  T\-ith 
abstinence ;  then  God  will  not  inflict  on  us  famine. 
If  in  uncleanness,  chastise  we  the  flesh  by  contrition, 
and  cleanse  it  with  resolution  against  all  unchastity ; 
so  may  we  escape  the  diseases  both  of  body  and  con- 
science. Let  us  break  off  our  covetousness  by  mercy 
to  the  poor;  so,  instead  of  being  impoverished  on 
earth,  we  shall  find  riches  in  heaven.  If  in  anger, 
let  us  return  to  patience ;  so  when  the  Lord  comes 
in  anger  against  us,  we  shall  move  him  to  be  patient 
toward  us.  If  in  pride,  come  we  down  to  humility ; 
when  he  looks  to  find  us  in  the  cliair  of  presumption, 
let  him  see  us  in  the  humble  dust;  then  instead  of 
casting  us  down  to  hell,  he  will  lift  us  up  to  heaven. 
Thus  with  the  fire  of  grace  from  God's  altar,  let  us 
consume  our  natural,  unnatural  corruptions;  that 
the  fire  of  vengeance  may  never  touch  our  houses, 
nor  bodies,  nor  souls.  Lord,  overthrow  our  sins,  and 
let  ourselves  stand :  teach  ns  to  condemn  our  errors, 
that  thou  mayst  never  condemn  us.*  That  so  scrv-ing 


340 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


thee  with  pureness  of  heart,  we  may  be  brought  to 
the  briglitness  of  thy  glory,  through  the  greatness  of 
thy  mercy. 

"  Turning  the  cities  into  ashes."  I  come  to  the 
manner  of  their  destruction,  which  was  by  fire : 
wherein  consider  four  circumstances;  the  strangeness, 
tlie  sharpness,  the  suddenness,  the  destructiveness. 

1.  The  strangeness.  It  was  a  miraculous  rain; 
brimstone  mingled  with  the  fire,  as  a  fit  matter  to 
disperse  it  :  and,  it  is  very  likely,  salt  too;  it  shall 
burn  with  brimstone  and  salt,  Deut.  xxix.  23.  Yea, 
and  that  water  was  poured  down  also,  from  which  was 
gathered  the  Dead  Sea  remaining  to  this  day.  This 
rain  came  from  heaven,  the  upper  region  of  the  air,  the 
place  for  fieiy  meteors.  And  haply  the  nature  of  the 
soil  being  full  of  pitch,  slime,  and  other  combustible 
matter,  did  much  increase  the  burning.  "  The  vale 
of  Siddim  was  full  of  slime-pits,  and  the  kings  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  fell  there,"  Gen.  xiv.  10.  This 
was  strange  indeed,  that  fire  and  brimstone,  the 
materials  of  hell,  should  come  down  from  heaven; 
or  that  floods  of  water  should  grapple  with  streams 
of  fire ;  and  that  all,  as  water  does  set  lime  a  burn- 
ing, should  help  rather  to  inflame.  Upon  the  wicked 
shall  the  Lord  rain  fire  and  brimstone,  and  stormy 
tempest,  Psal.  xi.  6.  That  brimstone,  a  mineral  of 
the  earth,  should  be  found  in  the  air,  drawn  up  by 
an  extraordinary  exhalation,  to  be  sent  down  after 
an  unexampled  confusion !  But  this  was  the  Lord's 
doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  to  our  thoughts. 

2.  The  sharpness.  It  is  said  of  fire,  that  it  is  the 
best  friend,  the  worst  enemy  :  no  element  is  more 
noble  when  it  is  our  friend,  none  more  terrible  when 
our  foe.  God  himself  is  a  consuming  fire ;  and  he 
maketh  his  angels  a  flame  of  fire.  As  the  fire  lies  hid 
in  the  hard  flint,  so  God  is  in  ever)'  thing  :  it  is  quick 
and  shining,  like  the  Trinity.  Fire  consumeth  wood, 
and  purgeth  gold  :  so  doth  the  Lord's  grace  consume 
our  creature,  and  refine  his  own  creature.  We  de- 
sire not  to  be  too  far  off'  from  the  fire,  lest  we  be  too 
cold ;  nor  too  near,  lest  it  bui-n  us.  If  we  be  too  far 
off'  from  God  by  our  apostacy,  we  soon  perish  with 
cold  death.  If  we  dare  come  too  near  him  by  our 
presumption,  we  are  swallowed  up  with  his  infinite 
and  inaccessible  glory. 

There  was  holy  fire  in  the  temple :  that  holy  fire 
went  out  in  tht  captivity  ;  but  some  of  tlie  Jews  say, 
it  was  hid  in  a  pit.  The  Holy  Ghost  came  down 
upon  the  apostles  in  the  shape  of  fire.  The  fire  con- 
curs to  the  generation  of  things  with  the  other  ele- 
ments, yet  is  itself  childless,  it  hath  no  fruit  of  its 
own.  So  doth  the  Spirit  work  with  the  other  Per- 
sons in  our  redemption,  yet  hath  no  person  proceed- 
ing from  him. 

Thus  excellent  is  fire  while  at  peace  with  us ;  it 
heats,  purges,  enlightens,  consumes :  so  doth  grace 
heat  our  hearts,  enlighten  our  minds,  purge  our  af- 
fections, consume  our  corruptions.  But  when  it  is  at 
war  with  us,  the  rage  is  terrible  :  things  most  bene- 
ficial in  their  use,  are  most  pestilent  in  their  enmity. 
There  is  a  grave  to  swallow  Korah,  water  to  drown 
the  old  world,  a  sword  to  fall  upon  Joab,  a  plague  to 
slay  Israel,  a  scourge  for  the  back  of  fools ;  but 
nothing  so  sharp  as  fire.  The  heathen  have  worship- 
ped it  for  a  god  :  for  which  choice  being  reproved, 
tliey  demanded  any  thing  that  could  overcome  fire, 
and  they  would  adore  that.  An  image  was  made 
by  a  cunning  artist,  the  substance  whereof  was  clay, 
fidl  of  holes,  which  were  so  done  up  with  some  liquid 
matter  that  they  were  not  seen.  The  invincible  god 
of  fire  was  put  under  this  image  ;  which  quickly  hard- 
ened the  clay,  and  was  put  out  by  the  melting  liquor. 
But  here  was  a  stupid  ignorance,  to  .slip  out  of  one 
idolatiy  to  another;  and  instead  of  a  natural  element, 


to  give  over  themselves  to  an  artificial  idol.  Fire 
hatn  over-mastered  stronger  images  than  ever  were 
made  of  clay,  and  left  their  ruins  shameful  reproaches 
to  all  their  superstitious  idolaters. 

There  is  no  element  in  the  extremest  fury  more 
afflictive  to  the  sense,  than  fire.  Water  doth  only 
drown,  and  soon  choke  the  breath  by  stopping  the 
passages  of  respiration  ;  so  Pharaoh's  destruction  was 
in  this  respect  far  short  of  Sodom's.  The  air  doth 
only  stifle  the  spirits,  and  by  infecting  the  blood, 
doth  no  more  than  a  pleurisy  or  plague,  despatcliing 
if  not  with  like  speed,  yet  with  less  torture  :  thus  the 
Israelites  in  the  plains  of  Midian  sped  not  so  ill  as 
the  Sodomites  in  the  plain  of  Jordan.  The  swallow- 
ing earth  that  opens  her  jaws  with  a  quaking  motion, 
devours  men  alive,  but  it  soon  with  a  falling  closure 
makes  them  dead:  thus  Korah  and  his  confederates 
suffered  easier  than  Sodom  and  her  inhabitants. 
But  fire  killeth  not  only  with  the  rest,  but  tormenteth 
above  them  all;  scorching  the  limbs,  puckering  the 
skin,  inflaming  the  blood,  enraging  the  sense,  torturing' 
the  whole  man.  The  sword  is  a  sharp  executioner, 
armed  with  hostility,  it  hath  unprisoncd  millions  of 
souls.  The  teeth  of  wild  beasts  roaring  for  their  prey, 
are  merciless ;  as  the  enemies  of  Daniel  felt.  Tne 
nearest  of  all  plagues  that  comes  to  the  torment  of 
fire,  is  famine ;  and  the  very  anguish  of  famine  ends 
in  a  kind  of  fire  ;  when  for  want  of  vivid  moisture  the 
radical  heat  is  inflamed,  and  bums  up  the  vital  spirits. 
Gunpowder,  the  most  damnable  mineral  that  ever 
hell  begat,  or  Rome  made  use  of,  (for  those  worship- 
pers of  the  successor  of  St.  Peter  found  much  employ- 
ment for  saltpetre,  Nov.  5,)  yet  can  do  nothing  with- 
out fire :  it  is  but  a  speeding  messenger  that  fire 
sendeth. 

All  manner  of  death's  murders  have  in  them  some 
more  mercy,  or  at  least  less  cruelly,  than  his  fiery 
massacres.  It  is  reserved  in  human  justice  for  the 
most  horrible  oflTenders ;  murderers,  witches,  deniers  of 
Christ,  atheists  ;  of  which  last  number  we  have  too 
many,  but  that  the  cunning  deril  dares  not  be  so  bold  as 
to  profess  it.  But  there  is  another  fire  for  them,  which 
shall  quickly  bum  out  atheism  ;  for  they  shall  feel  eter- 
nally that  there  is  a  God ;  and  their  flame  must  be 
so  much  the  hotter,  because  they  would  not  believe 
in  their  offered  Saviour.  This  is  the  incomparable 
torture  of  fire,  so  powerful,  that  no  other  element  shall 
have  the  honour  of  purging  heaven  and  earth,  but 
fire  ;  none  able  to  burn  this  universal  machine,  but 
fire ;  none  other  ordained  to  be  the  special  matter 
of  the  reprobate's  torment  in  hell,  but  fire  :  whether 
in  figure  to  shadow,  or  in  reality  to  perform,  the 
extremest  tortures,  fire  must  do  it.  That  hath  the 
most  searching  property,  and  can  only  refine  what 
is  substantially  good,  and  consume  what  is  qualita- 
tively evil. 

Beside  all  these  expressions  comparatively,  the 
sharpness  of  this  punishment  by  fire,  is  aggravated  by 
three  gradations. 

(1.)  By  the  quality:  it  was  not  only  fire,  but  a 
deluge  of  fire.  The  Lord  rained  fire,  Gen.  xix.  24  : 
not  sprinkled  by  drops,  like  a  gentle  shower,  but 
rained,  as  it  were  whole  sheets  of  fire  :  the  flashes  of 
lightning  are  nothing  to  it ;  but  flakes  and  streams 
of  fire;  "The  Highest  gave  his  thunder  ;  hailstones 
and  coals  of  fire,"  Psal.  xviii.  13.  Not  a  little  kin- 
dled, as  fire  in  a  house,  that  gathers  force  by  degrees, 
and  from  small  sparks  riseth  to  a  violent  combustion  ; 
but  the  very  beginning  was  a  rain  of  fire.  They  had 
rained  on  the  earth  great  cataracts  of  sins,  and  heaven 
rained  on  them  great  cataclysms  of  flames. 

(2.)  By  their  indisposedness  to  bear  it :  men  quite 
destitute'of  the  grace  of  God,  and  forfeited  to  all  dis- 
comfort.    Flesh  and  blood,  in  either  valour  or  despe- 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


Ver.  6. 

r;ueness,  have  endured  many  strange  torments  in  this 
vorld ;  lancings,  searings,  rackings,  all  to  protract  a 
miserable  life.  Divers  martyrs  have  leaped  into 
their  beds  of  llames,  as  beds  of  down.  But  the  sense 
of  the  torment  hath  been  qualified  by  God's  assist- 
ance and  their  patience.  But  he  that  could  cool  the 
liurning  furnace  bv  the  will  of  his  mercy,  Dan.  iii. 
2",  did  inflame  this  fire  by  the  breatli  of  his  fun-. 
There  was  fire  for  doing  well,  here  is  fire  for  doing  ill. 
There  was  the  fire  of  man  against  the  love  of  God, 
here  the  fire  of  God  against  the  lust  of  man.  There 
was  grace  to  allay  it,  here  was  sin  to  enrage  it.  The 
pimishmcnt  was  the  more  sensible,  as  the  patients 
were  more  sensual. 

(3.)  By  the  addition  and  mixture  of  it :  not  fire 
alone,  but  fire  mingled  with  brimstone  ;  a  matter  fit 
not  to  allay  it,  but  increase  it.  The  perplexing  pro- 
perties of  brimstone  are  tliree  ;  to  burn  darkly, 
sharply,  loathsomely.  Darkly,  to  grieve  the  sight ; 
sharplv,  to  afllict  the  sense  ;  loathsomely,  to  offend 
the  smell.  The  Scripture,  to  describe  the  extreme 
tortures  of  fire,  adds  often  brimstone,  Ezek.  xxxviii. 
22;  Psal.  xi.  6;  Rev.  xix.  20.  "Fire  and  much 
wood ;  the  breath  of  the  Lord,  like  a  stream  of 
brimstone,  doth  kindle  it,"  Isa.  xxx.  33.  Where  is 
both  a  prosopopoeia  in  the  "  breath,"  and  a  topogra- 
phia  in  the  "  brimstone  : "  both  figures  to  express  the 
furious  indignation  of  the  author,  and  fierce  severity 
of  the  act.  For  the  allegorj-  of  breath  ;  to  denote 
the  rage  of  Saul  against  the  lambs  of  Christ,  he  is 
said  to  breathe  out  slaughter.  Acts  ix.  I.  To  signify 
the  Lord's  wrath  against  sinners,  he  is  said  to 
breathe  out  fire.  For  brimstone,  it  makes  fire  more 
terrible ;  darkening  the  splendour  of  it  to  the  sight, 
sharpening  the  fervour  of  it  to  the  sense,  and  aug- 
menting the  stench  of  it  to  the  smell. 

This  discovers  to  us  the  nature  of  sin,  how  stink- 
ing and  loathsome  it  is  to  God,  that  burning  brim- 
stone is  not  more  offensive  to  us.  No  perfumes  are 
more  pleasant  to  the  sinner,  no  dunghills  more  noi- 
some to  the  Lord.  Absalom  thought  his  pride  sweet, 
Zimri  his  adultery,  Nabal  his  wealth  sweet  :  the 
usurei-'s  gold,  the  lascivious  man's  harlot,  the  de- 
frauder's  gain,  all  fragrant  smells  to  them,  because 
they  breathe  no  other  air  but  such  pestilent  corrup- 
tions. And  the  very  scent  of  goodness  would  set 
them  hard,  as  fen-men  are  sick  with  a  subtile  air,  or 
the  soil-man  swooned  when  he  passed  through  Buck- 
lersbury.  But  if  their  hearts  were  vmstopped,  and 
cleared  from  the  cold  and  congealed  catarrhs  of  sin, 
they  would  be  sensible  of  the  stench;  and  there  is 
no  work  of  darkness  but  they  would  smell  brimstone 
in  it.  Our  blessed  Saviour  fecdcth  among  the  lilies, 
lodgeth  in  the  beds  of  spices,  the  sweet  graces  of  his 
church  :  let  not  us,  like  dorrs,  love  the  dunghills ;  or, 
like  scarabees,  pass  over  all  beauties,  to  light  upon 
sores  and  ulcers.  Oh  that  we  could  but  discern  sin 
as  it  is  in  itself!  how  should  we  then  hate  our  lusts, 
our  lies,  our  oaths,  our  covetous  desires  and  prac- 
tices, smelling  the  stink  of  brimstone  in  them  all ! 
Indeed  we  are  all  unsavourj-  of  ourselves,  odious  to 
that  God,  who  hath  pure  eyes  and  pure  nostrils  ; 
only  our  hope  and  comfort  is,  to  be  sweetened  with 
the  perfume  of  Jesus  Christ,  F,ph.  v.  2. 

3.  The  suddenness.  The  fire  was  not  long  a  de- 
spatching them ;  but  as  it  fell  before  their  expect- 
ation, so  it  destroyed  them  before  their  recollection. 
When  the  sun  did  rise,  then  began  the  rain  to  fall ; 
now  this  was  just  at  Lot's  entering  into  Zoar:  at 
break  of  day  he  went  out  of  Sodom,  at  sun-rising  he 
came  into  Zoar,  Gen.  xix.  15,  23;  between  winch 
spaces  a  man  may  go  four  miles,  say  the  Hebrews. 
Now  Abraham  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  yet  he 
saw  not  the  falling  of  the  fire,  but  the  rising  up  of  the 


341 


smoke  only.  Gen.  xix.  17,  28.  This  must  needs  be 
done  suddenly :  in  all  likelihood,  less  than  half  an 
hour  determined  all  the  glorj-  of  Sodom.  The  pro- 
phet says,  in  a  moment ;  Sodom  was  destroyed  in  a 
moment.  Lam.  iv.  6.  Why  then  should  not  men  be- 
lieve the  same  power  of  the  last  fire  to  consume 
the  world,  and  our  changing  even  in  a  moment  ? 
"  In  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last 
trump,"  1  Cor.  xv.  52.  That  fire  gave  the  Sodomites 
no  time  of  remembrance,  nor  shall  the  last  fire  give 
tlie  world  any  time  of  repentance :  that  may  come 
suddenly,  which  we  know  will  come  certainly.  We  " 
have  no  more  patent  of  forbearance  than  had  Sodom: 
it  is  said  of  the  wicked.  In  a  moment  they  go  down 
to  hell.  Death  dolh  not  always  creep  upon  a  man 
by  degrees,  like  Ezekiel's  waters ;  from  the  ancles 
to  the  knees,  from  the  knees  to  the  loins,  and  so  to 
the  heart,  Ezek.  xlvii.  3,  4  j  but  swallows  some  ere 
they  can  swallow  their  spittle.  "The  Judge  stand- 
eth  before  the  door,"  Jam.  v.  9.  Would  the  thief 
break  into  the  house,  if  he  knew  the  judge  stood  at 
the  door  ?  We  may  say  of  our  sinning  and  dying,  as 
physicians  of  their  critical  days ;  the  first  is  an  index, 
the  second  a  judge.  Our  sin  shows  we  shall  die,  our 
death  judgeth  us  for  our  sin.  But  betwixt  both 
these  there  is  a  gracious  help,  the  inter\-ention  of 
our  seasonable  amendment,  and  applying  the  satis- 
faction of  Jesus  Christ. 

4.  The  destructivencss ;  Turned  them  to  ashes. 
It  is  a  fearful  degree  in  punishment,  to  be  reduced 
to  ashes.  God  went  far  with  Israel,  when  they  were 
a  brand  snatched  out  of  the  burning,  Amos  iv.  II. 
He  proceeded  farther,  when  he  stt  the  whole  forest 
of  his  people  on  fire ;  yet  still  a  remnant  was  pre- 
served; some  did  escape,  even  through  the  fire.  The 
prophet,  by  the  dry  bones,  Ezek.  xxxvii.,  shadows 
out  a  desperate  estate.  A  man  is  sick,  there  is 
danger  ;  panting  for  life,  great  fear ;  dead,  no  hope  ; 
buried,  despair ;  the  flesli  consumed,  nothing  but 
bones  left,  here  is  the  utmost  extent,  saving  only  his 
wholly  mouldering  to  aslies.  "  There  is  hope  of  a 
tree  if  it  be  cut  down,  that  it  will  sprout  again," 
Job  xiv.  7 ;  but  cut  down,  east  into  the  fire,  and  con- 
verted to  ashes,  no  hope. 

Yet  is  this  the  end  of  all  flesh.  The  innumerable 
army  of  Xei-xes,  all  become  ashes.  Ilerod,  that  was 
honoured  as  a  god  by  men,  was  proved  to  be  a  man 
by  worms ;  turned  to  ashes.  The  Roman  palace,  the 
Spanish  Escurial,  all  the  glorious  cities  and  build- 
ings of  the  earth,  shall  meet  in  this  catastrophe  ;  be 
turned  to  ashes.  Solomon  from  his  royalty,  Ahitho- 
phel  from  his  policy,  Ctcsar  from  his  monarchy, 
Plato  from  his  philosophy,  even  Moses  from  his 
humility,  all  good  men  from  their  sanctity,  all  bad 
men  from  their  impiety,  must  descend  to  make  ashes. 
Death  is  that  impartial  metamorphoser,  that  tumeth 
all  secular  glory  into  ashes.  Where  are  they  that 
erected  this  temple  wherein  we  pray,  that  built 
those  houses  wherein  we  dwell,  that  founded  tlie 
city  wherein  we  live,  that  begun  those  societies 
whereof  we  are  ?  Ye  know ;  all  turned  to  ashes. 
Not  turaed  to  birds  and  beasts,  as  the  poets  feigned, 
much  less  to  stars  ;  neither  to  plants  nor  planets ; 
least  of  all  to  celestial  angels ;  but  to  dust  and  ashes. 

There  is  difference  of  estates  while  we  live,  in  the 
grave  there  is  none.  "  Ye  are  gods,"  Psal.  Ixxxii.  6 ; 
there  he  considered  their  pomp  and  dignity :  "  but 
ye  shall  die  like  men,"  ver.  7 ;  there  he  mintls  their 
end,  that  with  the  change  of  his  note  they  might 
also  change  countenance.  He  tells  them  their  hon- 
our, but  withal  their  lot.  In  power,  wealth,  train, 
titles,  friends,  they  differ  from  others;  in  death  they 
differ  not  from  others.  They  are  cold  when  winter 
comes,  withered  with  age,  weak  with  sickness,  and 


342 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  J  I. 


melt  away  with  death,  as  the  meanest :  all  to  ashes. 
"  All  flesh  is  as  grass,  and  all  the  glory  of  man  as 
the  flower,"  1  Pet.  i.  24:  the  glory,  that  is,  the  best 
of  it,  but  a  flower.  No  great  difl'ercnce,  the  flower 
shows  fairer,  the  grass  stands  longer,  one  scythe  cuts 
down  both.  Beasts  fat  and  lean  fed  in  several 
pasture,  killed  in  one  slaughter.  The  prince  in  his 
lofty  palace,  the  beggar  in  his  humble  cottage,  have 
double  dilierencc,  local  and  ceremonial  height  and 
lowness;  et  meet  at  the  grave,  and  be  mingled  in 
ashes.  We  w-alk  in  this  world,  as  a  man  in  a  field  of 
snow;  all  the  way  appears  smooth,  yet  cannot  we  be 
sure  of  any  step.  All  are  like  actors  on  a  stage,  some 
have  one  part  and  some  another,  death  is  still  busy 
amongst  ns  :  here  drops  one  of  the  players,  we  bury 
him  with  sorrow,  and  to  our  scene  again  :  then  falls 
another,  yea  all,  one  after  another,  till  death  be  left 
alone  upon  the  stage.  Death  is  that  damp,  which 
puts  out  all  the  dim  lights  of  vanity.  Yet  man  is 
easier  to  believe  that  all  the  world  shall  die,  than  to 
suspect  himself.  Though  we  be  older  than  those  we 
follow  to  the  grave,  yet  still  we  hope  for  a  longer  re- 
prieve. If  any  thing  could  have  hired  death  to 
spare,  our  forefathers  would  have  kej)t  our  posses- 
sions from  us.  But  ashes  must  to  ashes ;  dust  was 
our  composition,  and  to  dust  must  be  our  dissolution ; 
only  we  look  for  a  better  resurrection. 

From  all  this  observe  the  fit  proportion  of  the 
punishment  to  the  sin.  They  which  burned  w-ith  the 
fire  of  lust,  arc  consumed  with  the  fire  of  vengeance. 
They  sinned  against  the  rule  of  nature,  and  they 
perish  against  the  course  of  nature.  They  had  con- 
jured up  hell  to  earth,  and  God  sent  hell  out  of 
heaven.  For  their  unnatural  lust,  unnatural  fire : 
there  is  a  loathsome  stench  in  their  wickedness,  and 
there  was  the  stink  of  brimstone  in  their  confusion. 
Such  is  the  justice  of  God,  not  only  to  strike  for 
offending ;  but  also  the  wisdom  of  God,  to  strike  ac- 
cording to  the  manner  of  olTendiug.  The  Lord  is 
known  by  executing  judgment,  Psal.  ix.  16;  making 
their  sword  enter  into  their  own  heart,  Psal.  xxxvii. 
15.  The  gibbet  which  Hanian  built  for  Mordecai, 
shall  hang  himself.  Pharaoh  made  away  the  He- 
brew males,  and  was  requited  with  the  death  of  his 
first-bom.  Herod  slew  the  infants  of  Bethlehem,  and 
was  punished  by  the  murder  of  liis  own  children. 
Hildebrand  suborned  a  villain,  with  a  great  stone  on 
the  church's  roof  to  brain  Frederick  the  emperor 
doing  his  devotions  after  his  wonted  manner  ;  and  the 
same  traitor  tumbled  down,  and  was  quashed  in  pieces 
with  the  same  stone.  Thus  was  Alexander  the  Sixth 
poisoned  with  the  same  liquor  which  he  had  ordained 
to  make  away  some  of  his  cardinals.  Three  of  those 
fiery  conspirators  were  maimed  and  disfigured  by  the 
firing  of  powder  at  Holbcck  in  Worcestershire,  who 
had  meant  by  powder  to  blow  up  a  whole  state.  Let 
all  these  examples  terrify  the  wicked  :  God  will  meet 
with  them  in  their  own  kinds,  and  fill  them  a  cup 
with  their  own  tempering.  As  their  tongues  have 
walked  against  heaven,  so  they  shall  be  confined  to 
hell :  for  drunkenness,  want  of  a  drop  of  water;  for 
covetousncss,  everlasting  poverty  of  comfort. 

Two  things  are  yet  further  to  be  looked  into.  I. 
How  the  justice  of  God  may  be  justified  in  this  uni- 
versal confusion  of  the  Sodomites.  2.  What  was  the 
utmost  extent,  or  what  followed  the  ruin. 

For  the  former ;  it  is  the  atheist's  exception  against 
the  justice  of  God,  that  he  confounded  the  innocent 
\vith  the  guilty.  The  men  indeed  were  given  over  to 
licentiousness^  but  no  such  thing  is  testified  of  the 
women  ;  and  if  the  women  were  also  sinful,  yet  the 
infants  were  not  capable  nor  culpable  of  such  faults. 
For  answer,  first  let  us  hold  this  undeniable  tenet, 
The  judgments  of  God  arc  often  secret,  always  just. 


He  will  show  mercy  to  whom  he  will,  and  he  does  us 
undeserved  favour.  He  will  execute  judgment  on 
whom  he  will,  and  he  does  us  no  wrong.  That  he 
saves  any,  the  cause  is  in  himself;  that  he  condemns 
many,  the  cause  is  in  them. 

God  is  absolute  Lord  over  all  his  creatures ;  and  as 
it  was  his  only  pleasure  to  give  life,  so  also  to  take  it 
away.  Neither  are  we  more  to  demand  a  reason  of 
the  latter,  than  we  are  able  to  conceive  a  reason  of 
the  former.  Whether  he  gives,  or  he  takes,  still 
blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

Children  are  parts  of  their  parents,  and  therefore 
may  be  justly  infolded  in  their  fathers'  punishments. 
They  are  guilty  of  original  sin,  a  filtlviness  that  they 
have  by  propagation  from  their  parents;  for  their 
souls  were  infected  as  soon  as  ever  they  were  infused. 
Before  the  justice  of  God  there  are  none  innocent. 
They  that  have  sinned  from  their  parents,  may  justly 
be  enrolled  with  their  parents.  Though  they  be  not 
guilty  of  their  fathers'  actuals,  yet  they  have  by  na- 
ture so  much  corruption,  as  may  descr\-e  sharp  cor- 
rection. How  frequently  hath  God  chastised  the 
children  for  the  father's  ofiences  !  David's  child  be- 
gotten in  adultery  must  die.  "  AVho  did  sin,  this 
man,  or  his  parents,  that  he  was  bom  blind?"  John 
ix.  2.  This  the  apostles  could  easily  see,  howsoever 
theyundiscreetly  asked.  But  "  the  son  shall  not  bear 
the  iniquity  of  the  father,"  Ezek.  xviii.  20;  a  good 
son  shall  not  answer  for  a  bad  father.  But  the  child 
is  a  sinner,  even  an  infant;  and  when  it  hath  the 
father's  sin  with  its  own,  it  is  punished  for  its  own 
sin,  not  for  the  father's. 

Thus  do  many  children  suffer  for  their  parents, 
being  conceived  in  offence,  and  deriving  their  diseases 
from  their  birth  :  there  is  hereditary  disease,  as  phy- 
sicians speak.  "  Who  can  bring  a  clean  thing  out  of 
an  unclean?"  Job  xiv.  4.  Botli  the  trees  and  fruit 
were  con-upt,  the  spring  and  channels  unclean,  there- 
fore involved  in  one  general  ruin.  So  fidly  did  the 
justice  of  God  triumph  over  them,  that  he  left  none 
remaining,  but  even  the  ver^'  seed  and  oflspring  of 
the  Sodomites  perished.  Uiiless  the  Lord  had  left 
us  a  remnant,  we  had  been  as  Sodom,  Isa.  i.9 :  they 
had  no  remnant  left ;  the  very  little  ones,  infected 
with  their  parents'  sins,  were  wrapped  up  in  their 
parents'  flames. 

Nor  only  fell  those  Sodomites  for  the  present,  but 
for  ever ;  "  suffering  the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire," 
Jude  7:  a  judgment  so  fearful  and  singular,  that  it 
is  able  to  strike  a  horror  into  our  hearts  with  the 
very  thought.  This  God  did,  1.  To  show  his  perfect 
detestation  of  that  wicked  people ;  so  apostate  from 
all  goodness,  that  their  veiy  seed  was  accursed. 
Because  the  fathers  blaspheme  against  heaven,  the 
children  go  to  hell.  2.  To  inci-ease  their  sorrow  and 
torment  in  seeing  the  destruction  of  their  children  : 
for  if  nature  were  not  quite  extinct,  and  they  had  but 
as  much  affection  as  beasts  to  their  young,  it  must 
needs  wound  their  hearts  to  see  the  lamentable  ruin 
of  their  children.  Who  can  hear  the  confused  cry  of 
so  many  infants,  and  not  cry  for  company  ?  To  see 
their  tender  and  ungrown  limbs  wrapped  up  in  flames 
of  fire,  as  swathe-bands ;  the  shrinking  of  their  soft 
nerves  at  every  pull  of  grief,  their  flesh  scorched  like 
a  scroll  of  parchment ;  sprawling  on  the  ground,  and 
rocked  asleep  with  dire  destruction;  would  melt  a 
heart  of  adamant. 

God  himself,  at  other  times,  had  a  special  regard 
to  infants;  excepting  only  some  places  that  were  exe- 
crable in  his  sight,  Diiit.  xx.  17,  as  Jericho,  Josh, 
vi.  21,  Edom,  and  Babylon,  Psal.  cxxxvii.  9,  and 
here  S^.  lom.  Now  the  sight  of  such  a  judgment 
among  the  little  ones,  that  knew  not  the  riglit  hand 
from  the  left,  that  cleaved  to  their  mothers'  breasts 


Veb.  6. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


343 


as  apples  to  the  tree;  to  be  snatched  away  with 
death,  and  death  in  the  frightfullest  visage,  burning 
and  tormenting  death ;  this  did  aggravate  theirplague, 
and  it  had  been  much  easier  for  them  to  have  suflered 
alone.  There  is  nothing  more  natural  to  ns,  than  to 
love  our  children;  those  living  monuments  of  our- 
selves, that  piece  out  mortality  with  succession,  con- 
tinue our  names  and  images  upon  the  earth.  Tliese 
if  we  do  aflcct  with  our  loves,  let  us  not  infect  with 
our  lives :  let  us  hate  our  sins,  lest  they  also  perish 
with  ourselves.  Why  should  we  destroy  those  whom 
we  have  in  a  manner  made  ?  We  brought  them  into 
the  world  with  pain,  up  in  the  world  with  care;  let 
us  not  send  them  out  of  the  world  with  sorrow.  Re- 
pentance and  amendment  of  life  help  us  to  prevent 
such  an  unhappiness ;  that  we  may  neither  smart  for 
the  wickedness  of  our  forefathers,  nor  make  our 
children  everlastingly  smart  for  us.  Let  us  obey  our 
Father  in  heaven,  that  he  may  bless  our  children 
upon  eartli. 

For  the  other  consideration ;  the  extremity  of  their 
punishment  wasnot  only  temporal  death,  but  everlast- 
ing torment ;  "  eternal  fire,"  Jude  7-  Their  pre- 
sent fire  could  not  buy  out  the  future.  Run  they 
into  the  fields,  it  rains  fire  ;  into  the  houses,  they 
flame  with  fire  ;  into  holes  and  caves,  all  places  burn 
with  brimstone.  Miserable  men  !  whether  they  flee 
or  stay,  struggle  or  lie  still,  fire  possesseth  them  ; 
scalding  sulphur  and  burning  stench  universally 
racking  them.  Yet  is  not  all  this  enough  to  purge 
out  their  corruption,  but  a  worse  torment  succeeds, 
and  the  judgment  on  earth  doth  but  deliver  them 
over  to  the  condemnation  of  hell ;  which  continually 
bums  their  souls,  and  shall  never  turn  them  to  ashes ; 
a  fire  neither  tolerable  nor  terminable.  The  breath 
of  the  Lord,  like  a  river  of  brimstone,  doth  inflame  it, 
and  the  breath  of  ten  thousand  reprobates  shall  never 
be  able  toblowitout :  whenadropofwatershall  not  be 
allowed,  to  cool  the  tongue  that  boils  with  unsutferablc 
flames :  where  heat  doth  follow  smoke,  and  fire  heat, 
and  stench  fire,  and  torment  stench,  and  burning  shall 
be  added  to  burning.  Thus  are  they  cast  into  utter 
darkness,  where  neither  light  of  sun  nor  moon,  much 
less  the  light  of  heaven,  and  God's  glorious  face, 
shall  ever  appear  ;  where  their  eyes  must  distil  like 
fountains,  and  their  teeth  clatter  like  armed  men. 

These  are  those  fearful  vials  of  wTath,  when  God 
gives  blood  to  drink  unto  them  that  boil  with  heat. 
Who  can  express  their  horrors,  nay,  what  horrors  can- 
not they  express  ?  Sorrows  are  met  on  their  souls  as 
at  a  feast ;  fear,  despair,  and  anguish  leap  upon  their 
hearts  as  a  stag,  and  the  furies  of  hell  divide  their 
spirits  among  them.  Torment  calls  to  desperation, 
horror  to  pain.  Come  and  help  us  to  torture  these 
wretches.  Lust  sends  one  plague,  and  pride  another, 
and  covetousness  a  third;  till  they  run  through  a 
thousand  deaths,  and  yet  cannot  die.  All  their  lights 
are  put  out  at  once,  they  have  no  souls  lit  to  be  com- 
forted. Thus  they  lie,  as  if  they  bore  the  weight  of 
the  whole  earth ;  and  so  let  them  lie,  saith  the  Lord, 
for  ever. 

Hear  him  that  spake  by  experience.  Being  in  hell, 
in  torments,  he  lifts  up  his  eyes,  &e.  Luke  xvi.  23. 
He  looked  upward,  for  he  was  low  enough :  he  lift 
up  his  eyes,  that  could  not  lift  up  himself.  He  would 
not  look  down  to  Lazarus  in  his  misery,  he  miKt  now 
look  up  to  Lazarus  in  his  felicity.  His  eyes  wliich 
were  closed  in  luxury,  he  opens  in  misery.  Where 
remembering  his  pleasures  past,  considering  his  joys 
lost,  sensible  of  pains  present,  and  fearful  of  greater 
tortures  to  come,  he  sees  Lazarus  in  Abraham's 
bosom.  (Every  believer  is  a  child  of  Abraham ;  and 
whither  should  the  child  go  but  to  the  bosom  of  his 
father  ?)    Now  he  begs  with  more  floods  of  scald- 


ing tears  than  ever  Esau  sought  the  blessing,  to  have 
some  comfort  from  Lazarus ;  Send  Lazarus,  &c. 
His  envious  pride  doth  not  yet  forsake  him.  He 
would  have  Lazarus  come  from  the  rest  of  heaven, 
to  the  terrors  of  hell.  And  what  craves  he  ?  not  an 
ocean,  not  a  river,  not  a  pond  or  some  small  fountain, 
not  a  bucket  or  spoonful  ;  but  a  drop.  And  what  if 
all  the  rivers  in  the  south  had  been  granted  him,  his 
tongue  would  still  have  withered,  and  he  never 
have  cried  in  the  language  of  hell,  It  is  enough.  Or 
had  his  tongue  been  eased,  the  rest  of  his  parts  would 
still  have  fried.  Water  might  be  by  hini,  but  he 
hath  no  hand  to  reach  it.  Oh  bitter  day  !  when  not 
the  least  finger  (I  say  not,  of  God,  but)  of  the  mean- 
est saint  in  heaven,  shall  bring  the  least  drop  (I  say 
not,  of  the  waters  of  life,  but)  of  the  waters  of  the 
brook  to  give  him  comfort.  He  fared  as  delicately 
as  the  Sodomites,  in  the  fulness  of  all  rare  viands  :  he 
went  not  in  sackcloth,  or  common  garments,  nor  with 
a  diseased  body  as  Lazarus,  but  in  purple  and  line 
linen;  not  on  the  best  day  of  the  seven,  or  when  he 
went  to  the  court,  where  it  is  somewhat  tolerable, 
but  every  day.  But  now,  like  the  Sodomites,  he  is 
snatched  from  his  libertine  surfeit  to  famine,  from  a 
table  of  viands  to  a  table  of  vengeance,  from  bowls 
of  the  lustiest  wines  to  drink  sulphur,  from  beds  of 
down  to  beds  of  flames,  from  bravery  to  misery. 
O  here  is  the  emblem  of  wretchedness !  He  would 
have  one  sent  to  his  brethren ;  let  this  calamity  give 
warning  to  us  all.  Flame  torments  him,  not  a  moder- 
ate fire.  In  a  flame  there  is  burning  and  light ;  but 
in  hell  there  is  burning  without  light,  as  in  the  em- 
pyreal heaven  there  is  light  without  burning. 

Thus  had  the  Sodomites  their  portion  on  earth, 
and  from  the  want  of  all  miseries  were  driven  to  the 
misery  of  all  wants.  God  does  not  damn  men  be- 
cause they  be  rich ;  for  himself  is  infinitely  rich ; 
and  Abraham,  tliat  rejected  the  rich  man,  was  on 
earth  richer  than  he.  Nor  because  they  arc  great ; 
for  himself  is  the  greatest  of  all.  But  because  they 
abuse  these  to  the  dishonour  of  his  glorious  name. 
And  to  conclude ;  their  torments  are  eternal.  As  our 
short  aflliction  causeth  to  us  an  excellent  and  eternal 
glory,  2  Cor.  iv.  17,  so  their  short  pleasure  causeth  to 
them  an  exceeding  and  eternal  pain.  Their  sorrows 
are  infinite  :  they  lie  pressed  under  an  unsupiwrtable 
load,  and  still  call  for  more  weight  to  despatch  them, 
but  cannot  have  it.  What  the  psalmist  sings  of  God's 
mercy,  is  true  also  of  his  justice,  that  it  endureth  for 
ever.  If  after  so  many  millions  of  years  as  there  be 
drops  in  the  sea,  there  might  be  deliverance,  they 
had  some  hope.  Men  may  comfort  themselves  in 
temporal  sufferings,  to  them  God  has  set  a  limit ;  but 
there  is  no  limitation  in  hell  :  when  the  Lord  shall 
give  over  his  being,  they  shall  have  ease,  and  not  be- 
fore ;  which  is  never.  An  inlinite  Majesty  is  offend- 
ed, therefore  an  infinite  penalty  imposed.  In  hell 
they  shall  ever  remain  sinners,  therefore  in  hell 
they  shall  ever  remain  sufferers.  Sin  is  like  oil,  and 
torment  like  fire ;  so  long  as  the  oil  lasteth  the  tire 
bumeth,  and  that  is  for  ever.  This  is  a  long  confu- 
.sion,  and  therefore  not  to  be  passed  over  with  a  short 
meditation.  Let  us  think  again  and  again  of  it,  and 
so  fear  it,  that  we  may  never  feel  it.  It  is  a  desperate 
madness,  for  the  pleasure  that  one  hour  determines, 
to  incur  those  pains  that  are  capable  neither  of  ease 
nor  end.  Thus  I  have  insisted  on  the  Sodomites' 
punishment,  that  we  being  terrified  with  it,  might 
learn  by  their  example  to  prevent  it.  Which  is  the 
next  point  considerable,  the  monument. 

"  Making  them  an  ensample  unto  those  that  after 
should  live  ungodly."  This  example  of  God's  judg- 
ment is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  and  remarkable 
in  all  the  sacred  history,  and  set  out  for  a  special  pre- 


344 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPOX  THE 


Chap.  II. 


cedent  by  the  pen  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  with  a  note  of 
recordation,  like  a  hand  in  the  margin  that  directs  to 
some  ohscn-able  thing  in  the  text ;  with  a  Mark  this, 
as  a  thing  of  great  consequence.  Where  collect  four 
observations. 

1.  The  right  use  of  all  God's  mighty  wonders,  is 
when  we  take  them  for  wonders;  trembling  at  the 
sight  of  the  works,  and  fearing  the  omnipotence  of 
him  that  wrought  them.  When  Israel  saw  that 
mighty  work  upon  tlie  Egj'ptians,  they  feared  tlie 
Lord,  Exod.  xiv.  31.  They  are  drowned  in  a  sea  of 
%vater,  and  the  other  do  not  drown  it  in  a  sea  of  for- 
getfulness.  The  sea  was  troublous,  and  the  mariners 
feared ;  the  sea  was  quiet,  and  yet  they  feared,  Jonah 
i.  5,  16 :  this  may  seem  strange ;  but  the  first  was 
the  fear  of  nature,  the  second  of  grace ;  then  they 
feared  tlie  creature,  now  the  Creator.  When  Ananias 
and  his  wife  fell  suddenly  dead,  fear  came  upon  all 
the  church.  Acts  v.  II.  The  judgment  was  upon 
some,  the  fear  came  upon  all.  When  the  earth  open- 
ed her  jaws  to  swallow  Korah,  the  people  opened 
their  mouth  to  ciy.  Let  us  flee.  Numb.  x\i.  34.  These 
things  came  unto  them  for  ensam])k'S,  and  are  writ- 
ten to  admonish  us,  1  Cor.  x.  II.  These  things 
they  might  have  suflTered,  and  their  calamities  have 
died  with  themselves,  never  been  known  to  posterity ; 
but  they  are  written  for  us.  God  made  a  record  of 
them,  and  if  there  be  any  faith  in  us,  they  be  as  pre- 
sent to  us  as  if  they  were  done  before  our  eyes.  If 
they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  ju-ophets,  neither  will 
they  believe  one  from  the  dead,  Luke  xvi.  31.  Where 
faith  makes  a  doubt,  there  sense  «ill  never  be  sa- 
tisfied. 

But  if  we  trust  not  our  cars,  in  all  this  ample 
theatre  of  God's  judgments,  did  we  never  see  any 
fetched  away  from  a  prosperous  estate  by  strange 
accidents  ?  were  not  tliey  precedents  for  us  ?  Cannot 
all  make  us  afraid  of  overlaying  God's  patience  ? 
Did  the  blasphemer  never  hear  how  Rabshakeh 
sped?  Did  they  that  blush  not  to  be  called  the 
roaring  crew,  (therein  sentencing  themselves,)  never 
read  what  became  of  the  sous  of  Belial  ?  Did  the 
secure  worldlings  never  hear  of  the  general  deluge  ? 
nor  murnuirers,  of  those  fiery  serpents  ?  nor  unclean 
persons  with  their  catamites,  of  the  condemnation  of 
the  Sodomites  ?  Shall  not  all  this  make  us  to  break 
forth  into  those  acclamations.  This  was  the  Lord's  do- 
in^,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes,  Psal.  cxviii.  23. 

Indeed  these  may  work  with  the  wicked  to  ad- 
miration, not  to  repentance.  The  verj-  Jews  behold- 
ing the  wonders  of  Christ,  could  say,  "We  never 
saw  it  on  this  fashion,"  Mark  ii.  12;  and,  "  It  was 
never  so  seen  in  Israel,"  Matt.  ix.  33.  Herod  desired 
to  see  Christ  for  a  miracle,  as  Felix  to  talk  with  Paul 
for  a  bribe.  But  God  doth  not  work  miracles  for 
miracles,  but  for  us.  The  gracious  Lord  hath  so 
done  his  marvellous  works,  that  they  ought  to  he 
had  in  remembrance.  I  will  live;  to  what  end  ?  to 
declare  the  works  of  the  Lord,  Psal.  cxviii.  17;  hit- 
ting the  right  end  and  use.  Tlie  works  of  his  provi- 
dence are  to  be  admired;  of  his  justice,  to  be  ad- 
mired and  feared;  of  his  mercy,  to  be  admired  and 
loved.  The  thunder  should  waken  our  secure  hearts, 
the  rain  soften  our  stony  bowels,  the  lightning  mind 
us  of  the  coming  of  Christ  to  judgment :  sec  1  Sam. 
xii.  18. 

These  things  hath  God  left  as  memorials  to  the 
world,  to  be  read  and  preached.  We  have  the  books, 
let  us  not  be  strangers  to  their  contents.  Our  fore- 
fathers' could  once  have  said.  We  sec  not  our  signs  ; 
there  is  not  one  iirophet  among  us,  nor  any  that 
divineth,  Psal.  Ixxiv.  9 :  or  if  any  did  divine,  thev 
divined  lies.  Though  this  sacred  book  was  not  hid 
in  a  comer,  as  when  Josiah  began  to  reign,  2  Kings 


xxii.  8;  nor  cut  with  a  penknife,  and  thrown  into 
the  fire,  as  in  the  days  of  Jehoiakim,  Jer.  xxxvi.  23 ; 
yet  the  comfortable  use  was  intenhcted,  the  known 
language  concealed,  and  men  bound  with  a  curse 
not  to  read  it.  It  now  lies  open  in  our  churches,  in 
our  windows;  God  grant  we  shut  it  not  to  our  own 
hearts.  Preaching  applies  it,  and  this  help  we  have 
also :  may  we  never  know  the  want  of  it :  yea,  we 
shall  not,  unless  we  voluntarily  put  it  from  us,  as  a 
matter  not  worthy  the  keeping,  and  (w-ith  the  Jews) 
judge  ourselves  unworthy  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Divers  fearfid  calamities  are  threatened  to  the  Jews, 
such  as  shall  turn  their  feasts  into  mourning,  &c.  ; 
but  if  their  eyes  do  not  yet  dazzle,  nor  their  ears 
tingle,  behind  is  a  woe,  that  is  beyond  all  woes,  the 
famine  of  the  word  of  God,  Amos  nii.  II.  Famine 
of  bread  is  a  sore  plague,  when  a  woeful  mother  for 
herself  and  son  is  dressing  their  last  provision,  I  Kings 
xvii.  12.  The  extremity  harder,  wlien  mothers  by 
turns  eat  up  their  own  children,  2  Kings  vi.  2S.  But 
this  is  nothing  to  a  dearth  of  holy  knowledge.  It  is 
better  not  to  be,  than  not  to  know :  better  unborn, 
than  untaught.  (Sen.) 

2.  God,  without  all  exception  to  the  honour  of  his 
justice,  might  enrol  all  the  wicked  at  once  in  univer- 
sal confusion ;  but  so  it  pleaseth  his  goodness  to 
single  out  some,  and  propose  them  as  bleeding  wit- 
nesses to  the  world,  that  their  vengeance  might 
bring  many  to  repentance.  Such  an  execution  of 
his  justice  doth  more  magnify  his  mercy,  when  he 
punisheth  some,  that  he  may  spare  many.  As  when 
many  soldiers  have  faulted  in  a  mutiny,  the  general 
executes  martial  law  upon  some,  to  strike  a  terror 
into  the  whole  army.  So  doth  the  Lord.  We  have 
deserved  what  they  have  suffered ;  they  have  suffered 
that  we  might  be  delivered.  If  we  make  not  use  of 
this  mercy,  we  deserve  the  greater  penalty. 

3.  There  is  no  sin  which  man  can  now  commit,  but 
God  hath  declared  his  wrath  against  it,  in  his  pun- 
ishments for  it:  we  can  do  nothing  without  a  prece- 
dent. Is  any  sacrilegious?  there  be  precedents  to 
forewarn  him;  Geliazi,  Judas,  and  they  that  kept  a 
market  in  the  temple.  But  these  men  fear  not  their 
punishments.  Will  the  Jesuit  be  a  traitor  ?  there  is 
precedent.  Absalom  rebels;  what  was  the  end? 
His  huge  army  defeated  by  a  few,  the  wood  devour- 
ing that  day  more  than  the  sword;  twenty  thousand 
lost.  A  senseless  oak  performs  the  part  of  a  good 
subject,  and  apprehends  the  traitor:  his  beast  left 
liini  to  the  gallows,  who  was  turned  beast  in  re- 
nouncing his  allegiance.  The  earth  refused  to  re- 
ceive him,  heaven  was  shut  against  him,  none  of  his 
troops  left  to  guard  liim,  who  had  so  unnaturally 
wronged  the  Maker  of  all  in  his  anointed  vicegerent. 
The  king  gave  charge  for  his  reprieval,  but  the  Kin^ 
of  heaven  had  otherwise  determined  of  him.  And 
he  that  had  ambitiously  provided  a  stately  monu- 
ment for  his  corpse,  a  pyramid  or  pillar  in  the  king's 
dale,  was  tumbled  with  infamy  into  a  ditch,  like 
carrion  under  a  heap  of  stones. 

Can  any  be  covetous  without  precedent  ?  did  he 
never  read  of  Nabal's  base  penuriousness  and  ac- 
cursed end  ?  Ilath  not  the  adulterer  Zimri  for  his 
example  ?  can  he  thinli  of  his  sudden  end,  and  not 
tremble  to  embrace  his  harlot  ?  And  fur  the  factious, 
that  are  subject  to  their  own  lusts,  but  will  be  sul)- 
jeet  to  no  laws,  observe  they  not  the  conspiracy  of 
Korah  against  Moses;  whom  the  earth  buried  alive, 
and  stayed  for  neither  executioner  to  despatch  them, 
nor  sexton  to  make  a  grave  fortliem?  Can  a  man 
exact  upon  his  brother  by  a  biting  interest,  without 
a  Jewisli  example  ?  or  tlirow  his  unable  debtor  into 
prison  without  a  precedent  ?  The  usurer  is  a  legal 
thief,  the  unmerciml  creditor  a  legal  murderer  :  they 


Ver.  C. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


do  nothing  but  by  hiw,  and  by  law  they  may  go  to 
the  devil  together.  The  fraudulent  trallicker  eannot 
abuse  his  simple  customer,  but  there  is  precedent  for 
him  in  Ananias.  Did  you  sell  the  land  for  so  much  ? 
cost  your  commodity  so  much  ?  Yes.  What  follow- 
ed ?  The  lie  he  told  before  men,  he  was  suddenly 
sent  to  answer  before  the  God  of  truth.  Do  tyrants 
now  persecute  the  churcii  without  example  ?  So 
Julian  sent  his  subjects  to  heaven  in  earnest,  himself 
went  to  hell  merrily  and  in  jest.  Homicides  have 
the  example  of  Joab,  whose  grey  hairs  went  not  to 
the  grave  in  peace,  1  Kings  ii.  6.  There  is  no  ))ro- 
fane  libertine  but  had  the  example  of  Es.iu  before 
him,  who  lost  the  blessing  of  heaven  for  the  plea- 
sures of  earth.  They  cannot  tell  a  lie  but  by  prece- 
dent; not  swear  an  oath,  not  break  a  sabbath,  nor 
worship  an  image,  but  by  example.  All  these  sins, 
and  what  other  we  can  imagine,  have  been  committed 
in  former  ages,  and  plagued  i)y  former  judgments. 
These  iniquities  if  we  admit,  they  retain  not  in  so  mean 
a  quality  as  before.  Fratricide  is  now  worse  than  in 
Cain,  because  it  hath  Cain's  ensample.  Apustacy 
now  worse  than  in  Lot's  wife,  because  her  example 
Jiath  forewarned  us,  Luke  xvii.  32.  Adulterous 
painting  worse  now  than  in  Jezebel,  because  we  under- 
stand her  fearful  end.  Uncleanness  now  woi-se  than 
in  Sodom,  because  the  Lord  hath  made  them  en- 
samples  to  those  that  after  should  live  ungodly, 
Jude  7. 

4.  God's  judgments  are  so  many  real  sermons 
against  the  sins  of  men.  He  doth  not  only  preach 
vocally  by  the  ministry  of  his  ser\anls,  but  also  actu- 
ally by  the  execution  of  his  judgments.  "  Once 
hath  God  spoken,  twice  have  I  heard  it,"  Psal.  Ixii. 
II:  once  in  his  word  written,  a  second  time  in  his 
work  done ;  his  actions  being  so  many  declarations 
of  his  will.  So  Elihu  in  Job.  These  things  will 
God  work  twice  or  thrice  with  a  man,  to  bring  his 
soul  back  from  the  pit.  Job  xxxiii.  29,  30.  Once 
he  spake  it,  another  time  performed  it,  a  third  time 
redoubled  it.  There  is  no  people  can  plead  ignor- 
ance, or  excuse  themselves  by  wanting  means  of  in- 
struction ;  for  the  whole  earth  is  filled  with  the 
judgments  of  God.  When  the  fire  devours  a  man's 
estate,  or  the  sea  wrecks  the  merchant's  hopes,  or 
sudden  death  takes  away  our  neighbour's  lift',  God 
preacheth  visibly  to  us.  Though  we  pronounce 
nothing  by  a  peremptory  rashness,  for  fear  of  Christ's 
objurgation,  Do  you  think  they  were  greater  sinners  ? 
Luke  xiii.  4  ;  for  the  cause  is  not  revealed  to  us,  as 
the  prophet  spake  of  the  troubled  Shunammite,  "  Her 
soul  is  vexed,  and  the  Lord  hath  hid  it  from  me," 
2  Kings  iv.  27  ;  yet  let  us  take  them  to  heart :  we 
eannot  discern  them,  they  all  concern  us. 

Let  us  be  the  better  for  all  this,  lest  we  become 
the  worse.  It  had  been  easier  for  us  never  to  have 
heard  of  Sodom's  ruin,  than  not  to  mend  our  lives  by 
the  ensample.  God's  hand  would  have  been  lighter 
upon  impenitent  souls,  if  such  precedents  of  his  justice 
had  never  been  set  before  them.  Let  us  raise  our- 
selves out  of  their  fall,  and  make  their  subversion 
the  matter  and  means  of  our  conversion.  Let  us  be 
warned  by  examples,  lest  we  be  made  examples. 
If  we  will  not  leara  by  others,  others  shall  learn  by 
us.  There  is  no  learning  so  cheap,  as  that  which 
comes  at  another's  cost.  If  their  poison,  by  good 
allaying,  be  made  our  physic ;  if  the  sword  of  venge- 
ance that  devoured  them,  amend  us  with  the  verj' 
sight  and  shaking  of  it ;  we  shall  escape  God's  fury, 
and  become  the  blessed  examples  of  his  mercy. 

Now  there  are  three  impediments  whitfh  frustrate 
the  good  use  of  this  doctrine ;  contempt,  neglect,  and 
misinterjiretation. 

I.  Contempt,  which  is  a  proud  and  presumptuous 


humour  in  men ;  whom  the  most  palpable  judgments, 
and  evident  executions,  shall  never  deter  from  their 
damnable  projects.  The  judgments  of  God  are  high 
above  his  sight,  Psal.  x.  5  :  tell  him  how  others  have 
perished,  he  answers,  Tut,  I  shall  never  be  moved. 
But  this  is  the  greatest  judgment  of  all ;  not  to  un- 
derstand their  errors,  lest  they  should  be  brought  to 
repentance. 

2.  Neglect  and  a  forgetful  slighting  of  such  terri- 
ble things.  It  is  to  them  but  a  pang,  or  a  transient 
stitch,  a  nine-days'  wonder,  or  news  that  is  quickly 
out  of  date.  Pharaoh  was  no  sooner  quitted  of  the 
jilaguc,  but  presently  his  heart  was  hardened.  While 
God  thundered,  he  trembled  ;  but  then,  as  if  the 
Lord  had  spent  all  his  powder  and  shot,  he  is  the 
same  man  he  was.  Like  Ephraim's  goodness,  a  morn- 
ing dew,  Hos.  vi.  4.  While  the  weather  is  cloudy, 
they  are  melancholy  ;  but  when  the  sun  of  prosperity 
rises,  and  the  stoim  of  affliction  clears  up,  their 
moisture  is  dried.  Such  a  dew  you  shall  have  stand 
upon  the  stones  of  the  ehureh  against  rain,  but  the 
stones  are  never  the  softer  for  it.  Aluib  hearing  the 
denunciation  of  wrath,  was  humbled,  I  Kings  xxi. 
2" :  the  hand  of  judgment  did  but  crush  his  heart 
like  a  piece  of  clay,  till  the  moisture  was  pressed  out, 
leaving  it  then  but  more  hardened  earth.  All  Israel 
was  aflrighted  at  the  fearful  end  of  Korah  ;  yet  even 
the  very  morrow  after  they  fell  upon  Moses  and 
Aaron,  murmuring,  "  Ye  have  killed  the  people  of 
the  Lord,"  Numb.  xvi.  41.  Such  small  impression 
doth  the  misery  of  others  leave  in  us ;  as  if  we  had 
a  protection  from  all  arrest,  a  supersedeas  against  all 
suits.  And  what  plagues  soever  we  see  inflicted  on 
others,  we  think  they  have  deserved  them,  never  re- 
flecting upon  our  own  merits  and  mutable  conditions. 
We  come  short  of  the  circumspection  that  is  in  birds 
and  beasts ;  for  they  can  avoid  the  places  where  they 
sec  their  fellows  have  miscarried,  and  are  sensible  by 
that  token  to  remove. 

3.  Misinterpretation,  by  soothing  ourselves  in  our 
own  courses,  and  turning  the  stream  of  God's  judg- 
ments another  way.  Some  sport  with  these  ex- 
amples; and  being'set  forth  as  crocodiles  m  terrorem, 
they  make  them  their  play-fellows,  and  the  subjects 
for  the  exercise  of  their  wits.  As  to  respect  the  con- 
version of  Lot's  wife  no  belter  than  one  of  Ovid's 
Metamorphoses ;  Niobe  into  a  stone  :  as  if  there  was 
no  diflcrence  betwixt  God's  actions  and  poets'  fictions. 
So  they  ascribe  Noah's  flood  to  some  extraordinaiy 
aspect  of  the  moon,  or  concourse  of  watery  planets  ; 
and  think  not  that  God  opened  the  windows  of  hea- 
ven and  fountains  of  earth.  The  drowning  of  Pha- 
raoh's host,  to  the  inconsiderate  venturing  over  upon 
a  high  tide.  It  shall  be  imputed  to  any  thing  rattier 
than  the  true  cause,  God's  anger ;  these  ensamples 
working  no  more  upon  them  than  mere  casualties. 
But  woe  to  those  that  shall  not  so  understand  them 
as  God  meant  them ! 

Here  I  have  just  cause  to  declare  against  three 
sorts  of  mistakers  ;  with  whose  errors  I  will  'deal,  as 
the  venerable  judges  do  with  seditious  attorneys,  call 
them  to  the  bench,  pitch  them  over  the  bar,  put  out 
their  names  from  the  roll,  and  let  them  go. 

1.  The  impcachers  of  God's  providence,  among 
whom  there  are  six  errors.  1.  Of  the  Stoics,  who 
call  pro\-idence  by  the  name  of  fate  or  destiny;  which 
runs  through  a  rank  of  causes,  so  bringing  in  abso- 
lute and  inevitable  necessity,  that  pinions  the  arms 
of  God  and  men.  Theodoret  beats  the  nose  of  this 
error  flat  to  the  deviser's  face.  2.  Of  such  as  tie 
God's  providence  only  to  celestial  things,  exempting 
all  sublunary  and  corrupt  matters.  Hierome  says, 
this  error  was  crept  into  the  hearts  of  the  Jews  ;  as 
he  collects  from  Ezek.  ix.  9,  "  The  Lord  hath  for- 


346 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


saken  the  earth,  and  the  Lord  seeth  not."  There- 
fore the  Lord  answers,  "  Mine  eye  shall  not  spare 
them;"  to  show  that  his  power  is  also  upon  the 
earth.  3.  Nicenus,  with  others,  held  that  God's 
providence  extends  itself  to  corruptible  things  only 
in  a  general  manner.  But  our  Saviour  comprehends 
under  it  not  only  the  hairs  of  men,  but  even  the 
feathers  of  birds.  4.  Aquinas  speaks  of  the  eiTor  of 
Rabbi  Moses  the  Jew;  that  amon"  corruptible 
things,  man  only  appertainelh  to  the  I)i\nne  provi- 
dence. This  Jeremiah  confutes :  "  I  am  the  God  of 
all  flesh,"  Jer.  xxxii.  27  ;  both  of  men  and  beasts. 
5.  Of  the  Platonists,  that  distinguish  three  kinds 
of  providence.  First,  of  the  supreme  God,  that 
stretcheth  primarily  to  spiritual  things,  in  a  second 
degree  to  all  the  world.  The  second,  of  separated 
substances,  that  move  the  heavens  in  a  circle  ;  in- 
telligences. The  last,  of  certain  drsmones,  powers, 
whicli  they  place  in  the  middle  betwixt  God  and 
man.  Such  are  those  that  worship  devils  for  a  ne 
noceant.  6.  Of  atheists,  that  deny  all  providence, 
and  admit  only  fortune.  Lactantius  hath  confuted 
it  by  many  arguments ;  but  David's  conviction  is  the 
best  disgrace  to  it,  who  sets  a  cockscomb  on  the  head 
of  it ;  "  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no 
God,"  Psal.  xiv.  \.  In  his  heart  he  hath  said  it,  but 
in  his  heart  he  never  believed  it.  Look  upon  all 
creatures ;  they  make  one  glorious  army,  marshalled 
into  their  several  ranks,  and  marching  to  the  will  of 
their  gi-eat  General.  Why  do  stones,  plants,  and 
insensible  things,  tend  to  the  end  for  which  they  were 
created,  when  as  yet  they  have  no  knowledge  of  it, 
but  that  they  are  directed  by  God  ?  Young  ones  arc 
no  sooner  bom,  but  they  turn  their  mouths  to  the 
breast  of  their  mothers  ;  yet  man,  against  nature, 
reason,  religion,  doth  not  turn  his  mouth  of  confession, 
to  acknowledge  that  God  who  made  him.  We  see 
birds  to  come  of  eggs,  and  living  things  engendered 
of  dead  seed :  why  should  we  not  as  well  believe  the 
resurrection  of  our  bodies,  and  the  last  account  of 
all  our  actions  ? 

2.  All  misconstruing  perverters  of  God's  judgments. 
That  the  Jews  after  a  curse  of  fifteen  hundred  years, 
and  a  vagabond  dispersion  like  Cain,  should  not  be- 
think themselves  of  their  murder  of  the  Lamb  of 
God,  is  the  stupifying  spirit  of  error.  One  of  them 
is  driven  to  confess,  that  as  this  plague  so  far  exceeds 
all  their  former  captivity,  so  the  sin  that  caused  it 
must  exceed  all  their  former  sins.  As  much  may 
justly  be  said  of  our  Italianated  fugitives;  who  seeing 
the  terrible  judgments  of  God  upon  them,  will  not 
yet  know  the  Lord.  The  powder  plot  is  passed  over 
with  "  An  unfortunate  attempt,"  and  the  instruments 
no  further  blamed  than  for  their  rash  and  ill  luck  ; 
as  if  they  confessed  that  it  wanted  nothing  but  suc- 
cess to  make  it  lawful :  worse  than  the  sorcerers  of 
Egypt;  they  could  ciy  out,  "This  is  the  finger  of 
God,"  Exod.  viii.  19. 

They  call  for  a  judge  of  controversies  betwixt  us, 
yet  will  not  see  that  God  himself  is  the  Judj^e  ;  de- 
claring his  sentence  and  decision  hy  helping  the  side 
which  he  favoureth.  All  his  judgments  upon  the 
conspirators,  cannot  learn  them  how  much  he  de- 
tcsteth  such  practices.  Still  they  will  not  gather  the 
unwarrantableness  of  their  designs,  though  they  have 
been  forced  in  indignation  to  blunder  out,  that  the 
Judge  of  all  the  world  is  become  a  Lutheran.  Still 
they  are  mad  to  be  made  the  wretched  engines  of  his 
ambition,  that  sells  the  souls  of  men  to  buy  himself 
reputation.  Cannot  the  catholicness  of  their  doc- 
trine, and  the  infallibility  of  their  director,  make 
their  plots  successful,  and  still  are  they  blind  ?  Such 
palpable  demonstrations  of  God's  wrath  so  directly 
against  their  proceedings,  might  at  least  make  them 


suspect  that  something  is  amiss,  and  examine  where 
the  fault  resteth.  To  have  their  infallibility  so  de- 
ceived, might  cause  them  to  recollect  themselves,  if 
they  were  not  drunk  with  the  wine  of  Sodom. 
Though  they  smart  w\\.\\  the  vials  of  fun,-,  yet  they 
will  not  leave  their  sorcery,  according  to  the  prophecy 
of  them.  Rev.  ix.  20.  They  will  rather  gnaw  llieir 
tongues  for  pain.  Rev.  xvi.  10,  than  acknowledge 
God's  judgments  for  sin.  If  we  were  such  damnable 
heretics  as  they  would  make  us,  how  comes  it  to  pass 
that  the  Lord  so  takes  our  part  ?  that  they  so  often 
tempting  us  by  fiattery,  and  attempting  us  by  fuiy, 
have  not  yet  prevailed  arainst  us  ?  that  neither  the 
pope's  bulls  nor  curses  have  wrought  the  intended 
eflects?  Certainly  if  the  Lord  did  not  favour  our 
cause,  he  would  never  so  protect  our  state.  Yet  all 
these  ensamples  work  not  upon  their  consciences, 
nor  will  they  confess  their  pernicious  courses.  Though 
many  hundred  of  their  treacherous  emissaries  have 
miscarried,  yet  still  more  follow  on,  as  if  no  prece- 
dent had  bid  them  take  heed.  But  antichrist  deals 
with  them,  as  Amnon  did  with  Tamar;  fii-st  i-avish- 
eth  them,  and  then  turns  them  out  of  doors.  But 
because  they  would  not  take  example  by  whom  they 
should,  they  shall  be  made  examples  to  whom  they 
would  not ;  even  a  reproach  to  all  posterity,  and  a 
stink  to  the  succeeding  generations. 

3.  All  profane  pereons  that  misapply  these  ensam- 
ples. What  plagues  soever  come  to  others,  they 
conceit  of  themselves  no  such  desert :  if  he  will 
perish,  let  him ;  and  no  further  mind  it.  Instead  of 
a  serious  application,  to  make  a  jest  upon  others' 
misery,  this  is  common.  We  should  "  weep  with 
them  that  weep,"  Rom.  xii.  15.  Woe  to  such  as  laugh 
at  their  brothei-'s  teare !  whereas,  He  to-day.  and  I 
to-moiTow,  was  St.  Bernard's  use  :  and,  We  are, 
have  been,  or  may  be,  as  miserable  as  they,  was  St. 
Augustine's.  The  seaman  that  sees  another  ship 
split  on  a  rock,  will  avoid  it.  Passengere  fear  to 
travel  that  way,  where  they  hear  of  continual  rob- 
beries. Yet  cannot  these  judicial  precedents  humble 
them;  as  if  they  had  their  salvation  by  patent.  Yea, 
they  are  but  temporally  sensible  of  their  own  plagues : 
nor  doth  the  thought  outlast  the  smart.  As  that 
father  speaks  of  the  afflicted  pagans ;  They  lose  the 
benefit  of  affliction,  are  confirmed  in  wretchedness 
and  sin  :  (August.)  worse  in  body,  and  no  better  in 
soul.  Either  they  think  they  need  no  affliction,  or 
so  sure  that  they  are  above  affliction.  As  if  God, 
like  some  skilless  chirurgeon,  when  he  comes  to  let 
blood,  could  not  find  a  vein  ;  or  were  not  wise  enough 
to  choose  that  vein  which  is  fittest  to  bleed. 

They  are  lethargically  secure,  no  ruin  but  their 
ONTO  can  stir  them.  But  that  which  could  not  in- 
struct must  destroy  ;  if  they  be  not  deterred  by 
others  they  must  be  destroyed  themselves.  Thunder 
proceeds  from  a  vapour  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  and 
compassed  with  a  cold  cloud :  in  the  agitation  or 
struggling  it  takes  fire,  and  then  breaks  out  where 
the  cloud  is  thinnest :  and  being  out,  sometimes  it 
strikes  the  clothes,  not  the  body  ;  sometunes  the 
body,  not  the  clothes.  So  doth  preaching ;  it  is  the 
vapour  or  breath  of  the  Spirit,  surrounded  with  the 
cold  and  waterish  humours  of  our  sins :  it  struggles 
with  ihcm,  and  in  the  strife  catcheth  fire;  and  so 
vents  itself  to  the  terror  of  the  world.  Sometimes  by 
menaces  and  examples,  it  strikes  our  garments,  not 
oureelves  :  sometimes  it  goes  further,  and  strikes  also 
our  own  hearts.  Oh  then  let  us  fear  God's  judgments 
upon  others,  that  we  may  never  feel  them  ourselves. 

To  conclude  with  application,  albeit  indeed  the 
whole  discourse  is  but  a  doctrine  of  application;  for 
wherefore  is  an  example  pronounded,  but  to  be 
applied  ?      Hypocrites   are   sick,   and  will   not    be 


Veh.  6. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


347 


kno\ni  to  stand  in  need  of  physic ;  they  can  have  no 
remedy.  Profane  ones  are  sick,  and  will  accept  of 
no  physic;  they  will  have  no  remedy.  It  is  hard 
to  say  which  case  is  worst :  now  God  have  mercy 
on  them  both !  Can  we  think  God  will  not  deal 
with  us  as  he  hath  dealt  with  others  before  us  ? 
Jezebel  suborned  false  witnesses,  and  had  her  neck 
burst  for  it :  is  there  no  judgment  for  such  offenders  ? 
Achan  for  sacrilege  is  stoned :  our  church  robbers 
hope  to  escape.  Miriam  was  proud,  and  became 
leprous:  our  plastered  popinjays  fear  not.  Israel- 
ites distrusting  in  the  Lord,  die  by  a  plague :  how 
many  want  faith,  and  yet  look  not  to  want  mercy  ! 
Esau  seems  to  say  unto  all  profane  wretches,  Take 
warning  by  me  ;  Ahab  to  all  superstitious  idolaters, 
Saul  to  all  malicious  persecutors,  Absalom  to  all  un- 
natural sons,  Gehazi  to  all  false  ser\-ants,  Nabal  to 
all  covetous  churls,  Shimei  to  all  blasphemous  railers. 
Take  warning  by  us.  And  the  Sodomites  here  are 
made  to  speak  in  the  language  of  sorrow,  to  all  se- 
cure wantons,  Take  warning  by  us. 

Such  measure  is  to  be  expected  from  God's  hands, 
if  such  wickedness  be  found  in  ours.  If  men  like  it 
well,  to  have  their  buildings  on  fire  about  their  ears, 
to  see  their  infants  dashed  against  the  stones,  or 
scorched  with  flames,  to  feel  a  bloody  enemy  tri- 
umphing in  their  streets,  to  have  their  names  a  deri- 
sion, their  cities  a  desolation,  their  carcasses  exposed 
to  fowls,  and  perhaps  their  souls  to  furies  and  tor- 
ments ;  they  may  then  run  on  their  impious  courses 
without  any  repentance  or  deprecation.  It  is  God's 
mercy,  that  we  were  not  made  the  first-fruits  of  his 
wrath,  and  examples  to  all  the  world  ;  but  how  great 
is  our  unthankfulness,  if  having  thus  escaped,  we  are 
not  bettered!  Or  if  we  escape  all  this,  yet  the  Lord 
will  strike  when  he  sees  his  time,  perhaps  when  we 
are  in  worse  case  to  bear  it.  He  can  make  our  death- 
beds smart  for  this ;  he  may  reserve  all  horror  and 
amazement  to  that  desperate  hour,  and  then  lay  on 
us  the  burden  of  all  our  sins.  There  is  one  thing,  if 
we  hear  it,  and  heart  it,  enough  to  fright  us  all :  "  It 
shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom  in  the 
day  of  judgment,  than  for  thee,"  Matt.  xi.  24:  and  yet 
the  Sodomites  are  now  in  hell.  If  we  receive  not  the 
blessed  gospel  with  faith  and  fear,  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah never  sinned  as  we  sin,  and  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah were  never  plagued  as  we  shall  be. 

But  as  it  is  a  happy  alarm  that  brings  in  the  strag- 
gling soldier  to  his  colours ;  and  a  good  chance  for 
the  wandering  sheep,  by  seeing  the  wolf  prey  on  a 
goat,  to  be  gathered  home  to  the  fold:  so  let  the  de- 
struction of  Sodom  be  the  instruction  of  England;  let 
their  curse  become  our  blessing.  It  is  a  good  com- 
passion of  nature,  that  shall  bring  us  to  the  compunc- 
tion of  grace.  So  instead  of  fire  and  brimstone  from 
heaven,  or  in  hell ;  the  angels  shall  lift  us  up  from 
the  vale  of  mortality,  and  the  brightness  of  glorj-  re- 
ceive us  in  the  paradise  of  joy ;  through  the  mercy  of 
God  that  hath  promised  it,  and  the  merits  of  Christ 
that  hath  purchased  it  for  us. 

"  Unto  those  that  after  should  live  ungodly." 
What  St.  Paul  says,  "  The  law  is  not  made  for  the 
righteous  man,"  i  "Tim.  i.  9 ;  so  nor  here  is  the  ex- 
ample set  for  the  holy.  But  the  law  is  for  the  law- 
less, and  the  example  of  the  ungodly  is  for  the  un- 
godly. He  that  freely  obeys  the  truth,  finds  no 
adversar)'  of  the  law ;  it  serves  to  chastise  the  bad 
and  backward,  not  to  restrain  the  good  and  forward. 
The  horse  that  reineth  well,  needs  no  bit ;  nor  he 
that  runneth  freely,  a  spur.  Against  the  jighteous 
there  is  no  law.  Gal.  v.  23.  There  is  no  condemning 
law,  for  they  are  in  Christ :  there  is  no  compelling 
law,  for  the  Spirit  is  in  them;  and  they  do  as  willingly 
obey  God,  as  if  there  was  no  law.     Were  there  no 


hoU,  and  God  would  not  punish  transgression  with 
eternal  death  ;  yet  would  they  avoid  all  sin  because  it 
displeaseth  Christ.  Yea  further,  if  Christ  would  not 
give  them  eternal  life,  yet  would  they  love  him,  and 
desire  the  advancement  of  his  kingdom.  So  these 
examples  are  not  for  the  righteous,  but  for  the  ungodly. 

1.  Let  us  consider  what  this  ungodliness  is  m  the 
proper  nature  of  it :  for  it  seems  to  consist  both  in  the 
privative  or  negative,  excluding  somewhat,  and  com- 
ing short  of  what  is  required ;  and  in  the  positive, 
committing  somewhat  that  is  prohibited.  Ungodli- 
ness is  a  sin,  which  many  defy  in  their  mouths,  and 
embrace  in  their  hearts;  so  much  greater  than  the 
seven  popish  deadly  sins,  as  it  is  indeed  the 
ground  of  them  all.  More  dangerous  ;  because  being 
rooted  in  the  heart,  it  is  not  so  visible  to  the  eye,  nor 
discernible  to  his  reason  that  owes  it.  More  heinous, 
because  it  is  more  spiritual,  immediately  directed 
against  God  himself;  being  a  breach  of  the  first  com- 
mandment of  the  first  table,  robbing  him  of  his  due 
honour.  It  consists,  cither  in  the  true  worship  of  a 
false  god,  or  in  a  false  worship  of  the  true  God,  or  in 
the  true  worship  of  the  true  God  with  a  false  heart. 
Whereas  godliness  is  a  true  service  of  the  true  God, 
in  a  true  religion,  with  a  true  heart. 

First,  it  gives  him  not  his  honour:  secondly,  it 
gives  it  to  another :  thirdly,  if  it  do  give  him  due 
honour,  yet  not  after  a  due  manner.  The  fool  says 
in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God,  Psal.  xiv.  1  :  not  but 
that  his  conscience  is  convinced  of  the  contrary  ;  but 
on  the  least  temptation  his  heart  is  willing  to  ac- 
knowledge none.  Said,  not  believed :  examine  him 
according  to  liis  creed,  and  never  fool  believed  in  his 
heart,  there  is  no  God.  If  he  must  confess  his  being, 
yet  he  rcnounceth  all  subjection.  "They  say  unto 
God,  Depart  from  us,"  &c.  Job  xxi.  14.  This  is  too 
outrageous  to  be  the  speech  of  the  tongue,  it  is  the 
rebellion  of  the  heart ;  not  vocal,  but  actual.  They 
will  not  have  him  reign  over  them,  Luke  xix.  27. 
They  scorn  to  beg  a  blessing  of  him  ;  they  "call  not 
upon  the  Lord,"  Psal.  xiv.  4.  They  that  will  crouch 
and  attend  the  court  for  a  lordship  on  earth,  will  not 
so  much  as  be  petitioners  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
They  say.  The  Lord  will  do  neither  good  nor  evil, 
Zeph.  i.  12:  they  sleep,  and  dream  tliat  the  Lord 
sleeps  too.  Or  they  not  only  deny  this  tribute  to 
their  Creator,  but  give  it  to  some  creature ;  as  Da- 
vid took  the  land  from  honest  Mephibosheth,  and 
gave  it  to  Ziba  a  varlet.  Or  else  they  resolve  to 
honoiu-  him,  with  that  he  hath  declared  to  offend 
him ;  as  Paul  in  persecuting,  and  the  Jews  in  exe- 
cuting Christ,  thought  they  did  God  service.  Lastly, 
even  in  their  best  works,  that  may  carry  some  show 
of  devotion,  they  have  a  fidse  heart ;  halting  betwixt 
God  and  Baal ;  a  mixed  service.  So  Demas,  though 
he  forsook  Paul,  yet  turned  not  to  his  idols  again. 

But  he  that  will  admit  the  service  of  God  no  way 
but  his  o«Ti,  shall  find  the  mercy  of  God  no  way  at 
all.  There  may  be  a  denial  of  God  in  real  fact,  even 
when  there  is  a  confession  of  God  in  verbal  faith.  A 
disease  which  this  age  labours  of:  in  great  ones  it  is  a 
JVoli  me  tangere  ;  physicians  and  divines  call  it  incur- 
able. Yea,  our  vulgars  are  not  exempted,  and  the 
pulpit  can  prove  nothing  so  appositely  and  directly 
by  Scripture,  but  if  it  displease  the  people,  it  shall 
never  come  in  their  creed.  Let  religion  and  the  gos- 
pel fly  away,  if  they  speak  not  as  tliis  people  would 
nave  them.  When  God's  word  and  this  ungodliness 
meet,  you  shall  hear  a  rattling  and  hissing,  as  in  the 
encounter  of  fire  and  water.  Paul  casts  fire  at 
Ephesus  ;  Demetrius  roars  ;  in  comes  the  town-clerk 
with  the  magnificence  of  Diana :  alas,  that  was  a 
painted  fire,  no  noise  nor  tumult  at  it.  If  we  stroke 
your  spleen,  and  tell  you  that  you  are  predestinated 


348 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


to  go  to  heaven  in  a  coach,  or  that  a  wheny  shall 
gently  waft  you  to  Canaan ;  this  is  a  painted  fire  that 
never  troubles  you.  But  when  we  speak  of  denying 
your  covetous  lusts,  abjuring  your  sacrilege,  bleeding 
for  malicious  lies  and  slanders ;  here  is  presently  a 
hissing,  a  mutinous,  mad  rebellion. 

The  word  in  us  labours  to  destroy  ungodliness  in 
you,  and  ungodliness  in  you  labours  to  destroy  the 
•word  in  us.  But  consider  what  the  prophet  told 
Amaziah,  Because  thou  hast  not  obeyed  my  counsel, 
I  know  that  God  hath  determined  to  destroy  thee, 
'2  Chron.  xxv.  16.  The  sons  of  Eli  would  not  hearken, 
because  the  Lord  meant  to  slay  them,  1  Sam.  ii.  25 ; 
their  hearts  must  be  hardened,  that  they  may  be  de- 
stroyed. Alas,  the  scholar  is  but  the  pattern  of  his 
master,  and  our  knowledge  but  a  beam  of  God's 
knowledge :  while  ungodly  men  refuse  us,  (Truth  hath 
said  it.)  they  reject  God  himself.  They  got  Zecha- 
riah  to  be  made  away  by  the  king's  command :  he 
said  no  more  at  his  death,  but  "  The  Lord  look  upon 
it,"  2  Chron.  xxiv.  21,  22:  what  followed?  While 
ungodly  men  are  whetting  a  knife  to  cut  our  throats, 
God  is  whetting  a  sword  to  cut  their  throats.  One 
singular  proof  of  ungodliness,  is  a  contesting  against 
the  preacners  of  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  This  example  is  set  down  for  the  ungodly ;  but 
it  is  rare  to  find  any  that  will  confess  themselves  un- 
godly :  now  men  that  have  no  sense  of  being  ill,  will 
never  care  for  any  medicines  to  make  them  veil. 
And  though  the  fruits  of  it  were  never  more  visible 
and  notorious,  yet  the  root  lies  buried  in  the  ground, 
and  boasts  of  a  concealment.  "We  have  some  to 
"whom  the  very  church  is  a  shadow  of  death,  and  they 
have  earnest  business,  which  they  love  above  God 
and  their  own  souls.  Examine  your  fields,  streets, 
•waters,  in  the  times  of  devotion;  is  not  this  ungodli- 
ness ?  And  for  them  that  make  as  though  they  would 
be  saved,  do  they  not  sue  for  their  inheritance  in  hea- 
\en,  forma  pauperis ;  refusing  to  give  the  least  scrap  of 
their  superfluity  for  eternal  life  ?  Yea,  do  not  they 
even  pull  down  that  kingdom,  which  they  seem  to 
crave  ?  Is  not  this  ungoiUiness  ?  If  they  hear,  is  it 
not  with  contempt,  spleen,  censure,  and  (if  they  durst) 
with  controlment  ?  How  few,  when  the  sermon  is 
done,  think  either  the  worse  of  themselves  for  the 
present,  or  become  the  better  afterward  !  How  many 
brutish  men  find  we,  Psal.  xciv.  8,  that  continually 
mistake  the  soul  for  the  body  !  "  Soul,  eat,  drink," 
&c.  Luke.  xii.  19 ;  his  meaning  was.  Body,  eat.  He 
thought  his  sold  was  delighted  with  sensuals,  where- 
as it  is  the  lay-part,  the  very  least  of  man,  that  is 
thus  pleased. 

Lust  is  with  the  affections,  as  Jezebel  with  her 
chamberlains ;  she  paints  and  pleases :  grace  conies 
like  Jehu,  "  Who  is  on  my  side  ? "  2  Kings  ix.  32  ; 
oh  that  she  were  hurled  down  !  If  wealth  increase, 
there  is  a  dish  added  to  the  table,  a  set  to  the  ruff,  a 
tie  to  the  shoes ;  but  not  a  dram  to  devotion,  not  a 
mite  to  the  church,  not  a  scrap  to  the  poor,  not  a 
grace  to  the  soul.  Not  to  speak  of  the  professed 
enemies  to  all  goodness,  the  engines  of  hell,  and  de- 
puties of  the  devil,  whose  soids  are  nothing  else  but 
moving  anatomies  :  such  as  are  yet  to  choose  their 
faith,  and  think  religion  a  humour  or  fancy  follow- 
ing the  complexion.  Like  a  condemned  wretch,  that 
jests  away  his  soul.  (Pardon  all  holy  impatience  : 
unruly  patients  make  sharp  jjliysicians.)  Men  that 
think  all  we  preach  to  be  but  fables ;  yet  on  their 
death-beds,  if  their  lethargized  conscience  be  suffer- 
ed to  wake  ere  it  go  to  hell,  they  wo\dd  give  all  the 
•world  to  be  sure  what  we  say  were  not  true  :  arc  not 
these  ungodly  ? 

To  omit  those  hypocrites,  that  are  shuffled  among 
jirofessors,  as  Saul  was  among   the   prophets;  for 


there  is  no  cure  of  an  unknown  grief.  To  omit 
those  swearers  and  adulterers,  who  are  out  of  the 
reach  of  civil  justice,  but  God  puts  them  in  his 
own  calendar ;  judging  the  one,  Heb.  xiii.  4,  and  not 
holding  guiltless  the  other,  Exod.  xx.  7-  -'^nd  those 
toes  of  the  land  that  rot  with  idleness ;  lazy  beggars  : 
as  it  hath  been  observed.  Great  men  make  thieves,  and 
then  hang  them  up :  (Sir  Thomas  More's  Utop.)  make 
them,  by  suffering  sloth  to  slide  into  \-illany.  And 
all  those  capital  oppressors,  that,  like  Felix,  when 
they  can  get  no  money,  will  bind  Paul,  if  it  be  but  to 
ciirn,-  favour  with  the  Jews.  They  grew  rich  by  the 
undoings  of  men,  yet  under  the  shadow  of  power  and 
authority,  "  they  wrap  it  up,"  Micah  vii.  3.  Wrap  it 
up,  as  mud  in  crystal,  or  a  foul  thing  in  a  fair  cloth. 
Which  was  detested  by  a  verj'  Tiberius,  chiding  liis 
polling  officer,  Tonderi  volo  pecus,  7ton  deglubi.  This^ 
is  rarik  impiety :  but  to  come  closer  home,  and 
happy  is  the  bosom  which  is  not  conscious  of  these 
evils. 

Have  we  any  more  than  a  mere  form  of  godliness, 
reserving  the  pride  and  choice  allowance  to  our  own 
lusts  ?  As  our  treacherous  Romists,  that  give  their 
liege  their  compliments,  but  to  a  foreign  prince  their 
hearts.  Do  not  men  spend  ten  hours  about  mammon, 
before  one  minute  about  devotion  ?  do  they  not  think 
of  their  last  aceoimt,  as  the  last  tiling  to  be  lliought 
of?  Is  not  covetousness  chief  commander  of  the 
fort,  and  nothing  done  without  her  permission  ? 
Where  did  the  bad  servant  bury  his  talent,  but  in  the 
earth  ?  earthy  affections,  covetousness,  buiy  all. 
This  is  that  which  eats  out  the  heart  of  grace,  by 
eating  grace  out  of  the  heart.  Is  not  this  ungodli- 
ness got  into  the  midst  of  that  execrable  rabble? 
Rom.  i.  29 ;  1  Cor.  vi.  9.  The  devil  may  seem  to  take 
example  by  covetous  worldlings,  to  chide  his  spirits, 
and  upbraid  their  sloth  :  Mortal  men  in  so  few  years 
can  heap  up  so  many  thousands,  and  get  abundance 
into  their  hands;  and  you  that  should  in  quickness 
outstart  them,  lie  sleeping  like  drones  by  the  liearth 
of  hell,  and  seek  not  to  people  oiu'  kingdom. 

And  who  can  wonder  that  those  men  disregard 
their  ministers,  that  have  cast  away  all  respect  of 
their  o«-n  souls?  Or  what  marvel  that  St.  Antho- 
ny's vision,  which  is  said  to  be  two  years  before  the 
Arian  heresy  arose,  should  now  be  palpable  :  beasts 
about  the  altar,  kicking  it  with  tlieir  heels,  dashing 
it  with  their  horns,  and  trampling  on  it  with  their 
foul  hoofs ;  till  like  Job,  it  be  made  poor  to  a  proverb. 
Covetousness  makes  ungodliness  llourish.  Yet  is  not 
this  all ;  for  where  is  the  subjection  of  heart  to  the  will 
of  God?  Who  suffers  that  supreme  law  to  rule  his 
actions  and  artections  ?  who  trembles  at  that  thing 
which  may  offend  his  Maker  ?  Men  little  think  of 
their  conscience,  when  they  are  going  about  to  please 
their  concupiscence  :  they  study  their  ends,  not  their 
end.  And  how  hardly  will  they  prefer  God's  glory 
before  their  own  souls,  that  will  not  prefer  it  to  a 
piece  of  artificial  clay!  Is  not  this  ungodliness? 
Innumerable  be  the  fruits  of  an  ungodly  heart, 
whereof  the  fewer  we  see  in  ourselves,  the  more  they 
be,  and  the  more  to  be  lamented.  If  we  be  not  evil, 
why  do  we  pray,  "  Deliver  us  from  evil  ?  "  Wretch- 
ed are  they  that  flatter  themselves,  and  blessed  are 
they  that  can  prove  themselves,  to  be  out  of  the  rank 
of  the  ungodly.  Tlie  Omniscient  eye  can  find  un- 
godliness enough  in  the  best.  To  us  then  is  this  cn- 
saini)lc  appliable :  let  it  make  us  confess  that  we  are 
as  they  were,  and  repent,  that  we  may  never  be  as 
they  are.  Lord,  take  away  our  ungodliness,  and  thou 
shalt  find  none. 

3.  Lastly,  consider  the  slate  of  ungodliness.  To 
be  ungodly  implies  two  things,  wickedness  and 
wretchedness.     He  is  mortal,  yet  covetous;  poor,  yet 


Vrn.  6. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


349 


proud  ;  foolish,  yet  headstrong.  He  takes  great 
pains  to  build  a  house  on  another  man's  ground  :  he 
seeks  for  sweet  water  in  the  midst  of  the  salt  sea. 
He  studies  more  to  be  advanced,  than  to  be  worthy 
of  that  advancement.  He  hath  lost  himself,  and 
desperately  cares  not  what  he  does,  to  find  his  will. 
Nor  his  goods,  nor  his  honours,  nor  his  friends  go 
with  him,  but  his  sins :  so  he  departs  to  torments 
boundless,  endless. 

The  Scriplurc  says  of  him,  that  he  is  in  sin,  1  Cor. 
XV.  17.  It  is  one  tiling  to  have  sin  in  us,  another  thing 
for  us  to  be  in  sin.  Sm  is  in  us  all ;  St.  Paul  con- 
fesseth  it  of  himself;  "  Sin  dwcUeth  in  me,"  Rom. 
vii.  20.  But  all  are  not  in  sin,  drowned,  captivated, 
dungeoned.  We  say,  such  a  man  is  in  drink  :  drink 
may  be  in  him,  and  yet  he  sober ;  but  for  him  to  be 
on  drink,  argues  liini  drunken.  The  ungodly  doth 
nunt  after  sin  ;  the  eye  and  the  ear  being  a  couple 
of  beagles  to  put  up  the  game,  and  the  whole  man 
turned  into  a  beast  to  follow  the  course.  Only  here 
is  the  difference  :  there  the  hart  or  hare  that  is 
chased  dies,  and  the  hound  lives ;  here  the  sin  sur- 
vives, and  the  hunter  perishes.  He  is  slaved  to  sin  ; 
whatsoever  lust  dictates,  he  subscribes  to :  there  is 
no  base  officer  in  his  family  of  wickedness,  but  let 
him  come  with  the  most  unnatural  suit,  he  writes 
Fiat.  He  is  "  holden  with  the  cords  of  his  sins," 
Prov.  V.  22.  God  help  the  man  thus  manacled  :  tliis 
is  a  case  wherein  a  king  may  be  pitied  by  a  galley- 
slave.  Here  is  no  flying,  no  changing  his  master  : 
he  may  change  his  place,  estate,  repose,  lodging,  re- 
past ;  he  cannot  change  himself.  Whithersoever  he 
goes,  he  takes  himself  along  with  him. 

He  hath  a  broad  conscience  ;  which  is  like  a  barn- 
door, it  can  take  in  a  whole  load  of  corn :  he  can 
swallow  a  camel.  All  ravenous  fishes  have  large  and 
wide  mouths.  The  devil  will  never  mince  this  man's 
meat,  he  is  able  to  swallow  it  whole.  (Whereas  the 
good  conscience  is  like  the  little  door  to  the  lioly  of 
holies,  that  lets  in  none  but  the  High  Priest,  Jesus 
Christ.)  He  confirms  his  heart  in  evil  by  voluntaiy 
custom,  till  he  can  with  more  ease  digest  the  hard- 
est offence,  than  the  stomach  of  an  ostrich  can  digest 
iron.  He  is  pleased  with  the  success,  vexed  with  the 
prevention  of  any  sinful  purpose.  If  his  plot  be 
crossed,  and  his  hand  cannot  act  that  wickedness  by 
day  which  his  head  hath  devised  by  night,  he  is 
taken  with  a  fit  of  melancholy,  sick  of  the  sullcns  ; 
as  was  Ahab  and  Haman.  He  thinks  it  a  death  that 
he  cannot  be  suffered  to  die ;  it  is  a  hell  to  him  that 
the  gates  of  hell  are  shut  against  him. 

If  he  be  punished,  he  can  grieve  at  the  smart,  not 
at  the  cause :  in  sickness  he  can  crj'.  My  head,  my 
head,  or,  my  heart,  my  heart ;  but,  my  sin,  or,  my 
soul,  is  none  of  his  complaint.  To  wail  some  small 
effects,  and  never  to  think  of  the  cause,  is  to  be 
curious  in  healing  the  clifts  of  skin  at  the  root  of  our 
nails,  never  minding  the  corruption  that  is  in  our 
heads  or  hearts.  His  whole  business  is  sin,  he  hath 
nothing  else  to  do  in  the  world.  He  may  taste  of 
the  waters  of  life  by  chance,  as  a  dog  laps  at  Nilus; 
but  his  voyage  is  bound  for  mischief.  And  like  a 
fire-work  on  a  line,  he  runs  on  while  his  matter  lasts, 
then  goes  out  with  stink  and  a  crack. 

Though  I  cannot  say  to  all  men,  be  not  sinners  ; 
yet  let  me  say,  be  not  ungodly.  Though  you  admit 
sin,  do  not  intend  sin ;  do  not  seek  it,  though  it  finds 
you.  Would  men  know  what  is  in  their  hearts, 
and  distinguish  betwixt  rebellions  and  infirmities? 
Pirates  forage  on  the  seas,  rob  merchants,  refuge 
themselves  at  Dunkirk  or  Algiers.  They  complain 
to  the  Spaniard  or  Turk  for  redress.  No,  say  they, 
they  are  none  of  ours,  we  give  them  no  such  allow- 
ance, we  own  them  not.    Well,  if  yet  secretly  they 


receive  them  to  land,  help  them  with  fresh  water, 
meat,  tackling,  provision,  and  thus  underhand  re- 
lieve them,  sure  these  do  allow  them.  Men  profess 
piety,  yet  admit  of  lusts  in  themselves,  injuries  to 
others  :  whose  acts  be  these  ?  None  of  ours  :  alas  ! 
against  our  wills,  we  cannot  but  sin,  yet  we  consent 
not  to  it.  Nay,  but  if  concupiscence  be  in  the  mean 
time  fostered,  purv'eyed  for  by  the  eye,  battened 
by  riot,  armed  with  approbation,  justified  by  dis- 
sembling, this  is  not  weakness,  but  rank  ungodliness. 
It  is  a  habit.  Evciy  act  doth  not  make  a  habit: 
divers  have  fallen  into  incontinence,  soon  repented, 
and  avoided  the  sin  ;  this  cannot  be  called  ungodli- 
ness. Transient  escapes  do  not  denominate  an  un- 
godly man,  because  the  sins  committed  are  now 
loathed.  But  avarice,  injustice,  malice,  &c.,  these 
are  ungodliness ;  because  here  is  a  continuance  of 
will,  and  a  will  of  continuance.  Now  as  the  orator 
said,  when  he  had  declaimed  against  drunkenness, 
it  was  but  to  keep  men  sober ;  so  this  discourse  of 
ungodliness  is  intended  to  turn  men's  hearts  to  piety. 
But  this  may  be  planted  by  Paul,  and  watered  by 
A  polios,  no  increase  can  be  but  by  the  Spirit  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

This  was  their  ungodliness.  God  often  sparelh 
the  wicked  for  the  righteous'  sake  ;  such  as  are 
either  allied  in  blood,  as  Ham  was  in  the  ark  ;  or  by 
cohabitation  and  proximity,  as  Paul  had  all  the  souls 
in  the  ship  given  him.  The  wise  man  is  the  fool's 
salva'.ion:  as  a  physician  is  an  antidote  against  sick- 
ness, and  a  valiant  man  a  muniment  against  enemies. 
When  Augustus  had  conquered  Antony,  and  taken 
Alexandria,  and  the  citizens  expected  nothing  but 
present  massacre,  the  emperor  proclaimed  a  general 
pardon,  for  Arrius'  sake,  a  philosopher  of  that  city, 
and  his  familiar  friend.  Tims  doth  God  forbear  men 
for  men,  one  for  another,  but  all  for  Jesus.  But 
where  all  are  apostates,  all  perish.  Noah  could  de- 
liver but  eight  out  of  a  world  ;  and  Abraham,  begin- 
ning at  fifty,  went  no  lower  than  ten,  lest  he  should 
have  been  too  bold  with  God.  Ho  doth  stay  at  ten, 
not  as  though  God  for  a  less  number  will  not  spare 
a  city  :  for  as  sometimes  for  more  than  fifty  he  will 
not  suspend  his  judgments,  as  Samaria  and  Israel 
found,  when  seven  thousand  good  men  were  among 
them  ;  so  for  fewer  than  ten  he  will  sometimes  show- 
mercy,  as  he  promised  to  spare  Jerusalem  for  one : 
Find'but  one  man  that  secketh  the  truth,  and  I  will 
spare  it,  Jer.  v.  1.  But  here  all  were  ungodly  ;  only 
one  family  shunned  their  filthy  conversation,  and  so 
escaped  their  fiery  conflagration. 

THE   SINS    OF    SODOM. 

To  take  a  short  catalogue  of  their  ungodliness,  prin- 
cipally their  sins  were  six  :  four  whereof  be  mention- 
ed, Ezek.  xvi.  49;  a  fifth  by  St.  Jude,  vcr.  7,  follow- 
ing strange  flesh ;  the  last,  Gen.  xix.  9,  contempt  of 
all  holy  admonition. 

1.  Pride  will  ever  be  foremost;  it  seeks  the  high- 
est place  in  preferment,  it  shall  have  the  uppermost 
place  in  torment.  "  Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto 
us,  but  unto  thy  name  give  glorj-,"  Psal.  cxv.  1  :  this 
pride  contradicts ;  To  us,  to  us,  and  to  none  but  us. 
We  may  say  of  humility,  as  of  that  good  woman, 
"  Many  daughters  have  done  virtuously,  but  thou  ex- 
ccllest'them  all,"  Prov.  xxxi.  29  ;  but  of  pride,  othef 
sins  do  vnlely  enough,  but  that  surmounts  them  all. 
God  resisteth  the  proud,  for  the  proud  resist  God :  a 
piece  of  rotten  dust,  so  soon  as  it  is  made,  recoileth 
against  its  Maker,  opposeth  that  Majesty  which 
the  angels  adore,  the  thrones  worship,  the  devils 
fear,  and  the  heavens  obey.  But  he  gets  nothing  by 
it,  for  if  God  resist  him  who  shall  defend  him?     If 


350 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


against  the  proud  he  sent  his  law  with  such  thunder, 
how  will  himself  come  ? 

The  world  is  apt  to  admire  pride,  her  words  are 
held  oracles,  her  works  miracles,  her  garments  true 
ornaments.  This  so  flesheth  and  ilusheth  her,  that 
she  thinlvs  no  more  of  God,  escc])t  it  be  with  Saul, 
Honour  me  before  this  people,  1  Sam.  xv.  ,30.  As 
Nebuchadnezzar  built  much  for  his  own  honour, 
Dan.  iv.  30,  nothing  for  the  honour  of  God.  There- 
fore the  Lord  will  grace  humility,  and  give  her  the 
glory.  When  the  ambitious  promoter  of  himself 
shall  be  fetched  down,  God  will  say  to  her,  "Friend, 
go  up  higher,"  Luke  xiv.  10.  Pride  is  like  smoke. 
But  humility  is  a  substantial  grace,  so  that  pride  it- 
self is  proud  of  her  mantle  :  as  Absalom,  so  rank 
\rith  pride,  yet  put  on  a  show  of  humbleness,  in 
compliment.  And  this  is  the  glorj-  of  humility,  that 
proud  men  are  glad  of  her  livery.  But  pride  must 
learn  better  manners,  or  if  she  escape  the  Sodomites' 
fire  on  earth,  she  must  feel  the  Sodomites'  fire  in  hell. 

2.  Fulness  of  bread.  But  is  this  a  sin?  Is  not 
bread  the  staff  of  life,  and  the  fulness  of  it  a  bless- 
ing ?  Yes,  but  that  good  mother  brought  forth  two 
bad  daughters ;  pride  in  habit,  and  excess  in  diet. 
It  is  not  the  fulness  of  bread,  but  our  fulness  of  belly, 
that  is  the  sin.  "  Charge  the  rich  that  they  be  not 
high-minded,"  I  Tim.  vi.  17:  no  sooner  rich,  but 
presently  high-minded.  "  The  fat  valleys  of  them 
that  are  overcome  with  wine,"  Isa.  xxviii.  I:  they 
that  dwell  in  fat  valleys  will  fume  with  wines.  "  Let 
their  table  become  a  snare,"  Psal.  Ixix.  22:  the 
most  riotous  table  is  the  most  dangerous  snare.  "  I 
will  leave  in  the  midst  of  thee  an  afflicted  and  poor 
people,  and  they  shall  trust  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,"  Zeph.  iii.  12.  They  that  have  nothing  to 
trust  unto  in  the  world,  will  sooner  be  brought  to 
tnist  only  in  the  Lord.  Haman's  abundance  made 
liim  proud,  and  his  pride  advanced  him  fifty  cubits 
higher  than  the  earth,  to  a  stately  gibbet.  If  our 
gold  become  our  fetters,  we  had  better  have  lived 
beggars.  The  Israelites  fared  daintily  on  their 
quails,  fed  with  meat  of  princes  and  bread  of  angels  ; 
but  their  sauce  was  too  sharp,  when  that  they  put 
into  their  mouths  God  fetched  back  at  their  nostrils. 

It  is  better  to  want  necessaries  and  iniquities,  than 
to  have  with  the  fulness  of  bread  the  fulness  of  ])ride 
and  riot.  "  Lest  I  be  full,  and  deny  thee,"  Prov. 
XXX.  9.  If  full,  deny  thee  presently  follows.  It  was 
the  Lord's  caveat  to  Israel ;  Take  heed,  "  lest  when 
thou  hast  eaten  and  art  full,  thou  forget  the  Lord," 
Deut.  viii.  12,  14.  "  All  they  that  be  fat  upon  earth 
sliall  eat  and  worship,"  Psal.  xxii.  29  :  thus  it  should 
be.  _  They  wax  fat,  and  spurn  with  their  heels,  Deut. 
sxxii.  15 :  "  They  were  filled,  and  their  heart  was 
exalted ;  therefore  have  they  forgotten  me,"  Hos. 
xiii.  G:  thus  it  is.  We  alT desire  plenty;  but  as 
when  one  wished  the  son  to  be  like  the  father,  Cato 
replied,  Is  this  a  blessing  or  a  curse  ?  would  our 
plenty  do  us  good,  or  harm?  The  wicked  have 
their  desire,  yea,  "  more  than  their  heart  could 
wish."  What  is  the  issue  ?  "  Thev  set  their  mouth 
against  the  heavens,"  Psal.  Ixxiii.  7,  9.  Christ  did 
not  teach  us  to  beg  variety  of  dishes,  nor  abundance 
of  wines,  but  bread  ;  and  "tJiat  but  for  the  day,  daily 
bread.  It  is  emptiness  that  values  God's  providence, 
not  fulness:  when  the  Lord  deals  with  us,  as  Frederic 
duke  of  Saxony  with  liis  servants,  who  in  hawking 
had  rode  over  much  com,  and  carelessly  spoiled  it ; 
gave  charge  that  their  messes  of  meat  should  not  be 
abridged,  but  not  one  bit  of  bread  should  be  allowed 
to  their  su]>per. 

Plenitude  breeds  many  diseases ;  I  am  not  phy- 
sician good  enough  to  number  them  :  not  only  pride, 
that  worm  of  riches,  which  naturally  begets  another 


worm  that  never  aieth,  the  worm  of  conscience ;  but 
surfeit  and  drunkenness,  the  sins  of  this  city.  Call 
your  wines  by  what  names  you  will,  French,  or 
Greek,  or  Spanish,  it  is  the  Londoners'  wine.  Where 
there  is  such  immoderate  feasting,  the  world  must 
needs  believe  that  it  is  not  maintained  without  sin 
and  deceit :  and  for  such  meat  you  had  need  of  strong 
wine  to  help  digestion.  Here  it  is,  and  liere  it  is  un- 
measurably  taken,  abused,  urged;  as  if  our  brother's 
fall  were  not  the  devil's  victory.  Some  have  thought 
that  martyrdom  and  Christ's  passion  was  called  by 
the  name  of  a  cup,  from  the  loathsome  filling  and 
violencing  the  appetite  with  drink.  The  youngest 
daughter  of  this  fulness,  is  wantonness :  They  rose 
up  like  fed  horses,  neighing  with  lust,  Jcr.  v.  8.  But 
of  that  anon :  this  is  the  dependence  of  pride  and 
riot.  One  would  think  that  they  had  no  acquaint- 
ance, but  they  are  very  near.  He  that  exalts  him- 
self above  his  creation  by  pride,  falls  below  his 
creation  by  drunkenness.  It  is  the  voice  of  pride, 
All  is  mine  :  then  riot  answers,  I  may  do  what  I  list 
with  mine  own.  Both  are  contraries  to  sobriety,  one 
of  the  mind,  the  other  of  the  body.  They  are  often 
coupled  and  united:  The  proud  man  and  he  that 
transgresseth  by  wine,  Hab.  ii.  5.  Pride  turned 
Nebuchadnezzar  into  a  beast ;  so  doth  drunkenness : 
their  union  in  sin  shall  find  no  separation  in  punish- 
ment. 

3  Idleness.  Tliis  is  another  effect  of  fulness: 
they  that  flow  with  abundance,  never  mind  any  dili- 
gence. "  As  it  was  in  the  days  of  Lot ;  they  did  eat, 
they  drank,  they  bought,  they  sold,  they  planted, 
they  builded,"  Luke  xvii.  2S.  These  were  all  olia, 
rather  than  negotia,  as  they  used  them :  even  that 
labour  was  idleness.  To  marry,  is  honest  and  honour- 
able ;  yet  was  the  old  world  taxed  for  this.  Not 
because  only,  as  some  answer,  they  married  not  with 
any  conjugal  love,  but  with  a  voluptuous  lust ;  for 
this  is  a  remedy,  not  an  iniquity  that  God  so  severely 
punisheth.  They  minded  their  lusts,  they  minded 
not  God's  laws ;  here  was  the  sin.  So,  in  the  days 
of  Lot,  as  if  Lot  was  only  in  the  day-light,  all  the 
rest  in  night  and  darkness.  They  ate  and  drank : 
this  is  nature's  necessity,  and  is  not  reprehended ; 
not  the  conveniency,  but  the  superfluity  is  faulted. 
They  bought  and  solfl :  this  was  a  lawfiil  negocia- 
tion;  therefore  not  the  mutual  commercement,  but 
the  unjust  dcfraudment,  is  taxed.  They  built  and 
planted  ;  both  in  themselves  allowable.  Christ 
blames  not  their  felling  of  trees,  nor  building  of 
houses,  but-the  baseness  of  their  desires  ;  who  sought 
eternity  upon  earth,  and  had  no  heart  to  the  God  of 
heaven.  In  eating  and  drinking  was  their  saturity; 
in  building  and  jdanling,  their  security ;  in  buying 
and  selling,  their  covctousness.  These  were  all 
superfluous  to  that  one  nccessar)'  thing,  and  there- 
fore idleness.  They  feared  not  tlie  Lord,  but  lay 
drowned  in  their  own  sensuality ;  this  was  their  in- 
vincible stupidity.  Thus  rotten  were  they  in  their 
lees  of  sin,  that  unless  they  had  animas  pro  sate,  they 
had  been  all  stinking  carc;isscs. 

Here  we  see,  it  is  not  enough  to  forbear  evil,  but  it 
is  damnable  not  to  do  well.  Christ  ]>retermits  the 
enumeration  of  their  horrible  delinquishmcnts,  and 
sjieaks  of  their  acts  lawful  in  aj)pearance  ;  censuring 
tliem.  If  they  were  condemned  for  fi  cding,  what  is 
the  wages  of  surfeiting?  If  they  for  necessary 
trading,  what  shall  be  for  fraudulent  deceiving  ?  If 
I  hey  for  building  their  own  houses,  what  shall  be- 
come of  them  that  pull  down  God's  house  ?  If  such 
a  judgment  fell  upon  marriage,  what  is  the  curse  of 
adultery  ?  Christ  mentions  not  the  sins  of  commis- 
sion, as  if  they  were  damnable  enough  by  i-oncession; 
but  the  omitted  duties :    Ye  did  not  feed  me,  Sec. 


Veb.  6. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OP  ST.  PETER. 


351 


Matt.  xxv.  Not  that  the  other  shall  pass  unjudged, 
but  to  show  that  there  is  damnation  enough  wrapped 
up  in  these  to  destroy  the  world. 

Thus  easily  doth  fulness  degenerate  into  idleness ; 
and  where  is  no  need  of  gains,  there  no  vouch- 
safing of  pains.  To  many  a  man  will  God  say,  I 
made  thee  a  husbandman,  who  made  thee  a  gentle- 
man ?  I  will  make  man  a  helper  meet  for  him,  Gen. 
ii.  18  :  this  intends  that  neither  should  be  idle.  The 
man  is  compared  to  the  sun,  the  wife  to  llie  moon, 
that  borrows  lij^ht  of  him,  yet  hath  some  of  her  own. 
But  when  the  sun  shall  shine  only  by  tlie  moonlight, 
this  is  preposterous.  He  is  a  Sodomite  that  will  cat 
none  but  another's  bread,  and  wear  no  coat  of  his 
own  weaving.  The  slolliful  will  not  plough  because 
of  winter;  therefore  shall  he  beg  in  summer,  and  no 
man  shall  give  him,  Prov.  xx.  4.  He  shall  beg,  that 
is  bad ;  and  no  man  shall  give  him,  that  is  worse. 
But  yet  a  man  may  be  busy  enough,  and  bring 
labour  on  himself  «nth  a  vengeance  ;  when  he  shall 
labour  in  that  he  liath  no  thanks  for,  and  be  idle  in 
that  should  do  him  good:  thus  a  man  may  go  to 
hell  for  his  pains.  Sodom  thus  laboured  in  sin,  and 
now  labours  in  torment.  Let  us  so  work  on  our  eve, 
that  we  may  rest  on  our  sabbath  ;  work  up  our  sal- 
vation on  earth,  and  reap  our  salvation  in  heaven. 

4.  Contempt  of  the  poor.  This  is  an  execrable 
sin,  a  thing  tnat  hastens  before  the  time.  If  he  be 
condemned  that  says  no  more  but,  God  help  thee ; 
how  sore  is  his  judgment  that  says  in  heart,  I  despise 
thee !  That  omission  is  culpable,  that  goes  no  further 
than.  Be  warmed;  but  that  damnable,  that  says.  Be 
starved.  It  were  fault  enougli  to  pass  by  them,  like 
the  Lcvite,  without  succour ;  but  horrible,  not  to  pass 
by  them  without  disdain.  "  Cast  thy  bread  on  the 
waters,"  Eccl.  xi.  1,  that  is,  on  the  watery  eyes,  which 
do  weep  for  want ;  but  if  we  cast  not  our  morsels,  let 
us  forbear  to  cast  our  scorns.  How  basely  soever  we 
esteem  them,  they  are  the  members  of  Christ,  and 
such  as  he  honours,  and  sets  near  him ;  taking  notice 
of  every  benefit,  and  recording  every  wrong,  that  is 
done  them.  It  will  be  no  light  or  slight  offence,  to 
contemn  the  brother  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Some  think  that  the  Sodomites  would  admit  no 
strangers  to  come  among  them,  as  they  speak  now 
of  China ;  and  that  this  made  them  so  furious  against 
the  angels.  There  be  four  terms  among  men  :  I. 
Mine  is  thine,  and  thine  is  thy  own.  2.  Mine  is  mine, 
and  thine  is  thine.  3.  Mine  is  thine,  and  thine  is 
mine.  4.  Thine  is  mine,  and  mine  is  my  own.  The 
first  is  of  saints,  the  second  of  moralists,  the  third  of 
populars,  and  the  last  is  the  voice  of  devils  :  of  this 
rank  were  the  Sodomites.  For  this  special  cause 
they  hated  Lot,  for  his  hospitality.  When  they 
came  in  troops  to  break  into  his  house,  he  pleads  the 
laws  of  hospitality".  For  tiiis  cause  came  they  under 
my  roof.  And  when  he  sees  their  headstrong  pur- 
pose of  villany,  he  chooseth  rather  to  be  an  ill  father 
to  his  owa  children,  than  an  ill  host  to  strangers. 
Tliercfore  is  heaven  called  Abraham's  bosom,  because 
of  his  hospitality;  and  thither  the  saints  go  :  it  is  fit 
that  hospitable  men  should  go  to  their  Father. 

Let  us  make  the  poor  our  friends  by  our  alms,  not 
our  enemies  by  our  scorns.  We  had  better  have  the 
cars  of  God  full  of  their  prayers,  than  heaps  of  money 
in  our  own  coffers  with  their  curses.  ^\  orldly  men 
think  themselves  w^ise  in  gcttin<j  wealth,  and  the 
Scriptures  folly;  therefore  throughout  the  Scriptures 
God  calls  them  fools  for  their  labour :  "  Thou  fool." 
There  is  a  tale  of  an  abbot  that  gave  his  fool  a  paint- 
ed staff,  willing  him  to  bestow  it  on  the  veriest  fool 
he  could  meet.  This  abbot  fell  mortally  sick ;  the 
fool  was  a  visitant  among  tlie  rest ;  and  hearing  him 
say,  I  must  leave  all  and  be  gone,  asked  him  whither 


he  would  go.  The  abbot  answers,  luto  another 
countr\-.  But  I  hope,  replies  the  fool,  you  will  carry 
all  your  gold,  and  jewels,  and  treasure  with  you.  No. 
I  must  leave  all.  But  sure  you  have  sent  great  stor*.- 
of  preparation,  as  rich  hangings,  coverings,  beik. 
plate,  and  furniture  before  you.  No,  I  must  leave 
all  behind.  All  ?  I  hope  at  least  you  have  sent 
enough  to  furnish  your  own  room,  provision  enougii 
for  yourself.  No,  not  tlie  least  pillow.  Hold,  sailh 
he,  take  your  staff  again,  you  are  the  veriest  fool  that 
ever  I  met.  It  is  easily  applied:  they  that  of  so 
much  under  their  custody  on  earth  w'ill  make  no 
provision  for  themselves  in  heaven,  by  giving  to  tin- 
poor,  are  well  taxed  of  the  extremest  folly.  Let  us 
relieve  them  by  our  good  deeds,  that  they  may  re- 
lieve us  by  their  good  prayers  ;  so  shall  we  find 
mercy  in  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ. 

5.  Following  strange  flesh.  This  was  not  only  forni- 
cation or  adulter)';  a  man's  wife  is  his  own  flesh,  and 
she  that  is  not  so,  is  a  stranger ;  but  even  an  offence 
against  nature,  for  the  Sodomites  were  not  contcn! 
with  the  common  way  of  sinning,  but  were  mad  with 
a  prodigious  and  preposterous  lust.  Bring  forth  the 
men,  that  we  may  know  them.  Gen.  xix.  5.  Shall 
we  say,  herein  the  very  Sodomites  spoke  modestly, 
though  their  intention  were  villanous  ?  I  do  not 
think  they  meant  any  mannerly  concealment,  but  it 
is  the  dialect  of  the  Scripture,  which  by  an  honest 
name  sets  down  a  most  dishonest  thing.  It  hides  the 
sin  of  Sodom,  as  the  painter  hid  the  scar  in  Aga- 
memnon's face.  Certainly  their  impudence  was 
monstrous,  declaring  their  sin,  Isa.  iii.  9.  Bring 
them  forth.  Wherein  they  would  make  Lot,  a  father, 
not  only  a  witness  to  the  constupration  and  ravish- 
ment of  the  angels,  hut  even  the  very  bawd  or  pander ; 
Do  thou  bring  them  out. 

Questionless,  those  heavenly  guests  were  of  an  ex- 
cellent form,  and  most  sweet  favour,  surpa.«sing  the 
sons  of  men  ;  and  the  sight  of  this  inflamed  their  more 
than  beastly  lust.  Such  a  natural  desire  hath  wicked 
man  to  mar  what  God  made,  to  corrupt  his  most  ad- 
mirable workmanship  ;  and  where  he  hath  imprinted 
the  most  fair  characters  of  his  glory,  there  they  have 
most  ambition  to  fasten  :  like  cankers,  that  had  rather 
bo  about  one  rose,  than  a  thousand  weeds.  Beauty, 
meant  for  a  mirror  wherein  to  admire  God,  they  turn 
into  a  snare  to  confound  themselves ;  and  so  suck 
poison  from  the  flower  that  would  yield  them  honey. 
Happy  man,  whom  the  temptation  of  beauty  cannot 
make  to  forget  his  duty  ! 

This  was  the  extremity  of  Sodom's  sins,  for  whose 
sake  it  shall  be  called  sodomy  to  the  world's  end. 
Whether  the  first  excogitation  of  it  begun,  or  the  re- 
ceived practice  was  infamous,  among  tlicm,  it  is  still 
the  sin  of  Sodom.  So  abominable,  that  fire  from 
heaven  was  the  reward  of  it.  As  against  nature  was 
the  transgression,  so  against  nature  is  the  destruc- 
tion. It  is  natural  for  fire  to  ascend  upward,  but 
here,  contrary  to  the  course  of  nature,  it  is  forced  to 
come  downward.  Christ  himself  is  said  to  rain  that 
delugefrom  Jehovah  his  Father.  AVhy  he  ?  why  not, 
as  in  other  punishments,  the  Lord,  without  any  fur- 
ther distinction  ?  Because  they  had  corrupted  that 
nature,  which  the  Son  of  God  was  to  take.  (August.) 
The  Lord  seeing  this  sin  in  the  flesh,  had  almost  for- 
borne to  take  flesh ;  or  at  least  so  long  deferred  it  be- 
fore he  came.  Some  have  written,  that  all  the  sin- 
ners in  that  kind,  died  the  very  same  night  that 
Christ  was  incarnate.  This  sin  was  infamous  among 
the  Gentiles ;  They  burned  in  lust  one  toward 
another,  and  man  with  man  wrought  filthiness,  Rom. 
i.  27.  For  this  horrid  uncleanness  in  masculine 
vcnery,  Socrates  is  branded  among  the  philosophers, 
and  Nero  among  the  Roman  emperors.  As  by  lawful 


352 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


man-iage,  two  are  made  one,  so  liy  this  tiiniitudc,  one 
is  divided  into  two.  But  let  this  sin  sink  into  hell 
with  the  Sodomites,  and  never  more  be  remembered 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.  I  now  expel  it  out  of  my 
discourse  ;  the  Lord  banish  it  out  of  all  our  hearts  for 
ever.  Yea,  not  only  that,  but  all  manner  of  unclcan- 
ness ;  lest  we  be  given  over,  like  the  Gentiles,  to  our 
own  lusts,  by  a  just  retaliation  :  who  as  they  had 
dishonoured  God,  were  suffered  to  dishonour  them- 
selves ;  and  as  they  had  turned  beasts  into  gods,  so 
they  turned  themselves  into  beasts. 

But  this  following  of  strange  flesh  hath  a  greater 
latitude  and  further  extent,  and  fetcheth  in  all  carnal 
pollutions  ;  a  sin  that  is  a  burning.  Job  xxxi.  12, 
wheresoever  it  hath  a  being.  The  apostle  in  one 
chapter  hath  six  invincible  arguments  to  dissuade  iis 
from  it. 

(1.)  "  The  body  is  for  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  f  ir 
the  body,"  1  Cor.  vi.  13.  If  the  body  be  for  the 
Lord,  it  is  not  for  unclcanness.  If  the  Lord  be  for 
the  body  to  glorify  it,  then  he  is  for  the  body  to  rule 
and  sanctify  it.  The  husband  is  one  with  the  wife,  and 
the  wife  with  the  husband,  while  both  are  chaste; 
but  if  the  bed  be  defiled,  that  eoncorporation  dissolves. 

(2.)  "  God  hath  both  raised  up  the  Lord,  and  will 
also  raise  up  us  by  his  own  power,"  ver.  14.  If  we 
desire  our  body  to  be  raised  with  incorruption  when 
we  are  dead,  let  us  keep  it  without  pollution  while 
we  live.  Let  us  sow  a  gracious  body,  that  we  may 
reap  a  glorious  body.  How  deformed  and  ugly  will 
the  fairest  creatures  look,  when  their  bodies  shall  be 
raised  with  the  marks  of  unclcanness  upon  them  ! 
Optimi  cnrruptio  pessima:  if  prostitution,  maugre  all 
the  art  of  plastering,  can  turn  beauty  into  deformity, 
and  make  despisable  on  earth,  how  loathsome  will  it 
appear  in  the  day  of  vengeance  ! 

(3.)  "  Shall  I  take  the  members  of  Christ,  and  make 
them  the  members  of  an  harlot  ?  God  forbid,"  ver.  1 5. 
Suppose  a  king  sitting  in  his  chair  of  state,  his  tem- 
ples crowned  with  a  golden  diadem,  his  body  adorned 
with  royal  robes  and  jewels;  how  ill-favourcdly  would 
a  torn  shoe  or  a  leprous  toe  appear !  It  is  our  glory, 
to  be  parts  of  him  that  is  the  King  of  glory  ;  let  us 
not  dishonour  him  by  defiling  ourselves.  He  is  mad 
that  forsakes  a  saint  to  admit  a  devil  into  his  arms  ; 
that  for  the  odious  connexion  with  a  harlot,  leaves 
the  delicious  embraces  of  Jesus  Christ. 

(4.)  "  Every  sin  that  a  man  doeth  is  without  the 
body ;  but  he  that  committeth  fornication  sinneth 
against  his  own  body,"  ver.  18.  Other  sins  are  with- 
out the  body,  this  is  against  the  body.  In  theft,  of 
all  members  the  hand  is  principal,  and  in  blasphemy 
the  tongue  ;  but  this,  above  the  rest,  more  or  less, 
leaves  a  sordid  inquination  upon  the  whole  body. 
If  then  not  for  the  love  of  God,  whose  the  body  is  by 
creation  ;  nor  for  desire  of  perfect  beauty  at  the  re- 
surrection ;  nor  for  hatred  of  the  highest  sacrilege, 
robbing  Christ  of  his  members  by  a  carnal  impropri- 
ation ;  yet  for  love  of  thyself,  and  respect  to  thine 
own  body,  flee  fornication. 

(5.)  "  Know  you  not  that  your  body  is  the  temple  of 
the  Holy  Ghost?"  ver.  19.  It  is  a  great  profaneness 
to  abuse  the  material  temple,  made  with  men's  hands ; 
much  worse  to  violate  the  spiritual  temple,  made  by 
the  hand  of  God.  I  have  heard  of  some  depopula- 
tors,  that  of  the  quire  of  saints  have  made  a  kennel 
for  their  dogs ;  that  was  nefarious  enough.  Yet  so 
far  as  God  loves  this  corporeal  temple  better  than 
that,  this  adulterous  profanation  exceeds  the  former. 
To  turn  the  Holy  Ghost  out  of  his  chamber,  and  to 
make  It  Satan's  unclean  dwelling;  most  fearftil  !  0 
think  at  the  moment  of  temptation.  It  is  the  temple 
of  God  I  now  profane,  defde,  abuse:  what  fire  cannot 
this  meditation  quench ! 


(6.)  "  Ye  are  bought  with  a  price :  therefore  glorify 
God  in  your  body,  and  in  your  spirit,  which  are 
God's,"  ver.  20.  By  this  token  keep  thy  body  in- 
temerate,  saith  Christ ;  I  shed  my  blood  to  redeem 
it.  AVhat  I  have  been  at  such  cost  to  cleanse,  do  not 
thou  carelessly  defile.  No  gold  or  jewels  could  ran- 
som our  bodies,  but  the  blood  of  Christ :  let  us  value 
them  according  to  the  price,  and  we  shall  not  do 
amiss.  Do  not  for  a  moment's  delight  make  frus- 
trate an  eternal  purchase.  Most  enormities  of  life 
proceed  from  an  error  in  the  understanding ;  We 
may  do  what  we  list  with  our  own.  We  may  speak 
what  we  list ;  why  ?  our  tongues  are  our  own,  Psal.  xii. 
4.  We  may  spend  what  we  list ;  why  ?  our  riches 
are  our  own.  Shall  I  take  m;/  bread  and  my  meat  ? 
saitli  churlish  Nabal,  I  Sam.  xxv.  1 1.  He  is  deceived, 
for  even  of  life  itself  man  is  not  the  master,  but  tlie 
keeper,  saith  law  and  case  divinity.  The  Lord  is  the 
possessor  of  heaven  and  earth.  Gen.  xiv.  19 ;  man  but 
the  farmer.  Our  bodies  are  our  own,  therefore  do 
with  them  what  we  please?  It  is  false,  they  are 
none  of  ours ;  but,  in  a  true  pi-opriety,  the  Lord's. 
We  have  but  a  right  of  favour  from  the  true  Pro- 
prietary, and  that  liable  to  an  account.  He  lends 
them  us  for  our  use,  but  his  own  service.  Therefore 
answer  all  temptations  to  lust,  This  body  is  not  mine 
own,  but  his  that  made  it,  and  bought  it :  I  dare  not 
alienate  it  from  the  Owner,  and  remove  the  marks  he 
hath  set  unto  it.  My  body  is  thine.  Lord,  keep  it, 
and  save  it  for  ever. 

6.  The  last  sin  of  Sodom  was  contempt  of  heavenly 
admonition.  Lot  charged  them  from  God,  and  they, 
like  a  rusty  or  ill-wrought  piece,  recoiled  in  his  face; 
Who  made  thee  a  judge  ?  we  will  deal  worse  with 
thee  than  with  them.  Gen.  xix.  9.  They  had  all 
stony  hearts,  and  Lot  could  do  small  good  in  preach- 
ing to  a  heap  of  stones.  Oh  that  this  sin  of  Sodom 
did  not  cleave  too  fast  unto  this  land  and  time  T 
They  had  but  one  Lot  for  four  cities ;  we  have  for  one 
city  four  hundred  Lots.  AVhat  nation  under  heaven 
hath  so  many  learned  teachers  ?  Our  church  looks 
like  the  firmament  in  its  glory,  when  a  clear  night 
shows  it  bespangled  with  stars  of  all  lustres  and  di- 
versity of  liglits.  And  if  in  some  places  they  appear 
thinner,  and  shine  less  :  as  the  stars  are  thin  to  them 
that  live  under  the  southern  pole,  and  there  be  little 
sparkles  in  the  galaxy,  scarce  discernible  ;  it  is  only 
for  want  of  competency,  there  is  no  provision  to  feed 
them.  But  to  this  city  the  bees  come  in  swarms,  to 
empty  their  best  honey  in  this  glorious  hive.  This 
honey  you  suck,  and  at  last  send  them  down  again 
poor  miserable  drones.  The  number  of  preachers 
about  the  city,  exceeds  some  whole  country  in 
Christendom.  For  aught  I  know,  in  the  benefits  of 
nature,  and  commodities  of  life,  it  may  be  equal  to 
others;  in  this  it  excels  the  rest.  If  Rome  have  the 
gayer  roods,  and  Spain  the  richer  images,  yet  certain- 
ly we  have  the  happier  pulpits. 

Thus  great  is  our  blessing,  but  how  small  is  our 
estimation  of  it !  Formally  men  come  to  church,  to 
hear  a  man  talk,  but  it  is  no  matter  to  them  what 
he  says.  We  may  preach  ourselves  hoarse  and  dead, 
and  yet  do  no  good  :  the  reason  is,  men's  hearts  are 
hardened  in  contempt.  When  Christ  preached,  "  the 
eyes  of  all  were  fastened  on  him,"  Luke  iv.  20 :  our 
eyes  are  turned  another  way.  "The  time  will  come 
when  they  will  not  endure  sound  doctrine,"  2  Tim. 
iv.  3 :  the  event  hath  sealed  this  prophecy.  To  carp 
at  the  phrase,  method,  voice,  or  gesture,  this  is  no- 
thing ;  such  exceptions  be  like  a  flourish  before  a 
fight.  The  world's  quarrel  is  against  the  substance 
of  preaching :  if  we  threaten,  we  are  cruel  ;  if  we 
promise,  we  flatter;  if  mild,  we  dream;  if  bold,  we 
rail ;  if  we  prove  by  arguments,  it  is  called  sophistry  ; 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


353 


our  affability  is  held  lightness;  our  austerity,  mad- 
tiess  :  nothitig  can  please  tltem,  that  resolve  thcy 
«ill  not  be  iileased.  For  our  personal  disgraces,  we 
armed  ourselves  for  them  when  we  took  the  profes- 
sion. We  knew  that  we  should  be  stared  on  as 
prodigies,  hissed  at  as  ridiculous,  shunned  as  infectious ; 
endure  all  the  reproaches  that  the  devil's  scavengers 
can  rake  out  of  the  kennels  of  hell,  to  throw  on  our 
faces.  The  worst  language  that  hath  been  dipped  in 
the  fire,  or  tipped  at  the  forge  of  hell,  is  as  good  as 
Good-morrow,  if  they  meet  a  minister. 

But  here  it  is,  though  the  contempt  light  upon  us, 
if  is  meant  at  the  gospel ;  and  Christ  is  wounded 
through  our  sides.  To  speak  truth,  here  is  the  very 
head  and  heart  of  the  controversy:  the  word  will 
not  let  men  alone  in  their  sins,  therefore  they  must 
be  revenged  on  somebody :  from  hence  proceed  the 
sacrilege,  robbing,  and  the  aspersions  wronging  the 
ministers  of  Jesus  Christ.  "  They  hate  him  that  re- 
bukelh  in  the  gate,"  Amos  v.  10.  Alas,  what  can 
work  upon  a  hard  heart !  Take  a  bar  new  come  out 
of  the  fire,  and  the  smith  can  work  it,  though  it  be 
iron :  let  him  strike  on  his  anvil  never  so  long,  there 
is  no  impression  made,  but  rather  a  rebound  of  the 
stroke. 

"  The  words  of  the  wise  are  as  goads,"  Eccl.  xii. 
11,  but  men  have  leviathans'  skins;  they  esteem  iron 
as  straw,  and  brass  as  rotten  bavins.  They  arc  nails, 
but  driven  upon  marble  or  iron,  and  so  turn  again. 
"  This  is  the  condemnation,  that  light  is  come  into 
the  world,  and  men  love  darkness  rather,"  John  iii. 
19.  They  excuse  themselves  from  the  sins  of  Sodom, 
pride,  &c. ;  but  there  is  a  sin  within  them,  which 
makes  them  as  far  oft"  from  salvation.  While  you 
that  sec  the  light  which  Sodom  never  had,  despise 
it  more  than  Sodom  ever  did,  it  shall  be  more  easy 
for  Sodom  in  the  day  of  judgment  than  for  you. 
Matt.  xi.  24.  Let  not  men  flatter  themselves  from 
being  obnoxious  to  those  execrable  enormities : 
while  they  do  not  humbly  and  obediently  honour  the 
gospel,  their  estate  is  worse ;  and  Sodom  shall  be 
saved  sooner  than  these  men. 

Let  Rome  tremble,  that  hath  too  truly  deserved 
this  name,  spiritual  Sodom,  Rev.  xi.  8.  It  were  no 
slander,  to  tax  Italy  of  Sodom.  By  their  allowance  ? 
God  forbid.  Yet  Jeronizeged  Mutius  set  out  books 
of  purpose  to  defend  this  filthiness;  and  (it  seems) 
they  were  allowed  by  the  bulls  of  Pope  Julius  the 
Third.  Casa  the  archbishop  of  Beneventum  joined 
himself  as  a  copesmate  to  second  him.  Tliey  bestow- 
ed praises  on  that  sin,  whereof  Sodom  itself  would 
have  been  ashamed.  But  this  must  be  no  imputation 
to  their  doctrine,  for  that  teacheth  otherwise.  And 
for  ourselves,  though  in  this  we  touch  not  upon  So- 
dom's filthiness,  let  us  beware  lest  by  other  sins  we 
bring  ourselves  to  Sodom's  wretchedness.  Let  us 
hearken  to  the  gospel  and  love  it,  love  it  and  be- 
lieve it,  believe  it  and  obey  it,  obey  it  and  so  honour 
it,  honour  it  and  so  be  everlastingly  saved  by  it. 
Amen. 


Verse  7- 

And  delirered  jiuil  Lot,  reied  urith  thefiUhy  conversa- 
tion of  the  iricked. 

The  time  is  come  at  once,  when  Sodom  must  be 
burned,  and  Lot  delivered.  Zuar  is  preserved  for 
Lot,  as  Lot  was  for  Abraham.  If  Sodom  had  not 
been  wholly  wicked,  he  had  not  changed  his  dwell- 
ing ;  he  could  have  procured  mercy  to  it,  as  well  as 
2  A 


to  Zoar.  Now  at  once  tiie  sun  rises  upon  Zoar,  and 
fire  falls  down  upon  Sodom.  Abraham  stands  on  the 
hill,  and  beholds  the  cities  smoking.  Lot  is  secure 
in  his  new  habitation,  and  neither  feels  nor  fears  the 
judgment.  It  is  fair  weather  with  the  saints,  when 
it  is  foulest  with  the  wicked.  When  swarms  of  hor- 
nets sting  and  wound  the  Egyptians,  not  a  fly  must 
touch  an  Israelite.  That  such  a  winged  army  came 
not  from  nature  or  fortune,  it  is  plain,  but  from  an 
offended  God ;  because  the  verj'  flies  shall  make  a 
difference  betwixt  E^ypt  and  Goshen.  He  that  gave 
them  a  being,  sets  them  a  stint ;  they  can  no  more 
sting  an  Israelite,  than  spare  an  Egyptian.  The 
wings  of  those  small  creatures  are  directed  by  a  pro- 
Wdence,  and  confess  their  limits. 

The  fire  can  go  no  further  than  the  plain,  not  a 
spark  shall  reach  to  Zoar.  But  when  Sodom  hath 
never  a  Lot  left  in  it,  what  should  hinder  the  destruc- 
tion ?  If  God  meet  with  a  very  good  field,  he  plucks 
up  the  weeds,  and  lets  the  com  grow ;  if  with  an  in- 
different, he  lets  the  corn  and  the  weeds  grow  to- 
gether ;  if  with  a  very  bad  one,  he  gathers  the  few 
ears  of  com,  and  sets  fire  on  all  the  rest.  When  he 
turned  Sodom  into  ashes,  he  "delivered  just  Lot." 

There  are  two  principals  in  the  verse ;  a  freedom, 
and  a  thraldom  :  for  Sodom  was  a  gaol  to  Lot  where- 
in he  was  tormented,  Zoar  a  refuge  wherein  he  was 
quieted.  There  is  a  prisoner  and  a  Prcser>'cr;  Lot 
is  the  prisoner,  God  the  Prescr^•er. 

In  the  freedom  consider  four  circumstances: 

The  matter,  what,  A  deliverance. 

The  manner,  how,  A  violent  deliverance. 

The  time,  when,  'The  fire  being  ready  to  fall. 

The  place,  where.  By  sparing  Zoar  for  his  sake. 

For  the  thraldom,  the  prisoner  is  described  by, 

His  grace,  He  was  a  just  man. 

His  place,  Among  the  wicked. 

His  case.  He  was  vexed  with  them. 

First,  for  his  freedom ;  here  was  a  deliverance,  and 
God  was  the  author  of  it.  Indeed,  who  else  can  de- 
liver ?  Deliver  me,  O  God,  for  vain  is  the  help  of 
man.  "  Many  are  the  afllictions  of  the  righteous  ; 
but  the  Lord  delivereth  him  out  of  them  all,"  Psal. 
xxxiv.  19.  Man  cannot  deliver  out  of  one,  God  out  of 
all.  "  The  Deliverer  shall  come  out  of  Zion,"  Rom. 
xi.  2<) :  angels  or  men  may  be  instruments,  Christ  is 
the  Deliverer.  "  Deliver  Israel,  O  God,  out  of  all 
his  troubles,"  Psal.  xxv.  22.  It  was  Rabshakeh's 
blasphemy,  What  god  can  deliver  out  of  my  hand  ? 
Isa.  xxxvi.  20.  What  god?  he  found  it  to  his  cost. 
Can  he  deliver  on  the  hills,  and  not  in  the  valleys,  O 
ye  foolish  Aramiles  ?  I  Kings  xx.  28.  "  Thou  hast  de- 
livered my  soul  from  death,"  &c.  Psal.  exvi.  8.  To 
me  the  mercy,  to  thee  the  glory :  thou  hadst  no 
partner  in  the  design,  none  shall  share  with  thee  in 
tlie  honour. 

Till  Lot  be  delivered,  not  a  spark  must  kindle. 
The  impartial  sword  must  not  touch  Rahab,  nor  the 
destroying  angel  offer  a  blow  to  the  sprinkled  doors. 
Those  ministei's  of  justice  have  an  inkliom  as  well  as 
a  sword  :  an  inkhorn  to  mark  the  chosen  first,  then, 
Go  and  smite,  Ezek.  ix.  4,  5.  "  Great  deliverances 
givcth  He  to  his  king,"  Psal.  xviii.  50:  a  quantity  of 
both  kinds,  multitude  and  magnitude  :  be  they  never 
so  many,  never  so  mighty,  against  us,  the  Lord  will 
deliver  us.  St.  Paul  confesseth  a  deliverance  past, 
present,  future ;  He  hath,  he  doth,  and  he  will  deliver 
rac,  2  Tim.  iv.  17,  18.  God  doth  not  only  deliver  his 
out  of  the  fire,  but  he  puts  out  the  fire  too.  "  The 
snare  is  broken,  and  we  are  delivered,"  Psal.  cxxiv. 
7.  He  doth  not  stand  to  untie  it,  but  breaks  it  a 
pieces.  One  deep  calleth  another,  Psal.  xlii.  /;  the 
depth  of  our  miserj-  for  the  depth  of  liis  mercy.  Our 
lowncss  is  God's  height  :  the  lower  wc  are  humbled. 


354 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


the  higher  is  he  exalted  ;  the  more  grievous  our  exi- 
gent, tlie  more  glorious  his  advancement.  We  are 
more  sure  of  our  deliverance,  than  the  devil  can  be 
sure  of  our  persecution. 

Seeing  the  faithful  shall  be  delivered,  and  God 
onlydotn  it,  let  our  confidence  know  no  other  refuge. 
All  concur  in  him  that  make  a  perfect  Deliverer, 
power,  skill,  and  will.  There  may  be  power  and  will, 
where  is  no  skill  to  use  it.  If  the  horse  were  privy 
to  his  own  strength,  he  would  not  suffer  a  boy  to  ride 
him.  The  Lord  hath  wisdom  with  power,  Job  xii. 
13:  the  school  says  that  he  knows  non  enlia;  which 
they  ground  upon  the  apostle's  words,  "  He  callcth 
those  things  wliich  be  not  as  though  they  were," 
Rom.  iv.  17.  These  arc  of  two  sorts;  either  such  as 
are  not  now  in  act,  but  have  been  in  time  past,  or 
shall  be  in  time  to  come  ;  or  such  as  neither  are  now 
iu  being,  nor  ever  were,  nor  ever  shall  be.  Now 
seeing  foolish  man  often  fears  what  never  was,  is, 
nor  shall  be ;  it  is  best  to  fear  God,  that  is,  that  was, 
and  that  shall  be ;  who  only  knows  the  things  we 
fear  shall  never  happen  to  us. 

There  may  be  power  and  skill,  yet  no  will  to  use  it. 
The  Levite  wanted  neither  ability  nor  knowledge  to 
unbind  the  Samaritan ;  he  wanted  will,  a  heart  of 
pity.  Divers  have  money  in  their  purses,  and  wit  in 
their  pates,  when  they  see  poor  wretches ;  it  is  the 
want  of  compassion,  that  takes  no  compassion  of 
their  want.  If  this  commiseration  were  not  in  God, 
he  was  less  kind  to  his  children,  than  man  and  beast 
to  their  young. 

There  may  be  will  and  skill,  yet  a  defect  of  power  : 
no  such  want  can  be  in  the  Almighty.  Philosophy 
says,  that  is  most  active  which  is  most  elevated  from 
matter,  separated  from  earthy  parts.  The  physician 
distils  his  simples  into  waters,  thereof  he  makes  ex- 
tractions and  quintessences,  which  are  operatively 
strong ;  still  the  more  elevated  from  matter,  the 
stronger  and  more  active.  Water  is  stronger  than 
earth,  aii-  than  water,  fire  more  active  than  air  or 
water,  as  appeared  in  Elijah's  sacrifice;  angels  strong- 
er than  men,  God  stronger  than  all :  above  earth, 
above  water,  above  air,  fire,  men,  angels,  over  all. 
No  weakness  can  be  in  him.  According  to  the  alter- 
ation of  the  air  and  climate,  our  bloods,  humours, 
complexions  mav  change ;  but  the  soul  is  the  same 
still.  Cut  off  a  leg  or  an  arm,  you  cut  off  no  part  of 
the  soul.  Many  professors  may  be  lopped  off  by 
martyrdom,  yet  religion  stands  ;  to  show  that  it  is 
maintained  by  a  form  and  soul  that  cannot  vary. 
God  is  unchangeable,  all  other  hopes  of  deliverance 
deceive  us :  men  vary,  times  var)',  weapons  vary, 
policies  of  war  vaiy,  advantages  and  successes  vaiy ; 
therefore  it  is  best  trusting  to  an  object  that  cannot 
vary,  which  is  only  God  himself.  "  Asshur  shall  not 
save  us,  nor  will  we  ride  upon  horses,  nor  say  to  the 
works  of  our  hands.  Ye  are  our  gods :  for  in  thee  the 
fatherless  findeth  mercy,"  Hos.  xiv.  3. 

Many  animals  act  and  are  acted  upon  by  fancy  : 
so  it  is  fancy  in  men  that  makes  them  fear  where  no 
fear  is ;  dreading  the  danger,  not  trusting  the  Deli- 
verer. The  sheep  at  first  sight  of  the  wolf,  appre- 
hends him  for  a  teiTiblc  object,  naturally  fears  and 
fiecs  him :  the  lion  feels  no  terror,  but  passeth  by 
him  with  an  honourable  scorn.  A  malkin  frights 
a  child,  a  man  contemns  it.  Elisha's  servant  quakes 
at  the  Syrian  army,  no  fear  invades  the  prophet. 
He  saw,  and  caused  his  man  to  see,  a  greater  Deli- 
verer above.  In  the  street  we  see  men  walk  in  their 
ecjual  stature  and  dimensions  ;  they  on  a  high  turret 
ai)])ear  little  to  us.  Stand  on  a  promontory,  they 
with  you  are  great,  they  beneath  you  seem" small: 
the  situation  of  the  eye"  makes  or  mars  all.  So  it 
is  with  meu  in  the  time  of  trouble ;  if  their  eyes  be 


fixed  on  earth,  their  enemies  appear  great,  and  God 
that  is  so  high  seems  little.  Let  our  eyes  be  in  hea- 
ven, and  from  thence  look  down  upon  our  enemies, 
God  will  then  appear  mighty,  our  foes  weak  and 
contemptible.  This  was  Jehoshaphal's  confidence ; 
There  is  no  strength  in  us  to  stand  against  this  mul- 
titude ;  "  but  our  eyes  are  upon  thee,"  2  Chron.  xx. 
12.  The  returning  spies  brought  such  bastard  news ; 
We  saw  giants,  the  sons  of  Anak,  compared  with  whom 
we  appeared  like  grasshoppers.  Numb.  xiii.  33 :  alas, 
their  eyes  were  fixed  upon  earth.  Caleb  had  his  eye  in 
heaven,  fixed  on  God's  power  and  promise,  he  appre- 
hends no  terror  at  all.  Joshua  had  a  lion's  eye,  that 
passed  by  all  these  high  giants,  and  their  higher  walls, 
with  an  overlooking  disdain  :  They  are  bread  for  us ; 
fear  them  not,  for  the  Lord  is  with  us.  Numb.  xiv.  9. 

Samaria  had  a  strong  enemy  without,  a  sore  fa- 
mine within  :  a  nobleman,  the  king's  own  favourite, 
looking  on  the  present  miseries,  took  them  to  be 
greater  than  God  could  cure  ;  though  he  should  open 
the  windows  of  heaven,  and  rain  victuals,  2  Kings  vii. 
2.  But  the  prophet  had  his  eyes  in  heaven,  and  knew 
that  the  Lord  would  do  this  without  windows.  The 
flattering  courtier  extolled  the  king,  made  him  the 
mightiest,  Esd.  iv.  12:  his  eyes  were  upon  promotion. 
The  prophet  saw  no  such  matter ;  "  Ye  shall  die  like 
men,"  Psal.  Ixxxii.  7.  Even  when  they  ride  in  cha- 
riots, millions  attending,  guards  defending,  they  are 
but  grasshoppers  and  crickets  to  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
Isa.  xl.  22  :  Domini  terrcB,  yet  but  terra  Domini  As 
Ivloses'  serpent  devoured  the  enchanters,  so  tiod's 
power  swallows  up  all  men's.  We  are  all  weak  ;  in 
this  mighty  Deliverer  be  our  confidence.  When 
little  children  first  Icam  to  go,  feeling  their  own 
feebleness,  they  thrust  out  a  hand  to  the  wall  to  stay 
them.  Our  strength  is  but  like  children's ;  "  Our 
help  is  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  Psal.  cxxiv.  8. 

2.  The  manner,  how  :  eripuil.  It  was  not  a  Iradi- 
dit,  as  Judas  delivered  Jesus  to  the  Jews,  the  Jews  to 
Pilate,  and  Pilate  to  death.  Not  only  a  liberavit,  as 
Peter  was  dehvered,  his  bands  falling  off,  and  the 
prison  doors  ready  for  his  exit.  But  eripuil,  snatched 
him  away,  delivered  him  by  a  holy  kind  of  violence. 
Make  haste,  for  I  can  do  nothing  till  thou  come 
tliither.  Gen.  xix.  22.  Cannot?  Is  any  thing  impossi- 
ble to  God  ?  So  it  is  said  of  Christ,  He  could  do 
there  no  great  works,  Mark  vi.  5.  It  is  not  because 
he  cannot,  but  because  he  will  not ;  he  had  decreed 
the  contrary.     Here  observe  three  things. 

(1.)  Lot  would  not  have  hastened  out  of  Sodom, 
had  not  the  angels  pulled  him  forth  by  the  hand. 
Thus  impossible  is  it  for  us,  to  free  ourselves  from 
the  bondage  of  sin,  unless  the  Lord  draw  us,  John 
vi.  44.  Tlu-ough  many  gradual  motions  we  are  deli- 
vered from  the  wickedness  of  this  world,  as  Lot  was 
from  Sodom.  The  angels  attained  their  end  with 
one  motion,  one  conversion  to  God;  in  the  very  in- 
stant of  tiieir  creation  blessed.  But  man  may  be 
compared  to  a  watch  ;  he  hath  many  gimmals  per- 
taining to  him,  to  move  him ;  like  a  coach,  he  runs 
on  many  wheels.  His  head  or  understanding  is  one 
principal  wheel ;  his  heart  or  will  another,  and  that 
next  the  spring  ;  his  affections  are  the  minutes  ;  his 
memory  the  little  recoUcetive  wheel  that  winds  up 
the  rest;  his  life  is  the  hand  of  the  dial,  which  shows 
how  the  day  goes  with  him ;  his  conscience  is  (he 
striking  clock  :  only  the  spring  that  sets  all  a  work- 
mg,  and  keeps  every  wheel  in  due  motion,  is  the  grace 
of  Christ.  The  string  that  unites  the  whole  watch 
to  the  spring's  government,  is  faith.  There  is  a 
heart  in  tlie  sinner,  a  soul  in  his  heart,  a  mind  in  his 
soul,  faith  in  his  mind,  Christ  in  his  faith.  The  act 
of  his  intellect  gives  him  one  motion,  his  sensitive 
appetite  another,  and  that  contraiy  ;   his  own  will 


Ver.  7. 


SECOND  EPISTLK  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


355 


another  motion,  the  eternal  object  another:  so  was 
Eve  cozened  with  the  forbidden  fruit.  God  that 
hath  the  heart  in  his  hand,  and  turns  it  as  brooks  of 
waters,  gives  it  another  motion.  Some  of  these  be 
regular,  some  retrograde,  some  forward,  others  olj- 
lique.  Oh  what  ado  there  is  to  keep  this  watch  in 
tune  !  It  is  no  hard  matter  to  tune  the  virginals  or 
organs,  though  every  string  and  pipe  be  out  of  frame ; 
but  man  is  a  creature  so  proud,  so  subtle,  so  wedded 
to  his  own  opinion,  and  rolling  upon  so  many  wheels, 
that  to  put  all  his  strings  and  pipes  in  tunc,  to  make 
all  his  motions  concent  in  goodness,  this  is  a  work 
for  the  finger  of  God  only.  A  child  can  sooner  con- 
ceive itself,  than  a  man  can  convert  himself;  or  we 
may  say.  This  man  made  himself,  as  well  as,  that  he 
made  himself  good. 

We  wonder  that,  after  all  the  warnings  by  angels, 
those  ministers  of  Christ,  sinners  will  not  leave  their 
Sodom.  The  citizen  will  not  forbear  his  sacrilege, 
nor  be  afraid  to  cozen  God  to  his  face.  The  malicious 
will  not  cease  practising  mischief,  seducing  to  per- 
verseness,  and  overbearing  goodness  with  a  bluster- 
ing authority.  The  covetous  will  still  love  their 
gain  above  their  salvation.  But  this  is  no  wonder ; 
God  hath  not  yet  taken  Ihcm  by  the  hand.  Till 
then  the  politic  fool,  the  proud  madman,  and  he  that 
makes  his  pew  the  scomcr's  chair,  deriding  Christ 
in  his  gospel  and  ministers,  eaimot  be  humbled. 
The  Lord  snatch  them  out  of  tlieir  filthy  Sodom. 

(2.)  How  loth  even  a  Lot  is  to  leave  Sodom  !  For 
all  his  vexation  by  their  filthiness,  their  violence 
against  the  angels,  the  prediction  of  their  instant 
niin,  and  his  peremptory  charge  of  departure,  yet 
he  prolonged  the  time.  Gen.  xix.  16.  Therefore  the 
angels,  that  thirsted  at  once  after  vengeance  on 
Sodom,  and  Lot's  safety ;  that  knew  God  would  not 
strike  Sodom  till  Lot  was  gone  out,  and  that  Lot 
could  not  be  safe  within  those  walls ;  are  fain  to 
break  off  his  tardy  neglect  with  a  gracious  violence : 
they  caught  him  by  the  hand,  with  his  wife  and 
daughters,  and  brought  them  forth,  and  set  them 
without  the  city.  We  are  so  naturally  affected  to 
Sodom,  and  so  delightfully  linger  in  it,  that  without 
great  mercy  we  should  be  condemned  with  the  world. 
Therefore  is  it  added,  "  the  Lord  being  merciful  unto 
him."  "  I  was  upright,"  saith  David,  "  and  kept 
myself  from  mine  iniquity,"  Psal.  xviii.  23  :  mine 
iniquity;  it  is  likely  that'  he  had  some  special  sin 
of  his  own,  wliereunto  he  was  most  inclined.  Oh 
how  gracious  a  victory  is  this,  I  have  kept  me  from 
mine  iniquity ! 

Alany  being  reproved,  answer,  Alas,  you  must  bear 
with  me  in  this,  it  is  my  fault ;  as  if  every  man  were 
allowed  his  o\vn  fault.  There  is  a  private  Sodom 
within  us,  we  arc  loth  to  part  with  that.  Men  sav 
of  their  sins,  as  Jacob  said  of  his  sons,  Go  all  but 
Benjamin.  Other  vices  we  will  not  so  much  stick 
for,  but,  Oh  that  Ishmael  might  live!  There  is  still 
some  worm  in  the  root  of  the  tree,  that  will  spoil  the 
fruit.  We  extenuate  it ;  Is  it  not  a  little  one  ?  But 
a  little  hair  in  the  pen  makes  a  great  blot  in  the 
paper.  It  is  said  of  the  Lord,  that  he  weighs  the 
mountains  in  scales,  and  the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a 
balance,  Isa.  xl.  12.  We  should  not  only  weigh  the 
mountains,  our  heinous  rebellions,  in  scales ;  but  even 
the  dust,  our  smallest  escapes,  in  the  balance.  Xor 
let  our  wits  strive  to  make  that  good,  which  our  wills 
have  made  necessary,  grieving  to  leave  what  we  love. 
But  when  God  will  take  away  the  delight  of  our 
eyes,  Ezek.  xxiv.  10,  the  pleasant  Sodom  of  our 
affections,  the  sin  that  we  most  joy  in;  then  say  we 
resolutely.  Perish  it,  lest  I  perish  by  it.  Let  us  not 
higgle  and  dodgre  with  God,  as  Pharaoh  did  to  retain 
the  service  of  trie  Hebrews;  nor  linger  upon  a  dis- 


mission of  that  he  calls  for.  But  without  any  demur, 
"  prepare  to  meet  thy  God,  O  Israel,"  Amos  iv.  12: 
save  liim  a  lalxjur  of  fetching,  prevent  him  with  a 
free-will  offering.  Covetousness,  malice,  unclean- 
ness  is  our  Sodom:  how  often  hath  God  called  us 
forth  to  the  Zoar  of  kindness,  charity,  chastity ! 
This  world  is  a  Sodom,  and  by  death  the  Lord  calls 
us  out ;  yet  how  many  delays' doth  mortal  life  make 
ere  it  be  willing  to  go !  "0  my  dove,  that  art  in 
the  clefts  of  the  rock,"  Cant.  ii.  14:  where  we  find  a 
bird's  nest ;  "  O  my  dove,"  that  is  the  bird ;  "  in  the 
clefts  of  the  rock,"  there  is  the  nest.  The  soul  may 
be  compared  to  the  dove ;  the  body  to  the  nest  or 
rock,  wherein  are  many  clefts,  vents,  and  fissures  to 
let  out  life.  Tliis  soul,  like  Noah's  dove,  goes  out 
by  suspiration,  returns  in  by  respiration,  at  last  by 
expiration  departs  for  altogether.  "  Oh  that  I  had 
wings  like  a  dove !  for  then  would  I  fly  away,  and  be 
at  rest,"  Psal.  Iv.  0.  If  our  souls  had  David's  wings, 
we  would  not  desire  to  stay  in  Sodom,  but  mount  up 
[o  Zion;  they  being  borne  up.  as  Lot  was  brought 
out,  by  angels. 

(.3.)  Lot's  guests  were  his  best  friends :  he  had 
entertained  angels,  and  they  now  deliver  him ;  he 
wonhl  have  preserved  them,  and  they  did  preserve 
him.  Where  should  the  angels  lodge,  but  with  Lot  ? 
The  houses  of  holy  men  are  full  of  those  heavenly 
spirits,  though  they  be  not  seen  :  their  protection  is 
comfortable,  though  not  visible.  In  our  tents  they 
pitch  their  tents;  and  when  devils  would  mischief 
us,  they  turned  them  out  of  doors.  It  is  the  honour 
of  God's  saints,  to  he  attended  by  angels  while  they 
live,  and  to  be  exalted  by  angels  when  they  die. 
Lazarus  was  "  carried  by  angels  into  Abraham's 
bosom,"  Luke  xvi.  22.  As  in  a  family,  the  greater 
children  carry  the  less ;  so  God  hath  charged  his 
elder  sons,  the  angels,  to  bear  up  our  souls. 

Thus  was  Lot  recjuited  for  his  kindness.  Lodge 
strangers,  for  thereby  some  have  entertained  angels, 
Heb.  xiii.  2.  Never  did  man  yet  lose  by  his  charity : 
the  unthankful  world  may  fail  in  due  estimation,  but 
God  will  regard  it,  and  reward  it.  While  Cornelius 
is  doling  out  his  alms  on  earth,  the  Lord  sends  down 
to  him  an  angel  from  heaven.  Acts  x.  .3.  In  charit- 
able succour  exlmdere  manum  is  ostendere  humamim. 
But  if  in  this  we  be  not  so  good  as  Lot,  to  give,  let 
us  not  be  so  bad  as  Sodom,  to  take  away.  Now  he 
that  turned  Sodom  to  ashes,  and  delivered  Lot,  turn 
our  sins  to  ashes,  and  deliver  us. 

3.  The  time,  when:  the  fire  was  even  a  kindling, 
and  that  sulphureous  deluge  prepared  in  the  clouds; 
for  the  interim  was  small  betwixt  Lot's  deliverance 
and  Sodom's  vengeanc-e.  He  was  "  a  firebrand 
plucked  out  of  the  burning,"  Amos  iv.  11  ;  the  pro- 
phet alluding  to  Lot,  and  naming  this  very  over- 
throw. As  when  a  heap  of  seditious  books  are  burn- 
ing, and  one  good  book  ready  to  miscarry  with  the 
rest,  is  snatched  by  some  stander-by  out  of  the  fire 
and  saved.  So  near  it  came  to  him,  yet  did  not  touch 
him  ;  that  his  heart  might  be  sensible,  lioth  of  a  holy 
fear  of  the  judgment,  and  a  thankful  joy  for  his 
escaping.  Indeed  the  angels  say  to  him,  "  Escape 
for  thy  life,  lest  thou  be  consumed,"  Gen.  xix.  I/; 
not  that  God  meant  to  hurt  him,  but  to  terrify  him. 

It  is  God's  delight,  in  the  extremity  of  evil  to  be  a 
Deliverer.  When  armies  have  besieged  his  servants, 
and  they  have  no  power  to  defend  themselves,  then 
he  musters  up  his  angels,  2  Kings  vi.  1/.  Pharaoh 
jiursues  the  ileparted  Israelites  :  he  had  men  of  Avar, 
chariots,  and  horses;  they  were  weak,  unarmed  peo- 
jde.  Therefore  the  Egyptians  gave  themselves  the 
victory  beforehand,  and  the  Israelites  gave  themclves 
for  dead,  and  are  already  talking  of  their  graves,  Exod. 
xiv.  n.     The  sea  was  before  them,  their  enemies  be- 


35G 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


hind  them  ;  the  \diccls  ratlling,  (he  waves  roaring  : 
as  the  Britons  once  complained  to  the  Romans ; 
Barbari  ad  mare  tws  repelluni,  mare  ad  Barbaroa  :  liinc 
vel  jugulamur,  vel  obmergimur  ■•  (Tacitus.)  the  sword, 
or  the  deej) ;  tliey  knew  not  which  had  less  mercy. 
Yea,  even  they  that  had  seen  the  wonders  past, 
and  the  pillar  pi-esenf,  do  now  more  fear  Egypt 
than  believe  God.  Their  unbelief  matured  the 
danger  ;  how  could  the  Lord  forbear  them  ?  Surely 
his  patience  was  no  less  miracle  than  his  deliverance. 
Yet  even  then  he  delivered  them ;  and  for  assurance 
of  it,  he  removes  the  cloud  that  was  first  before 
them,  and  sets  it  betwixt  Egypt  and  Israel.  As  if  he 
should  say,  They  shall  first  overcome  me,  before 
they  shall  touch  thee.  Now  wlien  they  saw  the 
pillar  remove  behind  them,  and  the  sea  remove  be- 
fore them,  who  can  tell,  whether  wonder  should  not 
exceed  fear  ?  That  the  deep  should  become  their 
protection,  and  the  sea  be  made  a  gallery  or  thorough- 
fare !  no  mortal  eye  before  it  ever  beheld  such  a 
path.     Yet  thus  did  the  Lord  deliver  them. 

Take  another  instance.  Consider  Joseph  cast  into 
a  ditch  :  he  looked  for  brothers,  and  behold  butchers; 
he  came  to  inquire  of  their  health,  and  may  not  re- 
turn the  news  of  his  own  misery.  Hardly  are  they 
restrained  from  cutting  his  throat  ;  but  stripping 
him  naked,  at  least  they  will  cast  him  into  a  deep 
hole,  as  it  were  alive  into  his  grave,  Gen.  xxxvii.  24. 
Thus  with  less  mercy  than  is  found  in  the  savagest 
robbers,  they  purpose  to  torment  him  with  a  linger- 
ing death ;  and  not  only  to  kill  him,  bvit  do  w-iiat 
they  can  to  kill  their  father  in  him.  He,  like  a 
poor  suppliant,  bowing  his  bare  knees  to  them  he 
dreamed  should  bow  to  him,  with  passionate  prayers 
and  tears,  imploreth  mercy ;  beseeching  them  by 
the  dear  name  of  brotherhood,  by  their  profession  of 
one  God,  for  their  father's  sake,  for  their  own  souls' 
sake,  not  to  take  away  his  life.  But  what  can  the 
nearness  of  fraternity  prevail,  where  humanity  is 
lost  ?  'Who  could  think  of  so  innocent  a  youth, 
naked  and  desolate,  in  a  drj-  and  deep  pit,  crj'ing  for 
pity,  and  not  crj-  for  company  ?  But  cast  down  he 
is,  and  they  sit  down  to  eat  his  provision  unmoved  ; 
never  thinking  by  their  own  hunger,  what  it  was  for 
their  poor  brother  to  be  famished  to  death.  Here 
was  an  extremitj';  who  shall  now  deliver  Joseph? 
The  Lord  steps  in  with  a  ransom  in  a  strange  hand. 
Ishmael  persecuted  Isaac,  yet  the  seed  of  Ishmael 
shall  redeem  the  seed  of  Isaac.  Money  shall  buy 
him  to  the  Midianites,  and  from  the  Midianites  to 
the  Egyptians.  Little  did  they  think,  that  that 
Joseph  whom  they  left  a  poor  slave  to  the  Midian- 
ites, tliey  should  find  the  same  a  great  lord  among 
the  Egyptians.  God  doth  ever  raise  up  some  secret 
favourers  of  his  children,  among  his  most  malicious 
enemies.  Reuben  saves  him  from  the  sword,  Judah 
from  the  pit.  How  happily  bestowed  was  this  little 
mercy!  If  Joseph  had  died  for  hunger  in  the  pit, 
Jacob,  Judah,  and  all. had  died  for  hunger  in  Canaan. 
How  near  was  his  soul  unto  death  !  how  present  and 
marvellous  was  God's  deliverance  ! 

Take  one  instance  more.  Moses  is  bom  in  the 
time  of  Pharaoh's  bloody  decree,  that  all  the  male 
children  of  the  Hebrews  should  be  cast  into  the 
river  and  drowned,  Exod.  i.  22.  His  mother,  during 
all  her  pregnancy,  could  not  but  fear  a  son.  She  liath 
him.  Sees  liim,  and  now  thinks  of  his  birth  and  death 
at  once.  To  consider  that  the  executioner's  hand 
must  succeed  the  midwife's,  makes  her  second  throes 
more  grievous  than  her  first.  In  other  mothers,  the 
veiy  sight  of  a  new-born  son  works  a  forgetfulness 
of  the  former  anguish  in  travail,  John  xvi.  21.  But 
their  remedy  is  her  sorrow;  that  which  mitigates 
f  lieir  pains  aggravates  hers.    St  ill  she  fearfuUv  looks 


when  some  fierce  Egyptian  should  come  m,  to  snatch 
the  infant  from  her  bosom,  and  cast  it  into  the  river. 
Therefore  when  she  could  no  longer  conceal  in  her 
womb,  she  hides  in  her  house  ;  afraid,  lest  every  ciy 
of  the  child  should  guide  the  executioner  to  his 
cradle.  But  now  his  age  and  hiding  being  a  quarter 
old,  the  fearful  parents  adventure  the  child's  life  to 
save  their  own.  In  a  reeden  ark  she  puts  him 
among  tlie  bulrushes  by  the  river's  brink,  Exod.  ii. 
3 ;  tnisting  him  to  the  mercy  of  the  waves,  wild 
beasts,  and  ravenous  fowls,  and  (which  was  more 
merciless  than  all)  an  Egyptian  passenger.  Thus 
exposed,  she  sets  her  daughter  to  watch  her  son : 
the  mother  cannot  forbear  to  love  whom  she  is  for- 
bidden to  keep.  But  how  shall  the  poor  babe  escape; 
feeble,  forlorn,  alone  sprawling  upon  the  waves  ? 
what,  but  inevitable  death  ?  Yes,  there  is  a  God  that 
looks  upon  him,  and  in  this  pinch  will  deliver  him. 
No  flood,  no  beast,  no  instrument  of  Pharaoh's  cruelty 
shall  touch  him.  No  friend,  not  his  own  mother, 
dares  own  him  j  now  steps  in  his  Deliverer,  and 
challengeth  his  tuition.  He  is  mine.  He  was  not 
safer  in  the  midst  of  the  tents  of  Israel,  a  prince 
guarded  with  so  many  thousands,  than  now.  The 
tyrant's  daughter  must  come  forth  to  bathe,  the  ark 
olTers  itself  to  her  eye,  the  cry  of  the  infant  to  her 
car,  compassion  leaps  to  her  heart  ;  his  tears  and 
beauty  were  a  prevailing  oratoiy.  But  is  this  all?  and 
hath  the  Lord  done  ?  No,  Moses  must  have  a  nurse  ; 
and  the  girl  is  ready  to  fetch  his  own  mother;  and  who 
so  fit  to  be  a  nurse  as  a  mother  ?  She  coidd  not  keep 
him  before  without  danger,  now  she  receives  him  by 
authority.  She  would  have  given  all  she  was  worth  to 
save  him,  and  now  she  hath  wages  to  nurse  him.  She 
doth  but  change  the  name  of  mother  into  nurse,  and  she 
hath  her  son  without  fear,  not  without  great  reward. 
Here  was  a  deliverance,  and  that  in  season ;  oh  how 
should  it  fix  our  confidence  in  so  gracious  a  Preserver  ! 
The  wicked  say,  "  God  hath  forsaken  him  :  persecute 
and  take  him  ;  for  there  is  none  to  deliver  him," 
Psal.  Ixxi.  II.  None;  thus  they  conclude,  but  we 
find  the  contraiy.  As  Apelles,  striving  to  paint  a 
drop  of  foam  falling  from  a  horse's  moutn,  after  long 
study  how  to  express  it,  even  despairing  lets  his 
pencil  fall,  and  that  fall  did  it.  What  art  could  not  do, 
chance  accomplished.  When  we  see  no  means  how  to 
be  delivered,  no  hope  of  extrication,  or  attaining  our 
wished  peace,  even  ready  to  despair,  the  Lord  knows 
how  to  save  us. 

4.  The  place  was  Zoar :  wherein  consider  three 
circumstances  ;  his  journey  to  Zoar,  his  safety  in  Zoar, 
and  Zoar's  safety  by  him.  For  howsoever  Zoar  prc- 
ser\cd  Lot,  yet  more  properly  Lot  preserved  Zoar. 

(I.)  For  his  journey:  believing  the  judgment,  he 
desires  a  place  of  refuge  ;  God  appoints  him  one,  he 
makes  choice  of  another.  Go  to  the  mountain,  saith 
the  Lord:  Let  me  flee  to  Zoar,  saith  Lot.  Some 
say,  this  was  done  in  a  mystery  :  the  mountain  is 
not  safe,  but  Zoar  in  the  valley  ;  a  low  and  humble 
life  hath  more  security  than  high  places.  (Greg.) 
The  proud,  like  Capernaum,  lift  up  themselves  to 
heaven,  but  God  shall  depress  them  to  hell,  Matt, 
xi.  2.3.  He  refused  the  mountain,  because  of  the 
craggy  rocks,  such  as  arc  now  to  be  seen  in  the  hills 
of  Engedi.  But  more  properly  he  prcferrcth  Zoar 
for  the  vicinity  ;  it  was  nearer  to  him,  and  he  might 
with  more  speed  and  less  danger  reach  it  than  the 
mo\uitain.  And  such  was  his  charitable  heart,  that 
although  he  could  not  redeem  the  rest,  yet  he  would 
entreat  for  that.  Therefore  he  uscth  an  argument 
of  the  smallness  ;  as  being  less  populous,  it  might  be 
less  impious. 

AVell,  Zoar  is  granted  him,  but  with  this  double 
caution,  Tarry  not  in  the  plain,  look  not  behind  thee. 


Ver.  7. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETEB. 


357 


For  the  former,  the  ver>'  skirts  ami  suburbs  of  Sodom, 
yen,  the  very  smell  of  Sodom,  must  not  cleave  to  Lot, 
nor  he  to  it.  If  we  be  departed  from  Babylon,  let 
not  a  rag  or  a  relic  of  superstition  abide  with  us. 
What  matters  it,  whether  a  man  be  slain  with  a  great 
bullet,  or  with  a  small  shot  ?  The  devil  says,  like 
Pharaoh,  Go  out  of  Egypt,  but  not  far;  be  within 
call.  But  Moses  separates  Israel  from  Korah ; 
"  Depart  from  the  tents  of  these  wicked  men,  and 
touch  nothing  of  theirs,"  Numb.  xvi.  26 :  we  cannot 
be  too  far  off  from  such  company.  It  is  sorrj'  com- 
fort, to  escape  in  Sodom  and  perish  in  the  plain  : 
to  the  terror  and  conviction  of  them,  that  though 
they  openly  profess  not  love  to  Rome,  yet  still  have 
an  itch  of  popery  upon  them.  A  man  cannot  be  too 
earnest  of  neaven  ;  that  kingdom  is  gotten  with  vio- 
lence, not  with  indifference.  He  that  loves  little, 
shall  have  little  ;  and  he  may  love  so  little,  as  to  liave 
never  a  whit.  Many  fear  to  be  too  hot,  but  are  not 
sensible  of  their  own  coldness.  We  say  conmionly. 
Too  much  heat  annoys,  but  too  much  cold  destroys. 
Religion,  of  all  tempers,  in  these  days  does  not  com- 
plain of  heat.  Oh  that  as  the  advanced  sun  heats 
the  air,  so  our  hearts  were  inflamed  with  zeal  and 
love  by  that  blessed  Sun  of  righteousness  and  sal- 
vation ! 

For  the  other,  look  not  behind  thee :  not  because 
it  was  dangerous  to  look  into  the  infected  air;  but, 
I.  To  note  the  indignity  of  the  place,  not  worthy  to 
be  looked  on  by  an  honest  eye.  2.  To  avoid  curiosity, 
that  Lot  might  not  pry  too  narrowly  into  God's  judg- 
ments. 3.  For  fear  the  horror  of  the  sight  should 
have  astonished  him,  or  wrung  out  his  commiseration. 
4.  For  the  better  speed,  that  there  might  be  no  stay 
in  his  passage ;  as  the  apostles  were  forbidden  the 
interruption  of  a  salute.  5.  That  his  love  might  be 
quite  lost  to  Sodom ;  no  more  to  think  of  the  wealth 
and  pleasure  he  found  in  such  an  ungracious  city.  6. 
Lastly,  to  make  trial  of  his  faith  and  obedience,  as 
God  proved  Adam  in  the  prohibited  fruit.  Small 
precepts  from  God  are  strong  bonds:  obedience  is  as 
well  tied  and  tried,  and  disobedience  as  well  punished, 
in  a  little  as  in  much.  Ananias  nimmed  a  little,  he 
thought  the  Holy  Ghost  had  no  need  of  it,  or  could 
not  miss  it.  But  God  credits  us  first  with  less  things, 
as  men  prove  vessels  with  water  before  they  trust 
them  witii  wine. 

The  same  charge  was  given  to  his  wife,  which  she 
obeyed  not ;  in  her  flight  she  must  needs  turn  an  eye 
upon  Sodom.  Perhaps  she  believed  not  that  it  should 
be  burned,  or  pitied  and  lamented  in  her  heart  that 
such  a  populous  city  should  be  burned,  or  curiously 
desired  to  see  it  burning ;  or  so  loved  the  pleasures  of 
her  country,  that  she  could  not  choose  but  give  it  a 
look,  and  as  it  were  bid  it  farewell.  But  for  this  she 
was  turned  into  a  monument  of  disobedience,  a  pillar 
of  salt.  The  Hebrews  say,  because  she  refused  to 
bring  salt  to  the  guests  the  day  before :  this  is  their 
dream.  But  that  opinion  had  need  of  salt,  to  keep  it 
from  stinking.  Some  make  it  an  allegoiy  :  They 
lli.it  divert  their  affections  from  spiritual  to  sensual 
things,  become  senseless  pillars.  Nor  is  it  said  to 
lie  of  salt  only  in  respect  of  the  duration,  as  an  ever- 
lasting covenant  is  called,  "a  covenant  of  salt,"  Numb, 
xviii.  19;  for  salt  hath  a  preserving  properly,  to  keep 
things  from  putrifying,  decaying,  and  corrupting. 
But  she  was  turned  into  a  material  salty  pillar. 
Josephus  saith  it  remained  in  his  time ;  others,  tliat 
it  is  to  last  unto  the  day  of  judgment.  (Tharg.  Hie- 
rosolymit.)  Not  that  her  soul  was  thus  meta- 
morphosed, but  her  body.  And  though  she  suffered 
thus  temporally  in  her  flesh,  yet  her  spirit  might  find 
mercy  and  peace  fir  ever. 

But  the  use  of  this  monument  is  to  scascn  the 


faithful.  (August.)  "  Remember  Lot's  wife,"  Luke 
xvii.  32.  Now  what  did  it  avail  her  to  escape  turn- 
ing into  ashes  in  Sodom,  who  is  turned  into  a  pillar 
of  salt  in  the  plain  ?  One  would  think  it  a  small  fault 
to  look  back,  yet  even  this  cannot  the  Lord  endure. 
To  sin  in  a  small  thing,  is  no  small  sin.  Being  so 
far  out  of  that  cursed  eity,  she  might  now  think  her- 
self safe,  and  no  danger  in  looking  behind.  But  if 
we  provoke  the  Lord,  he  can  as  well  meet  with  us 
out  of  Sodom.  There  is  no  place  safe  to  sin,  none 
dangerous  to  obedience  :  faith,  and  obser^'ance  of 
God's  will,  shall  secure  us  even  in  Sodom. 

(2.)  Thus  for  his  journey  loZoar,  now  for  his  safety 
in  it.  Being  come  thither,  he  might  well  wonder  at 
the  stay  of  his  wife,  for  in  his  flight  he  durst  not  look 
back  to  call  her.  Returning  to  seek  her,  he  finds 
this  alteration  with  wonder  and  sorrow.  Sodom  is 
turned  to  a  heap  of  sulphur,  and  she  to  a  heap  of  salt. 
This  change  he  little  expected  ;  the  loss  of  his  wife 
touched  him  nearer  than  the  loss  of  all  Sodom.  Yet 
he  finds  salt  instead  of  flesh,  a  pillar  instead  of  a 
wife.  He  that  saved  a  whole  city,  could  not  save  his 
own  spouse.  Here  was  a  sharp  misery  clapped  on 
the  heels  of  a  sweet  mercy.  A\  hen  God  delivers  us 
from  destruction,  he  doth  not  secure  us  from  all  afflic- 
tion. Though  we  be  not  condemned  with  the  world, 
yet  we  may  be  chastened  in  the  world,  1  Cor.  xi.  32. 

Lot  saved  himself,  yet  he  lost  his  allies,  lost  his 
flocks  and  herds,  lost  his  gold  and  riches,  lost  his 
habitation,  and  now  for  conclusion  lost  his  wife  ;  all 
bitter  crosses.  Without  some  sauce  of  sorrow,  all 
worldly  delights  are  but  like  delicate  meat  to  a  man 
that  hath  lost  his  taste.  Let  us  give  God  leave  to 
scourge  us,  so  long  as  he  doth  save  us.  Our  deliver- 
ance from  the  fire  of  hell  is  cause  enough  to  make  us 
thankful,  though  the  trifles  we  delight  in  be  taken 
from  us.  Shall  Lot  say,  I  was  rich,  I  am  now^  un- 
done; and  so  be  dejected  with  sullen  grief?  No; 
but,  I  was  in  danger  of  fire  and  brimstone,  I  am  now 
escaped,  I  will  therefore  lift  up  my  heart  with  thank- 
ful joy.  If  God  do  not  answer  us  in  evety  thing,  shall 
we  take  pleasure  in  nothing?  Shall  we  slight  all  his 
favours,  because  in  one  thing  he  crosseth  us  ?  whereas 
his  least  mercy  is  beyond  our  best  merit.  Lord,  take 
away  what  thou  pleasest,  for  thy  glory  and  my  good, 
so  long  as  thou  savest  me  fi'om  the  fire  of  hell,  and 
thy  everlasting  wrath. 

Zoar  shall  be  honoured  with  Lot's  preservation,  a 
little  one,  the  least  of  all  those  opulent  cities  :  as 
Bethlehem,  though  "little  among  the  thousands  of 
Judah,"  honoured  with  the  birth  of  God's  Son,Mieah 
V.  2.  This  little  city  was  safe,  when  great  Sodom 
was  too  hot  for  him.  The  city  which  God  keeps, 
Psal.  cxxvii.  1,  is  strong  be  it  never  so  small:  if  lie 
forsake  it,  the  thickest  walls  and  hugest  turrets  are 
weaker  than  paper.  The  Lord  promiscth  to  be  "a 
wall  of  fire  round  about"  his  elect,  Zeeh.  ii.  5:  no 
sealade,  no  undermining  shall  blow  it  up ;  it  shall 
both  protect  them,  and  consume  their  enemies.  The 
good  man  sleeps  more  securely  in  his  tent,  than  the 
sinner  in  his  barricadoed  fortification.  All  the 
springs  and  rivers  of  the  plain,  could  not  quench 
Sodom's  raging  fiiv  :  one  drop  of  Lot's  faith  and  ho- 
liness in  Zoar  keeps  it  from  kindling.  How  poor  and 
slender  soever  our  cottage  be,  let  us  set  our  prayers 
as  a  guard  without,  and  our  faith  as  a  lock  within : 
the  sevenfold  walls  of  Babylon  were  not  so  strong. 
This  is,  more  truly  than  was  said  of  those  giants, 
Deut.  i.  28,  to  have  a  city  walled  up  to  heaven.  Let 
prayer  be  the  key  to  oj'cn  the  morning,  and  prayer 
the  bar  to  shut  up  the  evening.  Let  us  in  every 
place  trust  upon  God's  jirovidcnce,  and  ever)-  place 
shall  be  s:ifer  to  us  than  was  Paradise.  Be  our  faith 
upright  with  Lot,  and  in  the  last  day,  when   the 


358 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


whole  world  shall  burn  with  /lames  as  Sodom  once 
did,  we  shall  find  a  Zoar,  the  bosom  of  Jesus  Christ. 

(3.)  Lastly,  Lot  was  not  only  delivered  in  Zoar, 
but  Zoar  was  delivered  for  Lot.  "  I  will  not  over- 
throw this  eity,  for  the  which  thou  hast  spoken," 
Gen.  xix.  '21.  As  Lot  in  the  danger  of  fire,  so  Paul 
in  the  danger  of  water.  Acts  xxvii.  24 ;  in  the  rage 
of  both  the  elements,  God  doth  not  only  give  his 
their  deliverance,  but  he  also  gives  others  for  their 
salccs  into  the  grant.  A  wicked  man  hath  the  feet 
of  a  wolf,  whatsoever  he  treads  on  never  prospers 
after.  But  a  whole  family,  a  whole  kingdom,  shall 
fare  the  better  for  one  Joseph ;  his  very  presence 
procures  a  common  blessing,  wheresoever  he  goes. 
Zoar  might  haply  be  as  bad  as  Sodom,  but  here  was 
the  diflerence,  it  had  a  Lot  within,  Sodora  had  none. 

But  for  God's  dear  children  intermingled  with  the 
world,  it  could  not  stand.  The  wicked  persecute 
them,  for  whose  sake  tiiey  are  forborne  ;  they  owe 
their  lives  to  those  few  Lots  whom  they  contemn. 
Potiphar  was  angry  with  that  Joseph  who  made 
him  prosper.  The  most  contemptible  man  in  the 
people's  opinion,  is  he  that  procures  their  peace  and 
toleration.  Ahab's  sin  brought  the  famine,  Elijah's 
prayer  brought  rain,  yet  Ahab  tells  Elijah,  'Thou 
troublest  Israel,  1  Kings  xviii.  1/.  Cease,  ye  ma- 
licious sinners,  to  vex  the  religious :  you  are  be- 
holden to  them  for  your  very  breath :  if  they  were 
taken  away,  you  should  be  tormented  before  your 
time.  As  Christ  himself  was  the  Day-star  to  en- 
lighten, not  the  dog-star  to  bum ;  and  Paul  no  pesti- 
lent fellow  to  sow  sedition,  but  an  instrument  of 
blessedness  and  salvation ;  so  the  elect  are  good,  not 
malignant  stars.  Yet  still  they  speed  at  the  world's 
hands  as  did  their  Master  before  them  :  Christ  heal- 
ed their  diseases,  fed  their  bodies  and  souls,  every 
way  did  them  good ;  yet  they  crucified  him ;  and  in 
killing  him  they  did  oiler  to  sink  the  only  ship  that 
might  save  them.  As  the  sunbeams  shining  on  the 
eartli  do  not  only  heat  that  solid  body,  but  by  re- 
flection also  warm  the  region  of  the  air  conterminate 
to  it ;  so  the  mercy  of  God  lighting  on  a  Christian's 
heart,  not  only  heats  that  with  inward  comfort,  but 
makes  it  rellect  back  consolation  to  others. 

The  faithful  pray  fur  the  pardon  of  men's  sins,  for 
grace  and  favour  to  their  souls,  and  no  good  comes 
without  their  procurement ;  yet  the  world  cannot 
abide  them.  Let  the  rich  aldermen  thank  these, 
that  they  have  leisure  to  tell  their  gold;  that  the 
worldling  builds  houses  and  takes  rents ;  that  the 
city  can  feast  with  the  ruins  of  the  church,  and  miss 
of  Belshazzar's  sudden  sauce ;  (for  I  am  persuaded, 
they  get  enough  from  the  temples  to  maintain  their 
halls;)  even  in  this  they  are  forborne,  because  there 
be  Lots  among  them.  What  doth  a  poor  man  find 
before  them,  but  reproach  and  disdain?  He  that  is 
not  rich,  -with  these  men  is  neither  wise  nor  good : 
only  by  their  wealth  they  value  themselves,  and  only 
by  their  wealth,  as  camels  by  their  burdens,  be  they 
valued. 

London,  bless  thy  Lots,  and  God  for  them.  Thine 
honour  had  long  since  been  laid  in  the  dust,  thine 
Oppressions  become  a  hissing  to  all  nations,  and 
nothing  had  been  left  of  thee  but  a  stinking  memory, 
but  for  these.  The  subject  of  thy  derision,  hath 
been  the  means  of  thy  preservation  ;  and  those  eyes 
have  often  been  lifted  up  to  heaven  for  thee  in 
prayer,  upon  whom  thou  wouldst  never  cast  an  eye 
of  charity.  When  thou  wast  sick,  they  humbled 
their  soul  with  fasting,  and  mourned,  as  one  weepcth 
for  his  mother,  Psal.  xxxv.  1.3,  14:  thus  do  they  for 
thee.  But  in  their  adversity  thou  rcjoieest,"  and 
tearcst  them  without  ceasing,  vcr.  15 :  thus  dost 
thou  for  them.     'While  the  lascivious  cmbraceth  his 


harlot,  the  luxurious  his  riot,  the  covetous  his  money, 
the  malicious  his  revenge ;  the  fire  of  judgment 
would  Hash  in  their  fiices,  and  the  fire  of  torment 
swallow  up  their  souls,  but  for  God's  elected,  their 
despised,  Lots.  His  mercy  increase  the  number  of 
them,  and  our  love  to  them,  and  our  endeavour  to  be 
like  them,  that  as  we  are  spared  for  them,  we  may 
be  crowned  with  them  in  the  day  of  Christ. 

"  Delivered  just  Lot."  I  come  to  consider  his 
thraldom,  and  the  prisoner,  described,  first,  by  his 
grace,  a  just  man.  Wherein  three  points  must  be 
examined.  1.  What  this  justice  is.  2.  In  what  re- 
spects a  man  may  be  called  just.  3.  The  exceptions 
against  his  justice. 

First,  what  is  justice.  There  is  an  uncreated 
justice,  which  cannot  be  in  man,  for  he  is  finite,  and 
this  is  infinite.  "  Righteous  art  thou,  O  Lord,"  Psal. 
cxix.  137 :  and,  "  The  Lord  is  righteous  in  all  his 
ways,"  Psal.  cxlv.  1/.  A  man  is  one  thing,  and  his 
righteousness  is  another ;  but  God  and  his  righteous- 
ness is  all  one  :  therefore  it  is  as  imix)ssible  for  man 
to  be  thus  righteous,  as  it  is  for  him  to  be  God  :  this 
is  proper  to  the  Deity.  Created  justice  is  either 
legal  or  evangelical. 

Legal  righteousness  is  of  three  sorts.  1.  Perfect, 
which  consists  in  an  absolute  completion  of  the  law  : 
this  is  lost  beyond  all  recoveiy.  But  is  it  not  re- 
stored by  grace  ?  No,  for  our  sanctification  is  but  in 
]iart:  as  a  child  is  a  perfect  man,  in  all  the  parts  of 
;i  man,  but  not  in  the  quantity  of  every  part.  But 
Rome  saith,  the  Virgin  was  righteous,  for  she  sinned 
not :  her  life  was  free  from  sin  actual,  her  conception 
from  sin  original.  This  is  false,  for  if  she  were  no 
sinner  she  needed  no  Saviour ;  and  she  died  :  now  if 
she  had  not  sinned,  in  justice  she  should  not  have  died. 
2.  Civil,  which  consists  in  an  outward  deportment 
conformable  to  the  law:  when  a  man  professetli  re- 
ligion, to  answer  the  first  table ;  and  refrains  from 
public  and  visible  sins,  to  answer  the  second.  But 
in  this  the  Pharisees  went  beyond  us,  yet  they  came 
short  of  heaven.  Matt.  v.  20.  Too  many  content 
themselves  with  this  rotten  and  heartless  rigliteous- 
ness ;  but  if  they  have  no  better,  tliey  shall  get  into 
heaven  when  the  Pharisees  come  out  of  hell.  3. 
Internal,  when  n  man  by  repentance  after  sin,  and 
by  endeavour  after  repentance,  doth  inwardly  seiTe 
God.  That  this  righteousness,  legally  considered, 
should  justify  us,  is  with  Rome  to  abuse  God's 
justice,  and  to  encroach  upon  his  mercy.  This  may 
justify  our  faith,  it  cannot  justify  us.  Our  works  de- 
serve nothing;  it  is  only  in  Christ  that  they  are  ac- 
cepted, and  only  for  Christ  that  they  are  rewarded. 

Evangelical  righteousness  is  that  which  is  revealed 
in  the  gosjiel ;  and  should  never  have  been  revealed, 
if  that  of  the  law  could  have  saved  us.  But  it  could 
not;  not  through  its  own  defect,  but  our  default. 
This  is  to  be  liad  in  Christ  only;  which,  as  he  is 
Mediator,  consisted  in  the  purity  of  his  nature,  which 
is  separate  from  sin;  and  in  the  perfection  of  his 
obedience,  which  is  satisfactory  for  sin.  From  so 
pure  a  nature  proceeded  so  i)erfeet  an  obedience  :  no 
original  sin  touching  his  conception,  no  actual  stain- 
ing his  life.  There  is  none  perfectly  righteous  but 
he,  Rom.  iii.  10:  not  one  that  is,  not  one  that  was, 
not  one  that  is  to  come ;  but  only  he  that  is,  and 
that  was,  and  that  is  to  come.  This  in  him  was 
active  and  passive :  for  us  he  suflered,  what  we 
sliould  have  suflered,  and  suffered  not ;  for  us  he  did, 
what  we  should  have  done,  and  performed  not. 

Thus  we  have  found  out  the  righteousness  that 
makes  a  man  just ;  now  let  us  see  how  Lot  became 
just,  or  we  are  justified  by  it.  Tliis  is  done  by  im- 
putation. "  He  hath  made  him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who 
knew  no  sin  ;  that  we  might  be  made  the  riglileous- 


Ver.  7. 


SECOND  EPTSTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


359 


ness  of  God  in  him,"  2  Cor.  v.  21.  What  can  be 
plainer  ?  Christ  was  a  sinner  only  by  tlie  imputa- 
tion of  our  sins,  wc  are  just  only  by  the  imputation 
of  his  righteousness.  "  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law 
for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  bclievcth,"  Rom. 
X.  4.  Not  an  abrogater  of  the  ceremonial,  but  a  ful- 
tilkr  of  the  law  moral.  A  fulfiUcr,  for  whom  ?  for 
all  thorn  that  believe.  So  Christ  by  doing,  and  wc 
by  believing,  fulfil  the  law;  therefore  are  righteous. 
But  can  one  man  be  wise  by  another's  wisdom  ? 
rich,  or  strong,  or  valiant,  by  the  wealth,  power,  or 
courage  of  another?  We  have  no  right  in  another's 
wisdom  or  valour,  but  we  have  a  right  and  propriety 
in  Christ's  justice.  One  man's  wisdom  cannot  be 
nnotlicr's,  because  they  are  two  distinct  persons  :  but 
Christ  and  the  believer  make  but  one  mystical  body; 
so  his  righteousness  is  as  truly  his  members',  as  the 
wisdom  in  the  head  belongs  to  the  whole  body.  But 
it  is  an  abomination  to  the  Lord,  to  justify  the  wicked, 
Prov.  xvii.  15.  Why,  then,  will  he  do  it  himself? 
No,  but  he  first  makes  a  man  just,  and  then  so  ac- 
counts him.  He  is  indeed  said  to  justify-  the  ungod- 
ly, Rom.  iv.  5  ;  that  is,  the  man  who  was  ungodly 
before,  but  is  nqt  so  after.  Thus  was  Christ  made  a 
sinner  by  the  reputation  of  our  sins,  and  we  made 
just  by  the  imputation  of  his  righteousness.  And  as 
he  that  knew  no  sin  in  himself,  undertaking  for  us, 
suffered  death  ;  so  we  that  had  no  justice  of  our  own, 
apprehending  his  righteousness,  shall  enjoy  ever- 
lasting life. 

But  how  is  this  justice  imputed  to  us  ?  By  our 
faith.  "  As  many  as  received  him,  to  them  gave  he 
power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that 
believe  on  his  name,"  John  i.  12.  There  is  a  receiv- 
ing :  w'hat  is  that  ?  It  is  expressly  said,  believing. 
Man  finding  himself  naked,  by  this  hand  reacheth 
that  glorious  robe,  which  is  held  out  to  him.  This 
doth  not  justify  cfieetively,  working  an  habitual 
justice  in  us,  nor  materially,  as  though  faith  itself 
were  our  justification;  but  objectively,  as  it  appre- 
hendeth  Christ,  and  instrumentally,  as  it  instrument- 
ally  applicth  his  righteousness.  Neither  is  it  an 
opinion,  which  is  an  uncertainty  in  the  judgment ; 
nor  a  suspicion,  which  is  an  uncertainty  in  the  will  ; 
nor  a  science,  for  that  is  only  by  the  demonstration 
of  reason  :  neither  love,  nor  hope.  Love  can  extend 
the  passions  of  the  heart  to  the  thing  loved,  yet  can- 
not apprehend  Christ  :  he  must  be  apprehended  be- 
fore he  be  loved.  The  office  of  hope  is  to  wait ;  it 
waits  for  salvation,  but  properly  it  apprehends  it  not. 
It  is  first  believed,  then  expected.  It  is  good  both 
to  trust  and  to  wait  for  the  salvation  of  the  Lord, 
Lam.  iii.  26.  To  trust  that  it  will  assuredly  come, 
this  is  the  action  of  faith;  (o  wait  until  it  clo  come, 
this  is  the  action  of  hope.  Faith  is  a  taking  hand, 
and  love  is  a  giving  hand :  faith  takes  hold  on  Christ, 
love  gives  forth  tokens  of  faith  to  God  and  man : 
hope  is  the  eye,  that  looks  out  for  the  good  things 
promised.  As  faith  is  the  hand  of  the  soul,  so  love 
is  the  hand  of  faith,  and  hope  is  the  eye  of  both. 
Of  faith,  love  is  the  hand  wliereby  it  worketh,  and 
hope  the  eye  whereby  it  waiteth.  Thus  faith  work- 
eth by  love,  waiteth  by  hope,  but  believeth  by  itself. 
The  point  of  our  justification  being  thus  cleared,  let 
me  touch  at  two  useful  meditations  from  it :  there  is 
in  it  matter  of  humiliation,  of  consolation. 

1.  It  serves  to  humble  us.  How  foul  was  our  na- 
ture, that  all  the  water  in  the  world  could  not  cleanse 
it  !  Not  the  Mood  of  all  the  creatures,  not  the 
righteousness  of  men  or  angels,  could  cure  it.  All  the 
men  and  angels  in  the  world  cannot  make  one  sinner 
righteous;  but  the  Son  of  God  must  become  man, 
suffer,  die,  and  rise  again,  and  all  to  make  us  just. 
Vain  man,  whereof  art  thou  proud  ?    Yet  how  doth 


a  little  polluted  dust  vaunt  itself!  Clothe  a  leper 
in  scarlet,  is  he  not  still  a  leper?  Suppose  in  Christ 
wc  be  embraced,  and  even  honoured  ol^God  himself, 
shall  we  tlierefove  be  high-looked  over  others  ?  No, 
here  is  matter  of  exultation  and  gladness,  not  of 
insultation  and  haughtiness:  let  us  be  joyful,  let  us 
be  thankful,  let  us  not  be  scornful.  The  natural  Son 
of  God  was  humbled  for  our  pride;  shall  wc  be  proud 
still  ?  Shall  man  be  proud,  when  God  himself  is 
humble  ?  He  that  is  not  humbled  for  his  sin,  is  not 
yet  justified  from  his  sin.  In  his  humility  Christ 
wrought  that  great  work  of  our  redemption.  Ob- 
serve with  wonder,  that  God  did  more  for  us  in  his 
humility,  than  ever  he  did  in  his  glorj-.  In  his  ma- 
jesty he  only  made  us,  but  in  his  htmiilily  he  hath 
saved  us.  Look  we  first  down  with  humility  upon 
our  own  WTCtchedness,  and  then  look  up  with  faith 
unto  Christ's  righteousness. 

2.  We  are  just  before  God  by  no  justice  of  our 
owTi,  but  by  Christ's ;  and  this  is  so  much  the  better 
for  us,  as  now  we  are  sure  it  cannot  be  lost.  God 
created  Adam  with  a  perfect  legal  righteousness  :  he 
received  it  for  himself,  and  for  us ;  and  he  lost  it  for 
himself,  and  for  us.  That  bein^  gone,  he  gives  us 
another,  a  better ;  but  because  he  saw  man  so  ill  a 
keeper  of  his  own  jewels,  he  would  not  trust  him 
with  it ;  but  sets  it  in  the  person  of  his  Son,  charging 
him  to  keep  it  for  us.  We  are  dead,  and  our  life  is 
hidden  with  Christ  in  God,  Col.  iii.  3.  It  is  hid  past 
Satan's  finding,  and  locked  up  past  our  spending. 
We,  as  ignorant  of  the  worth,  would  quickly  exhaust 
it ;  but  Christ  truly  values  it,  dearly  paid  for  it, 
heartily  loves  it,  and  therefore  will  safely  preserve 
it ;  and  when  we  come  to  his  Father's  presence,  will 
clothe  us  with  it  then.  It  is  now  in  a  safe  hand, 
where  we  are  sure  to  find  it,  and  have  it,  when  we 
most  need  it.  We  may  sin,  and  so  lose  the  present 
sensible  comfort  of  a  good  conscience ;  but  we  cannot 
lose  our  righteousness.  That  is  in  our  own  tenure, 
this  is  not. 

It  is  impossible  for  a  believer  to  be  poor :  take 
away  all  he  hath,  his  wealth,  health,  friends,  liberty, 
life  ;  this  is  no  more  than  he  hath  in  his  own  hani, 
which  he  may  easily  lose.  His  true  riches  are  in 
another's  custody,  no  power  can  meddle  with  them. 
His  treasure  is  laid  up  where  no  thief  nor  corruption 
can  enter,  ^latt.  vi.  20 ;  he  that  is  trusted  witli  it, 
will  faithfully  keep  it,  2  Tim.  i.  12.  Satan  may  make 
Job  poor  for  this  world,  and  take  that  from  him, 
from  which  God  would  one  day  take  him.  But  Job 
hath  a  better  stock  going  in  heaven,  in  the  hands  of 
his  Redeemer ;  the  devil  cannot  touch  this.  Other 
possessions  in  death  we  leave  behind  :  this  inherit- 
ance by  death  we  begin  to  possess.  Cum  corpus  re- 
soln'lur,  anima  absolvilur.  (Ambr.)  Let  Ziba  take  all, 
so  I  mav  come  to  the  Son  of  David  in  peace,  2  Sam. 
xix.  30.' 

Samson  had  his  strength  in  himself,  and  betrayed 
it :  Esau  his  birthright,  and  sold  it ;  the  prodigal 
his  portion,  and  spent  it ;  Hezekiah  his  treasure,  and 
exposed  it  :  Solomon  his  wisdom,  and  abused  it ; 
Mar>-  'Magdalene  her  beauty,  and  prostituted  it ;  Na- 
bal  his  wealth,  and  lived  beside  it ;  Adam  his  in- 
tegrity, and  an  apple  bought  it.  Oh  what  is  in  man, 
that  lie  may  not  lose  !  Tlie  master  of  a  family  gives 
all  his  hired  servants  their  wages  into  their  own 
hands,  sufters  them  to  use  and  dispose  it  at  their  owe 
pleasures,  without  further  inquiry  ;  but  the  portions 
of  his  children,  and  their  jewels,  he  keeps  himself. 
Lord,  whatever  worldly  thing  thou  take  from  us, 
keep  our  righteousness  for  us  :  though  sin  have  left: 
tattered  and  death  send  us  awav  naked,  do  thou  cover 
us  with  the  rich  garment  of  CVirist. 

2.  Thus  is  a  man  just  before  God,  but  Lot  was  also 


360 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


just  before  men  :  and  there  is  a  visible  justice,  as 
well  as  the  invisible.  We  must  therefore  seek  out 
for  a  further  righteousness,  an  inseparable  effect  of 
the  former,  and  that  is,  holiness  of  life.  The  other 
is  the  justice  of  justification,  this  is  the  justice  of 
sanctification.  As  a  sinner  is  justified  by  Christ's 
righteousness  inherent  in  Christ  himself,  so  he  is 
sanctified  by  Christ's  righteousness  diffused  from 
Christ  into  the  sinner.  His  justification  is  perfect, 
because  that  which  justifies  him  is  still  in  Christ ; 
his  sanctification  is  imperfect,  because  that  which 
sancfifies  him  is  in  himself:  the  one  imputed  to  liini, 
the  other  infused  and  inherent  in  him.  Therefore 
liere  we  are  to  examine,  in  what  respects  a  man  may 
be  called  just.  Neither  are  we  bound  always  to  the 
same  distinctions  :  I  conceive  a  man  may  be  ap- 
proved righteous,  preparative,  separative,  reparative, 
operative. 

(1.)  There  is  a  righteousness  of  preparation,  whicli 
is  a  resolution  and  full  purpose  of  heart  to  be  right- 
eous. "  I  have  sworn,  and  I  will  perform  it,  that  I 
will  keep  thy  righteous  judgments,"  Psal.  cxix.  106. 
Thougii  he  do  sometimes  admit  sin,  lie  doth  never 
intend  sin.  If  the  Spirit  could  totally  prevail  over 
the  flesh,  he  would  never  do  aught  to  dishonour  God. 
My  heart  is  ready,  my  heart  is  ready ;  ready  to  hear 
thy  will,  ready  to  do  it.  Give  what  thou  command- 
cst,  command  what  thou  pleasest.  Perfect  my  pur- 
pose with  thy  gracious  performance,  and  then  I 
shall  be  righteous.  (August.)  By  this  resolution  he 
is  bound  for  Canaan,  and  thitherward  steers  his 
course ;  notwithstanding  the  perilous  rocks  and  pi- 
rates, and  contrary  gusts  and  storms,  that  would  put 
him  out  of  the  way. 

(2.)  There  is  a  righteousness  of  separation,  because 
it  is  seen  to  decline  the  places  of  temptation.  So 
they  are  called  saints,  because  separate  from  the 
world.  He  is  in  a  manner  guilty,  that  frequents  the 
occasion  of  being  made  guilty.  A  wise  senator,  whose 
coachman  had  driven  him  over  a  dangerous  passage, 
which  he  might  easily  have  avoided  by  fetching  a 
little  compass  about,  though  he  escaped  without 
harm,  yet  turned  him  off,  as  unworthy  of  future 
trust.  What  thanks  to  us,  if  pi'ecipitating  ourselves 
in  the  known  snares  of  sin,  we  are  kept  by  God's 
preventing  grace  ?  "  lie  tiiat  is  begotten  of  God 
keepeth  himself,  and  that  wicked  one  toucheth  him 
not,"  1  John  v.  18.  I  do  not  say  that  God  deals 
with  us  on  such  an  advantage,  as  a  furious  papist  an- 
swered, when  he  was  asked  by  one  of  his  own  sect, 
why  in  the  ginipowder  treason  they  would  destroy 
children  with  bastards,  catholics  with  heretics :  If 
they  were  found  among  heretics,  let  them  peiish 
with  heretics.  Yet  often  he  makes  them  smart :  as 
the  magistrate  inflicting  severe  punishment  on  a 
dissolute  crew,  one  cried  out  to  him,  Sparc  thy  son. 
AVhat,  my  son  among  the  enemies  of  peace  and  good- 
ness ?  No,  as  thou  hast  offended  with  them,  thou 
shalt  smart  with  them.  We  will  trust  no  antidote, 
to  go  into  the  house  where  the  plague  is  :  if  tempt- 
ation find  us,  never  let  us  seek  temptation. 

(.3.)  There  is  a  righteousness  of  reparation;  which 
consists  in  the  reforming  of  errors,  and  conforming  of 
manners,  salving  past  defects  by  a  bettered  life ;  and 
is  indeed  the  rigliteousness  of  repentance.  Right- 
eous, not  because  there  is  no  sin  committed,  but  be- 
cause there  is  no  sin  that  is  not  repented.  God 
esteems  a  fault  indeed  sorrowed,  as  if  it  had  never 
been  indeed  admitted.  It  is  one  thing  to  sin,  an- 
other thing  to  be  a  sinner.  Every  one  that  handles 
a  lute  is  not  a  musician  ;  nor  every  one  that  doth  an 
unrighteous  action,  is  straight  an  unrighteous  person. 
*'  The  unrighteous  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God,"  1  Cor.  vi.  9 :  to  be  unjust  damn.s,  not  to  have 


done  some  actions  unjustly ;  the  habit,  not  the  act, 
casts  into  hell. 

O  blessed  effect  of  repentance,  that  can  make  un- 
righteous manners  cease  to  denominate  an  unright- 
eous man  !  I  will  show  you  a  riddle.  A  foul  mother 
bi-ouglu  forth  a  fair  daughter;  the  mother  bred  her 
laughing,  yet  the  daughter  is  always  weeping.  Th'j 
father  tliat  begot  the  daughter,  could  never  abide 
the  mother,  nor  ever  came  near  her  bed.  She  was 
no  sooner  bom,  but  she  was  the  death  of  her  mother, 
killing  lier  that  bred  her ;  and  (which  is  strange) 
she  is  blessed  for  it.  She  was  begotten  in  a  miracle : 
no  sooner  conceived,  than  born  ;  no  sooner  born,  but 
she  spake  :  other  children  are  Ijom  crying,  she  also 
speaking  ;  the  first  air  she  breathed,  heard  her  arti- 
culately declare  her  own  desires.  And  ever  since 
she  works  miracles :  she  brings  light  out  of  darkness, 
life  out  of  death ;  she  makes  the  blind  to  sec,  the 
deaf  to  hear,  the  dumb  to  speak,  and  even  casts  out 
devils.  She  looks  backward,  and  moves  forward;  is 
herself  a  dark  cloud,  yet  brings  a  fair  sunshine. 
This  riddle  is  expounded  in  repentance.  Sin  is  the 
mother,  repentance  the  daughter;  the  mother  is  foul, 
black,  ugly,  the  daughter  fair  and  lovely.  Sin  was 
merry  and  wanton,  repentance  is  always  sad  and 
sorrowing.  God  is  the  Father  of  repentance,  and 
he  could  never  endure  the  mother,  sin,  but  rather 
perfectly  hates  her  society.  Being  born,  she  slew 
her  mother:  repentance  could  not  have  been  born 
but  by  sin,  and  repentance  is  the  only  thing  that 
kills  sin.  Sin  breeds  sorrow,  and  .sorrow  kills  sin ; 
(August.)  and  this  matricide  makes  her  blessed. 
Miraculous  is  her  birth:  at  her  first  conception  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  she  looks  up  and  speaks.  Open,  ye 
gates  of  heaven,  and  let  mercy  come  down  upon  me; 
her  first  breath  is,  Pardon.  Miracles  she  worketh, 
turning  the  darkness  of  error  into  the  light  of  know- 
ledge, and  making  the  dead  heart  live  unto  grace. 
The  blind  eyes  by  her  are  made  to  see  the  filthiness 
of  sin  ;  the  deaf  ears  now  hearken  to  the  word  of 
truth  ;  the  dumb  lips  cry  out  for  compassion  and  for- 
giveness ;  the  devil's  lust  is  expelled.  She  still  is 
looking  backward  to  her  sins  past,  and  moving  for- 
ward to  holiness  and  perfection.  To  conclude,  re- 
pentance is  herself  cloudy,  and  made  up  of  sadness, 
yet  brings  everlasting  joy. 

Such  is  God's  mercy  to  repentance :  yet  let  no 
man,  though  he  trust  to  this,  trust  to  himself.  The 
promise  is  to  repentance,  not  of  repentance.  Nature 
flatters  itself  in  that  one  instance  of  the  malefactor 
on  the  cross,  who  in  an  instant  got  repentance.  But 
the  calling  and  saving  of  that  one  soul  at  the  last, 
hath  by  Satan's  policy  been  the  loss  of  many  thou- 
sands. 

(4.)  There  is  a  righteousness  of  comparison ;  so  was 
Lot  just  comparatively  among  the  Sodomites.  It  is 
Christ's  incommunicable  privilege,  to  be  The  Just : 
for  all  other  men  on  earth  to  pray,  Enter  not  into 
judgment  with  thy  servants,  for  in  thy  sight  shall  no 
man  living  be  justified.  And,  Forgive  us  our  tres- 
passes ;  and  to  pray  for  this  daily :  perpetual  remis- 
sion argues  perpetual  aspersion.  He  that  says  he 
hath  no  sin,  I  am  sure  he  hath  no  righteousness, 
1  John  i.  10.  But  it  is  said  of  Zacharias  and  Elisa- 
beth, that  tlicy  were  both  just  before  the  Lord, 
walking  in  all  his  commandments  blameless,  Luke 
i.  16.  Bifire  God,  without  hypocrisy:  in  his  com- 
mandmi  I  j,  not  the  traditions  of  men,  without  flat- 
tery: in  all  of  them,  without  reservation  and  par- 
tiality :  without  reproof;  sine  querela,  non  sine  macula : 
not  scandalous  and  culpable  in  the  eyes  of  men,  and 
worthv  of  crimination.  So,  he  that  is  bom  of  God, 
sinnet^i  not,  or  commitleth  not  sin,  1  John  iii.  9: 
not  the  sinning  sin,  not  the  reigning  sin,  not  the  sin 


Ver.  7. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


361 


unto  death,  which  cannot  he  repented,  therefore 
must  not  be  pardoned. 

Compared  with  God  there  is  none  righteous:  he 
hates  all  men,  tliat  hates  ill  men.  Yet  some  may  be 
so,  respectively  to  others.  Tamar  more  rigliteous 
than  Judah,  yet  Tamar  sinful  enough.  The  publican 
rather  justilied  ilian  the  Pharisee,  yet  not  simply  and 
sufTieienlly  justirud.  The  spouse  fair  among  women, 
yet  she  justly  complains  of  her  blackness.  Some 
men  have  less  and  fewer  sins,  yet  they  have  sins ; 
though  fewer  in  number,  and  lighter  in  measure,  yet 
sins  in  nature.  The  moon  is  glorious  to  a  candle, 
pale  to  the  sun.  The  lily  white  to  the  wool,  short 
of  the  snow.  The  swarthy  compared  with  the  black- 
amoor, thinks  himself  fair. 

Not  that  I  would  have  men  pitch  themselves  by 
the  pole  of  the  dissolute.  As  because  they  are  not  so 
drunk  as  Nabal,  therefore  to  think  themselves  sober; 
because  not  so  proud  as  llaman,  therefore  humble; 
because  not  so  treacherous  as  Judas,  therefore  loyal. 
Compare  not  thyself  with  the  worst,  to  see  how  far 
thou  art  beyond  them ;  but  with  the  best,  to  see  how 
far  thou  art  short  of  them.  And  the  thick-cared 
hear  well  to  the  stark  deaf.  Among  the  numerous 
cloisters  of  illiterate  monks,  if  one  rarely  get  a  smack 
of  learning,  he  thinks  himself  a  brave  fellow,  famous 
among  his  companions.  They  compare  themselves 
with  themselves,  and  measure  themselves  by  them- 
selves, 2  Cor.  X.  12.  He  that  hath  but  ferried  over 
to  Amsterdam,  conceits  himself  a  great  traveller, 
among  those  that  never  smelt  other  than  their  own 
smoke.  How  proud  is  a  vain  fool  of  a  strange  lan- 
guage !  apt  to  think  all  the  rest  idiots,  that  under- 
stand not  his  Spanish  or  Italian !  none  so  bold  as  the 
blind. 

Thou  that  thinkest  thyself  charitable  and  just, 
compare  thyself  with  Zaccheus :  after  thy  fourfold 
restitution,  hast  thou  given  half  thy  goods  to  the 
poor?  Thou  that  holdest  thyself  zealous  in  a  cold 
generation,  consider  David  :  "  The  zeal  of  thy  house 
hath  eaten  me  up,"  Psal.  Ixix.  9.  Thou  that  art 
humble,  meditate  on  Paul,  yielding  to  them  that 
hated  him  :  that  art  sober,  think  of  the  Rechabitcs  : 
that  chaste,  look  upon  Joseph  in  his  temptation  by 
so  great  a  lady.  The  pigmies  wonder  at  his  stature, 
whom  we  esteem  a  dwarf  Do  not  look  upon  the 
profane,  to  admire  tliy  own  holiness;  but  on  the  just, 
to  condemn  thy  own  unrighteousness.  Rural  peojde 
admire  and  even  adore  a  lady,  tliat  never  saw  the 
queen.  When  the  Indians  first  saw  tlie  Spaniards, 
tney  held  them  fair  and  goodly  creatures ;  but  bleed- 
ing under  their  cruelties,  and  beholding  other  from 
more  cold  and  tenii)erate  climates,  of  fairer  com- 
plexions and  kinder  dispositions,  they  took  these  last 
for  angels.  We  that  have  prized  ourselves  by  those 
below  us,  let  us  now  value  ourselves  by  those  above 
US:  then  all  our  pride  will  turn  into  shame,  and  we 
shall  blush  for  our  idle  glory.  Lord,  if  tlicy  that  had 
their  faults  be  more  righteous  than  we,  wliat  are  we 
in  respect  of  thee  that  hast  none  ?  Give  us  all  grace 
to  be  more  righteous,  and  when  we  have  done  all 
we  can,  pardon  our  great  unrighteousness  in  Jesus 
Christ. 

(5.)  There  is  an  operative  righteousness ;  and  this 
may  be  taken  either  strictly  or  largely. 

Strictly,  it  is  equity :  he'  that  deals  truly  withal, 
without  respect  of  persons,  is  a  just  man ;  and  he 
that  is  not  just  in  his  conversing  and  commercing 
with  men,  will  hardly  be  found  righteous  witli  God. 
This  is  not  only  to  render  what  the  law  requires,  but 
even  what  u  rectified  conscience  requires.  As  for 
instance,  to  bury  the  dead,  this  is  not  an  action  of 
charity  only,  but  of  equity.  Funerals  are  called  just, 
because  tluy  be  as  just  to  the  dead,  as  meat  is  to  the 


living.  So  to  feed  the  poor:  Paul  calls  alms,  right- 
eousness. Withhold  not  thy  good  from  the  owners 
thereof,  Prov.  iii.  27.  They  are  the  owners  of  thy  su- 
perfluities, and  it  is  just  to  give  every  man  his  own. 
"When  thou  docst  thine  alms,"  Matt.  vi.  3;  divers 
copies  read,  when  thou  doest  thy  righteousness:  so 
Eusebius  reports  it.  Alms  is  thy  justice;  if  not 
debilum  proprietatis,  yet  charitati.s :  and  he  that  dc- 
nietli  this,  is  an  unjust  man.  That  ministers  do 
preach,  it  is  justice,  even  due  debt.  "  I  am  debtor 
both  to  the  Greeks,"  &c.  Rom.  i.  14.  There  is  a 
woe  to  them  that  withhold  the  truth  in  unrighteous- 
ness, ver.  18.  Yet  thus  unrighteous  is  the  church  of 
Rome,  to  withhold  the  Scriptures,  and  obtrude  tra- 
ditions; as  men  put  out  the  clear  candle  to  light 
themselves  to  bed  with  the  stinking  snuff. 

To  help  forward  the  truth  is  but  justice  :  it  is  the 
office,  albeit  also  the  honour,  of  good  men  to  be  God's 
fellow  helpers.  "  Curse  ye  Meroz,"  Judg.  v.  23. 
Why  ?  because  it  did  hurt  the  Lord  ?  No,  but  be- 
cause it  did  not  help  the  Lord  in  the  day  of  battle. 
This  question  will  one  day  be  asked.  When  didst  thou 
help  the  truth  ?  Every  man  by  prayer  helps  the  hand 
of  Moses.  He  that  does  not  help  forward  the  build- 
ing of  Christ,  is  unjust ;  and  they  that  do  help  it  even 
in  the  meanest  degree,  shall  have  part  of  the  reward  : 
as  David  would  have  the  prey  snared  even  among 
them  that  kept  the  stuff,  1  Sam.  xxx,  24;  they 
helped. 

In  contracts  to  fail  willingly,  is  to  be  unjust.  An 
oath  or  solemn  promise  is  no  sooner  m-'de  on  earth, 
than  registered  in  heaven.  Indeed  baq  romists  are 
better  broken  than  kept.  As  David  ii  ireaking  of 
his  vow  concerning  Nabal  was  not  ur  ist ;  and  if 
Herod  had  done  so  for  John  Bajitist  he  ha.i  been  more 
righteous.  Yea,  a  just  man  will  keep  his  oath  witli 
a  very  thief,  a  compelled  oath  about  pecuniary  mat- 
ters ;  but  not  when  a  sin  or  mischief  follows.  To 
give  every  man  his  due,  this  is  just.  A  young  mer- 
chant being  to  choose  him  a  partner,  by  his  mother's 
advice,  at  convenient  time  gave  to  one  a  pomegranate; 
the  receiver  cutting  it  in  two,  kept  the  less  moiety 
to  himself,  and  returned  the  merchant  the  greater 
half  He  gave  the  like  to  another ;  and  he  dividing 
it,  gave  him  back  the  less  part,  keeping  the  greater 
to  liimsclf  He  thus  tried  a  third ;  and  lie  cutting  it 
into  equal  halves,  took  the  one  himself,  and  gave  him 
the  other.  This  last  was  detemiined  by  his  mother 
to  be  the  fittest  man  to  make  his  partner.  So  young 
Cyrus  being  showed  by  his  schoolmaster  a  great  man 
with  a  little  robe,  and  a  little  man  with  a  great  robe; 
and  having  both  the  garments  put  into  his  hands  to 
distribute,  he  disposed  the  greater  to  the  greater,  and 
the  ess  to  the  less.  His  master  replied,  this  was 
just  ill  case  of  decency,  but  unjust  in  case  of  equity ; 
for  he  was  to  have  given  every  man  his  own. 

But  if  this  be  an  argument  of  justice.  Lord,  where 
shall  we  find  a  just  man  ?  Help,  Lord,  for  the  right- 
eous man  failcth,  Psal.  xii.  1  :  time  to  cry,  Help, 
Lord.  Take  cresset  light,  and  search  narrowly  all 
about  Jerusalem,  I  had  almost  said,  London,  and 
find  one  that  doth  justice,  Jer.  v.  1  :  scarce  a  just 
man  in  this  whole  city.  Is  to  pay  tithes  to  be  just  ? 
O  that  just  man  is  a  miracle !  Ignorant  people  on 
all  occasions  say  of  their  minister,  I  wonder  he  docs 
not  preach.  They  esteem  it  a  matter,  before  it 
comes,  of  no  labour ;  and  when  it  comes,  of  no  thanks. 
Yet,  who  challengeth  his  own  heart  of  known  un- 
righteousness, and  confcsscth,  How  unjust  have  I 
been  in  defrauding  God  and  his  church !  Will  the 
Lord  be  so  liberal  to  give  us  the  best  of  things,  eter- 
nal life,  that  gnidgeth  him  the  worst  of  things,  tem- 
jioral  trash  ?  or,  that  the  gospel  should  saveoursouls, 
«hich  it  promiseth,  when  we  withhold  from  it  those 


362 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


trifles  it  requireth?  or,  that  God  will  not  pinch  them 
of  spirituals,  that  pinch  him  of  temporals  ?  Will  a 
man  shut  a  bird  fast  into  a  cage,  give  her  no  meat, 
and  yet  bid  her  sing  ?  Yet  is  this  too  universal  an 
unrighteousness,  and  thus  unjust  are  we.  But  let 
men  read  and  tremble  :  If  any  man  (notn'ithstanding 
these  premonitions)  will  be  unjust,  let  him  be  unjust 
still,  Hcv.  xxii.  II.  The  Lord  \vith  his  infinite 
mercy  swallow  up  this  unrighteousness,  that  this  in- 
finite unrighteousness  swallow  not  up  this  city. 

Largely :  "  He  that  doeth  righteousness,  is  right- 
ous,"  1  John  iii.  7 ;  the  scope  of  whose  life  and 
actions  is  devoted  to  goodness,  not  without  infirmity, 
but  without  irregularity.  The  best  traveller  may 
stumble  in  his  journey,  yet  have  his  eye  observant 
and  his  foot  constant  on  his  way.  The  interposition 
of  some  clouds  doth  not  frustrate  the  regular  motion 
of  the  sun.  And  trees  have  more  life  at  the  root, 
than  at  all  times  appears  in  the  branches.  Notwith- 
standing some  transient  distempers,  the  heart  may 
be  sound  and  upright,  Psal.  cxix.  80.  Some  gravel 
will  stick  on  the  feet,  even  when  the  bath  of  justifi- 
cation hath  washed  our  souls.  We  are  not  perfectly 
just  except  by  anticipation,  assuming  the  name  be- 
fore we  possess  the  thing.  We  are  now  the  sons  of 
God :  we  arc,  and  we  are  not :  we  are  in  hope,  we 
shall  be  indeed.  (August.) 

There  may  be  a  time  when  this  justice  is  not  so 
operative,  which  yet  shall  not  condemn  us  for  unjust. 
The  world  is  ever  taxing  the  least  fault  in  the  best 
man  :  cveiy  man  is  born  a  Cain,  envj^ing  that  good 
in  another  which  he  wants  in  himself.  They  blame 
some  ill  in  the  saints,  not  because  they  are  evil,  but 
because  in  respect  of  themselves  they  are  too  good. 
One  imaginary  cloud  in  a  just  man,  shall  in  their 
censure  darken  all  the  stars  of  his  graces.  The 
smallest  spot  in  his  face,  shall  excuse  all  the  sores 
and  ulcers  in  their  bodies.  But  it  is  not  so  with  God : 
he  values  men,  qtiomodo  semper  radiint,  non  quomodo 
semel  cadutit ;  respecting  vitce  communem  cursum,  ra- 
ther than  involuntarium  currentis  casiim.  Nor  is  his 
saving  grace  so  fickle  a  thing,  to  be  lost  by  every 
weakness.  He  goes  into  his  garden,  to  eat  the  fruits, 
and  gather  the  flowers,  Cant.  vi.  2 ;  not  like  those 
buzzing  dorrs,  that  fly  over  all  these  to  a  dunghill. 

But  now  if  we  will  be  righteous,  let  us  do  it,  and 
show  our  justice  by  our  practice.  The  title  of  right- 
eous is  often  ill  bestowed  upon  men;  as  the  mistak- 
ing woman  attributed  to  the  blessed  Virgin's  womb 
and  dugs  that  happiness  which  belonged  to  her  faith, 
Luke  xi.  2";  or  as  silly  rural  jieople  salute  a  mean 
gentlewoman  in  brave  clothes,  If  it  like  your  lady- 
ship ;  or  flattering  pamphleteers  ascribe  to  your 
looser  patrons  noble  and  mci'iting  titles.  Truth  calls 
him  just  that  is  so.  God  ordained  light  for  the  eyes, 
language  for  the  ears,  the  air  for  respiration,  but 
righteousness  for  all  parts.  That  the  mind  should 
think  nothing  but  righteousness,  the  tongue  speak, 
the  hand  do,  nothing  but  righteousness.  But  alas, 
The  desire  of  the  heart  is  one  thing,  the  desire  of 
the  flesh  another.  (August.)  There  be  reluctant 
motions  in  the  heart,  yet  in  tlie  heart  of  my  heart 
I  senc  the  Lord.  Bare  theory  may  come  near 
riphlcousness,  only  practice  apprehends  it.  To 
whom  is  that  eiige  at  the  great  day,  but  to  the 
doer?  Well  done,  good  servant,  that  is  the  form. 
Not  the  barren  and  dead  habit,  but  the  living  and 
fruitful  exercises  of  justice,  shall  have  happiness. 
Rightly,  a  man  knows  no  more  than  he  practises. 
It  is  said  of  Christ  that  he  knew  no  sin,  2  Cor.  v.  21, 
because  he  did  no  sin :  in  that  sense,  he  knows  no 
good,  that  doth  no  good.  One  said  of  the  Jesuits, 
that  abroad  call  themselves  apostles.  The  old  apos- 
tles left  earth  to  earthly  men,  showed  others,  and 


got  heaven  themselves :  we  are  more  beholden  to 
our  new  ones,  they  show  us  heaven  and  leave  it  for 
us  to  purchase;  and  in  the  mean  time  cozen  us  of 
earth  and  worldly  possessions.  It  is  as  fearfully  true 
of  those  that  point  others  the  way  to  heaven  by  a 
righteous  life,  and  will  not  move  a  foot  in  that  path 
themselves.  The  saints  are  all  said  to  have  \vhitc 
garments :  the  robe  of  justice  that  is  not  white,  is 
not  right ;  it  must  be  visible  to  men,  that  it  may  be 
acceptable  to  God. 

3.  I  come  to  the  exceptions  against  Lot's  justice  : 
the  Scripture  notes  six  great  faults  in  this  good  man ; 
three  principal,  and  three  less  principal. 

(1.)  His  contention  with  Abraham,  his  uncle,  elder 
and  better,  Gen.  xiii.  7-  Before  they  grew  rich,  they 
dwelt  lovingly  together;  poverty  confirmed  their 
society.  When  neither  want,  nor  weary  journeys, 
nor  strange  countries  could  part,  wealth  divides. 
How  poor  a  good  was  their  opulency,  in  respect  of 
their  company  and  fraternal  love !  Many  a  one  is  a 
loser  by  his  gains  ;  and  finds  that  which  multiplies 
his  outward  estate,  to  abate  his  inward.  Who  will 
esteem  those  things  good  that  make  us  worse  ? 
Abraham  is  the  uncle  and  worthier,  Lot  the  nephew 
and  younger  ;  yet  is  Abraham  first  in  the  deprecation 
of  stnfe :  "  I  pray  thee,"  &c.  ver.  8.  But  he  holds 
it  no  disparagement  to  begin  the  treaty  of  peace. 
He  that  is  the  soir  of  Abraliam  will  seek  to  win  by 
love,  not  to  force  by  power. 

It  had  been  Lot's  duty  to  offer  rather  than  to 
choose,  to  yield  than  contend ;  yet  Abraham  offers 
the  choice  to  Lot  :  Take  the  left  hand,  or  the  right, 
ver.  9.  From  whence,  saith  one,  the  custom  grew  in 
parting  an  inheritance,  that  the  elder  sliould  divide, 
the  younger  choose.  (Rupert.)  Lot  takes  it,  but 
mark  the  event ;  Lot  was  crossed  in  his  election, 
Abraham  blessed  in  his  resignation.  Never  did  man 
in  desire  of  peace  yield  of  his  own  right,  that  God 
suffered  to  be  a  loser  by  it.  Lot,  as  he  thought, 
chose  the  best  ground,  the  goodly  plains  of  Jordan ; 
but  while  he  respects  the  goodness  of  the  soil,  and 
not  the  badness  of  the  people,  he  smarts  for  his 
choice,  and  is  soon  carried  away  captive.  Abraham 
content  with  the  worse,  hath  a  large  amends :  Lift 
up  thine  eyes,  look  east,  west,  north,  and  south  ;  and 
all  the  land  thou  seest,  I  will  give  unto  thee  and  to 
thy  seed  for  ever,  ver.  15.  Let  us  not  desire  to  be 
our  own  carvers  for  this  world;  it  is  our  surest  hap- 
piness, without  ambition  or  avarice,  to  rest  at  God's 
finding. 

(2.)  His  incredulity,  in  doubting  to  be  saved  in  the 
mountain ;  as  if  the  promise  and  direction  of  God 
could  have  failed.  He  had  no  charge  to  dwell  in 
Sodom,  he  had  a  charge  to  flee  to  the  mountain  ;  yet 
Sodom  he  affected,  the  mountain  he  reftised,  and  was 
faulty  in  both.  It  is  no  small  sin  even  to  doubt, 
when  we  have  God's  command  and  warrant  to  ser\-e  us. 

(3.)  His  fear  to  tarry  in  Zoar,  which  the  Lord  had 
given  his  word  to  spare  for  his  sake.  But  he  that 
was  so  hasty  to  choose  it,  is  now  again  as  hasty  to 
leave  it.  How  variable  is  man,  when  he  fixeth  not  his 
submission  to  God's  ordinance!  This  fugitive  incon- 
stancy is  by  some  thus  qualified;  that  the  loss  of  his 
wife  at  the  entering  of  Zoar,  put  him  quite  out  of 
heart  to  stay  there.  And  the  sight  of  the  same  sins 
in  his  less  city,  which  so  reigned  in  the  greater, 
gave  him  cause  to  suspect  it  could  not  be  long  for- 
borne. 

Here  were  three  of  his  infirmities,  inconstancy,  in- 
credulity, ambition ;  to  show,  that  none  is  so  right- 
eous, but  in  some  things  offensive.  None  were  more 
holy  under  the  law  than  the  priests,  yet  were  I  hey  boimd 
to  offer  sacrifice  for  themselves  and  iheirown  sins.  Hob. 
ix.  ".     None  more  holy  under  the  gospel  than  the 


Ver.  7. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


363 


ajioslles,  yet  were  they  taught  to  pray,  "  Forgive  us 
our  sins,"  Luke  xi.  4.  Merit-usurpers  are  the  worst 
ser%-ants;  for  how  bountiful  soever  God  be  to  them, 
they  will  never  acknowledge  their  Master;  all  is 
their  due :  the  most  terrible  usurers;  all  God's  bless- 
ings they  think  but  the  interest  of  their  own  monies. 
But  the  least  cloud  in  a  diamond  hinders  the  price ; 
tlie  least  infinuity  in  a  saint  keeps  him  from  being 
perfectly  riglueoiis.  Yet  no  man  puts  away  his 
horse,  that  hath  carried  him  throughout  his  journey, 
for  thrice  tripping  by  the  way.  Nor  do  three  paren- 
theses disgrace  a  good  oration.  Three  drops  of 
poison  are  dangerous  in  a  little  cup  of  water;  let 
them  fall  into  a  running  spring,  their  malignity  is 
soon  dispersed  to  nothing.  M'ash  a  spotted  robe, 
and  it  is  clean  again.  Yet  let  us  strive  against  all 
stains.  Abraham  going  to  sacrifice,  left  his  two 
young  servitors  and  the  ass  behind  him.  Lot's  fear 
and  doubting  were  like  two  timorous  and  cowardly 
servants;  his  covetousness  like  the  ass:  leave  we  all 
these  three  behind  us  in  our  devotion,  that  we  may 
be  welcome  to  the  Lord. 

(4.)  He  oflers  up  his  own  daughters  to  the  rage  of 
the  Sodomites,  that  he  might  deliver  his  guests.  Gen. 
xix.  8 ;  choosing  rather  to  be  a  bad  father  than  a  bad 
host.  This  fact  hath  found  divers  excuses.  1.  It 
was  a  less  sin  to  follow  than  to  oppose  nature ;  and 
of  two  evils  the  less  is  to  be  chosen.  (Ambr.)  Aiusu: 
This  is  true  in  penal  evils,  not  in  criminals ;  in  cor- 
poreal things,  not  in  spiritual.  There  is  no  necessity 
that  should  compel  a  man  to  sin ;  he  ought  rather 
to  die.  "  Happy  is  he  that  condemneth  not  himself 
ill  that  thing  that  he  alloweth,"  Rom.  xiv.  22:  then 
he  is  not  blessed  that  alloweth  the  thing  in  act,  which 
he  condemns  in  judgment.  2.  Lot  did  not  mean  to 
put  otr  one  sin  with  another,  but  useth  a  seeming 
submission  to  qualify  their  rage  ;  he  knew  his 
daughters  espoused  to  some  great  men  of  the  city, 
and  that  they  durst  not  attempt  their  constupration. 
(Cajetan.)  Ansic.  But  this  had  been  to  tempt  God 
by  a  fond  presumption,  to  make  such  an  unruly  rabble 
this  ofl'er,  in  hojie  it  would  not  be  taken.  3.  Though 
a  man  in  himself  must  not  do  a  less  evil  for  avoid- 
ance of  a  greater ;  yet  to  stop  another's  precipice 
into  some  monstrous  niischief,  and  to  mollify  his  mind 
by  insinuation  to  a  less  ;  this  they  hold  tolerable. 
(Chrysost.)  As  if  men  by  custom  must  swear,  the 
oath  is  better  by  their  head,  than  by  God.  He  that 
is  shut  up  in  a  walled  fort,  let  him  escape  where  the 
wall  is  lowest.  (Greg.)  Atisic.  Tliis  is  true,  where 
we  are  persuaders  from  evil,  not  actors  of  evil  our- 
selves. So  if  Lot  had  persuaded  them  to  the  young 
maids  of  the  town,  and  to  forbear  the  men,  it  had 
been  more  suflerable.  But  no  man  is  to  sin  himself, 
with  the  hazard  of  his  o«ti  soul,  for  the  prevention 
of  another's  wickedness.  4.  His  intent  was  good  to 
preser\-e  his  guests.  (Chrysost.)  Ansir.  We  must 
not  do  evil,  that  good  may  come  thereof,  Horn.  iii. 
8.  Indeed  there  is  a  necessity  which  comes  a  pos- 
teriori :  as  when  a  man  hath  sworn  to  undo  his 
neighbour,  if  he  break  his  oath  he  commits  perjury, 
if  he  keep  his  oath  he  breaks  charity.  What  now  ? 
Rather  in  breaking  it  offend  only  God,  than  in  keep- 
ing it  ofl'cnd  both  God  and  man.  But  this  perplexity 
is  not  from  the  nature  of  things ;  it  is  not  necessary  to 
swear  falsely,  or  break  charity  ;  but  from  the  nature 
of  man,  who  cannot  revoke  wliat  he  hath  spoken  and 
done.  5.  He  knew  that  if  his  daughters  were  forced 
against  their  wills,  they  did  not  sin;  and  if  they  sin- 
ned not,  he  sinned  not.  Answ.  If  the  maideiSs  should 
consent.  Lot  was  the  author  of  their  sin ;  if  they 
should  not  consent,  Lot  w:is  the  author  of  their 
ravishment.  There  might  have  been  uncertainty  in 
their  consenting,  there  had  been  none  in  his  exposing. 


His  purpose  was  good,  his  offer  was  faulty.  If  by 
his  allowance  the  Sodomites  h:id  defiled  his  daughters 
betrothed  to  others,  it  had  been  his  sin.  If  through 
violence  they  liad  defiled  liis  guests,  it  had  been  only 
their  sin. 

It  is  for  God  to  jirevent  sin  with  judgment,  not  for 
man  to  prevent  a  greater  sin  in  possibility,  with  a 
less  in  present  act.  Thus  it  cannot  be  justified,  only 
a  little  qualified,  1.  In  respect  of  the  times,  wherein 
knowledge  was  not  so  clear.  2.  By  his  cliarity,  he 
did  it  to  conser\-e  intemeratc  his  guests.  3.  By  his 
troubled  mind,  without  any  recollection  or  serious 
advice.  The  best  minds  troubled  yield  inconsiderate 
motions,  as  water  violently  stirred  sends  up  bubbles.' 
Thus  Lot  meant  well,  but  God  meant  better  :  he 
preferred  the  unknown  angels  before  his  cliildren, 
and  the  Lord  preseiTed  them  all. 

But  if  this  were  such  an  error  in  Lot,  though 
meant  in  charity,  how  horrible  is  it  in  those  that  do 
it  for  iniquity  !  One  would  think  there  were  no  such 
monsters  in  nature,  yea,  monsters  against  nature. 
The  sea-monsters  are  not  so  cruel,  as  these  land- 
monsters,  to  their  young.  Lam.  iv.  3.  A  good  father 
will  not  sell  his  child's  body  a  slave  to  man  ;  shall 
any  sell  his  child's  soul  a  slave  to  the  devil  ?  Oh 
that  the  sun  should  shine  upon  that  woman,  wliich 
will  prostitute  her  own  daughter  !  that  the  body  she 
brought  forth  with  pains  to  this  earth,  she  should 
sell  for  gains  unto  hell !  Let  her  lose  the  name  of 
mother,  and  be  held  a  murderer :  there  is  no  woman 
ever  more  deserved  to  be  called  the  devil's  dam.  Let 
all  her  sex  be  ashamed  of  her  ;  and  even  the  sinners 
that  reward  her,  curse  her.  Parents,  admonish  your 
children,  dissuade  them  from  sin,  pray  against  their 
sin,  do  not  teach  them  to  sin.  What  is  said  of  the 
child's  eye  despising  the  parent,  let  me  say  of  the 
parent's  tongue  tempting  the  child,  let  the  ravens 
of  the  valley  pick  it  out,  and  the  young  eagles  eat  it, 
Prov.  XXX.  17. 

(5.)  His  drunkenness.  Lot  fled  from  Sodom,  yet 
he  could  not  flee  from  sin:  he  that  could  not  be 
tainted  in  the  city,  is  overtaken  in  the  cave.  It  is 
not  the  place  that  amendeth  manners.  Some  places 
arc  more  dangerous,  none  are  secure  from  temptation. 
It  is  a  popish  fancy,  that  a  cloisteral  life  can  make  a 
man  more  holy.  If  dninkenness  crept  into  Lot's  cave, 
who  can  excuse  their  cells  and  cloisters  ?  Lot  sinned 
in  the  mountain,  Adam  in  Paradise,  the  angels  in 
heaven :  are  nunneries  and  monasteries  safer  than 
these  ? 

Some  wholly  excuse  his  dnmkenncss,  because  he 
did  not  purpose  to  be  drunk.  (Chr)-sost.)  But  the 
apostle  faulteth  all  excess,  Eph.  v.  18:  the  excess  is 
a  sin,  whatever  be  the  purpose  before,  or  effect  after. 
Others  say  for  it,  that  he  drank  liberally  to  allay  his 
sorrows,  and  mitigate  his  hea\-iness.  (Aquin.  Thco- 
doret.  August.)  Answ.  It  ill  becomes  a  just  man 
to  make  use  of  such  a  comfort ;  the  remedy  was 
worse  than  the  disease.  I  deny  not,  but  wine  to  a 
man  afflicted  with  so  many  griefs,  hath  the  allow- 
able use.  Give  strong  drink  to  the  heavy  heart, 
Prov.  xxxi.  6.  But  he  that  shall  think  to  enable 
his  body  by  disabling  his  soul,  and  to  cure  his  sickness 
with  his  sin,  runs  into  the  fire  to  avoid  the  smoke. 

Let  there  be  no  pretext  found  for  drunkenness;  it 
made  a  just  Lot  prostitute  his  body  to  beastly  un- 
clejmness.  Sodom  could  not  deceive  him,  but  wine 
did.  The  fire  of  wine  within  him,  did  more  than 
lire  and  brimstone  without  him.  (Origen.)  Nor  in 
him  alone  hath  it  prevailed.  Who  would  think  to 
find  Noah,  that  father  of  the  new  world,  lying  drunk- 
en in  Ills  tent  ?  or  that  a  little  wine  should  do  more 
than  a  whole  deluge  of  water?  that  he  who  was 
not  perverted  bv  the  bad  examples  of  the  old  world, 


364 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


should  now  begin  a  new  example  of  sin  to  the  new 
v/oild?  Lord,  what  is  man,  if  he  be  but  himself! 
What  living  man  had  more  noble  proofs  of  God's 
mercy  and  justice  ;  mercy  on  himself,  justice  on 
others  ?  The  Lord  once  said  to  him  in  the  midst  of 
imumerable  apostates.  Thee  only  have  I  found  right- 
eous, Gen.  vii.  1.  He  that  was  purged  when  the 
world  was  unclean,  proves  now  unclean  when  the 
'.vorld  is  purged.  The  preacher  of  the  former  world, 
;ind  prince  of  the  latter,  is  the  first  that  renews  the 
sins  which  he  had  reproved,  and  for  which  he  saw  it 
condemned. 

There  is  no  sin  hath  so  strange  an  effect ;  it  is 
worse  than  sin.  Other  sins  procure  shame,  but  seek 
to  hide  it;  this  displays  it.  Lot  is  thus  made  a  fool  to 
his  daughters,  Noah  to  his  son  :  it  is  a  conmion 
ijualify  in  this  excess  to  disclose  secrets.  Adam  had 
no  sooner  sinned,  but  he  saw  and  abhorred  his  own 
nakedness,  seeking  concealment  even  in  bushes.  Lot 
and  Noah  discover  their  nakedness,  and  have  not  so 
much  rule  of  themselves  as  to  be  ashamed.  Drunk- 
enness doth  not  only  make  vices,  but  make  them 
manifest.  So  would  God  have  it,  that  our  shame 
might  be  double  by  it :  both  a  shame  for  those  im- 
perfections we  discover,  and  of  that  imperfection 
which  moved  us  to  discover  them.  One  hour's 
drunkenness  filthily  discovered  what  six  hundred 
years'  sobriety  had  modestly  concealed.  He  that 
gives  himself  to  wine,  is  not  his  ov.'n  man.  How 
abhorrible  is  that  vice,  which  shall  rob  a  man  of 
himself,  and  lay  a  beast  in  his  room  !  He  that  re- 
sists that  one  sin,  escapes  many;  as  he  that  kills  the 
pregnant  dam,  is  sure  to  destroy  all  the  brood. 

Drunkenness  commands  all :  the  senses  command 
(he  members,  the  affections  command  the  senses, 
the  heart  commands  the  affections,  the  head  com- 
mands the  heart,  and  wine  commands  the  head.  As 
Themistocles'  boy  said,  I  rule  my  mother,  my  mother 
rules  my  father,  and  my  father  rules  the  whole  sen- 
ate. Wine  is  aspiring,  and  will  get  up  to  the  crown, 
hnd  then  humbles  the  crown  to  the  feet.  If  it  once 
take  the  sconce,  as  Joab  said  of  Rabbah,  all  the  rest 
will  follow. 

(G.)  His  incest.  Rather  than  Satan  will  leave  Lot 
untempted  out  of  Sodom,  his  own  daughters  shall 
prove  Sodomites.  They  that  should  have  been  his 
comforters  to  succour  him,  became  baits  to  betray 
him.  So  little  are  they  moved  with  that  grievous 
judgment,  the  turning  of  Sodom  to  ashes,  of  their 
mother  to  a  pillar,  both  in  their  eye ;  that  they  dare 
think  of  lying  with  their  own  father.  Yea,  and  one 
of  them  afterward  impudently  calls  that  son  Moab, 
My  fathei's  son  by  me. 

Some  have  excused  their  fact,  that  they  did  it  to 
jireserve  seed ;  not  out  of  intemperaney,  but  love  of 
their  name  and  posterity  ;  not  for  lust,  but  procrea- 
tion, yltimc.  The  end  was  commendable;  but  the 
means,  by  incest  with  their  father,  culpable:  better 
fur  them  never  to  have  been  mother,  than  to  be  so 
by  their  father.  Yet  their  intent  shall  judge  many  : 
they  affected  commixion  for  fruit ;  divers  make  that 
their  last  and  least  end  ;  lust  of  delectation  is  stronger 
with  them  than  desire  of  propagation.  It  seems, 
they  sinned  directly  .against  their  own  consciences; 
because  they  did  first  intoxicate  their  father,  to  put 
4i\m  from  his  rectified  memory.  They  thought  he 
voidd  not  consent  to  them,  unless  he  first  did  forget 
liimsclf ;  that  while  Lot  was  sober  he  would  not  be 
unchaste.  Drunkenness  is  the  key  that  opens  the 
door  to  all  bestial  affections  and  actions.  Wine 
knows  no  diflVrence,  or  of  persons  or  sins.  Their 
fact  was  more  heinous  than  their  father's ;  his  only 
drunkenness,  theirs  to  make  him  so,  and  then  to 
toimiik 4nccst  with  him. 


For  his  incest,  he  knew  it  not :  he  perceived  not 
when  they  lay  down,  nor  when  they  rose  up,  Gen. 
xix.  33.  It  is  no  incredible  thing ;  not  that  it  was 
done  by  nocturnal  pollution,  without  the  act  of  gener- 
ation ;  as  Tostatus  out  of  Thomas.  Now  those  sins 
condemn  us,  which  we  do  knowingly.  The  use  cf 
his  reason  was  hindered  by  drink ;  for  if  he  had  re- 
membered liimself  upon  his  awaking,  he  would  never 
have  done  it  the  second  time.  Some  say,  the  pro- 
gressive faculty  may  be  exercised  in  sleep,  as  some 
walk  in  their  sleep  and  transport  things  from  place 
to  place.  Certainly,  the  devil  was  not  absent  in 
such  a  foul  business,  working  fancies  in  his  head. 
But  in  a  word,  his  unchastity  was  the  pimishment  of 
his  ebriety.  (Calv.) 

Thus  came  his  uncleanness  from  his  drunkenness, 
but  what  is  to  be  said  for  his  drunkenness  ?  Once 
and  a  second  time  he  admitted  it.  Noah  was  drunk 
but  once  :  one  act  cannot  make  a  good  heart  unright- 
eous, as  a  trade  of  sin  cannot  stand  with  regenera- 
tion. So  dangerous  is  it  to  give  way  to  Satan's  tempt- 
ations ;  where  he  is  once  entertained,  the  next  time 
he  is  confident.  He  that  hath  taken  one  sore  fall,  is 
the  worse  for  it  long  after.  I  know  it  is  true  in  some, 
Once  to  have  stumbled,  is  always  to  be  admonished  ; 
but  this  is  above  nature,  a  happiness  only  beholden 
to  Divine  grace. 

These  are  the  exceptions  against  Lot's  justice,  who 
(for  all  these)  hath  a  testimony  from  the  mouth  cf 
the  Holy  Ghost,  that  he  was  a  just  man.  Now  whom 
God  calls  just,  let  no  man  call  unrighteous.  Such  is 
the  difference,  not  of  sins,  but  of  men.  He  that  sees 
Lot  and  Judah  pardoned  for  incest,  while  Zimri  suf- 
fers for  fornication,  must  confess,  that  God  doth  not 
so  weigh  the  faults  as  the  persons.  It  is  a  foolish 
proverb  of  man's  partial  indulgence.  That  one  man 
may  better  steal  a  horse  than  another  look  on.  But 
the  Lord  is  justice,  and  hates  all  sin  whatsoever,  in 
all  persons  whatsoever  ;  yet  will  he  pardon  their 
great  sin,  that  are  members  of  his  good  Son,  and 
severely  punish  the  least  fault  in  them  for  whom  he 
suffered  not.  He  n^gards  not  so  much  what  as  who  : 
remission  goes  not  by  the  measure  of  the  sin,  but  by 
the  quality  of  the  sinner,  yea,  rather  the  mercy  of 
the  forgiver.  Not  the  man  that  hath  done  no  sin, 
but  whom  the  Lord  will  not  charge  with  sin,  lie  is 
blessed,  Psal.  xxxii.  I.  From  all  that  hath  been 
said,  I  will  draw  certain  useful  conclusions. 

I.  Even  a  just  Lot  is  suffered  to  fall:  he  that 
was  a  gracious  saint  on  earth,  and  is  now  a  glorious 
saint  in  heaven,  had  his  aspersions.  When  God  up- 
holds us,  no  temptation  can  move  us  ;  if  he  let  go  his 
manutenency,  none  is  too  weak  for  us.  Which  of 
God's  dear  children  have  not  once  done  that  thing, 
whereof  they  have  afterward  been  ashamed  ?  This 
the  Lord  sutlers  for  divers  reasons.  1.  To  humble  us : 
if  such  excellent  men  have  trod  awrj-,  how  should 
we  take  heed  to  our  ways !  Shall  such  giants  stumble, 
and  we  lame  cripples  be  secure  ?  2.  To  keep  us 
from  despair:  the  Scripture  tells  us  of  their  infirmi- 
ties, that  in  their  pardon  we  may  read  God's  mercies. 
Let  their  falling  humble  us,  and  their  rising  again 
comfort  us.  If  we  had  not  such  patterns,  how  could 
we  but  despair  at  the  siglit  of  our  sins  ?  But  he  will 
hope  well  of  his  woinid,  that  hath  so  good  experience 
of  his  Physician.  3.  To  magnify  his  own  infinite 
goodness,  that  can  to  good  turn  our  evil :  he  lets  us 
fall,  knowing  how  to  make  as  good  use  of  our  sin  as 
of  our  obedience. 

Lot  might  be  ashamed  of  his  incestuous  seed,  and 
«  ish  to  h;ivc  come  from  Sodom  alone.  Yet  was  this 
unnatural  bed  blessed  with  increase.  Divers  good 
women  have  failed  of  this  fruit  by  the  lawful  rights 
of  marriage,  as  Sarah,  Rebekah,  Rachel,  Elisabeth  ; 


Vin.  7. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


365 


nil  hardly  conceived.  Some  with  one  unlawful  copu- 
lation have  become  pregnant ;  as  Tam.ir  by  Judah, 
Bathshcba  by  David,  Lot's  daughters  by  their  own 
father.  Not  that  God  favours  forbidden  conjunctions ; 
but  in  his  justice  to  bring  such  secret  sin  to  open 
shame ;  in  the  elect  for  their  conversion,  in  the  re- 
probate for  their  further  confusion. 

Moab  is  derived  from  this  incest,  one  that  might 
call  his  father,  grandfather,  and  his  mother,  sister. 
One  father  begof  both  the  mother  and  her  child,  and 
one  man  is  both  the  brother  and  son  of  the  same 
woman.  Yet  from  this  line  came  one  of  our  Savioui-'s 
worthy  ancestors :  of  Moab  eame  Ruth,  married  to 
Boaz,  the  father  of  Jesse,  the  father  of  David,  the  pro- 
genitor of  Jesus  Christ  according  to  the  flesh.  God's 
election  is  not  tied  to  our  means:  we  may  beget 
children,  we  can  neither  traduce  blessings  nor  curses 
to  them.  Holy  parents  from  a  chaste  bed  have  some- 
times bred  a  monstrous  and  impious  generation.  And 
the  Lord  sometimes  raiseth  a  holy  seed  from  the 
drunken  bed  of  fornication.  Whatsoever  we  do, 
God  will  be  chooser  ;  and  serve  himself,  not  accord- 
ing to  our  act,  but  his  own  purpose.  Weighty  ears 
of  corn  have  sometimes  grown  out  of  the  compass  of 
the  tilled  field;  and  sweet  flowers  been  found  out  of 
the  enclosed  garden,  even  in  the  wild  forest.  Thus 
will  God  keep  his  own  liberty  of  election,  by  his 
grace,  not  our  works ;  and  let  us  know,  that  we  are 
not  born  but  made  good. 

2.  Notwithstanding  these  infirmities,  still  Lot  is  a 
just  man :  some  particular  acts  may  be  too  light  in 
the  balance,  without  extinguishing  his  title  before 
the  Lord.  A  man  is  sanctified  in  four  respects.  1.  In 
the  not  imputation  of  his  sins :  and  that  which  is  not 
imputed,  is  as  it  were  not  committed.  2.  In  inchoation 
of  holiness,  begun  in  this  life,  perfected  hereafter.  3. 
In  acceptation :  God  seeth  none  iniquity  in  Jacob,  he 
sceth  no  transgression  in  Israel,  Numb,  xxiii.  21 :  there 
is  sin  in  us,  but  God  will  not  sec  it.  4.  In  comparison : 
so  they  shine  like  stars  in  a  dark  night.  Lot's 
oflTences  were  some  blemish  to  his  sanctification  in 
earth,  they  could  not  nullify  his  justification  in 
heaven :  blemish  his  virtue  they  may,  not  frustrate 
his  grace.  For  if  still  as  the  elect  sin,  they  should 
lose  their  grace,  and  cease  to  be  righteous,  God's 
election  were  as  mutable  as  our  condition.  The 
frantic  in  his  mad  fits  dolh  not  exercise  reason,  yet 
he  hath  it ;  he  losclh  the  use,  not  the  habit.  In 
a  swoon  the  soul  doth  not  exercise  her  functions ;  a 
man  neither  hears,  nor  sees, nor  feels;  yet  she  is  still 
in  the  body.  A  suspended  priest  cannot  be  put  from 
his  right  in  the  church,  for  he  hath  his  ministrj-, 
though  forbidden  to  exercise  it.  The  outlaw  is  still 
a  subject,  albeit  debarred  of  some  privileges.  The 
son  angers  his  father,  he  doth  not  straight  disinherit 
him.  "Though  the  vessel  reel,  yet.  Fear  not,  thou 
earnest  Caesar,  said  that  emperor  to  the  quaking 
mariner.  We  are  weak  of  ourselves,  but  Christ  is 
in  us. 

Lot  fell  six  times  in  many  days,  the  just  man  falls 
seven  times  in  one  day ;  yet  he  is  still  just  in  his  Savi- 
our's righteousness.  This  concludes  our  comfort :  he 
that  bade  Peter  forgive  his  repenting  brother  seven 
times,  will  forgive  our  repentant  souls  seven  thousand 
times  :  he  scorns  that  any  Peter,  saint,  or  angel,  should 
outgo  him  in  showing  mercy.  In  ourselves  we  are  sin- 
ners, in  Christ  righteous.  When  the  philosopher  in  his 
own  mean  clothes  could  not  be  admitted  into  the 
court  on  a  solemn  day,  he  went  and  borrowed  rich 
and  gorgeous  apparel ;  he  was  then  let  in  with  ease 
and  respect.  Being  in  the  presence,  he  was  con- 
tinually kissing  his  robe:  the  king  noting  it,  won- 
dered, and  asked  the  cause :  he  answers,  I  honour 
that  which  honoured  me.     My  virtue  could  procure 


me  no  entrance,  my  garment  did.  We  are  too  base, 
ragged,  beggarly  of  ourselves,  to  be  let  into  that 
glorious  court  of  heaven :  by  faith  put  we  on  the 
Prince's  embroidered  garment,  Christ's  righteousness; 
then  shall  we  be  admitted.  Let  us  admire  and 
honour  that  which  honours  us :  what  all  our  right- 
eousness could  never  do,  that  his  robe  doth  for  us. 

Now  "if  the  righteous  scarcely  be  saved,  where 
shall  the  ungodly  and  sinner  appear?"  1  Pet.  iv.  Is. 
Righteous,  tliat  is  happy  ;  but  scarcely  saved,  that  is 
hard  ;  yet  shall  be  saved,  that  is  happy  again.  Let 
no  believer  fear,  for  he  is  righteous ;  let  none  pre- 
sume, for  he  shall  scarcely  be  saved  ;  yet,  let  none 
despair,  for  he  shall  be  saved.  For  all  thy  sin,  yet 
thou  (being  faithful  in  Christ)  art  righteous;  for  all 
thy  righteousness,  thou  shalt  scarcely  be  saved:  for 
all  that  difficulty,  yet  thou  shalt  be  saved.  Thus 
like  those  on  the  seas,  they  mount  up  to  heaven,  and 
down  to  the  deep,  and  up  again,  Psal.  cvii.  2() ;  or 
like  the  heave-oflering,  that  was  heaved  up,  and  down, 
and  up  again ;  or  as  Christ,  the  antitype  of  it,  was 
heaved  up  to  the  cross,  down  to  the  grave,  and  up 
again  unto  glorj-  :  so  we  are  justified  by  Christ,  this 
lifts  us  up  to  grace  ;  we  commit  many  sins,  this  hum- 
bles us  with  sliame ;  yet  we  love  righteousness,  and 
endeavour  to  perfection,  this  shall  advance  us  to 
everlasting  glory. 

3.  Just  Lot  was  delivered,  neither  for  his  justice, 
nor  without  it.  Not  for  his  own  righteousness,  but 
for  God's  mercy  :  I  will  deliver  him,  because  I  have 
a  favour  unto  him.  Nor  doth  the  apostle  mean,  that 
Lot  was  delivered  for  his  own  sake  ;  nor  the  prophet, 
that  he  was  delivered  for  Abraham's  sake,  when  he 
saith,  "  God  remembered  Abraham,  and  sent  Lot 
out,"  Gen.  xix.  29.  He  should  have  been  saved, 
though  he  had  not  been  akin  to  Abraham.  Yet  is 
this  repeated  to  testify  God's  love  to  Abraham,  and 
his  gracious  answer  to  the  prayers  of  the  sons  of 
Abraham,  which  shall  prevail  with  him.  But  in- 
deed, God  remembered  Abraham,  not  so  much  be- 
cause he  prayed,  but  because  liimself  had  promised  : 
the  deliverance  depended  not  upon  any  merit  in  uncle 
or  nephew,  but  on  the  Divine  goodness. 

The  pontificians  say,  there  be  two  things  in  a  good 
work;  the  meritorious  part,  to  get  heaven;  the 
satisfactory  part,  to  escape  hell.  It  cannot  do  the 
latter,  for  the  unprofitableness  of  it,  being  no  more 
than  we  are  bound  to  do.  It  cannot  do  the  former, 
for  the  insufliciency  of  it,  being  not  so  much  as  we 
are  bound  to  do.  If  God  judge  by  the  law  moral,  no 
work  is  good ;  but  if  by  the  law  evangelical,  joined 
with  the  remission  of  sins,  many  works  are  good. 
Some  have  affirmed  that  all  our  works  arc  evil ;  as 
if  truth  and  lying,  covetousness  and  liberality,  hatred 
and  charily,  were  all  one.  God  never  taught  that 
doctrine.  Indeed  our  best  actions  have  their  blem- 
ishes and  imperfections.  The  Egyptian  midwives 
saved  the  Hebrew  children  by  a  lie;  yet  it  is  said, 
God  prospered  them,  and  made  them  houses,  Exod. 
i.  20,  21.  He  rewarded  not  their  lie,  but  their  piety; 
he  so  regarded  their  mercy,  that  he  regarded  not 
their  infirmity.  Prosperity  belongs  to  their  good- 
ness, pardon  to  their  dissimulation.  The  Lord  for- 
gave the  obliquity,  and  blessed  the  honesty  of  the 
work.  There  be  three  circumstances  in  cverj-  work, 
which  St.  Bernard  would  have  us  look  unto;  the  law- 
fulness, expedience,  decency  :  the  main  is  the  lawful- 
ness. But  man  is  so  lame,  that  though  he  keeps  the 
right  way,  yet  he  halts.  Without  our  righteousness 
we  cannot  be  s.ived,  yet  for  our  righteousness  we  are 
not  saved,  but  for  his  that  came  to  save  us. 

4.  The  just  saints  are  to  be  followed  but  in  their 
justice  and  sanctity.  Too  many  encourage  them- 
selves on  their  falls.  Lot  was  incestuous  and  drunken. 


366 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


yet  he  is  called  just ;  why  for  such  sins  am  I  held 
unrighteous  ?  Am  I  hotter  than  he  ?  Better  ?  no, 
would  thou  wcrt  half  so  good.  1.  He  sinned  and 
condemned  himself;  thou  sinnest  and  defendest  thy- 
self. Thou  likcst  that  in  him  which  he  mislikcd  in 
himself.  2.  Tliey  sinned  and  repented  ;  thou  show- 
est  thy  sin,  but  no  sign  of  repentance.  Their  weak- 
ness is  seen  in  our  hands,  but  their  tears  are  not  seen 
in  our  eyes.  3.  Evil  was  never  made  to  be  imitated, 
but  goodness.  Lot's  faith  and  obedience  is  not  such 
a  sinner's  object,  but  his  incest  and  drunkenness :  as 
if  Jacob's  modest  look,  liberal  hand,  truth-speaking 
tongue,  devout  knee,  and  humble  heart,  were  not 
worth  noting ;  but  only  his  lameness  and  halting. 
He  marks  none  of  their  graces,  but  their  scars.  4. 
Their  falls  serve  to  raise  us  up  when  we  are  down, 
not  to  cast  us  down  when  we  are  up ;  for  our  con- 
solation afterward,  not  for  our  presumption  before. 
To  think  of  their  errors  should  humble  us  with  fear, 
not  hearten  us  with  encouragement  to  evil.  It  is 
said  of  the  wicked,  They  fear  where  no  fear  is,  Psal. 
liii.  5 :  here  it  may  be  said,  where  fear  is  they  fear 
not.  These  examples  are  a  solace  to  the  penitent, 
not  a  refuge  to  the  presumptuous.  To  sa)'.  Why 
should  not  I  find  mercy  with  David  ?  this  is  the  voice 
of  faith :  to  say,  Why  should  not  I  venture  to  sin 
with  David  ?  this  is  the  voice  of  folly.  5.  Thy  sin 
is  greater  by  this  bold  imitation :  a  lie  ventured  on 
by  the  example  of  a  saint's  frailty,  is  of  a  more  ma- 
licious nature  in  thee,  than  it  was  in  him.  Any 
transgression  thus  derived,  is  the  argument  of  a  more 
ungracious  soul  than  that  it  seeks  to  imitate.  What 
he  hopes  shall  excuse  him,  doth  more  properly  con- 
demn him,  because  he  had  that  warning  before  him. 
6.  Thy  repentance  is  doubtfuller.  He  that  tempted 
them  to  sin  tempts  also  thee  ;  that  is  Satan  :  but  he 
that  gave  them  repentance,  is  not  bound  to  give  it 
thee;  that  is  God.  Thou makest  thy  fall  certain,  ihy 
rising  again  is  uncertain.  Such  a  man  hath  been 
dangerously  sick,  and  escaped;  his  physician  was 
skilful  and  diligent,  his  medicine  proper  and  elTectual. 
Wilt  thou  make  thyself  sick,  on  purpose  to  try  the 
skill  of  the  <me  aud  virtue  of  the  other?  7.  For 
them,  there  was  a  cure  behind,  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Lamb  not  then  slain;  but  now  if  men  wilfully  fms- 
trate  the  price  of  that  redemption,  Christ  died  no 
more:  his  next  coming  shall  not  be  in  the  humility 
of  a  sufterer,  but  in  the  glory  of  his  Father ;  not  to 
redeem,  but  judge  the  world.  8.  All  Scripture  is  for 
instruction,  all  is  not  for  imitation  :  alight  to  my  feet, 
showing  me  tlie  blocks  whereat  they  stumbled,  that 
I  might  keep  myself  upright.  It  is  so  done  and 
written.  For  our  imitation  ?  No,  that  were  an 
argument  of  too  much  violence,  to  draw  on  sin 
with  the  cart-ropes  of  examples  ;  to  take  some  stones 
from  the  temple,  that  with  them  we  might  beat  down 
the  rest ;  and  to  spoil  ourselves  by  the  ruins  of  God's 
saints. 

This  is  fit  to  he  urged  against  those  that  flesh 
themselves  by  the  sins  of  God's  children.  Will  any 
infer,  What  matter  is  it  what  manner  of  men  we  are, 
when  Paul,  a  blasphemer,  a  persecutor,  an  oppressor, 
was  received  to  mercy?  1  Tim.  i.  13;  when  Saul, 
coming  a  wolf  against  the  lambs,  is  made  Paul,  a 
shepherd  for  the  lambs?  This  is  tnie  in  him,  but 
he  did  it  ignorantly  ;  thou  having  his  example  doest 
it  maliciously  ;  and  God  will  not  be  merciful  to  them 
that  offend  him  of  set  purpose.  He  that  deliberate- 
ly resolves  to  sin,  doth  what  he  can  to  make  himself 
incapable  of  forgiveness.  Indeed  it  is  true,  that 
there  is  none  good,  but  he  w.ns  once  bad.  Peter  by 
experience  of  his  own  frailly,  might  learn  with  his 
ke)-s  lo  open  heaven  unto  others.  But  though  God 
forget  our  sins  in  his  patience,  let  not  us  forget  them 


in  our  penitence.  God  pardoned  in  Lot  what  was 
bad,  and  accepted  what  was  good :  let  us  follow  his 
virtues,  that  we  be  never  condemned  for  his  sins. 

5.  If  we  will  be  delivered  let  us  be  just.  But  doth 
God  deliver  none  but  the  righteous?  Yes,  some- 
times also  the  wicked,  and  (hat  for  divers  reasons. 
I.  That  they  might  be  brought  to  repentance;  for 
that  is  the  scope  and  purpose  of  the  goodness  and 
patience  of  God,  Rom.  ii.  4.  But  man  is  so  given  to 
pride,  that  if  he  speed  well  he  thinks  he  deserves 
well ;  and  so  instead  of  humble  thankfulness  swells 
with  proud  arrogance.  2.  For  some  progeny  to 
come  from  them.  For  good  Hezekiah  to  be  bom, 
his  wicked  father  Ahaz  is  forborne.  Why  doth  Amon 
draw  out  two  years'  breath  in  idolatrj',  but  that  good 
Josiah  was  to  be  fitted  for  a  king  ?  Wiien  I  came 
into  the  sanctuary  of  God,  then  understood  I  the 
ends  of  these  men,  Psal.  Ixxiii.  1/.  There  we  find 
that  many  sacrilegious,  extortioners,  idolaters,  are 
delivered,  because  God  hath  some  good  fruit  to  come 
from  their  cursed  loins.  3.  To  fill  up  the  measure 
of  their  sins  :  they  have  already  done  so  much,  that 
they  are  suffered  to  do  more  :  so  sin  is  punished  with 
sin,  as  drunkenness  with  tliirst.  4.  To  magnify  the 
Lord's  patience,  in  giving  them  time  and  means  of 
penitence ;  that  as  they  make  liis  labour  without 
success,  they  might  be  left  without  excuse.  Thus 
was  Ham  delivered  from  that  universal  deluge,  yet 
after  he  comes  to  deride  his  o^^•n  father :  twice  had 
Noah  given  him  life,  yet  he  abuseth  both  his  father 
and  preserver.  Even  God's  ark  may  nom-ish  mon- 
sters :  on  the  seats  of  the  temple  may  sit  contemners 
of  their  spiritual  fathers,  as  often  filthy  toads  lie  under 
the  consecrated  stones.  Was  this  God's  favour  to 
preserve  him  to  judgment?  He  had  better  have 
perished  in  the  waters,  than  live  under  his  father's 
curse.  It  is  not  simply  our  deliverance,  but  our 
thankfulness  for  it,  and  obedience  after  it,  that  gives 
sufficient  argument  to  our  consciences,  we  are  in  the 
favour  of  God. 

6.  Never  did  man  serve  God  for  nothing  :  if  Lot 
be  just,  he  shall  now  find  the  benefit  of  it,  he  is  de- 
livered. It  is  the  speech  of  atheism  and  apostacy, 
"  It  is  vain  to  serve  God  :  and  what  profit  is  it  that 
we  have  kept  his  ordinance?"  Mai.  iii.  14.  Most 
fiilsc,  from  God,  he  highly  scorns  to  owe  a  man 
any  thing.  Cyrus  in  the  conquest  of  Laeedemonia, 
encouraged  his  soldiers,  that  the  footman  should 
have  a  horseman's  place,  the  horseman  a  chariot,  the 
lieutenant  should  be  made  a  captain,  the  captain  a 
colonel,  and  he  that  was  president  over  a  city,  should  be 
made  a  viceroy  over  a  whole  country.  Whereas  Christ, 
say  they,  for  his  soldiers,  speaks  of  nothing  but  taking 
a  cross,  and  bearing  a  yoke ;  of  persecution  abroad, 
and  affliction  at  home.  Here  is  not  labour  rewarded 
with  honour,  but  honour  tliminished  by  labour :  it 
was  better  with  us  before,  we  had  more  prosperity 
with  less  piety.  They  are  miserably  deceived ;  there 
is  no  honour  like  to  his  service,  the  fear  of  God  re- 
wards itself.  I  have  laboured  in  vain,  and  spent  my 
strength  for  nought;  the  earth  is  barren:  but  my 
work  is  with  the  Lord,  aud  my  rewai'd  wnth  my  God, 
Isa.  xlix.  4 ;  heaven  is  fruitful,  there  shall  be  a  bless- 
ed harvest  of  recorapence. 

Then  s{jake  they  that  feared  the  Lord,  and  a  book 
of  remembrance  was  written,  &c.  Mai.  iii.  16.  They 
met  together  to  serve  God;  for  this  purpose  Wiis 
their  coming,  and  about  this  business  was  their  com- 
muning. What  followed  ?  A  book  of  remembrance 
was  written  for  them :  not  one  good  work  of  theirs, 
but  is  there  registered:  the  great  Master  of  the  Rolls 
records  Iheni,  and  rewards  them;  here  in  a  heaven 
of  peace,  there  in  the  peace  of  heaven.  "  And  they 
shall  be  mine,  saith  the  Lord:"  when  I  shall  say  to 


bl-XUND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


367 


I 


i  wicked,  Depart  from  me,  tlien  I  will  acknowledge 

m  for  mine.     "  When  I  make  up  my  jewels,"  set- 

i^'all  the  trash  and  refuse  on  fire  :   I  will  gather  up 

li.m  into  mine  own  treasury,  as  a  man  locks  up  his 

rccious  jewels  in  his  cabinet.     "  .A.nd  I  will  spare 

nm,  as  a  man  sparcth  "  (not  every  son,  but)  "his 

in  son  that  scrveth  him,"  ver.  17- 

i'his  was  the  convinced  devil's  acknowledgment ; 

■Doth  .Job  fear  God   for  nought?"  Job  i.  9:  and 

Saul's  insinuation  to  the  Benjamitcs,  disheartening 

i  heir  adherence  to  David  ;  "  Will  the  son  of  Jesse  give 

111  fields  and  vineyards,  and  make  you  captains 

:   thousand.-:,  and  captains  of  hundreds?"   1   Sam. 

xii.   7-     Reward  is  the  encouragement  of  service. 

I  his  was  the  ground  and  colour  of  theangn,'  son's  ex- 

rcption  ;  "  These  many  years  do  I  serve  thee,  neither 

iransgresscd  I  at  any  time  thy  commandment;  and 

I  ihou  never  gavest  me  a  kid,  that  I  might  make 

rry  with  my  friends,"  Luke  xv.  29.     An  unjust  ex- 

:  o^tulation  of  a  son  to  a  father,  and  such  a  father  as 

iiad  given  him  the  inheritance.     "  Ye  know  that  your 

labour  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord,"   1  Cor.  xv.  58. 

Labour  :  idleness  shall  do  you  no  good,  but  labour. 

Your  labour :  the  pains  of  another  shall  not  profit 

you,  but  your  own  labour.     Is  not  in  vain  :  not  like 

the  blackamoor's  washing,  a  labour  in  vain ;  but  if  it 

miss  your  end,  it  reacheth  God's :  we  see  not  the 

success,  yet  it  prospers.     In  the  Lord :  it  may  be  in 

vain  in  the  world,  and  men  never  requite  it ;  but  in 

the  Lord  it  shall  find  recompence.     Our  labours  end 

with  our  lives,  but  our  rewards  end  not  with  our 

labours.     This  we  know  :  divinity  consists  of  certain 

grounds  and  infallible  principles,  a  sure  fovindation, 

a  knowledge.     The  physician,  be  his  medicine  never 

so  proper,  knows  not  whether  he  shall  recover  his 

patient.     Plead  the  lawyer  never  so  learnedly,  he 

knows  not  whether  he  shall  regain  his  client's  right. 

Tile  soldier  may  fight  valiantly,  yet  is  not  sure  of  the 

victor)'.     But  divinity  is  a  knowledge,  making  us 

know  that  our  pious  endeavours  shall  be  rewarded. 

7.  The  Lord  first  makes  us  just,  and  then  saves  us ; 
as  he  first  sanctified  Lot,  and  then  delivered  him. 
So  that  our  justice  is  not  justice  in  proper  and  dis- 
tinct terms,  but  mercy.  "  Ye  are  wasiicd."  What, 
have  you  washed  yourselves  ?  No,  "  ye  are  washed, 
ye  are  sanctified,  ye  arc  justified  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God,"  I  Cor.  vi. 
II.  So  Christ  is  "made  unto  us  wisdom,  and  right- 
eousness, and  sanctificatiou,  and  redemption,"  1 
Cor.  i.  30.  W'isdom  in  tlie  instruction  of  our 
souls,  righteousness  in  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins, 
sanctification  in  the  holiness  of  our  lives,  and  re- 
demption in  the  deliverance  from  all  our  enemies. 
We  arc  none  of  these  in  ourselves ;  that  he  who  re- 
joiceth.  might  rejoice  in  the  Lord.  Trust  not  your 
arms  of  flesh,  nor  your  hearts  of  ashes,  nor  your 
purest  spirits  while  they  are  housed  in  conupted 
walls.  If  you  have  stood  a  time,  trust  not  your  legs, 
you  may  slide;  if  you  have  slipped  and  recovered, 
trust  not  your  recovery,  you  may  fall  again.  Trust 
not  your  strength,  it  is  infirmity ;  trust  not  your  ivis- 
dom,  it  is  folly  ;  trust  not  your  holiness,  it  is  blended 
with  iniquity  :  prophets  have  fallen,  patriarchs  have 
fallen,  apostles  have  fallen,  stars  have  fallen,  angels 
have  fallen :  but  tnist  the  mercy  of  God,  which  is  of 
infinite  perfection ;  and  the  merits  of  Christ,  which 
are  of  perfect  satisfaction.  "  I,  even  I,  am  he  that 
blotteth  out  thy  transgressions  for  mine  ojvn  sake," 
Isa.  xliii.  25.  It  is  not  Abraham,  nor  Moses,  nor  the 
virgin  Mary,  nor  the  virgin  martyr,  nor  Peter  at 
Rome,  nor  Paul  at  Jenisalem,  that  can  do  this  cure  : 
hear  the  Physician ;  It  is  I,  saith  the  Lord.  Not 
with  the  preparation  of  our  own  nature,  nor  \vith  the 
co-operation  of  our  own  justice,  nor  disposition  and 


liberty  of  our  own  will :  hear  him  once  again ;  It 
is  I,  even  I,  and  for  mine  own  sake,  and  Son's  sake, 
that  forgivcth  your  sins. 

To  conclude  with  application.  God  hath  ^vcn  us 
a  gracious  deliverance,  which  we  may  parallel  with 
Lot's.  We  have  been  saved  from  the  fire ;  such  a 
conflagration  as  knows  no  comparison,  but  Sodom  or 
hell.  With  a  match  it  should  have  been  done  ;  with- 
out all  match,  if  it  had  been  done.  Some  differences 
there  are  :  that  fire  was  in  a  just  severity,  this  in  an 
unjust  treachery.  .Sodom's  fire  came  down  from 
heaven,  this  gunpowder  fire  was  fetched  up  from  hell. 
That  was  inilictcd  by  the  ministers  of  God,  angels  ; 
this  was  devised  by  the  ministers  of  Satan,  traitors. 
That  was  prepared  for  the  noccnt,  this  for  the  inno- 
cent. Tliat  was  fire  and  brimstone,  this  fire  and  gun- 
powder ;  of  a  more  sudden  and  despatching  violence  ; 
not  rescri'ing  a  pause  for  a.  Lord,  have  mercy  on 
us.  We  were  "  a  firebrand  plucked  out  of  the 
burning,"  Amos  iv.  II.  The  Lord  did  not  only 
deliver  us  from  the  burning,  but  he  also  kept  the  fire 
from  kindling.  He  sent  Lot  out  of  Sodom,  to  save 
him;  he  prevented  Sodom  in  England,  to  save  us: 
he  did  not  remove  us  from  it,  but  he  removed  it 
from  us. 

He  that  sent  that  fire  downward,  kept  this  fire 
from  mounting  upward.  He  delivered  Lot  by  visible 
angels,  and  angels  were  not  wanting,  though  in- 
\nsible,  when  he  delivered  us.  He  remembered 
Abraham,  and  sent  out  Lot;  when  he  freed  us  from 
the  fire,  he  remembered  the  Son  of  Abraham  accord- 
ing to  temporal  birth,  and  his  own  Son  by  eternal 
generation,  Jesus  Christ.  He  did  reveal  to  Abraham 
this  purposed  destruction  of  Sodom;  he  did  not  con- 
ceal from  our  gracious  sovereign  the  notice  of  tliis  in- 
tended destruction  of  his  kingdom.  Lot  was  sent 
out  by  break  of  day,  and  we  delivered  by  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning;  that  very  morning:  there  wanted 
but  a  little  work  of  the  morning,  and  then  sufllcient 
to  the  day,  to  the  year,  to  all  ages  of  the  world,  had 
the  malice  of  that  morning  been ;  more  accursed  than 
over  was  read  in  the  calendar  of  any  time.  The  in- 
cendiary, a  Faux,  a  firebrand  indeed,  kept  his  vigils, 
but  the  Lord  prevented  his  jubilee.  "There  was  a 
hell-brand  ready  with  his  match,  to  make  a  general 
bonfire,  both  of  mortal  men  and  immortal  trophies 
and  charters  ;  to  make  a  whole  burnt-ofTcring  of  us 
all,  and  to  pass  us  through  the  fire  to  that  Moloch  of 
Rome.  Temples,  sepulchres,  monuments  of  age  and 
honour,  should  have  been  tossed  into  the  air,  then 
into  the  water,  after  they  had  been  first  spoiled  by 
fire.  Our  river  had  been  turned  into  a  river  of  blood, 
and  her  carriages,  instead  of  commodities,  into  dead 
corpses  and  discerpted  limbs  ;  her  crj'stal  streams 
dyed  into  rubies.  Thus  they  meant  us  like  Sodom, 
but  God  delivered  us  like  Lot.  The  danger  was  im- 
minent and  furious,  their  rage  violent  and  monstrous, 
our  deliverance  strange  and  glorious :  let  our  com- 
memoration and  thanks  be  solemn  and  generous, 
heroical  and  perpetual  for  ever.     Amen. 

"Vexed  with  the  filthy  conversation  of  thewicked." 
The  next  point  is  his  place,  which  was  sinful,  flagi- 
tious, stigmatical  Sodom.  It  was  worse  than  a  gaol 
to  his  just  soul :  and  report  lies,  if  our  common  gaols 
be  not  like  to  Sodom,  tile  very  dens  of  mischief,  the 
schools  of  wickedness.  Thus  God's  ordinance  for 
reformation,  is  made  a  means  of  further  transgres- 
sion; and  the  place  built  for  discipline,  breeds  and 
feeds  villany.  A  malefactor  learns  more  pestilent 
untowardness  when  he  comes  there,  than  ever  he 
knew  before.  Oh  that  the  magistrate  would  look  to 
this  ;  that  dninkenness  and  blasphemy  might  not 
usurp  the  place  of  mortification  and  humility  ! 

But  why  would  Lot  stay  in  such  a  wicked  city  ? 


3<W 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  If. 


Not  as  a  neighbour  afftotcd  with  their  customs,  but 
as  a  physician  to  cure  tlieir  diseases.  (Chrj'sosf.) 
But  lie  that  looked  for  a  paradise,  found  a  hell  ;  and 
the  cup  of  liis  prosperity  was  spiced  with  the  bitter 
fruits  of  a  cursed  society.  It  was  indeed  a  good  land, 
but  a  bad  people ;  as  it  was  once  said  of  Ireland, 
Nothing  bad  there  but  the  people.  Christ  would 
not  suffer  his  weak  disciple  to  go  buiy  his  father. 
Matt.  viii.  22,  lest  he  should  be  per%'erted  by  some 
carnal  friends  at  the  funeral.  I  am  life,  tarry  and 
live  with  me  ;  let  the  dead  alone,  lest  thou  die  with 
them.  How  often  doth  God  part  his  children  from 
the  wicked,  by  making  them  smart  with  the  wicked  ! 
As  Augustine  speaks  of  the  religious  taken  among 
the  rest  by  the  Goths :  Jure  amarain  vilam  smtiuul, 
quia  peccantibus  amari  exse  nolaerunl.  "  Woe  is  me 
that  I  sojourn  in  Mesech,  that  I  dwell  in  the  tents 
of  Kedar  !  "  Psal.  cxx.  5. 

To  live  among  the  good  is  a  gi-eat  happiness,  a 
little  image  of  heaven,  a  model  and  abridgement  of 
tlie  communion  of  saints.  'Where  one  doth  love  an- 
other and  all  love  God ;  one  is  at  peace  with  an- 
other, and  all  at  peace  with  their  own  conscience ; 
one  doth  honour  another,  and  all  honour  their  Maker. 
When  the  inhabitants  of  a  parish  shine  in  the  day, 
like  a  firmament  of  bright  stars  in  the  night,  not  one 
malevolent  aspect  among  them.  Like  a  quire  of 
tunable  voices,  every  one  keeping  time  and  his  own 
part,  and  in  a  sweet  harmony,  all  singing  the  praises 
of  the  Lord.  But  oh  where  shall  we  find  such  a 
neighbourhood  ?  Iiow  much  ground  shall  we  leave 
behind  us,  ere  we  arrive  at  this  society  !  The  prophet 
once  cried,  O  ye  heavens,  drop  down  righteousness, 
Isa.  xlv.  8  ;  as  if  the  earth  had  quite  lost  it,  being 
taken  up  above  the  clouds.  We  may  now  cry  and 
complain  for  want  of  this  neighbourhood:  O  ye  hea- 
vens, drop  down  kindness  and  charity  into  our  times. 
O  love  that  art  alumna  cceli,  sis  rnedicina  soli,  come 
down  and  help  us. 

Imagine,  with  the  fable,  a  city  consisting  of  select- 
ed men,  all  peaceable,  tractable,  charitable,  humble ; 
the  magistrate  clemently  ruling,  the  people  meekly 
obeying.  The  enemy  knows  it  invincible,  while 
thus  governed  ;  therefore  craftily  resolves  to  shuffle 
in  among  them  a  pair  of  false  brothers,  a  liar,  and  a 
thief.  But  because  in  tlieir  own  forms  they  would 
soon  be  discovered  and  abhorred,  he  puts  them  in 
two  disguises,  the  liar  like  a  lawyer,  the  thief  like  a 
usurer.  Their  wealth  procures  them  room  and  re- 
spect, they  fall  to  work.  The  liar,  with  his  forged 
weapons,  whispers  to  the  magistrate  how  the  people 
stomach  him;  to  the  people,  how  the  magistrate 
tyrannizeth  over  them ;  to  private  persons,  what 
hard  hinguage  is  given  them,  what  wrong  is  done 
them,  what  right  is  kept  from  them,  and  that  the 
law  is  ordained  to  render  eveiy  man  his  own.  First, 
there  is  heart-burning,  then  brawling,  then  contest- 
ing at  law:  and  now  instead  of  peace  and  humility, 
there  is  pride  and  enmity.  The  usurer,  he  so  robs 
them  by  a  legal  theft,  that  they  become  at  once 
sensible  of  want  and  injury ;  covctousness  gets  into 
the  heart,  oppression  fills  the  hand.  Now  farewell 
charity,  every  man  for  himself,  none  for  God,  and 
God  for  none.  Consider  yourselves,  and  wish  this 
were  but  a  parable  :  punish  the  devil's  instruments ; 
hang  up  thievery,  cut  out  the  tongue  of  lying,  and 
so  be  shut  of  them  :  this  were  a  fair  riddance  of  them 
both,  as  the  proverb  hath  it,  without  a  session. 
There  was  a  mathematician  in  Constantinople,  that 
in  anger  thus  vexed  his  neighbour.  He  did  set  in 
his  cellar  great  caldrons  of  boiling  water,  with 
heat  multiplying  the  motions  of  the  vapours;  and 
then  turnin"  them  all  into  narrow  pipes,  gave  them 
vent  under  his  neighbour's  lloor ;  which  made  such 


an  'earthquake,  that  it  shook  all  his  house.  Then 
with  fire-glasses  and  barrels  he  so  thundered  and 
lightened,  that  he  forced  him  to  forsake  his  dwelling. 
(Agath.)  The  vapours  of  secret  slanders,  the  earth- 
quakes of  open  contentions,  the  thunders  of  blas- 
phemy, the  flashes  of  burning  malice,  do  so  afflict  us, 
that  we  crj",  Our  soul  is  among  lions ;  sons  of  men 
whose  teeth  are  spears,  arrows,  and  sharp  swords, 
Psal.  Ivii.  4. 

But  still  what  doth  Lot  in  Sodom,  a  saint  among 
sinners  ?  Fishes  may  be  fresh  in  salt  waters ;  live  in 
the  sea,  and  not  partake  the  brinish  quality :  it  is 
not  so  with  man ;  rather,  some  evil  for  neighbour- 
hood's sake.  Pure  streams  passing  by  a  corrupt  soil, 
contract  some  of  the  putrefaction ;  and  springs  run- 
ning through  the  veins  of  the  earth,  savour  of  the 
mineral  which  they  last  saluted.  They  "  were 
mingled  among  the  heathen."  What  followed  ? 
They  "  learned  their  works,"  Psal.  cvi.  35.  No 
wonder :  can  a  man  be  clean  among  lepers  ?  or 
take  fire  in  his  bosom,  and  not  be  burned  ?  AVe 
certify  oui-selves  of  men's  behaviour,  as  the  Lacede- 
monians inquired  the  carriage  of  their  children  ;  Of 
what  sort  are  their  companions?  as  they.  Of  what 
condition  are  their  play-fellows  ?  The  mischiefs  of 
Sodom  and  Babylon  should  fore^^■arn  our  departure ; 
as  the  swallows  would  not  come  near  Thebes,  be- 
cause the  walls  had  been  so  often  besieged.  The 
smitten  deer  is  presently  forsaken  of  all  his  fellows. 
A  great  tree  never  falls  alone,  but  also  spoils  the 
underwood,  which  otherwise  would  have  thrived 
well  enough.  The  reason  why  the  raven  returned 
not  unto  the  ark,  is  given  by  some,  because  she  met 
with  dead  cai'casses.  The  world's  carrion  keeps 
many  from  their  faithful  adherence  to  the  church. 
Any  thing  taken  from  its  proper  place  loseth  its 
virtue:  a  coal  of  fire  kept  in  the  chimney,  lives; 
separate  it  from  the  hearth,  leave  it  alone  in  the  air, 
it  presently  dies.  What  philosophy  said  of  good, 
experience  justifies  of  evil  :  evil  is  diffusive  and 
spreading  of  itself;  indeed  more  catching  than  good- 
ness. Ask  the  priest.  If  a  man  carry  holy  flesh  in 
the  skirt  of  his  garment,  and  touch  other  things  with 
that  skirt,  shall  they  be  holy  ?  No,  saith  the  priest. 
If  one  that  is  unclean  by  a  dead  body  touch  any 
thing,  shall  it  not  be  unclean  ?  Yes,  it  shall  be  un- 
clean, saith  the  priest.  Hag.  ii.  II — 13.  Sooner  are 
the  good  cormpted  by  the  bad,  than  the  bad  are 
bettered  by  the  good.  Why  are  we  taught  con- 
tinually to  pray.  Deliver  us  from  evil,  but  that  it 
hath  a  dangerous  power  to  make  us  evil  ?  Yea, 
Lord,  free  us  from  Sodom,  separate  us  from  sin, 
alienate  us  from  the  wicked  ;  "  Deliver  us  from  evil ; 
for  thine  is  the  kingdom,  the  power,  and  the  gloiy, 
for  ever.     Amen." 

"  Vexed  with  the  filthy  conversation  of  the  wick- 
ed." The  matter  of  his  vexing  was  their  sin;  the 
evil  of  the  place  came  from  the  persons,  who  were 
fully,  foully,  fillliily,  palpably  wicked.  Not  by  way 
of  infirmity,  or  in  any  mean  degree,  but  wicked,  in 
the  extent  of  sin.  Not  seldom,  or  by  fits,  but  always ; 
their  convei-sation  was  wicked.  Not  secretly  and  in 
comers,  but  notoriously  in  the  public  view;  their 
visible  life  was  wholly  wicked.  And  for  specifica- 
tion, if  any  sin  were  predominant  above  the  rest,  it 
was  filthiness,  Sodom's  filthiness,  a  bestiality,  yea 
worse.  For  it  is  not  so  bad  to  be  a  beast,  as  to  live 
like  a  beast;  a  sin  abhorred  by  nature  itself.  There- 
fore to  put  some  method  into  this  further  discourse 
of  their  wickedness,  three  circumstances  appear  in 
the  description.  I.  The  impudence  of  it,  being  no- 
torious and  open.  Lot's  eyesore.  2.  The  continuance 
of  it,  during  their  whole'  life;  not  an  act  or  two,  but 
their  convcisation.    3.  The  turpitude  of  it,  being  so 


Ver.  7. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  1  KTER. 


369 


./bscenc  ami  nably  ;  a  filthy  conversation.  Thus  we 
liave  the  forcheac'l,  the  heel,  and  the  composition  of 
the  whole  body. 

1.  The  impudence:  it  was  manifest  wickrdiitss, 
their  faces  did  not  blush  at  it.  "  The  show  of  their 
countenance  doth  witness  against  them ;  and  they 
declare  their  sin  as  Sodom,  they  hide  it  not,"  Isa.  iii. 
9.  It  is  true,  that  nocturnal  pollutions  shall  have 
public  plagues;  but  they  that  dare  sin  God  in  the 
face,  shall  bear  a  heavier  weight  of  his  vengeance. 
The  harlot  doth  bad  enough,  that  wipes  her  lips,  (as 
if  the  print  of  her  sin  could  be  seen  there,)  and  it 
was  not  she  :  though  she  commit  it,  she  will  conceal 
it.  But  Absalom  worse,  that  spreads  his  incestuous 
pallet  on  the  roof,  and  calls  the  sun  a  blushing  wit- 
ness to  his  fillhiness.  "  Pride  compasseth  them 
about  as  a  chain,"  Psal.  Ixxiii.  6 :  they  wear  their 
wickedness  in  jiomp,  as  if  they  meant  it  should  grace 
them.  They  "glory  in  their  shame,"  Phil.  iii.  19: 
such  as  boast  their  quantities  of  drink,  and  varieties 
of  uncleanncss,  (it  is  all  one,)  how  far  into  their 
hearts  they  have  admitted  the  devil ! 

Such  are  called  "dogs,"  Rev.  xxii.  15;  not  only 
because  they  are  as  fawning  as  dogs,  flattering  their 
feeders ;  or  as  ravenous  as  dogs,  insatiately  devour- 
ing; or  as  malicious  as  dogs,  barking  out  scandals  at 
their  lives  that  shine  with  goodness:  but  as  unclean 
as  dogs,  and  as  shameless  as  dogs  ;  noisome  with 
impudence,  and  impudent  with  noisomeness ;  their 
place  is  "  without."  "  The  wicked  boastelh  his 
heart's  desire,"  Psal.  x.  3  :  he  doth  not  covet  it,  nor 
excuse  it,  but  boast  it ;  nor  shift  it  to  another,  but 
makes  it  appear  his  own  heart's  desire.  Mala  aihnit- 
tunt,  admiisa  jactantyjaclata  defendiint.  Majori.s  est 
culpa?  manifesle  quam  occutte  peccare :  ille  dupliciler 
reus,  quia  el  agit  el  docet.  (Isiilor.  de  Sum.  Bon.  cap. 
21).)  The  popish  rule  is  safer,  Caute  si  non  caste  : 
but  these,  vitia  lam  minime  abscindunl,  ul  non  abscon- 
dant.  They  prostitute  their  souls,  as  the  Romans  did 
the  bankrupts'  houses,  with,  Who  gives  most  ?  If 
their  hand  liaih  been  the  organ  of  unrighteousness, 
their  mouth  shall  be  the  tnimpet  to  proclaim  it. 

There  is  more  modesty  in  them  that  seek  conceal- 
ment ;  if  there  be  any  bush  in  Paradise,  any  tempter 
to  be  named  by  Adam ;  A  woman  of  thy  giving.  Eve ; 
whereas  it  was  a  woman  of  his  own  seeking,  concu- 
piscence. Gehazi  hath  a  lying  cover,  Saul  a  pre- 
tending colour;  here  is  something  to  be  alleged  for 
mitigation.  But  to  sin  without  shame,  yea,  to  out- 
sin  all  shame,  to  publish  the  tenor  of  villany  in 
print :  this  is  Sodom's  state.  Uncleanncss  was  not 
confined  to  the  chamber,  nor  thievery  to  the  night, 
nor  corruption  blanched  and  skinned  over  with  hy- 
pocrisy; but  borne  aloft,  justified  by  protection,  and 
crowned  with  garlands  of  honour  and  approbation. 
This  sin  abandons  secrecy,  scorns  reproof;  admoni- 
tion to  it  were  but  like  goads  to  them  that  are  mad 
already,  or  a  pouring  of  oil  down  the  chimney. 

It  is  said  of  Tamar,  that  Judah  took  her  for  a  har- 
lot by  her  dressing.  Gen.  xxxviii.  15.  She  ttikcs 
upon  her  the  habit  of  a  harlot,  because  she  means 
to  be  one;  her  attire  declares  her  purpose.  If  she 
had  not  wished  to  seem  a  harlot,  she  would  have 
avoided  such  a  place  and  veil.  The  external  monu- 
ments of  immodesty  bewray  a  carnal  heart :  they 
that  mean  well,  will  never  wish  to  seem  ill.  Nature 
(not  too  far  perverted)  is  not  more  forward  to  commit 
sin,  than  willing  to  hide  it ;  and  we  commonly  affect 
to  show  better  than  we  are.  Not  few  harlots  put  on 
the  semblance  of  chastity,  and  bitterly  rail  on  them 
that  appear  naught.  Moorish  passages  are  danger- 
ous for  travellers,  but  the  pits  which  the  eye  sees  the 
foot  avoids.  Let  us  never  trust  those  that  do  not 
wish  to  appear  good. 

2  B 


T<J  conclude,  then,  Sodom  sought  no  cover,  and 
she  was  not  covered;  fire  and  brimstone  had  free 
access  to  her;  and  her  confusion,  no  less  than  her 
corniption,  was  palpable  to  the  world.  Openness  of 
sin  saves  justice  a  labour  of  inquisition  :  tnere  need 
no  hue-and-crj'  after  that  thief  which  presents  him- 
self. Are  there  no  such  jmblic  sinners  amongst  us? 
none  that  openly  dishallow  the  sabbaths;  none  that 
justify-  sacrilege,  a  sin  now  as  manifest  as  Sodom's; 
none  that  have  so  sworn  away  all  grace,  that  they 
make  it  their  grace  to  swear  ?  Mark  them  that  cause 
divisions  and  tumults  among  you,  Rom.  xvi.  17,  mark 
them  with  the  black  coal  of  infamy :  let  them  be  to 
you,  as  lepers  among  the  Jews,  or  as  men  full  of 
plague-sores  among  you ;  whom  neither  the  fear  of 
God  nor  man  can  work  to  peace,  unquietncss  mnst 
be  their  portion  for  ever ;  the  shame  of  the  gospel, 
malicious,  wrangling  Christians.  Conceraing  these 
open  sins,  let  me  say  to  the  magistrate,  as  David  to 
Solomon  of  Shimei,  1  Kings  ii.  8,  9,  We  may  not, 
you  must  punish. 

2.  The  continuance  :  as  their  sins  were  extant,  so 
constant ;  Their  ways  were  always  grievous,  Psal.  x. 
5.  Their  ways,  not  some  few  steps;  grievous,  not 
meanly  oiTcnsive  ;  and  that  without  intermission, 
always.  It  is  not  so  much  sin,  as  the  trade  of  sin, 
that  isdamnable.  They  sin  while  they  eat,  sin  while 
they  walk,  talk,  even  in  sleep  they  sin ;  their  sportive, 
transportive  mirth  is  full  of  obsceneness;  their  beds, 
boards,  chambers,  and  (if  they  dissemble  any  devo- 
tion) the  very  churches,  are  witnesses  of  their  im- 
piety :  such  fluid  souls,  that  no  costive  medicine  can 
stay  the  flux  of  their  sins;  but  the  very  remanent 
snuff  of  original  goodness  must  languish  out  in  a 
stinking  dissoluteness.  Time,  the  remedy  of  other 
evils,  increaseth  this.  Other  creatures  grow  up  to 
their  height,  and  then  decay  and  die ;  only  it  is  said 
of  the  crocodile,  that  she  grows  to  her  last  day.  So 
doth  this  man's  sin.  It  is  said  of  the  moon,  she 
waxeth,  and  waneth,  and  vanisheth,  and  then  appears 
again  with  repaired  horns :  but  here  is  no  change, 
except  from  evil  to  worse.  They  so  habituate  sins, 
that  the  more  habitual  they  are  the  less  they  are 
thought  of;  as  the  friars  dwindle  their  orders,  from 
Minims  to  Nullans  :  or  as  some  owe  debts  so  long, 
that  they  forget  them  to  be  debts.  They  think  the 
preacher  does  them  over-hasty  wrong,  to  call  them 
from  their  inveterate  lusts  :  as  when  a  creditor  de- 
manded his  money  long  due,  the  debtor  jested  with 
his  companion;  See,  I  have  owed  him  the  money 
these  ten  years,  and  he  is  as  earnest  with  me  as  if  I 
had  borrowed  it  but  yesterday.  Like  men  that  have 
so  often  told  a  lie,  that  at  last  themselves  think  they 
speak  true. 

I^it  may  preach  to  them,  but  unless  Lot  could  con- 
vert them  tnere  is  no  reparation  of  their  life.  Re- 
solute sinners  love  dissolute  teachers ;  such  as  can- 
not, or  dare  not,  speak  the  tnith.  That  cannot,  for 
insufficiency  :  their  place  hath  set  them  to  charge, 
but  they  have  neither  powder  nor  shot.  That  dare 
not,  for  flattery :  we  may  say  of  their  sermons,  as  it  is 
reported  of  some  harps.  It  is  better  to  see,  than  hear 
them  :  their  fingering  may  please  the  eye,  their 
melodv  is  nothing  worth.  Vet  as  St.  Keywin's  harp 
is  kept  for  a  great  relic,  so  flattering  teachers  are 
venerable  monuments  with  these. 

They  sin  because  they  will  sin.  The  cause  is 
neither  ignorance  nor  compulsion,  but  wilfulness. 
Though  we  must  offend,  yet  for  shame  let  there  be 
some  inteniiption  and  breaking  off  in  our  sins :  let 
not  men  run  headlong  to  lull,  and  never  so  much  as 
look  back.  It  is  for  the  devil  only  to  do  nothing 
else  but  sin;  a  sinner  from  the  beginning,  a  sinner  to 
the  end.    Who  gives  a  penny  to  that  merchant  that 


370 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


rc'joiceth  in  his  shipwreck  ?  or  will  confer  an  estate 
upon  him  that  resolves  to  be  a  beggar  ?  St.  Augus- 
tine confesseth  a  state  of  himself  unconverted,  bad 
enough,  when  he  said,  I  desire  holiness  but  cannot 
obtain  it  ;  but  these  will  not  so  much  as  desire  to  be 
good. 

While  they  are  in  Delilah's  lap,  they  think  them- 
selves as  safe  as  if  they  were  in  Abraham's  bosom. 
As  beggars  get  their  living  by  showing  their  sores  : 
let  a  chinirgeon  offer  to  heal  them,  they  refuse  it, 
because  they  live  by  them.  We  offer  to  cure  men's 
maladies,  their  riot,  rapine,  uncleanness,  Ij'ing,  blas- 
])bcmy.  No,  they  thank  us,  and  say,  they  live  by 
them.  This  is  that  Babel  which  will  not  be  cured. 
Yea,  they  are  worse  than  those  beggars;  for  they 
desire  not  ulcers,  yet  when  they  have  them  they 
make  use  of  them;  but  these  by  an  unnatural  lust 
contract  them,  and  make  ulcers  in  their  conscience. 
Perhaps  the  issue  ihere  hath  continued  so  long,  that 
if  they  offer  to  stop  it  they  die :  the  devil  hath  ham- 
])cred  some  so  fast,  th;it  they  dare  not  but  sin,  for 
fear  they  should  anger  him,  for  a  tie  noceat ;  and 
their  consciences  would  so  pinch  and  torture  them, 
tiiat  they  dare  not  admit  a  conference.  As  they  that 
have  curst  and  shrewish  wives  at  home,  love  to  stray 
abroad;  so  men  molested  with  a  scolding  conscience, 
as  the  whore,  dninkard,  homicide,  are  fain  continually 
to  play,  drink,  riot ;  to  go  to  bed  with  their  heads 
full  of  wine,  and  no  sooner  wake,  but  to  it  again.  So 
that  (heir  conscience  must  knock  at  the  door  a  thou- 
sand times,  and  they  are  never  within,  or  at  leisure  to 
be  spoke  withal.  Yet  must  they  at  last  be  met  and 
found,  as  Ahab  was  by  Elijah,  even  by  this  enemy :  stay 
they  never  so  long,  and  stray  they  never  so  far,  they 
must  home  at  last.  Sickness  will  waken  them,  con- 
science must  speak  with  them,  as  a  master  with  his 
truant  scholar  after  a  long  absence  ;  and  then  there 
are  no  men  under  heaven  who  more  need  that  prayer. 
Lord,  have  mercy  upon  them  ! 

3.  The  uncleanness  :  their  sin  was  not  only  palpa- 
ble, and  durable,  but  detestable  ;  they  were  exposed 
to  turpitude,  their  bodies  prostituted  to  fleshly  pollu- 
tions. By  "  filthy"  understand  all  carnal  defilements, 
the  kinds  whereof  St.  Paul  specifies  to  the  Romans 
under  their  proper  names,  because  they  were  fa- 
miliarly known  to  them.  But  to  the  Galatians,  he 
wraps  them  up  in  general  terms,  because  there  they 
were  more  obscure ;  as  our  apostle  doth  not  name 
Sodom's  filthiness  to  the  Christian  Jews,  lest  by  spe- 
cifying it  he  should  in  a  manner  teach  it.  The  de- 
cree of  Pope  Syricius  involved  marriage  among  the 
pollutions  of  the  flesh :  and  such  was  the  oversight 
of  St.  Gregory  upon  1  Cor.  vii.  2,  Coticessit  minimo,  ut 
mujus  declinetur :  a  false  gloss  of  a  sincere  text,  striv- 
ing to  prove  by  the  apostle's  words,  that  matrimony  is 
by  permission,  not  by  commandment ;  and  therefore 
that  cannot  be  without  sin,  which  is  pardoned,  and  not 
imposed.  But  if  it  were  a  sin  to  marry,  God  himself 
should  be  the  author  of  sin,  for  he  was  the  author  of 
marriage.  Neither  doth  God  pardon  it  as  a  thing 
forbidden,  but  permit  it  as  a  thing  lawful,  though 
the  apostle  doth  not  there  impose  it  as  a  thing  ne- 
cessary. And  it  is  a  forced  interpretation,  to  tax 
that  of  iniquity,  which  God  hath  ordained  for  a 
remedy.  For  he  doth  not  forbid,  but  rectify  our  do- 
sire  ;  "Let  every  man  have  his  own  wife:"  a  wife, 
not  a  concubine  ;  his  own  wife,  not  another  man's  ; 
his  wife,  not  wives.  Lamcch's  incongruity,  "  Hear 
my  voice,  ye  wives  of  Lamech,"  Gen.  iv.  2.3,  was 
like  false  Latin;  for  wives  admit  of  no  pluralitv. 
when  they  be  construed  with  one  husband.  God 
had  abundance  of  spirit,  yet  he  ordained  but  one 
woman  for  one  man,  Mai.  if.  15. 

But  let  us  abhor  that  doctrine,  that  shall  at  once 


cast  out  the  aspersion  of  sin  upon  marriage,  and  yet 
seek  to  vindicate  imclearmess  from  sin  by  a  toleration 
of  stews.  It  was  God's  express  prohibition,  "There 
shall  be  no  whore  of  the  daughters  of  Israel,"  Deut. 
xxiii.  17.  Many  flatter  themselves  that  this  is  but  a 
trick  of  youth :  belike  they  are  content  to  lose  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  with  a  trick  :  an  unhappy  trick, 
that  costs  a  man  his  soul ! 

It  is  truly  said,  that  a  whore  is  the  high  way  to  the 
devil :  he  that  looks  on  her  with  lust,  begins  his 
voyage ;  he  that  stays  to  talk  with  her,  is  half  his 
way ;  he  that  enjoys  her,  is  at  his  journey's  end. 
She  is  a  liar,  out-lying  a  newsmonger;  her  kisses  be 
sweet  j)oison ;  her  eye  is  on  your  face,  while  lier  heart 
is  on  your  cash ;  a  deep  ditch,  what  is  wrecked  there 
is  lost  for  ever ;  dressing  herself  all  day,  to  provoke 
appetite  at  night;  others'  sins  show  like  landscape, 
afar  off,  hers  like  hu^e  statues;  damnable  both  to 
herself  and  others.  She  keeps  herself  a  stranger  to 
repentance,  till  they  two  meet  at  an  hospital.  She 
lives  like  Cain,  a  reprobate  vagabond  without  any 
constant  habitation.  Her  body  is  the  common  sewer, 
her  soul  a  snuff  which  only  surgerj-  keeps  alive,  and 
at  last  it  goes  out  in  everlasting  stench. 

For  others ;  it  is  her  misery  and  mischief  not  to  be 
damned  alone,  she  brings  many  to  her  own  fire,  and 
so  docs  the  devil  special  service.  She  is  a  witch  that 
hath  \vrought  upon  saints,  as  Tamar  (though  other- 
wise a  good  woman)  did  once  upon  Judah,  Gen. 
xxxviii.  15.  He  esteems  her  by  her  habit,  and  the 
very  sight  of  a  harlot  hath  fired  him  with  lust :  the 
devil  knows  that  a  fit  object  is  half  a  victory.  At 
the  first  sight  he  is  inflamed,  and  (which  is  strange) 
caught  with  her  love  before  he  saw  her  face.  Not 
examining  whether  she  was  fair  or  foul,  sick  or  sound, 
friend  or  enemy,  it  was  enough  that  she  was  a  woman. 
The  presence  of  the  Adullamite  does  not  restrain 
him ;  so  had  lust  besotted  him,  that  he  could  endure 
a  witness.  She  was  cunning,  and  would  not  trust 
him  without  a  pawn :  a  pledge  he  leaves  her,  his  staff 
and  signet.  Oh  that  the  filthy  affection  should  thus 
transport  a  son  of  Jacob !  But  in  him  let  us  see  the 
easiest  fruits  of  it,  fear  and  shame.  Fear:  he  came  to 
pay  the  hire  of  his  lust,  and  she  was  gone :  now  he 
fears,  lest  his  own  signet  should  seal  his  reproach, 
and  to  be  beaten  with  his  own  staff.  Shame ;  pur- 
posing, if  these  evidences  were  produced,  not  to  own 
them,  and  wishing  that  no  other  might  know  them. 
When  the  fact  appears,  and  the  author  cannot  lie 
hid,  with  what  shame,  yea  horror,  must  he  look  upon 
Tamar's  two  sons,  the  monuments  of  his  filthiness! 
It  must  needs  cut  off  his  soul  to  hear  them  call  him 
sire  and  grandsire,  and  Tamar  both  mother  and  sister. 
Shame  is  the  surest  and  easiest  wages  of  this  sin, 
there  is  more  belongs  to  it. 

He  that  hath  thus  fallen,  must  go  to  the  price  of 
many  a  tear ;  it  must  cost  him  deep  sighs,  and  the 
heavy  groans  of  a  broken  heart.  It  is  not  a  light 
and  transient  sorrow  that  can  do  it :  the  gtites  of 
heaven  are  shut,  and  ever)'  breath  of  a  miserere  will 
not  open  them.  Their  state  is  dangerous,  and  there 
is  but  one  way  to  help  them  ;  to  repent  what  they 
have  done,  and  never  more  to  do  what  they  have 
repented.  If  we  have  admitted  such  a  prostitution 
of  our  bodies,  let  us  obtain  by  faithful  penitence  such 
a  restitution  of  our  honours.  So  shall  the  gates  of 
bliss  be  opened  again  to  us ;  for  God  esteems  not  men 
as  they  have  been,  but  as  they  are. 

"  Vexed."  The  last  point'  is  Lot's  case :  he  did 
burn  in  zeal,  as  Sodom  did  in  lust :  there  was  fire  in 
them  both;  his,  a  holy  fire  from  the  altar  of  God; 
theirs,  an  unnatural  fire  blown  into  their  veins  by 
the  bellows  of  hell. 

"  Vexed."    This  was  no  ordinary  disturbance,  nor 


Veb.  7. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OP  ST.  PETER, 


371 


common  displeasure ;  but  oppressed,  excruciated, 
tormented ;  his  senses,  his  very  soul,  exceedingly 
afflicted.  He  was  not  an  idle  looker-on,  as  if  he 
minded  not  what  they  did  ;  nor  in  a  timorous  observ- 
ation of  the  proverb,  Of  little  meddling  comes  great 
rest ;  but  knowing  it  to  be  the  cause  of  God,  his  heart 
was  perplexed  about  it.  He  durst  as  freely  expos- 
tulate, as  they  durst  act ;  and  took  as  full  liberty  of 
reproving,  as  they  took  licentiousness  of  oflcnding. 
He  was  not  vexed  with  them,  but  with  their  deeds  : 
we  are  to  hate  none  for  their  creation,  but  perverting 
the  end  of  their  creation.  Let  us  love  God's  image, 
not  the  filthy  defacement  of  it :  peace  with  the  i)er- 
8on,  not  with  the  conditions. 

"  Vexed."  That  which  is  here  passive,  is  in  the 
next  verse  active,  he  "  vexed  his  righteous  soul." 
He  vexed  his  own  soul :  who  bade  him  stay  there 
to  be  vexed?  He  vexed  himself,  when  he  might 
have  quitted  himself.  Yet  because  he  was  vexed,  he 
is  delivered.  He  was  but  a  guest  to  Sodom,  an  host 
to  the  angels :  he  liked  well  of  their  situation,  not 
of  their  conversation,  and  found  more  bitterness  in 
the  one  than  sweetness  in  the  other.  Yet  because 
he  avoided  their  sins,  he  escaped  their  judgments. 
And  surely  they  were  both  miraculous ;  for  his  de- 
clining their  sins  was  no  less  a  wonder  than  his  deli- 
verance from  their  flames.  As  the  latter  was  God's 
gracious  prevention,  so  the  former  was  his  prevenient 
grace ;  and  he  was  not  more  bound  to  bless  God  for 
saving  his  body  from  the  fire,  than  for  saving  his  soul 
from  their  sin. 

The  nature  and  quality  of  his  vexation  I  refer  to 
the  next  verse.  Conclude  we  with  observing  and 
admiring  a  wonder:  a  man  environed  with  fire,  and 
not  burning;  floating  on  the  sea,  and  not  drowning; 
dealing  with  dunghills,  and  not  defiled;  contemned 
and  honoured,  made  rich  by  being  impoverished.  If 
I  should  propound  a  riddle  ;  What  is  the  highest 
and  the  lowest,  the  fairest  and  the  foulest,  the  strong- 
est and  the  weakest,  the  richest  and  the  poorest, 
the  happiest  and  unhappiest,  the  safest  and  most  in 
danger  of  any  thing  in  the  world?  I  durst  not  pro- 
mise w^ith  Samson,  new  suits  of  apparel  to  all  that 
can  expound  it.     It  is  a  tnie  Lot,  a  good  Christian. 

He  is  the  lowest  of  the  world ;  "  Out  of  the  depths 
have  I  cried,"  Psal.  cxxx.  1  :  so  low  a  hedge  that 
every  son  of  fortune  treads  him  down.  Yet  the  higli- 
est,  for  his  "  conversation  is  in  heaven,"  Phil.  iii.  20 : 
let  his  feet  stand  upon  earth,  his  head  is  in  heaven. 

He  is  the  lowest  in  appearance  to  the  world ;  for 
so  disguised  with  weeping,  watching,  fasting,  that 
he  seems  like  "a  bottle  dried  in  the  smoke,"  Psal. 
cxix.  83 ;  so  loadcn  with  reproaches,  that  he  looks 
black  as  if  he  had  "  lien  among  the  pots,"  Psal. 
Ixviii.  13.  There  is  no  form,  no  beauty  nor  comeliness 
desirable  in  him,  Isa.  liii.  2.  Yet  the  fairest ;  black, 
but  comely ;  fairer  than  all  the  sons  of  nature ;  the 
delight  of  angels,  the  love  of  God.  "  Thou  art  all 
fair,  my  love  ;  there  is  no  spot  in  Ihec,"  Cant.  iv.  7. 
Thus  the  face  of  Stephen  appeared  like  an  angel. 
Acts  vi.  15;  the  sun,  the  heavens,  the  firmament  of 
refulgent  stars,  are  not  comparable. 

He  is  the  weakest,  a  lamb  among  wolves,  afflicted 
on  this  side,  oppressed  on  that  ;  a  reed  that  bows  at 
every  gust ;  Elijah  under  a  juniper-tree,  weary  of 
his  life ;  Job  on  the  rack,  broken  with  sores  and  sor- 
rows. Yet  the  strongest,  being  armed  with  faith, 
hope,  and  love,  three  invincible  forces:  faith  being 
able  to  remove  mountains,  to  overcome  the  world; 
hope  an  immovable  anchor,  able  to  stay  the  vessel 
in  the  greateat  storms  ;  love  strong  as  death,  under- 
taking death  in  the  Icrriblest  form,  that  it  may  come 
to  Christ.  Thus  Elijah  durst  face  a  king,  and  tell 
nim,  Thou  troublest  Israel,  1  Kings  xviii.  18.     Hero- 


dian  writes  of  Plantianus,  the  emperor  Severus'  fa- 
vourite, that  he  had  such  a  terror  in  his  countenance, 
men  durst  not  look  him  in  the  face.  Therefore 
when  he  went  abroad,  he  had  his  gentlemen-ushers 
before  him,  to  give  warning,  that  men  might  cast 
their  eyes  to  the  earth  at  his  coming.  It  is  said  of 
St.  Benedict,  that  he  had  such  a  power  of  terror  in 
his  eye,  that  casting  but  a  look  upon  Totilas,  that 
warlike  king  of  the  Goths,  a  furious  and  audacious 
man,  he  made  him  tremble.  Such  a  majesty  hath 
resulted  from  the  face  of  divers  martyrs,  that  the  tor- 
mentors were  more  afraid  of  them  than  thoy  of  their 
tormentors.  They  are  built  upon  such  a  foundation, 
that  all  the  ordnance  of  hell  can  never  batter  them. 
He  is  the  poorest,  not  only  in  regard  of  superflui- 
ties, but  even  of  necessaries.  Moses  must  not  think 
scorn  to  keep  sheep,  nor  David  to  beg  bread  of  Nabal, 
nor  Elijah  to  be  fed  with  ravens,  nor  Lazarus  to  be 
glad  of  crumbs,  nor  the  apostles  for  pure  hunger  to 
pluck  the  ears  of  com,  nor  Peter  to  confess,  "  Silver 
and  gold  have  I  none,"  not  a  penny  in  his  purse ;  nor 
Christ  himself  to  be  so  near  driven  as  to  look  for 
figs  from  a  tree  in  the  way,  and  miss  his  purpose. 
\et  still  the  richest;  without  meat,  not  without 
Clirist :  whatsoever  he  want eth,  he  wants  not  content. 
And  it  is  no  paradox,  that  a  man  may  be  rich  with 
little,  and  poor  with  much.  Content  is  the  poor 
man's  riches,  and  desire  is  the  rich  man's  poverty. 
There  is  no  want  where  is  no  wantonness. 

He  is  the  unhappiest,  for  his  hands  are  tied  from 
revenge,  his  eyes  muffled  that  he  must  not  look  upon 
vanity,  his  lips  scaled  thit  he  may  not  return  rebuke 
for  rebuke.  He  lives  in  the  worldling's  jiaradisc,  as 
the  poets  feigned  of  Tantalus  ;  up  to  the  chin  in 
pleasures,  and  is  not  suftercd  to  taste  them.  Touch 
not,  taste  not,  handle  not  ;  what  a  miserable  life  is 
this!  Yet  is  he  the  happiest ;  the  peace  of  conscience 
being  his  everlasting  Christmas ;  a  joy  he  hath  which 
no  man  can  take  from  him.  The  African  king  in 
Charles  the  Great's  court,  oflering  to  be  baptized,  ob- 
ser^-ed  divers  poor  men  sitting  on  the  ground,  and 
served  in  mean  manner,  demanded  wliat  they  were ; 
it  was  answered  him,  that  they  were  the  servants  of 
Christ.  Whereupon  he  replied,  If  the  king  keep 
his  servants  so  rich,  and  Christ's  servants  so  poor,  I 
will  be  no  servant  of  Clirist's.  They  that  thus  look 
on  the  outside  of  Christians,  find  small  glory  to  please 
the  eye  of  sensual  reason  :  it  is  the  inner  man  that  is 
fair,  and  rich,  and  blessed,  adorned  with  more  jewels 
than  the  eye  of  the  world  ever  saw,  or  the  treasure  of 
the  world  itself  is  worth. 

He  is  in  continual  danger,  his  soul  being  the  butt 
for  all  Satan's  darts,  his  body  the  anvil  for  the  world's 
afllietions.  he  runs  through  many  deaths,  and  is  kill- 
ed all  the  day  long.  Thus  was  Christ  himself  served ; 
iVec  recessit  a  servo,  quod  prwcessil  in  Domino.  When 
the  Jews  offered  Jesus  gall  and  vinegar,  he  tasted  it 
but  would  not  drink  ;  he  loft  the  rest  for  his  church, 
and  they  must  pledge  him.  Vet  still  he  is  safe,  under 
the  shadow  of  God's  wings ;  and  when  the  whole 
world  floats  on  the  waters,  Noah  shall  sit  diT  in  his 
cabin.  Let  Sodom  be  all  on  a  flame,  not  a  hair  of 
Lot's  head  shall  be  singed.  All  the  assaults  of  flesh 
and  blood  against  them,  is  but  as  if  glass  should  en- 
counter adamant.  The  great  King  takes  them  into 
his  protection,  and  woe  unto  all  those  that  attempt 
their  ruin ! 

This  is  the  Christian's  estate  :  now  every  man 
would  be  partaker  of  the  height,  not  the  baseness,  of 
the  beauty,  not  deformity,  of  the  strength,  not  infirm- 
ity, of  the  riches,  not  poverty,  of  the  happiness,  not 
infelicity,  of  the  safety,  not'  the  danger,  that  waits 
upon  religion.  But  the  comforts  of  Jesus  be  not  for 
them  that  disclaim  his  sorrows.    Joseph  had  fair 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  If. 


possessions  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  but  he  bequeathed 
none  of  these  to  his  children,  because  they  were  to 
liave  Canaan.  So  God  allows  his  children  but  little 
here,  because  he  means  to  give  them  heaven  here- 
after. Lord,  whatsoever  requisites  be  wanting,  or 
troubles  abounding,  all  our  journey,  let  our  latter  end 
be  peace. 


Verse  8. 

For  that  righteous  man  Juetling  nmoiig  them,  in  acehig 
and  hearing,  vexed  his  righteous  soul  from  day  to 
day  with  their  unlairfut  deeds. 

It  is  an  apparent  argument  of  an  ungracious  man, 
that  he  can  with  unmoved  patience  bear  the  dishon- 
ours of  God.  Hot  iron  cannot  choose  but  hiss  when 
cold  water  is  poured  upon  it ;  nor  a  good  man  but  vex 
at  open  wickedness.  I  know  there  be  some  will  sooner 
fight  in  their  mistress's  quarrel,  than  in  their  Maker's  ; 
fiery  against  their  own  disgraces,  cool  and  remiss  in 
the  cause  of  Christ,  as  if  it  were  quite  unconcerning 
them.  There  is  no  love  without  zeal,  as  there  can  be 
no  heat  without  fire.  "  Love  is  strong  as  death, 
jealousy  cruel  as  the  grave,"  Cant.  viii.  6.  Take 
death  at  the  strongest,  Christ's  love  to  us  was  strong- 
er; but  if  we  abuse  it,  that  love  grows  jealous,  and 
that  jealousy  grows  cruel,  cruel  as  the  grave.  Our 
love  to  him  must  have  the  same  nature,  though  it 
fail  of  the  same  measure  ;  that  which  dishonours  hiui, 
must  vex  our  souls.  Entire  love  will  not  suffer  itself 
to  be  adulterated.  No  oil  nor  frankincense  might 
come  into  the  jealousy  offering,  because  it  brings 
iniquity  to  remembrance.  Numb.  v.  15.  The  ground 
of  jealousy  is  love  tending  unto  hate  upon  a  just  sus- 
picion of  a  just  cause:  there  is  no  competition  with 
Christ  to  be  admitted.  Lot  loved  God,  therefore  was 
zealous  of  his  glory  ;  zealous,  therefore  reproved  his 
offenders  ;  reproving,  he  found  no  amendment,  there- 
fore vexed  his  own  soul.  Let  him  be  righteous  ;  if 
he  had  not  dwelt  among  them  there  had  been  no 
vexation  :  let  him  dwell  among  them  ;  if  he  had  not 
been  righteous,  no  trouble :  let  him  be  righteous, 
and  dwell  among  them  ;  if  they  had  not  been  wicked, 
no  offence.  Be  he  righteous,  and  among  them,  and 
they  wicked,  yet  if  he  had  not  seen  and  heard  their 
evil  deeds,  yet  he  had  been  free.  Yea,  grant  all 
these  sinister  concurrences,  if  their  sins  had  been 
few  and  not  frequent,  his  vexation  had  been  less. 
But  lay  all  these  together;  a  good  man,  among  the 
ungodly,  seeing  their  works,  and  the  unlawfulness  of 
them,  and  the  continuance  of  that  unlawfulness ;  he 
must  needs  be  vexed,  and  that  vexation  be  of  the 
same  extent  and  duration  as  was  the  cause,  their  un- 
godliness, from  day  to  day. 

The  general  parts  of  the  text  are  two ;  the  incen- 
tives or  kindlers,  and  the  five  itself.  The  incentives 
are  set  down  by  four  degrees.  1.  Causal  or  radical. 
He  being  righteous.  2.  Occasional,  Dwelling  among 
them.  3.  Objectual,  Their  unlawful  deeds.  4.  Or- 
ganical  or  instrumental.  In  seeing  and  hearing.  For 
the  fire  itself  consider,  1.  The  property.  It  is  fervent 
against  unrighteousness.  2.  The  sincerity,  It  works 
inwardly,  moves  the  soul.  3.  The  rarity,  But  one 
among  thousands  thus  vexed.  4.  The "  constancy, 
From  day  to  day.  It  is  not  cool,  not  counterfeit,  not 
common,  not  mutable. 

,.,'•  ^l*^  heing  "  righteous."  As  in  natural  things, 
like  things  are  not  opposed  by  like  things,  fire  fights 
not  against  fire,  but  against  water  ;  so  in  moral 
lliings,  the  innocent  arc  not  opposed  by  the  innocent, 


one  good  man  doth  not  persecute  another.  If  either 
the  Sodomites  had  been  righteous  with  Lot,  or  Lot 
unrighteous  with  them,  here  had  been  no  contention. 
Wolf  and  wolf  can  agree,  lamb  and  lamb  fall  not  out ; 
but  who  can  reconcile  the  wolf  to  the  Iamb  ?  That 
good  man  who  was  eyes  to  the  blind,  and  feet  to  the 
lame,  yet  brake  the  teeth  of  the  ungodly,  Job  xxix. 
17.  Faith  is  the  ground  of  zeal :  faith  is  from  Christ, 
love  from  faith,  zeal  from  love ;  nor  can  faith  be  dis- 
cerned without  love,  nor  love  without  zeal.  Faith  is 
first,  as  the  foundation  before  the  building,  the  evi- 
dence before  the  possession,  Heb.  xi.  1.  That  which 
made  Lot  righteous  in  Christ,  made  him  zealous  for 
Christ.  When  the  weather  is  hot,  every  man  opens 
his  mouth;  when  it  is  cold,  he  shuts  it,  till  his  teeth 
chatter  again.  Where  is  righteousness,  there  is  heat  j 
where  is  heat,  men  will  quest  and  open :  "  I  believed, 
therefore  have  I  spoken,"  Psal.  cxvi.  10.  But  where 
is  no  heat,  there  is  an  imperfect  sound,  a  chattering 
of  the  teeth,  as  if  men  were  afraid  to  speak. 

Righteousness,  which  is  the  life  of  the  soul,  is  dis- 
cerned as  the  life  of  the  body,  by  motion,  heat,  and 
feeling.  If  the  dishonours  of  God  do  not  run  like 
goads  and  poniards  to  our  heart,  wc  arc  all  dead 
fiesh ;  if  his  gloiy  do  not  lift  us  up  with  joy,  there  is 
no  heat  in  us.  Antigonus'  son  being  grievously  sick, 
and  none  perceiving  the  cause ;  when  his  mother-in- 
law  entered  the  chamber,  his  eyes  began  to  quicken, 
his  blood  to  rise,  and  pulse  to  beat  extraordinarily ; 
whereby  the  physicians  understood  the  cause  to  be 
the  unnatural  love  of  his  mother.  As  in  that  vicious 
love,  so  in  true  holy  affection  to  God,  the  very  men- 
tion of  his  name  will  make  our  pulse  beat,  our  hearts 
uneontainable  of  joy  or  sorrow ;  our  love  cannot  be 
suppressed.  Good  blood  will  never  belie  itself;  well- 
born children  are  touched  to  the  quick  with  the 
injuries  of  their  parents :  not  thus  to  be  moved,  is  to 
confess  ourselves  bastards.  This  point  will  fall  heavy 
on  some,  when  it  comes  to  be  concluded,  that  where 
is  no  zeal,  there  can  be  no  righteousness. 

2.  "  Dwelling  among  them."  One  reason  why 
God  suffers  evil  men,  is  to  try  the  good.  Virtue  is 
more  glorious  being  set  off  with  vice.  Beauty  were 
less  admirable  if  there  were  no  deformity.  Some 
Canaanites  are  reserved  to  make  trial  of  Israel's  con- 
stancy. There  must  be  sects,  that  the  approved  may 
be  known,  1  Cor.  xi.  19.  They  are  the  best  lilies  that 
thrive  amongst  thorns.  To  be  temperate  in  islands, 
sober  among  Germans,  chaste  in  Sodom ;  this  is 
the  praise.  Divers  have  stood  with  filthy  shoes  011 
holy  ground;  but  to  stand  on  filthy  ground  with  holy 
shoes,  here  is  proof.  It  is  peculiar  to  heaven,  to  have 
never  a  bad  neighbour:  only  that  immortal  kingdom 
hath  the  privilege  of  never  being  tempted.  This 
world  is  for  trial,  that  to  come,  for  reward.  The 
solitaiy  man  knows  not  himself;  he  thinks  himself 
good,  because  he  hath  no  means  to  be  bad.  Let  him 
refrain  sin,  yet  it  is  laus  parva,  quia  laus  parvi. 
(Bern.)  He  that  overcomes  the  solicitation  to  evil, 
holds  ins  virtue  in  assurance.  If  I  can  be  patient 
among  my  offensive  neighbours,  chaste  among  the 
lascivious,  sober  among  epicures,  modest  among  im- 
pudent railers,  just  among  defrauders,  faithful  to  the 
church  among  the  common  and  exemplary  spoilers 
of  it ;  this  argument  is  of  force.  The  soldier  can  keep 
his  station  till  he  be  assaulted.  When  temptation 
oppresseth,  and  lust  rcbelleth,  as  when  a  man's  horse 
curvets,  then  let  him  sit  fiist.  When  blustering 
storms  of  persecution  shall  make  a  man  gird  the  gar- 
ment of  his  religion  closer  about  hira,  this  approves 
him.  True  zeal,  like  fire  in  a  frost,  is  the  hotter  for 
opposition. 

Among  them  that  hate  i-ighteousness,  and  hira  for 
it ;   that  say  of  good  living,  as  Festus  did  of  great 


Ver.  8. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


37T 


Icaminfj,  It  makes  a  man  mad,  Acts  xxvi.  24.  They 
cannot  know  another  to  be  sober,  that  arc  mad  them- 
selves. As  old  men  answer  the  young,  You  think  us 
fools,  but  we  know  you  are  not  wise ;  so  answer  wc 
these,  You  think  us  mad  that  are  so  hot  against  sins, 
but  wc  know  you  mad  that  are  so  cold  for  your  souls. 
Achish  and  his  courtiers  thought  David  mad,  yet  he 
was  the  wisest  man  among  them.  It  is  not  a  Nicodc- 
mus  that  the  world  takes  notice  of,  but  a  Peter ;  Thou 
wcrt  with  him  in  Galilee;  they  will  put  him  to  it. 

Among  them  that  thought  Lot  to  be  the  only  man 
that  molested  them.  Ahab  can  charge  Elijah  with 
this,  and  Tertulhis  Paul,  Acts  xxiv.  5.  The  mutinies 
and  uproars  of  the  world  were  fathered  upon  the 
Christians  in  the  primitive  times;  as  the  popish 
traitors  decreed  to  blow  up  a  state,  and  then  to  lay 
it  upon  the  puritans  in  these  latter  days.  There  can 
be  no  cross  or  judgment  in  Sodom,  but  Lot  is  the 
man  that  brings  it.  Yet  in  all  sense  he  that  does  but 
defend  himself,  is  not  the  author  of  strife.  Though 
the  ti-ue  man  strike  some  blows,  yet  the  thief  is  lie 
that  begins  the  fray. 

Among  them  that  thought  Lot  a  proud  and  im- 
perious fellow;  as  Eliab  censured  David,  I  know  the 
pride  of  thy  heart,  I  Sam.  xvii.  28.  There  is  no 
goodness  in  man,  but  such  will  ascribe  it  to  vain- 
glory. This  opinion  of  others  is  derived  from  a  con- 
sciousness of  themselves ;  that  would  not  do  one  good 
deed,  but  to  be  highly  applauded  for  it.  Therefore 
would  not  the  rich  man  perhaps  help  Lazanis,  be- 
cause he  feared  that  as  Lazarus  died,  .so  his  good  turn 
should  die  with  him.  Nor  the  Levite  succour  the 
wounded  man,  Luke  x.  32,  because  it  was  not  in  po- 
pular view.  The  Pharisees  did  all  to  be  seen :  now 
that  distressed  man  was  out  of  the  way,  nobody  to 
look  on. 

Among  them  that  thought  him  a  fool  for  his  labour. 
Tell  us  of  our  facts,  as  if  they  were  faults  ?  Do  not 
all  thus  ?  You  only  against  it  ?  Alas,  it  is  but  one 
doctor's  opinion.  That  which  the  world  calls  policy, 
cats  up  true  wisdom  :  their  discretion  and  moderate 
staidness  devours  all  true  honesty.  O  say  they,  "Be 
not  righteous  over-much,"  Ecel.  vii.  16.  But  of  that 
extremity  there  is  in  these  times  no  fear,  it  is  now 
short  shooting  that  loseth  the  game.  You  have 
scarce  one  that  exceeds,  for  ten  thousand  that  fault 
in  the  defect :  and  it  is  better  to  have  our  broth  boil 
over,  than  be  raw;  rather  go  in  furs  than  naked. 
Liberality  fears  and  flees  covetousness,  rather  than 
prodigality  ;  truth  is  more  suspicious  of  falsehood, 
than  of  vain-glory  ;  zeal  is  more  cautelous  of  coldness, 
than  of  heat  ;  is  more  afraid  lest  the  fire  should  go 
out,  than  endanger  the  chimney. 

Among  them  that  thought  him  exorbitant,  because 
he  walked  not  after  their  rule,  I  Pet.  iv.  4.  Often  do 
we  hear  remiss  professors  strive  to  choke  all  forward 
holiness,  by  commending  the  golden  mean :  a  cun- 
ning discouragement,  the  devil's  sophistr)- !  ^Vliereas 
the  mean  of  virtue  is  betwixt  two  kinds,  not  betwixt 
two  degrees.  It  is  a  mean  grace  that  loves  a  mean 
degree  of  grace.  Yet  this  is  the  stalT  with  which  the 
world  beats  all  that  be  better  than  themselves.  Wlial, 
will  you  be  singular,  walk  alone  ?  But  were  not  the 
apostles  singular  in  their  walking,  "  a  spectacle  to 
the  worid  ?"  1  Cor.  iv.  9.  Did  not  Christ  call  for  this 
singularity;  Wliat  singular  thing  do  ye?  Matt.  v. 
47.  You  that  are  God's  peculiar  people,  will  ye  do 
no  peculiar  thing  ?  Ye  that  are  separate  from  the 
world,  will  you  keep  the  world's  road?  Shall  Lot 
leave  his  righteousness,  for  such  an  imputation  of 
singularity  ?  Must  the  name  of  a  puritan  dishearten 
us  from  the  service  of  God  ?  St.  Paul  said  in  his 
apology,  "  After  the  way  which  they  call  heresy,  so 
worship  I  the  God  of  my  fathers,"  Acts  xxiv.  14:' and 


by  that  which  profane  ones  call  puritanism,  which  is 
indeed  zealous  devotion,  so  let  my  heart  desire  to 
serve  Jesus  Christ. 

Among  them -that  hated  the  truth,  and  loved  the 
prophecy  of  wine  and  strong  drink,  Micahii.  11.  Such 
a  man  may  live  in  quiet  :  if  Lot  had  spoke  peace  to 
Sodom,  and  not  the  truth,  they  had  brooked  him  well 
enough.  It  is  truth  that  breeds  hatred  among  bad 
neighbours.  "Nevertheless  I  tell  you  the  truth," 
John  .\vi.  7  ;  though  it  breed  sorrow,  or  anger,  or 
malice  in  your  hearts,  yet  I  tell  you  the  truth.  I 
know  that  in  these  days  to  speak  the  truth,  is  to  be 
censured  of  indiscretion ;  the  world  thinks  us  chil- 
dren or  fools  to  hazard  ourselves  by  speaking  the 
truth.  Yet  we  will  not  square  our  positions  to  their 
dispositions,  nor  forbear  to  tell  what  they  are  loth  to 
hear.  Indeed,  you  will  hear  the  truth,  if  there  be 
no  nevertheless ;  if  it  concern  you  not.  But  saith 
Christ,  better  lose  your  favours  than  your  souls ;  and 
it  is  better  for  us  to  discharge  our  consciences  from 
a  burden  of  blood.  They  that  flatter  you,  are  your 
deadliest  enemies  ;  that  either  in  furthering  sin,  or 
in  smothering  sin,  spill  your  dearest  lives. 

Among  these  bad  men  dwelt  this  good  Lot,  and 
still  he  was  righteous.  Neither  their  exemplary  life, 
nor  j)opular  exposition,  nor  powerful  terrors,  could 
turn  his  feet  out  of  the  paths  of  goodness.  It  is 
likely,  they  endeavoured  to  win  him  to  them,  either 
by  rewards  or  menaces.  But  as  when  Capellus  tempt- 
ed Fabricius,  the  first  day  with  an  elephant,  so  huge 
and  monstrous  a  beast  as  before  he  had  not  seen ; 
the  next  day  with  money  and  promises  of  honour; 
he  answered,  I  fear  not  thy  force,  and  I  am  too  wise 
for  thy  fraud :  so  Lot  could  be  corrupted  w'ith  neither. 
But  now,  if  he  could  be  holy  among  wicked,  a  saint 
among  sinners,  how  is  it  that  we  are  evil  among  the 
good,  sinners  among  saints  ?  He  could  be  hot  when 
all  the  rest  were  cold,  and  shall  w'e  be  cold  when 
many  are  hot  ?  He  was  righteous  in  the  midst  of 
irreligion,  we  in  the  midst  of  tnie  religion  are  un- 
righteous. We  have  no  interdictions  of  piety ;  may 
be  some  snuffers  to  qualify  our  zeal,  and  make 
it  burn  brighter;  no  extinguishers  to  put  it  out.  It; 
is  not  forbidden  us  to  ser\'e  God  with  all  our  heat, 
with  all  our  heart.  If  there  be  some  lazy  professors, 
divert  we  our  eyes  from  them  to  the  gracious  ex- 
amples of  righteousness.  Complain  we  of  trouble  ? 
There  is  no  age  that  always  suflered  good  men  to 
live  in  quiet.  As  St.  Augustine  said  of  persecution  ; 
I?tte>ilus  est  tgni.s;  qui  utium  ditet,  atlcrum  damnificet, 
ulrumqite  probel.  Were  we  frighted  with  the  Spanish 
Inquisition,  wearied  with  the  Turkish  imposition, 
somewhat  might  be  pleaded  for  our  remissness.  But 
he  is  a  bad  swimmer  that  cannot  move  on  with  the 
current.  The  gospel  calls  us,  grace  invites  us,  good 
examples  help  us ;  what  is  now  left  to  excuse  us,  if 
we  be  not  righteous  ? 

"  Their  unlawful  deeds."  Sin  is  the  object  or 
matter  of  a  saint's  vexation.  It  is  the  attribute 
which  God  gives  himself,  I  am  a  jealous  God,  Exod. 
xxxiv.  14.  Now  when  we  ascribe  any  human  affec- 
tions to  God,  wc  must  separate  them  from  all  imper- 
fections whatsoever.  A  man  may  be  jealous  not  out 
of  love,  or  without  just  cause ;  God  cannot  be  so. 
The  ground  of  his  jealousy  is  love ;  the  cause  of  his 
jealousy,  our  unfaithfulness  to  him.  We  cannot  be 
jealous  of  God,  because  his  love  is  infinite,  and  we 
need  fear  no  partners.  Paul  wished  this  happiness 
to  all  his  hearers.  Acts  xxvi.  29.  God's  love  hath 
room  enough,  beyond  all  measure  and  comprehen- 
sion, nor  is  it  diminished  by  being  communicated. 
How  many  millions  soever  the  Lord  loves,  he  loves 
thee  and  me  never  the  less.  But  man's  love  to  God 
is  so  pent  and  narrow,  and  the  bed  of  affection  s» 


374 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


little ;  that  if  we  admit  a  partner,  he  hath  cause  to  be 
jealous ;  another's  gain  is  his  loss.  There  is  an  obli- 
gation of  love  between  the  husband  and  the  wife  : 
when  he  conceives  likelihood  of  any  breach,  he 
grows  jealous.  Love  is  the  ground,  and  suspicion 
the  cause.  If  no  love,  no  suspicion;  if  no  suspicion, 
no  jealousy.  This  is  man's  torment  and  rack ;  nor 
can  the  strongest  bars  enclosing  her  ease  his  pangs. 
Knowledge  is  the  only  cure  of  jealousy;  there  is 
more  misery  in  doubting  her  false,  than  in  proving 
her  so.  The  remedy  of  known  evils  is  patience  ;  but 
for  doubted  evils  there  is  no  physic.  This  si)ark 
once  kindled  will  never  die,  nor  can  time,  that  dull 
and  tardy  physician,  help  it ;  nor  can  the  strictest 
observance  satisfy  it.  This  is  the  jealous  man's 
misery :  he  may  prove  his  wife  false,  he  can  never 
prove  her  true.  The  anguish  of  this  affliction  is 
more  or  less  according  to  his  affection. 

Thus  hath  the  soul  of  man  plighted  her  faith  to 
God,  and  by  virtue  of  that  contract  is  called  his 
spouse.  If  she  forsake  his  holy  bed,  and  run  after 
other  lovers,  he  grows  jealous ;  not  by  way  of  sus- 
picion or  doubt,  because  he  knows  the  heart  and 
most  secret  motions  ;  but  because  his  honour  shall 
not  be  given  to  another.  Thus  he  is  jealous  over 
Jerusalem,  Zech.  i.  14;  and  if  she  prostitute  her  be- 
trothed love,  he  disclaims  her  for  his  wife,  Hos.  ii.  2  : 
and  when  he  quite  gives  her  over,  and  ceascth  to  be 
a  husband,  then  he  will  no  more  be  jealous,  Ezck. 
xvi.  42,  as  a  man  divorceth  himself  from  a  wanton 
wife.  As  the  primaiy  nature  of  God  is  to  be  loving, 
so  'it  is  the  nature  of  that  love  on  just  cause  to  be 
jealous,  and  the  nature  of  that  jealousy  to  be  cruel, 
cruel  as  the  grave.  Cant.  viii.  6 ;  if  before  the  grave 
swallow  us,  repentance  do  not  help  us.  God  is  so 
jealous  in  the  decalogue,  that  he  will  not  set  any 
creature  in  the  same  table  of  the  law  with  himself. 
There  shall  stand  neither  father  nor  mother,  king 
nor  Cffisar,  saint  nor  angel,  in  the  same  table  with 
God.  If  we  take  our  lusts  into  a  resolute  competition 
with  him,  his  jealousy  will  burn  like  fire  against  us, 
Zeph.  i.  18;  Nah.  i.  2. 

Now  that  which  grieveth  God,  should  also  vex  us : 
this  hath  tried  the  zeal  of  the  saints.  So  was  Moses 
vexed  ;  the  idolatry  of  man  made  him  break  the 
tables  of  God,  Exod.  xxxii.  19.  So  Elijah  ;  he  durst 
confront  a  king,  and  reprove  an  idolatrous  kingdom, 
1  Kings  xix.  14.  Samuel  hews  Agag  in  pieces. 
Hezekiah  rends  his  clothes  at  blasphemy.  Matta- 
thias  sacrifices  the  sacrificer  on  his  own  superstitious 
altar,  1  Mac.  ii.  24.  It  grieved  Paul's  heart  at 
Athens,  to  see  the  town  so  given  to  idolatry.  Phi- 
nehas'  wife  heard  at  once  of  her  father-in-law's 
death,  of  her  husband's,  with  many  others  ;  yet  did 
not  all  this  so  afflict  her  as  that  the  ark  was  taken 
by  infidels.  It  is  of  this  alone  she  speaks  dying  : 
"  The  glor)'  is  departed  from  Israel ;  for  the  ark  of 
God  is  taken,"  1  Sam.  iv.  22.  We  are  no  Lots,  if 
not  vexed  with  the  world's  unlawful  deeds.  All 
Israel  saw  the  boldness  of  Zimri,  in  bringing  a  whore 
so  palpably  to  his  tent,  Numb.  xxv. ;  but  their  hearts 
were  so  full  of  grief,  and  their  eyes  of  tears,  for  their 
bleeding  brethren,  that  they  had  no  room  for  indig- 
nation. Pliinehas  looked  on  too,  but  with  other 
affections.  Zimri  seemed  to  him  as  one  that  defied 
the  Lord,  and  flouted  the  people's  sorrow ;  that 
while  they  were  wringing  their  hands,  and  beating 
their  breasts,  he  would  be  dallying  with  his  mistress. 
His  heart  boils  with  a  desire  of  holy  revenge  :  liis 
hand  was  used  to  a  censer,  but  now  it  shall  manage 
a  javelin  ;  and  with  one  stroke  he  joins  those  two 
bodies  in  their  death,  which  were  joined  in  their  sin ; 
and  m  the  heat  and  height  of  their  lust,  makes  a  new 
way  for  their  souls  to  their  own  place.     As  they  were 


more  beasts  than  any  that  ever  he  sacrificed,  so  their 
slaughter  was  the  best  sacrifice  that  ever  he  offered. 
He  doth  not  stand  casting  of  doubts :  Who  am  I  to 
do  this  ?  I  am  a  priest,  my  office  is  all  for  peace 
and  mercy  :  it  is  for  me  to  sacrifice  for  the  people,  not 
to  sacrifice  any  of  the  people  ;  my  place  is  to  appease 
God's  anger  against  them,  not  to  revenge  Grjd's  anger 
upon  them;  to  desire  the  conversion,  not  to  work  the 
confusion  of  a  sinner.  Is  not  one  a  prince  in  Israel, 
the  other  a  princess  of  Midian,  and  can  the  death  of 
two  such  persons  be  so  put  up  ?  Or  if  it  be  safe  and 
fit,  why  doth  my  uncle  Moses  rather  shed  his  own 
tears,  than  their  blood  ?  I  will  even  be  sorry  with 
the  rest,  and  let  them  revenge  whom  it  concerneth. 
No,  this  holy  fire  of  zeal  hath  quite  consumed  all 
the  dross  of  such  deliberation  ;  he  holds  this  execu- 
tion to  be  both  his  duty  and  his  glory.  How  doth 
God  love  this  heat  in  aU  the  carriages  of  his  serv- 
ants !  and  if  it  ever  do  transport  them  too  far,  yet 
he  will  rather  pardon  erring  fervency,  than  luke- 
warm indifferency.  And  to  show  that  it  pleased  him, 
he  presently  frees  Israel  from  the  plague,  and  entails 
the  priesthood  to  himself  and  his  posterity  for  it. 

But  this  holy  disposition  is  not  to  be  found  in 
many.  Will  you  know  what  vexeth  us  ?  We  think 
ourselves  wronged,  and  know  not  how  to  be  re- 
venged; this  vexeth  us.  If  God  do  not  answer  us 
with  rain  or  fair  weather,  as  we  would  have  it ;  this 
vexeth  us.  The  better  estate  of  our  neighbour,  as  if 
another's  prefeiTnent  were  our  ruin  ;  the  crossing  of 
our  unnatural  desires,  if  we  cannot  have  our  own 
wills ;  the  interdiction  of  our  lusts  by  a  superior 
law  :  these  things  vex  us.  Men  would  have  the  law 
according  to  their  lives,  not  their  lives  according  to 
the  law.  (Sen.)  If  the  usurer's  interest  comes  not 
in  the  same  pace  that  his  covetous  heart  prompts 
it,  this  vexeth  him.  To  be  told  that  sacrilege  is  a 
sin,  that  our  contentions  be  carnal,  that  while  we 
maintain  strife  with  our  brethren  we  liave  no  peace 
with  God ;  this  vexeth  us.  Private  inconveniences 
take  up  our  vexation,  not  God's  loss.  But  if  you 
will  be  angiy  without  sin,  be  angry  at  sin ;  not  with 
your  brother,  but  with  his  and  your  own  faults. 
When  you  see  God's  name  dishonoured,  his  service 
profaned,  his  good  Spirit  resisted,  and  the  church  or 
family  that  is  named  in  heaven  and  earth  wounded ; 
let  this  vex  you.  Be  vexed  at  them  that  are  vexed 
at  God  himself  on  every  slight  occasion ;  that  if 
their  mouths  be  not  filled  with  laughter,  and  their 
bellies  -with  delicates,  are  ready  to  break  forth  into 
terms  of  undutifulness,  What  profit  is  there  in  serv- 
ing of  God  ?  Mai.  iii.  14.  But  let  the  zeal  of  Lot  be 
a  coal  to  kindle  this  dead  age  ;  so  may  this  text  be 
as  profitable,  as  it  is  convenient  for  these  times.  If 
those  angels  were  sent  again  to  survey  the  earth, 
what  other  news  or  observation  of  their  travel  would 
they  return,  but  that  "all  the  earth  sitteth  still,  and 
is  at  rest,"  Zech.  i.  11  ;  all  are  either  cold  or  but 
lukewarm.  Not  only  those  frozen  in  ]>aganism  out 
of  the  church's  pale,  but  even  the  most  within  the 
tropics  of  Christianity  have  just  so  much  and  so  little 
heat,  as  to  think  they  have  enough  and  need  no 
more.  This  end  of  the  world  being  like  the  period 
of  David's  life,  so  old,  so  cold,  that  no  clothes  were 
enough  to  keep  heat  in  him.  Our  spiritual  stale 
and  condition  is  like  our  country's  site  and  position, 
between  the  torrid  and  frigid  zones,  neither  hot  nor 
cold.  If  Lot's  example  may  but  warn  us,  and  warm 
us,  to  be  inflamed  with  the  love  of  God  and  hatred 
of  sin,  where  my  labour  ends,  your  comfort  shall 
begin,  and  the  fruit  of  both  continue  for  ever. 

4.  "  In  seeing  and  hearing."  The  eye  and  car  are 
those  special  doors,  that  let  into  the  heart  its  com- 
fort or  torment.    We  are  not  sensible  either  of  the 


Ver.  8. 


SECOND  EPISTLK  GENERAL  OF  ST.  TETER. 


375 


mischiefs  or  pleasures  which  we  neither  hear  nor  sec. 
Sodom  might  have  continued  sinful  without  Lot's 
disturbance,  if  their  sin  had  not  been  exposed  to  his 
sight  and  sense.  His  soul  had  been  quiet  enough 
within  him,  if  suspicion  had  not  begot  mistrust,  nor 
experience  a  manifest  proof  of  God's  dishonour.  His 
eyes  and  ears  were  the  unwilling  witnesses  of  their 
impiety,  which  he  neither  would  sec,  nor  yet  couhl 
look  off.  No  man  delights  to  look  upon  ulcers,  un- 
less from  a  desire  of  healing  them  ;  nor  to  hear  the 
barking  of  dogs,  howling  of  wolves,  and  screechings 
of  owls  ;  such  is  the  noise  of  oaths  and  blasphemies ; 
but  with  necessity  and  detestation.  There  are  many 
things  which  a  good  ear  would  not  hear ;  as  his  serv- 
ant cursing  him,  Eccl.  vii.  21  :  nor  a  good  eye  look 
upon :  says  Hagar  of  her  child,  "  Let  me  not  sec 
the  death  of  the  child,"  Gen.  xxi.  16.  As  the  blind 
bishop  answered  Julian,  taxing  Christ  of  impotcncy, 
that  he  couhl  not  open  the  eyes  of  his  servant ;  I  am 
glad  that  I  want  eyes  to  see  thee,  the  monster  of 
men.  Such  was  Lot's  unhappiness,  that  he  must  see 
and  hear  their  wickedness.  From  this  instrumental 
means  of  his  vexation  we  may  observe  divers  things. 

1.  The  sight  of  sin  makes  a  man  either  sad  or 
guilty;  if  we  see  it,  and  be  not  sorrowful,  we  are 
sinful.  If  Lot  had  not  now  been  vexed  at  them, 
God  had  been  vexed  at  him :  on  such  a  cause  not  to 
be  angry,  had  angered  Heaven.  Eli  heard  of  his 
sons'  impiety,  doubtless,  with  grief  enough,  but  not 
with  anger  enough ;  therefore  he  is  punished  with 
hearing  of  their  destruction,  that  was  too  remiss  in 
hearing  of  their  transgression.  It  is  unhappy  to  make 
another's  sin  become  our  own,  by  a  fond  indulgence : 
he  that  sees  evil  without  dislike,  does  not  see  it 
without  fault.  They  are  not  true-hearted  that  stand 
by  without  drawing  their  weapons  against  the  noto- 
rious oppugner  of  holiness.  Mcroz  is  cursed  by  the 
angel,  because  they  came  not  forth  to  help  the  Lord 
in  the  day  of  battle,  Judg.  v.  23.  They  saw  the 
armies  and  heard  the  drums  of  those  proud  adver- 
saries, gave  the  looking  on,  took  part  with  neither: 
they  fought  not  against  God,  yet  because  they  did 
not  fight  for  God,  they  are  cursed. 

Such  are  dough-baked  Christians,  too  clammy  for 
the  stomach  of  God ;  whom  he  hath  borne  long,  yet 
but  wamblingly.  Shall  we  hear  blasphemy,  see  un- 
cleanness,  and  hold  our  peace  ?  will  the  Lord  digest 
us  in  such  a  temper?  While  the  fields  and  lap- 
houses  beguile  the  temples,  curses  are  offered  up  in- 
stead of  prayers,  vain  expenses  for  alms,  and  we  see 
this,  are  not  our  souls  grieved  ?  While  men  pray 
as  if  they  were  asleep,  and  hear  sermons  as  dead 
men  do  their  funerals  ;  it  would  make  a  man  sick  to 
see  God  thus  worshipped.  But  alas,  how  do  men 
rage  at  those  that  find  fault  with  others,  or  endea- 
vour to  be  good  themselves !  Let  a  sparkle  of  fervent 
devotion  break  out  in  a  family,  all  the  neighbours 
are  up  in  clamours;  as  when  the  bells  ring  disor- 
derly, every  man  is  ready  with  his  bucket  to  quench 
the  fire.  Disgraced  they  must  be  f(u-  puritans,  but 
only  by  Laodiceans.  IndifTercncy  strives  to  dash 
zeal  out  of  countenance.  But  if  we  hear  and  see 
evil,  and  dare  not  reprove  it,  cannot  amend  it,  yet 
let  us  grieve  fur  it,  that  we  be  not  guilty  of  it. 

2.  The  most  offensive  sins  are  such  as  be  objected 
to  sight  and  hearing.  There  is  a  sin  that  is  only 
mad  wilhin-doors,  without  admitting  any  witness 
but  the  inevitable  ones,  God  and  their  own  con- 
science. But  sins  that  are  secret  to  man,  we  leave 
to  Him  to  whom  all  things  are  open :  they  be  only 
known  evils  that  vex  the  righteous.  When  all  Israel 
rings  of  the  lewdness  of  Eli's  sons,  it  is  high  time 
for  their  father  to  be  grieved.  Spiritual  and  in- 
ternal sins  may  be  more  culpable,  corporeal  and  out- 


ward be  more  infamous.  Take  an  instance :  while 
God  was  angry,  all  Israel  grieved,  the  heads  hanged, 
the  people  plagued,  a  prince  dares  brave  God  and 
them  all  in  that  sin,  which  he  saw  so  grievously 
punished  before  his  eyes.  Here  was  fornication,  an 
odious  crime ;  and  that  of  an  Israelite,  whose  name 
imports  holiness ;  and  that  of  a  virtuous  prince, 
whose  actions  are  so  many  rules  to  others  ;  and  that 
with  a  Midianite  woman,  with  W'hora  it  had  been 
unlawful  for  him  to  niarrj' ;  this  in  the  face  of  Moses 
governing,  of  all  Israel  mourning,  even  while  they 
were  yet  bleeding  and  weeping  for  the  same  offence : 
how  monstrous  was  this  impudence!  But  because 
he  was  a  prince  he  thought  he  might  sin  by  privi- 
lege; Who  dares  control  me?  His  nobleness  sets 
him  above  the  reach  of  justice.  It  is  easy  for  the 
greatness  of  authority  to  bear  out  the  smallncss  of 
piety.  Commonly  the  sins  of  the  mighty  are  mighty 
sins;  therefore  their  destruction  is  made  answerable 
to  their  presumption,  and  their  vengeance  so  much 
tile  greater  as  was  their  conceit  of  impunity. 

In  this  example  we  read  the  sins  of  the  world; 
blasphemy  is  audible,  drunkenness  visible,  oppres- 
sion sensible;  we  hear  them,  see  them,  feel  them; 
there  is  no  gall  of  zeal  in  our  souls  if  wc  be  not 
vexed.  How  can  we  not  be  ashamed  of  them,  that 
are  not  ashamed  of  themselves  !  A  wicked  man 
thinks  he  may  live  out  of  danger  of  the  law,  if  either 
he  have  a  great  man  to  his  friend,  or  have  not  a 
great  man  to  his  enemy.  Pride  would  be  out  of  re- 
quest at  home,  if  notice  were  not  taken  of  it  abroad. 
While  sin  hides  itself  in  corners,  there  is  some  hope: 
if  there  be  shame,  there  is  possibility  of  grace.  But 
when  it  dares  once  look  upon  the  sun,  send  chal- 
lenges to  authority,  defy  heaven  and  earth,  the  ulcer 
is  desperate,  the  member  fitter  to  be  cut  off  than 
lanced. 

3.  He  did  see  and  not  see,  hear  and  not  hear. 
Connivance  at  rank  impiety  is  bad  in  all  men,  in- 
tolerable in  some ;  such  are  the  ministers  of  either 
gospel  or  justice.  For  preachers,  if  they  wink,  the 
w-olf  may  prey  on  the  lamb :  cold  preachers  make 
bold  sinners.  But  we  have  cause  to  tremble  when 
we  consider,  that  God  will  in  some  sort  reckon  with 
us  for  the  religion  of  our  people.  Let  there  be  fire 
in  our  lips  to  consume  the  dross  of  vices  that  are 
fallen  into  the  sink  of  our  times.  When  the  whole 
city  is  secure,  it  is  oiu:  parts  to  mourn  for  their 
abominations,  Ezek.  ix.  4.  The  evils,  the  derils,  of 
these  days  will  not  out  but  by  frequent  preaching 
and  fervent  jiraying.  Shall  we  be  mutes  in  the 
midst  of  so  many  raging  consonants  ?  not  as  loud  for 
God,  as  they  for  Baal,  for  antichrist  ?  We  see  wick- 
edness, we  hear  it :  O  let  us  pray  it  down,  let  us 
preach  it  down,  outface  it,  outlive  it.  Let  us  be 
williin  and  without  preachers:  the  weights  of  the 
sanctuary  by  the  law,  were  to  be  double  to  those  of 
common  use.  How  gracious  be  their  feet,  not  only 
their  lips,  that  bring  the  gospel !  Isa.  Hi.  7 ;  because 
their  feet  must  walk  in  the  way  which  they  pre- 
scribe. It  is  good  life  that  must  accompany  doc- 
trine, as  lightning  doth  thunder.  Fire  in  the  preach- 
ing does  wcil,  but  water  in  the  preacher  to  quench 
it  by  example  does  ill.  Infirmities  are  in  all,  but 
rank  and  resolute  sins  become  not  those  that  find 
fault  with  the  like  in  others.  In  all  respects,  and  by 
all  means,  let  us  make  it.  appear,  that  God's  glory  is 
our  only  scope ;  therefore  we  dare  not  but  rebuke 
sin,  as  men  preferring  the  winning  of  souls  before 
the  winning  of  the  world. 

Connivance  is  yet  worse  in  magistrates:  we  can 
but  reprove  it,  they  must  correct  it ;  and  open  wick- 
edness is  too  stubborn  to  be  chidden  out  of  counte- 
nance ;  it  is  well,  if  sharp  whipping  can  reform 


376 


AX  EXPOSITION  ITOX  THE 


Chip.  II. 


No  scarlet  robe  so  well  becomes  a  magistrate,  as  one 
made  of  zeal.  Be  wise,  ye  judges,  Psal.  ii.  10;  yea, 
also,  be  just,  ye  judges  :  some  are  so  wise  that  they 
dare  not  be  just ;  nor  punish  less  ofTcnders,  for  fear 
lest  great  offenders  sliould  punish  tliem.  I  know 
there  is  a  wisdom  required  to  distinguish  of  olTences; 
and  true  Christianity  takes  no  delight  in  blood.  If 
magistrates  were  only  to  kill,  the  devil  might  liave 
bi'cn  put  in  sole  commissioner.  It  is  a  breach  of 
justice  not  to  proportion  the  punishment  to  the 
crime ;  for  theft,  rapine,  adultery,  sacrilege,  to  say 
no  more,  with  Eli,  but.  Why  do  yc  so  ?  1  Sam.  ii.  2.'5. 
This  is  true  connivance;  to  shave  the  l)ead  that  de- 
sciTcs  cutting  ofT.  A  weak  purgation  doth  but  stir 
tlie  proud  and  tough  humours,  and  anger  them,  not 
drive  them  out.  To  whip  one  for  murder,  or  to  burn 
treason  in  the  hand,  or  to  lay  a  pecuniary  mulct 
upon  incest,  is  in  effect  to  patronize  evil,  not  to 
|)unish  it.  Bare  reproofs  do  but  encourage  wicked- 
ness, and  make  it  think  itself  as  easy  as  is  the  cen- 
sure :  like  vehement  showers  to  a  ripe  field,  which 
only  lay  the  corn  that  is  ready  and  worthy  of  a  sickle. 

Moses  did  put  the  idolaters  to  the  sword,  Exod. 
xxxii.  27:  it  was  his  mercy  that  made  him  thus 
cruel :  all  Israel  might  have  cursed  him  if  some  had 
not  smarted  by  him.  Do  not  our  magistrates  hear 
and  see  idolatry,  blasphemy,  sacrilege,  profanation 
of  sabbaths  ?  are  there  not  laws  for  castigation  ?  why 
then  be  these  impieties  suffered  in  the  face  of  Heaven? 
Doth  not  want  of  execution  make  all  laws  like  great 
bells  without  clappers  ?  The  magistrate's  sword 
should  not  be  like  a  child's  daggei-,  rivetted  in  tlie 
sheath :  a  sword,  saith  Paul,  not  borne  in  vain.  When 
they  punisli  malefactors,  they  are  said  to  consecrate 
their  hands  to  God,  Exod.  xxxii.  29.  The  judge's 
coimtenance  should  be  like  a  northern  wind,  Prov. 
XXV.  23,  to  dispel  the  fogs  of  sin.  The  kings  of  the 
earth  are  charged  to  render  double  to  the  bloody 
strumpet  of  Rome,  Rev.  xviii.  6:  why  then  do  her 
locusts  increase  and  multiply  ?  God  grant  our  too 
much  pity  never  undo  ourselves.  There  are  two 
special  causes  of  this  connivance  in  subordinate 
magistrates  ;  cowardice,  and  covetousness. 

Cowardice  and  timorousncss  is  a  quality  too  base 
for  eminence.  "  Should  such  a  man  as  I  flee?" 
saith  Nehemiah,  chap.  vi.  11.  It  is  the  want  of 
courage  that  belrays  tlie  trutli ;  while  men  are  more 
careful  of  their  own  quiet,  than  of  God's  glory. 
Solomon's  throne  liad  carved  lions,  not  foxes,  apes, 
nor  wolves  ;  no  toyish,  petulant,  deceitful,  or  ravenous 
things,  but  majestic  lions:  no  dastard  fear  is  admit- 
ted to  that  seat.  Magistrates  have  iron  gamitlets, 
and  need  not  fear  children's  blows.  Moses  seeing 
the  sin,  commands  them  to  punish  one  another,  and 
they  do  it.  None  replies,  He  is  but  one,  we  are 
many  :  we  may  more  easily  destroy  him,  than  he  can 
destroy  our  god.  Aaron  durst  not  resist  us  in  making 
it,  and  shall  he  withstand  our  keeping  it?  Not  so, 
(iod  hath  set  such  gracious  characters  of  majesty  in 
the  brow  of  authority,  that  guiltiness  dares  not  look 
it  in  the  face.  They  stoop  to  the  basest  and  bloodiest 
revenge  he  should  impose.  Sin  is  so  conscious  of 
itself,  that  when  it  is  brought  fcn-th  to  trial,  paleness 
and  fear  shall  betray  the  guilt,  and  it  will  rather 
seek  a  hole,  than  a  hold  or  fort.  If  the  fore-horse  in 
a  team  be  shy,  the  carter  fenceth  his  eyes  on  both 
sides,  that  he  may  lead  the  way  fore-right  witliout 
starting.  Let  the  magistrate  rectify  his  looks,  and 
only  bend  them  directly  upon  justice:  a  squint  eye, 
cj.st  upon  persons,  ill  becomes  him.  Let  him  look 
no  side-way,  neither  to  the  left  hand  for  fear,  nor  to 
the  right  hand  for  favour. 

Covetousness  is  a  vice,  which  makes  a  man  of 
place   transgress  for  a  morsel  of  bread.     It  blinds 


the  eyes  of  the  wise,  much  more  of  the  foolish ;  of 
the  righteous,  mucli  more  of  the  covetous,  Exod. 
xxiii.  8.  When  a  malefactor  shall  give  him  so  much 
gold  for  a.  Say,  you  saw  me  not ;  then,  as  if  he  had 
the  Jews'  curse  upon  him,  hearing  he  will  not  hear, 
and  seeing  he  will  not  perceive.  Matt.  xiii.  14.  "  A 
gift  is  as  a  precious  stone ;  whithersover  it  tumeth,  it 
prospercth,"  Prov.  xvii.  8 :  a  prosperous  stone,  as  if 
he  meant  the  philosopher's  stone,  so  much  in  quest 
and  request ;  a  charm  more  powerful  than  a  witcli's 
night-spell.  The  buikling  of  great  houses,  keeping 
great  nouses,  or  rather  leaving  great  houses,  and 
matching  with  great  houses,  are  too  frequent  occa- 
sions of  injustice.  AVhen  a  small  office  shall  swell 
up  a  great  estate,  the  world  must  needs  swell  briberj- 
in  it.  The  ambition  to  advance  their  own  house, 
blows  out  their  zeal  to  God's  house.  Job  compares 
justice  to  a  cloak  or  robe,  chap.  xxix.  14:  a  cloak  it 
is ;  but  the  cloak  that  hangs,  like  our  gallants',  on 
one  shoulder  is  quickly  blown  off:  a  robe  it  may  be ; 
but  a  loose  one,  some  night-gown,  that  is  soon  put 
off.  Many  say,  they  discharge  a  good  conscience, 
and  so  they  do  in  some  sense,  they  discharge  it  quite 
away.  Justice  is  called  a  girdle,  to  girt  all  other 
virtues ;  but  let  them  take  heed  lest  it  sag  and  bend 
to  the  side  where  the  purse  hangeth. 

4.  Sodom's  sin  wns  so  much  the  more  heinous  to 
God,  for  offending  man,  and  vexing  the  heart  of  his 
servant  Lot.  Iniquity  then  exceeds  itself  when  it 
grows  scandalous.  "  Woe  unto  the  world  because 
of  offences!"  Matt,  xviii.  7;  when  it  is  not  enough 
for  men  to  be  bad  themselves,  but  to  rail  at  the  good. 
If  there  be  one  in  a  company  that  abhors  impious 
language,  they  will  blaspheme  on  pui-jiose  to  vex 
him.  They  had  better  have  sunk  into  the  ocean, 
bound  to  a  mill-stone,  ver.  G.  They  wliet  their 
tongues  like  razors,  not  only  to  shave  a  man,  but  to 
cut  his  throat :  but  the  Lord  shall  cut  them  out. 
Thus  popelings  hiss  like  serpents  at  their  mother; 
curse  like  Shimei,  not  only  by  word  of  mouth,  but  in 
their  railing  and  lying  pamphlets.  Many  a  good 
man  may  say,  "  I  was  the  song  of  the  drunkards," 
Psal.  Ixix.  12.  Ask  the  drinking-schools,  if  no  such 
doctrine  of  hell  be  heard  there.  While  we  play  upon 
David's  harp  to  case  their  griefs,  they  cast  their 
spears  and  javelins  to  wound  us.  What  Paul  bids 
put  from  them,  Eph.  iv.  31,  they  delightfully  call  to 
them.  Serpents,  not  only  deaf  to  our  charming,  but 
turn  their  tails  to  sting  us. 

Nor  let  the  great  ones,  whose  authority  should 
punish  these  abuses,  think  to  escape ;  there  be  often 
pasquils  to  cast  aspersions  on  their  noble  names. 
Whereas  honour  is  a  curious  parcel,  gilt,  laid  on  with 
God's  own  finger,  which  no  lewd  tongue  may  scan- 
dalously lick  off.  For  us,  our  contempt  is  not  enough, 
unless  It  be  clianted  in  rhyme.  It  is  Joseph's  party- 
coloured  coat,  composed  of  all  kinds  of  graces  and 
blessings,  that  procures  their  hatred.  Such  is  the 
world's  desperate  policy,  to  vex  them  whom  God 
hath  blessed.  But  the  Lord  takes  them  into  his 
special  tuition ;  and  if  any  shall  hurl  his  faithful 
witnesses,  there  goes  a  fire  out  of  their  mouths  to  de- 
vour their  enemies.  Rev.  xi.  5.  "  Destroy  all  them 
that  afflict  my  soul,"  saith  David,  Psal.  cxiiii.  12:  not 
that  he  would  have  it  so,  but  because  he  knew  it 
must  be  so.  A  man  had  belter  anger  all  the  witches 
in  the  world,  than  one  of  the  saints ;  for  God  often 
forbears  offences  against  his  own  majesty,  wlicn  he 
plagueth  offences  against  his  little  ones. 

5.  He  that  would"  not  be  vexed  with  evils,  let  him 
turn  his  eyes  and  cars  another  way  :  be  not  fond  to 
be  grieved  ;  no  man  is  bound  to  seek  his  own  vexation. 
Therefore  iniiic  te  tneliorihti.^  offer :  let  us  frequent  their 
company,  where  in  seeing  and  hearing  wc  may  reap 


Ver.  8. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


377 


comfort.  But  how  sliall  we  know  them  ?  They  have 
not  Kich  marks,  as  Du  Bartas  describes  Cain's  sup- 
pled horse  ;  and  he  may  deceive  others,  that  cannot 
but  deceive  himself;  yet  the  wise  heart  may  discern 
them.  By  the  innocency  of  their  actions,  sobriety  of 
their  speeches,  disesteeming  gain,  coldness  after 
pleasures,  ardour  in  God's  cause,  you  may  distin- 
guish them  ;  as  by  sparks  rising  from  a  heap  of 
embers,  you  may  know  there  is  fire  within.  So  did 
the  saints  leave  such  repining  tumults,  and  resort  to 
places  of  sanctity  and  benediction.  If  we  fall,  here 
be  they  that  shall  raise  us ;  if  we  stand,  that  shall 
confirm  us  ;  if  we  complain,  that  shall  comfort  us. 
Sorrows  divided  among  many,  are  borne  more  easily  : 
many  small  brooks  meeting  and  concurring  in  one 
channel,  will  carry  great  vessels.  By  their  reproofs 
we  shall  know  ourselves  :  we  arc  blind  in  our  own 
imperfections,  therefore  we  borrow  the  eyes  of  our 
friends,  lending  them  ours  ;  so  we  mutually  direct 
and  correct  one  another. 

There  are  two  helps  to  goodness  ;  the  praises  of 
an  enemy,  and  the  reprehensions  of  a  friend.  He 
that  shall  take  from  friendship  the  liberty  of  a  modest 
reproof,  leaves  nothing  to  distinguish  it  from  flattery. 
To  see  men  in  troops  fill  the  courts  of  God  ;  to  hear 
the  melodious  harmony  of  his  praises,  the  volleys  of 
invocations  sent  up  to  his  glorious  name  ;  to  behold 
the  charitable  contributions  to  the  poor,  the  holy 
emulations  to  exceed  in  good  works,  all  like  bees 
labouring  to  bring  honey  to  the  hive  of  the  church  ; 
where  wrongs  are  pardoned,  good  men  encouraged, 
the  gospel  honoured,  and  the  will  of  God  obeyed  :  O 
here  is  an  object  worth  our  seeing  and  hearing,  which 
instead  of  vexing,  shall  delight  our  righteous  souls  : 
lifting  up  our  desires  to  heaven,  where  all  good  works 
are  done  with  perfection ;  where  we  shall  sec  and 
hear  what  we  shall  never  be  wear)'  of  seeing  and 
hearing:  see  the  glory  of  God,  hear  the  melody  of 
angels,  the  joy  of  all  saints,  and  be  both  ravished  in 
the  pleasure,  and  confirmed  in  the  eternity  of  them. 

To  conclude ;  we  that  have  grieved  others,  let  us 
now  be  grieved  for  it  ourselves.  It  was  an  impotent 
and  childish  passion  in  Honorius,  to  be  more  grieved 
for  a  paltry  hen,  than  for  his  imperial  city.  Yet  if 
we  can  more  lament  the  departure  of  a  friend  into 
bliss,  than  the  departure  of  Christ  from  our  own 
souls;  and  be  more  heartily  troubled  with  a  con- 
\'ulsion  of  body,  than  with  dishoncsling  our  con- 
science ;  if  even,-  trilling  inconvenience  of  our  own 
have  power  to  rack  us,  when  the  dishonour  of  God 
cannot  move  us ;  wonder  we  no  more  at  Honorius. 
"Wc  may  howl  for  com  and  wine,  Hos.  vii.  14,  but  in 
vain  ;  our  true  tears  and  sobs  should  be  for  our  sins. 
We  are  yet  in  the  day,  yet  in  the  way ;  let  us  hus- 
band aright  this  blessed  opportunity,  the  only  cer- 
tain hour  of  our  visitation.  O  let  us  not  play  out  the 
candle,  and  go  to  bed  darkling;  nor  consume  our 
lives  in  folly,  and  go  to  the  grave  in  ignorance ;  like 
boys  that  slubber  out  their  books  before  they  have 
learned  their  lessons.  That  sudden  conversion  of  one 
at  the  last,  was  never  intended  in  God's  purpose  for 
our  temptation.  If  every  man  should  run  on  in  sin, 
till  he  meet  unexpected  mercy,  because  one  in  sin 
obtained  mercy  ;  then  every  man  might  as  well  spur 

-  beast  till  it  speak,  because  Balaam's  beast  did 
'•  speak. 

I  ould  we  be  sure  that  God  would  call  us  at  the 
Inst,  yet  how  unswoet  were  our  sacrifice,  the  bran  and 
dregs  of  our  dotage,  the  wine  and  flour  being  con- 
sumed in  folly  !  whereas  the  good  man  is  the  older 
the  better,  as  Christ  kept  the  good  wine  till  the  last. 
If  we  repent  when  we  cannot  sin,  all  is  neccssaiy  : 
they  leave  us,  we  leave  not  them  ;  nothing  is  here 
voluntary.     What  equity  is   it  to  lay  the  heaviest 


burden  on  the  weakest  beast  ;  to  force  old  age,  too 
weak  to  bear  itself,  to  carry  the  load  of  our  repent- 
ance ?  'When  that  strong  man  is  grown  stronger  by 
prescription,  our  tabernacle  rotten  by  corruption, 
when  custom  hath  turned  vice  into  nature,  and  sin  is 
soaked  into  substance,  our  bones  being  full  of  the 
faults  of  our  youth,  we  would  then  repent ;  we  would 
if  we  could.  But  as  he  that  never  went  to  school 
will  hardly,  when  he  is  put  to  it,  read  his  neck-verse; 
so  he  that  never  learned  the  doctrine  of  repentance 
in  his  life,  will  find  it  verj-  hard,  if  not  impossible,  at 
his  death.  Wine  at  first  drawing  is  quick  and  live- 
ly ;  when  it  runs  low,  it  grows  dead.  Let  us  give 
God  our  youth,  that  is  livelihood,  and  pleasing  to 
him  ;  not  when  our  life  runs  on  the  tilt,  the  lees  and 
dregs  of  old  age.  Heaven  is  not  unlike  Ahasuerus' 
court,  no  mourners  arc  suffered  there ;  all  joyful 
guests  in  their  wedding  garments :  we  must  either 
mourn  on  earth,  or  mourn  in  hell.  Thus  we  that  have 
vexed  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  the  eyes  and  ears  of 
others  by  our  sins,  let  us  now  please  the  Spirit  of 
God  by  our  repentance,  and  rejoice  the  eyes  and  ears 
of  others  by  our  amendment.  Wretched  men  if  we 
defer  our  repentance  ;  wretched,  if  we  repent  not  our 
deferring !  Let  us  repent  as  soon  as  we  can,  yea, 
and  repent  for  this,  that  we  have  repented  no  sooner. 
In  a  word,  howsoever  in  indifferent  things  it  be  held 
safe  to  hear,  and  see,  and  say  nothing  ;  yet  in  ^ross 
and  scandalous  evils  let  us  not  be  silent :  so  if  we 
cannot  mend  others,  yet,  with  Lot,  we  shall  save  our 
own  souls  in  the  great  day  of  Christ. 

"  Vexed  his  righteous  soul."  I  come  from  the 
kindlers  to  the  fire  itself.  Zeal  is  a  fen-cncy  of  spi- 
rit, arising  from  a  mixture  of  love  and  anger,  say 
some.  It  is  not  a  single  affection  ;  that  were  to  con- 
fine it,  rather  than  define  it :  there  are  more  afTections 
exercised  in  it  than  love.  Nor  yet  is  it  a  mixed  af- 
fection ;  that  were  rather  to  compound  it  than  com- 
jirehend  it.  It  is  not  one  afTcction,  nor  many,  but  a 
fervent  heat  of  all ;  as  varnish  is  no  one  colour,  but 
that  which  polisheth  all.  It  makes  a  man  to  love 
what  he  loves,  excessively  ;  to  desire  what  he  desires, 
passionately ;  to  hate  what  he  hates,  deadly  :  his 
sorrows  be  not  remiss,  but  bitter  and  racking;  his 
joys  not  transient  and  overly,  but  ravishing  ;  when 
he  hopes,  his  eyes  are  dim  with  waiting ;  when  he 
fears,  all  his  bones  feel  a  trembling  and  shivering. 
To  be  cold  or  lukewarm  is  not  an  affection,  but  a 
constitution :  so  zeal  is  no  nature,  but  a  temper  ;  a 
spiritual  heat  wrought  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  improving 
all  sanctified  afTections  for  the  glor)-  of  God.  As  the 
spirits  are  to  the  body,  and  wine  to  the  spirits,  and 
quickness  to  the  wine,  so  is  zeal  to  the  soul,  making 
it  vigorous  and  strenuous  in  God's  service,  like  a 
giant  refreshed  with  wine,  Psal.  Ixxviii.  65.  Faith 
and  zeal  are  the  soul's  two  wings,  whereby  she  is 
made  resembling  the  angels;  who  are  armed  with 
wings,  and  called  a  flame  of  fire,  for  their  burning 
and  flying  execution  of  God's  bests.  It  is  zeal  that 
helps  us  to  do  what  we  pray,  the  will  of  God  in 
earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven.  This  zeal  is  the  axis, 
the  hinge,  the  life-blood  that  nnis  in  every  vein  of 
the  text ;  a  burning  fire  in  the  heart  of  Lot,  that 
gives  him  mettle  to  contest  with  God's  enemies  ;  and 
because  he  cannot  amend  them,  he  vcxcth  his  own 
soul.  His  example  teacheth  us  three  obser^■ations  of 
zeal;  that  it  dotli  prove  our  righteousness,  improve 
our  righteousness,  and  honour  our  righteousnesses. 

1.  it  is  the  argimient  of  a  righteous  man,  to  be 
far  from  coolness  in  his  Maker's  service.  "  What- 
soever thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might," 
Ecel.  ix.  10.  Doth  this  become  us  in  other  thmgs 
and  misbecome  us  in  the  worship  of  God  ?  Shall  c 
man  eagerly  follow  his  lusts,  and  not  be  violent  for 


378 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


CllAP.    II. 


Ihc  kingdom  of  heaven  ?  The  slothful  hastens  his 
own  beggary  in  temporal  things,  much  less  shall  he 
be  rich  in  the  graces  of  Christ.  He  that  hath  but  a 
mean  skill  in  the  most  excellent  art,  is  never  admired  : 
a  man  had  better  never  poetize,  than  only  rhyme  ; 
never  paint,  than  do  no  more  but  daub :  as  good  no 
religion,  as  coldness  in  the  best  religion.  Shall  we, 
like  those  Jewish  elders  for  the  centurion,  be  instant 
for  a  friend,  and  cold  for  our  heavenly  Father  ?  He 
is  worthy  of  infinitely  more  love  than  we  are  able  to 
give  ;  all  our  brooks  and  springs  of  affection  ought 
to  run  into  this  main  ;  not  one  small  channel  be  suf- 
fered another  way.  Let  all  reflect  upon  him,  and 
nothing  be  respected  out  of  him,  of  whom,  for  whom, 
and  through  whom,  are  all  things. 

How  unbrookable  is  didncss  in  any  work  to  a  man 
of  spirit  !  A  heavy  and  saltless  oration  is  insuffer- 
able to  a  quick  hearer.  We  single  out  the  forwardest 
deer  in  the  herd,  choose  the  liveliest  colt  in  the 
drove :  and  think  we  the  backwardest  man  fit  enough 
for  God?  Will  he  that  is  all  Spirit,  be  pleased  with 
a  leaden  and  drowsy  service  ?  He  bids  the  giver, 
give  cheerfully ;  the  doer,  do  quickly.  He  forbade 
the  Israelites  to  offer  the  firstling  of  an  ass,  Exod. 
xxxiv. 'iO:  why  so  ?  doth  God  hate  the  ass?  No, 
but  for  the  quality  of  the  creature  ;  it  being  the 
hieroglyphic  of  slowness :  to  show  that  God  cannot 
abide  tardity  in  his  business.  It  is  lazy  to  go,  we  are 
bid  to  run  the  way  of  his  commandments.  As  sails 
to  the  ship,  and  wind  to  the  sails,  so  is  fervency  to 
righteousness.  A  soldier  without  courage,  a  horse 
without  mettle,  a  creature  without  vivacity,  such  is  a 
C^hristian  without  fervency. 

2.  It  dotli  also  improve  righteousness;  like  the  fire 
which  came  down  from  heaven  upon  the  sacrifices, 
causing  the  sacrifices  to  ascend  thither  in  accepta- 
tion. Righteousness  hath  no  grace,  but  this  fervency 
makes  it  more  gracious.  Repentance  is  one  primary 
grace ;  yet  if  a  man's  sorrow  be  not  fervent,  it  is 
like  a  hot  summer  shower,  that  makes  the  streets 
stink  after  it.  Faith  is  a  fundamental  grace,  should 
overcome  the  world ;  it  will  prove  but  a  coward  with- 
out fcrs'ency.  Hope,  the  waiting-maid  of  glory,  will 
soon  fall  asleep,  if  zeal  keep  not  her  eyes  open.  Love 
without  fervency  is  cold  and  dull,  and  as  it  were  en- 
forced ;  and  you  cannot  extort  love.  Relief  of  the 
poor  is  left-handed  without  this  ;  no  reward  belongs 
to  it.  It  is  only  ferv'ent  prayer  that  prevaileth.  Jam. 
V.  16.  Israel  had  never  wrestled,  or  wrestling,  nol 
prevailed  with  God,  but  by  fervency.  It  was  no  per- 
functory devotion  in  Moses,  that  caused  the  Lord  to 
answer.  Let  me  alone.  No  vapours  ascend  up  from 
the  still,  unless  there  be  fire  under  it ;  nor  prayers 
reach  heaven  without  the  heat  of  zeal.  Flum'inal 
baptism  is  but  a  cold  proof  of  a  man's  Christendom, 
except  this  flaminal  baptism  of  fire  and  zeal  approve 
it,  Matt.  iii.  II.  The  worship  of  God  without  this, 
is  like  meat  dressed  by  an  uncleanly  cook,  it  will  not 
down  with  him.  Let  a  table  be  furnished  with  the 
choicest  viands  the  season  affords,  if  they  be  boiled 
or  roasted  to  the  halves,  or  stand  on  the  board  till 
they  be  lukewarm,  the  guests  will  not  be  pleased 
with  their  cheer. 

Fervency  is  that  mark  which  God  would  have  us 
set  on  all  his  services,  that  so  ihey  may  be  discerned 
to  be  his  own  :  as  the  name  of  a  famous  tradesman 
doth  sell  his  commodity,  so  the  mark  of  zeal  cro\VTis 
all  our  works.  If  the  colour  be  pale,  the  motion  in- 
sensible, and  the  pulse  leave  beating,  we  give  a  man 
for  dead ;  the  moving  of  these  argue  life.  They 
whose  actions  want  heat  and  colour,  that  give  un- 
willingly, that  do  justice  constrainedly,  appear  dead. 
It  is  fervency  that  makes  a  difference  of  actions  :  we 
have  all  alike  precious  faith,  the  seeds  of  all  graces 


are  in  every  convert ;  the  inequality  is  in  the  degrees, 
the  degrees  are  seen  in  the  fervency.  This  makes 
men  dilTer  in  grace,  as  stars  do  in  glory,  or  as  humane 
men  in  blood  and  dignity. 

3.  It  honours  righteousness:  many  thousands  have 
been  righteous,  whose  names  are  not  on  record ;  but 
of  those  that  have  been  zealous  in  their  piety,  the 
Scripture  takes  special  notice.  Our  apostle  having 
spent  one  whole  verse  upon  the  commendation  of 
Lot's  fcr\-encj',  in  vexing  himself  for  their  sins,  is  not 
so  content  ;  but  exegetically  presseth  it  further,  ex- 
emplifies it  in  particulars,  showing  that  a  righteous 
man  is  better  than  his  neighbour.  Tlic  righteous  are 
the  best  of  the  world,  the  fervent  are  the  best  of  the 
righteous.  It  is  true  of  zeal,  as  of  fire  ;  the  nature 
of  it  is  to  multiply,  as  one  coal  kindles  a  whole  heap, 
and  one  torch  liglits  many.  Elisha  calls  Elijah,  the 
horsemen  and  chariot  of  Israel,  2  Kings  ii.  12;  in 
the  plural  number,  to  show  that  he  was  one  man 
worth  a  thousand ;  doing  God  more  service  than  a 
Jesuit  doth  the  pope,  or  a  hypocrite  Satan.  It  is 
not  unlikely  that  David's  zeal  made  him  styled,  A 
man  after  God's  heart. 

But  do  we  thus  honour  our  righteousness,  that  God 
should  honour  us  ?  If  at  the  same  time  come  several 
news  ;  one,  some  loss  of  our  own  estates  ;  the  other, 
of  some  apostatized  Christians;  which  doth  now 
most  vex  us  ?  We  hear  at  once  God's  name  blas- 
phemed, our  own  name  traduced ;  which  most  stirs 
us  ?  We  perceive  trade  decaying  in  England,  the 
religious  professors  of  the  gospel  bleeding  in  France 
and  Germany  by  the  sword  of  a  cruel  enemy  ;  which 
of  these  goes  nearest  to  our  hearts?  When  some  un- 
ruly younkcrs  were  sporting  in  the  field  on  the  sabbath 
day,  a  churl  fretted  and  stormed  at  it ;  an  honest  neigh- 
bour did  also  dislike  it,  that  they  so  little  regarded 
the  sabbath  :  Tut,  quoth  the  other,  what  tell  you  me 
of  the  sabbath  ?  it  vcxeth  me,  that  they  have  spoiled 
my  com.  In  carnal  things  we  are  veiy  sensible  ;  in 
spiritual,  without  feeling.  Men  carry  swords,  and 
sfand  on  terms  of  reputation,  on  the  least  cross  word 
they  are  ready  to  cut  one  another's  throat;  confess- 
ing their  lives  to  be  little  worth,  not  so  much  as  a 
word.  Let  God  be  dishonoured  a  thousand  ways, 
they  are  as  stupid  as  the  stones  they  walk  on ;  if  they 
take  any  part,  it  is  against  their  Maker.  Be  the 
honour  of  their  own  house  questioned,  their  weapons 
fly  like  lightning:  let  God's  house  be  pulled  down 
to  the  ground,  all  their  help  is,  to  carry  away  the 
timber  and  the  stones.  They  heat  the  furnace  seven 
times  hotter  in  their  own  cause  than  they  do  in  God's 
cause. 

But  will  the  Lord  multiply  his  favours  upon  such  ? 
Husbandmen  cast  their  seed  on  the  fruitfuUest 
ground,  which  will  return  them  the  best  harvest; 
and  God  his  graces  on  such  as  will  improve  them. 
When  judgment  covers  the  earth,  who  shall  then  be 
delivered  but  the  zealous  Lots?  God  will  preserve 
them,  as  men  do  their  plate,  while  (hey  let  the  baser 
stuff  bum.  For  their  fervency  in  goodness,  was  Enoch 
translated,  and  Elijah  advanced  in  a  triumi)hant  cha- 
riot to  heaven.  However  all  believers  have  their 
places  in  blessedness,  yet  He  that  rewards  all  ac- 
cording to  their  works,  obsei"ves  that  congruity  in 
crowning  his  own  graces,  that  the  most  zealous  in 
this  world  shall  be  the  most  glorious  in  the  world 
to  come. 

"  Vexed  his  soul."  As  this  was  no  common  fer- 
vency, so  no  counterfeit :  he  little  dissembles  whose 
soul  is  moved.  Zeal,  like  the  king  of  Israel,  hath 
many  shadows,  therefore  we  must  distinguish  it  from 
all  semblances.  There  be  false  fires,  which  while 
they  usurp  the  honour  of  it,  rather  bring  an  ill  name 
upon  it.     How  common  a  thing  is  it  to  wound  all 


Ver.  8. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


379 


holiness  under  the  name  of  puritan  ;  whereof  con- 
vinced, they  think  to  make  amends  with,  Cry  you 
mercy,  I  meant  tlic  hypocrite :  as  the  ruffian  strikes 
a  man  first,  and  then  excuses  it,  that  he  mistook 
him.  Besides,  it  cannot  be  denied,  but  some  have 
taken  on  them  this  order,  greater  than 'the  knights 
of  Malta,  or  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  that  have  dis- 
graced it  by  an  unworthy  deportment  of  themselves. 
And  some,  after  it  hath  served  their  turns,  leave  it ; 
as  the  door,  when  it  hath  been  oiled,  leaves  the 
creaking.  For  their  sakes,  the  name  of  goodness  is 
blasphemed  all  the  day  long,  an  ill  report  and  sus- 
picion raised  upon  them  that  serve  God  in  truth :  so 
for  the  deceiver's  fault,  the  true  man  is  beaten. 
There  is  in  the  body  the  native  and  radical  heat,  a 
principal  instrument  of  life ;  and  there  be  often 
anguish  and  distempered  heats,  that  cause  sickness 
and  death. 

There  be  some  that  vex  themselves  out  of  envy : 
Lot  did  not  so.  The  poets  feign  this  affection  to 
be  bom  of  Styx  and  Pallas:  they  meant,  inspired 
into  men  by  Satan,  and  those  envious  devils.  This 
is  a  black  zeal,  reckoned  among  the  works  of  the 
flesh:  see  1  Cor.  iii.  3;  Acts  v.  17  ;  Gal.  v.  21 ;  Jam. 
iii.  14;  1  Cor.  xiii.  4;  Rom.  xiii.  13.  These  are  not 
pure  tapers,  shining  clear,  and  giving  light;  but 
brinish  and  ill-made  candles,  that  sparkle  and  spet 
at  othere.  Lot  vexed  himself  because  he  saw  men 
bad;  these,  because  men  are  good:  not  that  God's 
law  is  broken,  but  because  others  keep  it  better  than 
themselves.  It  is  the  cursed  zeal  of  these  men,  to 
malign  the  good  zeal  of  all  men. 

There  be  that  vex  themselves  out  of  cholcr ; 
robustious  men,  transported  with  intemperate  pas- 
sions. We  do  not  read  that  Lot  was  cruel  and  tur- 
bulent, vexing  others ;  but  he  vexed  himself.  Se- 
verity should  never  be  but  by  compulsion,  and  then 
not  without  compassion.  Christianity  abhors  cruelty, 
and  rather  wisheth  with  that  happy  queen,  that  it 
knew  not  how  to  write  a  sentence  of  condemnation. 
It  is  for  the  malignant  church  to  satiate  herself  with 
gore :  nothing  but  fire  and  faggot  is  the  voice  of 
Rome.  This  is  a  wolvish  fervency,  to  feed  on  no 
diet  but  the  warm  blood  of  the  lambs.  Poor  sheep 
are  the  subject  of  their  tyranny  :  to  the  lion  they  are 
as  submiss  and  fawning  as  dogs ;  over  the  rest  they 
rage  and  domineer,  like  the  sea  in  a  storm.  Where- 
as the  thunder  spares  the  yielding  purse,  and  melts 
the  resisting  metal ;  descends  not  to  the  low  cot- 
tages, but  strikes  the  towering  pinnacles.  The  sons 
of  thunder  dare  check  the  highest  and  greatest;  as 
John  did  Herod,  and  Jonah  Nineveh.  But  these, 
like  bustards  in  a  fallow  field,  cannot  raise  them- 
selves without  a  whirlwind ;  and  then,  like  squibs  in 
a  throng,  they  fly  out  on  all  sides.  "This  turbulent 
fervour  is  bred  of  two  causes ;  the  defect  of  love  and 
humility,  the  excess  of  passion  and  imperiousness. 
As  spirits,  that  being  once  conjured  up,  scorn  to 
keep  within  their  own  circles.  A  wildfire,  no  hearth 
can  hold  it :  it  is  mettle  in  a  headstrong  horse ;  and 
runs  like  the  weights  of  a  clock  when  the  spring  is 
broken. 

There  be  that  vex  themselves  without  cause,  and 
strike  an  Israelite  instead  of  a  Sodomite,  their  friends 
for  their  enemies.  A  contentious  zeal :  Sheba  blows 
a  trumpet,  and  suddenly  they  are  up  in  arms.  Alas ! 
against  whom  do  you  fight,  ye  sons  of  debate  ? 
Brethren  against  their  own  mother's  children  ?  You 
are  brethren,  wrong  not  one  another  in  the  sight  of 
your  Father,  in  the  arms  of  your  mother.  What 
way  is  this,  but  to  advance  the  name  of  Mahomet  in 
the  temples  of  Jesus  ?  But  to  come  nearer  home ; 
how  hatn  antichrist  got  ground  by  our  dissensions ! 
The  unnatural  coldness  of  some,  and  the  preterna- 


tural heat  of  others,  hath  set  us  together  by  the  ears 
about  trifles;  while  the  common  enemy  breaks  in: 
and  we  liave  poured  those  vials  of  indignation  one 
upon  another,  which  should  all  be  spent  upon  the  seat 
of  the  beast.  While  the  devil  can  busy  men  about 
ceremonies  and  circumstances,  he  hopes  they  will 
let  him  alone  about  the  principal,  whicli  is  faith  and 
manners.  Alas!  they  are  not  worth  our  vexation; 
we  have  made  him  too  much  sport  already.  How 
doth  St.  Paul  beat  down  their  weapons  !  Rom.  xiv. 
4,  10.  Let  our  zeal  come  in  to  part,  not  to  partake 
the  fray ;  all  endeavouring  and  praying,  that  peace 
may  be  within  the  gates  of  Zion. 

There  be  that  vex  themselves  out  of  hypocrisy ; 
they  have  other  ends  than  God's  glory.  Ostentation 
leads  them  more  than  conscience  :  they  will  offer 
violence  to  nature,  wring  out  a  show  of  fervency ;  but 
all  is  on  the  stage.  When  such  a  furious  Orlando 
hath  done  his  part,  he  is  quite  another  man.  These 
be  histrionical  professors,  that  bounce  at  the  gate  as 
if  they  would  break  down  the  house;  more  violent 
than  a  Jesuit  in  the  pulpit.  There  is  nothing  more 
liable  to  suspicion,  than  a  fantastic  affectation  of 
zeal.  A  horse-courser's  jade  will  bound,  cur^'ct,  and 
show  more  tricks,  than  a  horse  of  good  mettle. 
"  Come,  see  my  zeal  for  the  Lord,"  says  Jehu, 
2  Kings  X.  IG:  his  word  was,  "for  the  Lord;"  but 
his  project  was  for  the  kingdom.  It  is  not  a  little 
art  to  hide  art:  let  me  tell  them  that  love  to  be 
marked  for  the  religious,  by  the  white  of  their  eyes, 
audible  sighs,  unfashionable  garments,  (as  if  this 
were,  not  to  fashion  themselves  to  the  world,  Rom. 
xii.  2,)  by  conspicuous  places  in  the  church,  and 
rnflling  their  leaves  for  proofs  ;  that  the  best  zeal  is 
to  hide  zeal.  The  preacher  in  the  pulpit,  or  the 
painter  in  the  windows,  must  proclaim  their  benevo- 
lences :  this  is  far  from  Christ's  rule.  Comets  make 
a  greater  blaze  than  fixed  stars;  reed,  than  sub- 
stantial fuel.  A  fever  breeds  flushings,  and  is  more 
seen  in  the  face,  than  natural  warmth  at  the  heart. 

Tliere  be  that  vex  themselves  out  of  ignorance ;  for 
there  is  a  zeal  not  according  to  knowledge.  Thus  a 
devout  papist  vexeth  himself,  that  his  adored  idols 
should  be  held  as  puppets,  and  that  the  pope's 
supremacy  is  curbed.  The  separatist  vexeth  him- 
self, that  all  reformed  churches  receive  not  his  inno- 
vation ;  that  his  sect-master  should  not  be  set  at  the 
stern  to  guide  the  whole  vessel.  Blind  they  are, 
and  led  by  the  blind ;  whose  errors  they  first  imitate, 
then  inherit.  Out  of  this  ignorance,  Satan  hammers 
them  like  swords  and  pistols,  to  raise  tragedies ;  till 
they  become,  like  the  Turk's  janizaries,  his  best 
soldiers.  Here  is  a  pitiable  fervency,  like  mettle  in 
a  blind  horse,  or  a  sting  in  an  angiy  bee.  If  their 
eyes  were  opened,  and  their  zeal  directed,  they  might 
be  special  instruments  of  God's  glory.  The  Stoics 
would  pull  out  the  gall  and  bowels,  as  if  they  had  no 
use  to  serve  virtue.  Not  so:  they  are  bad  masters, 
but  good  servants.  Let  anger  remain  still,  but  stand 
in  awe  of  reason :  as  a  soldier,  that  at  the  command 
of  his  captain  takes  up  and  lays  down  his  weapons. 
There  are  three  affections  in  the  soul,  like  three 
minerals  in  the  earth,  salt,  sulphur,  and  mercury. 
Wit  is  like  salt;  anger  like  sulphur;  affability  like 
mercur}-.  These  well  tempered  and  allayed,  are  ne- 
cessary and  hclpfiil,  otherwise  noxious.  If  wit  whet 
itself  to  justify  mischief,  if  anger  be  not  qualified  by 
reason,  if  affability  turn  to  flattery,  if  all  be  not 
directed  by  knowledge,  they  run  to  danger.  When 
the  ship  is  under  sail,  with  a  fair  way,  and  a  fore- 
wind,  then  look  to  the  steerage,  keep  the  watch, 
have  an  eye  to  the  compass  and  landmarks.  The 
angels  are  said  to  have  eyes  to  KU'dc  their  way,  as 
wHngs  to  maintain  their  flight.     "11101  Paul's  zeal  to 


330 


AX  EXPOSITION  rPOX  THE 


Chap.  II. 


(he  right,  and  lie  did  not  so  much  hurt  before  as 
now  lie  will  do  good. 

Thus  true  Christian  fervency  hath  divers  counter- 
feits, which  brings  honest  zeal  into  suspicion  with 
tlie  world.  But  shall  men  tax  all  the  apostles  be- 
cause of  one  Judas  ?  or  admit  no  fire  into  their 
houses,  because  some  sparks  are  unruly,  and  will  not 
keep  their  own  hearths  ?  The  very  name  of  a  coun- 
terfeit presupposeth  an  original:  he  that  hears  of  a 
false  Christ,  takes  it  granted  that  there  is  a  true. 
Slip-coin  warrants  us  that  there  is  of  that  stamp 
current  money.  The  best  drags  have  their  adulter- 
ates ;  and  let  not  men  that  have  been  deceived 
liy  base  colours,  despise  those  that  be  dyed  in 
grain.  This  we  may  safely  conclude,  that  that  virtue 
which  even  hypocrites  jmt  on  to  grace  them,  is, 
questionless,  some  rare  and  admirable  thing.  The 
true  Lot,  whose  fervency  is  in  the  Spirit,  not  in  show; 
in  substance,  not  in  circumstance  ;  for  God,  not  for 
himself;  guided  by  the  word,  not  by  humour;  tem- 
pered with  charity,  not  driven  witli  turbulency  :  such 
a  man's  praise  is  of  God,  though  it  be  not  of  men ; 
and  through  all  contempts  on  earth,  it  shall  find  a 
glorious  reward  in  heaven.  But  as  St.  Paul  said  of 
his  countrymen,  "  I  bear  them  record  that  they  have 
a  zeal  of  God,  but  not  according  to  knowledge,  "  Rom. 
X.  2 ;  so  I  must  invert  it  of  my  countn-men,  I  bear 
them  record,  that  they  have  a  knowledge  of  God, 
but  not  according  to  zeal.  Now  the  Lord  rectify 
our  zeal  by  our  knowledge,  and  heat  our  knowledge 
by  our  zeal ;  that  eveiy  man  of  a  Philemon  may  be 
made  a  Zelotes,  of  a  faithful  servant  on  earth  a 
glorious  saint  in  heaven. 

"  That  righteous  man."  This  is  the  singularity  of 
his  zeal.  One  Lot  will  be  righteous  amongst  and 
against  all  Sodom  ;  and  express  this  righteousness  in 
the  midst  of  their  vicious  customs.  It  hath  been 
the  lot  of  fervent  holiness  to  be  rare,  as  to  be  excel- 
lent :  adherents  may  hearten,  opposites  must  not 
dash  zeal  out  of  countenance.  It  is  the  common  re- 
mora  to  all  forwardness  of  profession,  the  small 
number  of  such :  why  should  I  attempt  more  than 
others  ?  Few  indeed  there  be  that  stand  with  all 
their  might  for  religion,  and  few  there  be  that  shall 
be  saved.  He  is  unworthy  of  heaven,  that  will  not 
live  well  without  company,  nor  do  good  but  by  ex- 
ample, nor  move  a  step  before  his  neighbours. 
Cowards  stand  still  looking  who  should  go  first ;  and 
they  are  mere  jades  that  will  not  go  except  the  way 
be  led  them.  He  was  a  brave  and  bold  Israelite, 
that  first  did  set  his  foot  into  the  channel  of  the  sea, 
leading  the  rest  all  along  that  moist  and  uncouth 
walk  :  he  a  soldier  of  courage,  that  first  mounts  the 
breach.  Yea,  resolute  spirits  will  cast  lots  for  tlie 
onset,  and  show  willin^ess  to  desperate  services. 

Tile  fear  of  trouble  is  a  poor  hinderance  to  godli- 
ness, where  faith  looks  unto  the  preserver  and  re- 
ward. The  fearful  stand  in  the  fore-rank  of  them 
that  are  cast  into  the  lake,  Rev.  xxi.  8  :  they  have 
Iieen  most  backward  to  goodness,  therefore  sliall  be 
foremost  in  vengeance.  The  timorous  snail  puts  out 
her  horns  to  feel  for  danger,  and  pulls  them  in  again 
without  cause.  It  is  an  ill  modesty  that  suffers 
another  to  outgo  him  in  the  way  to  bliss  ;  like  some 
travelling  jade,  that  hearing  another  horse  eome 
after  him  stands  still  till  he  overtakes  him.  True 
faith  neither  fears  to  do  well,  nor  to  reprove  those 
that  do  ilk  But  there  be  few  so  Mod.  Yet  Lot 
was  good  alone,  none  to  go  before  him,  none  to  go 
with  him,  none  to  come  after  him,  in  all  Sodom. 
No  man  can  say  so  with  us,  for  we  see  some  zealous 
of  God's  glory.  And  if  there  be  anv,  true  emulation 
will  single  out  the  best  iiatlerns.  llow  dearlv  is  one 
content  to  buy  a  choice  principal,  or  some  rare  copv  ! 


He  that  intends  to  be  a  good  artist,  propounds  to 
himself  the  most  exquisite  master  and  lesson.  God 
limits  us  to  no  ordinaiy  atint  of  holiness,  but  bids  us 
aim  at  perfection;  if  we  can,  to  go  beyond  all  that 
have  gone  before  us,  yea  to  eome  (if  possible)  close 
up  to  Clirist,  1  John  iii.  3.  From  this  point  we  may 
well  gather  three  duties. 

1.  So  near  as  we  can  to  make  choice  of  the  good ; 
for  man  naturally  produceth  works  conformable  to 
the  objects  before  his  eyes ;  as  Jacob's  sheep  brought 
forth  lambs  according  to  the  colour  of  the  pilled  rods. 
A  good  example  hath  not  so  much  power  to  make  us 
good,  as  a  bad  one  hath  to  make  us  evil.  One  man 
sick  of  the  plague  will  sooner  infect  ten  sound  ones, 
than  ten  sound  men  can  cure  him.  The  fiocks  feed- 
ing among  the  bushes  will  leave  some  of  their  wool 
benind  them :  it  is  hard  to  live  in  the  forest  of  im- 
piety, and  to  reser\"e  integrity.  Sin  upon  earth  is  in 
its  own  soil,  grows  without  planting,  or  any  pains 
bestowed  on  it ;  much  more  when  it  is  manured  witli 
applauses  and  practice.  But  virtue  is  like  some  pre- 
cious seed  fetched  from  Paradise,  which  will  hardly 
grow  here  without  special  care  and  indulgence.  It 
is  not  safe  venturing  among  the  wicked  in  confidence 
of  our  own  strength  ;  no  more  than  it  is  to  run  among 
thieves,  in  hope  that  they  will  not  rob  us.  How 
many  breathe  in  this  world,  like  men  sleeping  in  a 
boat,  carried  down  the  stream  even  to  their  grave's 
end,  without  waking  to  think  where  they  are .' 
Therefore,  if  we  may  be  our  own  disposers,  seek  we 
our  lot  among  the  righteous.  The  situation  of  Jeri- 
cho may  be  good,  but  the  waters  are  naught :  he 
that  goes  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho,  soon  lights 
among  thieves  :  to  leave  holy  company  for  base 
commodity,  is  a  quench-coal  to  righteousness.  "  Can 
one  be  warm  alone?"  Eccl.  iv.  II.  Can  one  single 
coal  keep  itself  from  going  out  ?  He  that  forsakes 
the  orb  of  heat  and  fervour,  the  congregation  of 
saints,  must  needs  take  cold. 

2.  If,  like  Lot,  we  be  necessitated  to  the  society  of 
bad  people,  yet  let  us  be  good  still ;  yea,  therefore 
the  more  holy,  because  in  the  midst  of  a  per%erse 
generation,  shining  as  lights  in  a  dark  place,  Phil, 
ii.  15.  The  colder  the  climate,  the  more  piercing 
the  air,  the  more  doth  a  man's  natural  heat  fortify 
itself  within  :  their  palpable  wickedness  caused  Lot 
inwardly  to  vex  himself.  Every  visible  act  of  vice 
should  be  our  encouragement  to  virtue.  The  disso- 
lute lavishness  of  many  prodigals  makes  the  war}" 
man  still  the  better  husband.  And  it  is  the  trades- 
man's policy,  by  engrossing  a  commodity  in  the 
plenty  and  neglect  of  it,  to  enrich  himself  when  a 
year  of  dearth  shall  come.  It  made  Erasmus  more 
studious,  by  seeing  the  monks  such  illiterate  dunces; 
as  the  good  knife  is  made  sharp  by  the  dull  whet- 
stone. The  Christian  will  be  good  and  devout,  like 
Daniel,  though  alone;  though  with  the  emperor's 
and  the  world's  opposition  ;  though  he  seem  a  pro- 
digy among  men,  the  pointing  of  all  fingers.  ^Ve 
"  are  for  signs  and  for  wonders  in  Israel,"  Isa.  viii. 
18.  Signs  and  wonders,  where  ?  even  in  Israel.  If 
it  were  a  wonder  to  sec  a  family  scr\-ing  God  in 
Israel,  what  is  it  in  Sodom  !  If  a  miracle  in  Jerusa- 
lem, how  much  more  in  Babylon  !  But  as  he  that 
stands  upon  a  hill,  where  the  air  is  clear,  and  sees 
the  fields  round  about  beaten  with  tenipesfs,  the 
valleys  full  of  fogs  and  mists,  doth  not  seek  to  change 
his  station  for  being  alone,  though  he  be  remarkable 
to  every  eye  ;  let  our  hearts  be  aloft,  fixed  on  Christ ; 
and  allieit  we  are  exposed  to  the  world's  derision, 
yet  we  shall  bless  God  for  our  deliverance  from  the 
world's  malediction. 

3.  Let  us  follow  the  examples  of  the  best,  not  of 
the  most.     Who  had  not  rather  be  righteous  with 


Ver.  8. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


381 


one  singular  Lo(,  than  pcrisli  with  all  ungodly  So- 
dom ?  Neither  have  \w  him  alone,  but  even  a  cloud 
of  witnesses,  that  have  been  faithful  among  the  dis- 
solute ;  a  pillar  of  tire  (in  many  blessed  precedents) 
that  went  before  directing  us' the  way  to  Canaan. 
The  church  is  full  of  those  holy  acts  and  monuments: 
the  confession  of  Christ  before  Pontius  Pilate,  the 
profession  of  the  apostles  before  the  world's  tyrants, 
the  bold  testimony  of  the  nicirtyrs  at  their  stakes. 
O  let  the  very  pictures  of  their  fires  warm  our  hearts, 
and  inflame  our  constant  zeal  to  do,  and  (if  God  will) 
to  die  as  they  did,  that  we  may  come  to  the  place 
where  they  are.  If  we  lind  a  living  Lot  among  us, 
fasten  we  our  eyes  upon  him ;  let  his  sprightly  ex- 
ample put  us  forward.  He  is  a  dull  jade  that  will  not 
follow :  a  brangling  hawk  in  the  company  of  high 
flyers  will  mend  her  pitch,  and  make  her  jioint :  the 
society  of  the  prophets  is  able  to  make  even  a  Saul 
prophesy.  Yea,  let  us  learn  to  be  righteous  even 
by  a  man  of  meaner  grace:  a  good  mettled  horse 
seeing  but  a  jade  in  the  company  put  fonvard, 
springs  out  and  is  scarce  restrained.  No  free  spirit 
but  is  ambitious  of  a  transcendency  in  lawful  en- 
deavours. At  Silas'  coming,  Paul  burnt  in  the 
Spirit,  Acts  xviii.  5 :  a  lesser  stick  may  fire  a  billet, 
a  little  candle  lights  many  torches.  But  these  great 
examples,  how  should  they  work  in  us  great  zeal ! 
So  tlie  Stoics  defined  zeal ;  The  emulation,  without 
envy,  of  something  good.  Thus  Alexander  was  stirred 
up  with  the  fame  of  Achilles,  Cipsar  of  Alexander; 
Cicero  with  the  eloquence  of  Hortensius,  Demos- 
thenes of  Isoerates.  The  zeal  of  the  Corinthians 
provoked  many,  2  Cor.  ix.  2:  let  this  good  man's 
provoke  us,  that  we  may  provoke  others ;  helping 
them  that  come  after  us,  as  we  have  been  holpen  by 
those  before  us,  toward  heaven. 

"  From  day  to  day."  This  is  the  constancy  of  his 
zeal;  it  was  not  mutable.  The  fixed  stars  are  ever 
like  themselves,  whereas  meteors  and  vapours  have 
no  continued  light :  the  wicked  may  nave  some 
aguish  fits,  and  lunatic  moods.  To  run  with  the 
stream,  or  sail  with  the  wind,  or  like  the  marigold 
to  open  only  with  the  sunshine,  is  no  praise  of  piety. 
Give  me  that  Job,  that  will  be  as  honest  a  man 
among  his  thousands,  as  under  the  rod,  when  the 
number  of  his  present  ulcers  exceeds  his  former 
riches.  To  shoot  up  like  the  corn  on  the  house-top, 
by  the  favourable  influence  of  great  persons;  for  ii 
Saul  to  prophesy  no  longer  than  he  is  among  the 
prophets;  or  for  a  Joash  to  be  good  only  while  Je- 
noiada  lives :  that  which  depends  upon  human  sup- 
portations,  is  but  like  Ephraim's,  a  transitory  good- 
ness. Thus  you  have  some  rash  riders ;  at  their  first 
exeunt  they  gallop  amain,  till  within  some  few  miles 
they  tire,  and  are  overtaken  by  the  slow  pack-horses. 
The  hasty  girds  of  profession  are  seldom  durable ; 
sudden  showers  have  sudden  ends.  And  wlicreas 
the  sun  and  all  natural  motions  are  swiftest  toward 
their  end,  these  begin  hot  in  the  spirit,  and  conclude 
stone-cold  in  the  flesh.  Their  religion  is  but  a  blaze, 
which  quickly  goes  out  in  smoke  and  smother. 
True  fervency,  like  the  vestal  fires,  or  the  fire  of  the 
altar,  is  never  extinguished.  To  be  hot  to-dav,  and 
cool  to-morrow,  gives  little  assurance  of  Lot's  fer- 
vency. 

Would  we  know  the  means  to  maintain  a  constant 
righteousness,  to  be  good,  yea  better,  from  day  to 
day?  1.  Pray  instantly.  Prayer  and  zeal,  like  water 
and  ice,  naturally  produce  one  another.  Fervency 
enlivcneth  prayer,  and  prayer  increaseth  fervency. 
At  heaven-gate  he  that  does  not  knock  mainlv, 
knocks  vainly.  This  God  will  hear,  yea,  if  it  should 
want  a  tongue,  so  it  want  not  a  heart.  As  Christ, 
though  he  heard  not  the  words  of  Zaccheus,  vet  he 


f)ereeived  his  desire  to  invite  him,  therefore  invited 
limsclf,  Luke  xix.  5.  Thus  he  breathes  more  grace 
into  our  soul,  that  breathed  our  soul  into  our  body, 
2.  The  ordinary  fuel  to  maintain  it,  is  preaching; 
sermons  being  so  many  bellows  to  increase  this  holy 
flame.  .'J.  Reading  the  word  hath  a  special  place  : 
no  devout  soul  ever  returned  from  that  exercise,  bul 
his  soul  was  more  warmed.  4.  Meditation  perfects 
the  rest.  Contemplate  that  infinite  Majesty,  the  ap- 
parition or  shadow  whereof  fired  Moses  more  than, 
the  burning  bush.  Let  but  the  unfolded  heavens 
give  way  to  Stephen's  eyes,  to  behold  Christ  in  the 
glory  of  his  Father,  how  willing  is  he  to  ascend  by 
that  stony  passage!  These  be  the  accustomed  meals 
of  the  good  soul,  that  will  keep  natural  heat  from 
decaying.  When  thou  gocst  to  bed,  rake  up  thy 
fire,  wrap  up  thy  devotion  with  prayer;  so  in  the 
morning  thou  shall  find  it  ready  to  cheer  thy  heart. 

Discontinuance  of  good  duties  hath  lost  men  much 
virtue :  to  bethink  the  cause  betwixt  God  and  our- 
selves only  by  snatches,  when  we  have  nothing  else 
to  do;  or  to  read  the  Bible  by  fits,  only  upon  rainy 
days ;  here  may  be  a  smattering,  to  maintain  table- 
talk,  but  not  enough  to  keep  life  and  soul  together. 
Let  not  men  plead  want  of  leisure,  they  have  some- 
what else  to  do;  for  there  is  one  thing  necessary,  to 
which,  as  to  the  king's  business,  all  the  rest  must 
vail  and  stand  by.  From  our  most  serious  labours 
we  can  steal  some  hours  for  our  pleasure:  is  there 
no  time  to  be  spared  for  God  and  our  soul  ?  Oh  that 
men  should  think  one  sabbath  more  tedious  than  ten 
holidays!  Nor  let  those  flatter  themselves  with 
sufhciency,  that  present  themselves  in  the  temple 
twice  every  Sunday ;  let  God  have  some  of  the  de- 
votion at  home,  and  by  themselves.  The  king's  or- 
dinary servants  do  not  only  wait  on  festival  days, 
but  are  always  ready  in  the  presence  to  be  com- 
manded. True  love  is  most  passionate  without  a 
witness:  he  that  humbles  himself  before  the  Lord 
alone,  betwixt  them  two  disburdens  his  heart,  weeps, 
prays,  begs  mercy,  hath  some  proof  of  his  Chris- 
tianity. Our  families,  beds,  boards,  walks,  and  meet- 
ings must  witness  our  devotion  as  well  as  our  tem- 
ples :  this  is  the  daily  work  of  Christians. 

I  know  the  soul  hath  its  satiety  as  well  as  the 
body ;  and  fire  may  be  oppressed  with  too  much 
wood;  nor  doth  God  so  require  men  to  serve  him, 
as  to  be  unmerciful  to  themselves.  He  that  hath 
done  his  work  honestly,  may  go  to  play  merrily. 
But  this  is  rare,  to  find  a  man  offending  on  the  right 
hand.  Nor  let  the  derisions  of  Sodom  cool  this  re- 
ligious heat;  a  wise  man  will  not  be  scoffed  out  of 
his  money,  nor  a  just  man  be  flouted  out  of  his  faith. 

One  caution ;  when  we  have  thus  heat  ourselves,  let 
us  beware  of  taking  cold  again.  The  fire  is  put  out 
either  by  the  subtraction  of  fuel,  or  pouring  on  of 
water.  Sin  is  the  queneh-coal ;  he  that  voluntarily 
admits  it,  or  does  not  suddenly  repent  it,  endangers 
the  cessation  of  zeal.  When  we  have  done  a  sin, 
till  we  repent  truly,  we  serve  God  but  coldly.  He 
whose  very  hunger  hath  tempted  him  to  steal  a 
lamb,  says  but  a  cold  grace  to  his  supper.  How  the 
oppressors  and  defrauders  of  this  city  give  thanks  to 
God  for  their  wealth,  I  refer  to  your  thoughts  and 
their  own  consciences.  Sin  is  woi'se  than  a  thief  in 
the  candle,  or  an  obstruction  in  the  liver.  A  deadly 
sin  clapped  on  the  heels  of  late  devotion,  is  like  a 
sudden  cold  after  a  violent  heat ;  dangerous,  if  not 
mortal.  Let  \is  beseech  him  that  hath  begun  a  good 
work  in  us,  to  finish  it ;  that  we  be  not  vexed  with 
sin  to-day,  and  pleased  with  it  to-morrow ;  but  tliat 
our  lusts  may  drop  from  us  like  leaves  in  autumn, 
and  our  graces  enjoy  a  perpetual  spring,  through  the 
sap  and  life  of  all  goodness,  Jesus  Christ. 


382 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THt 


Chap.  II. 


Thus  I  have  run  through  the  main  scope  and  other 
passages  of  the  text ;  and  yet  some  further  instruc- 
tion remains,  if  your  good  constniction  will  admit  it. 
Three  things  I  "take  leave  to  consider;  a  question, 
an  illation,  and  a  conclusion. 

Lot  was  vexed  in  soul,  inwardly  grieved  ;  ])ut 
was  his  zeal  confined  to  his  own  breast  ?  Did  he 
smother  it  from  the  Sodomites  ?  How  could  they 
then  be  convinced  of  their  crimes,  or  know  his  dis- 
like of  their  foul  courses  ?  Certainly,  that  holy  man 
did  not  keep  it  in,  but  manifested  it  to  them  on 
all  just  occasions.  Fire  in  Jeremiah's  bones  will 
make  him  weary  of  forbearing ;  and  new  wine,  if  it 
have  no  vent,  wfll  burst  the  vessels.  We  may  justly 
suspect  that  zeal  that  is  never  manifest :  let  men 
talk  what  they  will  of  their  honest  hearts,  whilst 
they  have  dumb  mouths  and  lame  hands.  Faith  will 
open  the  lips,  and  he  that  loves  God  cannot  but 
speak  for  him.  Nicodemus  was  but  cold  when  he 
stole  to  Christ  by  night ;  but  when  he  buried  Christ 
by  day,  his  fei-vour  broke  forth  like  unsuppressed 
love.  It  was  hard  enough  for  Obadiah,  to  hide 
his  religiousness  in  his  bosom,  as  he  did  the  prophets 
in  a  cave.  Profession  is  the  relative  to  faith;  with 
the  heart  we  believe,  with  tlie  mouth  we  confess, 
Rom.  X.  10.  Some  confess  and  believe  not,  such  are 
hypocrites  ;  some  believe  and  confess  not,  such  are 
timorous  cowards;  some  neither  confess  nor  believe, 
such  arc  atheists ;  some  both  believe  and  confess, 
these  are  sound-hearted  Christians.  Fire  cannot  be 
smothered,  it  will  either  find  a  vent,  or  go  out :  true 
righteousness  never  wanted  words  or  deeds  to  de- 
clare itself.  David  often  professed  not  only  to 
praise  God,  but  in  the  great  congregation :  both 
for  them  that  cannot,  and  for  them  that  will 
not.  But,  "  Hast  thou  faith  ?  have  it  to  thyself 
before  God,"  Rom.  siv.  22.  What  tlien  ?  Be  pre- 
sent at  mass,  communicate  with  the  wicked  in  their 
idolatries ;  because  faith  may  still  be  firm  before 
God  ?  No,  Paul  speaks  of  the  faith  that  concerns 
indifferent  things  ;  otherwise,  he  that  expresseth  not 
his  faith  before  men,  hath  denied  the  faith  before  God. 

Earnest  affections  will  find  a  tongue  :  if  it  be  low 
water,  the  mill  may  stand ;  but  a  strong  current  will 
set  it  a-going.  If  the  spring  of  zeal  be  wound  up  in 
the  heart,  the  wheels  will  be  kept  in  motion.  It  is 
not  enough  to  keep  our  religion  within  doors,  to 
tumble  over  a  few  orisons  while  we  are  dressing  or 
undressing  ourselves,  half  asleep,  half  awake  ;  nor  to 
observe  a  short  perfunctorj^  form  and  stint,  as  mill- 
horses  do  their  round,  or  pack-horses  their  pace  ; 
such  coward  soldiers  are  not  for  Christ's  standard. 
They  must  be  those  that  dare  hazard  themselves  to 
many  troubles  ;  a  fire  not  quenchable  by  the  world's 
buckets,  but  consuming  their  own  and  others'  cor- 
ruptions. So  Chrysostom  conceives  the  apostle,  as 
a  man  made  all  of  fire,  walking  in  the  midst  of  stub- 
ble. The  sluggard  hears  of  a  lion,  and  quakes;  tell 
Samson  and  David,  they  will  go  out  to  meet  him. 
Let  Agabus  tell  Paul  of  bonds  at  Jerusalem ;  he 
answers,  "  1  am  ready  not  to  be  bound  only,  but  to 
die  at  Jerusalem,  for  Jesus,"  Acts  xxi.  13.  The  horse 
neighs  at  the  trumpet,  the  leviathan  laughs  at  the 
spear.  Tell  Luther  of  enemies  in  Worms,  he  will  go, 
though  all  the  tiles  of  the  houses  were  devils.  To 
carnal  friends  he  says,  I  know  you  not ;  to  dissuaders, 
Get  you  behind  me,  Satan.  Four  comely  things  are 
commended  by  Solomon,  Prov.  xxx.  30,  31,  to  which 
wc  may  add  a  fifth,  stronger  than  the  lion,  swifter 
than  the  greyhound,  nimbler  than  the  goat  at  climb- 
ing upwards,  more  victorious  than  a  king;  it  is  a  re- 
solved Christian,  who,  armed  with  faith  and  zeal, 
disdains  all  resistances  in  his  journey  to  the  kingdom 
of  heaven. 


If  the  Sodomites  be  so  condemned  for  vexing  a 
righteous  Lot,  what  deserve  they  that  vex  the  true 
Lot,  Jesus  Christ  the  righteous,  with  their  unlawfiil 
deeds  ?  Is  it  not  enough  that  we  have  once  put  him 
to  death,  but  that  we  must  again  renew  those  wounds, 
and  being  healed  set  them  bleeding  afresh  ?  The 
Jews  were  but  the  instruments  of  his  crucifying,  we 
are  tlie  principals  :  they  cried.  Crucify  him,  in  the 
court  of  Pilate  ;  our  sins  cried,  Crucify  him,  in  the 
court  of  heaven.  Ours,  I  say,  not  the  reprobates' ; 
for  as  his  death  was  not  efficient  to  save  reprobates, 
so  their  sin  was  not  sufficient  to  kill  him.  To  de- 
spise the  blood  wherewitli  we  were  sanctified,  Heb. 
X.  29  ;  this  comes  near  him.  If  we  ask  him  concern- 
ing his  former  wounds,  he  will  answer.  Thus  was  I 
wounded  in  the  house  of  my  enemies ;  but  if  con- 
cerning these  new  incisions,  by  blasphemies,  oppres- 
sions, &c.,  he  will  answer.  Thus  was  I  wounded  in 
the  house  of  my  friends,  Zech.  xiii.  6.  The  least  un- 
kindness  of  a  friend  pierceth  deep  :  My  own  familiar 
friend  did  me  the  mischief,  Psal.  xli.  9.  Our  latter 
vexing  of  him  is  far  worse  than  the  first  :  his  body 
was  then  passible  and  mortal,  now  it  is  glorious  and 
immortal :  the  Jews  knew  not  what  they  did,  we  know 
it  and  yet  grieve  him  :  then  he  was  dead  and  buried,  ■ 
but  he  rose  again ;  we  bury  him  in  forgetfulness  not 
three  days,  but  all  our  life,  excepting  only  his  mention. 

The  torments  of  his  passion  were  unconceivable, 
incomparable,  intolerable ;  yet  it  appears  by  his  pro- 
testation, that  the  least  wilful  sin  of  a  Christian  doth 
more  vex  him,  and  strikes  more  to  his  heart,  than  all 
those  dolorous  pangs.  It  is  our  sin  still  that  keeps 
him  on  the  rack,  and  (though  he  be  out  of  the  reach 
of  sorrow,  yet)  does  what  it  can  again  to  kill  the 
Lord  of  life.  What  pleasure  can  we  take  in  grieving 
him  that  is  the  life  of  us  all  ?  Call  not  thyself  the 
friend  of  Christ,  if  thou  delight  in  that  which  tor- 
mented him.  "Think  of  this,  you  cursing  swearers, 
whom  nothing  can  persuade  to  be  civnl,  to  be  men,  I 
say  not,  to  be  Christians.  You  swear  away  your 
salvation,  curse  away  your  blessing,  vex  the  Lord 
that  bought  you.  If  nothing  can  assuage  your  ran- 
cour and  hell-bred  malice,  know  it  had  been  better 
for  you  that  there  had  been  no  Christ.  His  first 
death  was  for  your  redemption,  but  the  many  deaths 
you  now  put  him  to,  is  for  your  greater  damnation. 
If  your  blind  souls  could  consider  this,  it  would  not 
only  mollify  your  hearts  for  the  sins  past,  but  also 
terrify  you  against  sins  to  come.  Nor  flatter  your- 
selves, that  he  shall  do  you  good  at  your  death,  who 
have  misused  him  all  your  life.  When  that  fearful 
hour  comes,  you  would  all  then  fain  go  to  heaven, 
and  that  by  Christ  :  alas,  as  that  despairing  pope 
said,  the  cross  could  do  him  no  good  because  he  had 
sold  it  away  ;  so  how  should  Christ  do  you  good,  who 
have  railed  him  away  ?  You  have  vexed  liim  so  long 
as  you  lived,  and  his  justice  shall  vex  all  the  veins 
of  your  hearts  when  you  are  dead.  The  nearer  a 
man  comes  to  God,  the  more  heartily  he  detests  sin : 
now  if  Lot,  a  man  holy  but  in  part,  with  many  in- 
firmities, were  thus  vexed  with  iniquity;  what  an  of- 
fence must  it  be  to  the  most  righteous  God,  and  Him 
that  died  for  it,  Jesus  Christ  ! 

The  conclusion.  If  Lot  were  so  vexed  at  others' sins, 
how  sliould  we  be  vexed  at  our  own  I  For  them  is 
required  a  sorrow  of  compassion,  for  ourselves  a  sor- 
row of  compunction.  Come  we  home  to  a  self-con- 
demnation ;  we,  we  have  dishonoured  God,  therefore 
are  to  be  vexed  at  ourselves.  What  is  repentance 
but  contrition ?  what  is  contrition  but  a  vexation? 
AVe  that  have  sinned  with  Sodom,  let  us  be  vexed 
with  Lot.  If  Lot  had  not  repented  his  own  sins,  he 
had  never  grieved  for  theirs  ;  if  the  Sodomites  had 
been  thus  vexed,  they  had  not  perished.     We  have 


Ver.  9. 


SECOND  KPISTLE  GENERAL.  OF  ST.  PETER. 


sinni-d  ;  what  shall  we  do  unto  thee,  0  thou  pre- 
server of  men  ?  Job  vii.  20.  What,  but  repent  and 
amend  ?  Repentance  is  the  proper  medicine  for  sin  j 
as  God  hath  ordained  a  salve  for  every  sore.  A  me- 
dicine which  cureth  the  eyes  and  nothing  else,  we 
may  say  was  made  for  the  eyes  and  for  notning  else. 
A  man  losclh  his  wealth,  and  is  sorry  for  it;  will 
sorrow  recover  it  ?  He  burieth  his  child,  and  is  sorry 
for  it ;  will  sorrow  raise  him  from  the  dead  ?  He 
sutTers  injury,  and  is  sorry  for  it ;  will  sorrow  right 
him  ?  Himself  is  sick,  and  is  sorry  for  it ;  will  sor- 
row heal  him?  nay,  will  it  not  rather  hurt  him? 
Sorrow  then  was  not  made  for  these  things.  He 
halh  sinned,  is  he  sorry  for  that?  sorrow  now  will 
help  him,  repentant  sorrow  will  take  away  his  sin. 
Sin  is  then  the  sickness,  for  which  sorrow  is  the 
remedy.  Direct  this  lesson  to  your  hearts  bifore 
you  go  home  to  your  houses,  and  digest  it  before  your 
dinners  ;  have  troubled  hearts,  vexed  with  sorrow 
for  your  sins.  Many  a  one  comes  into  the  church  a 
dissolute  sinner,  that  goes  out  a  humble  saint ;  why 
should  I  not  hope  so  much  of  you  ?  This  were  a 
blessed  effect  of  a  sermon,  when  the  fruit  of  one 
hour  is  no  less  than  eternity  of  days.  A  square 
piece  of  metal,  molten  and  cast  into  a  round  mould, 
comes  out  round;  a  piece  of  blue  put  into  the  scarlet 
vat,  comes  forth  scarlet.  Remember  our  Saviour's 
sentence  of  sin,  Except  you  repent,  you  shall  perish, 
Luke  xiii.  5.  If  the  child  cry  it  lives ;  so  if  we  can 
heartily  cry  for  our  sins,  there  is  life  in  us.  Thus  let 
us  be  grieved,  that  we  may  be  comforted. 


Verse  9. 

The  Lord  knotceth  how  to  deliver  the  godly  out  of 
temptations,  and  to  reserve  the  unjust  unto  the  day  of 
judgment  to  be  punished. 

Propane  people  conceit  God  to  be  all  of  mercy, 
and  cannot  endure  to  hear  of  his  justice ;  or  if  they 
be  convinced  to  acknowledge  him  also  just,  yet  they 
measure  it  by  the  poverty  of  their  own  judgment, 
and  think  it  pity  to  destroy  a  man  for  his  sins.  In- 
deed it  pleascth  God  to  be  magnified  by  his  mercies 
above  all  his  works ;  and  we  never  fini  him  called 
the  Father  of  judgments,  but  often  the  Father  of 
mercies.  Mercy  seems  to  be  more  properly  his  than 
vengeance,  for  he  takes  the  matter  of  mercy  out  of 
himself  and  his  goodness ;  but  that  he  punisheth  and 
condemneth,  our  sins  compel  him  to  it.  (Bern.)  But 
both  are  infinite  in  him  that  is  infinite  ;  and  as  mercy 
hath  her  day  in  giving  time  of  repentance,  so  justice 
must  have  her  day  in  the  retribution  of  vengeance. 
All  sins  arc  debts,  all  God's  debts  must  be  paid:  it  is 
a  bold  word,  but  a  tnie ;  it  is  in  vain  to  hope  for 
pardon  without  payment.  Every  sin  must  be  pun- 
ished, either  in  tne  person  of  the  Saviour,  or  in  the 
person  of  the  sinner.  Too  many  reckon  their  own 
sins  as  the  false  steward  did  hi"-  master's  debts :  of  a 
hundred,  they  set  down  but  fifty  ;  'is  if  God  would  not 
call  them  to  account,  because  he  knew  them  faithful. 
Thus  they  may  hide  God  from  themselves,  but  they 
cannot  hide  themselves  from  God.  Do  they  think 
that  God  will  be  so  kind  to  them  as  to  be  unjust  to 
himself?  No,  the  Lord  will  be  just,  let  them  go  on 
and  perish.  There  can  be  no  reconciliation  without 
remission,  no  remission  without  satisfaction,  no  satis- 
faction but  in  the  blood  of  Christ.  Turn 'over  the 
book  of  thy  conscience,  see  if  thou  canst  find  that 
reckoning  there  discharged.  We  keep  books  for 
expenses,  do  we  keep  none  for  offences  ?     He  never 


breaks  his  sleep  for  debt,  that  pays  as  he  takes  up. 
But  careless  arrearages  shall  find  a  day  of  reckoning. 
'That  God  is  not  just  without  mercy,  nor  merciful 
without  justice,  this  text  proves;  which  speaks  of  a 
deliverance  to  the  godly,  to  the  unjust  of  vengeance. 
God  indeed  is  slow  to  anger,  yet  he  will  not  acquit 
the  wicked,  Nah.  i.  3.  "  So  that  a  man  sliall  say, 
Verily  there  is  a  reward  for  the  righteous :  verily  he 
is  a  Godthat  judgethin  the  earth,"  Psal.lviii.il.  A 
man,  any  man,  every  man  shall  confess  it,  none  have 
power  to  deny  it.  This  is  our  .ipostle's  conclusion 
upon  the  premises :  God  could  preserve  the  holy 
angels  by  his  mercy,  and  confound  the  apostate  angels 
in  his  justice;  in  his  mercy  saveth  righteous  Noah, 
when  by  his  justice  he  drenched  the  unrigliteous 
world ;  justly  deslroyetli  four  ungodly  cities,  and  mer- 
cifully delivers  one  just  Lot.  He  that  could  do  such 
mighty  works,  in  heaven,  on  earth,  in  the  waters ; 
can  as  easily  still  deliver  his  children,  and  "  reserve 
the  unjust  unto  the  day  of  judgment  to  be  punished." 

The  verse  contains  a  pair  of  thwart  sentences,  di- 
rectly opposite,  in  quality  of  persons,  conditions,  and 
events.  Here  is  the  godly,  and  unjust;  a  delivering, 
and  reserving;  out  of  temptations,  into  judgment. 
God  stands  in  the  forefront,  and  hath  two  arms 
stretched  forth  ;  one  arm  to  the  east,  another  to  the 
west;  one  to  deliver  the  godly  out  of  trouble,  the 
other  to  inllict  severe  punishment  upon  tlie  wicked. 
Here  is  an  enlargement,  and  an  attachment ;  a  deli- 
vering out  of  prison,  and  a  casting  into  prison  ;  a  re- 
leasing from  present  perturbation,  and  a  binding 
over  to  a  further  session.  The  godly  are  acquitted, 
absolved,  freed ;  not  reprieved,  but  quite  delivered. 
The  unjust  are  apprehended,  bound  over,  go  as  it 
were  under  bail ;  at  the  general  assizes  they  must 
make  their  appearance,  and  being  guilty  receive 
their  sentence.  This  the  Judge  can  do,  and  will  do  : 
he  wants  not  power,  for  he  is  "  the  Lord  ;"  he  wants 
not  wisdom,  for  he  "  knoweth."  His  Almighty  wis- 
dom, and  all-wise  power,  are  extended  to  both  these 
actions,  "The  Lord  knoweth."  The  righteous  pro- 
ceeded thus  far;  they  come  upon  their  trial,  for 
temptation  is  a  trial ;  but  not  to  arraignment,  much 
less  to  conviction,  least  of  all  to  condemnation.  But 
being  charged  by  that  common  barrator,  the  accuser 
of  the  brethren,  and  thus  brought  before  the  Judge, 
not  publicly  at  a  session,  but  to  a  private  examina- 
tion, they  are  found  innocent,  and  delivered.  Tempt- 
ations, like  fetters,  may  hamper  and  afflict  them  for 
a  while,  but  when  their  cause  comes  to  be  heard,  and 
their  righteousness  appeareth,  they  are  discharged. 
For  the  other,  their  guilt  is  manifest,  therefore  the 
chains  of  bondage  are  upon  them,  which,  to^'ether 
with  the  custody  of  Omnipotence,  shall  keep  them 
fast  to  the  day  of  judgment,  and  that  shall  send  them 
to  execution,  to  be  punished. 

In  the  enlargement  consider  these  particulars.  1. 
What,  A  deliverance.  2.  Who  arc  delivered,  The 
godly.  .3.  From  what,  Out  of  temptations.  4.  By 
whom.  The  Lord  doth  it.  5.  How;  we  need  not 
examine,  it  is  sufficient.  The  Lord  knoweth  how. 

First,  the  matter  is  a  deliverance.  It  is  a  great 
comfort  in  every  distress,  to  hope  for  a  deliverance ; 
to  believe  it,  greater;  to  be  sure  of  it,  greatest  of 
all.  Thus  certain  is  every  Christian,  by  the  assur- 
ance of  faith,  grounded  on  the  infallible  promise  of 
God.  It  was  promised  to  Abraham,  "  In  Isaac  shall 
thy  seed  be  called,"  Gen.  xxi.  12:  yet  must  Isaac, 
before  he  had  seed,  be  killed  ;  and  that  by  liis  lather's 
own  hand.  Here  Abraham  might  reason ;  I  may 
believe  the  promise,  and  not  obey  the  commandment ; 
I  may  obey  the  commandment,  and  not  believe  the 

f)romisc;  but  how  can  both  stand  together?     But 
le  holds  the  promise,  and  obeys  God,  though  all  the 


384 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


reason  in  the  earth  cannot  tell  how  that  promise  and 
that  commandment  should  stand  together.  Though 
I  know  not,  and  reason  know  not,  yet  God  knowclh. 
In  human  reasoning  it  is  a  note  of  ignorance  to  stick 
always  to  the  conclusion ;  but  in  spiritual  ti-ials 
this  is  sound  divinity,  to  hold  fast  God's  promises. 
Therefore  he  both  believes  the  one,  and  obeys  the 
other :  this  deliverance  was  above  his  reason,  it  was 
not  above  his  faith.  He  did  not  argue,  but  obey ; 
being  sure  that  what  God  commands  is  good,  and 
what  he  promises  is  infallible  ;  therefore,  careless  of 
the  means,  he  trusts  to  the  end.  Daniel  is  nut  de- 
livered at  the  beginning  of  his  trouble  ;  he  must  first 
be  in  the  lions'  den,  then  he  finds  it.  Those  three 
servants  are  not  rescued  at  the  oven's  mouth;  in  the 
furnace  they  are.  That  is  a  gracious,  well-tried 
faith,  that  can  hold  out  confidence  to  the  last. 

Abraham,  after  that  terrible  command,  must  go 
three  days'  journey,  a  tedious  extension  of  his  sor- 
row J  and  in  all  that  travel  no  angel  meets  him  with 
news  of  a  deliverance.  He  sees  the  chosen  moun- 
tain, dismisseth  his  servants ;  a  strange  devotion 
that  will  abide  no  witnesses  ;  none  comes  yet.  All 
the  while  the  altar  is  a  building,  his  own  heart 
bleeding,  Isaac  pleading  for  his  life  ;  none  yet.  He 
binds  his  hands,  lays  the  wood  on  the  altar,  the 
sacrifice  on  the  wood ;  yet  no  news.  Now  having 
kiBsed  him  his  last,  after  many  mutual  tears,  he  lifts 
up  his  hand  to  give  the  fatal  blow  of  death ;  yet  he 
does  not  think,  perhaps  God  will  relent  after  the 
first  wound.  Lo,  now  the  comfort  of  Abraham,  the 
hope  of  the  church,  lies  a  killing  by  the  hand  of  his 
father ;  yet  there  is  no  revocation.  It  would  have 
made  the  bowels  of  a  savage  yearn  at  this  spectacle, 
to  see  the  knife  of  such  a  father  hanging  over  the 
throat  of  such  a  son  ;  yet  he  whom  it  nearest  con- 
cerned is  least  touchecl;  faith  had  wrought  iu  him, 
what  cruelty  would  in  otTiers,  not  to  be  moved.  He 
proceeds,  contemning  all  fears,  and  overlooking  all 
impossibilities :  deliverance  he  might  expect,  but  he 
knew  not  which  way  it  could  come ;  only  that  the 
same  hand  which  raised  Isaac  from  the  dead  womb 
of  his  mother,  can  revive  him  from  those  ashes. 
Now  having  given  Isaac,  and  Isaac  given  himself, 
for  dead  ;  the  knife  is  falling  upon  his  throat  ;  now, 
now  comes  the  deliverance,  by  an  angel  calling,  for- 
bidding, commending  him.  Often  is  deliverance 
promised,  and  yet  the  time  not  mentioned.  They 
"  shall  ser\'e  the  king  of  Babylon  seventy  years," 
Jer.  XXV.  1 1  ;  not  a  day,  not  an  hour  to  be  bated. 
"  At  the  end  of  four  hundred  and  thirty  years," 
Exod.  xii.  41  :  till  then  Moses  undertook  it  in  vain. 
That  very  night,  Dan.  v.  30.  Neither  did  Daniel, 
that  knew  the  determined  time  of  seventy,  till  upon 
the  expiration,  pray  for  deliverance. 

God  defers  his  deliverance,  1.  To  return  us  home  : 
when  no  man  will  harbour  that  unthrift  son,  he  will 
back  again  to  his  father.  2.  To  make  us  seek  our 
deliverance  in  the  right  place  :  while  money  can 
buy  physic,  or  friends  procure  enlargement,  the 
great  Physician  and  Helper  is  not  thoroughly  trust- 
ed unto.  ,3.  To  set  a  better  price  on  his  benefits; 
for  suddenly  gotten  are  suddenly  forgotten.  Abra- 
ham's child  at  seventy  years  was  more  welcome  than 
had  he  been  given  at  thirty  ;  and  the  same  Isaac  had 
not  been  so  precious  to  him,  if  he  had  not  been  as 
miraculously  restored  as  given ;  his  recovery  from 
death  made  him  more  acceptable  than  if  he  had 
never  been  in  danger.  God's  charges  arc  often 
harsh  in  the  beginning,  hard  in  the  proceeding,  but 
the  conclusion  is  always  comfortable.  Sjiiritual  con- 
solations are  commonly  late  and  sudden ;  lung  before 
they  come,  and  speedy  when  they  do  come,  prevent- 
ing even  expectation. 


The  Lord  defers  on  purpose,  that  our  trial  may 
be  perfect,  our  deliverance  welcome,  our  recompence 
glorious.  Say  our  temptation  be  externally  afflictive, 
and  we  are  not  delivered  from  it ;  our  poverty  is 
long,  and  we  shall  never  be  rich  ;  our  sickness  tedi- 
ous, and  we  shall  never  recover:  what  now?  shall 
we  despair  and  die  ?  No,  but  whether  he  doth  de- 
liver us  or  not,  we  will  serve  him;  though  he  kill 
us,  we  will  trust  in  him,  Dan.  iii.  18.  'Though  he 
hold  off  long,  and  suspend  our  case,  yet  deliverance 
shall  come ;  if  not  the  same  way  we  would  have  it, 
yet  a  way  that  is  better  for  us.  Shall  we  be  sullen, 
because  our  desires  be  not  presently  granted?  as 
Jonah  would  die,  because  he  was  displeased ;  Ahitho- 
phel,  because  he  was  despised ;  Saul,  because  he  was 
discomfited.  No,  death  itself  shall  deliver  us;  that 
R  ed  Sea  shall  put  us  over  to  the  land  of  promise  ;  and 
we  shall  say  to  the  praise  of  God,  We  are  delivered. 

The  persons  delivered  are  the  godly.  Godliness 
(according  to  the  propriety  of  the  word)  consists 
in  two  things;  the  devout  adoration,  and  sincere 
imitation,  of  God.  They  that  worship  him  as  he 
will  be  worshipped,  and  follow  him  in  the  things 
wherein  he  will  be  followed,  are  right  godly  men. 
He  that  worships  God  aright,  adheres  to  the  rule,  and 
believes  the  reward.  Superstition  first  loves,  and 
then  believes ;  tnie  religion  first  believes,  and  then 
loves.  Reverence  and  zeal  become  adoration:  for  a 
man  to  mouth  a  Pater-noster,  while  his  heart  is  in 
his  coffer ;  as  if  he  could  reconcile  those  two  contrary 
masters,  and  at  once  scr\'e  God  and  mammon:  in 
vain  thinks  himself  godly.  When  in  the  temple 
God  scarce  hath  our  knees  or  our  voices,  seldom  our 
minds,  never  tell  me  of  godliness.  You  are  not 
atheists,  to  think  that  he  regards  your  prayers,  as  he 
doth  the  humming  of  flies  and  bees;  that  they  be  so 
formal  and  heartless.  The  godly  man  knows  that 
God  sees  him,  sees  him  in  every  place,  takes  special 
notice  of  him  in  the  church.  Caesar's  eye  made  his 
soldiers  prodigal  of  their  blood  :  God's  eye  and 
speech  to  the  soul,  "Well  done,  good  and  faithful 
ser^-ant,"  makes  him  work  out  his  heart.  Loose 
thoughts  are  too  bad  for  common  places,  intolerable 
in  divine  worship.  We  may  observe  how  God  bates 
of  his  own  service  for  us ;  allows  us  to  go  from  his 
temple  to  quench  a  burning  house,  or  to  help  a 
beast  out  of  the  pit ;  and  makes  homicide  the  great- 
est sin  tipon  earth.  Now  shall  he  bate  of  his  own 
glory  for  our  benefit,  and  shall  not  we  bate  of  our 
benefit  for  his  glory  ?  They  that  either  for  wanton- 
ness or  covetousness,  much  worse  for  drunkenness, 
violate  the  sabbath,  which  is  the  time  of  God's  wor- 
ship, or  neglect  the  church,  which  is  the  place  of  his 
worship,  have  little  godliness.  We  are  charged  to 
"worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth,"  John  iv.  23. 
The  Jews  worshipped  liim  bodily,  we  must  also  in 
spirit ;  they  figuratively,  we  in  truth. 

Nor  is  adoration  enough  without  imitation ;  it  is 
the  sum  of  all  religion,  to  imitate  him  we  adore.  He 
was  called  a  Platonist,  that  followed  Plato's  prin- 
ciples ;  and  he  that  follows  the  example  of  God,  is 
godly.  Outward  holiness  must  bo  joined  with  in- 
ward ;  a  man  may  be  a  saint  at  church  and  a  devil 
at  home  :  true  godliness  is  seen  in  our  own  house  as 
well  as  in  God's  house ;  he  is  far  short  of  godliness, 
that  is  not  an  honest  man.  It  is  shame  for  Chris- 
tians to  learn  honesty  of  pagans ;  and  yet  they  say, 
some  of  us  are  a  form  below  them.  We  may  knoir 
whose  children  such  are  bv  their  complexions  and 
conditions:  "He  that  doeth  righteousness  is  right- 
eous," I  John  iii.  7-  It  '*^"as  not  enough  by  the 
Levitical  law  (whose  ground  was  moral)  to  chew  tlie 
cud,  but  to  divide  the  hoof:  our  feet  must  be  clean 
as  well  as  our  mouths.     While  the  worship  of  God 


Ver.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


385 


fcits  in  our  lips,  and  the  dishonour  of  God  is  seen  in 
our  lives,  we  might  as  safe  be  wholly  unclean. 
Some  have  the  mark  of  the  beast  in  their  hand, 
bonie  in  their  forehead,  Rev.  xiii.  16 :  whether  in 
the  forehead  or  in  the  hand,  so  it  be  his  mark,  it  is 
all  one  to  the  devil.  This  commended  Job,  that  he 
feared  God,  that  is  one  part  of  piety ;  that  he  eschew- 
ed evil,  that  is  the  other.  Job  i.  8.  The  doctrine  of 
faith  is  much  controverted;  and  while  Satan  can 
raise  troubles  about  faith,  he  hopes  the  world  will 
let  him  alone  about  manners;  and  so  that  the 
name  of  Christ  may  perish  from  olTthe  earth:  but  it 
is  a  counterfeit  faith  without  obedient  and  practical 
godliness. 

God's  word  is  first  sown  in  the  heart,  that  seed  is 
rooted  in  faith,  that  root  brings  forth  a  tree  of 
charity,  and  that  tree  bears  the  fi-uit  of  good  works. 
Our  persons  are  justified  by  our  faith,  our  faith  is 
justified  by  our  charitv,  our  charity  by  the  actions  of 
a  godly  life.  Therefore  justify  thy  faith,  that  thy 
faith  may  justify  thee.  Faith  is  an  illumination, 
and  many  content  themselves  with  an  illusion  :  if 
we  want  charity  to  our  brother,  there  is  no  faith  to 
our  Maker.  Some  lose  themselves  by  vituperating 
Christ,  as  pagans  ;  some  even  by  praising  Christ,  as 
profane  Christians :  these  so  praise  his  merits,  that 
they  never  weigh  their  ovm  misdemeanours.  But 
do  good,  and  have  good :  little  says  the  Scripture  of 
the  apostles'  learning,  it  speaks  much  of  tlieir  acts. 
It  is  not  the  taste  of  meat  that  nourisheth,  but  after 
concoction  the  benefit  is  in  the  strength.  The  con- 
science is  not  satisfied  with  reading  good  things,  the 
comfort  it  feels  is  in  the  practice.  Children  take 
after  their  father ;  thus  to  show  mercy,  is  to  be 
godly,  Luke  vi.  36.  Forgive  your  offenders.  Why  ? 
God  doth  forgive  you  :  be  as  ready  to  pardon  men, 
as  you  are  ready  to  desire  your  own  pardon  of  him. 
He  that  walks  under  a  wall  in  a  sunny  day,  shall  be 
heated  by  the  wall,  which  first  was  heated  by  the 
sun  :  if  God  have  forgiven  us,  the  warmth  of  charity 
is  in  us  to  forgive  others.  "  Be  ye  holy."  Wliy  ? 
Because  God  is  holy,  1  Pet.  i.  16.  If  we  find  a  piece 
of  wax  with  an  impression  or  mark  upon  it,  we  know 
there  hath  been  a  seal,  the  print  whereof  is  left  be- 
hind: holiness  is  the  print  of  God's  sacred  seal;  if 
not  holy,  not  sealed.  God  is  patient  toward  sinners ; 
furious  avengers  of  themselves  are  not  godly.  He  is 
the  God  of  peace  ;  the  sons  of  malice  and  contention 
nre  far  unlike  him. 

We  see  who  arc  godly,  now  these  are  delivered ; 
tliey,  of  all  men,  out  of  temptations,  because  they,  of 
all  men,  are  most  subject  to  temptations.  The  higher 
a  tree  shoots  up,  the  more  tempest-beaten  :  if  a 
Christian  grows  to  any  stature  and  tallness  in  grace, 
and  sprouts  up  toward  heaven,  Satan  will  raise  the 
sorer  storms  against  liim.  Some  are  not  troubled  with 
temptations,  know  not  what  they  mean ;  ask  them, 
they  never  felt  the  devil  so  busy  about  them.  The 
more  miserable  creatures  they.  No  prince  makes 
war  against  his  obedient  subjects:  should  they  rebel 
against  Satan's  laws,  they  should  hear  of  him  in 
another  kind.  But  as  God  said  in  his  justice, 
"  Ephraim  is  joined  to  idols,  let  him  alone,"  Hos.  iv. 
1/";  so  Satan  in  his  malice.  They  are  joined,  united, 
incorporated  to  sin,  let  them  alone.  They  meddle 
not  with  repentance,  and  he  meddles  not  with  them ; 
all  is  peace,  Luke  xi.  21.  Let  them  take  it  for  the 
fearful  sign  of  a  dead  heart,  when  they  feel  not  the 
thorn  in  the  flesh,  temptation.  Fall  they  to  depreca- 
tion, cry  for  pardon  of  their  sins,  and  seck'the  king- 
dom of  heaven ;  then  Satan  begins  to  bustle,  then 
temptation  upon  temptation  :  Job  had  not  more  foes 
to  vex  him,  than  they  shall  find  baits  to  entice  them. 
Therefore  Christ  on  purpose,  to  the  pardon  of  sins, 
2  c 


annexeth,  lead  us  not  into  temptation.  Not  only  be- 
cause, with  the  pardon  of  sins  past,  we  should  desire 
the  prevention  of  sins  to  come  ;  that  neither  our 
consciences  be  stung  with  the  old,  nor  our  concu- 
piscences corrupted  further  with  the  new:  but  be- 
cause a  man's  sins  be  no  sooner  forgiven,  and  he 
rescued  from  Satan,  but  that  lion  foams  and  roars, 
and  bestirs  himself  to  recover  his  loss.  So  that 
grievous  temptations  do  always  accompany  the  re- 
mission of  sins.  Some  suspect  themselves  to  be  out 
of  God's  favour,  because  they  are  so  wearied  and 
worried  with  temptations;  but  if  godliness  and  tempt- 
ation be  such  inseparable  attendants  on  the  same 
person,  it  is  otherwise.  For  the  devil's  hatred  is  to 
them  most,  whom  God  loves  best ;  and  where  he 
shows  mercy,  Satan  will  exercise  malice.  So  that 
in  the  characters  of  temptations  we  may  spell  God's 
love,  which  cannot  be  enjoyed  without  Satan's  dis- 
turbance. Yea,  howsoever  weak  consciences  have 
been  dismayed  at  it,  one  proof  of  saving  grace  in  us 
is  the  exercise  of  the  devil's  malice  against  us. 

They  that  receive  from  God  more  graces,  are  sure 
of  more  temptations.  Let  God  testify  good  of  Job, 
the  devil  will  have  a  fliwg  at  him.  If  Peter  have  once 
the  keys,  Satan  will  tempt  him  to  be  a  Satan  to  his 
Master,  Matt.  xvi.  22.  If  there  be  honey  in  the 
vessel,  the  wasps  will  be  busy  about  it.  But  as  no 
wise  man  leaves  his  house  for  some  flies,  but  rather 
seeks  to  drive  them  out  than  they  should  drive  him 
out ;  so  no  good  man  forsakes  his  holiness  for  tempt- 
ations, but  rather  resists  the  devil,  as  knowing  then 
he  will  flee  from  him.  Jam.  iv.  7-  A  full  barn 
is  better  than  an  empty  one,  though  thieves  let  this 
alone,  and  be  pilfering  about  the  other.  We  do  not 
destroy  our  roses  for  the  cankers,  but  rather  destroy 
the  cankers  from  the  roses.  It  is  no  policy  for  the 
traveller  to  leave  off  his  weapons,  because  he  knows 
there  be  thieves  in  the  way.  We  say,  one  ti-ue  man 
is  hard  enough  for  two  thieves,  one  faithful  man  is 
able  to  repel  many  wicked  spirits.  Our  godliness 
doth  not  secure  us  from  temptations,  but  conquei-s 
them.  Christ  was  no  sooner  come  out  of  the  water 
of  baptism,  but  he  enters  into  the  fire  of  temptation  : 
if  he  be  full  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  shall  be  set  upon 
by  the  malignant  spirit.  If  God  say,  "This  is  my 
Son ;"  Satan  will  say,  "  If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God," 
Matt.  iii.  17  ;  iv.  3.  That  Divine  testimony  did  not 
allay  his  malice,  but  exasperate  it :  the  serpent  most 
violently  assails  him  whom  God  hath  honoured. 

Neither  the  gifts  of  grace,  nor  the  seals  of  grace, 
can  free  us  from  assaults :  we  may  have  force  to 
repel  bad  suggestions,  we  have  not  to  prevent  them. 
The  more  we  are  engaged  to  God,  by  the  bonds  of 
our  own  profession,  and  the  pledges  of  his  favour,  so 
much  the  more  busy  is  the  tempter  about  us.  That 
Goliath  defies  none' but  the  host  of  the  living  God: 
if  we  be  once  seen  in  the  field,  then  he  is  mad,  and 
seeks  to  wring  away  our  weapons,  and  with  them  to 
wound  our  own  bosoms.  Lord,  how  should  we  escape 
that  dragon's  assaults,  when  the  Son  of  thy  love  could 
not  be  free  ?  when  even  to  be  gracious  draws  on  his 
enmity,  and  the  profession  of  a  good  conscience  is 
the  biitt  for  his  burning  arrows?  He  that  spared 
not  the  Head,  will  not  forbear  the  remoter  limbs. 
If  the  slate  of  innocrney  could  have  been  any  de- 
fence against  evil  motions,  the  first  Adam  had  not 
been  tempted,  much  less  the  Second. 

Nothing  should  more  comfort  us  than  resistance : 
if  we  did  not  stand  for  the  Lord,  Satan  would  not 
stand  against  us,  Zech.  iii.  I  ;  if  we  were  not  in  a 
way  to  do  good,  we  should  find  no  rubs.  The  devil 
hath  no  cause  to  trouble  his  own,  especially  while 
they  go  about  his  business.  To  sin,  he  would  have 
our  paths  smooth,  and  calm,  and  pleasant,  winning 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IL 


us  forward ;  but  if  we  turn  our  feet  toward  Zion,  then 
he  encounters  us,  and  blocks  up  our  way  with  tempt- 
ations. But  it  is  not  the  presentment  of  bad  mo- 
tions that  can  hurt  us,  but  our  entertainment  of 
them.  Ill  counsel  is  the  fault  of  the  giver,  not  of 
the  refuser :  if  we  be  tempted,  as  Joseph  was  by  a 
great  lady,  and  withstand  it,  we  are  not  the  worse, 
but  the  better.  We  cannot  forbid  lewd  eyes  to  look 
in  at  our  windows,  we  may  shut  our  doors  wigainst 
their  entrance.  If  Satan  knock,  it  is  in  our  choice 
to  open :  a  booty  lies  in  our  way,  we  may  ciioose 
whether  we  will  stoop  and  take  it  up.  To  suggest 
evil,  is  Satan's  blame ;  to  resist  evil,  this  is  our 
praise.     The  more  we  are  tried  in  the  furnace,  the 

Eiirer  gold  we  shall  go  to  the  treasury  of  heaven, 
ord,  make  us  as  strong  as  the  devil  is  malicious : 
say  in  a  sweet  spiritual  feeling  to  my  conscience,  as 
tliou  spakest  once  vocally  and  audibly  to  my  Saviour, 
Thnu  art  my  son;  and  let  the  devil  do  his  worst. 

Temptations  we  imderstand  to  be  of  two  sorts  ; 
probations,  or  provocations;  trials  of  suffering,  or 
trials  of  doing.  God  tempts,  to  draw  something  out 
of  us,  and  to  make  it  appear ;  Satan  tempts,  to  put 
something  into  us  which  was  not  before.  It  is  one 
thing  explorare  an  sit  peccatum,  another  provocare  iit 
sit  peccatum.  The  former  we  may  properly  call  ex- 
aminations, searchings,  afflictions;  these  are  of  God. 
The  other,  incitements,  enticements,  impulsive  mo- 
tions to  sin  ;  these  are  of  Satan.  Now  this  promised 
deliverance  stands  in  analogy  and  reference  to  both 
these. 

For  Satan's  suggestions  :  what  godly  man  hath 
not  been  wrought  upon  by  temptations ;  not  only  to 
like  the  bait,  but  even  to  swallow  it  with  consent  of 
will  ?  Yet  hath  it  not  choked  their  grace,  God  hath 
delivered  them.  Look  upon  David,  2  Sam.  xi.  While 
his  people  are  busy  in  the  war  against  Amraon  abroad, 
Satan  as  busily  makes  war  against  David  at  home ; 
they  lay  siege  to  Rabbah,  he  lays  siege  to  their  king. 
The  temptation  first  takes  fire  at  his  eyes,  his  eyes 
recoil  upon  his  heart,  and  his  heart  bums  in  the  de- 
sires of  his  lust.  The  tempter  so  prevails,  that  he 
makes  him  become  a  tempter,  bestowing  his  own 
bad  office  upon  him.  He  sees  Bathsheba,  inquires 
after  her,  sends  for  her,  solicits  her  to  uncleanncss. 
There  was  store  of  fair  virgins  in  Israel,  yet  he  must 
dote  upon  the  marriage-bed :  he  had  many  wives  of 
his  own,  and  was  not  restrained  from  taking  more  ; 
yet  is  not  contented  saving  with  the  only  one  of  a 
subject.  He  was  not  overcome  by  the  solicitation 
of  a  strumpet,  but  himself  was  the  prosecutor  of  this 
filthincss.  There  is  nothing  wanting  to  amplify  his 
sin,  and  cause  our  fear.  O  whither  shall  wc  go,  if 
God  stay  us  not  ?  What  man  among  the  millions  of 
God's  seiTants  was  better  furnished  with  piTsenra- 
tives  against  such  temptations  ?  Where  could  the 
devil  have  less  hope  of  prevailing  ?  Yet  is  this  strong 
man  overcome ;  and  as  it  is  hard  and  rare  to  commit 
a  single  sin,  he  docs  not  only  abuse  the  wife,  but  be- 
trays the  husband,  and  teacheth  his  lust  to  look  with 
bloody  eyes  on  the  life  of  his  faithful  servant.  If 
wine  cannot  work  him  to  father  a  false  seed,  the 
sword  of  an  uncircumcised  anatomy  shall  fall  upon 
him.  Thus  deep  in  is  David,  and  falls  asleep  many 
months,  exchanging  the  conscience  of  his  sin  for  the 
sense  of  his  pleasures.  Yet  even  out  of  this  tempta- 
tion he  is  delivered  ;  Nathan  shall  rouse  liim,  the 
Spirit  shall  melt  him,  his  own  heart  shall  smite  him; 
wit  \\  a  wounded  soul  he  shall  ciy  for  pardon,  detest 
his  wickedness,  and  find  mercy. 

In  this  glass  we  see  ourselves,  how  apt  to  be  tempt- 
ed, to  go  along  with  it,  yea,  often  to  persist  in  it ; 
yet,  withal,  God's  infinite  goodness  to  deliver  us  from 
it.     For  this  we  pray,  "  Lead  nsnot  into  temptation, 


but  deliver  us  from  evil ;"  the  latter  being  an  ex- 
position of  the  former ;  that  we  be  not  led  into  tempt- 
ation, deliver  us  from  evil  ;  the  cause  being  taken 
away,  the  eftect  ceaseth.  The  best  of  God's  children 
may  not  only  be  drenched  in  the  waves  of  sin,  but 
even  lie  in  them  for  a  time  ;  as  a  man  may  sink  twice 
to  the  bottom,  yet  rise  with  life  in  him.  But  they 
that  belong  to  the  covenant  shall  be  delivered.  Saul 
is  tempted,  sinneth,  and  sleepeth  in  it  his  last :  Da- 
vid is  tempted,  sinneth,  and  sleepeth,  but  not  his  last. 
Peter  is  tempted  to  conceal,  to  deny,  to  forswear  his 
Master  ;  yet  one  look  of  Christ  delivered  him  :  Ju- 
das is  tempted  to  betray  him,  goes  on,  and  perisheth. 
Tlie  Lord  would  never  have  suffered  so  dear  favour- 
ites of  his,  as  Lot,  David,  Peter,  to  full  so  danger- 
ously ;  if  he  had  not  meant  to  make  them  universal 
examples  to  the  world,  of  not  presuming,  of  not  de- 
spairing. For  how  can  we  presume  of  not  sinning, 
or  despair  for  sinning,  when  wc  find  so  great  saints 
thus  fallen,  thus  risen  ?  How  many  years  had  those 
ten  brethren  forgotten  their  unnatural  treachery ! 
Alas,  what  long  and  dead  sleeps  may  the  holiest 
souls  take  in  fearful  sins !  Were  it  not  for  God's 
mercy  that  thus  delivers  us  out  of  temptations,  we 
should  end  our  spiritual  lethargy  in  a  sleep  of  death. 
David  in  those  ten  months  might  have  some  transient 
glances  of  remorse ;  but  no  compunction  is  heard  of 
till  Nathan's  message,  and  perhaps  had  been  further 
adjoumed,  if  that  monitor  had  been  longer  deferred. 
God  could  have  sent  him  sooner,  and  checked  David 
in  his  first  project  of  sin :  so  had  Bathsheba  been 
chaste,  Uriah  alive,  and  himself  guiltless  of  murder. 
But  that  Almighty  wisdom  knew  how  to  win  more 
glory  by  the  permission  than  by  the  prevention,  by 
the  permission  of  one  sin  to  prevent  millions.  How 
many  thousands  had  presumed  on  their  own  strength, 
if  such  a  champion  had  not  fallen !  How  many 
thousands  had  despaired  in  the  consciences  of  their 
own  misdeeds  and  weakness,  if  such  sins  had  not 
found  remission  !  It  is  happy  for  all  after-times  that 
wc  have  such  precedents,  so  holy  sinners,  so  sinful 
penitents  :  their  falls  have  taught  us  by  whom  to 
stand.  In  a  word,  many  saints  have  committed  as 
great  sins  as  reprobates :  that  the  one  is  pardoned, 
not  the  other,  the  difference  is  not  in  the  quantity  or 
quality  of  the  sin,  but  in  the  mercy  of  God. 

Uses.  I.  We  that  pray  for  deliverance  from  evil, 
must  endeavour  against  evil.  The  best  fencer  lies  close, 
and  is  more  careful  to  defend  tlian  to  offend :  while 
we  lie  open,  Satan  hath  a  fair  mark.  Rank  mirth, 
gluttony,  gaming,  and  wine,  lay  a  man  open.  That 
wine  is  an  inducement  to  lust,  David  knew,  and  there- 
fore gave  Uriah  such  superfluous  cups ;  and  it  is 
hard  to  refuse  pledging,  where  a  king  begins  a  health 
to  a  subject.  This  might  easily  lay  him  open  to 
evil  ;  the  drunkard  may  be  any  thing  but  good. 
But  temptation  is  then  stronger,  when  it  proceeds 
fiom  a  mighty  instrument :  tlie  requests  of  princes 
aie  commands,  their  very  suits  imjierativc.  How 
many  Bathsliebas  and  Jane  Shores  have  thus  been 
wrought  to  pollute  both  a  royal  and  matrimonial 
bed!  The  countenance  of  autliority  is  authoritative 
with  many  :  ask  a  Romist,  whether  if  the  pope  com- 
mand him  to  kill  his  sovereign,  he  is  to  do  or  refuse 
it :  perhaps  he  tritles  that  the  pope  will  never  com- 
mand it ;  but  put  him  to  it,  If;  then  his  answer  must 
be  affirmative.  If  Saul  charge  a  Docg,  he  will  wreak 
his  spleen  on  the  priests.  Let  the  master  tempt  his 
servant,  the  father  his  child,  their  least  word  is  a  law. 
But  it  will  be  no  excuse  to  say  at  last,  such  a  great 
person  tempted  me,  as  Adam  said  of  Eve :  it  is  what 
that  we  must  regard,  not  who;  the  action,  not  the 
person  :  be  the  mover  never  so  glorious,  if  his  motion 
be  to  sin,  let  it  be  entertaineil  with  defiance.     Let 


S'er.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


■JS7 


us  liave  wary  eyes,  for  it  is  not  the  self-appeariiif,' 
devil,  but  the  same  a  transformed  angel,  that  dotli 
corrupt  us. 

2.  Consider  what  preventions  the  provident  God 
usetli  against  our  sinnings.  How  many  stays  doth 
Saul  find  in  his  pursuit  of  David:  twice  he  casts  his 
javelin,  and  missed  him  ;  exposed  him  to  the  Philis- 
tines, but  he  slew  tlicm;  Michal  was  given  him  for 
a  snare,  yet  she  delivers  him  ;  Jonathan  is  constant 
to  him  ;  Saul  hath  begirt  him,  lo  then  he  is  delivered 
by  the  Philistines'  invasion,  1  Sam.  xxiii.  27.  This 
found  Balaam  in  his  pestilent  itch  to  curse  Israel  : 
one  night  God  puts  him  off;  the  second  time  lu' 
answers  his  importunacy  and  bids  him  go  in  anger ; 
an  angel  stands  to  cross  him,  his  beast  turns  out  of  the 
way ;  she  bruiseth  his  foot  against  the  wall,  at  last 
falls  down  under  him :  many  crosses  to  recall  him. 
How  is  the  other  Saul  (with  his  letters  missive  to  vex 
the  church)  arrested  from  heaven  !  I  know  there  be 
sudden  sins,  no  sooner  thought  of  than  despatched : 
which  is  like  fire  to  powder.  But  in  our  resolved 
intentions  of  doing  a  sin,  if  we  would  mark  it,  we 
meet  with  strange  impediments,  as  Jonah  did  in  his 
flight ;  which  should  make  us  grow  jealous  of  such 
enterprises.  Some  have  been  frighted  from  their 
uncleanness  by  the  tolling  of  a  passing-bell ;  others 
diverted  from  a  bad  journey,  by  the  sudden  lameness 
of  their  horse.  How  often  hath  God  prevented  mur- 
ders by  strange  accidents  !  Sometimes  he  shortens 
our  own  arms,  sometimes  strengthens  othei'S  against 
us.  Sometimes  reason  is  heard,  when  religion  sits 
out;  and  the  dishonesty,  inutility,  or  difficulty  of  a 
sin  is  perpended.  But  it  is  best,  when  the  fear  of 
God  hath  corrected  us,  or  the  word  of  God  averted 
us,  or  the  Spirit  of  God  recalled  us.  By  innumerable 
means  doth  the  Lord  stop  our  precipices,  hedge  up 
our  ways  to  sin;  that  when  temptation  invites  us,  we 
may  have  hands  manacled,  and  feet  fettered  with  de- 
tentions; and  we  cozen  the  devil  against  our  wills. 
He  would  have  us  come,  and  we  would  come,  but 
(thanks  be  to  God)  we  cannot  come.  Let  us  observe 
it ;  as  when  we  are  doing  well,  we  have  many  provo- 
cations to  alienate  our  minds  from  it  ;  so  when  we 
are  intending  mischief,  God  sends  many  inconveni- 
ences, as  it  were  vocal  accidents,  to  hinder  us  ;  as  if 
God  should  say.  Take  heed  what  yon  do. 

3.  Let  us  meditate  how  we  are  blessed  of  God, 
and  have  reason  to  bless  God,  for  these  happy 
deliverances.  As  St.  Augustine  :  I  had  time  and 
place  to  commit  sin,  but  then  the  tempter  was 
away  :  thy  doing,  0  Lord,  it  was  that  he  was 
away.  The  tempter  was  present,  but  then  time 
and  place  were  wanting :  thy  doing  it  was  that  I 
wanted  time  and  place.  Time  and  place  were  con- 
venient, and  the  tempter  was  there  also,  provok- 
ing me  forward,  all  opportunities  fiu'thering;  but 
then  I  had  no  stomach  to  it,  lust  was  cool,  my  will 
had  no  will  to  consent :  thy  doing  it  was  that  I  was 
unwilling,  that  the  edge  of  my  appetite  was  dull. 
Sometimes  I  had  will,  but  then  I  wanted  means ; 
sometimes  I  had  means,  but  then  I  wanted  will  ; 
sometimes  I  had  likewise  will  and  means,  but  then  I 
also  wanted  ability :  another  time,  means,  will,  and 
ability  were  concurring;  but  then  came  in  some 
other  interru])tion ;  a  messenger  with  sudden  busi- 
ness, the  distress  of  a  friend,  the  invitation  of  a  neigh- 
bour. Still,  O  Lord,  that  1  was  not  led  into  tempta- 
tion, nor  captivated  by  suggestion,  it  was  thy  doing. 
Blessed  be  God,  as  for  his  furtherance  in  good,  so  for 
his  hinderance  in  evil.  If  we  be  godly,  and  find 
these  things  true,  let  us  enter  into  our  chambers, 
fall  upon  our  knees,  lift  up  our  hearts,  and  say  in 
humble  thankfulness.  Lord,  thou  hast  delivered  me, 
I  find  thy  mercy,  to  thy  name  be  the  glor\-. 


4.  Lastly,  if  wc  love  not  evil,  let  us  long  for  our 
final  and  plenary  deliverance  from  it ;  that  immortal 
court,  where  sin  can  no  more  enter,  than  sorrow  or 
death  ;  out  of  this  the  tempter  is  excluded  for  ever. 
Here  the  Lord  delivers  us  from  the  damnation  and 
domination  of  sin,  there  from  the  temptation  and 
assault;  here  it  shall  not  overcome  us,  there  it  shall 
not  come  near  us.  "  Wretched  man  !  who  shall  de- 
liver me  from  the  body  of  this  death?"  Rom.  vii. 
24.  Who  ?  He  that  now  frees  us  from  the  burning, 
will  then  from  the  smell  of  the  fire.  Here  even  a 
saint  is  but  a  mixed  creature  ;  and  the  sin  which  he 
hath  by  his  generation,  fights  against  the  grace  which 
he  hatii  by  his  own  regeneration.  This  fell  St.  Paul: 
and  Hierome  in  his  very  abstinence  ;  My  face  was 
pale,  but  my  heart  was  flushing,  and  1  had  a  burning 
mind  in  a  chill  body.  Mortal  perfection  is  a  vain 
dream.  Aquinas  thinks  we  may  fulfil  a  precept  (wo 
ways  ;  either  perfectly,  when  we  perform  the  full 
scope  of  it;  or  imperfectly,  when  we  keep  the  way 
conducing  to  the  end.  (Epist.  22.)  But  as  when  the 
captain  bids  the  soldiers  fight  and  conquer,  he  that 
fignts  and  conquers,  perfectly  doth  his  will ;  he  that 
fights  and  doth  not  get  the  victory,  comes  short  of 
doing  his  will  :  and  in  God's  battles,  he  that  con- 
quers not,  which  is  the  end,  doth  certainly  fail  in 
the  means.  Therefore  he  that  sincerely  loves  God, 
and  detests  sin,  dcsireth  dissolution  for  no  other  end, 
but  to  be  freed  from  temptation.  The  good  soldier 
will  fight  when  he  is  in  the  field,  but  he  is  contented 
to  have  the  battle  over.  This  is  one  benefit  that 
death  against  his  own  will  shall  do  us  ;  a  perfect  de- 
livery from  all  temptations.  In  Paradise  man  had 
a  power  not  to  sin ;  in  heaven  he  shall  not  have  the 
power  to  sin.  Satan  shall  then  be  bound  in  eternal 
chains,  never  to  stirout  of  that  local  torment,  and  the 
elect  be  set  at  triumphant  liberty. 

For  probations,  which  are  the  other  sort  of  tempt- 
ations, or  trials  by  troubles ;  they  are  derived  from 
throe  fountains,  and  may  thus  be  distinguished,  not 
in  propriety  of  terms,  but  after  the  common  accept- 
ance. As  they  come  from  Satan  they  are  usually 
Ccillcd  temptations ;  as  they  come  from  man,  perse- 
cutions ;  as  from  God,  afllictions.  All  these  are  in 
some  manner  from  the  Lord  ;  neither  man  nor  devil 
can  afllict  us  without  God,  God  can  afflict  us  without 
them.  When  we  pray  not  to  be  led  into  temptation, 
we  pray  not  against  correction,  but  against  evil ;  for 
though  Christ  makes  us  invincible,  he  makes  us  not 
invulnerable.  All  our  days  are  evil,  some  worse  ;  as 
the  ague  hath  chief  fits,  critical  days.  Some  be  more 
grievous  sufferings  than  others  ;  as  martyrdom  in  the 
extent  (for  it  may  be  occulta  cogilalione,  though  not 
aperfa  passimiej :  and  we  have  cause  to  bless  God 
tliat  we  resist  not  unto  blood.  If  there  were  no  good 
in  these  temptations,  they  should  not  come  near  us; 
for  nothing  absolutely  e>nl  shall  come  to  a  good  man. 
And  when  they  have  done  the  business  they  came  for, 
they  shall  leave  us :  the  plaster  will  not  stick  on 
when  the  gore  is  healed. 

Do  they  come  from  the  ungodly  ?  Whether  Ter- 
tullus  persecute  the  churcli  witli  his  tongue,  or  Ely- 
mas  with  his  hand,  God  hath  the  command  of  both. 
Indeed  the  wicked  arc  the  mediate  causes  of  our 
troubles  :  the  righteous  arc  as  the  centre,  the  other 
the  circumference,  Psal.  csviii.  11;  which  way  so- 
ever they  turn,  they  find  themselves  environed ;  yet 
still  the  centre  is  fixed  and  immovable,  being  founded 
upon  Christ.  It  is  good  for  some  men  to  have  ad- 
versaries;  for  often  they  more  fe.ir  to  sin,  lest  they 
should  despise  them,  tlian  dislike  it  for  conscience, 
lest  God  should  condemn  them.  They  speak  evil  of 
us :  if  true  let  us  amend  it ;  if  false,  contemn  it ; 
whether  true  or  false,  observe  it.     Thus  we  shall 


388 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IF. 


learn  good  out  of  their  evil ;  make  them  our  tutors, 
and  give  ihcm  no  pupillage.  In  all  tilings  let  us 
watch  them,  in  nothing  fear  them:  "which  is  to 
them  an  evident  token  of  perdition,  hut  to  us  of  sal- 
vation," Phil.  i.  28.  The  church  is  that  tower  of 
David  ;  if  there  be  a  thousa'ul  weapons  to  wound  us, 
there  are  a  thousand  shields  to  guard  us,  Cant.  iv. 
4.  When  the  angel  saluted  Gideon,  The  Lord  be 
with  thee  ;  he  replied,  "  If  the  Lord  be  with  us,  how 
is  all  this  evil  befallen  us  ?"  Judg.  vi.  13.  AVhy  do 
the  Midianitcs  vex  us  ?  Yes,  God  may  be  with  us, 
and  the  Midianitcs  against  us  :  yea,  therefore  are  they 
against  us,  because  God  is  with  us.  It  is  neither  our 
shame  to  suffer  what  Christ  suffered,  nor  their  honour 
to  do  as  Judas  did.  (Cypr.)  Howsoever  they  be 
wicked  instruments,  yet  the  just  hand  is  the  Lord's. 
God  gave,  saith  Job  :  what,  and  the  devil  took  away  ? 
No.  The  Sabcans  took  away  ?  No ;  but  the  Lord 
took  away.  As  when  the  malignity  of  a  disease  is 
spent,  health  will  return;  so  when  all  our  adversa- 
ries have  done  their  worst,  if  not  before,  then  God 
will  deliver  us.  Let  Jezebel  fret  her  heart  out,  and 
swear  by  her  gods,  Elijah  must  be  safe.  Let  the  red 
dragon  spout  forth  Hoods  of  venom,  the  church  hatli 
wings  to  fly  away,  she  shall  be  delivered.  Rev.  xii. 

Do  they  come  from  God?  he  chastencth  whom  he 
loveth:  storms  and  afflictions  are  not  from  fury  with- 
out love,  but  rather  from  love  without  fuiy.  "  Lord, 
he  whom  thou  lovest  is  sick,"  Johnxi.  3:  Lazarus 
may  be  sick  and  yet  Christ  love  him.  The  intelli- 
gent son  knows  that  his  father's  correction  is  no  ar- 
gument of  his  father's  hatred  ;  therefore  is  silent. 
"  I  was  dumb,  because  thou  didst  it,"  Psal.  xxxix.  9. 
I  was  not  dumb  for  that  I  did,  but  confessed  my  sin ; 
but  dumb  for  that  thou  didst,  acknowledging  it  a  just 
punishment.  "  In  a  little  wrath  I  hid  my  face  from 
thee  fora  moment,"  Isa.  liv.  8.  It  is  but  a  little,  for 
a  moment :  and  I  hid  my  face,  never  turned  my 
heart  from  thee.  Indeed  as  man  is  under  the  law, 
they  are  legal  punishments;  but  as  under  grace,  pa- 
ternal corrections.  They  are  a  testimony  of  his  good 
favour  toward  us,  when  by  them  he  separates  the  sin 
which  he  hates  from  the  person  which  he  loves.  And 
this  he  always  so  tempers,  that  it  is  neither  accord- 
ing to  our  sins,  nor  exceeding  our  strengths.  Ours  ? 
No,  but  not  above  God's  strength  in  us.  No  parent 
corrects  another's  child,  and  he  is  no  good  j)arcnt 
that  corrects  not  his  own.  By  this  we  come  to  know 
our  friend:  three  things  are  not  known  but  in  three 
places ;  valour,  bvit  in  danger ;  wisdom,  but  in  anger ; 
a  friend,  but  in  misery.  Afflictions  have  done  us 
this  good,  that  we  arc  sure  we  have  a  Friend,  a  Father 
in  heaven,  for  we  have  tried  him.  Faith  understands 
troubles  to  be  probalw7iis  indicia,  not  reprobalionisar- 
gumevla.  Our  life  is  a  web  woven  by  the  hand  of 
God,  the  thread  reaching  from  our  birth  unto  our 
death.  The  woof  is  trouble,  but  still  runs  with  it  a 
weft  of  interwoven  comforts.  But  if  so,  then  may 
we  not  pray  for  their  removal  ?  Yes  ;  "  Remove  thy 
plague  away  from  me,"  Psal.  xxxix.  10:  thy  plague 
and  mine;  thine  by  affliction,  mine  by  passion; 
thine  because  thou  didst  send  it,  mine  because  I  en- 
dure it;  thine  because  it  comes  from  thy  justice, 
mine  because  it  answers  my  injustice  :  remit  what  I 
liave  done,  and  remove  what  thou  hast  done.  But 
whosoever  laid  it  on,  the  Lord  will  take  it  off.  Be 
our  troubles  many  in  number,  strange  in  nature, 
heavy  in  measure ;  yet  God's  mercies  are  more  nu- 
merous, his  wistlom  more  wondrous,  his  power  more 
miraculous,  he  will  deliver  us  out  of  all,  Psal.  xxxiv. 
19.  This  doctrine  well  digested,  will  breed  good 
blood  in  our  souls,  and  is  useful  three  ways. 

I.  To  fortify  our  patience:  he  needs  not  fear  the 
trouble,  that  knows  an  infallible  deliverance.     Pos-  | 


sess  your  souls  in  patience,  Luke  xsi.  19.  He  doth 
not  say,  possess  your  mouths,  for  some  being  provok- 
ed will  give  no  bad  language ;  nor  possess  your 
hands ;  many  being  urged  can  forbear  violence  :  yet 
still  the  desire  of  revenge  may  boil  and  rankle  in 
both  their  hearts.  But  possess  your  souls,  that  is, 
yourselves,  in  patience:  tliis  binds  both  mouth  and 
hand  to  the  peace  and  good  forbearance :  all  are 
quiet,  if  the  soul  be  quiet.  Two  things  become  a 
Christian;  snpiivlia  in  verbif,  patientia  in  lerberibtts. 
Time  is  the  physician's  cure,  reason  the  philoso- 
pher's cure,  patience  is  God's  cure.  Time  helps 
sorrows,  but  still  this  is  tedious,  and  time  runs  too 
dully  with  them  that  be  in  misery.  Reason  qualifies 
it,  for  it  is  (he  courage  and  magnanimity  of  a  man  to 
suffer.  But  this  only  seeks  means  to  extricate  us: 
reason  will  not  slay  for  time  ;  but  faithful  patience 
looks  neither  to  reason  nor  time,  but  knows  a  better 
remedy  :  she  commits  her  cause  to  God,  and  resolves 
upon  this  resignation,  that  either  her  sorrow  shall 
be  less  or  her  fortitude  more.  Patience  is  a  noble 
kind  of  conquering.  Faith,  charity,  and  patience, 
arc  the  three  rich  possessions  of  a  Christian :  by 
faith  we  possess  Christ,  by  charity  we  possess  our 
neighbour,  by  patience  we  possess  ourselves.  He  that 
wants  faith  is  without  the  Head;  he  that  wants  cha- 
rity is  without  the  body;  he  that  wants  patience  is 
without  himself.  Our  patience,  like  our  trial,  hath 
but  a  short  exercise ;  our  deliverance  is  glorious  and 
everlasting. 

2.  To  confirm  our  hope.  He  that  hath  tasted  the 
mercy  of  God  in  some  notable  deliverance,  hopes  in 
the  next  trial  for  the  same  assistance.  Experience 
brings  hope,  Rom.  v.  4;  because  it  hath  made  the 
matter  easy  :  he  that  hath  often  done  a  thing  easily, 
mistrusts  not  to  do  it  again.  David  had  often  found 
his  deliverance  out  of  hard  exigents,  therefore  says, 
In  the  name  of  God  I  will  leap  over  the  wall :  his 
experience  had  made  it  so  easy  to  him,  that  it  was 
but  a  skip  or  jump  in  his  conceit. 

3.  Let  us  not  feign  afflictions  before  wc  have  them: 
we  can  expect  no  deliverance  out  of  fantastical 
griefs.  "  Be  not  deceived ;  God  is  not  mocked," 
Gal.  vi.  /.  There  are  beggars  by  permission,  that 
feign  themselves  halt  and  blind  ;  and  beggars  by 
commission,  that  have  patents  for  fires  and  wrecks  ; 
but  their  fires  are  often  feigned  and  false  fires,  and 
all  their  wrecks  the  wreck  of  their  own  consciences. 
Let  them  take  heed,  lest  their  fictions  prove  at  last 
tnie  afflictions,  their  dissembled  lameness  prove 
lameness  indeed.  As  Martial  writes  of  Ca-lius, 
who  to  avoid  the  giving  his  attendance  early  and 
late  to  the  great  ones  of  the  time,  feigned  himself 
sick  of  the  gout,  so  cunningly,  that  his  hypocrisy 
came  home  to  him,  and  he  fell  sick  of  the  gout  in- 
deed. How  often  have  those  mischances  fallen  to 
men  without  relief,  for  which  they  begged  relief  be- 
fore they  had  cause  !  God  promiseth  deliverance 
from  the  temptations  he  sends,  not  those  we  fetch  ; 
such  as  come  from  our  want,  not  from  our  wanton- 
ness. Many  make  to  themselves  crosses  ;  and  while 
God's  hand  is  not  visible,  they  with  their  own  hands 
beat  themselves.  Haman,that  great  favourite,  hath 
honour  enough,  though  Mordecai  do  not  cringe  to 
him ;  yet  this  makes  him  discontent  :  here  was  a 
cross  of  his  own  begetting.  Ahab  was  king,  had 
lands  and  demesnes  enough  of  his  own,  yet  because 
Naboth  denies  him  his  vineyard,  he  falls  sick  of  the 
sullcns.  For  this  trouble  let  him  thank  himself: 
what  needs  a  rich  man  he  a  thief?  Ainnon  had  va- 
riety of  choice  objects  for  his  inordinate  affection, 
yet  he  must  be  love-sick  of  Tamar.  2  Sam.  xiii.  2,  4; 
none  but  his  half-sister  can  please  the  eyes  of  that 
wanton  prince.     Ordinary  plcas.ires  will  not  content 


Veb.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


389 


extraordinary  persons  ;  such  pampered  and  ungo- 
vcrned  youths,  whose  greatness  and  case  have  made 
unruly  appetites.  Tliis  is  the  unnatural  heat  of 
which  he  languishes ;  was  not  this  an  affliction  of 
his  own  making?  It  is  not  rare  to  see  a  great  man 
vex  himself  at  the  neglect  of  a  peasant ;  whereas  a 
true  lion  will  pass  by  with  an  honourable  scom :  to 
see  the  husband  of  a  virtuous  and  comely  spouse,  dot- 
ing on  a  foul  and  forbidden  bed :  to  see  a  rich  man 
pine  away  with  projecting  how  he  should  live  when 
no  is  old.  Innumerable  be  our  fantastical  evils,  and 
we  trouble  ourselves  about  nothing.  Evils  come  fast 
enough  of  themselves,  there  is  store  made  to  our 
hands,  we  need  not  increase  their  number  :  those  ill 
weeds  will  grow  without  our  planting. 

4.  Ourdelivercris  ''the  Lord."  It  is  the  voice  of  all 
creatures  in  their  several  languages,  Salvation  is  of 
the  Lord :  the  confession  of  men  more  sensibly,  Thou 
art  tlie  preserver  of  men.  Job  vii.  20 :  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  saints  more  especially,  "Our  helpstand- 
eth  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  Psal.  exxiv.  8.  This 
word  leads  us  to  a  consideration  of  his  power ;  He 
can  deliver  us,  and  none  but  he.  "  Lord :"  his  Al- 
mightiness  was  the  first  name  he  would  be  known  by 
to  the  world,  Exod.  vi.  3.  Not  that  Jehovah  w;is 
not  in  some  manner  formerly  known :  see  Gen.  xv., 
and  xxvi.  24.  But  as  if  he  made  this  difference : 
Tlien  I  gave  promises  what  I  would  do,  now  I  come 
to  perform  the  promises;  with  God  Almighty,  which 
signifies  my  majesty,  I  will  show  myself  Jehovah, 
the  God  of  Abraham,  which  shall  demonstrate  my 
mercy.  "The  Lord:"  his  sovereignty  is  a  point 
that  comes  not  often  to  be  handled,  therefore  here  I 
t<ike  leave  to  enlarge  myself.  It  may  be  considered 
in  seven  respects. 

1.  It  is  independent :  many  things  are  said  to 
govcm,  but  they  have  some  dependence  on  their 
superiors.  Our  life  is  beholden  to  I  lie  fruits,  the 
fruits  to  the  trees,  the  trees  to  the  earth,  the  earth 
to  the  rain,  the  rain  to  the  sun,  the  sun  and  all  to 
the  Lord,  Hos.  ii.  21,  22.  Fruits  are  from  trees,  and 
trees  from  seeds;  both  moistened  by  the  air,  and 
matured  by  the  sun :  element  is  qualified  by  clement, 
orb  depends  on  orb,  the  sim  itself  on  primum  mobile  : 
we  can  go  no  higher.  The  child  looks  up  to  his 
father,  his  father  lives  by  the  peace  of  the  country, 
the  country  could  have  no  peace  but  by  the  magis- 
trate, the  magistrate  is  countenanced  and  warranted 
by  the  king,  the  king  is  ruled  by  God.  Still  one 
looks  upon  another,  but  the  eyes  of  all  things  look 
up  unto  thee,  0  Lord,  Psal.  cxlv.  15. 

2.  It  is  absolute  ;  he  may  dispose  of  his  subjects 
at  his  pleasure  :  as  the  potter,  having  the  lump  in 
his  hand,  makes  w  hat  kind  of  vessel  he  listeth ; 
great  or  small,  round  or  square,  for  the  parlour  or 
for  the  stable  ;  and  when  he  hath  done,  he  may  set 
it  on  his  cupboard,  or  on  the  dunghill :  be  it  to 
honour  or  dishonour,  he  will  be  honoured  by  it. 
Man  respects  deserts  or  demerits,  in  making  the 
poor  rich,  or  the  rich  poor ;  in  ennobling  the  base, 
or  debasing  the  noble :  God  doth  all  according  to 
his  own  will,  without  further  relation.  "  Is  it  not 
lawful  for  me  to  do  what  I  will  with  mine  own  ?  " 
Matt.  XX.  15.  He  can  make  Tabor  a  little  heaven, 
and  turn  Paradise  into  a  desert.  It  is  absolute,  with- 
out control :  there  is  none  to  call  him  to  account  or 
examination,  with  Why  dost  thou  thus?  O  Lord,  it 
was  not  therefore  thy  doing  because  it  was  good,  but 
therefore  is  it  good  because  it  was  thy  doing.  Whe- 
ther thy  mercy  saveth  us,  we  have  cause  to  be  thank- 
ful ;  or  thy  justice  confoundeth  us,  we  have  no  cause 
to  complain :  still,  "  Thou  continuest  holy,  O  thou 
worship  of  Israel,"  Psal.  xxii.  3. 

3.  His  Lordship  is  universal.   First,  over  all  times : 


other  lords  die,  but  he  is  eternal.  Eternity  is  pro- 
perly the  duration  of  an  uncreated  Ens.  It  is  im- 
properly taken,  either  for  things  that  have  both  be- 
ginning and  end,  as  everlasting  mountains  ;  divers 
such  phrases  in  Scripture  :  or  for  things  that  have 
a  beginning  but  shall  have  no  end ;  so  are  angels 
and  men's  souls  eternal  ;  so,  eternal  life,  eternal 
fire.  But  God  calls  himself,  "I  AM,"  Exod.  iii. 
14:  I  am  what  I  have  been,  I  have  been  what  I 
am,  I  am  and  have  been  what  I  shall  be.  This  at- 
tribute is  incommunicable :  all  other  things  had  a 
non  esse  preceding  their  este ;  and  they  have  a 
mutation  tending  to  nothing.  "  They  that  war 
against  thee  shall  be  as  nothing,"  Isa.  xli.  12:  all 
come  to  nothing  unless  they  be  upheld  by  the  manu- 
tcnency  of  God :  but  "  Thou  art  the  same,  and  thy 
years  shall  have  no  end,"  Psal.  cii.  27.  Thou  tum- 
est  man  to  destruction,  and  again  sayest.  Return  : 
"  even  from  everlasting  to  everlasting  thou  art  God," 
Psal.  xc.  2;  the  sole  umpire  and  measurer  of  be- 
ginning and  ending.  Secondly,  over  all  plact;,  hea- 
ven, earth,  hell,  Psal.  cxxxv.  6.  Kings  are  limited, 
and  cannot  do  many  things  they  desire :  they  cannot 
command  the  sun  to  stanil  still,  nor  the  wind  to  blow 
which  way  they  would :  in  the  lofty  air,  in  the  depth 
of  the  sea,  no  king  reigns.  They  fondly  flatter  the 
pope  with  his  long  arms,  that  they  reach  to  pur- 
gatory ;  (but  indeed  both  power  and  place  are  alike 
imaginary ;)  it  is  Christ  alone  that  hath  the  keys  of 
all  places.  Thirdly,  over  all  creatures;  binding  the 
influences  of  Pleiades,  and  loosing  the  bonds  of 
Orion,  Job  xxxviii.  31  ;  commanding  the  fire  against 
the  nature  of  it,  to  descend,  2  Kings  i.  12;  creating 
and  ruling  the  stars,  Amos  v.  8,  overruling  the  lions, 
Dan.  vi.  22,  sending  the  meteors,  Psal.  exlviii.  8, 
hedging  in  the  sea,  lapping  it  up  like  a  child  in 
swaddling-cloths,  Job  xxxviii.  8,  dividing,  diverting, 
filling  it.  In  both  fire  and  water,  those  two  raging 
elements  that  have  no  mercy,  he  shows  mercy ;  de- 
livers us  from  both  in  both.  He  calls  the  fowls,  and 
they  come ;  the  beasts,  and  they  hear ;  the  trees, 
and  they  spring  to  obey  him.  He  hath  a  raven  for 
Elijah,  a  gourd  for  Jonah,  a  dog  for  Lazarus.  Makes 
the  leviathan,  the  hugest  living  creature,  preserve 
his  prophet.  That  a  terrible  lion  should  be  killed,  as 
was  by  Samson  ;  or  not  kill,  as  tliey  forbore  Daniel ; 
or  kill  and  not  eat,  as  that  jirophet,  1  Kings  xiii. : 
here  was  the  Lord.  Over  metals ;  he  makes  iron  to 
swim,  stones  to  cleave  asunder.  Over  the  devils; 
they  must  obey  him  though  unwillingly.  But  they 
continually  rebel  against  him,  and  break  his  will  ? 
They  do  indeed  against  his  complacency,  not  against 
his  permission.  There  is  then  no  time,  not  the  hour 
of  death  ;  no  place,  not  the  sorest  torment ;  no  crea- 
ture, not  the  devil  ;  but  the  Lord  can  deliver  us 
from  them.  Therefore  at  all  times,  in  all  places, 
and  against  all  creatures,  let  us  trust  in  him  for  de- 
liverance. 

4.  It  is  necessarj- ;  we  could  not  live  but  by  his 
dominion.  Take  away  government,  we  are  worse 
than  beasts;  a  bad  king  is  better  than  no  king.  If 
man  rule  ill.  He  overrules  all :  "  Higher  than  the 
highest,"  Eccl.  v.  8.  Above  all,  to  support ;  the 
pillar,  and  the  foundation  of  the  pillars  and  found- 
ations of  the  world.  Above  all,  to  correct ;  binding 
kings  in  chains;  if  authority  grow  warped,  to  straight- 
en it  with  his  justice.  Above  all,  to  direct:  he  di- 
rects natural  government  to  natural  good :  that  the 
elements  be  not  at  war,  but  working  in  a  well-dis- 
posed harmony  for  our  benefit ;  that  one  doth  not 
swallow  up  another,  nor  the  stronger  oppress  the 
weaker  ;  it  is  the  Lord's  doing.  As  he  made  nature 
with  his  Fiat,  so  he  sets  it  a  working  with  his 
Facial :   let   it  so  be,  let  it  so  work,     lie   directs 


3W 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


politic  government  to  politic  good,  that  we  might 
live  like  men  in  a  civil  peace  :  supernatural  govern- 
ment to  salvation,  that  we  may  live  like  Christians 
in  a  gracious  obedience  and  comfort.  This  power 
was  necessary  for  creation ;  he  must  be  an  Almiglily 
Lord  lliat  could  make  us  of  nothing.  It  is  necessary 
for  preservation,  to  conserve  things  in  their  being  and 
working.  Necessaiy  for  redemption ;  it  must  be  an 
infinite  store  that  must  pay  an  infinite  debt.  If  tiie 
Lord  had  not  become  a  servant  on  earth,  those  serv- 
ants could  never  have  been  lords  in  heaven.  All  the 
parts  of  a  commonwealtli  ought  to  uphold  one  an- 
other in  policy ;  all  the  members  of  the  church  to 
nphold  one  another  in  charity ;  as  in  a  building  one 
stone  dotli  bear  up  another,  but  the  foundation  bears 
up  all.  The  members  uphold  the  body,  the  body 
the  members  j  the  subjects  uphold  the  king,  the 
king  upholds  the  subjects ;  but  thou,  O  Lord,  up- 
holdest  us  all. 

5.  It  is  immutable  :  whatsoever  the  Lord  is,  he  is 
simul  el  setml.  With  us  one  thing  doth  exclude  an- 
other ;  this  moment  thrusts  out  that :  learning  ex- 
cludes ignorance,  riches  poverty;  the  business  of 
this  hour  gives  place  to  the  nest.  But  God's  essence 
and  perfections  arc  together  :  eternity  is  the  essence 
of  God.  As  he  is  eternal,  with  beginning,  so  invari- 
able, without  change.  We  are  not  present  to  things 
past  or  to  come  :  God  is  to  all  times  and  things,  past, 
present,  or  future,  ever  present.  The  reason  is,  he 
is  immense,  and  fills  all  places  without  motion,  with- 
out ascent  or  descent,  Indeed  he  is  sometimes  said 
to  descend ;  but  it  is  because  he  then  doth  some  new 
work;  men  took  no  notice  of  his  presence  before. 
This  Lordship  hath  no  succession,  yet  he  produceth 
works  successively :  Ego  facto,  and  Ego  faciam. 
But  this  is  not  in  regard  of  himself,  but  in  respect  of 
us,  that  he  is  said  to  do  one  thing  after  another. 
He  doth  not  now  create  the  world,  nornow  destroy  it, 
nor  now  call  Abraham  out  of  Ur;  nor  is  Isaac  re- 
deemed from  sacrifice,  and  Christ  sacrificed,  in  the 
same  place  or  at  the  same  time.  The  type  must 
properly  go  before  the  antitype.  It  is  false  then 
to  say  that  men  were  justified  before  they  were  bom  : 
they  are  elected  before  all  time,  but  called  and  justi- 
fied in  time :  these  things  are  done  successively. 
With  the  Lord  there  is  order,  though  there  be  lio 
time.  If  I  come  to  a  pillar  with  my  left  side  toward 
it,  it  is  then  on  ray  left  .side;  if  I  come  with  my 
right  side  toward  it,  then  is  it  on  my  right  side; 
yet  is  the  pillar  itself  immovable.  .  All  change  is 
a  kind  of  death,  saith  the  school  :  if  God  could 
change,  he  could  die.  Now  change  is  either  sub- 
stantial, or  qualitative  :  but  God's  substance  can- 
not be  changed,  and  he  hath  no  qualities.  Again, 
it  is  either  amissive,  or  perfective  :  no  man  changes 
l)Ut  he  is  either  the  better  or  the  worse  by  it :  God 
is  the  fountain  of  life,  nothing  can  be  added  to  him, 
for  he  is  infinite  ;  nothing  derogated  from  him,  for  he 
is  the  Lord  Almighty.  In  his  will,  in  his  puqiose, 
in  his  joy,  in  his  justice,  in  his  mercy,  in  all  un- 
changeable. How  is  he  then  said  to  repent?  Not 
that  he  doth  repent,  but  appears  to  us,  in  the  altera- 
tion of  his  work,  as  one  repenting.  There  may  be 
change  in  the  work,  there  is  none  in  the  Workmaji. 
The  uncliangeable  decree  of  God  disposeth  the  change 
of  all  things.  A  man  that  builds  a  house,  hath  an  idea 
in  his  head  whereby  he  purposes  to  frame  it;  he  de- 
crees how  to  order  this  nart,  to  erect  that  corner,  here 
to  build  a  partition,  there  a  chimney,  to  set  up  a 
scaffijld,  and  pull  it  down  again  ;  here  is  a  variety 
w?  '''^"PSc  "f  the  work,  the  worker  is  still  the  same. 
What  God  once  is,  he  is  for  ever:  once  just,  ever 
just;  once  merciful,  ever  merciful. 

6.  It  is  incomprehensible  :  who  ever  saw  God  in 


liis  strength,  and  lived  ?  This  Lord  is  in  himself 
invisible,  as  indivisible  ;  seen  in  his  mighty  works, 
never  to  be  seen  in  his  person.  But  we  shall  see  him 
face  to  face  ?  1  Cor.  xiii.  12.  Not  the  Deity  itself, 
as  the  Anthropomorphites  di-eamed :  not  a  light  only 
resulting  from  him,  as  was  the  error  of  the  Arme- 
nians :  but  by  face  to  face,  is  meant  the  clear  know- 
ledge of  our  understanding  :  and  we  shall  know  him, 
not  with  comprehensive  knowledge,  but  with  adequate 
knowledge,  as  he  is  cognoscible,  for  he  is  incompre- 
hensible. So  are  those  places  to  be  understood,  Heb. 
xii.  15;  I  John  iii.  2;  Rev.  xx.  4.  The  intellectual 
vision  is  not  of  his  essence,  but  of  some  work  repre- 
sented. And  that  of  Daniel,  chap.  vii.  9,  was  but  a 
dream  or  vision  upon  his  bed,  some  divine  and  super- 
natural revelation.  But  did  not  John  Baptist  see  the 
Holy  Ghost?  Matt.  iii.  16.  No,  not  the  Divine  na-_ 
ture,  but  the  Dove.  But  doth  not  Job  assure  him- " 
self  of  seeing  God  ?  Job  xix.  26.  Not  God  himself, 
but  his  Redeemer,  God  in  the  veil  of  the  flesh  : 
Jesus  shall  be  thoroughly  and  joyfully  looked  upon  ; 
but  the  Deity  shall  not  be  seen  hereafter  with  the 
bodily  eyes. 

Nothing  can  apprehend  that  which  is  out  of  its 
limits ;  but  we  are  finite,  and  God  is  immense. 
Every  thing  that  is  seen,  must  be  seen  in  some  place  ; 
but  God  is  in  no  place.  Our  body  indeed  shall  be 
spiritual,  not  needing  meat,  nor  sleep,  nor  breathing 
by  air ;  yet  it  is  not  capable  of  comprehending  that 
infinite  Spirit.  Here  we  understand  him  after  the 
measure  and  capacity  of  man,  in  a  human  resemblance ; 
as  if  he  had  feet,  eyes,  affections;  because  they  that 
should  know  him,  liave  such.  But  when  we  read  of 
God's  foot,  let  us  think  of  his  coming,  as  a  man  re- 
moves by  his  feet.  When  we  read  of  his  eyes,  con- 
sider his  knowledge  of  all  things,  as  a  man  sees  all 
by  that  organ  of  sense.  So  when  we  are  said  to  see 
his  face,  conceive  our  knowledge  of  him  to  be  meant. 
"  He  that  planted  the  ear,  shall  he  not  hear  ?  "  Psal. 
xiv.  9  :  he  doth  not  say.  Hath  he  not  an  ear?  but, 
shall  he  not  hear  ?  The  pure  in  heart  are  promised 
to  see  God,  Matt.  v.  8:  but  as  that  pureness  is  in 
heart,  so  is  that  vision  in  heart.  We  say,  I  see  a 
man's  wisdom,  see  his  valour,  see  his  meaning ;  yet 
are  not  these  visible :  so  nor  this  Lord,  but  by  his 
effects,  what  his  power  worketh.  Thus  far  in  heaven 
we  shall  exceed  in  knowledge.  Here  we  know 
him  only  by  negatives,  what  he  is  not ;  that  not  mor- 
tal, not  mutable :  and  by  his  works ;  The  Lord  is 
knownby  his  judgments,  Psal.  ix.  16;  and,  "Be  still, 
and  know  that  I  am  God,"  Psal.  xlvi.  10  :  you  that 
arc  absent,  come  and  see ;  you  that  are  present, 
stand  still  and  contemplate  :  see  and  know,  know 
and  confess,  confess  and  apply,  make  use  of  what  you 
see  and  know.  What  is  that  ?  I  am  God,  you  are 
but  men.  Put  them  in  mind,  0  Lord,  that  they  are 
but  men;  worms,  vanity,  nothing.  But  lam  God: 
not  a  popular,  titular,  idle,  abject  god,  like  the  gods 
of  the  Gentiles,  not  able  to  wipe  the  dust  off  their 
own  faces ;  but  a  God  that  makes  gods,  a  God  that 
mars  gods ;  that  hath  a  dominion  above  all  dominion, 
above  all  comprehension.  Lord,  we  cannot  com- 
prehend thee  in  thy  majesty,  do  thou  comprehend  us 
in  thy  mei-cy. 

7.  It  is  glorious  and  blessed :  he  is  the  chiefest  good, 
and  he  enjoys  himself,  therefore  is  perfectly  and  infi- 
nitely blessed.  Our  blessedness  consists  in  enjoying 
him  ;  his,  not  enjoying  us,  but  himself.  The  Hebrew 
speaks  of  blessedness  in  the  plural ;  as  the  Latins  call 
wealth,  divitio',  opes  ;  because  many  things  concur,  as 
to  make  up  a  rich  man,  so  to  make  one  blessed.  There 
is  of  them  both  an  essential  part ;  as  gold,  silver,  lands, 
houses  be  the  materials  of  riches.  And  an  external 
part,  the  free  and  certain  possession  of  these  things ; 


VtR.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OP  ST.  PETER. 


391 


for  if  they  may  be  gone,  a  man  is  poor  in  possibility ; 
when  they  are  gone,  he  is  poor  indeed.  Man's  bless- 
edness is  from  anollicr,  the  Lord's  is  from  himself; 
man's  is  in  grace,  God's  in  nature ;  man's  temporal, 
God's  eternal ;  man's  voluntar)',  God's  neecssary,  it 
cannot  be  otherwise  ;  man's  changeable,  God's  al- 
ways the  same.  The  greatest  and  stateliest  monarch 
puts  oft'  his  glor>-  and  robes  at  some  times;  as  when 
ne  goes  into  the  bath,  the  bed,  the  grave.  He  car- 
ries no  sceptre  in  the  bath,  yet  may  he  then  have  a 
crown  on  his  head ;  he  hath  neither  sceplrc  nor 
crown  in  his  bed,  yet  even  then  he  is  known  a  king 
by  his  attending  guard ;  but  in  the  grave  he  leaves 
off"  all.  Now  God's  glory  is  never  left  off,  there  is 
no  interruption  of  his  blessedness,  not  a  moment 
wherein  he  is  less  happy. 

His  blessedness  is  internal  or  external.  Internal 
consists,  1.  In  the  contemplation  of  his  own  suf- 
ficiency :  thus  he  saw  all  to  be  veiy  good  whieli  he 
made,  and  took  pleasure  in  his  own  wisdom  that 
made  them.  2.  In  the  comprehension  of  all  happi- 
ness ;  for  it  is  nothing  to  be  blessed,  and  not  to  under- 
stand it :  many  were  happy  if  they  did  but  know 
their  blessedness  :  God's  omniscience  is  his  blessed- 
ness. 3.  In  the  delectation  taken  in  this  compre- 
hension, when  he  knows  there  is  nothing  can  ofl'end 
him ;  whereas  kings  may  be  free  from  danger,  not 
from  fear.  4.  In  the  contentation  taken  in  this  de- 
light ;  having  all  things  so  fully  in  himself,  that  he 
needs  no  addition.  Many  men  think  not  themselves 
happy  in  the  much  they  have,  because  they  want 
something  they  would  have ;  but  there  is  nothing 
more  for  God  to  desire.  He  contemplates  his  owni 
goodness,  and  rests  in  himself  with  a  sweet  compla- 
cency, as  the  infinite  fountain  of  all  blessedness. 
External  blessedness  is  that  he  receives  from  the 
creatures,  every  one,  sensible  and  insensible,  espe- 
cially angels  and  men,  Psal.  cxlviii.  He  is  blessed 
in  himself,  Rom.  ix.  5,  yet  he  will  also  be  blessed  of 
us.  We  can  add  nolhiug  to  him,  nor  may  we  take 
llis  due  honour  from  him.  He  looks  for  praises  for 
electing  us,  creating  us,  &c.  We  discourse  our  bless- 
ings with  an  annual  commemoration,  rejoice  and 
solace  oui-selves  in  them ;  but  still  let  us  reflect  all  by 
praises  to  our  Maker.  A  king  will  take  a  present  of 
a  beggar,  that  by  this  occasion  he  may  (not  enrich 
himself,  but)  reward  the  poor  man.  God  needs  not 
this  outward  clothing,  yet  he  is  pleased  to  wear  it 
for  our  sakes.     "  Blesssed  be  God,"  &c.  2  Cor.  i.  3. 

Thus  far  I  thought  good  to  meditate  on  the  in- 
cfTable  majesty  of  God.  It  is  not  possible  to  drink 
up  all  the  sea,  to  suck  in  all  the  air,  much  less  to 
comprehend  God.  (Nazian.)  When  a  man  considers 
himself  in  relation  to  the  reasonless  creatures;  how 
the  beasts  do  him  homage,  the  earth  yields  him  her 
fruits  and  metals,  the  sea  brings  him  in  merchandise, 
the  air  provides  breath  for  his  nostrils  and  fowls  for 
his  table,  the  sun  misseth  not  his  hour  to  enlighten 
him  ;  he  may  then  think  himself  something :  but 
when  he  considers  the  Lord,  he  is  swallowed  up,  and 
thinks  himself  nothing.  Now  though  a  man  cannot 
drink  up  all  the  river,  yet  he  may  lasto  it;  though 
not  span  the  sun,  yet  look  upon  his  beams :  though 
we  cannot  take  in  all  the  air,  yet  enough  to  fill  us. 
Let  us  get  enough  of  this  Lord  to  fill  our  hearts,  we 
need  no  more.  (Bern.)  When  a  man  thrusts  his 
hand  into  the  fire,  it  burns  him ;  when  he  comes  but 
near  it,  it  warms  him:  let  us  come  with  a  purpose  to 
partake,  not  to  eomprehenJ  the  Lord,  (.\ugust.) 
The  two  days'  ofiering  are  the  two  Testaments; 
these  eat  and  feed  upon :  what  is  reserved  for  the 
third  day,  is  for  the  world  to  come  ;  it  will  fire  us  to 
search  that.  (Orifjen  on  Levit.)  Nor  is  this  point 
barren,  but  hath  its  comfortable  use,  and  that  even 


appliablc  to  our  purpose.  Doctrine  being  like  the 
sun,  not  only  to  delight  us  with  the  contemplation, 
bul  also  to  warm  and  riuieken  our  afl'ections. 

1.  This  Lord  being  the  Supreme,  and  all  other 
Ijowers  subordinate  to  him,  and  dependent  on  him, 
let  this  encourage  our  faith  to  trust  him  with  our 
deliverance.  Trouble  not  yourselves  with  your  ene- 
mies, nor  yet  say,  Our  own  hand  shall  deliver  us, 
Exod.  xiv.  13.  Kings  are  men  of  might,  yet  but 
men  of  dust :  without  this  Lord  their  power  cannot 
save  themselves,  much  less  us.  Angels  arc  mighty, 
but  cannot  come  unless  this  Lord  send  them.  I 
could  ask  my  Father,  and  he  would  give  me  legions 
of  angels,  s;iilh  Christ,  Matt.  xxvi.  53:  we  must  ask 
our  Father,  or  not  have  one  angel  to  do  us  good. 
He  shall  look  his  eyes  out,  that  trusts  to  any  other 
deliverer  than  the  Lord. 

2.  His  dominion  being  so  absolute,  let  men  cease 
to  rebel  against  it.  I  will  be  exalted,  not  only  in  my 
Israel,  but  among  the  nations,  Psal.  xlvi.  10  :  if  they 
receive  me,  with  their  good  contents;  if  they  refuse 
me,  against  their  wills.  And  if  there  be  any  ground, 
whose  lines  are  extended  farther  than  people  and 
nations  inhabit,  there  also  will  I  be  exalted.  We 
fear  kings,  and  take  their  wrathful  looks  as  messen- 
gers of  death ;  and  we  do  well  to  give  fear  to  whom 
fear  belongs,  Rom.  xiii.  /.  But  here  is  a  power  we 
cannot  resist,  a  wisdom  we  cannot  delude,  a  justice 
we  cannot  corrupt.  Locks,  and  stocks,  and  treble- 
barred  doors,  a  dark  dungeon,  and  a  cruel  gaoler,  all 
cannot  keep  them  in  whom  this  Lord  will  deliver, 
Acts  xvi.  2().  His  power  shall  shake  the  foundations 
of  the  earth,  that  earthqu;ike  the  foundations  of 
the  prison,  that  trembling  (as  in  the  body)  disjoint 
and  unfasten  the  doors,  and  loose  all  their  bands. 
There  is  no  knot  but  he  can  untie  it ;  let  us  at  once 
fear  and  trust  him. 

3.  This  being  universal  over  all  times ;  the  God 
of  Abraham,  and  of  his  seed ;  "  Jesus  Christ  the  same 
yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  for  ever,"  Heb.  xiii.  8; 
the  God  of  our  fathers  that  were,  of  ourselves  that 
are,  of  our  posterity  that  shall  be ;  then  our  enemies 
shall  never  find  time,  wherein  he  shall  not  find 
means  to  deliver  us.  Over  all  places  ;  whither  shall 
we  go  from  his  presence  ?  Psal.  cxxxix.  Whither  ? 
That  place  was  never  yet  discovered.  He  is  present 
even  to  those  that  shun  his  presence,  that  say  to 
him,  Dejiart  from  us ;  how  much  more  to  us !  The 
Lord  is  with  us;  yea,  he  is  not  only  with  us,  but  for 
us ;  Immanuel,  God  in  ouf  nature,  God  in  our  flesh. 
"  The  Lord  of  hosts  is  with  us;  the  God  of  Jacob  is 
our  refuge,"  Psal.  xlvi.  11.  The  God  of  virtue,  there 
is  his  pow'er :  he  is  our  refuge,  there  is  his  favour. 
The  Lord  of  hosts,  strong  :  the  God  of  Jacob,  sweet. 
The  one  of  puissance,  another  of  promise.  "  The 
Lord,  the  Lord,"  Exod.  xxiv.  6 ;  whatsoever  belongs 
to  power,  majesty,  governance :  "  merciful ;"  what- 
ever belongs  to  election,  dilcction,  compassion,  cove- 
nant, sacrament :  both  together  a  just  equilibrium 
between  greatness  and  grace;  a  fair  and  sweet  har- 
ni  :iy.  Overall  creatures:  as  heaven  is  his  throne, 
the  e:;rlh  his  foot-stool,  and  the  sea  his  wash-pot ; 
So  ;:  11  creatures  in  them  are  at  his  beck;  none  can 
say,  I  alone  have  escaped.  He  can  make  the  very 
flies  and  insects,  those  scorns  of  nature,  execution- 
ers (if  his  vengeance.  Over  us,  in  a  gracious  and 
special  manner;  which  aflfords  us  a  challenge  and 
defiance  against  all  adversary  forces ;  we  fear  not 
armies  of  men,  legions  of  devils,  nnr  the  gates  of 
hell.  The  Lord  is  our  God :  which  are  not  only 
words  of  charily,  comprehending  in  a  conmiunily  all 
Christians;  but  words  of  faith,  when  we  take  this 
great  Lord  for  our  proper  and  peculiar  God.  That 
he  can  deliver  us,  this  we  presume;  that  he  will  de- 


392 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


liver  us,  this  we  assume;  from  that  principle  or 
thesis,  we  derive  this  hypothesis,  and  appropriate 
it  to  ourselves.  Therefore  we  say  not  only,  with  the 
leper,  "  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me 
clean,"  Matt.  viii.  2 ;  but  we  know  thou  canst,  and 
we  believe  thou  wilt,  and  we  beseech  thee  to  do  it. 

4.  The  necessariness  of  this  Lordship  gives  us  ex- 
perience, exjierience  confidence,  and  confidence  will 
bring  deliverance.  How  easily  would  the  thunder 
strike  us  dead,  the  sea  break  in  upon  us,  thieves  spoil 
us,  the  whelps  of  Rome  worry  us,  the  fiends  of  hell 
ruin  US;  but  that  our  Lord  sits  in  the  chair  of  om- 
nipotency  and  protects  us !  Many  are  the  dangers 
which  we  see  and  fear,  innumerable  those  we  neither 
see  nor  fear;  therefore,  to  take  away  all  attribution 
to  ourselves,  even  when  we  know  not,  the  Lord  de- 
livers us.  "  How  manifold  are  thy  works,  O  Lord!" 
Psal.  civ.  24.  How  manifold!  if  we  sail  in  the  main 
ocean,  and  put  not  into  some  arm  or  creek,  we  never 
find  an  end.  But  we  wonder  not  because  they  are 
common.  Of  fulness  comes  loathing.  It  is  not  mag- 
nitude, but  novelty,  that  draws  our  eyes  and  observa- 
tions. But  he  that  considers  his  own  weakness  and 
impotence ;  how  he  was  made  in  the  womb,  and 
knew  it  not ;  taken  from  the  womb,  and  not  able  to 
help  himself;  that  God  must  now  give  him  his  daily 
bread  to  feed  him,  his  daily  breath  to  quicken  him, 
or  he  perishes :  or  that  considers  the  power  of  his 
enemies,  with  the  implacable  fury  of  their  malice, 
the  blood-hounds  of  hell ;  and  yet  that  he  is  de- 
livered :  must  confess.  This  is  the  Lord's  doing.  That 
Sisera  should  fall  by  a  woman,  Pharaoh's  host  sink 
like  stones  into  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  an  invincible 
navy  perish  by  a  few  rotten  ships  on  fire:  "  Oh  that 
men  would  therefore  praise  the  Lord  for  his  good- 
ness, and  for  his  wonderful  works  to  the  children  of 
men!"  Psal.  cvii.  8;  that  our  children's  children  to 
the  last  period  of  any  generation  in  this  island  may 
say,  O  God,  we  have  heard  with  our  ears,  our  fathers 
and  grandfathers  have  declared  to  us,  that  noble 
work  of  thy  deliverance. 

5.  The  immutability  of  it  gives  us  further  cause  to 
trust  in  him.  Laban  may  love  Jacob  well,  but  his 
countenance  will  change  upon  him  ;  Amnon  will 
hate  Tamar  more  than  ever  he  loved  her;  Pharaoh's 
ofl[icer  forgets  Joseph  when  his  turn  is  served  :  there 
is  no  constancy  in  man  ;  but  I  the  Lord  change  not, 
Mai.  iii.  6.  The  world  changeth,  the  vine  casts  off 
her  grapes,  the  tired  earlh  grows  dull  in  increase, 
man's  stature  is  lessened,  his  length  of  life  less  than 
that,  his  honesty  little  or  nothing  at  all ;  the  sea  en- 
croacheth  upon  the  land,  springs  look  like  autumns  ; 
states  change,  policies  eliange,  governments  change, 
all  the  materials  of  nature  change :  we  sec  it,  we  need 
notpreachit;  it  is  matterof  sight,  not  of  faith.  Every 
man's  mouth  is  full  of  this  complaint.  The  world  is 
fickle :  whatsoever  is  delectable,  vanisheth  like  smoke. 
That  medicine  helps  to-day,which  doth  not  to-morrow ; 
God  is  always  helpful.  That  receipt  helps  one  which 
helps  not  another;  God  helps  all.  (August.)  The 
hoarder  adores  his  money;  yet  is  his  wealth  but  like 
an  inheritance  on  Salisbury  Plain  ;  he  may  rob  many 
passengers  for  a  time,  at  last  somebody  will  rob  him. 
Set  not  your  heart  on  riches,  lest  you  be  driven  to 
say,  as  Laban  to  Rachel,  Thou  hast  stolen  away  my 
heart.  And  when  they  are  gone,  their  loss  gives 
more  of  pain  than  their  possession  of  pleasure. 
Contrarily,  (iod's  love  incrcaseth  ;  though  not  really, 
in  itself,  yet  efl'ectiially,  to  us.  (August.)  Friends  are 
mutable,  Paul  had  many  adherents,  yet  at  last  eom- 
1'',^'.""' '.'  ^"  '"^"  stood  with  me,  but  all  forsook  me," 
2  Tim.  iv.  1(5.  Indeed  Alexander  opposed  his  words: 
some  wilbstood  liim,  but  none  stood  with  him.  Yet 
tlicn  he  finds  this  Lord  to  stand  for  him,  he  delivered 


him,  vcr.  17.  Peace  changeth  into  war,  discord 
thrusts  out  amily  ;  but  in  God  is  constant  peace. 
"  I  create  the  fruit  of  the  lips ;  Peace,  peace,"  &c. 
Isa.  Ivii.  19.  Where  we  find,  1.  Sureness;  Pharaoh's 
dream  is  doubled  for  the  sure&ess.  2.  Greatness ;  no 
peace  like  our  reconciliation  with  God,  it  is  past 
all  understanding.  3.  Multiplicity,  all  kinds  of 
l)eace  that  may  stand  with  goodness.  If  sufferings 
abound  for  Christ,  consolations  abound  also,  2  Cor. 
i.  5 :  if  the  exuberance  be  in  either  scale,  it  is  in 
the  comforts.  We  read  of  seven  enemies,  Rom.  viii. 
35;  and  of  seven  victories,  ver.  38.  And  if  there  be 
any  other  obstacle,  from  the  height  of  heaven  to  the 
depth  and  bottom  of  hell,  or  further  malignity  in 
any  creature,  it  shall  be  removed.  Whom  God  loves 
he  loves  to  the  end;  and  if  he  have  once  given  us  an 
earnest  of  his  favour,  we  shall  be  sure  of  the  whole 
bargain. 

G.  The  incomprehensibleness  of  this  power,  so  far 
transcending  the  narrowness  of  the  human  heart,  and 
yet  so  visible  to  the  eye  in  the  great  and  wondrous 
effects,  may  well  further  show  us  where  our  deliver- 
ance lies.  Howsoever  the  noblest  demonstration  of 
things  be  from  their  causes  and  principles;  yet  the 
nearest  to  usward,  and  most  apprehensible,  is  from 
the  effects  and  performances.  At  Sennacherib's 
army  Judah  hung  down  the  head,  rent  her  clothes, 
and  hid  her  face ;  nothing  was  left  her,  but.  Lord, 
bow  down  thine  ear  and  hear,  open  thine  eye  and 
consider:  yet  in  this  extremity  they  found  the  Lord 
a  Deliverer;  an  angel  slew  in  one  night  185,000 
of  them.  Here  was  an  invisible  hand,  but  a  mighty- 
one  ;  a  power  not  comprehensible,  yet  discerned  in 
the  work.  If  any  object.  We  see  not  our  signs,  not 
one  finger  of  this  hand  appears  :  we  are  in  distress, 
and  the  Lord  hath  thrust  his  working  arm  info  his 
bosom,  buried  his  mercies  in  forgetfulness  :  yea,  he 
does  that  which  seems  contrary  to  his  works  of  fa- 
vour, which  the  prophet  calls  strange  and  improper 
works,  Isa.  xxviii.  21,  almost  alien  from  his  nature, 
troubling  his  own  people;  that  the  verj'  wicked  in- 
sult, Where  is  now  their  God?  yet  even  then  is  an 
invisible  hand  working  for  \is  ;  and  when  the  devil's 
conspiracy  is  come  to  the  birth,  it  shall  be  abortive, 
or  strangled  in  the  womb  ;  the  God  of  our  salvation 
will  deliver  us. 

7.  It  is  blessed,  and  that  which  blesseth  us,  and 
all  things  to  us :  the  sun  doth  not  so.  necessarily 
lighten  the  air,  as  God  doth  bless  them  his  favour  is 
pleased  to  shine  upon.  Christ  is  his  principally 
blessed  Son.  "  Son  of  God,"  Matt.  xxvi.  63.  "  Son 
of  the  Blessed,"  Alark  xiv.  61.  This  blessedness 
comes  down  from  him  to  the  rest  of  his  children  :  all 
blessings  come  from  (!od,  but  by  the  hand  of  man, 
even  that  man  of  God,  and  hand  of  his  Father,  Christ. 
That  bread  should  not  choke,  rather  than  nourish,  it 
is  blessing.  That  garments,  which  arc  cold  of  them- 
selves, should  keep  us  warm  ;  but  especially,  that  we 
perish  not  in  our  sins,  that  we  are  delivered  from  the 
power  of  death  and  paws  of  the  dragon,  this  is  his 
cxtraordinarj'  blessing.  Blessedness  is  eveiy  man's 
desire  ;  now  he  that  hath  God,  hath  blessedness. 
Whosoever  hath  the  sun,  halh  the  light  of  the  sun  : 
he  cannot  want  water,  that  hath  the  fountain.  St. 
Augustine  hath  the  story  of  a  histrionical  mounte- 
bank, that  to  get  spectators,  and  money  by  them,  pro- 
mised to  tell  them  ihe  next  day  what  they  all  most 
desired.  The  theatre  being  full  of  iieople,  and  their 
minds  full  of  expectation,  what  was  the  device?  "  You 
would  all  buy  cheap  and  sell  dear."  But  tins  holds 
not,  for  the  good  man  in  a  famine  will  buy  corn 
dear,  and  sell  it  to  the  poor  cheap.  And  on  the 
other  side,  the  unlhrift  will  sill  hifi  inhcrilanee  cheap, 
to  buy  vanities  dear.     Therefore  he  failed  of  h:s  j  re- 


Ver.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


393 


mise.  But  if  he  had  told  them,  You  would  all  be 
happy,  this  had  been  a  full  satisfaction.  Let  us 
cleave  to  this  blessed  God,  and  he  will  deliver  us 
from  sin  and  hell,  which  is  blessedness  begun  ;  and 
bring  us  to  salvation  and  heaven,  which  is  blessed- 
ness perfect  and  consummate. 

Let  this  teach  us  to  bless  him  that  blcsseih  us. 
A  man  drinks  of  a  river,  he  adds  nothing  to  it,  but 
takes  something  from  it :  when  we  offer  to  God  our 
praises,  we  give  him  nothing,  we  receive  something 
from  him.  It  is  but  thanks  we  give,  but  we  "  take 
the  cup  of  salvation,"  Psal.  cxvi.  13.  We  send  up 
praises,  as  a  man  throws  up  (lowers,  that  fall  downi 
back  upon  his  own  head;  so  the  .showers  of  our  free- 
will offerings  fall  down  upon  ourselves  in  showers  of 
mercies. 

Let  it  also  invite  us  to  love  him,  as  being  most 
blessed  and  lovely.  Look  what  foundation  there  is 
in  any  other,  why  thou  shouldst  love,  fear,  ser\-e, 
honour  them  ;  all  these  are  a  thousand  times  more 
in  God.  Thy  prince  hath  honour,  thy  father  rever- 
ence, thy  master  ser^■ice,  thy  wife  love :  all  these  are 
due  to  God  in  a  transcendent  measure.  He  that  is 
thy  king,  is  but  God's  servant ;  and  spiritually  we 
are  all  kings,  in  Christ :  and  when  all  the  confeder- 
ate kings  of  the  earth  cannot  deliver  thee,  this  Lord 
can  save  thee.  Thou  lovest  thy  countn,-,  it  is  well : 
thy  country  gave  thee  not  being  and  life :  to  dis- 
please God  is  the  way  to  make  thine  own  country 
spew  thee  out.  If  therefore  Curtius,  in  a  vain-glori- 
ous love  to  his  country,  threw  himself  into  the  gulf, 
because  the  oracle  said.  Whom  the  people  loved  best, 
he  must  be  cast  in  to  stop  it  ;  how  are  wc  bound  to 
love  God  even  above  our  own  lives,  that  hath  pre- 
served us  here,  and  provided  a  better  country"  for  us 
hereafter !  Thou  revereneest  thy  father,  thou  docst 
well,  nature  itself  would  rebuke  the  eontrarj- ;  but 
if  such  awe  be  to  the  father  of  thy  flesh,  what 
humble  reverence  is  due  to  the  Infuscr  of  thy  soul, 
the  Father  of  thy  father  and  of  all  mankind !  '  Thou 
servest  thy  master,  well  done ;  that  God  which  al- 
ways commands,  not  seldom  commends  this  obedi- 
ence :  but  if  a  master's  reward  be  such  an  encourage- 
ment, what  is  it  to  hear  from  heaven,  Well  done, 
good  servant !  Thy  wife  hath  thy  heart,  it  is  fit, 
you  are  one  flesh ;  but  be  not  so  uxorious  to  thy 
wife,  as  to  be  injurious  to  thy  Husband,  Christ.  Of 
all  places,  remember  Solomon,  and  let  not  thy  wife 
have  God's  idace.  The  love  of  a  brother  is  great,  of 
a  friend  greater,  of  a  wife  above  that ;  but  the  love 
of  God  must  be  above  all.  Let  the  dead  bury  their 
dead;  follow  thou  me,  Matt.  viii.  22:  forsake  thy 
father  living,  much  more  dead,  to  follow  Christ.  If 
the  wife  of  thy  bosom  alienate  thy  affection  from 
him,  she  is  a  traitor  to  thee  and  to  him.  Now  if  lust 
or  profit  comes  in  competition  with  God,  examine 
thy  conscience,  which  prcferrest  thou  ?  Gold  many 
go  to  the  devil  for,  "yet  The  law  of  thy  mouth  is 
better  unto  me  than  thousands  of  gold  or  silver,"  Psal. 
cxix.  72.  How  many,  of  all  these  things,  do  make 
it  their  last  and  least  care !  Many  men's  shoe-ties 
cost  them  more  in  a  year  than  God  and  their  souls: 
so  unmindful  are  we  of  thee,  O  Lord ! 

"  The  Lord  knoweth  how."  I  have  held  you  long 
in  this  point  of  deliverance,  and  you  say  it  is  high 
time  to  deliver  you  from  it :  one  circumstance  more, 
and  you  have  your  wish.  This  last  eoucerus  tlie 
wisdom  of  God :  it  is  enough  that  he  promises  de- 
liverance, he  keeps  the  manner  to  himself.  It  is  set 
down  indefinitely  :  no  man,  no  apostle,  noangcl,  can 
know  all  the  means  of  God's  delivering  his :  it  is 
enough  that  he  himself  knows.  This  gives  a  check 
to  all  saucy  inquirers,  that  will  not  believe  help 
from  the  Lord,  unless  he  tells  them  how.     It  hath 


ever  been  the  foolish  ambition  of  man,  to  be  most 
prying  into  concealed  things;  desiring  to  know  what 
tie  is  forbidden,  and  slighting  that  he  is  charged  to 
learn.  It  was  not  the  thirst  of  gold  that  was  tlie  fall 
of  mankind;  the  earth  and  all  her  metals  were  his: 
not  of  honour;  he  had  sovereignty  over  all  the  crea- 
tures: not  of  pleasure  ;  he  wanted  none:  Satan  had 
another  bait,  a  forbidden  knowledge.  How  divine  a 
tiling  is  knowledge,  whereof  even  innoceiicy  itself 
was  ambitious  !  Adam  looked  for  speculative  know- 
ledge, he  should  have  looked  for  experimental.  He 
thought  it  had  been  good  to  know  evil,  whereas  good 
was  ample  enough  to  have  made  up  his  perfect 
knowledge  and  blessedness.  He  that  knew  all  other 
things,  knew  not  this  one  thing,  that  he  knew 
enough.  All  that  God  made  was  good,  the  Maker 
being  much  more  good  ;  they  good  in  their  kinds,  he 
good  in  himself.  Adam  knew  the  Creator,  and  his 
creatures,  yet  this  could  not  content  him  :  he  would 
know  that  God  never  made,  evil ;  evil  of  sin,  evil  of 
death ;  both  which  himself  made  by  desiring  to 
know  them.  Ever  since,  we  know  evil  too  well,  and 
smart  with  knowing  it :  how  dear  hath  this  lesson 
cost  us,  that  it  is  safe  to  be  ignorant  where  God  hath 
not  bid  us  know  !  Yet  still  are  we  transported  with 
this  saucy  appetite  of  our  grandmother,  and  run 
ourselves  aground  with  the  curious  affectation  of  for- 
bidden knowledge.  For  the  things  revealed.  Lord, 
give  us  a  sober  knowledge ;  for  the  things  concealed, 
give  us  a  contented  ignorance.  There  is  more  mani- 
fested than  we  can  know,  enough  to  make  us  happy 
by  know  ing.  Deliverance  we  look  for  :  how  or  when 
the  Lord  will  deliver  thee  or  me,  that  is  in  his  own 
bosom,  and  the  breast  of  his  Privy  Counsel,  Jesus 
Christ. 

"  The  Lord  knoweth  how."  As  there  is  nothing 
impossible  to  his  might,  so  there  is  nothing  conceal- 
able  from  his  understanding.  God's  wisdom  and 
jirovidence  is  like  the  eye  of  a  well-drawn  picture ; 
that  looks  upon  all  and  every  one,  as  if  every  one 
were  all.  Take  an  eye  and  draw  never  so  many  lines 
from  it,  it  sees  all  alike,  and  at  once ;  the  centre  is 
present  to  every  point  of  the  circumference.  This  is 
a  threefold  comfort  to  us. 

1.  He  knows  our  temptations  before  they  be  upon 
us;  he  sees  the  preparing  of  the  potion,  weighs  the 
ingredients  to  a  scruple,  qualifies  the  malignity  of 
the  purgatives  with  sweet  consolations.  Satan,  that 
bloody  apothecarj',  minds  nothing  but  the  drugs  and 
dregs  of  poison ;  but  God  puts  in  an  antidote  that  he 
knows  not  of:  he  means  to  do  hurt,  but  the  Lord 
knows  how  to  convert  it  to  good.  Thus,  as  Augus- 
tine saith,  all  the  misery  of  a  Christian  is  a  medi- 
cinal pain,  not  a  penal  sentence.  Now  he  that  looks 
to  our  affliction,  will  look  to  our  extrication.  He 
would  never  suffer  Satan  to  assault  us,  but  that  he 
knows  how  to  deliver  us.  If  Pharaoh  had  kept  him- 
self at  home,  God's  honour  had  not  been  so  great  at 
the  Red  Sea :  he  knows  as  well  how  to  get  nimsclf 
honour  of  Satan,  as  he  did  of  Pharaoh. 

2.  He  knows  them  when  they  be  upon  us.  The 
Lord  looked  down  upon  the  affliction  of  Israel,  Exod. 
ii.  25:  Pharaoh  plagues  them,  he  sees  it,  and  there- 
fore plagues  Pharaoh.  "  Thou  hast  considered  my 
trouble,  thou  hast  known  my  soul  in  advei-sities," 
Psal.  xxxi.  7.  Now  he  tb.at  knows  the  soul  in  ad- 
versity, knows  how  to  deliver  it  out  of  adversity. 
"The  Lord  look  upon  it,"  says  dying  Zcchariah, 
2  Chron.  xxiv.  22.  Yes,  he  did  see  it.  The  wrong- 
ed child  hopes  to  relieve  himself  by  making  moan  to 
his  father.  The  eagle,  though  she  (lies  aloft,  hath 
still  an  eye  to  her  young  ones;  if  any  danger  ap- 
proach, she  swiftly  stoops  to  defend  them.  (Plin.) 
Thus  Christ  in  heaven  hath  an  eye  to  his  darlings  on 


394 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


earth:  if  any  Saul  be  riding  with  a  bloody  commis- 
sion against  them,  down  he  comes  from  his  imperial 
throne  to  their  rescue.  Why  dost  thou  persecute 
me  ?  Me ;  dost  think,  Saul,  that  Christians  have  no 
patrons  upon  earth  ? 

3.  He  knows  how  to  rid  them  from  us.  They  are 
often  so  perplexful  and  intricate,  that  neither  we  see, 
nor  tile  world  sees,  nor  reason  appreliends  how,  yet 
the  Lord  knowcth.  Egypt  aflliets  Israel  through 
many  degrees  ;  Pharaoh  suspects  them  for  purpose 
of  revolting,  imposeth  on  them  hea\'y  burdens  ;  still 
God  looks  on,  and  lets  him  alone.  To  the  name  of 
strangers  is  added  the  name  of  slaves.  Israel  had 
gathered  some  rust  in  Egypt,  and  now  must  be  scour- 
ed :  it  is  well  they  bore  their  burdens,  who  else  had 
borne  the  burden  of  God.  When,  like  palm  trees, 
they  nourish  with  their  burdens,  midwives  are  sub- 
orned to  destroy  their  male  children  ;  and  they 
whose  office  is  to  help  the  birth,  must  murder  it. 
Still  the  Lord  knows,  and  holds  his  peace.  From 
burdens  they  proceed  to  bondage,  and  from  bondage 
to  blood ;  from  vexation  of  their  bodies  to  destruc- 
tion of  the  fruit  of  their  bodies.  If  the  midwives 
refuse,  the  multitude  shall  do  it :  cruelty  had  but 
smoked  before,  now  it  flames  up.  It  is  rare  tyranny 
that  finds  no  villany  for  an  executioner.  Lastly,  im- 
possible labours  are  laid  upon  (hem,  the  tyrant  re- 
ijuircs  tasks  not  feasible :  they  could  neither  make 
straw,  nor  find  it,  yet  they  must  have  it.  Do  what 
may  be,  is  tolerable ;  but  do  what  cannot  be,  is  cruel. 
Yet  thus  doth  Pharaoh  pick  a  quarrel  to  punish ;  and 
if  they  do  it  not,  they  are  beaten.  Now  God  begins 
to  look  down,  and  spite  of  all  he  delivers  his  people. 
No  arms  shall  keep  them  longer  in  Egypt,  no  armies 
shall  hurt  them  out  of  Egypt.  Pharaoh  or  the  sea 
looks  for  their  conquest ;  to  escape  is  beyond  all 
hope,  all  thought ;  yet  both  shall  be  disappointed  ; 
the  Lord  knew  how  to  do  it.  So  that  they  did  not 
cry  so  loud  before,  as  now  they  sin:  not  faith,  but 
sense,  tcacheth  them  to  magnify  that  God  after  their 
deliverance,  which  they  scarce  trusted  for  their  de- 
liverance. 

The  antichristian  enemies  of  God's  church  and 
truth,  after  the  infatuation  of  so  many  treacherous 
conspiracies,  found  out  at  the  last  a  speeding 
one  ;  such  as  in  so  many  thousand  years,  from 
the  fall  of  the  reprobate  angels,  never  came  into 
the  head  of  any  devil,  to  put  inio  the  head  of  any 
man  ;  or  if  the  head  could  devise  it,  yet  to  find  a 
heart  to  receive  it,  or  a  hand  to  act  it,  would  have 
been  thought  impossible.  But  decreed  it  was  in  the 
senate  of  Rome,  in  the  bosom  of  that  man  of  sin, 
who  turns  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  into 
the  keys  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth.  Advised  by 
that  family  of  malice,  who,  of  all  the  world,  were  the 
only  ones  that  found  out  how  to  systematize  a  lie,  as 
Augustine  said  of  the  Priscillianists.  Thus  far  God 
lets  them  alone.  Executioners  must  be  found,  there 
must  be  hands  as  well  as  heads.  Ulysses  may  con- 
trive, Diomedes  must  through  with  it.  Still  the 
Lord  says  nothing.  Their  secrecy  makes  them  con- 
fident, (iejcrated  with  a  treble  bond  of  counsel-keep- 
ing, religion,  oath,  sacrament  :  You  shall  swear  by 
the  blessed  Trinity,  and  holy  sacrament,  not  to  reveal 
it :  thus  they  eat  their  God  upon  a  bargain  of  blood. 
Still  the  Lord  is  silent.  They  build  the  foundation 
of  their  design  imder  the  foundation  of  the  pai-lin- 
ment  house,  and  say  to  the  ground.  Cover  us :  fhey 
trust  not  the  air,  but  lay  up  their  treason  in  a  sub- 
terraneous vaull,  witli  great  improbity  of  labour. 
Who  should  discover  those  inward  chambers  of  death  ? 
Yes,  the  Lord  knows  how.  Their  catholic  doomsday 
is  now  at  hand,  and  there  wants  nothing  but  a  hand 
to  act  it :  they  say  of  our  souls.  There  is  no  help  for 


them  in  their  God.  Then  was  God's  time  and  hint; 
and  in  a  parable,  by  a  miracle,  we  are  delivered. 
Their  stratagem  is  defeated,  their  dungeon  and  hell 
of  secrecy  opened,  the  deeper  hell  of  their  hearts 
eviscerated,  tlieir  vault  of  most  barbarous  villany 
ransac  cd,  to  convince  the  and  all  the  world,  that 
the  Lord,  knows  how  to  deliver  his.  Alas,  we  were 
like  men  that  dreamed,  nay,  we  dreamed  not  of  this : 
the  noise  of  millstones,  light  of  candles,  bread  and 
wine,  bride  and  bridegroom,  were  our  song ;  tlie  plot 
of  ruin  came  not  within  the  reach  of  our  thougnts. 
Blessed  be  that  God  who  only  delivered  us. 

Thus  he  can  deliver  with  equal  means,  with 
small  means,  with  no  means  :  he  can  tell  how, 
Midian  comes  against  Israel ;  they,  like  the  sand 
by  the  sea,  covered  all  the  valley  ;  the  Israel- 
ites were  two  and  thirty  thousand  strong.  They 
think.  We  are  two  few :  God  says.  The  people  are 
too  many.  They  say.  The  Midianites  are  too  many 
for  us  :  God  replies.  You  are  too  many  for  them.  In- 
deed, if  Israel  had  expected  the  victory  from  their 
own  fingers,  they  had  been  too  weak  for  Midian ; 
but  seeing  God  will  give  the  conquest,  and  have  the 
glorj-,  they  are  too  strong.  'Where  human  strength 
is  opposed,  there  needs  an  equality :  but  now  God 
will  fight,  and  he  knows  how  to  do  it  with  a  few,  with 
]ione,  as  well  as  with  many.  His  care  is  not  how  to 
get  the  victory,  but  how  to  preserve  the  glorj-  of  it 
gotten.  Therefore  he  chooseth  to  save  by  few,  that 
all  the  honour  may  redound  to  himself.  So  jealous 
is  he  of  his  glory,  that  though  he  give  deliverance  to 
Israel,  yet  the  praise  of  the  deliverance  he  will  keep 
to  himself.  Therefore  he  shortens  their  means,  that 
they  may  not  shorten  his  mercies.  Now  if  he  will 
not  allow  lawful  means  to  darken  his  honour,  how- 
intolerable  is  unlawful  means  !  He  that  remembers 
the  year  eighty-eight ;  (and  what  true  English  spirit 
can  forget  it,  or  forbear  to  report  it  to  his  children  ?) 
an  invincible  navy,  an  implacable  fury,  furnished 
with  instruments  of  murder  and  torture,  confident  of 
our  utter  desolation  ;  and  consider  how  they  were  all 
desolated,  and  we  delivered,  wlien  no  arm  nor  finger 
of  flesh  was  for  us ;  must  needs  confess,  that  the 
Lord  knows  how  :  he  used  no  help  in  the  delivery, 
let  him  have  no  partner  in  the  glory.  There  is  less 
danger  in  stealing  any  thing  from  him,  than  his 
honour.  If  men  steal  the  prince's  tribute,  or  clip  his 
coin,  he  may  pardon  it  ;  but  not  if  they  go  about  to 
rob  him  of  his  crown.  No,  but  still  let  him  be 
praised,  both  in  our  chambers  at  home,  and  abroad 
in  our  churches,  for  our  time,  and  throughout  all  the 
generations  of  oin-  children's  children  after  us,  till 
Christ  appear  in  the  clouds ;  and  then  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 

"  And  to  reserve  the  unjust  unto  the  day  of  judg- 
ment to  be  punished."  We  have  seen  how  the  godly 
speed,  now  let  us  mark  the  end  of  their  persecutors. 
The  wicked  keep  such  a  noise  in  the  world,  that  a 
poor  man's  tale  can  no  more  be  heard,  than  the 
humming  of  a  bee  in  a  clap  of  thunder.  So  head- 
strong and  uncontrollable  is  the  precipice  of  sin, 
that  when  the  righteous  would  withstand  it  they  arc 
borne  down  l)y  it.  The  church  should  never  find  so 
many  stratagems  directed  avowedly  against  her,  but 
that  slie  lakes  a  course  which  the  world  dislikes. 
The  disapproval  of  the  ungodly,  is  the  approval  of 
oiiv  life  and  conversation,  says  Gregor>-,  in  Ezek. 
Horn.  9.  In  all  ages,  the  rebuke  of  ChHiif  haih  been 
the  religion  of  Christians.  The  reason  is,  our  singu- 
larity and  dissent  from  their  customs ;  which  as  it 
makes  them  hiss  like  serpents,  because  we  trouble 
their  nests ;  so,  like  an  antiperistasis,  it  should  in- 
flame our  zeal.  We  have  read  of  heatliens  that 
would  shun  the  popular  current.     Phncion  had  not 


Ver.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


395 


si;spectcd  his  speech,  had  not  the  people  applauded 
it.  Antisthcncs  mistrusted  some  ill  in  himself  for 
the  vulgar  commendation.  And  shall  we  be  brutisli- 
ly  driven  with  the  drove?  or  rather,  like  nails  in  a 
wheel,  turn  as  we  are  turned,  without  either  con- 
science of  sin  or  guidance  of  reason  ?  If  we  live  like 
them  that  are  reserved  to  judgment,  how  should  we 
think  ourselves  not  reserved  with  them  ?  This  is 
their  time  to  persecute,  ours  to  suffer:  their  time 
will  come  to  suffer,  ours  to  triumph.  Let  me  rather 
feel  their  malice,  tlian  be  wrapped  up  in  their  venge- 
ance. That  man  refuses  to  be  one  of  tlie  body,  (the 
church,)  who  is  not  willing  to  bear  the  world's 
hatred  along  with  the  Head  (Christ).  (August.  Tract, 
in  Job.  87.)  They  are  our  corrosives,  corrasives, 
used  only  to  pare  off  our  excrements,  and  eat  out  our 
dead  flesh  by  their  temptations:  but  the  patient  is 
preserved,  when  the  plaster  is  thrown  into  the  fire. 

St.  Hierorae  nllegorically  upon  Ezek.  xlvii.  19 : 
The  possession  begins  at  Tamar,  and  reacheth  along 
to  the  waters  of  strife.  Is  there  peace  between 
Joshua  and  Gibeon  ?  then  there  is  (juarrel  enough 
for  the  Amorites  against  Gibeon.  The  heirs  of 
heaven  can  expect  no  better  at  the  hands  of  the  chil- 
dren of  this  world.  A  larger  book  might  be  written 
of  the  apostles'  sufferings,  than  that  of  their  acts. 
And  had  not  the  Divine  power  given  them  a  miracu- 
lous success,  in  the  safe  conduct  of  a  gospel  through 
a  world  of  temptations,  it  might  have  been  entitled 
in  a  bloody  rubric.  The  book  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
apostles.  "  God  hath  set  forth  us  the  apostles  last, 
as  it  were  appointed  to  death,"  I  Cor.  iv.  9.  Paul 
might  well  say  last,  with  an  emphasis:  the  former 
endured  but  the  injuries  of  their  own  country ;  tlie 
last,  the  malice  of  all  the  world,  vicing  who  should 
multiply  the  most  disgraces  upon  them.  "  Concern- 
ing this  sect,  we  know  that  every  where  it  is  spoken 
against,"  Acts  xxviii.  22.  They  might  well  aflirm  it, 
that  were  the  first  authors  of  it.  As  C:csar  wrote  of 
those  battles,  qitibus  nmi  solum  inlerfuit,  sed  et  prtp- 
fuit,  at  which  he  was  not  only  present,  but  in  which 
also  he  had  the  chief  command.  But  let  us  stand 
upon  our  guard,  keep  to  the  lists  of  our  warfare,  main- 
tain the  fight  we  nave  sworn  in  baptism.  Subtle 
arguments  well  answered,  breed  a  clear  conclusion : 
our  souls  shall  shine  the  brighter  one  day  for  this 
nibbing.  Consider  we  two  encouragements.  First, 
Christ  endured  such  contradiction  of  sinnere,  Heb. 
xii.  3 :  he  is  the  Commander  and  beholder  of  this  com- 
l)at ;  the  Judge  and  rewarder  of  this  courage ;  the 
Leader  of  the  company,  and  Conqueror  of  the  enemy : 
"  Be  of  good  cheer,  I  have  overcome  the  world," 
John  xvi.  33.  Next,  their  rage  is  but  like  their 
general's,  sharp  but  short;  for  a  time;  for  they  are 
reserved  to  the  day  of  judgment  to  be  punished. 

The  parts  are  four,  according  to  the  proceeding 
of  civil  judicature;  the  malefactors,  their  binding 
over,  the  assizes,  and  the  execution. 

The  malefactors,  The  unjust. 

The  binding  over,  Are  reserved. 

The  assizes,  To  the  day  of  judgment. 

The  execution.  To  be  punished. 

"  The  unjust."  This  term  must  be  considered  in 
a  threefold  relation.  I.  As  it  is  a  want  of  that  right- 
eousness which  the  law  requires.  2.  As  a  want  of 
that  righteousness  which  the  gospel  accepts.  .3.  .As 
it  implies  a  habit  of  unrighteousness,  such  as  both 
the  law  and  gospel  condemn.     Of  all  these  a  little. 

1.  For  legal  justice,  how  far  short  is  the  best  man 
of  it !  God  requires  a  perfect  fulfilling  of  the  law, 
because  he  gave  a  perfect  ability  to  do  it.  If  man 
would  lose  wilfully  this  sufficiency,  what  fault  is  in 
God  ?  Now  the  son  that  inherits  his  father's  goods, 
is   bound  to  pay  his  father's   debts :   we  have  our 


father's  goods,  natural  endowments,  &c.,  therefore 
bound  to  answer  for  his  sin;  if  so  we  call  original 
sin,  not  ours,  but  his.  But  howsoever  our  parents 
conveyed  unto  us  original  sins,  we  ourselves  are  the 
parents  of  actuals.  All  naturals  are  depraved,  all 
supernaturals  are  deprived,  by  the  first  fall.  Man's 
nature  may  be  inclined  to  some  moral  virtues  im- 
perfect, as  truth,  justice,  temperance,  chastity ;  but 
not  to  supernatural,  as  faith,  hope,  charity,  humility; 
these  are  quite  out  of  nature's  orb.  So  for  that 
justice  which  should  give  absolute  obedience  to 
God's  will,  all  men  be  unjust. 

2.  For  evangelical  justice,  which  is  had  by  faith  : 
this  is  a  righteousness  of  grace,  to  supply  the  defects 
of  nature.  We  that  had  no  righteousness  of  our 
own,  must  be  beholden  to  one  that  hath  some  to 
spare  :  such  a  one,  as  though  he  give  never  so  much, 
hath  never  the  less ;  an  infinite  and  inexhaustible 
fountain  of  goodness.  Satan,  like  a  chymic,  had  ex- 
tracted all  the  juice  and  spirits  of  our  grace :  we 
have  no  way  to  enrich  our  bankrupt  estate,  but  with 
the  treasures  of  Christ.  He  was  not  only  our  Brother, 
by  taking  our  tlesh  upon  him,  but  also  our  Surety, 
by  taking  our  debts  upoi\  him ;  not  only  the  nature 
of  man,  but  the  form  of  a  servant.  He  may  well 
say,  1  paid  that  I  never  took,  Psal.  Ixix.  4.  What 
man  will  give  his  son  for  his  sin?  Micah  vi.  7-  Yet 
God  did  more ;  he  gave  his  Son  for  (not  his  own, 
but)  another's  sin.  Man's  sin  was  the  cause  of 
Christ's  death ;  Christ's  death  the  cause  of  man's 
life.  He  gave  life  to  us,  by  gi^ng  his  life  for  us. 
Had  he  been  mere  man,  this  had  done  us  no  good; 
his  justice  had  been  little  enough  for  himself.  But 
the  Son  of  God  suffered,  not  in  the  propriety  of  his 
nature  as  man,  but  in  his  unity  of  person  ;  and  so  he 
merited.  The  sword  of  justice  was  awaked  to  be 
sheathed  in  our  bowels  ;  the  Shepherd  interposed 
himself  to  take  the  blow,  Zeeh.  xiii.  /•  By  sin  we 
are  indebted  to  God  more  than  we  are  worth  ;  now 
Christ  undertook  for  \is.  In  his  circumcision,  he 
gave  the  earnest,  set  his  hand  to  the  obligation,  to 
pay  the  whole  debt.  God  is  the  Creditor,  he  paid 
him,  and  sued  out  for  his  church  a  discharge.  Satan 
was  the  gaoler,  he  paid  him ;  death  the  executioner, 
he  paid  him  too ;  though  for  their  fees  they  parted 
his  garments  among  them.  As  Jacob's  life  was 
bound  up  in  the  life  of  Benjamin,  without  whom  his 
grey  hairs  would  be  brought  to  the  eartli  in  grief, 
Gen.  xliv.  30,  31  ;  so  our  life  is  bound  up  in  the  life 
of  Jesns,  and  if  he  be  not  with  us,  we  shall  die  \vith 
anguish,  and  go  to  the  grave  in  sorrow. 

"This  is  a  second  way  to  be  just ;  the  former  we 
lost  by  sin,  this  we  find  by  faith ;  he  that  wanteth 
this  is  unjust  and  must  perish.  Now  reprobates  can- 
not have  this  justice,  by  reason  they  lack  faith  ;  as 
he  that  is  blind  hath  no  benefit  by  the  light.  In- 
deed the  world  thinks  this  an  easy  attainment;  but 
is  quite  mistaken.  A  child  cannot  generate,  nor  a 
man  regenerate  himself;  the  latter  is  as  possible  as 
the  former.  Man's  nature  being  whole,  could  not 
preserve  itself;  much  less  being  broken,  can  it  re- 
pair itself.  He  that  cannot  keep  himself  from  death 
while  he  lives,  will  more  impossibly  restore  and  re- 
vive himself  to  life  being  dead.  Faith  is  a  rare  gift, 
though  there  be  many  Christians :  all  think  they  have 
it :  yet  even  Christ  himself  says,  he  shall  scarce  know 
where  to  find  it.  How  great  a  part  of  the  world  lies 
quite  out  of  the  orb  of  faith  !  In  Rome  it  is  not ;  they 
contest  against  it.  In  courts  it  is  rare ;  many  live 
there  rather  by  the  favour  of  the  prince  than  by  the 
faith  of  God.  In  the  city,  the  credit  of  faith  is  so 
weak,  that  it  cannot  be  trusted  without  ready  money. 
In  the  country  she  is  likeliest  to  be  had ;  but  the 
tenant  finds  so  little  faith  in  the  landlord,  that  he 


396 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


thinks  it  a  needless  virtue  in  himself.  Among  law- 
yers there  is  just  so  much  faith  as  there  is  charity. 
Most  men  have  so  much,  and  so  little,  as  to  think 
they  need  no  more.  Tlic  professors  of  faith  are  like 
Gideon's  army,  two  and  tliirty  thousand;  hut  when 
the  faithful  are  separated,  as  those  soldiers  were 
mustered,  there  arc  but  three  hundred  left.  Lord, 
increase  our  faith,  and  the  number  of  the  faithful; 
that  we  who  cannot  be  just  in  ourselves,  may  be  just 
in  Jesus  Christ. 

3.  There  is  a  third  kind  of  justice,  actual,  practical, 
inseparably  proceeding  from  the  former  :  it  is  a  sanc- 
tified conformity  to  the  will  of  God.  This  justifies 
all  them  to  the  world,  whom  faith  hath  justified  to  the 
Lord;  when  in  all  our  eartldy  business  we  still  carry 
a  heavenly  mind;  when  our  faith  to  God  is  seen  in 
our  faithfulness  to  men.  "Be  thou  faithful  unto 
death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life,"  Rev.  ii. 
10.  Continue  in  evangelical  faith,  though  you  die 
for  it ;  continue  in  moral  faithfulness,  till  you  die  in 
it.  There  is  a  faith  of  the  law,  Matt,  xxiii.  23. 
There  is  a  faith  of  the  gospel.  Matt.  xxv.  23  ;  Rom.  i. 
17.  The  one  is  fidelity  in  our  promises;  the  other  is 
confidence  in  the  promises  of  God.  If  he  covenant 
with  us,  I  will  be  your  God ;  we  must  restipulate, 
Then  will  we  rest  upon  thee.  Thou  shalt  be  my 
people  ;  then  we  must  be  faithful.  According  to  the 
faith  which  we  believe,  God  is  faithful  to  us;  accord- 
ing to  the  faith  by  which  we  believe,  we  are  faithful 
to  God.  Both  these  together;  for  no  man  can  deal 
faithfully  with  God  legally,  unless  he  believe  evan- 
gelically that  God  will  deal  faithfully  with  him. 
Want  of  legal  faith  opposes  the  majesty  of  God: 
want  of  evangelical  faith  opposes  the  truth  and  mercy 
of  God.  Be  not  false-hearted  in  the  first,  nor  faint- 
hearted in  the  latter.  In  a  word,  he  is  a  just  man 
that  doth  good  ;  and  there  is  no  sap  of  life  in  the  tree 
if  no  fruit  appear  in  the  branches. 

The  unjust  man  wants  all  these  three  righteous- 
nesses :  he  is  not  legally  just,  for  he  hath  no  purity 
of  nature  ;  he  is  not  evangelically  just,  for  he  hath  no 
sanctity  of  grace ;  he  is  not  practically  just,  for  he 
hath  no  morality  of  life.  The  first  wicked  men  can- 
not have,  ihe  next  they  will  not  have,  and  (without 
tb?.tj  the  last  they  shall  not  have. 

Thus  we  see  negatively  who  are  tnijust ;  but  there 
is  more  than  a  bare  privation  in  it,  there  is  something 
positive :  it  includes  not  only  a  defect  and  indispo- 
sition to  do  well,  but  also  an  actual  contrariety  to 
justice,  doing  what  is  palpably  evil.  So  there  is  a 
twofold  malignity  in  it ;  the  transgression,  and  the 
duration  of  it.  For  the  former,  the  wicked  are  un- 
just to  God,  to  men,  to  themselves. 

1.  To  God.  Righteousness  is  an  obedience  to  the 
will  of  God,  and  injustice  is  no  other  than  disobedi- 
ence. That  we  may  learn  to  judge  ourselves  in  this, 
consider  the  infallible  marks  of  obedience.  First,  it 
must  be  entire,  respective  of  all  the  commandments  ; 
he  that  transgresseth  one,  hath  not  obeyed.  Saul 
kept  part  of  God's  precept,  slew  the  most,  and  worst; 
yet  God  rejected  him  as  disobedient.  Many  piece 
their  lives,  as  beggars  do  their  cloaks,  here  and  there 
a  new  patch :  an  alms  at  Christmas,  this  is  a  patch 
of  charity ;  communicate  twice  a  year,  two  patches 
of  faith.  Disobedient  for  all  this.  Secondly,  single 
or  sincere;  we  must  obey  the  law  without  a  glance  at 
our  own  profit,  or  credit,  or  safety  by  it.  If  one  eye 
look  one  way,  the  other  another  way,  the  object  will 
never  be  well  seen.  The  servant  would  go  to  church, 
to  please  his  master  ;  more  fain  another  way,  to  please 
himself:  but  he  that  looks  any  other  way  in  his  de- 
votion, than  to  the  Lord's  ])recepts,  is  unjust;  he 
makes  God  the  second,  himself  the  principal. 
Thirdly,  ready.     Angels  have  wings  to  fly  about  it. 


Abraham  no  sooner  received  that  strange  command, 
but  he  rose  early  to  obey  it.  A  compulsory  obedience 
the  devils  may  give,  but  arc  never  the  nearer  being 
righteous.  He  shall  never  be  welcome  to  God,  that 
comes  on  his  feet,  and  leaves  his  heart  behind  him. 
Fourthly,  constant.  That  obedience  which  hath  an 
end,  had  never  any  true  begiiming.  If  it  falls  it  was 
never  a  fixed  star,  but  a  mere  meteor.  A  man  may 
lose  his  horse,  his  purse,  his  cloak ;  these  be  separa- 
ble :  the  grace  that  hangs  on  by  tacks,  like  a  mantle, 
soon  drops  off.  Divers  have  a  cnist  of  profession 
congealed  by  cold ;  desirous  to  keep  themselves  warm 
by  the  fire  of  the  temple,  which  the  summer  of  wan- 
tonness thaws  into  fluid  and  spilt  water.  The  grass- 
hoppers camp  in  the  hedges  in  a  cold  day,  (S:c.  Nah. 
iii.  17.  In  cold  weather  they  lie  in  heaps  and 
swarms;  in  hot  weather  they  scatter:  when  pros- 
perity comes,  their  looseness  appears.  In  God's  book 
these  are  found  unjust  servants.  Fifthly,  true  or 
just,  no  trick  nor  equivocation  in  it.  It  seeks  not  to 
obey  God  for  man's  sake,  but  man  for  God's  sake :  it 
obeys  men,  but  never  against  the  Lord. 

Disobedience  is  called  witchcraft,  for  it  goes  from 
God  to  the  devil,  and  like  a  witch  intends  mischief 
and  revenge.  There  be  two  parts  of  it ;  disobedience 
material,  when  it  breaks  the  law ;  formal,  when 
it  scorns  the  Lawgiver.  Disobedience  did  cast 
Adam  out  of  Paradise,  angels  out  of  heaven,  Jonah 
out  of  the  ship,  Saul  out  of  his  kingdom,  Israel  out 
of  Israel.  Superiors  complain  that  others  do  not 
obey  them  ;  but  no  wonder,  when  they  obey  not  God. 
Shall  any  creature  owe  that  man  service,  that  will 
perform  no  service  to  his  Maker?  God  for  this  often 
makes  a  tumult  and  rebellion  in  their  own  bosoms  ; 
that  reason,  the  queen  regent  of  the  soul,  cannot  be 
heard,  nor  any  of  her  laws  be  respected,  because  the 
mutinous  affections  make  such  a  combustion,  putting 
the  whole  man  out  of  order  and  good  disposition. 
Disobedience  will  not  bow,  but  it  shall  be  broken  ;  as 
the  thunder  melts  the  stubborn  metal,  and  spares  the 
unresisting  purse.  Thus  is  he  unjust  to  God,  that 
detains  his  honour;  that  is  fed  and  gives  no  thanks : 
such  a  one  steals  his  meat.  He  requires  the  seventh 
of  our  time,  the  tenth  of  our  increase  :  we  are  unjust 
that  deny  this.  These  are  thought  honest  men,  yea, 
think  themselves  no  less  ;  they  go  as  merrily  with  this 
profanation  and  sacrilege  at  their  heels,  as  horses 
with  an  empty  coach.  Yea,  the  devil  serves  them 
as  carriers  do  their  horses ;  lay  on  them  heavy  loads, 
and  then  hang  bells  at  their  ears,  to  make  them  music. 
These  are  reserved  to  judgment,  for  no  human  law 
takes  hold  of  them.  Where  should  the  poor  minister 
have  the  tenths  adjudged  to  him  ?  And  for  making 
that  day  common  to  licentiousness,  which  God  hath 
separated  for  especial  holiness,  where  is  this  censured  ? 
A  good  lord  gives  his  poor  servant  a  farm  to  live  on  ; 
for  the  rent,  he  requires  every  week  one  day's  serv- 
ice, and  at  the  year's  end  the  tenth  of  his  profits. 
He  that  returns  not  this  small  part  to  that  God  who 
gives  all,  is  most  unjust,  and  will  be  so  found  at  the 
day  of  sentence. 

2.  To  man.  Such  are  they  that  measure  their  right 
by  their  power,  and  therefore  will  do  injury  because 
they  can  do  it.  Unjust,  1.  To  the  commonwealth, 
as  the  golden  extortioner.  (I  may  so  call  him,  be- 
cause he  gets  gold  by  usuiy ;  as  Babel  is  called  the 
golden  city,  because  she  is  an  cxactress  of  gold.) 
Let  all  the  scribes  in  the  city  pass  their  words  for 
him,  yea,  set  their  hands  to  it,  yet  God  will  hold  him 
unjust.  2.  To  the  church  ;  that  deny  reverence  to 
their  mother,  and  withhold  her  nuiiutenance  ;  and, 
which  is  worse,  plead  a  custom  for  it  ;  as  if  it  were 
a  custom  for  children  to  rob  their  parents.  The 
Italians  have  a  trick  in  the  art  of  rapier  and  dagger; 


Ver.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


357 


they  will  teach  a  scholar  with  a  traverse  or  two,  to 
get  the  point  of  his  ndvcrsarj-'s  weapon,  and  then  to 
lock  him  up  so  sure,  that  (turning  away  his  face)  he 
runs  him  through :  and  forsooth  he  turns  away  his 
face,  because  he  will  behold  no  cruelty.  It  is  custom 
in  England  that  locks  up  our  points ;  and  the  law 
takes  away  the  church's  weapons  by  a  trick  of  cus- 
tom :  yea,  men  stand  still,  behold  this,  justify-  it ; 
but  God's  judgment  shall  find  them  unjust.  3.  To 
private  persons;  such  as  steal  away  a  man's  good 
name  with  a  felonious  slander.  Every  one  is  bound 
to  preserve  tlie  reputation  of  his  brother ;  he  that 
abuseth  it  (colour  liis  spleen  with  what  pretence  he 
can)  shall  be  condemned  for  unjust.  Such  a  man  is 
a  monster,  his  throat  a  sepulchre,  his  tongue  a  sword, 
his  mouth  a  bag  of  poison.  I  know  in  divers  courts, 
scandals  have  their  just  censures ;  but  how  if  the 
courts  themselves  admit  of  scandals  ?  By  the  law  of 
quittance,  he  that  accuseth  another  of  crimes  which 
blemish  his  credit,  and  cannot  prove  them,  sliould 
undergo  the  punishment  due  to  such  an  offence. 
Gallio  drove  the  railing  Jews  from  the  judgment- 
seal,  Acts  xviii.  IG;  he  knew  they  had  more  malice 
than  matter:  a  rare  example  !  "Thus  lawyers  often 
hunt  a  man  at  his  form  and  leave  the  cause  at  loss. 
A  captain  of  Darius  hearing  a  mercenary'  soldier  rail 
upon  Alexander,  struck  him  with  his  javelin,  saying, 
I  hired  thee  to  fight  against  him,  not  to  rail  against 
him.  Let  advocates  plead  the  cause,  not  inveigh 
against   the  adverse  party. 

The  great  injustice  of  the  world  is  oppression ; 
that  doth  ravish  the  poor,  Psal.  x.  9,  not  of  their 
bodies,  but  of  their  estates.  The  hard-hearted  Lc- 
vite  did  but  pass  by,  without  succouring  the  robbed 
passenger,  Luke  x.  32 :  it  is  wicked  miserum  relinquere, 
but  worse  miserum  facere.  If  the  Levite  be  taxed 
for  not  helping  hini,  what  is  their  punishment  that 
robbed  him!  Such  are depopulators,  ruining  people 
to  feed  beasts  ;  that  where  liefore  men  devoured  sheep, 
now  sheep  devour  men.  This  hath  been  an  old  dis- 
ease, complained  of  by  our  forefathers ;  there  were 
oppressors  in  their  days,  but  the  successors  of  tliem 
are  now  worse.  Antigonus  was  a  tyrant  bad  enough ; 
yet  being  dead,  and  a  more  cruel  one  succeeding  him,  a 
cynic  fellow  falls  ever)'  day  a  digging  by  the  highway. 
The  passengers  asked  him  what  tie  digged  for :  he  an- 
swers, Antiuonutn  refodio,  i.  e.  I  am  digging  up  Antigo- 
nus again.  Rehoboam's  government  made  them  ready 
to  say,  God  be  with  Solomon.  This  caused  the  poor 
widow,  an  old  tenantcss,  so  to  pray  for  the  life  of  her 
young  landlord,  who  had  now  the  third  time  racked 
her  rent.  This  he  hearing,  demanded  the  reason  win- 
she  should  so  bless  him,  that  had  so  cursed  his  father, 
seeing  that  he  (in  his  modest  phrase  of  oppression) 
had  improved  her  rent.  She  answered.  When  your 
grandfather  dealt  hardly  with  us,  we  wished  him  in 
his  grave,  hoping  for  some  goodness  in  the  next. 
Your  father  was  worse  than  lie  ;  we  longed  to  be  rid 
of  him,  our  hopes  looked  on  you ;  now  you  are  the 
worst  of  all.  And  seeing  by  experience,  seldom 
comes  the  better,  we  desire  to  keep  you  still ;  for 
certainly-  when  you  are  gone,  the  next  will  be  the 
devil  himself.  Innumerable  other  be  the  demonstra- 
tions of  injustice:  as,  the  wicked  borrows,  and  pays 
not  again ;  the  sword-man  wounds  the  image  of  his 
Maker;  the  tradesman  abuses  the  simplicity  of  his 
customer;  the  lascivious  corrupts  the  wife  of  his 
neighbour:  these  be  capital  unrighteousness,  that 
bring  men  to  judgment. 

3.  To  a  man's  self.  So  is  the  unthrift,  that  spends 
himself  into  poverty  by  pride  and  luxury.  His 
father  went  to  iicU  with  excess,  and  he  follows  after 
with  misery  :  out  of  a  laborious  silkworm  rises 
often  such  a  painted  butterfly.    The  drunkard  is  un- 


just to  himself;  hath  blood,  and  he  fires  it ;  spirits, 
and  he  chokes  them;  drowns  himself  on  the  dry 
land.  So  is  the  envious,  that  loseth  the  sweetness 
of  his  own,  by  grudging  at  his  neighbours  ;  that 
grinds  himself  to  powder  with  his  neighbour's  mill- 
stones :  another's  fatness  shall  keep  him  lean ;  and 
not  being  patient  to  tarry  sickncss's  leisure,  or  (which 
is  more  despatching)  his  empirics,  soon  dies  of  the 
sullcns.  The  covetous  is  unjust  to  himself;  what  he 
should  add  to  the  content  of  his  nature,  he  adds 
to  the  continent  of  his  treasure.  It  grudgeth  his 
heart,  that  liis  heart  should  have  any  good.  If  his 
body  be  not  kept  pining,  his  mind  is  repining.  A 
secret  and  sore  judgment;  that  he  who  is  unjust  to 
all  others,  should  be  most  unjust  to  himself.  AVhen 
pride,  or  lust,  or  misaffection  calls  for  the  purse,  it  is 
ready ;  let  the  soul  call  for  it,  that  cost  may  be  spared. 
While  you  deny  yourselves  for  a  wliole  year  the  body 
and  blood  of  your  Saviour,  are  you  not  unjust  to 
yourselves  ?  AVhile  you  hear  sermons,  the  food  of 
your  souls,  as  if  you  had  no  stomach  to  them,  you 
are  more  unjust  to  your  spiritual  life,  than  he  that 
wilfully  famishetli  liimself  is  accountable  for  his  own 
death.  O  hear  your  consciences  in  time,  and  com- 
fort them,  lost  they  be  never  able  to  comfort  you. 

Thus  you  have  heard  the  nature  and  specifications 
of  injustice  ;  now  look  upon  the  continuance  of  it, 
for  so  much  the  word  imports.  God  will  not  cast  all 
sinners  into  hell ;  who  then  should  go  to  heaven  ? 
but  the  unjust ;  such  as  practise  unrighteousness 
without  any  recoveiy  of  repentance.  The  unright- 
eous shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  1 
Cor.  vi.  9 ;  Eph.  v.  6 :  it  is  the  continuance  in  sin 
that  excludes  from  mercy.  Two  things  throw  men 
to  perdition,  without  the  intervention  of  extraordinary 
favour;  malice  in  sin,  and  utter  apostacy.  These  be 
the  symptoms  of  that  endangered  disease,  for  which 
there  is  no  balm  in  Gilead ;  we  call  it  the  sin  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Not  that  it  is  against  the  Third  Person, 
as  he  is  the  Third  Person,  more  than  against  the 
First  or  Second ;  but  because  it  is  against  the  func- 
tion or  operation  of  that  Person,  whose  office  is  to 
illuminate  the  mind,  and  mollify  the  heart  with  love  ; 
therefore  himself  is  called  love.  If  men  sin  wilfully 
after  that  they  have  received  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  there  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for  their 
sins,  Ileb.  x.  26 ;  because  they  maliciously  have  sa- 
crificed their  sacrifice,  and  split  the  only  vessel 
that  should  save  them.  "  The  iniquity  of  Eli's 
house  shall  not  be  purged  with  sacrifice  for  ever," 
I  Sam.  iii.  14;  never  expiated.  "There  is  a  sin 
unto  death ;  I  do  not  say  that  he  shall  pray  for  it," 
I  John  v.  It).  Eveiy  sin  is  unto  death,  but  this  em- 
phatically ;  with  a  prohibition  of  interceding  set 
upon  it,  like  the  fiaming  sword  that  kept  Paradise: 
pray  not  for  it.  Schoolmen  give  this  reason  why  the 
sin  of  malice  is  unpardonable  :  The  defect  may  find 
remission,  where  the  will  may  pretend  fear  of  excess. 
A  sin  of  ignorance  is  often  forgiven,  as  was  Paul's, 
1  Tim.  i.  13;  because  a  man  may  aflTect  too  much 
knowledge,  as  Adam  did.  A  sin  of  infirmity  is  oft 
forgiven,  because  a  man  may  affect  too  much  power 
and  dominion,  as  did  the  angels.  A  sin  of  carnal 
fear  is  often  forgiven,  because  a  man  may  affect  too 
much  zeal,  as  did  two  of  the  apostles.  A  sin  of  par- 
tiality is  oft  forgiven,  because  a  man  may  affect  too 
much  justice,  Eccl.  vii.  16.  But  not  a  sin  of  malice, 
because  a  man  can  never  affect  too  much  charity. 

No  less  doth  apostacy  and  falling  off  from  God. 
A  man  may  sin  beyond  all  comfort  in  his  own  con- 
science, till  he  cannot  hope  for  liimself;  as  did  Ju- 
das :  beyond  all  interest  in  the  church's  devotion, 
till  their  prayers  cannot  help  them  ;  "  Pray  not  thou 
for  this  people,"  Jer.  vii.  16 :  beyond  all  claim  to 


398 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


Christ's  satisfaclion ;  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  shall 
not  help  them,  Matt.  xii.  31.  That  which  makes 
this  sin  past  all  cure,  is,  because  it  strives  against 
the  cure  ;  as  a  madman  wounded,  will  not  suffer  his 
wounds  to  be  bound  up,  but  rather  seeks  to  wound 
the  chirurgeon.  God  hath  mercy  upon  sinners,  Christ 
came  to  call  and  die  fur  sinners,  there  be  none  now 
in  hea\'en  but  they  were  once  sinners ;  which  of  all 
the  holy  patriarchs,  blessed  apostles,  can  excuse 
themselves  that  they  never  did  act  unjustly?  But 
injustice  was  none  of  their  trade ;  they  did  not  live 
in  it,  nor  die  in  it.  Zaecheus  was  once  unjust,  but 
he  testified  his  repentance  by  charity  and  restitution. 
But  they  that  practise  unrighteousness  to  the  end, 
in  the  end  shall  find  judgment. 

Are  i-eserved.  This  is  the  binding  over :  God  puts 
off  many  wicked  men  from  the  quarter  sessions  to 
the  great  assizes.  There  is  a  reservation  that  tend- 
eth  to  good  :  as  in  the  danger  of  wreck,  much  lug- 
gage is  thrown  overboard,  the  precious  things  are 
reseiTed.  In  the  general  slaughter  of  Amalek,  Saul 
reserved  Agag.  Unless  the  Lord  had  reserved  a 
remnant,  we  had  been  as  Sodom,  Isa.  i.  9.  But  here 
is  a  reservation  to  punishment :  whether  they  sleep 
or  wake,  play  or  work,  stand  or  walk,  their  time  runs 
on,  their  judgment  is  nearer;  and  they  are  more 
surely  kept  unto  it,  than  any  dungeon,  \^dth  the 
thickest  walls  and  strongest  chains,  can  hold  a  pri- 
soner till  his  arraignment  comes.  This  reservation 
affords  us  a  twofold  collection  or  observation. 

1.  Wickedness  hath  but  a  time,  but  the  punish- 
ment of  wickedness  is  beyond  all  time.  The  most 
raging  sea  of  malice  hath  bounds,  the  devil  himself 
knows  that  he  hath  but  a  short  time.  Stay  till  the 
Amorites'  sins  be  full,  then  comes  their  overthrow. 
Tlie  wicked  are  suffered  to  have  thefr  wills  upon  the 
righteous,  their  fills  of  unrighteousness ;  but,  "  How 
are  they  brought  into  desolation,  as  in  a  moment!" 
Psal.  Ixxiii.  19.  The  manner  is  scarce  visible,  the 
time  scarce  divisible  :  how,  and  in  a  moment.  Impu- 
dent Pharaoh,  bloodied  with  this  unresisted  tyranny, 
can  belch  out  defiance  in  the  face  of  Heaven ;  "Who 
is  God  ?  It  is  too  much  honour  for  man  to  receive 
a  message  from  heaven  ;  yet  God  sends  to  Pharaoh, 
and  is  repulsed.  Humility  says.  What  is  man,  that 
God  should  regard  him  ?  Pride  says.  What  is  the 
Lord,  that  I  should  regard  him  ?  Thus  he  domineers 
for  a  while ;  but  ere  God  have  done  with  him,  he 
will  be  known  to  him,  and  known  by  him  to  all  the 
world.  He  could  have  swept  him  away  suddenly,  as 
a  man  most  unworthy  to  live,  who  w'ith  the  same 
breath  he  receives,  denies  the  Giver  of  it.  But  he 
was  reserved  to  another  purpose,  he  must  rage  awhile 
longer,  that  his  determinecl  confusion  might  be  the 
greater.  He  sees  Israel  crossing  the  sea,  and  won- 
ders; yet  hath  neither  the  grace  nor  wit  to  re- 
tire. He  is  angry  at  the  sea,  thinks  not  on  the  Lord; 
sees  not  the  plain  difference  which  he  puts  betwixt 
his  Israel  and  the  Egyptians.  He  cannot  now  either 
consider  or  fear,  it  is  his  time  to  perish.  Fair  way 
he  had,  and  smoothly  ran  on,  till  he  came  to  the 
midst,  not  so  much  as  one  wave  to  wet  the  foot  of  his 
horse.  When  he  is  too  far  to  escape,  then  God  be- 
gins to  strike.  They  know  not  why,  but  they  wish 
themselves  out  again.  Their  chariots  grow  heavy, 
when  they  had  done  them  the  service  to  bring  them 
to  their  perdition. 

Wicked  men  run  not  faster  into  sin,  than  they 
would  run  from  judgment.  But  they  shall  find,  that 
it  was  never  so  easy  to  post  into  transgression,  but  it 
will  be  more  impossible  to  post  from  destruction. 
Saul'.s  iH-rseeution  makes  David  take  many  a  weary 
step:  lie  kills  the  priests,  consults  with  witches; 
what  not  ?     He  hath  his  day,  but  in  the  mean  time 


is  reserved  to  the  Lord's  day ;  the  battle  in  Gilboa 
shall  pay  for  all.  The  people  are  slain  before  his 
face,  his  sons  fall  under  the  swords  of  uncircumcised 
enemies,  and  the  last  scene  of  that  tragical  field  is 
reserved  for  Saul  himself  God  is  long  ere  he  strikes, 
but  when  he  doth,  it  is  to  purpose.  The  wicked 
man  is  not  half  so  sure  of  transient  pleasures,  as  he 
is  of  permanent  plagues.  Sin  serves  him  as  Abner 
did  Ishboshelh,put  him  on  the  challenge  of  the  king- 
dom, and  llierc  leave  him  miserable  :  or  as  Tamerlane 
helped  Cosroe  to  the  kingdom  of  Persia,  and  then 
took  it  away  again.  It  is  like  a  boy's  squib,  flashes, 
and  cracks,  and  stinks,  and  is  nothing.  It  serves 
him  as  Jael  did  Sisera ;  he  asks  water,  she  gives  him 
milk;  he  wishes  shelter,  she  makes  him  a  bed;  he 
begs  but  the  protection  of  her  tent,  she  covers  him 
with  a  mantle  :  she  gives  more  than  he  asks,  but 
withal,  more  than  he  expects.  When  his  troublous 
thoughts  were  pacified  with  the  change,  and  he  flat- 
ters himself.  It  is  better  to  be  here  than  in  the 
whirling  of  chariots,  in  the  horror  of  fight  or  flight, 
among  such  wounds,  such  shrieks,  such  carcasses. 
But,  as  when  Agag  says,  The  bitterness  of  death  is 
past,  even  then  he  feels  the  sword :  so  in  these  con- 
tentful thoughts  Sisera  dies;  the  teiTor  of  Israel  lies 
bleeding  at  the  foot  of  a  woman.  Do  we  see  impu- 
dent sinners  flourish,  awe  the  greatest,  confront,  yea, 
control  magistracy  ?  It  is  their  time,  and  they  take 
it  :  do  what  mischief  they  can,  answer  it  as  they 
may.  But  the  Lord  laughs  at  him,  for  he  seeih  that 
his  day  is  coming,  Psal.  xxxvii.  13.  There  is  a  day 
of  reckoning,  and  that  day  is  coming,  and  the  Lord 
sees  it.  He  that  may  reckon  with  them  at  any  time, 
will  not  reckon  till  that  time. 

2.  The  unjust  are  already  reserved,  the  decree  is 
passed  against  them.  They  are  bound  over  to  the 
last  assizes  by  a  threefold  recognisance,  as  it  were 
with  infrangible,  though  insensible,  chains  of  judg- 
ment ;  the  bond  of  their  sins,  the  bond  of  their  con- 
science, and  the  bond  of  omnipotent  justice  :  and 
this  threefold  cable  is  not  easily  broken. 

The  first  bond  is  their  sins  :  "  He  shall  be  holdeu 
with  the  cords  of  his  sins,"  Prov.  v.  22.  His  own 
shackles  shall  hold  him  fast  enough,  he  needs  no 
stronger  chains  than  those  he  makes  for  himself. 
It  may  be  asked  the  simier,  what  he  means,  to  make 
his  fetters  so  strong?  Saul  was  ever  from  the  be- 
ginning his  own  enemy  ;  neither  did  any  hands  hurt 
him  but  his  own.  At  last,  his  death  is  suitable  to 
his  life ;  his  own  hand  pays  him  the  reward  of  all 
his  wickedness  :  he  that  had  been  so  long  a  killing 
his  sou),  now  makes  as  shor-t  work  with  his  body; 
Satan  needs  not  bind  a  reprobate  faster  than  he 
binds  himself  The  wicked  do  not,  like  temporal 
malefactors,  go  under  bail  ;  where  it  is  but  forfeiting 
the  recognisance,  and  escape  ;  for  eveiy  step  they 
take  in  sin,  brings  them  directly  forward  to  their 
judgment. 

Therefore  is  this  bondage  called  a  death ;  sin  beiiig. 
the  death  of  life  on  earth,  and  the  life  of  death  in 
hell.  There  may  be  certain  degrees  in  this  spiritual 
dying,  as  there  are  in  a  corporeal  dissolution.  There 
is  a  syncope  or  swooning,  an  epilepsy  or  falling  sick- 
ness, an  apoplexy  or  cold  palsy,  which  if  it  be  total  is 
also  final.  The  former  are  incident  to  the  faithful, 
but  recoverable  by  their  ordinary  repentance ;  as  a 
man  in  a  swoon  is  restored  by  si>rinkling  cold  water, 
or  bowing  forward  the  body.  The  second  are  greater 
crimes,  deadly  sins ;  so  expelling  the  Spirit  of  God, 
that  no  sign' of  his  presence  appears.  It  must  be 
an  extraordinary  repentance  that  recovers  these  of- 
fenders ;  as  a  man  in  the  falling  sickness,  by  striving, 
sweating,  beating  of  himself  Now  they  that  ai-e  in 
a  swoon,  or  foaming  under  an  epilepsy,  arc  bound 


Vek.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


399 


fast  enough,  they  cannot  rim  away ;  yet  such  fits  and 
I'r.lls  may  be  recovered.  But  when  it  comes  to  an 
aiiojilexy,  a  putrificd  custom,  a  rotten  obstinacy  in 
sin ;  the  grave  docs  not  surer  bind  a  dead  body  with- 
in her  mouldy  bars,  than  these  bonds  of  obdurate- 
ness  enchain  such  a  soul.  There  may  remain  awhile 
some  small  appearance  of  breath,  a  little  natural 
warmth ;  yet  is  it  impossible,  without  a  miracle,  to 
recover  tliat  spiritual  life,  which  is  so  long,  so  uni- 
versally excluded. 

There  is  a  proceeding  with  the  mortified  con- 
science, as  with  the  dead  carcass.  First,  the  dead 
man  that  is  to  be  buried,  is  the  impenitent  sinner; 
resembling  a  corpse  in  many  respects.  1.  In  lack  of 
sense ;  so  lethargized  in  sin,  that  he  feels  not  the 
prickings  and  woundings  of  a  sore  heart.  Lay 
a  mountain  upon  a  dead  man,  he  feels  not  the 
weight.  Christ  coimsels  him  to  buy  restoratives, 
Rev.  iii.  18;  he  perceives  no  need  to  buy :  the  cause 
of  buying  is  the  feeling  of  want,  not  the  want  of  feel- 
ing. There  is  no  love  to  God,  no  charity  to  men,  in 
them ;  they  have  the  tnie  love  of  sense,  but  not  the 
true  sense  of  love.  2.  In  lack  of  appetite :  they 
neither  hunger  nor  thirst  after  righteousness,  as 
being  full  of  sinful  crudities.  Life  brings  appetite, 
appetite  desires  meat,  and  meat  affords  noiu'ishment ; 
if  the  soul  hungers  not,  it  lives  not.  Appetite  is 
sharper  in  famine  than  in  plenty ;  a  double  punish- 
ment, more  stomach  and  less  meat :  but  these  desire 
not  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  There  is  no  cor- 
poral affection  like  thirst ;  as  we  see  in  Hagar,  in 
Samson,  in  Clirist  himself  suffering;  not  esurio,  but 
silio ;  extreme  heat  working  upon  the  radical  moist- 
ure. But  dry  these  souls  are  to  the  death,  yet  feel 
no  thirst  after  the  waters  of  life.  3.  In  lack  of 
motion.  Indeed,  a  dead  body  hath  a  natural  pro- 
pension  downwards ;  so  these  unjust  men  have  a 
passive  motion,  they  move  down  to  hell ;  but  they 
cannot  actively  move  one  finger  to  goodness.  A 
corpse  is  a  heavy,  disanimated  lump,  pressing  down- 
wards; as  sin  cast  Dathan  from  this  world,  Lucifer 
out  of  heaven.  4.  In  lack  of  heat,  infected  with  the 
poison  of  that  serpent,  wliich  is  cold  in  the  fourth 
degree,  mortal.  When  a  man  is  dead,  chafe  him, 
rub  him,  bow  him,  put  aqua  lilte  into  him  ;  then 
take  him  by  the  liand,  and  bid  him  walk  ;  yet  he 
cannot  stir  the  least  joint :  except  the  soul  be  re- 
stored, all  persuasions  be  in  vain.  5.  In  lack  of 
sweetness;  the  soul,  his  salt,  being  gone,  what  can 
keep  it  from  putrefaction  ?  Thus  is  adultery  a  noi- 
some luiclcanness  ;  slander  an  unsavoury  breath,  like 
the  stream  that  comes  from  a  new  open  grave ;  their 
throat  being  an  open  sepulchre,  Psal.  v.  9.  Heaps 
of  ill-gotten  wealth  is  a  very  dunghUI ;  all  wicked- 
ness like  stinking  carrion  to  God. 

Now  the  coffin  or  grave  for  such  a  sinner  is  three- 
fold, according  to  his  death.  The  sepulchre  of  the 
body  is  the  earth ;  the  sepulchre  of  the  soul  is  the 
body ;  the  sepulchre  of  both,  dying  in  sin,  is  hell :  as 
there  is  natural,  spiritual,  and  eternal  death.  The 
bearers  that  carry  him,  are  four.  1.  Hope  of  life  ; 
neither  age  nor  sickness  can  put  him  out  of  that 
liope.  2.  Promise  of  repentance  to  himself,  when 
he  can  sin  no  longer.  3.  Presumption  of  mercy,  as 
if  God  must  needs  save  him  because  he  made  him. 
4.  Love  of  the  world,  which  makes  him  forget  the 
world  to  come.  These  carry  him  out  of  life,  as  the 
widow's  son  was  borne  out  of  the  gates  of  the  cily, 
Luke  vii.  A  wanton  eye  carries  a  man  out  by  the 
gates  of  his  sight ;  a  swearing  tongue,  by  the  gate  of 
his  mouth;  listening  to  scurrilous  speeches,  by  the 
gate  of  his  ears. 

Thus  dead  is  every  obstinate  sinner:  dead  in  sin, 
saitli   Paul ;    yea,  sahh   the   Lord.     It   is  not   the 


opinion  of  some  physician,  that  may  be  deceived  in 
his  princijials,  but  it  is  u  Thus  saith  the  Lord.  It  is 
said  of  Adam  fallen,  as  of  a  condemned  malefactor, 
that  he  is  dead  in  law.  Not  only  in  respect  of  tlie 
dissimilitude  betwixt  God's  life  and  theirs ;  which  is 
such  an  alienation,  Eph.  iv.  18,  as  is  indeed  a  diame- 
trical opposition ;  but  in  the  order  and  course  of  God's 
justice,  sentencing  death  to  every  one  that  sins  :  and 
this  death  must  be  answered  either  in  the  sinner  or 
in  the  Saviour.  So  they  are  as  dead  to  God,  as  a 
traitor  to  the  prince,  or  as  a  felon  is  to  the  judge. 

This  is  one  especial  bond,  whereby  they  are  re- 
served and  bound  over  to  the  day  of  judgment ;  a 
death  in  sin.  Not  but  that  Christ  is  able  to  raise 
the  dead,  and  to  loose  these  bonds,  Psal.  cxvi.  16. 
He  raised  three  sorts  of  dead  in  the  three  years  of 
his  ministry  :  one  in  the  house,  Jairus'  daughter ; 
another  in  the  gate,  the  widow's  son  ;  a  third  in  the 
grave,  which  was  Lazarus.  St.  Augustine  (Serm. 
44.  de  Verb.  Dom.)  thus  resembles  them :  A  sinner 
is  dead  in  the  house,  when  he  sins  secretly,  imagining 
mischief  in  his  mind.  He  is  carried  out  of  the  gate, 
when  he  sins  openly,  not  confining  it  within  doors ; 
but  brings  it  forth,  Psal.  vii.  14,  in  word  or  deed, 
and  makes  it  scandalous  to  the  church.  He  stinks 
in  the  grave,  when  he  sins  habitually,  without  any 
remorse.  The  first  may  be  raised  by  doctrine ;  the 
next  by  discipline,  as  appears  by  Christ's  own 
practice  and  direction,  John  ii.  15;  Matt,  xviii.  17. 
But  what  shall  we  do  with  the  incorrigible  and  cus- 
tomarj'  sinner,  who  is  dead  in  the  grave  ?  Only 
pray,  with  Marj',  "Lord,  if  thou  hadst  been  here, 
my'brother  had  not  died,"  John  xi.  32 ;  but  I  know 
all  things  are  possible  unto  thee.  Now  there  was 
weeping  for  the  damsel  dead  in  the  house :  more 
weeping  for  the  man  carried  out  of  the  gate ;  the 
mother  wept,  the  church  laments:  but>  most  weep- 
ing at  Lazarus'  grave  ;  Martha  wept,  and  Mary 
wept,  and  the  Jews  wept,  and  Jesus  wcjit,  and  groan- 
ed in  the  spirit.  We  ought  to  weep  penitently  for 
the  beginnings  of  sin  ;  more  for  the  ])roceeding  and 
increase  ;  most  of  all  for  the  completion  and  accom- 
plishment of  death,  when  tlic  sinner  betakes  himself 
to  the  scomer's  chair,  deriding  God  and  all  goodness. 
Let  us  say  in  the  church,  as  Demosthenes  did  in 
Athens,  We  have  more  cause  to  weep  for  the  lives  of 
the  bad,  than  for  the  deaths  of  the  good.  It  is  over 
the  spiritually  dead,  that  the  confused  quire  of  hell 
sing  songs  of  triumph.  They  arc  glad  to  see  us  sin 
in  the  house,  admitting  an  ill  motion  to  our  purpose  ; 
rejoice  at  our  carrj-ing  forth,  breaking  out  into  noto- 
rious offences  ;  are  most  merry,  when  we  continue  in 
filthiness,  till  we  stink  in  the  sepulchre.  O  let  us 
hearken  to  Christ,  Arise,  sit  up  and  speak  :^  to  com- 
fort our  mother  on  earth,  to  please  our  Father  in 
heaven. 

The  next  bond  is  their  evil  conscience  ;  an  infal- 
lible binder,  hell  itself  is  not  surer.  Such  a  man  is 
ai'TuKaTaKpiToe,  damned  of  his  own  self.  Tit.  iii.  11. 
Unless  he  could  run  away  from  himself,  he  cannot 
escape  this  judgment.  There  be  three  acts  of  con- 
science. 1.  Before  the  deed  is  done,  examining  whe- 
ther it  be  lawful  or  unlawful.  2.  In  the  deed  doing, 
allowing  or  resisting.  3.  After  the  deed  done,  ap- 
proving or  condemning.  There  be  divers  reasons 
why  even'  man  hath  a  conscience. 

1.  That  man  might  have  an  internal  schoolmaster 
to  direct  him.  Now  the  fittest  for  this  office  is  con- 
science. (Chrj'sost.)  If  the  irascible  or  concupiscible 
part  had  been  our  governors,  either  they  would  have 
been  often  absent,  or  else  led  us  amiss.  What  a 
beast  is  man  under  the  regiment  of  lust  or  sense  ! 
and  how  seldom  does  anger  play  the  game  with 
;  reason !    But  conscience,  like  a  pulley,  keeps  reason 


400 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IF. 


in  tlic  right  wheel ;  and  either  cashiers  mutinous 
afTcctions,  or  executes  martial  law  upon  them.  If 
only  outw-ard  rulers  were  to  govern  us,  they  have  no 
eyes  to  see  the  mind  ;  there  might  be  misrule  enough 
within  doors,  and  they  never  the  wiser.  Therefore 
they  would  either  be  contemned  for  meanness,  or 
condemned  fur  partiality.  But  in  the  conscience 
there  is  both  awe  enough  and  justice  enough,  and 
every  man  is  willing  to  be  ruled  by  his  own  mind;  if 
not,  this  schoolmaster  hath  a  rod  to  compel  him. 

2.  That  he  might  have  a  thing  within  him  to  put 
him  in  remembrance.  In  the  law  a  man  will  do 
nothing  without  his  counsel  learned;  but  for  the 
passages  of  his  life,  he  seldom  stands  upon  advice. 
This  monitor  will  be  ever  plucking  him  by  the  sleeve, 
telling  him,  this  action  is  naught,  God  is  angry  at  it, 
unshil'table  plagues  attend  it.  David  carried  in  his 
bosom,  as  it  were,  a  jiaiutcd  picture  of  adultery  and 
murder,  says  Chiysostoni.  The  word  doth  but  some- 
times discover  our  cormption:  it  is  the  glass  St. 
James  speaks  of,  wherein  we  look,  and  see  our  image, 
hut  turn  our  backs,  and  forget  it.  But  conscience  is 
always  at  hand ;  it  is  the  continual  reflection  of  the 
soul  upon  itself.  Even  in  the  dark  it  will  represent 
to  a  man  his  own  form,  make  his  wounds  smart,  and 
send  him  quickly  to  the  Physician. 

3.  That  he  may  have  a  judge  within  him;  wherein 
conscience  hath  yet  a  higher  office.  For,  I.  A  school- 
master may  be  despised.  Customaiy  sinners,  like 
boys  grown  tall  and  stubborn,  contemn  the  rod.  A 
remembrancer  may  be  dispraised ;  and  said,  as  Hushai 
of  Ahithophel,  his  counsel  is  good,  but  not  at  this 
time  ;  but  a  judge  we  all  tremble  at.  2.  External 
judges  may  be  corrupted,  but  the  conscience  will  take 
no  bribes.  Oh  that  as  every  judge  hath  a  con- 
science, so  this  conscience  might  evermore  give  the 
judgment  !  3.  The  guilty  person  may  flee  from 
another  judge  ;  but  there  is  no  evasion  of  conscience. 
It  is  impossible  fur  a  man  to  run  away  from  himself. 
4.  Great  men  cannot  be  brought  to  judgment-seats  : 
the  poor  are  like  the  primitive  or  original  matter, 
under  generation,  so  under  reformation;  but  the  rich 
are  like  stars  above  the  moon,  too  high  for  the  reach 
of  ordinary  power.  When  a  company  of  Lacede- 
monian gallants  had  defiled  the  bench  and  seat  of 
judgment,  the  magistrates  at  first  stormed,  and  vowed 
jiunishment  ;  but  when  they  knew-  who  did  it,  they 
enacted  a  law  of  exception:  It  is  lawful  for  those 
gentlemen  to  do  what  they  will.  But  be  they  never 
so  great,  this  judge  will  make  them  stoop.  5.  Preach- 
ers dare  not  reprove  all  men  particularly ;  such  an 
attempt  would  bring  them  into  contempt.  Conscience 
fears  no  man ;  dares  check  a  magistrate,  control  a 
prince.  It  may  sometimes  slumber :  no  woman  is 
always  scolding;  but  when  she  wakens  she  will 
speak. 

4.  That  man  might  have  his  comfort,  or  his  tor- 
ment, within  him.  Comfort  to  the  righteous;  in  all 
afflictions  they  have  this  stay,  that  they  be  not  over- 
whelmed with  sorrow.  Though  they  be  condemned, 
this  approves  ;  affords  liberty  in  prison  ;  in  the  want 
of  outward  food,  this  sustains:  it  is  the  "hidden 
manna,"  Rev.  ii.  17.  Torment  to  sinners  ;  that  they 
may  taste  of  God's  judgments  even  in  this  life. 
(Clirysost.)  In  the  midst  of  all  their  prosperous  for- 
tunes, they  have  inward  tortures.  A  malefactor  in 
prison,  though  he  fare  well,  yet  is  tormented  with  the 
thought  of  ensuing  judgment.  It  is  the  hand-writing 
on  the  wall,  that  prints  bloody  characters  in  Bel- 
.shazzar's  heart.  This  is  the  breakings-out  of  the 
flames  of  Tophet,  a  little  model  of  hell :  as  a  looking- 
glass  broken  into  many  small  pieces,  every  one  can 
.show  the  contracted  form.  This  is  another  indisso- 
luble chain  that  binds  them  over. 


The  last  bond  of  this  reservation  is  the  immutable 
justice  of  God.  In  respect  of  his  decree  before  the 
woild,  and  suffering  them  to  heap  up  sin  in  the  world, 
that  they  may  be  punished  in  the  world  to  come. 
But  this  is  to  be  adored  with  reverence  and  with 
silence.     The  Lord  knoweth  how  to  do  it. 

For  ourselves,  let  us  take  external  prosperity  for 
no  good  mark  of  our  election  ;  the  fattest  beasts  arc 
kept  for  the  slaughter.  Flatter  we  not  ourselves  with 
the  sense  of  impunity ;  the  less  sorrow  we  feel,  the 
more  we  have  cause  to  fear,  for  the  more  may  be  be- 
hind. Let  us  break  ofl'our  sins  by  repentance,  that 
God  may  break  the  bonds  of  our  durance.  Pray  with 
David;  "Bring  my  soul  out  of  prison,  that  I  may 
j)raise  thy  name,"  Psal.  cxlii.  7.  "  Rescue  my  soiil 
from  destructions,  my  darling  from  the  lions,"  Psal. 
XXXV.  17.  That  our  sins  being  remitted,  and  our 
consciences  quieted,  we  may  live  in  grace,  and  go  to 
the  grave  in  peace ;  and  when  all  books  be  opened, 
ours  may  have  no  sin  found  in  it,  but  instead  tlicreof, 
the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Unto  the  day  of  judgment."  This  is  the  assizes. 
Sinful  persons  riot  in  the  gaol  of  their  durance;  yet 
when  the  session  comes,  they  begin  to  be  a  little 
calm,  put  off  their  disguises  of  dissoluteness,  and  put 
on  some  modesty  and  semblance  of  humiliation. 
Then  they  change  their  apparel,  their  garbs,  their 
looks ;  all  to  appear  civil.  If  the  meditation  of  this 
dreadful  day,  when  all  hearts  shall  be  searched,  all 
secret  corruptions  embowelled,  a  final  sentence  pro- 
nounced, by  a  Judge  that  cannot  be  deceived,  upon 
sinners  that  would  not  be  converted;  if  this  cannot 
make  us  tremble,  our  hearts  disdain  comparison  for 
hardness  with  the  nether  millstone. 

Jugment  is  diversly  understood.  For  rule  and 
government.  Matt.  xii.  18:  order  them  aright.  For 
equity,  Luke  xi.  42;  Jer.  xxii.  3.  For  opinion, 
1  Cor.  iv.  3 :  that  is  a  man's  judgment,  which  he 
thinks.  For  plagues  and  calamities,  Exod.  vii.  4. 
For  righteousness  and  holiness :  All  the  ways  of  God 
are  judgment  and  truth,  Psal.  xxv.  10.  For  au- 
thority, John  V.  27.  For  God's  secret  counsel,  Rom. 
xi.  33.  For  our  afflictions,  1  Pet.  iv.  17;  1  Cor.  xi. 
32.  Here  it  is  taken  for  a  determination,  or  giving  a 
sentence  by  a  judge  on  the  bench,  and  in  the  seat  of 
justice.  For  this  there  is  a  court,  ant^  a  throne. 
The  court  shall  be  kept  in  the  clouds.  Matt.  xxiv. 
30.  If  any  ask.  Why  rather  on  earth,  than  in  heaven  ? 
1  answer,  the  malefactor  to  be  judged  hath  sinned  on 
the  earth ;  and  it  is  the  manner  of  secular  judges 
there  to  keep  the  assizes,  where  men  committed  the 
trespasses.  All  the  elements  have  been  abused  by 
sinners,  therefore  are  they  judged  in  the  midst  of  the 
elements;  that  the  very  place  guilty  of  their  fault, 
might  be  satisfied  with  their  rain.  Again,  to  be  ad- 
mitted into  heaven,  though  there  to  be  judged,  is  an 
honour  whereof  sinful  nature  is  not  capable ;  there- 
fore they  must  remain  in  the  lower  parts  of  the 
world.  No  reprobate  man  or  devil  shall  ever  see 
God:  Christ  indeed  they  shall  see  in  the  glor)-  of  a 
Judge,  not  in  the  glory  of  God.  There  is  also  a 
thrunc.  Matt.  xxv.  31.  Earthly  kings,  when  they 
will  show  themselves  to  their  subjects  in  awful 
majesty,  ascend  their  thrones;  this  is  the  highest 
state  of  a  kingdom.  This  throne  shall  be  most  ter- 
rible to  the  wicked;  a  fiery  flame,  and  the  wheels 
burning  fire,  Dan.  vii.  9.  But  to  the  faithful  there  is 
a  rainbow  about  it.  Rev.  iv.  3,  to  qualify  the  terriblc- 
ncss  of  it. 

"  Unto  the  day  of  judgment."  This  point  I  have 
divers  times  handled  :  therefore  to  avoid  a  coincidence 
of  discourse,  I  fasten  only  upon  two  meditations,  for- 
merly not  observed ;  the  sufliciency  of  the  Judge,  and 
the  necessity  of  the  judgment. 


Vlr.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  TETER. 


401 


I.  First,  the  sufficiency  of  the  Judge  :  liis  infinite 
lerfection  cannot  be  better  discerned  of  us,  lb;in  by 
lomparison.  There  be  two  main  conditions  that  con- 
.  ur  to  the  making  up  of  a  judge ;  outward  warrant, 
and  inward  enablement. 

For  the  former;  judgment  is  not  every  man's 
work,  there  must  be  commission  and  designmcnt  for 
it.  There  have  been  indeed  some  extraordinary 
actions  of  justice,  without  specification  of  warnmt. 
Such  was  the  act  of  Pliinehas,  Numb,  xxv.,  for  which 
some  plead  extraordinar)-  instinct  from  God;  and 
doubtless  he  would  not  have  accepted  that  sacrifice, 
)f  himself  had  not  prompted  it.  So  he  had  the 
substance  of  authority  from  private  revelation, 
though  not  the  form  of  authority  from  public  deputa- 
tion. But  I  rather  think  (hat  his  judgment  was  also 
solemnly  warranted.  For  both,  God  says  to  Moses, 
Hang  up  the  heads;  and  Moses  to  the  under-rulers. 
Every  one  slay  his  men  that  were  joined  to  Baal-peor. 
So  that  for  this  execution  every  Israelite  is  made  a 
magistrate  ;  and  then  why  not  Phinehas  ?  But  it  is 
objected,  that  he  was  a  priest,  and  his  place  for  peace 
and  mercy.  I  answer,  even  this  act  of  justice  was  a 
work  of  mercy  :  Samuel  thought  it  not  out  of  his 
office,  to  hew  Agag  in  pieces.  They  might  make  a 
carcass,  which  might  not  touch  it.  Levi  got  the 
priesthood  by  such  a  sacrifice,  shedding  the  blood  of 
idolaters.  Thus  ordinaiy  justice  might  well  bear  out 
Phinehas  in  that  act.  But  it  is  not  for  every  man  to 
challenge  this  office  ;  private  persons  may  only  pray 
for  tlie  redress  of  sin;  if  the  man  be  not  warranted, 
it  is  a  lawful  question.  Who  made  thee  a  judge  ?  Now 
if  a  deputed  judge  be  of  great  authority,  who  hath 
yet  a  supreme  magistrate  over  him,  to  examine  and 
reform  him;  how  mighty  is  this  Judge,  that  makes,  yea, 
and  unmakes  judges !  that  judeelh  them,  and  if  they 
do  ill,  condemns  them !  By  him  Kings  reign  and  judges 
rule  ;  by  him  shall  king  and  judges  be  called  to  ac- 
count. The  Jews  once  (luestioned  Christ,  "  By  what 
authorify  doest  thou  these  things?"  Matt.  xxi.  23. 
And  the  fools  of  the  world  would  fain  doubt  it.  But 
this  day  shall  show,  that  the  Father  hath  committed 
all  judgment  unto  the  Son,  John  v.  22. 

For  the  other,  which  is  enablement ;  whatsoever 
sufficiency  is  in  other  judges,  comes  from  the  Lord  ; 
how  infinite  then  is  himself!  To  make  a  sufficient 
judge,  these  virtues  are  required. 

(i.)  Knowledge,  Deut.  i.  13.  A  man  can  best 
judge  of  that  which  he  knoweth.  Ignorance  of  the 
judge  is  the  misfortune  of  the  innocent,  says  Augus- 
tine. It  is  bad  at  the  bar,  worse  on  the  bench.  An 
advocate's  ignorance  can  wrong  but  one  man's  cause, 
a  judge's  may  prejudice  the  whole  country.  In  this 
Paul  thought  himself  happy,  that  he  stood  before  a 
judge  expert  in  the  laws.  Acts  xx\-i.  3.  "  Wisdom  is 
better  than  weapons  of  war,"  Eccl.  ix.  18.  Without 
this  a  magistrate  is  but  a  blind  Polyphemus,  a  great 
monster  without  an  eye.  A  stnnder-by  can  say.  This 
you  cannot  do  by  law ;  or  in  derision.  You  are  be- 
side your  book.  It  is  a  shame  for  a  justicer,  that  be- 
fore he  can  tell  what  to  do,  he  must  go  consult  his 
clerk.  Otherwise  he  must  weave  a  resolution  out  of 
his  own  brains,  as  spiders  sjiin  their  cobwebs  out  of 
themselves.  If  he  hit  on  the  right,  it  is  beholden 
to  his  luck,  and  so  he  relieves  the  plaintifT*  hope, 
not  with  constant  equity,  but  with  an  uncertain  lot- 
tery ;  and  fills  up  the  time  with  that  which  empties 
the  occasion,  some  adage,  or  a  stolen  jest  of  stale  wit, 
or  a  patch  of  poetiy.  But  our  Judge  hath  clear  eyes 
to  discern  the  cause  ;  and  knows  the  law,  for  it  was  of 
his  own  making.  "I'liere  is  nothing  that  can  lie  hid 
from  his  knowledge,  or  escape  his  power.  Tlie  Jesuit 
cannot  equivocate  with  him,  though  he  have  tricks 
bevond  the  devil. 

2  D 


(2.)  Courage,  magnanimity,  or  spirit:  typified  in 
Judah,  that  judiciary  tribe  ;  whose  emblem,  or 
escutcheon,  was  a  lion  couchant,  that  lies  by  the  prey 
without  fear  of  rescue,  and  turns  not  his  head  at  the 
sight  of  any  creature.  The  principal  pillars  of  a 
house  had  need  be  heart  of  oak.  Of  soft  w'ood,  or 
bending  lead,  earjicnters  will  not  make  them  rules; 
and  are  flexible  ilispositions  fit  for  riili  rs  ?  Men  do 
not  choose  a  starting  horse  to  lead  the  team.  He 
had  need  be  of  David's  valour,  that  can  snatch  the 
prey  out  of  tlie  lion's  mouth,  rescue  the  oppressed 
from  him  that  is  too  mighty  for  him.  Now  all  the 
courage  of  man  is  but  the  gift  of  God  :  "  In  thine 
hand  it  is  to  give  strength  unto  all,"  I  C'hron.  xxix. 
12.  If  a  beam  be  so  radiant,  how  glorious  is  the  Sun 
himself!  The  Judge  of  all  the  world  is  inllexible. 
It  is  falsely  said  of  Cato,  that  the  sun  might  sooner 
alter  his  course,  than  he  pervert  his  course  of  justice. 
The  stoutest  and  strongest  may  yield,  cither  for  fear, 
as  Pilate  when  he  heard  but  a  buzz  that  he  was  not 
Cjcsar's  friend;  or  for  favour,  as  Eli,  that  buried  the 
living  severity  of  a  judge,  and  burning  zeal  of  a  priest, 
in  the  frozen  and  dead  indulgence  of  a  father.  But 
whom  should  this  Judge  fear,  or  who  can  deserve  his 
favour  ?  No  audacious  swaggerer  dares  cross  him, 
no  great  man's  letters  can  prevail  with  him,  nor  the 
frowns  of  kings,  nor  the  fiatterics  of  coui'licrs,  can 
move  him. 

(3.)  Integrity  ;  there  must  be  no  corruption  in 
him.  The  brain  had  need  be  of  a  strong  constitution, 
that  can  disperse  and  dispel  the  fumes  surging  from 
a  vicious  stomach,  liver,  or  spleen.  He  whom  neither 
clamour,  nor  rumour,  nor  terror,  neither  furious  pas- 
sion, nor  melting  compassion,  can  divert  from  justice, 
is  fit  to  be  a  judge.  In  this  court  of  Christ,  there 
will  be  no  commuting.  Give  me  thy  silver  for  thy 
sin.  No  dispensing.  Bear  with  me,  and  I  will  bear 
with  thee.  No  conniving,  as  Eli,  The  judge  shall 
judge  it,  1  Sam.  ii.  25 ;  whereas  himself  was  judge, 
and  did  not  judge  it ;  so  sentencing  himself,  while 
he  did  not  sentence  his  sons.  No  slubbering  over  a 
cause,  without  ransacking  the  bowels  of  it.  But  a 
vindicating  of  truth  out  of  all  the  deus  and  thickets 
of  juggling  conveyance.  The  scholar  searchoth  it 
by  (hsputation,  the  judge  by  examination.  Neigh- 
bourhood is  my  friend,  alliance  is  my  friend,  bounty 
is  my  friend;  but  justice  is  my  friend  above  all. 
Thus  Job  searched  out  the  cause  which  he  knew  not, 
Job  xxix.  16.  Man  doth  search  before  he  finds,  God 
doth  find  before  he  searches.  Man  goes  by  discourse, 
by  certain  rules  and  principles,  and  general  deduc- 
tions, and  from  thence  concludes :  God  sees  at  first. 
Man  and  truth  are  two  several  things ;  truth  and 
God  is  all  one. 

Mortal  judges  may  be  blinded  with  bribes,  and  the 
champions  of  justice  become  mammon's  slaves.  A 
gift  in  the  bosom  wresteth  judgment ;  the  injection 
of  a  dram  sways  the  golden  balance  of  justice,  and  so 
the  cause  is  poised  by  the  weight  of  the  bribe.  If 
the  left  hand  be  full  of  bribes,  tlie  right  must  be  full 
of  mischief.  But  our  Judge  is  not  thus  to  be  wrought 
upon:  "Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  tlie  earth  do 
right  ?  "  Gen.  xviii.  25.  Did  not  the  Judge  in  his 
mortal  flesh  scourge  such  money  merchants  with 
zealous  severity  ?  Did  not  his  ajiostle  with  fiery  in- 
dignation ban  Simon  and  his  money  ?  It  comes  to 
pass  that  whole  kingdoms  and  churches  perish,  be- 
cause such  men  and  their  monies  perish  not.  Oh  if 
this  Judge  would  take  gold,  how  few  rich  men  would 
go  to  hell !  But  gold  hath  lost  millions  of  souls  ;  it 
never  did,  never  sliall,  save  one.  A  dram  of  grace 
shall  be  more  worth  then,  than  all  the  treasures  of 
the  earth.  Sublunary  materials  have  their  places  ; 
"  Iron  is  taken  out  of  the  earth,  and  brass  molten 


402 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


C'hah.  II. 


out  of  the  stone,"  Job  xxviii.  2  :  the  sun  is  found  in 
his  orb,  fire  in  his  clement,  &c.  But  wliere  is  grace 
to  be  found,  and  what  is  the  place  of  justice  ?  It  is 
not  found  in  the  land  of  the  living,  ver.  13.  Nature 
says,  It  is  not  in  me :  weallh  and  honour  disclaim  it, 
It  is  not  found  in  us.  Then  how  shall  we  do  in  the 
day  of  judgment  ?  It  is  found  in  the  treasury  of 
Jesus. 

This  point  willingly  and  usefully  extends  itself  to 
magistrates,  of  what  place  soever ;  collaterally  to  all 
persons,  teaching  them  to  do  equity,  and  to  preserve 
integrity. 

[1.]  i)o  justice:  to  this  the  judge  stands  bound  in 
reason,  as  the  proper  act  of  his  function :  if  he  be 
not  at  leisure  to  do  this,  it  is  time  lo  unjiidgc  him  ; 
as  the  woman  said  to  Philip,  Do  not  reign.  Judg- 
ment is  not  man's,  but  the  Lord's,  2  Chron.  xix.  6. 
Judges  are  a  kind  of  living  instraments ;  and  the 
nature  of  instruments  consists  in  the  use  and  opera- 
tion ;  as  a  knife  is  only  to  cut.  That  avails  nothing, 
which  does  not  avail  to  its  own  proper  end.  If  the 
axe  be  not  good  to  hew,  we  say  it  is  good  for  nothing. 
\Vhat  then  say  you  to  those  magistrates,  that  have 
eyes  and  see  not,  ears  and  hear  not  ?  They  are  idols  : 
only  one  defect  of  those  idols  they  are  not  troubled 
with  ;  we  cannot  say,  They  have  hands,  and  handle 
not;  for  they  handle  too  much;  so  much  of  the 
money,  that  they  care  not  to  handle  the  cause.  Eyes 
they  have,  and  see  not ;  feet  they  have,  and  walk 
not;  mouths  they  have,  and  speak  not;  hands  they 
have,  but  they  do  handle.  These  are  instruments 
without  operation;  for  judicem  Judicare,  is  as  agree- 
able and  natural,  as  for  the  eye  to  see,  the  ear  to 
hear.  If  the  other  be  not  idols,  sure  they  are  idol- 
aters ;  golden  calves  if  they  be  not,  yet  they  are 
worshippers  of  golden  calves.  Yet  in  doing  justice, 
I  would  not  have  judgment  triumph  over  mercy ; 
whereas  mercy  rejoiceth  against  judgment.  To 
banish  all  favour,  is  to  banish  some  equity.  There 
may  be  favours  within  the  cause,  not  favoui-s  with- 
out the  cause;  legal  favours,  though  not  personal. 
Where  no  wrong  is  done  to  justice,  there  may  be  fair 
use  and  place  for  mercy. 

[2.]  Keep  integrity,  what  place  soever  you  make 
good ;  it  is  the  spiritual  constitution  and  best  health 
of  your  souls.  The  breach  of  this,  the  apostle  calls 
a  shipwreck.  The  weight  of  all  goodness  will  leave 
us,  when  we  leave  that  :  it  sh;dl  pour  contempt  upon 
princes,  and  make  a  great  Antiochus  called  a  vile 
person.  As  we  love  our  lives,  as  we  love  our  souls  ; 
through  all  the  fransiton,-,  temporary,  momentary 
passages  of  this  world;  let  us  preserve  the  life  of 
our  lives,  and  soul  of  our  souls,  our  integrity. 

2.  The  necessity  of  this  judgment.  That  this 
should  be,  it  stands  both  with  the  justice  and  mercy 
of  God.  "  It  is  a  righteous  thing  with  God  to 
recompense  tribulation  to  them  that  trouble  you ; 
to  you  that  are  troubled,  rest  with  us,"  2  Thcss.  i. 
6,  7,  rest  with  himself  For  this  world,  they  are 
afflicted  most  that  serve  God  best;  and  men  of  worst 
conscience  flow  with  abundance.  So  that  the  world 
thinks  none  miserable  but  the  conscionablc  ;  the 
more  holy,  the  less  happy,  ^yho  have  more  seconds 
and  friends  at  a  pinch,  than  the  deboshed  sons  of 
Belial,  the  roaring  monsters  of  the  world,  that  with 
crest  and  breast  oppose  all  hinderance  in  the  way 
of  their  lusts  and  humours?  What  plotting,  what 
siding  there  is  to  maintain  a  ruffian,  to  countenance 
some  disordered  retainer,  to  uphold  a  rotten  alehouse, 
to  procure  a  homicide's  pardon,  who  sees  not? 
AVhereas  a  good  man's  trouble  is  by  all  cunning 
aggravations  greatened;  as  if  the  world  meant  all 
hurt  against  him,  that  means  none.  Oh  if  in  this  life 
only  wc  had  hope  in  Christ,  we  were  of  all  men  the 


most  miserable,  1  Cor.  xv.  19.  There  had  need  be 
a  judgment ;  and  for  this  cause  among  the  rest,  the 
saints  cry  instantly,  incessantly.  Come,  Lord  Jesus, 
come  quickly. 

Be  pleased  to  consider  this  point  also  comparative- 
ly. Without  judgment  how  could  any  nation  stand? 
AH  things  would  run  to  disorder  and  confusion  but 
for  this.  There  can  be  no  society  among  men  with- 
out indifferency :  there  is  no  indifferency,  where 
olfencc  is  done  without  satisfaction  :  satisfaction  may 
be  sought  many  ways,  can  no  way  be  enforced,  but 
by  judgment.  This  they  resolve  into  several  acts  of 
judiciary  proceeding,  even  from  the  summons  to  the 
sentence,  from  God's  own  example  in  the  first  sinner's 
conviction.  If  visible  powers  were  not  more  feared 
than  the  invisible  God,  the  world  would  be  overrun 
with  outrage.  Even  when  God's  own  Israel  had 
ofTcndcd,  Moses  makes  them  bleed  for  it.  He  that 
was  so  good,  that  he  would  rather  perish  himself 
than  Israel  should  perish,  yet  pronounceth  sentence 
of  death  on  the  idolaters,  rejoices  and  blesseth  the 
executioners.  It  is  charity  as  well  as  justice,  to 
punish  offenders  ;  and  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  God 
loves  more  a  pitiful  justice,  or  a  punishing  mercy. 
But  might  not  those  sinners  have  repented  and  lived? 
Or  if  they  must  be  punished,  can  nothing  serve  but 
death  ?  Or  if  they  must  die,  shall  it  be  by  the  hands 
of  their  brethren  ?  Or  if  brethren  must  cut  their 
throats,  shall  it  be  done  in  the  heat  of  their  sins? 
Yes,  so  God  commanded;  and  even  that  judgment 
was  mercy ;  judgment  on  the  bad,  mercy  to  the 
whole  ;  the  corrupt  blood  is  let  out,  that  the  body 
may  be  preserved.  Moses  had  a  soft  heart,  but 
zealous  and  wise ;  pitiful  he  was,  not  fond. 

A  sinful  commonwealth  cannot  live,  unless  it  bleed 
in  the  common  vein.  There  is  not  a  better  sacrifice 
to  God,  than  the  blood  of  malefactors  :  this  sacrifice 
so  pleased  him  in  the  hands  of  the  Levites.  that  they 
alone  must  sacrifice  to  him  still.  Next  to  our  prayers, 
we  do  no  better  service  to  God,  than  in  punishing 
obstinate  sinners;  if  they  deserve  it,  even  unto  blood. 
How  doth  this  free  the  land  from  those  judgments, 
which  God  otherwise  would  inflict !  His  revenge 
pursues  transgressors  ;  but  if  the  revenge  of  man's 
justice  overtake  i":,  God  gives  over  the  chase :  to 
execute  this  judgment,  saves  him  a  labour.  If  the 
land  be  defiled  with  blood,  in  duels,  drunken  quar- 
rels, there  is  no  way  to  purge  it,  but  by  their  blood 
that  polluted  it.  Often  hath  the  Lord  done  justice 
on  the  whole  body,  because  the  head  hatli  not  done 
justice  on  a  member:  and  the  seasonable  infliction 
of  a  less  punishment  hath  avoided  a  greater.  The 
tribe  of  Le\"i,  by  shedding  the  blood  of  the  idolatrous 
Israelites,  was  cleared  from  the  blood  of  the  inno- 
cent Shechemiles.  The  best  friends  to  the  state  are 
the  impartial  ministers  of  judgment;  nor  do  the 
prayers  of  them  that  sit  still  and  do  nothing,  so  much 
pacify  God's  wrath  against  us,  as  their  just  retribu- 
tion. AVe  gaze  and  wonder  at  the  iniquity  of  the 
land,  yea,  shed  tears  for  it ;  but  it  is  the  public  sword 
of  our  authority  in  correcting  it,  that  must  reconcile 
the  Lord.  Govemoi-s  are  faulty  of  those  sins  they 
sec  and  punish  not.  It  is  no  less  than  a  good  sight 
in  a  state,  even  a  malefactor  at  the  gallows.  Wc 
could  not  cat  our  meat,  nor  sleep  in  our  beds,  nor 
pray  in  peace,  but  for  judgment.  Such  is  the  neces- 
sity of  it,  that  no  state  can  stand  without  it. 

This  is  a  benefit  in  our  land  which  we  must  ac- 
knowledge by  experience,  God  grant  we  may  ac- 
knowledge with  thankfulness.  We  have  courts  and 
judgment-seats  for  all  causes ;  spiritual  and  tempo- 
ral, civil  and  criminal,  pecuniary  and  capital.  Wc 
luive  judges  visiting  all  the  great  cities  twice  in  (he 
year  at  least,  1  Sam.  vii.  16  •  so  that  the  people  can- 


.Ver.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


J03 


•not  complain  that  llu  y  travel  far  for  justicf,  nor  ex- 
cept against  (rial,  wlui  stand  or  fall  by  tlip  deposition 
and  verdict  of  their  nearest  neighbours.  The  widow 
took  a  right  course  in  soliciting  the  judge,  Luke 
xviii.  3.  "  ^Vhen  they  have  a  matter,"  saith  Moses, 
"  they  come  unto  me,"  Exod.  xviii.  16.  And  when 
Christ  chargeth  us  to  "  agree  with  our  adversary," 
Matt.  V.  25,  he  speaks  not  against  just  proceeding 
in  law;  but  rather  ratifies  and  rectifies  the  course 
of  civil  justice.  Being  smitten,  he  struck  not  again; 
yet  he  expostulated  concerning  the  act,  John  xviii. 
•23.  Paul  reproving  the  high  priest  in  justice,  Acts 
xxiii.  3,  was  yet  prepared  to  suffer  ;  and  he  appealed 
unto  Ca'sar.  If  then  it  be  so  necessary  for  man,  that 
he  cannot  conserve  his  profit,  credit,  quiet,  life  itself, 
without  judgment,  how  much  more  stands  it  with 
the  honour  of  God !  There  be  innumerable  sins, 
which  neither  the  eye  of  man  sees,  nor  the  arm  of 
man  can  reach ;  these  must  not  escape,  God  must  be 
glorified  in  all :  now  he  cannot  be  glorified,  unless 
all  transgression  be  punished,  and  all  obedience 
crowned.     I  conclude. 

Oh  that  men  would  therefore  prepare  themselves 
for  this  last  and  great  audit.  "  I  behold  a  pale 
horse  :  and  his  name  that  sat  on  him  was  Death,  and 
Hell  followed  with  him,"  Rev.  vi.  8.  Many  tremble 
at  death,  but  how  would  they  be  affrighted  if  they 
could  see  his  follower,  hell  '  The  jackals  do  not  more 
wait  upon  the  lions,  nor  crows  upon  annics,  nor  gaol- 
ers on  Serjeants,  than  the  devil  attends  on  death  for  a 
booty.  Death  is  but  as  the  hook,  that  jerks  the  re- 
probates, like  fishes,  out  of  the  pond  of  this  world  : 
there  is  afterward  a  fire  and  a  frying-pan,  or  scalding 
caldron,  to  come.  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink ;  for  to- 
morrow we  die,"  1  Cor.  xr.  32.  Never  beast  made 
sucli  a  senseless  argument.  Riot,  because  we  shall 
die  ?  How  strange  is  such  a  conclusion  to  such  a 
promise !  It  is  all  one  with  them  to  be  a  farmer's 
nog,  or  an  alderman's  horse,  or  a  lady's  puppy,  or 
themselves  ;  that  think  death  the  full,  period,  the 
last  and  final  cessation  of  the  creature.  So  when 
Antisthrnes  cries  out  in  his  pangs.  Who  shall  ease 
me  ?  Diogenes  tendered  him  a  knife,  to  cut  his  own 
throat.  Our  frantic  combatants,  falsely  termed  brave 
spirits,  as  prodigal  of  their  lives  as  cocks  and  dogs, 
pouring  them  out  on  every  drunken  quarrel,  little 
think  of  this  dreadful  day  to  come.  It  is  not  the 
loss  of  the  men  we  so  much  pity  ;  good  for  nothing 
but  lo  stop  breaches,  and  make  up  forlorn  hopes,  in 
the  mouth  of  cannons  ;  but  it  is  the  loss  of  their  souls. 
If  they  did  think  of  this  judgment,  they  would  have 
little  list  to  such  desperate  combats.  For  who  would 
not  rather  welcome  a  rapier  or  pistol,  than  a  linger- 
ing and  racking  sickness ;  but  for  this  consequence, 
that  after  death  comes  judgment  ? 

Death  is  but  the  beginning  of  sorrows  ;  when  we 
have  done  with  him,  judgment  begins  with  us.  Yet 
too  many  banish  this  meditation  as  too  melancholy; 
and,  like  children  or  cowards,  rather  shut  their  eyes, 
and  choose  to  feel  the  blow,  than  to  see  and  avoid  it. 
How  silly  is  it  to  fear  death,  whose  pangs  be  some- 
times less  than  the  tootti-ache,  more  than  the  day  of 
judgment,  which  whom  it  finds  out  of  Christ,  shall 
cast  into  everlasting  fire  !  So  fools  fear  the  thunder- 
crack,  and  not  the  thunder-bolt;  the  report  of  the 
ordnance,  not  the  bullet ;  the  Serjeant's  arrest  more 
than  the  gaoler's  imprisonment.  Let  us  not  seek  to 
avoid  death,  this  we  cannot,  but  prepare  ourselves 
for  the  trial,  this  we  may.  Some  a  little  wiser,  and 
a  very  little  better,  upon  a  cold  thought  'of  death, 
admit  a  short-breathed  parley  of  judgment.  And 
then  after  a  sigh  or  two,  put  all  upon  a.  Lord,  have 
mercy  on  us;  we  trust  it  shall  go  as  well  with  us  as 
with  others;  even  as  God  will  have  it.    These  have 


some  scattered  and  preposterous  flashes  of  the  last 
judgment  in  their  consciences,  yet  take  no  course  to 
get  faith  and  pardon  in  Jesus  Christ.  Most  men 
think  all  well,  and  they  shall  answer  the  matter 
easily  enough  ;  not  weighing  the  horror  of  their  sins. 
Uut  how  fearfully  do  they  hnd  themselves  deluded, 
when  their  souls  awake,  as  Jonah  did  in  the  tempest, 
in  the  gulf  of  fire  and  brimstone  !  Let  us  ballast  our 
ship  before  we  put  to  sea,  lest  we  perish  in  the  main; 
and  judge  ourselves,  that  we  be  not  judged  in  the 
day  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  To  be  punished."  This  is  the  execution.  It 
were  a  vain  session,  if  malefactors  were  not  put  to 
execution.  Irrite  and  forceless  are  those  censures, 
which  impunity  follows.  The  mulcts  and  fines  which 
arc  not  required,  do  make  wickedness  more  bold  and 
insensible.  But  after  God's  judgment  follows  an  un- 
avoidable execution  ;  the  unjust  arc  not  only  judged, 
but  punished.  Among  men,  good  laws  drop  mlo 
contempt,  by  making  difference  of  offenders;  magis- 
trates are  afraid  to  meddle  with  the  outrages  of  the 
mighty.  Whence  it  comes,  that  small  thefts  are  con- 
demned to  carts,  while  the  great  sacrileges  are 
honoured  in  coaches.  If  the  great  beast  make  a  gap 
in  the  mound,  the  whole  herd  will  not  be  afraid  to 
follow.  It  was  the  Lord's  charge  to  Moses,  Hang  uj) 
the  heads.  Numb.  xxv.  4.  God  could  as  well  have 
struck  the  rulers  as  the  people;  yet  while  himself 
pimishcth  the  vulgar,  he  bids  Moses  punish  the 
princes;  which  one  would  think  should  have  been 
more  properly  reserved  to  his  own  immediate  hand. 
Yet  these  he  leaves  to  himian  authority,  that  he 
might  procure  awe  to  his  own  ordinances.  It  is  the 
impartial  execution  of  noble  offenders,  that  wins 
credit  to  government ;  and  the  want  of  it  cuts  the 
sinews  of  any  state.  If  their  sins  have  made  them 
base,  let  there  be  no  favour  in  their  penalty.  Bui  in 
this  judgment,  God  respects  no  persons;  he  knows 
no  valour,  no  honour,  no  riches,  no  royalty,  in  the 
matter  of  sin ;  but  "  "Tribulation  and  anguish,  ujion 
every  soul  of  man  tliat  doeth  evil,"  Rom.  ii.  9.  He 
knows  nothing  in  man,  nothing  for  man,  but  only  the 
righteousness  of  one,  God  and  man,  his  Son  Jesus. 
There  is  a  sin  among  men,  for  which  there  may  be 
some  mediation ;  "  but  if  a  man  sin  against  God, 
who  shall  entreat  for  him?"  1  Sam.  ii.  25.  None 
but  Christ.  From  hence  I  will  only  derive  these 
two  collections. 

1.  That  man's  soul  is  immortal,  and  liis  body  shall 
be  raised  again;  otherwise  how  could  there  be  a 
piniishment  after  the  day  of  judgment  ?  Canial  rea- 
son can  hardly  imagine,  how  a  soul  should  have  sub- 
sistence after  its  separation  from  the  body  ;  it  seems 
incredible,  because  it  is  invisible.  But  eagles  can 
see  more  than  owls :  nor  was  mere  nature  ignorjint 
of  this ;  through  all  clouds  of  error  she  could  see 
this  clear  truth,  that  souls  die  not  with  their  bodies. 
This  is  an  inbred  instinct  sucked  from  the  breast  of 
nature,  an  indelible  principle  stamped  in  the  soul  by 
God  himself,  not  to  be  rased  out.  The  waggoner 
hath  a  being,  though  his  coach  be  broken;  the  ship 
is  wrecked  on  the  sea,  yet  the  mariner  may  swim  to 
harbour;  the  adder  lives  after  she  hath  slipt  off  her 
coat ;  the  musician  keeps  his  skill,  thougn  his  lute 
be  broken;  the  snail  may  creep  out,  and  leave  his 
shell  behind.  Beside  faith's  clear  sight,  and  super- 
natural revelation ;  I  saw  souls  vtndcr  the  altar,  Rev. 
vi.  9 :  John  did  see  spirits. 

Reason  itself  can  find  no  absurdity  in  it.  (1.)  I 
know  my  soul  to  be  in  my  body,  I  cannot  see  it :  my 
body  is  but  a  house  of  clay ;  camiot  another  substance 
be  as  capable  of  this  soul  as  clay  ?  may  not  the  air, 
or  heaven,  or  any  other  place,  contain  it  as  well  as 
earth  ?    (3.)  The  soul  is  not  guided  by  the  body,  but 


•404 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IT. 


the  body  by  the  soul ;  that  may  be  choleric,  when 
the  body  is  phlegmatic  ;  that  cheerful,  when  the 
other  is  melancholy.  Divers  martyrs  have  expressed 
solid  joy,  when  their  corporal  torments  have  been 
extreme  ;  as  if  they  had  been  spirits  without  bodies. 
The  body  would  often  eat,  when  the  soul  hath  a  mind 
to  fast ;  the  body  would  sleep,  the  soul  rouseth  it  up 
to  pray :  often  have  you  seen  a  cheerful  mind  in  a 
distempered  body.  Now  if  their  dispositions  be  so 
manifestly  cross,  that  the  one  can  be  well  when  the 
other  is  ill ;  one  grieved  and  troubled,  when  the 
other  is  in  perfect  health ;  it  is  plain,  that  this  soul 
may  as  well  be,  and  be  sensible,  out  of  the  body,  as 
in  the  body. 

(3.)  It  were  foolish  for  men  to  be  so  careful  about 
their  surviving  names,  if  their  souls  were  extinguish- 
able  with  their  bodies.  What  is  that  honour  to  me, 
whereof  I  am  not  sensible  ?  If  death  were  the  de- 
struction of  the  whole  nature  and  substance,  a  good 
remembrance  were  to  little  purpose ;  and  men  had 
better  leave  their  posterity  more  wealth,  though  less 
credit  behind  them. 

(4.)  Death  itself  were  but  a  toy,  if  no  judgment 
followed  it,  or  if  there  was  no  soul  to  be  judged.  It 
were  (hen  only  as  the  breaking  of  a  pitcher,  which 
was  full  of  nothing  but  fluid  air.  He  were  a  coward 
that  would  fear  death,  if  he  thought  it  to  be  the  end 
of  all  fear.  Expiration  were  not  terrible,  if  it  left 
nothing  that  remains  sensible. 

(5.)  If  the  soul  does  exhale  as  sensual  brutes,  why 
docs  it  understand  more  than  brutes  ?  The  soul  of 
the  beast  is  as  salt  to  keep  it  sweet :  man's  hath  a 
nobler  and  more  divine  dowiy ;  it  can  discourse,  rea- 
son, forecast,  invent,  remember;  it  can  read,  exercise 
arts,  deduce  conclusions  ;  which  be  characters  of  an 
immortal  nature.  For  men  will  not  write  on  waters, 
nor  engrave  curiously  in  snow,  ice,  or  such  liquefying 
stuff.  Therefore  it  is  a  particle  of  divine  breath,  in- 
spired into  formed  loam  by  God  himself.  It  dolh 
not  arise  out  of  the  body,  but  is  infused  into  it ; 
therefore  may  as  well  exist  without  the  body  after, 
as  it  did  without  the  body  before.  Dust  returns  to 
dust,  the  spirit  to  him  that  gave  it,  Eccl.  xii.  7  :  both 
to  their  originals,  dust  to  dust,  heaven  to  heaven. 
First  the  soul  goes  to  this  tribunal,  then  the  body  to 
earth :  first  the  soul  is  judged  and  punished  or  re- 
warded, as  the  principal  in  good  or  evil ;  afterwards 
the  body,  as  a  mere  accessaiy.  The  soul  of  the 
righteous  is  first  crowned,  as  that  which  more  purely 
and  primarily  served  God ;  the  body  did  but  rather 
hinder,  therefore  must  come  after.  The  day  of 
death  to  the  body  is  the  day  of  birth  to  the  soul. 

(6.)  The  body  is  but  sometimes  awake,  the  soul  is 
never  asleep.  The  body  is  infirm  and  dull ;  now 
that  which  never  sleeps  in  the  body,  shall  certainly 
never  sleep  out  of  the  body.  And  how  is  that  liable 
to  death,  that  is  not  capable  of  sleep  ?  In  the  dead- 
est and  deepest  slumbers,  that  is  alway  discoursing, 
working,  thinking  ;  death's  younger  brother  cannot 
overcome  it,  sleep's  elder  bi'other  shall  not  annihilate 
it.  No  .somniferous  opium,  or  dormitory  potion,  can 
charm  this  into  slumber:  yea,  it  doth  not  seldom 
exercise  the  faculties  with  more  freedom  in  the 
epilogue  of  sickness,  in  the  confines,  yea,  even  article 
of  death ;  and  shows  more  vigour  in  the  corporal 
weakness,  than  it  did  in  the  fulness  of  health :  as  a 
l>risoner  looks  and  speaks  more  cheerfully,  when 
the  windows  be  open,  than  when  all  are  shut  up  in 
darkness.  Yea,  it  rejoiceth  at  dcatli,  as  at  the  keep- 
er's turning  of  the  key,  to  open  the  door,  and  set  it 
at  liberty.  It  leaves  the  body,  as  the  inhabitant 
leaves  a  rotten  and  ruinous  house ;  as  a  carpenter 
leaves  his  axe  when  the  edge  is  blunted;  or  as  a 
jMUsician   lays   by  his   lute,  when   the   strings   are 


broken ;  or  as  a  guest  makes  haste  out  of  his  inn  to 
his  long  home.  She  never  sleeps  in  sleep,  therefore 
not  in  death :  for  death  is  a  long  sleep,  as  sleep  is  a 
short  death.  Elijah  prays  that  the  child's  soul  may 
come  to  him  again,  1  Kings  xvii.  21  ;  therefore  it 
was  not  extinct,  though  out  of  the  body.  "Lord 
Jesus,  receive  my  spirit,"  was  St.  Stephen's  farewell. 
Acts  vii.  59  :  his  spirit  was  not  stoned  to  death. 
Fear  not  him  that  can  kill  the  body  only,  &c.  Matt. 
X.  2S.  To  kill  the  body  is  one  thing,  to  kill  the 
soul  another.  By  St.  Paul's  choice,  a  man  may  be 
at  once  "  absent  from  the  body,  and  present  with  the 
Lord,''  2  Cor.  v.  8.  "As  thou  livcst,  and  as  thy 
soul  liveth,"  saith  Uriah  to  David,  2  Sam.  xi.  11  : 
he  speaks  of  two  different  lives.  The  rich  man  was 
in  hell,  Luke  xvi.  25  ;  no  man  thinks  his  body  there  ; 
it  was  his  soul.  God  is  called  the  God  of  the  living. 
Matt.  xxii.  32  :  now  the  bodies  of  the  saints  are 
dead,  therefore  their  souls  be  safe. 

To  conclude,  then,  the  soul  is  not  a  vapour,  but  a 
spirit;  not  an  accident,  but  a  substance  ;  the  body's 
elder  sister,  an  excellent  queen  over  it:  in  it,  but  not 
mixed,  but  separable  from  it :  a  guest  that  falls  not 
with  the  house ;  but  departs  from  it  for  a  better 
habitation :  and  when  it  is  re-edified  at  the  resur- 
rection, will  revisit  and  reunite  it  again  to  itself. 
Tims  it  lies  not  a  dying  with  the  ilesh  ;  but  as 
when  the  body  sleeps,  the  soul  sleeps  not ;  so  wlien 
the  body  dies,  the  soul  dies  not.  If  it  have  kept 
house  well,  it  shall  be  exalted  to  everlasting  peace; 
if  unjust  in  life,  after  death  it  must  be  punished. 

But  is  the  soul  only  accountable,  is  that  alone 
liable  to  punishment?  No,  the  body  that  hath  ac- 
companied it  in  the  sin,  must  not  be  separated  in  the 
penalty.  Divers  have  believed  the  soul's  immortality, 
that  have  doubted  the  resurrection  of  the  body ;  and 
this  error  seems  to  have  found  place  in  some  of  the 
Corinthians.  "  How  say  some  among  you,  that  there 
is  no  resurrection?"  1  Cor.  xv.  12  :  some  of  you,  all 
do  not  say  so :  St.  Paul  doth  not  wrap  up  the  inno- 
cent and  orthodox  with  the  rest  in  the  same  accu- 
sation. Many  acknowledged  this,  some  doubted; 
therefore  he  spends  a  long  chapter  in  this  argument  ; 
which  I  forbear  to  amplify,  as  not  daring  to  suspect 
any  of  us  taken  with  such  a  hesitation.  The  soul 
never  dies,  and  a  man  is  not  a  man  without  his  body  ,- 
therefore  there  must  be  a  resurrection  of  bodies. 
Let  a  green  twig  be  bowed  together  by  the  hand  of 
man ;  when  the  hand  is  gone  it  will  come  to  itself 
again.  Some  are  so  nimble  that  they  can  lay  their 
heel  on  their  head ;  yet  is  not  this  the  right  place  ; 
but  after  such  a  forcible  violence,  the  whole  body 
comes  again  to  the  first  proportion.  Death  may 
take  one  piece  of  man  from  another;  but  when  he 
shall  be  driven  to  let  go  his  hold,  these  two  parts 
shall  join.  The  soul  is  a  spirit,  and  cannot  be  called 
a  man  without  the  body :  no  man  is  said  to  be  a 
husband  that  hath  no  wife ;  nor  is  the  sap  a  tree; 
nor  fair-written  paper  called  a  book,  till  it  be  bound 
up  in  a  cover.  "Tlie  soul  in  heaven  is  not  a  perfect 
man  without  the  body.     The  uses  are, 

(I.)  It  discovers  their  pitiable  folly,  that,  upon 
every  galling  discontent,  lift  up  their  own  hands 
against  their  own  lives.  They  think  death  the 
remedy  of  all  evils,  seek  it  as  a  present  ease,  the 
otdy  cure  of  their  violent  passions  and  perplexed 
consciences.  But  alas,  then  begins  their  present 
miserv  ;  for  that  sends  them  to  this  judgment,  and 
for  this  lamentable  end.  to  be  i>unished.  They  leap 
out  of  the  smoke  into  the  flame ;  from  a  momentary 
(hsturbancc,  that  may  be  cured  by  faith  and  repent- 
ance, into  a  woe  that  enwraps  them  in  eternal 
vcngc.-mce.  What  a  fool  was  that  cr.ifty  politician, 
that  could  order  his  house,  dispose  his  goods,  and 


Ver.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


405 


(hen  liane  liimself ;  He  little  thought  of  this  jiidg- 
luerit.  Thus  Saul,  forsJiken  of  all  hopes,  scorning 
death's  blow  by  the  hand  of  a  Philistine,  begs  if  of 
his  armour-bearer ;  and  what  he  could  not  obtain 
of  him,  himself  supplies.  As  if  he  had  home  arms 
against  himself,  he  falls  on  his  own  sword.  Tlie 
armour-bearer  follows  his  master,  and  does  that  to 
himself  which  he  durst  not  to  his  king;  both  yield- 
ing that  to  their  own  swords  !is  familiar  execu- 
tioners, wliich  they  grudged  to  their  pursuers.  Saul 
had  been  told  the  evening  before  by  a  familiar,  "To- 
morrow thou  shall  be  with  me,"  1  Sam.  xxviii.  19. 
Now  he  makes  haste  to  prove  the  devil  no  liar ; 
rather  than  fail  he  makes  his  own  mittimus,  accept- 
ing the  greater  mischief  to  avoid  the  less.  He  miglit 
have  suffered  the  Philistines'  violence  without  blame ; 
to  have  died  by  an  enemy  had  been  his  fate,  not  his 
fault.  But  when  he  will  needs  act  the  Philistines' 
part  upon  himself,  he  lives  and  dies  a  murderer, 
tether  prisoners  by  breaking  the  gaol  may  escape 
the  assizes  ;  but  lierc  to  break  it  and  not  to  stay  for 
a  summons,  is  to  hasten  the  judgment,  as  it  were  to 
purchiisc  a  sessions,  for  his  own  damnation.  Upon 
the  soul  we  pass  not  this  sentence,  upon  the  fact  we 
may.  There  may  be  repentance,  but  the  deed  is 
lieinous;  and  without  repentance  the  punishment 
will  be  grievous. 

("2.)  Let  it  teach  us  all  to  provide  in  our  life,  a 
harbour  for  this  storm  that  comes  after  death.  How 
unshiftable  otherwise  shall  we  be  in  that  hour,  how 
unable  to  answerat  the  day  of  judgment !  What  is  it 
for  a  ]>oor  man  to  take  care  of  his  winding-sheet  ?  or 
tlie  rich  for  a  curious  tomb  ?  their  names  may  stink 
like  their  carcasses  for  all  this.  Or  for  the  super- 
stitious to  be  buried  in  a  friar's  cowl,  or  with  a  great 
6imi  to  purchase  a  grave  under  the  altar?  Whereas 
n  good  man  buried  in  the  church,  is  a  temple  in  a 
temple.  Or  for  the  desperate  to  wish  for  mountains, 
instead  of  monuments?  when  they  shall  be  turned 
out  of  their  bodies,  as  Hagar  was  out  of  doors  ;  and 
rejected  from  God's  presence,  like  vagabond  Cain ; 
saying  with  the  unjust  steward,  What  shall  become 
of  us  ?  It  is  a  provided  receptacle,  that  shall  comfort 
them  that  have  it :  foxes,  and  hares,  and  even  ver- 
min fore-aequaint  themselves  with  muses,  thickets, 
and  burrows ;  and  w  hen  they  are  hunted,  repair 
thither  for  safety  :  and  shall  man  be  to  seek  for  his 
refuge  ?  "  The  conies  make  their  houses  in  the 
rocks,"  Prov.  xxx.  '20:  we  have  only  one  Rock  to 
burrow  in;  o\n'  only  city  of  refuge,  and  sanctuary  of 
peace,  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  The  other  collection  is,  that  there  is  a  punish- 
ment ordained  for  the  wicked  :  a  punishment  for  the 
matter;  but  for  the  quality  and  manner,  this  is  sealed 
of  God  and  concealed  from  man.  Horrible  it  is,  and 
unconceivable ;  therefore  hath  no  specification  in 
Scripture,  saving  only  in  some  shadows  and  narrow 
representations,  according  to  human  capacity ;  the 
figure,  rather  than  the  nature,  of  heil.  Divers  popish 
writers  have  made  certain  maps  and  models  of  hell, 
Rcarchcd  all  the  nooks  of  that  dungeon,  surveyed  the 
dark  rooms,  quartered  them  into  regions  and  cantons; 
here  placing  lust,  there  riot,  there  covetousncss. 
Btllarmine  says  that  one  glimpse  of  that  burning 
climate  were  enough  to  make  a  man  not  only  Chris- 
tian, but  even  turn  monk,  and  confine  himself  to  the 
strictest  rule  of  their  mortification.  But  to  wish  such 
a  sight,  and  come  ofl"  like  a  discoverer;  to  make  re- 
port unto  men,  is  superlluous,  superstitious;  a  thing 
that  God  hath  not  thought  fit  for  him  to  grant,  nor 
necessarv-  for  nuin  to  know,  Luke  xvi.  .31.  If  we  ask 
what  is  in  heaven.  Christ  answers,  Ynu  know  the 
way,  John  xiv.  4,  follow  it.  So  if  you  ask  what  is  in 
hell,  you  know  the  way,  avoid  it."    What  is  death, 


do  you  ask  ?  If  I  knew,  I  should  have  been  dead,  says 
one.  No  man  ever  saw  hell,  that  came  back  to  make 
relation.  Let  us  hear  Moses,  the  word,  the  preacher: 
if  the  Lord  mean  us  any  good,  they  shall  do  us  some 
good.  Let  us  not  desire  it  painted  in  fables,  but 
considered  in  our  meditations  ;  and  that  frequently  : 
short  and  transient  thoughts  of  it  may  leave  men  to 
the  long  and  permanent  pains  of  it ;  so  think  of  it 
that  we  study  to  escape  it.  Take  these  glimmering 
shadows  of  it. 

By  the  want  and  privation  of  all  comforts.  How 
terrible  is  it  for  a  man  to  be  famished!  it  is  able  to 
make  him  gnaw  his  own  flesh.  In  hell  the  want 
shall  be  greater,  and  the  desire  more  violent,  describ- 
ed by  gnashing  their  teeth  for  anger,  and  gnawing 
their  tongues  for  hunger.  Rev.  xvi.  10.  A  son  takes 
it  grievously  to  be  banished  the  sight  of  his  father : 
Absalom  was  wear)-  of  his  life  by  this  delay,  2  Sam, 
xiv.  32.  What  a  torment  is  it  then  to  be  shut  out  for 
ever  from  the  presence  of  God,  without  all  hope  of 
readmission  ?  David  was  but  the  father  of  his  flesh, 
God  is  the  Father  of  all  spirits.  Absalom  might  have 
life  by  him,  but  did  not  live  in  him  ;  yea,  he  could 
live  not  only  without  him,  but  against  him :  but  in 
God  we  live,  and  without  him  can  be  no  life.  It  was 
grief  enough  for  Adonijah,  though  he  were  pardoned, 
to  be  dccourted,  confined  to  his  country  house.  With 
what  horror  shall  the  reprobates  hear.  Depart  from 
me,  ye  cursed!  Everlastingly  to  be  expelled  from 
him  in  whom  is  all  life,  must  needs  be  an  everlasting 
death.  If  in  the  Lord's  presence  be  the  fulness  of 
joy,  the  fulness  of  sorrow  must  be  in  his  absence. 

By  the  necessity,  in  respect  of  the  decree  of  God's 
immutable  justice;  which  casts  them  into  prison 
without  bail  or  mainprize ;  no  ransom,  no  redeinj)- 
tion.  Bondage  is  terrible,  especially  to  them  that 
have  ranged  in  liberty.  Though  Absalom  be  re- 
pealed, yet  to  have  his  own  house  his  prison,  vexclli 
him.  It  could  not  content  Shimei,  though  he  had 
room  enough,  to  be  confined  to  the  river  Kidron  for 
gadding.  Take  a  man  from  his  well-furnished  house, 
seated  in  a  good  air,  his  grounds  watered  with  com- 
modious springs,  with  his  choice  of  gardens,  fields,  or 
walks,  from  walking  or  riding  at  his  pleasure  ;  and 
lay  him  up  in  some  loathsome  prison,  to  spend  but 
the  short  misery  of  his  remaining  days;  how  discon- 
solate is  this  restraint !  Such,  and  ten  thousand  times 
more,  is  it  to  be  fetched  from  this  broad  world,  sun- 
shine, light,  and  delight,  and  to  be  bound  in  the 
chains  of  eternal  darkness. 

By  the  society  :  the  company  adds  much  to  the 
content  or  torment  of  a  place.  A  loving  wife,  gra- 
cious children,  kind  neighbours,  cheerful  com])anions, 
are  the  sweet  refreshments  of  this  life.  Now  for  a 
man  to  be  excluded  from  these,  and  to  be  haunted 
with  furies,  mal-contents,  melanclioly  or  wrangling 
copesmates;  how  grievous  is  the  change  !  No  man 
delights  to  dwell  among  hearses  and  nuierals,  or  to 
live  in  chaniel-houses ;  unless  sextons,  that  can  make 
themselves  merpi'  with  dead  corpses.  We  hate  to 
dwell  in  hospitals,  bridewells,  or  bedlams ;  yea,  the 
very  society  of  ruffians  and  tear-Christs  is  odious  to 
us,  if  the  love  of  God  be  in  us.  How  intolerable 
then  is  the  habitation  among  dogs,  unclean  birds, 
reprobate  .spirits  worse  than  any  scieeeh-owls,  tigers, 
or  toads ! 

By  the  extremity  :  flesh  and  blood  hath  been  exer- 
cised with  many  sharp  miseries,  and  those  sorer  than 
flesh  and  blood  (without  the  comfort  of  grace)  could 
ever  endure.  The  colic,  the  gout,  are  torments  ;  the 
strappado,  or  the  rack,  the  slow  burnings  of  material 
fire,  all  terrible.  Yet  are  all  these  but  the  taste  of 
this  punishment  ;  like  an  itching  to  those  exquisite 
pains.   The  rich  oppressor  will  then  think  his  former 


.406 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


gout  a  pleasure ;  and  the  murderer  wish  to  hang 
eternally  on  his  gibbet.  But  hath  a  man  been  vexed 
with  a  disquiet  conscience,  the  arrows  of  guiltiness 
slicking  in  his  sides,  groaning  under  the  pressure  of 
unbearable  sins?  This  comes  nearest  to  the  say  of 
hell,  a  taste  of  those  vials,  to  which  the  gall  of  asps 
is  honey,  and  the  stings  of  scorpions  a  mere  tickling. 
That  which  made  the  human  nature  of  the  Son  of 
God  sweat  clots  of  blood,  and  heavy  his  soul  to  the 
death ;  crying  as  if  he  were  forsaken ;  think  of  that 
punishment. 

By  the  eternity  ;  which  makes  all  the  rest  absolute. 
Did  the  glass  hold  more  sands  tlian  ever  the  sea 
washed  on  the  shore,  and  but  one  little  dust  could 
pass  in  a  million  of  years,  this  were  miserable  enough  ; 
yet  would  there  be  an  end  of  that  long  ruin.  But  tliis 
punishment  is  a  continual  fever,  a  death  which  hath 
no  death  :  it  hath  a  beginning,  it  halh  no  end.  Add 
eternity  to  extremity,  and  then  consider  hell  to  be 
hell  indeed.  If  the  ague  of  a  year,  or  the  colic  of  a 
month,  or  the  rack  of  a  day,  or  the  burning  of  an 
hour,  be  so  bitter;  how  would  it  break  the  hearts  of 
the  wicked,  to  think  of  all  these  beyond  all  measure, 
beyond  all  time  !  Yet  is  all  this  truth,  saving  that  it 
comes  far  short  of  the  tmth.  This  is  much,  it  is  not 
near  all. 

Oh  that  men  would  meditate  on  this  before  they 
sin  !  but  such  thoughts  are  held  too  melancholy  ;  and 
we  counted  bloody  physicians  to  speak  of  hell  in  our 
sermons.  They  upbraid  us,  that  we  torment  them 
before  their  time,  Matt.  viii.  29.  Men  are  loth  to 
be  tormented  before  their  time,  and  yet  fear  not  to  be 
tormented  time  without  end.  Alas,  all  our  scope  in 
discoursing  of  this  fire,  is  but  to  snatch  your  souls  out 
of  the  fire  ;  we  bring  you  to  the  brink  of  the  gulf, 
that  seeing  it  with  horror  you  may  never  fall  into  it. 
All  this  the  verj'  devils,  I  do  not  say,  believe,  but 
feel  and  shudder  to  think  of.  Shall  a  temporal  king 
have  his  judgment^seat,  his  prison,  his  executioners  ; 
and  not  God,  who  is  infinitely  just  ?  Shall  man 
punish  with  death  corporal,  and  is  not  death  eternal 
just  with  the  Lord  ?  Let  men  ruminate  of  these 
things  by  themselves  ;  and  if  the  description  of  these 
llamcs  cannot  make  them  detest  sin,  how  likely  are 
they  to  become  firebrands  of  these  flames  !  With- 
out some  infallible  antidote  rgainst  this  poison,  me- 
thinks  the  souls  of  unbelievers  should  go  out  of  their 
bodies,  as  devils  do  out  of  the  possessed  ;  raging, 
rending,  foaming.  It  is  a  wonder  that  any  should 
die  in  their  right  senses  and  wits,  that  have  not 
learned  to  die  in  the  faith  of  Christ.  Death  itself 
is  painful,  therefore  no  marvel  if  men  wish  it  short  : 
of  an  easeful  life  man  desires  a  protraction,  but  speed 
of  his  inevitable  dissolution  ;  not  more  willing  to 
live  when  he  is  well,  than  to  be  out  of  his  pain  wlien 
he  must  die.  Every  pang  of  violent  and  mortal  sick- 
ness is  a  death  :  to  lie  one  hour  under  death's  tyranny 
is  tedious ;  but  to  be  a  whole  day  a  dying,  is  beyond 
natural  patience.  What  then  is  that  death  which 
knows  no  end?  As  this  body  is  as  frail  as  the  life 
that  animates  it,  so  that  death  is  as  everlasting  as 
the  soul  that  endures  it.  It  were  grievous  fi)r  man 
to  be  but  so  long  a  dying,  as  he  halh  leave  to  live; 
yet  one  minute  ofthc  second  death  is  worse  than  ai  :.()le 
ages  of  the  first.  Let  us  never  be  so  mad  and  desper- 
ate, as  to  shrink  at  that  which  must  come,  and  will 
soon  be  o\>er ;  and  not  to  tremble  at  that  which  may 
come,  and  continue  for  ever. 

To  conclude,  here  is  one  thing  that  answers  to  all 
doubts  and  qV-stions  that  here  might  be  moved.  If 
it  be  asked  wlito  these  unjust  arc  ;  the  Lord  knowcth : 
he  knows  who  hre  his,  which  is  a  knowing  of  appro- 
bation; who  arA  not  his,  which  is  a  knowing  of  re- 
probation.    If,  l\ow  reserved,  what  bonds  be  upon 


them ;  the  Lord  knowcth ;  he  hath  insensible  chains 
of  durance.  If,  when  this  day  of  judgment  shall  be, 
what  time  is  designed  for  it ;  what  month,  what  year, 
the  Judge  shall  appear  in  the  clouds ;  the  Lord 
knowcth ;  it  is  not  fit  for  man  to  know,  the  Lord 
keeps  it  to  himself.  If,  how  they  shall  be  punished, 
what  that  fire  and  brimstone  is,  how  difl'erently  it 
shall  work  upon  sinners,  where  the  local  seat  of 
torment  should  be,  in  air  or  earth ;  still,  the  Lord 
knowcth,  and  will  reveal  it  in  his  own  time.  One 
quen,-  before  I  part  with  the  verse. 

Whether  doth  God  always  forbear  notorious  sin- 
ners to  this  great  day  ?  Indeed  he  set  a  brand  upon 
Cain,  that  he  should  not  be  cut  off  by  the  hand  of 
man,  but  reserved  to  this  general  session ;  and  many 
an  oppressor  dies  aged  in  his  bed,  and  tarries  long 
for  liis  condemnation.  Even  this  is  a  heavy  punish- 
ment, that  suffers  men  to  grow  old  in  their  sins.  It 
is  best  for  a  reprobate,  excepting  only  never  to  be 
bom,  to  have  his  swaddling-clouts  a  winding-sheet, 
and  his  cradle  become  his  sepulchre.  Then  is  a 
terrible  woe,  when  God  forbears  smiting,  and  man  for- 
bears not  sinning.  But  this  impunity  doth  not  always 
hold  to  a  mature  and  white-haired  death.  Some  arc 
met  withal  betimes,  in  the  heat  of  their  fuiy,  breath- 
ing out  blood  and  slaughter  against  the  church ; 
even  suddenly  confounded,  as  Paul  was  converted. 
Korah  rebels  ;  doth  his  fall  stay  for  his  age  ?  No, 
the  earth  opens,  and  swallows  him  quick.  That 
element  was  never  used  to  such  morsels :  many  dead 
carcasses  hath  it  taken  into  its  hungry  bowels,  never 
before  bodies  informed  with  living  souls.  Before  it 
hath  been  only  opened  with  the  violent  hand  of  man  ; 
now  opens  itself  It  had  often  been  a  grave,  now  it 
is  both  a  grave  and  an  executioner.  Those  five  kings 
pull  sudden  vengeance  on  their  own  heads,  they  come 
forth  to  their  death :  Joshua's  sword  and  God's  hail- 
stones despatch  them  apace. 

Sisera  flees  from  the  impartial  hand  of  a  victor's 
war,  gets  into  a  tent,  a  friend's  tent,  there  securely 
falls  asleep  :  in  the  midst  of  all  that  tumult,  and  the 
jaws  of  death,  he  finds  time  to  sleep  ;  as  too  many 
hearts  do  in  the  midst  of  t  heir  sins  and  spiritual  dangers. 
And  whiles  haply  he  was  dreaming  of  the  clasliing 
of  armours,  rattling  of  chariots,  cries  of  the  bleeding, 
and  tritunphs  of  the  conquering ;  even  then  he  sleeps 
his  last,  and  hath  the  fatal  reward  of  all  his  cruelty. 
His  head  was  fastened  so  close  to  the  earth,  as  if  his 
body  had  been  listening  what  was  become  of  his  soul. 
Of  his  hundred  thousands,  so  soon  hath  he  none  left, 
not  a  page,  to  prevent  his  death,  to  accompany  it,  or 
bewail  it.  He  bragged  of  great  wonders  that  he 
would  do  with  his  iron  chariots;  and  now  one  nail 
of  iron  kills  him ;  and  he  knows  not  by  whom  he 
perishes.  Fearful  are  the  examples  of  these  sudden 
docmis  ;  there  is  nothing  more  horrible,  than  to  die 
in  the  act  of  sin  without  the  act  of  repentance.  Too 
many  promise  themselves  the  grace  and  space  to  re- 
pent in  their  old  age :  that  rich  man  afforded  him- 
self many  years,  Liike  xi.  19;  fool,  he  had  not  many 
hours.  Nadab  and  Abihu,  while  they  were  offering 
sacrifice,  were  made  sarrifices.  God  sends  down  true 
and  strange  fire  upon  them,  that  offered  false  and 
common  fire  to  him.  What  sinner  can  be  safe,  when 
these  sons  of  Aaron  so  sufler  ?  Nature  might  have 
pleaded  for  them.  They  are  young  men,  scai'cc  warm 
in  their  office,  the  sons  of  the  high  priest,  of  great 
eminence,  they  have  not  yet  experience,  may  be  more 
careful  all  their  remaining  time,  it  is  but  their  first 
fault. 

Thinli  of  this,  ye  that  study  prelcnces  and  patron- 
ages for  your  sins :  what  hope  of  plea  shall  you  find 
either  in  the  greatness  of  your  birth,  or  greenness  of 
your  youth,  or  in  the  newness  of  your  ill  doing,  when 


Vin.  9. 


SECOND  EPISTLK  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


407 


you  do  that  you  know  fJod  bath  forbidden  ?  OIi 
there  is  no  privilege  that  can  bear  oil'  a  sin  with  tlir 
Lord;  no  prerogative  can  cliallcnge  pardon  ;  whenas 
you  see  young  men,  sons  of  the  ruler,  for  their  first 
olTencc,  struck  dead.  How  did  the  javelin  of  Pln- 
nehas  take  Zimri  napping ;  as  it  is  reported  of  one  of 
the  popes,  to  die  in  tlic  instant  act  of  his  adultery  I 
Let  fornicators  tremble  at  this  remembrance,  when 
they  purpose  fulfilling  their  lusts.  The  blasphemer, 
that  wounds  himself  by  wounding  Christ,  hopes  lo 
quit  all  with  a  miserere  at  the  last :  but  did  he  never 
hear  of  Julian,  of  divers  common  swearers,  that  have 
died  with  oaths  in  their  mouths  ?  The  drunkard  as- 
sures himself  to  be  sober  long  enough  before  he  dies  ; 
yet  how  many  hath  he  heard  of,  yea,  some  knowii, 
that  have  perished  in  their  cups,  and  never  awaked 
from  their  drink,  till  their  souls  appeared  to  judg- 
ment !  Examples  of  men  quackled,  drowned,  crush- 
ed to  death,  breaking  their  necks,  are  frequent 
enough.  The  thievish  oppressor  promises  himself 
to  give  over,  when  age  hatn  filled  his  purse.  Such 
is  the  resolution  of  reprobates,  and  men  ordained  to 
condemniition.  I  have  credibly  heard  of  one  slain 
outright  with  a  piece  of  timber,  which  he  stole  but 
half  an  hour  before.  Of  another  that  had  stolen  a 
sheep,  and  resting  his  burden  on  a  stone,  was  strangled 
with  the  struggling  of  it  about  his  neck. 

Thus  dolli  God  sometimes  execute  martial  law', 
doing  present  execution  ;  that  fools  might  not  say  in 
their  hearts,  There  is  no  God :  as  he  forbears  others, 
that  men  might  see  a  necessity  of  the  solemn  judg- 
ment to  come.  We  pronounce  not  definitive  sentence 
upon  particular  men  so  dying ;  but  certainly  they  leave 
behind  them  to  their  friends  little  hope  and  comfort 
of  their  salvation.  Nor  yet  is  speed  of  death  ever- 
more a  judgment :  sudden  dying  is  always  depreca- 
blc ;  and  when  it  comes,  full  of  fear,  doubt,  and 
suspicion  of  the  worst;  but  is  never  a  manifest  and 
infallible  argument  of  anger,  but  when  it  strikes  men 
in  the  act  of  sin.  Howsoever,  leisure  of  repentance 
is  a  sign  of  God's  special  favour :  when  he  gives  a 
man  law,  it  implies  that  he  would  not  have  him 
rapt  up  in  destruction.  But  presume  not,  0  sin- 
ner, nor  flatter  thyself  that  the  day  of  judgment  is  a 
great  way  off.  Thou  knowest  not,  when  the  drunken 
cup  is  in  thy  hand,  whether  thou  shalt  live  to  drink 
it  off.  When  thou  swearcst,  whether  thy  mouth  shall 
ever  open  again  to  call  for  pardon.  When  thou  goest 
to  the  bed  of  adultery,  whether  thou  shalt  ever  rise 
again  from  thy  uncle<»u  pillow.  When  thou  liftest 
up  thy  hand  to  strike  thy  brother,  whether  thou  shalt 
ever  lift  it  up  for  mercy  to  thy  Father.  When  thou 
beginnest  an  unjust  contention,  whether  thou  shalt 
ever  end  it  ere  thou  comest  to  hell.  O  think  of  a 
powerful  arm,  which  though  it  draws  back  long  to 
fetch  the  harder  blow,  yet  is  it  always  able  to  strike 
dead  the  despiser  of  goodness  ere  he  can  have  leave 
to  swallow  his  spittle. 

How  often  doth  God  cut  men  off  for  a  sin  they 
never  did,  while  their  assiduous  iniquities  are  not  sum- 
moned, nor  meddled  withal !  Not  much  otherwise  he 
did  Zebah  and  Zalmunna :  they  had  been  cruel  to 
many  of  Gideon's  father's  children,  yet  had  they 
been  spared  if  his  mother's  children  had  not  died  by 
them.  For  Succoth,  he  slew  the  rulers,  and  spared 
the  people  ;  for  Midian,  he  slew  the  people,  and 
would  have  spared  the  rulers.  Gideon  would,  but 
God  would  not:  he  will  find  occasions  to  bring  wicked 
men  to  their  judgment :  and  they  which  should  have 
escaped  the  penalty  of  their  public  wrongs,  must 
perish  in  a  private  quarrel.  So  swaggerers,  when  for 
theft  and  homicide  they  have  escaped  the  judgment 
of  a  session,  often  bleed  their  last  drop  in  streets  and 
taverns;  God  doing  on  them  just  execution,  by  an 


inijust  adversary's  weapon.  Wherein  he  shows  his 
manifest  wrath,  by  performing  that  himself  which  he 
charged  thi-  magistrate  to  do,  and  he  performed  not. 
The  slaughter  of  Gideon's  brethren  was  not  the  great- 
est fault  of  those  kings ;  yet  when  the  rest  should 
have  found  an  unjust  forgiveness,  this  alone  kills 
them.  The  sins  of  a  wicked  man  arc  many,  yet  some 
one  shall  bring  him  to  shame.  Not  seldoiii  doth  God 
pay  men  with  one  sin  for  all  the  rest.  Shimei  had 
faults  enough,  cursing  and  abusing  the  Lord's  anoint- 
ed with  dust  and  stones  :  David  pardons  him,  Solo- 
mon confines  him ;  he  might  now  rest  in  peace.  No, 
he  must  run  to  Gath,  to  fetch  home  his  scr\ants,  with 
the  loss  of  himself:  this  paid  him  for  all  the  rest. 
Joab  had  treacherously  murdered  Abner  and  Amasa, 
but  escapes  for  both  these  :  at  last  he  sides  with 
Adonijah,  and  this  brings  him  to  his  end  in  blood. 

How  many  bloody  murders  have  been  thus  pimish- 
ed  in  a  mutinous  word  I  The  tongue  in  rash  language 
liath  scourged  the  iniquity  of  the  hand.  One  iiath 
done  many  robberies,  escaped  many  searches ;  at  last, 
when  all  hath  been  forgotten,  he  hath  been  hanged 
for  accessary  to  a  theft  he  never  knew.  Suspected 
felony  hath  often  paid  the  price  of  an  unknown 
rape ;  and  they  that  have  gone  away  with  unnatural 
filthiness,  yet  have  clipped  off  their  days  with 
their  own  coin.  Still  God's  judgments  are  just, 
even  when  man's  may  be  unjust.  Sinner,  that  which 
hath  befallen  any  of  these,  may  befill  thee,  what  dis- 
pensations soever  thou  givcsl  thyself.  Some  of  these 
were  mighty,  some  rich,  some  young,  some  thought 
themselves  as  wise  as  thou  ;  none  of  them  ever  look- 
ed for  such  ignominious  ends,  more  than  thou  doest. 
In  the  fear  of  God,  if  we  deprecate  such  ends,  let  us 
decline  such  courses. 


Verse  10. 

But  chiefly  them  lIuU  imlk  after  the  flesh  in  the  lust  of 
uncleanness,  and  despise  government. 

So  monstrous  are  the  outrages  of  the  world,  and  so 
incorrigible  the  boisterous  precipice  of  sin,  that  reason 
(which  is  of  a  middle  nature  betwixt  grace  and  cor- 
ruption) begins  to  doubt  whether  there  be  a  God  and 
Judge  of  all  the  earth.  The  godly  suffer  injuries, 
and  are  not  delivered  from  their  oppressors.  The 
wicked  are  impune  and  prosper  in  the  midst  of  all 
their  flagitious  crimes.     Where  is  then  the  Judge,  to 

{)unish  the  one,  to  deliver  the  other?  He  sits  in 
leaven,  sees  and  disposeth  all  that  is  done  upon 
earth  ;  beholds  the  sufferings  of  his  pious  children, 
knf]ws  when  it  is  fit  time  to  release  them.  The 
wickedness  of  the  unjust  cries  to  him  for  vengeance; 
he  liiiows  when  to  answer  it.  He  forbears  to  strike 
tlusc,  for  the  ripening  of  their  disobedience  ;  to  ease 
the  other,  for  the  exercise  of  their  patience.  Some 
hot  spirits  would  call  fire  from  heaven,  sudden  de- 
struction on  their  persecutors:  Not  so,  saith  God; 
there  is  a  day  prefixed,  and  what  is  it  to  you  if  I  will 
have  them  tarr>-  till  then  ?  They  cannot  wind  them- 
selves out  of  my  hand ;  I  have  them  bound  fast 
enough  :  be  you  quiet,  and  let  your  expectation  de- 
pend on  this  judgment. 

Now  from  this  thesis  he  comes  to  the  hypothesis, 
accommodates  the  general  doctrine  to  his  own 
jiurpose.  If  God  will  take  vengeance  on  all  the 
wicked,  let  not  these  pernicious  seducers,  beasts  in 
the  shapes  of  men,  think  to  escape.  They  follow 
the  flesh,  not  reason,  much  less  the  Spirit ;  but,  like 
brutes,  arc  governed  by  their  sensual  appetite.     They 


40? 


AK  EXPOSITION'  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


"walk  after:"  the  flesh  is  not  like  some  stranger, 
whom  they  meet  rarely ;  or  some  friend,  whom  tliey 
see  but  now  and  then  ;  or  a  neighbour,  whom  they 
border  upon,  and  often  converse  with  ;  or  a  domestic 
companion,  with  whom  they  cat,  drink,  play,  sleep. 
But  it  is  their  captain,  their  leader,  their  commander, 
whose  colours  they  march  under;  file,  or  rank,  or 
troop,  according  to  his  direction:  their pr/wiH/H  mo- 
bile, by  whom  they  move  ;  as  if  they  had  no  particu- 
lar motion  of  their  own  :  so  benighted  and  puzzled 
with  blindness,  that  they  know  no  other  way  than 
the  flesh  guides.  It  is  the  weight  that  sets  all  their 
wheels  a  going;  the  horses  that  draw  their  chariot, 
the  very  life  of  their  corruption,  and  corniption  of 
their  life,  without  which  they  do  nothing.  "  In  the 
lust  of  unclcanness :"  if  you  desire  to  Know  what 
course  this  flesh  prescribes  them,  it  is  lust ;  renouncing 
all  study  of  honesty,  they  must  give  themselves  to 
lust.  But  there  may  be  a  sanctified  lust ;  I  desire 
to  do  thy  will,  O  God  :  or  a  natural  lust,  as  hunger  is 
an  appetite  to  meat.  Therefore  this  lust  hatli  the 
specification;  lust  of  unclcanness ;  a  sordid,  belluine, 
irrational,  stinking  turpitude.  After  this  the  repro- 
bate \valks;  his  whole  self,  all  the  parts  of  him  :  his 
eyes  walk  after  to  look  upon  it;  his  ears  walk  after 
to  hearken  to  it ;  his  mouth  walks  after  to  talk  of  it ; 
his  feet  walk  after  to  pursue  it ;  his  hands  stay  not 
behind  to  act  it ;  his  heart  is  foremost  of  all  to  de- 
sire it.  Finally,  whatsoever  may  cross  their  lusts, 
they  set  themselves  to  contemn.  "  Despise  govern- 
ment." Not  that  Almighty  word  which  rules  heaven 
and  earth,  but  all  the  beams  of  God's  omnipotent 
royalty,  in  his  deputed  magistracy  ;  vilipending  all 
laws,  canons,  sanctions;  dishonouring  all  princes, 
judges,  sovereign  powers.  Neither  Moses  nor  Aaron, 
Caesar  nor  Paul,  minister  of  the  word  nor  minister  of 
the  sword,  find  reverence  in  their  hearts,  or  obedi- 
ence in  their  lives.  As  if  they  resolved  to  disgrace 
that,  wherein  God  hath  imprinted  the  most  imme- 
diate characters  of  his  own  supreme  majesty. 

"But  chiefly."  There  be  degrees  and  differences 
of  sins  and  sinners ;  for  God  here  sets  a  "  chiefly," 
especially,  principally,  upon  some.  Whatsoever  be- 
comes of  others,  they  shall  be  sure  of  a  large  share  in 
vengeance.  There  is  a  notorious  mark  set  upon 
them,  a  boring  through  the  car,  like  perpetual 
slaves ;  or  a  burning  in  their  hands,  like  once  con- 
victed malefactors;  a  branding  with  some  indelible 
mark  of  shame.  There  is  great  reason  for  this 
"chiefly,"  in  respect  of  the  sinners'  quality:  they 
"walk  after  the  flesh,''  that  is,  their  own  carnal  de- 
sires and  sensual  delights,  in  the  strength  of  corrup- 
tion, yet  perhaps  without  crujition.  They  balk  such 
facts  as  may  expose  them  to  tlie  censures  of  men  ;  so 
keep  themselves,  that  the  national  laws  cannot  fetch 
them  in.  How  doth  the  covetous  man  scrape  and 
oppress,  yet  dares  look  the  judge  in  the  face  ;  because 
though  he  be  in  the  extremity  of  the  law,  yet  not 
beyond  it.  The  usurer  guards  his  intei-est  with 
statute-lace,  he  will  not  take  a  penny  above  that 
stint  or  allowance;  so  he  escapes,  and  is  rather  made 
a  grand  juror  than  a  guilty  prisoner.  The  adidlcrcr 
walks  under  the  canopy  of  night,  throws  the  silken 
robe  of  greatness  over  his  lust,  and  then  the  judge 
dares  not  see  it ;  or  locks  it  up  with  the  doors  of 
secrecy,  and  then  the  judge  cannot  see  it ;  or  buys 
it  off"  with  money,  and  then  the  judge  will  not 
see  it :  or  when  none  of  these  will  serve,  he  hides  his 
head  where  the  law's  hand  cannot  find  him.  Now 
upon  him  God  .sets  his  mark,  this  "chiefly:"  thou 
cscapest  fairly,  yet  remember  thou  art  reserved  to 
judgment.  Tlic  more  remiss  man  hath  been  against 
tiiee,  the  more  impartially  will  God  proceed  with 
Ihcc.     He  is  content  thou  shouldst  pass  all  appre- 


hensions till  the  last,  till  his  own  pursuivant,  death, 
comes  for  thee.  A  king  takes  some  capital  offenders 
from  the  common  course  of  justice,  and  resen-cs  them 
to  his  own  censure. 

But  hoW'  is  this  so  fitly  applied  to  the  next  clause, 
despisers  of  government  ?  This  should  rather  seem 
to  bring  them  into  present  condemnation ;  that  by 
suffering  temporal  punishment,  they  might  repent 
and  escape  the  eternal.  Magistrates  are  often  more 
curious  and  sensible  of  their  own  injuries,  than  of 
the  Lord's  :  though  this  be  an  abuse  of  authority,  to 
wear  the  sword  of  justice  in  their  own  sheaths,  and 
to  draw  it  not  so  readily  against  public  ofTcnccs,  as 
in  their  private  causes.  How  then  come  these  to  be 
reserved?  Either  they  are  too  great  for  the  hand  of 
authority,  or  too  contemptible  for  the  eye  of  au- 
thority. Too  great,  as  the  popish  clergy  are  exempt 
from  the  temporal  sword  ;  or  a  strong  faction  of  mal- 
contents; a  beast  that  knows  its  own  strength.  Or 
too  base  for  notice  :  such  are  the  droves  of  beggar^, 
professed  ciphers,  nothing-dos  that  swarm  about 
this  city,  and  have  their  cantons  all  over  the  country'. 
Spite  of  all  laws,  statutes,  and  contradictions,  they 
will  beg  rather  than  work :  and  curse  that  authority 
to  the  pit  of  hell,  that  shall  correct  their  vicious  life. 
These  the  connivance  of  man  lets  alone,  and  the  pa- 
tience of  God  also  forbears ;  but  their  damnation 
sleepeth  not. 

Great  difference  then  doth  God  make  of  offenders  : 
eye  for  eye ;  not  the  whole  body  for  an  eye,  not  two 
eyes  for  one.  Theft  finds  an  easier  mulct  than  mur- 
der, murder  than  treason.  All  sin  is  culiiable  enough, 
but  there  is  a  chiefly  belonging  to  some  :  as  to  him 
that  miscalls  his  brother.  Matt.  v.  22.  "  Whore- 
mongers God  will  judge,"  Heb.  xiii.  4;  they  are 
often  reprieved  to  his  own  tribunal.  "  Without  shall 
be  dogs,"  &c.  Rev.  xxii.  15.  Many  other  sinners 
shall  be  excluded,  but  chiefly  these.  If  hell  were  too 
little,  some  less  ofTenders  should  be  thrust  out ;  these 
must  have  room.  There  is  a  chiefly  on  the  head  of  a 
debauchee:  howsoever  men  live  or  die  out  of  the  pale  of 
the  church,  a  wicked  Christian  shall  be  sure  of  plagues. 
Woe  to  him  that  betrays  the  Son  of  man  !  Matt.  xxvi. 
24.  Jews,  elders,  priests,  soldiers,  Pilate,  all  guilty  ; 
but  chiefly  woe  to  Judas  ;  he  had  "  the  greater  sin," 
John  xix.  II.  The  Midianites  fare  not  so  ill  as  the 
wicked  Israelites,  Judg.  viii.  llj.  The  sword  quickly 
dcspatcheth  them ;  these  die  with  lingering  and  lior- 
ror,  the  flesh  torn  from  their  backs  with  thorns  and 
briers,  beaten  and  scratched  to  death.  How  severe 
was  this  revenge !  how  sad  a  spectacle  to  a  tender 
heart !  to  see  their  bare  bones  looking  in  some  place-, 
through  their  skin  and  flesh;  every  rent  worse  than 
the  former,  death  multiplied  by  torment  ! 

Such  a  chiefly,  or  high  place,  in  hell  is  reserved 
for  some  sinners:  the  rest  are  beaten,  but  they  that 
know  God's  will  and  do  it  not,  especially,  with  many 
stripes,  Luke  xii.  4".  All  corrupt  and  rotten  trec» 
are  good  for  nothing  but  the  fire  ;  but  chiefly  the 
vine,  if  it  be  dead  and  fniitless.  At  that  dreadful 
day  how  many  shall  unwish  themselves  Christians; 
or  "wish  that  the  gospel  and  they  had  never  been  ac- 
quainted !  If  infidels  live  ungodly,  they  do  hut  their 
kind  ;  their  punishment  shall  be,  though  just,  yet 
less.  But  if  men  after  a  religious  nurture,  and  know- 
ledge of  the  tmlh,  shall  shame  their  education  ;  this 
God  takes  more  heinously,  and  revenges  more  sharply. 
The  more  bondsof  duty,  the  more  plagues  of  neglect. 

"That  walk  after  the  flesh,"  &c.  Here  is  a  double 
misbehaviour;  one  in  regard  of  themselves,  another 
in  resi)ect  of  their  betters.  While  they  neglect  serv- 
ice to  their  governors,  they  justly  become  slaves  to 
themselves.  It  is  fit  they  should  be  left  to  their  own 
desperate  guidance,  that  sconi  to  be  awed  by  God's 


Ver.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


•109 


ordinance.  In  the  former  of  these  vices  consider  two 
things.  1.  AVhat  is  their  leader,  The  flesh,  &c.  2. 
How  they  follow  this  leader.  Walk  after  it.  In  par- 
ticular, here  is  the  daughter,  the  mother,  and  the 
grandmother :  the  daughter  is  uncleanness,  the 
mother  lust,  the  grandmother  the  flesh.  Unclean- 
ness is  from  lust,  lust  from  the  flesh  ;  uncleanness, 
lust,  flesh,  and  all  from  the  devil.  In  a  tree  there  is 
the  sap,  root,  branches,  firuit :  Satan  is  the  root,  flesh 
the  sap,  lust  the  branches,  uncleanness  the  fruit.  All 
of  them  bad  counsellors,  intolerable  commanders. 

"  Flesh."  By  flesh,  to  decline  the  various  accepta- 
tions, we  here  understand  the  whole  corruption  of  our 
unmortilied  nature.  It  is  not  only  a  privative  inca- 
pacity of  goodness,  but  a  positive  inclination  to  all 
evil.  The  godly  are  not  wholly  freed  from  it,  but  not 
wholly  governed  by  it.  It  is  in  the  wicked,  as  the 
Turk  is  at  home,  ruling  all ;  in  the  regenerate,  as  the 
Turk  and  Christian,  they  can  never  agree.  The  flesh, 
like  Esau,  is  the  first-born ;  but  Jacob,  grace,  gels 
the  blessing  from  it.  These  are  mixed  in  the  be- 
liever, as  fire  and  water  are  in  compounded  bodies, 
light  and  darkness  in  the  air  at  twilight,  or  water 
cold  and  hot  in  one  vessel.  We  cannot  say,  that  the 
water  is  in  one  part  hot,  in  another  cold,  but  the 
whole  quantity  is  partly  hot  and  partly  cold,  that 
is,  lukewarm.  The  flesh  lusteth  agtiinst  the  Spirit, 
&c.  Gal.  V.  17.  The  flesh  carries  hini  one  way,  the 
Spirit  another :  as  the  inferior  orbs  have  a  violent 
motion  from  without,  and  a  natural  motion  contrary 
of  their  own.  But  still  light  shall  overcome  dark- 
ness, heat  over-master  the  cold;  and  the  dead  flesh 
be  weakened  and  finally  annihilated  by  the  quicken- 
ing grace  of  Christ. 

Many  complain  of  the  flesh,  as  of  the  night-mare 
in  a  slumber;  they  would  remove  the  burden,  and 
cannot :  hence  they  begin  to  doubt  of  their  salvation. 
But  then  Paul  could  not  be  sure  of  his  salvation  ;  for 
he  cries  out  for  deliverance  "  from  the  body  of  this 
death,"  Rom.  vii.  24.  And  we  need  no  better  proof 
that  a  man  is  not  dead,  than  because  he  feels  his 
deadness.  If  we  be  sensible  of  the  flesh,  detest  her 
motions,  repent  of  her  over-bearings  and  prevail- 
ments;  weep  and  fight,  as  a  troubled  air  doth  at 
once  both  rain  and  thunder;  call  upon  Christ  for 
victory,  with  the  weapons  of  resistance  in  our  hands  ; 
we  shall  then  sing  to  his  glory  that  triumph.  Blessed 
be  God,  that  gives  the  victorj-  through  Jesus  Christ, 
1  Cor.  XV.  57. 

But  the  flesh  in  these  men  here,  is  a  lord  para- 
mount :  which  not  only  makes  laws  to  a  reprobate, 
but  makes  him  keep  them :  a  queen  regent ;  and 
under  her  conduct  and  standard  marcheth  the  whole 
feminine  array,  envy,  avarice,  pride,  &c.  The  devil 
dotes  on  the  flesh,  and  her  resisting  is  a  resigning ; 
for  if  Satan  should  not  feed  her  with  temptations, 
she  would  tempt  him  for  thcni,  and  snatch  lur  own 
bane.  Sometimes  she  is  troubled  with  a  wrangling 
neighbour,  conscience ;  which,  if  she  cannot  pacify-, 
she  will  tear  up ;  as  chirurgcons  do  incurable  fistulas. 
She  hears  of  Christ's  passion,  and  is  glad  of  it ;  not  as 
her  remedy,  but  her  security  :  she  takes  his  death  as 
a  licence  to  sin,  and  his  cross  for  letters-patent  to  do 
mischief.  She  hears  the  word,  as  a  man  writes  on 
the  waters ;  no  character,  no  print  of  his  finger  is 
left  behind.  She  will  not  imderstand,  but  dies  with- 
out instruction,  Prov.  v.  2.3:  only  hell-torments  can 
open  her  eyes.  So  the  rich  man  lift  up  his  eyes  in 
hell,  Luke  xvi.  23:  they  were  never  opened  before. 
As  Gideon  taught  the  men  of  Succoth,  with  briers 
and  thorns,  Judg.  viii.  16 :  he  made  them  to  know, 
taught  them  with  a  vengeance.  She  is  ever  ready 
to  run  into  extremes;  like  the  Jews,  in  adversity  un- 
faithful, in  prosperity  unthankful.     Or  as   Laban's 


sheep  were  in  the  extremes;  either  all  black,  or  all 
white :  Jacob's  were  in  the  mean,  party-coloured. 
The  w-icked  are  always  in  extremities,  of  either  de- 
fect, or  excess ;  of  irreligion,  or  superstition. 

For  us  that  have  both  our  Father's  blood  and  our 
mother's  blood  in  us;  grace  from  the  former,  as  wc 
have  flesh  from  the  other;  and  one  of  these  will  be 
master ;  let  us,  as  it  is  fit,  give  the  sovereignty  to 
our  Father;  let  his  grace  rule  us,  albeit  the  flesh 
entice  us.  Be  thou  a  faithful  porter  in  God's  house; 
diligent  to  keep  out  his  enemies,  and  to  let  in  his 
friends.  Beware  of  denying  entrance  to  the  least 
motion  of  grace :  for  man's  heart  is  like  a  spring- 
lock  ;  pull  to  the  door  after  you,  and  the  lock  wul 
shut  of  itself,  but  being  shut  it  cannot  be  opened 
without  a  key.  The  heart  with  the  least  pull  locks 
out  grace  easily;  but  cannot  open  to  re-admit  it 
without  his  help  that  hath  the  key  of  the  house  of 
David,  that  opens  and  no  man  shuts,  that  shuts  and 
no  man  opens,  Rev.  iii.  7-  Know  you  not  that  flesh 
and  blood  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  heaven? 
1  Cor.  XV.  50.  We  say  in  wrongs,  flesh  and  blood 
cannot  endure  this :  we  say  in  temptations,  flesh  and 
blood  cannot  hold  out.  What  flesh  do  we  mean  ? 
that  which  God  hath  djimned  ?  which  he  will  never 
admit  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven?  A  fair  plea !  when 
that  must  be  our  apology  which  is  our  impiety.  No, 
let  grace  be  our  direction,  for  it  is  grace  that  must 
be  our  salvation. 

"  Lust."  This  is  the  daughter  of  the  flesh,  and 
mother  of  uncleanness;  the  branches  that  grow  from 
that  cursed  root,  and  bringing  forth  more  cursed 
fruit;  the  sparks  that  fly  up  from  that  burning  fur- 
nace, the  bubbles  of  that  noisome  and  baneful  foun- 
tain. For  method  of  discourse,  I  shall  examine  five 
questions  concerning  lust. 

1.  What  lust  is.  It  must  be  considered  as  the 
original  fountain  of  all  sins ;  and  so  it  is  an  impo- 
tency  of  heart,  whereby  it  is  inordinately  carried 
with  the  desire  of  evil.  Original  sin  is  called  lust, 
because  it  principally  shows  itself  in  lusts:  as  an 
obstniction  of  the  liver  is  perceived  in  the  burning 
and  dryness  of  the  palms.  Or  it  is  taken  for  a 
branch  and  fruit  of  the  former  corruption :  flesh  is 
the  tyrant  reigning:  lusts  are  his  laws,  rules,  pre- 
cepts ;  obeying  them  is  the  vassalage,  a  tenure  in 
villany,  Rom.  vi.  12.  It  is  either  the  inborn  occasion 
of  sin;  or  the  inward  act,  whereof  be  three  degrees. 
1.  The  first  motion.  2.  It  likes  us.  .3.  We  yield  to 
it.  The  first  is  impossible  to  be  avoided,  the  second 
diflicult,  the  last  by  grace  easy.  The  appetite  de- 
sires noxious  meat,  yet  we  choose  whether  we  will 
taste  it:  it  pleases  our  palate,  yet  is  it  in  our  choice 
to  swallow  It  down :  wc  swallow  it  and  it  makes  us 
sick,  yet  then  let  us  refrain  it.  Lust  then  is  either 
the  faculty  of  desiring,  or  the  act  itself;  the  one  like 
a  drowsiness  of  nature,  the  other  like  the  passion  of 
slumber;  that  native  pravitv,  this  active  pravity  ; 
that  the  nourishment  of  sin,  tliis  the  accomplishment 
of  sin. 

There  is  a  threefold  concupiscence ;  natural,  sensi- 
tive, voluntary.  1.  Natural,  which  is  in  stirps  and 
l>lants,  whereby  they  covet  .ind  draw  unto  them  their 
food  and  nourishment ;  this  is  properly  called  opclic, 
desire.  2.  Sensitive,  such  is  in  bnite  beasts.  3. 
Voluntarx',  this  is  in  man  only,  (though  the  other  be 
not  excluded,)  and  is  called  iiriBrfiia,  lust.  In  this 
voluntary  lust  we  must  consider  Hyafin;  the  faculty 
itself;  and  hipylai;  the  exercise  of  that  faculty. 
Further,  these  must  be  considered  naturallv,  such  is 
an  appetite  to  meat  ;  or  supernaturally,  suell  is  a  re- 
generate desire :  so  there  is  a  holy  covetousness, 
Psal.  cxix.  127:  a  spiritual  lust,  Gal.  v.  17;  an  anger 
without  sin,  Eph.  iv.  20.    Thus  we  may  covet,  desire, 


410 


AX  EXPOSITION  I'l'ON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


affect,  and  sin  not.  Or  morally,  in  relation  to  the 
commandment;  which  consists  in  lusting  after  un- 
lawful things.  Such  are  not  our  own;  another's 
house,  or  wife,  or  any  propriety  of  his.  Or  lawful 
things  in  an  unlawful  degree,  as  exceeding  in  measure : 
so  sinners  covet  wine  to  riot;  or  money  to  hoard, 
not  to  use;  or  strength  to  revenge;  or  beauty  to 
(cmpl  ;  or  apparel  for  ])ride.  To  lust  for  a  lawful 
thing  may  be  an  unlawful  lust ;  as  to  desire  it  above 
its  proper  measure,  or  short  of  its  proper  end.  There- 
fore St.  Augustine  (De  Doctrin.  Christia.  lib.  3.  cap. 
10.)  calls  concupiscence,  a  motion  of  the  mind  to 
enjoy  riches,  health,  another,  yea  himself;  or  any 
thing  else,  not  for  God. 

2.  What  is  tlie  seat  of  this  lust.  "  I  know  that  in 
my  flesh  dwelleth  no  good  thing,"  Rom.  vii.  IS : 
where  Ambrose  by  flesh  understands  the  body.  His 
reason  why  sin  hath  the  habitation  in  the  llesh, 
rather  than  in  the  soul,  is  because  the  llesh  is  derived 
by  projiagation,  so  is  not  the  soul.  For  if  that  were 
propagated  as  the  flesh,  sin  should  rather  dwell  in 
the  soul  than  in  the  body  ;  the  soul  being  the  agent 
offending  more  than  can  the  body,  which  is  but  the 
instrument.  Ansii\  This  proves  that  the  first  pollu- 
tion is  of  the  flesh;  not  that  the  soul  can  be  free,  for 
by  infusion  must  follow  infection,  as  good  liquor  is 
spoiled  by  a  musty  vessel.  But  sin  disperseth  itself 
into  the  whole  nature  of  man,  body  and  soul.  So 
there  is  vovq  aapKog,  a  mind  of  flesh.  Col.  ii.  18 :  nor 
is  the  natural  mind  apt  to  any  good.  "  Corrupt 
minds,"  2  Tim.  iii.  8  :  therefore  the  apostle  requires 
a  renovation  of  the  mind,  Eph.  iv.  23.  Nor  by  the 
outward  man  must  we  understand  the  body,  and  by 
the  inner  man  the  soul ;  but  the  regenerate  part  is 
called  the  inward  man,  the  unregenerate  part  the 
outward,  2  Cor.  iv.  16.  Grace  is  the  inward  man, 
because,  1.  The  power  of  it  is  chiefly  discerned  in 
the  mind.  (Martyr.)  2.  It  does  not  appear  to  the 
eyes  of  men ;  so  called  "  the  hidden  man  of  the 
heart,"  1  Pet.  iii.  4.  (Parens.)  3.  It  does  not  seek 
external  things :  evil  lusts  are  everwandering  abroad, 
without  a  man,  exercised  about  vanities ;  this  keeps 
home,  and  seeks  not  riches,  but  peace  of  conscience. 
(Cajetan.)  4.  By  way  of  eminence:  as  the  mind 
is  more  excellent  than  the  body,  so  the  spirit  more 
noble  than  the  flesh.  (Calvin.)  Lyranus  would  have 
the  inner  man  to  be  I'eason,  the  outer  sensuality,  that 
beast  of  man  which  always  rebels  against  reason. 
So  Gorrhan :  In  the  flesh,  that  is,  in  the  sensual 
man :  so  Tolet,  Pei'crius,  and  the  present  Romists. 
But  it  is  plain  by  the  apostle's  demonstration,  that  the 
flesh  is  the  whole  natural  man,  and  the  spirit  (he  whole 
renewed  man ;  there  being  in  the  regenerate  some- 
thing that  is  spiritual,  and  something  that  is  carnal. 
The  seat  of  sin  is  in  (he  rational  part,  the  will  bring- 
ing it  forth  :  the  body  doth  but  execute  the  edict  of 
reason  and  will  ;  therefore  the  part  rational  hath 
something  canial.  Schoolmen,  like  the  philosophers, 
make  two  parts  of  the  mind;  \oyiKriv,  the  reasonable 
part  ;  and  aXoyov,  void  of  discourse,  the  seat  of  affec- 
tions and  passions.  (Arist.  Eth.  lib.  I.  c.  13.)  If 
Paul  should  make  no  other  difference  between  flesh 
and  spirit,  his  apostolical  theology  were  no  greater 
comfort  than  their  blind  philosophy. 

3.  Whether  lust  be  a  sin.  We  must  know  that 
not  only  the  act  of  lust,  but  concupiscence  itself,  is 
cornn)l  and  forbidden.  (Beza.)  The  difference  be- 
tween >is  and  the  pontificians  in  this  point,  lies  thus. 
Tliey  say,  tlierc  is  concupiscence  formed,  the  second 
motion,  which  is  with  consent  of  will;  this  is  sin  ; 
and  \vc  say  so  too.  There  is  concupiscence  unform- 
ed, without  deliberate  consent:  this  they  say  is  no 
sin;  we  affirm  it.  They  sav,  it  is  not  sin,  but  the 
cause  of  sin  ;  as  the  sun  is  said  to  be  hot,  because  it 


causelh  heat :  but  we  call  it  truly  sin  itself.  Let  us 
first  weigh  some  of  their  arguments  against  it,  then 
ours  for  it. 

Object.  That  w  hich  is  natural  cannot  be  evil ;  but 
concupiscence  is  natural,  for  it  was  in  man  before 
his  fall.  Aitsw.  As  it  is  natural,  it  is  not  forbidden  ; 
if  the  matter  desired  be  lawful,  the  manner  regular, 
the  end  honest;  God's  glory,  ours  or  others'  good. 
So  a  man  may  desire  that  is  proper  to  him,  the  wife 
of  his  bosom ;  or  that  is  appropriate  to  him,  as  an 
office,  1  Tim.  iii.  1. 

Object.  Nothing  involuntary  is  sin,  but  the  first 
lust  is  against  the  will,  therefore  no  sin.  Answ. 
The  rule  of  good  or  evil  is  not  man's  will,  but  God's 
law.  That  wiiich  is  in  us  necessary,  was  in  Adam 
voluntary,  and  by  him  in  us.  Now  it  cannot  be 
avoided,  then  it  might  :  his  willir.g  transgression 
transmitted  to  us  a  necessity  of  sinning.  Original 
sin  is  in  infants,  it  is  not  voluntary ;  yet  they  die, 
which  could  not  be  in  justice,  had  they  not  sinned. 
So  though  that  saying  of  Aristotle  may  be  true.  No 
man  is  bad  with  his  will,  nor  happy  against  his  will ; 
yet  habit  can  make  that  necessary,  which  was  at 
first  voluntary. 

Object.  The  law  commands  no  impossible  thing, 
nor  doth  God  condemn  for  that  which  no  good  man 
avoid.  Ansa:  The  law  was  possible  to  created  na- 
ture, that  is  how  impossible  to  corrupted  nature  j 
that  we  want  power  to  fulfil  it,  is  because  we  had 
power  and  would  not  keep  it.  No  one  better  knows 
what  power  we  have,  than  He  who  gave  us  the 
power  itself.  (Aug.  de  Temp.  Ser.  61.) 

It  is  objected  from  Jam.  i.  15,  that  either  concu- 
piscence is  not  sin,  bu(  the  cause  of  sin ;  or  if  it  be 
sin,  yet  is  not  mortal  sin  :  for  sin,  till  it  be  perfect, 
brings  not  forth  death.  Ansir.  This  is  no  true  con- 
clusion, concupiscence  brings  forth  sin,  therefore  it 
is  no  sin ;  but  therefore  it  is  not  that  sin  which 
it  brings  forth.  A  man  begets  a  man,  therefore  is 
he  not  a  man  ?  No,  but  therefore  he  is  not  that  man 
which  he  begets.  Yea,  he  is  a  man  even  because  he 
begets  a  man.  And  to  say,  Sin  perfected  brings 
forth  death,  therefore  sin  not  perfect  brings  not  forth 
death,  is  as  if  we  should  thus  reason;  The  father 
begets  a  mortal  man,  therefore  the  grandfather  doth 
not.  Because  actual  lust  produeeth  death  as  the 
nearest  cause,  this  hinders  not  original  lust  as  a  re- 
mote cause  to  be  mortal. 

Our  reasons.  Argument  1.  Whatsoever  is  forbid- 
den by  the  law,  is  sin ;  but  the  law  forbids  the  first 
motions  of  lust.  If  you  ask,  what  commandment  for- 
bids it ;  I  answer.  Lust  with  consent  is  forbidden  in 
the  ninth,  lust  without  consent  in  the  tenth.  With- 
out this  distinction  I  see  not  how  we  can  make  ten 
commandments.  The  scventli  forbids  lust  in  the 
voluntary  desire,  as  our  Saviour  expounds  it,  Matt, 
v.  28.  Therefore  if  the  tenth  should  not  restrain 
the  involuntary  and  first  rising  lust,  it  were  super- 
fluous, as  being  all  one  with  the  seventh.  It  is  not 
untnie,  that  original  sin  is  condemned  in  the  whole 
law,  but  more  directly  in  the  first  and  last  command- 
ments ;  because  these  two  more  properly  concern 
the  heart  of  man  :  the  former  respects  it  as  concern- 
ing God,  the  other  as  cnncerning  man.  St.  Paul 
confesseth  that  his  lust  tempted  him  against  his  will, 
Rom.  vii.  7;  and  by  that  lust  he  means  the  first 
motion:  for  the  second,  which  are  with  consent  of 
will,  he  knew  well  enough  before  to  be  sins;  yea,  the 
very  heathen  knew-  this  by  the  light  of  nature.  To 
covet  them  is  forbidden ;  if  we  do  covet,  we  break 
the  law,  therefore  sin.  The  other  laws  condemn 
the  depraved  aflections  with  which  we  are  delight- 
ed ;  the  last,  the  very  appetites  by  which  we  are 
tempted.     To  say  with  Pererius,   that  the  former 


Vrr.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


411 


only  prohibit  liic  outward  act,  and  the  last  the  in- 
ward consent,  is  false  by  Christ's  own  exposition ; 
wlio  citing  tlie  law,  "Thou  shall  not  kill,"  aflirms 
it  lo  be  broken  by  rash  anger;  and  that,  "Thou 
shalt  not  roniniit  adulter^-,"  by  lusting  after  a  woman. 
Matt.  V.  21,  2i,  27,  2«^. 

.Irgumi'nl  2.  "  If  I  do  that  I  would  not,  it  is  no  more 
I  that  do  it,  butsin  ihat  dwelleth  in  me,"  Rom.  vii.  20. 
He  is  unwillintj,  yet  he  calls  this  lust,  sin.  Pererius 
answers.  It  is  called  sin  because  it  is  the  cflect  of 
sin;  as  the  writing  is  called  the  hand,  because  it  is 
written  by  the  hand.  Solut.  But  that  which  makes 
a  man  bad  cannot  be  good  itself.  Whatever  makes 
a  thing  to  be  of  such  a  character,  is  still  more  itself 
such.  Concupiscence  is  not  only  the  cause  of  sin, 
and  the  punishment  of  .sin,  but  sin  itself:  as  St.  Au- 
gustine hath  it.  The  Jesuit  replies,  Augustine  means 
not  moral  sin,  nor  mortal  sin,  but  the  fault  of  cor- 
rupt nature :  as  blindness,  deafness,  lameness,  are 
called  the  sins  or  the  errors  of  nature,  as  being 
against  the  integrity  and  perfectness  of  our  natural 
constitution  ;  so  the  rebelling  of  concupiscence  is 
against  the  integrity  and  perfection  of  the  soul,  an 
error  in  nature.  Answ.  There  are  natural  faults  in 
the  soul ;  as  ignorance,  forgetfulness,  dulness  of  un- 
derstanding ;  m  the  body,  infirmities,  weakness,  sick- 
ness: which  arc  the  effects  of  sin,  not  sins  themselves. 
But  all  these  are  effects  and  passions,  whereas  con- 
cupiscence is  active  and  working.  In  a  word,  it  re- 
sists the  motions  of  God's  Spirit :  now  all  disobe- 
dience is  sin.  In  civil  matters  no  man  is  accessory 
to  a  sin  without  consent  of  will,  but  it  is  otherwise 
in  the  court  of  conscience. 

4.  What  variety  of  lusts  there  be.  St.  Paul  cn- 
largethlust  to  all  motions,  inclinations,  passions,  and 
perturbations,  of  heart,  mind,  will,  and  affections,  Eph. 
ii.  3.  Original  concupiscence  is  the  seed  of  all  sins 
in  man :  look  how  many  sins  there  be  in  the  world, 
so  many  lusts  in  the  heart  of  man,  1  John  ii.  IG ;  the 
number  of  lusts  is  no  loss  than  the  number  of  sins. 
Of  actual  lust  there  be  two  degrees :  sudden,  or 
voluntary  and  deliberate.  Sudden  is  the  motion  not 
agreed  to  :  voluntary  is  ^vith  consent.  The  eye  is 
sometimes  cast  upon  an  object  on  the  sudden,  with- 
out any  intention  or  consultation  of  the  mind ;  some- 
times it  is  sent  on  the  heart's  errand  by  the  mind's 
direction.  As  the  eye  may  be  shut  in  a  twinkling, 
without  thought  or  purpose;  and  it  may  be  shut 
with  deliberation,  to  sleep,  or  prevent  harm.  The 
heart  is  a  furnace,  that  sometimes  sends  forth  sudden, 
sometimes  leisurely  flames.  The  first  is  the  nature 
of  sin,  the  next  is  the  nurture  of  sin ;  consent  doth 
nurse  the  child  of  death,  practice  brings  it  up  :  actual 
lusting  is  (he  oil  that  feeds  the  lamp  of  concupiscence. 
The  mother  brings  forth  the  daughter,  and  the  daugh- 
ter nourishelli  the  mother:  Hagar  produccth  Ish- 
macl,  Ishmael  sustains  Hagar :  blessed  is  that  Abra- 
ham, whose  house  is  well  rid  of  tlicni  both. 

b.  How  heinous  this  sin  is  ;  even  no  less  than 
damnable  in  itself.  Lusts  are  often  more  punished 
by  the  great  Judge,  than  divers  actual  sins.  The 
continued  lust  of  unclcanncss,  is  worse  than  a  discon- 
tinued act  of  unclcanncss.  He  that  always  desires 
pollution  descrv'es  greater  punishment,  than  he  that 
is  overtaken  with  it  against  his  will.  One  kills  a 
man  against  his  will,  another  desires  to  kill  him  and 
is  hindered ;  this  last  is  the  murderer  before  God. 
It  is  this  lust  that  Paul  calls  the  burning:  it  is  one 
thing  to  be  hot,  a  good  man  may  be  hot ;  but  to  burn 
is  another  thing  ;  when  lust  finds  indulgence,  and  is 
scarce  restrained  with  shame.  The  act  of  adulter,- 
is  not  more  heinous  among  men,  than  the  unlawful 
desire  and  consented  lust  of  the  heart  is  to  God,  Malt. 
V.  28.     Without  practice,  the  verj'  purpose  stands 


culpable  before  him.  Silly  people  think  the  com- 
mandment is  not  broken,  if  the  outward  gross  sin  be 
abstained  :  but  God  fetcheth  in  malice,  anger,  envy, 
within  the  compass  of  murder.  Some  ignorants  use 
the  commaiulmcnls  for  prayers  :  poor  souls,  they 
little  think  I  hey  are  God's  thunderbolts,  to  throw 
them  into  holl  for  their  sins.  Thus  usury,  the  desire 
of  gain  by  the  undoing  of  others  ;  hoarding  of  com 
in  dearth,  which  is  to  make  a  private  profit  of  God's 
public  judgment ;  bad  example,  with  a  delight  to 
corrupt  otliers,  which  are  like  those  erring  lights, 
that  instead  of  guiding  ships  to  the  haven,  lead 
them  upon  rocks  and  shelves:  all  these  are  degrees 
of  murder.  So  a  wanton  eye,  an  obscene  discourse, 
a  vain  attire,  a  light  behaviour ;  all  these  arc  <legrees 
of  adultery.  Lust  is  like  a  secret  malignity  in  the 
bones,  hardly  got  out :  wounds  and  ulcers  are  sooner 
cured  because  of  their  appearance.  Adultery  may  be 
restrained  by  corporal  impotency ;  still  lust  is  hid 
within ;  it  must  be  a  potent  medicine  that  fetcheth  it 
out.     "The  uses  are, 

1.  It  justly  humbles  us.  If  the  first  motion,  with- 
out consent,  be  sin ;  if  the  second,  with  consent,  be 
greater  sin ;  Lord,  who  can  say.  My  heart  is  clean  ? 
Not  many  can  clear  themselves  so  with  Samuel, 
from  the  act  of  injustice,  I  Sam.  xii.  3:  fewer  with 
Paul,  "  I  have  coveted  no  man's  gold,"  &-c.  Acts  xx. 
33 :  but,  I  was  never  tempted  to  this ;  no  man  could 
ever  say  this  but  one,  even  that  man  who  is  the  Son 
of  God.  If  we  had  no  more,  this  last  were  enough 
to  hide  our  faces,  and  stop  our  mouths  before  the 
Lord.  Too  few  take  notice  of  this  natural  unclcan- 
ncss; though  it  be  bom  in  them,  and  bonie  about  them, 
yet  they  neither  see  the  filth  nor  feel  the  weight. 
Moors,  that  never  saw  men  of  more  temperate  climates, 
think  there  is  no  other  complexion  but  their  own. 
He  doth  much  good  that  goes  not  after  his  lusts, 
Ecclus.  xviii.  30;  but  he  is  not  perfect,  that  doth  not 
what  is  written,  Thou  shalt  not  lust.  (Aug.  de  Mixt. 
et  Concup.  cap.  23.  29.)  Now  shall  we  not  be 
cast  down  for  that,  which  without  repentance  will 
cast  us  down  to  hell  ?  Paul  did  not  more  tnily  bear 
about  him  the  marks  of  the  Second  Adam,  Gal.  vi. 
17,  than  we  do  all  the  marks  of  the  first  Adam.  Let 
us  know,  that  etcnial  tire  is  the  wages  of  this  lust; 
consent  makes  it  hotter,  practice  inflames  it.  This 
lust  is  in  us  all,  and  this  lust  is  sufficient  to  condemn 
us  all. 

But  then,  alas,  what  shall  we  do  ?  How  should 
we  escape  ?  This  necessitates  our  niin.  Therefore 
as  the  law  compelled  him  that  had  opened  a  pit,  and 
left  it  uncovered,  to  make  good  his  neighbour's  beast 
that  miscarried  in  it,  Exod.  xxi.  33,  34;  so  having 
opened  a  pit,  lest  any  soul  should  perish  in  it,  let  me 
cover  it  again  with  comfort.  The  condemning  quality 
of  this  sin  is  taken  away  by  regeneration.  Acts  ii. 
?A.  All  sins ;  now  children  have  no  sin  but  original 
lust.  The  guilt  which  was  contracted  by  gcnoration, 
has  been  done  away  by  regeneration,  says  Augustine. 
In  Christ  it  is  pardoned,  and  shall  not  cast  his  mem- 
bers to  hell.  Yet  is  it  by  nature  so  dyed  in  grain, 
Ihat  nothing  but  his  blood  can  purge  it.  And  even 
in  the  purged  it  still  remains.  It  shall  not  rei^ 
over  us  here,  not  confound  >is  hereafter,  yet  will 
dwell  in  us  till  our  dissolutions.  Pardon  frees  us 
from  the  damnation  and  domination,  not  from  the 
inhabitation,  of  sin. 

2.  It  teacheth  us  to  withstand  the  beginnings  of 
sin,  to  kill  Ihat  pcslilint  brood  in  the  cradle,  to  de- 
stroy Ihem  in  their  infancy,  as  we  do  a  nest  of  young 
wasps.  For  lust,  when  it  hath  conceived,  bringetn 
forth  sin  :  and  sin,  when  it  is  finished,  bringeth  forth 
death.  Jam.  i.  15.  Lust  tempteth,  there  is  the  mo- 
ther: being  moved  by  the  devil,  there  is  the  father; 


412 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


it  conceiveth,  thus  the  child  is  begotten :  she  is  the 
mother  of  the  dead  ;  as  fjrace  (like  Eve)  is  the  motlier 
of  the  living.  Delight  is  the  midwife.  It  bringelh 
forth  sin,  there  the  child  is  born ;  it  must  now  have 
a  nurse  to  bring  it  up,  that  is  custom ;  and  the  full 
stature  it  grows  unto,  is  death.  It  tempteth  by  en- 
ticing the  mind  to  evil,  conceiveth  by  the  consent  of 
will  and  resolution  to  do  evil,  bringelh  forth  by  exe- 
cution and  practice,  nurseth  it  to  growth  by  cus- 
tom and  continuance ;  lastly,  this  stripling  engen- 
dereth  another  child,  Benoni,  the  sorrow  of  the 
mother,  and  that  is  death.  If  we  cannot  prevent 
the  conception,  yet  let  us  destroy  it  in  the  birth, 
make  it  abortive,  by  purposing  never  to  act  it  :  if  it 
is  bom,  and  draw  the  air  of  intention,  yet  let  us  stop 
it  ere  it  come  to  action  ;  let  us  not  do  the  determined 
evil.  If  it  oversway  us  to  like  and  act  it,  yet  let  it 
never  come  to  a  habit,  let  us  devow  a  custom.  But 
how  much  more  easy  were  it  to  stop  it  in  the  first 
cause!  as  seasonable  physic  doth  meet  with  an  in- 
fection at  the  first  taking,  before  it  i^un  into  the  veins, 
<>nd  corrupt  the  blood.  The  seed  of  Ishmacl  had 
never  afllicted  the  seed  of  Israel,  had  Ishmael  been 
killed  when  he  was  banished.  At  the  first  rising  of 
Elijah's  cloud,  Ahab  had  time  to  get  home  dry  ;  that 
once  ascended,  all  the  speed  of  nis  chariot  cannot 
outrun  the  shower.  Cut  off  the  gangrened  joint,  and 
save  the  body.  The  way  to  minish  the  increase  of 
ravenous  and  noxious  fishes,  is  to  destroy  the  spawn 
with  the  mother;  to  be  rid  of  harmful  birds,  is  to 
spoil  their  nests.  When  a  fire-ball  is  thrown  into  a 
ship  at  a  sea-fight,  they  presently  cast  it  out  ere  it 
break  or  fasten.  Meet  thine  enemy  at  his  coming 
out  of  his  bed,  before  he  arm  himself;  take  lust  ere 
it  come  to  a  rebound.  At  the  first  motion,  stop  the 
mouth  of  it ;  let  it  never  make  a  reply ;  stand  not  to 
argue,  lest  thou  be  overcome. 

3.  Let  us  avoid  them  as  jicrilous  and  mortal  ene- 
mies. I.  Dangerous  for  their  nature  ;  continual 
tempters.  Conscience  doth  sometimes  sleep  from 
reproving,  tliese  never  rest  from  enticing.  2.  Dan- 
gerous for  their  number.  If  you  despise  them  as 
being  very  little,  you  may  have  to  fear  them  as  being 
veiy  many.  (August.)  Many  temptations  come  in 
by  the  cinque  ports,  the  senses.  More  by  Satan's  in- 
jection, that  presents  to  the  affections  things  absent 
from  the  senses.  Most  by  lust  itself,  that  (as  no 
created  thing  is  quicker  than  thought)  tumbles 
over  a  thousand  desires  in  an  hour  :  many  strings 
to  sin's  bow,  that  if  some  break,  the  rest  may  hold : 
many  trains  of  powder,  some  likely  to  take  fire.  3. 
Dangerous  for  their  eflfect,  bringing  forth  the  most 
monstrous  offences.  Open  but  the  pit,  out  swarm 
these  pestilent  locusts.  Rev.  ix.  2.  Who  would  have 
thought  that  David's  wanton  look  should  have  begot 
nuuder  ?  He  that  hath  given  way  to  his  lust,  must 
confess  such  fearful  precipices.  Murder  we  detest ; 
yet  how  many  hands  hath  the  lust  of  revenge  cm- 
brucd  in  blood  !  how  many  necks  hath  it  brought  to 
an  ignominious  halter  !  Incontinence  hath  the  name 
from  nncontained  lust :  many  a  disease  of  body,  re- 
proach of  name,  consumption  of  estate,  loss  of  life  and 
soul,  are  beholden  to  it.  4.  Dangerous  for  their  con- 
tinuance :  an  ill  seasoning,  that  is  never  got  out 
but  by  breaking  of  the  pitcher:  a  mark  that  all 
carrj-  to  their  graves,  some  to  their  torments.  While 
the  soul  doth  animate  a  body  mortal,  it  will  tempt 
both  body  and  soul.  Cut  off  the  sjjrig  of  a  tree,  it 
grows  still ;  a  bough,  an  arm,  still  it  grows:  loj)  off 
the  top,  yea,  saw  it  in  the  midst,  yet  it  will  grow 
again:  stock  it  up  by  the  root,  then  (and  not  till 
then)  it  will  grow  no  more.  Next  unto  God  and 
Christ,  we  may  thank  death  itself,  for  the  abolition 
of  lust.     We  have  three  birth-days  :  the  first  of  na- 


ture ;  this  gives  lust  the  breeding :  the  second  of 
grace;  this  sets  lust  a  bleeding;  it  doth  mortify  it, 
not  nullify  it  ;  it  makes  it  dying,  not  dead  :  the  last 
of  glorj-,  then  are  we  rid  of  it  for  ever.  Thus  all  tl.e 
saints  in  heaven  are  thrice  born;  to  sin,  to  grace,  to 
glory.  Lust  in  the  first  is  a  king,  in  the  second  a 
slave,  in  the  third  nothing.  The  second  nativity 
crosseth  the  first,  the  last  perfects  the  second.  To 
be  freed  from  concupiscence  is  a  main  motive  of  that 
zealous  prayer.  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  (juickly. 

Let  us  (in  the  mean  time)  beware  the  captivity  of 
our  affections.  Let  not  sin  reign  in  our  mortal 
bodies,  Rom.  vi.  12:  where  it  is  a  sovereign,  it  will 
force  obedience.  There  is  difference  between  lusts 
and  actual  sins.  1.  The  intervention  of  time.  Lust 
is  sudden,  action  requires  time.  He  hath  the  present 
lust  of  covelousness,  he  must  tarrj-  a  time  to  enlarge 
and  fill  his  bams,  Luke  xii.  18.  2.  The  interposi- 
tion of  place.  Lust  often  desires,  that  cannot  be  pre- 
sent, therefore  adultery  must  stay  for  opportunity. 
3.  The  interception  of  instnnneuts.  Balaam  had  a 
desire  to  kill  his  harmless  beast,  but  he  had  no  wea- 
pon. Numb.  xxii.  29  :  the  hand  is  not  so  quick  as 
the  thought.  4.  The  interposition  of  impediments. 
Absalom  hisls  for  his  father's  crown;  there  be  many 
hinderances,  he  cannot  reach  it.  If  to  achieve  were 
as  easy  as  to  desire,  one  man's  lust  were  able  to  ruin 
all  the  world.  5.  The  intercession  or  pleading  of  ar- 
guments. The  soul  hath  some  discourse  between  the 
lust  and  the  act.  The  J'ideo  meliora  proboque  (I  see 
better  things,  and  approve  them)  of  the  heathen  poet, 
is  in  the  soul  of  a  Medea,  a  sorceress.  6.  The  entrance 
of  other  desires.  Sometimes  the  second  nail  drives  out 
the  first.  So  the  Lord  sets  our  lusts  together  by  the 
eai-s,  as  tlie  Egyptians  against  the  Egyjitians ;  that 
while  two  poisons  wrestle  we  may  live.  The  falling 
out  of  thieves  helps  the  true  man  to  his  goods.  The 
lust  after  beauty  is  driven  out  by  a  desire  of  revenge, 
that  again  by  a  golden  thirst ;  and  if  grace  comes, 
this  drives  them  out  all  :  as  the  feathers  of  an  eagle, 
tliat  will  not  endure  blending  with  other  feathers,  but 
rather  consumes  them.  All  tliese  inters  should  be 
the  interruption  of  sin,  and  for  the  compunction  of 
heart ;  that  though  concupiscence  have  conceived, 
she  may  not  be  delivered.  Justly  should  we  say  to 
lust,  as  tlie  Hebrew  did  to  Moses,  "Who  made  thee  a 
prince  over  us  ?"  Exod.  ii.  14;  whence  liast  thou  this 
authority  ?  Wilt  thou  kill  me,  as  thou  killest  the 
worldling?  No,  thou  shalt  not,  I  have  a  deliverer, 
Rom.  vii.  25. 

5.  Seeing  the  flesh  will  be  in  man  so  long  as 
man  is  in  the  flesh,  let  us  strive  to  fill  our  hearts 
with  better  desires.  Lust  works  in  the  mcmor)', 
by  remembering  vanities,  injuries,  bad  examples  : 
instead  of  these,  let  us  remember  our  sins,  our 
ends,  our  audit.  In  the  affections :  if  it  work  by 
pride,  stop  it  out  by  humility  ;  if  by  malice,  witli 
charity  ;  if  by  unclcanncss,  with  chastity ;  if  by 
covetousnes.s  with  liberality;  if  by  revenge,  W'itli 
mercy,  as  darkness  will  give  place  to  the  .sun.  In 
the  mind,  if  idle  thoughts  find  room,  it  is  because 
God  is  not  there.  "  Let  the  word  of  God  dwell  in 
you  richly,"  Col.  iii.  IG:  emptiness  of  that  food  will 
cause  the  repletion  of  lusts.  In  the  body,  if  it  work 
by  drunkenness,  rather  turn  Rechabite,  never  drink 
wine.  If  by  surfeit  and  high  feeding,  fall  to  Daniel's 
pulse,  shorten  the  commons  of  sin:  as  it  is  better  to 
beat  down  the  house,  than  to  be  fired  in  it.  If  by 
idleness,  screw  up  thy  endeavours  to  a  greater  task. 
They  be  idle,  therefore  regard  vain  words,  Exod.  v. 
8,  i) ':  thus  a  Pharaoh  could  conclude.  Let  lust  never 
call,  but  we  have  other  business.  The  best  remedy 
is  prayer:  when  concupiscence  tempts  us  to  folly, 
let   us'  make   the  matter  known  to  our   Husband, 


Ver.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


413 


Christ.  When  lust  covets  transient  riches,  call  home 
the  mctlitation  of  those  permanent  joys;  and  say, 
"  Our  Father,  which  art  in  heaven."  When  lust 
would  study  how  to  Rct  honour,  then  say,  "Hallow- 
ed be  thy  name."  When  ambition  would  h.ivc  such 
a  preferment,  then  say,  "  Thy  kingdom  come."  ^ylK■n 
it  would  carve  thy  own  portion,  then,  "  Tliy  will  be 
done."  When  it'  covets  monies  .nnd  riches,  then, 
"  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread."  AVhen  it  would 
revenge  thy  wrath  on  others,  then  say,  "  Forgive  us 
our  trespasses,  as  we  forgive  them  that  trespass 
against  us."  Howsoever  it  tempts  us,  let  us  pray, 
"Lead  us  not  into  temptation."  And  that  we  may 
never  yield  unto  it,  "  Deliver  us  from  evil."  Let  not 
lust  reign  in  us,  "for  thine  is  the  kingdom:"  we 
cannot  avoid  it  ourselves,  for  thine  is  "the  power:" 
and  for  our  deliverance,  thine  be  "  the  gloiy,  for  ever 
and  ever.     Amen." 

"  Of  uncleanness."  Of  sores,  and  ulcers,  and  such 
noisome  pollutions,  sordid  and  odious  to  God  and 
good  men ;  such  is  the  subject  of  my  present  dis- 
course ;  that  this  may  well  be  called  a  spital  sermon. 
But  as  the  physician  is  seldom  sent  for  unless  men  be 
sick ;  nor  is  so  much  consulted  about  diet  as  pliysic  ; 
the  whole  need  him  not,  but  the  diseased,  ^lalt.  ix. 
12;  so  if  there  were  no  sin,  you  should  need  no 
preacher:  yet  wise  men  rccpiirc  antidotes  and  pre- 
ser\'atives,  and  would  rather  pay  the  physician  to 
keep  them  well  than  to  make  them  well,  health 
being  not  so  easily  restored  as  conserved.  There- 
fore let  them  that  be  infected  with  this  leprosy,  learn 
now  the  means  of  their  recovery  ;  let  them  that  be 
not  infected,  observe  the  means  to  continue  their 
purity.  Whether  they  be  or  be  not,  this  discourse, 
like  the  bath,  shall  do  them  no  harm;  an  honest 
heart  will  not  return  unbcttcred.  For  method,  first, 
I  will  describe  the  disease  of  uncleanness  ;  then,  the 
cause  ;  last,  the  cure. 

The  disease  lies  not,  like  the  megrim,  in  the  head, 
nor  like  a  pleurisy,  in  the  blood,  nor  like  a  gout,  in 
the  joints  and  extreme  places,  nor  like  an  ache,  in 
the  bones  ;  but  it  is  epidemical,  hke  an  ill  habit  of 
body,  and  possesseth  in  a  reprobate  not  only  the 
whole  man,  but  the  whole  of  man :  as  Job  was  not 
here  and  there  ulcerous,  but  all  his  body  one  coagu- 
lated ulcer;  there  is  no  whole  part  about  him,  Isa.  i. 
<i.  First,  there  is  a  contemplative  uncleanness,  when 
the  mind  pleaseth  itself  with  vicious  thoughts:  thus 
there  may  be  a  world  of  wickedness  in  a  m.an,  though 
the  acts  of  pollution  be  refrained.  The  devil,  who  is 
the  father  of  lusts,  John  viii.  44,  reigns  in  the  soul 
by  these  ;  yea,  such  a  heart  that  infernal  prince  takes 
up  for  his  bed-chamber.  Secondly,  there  is  a  pre- 
parative uncleanness,  which  is  an  effeminateness  of 
carriage,  or  afiectation  of  inviting  the  eyes  of  lusrt; 
all  their  postures  being  so  many  characters,  to  spell 
the  meaning  of  their  lascivious  hearts.  It  were  well, 
if  such  a  one  were  forced  to  cry,  as  the  leper  in 
Israel,  I  am  unclean.  Lev.  xiii.  45.  Thirdly,  there  is 
a  procurative  uncleanness;  that  takes  up  the  devil's 
office,  and  helps  forward  the  damnation  of  men.  Such 
was  Jonadab  to  Amnon  ;  whose  unkindly  flame  might 
else  have  wasted  itself  out  in  time,  but  that  such  a 
wicked  counsellor  blew  the  coals.  This  was  no  worse 
a  man  than  the  king's  brother's  son  :  now  this  noble 
pander  will  project  a  course  for  Amnon's  satisfac- 
tion. The  procurer  is  as  unclean,  if  not  worse  than 
the  committer:  the  fire  would  languish,  vanish,  perish, 
if  there  were  no  such  fueller.  Fourthly,  there  is  a 
sensitive  uncleanness;  when  the  car  sucks  in  obscene 
stories,  the  eye  delights  in  immodest  mixtures,  and 
the  tongue  screws  it  into  all  discourses.  This  is,  as  if 
the  door  were  not  wide  enough,  to  set  open  all  the 
windows,  and  break  down  the  walls,  to  let  in  the  air 


of  uncleanness.     Actual  uncleanness  follows,  whereof 
there  be  many  degrees. 

1.  Fornication.  I  mean  not  titular;  as  hostess 
and  harlot  are  convertible  terms  :  nor  metaphorical ; 
as  "  the  children  of  whoredoms,"  Hos.  ii.  4  :  nor 
spiritual;  as  idolatry  is  called  fornication:  but  cor- 
poral ;  which  is  commonly  taken  for  the  incontinency 
of  single  persons.  The  natural  cure  of  this  unclean- 
ness is  marriage  :  thus  Shcchem  bewrays  a  good  dis- 
position even  in  fillhincss,  he  would  not  let  Dinah 
fare  the  worse  for  liis  sin  ;  but  as  he  had  with  dis- 
honest rage  abused  her,  so  he  strives  with  honest 
love  to  entertain  her.  Her  dcflouriug  shall  be  no 
prejudice  to  her:  as  the  sin  was  done  by  him,  so  he 
would  have  the  whole  shame  redound  to  him ;  and 
so  he  will  hide  her  dishonour  with  the  name  of  a 
husband.  To  this  ])urpose  he  communes,  craves, 
offers,  indeed  would  buy  her ;  even  purchase  leave  to 
make  her  satisfaction.  He  sues  to  his  father,  to  hers, 
to  her  brethren,  to  herself;  and  be^swith  submission 
what  he  might  have  gotten  wifli  violence.  The 
father  consents,  solicits,  is  ready  to  buy  his  son's 
peace  with  his  own  pain.  No  dowry  shall  hinder, 
but  Shechem  shall  recompense  Dinah.  How  far 
worse  are  they,  that  abuse  without  any  purpose  of 
amends!  But  marriage  in  this  case  is  some  satisfac- 
tion, no  restitution :  a  good  salve  is  not  so  good  as 
no  sore.  This  may  make  the  next  act  lawful,  not 
justify  the  former.  However  the  scene  concludes, 
the  first  entrance  was  naugl'.t.  Though  a  late  satis- 
faction be  better  than  none,  yet  a  timely  prevention 
is  best  of  all. 

2.  Adultery,  when  one  or  both  are  married.  This 
is  the  breach  of  many  faiths;  and  so  much  the  more 
pernicious,  as  it  is  a  wilful  shijjwreck  abroad,  when 
it  hath  a  harbour  and  safe  remedy  provided  at  home. 

.3.  Whoredom;  which  is  a  mad  and  transportive 
desire  to  abuse  many.  Sometimes  it  is  lust,  joined 
with  anger;  doing  it  in  spile  ;  a  desperate  revenge, 
by  polluting  another's  bed  to  cast  away  his  own  soul. 
So  the  foolish  child,  when  one  snatcheth  his  apple, 
throws  his  bread  after  him.  Sometimes  it  is  joined 
with  covetousness;  he  wastes  his  body  to  fill  his 
purse ;  as  a  fool  burns  his  band  to  make  tinder. 
Always  it  is  joined  with  folly  ;  not  so  much  respect- 
ing a  fair  woman  as  she  is  fair,  but  as  she  is  a  woman : 
foul  water  will  quench  that  fire  as  well  as  fair. 

4.  Unnatural  uncleanness  ;  as  men  with  men, 
men  with  beasts.  But  these  things  are  so  horrible 
in  the  deed,  that  they  are  even  disgraceful  in  word. 

5.  Uncleanness  with  our  own  kindred,  which  is 
incest.  To  patronize  this,  some  allege  precept,  prac- 
tice, and  custom.  But  that  law  to  the  Jews,  Deut. 
XXV.  5;  Gen.  xxxviii.  8;  Matt.  xxii.  24,  was  partly 
political,  for  distinction  of  families  ;  and  partly  typi- 
cal, preserving  the  right  of  primogeniture,  prefiguring 
the  spiritual  birthright  in  the  Messias,  which  should 
be  endless.  The  moral  law  was  othenvise,  Lev. 
xviii.  IG.  Therefore  we  answer,  that  albeit  God  had 
particular  exceptions  from  his  general  laws :  as  the 
cherubims  over  the  ark  was  an  instance  against  the 
second  commandment ;  the  Israelites  robbing  the 
Egvptians,  against  the  eighth;  and  Phinehas  killing 
Ziiiiri,  against  the  sixth;  yet  it  is  plain  that  the  Lord 
condemns  all  incest. 

(i.  With  more  wives  than  one,  which  is  polygamy. 
I  know  this  fact  of  Jacob  is  divcrsly  excused.  A.s 
first,  it  was  prohibited  by  no  law.  (August.)  Jnsw. 
It  was  not  prohibited  by'a  law  written,  it  was  by  the 
law  engraven :  God  made  but  one  woman  for  one 
man ;  and  he  was  a  wicked  Lamech  that  first  begun 
bigamy.  2.  But  custom  excuseth  ;  as  at  first  a  side 
garment  was  a  shame  to  the  Romans,  but  at  last  it 
grew  to  a  fashion.    .4iisir.  That  w;is  a  thing  indiffcr- 


414 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chai-.  II. 


enf,  the  decency  wliereof  time  might  varj- ;  but  there 
is  no  custom  against  the  first  institution.  3.  In  the 
muhiplicity  of  wives  he  propounded  to  himself  the 
muhitude  of  children.  Am-w.  If  ever  such  an  in- 
dulgence had  been  fit  for  any,  then  Noah  should  have 
been  dispensed  with,  to  propagate  the  world;  but 
God  gave  him  no  such  indulgence.  4.  This  was 
done  in  a  mystery.  Ansu\  Indeed,  August.  Ruper. 
Greg,  all  reduce  it  into  several  allegories  ;  yet  cannot 
this  justify  the  fact ;  no  more  than  Christ's  second 
coming  like  a  thief,  can  warrant  a  thief  sudden  break- 
ing into  a  house.  This  therefore  must  be  granted 
Jacob's  infirmity  :  to  niarrj'  two  wives  was  his  trans- 
gression ;  but  to  marry  two  sisters,  no  less  than  incest. 
Albeit  God  disposed  this  to  increase  the  holy  seed, 
yet  the  fact  is  against  his  ordinance  ;  and  our  positive 
law  makes  it  death,  as  by  the  law  institutive  it  is 
deadly.  Everyman  shall  cleave  to  his  owu wife.  Gen. 
ii.  24.  A  wife,  not  a  harlot ;  his  own,  not  another's; 
wife,  not  wives. 

7.  V^nclennness  with  a  man's  spouse ;  I  mean  be- 
tween the  betrothment  and  consummation.  The 
Levite's  spouse,  till  he  married  her,  was  but  his  con- 
cubine ;  and  their  conjunction  was  fornication.  It  is 
not  enough  to  say,  they  w-ere  married  before  God ; 
the  hand  of  the  church  must  be  there,  or  this  is  cul- 
pable unclcanness.  Marriage  is  no  amends  ;  other- 
wise than  wilfully  to  break  an  arm  or  leg,  to  set  it 
again ;  or  to  condemn  a  man  fii'st,  and  then  to  sue 
out  his  pardon.  The  common  opinion  is,  this  is  but 
a  true  covenant  antedated;  the  taking  possession  of 
a  man's  own  without  due  course  of  law  ;  the  mowing 
of  his  corn  before  harvest;  the  plucking  his  own 
grapes  ere  they  be  ripe.  But  this  is  trivial :  con- 
tract is  but  a  right  lo  the  thing,  marriage  gives  a 
right  ui  the  thing.  Contract  binds  to  marriage,  not 
allows  to  touch  before  marriage.  Contract  is  but 
like  articles  agreed  upon,  marriage  puts  a  seal  to  the 
covenant.  Such  a  fruit  of  their  bodies  is  but  a  mo- 
nument of  their  sin ;  and  without  hearty  repentance, 
a  good  proceeding  seldom  follows  so  bad  a  beginning. 

8.  Unclcanness  with  a  man's  own  wHe.  This  is 
when  the  use  of  the  marriage-bed  is  either  unseason- 
ably, or  intemperately  ;  in  a  season  prohibited,  or  in 
a  measure  not  moderated,  or  in  a  manner  not  or- 
dained, or  to  an  end  not  warranted  :  as  when  it  hath 
altogether  respect  to  pleasure,  not  to  generation  ;  or 
to  beget  an  heir  for  their  lands,  rather  than  a  saint 
for  heaven ;  or  their  own  image,  rather  than  the 
image  of  God.  If  uncleanness  can  creep  into  mar- 
riage ;  where  will  it  be  kept  out  ?  How  foul  is  the 
disease,  when  the  verj-  remedy  is  often  infected! 
Not  but  that  the  marriage  is  pure,  but  the  mariied 
impure  :  marriage  doth  not  stain,  nor  so  much  as 
dye,  in  the  Romish  sense ;  it  is  honourable  and  clean, 
yet  the  married  may  be  unclean. 

9.  Uncleanness  with  a  man's  self ;  as  the  heathen 
dishonoured  their  own  bodies  among  themselves,  Rom. 
i.  24.  There  be  three  turpitudes  against  nature ;  with 
another  kind,  or  with  the  same  kind  of  the  same  sex, 
or  with  no  other  person  but  with  themselves.  Thus 
St.  Augustine  distinguisheth  between  flagilium  and 
/acinus;  the  latter  is  in  hurting  another,  the  former 

in  committing  against  a  man's  self.  Other  sins  are 
without  the  body,  fornication  against  the  body,  1  Cor. 
vi.  18,  this  uncleanness  in  the  body.  This  was  the 
sin  of  Onan,  Gen.  xxxviii.  9 ;  abusing  himself  against 
the  order  of  nature  and  institution  of  God.  This  was 
a  grievous  sin  ;  against  God,  whose  ordinance  he  dis- 
obeyed; against  his  wife,  whom  he  unjust  Iv  defrauded; 
against  himself,  whose  issue  he  should  not  have  pre- 
vented ;  against  mankind,  whose  number  he  should 
have  merensed;  against  his  brother,  to  whom  issue 
should  be  raised.     Some  Hebrews  think,  that  he  did 


it  to  preserve  the  favour  and  beauty  of  Tamar,  which 
bearing  of  children  would  have  impaired.  However, 
sensual  was  his  pleasure,  and  the  sin  in  any  man  is 
verj-  grievous. 

10.  Ravishment :  the  former  is  a  rape  upon  a  man's 
self,  this  upon  another.  Such  was  Shechem's  sin, 
Gen.  xsxiv.  '2,  as  some  understand  it ;  but  some  rather 
think,  that  Dinah  being  so  light  to  wander  and  gaze, 
was  not  over-difficult  lo  yield.  Commonly,  such  lust 
ends  in  loathing,  as  Amnon's ;  beating  her  out  of 
doors,  whom  he  was  sick  to  bring  in.  And  therefore 
Shechem's  seemeth  to  be  no  rape,  because  he  still 
loved  her  ;  and  having  wrought  her  shame  in  his 
father's  house,  he  would  not  send  her  home  with  dis- 
grace to  her  father's  tent,  but  rather  seeks  to  marry 
her  wliom  he  had  defiled.  His  ofl'ence  did  not  make 
her  odious  ;  but  so  constantly  he  affects  her,  that  he 
is  willing  to  draw  blood  of  himself,  rather  than  forego 
her.  Amnon's  rape  was  far  worse.  Tamar  is  sent 
for  as  his  j)hysician,  but  he  makes  her  his  physic. 
She  dressed  him  meat,  but  that  was  not  the  dish  he 
longed  for  :  he  loves  the  cook,  not  the  eates.  She 
presents  the  diet,  he  throws  down  that,  and  falls 
aboard  with  her.  His  sickness  is  now  forgotten,  the 
devil  hath  made  him  lusty  and  strong  on  tne  sudden. 
The  innocent  virgin  entreats  for  herself,  persuades 
in  vain  :  shows  the  sin,  the  shame,  the  danger ;  Thou 
shalt  be  a  fool  in  Israel ;  I,  no  wife,  yet  no  virgin. 
Prevailing  not  by  reason,  she  seeks  to  cool  his  pre- 
sent heat  with  future  hope  of  an  impossible  thing, 
Ask  me  of  my  father.  But  in  vain ;  he  grows  mad 
with  resistance,  and  resolves  to  be  a  ravisher.  If 
the  devil  were  not  more  strong  in  such  than  nature, 
they  would  never  seek  pleasure  in  violence.  This 
rape  defiles  Anmon,  not  Tamar :  the  wrong  was  hers, 
the  uncleanness  his.  She  that  is  ravished,  is  more  a 
maid,  than  she  whose  own  loose  thoughts  have  made 
her  unclean.  Two  lay  together,  only  one  committed 
adulteiT,  as  Augustine  of  Lucrelia.  She  was  but 
the  patient ;  and  it  was  not  her  fault  to  sulTer,  what 
was  not  her  will  to  do.  Her  virginity  was  not  lost, 
but  torn  from  her  by  compulsory  means ;  she  still 
reserved  it  in  her  soul,  though  it  had  forsaken  her 
body.  The  inhabitant  is  not  to  be  blamed  for  thieves 
breaking  into  the  house.  She  can  do  no  more  than 
bewail  what  she  cannot  keep ;  lamenting  the  shame 
of  another's  sin  ;  living  like  a  widow,  w-lio  was  nei- 
ther maid,  wife,  harlot,  nor  widow,  but  a  ravished 
woman.  Thus  you  have  the  specification  of  some 
uncleannesses,  (which,  oh  that  none  knew  but  by  a 
general  apprehension  and  hearsay  !  and  not  as  -\dam 
knew  evil,  by  sense  and  experience,)  now  to 

The  causes ;  which  are  many.  Physicians  say,  that 
to  know  the  cause  is  half  the  cure.  By  cause,  here, 
I  understand  not  only  that  fundamental  cause,  which 
is  inordinate  affection,  the  boiling  fountain  of  lust ; 
but  also  such  occasions  as  breed  and  nurse  unclean- 
ness.    These  are, 

I.  A  roving  eye,  that  looks  up  and  down  for  the 
objects  of  lust.  "'The  sons  of  God  saw  the  daughters 
of  men,"  Gen.  vi.  2 :  by  that  looking  came  lusting, 
thence  preposterous  marriages,  thence  universal  con- 
fusion. "  His  master's  wife  cast  her  eyes  upon  Jo- 
seph," Gen.  xxxix.  7  :  her  eye  led  her  heart,  her 
heart  led  her  tongue,  her  tongue  led  her  hand. 
(Ambr.)  Such  be  the  harlot's  three  weapons :  the 
first  engine  is  her  eye,  the  very  motion  whereof  dis- 
coursctii  a  silent  filthiness.  2.  Her  tongue  offers  to 
take  hold  where  her  eye  cannot.  3.  Her  hand  offers 
to  catch  him,  whom  her  tongue  caimot  win.  Tamar 
"  sat  in  an  open  place,"  Gen.  xxxviii.  14,  where  she 
might  be  seen  :  Hebr.  in  the  door  of  eyes.  This  was 
Achan's  confession  ;  I  saw,  I  coveted,  I  took.  Josh, 
vii.  21.     The  eye  betrays  the  heart,  the  heart  the 


Vek.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


415 


hand :  sin  gets  in  by  the  senses,  yea,  by  the  least 
piece  of  a  sense  ;  as  bad  air  at  a  crack  in  llie  win- 
dow. By  them  il  seizcth  on  the  inmost  fort,  and 
there  it  commands  them  like  a  tyrant,  to  whom  it 
was  beholden  for  entrance.  This  is  the  order  of  our 
crimes :  Achan's  .song  shall  many  chatter  to  a  dole- 
ful tune ;  1  saw,  I  coveted,  and  took.  The  thief,  I 
saw  the  booly,  coveted,  and  took  it :  the  drunkard,  I 
saw  the  colour  of  the  wine :  the  idolater,  I  saw  the 
gsodly  picture  :  the  adulterer,  I  saw  the  beauty, 
coveted,  and  took  it,  and  took  my  death  with  it. 

David  rose  from  oft"  his  bed,  and  from  the  roof  of 
his  palace  he  saw  a  woman,  "2  Sam.  xi.  2.  From  an 
afternoon's  slumber  he  riseth  to  his  evening's  walk  : 
the  eyes  which  unseasonable  sleep  had  shut  up,  an 
enticing  object  opens.  Her  bath  was  no  open  place, 
but  lust  is  (luick-sighted  :  she  could  espy  nobody, 
but  David  had  espied  her.  "  Dinah,  the  daughter 
of  Leah,  went  out  to  see  the  daughters  of  the  land," 
Gen.  xxxiv.  1.  Tiic  daughter  of  Leah ;  her  mother's 
own  daughter,  right  bred:  because  both  had  a  fault 
in  tlieir  eyes:  the  mother's,  a  defect  of  nature;  the 
daughter's,  a  defect  of  nurture :  hers  an  infirmity, 
this  a  curiosity.  Her  eyes  were  guilty  of  this  tempt- 
ation: she  would  needs  sec  and  be  seen;  and  W'hilc 
she  looks  about  vainly,  she  is  looked  upon  lustfully. 
Thou  lookest  about  iilly,  thou  art  not  looked  at  idly  ; 
tliou  lookest  about  curiously,  thou  art  looked  at  still 
more  curiously,  says  Bernard.  I  know  there  may  be 
a  clear  and  honest  aspection,  as  the  queen  of  Sheba 
came  to  see  Solomon,  1  Kings  x.  2.  See  this  woman, 
saith  Christ  to  Simon,  Luke  vii.  44.  But  it  is  better 
to  be  blind,  than  look  with  lustful  eyes.  This  sin  is 
little  regarded :  many  come  to  the  church  with 
Christian  ears,  but  pagan  eyes;  and  Satan  comes 
faster  in  at  the  eyes,  than  God  at  the  ears;  that 
which  should  save  the  soul,  is  lost  by  the  wandering 
sense.  There  can  be  no  safety  to  the  chariot,  where 
these  unbridled  horses  are  let  loose.  "Turn  away 
mine  eyes  from  beholding  vanity,"  Psal.  cxix.  37  :  we 
must  see  it  transiently,  not  behold  it  wishfully.  He 
can  never  keep  his  covenant  with  God,  that  makes 
not  a  covenant  with  his  eyes.  Job  xxxi.  I.  But  my 
inward  man  is  safe,  why  may  not  my  outward  man 
be  free?  This  is  an  idle  presumption:  he  is  more 
than  a  man,  whose  heart  is  not  led  by  his  eyes  ;  he 
is  less  than  a  good  man,  whose  eyes  be  not  restrained 
by  his  heart.  So,  the  ear  is  the  trap-door  of  the 
soul  ;  the  Hies  of  hell  are  ever  humming  about  it. 
It  is  temptation  enough  to  the  thief,  that  lie  hears  of 
a  booty.  If  dishonesty  come  so  near  as  the  ear,  let 
wonder  stop  it  out,  and  save  virtue  the  labour. 

2.  Bad  company.  Joseph  shunned  the  society  of 
his  mistress,  Gen.  xxxix.  10.  We  know  our  own 
hearts,  we  know  not  the  hearts  of  others.  To  be  the 
provocation  of  sin  is  unholiness,  not  to  avoid  the 
provocation  of  sin  is  unhappiness.  God  and  his 
imgels  will  protect  thee  "  in  thy  ways,"  Psal.  xci. 
1 1  :  in  thy  ways,  not  in  thy  wandcrino;s.  If  we  once 
rove  out  of  the  lists  of  our  calling,  there  is  nothing 
but  danger.  Had  Dinah  kept  at  home,  her  virginity 
had  been  safe  :  had  Sheehem  forced  her  in  the  house, 
she  had  sustained  loss  without  sin.  It  had  not  then 
been  her  evil,  but  his:  her  gadding  gave  the  oc- 
casion, even  this  made  her  not  innocent.  It  is  no 
suflicient  warrant  to  draw  us  into  suspected  places, 
and  spiritual  dangers,  only  to  sec.  No  wise  man 
will  go  into  the  infected  pest-house,  only  to  see  the 
fits  of  the  visited.  Who  would  poison  his  body  to 
please  his  taste?  With  the  lascivious  we  hardly 
Icam  to  be  chaste.  Immodest  behaviour  makes  way 
for  lust ;  this  gives  life  unto  wicked  hopes.  A  cold 
dfnial  invites  a  second  charge :  she  deserves  some 
blame,  that  hath  only  been  tried,  th  ugh  she  consent 


not.  A  fair  carriage  keeps  temptation  out  at  the 
staves'  end ;  lightness  of  presence  lets  it  in  to  the 
grapi)le,  and  gives  encouragement  to  lewd  desires. 
Though  we  fight  and  conquer,  yet  it  was  our  fault 
that  we  were  put  to  fight.  A  man  is  not  only  to 
keep  his  conscience  clear,  but  his  name :  and  to  keep 
this  is  harder.  For  our  conscience  is  in  our  own 
custody,  our  credit  lies  in  the  hands  of  others:  this 
stands  on  likelihoods,  and  their  construction  of  our 
deeds.  It  is  no  easy  thing  to  disprove  a  slander; 
like  an  unruly  spirit  once  raised,  hard  to  conjure 
down.  Our  reputation  is  more  frail  than  ourselves, 
still  liable  to  suspicion:  it  must  be  our  good  be- 
haviour, and  avoiding  bad  society,  that  can  keep  our 
name  from  scandal. 

3.  Idleness,  or  no  company,  and  nothing  to  do. 
Such  a  heart  is  the  devil's  day-bed,  whereupon  he 
takes  his  nooning.  The  philosopher  called  love 
otiosmn  negotium,  a  disease  to  be  cured  by  labour. 
"  Thou  wicked  and  slothful  servant,"  Matt.  xxv.  20 : 
if  slothful,  certainly  wicked;  if"  slow  bellies,"  pre- 
sently "  evil  beasts,"  Tit.  i.  12.  While  Israel  is 
working  in  Egypt,  pursuing  or  pursued  in  Canaan, 
they  have  no  leisure  to  be  wanton.  Let  them  lie 
still  in  the  plains  of  Midian,  the  dancing  lasses  of 
Moab  will  soon  seduce  them  to  folly.  Who  ever  saw 
David  so  tempted  and  foiled  in  the  times  of  his  busy 
war,  as  when  he  was  idle  at  ease  ?  In  troubles  he 
could  rise  up  in  the  morning  to  his  early  devotions, 
prevent  the  morning  watch,  break  his  night's  rest 
with  the  cares  of  the  day,  the  service  of  God  and  busi- 
ness of  state  took  him  up :  thus  long  was  he  inno- 
cent and  holy.  But  when  Satan  finds  him  wallowing 
in  the  bed  of  idleness,  he  now  thinks  him  fit  for  a 
temptation.  Gentlemen  that  live  of  their  lands,  and 
those  of  a  worse  condition,  that  have  given  over  all 
trades,  to  live  of  their  monies,  think  themselves  the 
only  fortunate  men ;  they  need  not  toil,  nor  weary 
their  limbs  with  labour ;  instead  of  the  pen  or  the 
l)ike,  the  pot  and  the  pipe  is  all  their  exercise.  But 
there  are  none  more  unhappy  ;  for  lust  can  be  no 
stranger  to  an  idle  bosom:  the  industrious  man  hath 
no  leisure  to  sin.  Doth  any  man  complain  the  con- 
tiguity of  his  labour  ?  he  finds  fault  with  his  own 
felicity :  the  toil  of  action  is  recompensed  by  the 
benefit :  if  he  were  not  doing  good,  he  would  be 
doing  ill.  If  we  did  work  less,  we  should  suflTer 
more :  while  we  work  not  ourselves,  Satan  works 
upon  us. 

The  sitting  bird  is  the  fowler's  mark :  the  devil  is 
like  some  lazy  companion,  that  while  he  finds  us 
busy  gives  back  and  sees  it  no  time  to  meddle  with 
us.  13ut  if,  like  the  idle  housewife,  when  her  gossip 
comes  in,  we  throw  away  our  work  and  hold  chat 
with  him,  nothing  can  please  him  better.  Gratify 
him  but  thus  far,  to  talk  with  him,  and  he  thinks  us 
sure.  Exercise  is  wholesome  for  the  body,  better 
for  the  soul.  The  earth  stands  still,  therefore  be- 
comes nature's  common  sewer ;  the  receptacle  of 
corruption,  all  dregs;  the  heavens,  that  are  ever  in 
motion,  are  always  pure.  The  troublesomest  work 
to  a  good  man,  is  to  have  no  work :  which  when  he 
hath  supplied  by  prayer  and  meditation,  and  yet 
finds  room  for  more  guests,  he  studies  business  ;  and 
if  he  does  not  find  it,  he  makes  it.  They  that  sur- 
render themselves  to  sloth,  find  matter  of  disease 
breeding  in  their  bodies  and  souls.  The  active  spirit 
is  soonest  dulled  with  no  labour;  as  the  water  that 
hath  been  healed,  soonest  freezeth.  The  danger  of 
women's  corruption  is  their  leisure :  idleness  breeds 
fniicios,  which  continuance  of  domestical  business 
would  keep  out. 

4.  Lust  after  beauty.  This  is  the  general  snare, 
and  occasion  of  unclcanness,    "  Joseph  w^as  a  goodly 


416 


'AN  EXrOSlTION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


person,  and  well-favoured,"  Gen.  xxxix.  6;  lovely  to 
all,  but  not  looked  on  alike  with  all  eyes  :  his  fellows 
praise  him,  his  master  trusts  him,  his  mistress  dotes 
on  him;  all  love  him,  she  over-loves  him.  That  is 
tnie  of  the  poet,  that  virtue  never  hath  a  better 
grace,  than  when  it  shineth  from  a  beauteous  face. 
Yet  was  this  danger,  it  gave  him  means  to  sin ; 
which  when  he  refused,  it  was  the  occasion  of  his 
trouble.  But  he  was  fair  without,  and  fairer  within. 
Even  the  sons  of  God  were  caught  with  beauty.  Ba- 
laam could  not  harm  Israel  with  his  curses,  he  doth 
with  his  courses  and  counsels :  his  curse  liad  hurt 
none  but  himself,  his  counsel  cost  the  blood  of  twen- 
ty-four thousand.  Send  out  your  fairest  women 
among  them :  this  policy  was  fetched  from  the 
bottom  of  hell.  There  is  no  sin  more  plausible 
than  wantonness,  wantonness  is  no  way  sooner  pro- 
voked th.in  by  the  sight  of  beauty.  Tiiis  shall  draw 
ihem  to  lust,  their  lust  to  folly,  their  folly  to  idola- 
try ;  so  God  shall  curse  them  for  thee,  unasked. 
This  project  of  that  cursed  magician  was  too  pros- 
perous :  the  daughters  of  Moab  do  more  in  the  tents 
of  Israel,  than  the  Amorites  and  Amalekites  could 
do  in  the  jjlains  of  Moab.  The  women  made  them 
captives,  whom  the  men  felt  conquerors.  Had  they 
sent  their  subtlest  politicians,  and  strongest  soldiers, 
to  persuade  or  compel  them  to  idolatry,  they  had 
been  returned  with  scorn.  But  the  eloquent  and 
victorious  beauty  of  the  women  effected  this.  It  had 
been  happy  for  them  if  Balaam  had  used  any  charms 
but  these. 

I  know  that  a  man  may  lawfully  desire  beauty  in 
his  own  spouse,  as  Jacob  loved  Rachel;  not  for  pro- 
vocation of  hist,  but  more  loving  societj*.  Some 
actions  do  not  so  well  rid  off  a  hand,  without  some 
delight;  as  eating  of  meats,  learning  of  arts;  and 
such  is  matrimonial  society.  As  meat  pleaseth  us 
better  in  a  clean  dish,  wine  in  a  crystal  glass ;  so 
virtue  in  a  comely  person.  But  if  the  beauty  be  let 
into  our  thoughts,  and  the  virtue  shut  out,  there  is 
no  speedier  way  to  ruin.  As  it  is  God's  use  to  fetch 
glory  to  himself  out  of  the  worst  actions  of  Satan; 
so  it  is  Satan's  ambition  to  advantage  himself  by  the 
fairest  works  of  God.  If  the  Lord  suffer  him,  he 
will  ruin  us  with  the  most  rare  pieces  of  creation. 
No  one  means  hath  so  enriched  hell,  as  beautiful 
faces.  The  beautiful  harlot  "  increaseth  the  trans- 
gressors among  men,"  Prov.  xxiii.  28.  Three  of 
David's  children  were  undone  by  it  at  once ;  it  was 
the  occasion  of  Amnon's  incest,  of  Tamar's  ravish- 
ment, of  Absalom's  pride  and  murder.  Beauty,  if 
not  well  disciplined,  proves  a  traitor  rather  than  a 
friend.  It  is  a  blessing  to  be  fair;  but  such  a  bless- 
ing, that  if  the  soul  be  not  as  clear  as  the  skin,  leads 
to  a  curse.  It  is  no  rare  thing  to  find  the  foulest 
soul  dwell  fairest.  If  the  inward  conditions  be  bad, 
oh  what  strange  mischief  can  beauty  bring  about ! 
How  many  Solomons  and  Samsons  hath  it  befooled 
and  blinded  !  The  weaker  sex  is  the  stronger  in 
temptation  :  it  was  the  dowry  that  our  grandmother 
Eve  bequeathed  to  her  daughters,  that  they  should 
be  our  helpers  to  sin.  Indeed  it  is  not  a  woman's 
fault  to  be  fair:  the  candle  does  not  amiss  in  burn- 
ing; the  foolish  lly  offends,  that  scorcheth  her  wings 
in  the  llame.  The  crystal  stream  is  not  to  blamed, 
because  some  distracted  man  drowns  himself  in  il. 
Yet  to  be  but  a  temptation,  and  though  the  unwill- 
ing occasion  of  another's  ruin,  is  an  unhappiness, 
albeit  not  a  sin.  The  Lord  so  mortify  all  inordinate 
lusts  in  us,  that  we  may  be  admitted  to  that  city, 
into  which  no  \mclcan  thing  shall  ever  enter. 

The  cure  follows;  and  this  is  twofold;  the  one  a 
preservative,  the  other  sanative.  To  sec  the  sin  in 
the  proper  and  natural  odiousness,  is  a  preventing 


antidote.  For  them  that  be  infected,  there  are 
other  medicines.  The  horriblencss  of  it  is  seen  in 
itself,  and  in  the  effects. 

For  itself,  the  light  of  nature  discerned  and  con- 
demned it.  It  is  objected  that  Solon,  a  lawgiver, 
one  of  the  wisest  among  the  Grecians,  used  to  buy 
harlots  for  the  young  men  :  and  among  the  Cartha- 
ginians it  was  a  custom  for  the  virgins  before  their 
marriage,  to  prostitute  themselves  publicly  in  the 
tcmiile  of  Venus,  that  they  might  bring  the  greater 
portions  to  their  husbands.  --/?)««•.  This  was  not  by 
natural  light,  but  the  unnatural  darkness  of  those 
given  over  to  a  reprobate  sense,  as  the  punishment 
of  former  wickedness,  Rom.  i.  'IS.  Object.  But  the 
prophet  Hosea  was  thus  commanded,  "Take  thee  a 
wife  of  whoredoms,"  IIos.  i.  2.  .timr.  Notliing  can 
be  concluded  for  it  out  of  a  typical  act  :  neither  did 
he  make  a  harlot,  but  take  a  harlot,  to  reduce  her  to 
chastity.  Object.  But  fornication  is  reckoned  among 
indifferent  things.  Acts  xv.  20.  ^nsic.  Their  esteem- 
ing it  so  did  not  make  it  so ;  their  own  conscience 
thought  otherwise.  Abimclech  calls  it  a  great  sin, 
Gen.  XX.  9;  this  that  heathen  could  see,  but  not  so 
clearly  as  Joseph,  Gen.  xxxix.  9.  Dishonour  to  the 
husband,  wrong  to  the  children,  breach  of  covenant, 
but  above  all,  disobedience  to  God,  is  in  it.  "  Against 
thee  have  I  sinned,"  Psal.  li.  4,  was  his  confession, 
that  had  sinned  against  Bathsheba,  Uriah,  and  the 
whole  church;  but  especially  against  the  Lord.  It 
is  most  odious  among  Christians;  this  folly  ought 
not  to  be  done  in  Israel,  Gen.  xxsiv.  7 ;  '-  Sam.  xiii. 
12:  it  is  bad  enough  in  all  places,  here  intolerable  ; 
not  to  be  named  among  saints,  Eph.  v.  .3.  Let  the 
act  be  so  abhorred,  that  it  may  quite  lose  the  name ; 
especially,  let  no  saint  have  such  a  name.  It  makes 
the  name  stink  both  living  and  dead.  Living;  If  a 
brother  be  a  fornicator,  with  such  a  one  eat  not, 
I  Cor.  v.  II.  Dead;  "his  reproach  shall  not  be 
wiped  away,"  Prov.  vi.  33.  It  is  more  heinous  than 
theft :  Men  do  not  despise  a  thief,  if  he  steal  to 
satisfy  his  hungry  soul;  but  he  that  committcth 
adultery  dcstroyeth  his  own  soul,  ver.  ,30,  32.  Goods 
may  be  restored,  honesty  never :  the  breaches  may 
be  repaired,  the  pristine  state  not  recovered. 

For  the  effects:  1.  It  breeds  tliseases  in  the  body, 
that  the  quality  of  the  sin  may  be  seen  in  the  nature 
of  the  plague  ;  as  we  know'  a  rotten  nut  by  the  worm- 
hole  in  the  shell.  2.  It  makes  a  more  loathsome- 
sold  ;  so  odious,  that  till  it  be  cleansed,  neither  will 
God  dwell  with  it,  nor  shall  it  dwell  with  God.  3. 
It  blastcth  the  estate,  roots  out  all  the  increase.  Job 
xxxi.  12,  and  brings  a  man  to  a  piece  of  bread,  Prov. 
vi.  2(i.  The  parents'  uncleanness  makes  the  children 
beggars.  4.  It  eurseth  the  house,  Hos.  iv.  13,  14. 
His  own  sin  abroad,  is  able  to  make  his  house  miser- 
able. What  followed  upon  David's  adultery,  but 
ju'csent  payment  ?  The  dellouring  of  his  daughter 
Tamar,  the  murder  of  his  son  Amnon,  the  treason, 
incest,  and  ruin  of  his  Absalom.  How  justly  is  he 
scourged  by  the  sins  of  his  childi'en,  whom  his  own 
act  taught  to  offend  !  Unlawful  lust  still  propagates 
itself  by  example  :  when  the  father  of  a  family 
brings  sin  home  to  his  house,  it  is  not  easily  swept 
out.  5.  It  endangers  incest;  when  the  legitimate 
son  mav  come  to  marry  the  bastard  issue  of  the  same 
father.' 

It  is  not  only  the  punishment  of  sin;  that  a  man 
being  hateful  to  God  for  other  sins,  is  made  hateful 
to  men  for  this;  that  what  lay  hid  in  an  impure 
heart,  may  be  exposed  by  an  ignominious  deed  :  I 
other  sins  owed  him  a  shame,  this  shall  pay  it  him. 
Therefore,  he  that  is  good  before  God,  snail  be  de- 
livered from  (he  strange  woman,  not  the  sinner, 
But  also,  the  cause  of  sin,  il  brings  on  more  wicked- 


Yer.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


417 


ncss.  So  the  apostle  joins  them,  "  fornication,  wicked- 
ness;," Rom.  i.  29  :  if  Tropvix}  be  first,  rrovijpi'a  follows. 
Give  lust  room  in  the  eye,  she  will  possess  body  and 
soul.  The  Midian  faces  first  appeared  to  Israel ; 
they  like  them,  that  brought  them  to  like  their  pre- 
sence, that  to  take  pleasure  in  their  feasts ;  from 
their  boards  to  their  beds,  from  their  beds  to  their 
idols  :  and  now  God  is  separated,  and  they  are  join- 
ed to  Baal-peor.  Corporal  fornication  is  the  way  to 
spiritual:  if  superstitious  love  make  idols  of  flesh, 
how  soon  do  they  give  us  up  to  idols  of  wood  and 
stone  ! 

7.  It  hath  not  only  undone  persons  and  houses, 
but  ruined  whole  cities  and  kingdoms.  What  a 
breach  did  this  double  fornication  make  in  Israel  ! 
God  doth  not  smother  his  wrath,  but  himself  strikes 
with  the  jjlague,  and  bids  Moses  strike  with  the 
sword.  Numb.  xxv.  Dinah  is  ravished  j  the  whole 
city  is  destroyed  for  it.  While  every  man  lies  sore 
of  his  own  wound,  Simeon  and  Levi  rush  in  with 
weapons  and  kill  them.  What  was  the  shrieking  of 
women  and  children  in  all  the  streets  of  that  city, 
while  the  fathers  and  husbands  take  mortal  physic 
for  their  prince's  sickness !  For  a  particular  Amnon 
to  answer  his  lust  in  blood,  is  not  so  ponderous : 
many  an  unclean  lover  meets  with  sucii  a  catas- 
trophe. But  for  a  whole  tribe  to  be  cut  off  for 
uneleanncss,  as  was  Benjamin,  Judg.  xxi.  fi ;  for  a 
whole  kingdom  to  smart,  as  Abimelech  said  to  Abra- 
ham, Thou  hast  brought  a  great  sin  on  me,  and  on 
my  kingdom,  Gen.  xx.  9;  that  the  whole  kingdom  of 
Israel  should  smart  for  the  king's  fdthiness ;  these  be 
dire  effects.  The  name  of  king  became  odious  to 
Rome,  for  the  rape  of  Lucrcce :  famous  Troy  was 
razed  for  one  Helena. 

8.  It  is  commonly  mixed  and  plagued  with  blind- 
ness. So  had  lust  besotted  .ludah.  that  he  could  not 
discern  the  voice  of  Tamar  which  he  heard  every 
day.  Gen.  xxxviii.  15;  nor  foresee  what  shame  might 
follow  those  pledges :  this  passion  for  the  time  even 
bereaves  a  man  of  himself.  Thus  impudently  blind 
was  Joseph's  mistress,  Gen.  xxxix.  12:  it  had  been 
too  bad  to  yield,  but  for  a  woman  to  solicit,  yea,  to 
importune,  yea,  to  force  the  modesty  of  her  senant ; 
gross  and  desperate !  As  sin  ever  ends  in  shame  when 
it  is  committed,  so  it  makes  us  past  shame  in  the  com- 
mitting. Thus  Amnon  thrusts  his  defiled  sister  out 
of  doors :  where  was  his  reason  ?  Secrecy  had  some 
hope :  but  to  expose  her,  what  was  it  but  to  anger  a 
royal  father,  incense  a  brother,  incur  the  law,  pro- 
voke  herfriends,  fill  the  world  with  outcries?  Though 
he  looked  not  so  high  as  heaven  in  doing  the  sin,  yet 
he  might  look  so  low  as  earth  to  prevent  the  sliame. 
No;  lust  knows  no  reason,  and  they  that  lose  their 
honesty  shall  lose  their  wit.  This  is  just  with  God, 
to  punish  a  deboshed  heart  with  a  besotted  under- 
standing. Uncleanness  loves  a  dark  mind,  as  well  as 
a  dark  house.  How  foolish  were  tliose  Israelites,  in 
joining  themselves  to  Baal-peor  !  All  idols  are 
abominable,  this  was  also  beastly;  the  devil  appeared 
in  a  sordid  and  nasty  form ;  yet  uncleanness  works 
them  to  it.  Cupid  is  blind ;  and  whither  may  not  he 
be  transported  that  wanteth  his  eyes? 

9.  Not  seldom  it  goes  off  in  hatred  of  the  object : 
ordinate  conjunction  increa-seth  love,  this  begets  de- 
testation ;  and  that  both  where  it  is  crossed,  and 
where  it  is  satiated.  For  the  former,  Potiphar's  wife 
is  an  example,  Gen.  xxxix.  17:  if  she  cannot  have 
Joseph's  body  to  enjoy,  she  wills  it  to  ruin  ;  when 
she  fails  of  his  love,  she  seeks  his  life.  Lust  is  a 
pleasant  madness  when  it  is  yielded,  a  desperate 
madness  when  it  is  opposed.  Love  is  not  more  witty 
than  malice :  the  arguments  of  his  innocency  shall 
challenge  him  of  sin  :  he  left  his  coat  because  he 

2  E 


would  not  do  that,  for  which  he  is  condemned  bc- 
cau'-e  he  Kft  it.  No  hate  bums  so  furiously,  as  that 
which  ariseth  from  the  (pienched  coals  of  love.  He 
eillier  ardently  loves  thee,  ormorlally  hates  thee,  says 
one.  For  the  other,  look  on  Amnon  ;  how  did  he 
hate  .ibuscd  Tamar  more  than  ever  he  loved  her ! 
2  Sam.  xiii.  15.  He  should  indeed  have  hated  him- 
self for  this  brutish  violence,  not  his  innocent  sister; 
but  his  former  love  was  not  more  unreasonable  and 
misplaced,  than  his  later  hatred.  Fraud  drew  her 
into  the  house,  force  entertained  her  within,  and 
hatred  drove  her  out.  So  did  one  hour  change  the 
extremity  of  his  love  into  extremity  of  hate,  that  he 
is  now  sick  of  her,  as  before  he  was  sick  for  her ;  and 
she  that  kept  the  keys  of  his  heart,  is  now  locked  out 
of  his  doors. 

10,  It  is  a  sin  not  easily  repented  of:  "Whoredom 
and  new  wine  take  away  the  heart,"  Hos.  iv.  II.  St. 
Paul  comforts  the  Corinthians,  that  they  are  washed 
from  their  sins,  1  Cor.  vi.  1 1 :  they  will  not  off  w  ith- 
out  washing,  and  there  can  be  no  washing  without 
water,  and  a  drop  or  two  w  ill  not  serve  to  bajitizc 
the  conscience.  But,  say  some,  this  sin  ordinarily  of 
itself  brings  to  repentance.  Indeed,  loss  of  spirits, 
and  terrors  of  the  fact,  may  breed  some  kind  of  re- 
morse ;  and  the  expectation  did  not  promise,  nor  the 
fruition  jierform,  more  delight,  than  the  remembrance 
brings  irksomeness.  The  face  of  uncleanness  looks 
lovely,  but  the  farewell  is  deadly.  If  we  could  fore- 
sec  the  end  before  we  taste  the  beginning,  we  would 
never  let  it  come  so  far  as  to  repentance ;  our  former 
detestation  would  save  our  after-sorrow  a  labour.  But 
lust  often  ends  in  discontent,  seldom  in  true  repent- 
ance. "  Her  guests  are  in  hell,"  Prov.  ix.  18,  and 
that  is  no  way  to  heaven. 

Lastly,  it  piiUs  down  God's  fearful  judgments,  Heb. 
xiii.  4,  though  it  escape  the  censure  of  man.  Amnon 
had  so  quite  forgotten  his  sin,  that  he  durst  go  to  that 
house  a  feasting,  where  Tamar  was  mourning ;  not 
suspecting  him  other  than  a  friend  whom  he  had  de- 
sen-ed  to  niake  an  enemy.  Now  when  his  heart  was 
mcrr\-,  he  fell  down  dead,  2  Sam.  xiii.  28.  Wicked 
Absalom  meant  this  murder  to  his  soul,  as  well  as  to 
his  body  ;  but  God  was  just  in  both.  He  that  in  two 
years'  forbearance  would  find  no  leisure  to  repent, 
must  now  perish  without  leisure  to  cry  for  mercy. 
How  fearful  a  judgment  came  to  that  Levite's  con- 
cubine, to  be  abused  to  death !  Judg.  xix.  25.  She 
had  wronged  the  bed  of  a  Levite  before  by  her  will- 
ing wantonness  ;  yet  her  father  harboured  her,  her 
husband  forgave  her,  the  world  had  forgot  it,  herself 
never  smarted  for  it.  Thus  far  she  goes  smoothly 
away  with  her  sin  ;  and  neither  father,  nor  husbancl, 
nor  neighbour,  nor  magistrate,  nor  her  own  con- 
science, upbraid  her  with  it.  Now  it  is  forgotten  of 
all  hands,  God  calls  her  to  account  for  it.  Yea,  so 
just  and  even  is  that  Almighty  Judge  in  his  retribu- 
tions, that  the  matter  of  her  sin  shall  be  the  manner 
of  her  punishment;  he  will  plague  her  with  her  own 
delight.  Uncleanness  was  her  fault,  uncleanness 
shall  be  her  fate  and  ruin.  Before  .she  had  exposed 
herself  with  willing  pleasure,  now  she  is  exposed  by 
force  :  adulter)'  was  her  sin,  adultery  is  her  death. 
Men  may  forget  their  own  filthiness,  God  remembers 
it ;  and  will  pay  them  when  they  least  expect  it.  Sin 
is  a  faithful  debtor,  it  never  borrows  without  payment : 
if  it  owe  us  a  punishment,  it  will  not  break  with  us. 
And  if  it  fail  of  present  judgments,  yet  this  is  sure,  it 
destroyeth  the  soul,  Prov.  vi.  32.  Lusts  fight  against 
the  sold,  1  Pet.  ii.  11, but  uncleanness  kills  it.  These 
be  the  terrible  effects,  which  if  tremblingly  applied, 
like  corrosives  will  eat  out  the  dead  flesh,  and  be- 
come so  many  proper  ingredients  to  the  medicine  of 
our  cure;  or  like  ashes  that  are  made  by  a  fire  of 


418 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


wood,  which  being  poured  on,  will  smother  the  fire 
in  the  wood,  and  put  it  out. 

The  other  remedies  are,  1.  To  abridge  the  flesh  of 
provocatives ;  beating  down  the  body,  and  keeping  it 
in  subjection,  1  Cor.  ix.  27.  Take  away  the  fuel,  if 
the  fire  be  too  hot.  High  feeding  and  lasciviousness 
are  inseparable ;  that  is  the  limbec  which  distils  all 
into  lust. 

2.  To  remember  a  man's  beginning  and  end. 
The  Lord  did  not  make  us  for  pollution;  and  the 
thought  of  death  will  be  a  death  to  lust.  Meditate 
of  ihy  mortality  whensoever  thou  art  tempted  to 
this  iniquity. 

3.  Fear  God,  which  will  make  every  joint  tremble 
at  the  very  suggestion.  Some  forbear  a  sin  because 
it  is  dear,  some  because  it  is  laborious,  others  because 
it  is  dangerous,  few  because  it  is  impious.  But  the 
death  of  lust  is  religion  :  morality  resists  but  in  cold 
blood;  heat  nature,  and  all  her  in-born  principles  are 
forgotten.  Regard  of  name  and  credit  may  fear  tlie 
shame,  yet  love  the  sin.  But  he  that  fears  God,  and 
is  watched  by  his  own  conscience,  can  never  find  a 
place  dark  enough  to  oifend  in.  The  law  looks  to 
our  words  and  deeds,  and  requires  that  they  be  good : 
religion  also  fctcheth  in  the  thoughts,  and  makes 
them  holy.  We  cannot  without  danger  trust  a  moral 
heart  with  a  fair  body :  we  may  safely  trust  a  fair 
body  with  a  sanctified  mind.  This  was  Joseph's  ar- 
gument, the  pleasure  of  sin  cannot  stand  with  the 
fear  of  God.  He  might  conceit,  that  this  kindness 
might  endear  him  as  strongly  to  his  mistress,  as  his 
service  had  to  his  master:  to  be  so  great  a  lady's 
minion,  how  many  hundreds  of  our  younger  brothers 
would  have  embraced  it !  But  holy  fear  had  taken 
lip  all  the  room  before  carnal  love  came.  He  knew 
that  all  the  honours  of  E^ypt  could  not  buy  ofi'  the 
guilt  of  one  sin ;  that  such  an  advancement  would 
have  cast  him  down  from  the  royal  favour  of  God. 
The  good  heart  ehooseth  rather  to  lie  in  the  dust, 
than  to  rise  by  wickedness.  This  were  to  get  up  on 
the  scaffold  of  death,  that  a  man  might  look  higher. 

4.  Abhor  idleness ;  the  standing  pool  will  gather 
filth  of  itself,  and  be  full  of  toads  and  vermin. 

5.  Attend  the  word  preached;  A\herewithal  else 
should  a  young  man  cleanse  his  way?  Psal.  cxix.  9. 
That  ])hysic  is  only  able  to  purge  it.  This  shall 
"deliver  thee  from  the  strange  woman,"  Prov.  ii. 
16.  If  wisdom  enter  not,  lust  will :  they  that  find 
not  delight  in  the  Sjnrit,  will  seek  it  at  the  flesh. 
By  the  word  of  God  abiding  in  you,  ye  shall  over- 
come the  wicked  one,  I  John  ii.  14.  How  have  all 
weapons  of  reason  and  moral  resolution  doubled  in 
this  encounter !  It  is  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  that 
gels  the  victory. 

0.  Prayer  :  if  Paul  bo  buffeted,  this  is  his  refuge, 
and  it  brings  remedy ;  he  prayed  thrice,  2  Cor.  xii. 
8.  Declare  thy  grievances,  this  shall  bring  down 
heavenly  graces.  Shall  we  be  like  infants,  that  cry 
when  a  pin  pricks  them,  but  cannot  tell  where  ?  Say, 
God  knows  our  wauls :  what  then  ?  The  sullen 
child  says,  INIy  father  knows  that  I  want  bread,  I 
will  not  ask  him  though  I  starve.  God  hath  pro- 
mised to  hear,  but  only  those  that  call  upon  him. 
He  so  orders  things,  that  he  seldom  gives  till  he  be 
asked  :  it  is  a  poor  pains,  but  to  ask  and  have.  "  Ask 
of  me,  and  I  shall  give  thee,"  Psal.  ii.  8.  The  woman 
that  would  be  rid  of  her  importunate  tempter,  is  plain 
with  him,  I  will  tell  my  husband. 

7.  Flee  the  temptation  :  at  other  times,  Fight, 
Timothy;  now.  Flee,  Timothy,  1  Tim.vi.  11.  When 
such  an  enemy  puraucs,  it  is  high  time  to  fly.  Rather 
will  Joseph  lose  his  liverj',  than  blemish  his  mis- 
tress's honour,  his  master's'  in  her,  his  own  in  both. 
God's  in  all.     He  cannot  be  excused,  that  lives  where 


he  may  in  likelihood  be  faulty.     To  be  safe  from 
evil  works,  is  to  avoid  the  occasions. 

8.  If  we  cannot  fly,  yet  let  us  deny.  David  soli- 
cits ;  had  Bathsheba  denied,  that  great  sin  had  not 
been  committed.  Had  she  been  mindful  of  her 
covenant  with  God,  and  hermatrimonial  fidelity,  the 
inordinate  desire  had  been  checked,  and  in  time 
choked.  But  ambition  was  the  bawd  to  lust :  and 
the  conceit  to  be  the  king's  mistress,  to  command 
him  that  commanded  Israel,  prostitutes  licr  soul  be- 
fore her  body:  her  facility  furthers  the  sin.  The 
first  motioner  of  evil  is  most  faulty:  but  as  in  quar- 
rels, the  second  blow  makes  the  fray,  and  the  law 
takes  special  notice  of  that ;  so  in  sins,  the  second 
blow,  that  is,  the  consent  of  will,  is  by  the  law  of 
God  most  culpable.  Lust  is  a  sin  of  two ;  if  but  one 
party  be  wise,  both  escape  :  he  that  is  sure  of  either, 
may  be  secure  of  botli.  Women  are  the  weaker  in 
nature,  yet  stronger  in  desires;  and  though  many 
hold  it  an  impudence  to  woo,  yet  they  hold  not  the 
innocence  to  deny.  The  woman  at  first  tempted 
man,  and  therefore  looks  ever  since  that  man  should 
tempt  her.  She  was  an  agent  in  his  first  ruin ;  in  all 
the  rest  she  would  be  a  patient.  The  heat  of  man's 
constitution  disposeth  him  to  be  the  first  proflerer  : 
now  his  chastity  lies  in  the  hands  of  women.  If  she 
have  the  grace  to  refuse,  what  he  had  the  fault  to 
offer,  they  are  both  delivered.  Lust  would  be  the 
most  common  sin  of  the  world,  if,  like  other  sins,  it 
could  be  done  alone.  Indeed,  it  is  best  never  to  be 
put  to  a  denial ;  but  by  a  fair  carriage  to  put  tempt- 
ation out  of  hope.  Wisdom  forbears  some  lawful 
things,  because  they  may  be  occasions  of  things  un- 
lawful. 

9.  Modesty ;  which  is  the  only  visible  virtue,  the 
chastity  of  the  looks;  a  transparent  glass,  through 
which  we  see  a  clean  and  uncorrupted  heart.  This 
sets  the  face  in  a  right  posture ;  far  from  pride,  and 
not  nearer  to  wantonness.  The  beauties  of  both  mind 
and  body  meet  in  the  centre  of  modesty.  An  af- 
fected and  coyish  demureness  is  incident  to  them  that 
be  bad ;  but  true  modesty  is  seldom  found  but  in  in- 
nocence. Modesty  is  the  outwork  of  the  citadel,  that 
keeps  the  enemy  even  from  the  walls.  For  a  great 
example  of  this  virtue,  we  cannot  look  too  much 
upon  Joseph.  Foreign  stories  make  honourable 
mention  of  many  famous  for  chastity.  Of  Amabwus, 
who  had  a  beauteous  wife,  yet  abstained  from  her; 
perhaps  he  loved  his  harp  better.  Of  Xenocratcs, 
and  of  Spurina,  a  fair  young  man,  who  disfigured  his 
face  of  purpose  that  he  might  not  be  desired  of  women. 
Of  Hippon,  a  Greekish  woman,  that  droWTied  herself 
to  save  her  chastity.  (Valer.  Max.)  None  came 
near  Joseph;  who  neither  abstained  from  his  own 
wife,  that  were  a  folly  rather  than  a  chastity  ;  neither 
disfigured  nor  destroyed  God's  workmanship,  which 
were  to  pull  down  our  house,  because  the  eye  of  a 
passenger  covets  it.  But  in  the  heat  of  youthful 
blood,  when  his  lady  solicits,  promises  reward, 
threatens  ruin  ;  convenience  of  place,  opportunity  of 
time,  all  the  helps  of  hell  concurring ;  then  to  re- 
sist !  O  here  was  fire  falling  upon  wet  tinder,  that 
soon  went  out.  The  fathers  commend  him  for  these 
four  great  virtues  in  this  one  act.  For  temperance, 
that  he  would  not  be  enticed  by  his  mistress.  For 
justice,  that  he  would  not  wrong  his  master.  For 
fortitude,  that  he  overcame  many  assaults.  For  pru- 
dence, choosing  rather  to  leave  his  vesture  than  his 
«rtue. 

10.  Marriage.  "  It  is  better  to  marry  than  to  burn," 
I  Cor.  vii.  9.  Burning  is  the  disease,  for  which  mar- 
riage is  the  proper  medicine.  This  is  that  ordinate 
fuel,  whereon  such  fire  should  feed.  St.  Ilierome's 
sophistry  on  that  place  is  absurd;  Marriage  is  called 


Vkk.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


419 


good,  because  it  is  a  lighter  evil :  for  lust  can  never  be 
good,  being  a  transgression ;  and  marriage  cannot  in 
itself  be  bad,  as  it  is  God's  institution.  Not  tliat 
every  tickling  should  draw  us  to  marrying ;  but  a 
burning,  an  a^stuant  flame  :  for  it  is  one  thing  to  bum, 
another  to  feel  heat.  Some  pontificians  liave  cast 
bitter  aspersions  upon  marriage,  taxing  that  for  un- 
cleanness  which  is  ordained  an  antidote  against  un- 
cleanness.  But  that'  is  a  blasphemous  doctrine,  and 
must  needs  imply,  that  God  himself  was  mistaken, 
and  that  upon  a  more  serious  deliberation  of  the 
blessed  Trinity.  Jehovah  Elohim,  Gen.  ii.  18  : 
there  was  a  greater  consultation  about  making  the 
woman,  than  about  making  the  whole  world.  But 
it  is  objected,  that  in  marrying  they  break  their  faith. 
Answ.  They  do  not  break  tne  faith  because  they 
marry  ;  but  because  they  wax  wanton  against  Christ, 
and  so  marry,  1  Tim.  v.  11.  They  are  first  inconti- 
nent, suffer  themselves  to  be  abused;  and  then  to 
cover  their  offence,  and  to  keep  them  from  public 
shame,  they  marry.  To  accept  of  marriage  only  as 
a  cloak  to  hide  their  former  naughtiness,  this  is  the 
sin  condemned.  Howsoever  they  think,  marriage  is 
an  ordained  remedy ;  strange  lusts  will  give  place  to 
tme  conjugal  love.  Let  the  husband  love  his  wife, 
the  wife  love  her  husband,  (and  they  have  reason, 
for  they  took  each  other  for  that  purpose,)  these 
unnatural  fires  will  out. 

These  be  the  rules  of  prevention,  to  escape  un- 
cleanness :  but  if  any  be  defiled,  they  must  take 
another  receipt ;  true  contrition  of  heart,  the  floods 
that  come  from  a  broken  rock ;  washing  themselves 
in  the  laver  of  repentance,  that  they  may  be  clean. 
David  in  a  zeal  of  justice  against  the  rich  oppressor, 
takes  an  oath  to  cut  him  oft':  God  is  more  favourable 
to  David,  than  to  take  him  at  his  word.  David  says. 
The  man  shall  die :  Nathan  says.  Thou  art  the  man, 
but  thou  shalt  not  die.  Beside  uncleanness,  he  had  shed 
innocent  blood  ;  and  the  strict  law  requires  life  for 
life.  But  oh,  the  wondrous  power  of  repentance  !  as 
if  it  could  dispense  with  the  rigour  of  justice  :  Thou 
shalt  not  die.  In  David  we  hear  the  voice  of  the 
law,  awarding  death  unto  sin ;  in  Nathan,  the  voice 
of  the  gospel,  awarding  life  unto  the  repentance  for 
sin.  Whatsoever  the  sore  be,  this  is  the  remedy. 
The  soul  that  hath  sinned,  shall  die,  saith  the  law. 
The  gospel  comes  in  with  an  exception ;  The  soul 
that  hath  sinned,  and  not  repented,  shall  die  :  never 
any  soul  applied  this  remedy,  and  died.  Blessed  is 
the  man,  not  that  hath  not  sinned;  where  is  he  to 
be  found  ?  but,  whose  sin  shall  not  be  imputed,  be- 
cause he  hath  repented,  Psal.  xxxii.  1,  2.  It  is  only 
unfeigned  repentance,  that  can  cleanse  our  souls  from 
these  known  evils. 

Without  this,  God's  hand  will  as  surely  overtake 
us  in  the  punishment,  as  Satan's  hand  hath  overtaken 
us  in  the  sin.  But,  for  comfort  to  the  wounded  soul, 
there  is  no  sin  so  foul,  but  the  blood  of  Christ  can 
scour  it  off.  Uncleanness  is  a  deep  stain,  sized  into 
the  soul  by  her  dwelling  in  the  body :  there  is  no 
means  lo  get  it  out,  but  by  the  blood  "of  the  Lamb. 
Even  the  garments  of  the  saints  need  washing;  and 
what  can  make  them  white  ?  only  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,  Rev.  vii.  14.  It  was  the  Jewish  scoff  at 
Christ,  He  could  save  others,  not  himself.  St.  Am- 
■  brose  replies,  lie  only  can  heal  my  wounds,  that 
neglected  his  own.  His  garments  were  dyed  red, 
Isa.  Ixiii.  1,  to  make  all  ours  white.  But  neither  can 
this  be  had  without  faith,  nor  faith  be  assured  with- 
out repentance.  It  is  a  happy  thing  for  a  man  to 
improve  the  days  of  his  peace,  for  the  prevention  of 
future  vengeance;  to  seelc  only  to  be  safe  by  being 
good.  Next  to  this  Divine  "providence,  our  best 
guard  is  our  innocence,  next  to  that  our  repentance. 


For  him  that  hath  fallen,  to  pray.  Lord,  deliver  me ; 
for  him  that  hath  not  fallen,  Lord,  preserve  me,  in 
Jesus  Christ.     Take  here  two  characters. 

The  unclean  person  stands  like  one  tormented  with 
a  dreadful  disease ;  there  is  not  a  limb  or  joint  about 
him,  but  suffers  with  the  distortion  of  that  one  part. 
If  some  spot  or  token  of  his  soul's  infection  should 
break  out  and  appear  in  his  face,  no  leper  would 
change  complexions  with  him.  If  he  had  a  hundred 
eyes,  he  could  bestow  oflices  on  them  all,  to  purvey 
for  his  lust.  He  loves  to  be  looking  on  pictures; 
and  when  he  cannot  reach  the  substance,  he  courts 
the  shadow.  He  sends  his  eye  to  the  market,  and 
money  is  his  cater.  The  pestilence  is  in  his  breath,  it 
infects  every  place  he  comes  in.  His  body  is  rotting 
apace,  but  his  soul  is  already  fallen  to  pieces.  His 
mistress  is  his  idol,  and  he  would  never  learn  any 
prayers,  but  for  doing  his  devotions  to  her.  For 
God,  he  either  thinks  or  wishes  that  he  could  not  see 
in  tile  dark.  He  is  born  to  be  a  woman's  slave,  not 
her  lord  and  husband :  he  dares  not  marry,  for  fear 
(contrar)'  to  other  men's  minds)  of  being  paid  his 
own  debts.  If  he  do  bestow  himself,  he  commonly 
solders  up  some  cracked  piece;  and  in  marriage  is 
more  jealous  than  before  he  could  be  luxurious.  He 
and  his  strumpet  make  up  a  faggot  for  hell-fire;  and 
must  burn  together  in  torment,  as  they  have  done  in 
turpitude.  Before  he  dies,  he  is  become  all  stench; 
his  soul  stinks  to  God,  his  body  stinks  to  himself, 
his  name  stinks  to  the  world.  It  is  just  that  he  who 
leaves  God  for  a  harlot  while  he  lives,  should  lose 
God,  and  his  harlot,  and  himself,  when  he  is  dead. 
Reason  left  him  long  ago,  and  he  hath  ever  since 
lived  beast.  Commonly  he  dies  of  Hercules'  disease, 
a  fire  in  his  marrow.  He  may  come  to  be  sorry, 
seldom  to  repent.  At  last,  he  is  brought  to  his 
coueh,  or  crutch;  and  there  every  body  leaves  him. 

The  chaste  is  a  pure  man  whether  in  wedlock  or 
virginity.  If  married,  he  loves  his  wife,  not  because 
she  was  rich  or  fair,  but  because  she  was  and  is 
good ;  because  he  once  loved  her,  and  still  loves 
himself  in  her.  All  change  he  abhors ;  for  he  married 
not  only  for  pleasure,  but  posterity.  It  is  her  soul 
he  sets  his  love  upon;  he  knows  the  body  to  be  but 
physic  for  lust,  a  shell  for  progeny ;  therefore  chose 
her  not  for  that  half  whereby  she  is  a  woman,  but 
for  the  better,  wherein  she  is  a  man.  Sensual  affec- 
tion looks  only  to  the  shape ;  rational  hath  respect  to 
the  soul  and  mind,  forgetting  the  sex,  or  leaving  it  to 
the  sense.  Souls  have  no  sexes ;  therefore  they  that 
love  in  soul,  their  love  admits  no  more  impurity  than 
inconstancy.  If  he  be  single,  his  mind  keeps  his 
mortal  fabric  sweet ;  his  conscience  hath  got  the 
better  of  his  concupiscence ;  he  is  so  far  from  doing, 
that  he  dares  not  think  amiss.  His  mirth  is  so  clear, 
that  you  may  look  through  it  into  virtue,  not  be- 
yond. He  had  rather  seem  not  to  understand  a  bad 
motion,  than  to  hold  conference  with  it.  He  censures 
all  charitably,  and  abhors  suspicion ;  he  thinks  none 
should  do  ill,  because  he  means  well.  He  entertains 
none  but  honest  thoughts ;  if  loose  ones  look  in  at  the 
window,  he  presently  shuts  the  door.  He  neither  with 
unseasonable  sleep  rusts  his  soul,  nor  with  immoderate 
diet  teaeheth  his  body  to  rebel.  He  is  one  of  those 
that  be  not  defiled  with  women,  for  they  are  virgins  ; 
and  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  he  goeth.  Rev. 
xiv.  4.  His  soul  is  Christ's  betrothed  spouse,  and  he 
accounts  death  but  a  messenger,  to  bring  her  home 
to  her  Husband.  He  is  so  clean,  that  the  angels 
love  to  be  about  him  here,  and  he  shall  be  received 
among  them  hereafter. 

"  Walk  after  the  flesh."  This  walking  is  the  axle- 
tree,  whereon  the  whole  frame  of  the  text  moveth. 
There  is  no  man  can  walk  without  lust,  but  the  good 


420 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


man  does  not  walk  after  lust ;  if  it  go  with  him,  it 
shall  not  go  before  him.  It  is  the  natural  man's 
way,  the  Christian's  trouble  in  the  way.  If  he  be 
onliccd  out  of  virtue's  path,  eitlier  he  doth  not  give 
consent,  or  he  doth  not  give  full  consent,  or  he  doth 
grieve  for  consent.  Either  he  doth  not  walk,  or  he 
walks  not  far,  or  he  walks  against  his  will,  and  soon 
correcteth  his  steps,  Psal.  cxix.  59.  The  wicked 
man  is  taken  in  his  walk,  Psal.  Ixviii.  21.  But  he 
that  doth  purpose  beforehand  not  to  sin,  and  in  the 
act  doth  strive  against  sin,  and  after  the  act  is  sorry 
for  sin ;  though  he  step  awiy  weakly  but  not  wick- 
edly, God  in  mercy  spares  him,  because  this  is  none 
of  his  walk.  He  that  is  in  the  flesh  cannot  please 
God,  Rom.  viii.  8,  so  long  as  he  keeps  that  way  :  but 
as  w'ater  that  hath  been  frozen  with  cold,  may  after- 
ward be  heat  with  fire,  so  he  may  come  from  a  car- 
nal to  a  spiritual  course.  Things  of  the  flesh  ai'e  of 
three  sorts:  some  good,  as  the  knowledge  of  arts; 
some  indiflercnt,  as  honour  and  riches;  some  evil,  as 
the  works  of  sin.  We  walk  in  the  former,  and  do 
well,  keeping  the  right  end ;  in  the  middle,  not 
amiss,  keeping  the  right  manner ;  in  the  last,  we  go 
amiss,  and  there  is  no  pretence  to  excuse  us.  We 
make  the  good  become  evil  to  ourselves,  when  we 
cmjjloy  our  learning  to  justify  error.  We  make  the 
indifl'erent  very  evil,  when  we  pi'efer  temporals  to 
spirituals ;  as  the  tongue  of  the  feverish  infected  with 
choler,  makes  sweet  things  taste  bitter.  I  observe 
four  things  in  this  camal  walking.  1.  Their  slavery 
to  it.  2.  Their  constancy  in  it.  3.  The  specification 
of  it.     4.  Our  remedy  from  it. 

1.  Their  slavery.  To  walk  is  their  errant  dili- 
gence ;  to  walk  after  if,  is  their  servile  obedience. 
The  flesh  leads,  and  they  follow  like  dutiful  servants. 
All  service  is  from  sin,  this  is  the  service  of  sin.  If 
man  had  not  sinned,  he  should  not  have  served. 
Ham  was  bom  of  the  same  parents,  only  his  sin 
brought  him  to  a  slavish  condition.  Gen.  ix.  25. 
This  was  just  with  God:  but  for  man  to  make  his 
eldest  son  lord  of  all,  and  the  rest  no  better  than  his 
servants,  is  such  a  tyranny  of  custom,  (as  if  they  were 
all  illegitimate,)  that  in  the  book  of  God  we  can  find 
no  such  distinction.  There  is  a  service  of  superiority. 
The  good  prince  thinks  himself  but  the  highest  serv- 
ant of  the  commonwealth.  He  troubles  his  thoughts, 
he  breaks  his  sleep,  about  the  business  of  state  ;  sets 
his  shoulders  under  the  weight  of  government ;  and 
his  superiority  in  ruling  it,  is  but  subjection  for  the 
conservation  of  it.  There  is  a  service  of  equality. 
"By  love  serve  one  another,"  Gal.  v.  1,3:  he  that 
doth  not,  is  like  a  loose  tooth  in  the  mandible,  better 
out  than  in.  There  is  a  service  of  inferiority ;  which 
is  either,  1.  Voluntan,',  when  a  free-man  makes  him- 
self a  servant ;  and  such  a  sen-ant  may  make  him- 
self free  again.  Or,  2.  Temporary :  he  that  works 
for  us  by  the  day,  is  so  long  our  senant ;  at  night  he 
is  free.  Or,  3.  Pactoiy  ;  imdertaking  such  a  work  for 
such  wages,  during  such  a  time  :  he  is  a  servant.  Or, 
4.  Captive,  such  as  be  taken  in  the  wars  ;  which 
St.  Augustine  (De  Civit.  19.  cap.  15.)  will  have  called 
iervi a seriando, hccanse  they  were  saved  in  slaughter. 
Or,  5.  Native,  such  as  are  born  servants,  being  the 
children  of  servile  parents.  Or,  G.  Venditive,  that 
have  sold  themselves  ;  concerning  whom  God  set 
down  a  law,  Exod.  xxi.  So  Ahab  sold  himself  to 
work  wickedness,  1  Kings  xxi.  25.  But  Paul  seems 
to  acknowledge  this  of  himself;  I  am  carnal,  sold 
under  sin,  Rom.  vii.  14.  We  answer,  there  be  two 
ways  of  selling  unto  bondage  :  one  compulsoiy,  as 
the  brethren  sold  Joseph;  so  the  regenerate  are 
sold  under  sin,  but  against  their  wills.  The  other 
voluntary,  as  the  wicked  sell  themselves  to  Satan 
fer  very  vanity;  instating  themselves  upon  the  flesh. 


that  they  tell  (without  asking)  who  owns  them, 
by  the  superscription  of  their  lively,  so  that  sin  by 
the  commandment  becomes  exceeding  sinful,  Rom. 
vii.  13.  As  a  headstrong  and  unbroken  horse,  the 
more  he  is  curbed  by  the  bridle,  the  more  he  breaks 
out.  (Pareus.)  Wine  will  inflame  any  man,  but  he 
that  hath  a  feverish  body  is  more  fired  with  it 
through  his  infirmity.  (Lyran.)  There  is  a  buying 
and  selling:  "Ye  have  sold  yourselves  for  nought, 
and  ye  shall  be  redeemed  without  money,"  Isa.  lii.  3. 
But  this  is  in  a  diverse  sense  :  they  are  sold  for  nought 
in  respect  of  God,  because  he  hath  no  honour  by  it ; 
and  redeemed  for  nought  in  respect  of  themselves, 
they  paid  nothing  for  their  redemption,  lut  not  so 
in  respect  of  Christ,  for  he  bought  us  dear.  But 
these  have  wilfully  sold  themselves  to  the  service 
of  sin. 

2.  Their  constancy  in  it.  Walking  is  a  continued 
act ;  amd  acts  continued  make  habits.  Two  sorts  of 
philosophers  had  their  names  from  walking  :  the 
Stoics,  who  derived  their  doctrine  from  Plato :  and 
the  Peripatetics,  who  had  Aristotle  for  their  prince. 
(Lactan.)  Besides  their  ambulating  life,  severing 
themselves  from  common  society,  they  had  a  certain 
peculiar  and  dogmatical  way,  whereunto  they  con- 
fined themselves.  But  all  their  ways  were  but  fan- 
tasies and  errant  opinions,  without  any  truth  of  rule, 
especially  without  the  rule  of  truth.  Our  blessed 
God  hath  given  us  a  blessed  way  ;  "and  as  many  as 
walk  according  to  that  rule,  peace  be  on  them,  and 
mercy,"  Gal.  vi.  16:  a  perfect  rule  indeed;  which 
we  have  good  occasion  to  seek,  good  direction  to 
find,  good  encouragement  to  walk,  good  reward  at 
the  end. 

Walking  intends  a  perpetuated  motion,  not  for  a 
pace  or  space,  but  holding  out :  therefore  is  the 
wicked  conversation  called  a  way ;  for  that  is  a 
man's  way,  not  which  he  steps  into,  but  walks  and 
travels.  Some  have  spoken  much  of  the  way,  but 
out  of  the  way  ;  while  they  called  ever)'  act  of  sin,  a 
way  ;  for  the  Scripture  only  means  it  of  practical 
and  habitual  sin,  Prov.  iv.  14.  So  then,  to  walk 
after  the  flesh,  is  an  addiction  to  sin,  conflate  of  many 
lusts.  This  is  a  tnie  distinction  :  Eveiy  vice  is  a  sin, 
every  sin  is  not  a  vice :  every  wry  step  is  an  error, 
it  is  not  a  way,  not  a  heresy  in  manners.  Once 
being  overtaken  with  wine,  makes  not  a  drimkard. 
Vice  cannot  consist  with  virtue,  because  it  is  diame- 
trically opposite;  but  a  vicious  act  doth  not  destroy 
virtue,  whether  moral  or  theological.  Peter's  denial 
did  not  destroy  his  faith,  nor  David's  uncleanncss 
his  charity.  These  were  their  sins,  they  were  not 
their  ways ;  their  usual  walking  took  another  course. 
Actions  are  done  by  the  powers  of  the  soul  and  body, 
but  habits  have  their  residence  iu  the  very  powers 
themselves,  both  of  the  sensitive  and  intellectual 
part:  as  wantonness  or  dninkenness  in  the  former; 
pride,  hypocrisy,  difl!idence  in  the  other.  If  we  com- 
pare them  before  God,  vice  is  more  grievous  tlian  a 
sin,  because  it  is  habitual  malice;  if  before  men,  sin 
is  more  heinous  than  vice,  for  vices  are  not  punished 
by  magistrates,  but  only  sins.  But  they  ever  beget 
one  another ;  many  evil  actions  beget  an  evil  habit, 
and  an  evil  habit  every  day  begets  evil  actions. 

3.  The  specification  of  it.  'the  flesh  hath  many 
ways  for  them  to  walk.  Take  them  by  couples  r 
there  is  a  reeling  way,  and  a  railing  way.  The 
former  is  the  dnmkard's  walk,  that  leads  him  from 
the  lake  of  wine  to  the  lake  of  brimstone :  this  is 
he  that  never  abstains  till  he  be  at  hirst,  and  never 
drinks  but  double,  for  he  must  be  pledged.  The 
other  is  the  swearer's  walk,  that  in  every  place  sends 
up  defiance  to  the  Lord  of  hosts.  He  infects  all 
company,  as  thunder  sours   wine;    and  often   dies 


Vr.i!.   10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


421 


raving  and  blaspheming,  that  is  the  end  of  his  journey. 
Tlierc  is  a  ruffling  way,  and  a  scuffling  way.  The 
former  is  the  proud  man's  walk :  as  beggars  liang 
their  rags  on  the  hedges,  to  tell  they  have  been 
there ;  so  these  leave  every  where  certain  monuments 
and  Hags  of  their  arrogant  folly.  The  devil  cannot 
miss  them,  for  he  is  snre  to  find  them  in  his  own 
walk.  The  other  is  the  litigious  man's  walk ;  he 
passes  through  all  the  judiciary  courts  on  earth,  to 
the  infernal  court  of  hell.  The  way  of  peace  he 
knows  not ;  there  is  no  awe  in  his  heart,  wliile  there 
may  be  any  law  on  his  side.  And  when  all  his  sub- 
stance is  nm  out  in  fees  to  his  advocates,  at  last 
(without  the  especial  grace  of  repentance  and  re- 
stitution) himself  goes  for  a  round  fee  to  the  devil. 
There  is  a  burning  way,  and  a  turning  way.  The  for- 
mer is  the  envious  man's  walk  ;  anger  is  but  a  pas- 
sionate fit  of  the  irascible  part ;  but  malice  is  an 
inveterate  anger,  a  fieiy  habit.  Another's  welfare  is 
his  most  capital  offence :  yet  his  envy,  like  Phalaris' 
bull,  makes  that  first  become  a  torment  to  himself 
whidi  he  prepared  for  others.  He  fires  liimself 
before  he  goes  to  hell,  as  if  he  meant  to  season 
and  harden  himself  for  that  unquenchable  burning. 
The  other  is  the  hypocrite's  walk,  whose  religion 
lies  in  wait  for  the  inclination  of  the  prince  ;  stand- 
ing water,  that  neither  ebbs  nor  Hows,  but  according 
to  the  moon,  the  time.  He  is  very  earnest  in  what 
he  undertakes,  and  reviles  the  opposite;  yet  he  can 
be  of  any  religion  for  a  need,  therefore  his  heart  is 
truly  of  none.  Of  all  men,  the  jealous  and  the 
hypocrite  are  possessed  with  a  strange  madness  ; 
they  are  veiy  diligent  and  curious,  yet  hope  to  lose 
their  labours.  There  is  a  thorny  way,  and  a  miiy 
way.  The  former  is  the  deceiver's  walk :  a  common 
burse,  where  the  fraudulent  trader,  the  pestilent 
usurer,  tlie  impudent  church-robber,  evciy  day  fetch 
their  turns ;  conferring  how  to  turn  the  common- 
wealth into  a  private  wealth,  and  to  make  all  priests 
of  one  order,  mendicants.  To  speak  impartially, 
this  is  a  habit,  men  walk  in  it  to  their  graves.  A 
way  it  is,  but  none  of  God's  ways :  an  end  it  hath, 
but  none  of  comfort's  ends :  an  answer  it  hath,  but 
none  of  truth's  answers :  a  reward  it  hath,  but  it  is 
the  retribution  of  vengeance.  Men  think  they  may 
<io  this  without  trouble  of  conscience  ;  but  God  keep 
them  from  dying  with  such  a  conscience.  The  other 
is  the  adulterer's  walk,  but  that  it  is  somewhat  too 
fast  for  a  walk  ;  for  if  his  acts  could  answer  the  num- 
ber of  his  desires,  nature  could  scarce  supiily  him 
with  desired  objects.  Could  his  wishes  take  effect, 
popery  might  have  many  nuns,  it  should  have  no 
maids.  The  (lesh  hath  many  more  ways  and  walks, 
which  Paul  himself  is  fain  to  conclude  with  an  &c. 
Gal.  v.  21. 

4.  For  our  remedy,  first,  let  us  beware  of  walking 

in  sin,  Psal.  i.  I.     It  is  dangerous  to  cross  their  way, 

mortal  to  walk  in  it.     Look  to  the  habit  of  sin,  be 

sure  to  mortify  that :  it  is  not  enough  sometimes  to 

forbear  the  action;   it  will  be  rare,  if  a  bad  tree 

should  not  yield  bad  fruit.    Cut  thy  hair,  it  will  grow 

again;  mow  the  grass,  it  will  spring  again;  lop  a 

tree,  it  is  a  tree  still.     Not  to  lust  when  a  man  is 

.  not  lo  steal  while  he  is  asleep,  not  to  quarrel 

ile  he  is  in  prison,  not  to  swear  while  he  is  at 

loh;  no  thanks;  the  root  is  still  within.     If  the 

ked  restrain  one  evil,  the  godly  will  kill  ten;  if 

:'  slay  his  thousand,  David  will  slay  his  ten  thou- 

lul.  lie  that  strikes  at  sin,  let  him  be  sure  to 
^  like  home ;  do  not  favour  it,  for  if  it  escape,  it  will 
i!  !ve  no  mercy  on  thee  ;  but  be  so  much  the  more 
exasperated,  because  thou  attemptest,  and  didst  not 
>',''e(l  it.  He  that  halh  wounded  this  lion  at  the 
liiart,  shall  never  fear  the  strength  of  his  paws,  nor 


teeth  of  his  jaws,  nor  hideousness  of  his  roaring. 
"  Mortify  your  members  that  are  upon  earth,"  Col. 
lii.  5.  First,  he  calls  them  members,  because  they 
be  either  as  dear  to  you  as  your  members,  or  because 
they  are  brought  into  action  by  your  members,  or 
because  they  are  the  united  limbs  of  concupiscence, 
as  members  are  parts  of  the  body.  Your,  for  i)ro- 
jierly  our  sins  are  our  own,  and  nothing  else.  Mor- 
tify, apply  something  that  shall  make  them  dead. 
Let  not  sin  alone  till  it  die  of  itself,  but  kill  it  while 
it  might  yet  live  :  to  give  it  over  when  we  can  no 
longer  commit  it,  is  no  repentance.  It  will  i)ut  you 
to  some  pain  ;  men  do  not  ordinarily  die  without 
pain ;  and  sin  hath  a  strong  heart,  it  is  not  easily 
killed.  It  is  one  thing  to  sleep,  another  thing  to  die  ; 
with  small  ado  we  may  get  sin  asleep ;  by  rocking  it 
in  the  cradle  of  indulgence,  and  lullabying  it  with 
voluptuousness,  till  it  stir  not  in  the  conscience.  But 
to  get  it  dead,  that  it  may  not  live  in  us,  this  will 
cost  anguish  and  trouble.  Mortify  these  ways  for 
two  reasons.  I.  They  arise  not  from  any  noble  part 
in  us,  from  no  divine  principle  or  gracious  instinct, 
nothing  that  can  declare  greatness  and  true  spirit  in 
man ;  they  are  but  the  base  and  degenerate  works 
and  walks  of  the  flesh.  2.  They  only  make  us  odious 
to  God :  it  is  not  mean  clothes,  nor  a  deformed  body, 
nor  a  torn  cottage,  nor  homely  fare,  but  only  sin, 
that  makes  a  man  contemptible.  Proud  of  vices  ? 
a  lazar  may  better  be  proud  of  his  ulcers,  a  beggar 
of  his  vermin,  or  a  scavenger  of  his  lay-stalls. 

Secondly,  let  us  learn  another  walk,  even  to  walk 
with  God  and  be  perfect.  This  is  no  time  of  sitting ; 
Christians  do  not  lead  a  sedenlaiy  life,  it  will  breed 
obstructions  in  the  heart.  Our  Saviour  himself  dear- 
ly earned  that  voice,  before  he  heard  it,  "  Sit  thou  at 
my  right  hand,"  Psal.  ex.  I.  No  time  of  standing 
still.  "  Why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle  ?  "  Matt. 
XX.  6.  Why  do  ye  stand  ?  you  have  feet ;  walk : 
here,  in  the  "beginning  of  your  journey  :  in  the  day ; 
the  night  is  for  rest,  the  day  for  labour :  all  the  day ; 
one  hour  were  too  much :  idle ;  a  man  may  stand 
and  do  some  work,  but  stand  ye  idle  ?  There  is  a 
medium  betwixt  sin  and  gloiy,  and  that  is  grace, 
a  royal  road,  a  milky  way  :  walk  this  way,  or  expect 
not  this  end.  God  did  enough  to  bring  the  way  to 
us,  who  could  never  else  have  brought  ourselves  to 
the  way  :  would  we  have  him  bring  down  heaven 
and  glory  too  ?  We  are  in  the  bondage  of  sin,  as 
the  Israelites  were  in  Egypt  :  Canaan  was  theirs, 
heaven  is  our  promised  land;  if  neither  of  us  fall  to 
walking,  nor  admit  a  motion  and  removal,  they 
through  the  desert,  we  through  amendment  of  life, 
neither  can  arrive  at  their  home.  If  thou  think  thy- 
self too  good  for  this  journey,  God  will  think  thee 
too  l.'ad  for  his  glory. 

God  is  the  God  of  order,  not  of  confusion;  and 
nature  is  not  suffered  to  run  out  of  one  extreme  into 
another,  but  by  a  medium.  Suppose  it  now  midnight, 
and  the  sun  with  the  antipodes :  he  does  not  presently 
mount  up  to  the  height  of  our  heaven,  and  make  it 
noon-day.  But  first  it  is  twilight,  then  the  day 
dawns,  then  the  sun  rises,  and  yet  looks  with  weaker 
eyes  before  he  shines  out  in  his  full  glory.  We  do 
not  to-day  sweat  with  summer,  and  be  shaken  with 
the  fury  of  winter  to-morrow ;  but  it  comes  on  with 
soft  paces :  the  day  grows  shorter,  the  sun's  force 
weaker;  cold  dews,  and  white  frosts,  precede  the  ex- 
tremity of  hardness.  Indeed  Christ  is  able,  in  a 
moment,  of  sinners  on  earth  to  make  men  sainls  of 
heaven,  as  he  wrought  upon  that  one  dying  malefac- 
tor ;  but  he  seldom  doth  so  suddenly  advance  men  in 
the  degrees  of  sanctification.  That  ordinary  way, 
whereby  men  walk  from  the  state  of  sin  to  the  state 
of  glorj',  is  the  state  of  grace.     You  have  seen  some 


422 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


make  sudden  lenjis,  nnd  of  furious  sinners  luconic 
zealous  professors  iii  a  trice.  Of  such  we  may  be 
charitably  jealous.  Men  do  not  go  to  licavcn  by  a 
leap :  holiness  shoots  not  up,  like  Jonah's  gourd,  in 
a  night.  Few  men  know  the  instant  of  their  conver- 
sion, as  the  papists  proudly  demand  the  special  times 
of  their  innovations,  and  who  resisted  their  errors  at 
the  first  rising  ?  But  as  popery  crept  in  part  after 
part,  in  ever}-  part  by  gentle  degrees,  in  every  degree 
with  pretence  of  truth;  till  it  advanced  the  banners 
of  painted  ceremonies,  with  a  mighty  noise  of  excom- 
munications, louder  than  the  cataracts  of  Nilus ; 
and  howsoever  it  came  in,  we  find  it  here :  so  our 
conversion  is  by  soft  and  scarce  sensible  beginnings, 
albeit  not  part  after  part,  yet  degree  after  degree ; 
in  every  part  by  gentle  soakings  in  of  goodness,  in 
every  degree  by  maturity  and  growing  up  to  ripeness. 
As  we  cannot  see  the  grov/ing  of  a  tree,  yet  know 
that  it  doth  grow,  by  the  magnitude  of  bulk,  and 
branches,  and  fi-uits  ;  so  we  may  perceive  our  conver- 
sion to  God,  which  walking  on  must  confirm. 

AValking  is  a  good  ordinaiy  pace,  between  violent 
running  and  lazy  creeping;  a  moderate  course,  be- 
tween Jehu's  march  and  Mcphibosheth's.  It  is  bet- 
ter for  a  man  to  go  soft  and  sure,  than  for  a  gird  to 
run  himself  out  of  wind,  and  afterwards  to  stand  still 
and  breathe  him.  Walk  not  slowly,  for  fear  of  com- 
ing short ;  not  faster  than  we  may  hold  out  to  the  end, 
nor  slower  than  we  may  come  in  good  time  to  our 
everlasting  rest.  Any  traveller  may  be  called  aside 
a  little,  to  speak  with  his  friend,  or  to  look  upon  a 
novelty,  so  for  a  step  and  minute  be  out ;  but  still  his 
way  lies  before  him ;  whereto  recalling  himself,  and 
going  constantly  on  in  the  proceedings  of  grace,  he 
shall  be  blessed. 

They  "  despise  government."  It  is  no  wonder,  if 
they  that  follow  the  flesh  contemn  authority,  and 
would  have  no  other  governor  than  that  of  their  own 
choosing.  He  that  hath  set  up  this  Dagon  for  his 
god,  would  have  nothing  to  do  \rith  the  ark,  nothing 
for  the  ark  to  do  with  him.  It  is  not  enough  for 
Egistus  to  abuse  the  bed,  but  also  to  shed  the  blood, 
of  King  Agamemnon.  The  adulterer  is  fit  to  make  a 
traitor.  Rome  hath  sent  us  too  many  prodigious 
proofs  of  this ;  that  have  at  once  lusted  after  the 
beauty  of  our  women,  and  thirsted  at  the  blood  of  our 
princes.  Palpable  demonstrations,  that  the  enchant- 
ment of  adultery  hath  begotten  instruments  of  con- 
spiracy. And  as  a  Jesuit  is  but  a  new  word  for  a 
traitor;  so  seminary  and  seditious  are  but  divers 
terms  of  the  same  man.  Who  more  despise  the 
magistracy  among  us,  than  the  sons  of  riot,  that  lake 
in  the  freight  of  lust  at  a  tavern,  and  then  with  wind 
and  tide  sail  to  practise  it?  Being  questioned  for 
this,  they  turn  men  of  war,  stand  at  defiance,  and 
rhyme  away  the  awe  of  government  with  the  ballads 
of  scandal.  A  man  would  think,  that  none  who  pro- 
fess the  gospel  of  Christ,  should  impugn  the  ordi- 
nances of  God ;  or  if  they  did  despise  the  spiritual 
ones,  as  men  that  have  no  care  of  their  souls,  yet  not 
the  visible  and  temporal  ones,  as  men  that  stand  in 
fear  of  their  lives.  If  there  were  none  such,  I  might 
well  have  spared  my  sermon,  yea,  the  apostle  might 
have  spared  my  text.  But  when  this  ulcer  comes  to 
be  searched,  many  more  will  be  found  guilty,  than  be 
now  suspected  by  others,  or  suspect  themselves. 

For  method,  here  be  two  general  things  consider- 
able. 1.  The  excellency  of  the  thing  despised. 
Government.  2.  The  pravily  of  such  as  throw  con- 
tempt upon  it,  Despisers.  The  former  will  appear, 
both  by  the  authority  that  ordains  it,  and  by  the  ne- 
cessity that  requires  it. 

For  the  authority  ;  this  is  from  God  himself.  He 
gave  man  a  fourfold  rcfimcnt.   I.  Over  the  creatures, 


Psal.  viii.  2.  Over  himself:  before  his  fall  by  a 
potent  freedom  of  will  he  governed  all  his  actions; 
after  his  fall  some  relics  of  this  dominion  appear: 
reason  still  retains  some  fragments  of  her  regiment 
over  the  sensual  part,  though  here  she  be  but  like  a 
queen  in  the  midst  of  none  but  rebels.  In  the  body, 
some  parts  are  made  to  govern  and  direct  the  rest,  as 
the  head ;  some  to  obey,  as  the  members.  3.  Over 
his  household :  the  master  is  a  little  king  in  his 
family,  as  the  king  is  a  great  master  in  his  kingdom. 
4.  Over  the  state ;  whether  monarchical,  of  one ;  or 
aristocratical,  of  many  and  those  the  best ;  or  demo- 
cratical,  which  is  the  popular  state.  All  which  are 
mediately  or  immediately  of  God,  Rom.  xiii.  I. 
"  Thou  couldcst  have  no  power  at  all  against  me," 
saith  Christ  to  Pilate,  "except  it  were  given  thee 
from  above,"  John  xix.  11. 

Against  this  divine  institution  there  be  some  ob- 
jections ;  to  clear  all  which,  hold  we  this  distinction. 
There  is  the  power  itself,  the  assumption  of  it,  and 
the  execution  of  it.  The  manner  of  assuming  it  may 
be  from  the  devil :  either  by  bribery,  as  it  is  likely 
Felix  came  in.  Acts  xxiv.  26  ;  so  that  he  could  not 
sell  cheap,  who  had  bought  dear.  Or  by  cruelty 
and  intrusion,  as  Abimelech  ascended  the  throne  by 
the  stairs  of  blood  and  fratricide,  Judg.  ix.  5.  Or 
by  invasion,  as  the  conqueror  makes  himself  king. 
Or  by  usurpation,  as  Athaliah  kept  the  kingdom  from 
the  right  heir,  Joash.  So  also  the  manner  of  using 
this  power  may  be  from  the  devil ;  as  to  set  up  super- 
stition for  religion,  and  cruelty  instead  of  equity. 
Here  neither  the  bad  manner  of  acquiring,  nor  bad 
order  of  tyrannizing,  are  from  God:  yet  the  au- 
thority itself  is  of  God.  The  hand  doth  violently  ex- 
tort another's  good,  or  smite  with  the  sword  :  these 
abuses  are  from  sin,  but  the  hand  itself  is  given  of 
God.  The  sight  is  sore,  or  adulterous,  yet  the  eye  is 
of  God.  The  truth  is  plain ;  By  me  kings  reign, 
saith  the  Lord,  Prov.  viii.  15 :  let  us  hear  what  error 
objects. 

Object.  1 .  "  They  have  set  up  kings,  but  not  by  me : 
they  have  made  princes,  and  I  knew  it  not,"  Hos.  viii. 
4.  Ansu:  They  chose  tlie  king  without  God's  approba- 
tion, they  set  not  up  the  kingdom  without  his  insti- 
tution. Evil  princes  are  said  to  reign  not  by  God, 
either  in  the  mode  of  governing,  when  they  rule  the 
people  not  by  that  law  which  should  rule  the  king; 
or  in  their  mode  of  coming  to  the  throne,  when  God 
calls  them  not  to  reign  ;  or  they  reign  for  themselves, 
not  for  God  ;  they  reign  not  for  God's  honour,  but 
their  own  humour.  God  made  the  member,  he  made 
not  the  ulcer.  When  the  Israelites  chose  Jeroboam 
their  king,  that  treacherous  revolting  from  their  law- 
ful sovereign,  and  rebellious  adherence  to  a  usurper, 
an  idolater,  was  none  of  God's  doing,  he  condemns 
it  ;  yet  the  act  was  his,  I  Kings  xi.  35.  So  Hierome 
says  of  Saul's  election ;  that  it  was  by  the  error  of 
the  people,  not  by  the  will  of  the  Lord :  it  is  true, 
the  manner  was  the  people's  fault,  but  the  matter 
was  God's  purpose :  he  meant  to  raise  up  a  king,  only 
takes  the  occasion  by  their  headstrong  importunity. 
So  still  doth  it  happen,  that  bad  manners  breed  good 
laws.  Without  question  the  thing  was  good ;  mo- 
narchy, the  best  form  of  government  ;  but  good 
things  may  be  ill  desired.  So  while  they  affected  a 
king,  they  rejected  the  Lord,  1  Sam.  viii.  7-  There- 
fore seeing  they  choose  to  have  a  king,  God  will 
choose  the  king  they  shall  have.  As  lie  gratifies 
them  in  the  monarchical  condition,  so  he  punisheth 
them  in  the  monarch's  person. 

Ubjecl.  2.  St.  Peter  calls  it  an  "  ordinance  of  man," 
1  Pet.  ii.  13 ;  how  is  it  then  of  God  ?  .'tnsu:  He  calls 
it  human,  because  the  subject  wherein  this  authority 
sticks  is  man;  or  because  it  is  exercised  in  the  affairs 


Ver.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


423 


of  man ;  or  because  it  is  for  man's  good.  The  fruits 
of  the  earth  are  brouglit  forth  by  the  industn,'  of 
man,  yet  they  cease  not  to  be  the  gifts  of  God.  The 
forms  of  administration  may  be  of  man,  the  original 
institution  is  of  God. 

Object.  3.  Ifeveiy  power,  then  the  tyrannical,  is  of 
God  ;  as  the  Mahometan,  pontifician,  diabolical. 
Answ.  The  principality  is,  not  the  tyranny.  Wealth 
is  always  good  in  itself,  and  God's  gift ;  yet  the  unjust 
acquisition,  and  miserable  usurpation,  make  it  bad  to 
sucn  owners.  Riches  are  not  bad,  except  to  the  bad. 
And  were  the  pope  an  orthodox  bishop,  we  would 
not  deny  his  authority  to  be  of  God;  but  his  chal- 
lenge of  universal  dominion  is  not  power,  but  the 
ulcer  of  power  ;  which  he  hath  by  his  own  ambition, 
Satan's  instigation,  not  God's  institution.  And  for 
the  devil's  power,  it  is  by  God's  permission,  not  with- 
out his  limitation ;  no  other  than  a  hangman's  office, 
to  correct  and  punish  whom  the  Divine  justice  ap- 
points. When  ne  boasted  of  the  kingdoms.  They  are 
aU  mine.  Matt.  iv.  9,  tliis  was  but  his  lie,  he  had  not 
one  foot  to  bestow. 

The  power  of  government  is  then  ordained  of  God, 
and  that  in  a  special  manner,  by  direct  precept. 
Sickness  indeed  and  war,  famine  and  poverty,  are 
ordained  of  God,  but  not  by  commandment.  "  Pro- 
motion comes  neither  from  the  east,  nor,"  &c.  Psal. 
Ixxv.  6 ;  nor  from  the  sufTrages  of  people,  nor  lives 
of  ancestors,  nor  conquest  of  swords  ;  but  from 
the  Lord.  By  him  arc  kingdoms  disposed,  kings  in- 
augurated, crowns  of  gold  set  on  their  heads,  scep- 
tres and  states  established,  angels  with  their  wings 
shadowing  their  thi-ones;  that  their  majesty  may  be 
liigher  by  the  head  than  the  rest  of  the  people.  'That 
one  man  should  rule  millions,  restrain,  constrain,  cor- 
rect, command ;  how  could  it  be,  but  that  God  him- 
self hath  imprinted  the  characters  of  a  divinity  in 
him ;  but  that  there  is  a  divine  constitution  in  a  hu- 
man person  ?  "  It  is  God  that  subdueth  the  people 
under  me,"  Psal.  xviii.  47.  Saul  is  iu  David's  cave, 
the  soldiers  would  now  have  him  carve  his  own  re- 
venge ;  they  allege  God's  promise  and  this  advantage 
concurring :  but  take  it  at  the  worst,  "  Thou  mayest 
do  to  him  as  it  shall  seem  good  to  thee,"  1  Sam.  xxiv. 
4.  Now,  that  might  not  seem  good  to  him  that 
seemed  evil  to  God.  But  their  incentive  to  blood  Da- 
vid makes  a  preser\-ative  from  blood;  "The  Lord 
forbid  I  should  do  this  thing  to  his  anointed,"  ver.  6. 
Doubtless  he  had  work  enough  to  defend  both  him- 
self and  his  persecutor;  himself  from  the  importuni- 
ty of  their  instigation,  his  master  from  suflering  vio- 
lence. Say,  he  could  rule  his  own  hands,  it  is  not 
easy  to  rule  a  multitude.  What  was  the  charm  to 
allay  the  fury  of  those  raging  spirits?  He  is  the 
Lord's  anointed:  nothing  else,  this  was  enough  ;  that 
holy  oil  was  an  antidote  for  his  blood.  Saul  did  not 
lend  David  so  impenetrable  an  armour  when  he  was 
to  encounter  Goliath,  as  David  lent  him  in  tlie  plea 
of  his  unction.  Not  one  of  the  discontented  outlaws 
durst  put  forth  a  hand  of  violence  against  him.  The 
image  and  impress  of  that  divine  ordinance  strikes 
such  an  awe  into  the  hearts  of  men,  that  it  makes 
even  traitors  cowards ;  so  that  instead  of  smiling, 
they  tremble,  like  them  whose  office  is  to  suffer,  not 
to  do.  "Fear  God.  Honour  the  king,"  1  Pet.  ii.  17. 
There  was  never  man  that  feared  God,  but  he  also 
honoured  the  prince. 

For  the  necessity ;  without  government  we  were 
worse  than  beasts.  It  is  the  bond  of  the  common- 
weal ;  the  life-breath  which  so  many  thousand  crea- 
tures draw ;  who  otherwise  would  prove  a  burden  to 
themselves,  a  booty  to  their  enemies.  In  the  host 
of  heaven  there  is  a  regiment :  under  God  the  Su- 
preme, be  orders  and  degrees  of  stars  and  planets  ; 


without  which  composition  it  could  not  be  called  an 
army.  There  is  a  regiment  in  the  body ;  they  are 
luxate  and  palsy  members,  that  move  not  but  by  the 
direction  of  the  head.  In  the  family  is  a  regiment; 
the  servant  aeknowledgcth  his  master,  the  child  his 
father.  Among  irrational  creatures  is  a  regiment ; 
the  bees  have  their  king,  the  cranes  their  leader, 
and  they  keep  their  night-watches  in  disposed  orders. 
All  the  drove  follows  the  principal  beast,  and  the 
sheep  are  not  led  by  every  ram,  but  by  their  own 
elected  guide. 

Thus  nature  teacheth,  that  we  are  all  bound  to 
subject  ourselves  to  government.  Man  is  a  sociable 
creature,  but  there  would  be  harsh  society  among 
them'  without  a  ruler.  None  could  say.  This  is  mine  ; 
and  Cheapside  would  not  be  safer  than  Salisbury 
Plain.  The  first  rule  that  nature  dictates  to  man 
by  experience,  is  to  seek  a  ruler.  We  may  say  of 
all  other  creatures.  They  are  born  their  crafts-masters : 
nature  itself  w-as  their  tailor  and  tutor,  they  came  in 
apparelled  and  armed;  and  by  their  estimative  facul- 
ty, they  are  their  own  caterers  and  cooks,  physicians 
and  builders.  They  can  at  first  entrance  choose  their 
own  meats,  build  their  own  nests  and  burrows,  and 
being  distempered,  skill  their  own  medicines.  But 
man  came  in  without  a  rag  to  his  back,  or  a  dinner 
drest  to  his  stomach,  or  a  house  to  put  his  head  in ; 
no  weapons,  no  ablencss  to  use  them  ;  his  imder- 
standing  like  white  paper,  nothing  written  on  it:  all 
which  really  teach  him  to  seek  a  protector.  There- 
fore a  commonwealth  without  a  governor,  is  like  a 
body  without  a  soul :  where  is  no  king,  they  are  aU 
kings.  It  were  strange,  if  every  member  of  the  body 
should  move  by  a  several  soul :  how  long  could  that 
man  hang  together  ?  The  son  hath  a  great  loss  in 
the  death  of  his  father,  the  wife  of  her  husband,  the 
servant  of  his  master  ;  but  in  the  funerals  of  princes 
the  whole  land  reads  not  so  much  the  prince's  as 
their  own  mortality.  One  saith  truly,  A\  hile  death 
strikes  the  eminent,  it  aims  at  all.  I  know  their 
fame  is  immortal,  their  goodness  immortal,  their 
souls  immortal,  but  their  bodies  are  mortal ;  there  is 
so  much  of  man  in  them,  that  they  must  die.  They 
are  lent  to  us  for  our  sakes,  but  we  must  restore  them 
again  for  their  own  sakes. 

"  He  is  the  minister  of  God  to  thee  for  good,"  Rom. 
xiii.  4.  Either  for  our  natural  good,  preserving  our 
lives,  which  bloody  men  would  soon  ruinate,  who  fear 
not  so  much  hell  as  the  halter ;  like  beasts  that  are 
more  afraid  of  the  flash  of  the  powder,than  of  the  bullet. 
Or  civil  good,  preserving  our  goods  and  possessions; 
else  robbery  were  law,  and  men,  like  dogs,  would  tiy 
all  right  by  the  teeth.  Or  moral  good,  in  com- 
manding and  commending  virtue,  which  hath  praise 
of  the  power  ;  or  in  punishing  vice,  he  bears  not  the 
sword  in  vain.  Or  spiritual  good;  the  magistrate 
by  coactive  power  enforcing  men  to  the  duties  of 
godliness.  Tnese  seats  would  be  empty,  the  preacher 
want  his  relative,  hearers,  the  sacraments  would  be 
vililicnded,  the  ser^^ee  of  God  resigned  to  the  service 
of  Satan  ;  but  for  government.  The  sabbath  would 
not  be  distinguished  from  common  days,  the  markets 
be  fuller  than  the  temples:  the  wicked,  like  sullen 
children,  would  not  forsake  their  play  for  their  meat, 
but  for  the  rod  of  correction.  Many  saints  in  heaven 
might  now  confess,  that  they  had  not  known  God, 
but  for  the  king.  First,  compulsory  means  brought 
them  to  the  feast,  whereof  once  tasting,  they  would 
never  leave  it.  "  Compel  them  to  come  in,"  ire. 
Luke  xiv.  23.  It  is  a  good  storm  that  blows  the 
wanton  and  secure  mariner  into  the  haven.  We 
could  not  converse  together,  had  not  God  set  author- 
ity over  us,  to  repress  our  mutual  violences. 

Lewd  wretches  have  not  the  fear  of  God,  therefore 


424 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPOX  THE 


Chap.  II. 


God  brings  them  antler  the  fear  of  man ;  that  being 
subjected  to  rulers  of  their  own  kind,  their  outrage 
might  be  sent  from  temi)oral  death  to  eternal.  In 
that  notorious  apostacy  of  the  Jews,  when  so  many 
execrable  enormities  were  committed,  the  Spirit  still 
prefixeth,  "  In  those  days  there  was  no  king  in  Is- 
rael," Judg.  xvii.  G.  We  read  of  a  poor  Levitc  want- 
ing means  :  why  ?  there  was  no  king.  If  God  had 
Ijcen  their  king,  his  law  had  provided  for  the  Levite. 
If  Moses  had  been  their  king,  his  sword  would  have 
cut  out  a  portion  for  the  Levite.  We  are  beholden 
to  govenimcnt  for  order,  for  peace,  for  religion.  For 
order  ;  where  is  no  king,  every  man  will  be  his  own 
king.  For  peace ;  he  that  is  his  own  king,  will  be 
another's  tyrant.  For  religion  ;  every  Micah  would 
have  a  house  of  gods,  beside  God's  house.  We  are 
worthy  of  nothing  but  confusion,  if  we  do  not  bless 
God  for  regular  dominion.  No  wonder  if  the  Le- 
vites  go  a  begging,  while  there  is  no  king  in  Israel. 
The  tithes  and  oiVerings  were  their  due  ;  had  these 
been  paid,  none  of  the  holy  tribe  needed  to  wander 
for  maintenance.  Where  both  legal  and  regal  au- 
thority appoints  the  Levite  his  right,  the  wickedness 
of  man  will  defraud  him.  But  what  should  become 
of  the  Lcvites,  if  there  were  no  king  ?  And  what  of 
the  church,  if  there  were  no  Levites  ?  No  king,  no 
church  :  no  civil  government,  no  ecclesiastical.  How 
should  the  impotent  child  live  without  a  nurse  ?  It 
was  God's  promise  unto  his  church.  Kings  shall  be 
thy  foster-fathers,  and  queens  thy  nurses,  Isa.  xlix. 
23.  How  should  not  the  sheep  be  a  prey  to  wolves 
and  foxes,  but  for  the  shepherd?  What  life  or  tem- 
per can  be  kept  in  the  body  that  is  headless  ?  There- 
fore, that  the  riches  we  have  gotten  by  honest  in- 
dustry may  be  assured  to  our  posterity ;  that  we  may 
sit  under  the  shadow  of  peace,  and  teach  our  chil- 
dren to  know  the  Lord;  that  the  lamp  of  our  lives 
be  not  snulTed  out  with  violence  ;  that  the  good  man 
may  buildup  temples  and  hospitals,  without  tremlding 
to  "think  of  savage  and  barbarous  sacrilege  to  pull 
them  down;  that  our  devotions  be  not  molested  with 
uproars,  nor  men  called  from  their  callings  by  muti- 
nies ;  that  ourtempoi-al  estate  be  kept  in  liberty,  our 
spiritual  estate  improved  with  piety,  and  our  eternal 
estate  be  given  us  in  glory ;  that  our  lives  may  be 
preserved,  and  our  souls  be  saved  ;  for  such  a  king  of 
men,  bless  we  the  God  of  kings. 

Tliis  truth  is  plain  enougli,  no  reasonable  man 
would  lool;  for  impugners  ;  yet  we  must  be  content  to 
hear  what  the  synod  of  hell  can  plead  for  disobedi- 
ence. 

Object.  1.  Subjection  came  in  with  sin  ;  but  Christ 
hath  taken  away  sin,  therefore  also  su1)jection.  In- 
noccncy  knew  no  superior  but  God ;  and  the  subjection 
of  Eve  was  her  punishment,  this  could  not  antecede 
her  sin.  Ilcr  fault,  says  one,  not  her  nature,  deserved 
the  name  of  slave.  Anstr.  Subjection  is  twofold  ; 
servile,  and  civil.  The  vassalage  of  a  slave,  bound 
only  to  seek  his  master's  proper  good,  was  not  before 
tile  fall  ;  civil  obedience  for  the  common  good,  was. 
The  former  is  a  curse,  such  a  one  as  Noah  Ijequealh- 
ed  to  his  impudent  son  ;  not  in  itself  considered,  but 
by  reason  of  tlie  fear  and  sorrow  united  to  it,  which  in- 
noceney  knew  not.  Civil  subordination  was  before 
the  fall:  "  Increase  and  multiply;"  this  did  put  a 
plain  distinction  and  inequality  betwixt  the  father 
and  the  son.  Eve  was  subject  to  Adam,  before  either 
of  them  was  subject  to  sin.  Slie  might  have  do- 
minion with  her  liusband,  but  he  h;ul  dominion  over 
his  wife.  Not  that  the  Saliek  law  accords  willi  the 
Divine  law,  as  if  no  queen  might  govern  a  kingdom; 
for  the  God  of  .spirits  hath  often  put  great  spirits  into 
that  sex.  The  queen  of  Sheba  was  a  famous  go- 
verness ;  and  that  masculine  virtues  mav  shine  in  a 


female  head,  this  land  cannot  forget  the  memoiy  of 
so  long  and  sweet  experience.  Yet  this  hinders  not, 
but  that  nuin  is  fittest  to  govern.  The  ruler  was  to 
bring  for  his  sin-offering,  a  he-goat ;  the  private  of- 
fender, a  she-goat,  Lev.  iv.  22,  27  :  to  show  that  the 
male  suits  the  ruler  best,  and  tlie  female  the  ruled. 
(Theodor.)     Thus  innocency  had  a  superiority. 

Object.  2.  Ever)'  believer  is  even  now  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  but  in  heaven  there  is  no  king  but  Christ. 
Ansic.  In  this  respect  they  are  also  called  kings,  yet 
the  king  that  doth  not  find  them  subjects,  judgeth 
them  traitors.  There  is  a  spiritual  regiment,  stand- 
ing in  grace,  peace,  and  joy,  Rom.  xiv.  17:  here  is 
no  distinction  of  persons  ;  neither  father  nor  son, 
m.aster  nor  servant,  king  nor  subject,  but  Christ  is 
all  in  all.  There  is  a  civil  regiment,  which  cannot 
consist  without  distinctions  and  orders  ;  here  must  be 
masters  and  servants,  &c.  If  all  were  commanders 
and  rich,  eveiy  man  must  be  driven  to  curry  his  own 
horse,  and  cleanse  his  own  stable.  As  it  is  but  a 
trunk  which  is  all  body,  no  head  ;  so  it  is  a  monster, 
which  is  all  head,  and  no  body.  But  they  say  fur- 
ther, The  faithful  have  God's  Spirit  their  guide,  there- 
fore need  not  human  direction.  Ansir.  It  is  one  thing 
what  we  do,  another  thing  what  we  ought  to  do. 
Yet  could  we  live  without  transgression,  we  could 
not  live  well  without  protection. 

Object.  3.  The  children  are  free.  Matt.  xvii.  2G ;  now 
if  free  from  tribute,  then  from  subjection.  Anstc. 
Christ  there  spake  of  himself,  who  was  by  birth  heir 
to  the  erowTi,  therefore  free ;  yet  to  avoid  offence  he 
paid  it.  And  the  freedom  that  he  gives  us  is  from 
the  law.  Gal.  v.  1,  from  sin,  death,  and  hell :  a  liberty 
of  conscience,  a  spiritual  enfranchisement ;  not  an 
exemption  and  immunity  from  civil  obedience.  Li- 
centiousness is  not  liberty,  but  slavery :  this  makes 
the  wicked  to  affect  their  own  insensible  bondage, 
and  to  dote  on  their  owTi  libertine  delights ;  as  a 
madman  loves  his  chains,  because  they  rattle,  and  (as 
he  thinks)  make  a  brave  noise.  He  that  made  us 
free,  taught  us  another  rule  by  his  own  example  : 
he  obeyed  his  parents  in  the  flesh  with  humility,  the 
emperor  with  jiiety,  the  law  with  integrity,  liis  hea- 
venly Father  to  the  death.  So  tlie  Christian  is,  as 
Tertullian  says,  an  enemy  to  no  man,  raucli  less  to  a 
ruler. 

Object.  4.  Civil  govei'nment  is  full  of  cruelty  ;  and 
the  sword  of  justice  not  only  spills  the  life,  but  often 
kills  the  soul,  by  cutting  otV  the  time  and  means  of 
repentance.  Ansu:  Nay  rather,  the  malefactor  that 
is  not  moved  at  the  sentence  of  death,  despairs  the 
possibility  of  amendment  by  longer  life.  Thievish 
Achan  had  suffered  his  sacrilege  to  lie  fretting  into 
his  soul,  had  not  the  lot  discovered  him  to  death. 
Leisurely  sickness  and  languishment  is  but  the  coach- 
way  to  repentance,  legal  doom  is  the  post-horse. 
How  easy  is  it  for  men  to  delay  the  ])reparation  for 
death,  so  long  as  they  have  hope  of  life  !  Sooner  do 
you  hear  of  a  malefactor's  contrition  at  the  gibbet,  than 
of  a  usurer's  in  his  bed :  as  a  viident  fire  can  thaw 
that  ice,  which  lies  long  unmelted  by  a  winter's  sun. 
Cataplasms  and  fomentations  draw  not  out  the  pleu- 
risy, letting  of  blood  dors  it.  He  sees,  by  the  evi- 
dence of  the  fact,  inlillit;enee  of  the  jurors,  tn:th  of 
llie  witnesses,  impartiality  of  the  judge,  an  image 
of  that  higher  tribunal,  whither  his  sin  will  send  him 
when  they  liave  done  with  him.  Here  the  gaol  can 
hold  him  but  to  the  session,  the  session  is  not  long  ere  it 
come  to  sentence,  the  sentence  is  soon  answered  with 
execution,  the  siifieringof  death  isshort ;  all  these  pas- 
sages take  up  no  long  time.  But  then  comes  anotlier 
judsjment,  w-hcre  his  conscience  gives  in  testimony, 
all  liis  crimes  appear  upon  record,  Satan  solicits  jus- 
ticc,  God  cannot  be  unjust,  the  doom  is  certain,  the 


Ver.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


423 


execution  eternal.  Therefore  with  a  humbled  soul 
and  broken  heart,  he  cries  for  mercy  before  he  comes 
to  the  seat  of  justice;  beseccheth  Christ  to  procure  him 
a  pardon,  and  God  to  accept  his  Son's  satisfaction. 
In  this  assurance  he  smiles  death  in  the  face,  is  free 
in  prison,  and  never  felt  himself  truly  to  live,  till  he 
is  come  to  die.  Thus  he  that  could  not  live  innocent, 
dies  penitent ;  and  seeing  his  body  cannot  be  saved 
alive,  he  endeavours  that  his  soul  may  be  saved  in 
death.  As  lie  hath  followed  Satan  our  common  enemy 
in  sinning,  so  he  now  defies  him  in  repenting  ;  and 
liy  his  unfeigned  tears  disappoints  that  murderer's 
hope  of  his  damnation.  More  malefactors  than  that 
one  have  gone  from  the  gibbet  to  heaven  ;  and  from 
an  ignominious  place,  after  a  more  scandalous  fact, 
been  received  up  to  glory. 

Object.  5.  But  how  if  the  prince  be  bad,  an  enemy 
to  truth  and  goodness,  a  ravisher,  a  persecutor,  rais- 
ing powers  for  the  extirpation  of  the  gospel  ?  Here, 
if  ever,  a  subject  may  renounce  all  allegiance ;  for 
here  is  power  against  power,  man  against  God,  and 
the  subject  of  both  left  to  follow  either.  Anstc.  In 
this  strait  some,  for  fear  of  the  king,  shipwreck  their 
faitli,  and  these  are  traitors  to  God;  others,  by  a 
defensive  sword  in  their  hand,  rebels  to  the  king. 
There  is  no  ipiestion,  but  God  must  be  obeyed  even 
against  the  king,  when  the  king  eommandeth  things 
against  God.  "The  one  threatens  a  prison  ;  the  other, 
hell.  AVhat  then  ?  shall  we  resist  him  with  violence  ? 
No,  God  never  warrants  that  practice,  no,  not  against 
a  prince  that  denies  him.  "There  is  an  active  obe- 
dience, and  a  passive.  I  may  not  execute  his  impious 
commands,  I  must  sufl'er  his  unjust  punishment.  As 
one  expresses  it.  We  must  obey  evil  rulers,  when  they 
command  things  not  evil.  The  vices  of  men  cannot 
frustrate  the  institution  of  God-,  be  he  never  so  un- 
gracious, honour  must  be  given,  if  not  to  tlie  governor, 
yet  to  the  government.  Peruse  Matt.  v.  44,  and 
Rom.  xii.  17;  this  will  tie  the  hands  of  Christian 
subjects.  Samuel  offered  not  to  depose  Saul,  though 
the  express  sentence  of  God  had  east  him  off,  and  he 
was  excommunicated  by  a  higher  power  than  ever 
came  from  Rome  :  Saul  lived  and  died  a  king. 

The  captive  Jews  in  Babylon,  wrote  to  their 
brethren  in  Jerusalem,  to  pray  for  the  life  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, Baruch  i.  1 1.  Thiswas  Jeremiah's  coun- 
sel, Jer.  xxix.  7,  and  Daniel's  practice,  Dan.  iv.  I'J; 
vi.  21  ;  all  liis  speeches  savoured  of  most  perfect  obe- 
dience, even  to  a  king  that  not  so  well  entreated 
him.  Let  him  be  a  Darius,  and  make  a  decree 
against  God ;  then  he  will  enter  into  his  house  and 
pray,  open  his  windows  and  pray,  not  pass  many 
hours  but  i)ray  ;  though  every  liair  on  his  head  were 
a  life,  rcaily  to  redeem  his  duty  to  God  with  the  loss 
of  tliem  all.  Wliat  resistance  did  the  primitive 
Clnistians  make  to  those  barbarous  outrages,  but 
praying  for  the  emperor's  life,  when  under  the  em- 
peror's command  they  were  bleeding  to  death  ? 
Neither  did  they  suffer  because  tliey  were  not  able 
to  resist ;  but  it  was  their  doctrine.  It  is  more  lawful 
to  be  killed,  than  to  kill.  AVe  are  not  wanting  in  the 
Strength,  either  of  riches,  or  of  numbers.  So  Ter- 
tullian.  AVe  have  means  sufficient:  ihcy  filled  all 
places  of  that  idolatrous  empire,  islands,  cities,  castles, 
all  but  the  profane  temples.  One  night,  and  a  few 
torches,  could  have  afforded  them  an  ample  revenge. 
Mercy  on  us,  had  but  the  Jesuits  such  an  advantage ! 
TcrtuUian  to  these  pagan  tormentors.  The  emperor  is 
more  ours  than  yours ;  as  being  appointed  by  our 
God,  and  upheld  l)y  our  prayers  and  obcdiente. 

Christians  never  prove  losers,  but  when  they  un- 
justly fight  for  their  own  preserN-ation.  Proride  we 
the  buckler  of  patience,  not  a  sword  as  ready  to  give 
as  w  ard  the  blow.    "  He  that  loseth  his  life  for  my 


sake  shall  find  it,"  Matt.  x.  39  :  here  is  the  way,  cither 
to  die  by  living,  or  to  live  by  dyin^  When  the  de- 
cree was  gone  out  by  Ahasuerus,  Esth.  iii.  15,  this 
was  their  refuge  ;  prayer  and  tears :  I  shall  be  able  to 
weep,  I  shall  be  able  to  groan.  We  petition,  O  Au- 
gustus, we  do  not  fight.  Thus  Augustine.  The 
apostles  could  work  miracles,  yet  they  resisted  luit 
the  ordinate  iiowers.  This  charge  Paul  imposeth  on 
the  Romans,  Rom.  xiii.  1,  even  \vhile  tyrannous  Nero 
was  their  emperor;  a  monster,  whom  divers  held  to 
be  antichrist.  Saul  is  in  David's  cave  ;  the  soldiers 
think  that  God  sent  him  thither  on  no  other  errand, 
but  to  fetch  his  death.  If  Said  had  seen  his  own 
danger,  he  had  given  himself  for  death,  and  expected 
to  receive  what  lie  meant  to  bestow.  But  wise  and 
holy  David  gives  way  neither  to  his  own  passion,  nor 
his  soldiers'  solicitation  ;  but  only  makes  this  use  of 
it,  the  trial  of  his  loyally,  and  the  means  of  his  peace. 
It  had  been  as  easy  to  cut  Saul's  throat,  as  his  gar- 
ment ;  but  his  coat  only  shall  be  the  worse,  not  his 
person.  Nor  should  the  cloak  have  been  maimed  to 
seek  his  own  revenge,  but  for  a  monument  of  his 
innocence.  The  very  piece  of  his  garment  shows  he 
meant  no  hurt  to  his  person  ;  yet  this  violence  strikes 
David's  heart,  I  Sam.  xxiv.  5.  He  feels  remorse  for 
touching  that,  which  did  once  touch  the  person  of 
his  lord.  How  unlike  are  those  spirits  of  Rome, 
that  teach  and  practise,  encourage  and  reward,  yea, 
canonize  the  violation  of  majesty  itself!  David  re- 
grets for  cutting  a  royal  robe ;  they  make  no  account 
of  shedding  the  royal  blood,  sheep  to  cut  the  throat 
of  their  shepherd. 

Evil  princes  are  indeed  a  punishment ;  I  gave 
them  in  my  anger,  Hos.  xiii.  11.  How  miserable  it 
is  to  have  an  intemperate  ruler,  appears  by  the  w  isest 
preacher:  "  Woe  to  thee,  0  land,  when  tliy  princes 
eat  hi  the  morning!"  Ecel.  x.  IG:  following  the  plea- 
sures that  attend  on  majesty,  and  not  the  i>ains  which 
belong  to  magistracy.  There  is  a  miserable  desola- 
tion threatened  to  Israel ;  the  staff  of  bread  and  stay 
of  water,  the  man  of  war  and  the  man  of  peace,  the 
judge  and  prophet,  the  honourable  and  ancient,  the 
cunning  artificer,  the  eloquent  orator,  all  shall  be 
taken  away.  How  comes  it ?  "I  will  give  children 
to  be  their  princes,  and  babes  shall  rule  over  them," 
Isa.  iii.  4:  there  is  the  judgment  fulfilled.  "Set  thou 
a  w  icked  man  over  him,"  Psal.  cix.  6  :  among  all 
other  curses  which  he  calls  from  heaven  by  the 
Spirit  of  prophecy  upon  his  malicious  adversaries, 
running  like  oil  into  all  the  joints  and  bones  of  them- 
selves, their  wives,  and  children,  this  leads  the  army, 
as  Judas  led  the  soldiei's ;  Set  a  wicked  man  to  rule 
over  him.  They  that  were  weary  of  Solomon,  were 
wearied  with  Rehoboam.  Yet  must  not  all  this  ex- 
pose them  to  contempt  :  Samuel  would  not  i)ray  with 
Saul,  he  would  grace  him  before  the  people,  to  con- 
tinue credit  to  the  magistracy.  There  is  some  good 
attained  to  under  the  worst  prince.  Even  by  the 
power  given  to  the  devil,  Job  was  tried  that  he  might 
apjH-ar  to  be  righteous  ;  Peter  was  tempted,  that  he 
might  not  presume  on  himself;  Paid  was  buffeted,  that 
he  might  not  exalt  himself;  Judas  was  condemned, 
in  order  that  he  might  hang  himself.  Such  is  the 
ordinaiT  gloss  on  Job  xxxiv.  Julian  sent  hissubjccts 
to  heaven  in  earnest,  while  himself  went  to  hell  mer- 
rily and  in  jest.  But  blessed  be  our  God,  we  have  no 
cause  to  complain ;  we  have  such  a  jirince,  whom 
whosoever  praiseth  not,  either  does  iv.A  love  him,  or 
docs  not  know  him.  Only  let  us  bless  him,  and  bless 
God  for  him,  that  we  may  all  be  blessed  in  him. 

Conclusion.  That  religion  then  cannot  be  right, 
that  pulls  down  princes  ;  seeing  neither  Moses  in  the 
Old  'Testament,  nor  Christ  in  the  New,  nor  Levite 
nor  prophet,  apostle  nor  disciple,  either  counselled  or 


426 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


practised  against  government :  which  should  decide 
the  point,  that  hath  cost  the  lives  of  so  many  Chris- 
tians, and  still  threatens  more  tragedies  to  come. 
They  that  in  this  argument  found  tlie  weakness  of 
their  pens,  have  fallen  to  their  penknives,  multiplied 
the  school  into  a  camp,  arguments  to  armies,  teach- 
ing all  their  proselytes  dismal  conclusions.  Thus 
they  tight  against  God  in  his  lieutenant,  and  the  root 
of  all  civil  order  they  desire  to  root  out.  They  com- 
plain of  us  for  suppressing  them,  that  will  not  let  us 
live  in  quiet  by  them.  What  security  can  Sarah  with 
her  Isaac  have  in  the  house  if  Ilagar  and  her  son  be 
not  beaten  out  of  doors?  The  peace  of  our  state,  nor 
scarce  of  any  state  in  Christendom  since  Charle- 
magne's time,  hath  not  been  violated,  but  the  pope 
or  his  ministers  have  had  a  hand  in  it.  To  say  nothing 
of  their  private  turbulency,  what  pestilences  they  be 
to  the  houses  that  harbour  them,  where  they  rule  all 
with  the  lady,  it  is  their  sauciness  with  the  crown 
which  our  state  sutlers  under.  They  do  but  turn 
the  text;  kings  over  subjects,  Luke  sxii.  15,  and 
they  over  kings.  They  will  be  Donalists,  Anabap- 
tists, Libertines,  pagans,  any  thing,  so  they  be  not 
subjects.  How  did  they  more  than  despise,  even 
despite  that  queen  of  blessed  memoiy  !  whom  stran- 
gers came  to  see,  as  the  queen  of  Sheba  did  Solomon ; 
foreigners  reverenced,  subjects  loved,  all  princes 
living  admired,  and  themselves  outwardly  flattered  ; 
by  whose  gracious  hand  God  wrought  those  wonders, 
that  the  most  potent  kings  can  hardly  reach.  Honour 
filled  the  circle  of  her  crown,  her  brow  with  majesty, 
her  heart  with  piety,  her  hands  with  pity,  her  lap 
with  plenty,  her  throne  with  equity.  AU  those  vir- 
tues centred  in  her  breast,  which  severally  had  com- 
mended the  great  ladies  of  the  former  world.  Yet 
how  execrable  were  the  treasons  at  home,  the  re- 
bellions and  invasions  abroad,  which  they  contrived 
against  her !  Now  when  she  is  in  glorious  peace, 
have  they  not  raked  into  her  grave,  and  railed  on 
her  royal  name  ?  She  that  lies  buried,  not  in  cold 
earth,  but  in  the  warm  and  living  monuments  of  all 
religious  hearts  among  us,  is  still  pei-secuted  by  their 
barbarous  violences.  But  as  all  their  malice  could 
not  harm  her  person  while  it  was  mortal  on  earth; 
much  less  can  it  reach  her  soul,  which  is  now  im- 
mortal and  blessed  in  heaven.  Lord,  they  have  not 
despised  her,  but  they  have  despised  thee :  revenge 
thine  own  cause ;  confirm  the  diadem  where  it  is, 
and  let  not  the  man  of  sin  pull  down,  what  thou  the 
God  of  righteousness  hast  built  up. 

Despisers.  The  main  antagonists  of  sovereignty 
are  the  Anabaptists  and  papists:  who,  howsoever 
otherwise  they  dart  fire  one  at  another,  yet  here,  like 
Herod  and  Pilate,  they  shake  hands ;  or  those  se- 
ditious captains  in  Jerusalem,  fight  against  the 
magistrate  as  their  common  enemy.  Thus  Samson's 
foxes  have  averse  heads,  but  are  coupled  together 
by  their  tails. 

1.  The  Anabaptists  did  strike  at  the  head  of  all 
government ;  and  with  the  sword  in  their  own  hand, 
sought  to  wring  the  sword  out  of  the  magistrate's. 
They  inveighed  against  authority,  and  yet  took 
authority  upon  themselves.  As  I  have  heard  a  man 
reproved  for  swearing,  presently  rap  out  an  oath 
that  he  woidd  not  swear.  It  was  Munstcr's  ordinarj- 
doctrine,  that  he  had  conference  with  God  about  it'; 
that  he  charged  him  to  kill  the  magistrates,  to  de- 
stroy the  wicked,  and  constitute  a  new  world.  These 
cry  down  all  rule;  as  the  heathen  against  God's 
anointed  Son;  "Let  us  break  their  bands  asunder, 
and  cast  away  their  cords  from  us,"  Psal.  ii.  3.  But 
at  last  finding  themselves  fooled  by  themselves,  and 
that  kings  would  not  be  disputed  out  of  their  do- 
mmions,  yea,  that  themselves  could  not  be  kept  in 


order  without  some  prelation,  they  began  to  qualify 
the  matter;  as  men  that  can  get  nothing  by  law, 
will  come  to  composition.  Regiment  they  will  allow, 
if  magistrates  will  be  content  with  their  allowance  ; 
which  is  not  only,  like  David's  ambassadors,  half 
their  regal  robes  cut  oft",  but  authority  itself  grubbed 
to  the  skin  ;  not  only  lopping  off  the  superfluous 
branches,  but  hewing  the  root  tilt  it  be  past  all 
growing.  That  he  hath  his  institution  from  God, 
his  constitution  from  the  people.  Thus  with  a  paring 
knife  they  so  shred  his  government,  till,  like  the 
cozening  tailor  that  shrunk  a  freeze  gown  to  a  dozen 
of  buttons,  they  leave  him  only  a  titular  prince,  and 
keep  the  principality  to  themselves.  Let  all  theu- 
refutation  be  but  a  mere  hissing  at. 

2.  Tlie  i)apists  are  more  moderate  in  show,  little 
less  pestilent  in  deed.  Their  laity  shall  be  subject 
to  a  magistrate,  but  to  one  of  their  own  choosing, 
and  that  only  till  their  refusing;  so  authority  is  no 
sure  knot,  but,  as  jugglers,  they  play  at  fast  and  loose. 
And  upon  the  least  exception  to  the  pietj-,  yea,  obe- 
dience of  the  prince,  (a  strange  catechism,  or  cata- 
chresis  rather,  that  teacheth  kings  to  obey  their 
subjects,)  they  cast  him  out  from  his  royalty,  dis- 
charge and  absolve  the  people  from  their  allegiance. 
Tliis  pi-actice  is  according  to  their  common  distinc- 
tion, not  differing  from  the  former  of  the  Anabap- 
tists ;  The  government  from  God,  the  governor  from 
men :  therefore  they  dare  do  any  thing  against  the 
king,  nothing  against  the  kingdom.  Execrable  so- 
phistry !  as  if  he  that  opposed  the  governor  did  not 
oppose  government.  Would  this  answer  pass  in 
Rome,  The  popedom,  as  it  is  the  succession  of  Peter, 
is  of  God,  but  the  present  pope  is  of  man  ?  Or  this, 
God  forbids  me  to  WTong  my  neighbour,  yet  (.Jesuit) 
I  may  wrong  thee  ?  This  was  fit  doctrine,  for  Ma- 
chiavel  himself  would  not  have  been  ashamed  of  it. 
But  Daniel,  that  was  a  counsellor  of  state  to  two 
monarchies,  and  a  private  counsellor  to  four  kings, 
ascribes  this  power  of  translating  or  entailing  crowns 
to  a  family,  to  none  but  God,  Dan.  v.  21 :  it  is  he, 
not  the  pope. 

By  their  rule  the  pope  indeed  is  king,  and  all 
kings  but  his  viceroys,  to  be  placed  and  displaced 
according  as  they  please  or  displease  him.  And  for 
tlieir  clergy,  they  shall  know  no  civil  obedience  at 
all.  But  were  the  sword  as  well  able  to  plead  the 
causes  of  kings  in  the  field,  as  the  jjcns  of  divines 
are  in  the  school,  their  crowTis  would  sit  more  quietly 
on  their  heads.  "  Let  every  soul  be  subject  unto 
the  higher  powers,"  Rom.  xiii.  I.  If  every  soul, 
then  yours  also,  saith  St.  Bernard  to  an  archbishop: 
who  hath  exempted  you  from  this  universality.' 
Ilis  conclusion  is.  If  any  one  aims  at  exception,  he 
attempts  deception.  Why  did  our  Saviour  submit 
himself  to  Caiaphas,  to  Pilate,  pay  tribute  to  Caesar; 
and  Paul  appeal  to  his  judgment-seat  ?  Is  Christ's 
vicar  started  above  his  Master?  Peter's  successor 
better  than  Paul  himself?  What  an  alteration  did 
.losiah  make  in  the  face  of  the  church,  purging  the 
idolaters,  changing  the  office  of  the  Levites,  com- 
manding a  passover !  Hilkiah  was  the  high  priest, 
and  executed  these  things  under  him ;  but  all  was 
done  according  to  the  command  of  Josiah.  Was 
.losiah  such  a  king  in  Israel,  and  is  not  our  king  in 
England?  What  hath  the  Hilkiah  of  Rome  to  do 
here?  So  Constantine  said  to  his  bishops.  You  in 
the  church  are  bishops,  I  in  the  church  am  king; 
you  for  the  word  and  sacraments,  I  for  authority  and 
precedence ;  you  overseers  of  the  people,  1  the  over- 
seer of  overseers.  The  one  to  preach  the  word,  the 
other  to  bear  the  sword :  as  Paul  calls  the  magis- 
trate, the  Lord's  sword-bearer.  lie  holds  his  ])re- 
rogative  given  him  from  above.     What  one  word  of 


Vfr.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


427 


Christ's  commission  to  his  disciples,  savours  of  en- 
couragement to  rebellious  attempts?  Go  into  the 
world,  preach,  baptize,  bind  and  loose,  remit  and  re- 
tain, feed,  take  tlic  keys,  receive  the  Holy  Ghdst. 
Go  into  the  world,  not  overrun  it,  shaking  the  pillars 
of  it  with  conspiracies,  the  foundations  with  seditions. 
Preach  peace,  not  proclaim  wars.  Build  up  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  not  thunder  rain  to  the  king- 
doms of  earth.  Baptize  to  repentance,  not  wash  the 
people  in  their  own  bloods  with  persecution  and  venge- 
ance. Bind  and  retain,  not  with  shackles,  prisons, 
and  wards.  Feed  the  lambs,  not  fleece  them,  nor  Hay 
them,  making  massacres  of  king  and  subjert.s.  Take 
the  keys,  not  princes'  crowns.  When  he  said.  Ye  shall 
be  brought  before  governors  and  kings,  he  did  not 
mean  that  governors  and  kings  should  be  brought 
before  you;  that  emperors  should  kiss  your  feet, 
wait  at  your  gates,  in  weathers  stormy  enough,  but 
not  more  stormy  than  the  pontifical  brows ;  that 
they  should  take  their  crowns  (I  say  not  at  your 
hands,  but)  at  your  feet,  holding  your  stirrups  while 
you  mount  your  palfreys,  and  eat  bread  like  dogs 
under  your  tables.  Christ  refused  to  divide  an  in- 
heritance, Luke  xii.  14,  yet  these  men  will  under- 
take to  divide  kingdoms.  But  there  is  a  divider 
over  them,  that  hath  written  in  the  book  of  his  pre- 
science, the  final  division  of  their  universal  supre- 
macy. And  as  it  is  true  of  their  persons,  as  Petrarch 
says.  Short  is  the  life  of  men,  shorter  that  of  kings, 
shortest  that  of  pontiffs;  so  let  the  like  breach  fall 
upon  their  successions,  till  the  scat  of  antichrist  be 
razed  to  the  ground. 

,3.  Proud  and  ambitious  self-admirers  think  them- 
selves fitter  to  rule  than  obey ;  these  despise  govern- 
ment. Saul  is  chosen  king,  the  most  and  best  ap- 
plaud the  choice ;  yet  some  sons  of  Belial  murmur 
against  it,  1  Sam.  x.  27.  It  was  not  the  greatness 
of  his  parents,  the  goodliness  of  his  person,  the  sc- 
lectiorj  of  his  lot,  the  approbation  of  Samuel,  the 
sound  proof  of  his  courage,  that  could  shield  him 
from  contempt,  or  win  the  hearts  of  all.  They  saw 
he  chose  not  himself,  they  saw  him  unwilling  to  be 
chosen,  thev  saw  him  worthy  to  be  chosen;  if  the 
election  hacl  been  carried  by  voices,  and  those  voices 
by  their  eyes,  Saul  had  been  still  the  man  :  yet  they 
despise  him.  His  parentage  was  not  inferior,  his 
state  equal,  his  person  above  his  estate,  his  mind 
above  his  person ;  yet  they  despise  him.  But  dogs 
will  bark  at  the  moon  ;  and  what  all  men  commend, 
you  have  some  Thyrsites  fake  delight  to  blast.  Mal- 
contents will  devise  slanders  if  they  can  find  none, 
like  coistrels,  that  first  fill  themselves  with  wind, 
and  then  fly  against  it.  Their  blood  is  of  a  yellow- 
ish colour,  like  those  that  have  been  bitten  by 
vipers ;  their  gall  flows  in  them,  thicker  than  oil  in 
a  poisoned  stomach.  But  the  best  is,  their  own 
malice  sucks  up  the  greatest  part  of  their  venom, 
and  therewith  they  burst  themselves.  There  was 
never  prince,  to  whom  some  Belialists  took  not  some 
exceptions:  it  is  not  possible  to  i)lease  or  displease 
all  men  ;  some  being  as  deeply  in  love  with  vice,  as 
Others  are  with  virtue.  It  were  ill  with  princes,  if 
their  state  depended  on  the  good  liking  of  their  sub- 
jects. But  there  be  none  but  base,  that  are  thus 
censorious;  and  the  sun  will  shine  never  the  less 
glorious,  though  such  sullen  eyes  scorn  to  look 
upon  it. 

4.  Deniers  of  due  homage  are  dcspisers ;  as,  I. 
Fear,  Prov.  xxiv.  21.  Not  slavish  fear.  It  is  one 
thing  to  fear  because  you  have  offended;  another 
thing  to  fear  lest  you  should  offend  ;  in  the  one  case 
there  is  a  dread  of  punishment,  in  the  other  an 
anxiety  for  the  reward  of  obedience.  So  Ambrose. 
This  fear  is  reverence.     If  any  man  fears  not  the 


king,  the  king  hath  cause  to  fear  him.  2.  Hrmour  ; 
not  such  as  shidl  make  a  god  of  him,  like  Herod'.N 
flatterers,  and  their  successors,  the  pope's  syco- 
phants; yet  enough  to  advance  him  above  all  oilier 
men.  3.  Fidelity,  such  as  Ittai  bare  unto  David, 
2  Sam.  XV.  21  :  that  is  an  ill  hand,  that  when  a  blow- 
is  eouiing,  will  not  lift  up  itself  to  defend  the  head. 
The  safely  of  the  head,  is  the  head  of  safety.  The 
king  is  the  light  of  our  eyes,  the  breath  of  our  nos- 
trils, even  the  life  of  our  lives  :  any  man  will  hazard 
a  joint  to  preser\-e  his  life.  Subjects  unfaithful  at 
the  heart,  may  be  without  suspicion  of  their  jirince, 
but  they  be  held  rebels  in  the  court  of  heaven.  We 
are  bound  to  be  subject,  "not  only  for  wrath,  but  for 
conscience'  sake,"  liom.  xiii.  5.  In  all  the  time  of 
David's  prosperity,  there  w-as  no  news  of  Shimei ;  he 
looks  like  a  fair  subject.  But  he  that  smiled  on 
David  in  his  throne,  curseth  him  in  his  flight  :  now 
his  unsound  and  treacherous  heart  discovers  itself,  in 
a  tongue  ftdl  of  venom,  a  hand  full  of  stones.  Pros- 
perous success  hides  many  a  false  heart,  as  a  drift  of 
snow  covers  a  heap  of  dung;  but  when  that  white 
cover  melts,  the  filthy  rottenness  will  appear.  There 
is  no  security  in  that  subject's  allegiance,  that  hath 
not  God  in  his  conscience.  The  nearer  such  are  to 
the  governor,  the  more  perilous:  and  as  no  favourite 
of  greatness  can  be  without  envy,  (as  in  chess,  the 
pawn  that  stands  before  the  king  is  most  set  upon,) 
so  the  good  one,  like  Joseph,  so  endears  himself  to 
the  king  of  Egypt,  that  he  may  be  gracious  with  the 
King  of  heaven  ;  and  the  bad  one,  like  Haman, 
makes  use  of  his  power  to  mischief;  till  by  plotting 
against  the  church,  he  lose  all  comfort  by  the  church. 
All  this  man's  glory  shows  on  him  but  as  if  the  sun 
shone  in  a  puddle.  4.  Obedience,  Josh.  i.  17  ;  to  do 
what  he  commands,  and  go  whither  he  sends.  The 
senant  that  does  not  what  he  is  bidden,  despiseth 
his  master.  The  law  is  a  dumb  magistrate,  the  king 
a  living  law  :  he  that  disobeys  the  one,  despiseth 
the  other.  5.  Paying  of  tribute.  "  Render  tribute," 
&:c.  Rom.  xiii.  7.  Render  it;  it  is  not  a  gift,  but  a 
payment.  A  man  feeds  the  stomach,  that  it  may 
nourish  his  whole  body.  Pay  for  the  setting  up  of 
the  state,  lest  there  shoidd  happen  the  pulling  down 
of  it.  He  that  feigneth  himself  poor  to  avoid  a  sub- 
sidy, is  worthy  to  be  made  as  poor  as  his  subsidy; 
because  he  would  not  restore  him  a  part,  by  whom 
he  keeps  all.  C.  Prayer.  Let  prayers  and  suppli- 
cations be  made  for  all  men,  especially  for  kings, 
I  Tim.  ii.  1,  2.  The  heavier  burden  requires  tne 
more  strength :  Aaron  and  Hur  must  hold  up  the 
hands  of  >Ioses,  if  they  would  prosper.  We  have 
cause  to  desire  that  that  river  may  never  want  water, 
which  must  relieve  the  whole  country.  No  arniy 
but  would  have  their  general's  good  success.  We 
call  our  peace,  the  king's  peace :  our  peace  is  but 
the  effect  of  his,  as  his  majesty  is  a  resultance  from 
God's  majesty. 

What  shidl  then  become  of  them,  that  turn  their 
prayers  into  curses  ?  Exod.  xxii.  28 ;  though  their 
wishes  be  but  whirlwinds,  which,  breathed  forth,  re- 
turn upon  themselves.  This  was  an  unwilling  error, 
that  Paul  willingly  recanted.  Acts  xxiii.  5.  "  Curse 
not  the  king,  no  not  in  thy  thought :  for  a  bird  of 
the  air  shall  carry  the  voice,  and  that  which  hath 
wings  shall  tell  the  matter,"  Eccl.  x.  20.  With  the 
mouth  a  wicked  rebel  dares  not  curse  him,  for  fear  of 
the  lash  ;  but  thought  is  free  :  such  is  his  thought, 
but  not  God's,  to  whom  the  conscience  is  a  legible 
book.  The  birds  of  the  air  shall  discover  it ;  either 
by  some  miraculous  demonstration,  as  just  revcalers ; 
or  by  picking  out  his  eyes,  as  just  executioners  :  or 
that  judgment  shall  be  swift  against  them,  as  if  it 
had  wings.     Shimei  curseth  his  king,  is  pardoned  by 


423 


AN  EXPOSITIOX  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


succession,  by  Solomon  after  his  father:  he  h;ith 
now  quite  forgotten  his  sin.  But  at  last  it  comes 
home,  by  his  going  abroad  ;  and  the  tongue  that 
cursed  the  Lord's  anointed,  now  pays  the  head  to 
boot.  The  vengeance  of  traitors  may  sleep,  it  cannot 
die.  Saul  had  gotten  victory  of  the  Ammonites, 
which  made  him  a  complete  king:  and  now  the 
thankful  Israelites  inquire  after  the  discontented 
mutineers,  that  refused  allegiance  to  so  worthy  a 
commander,  I  Sam.  xi.  12.  Their  sedition  deserved 
death,  however  Saul  had  sped  at  Gilead :  the  very 
purposes  of  treason  nmst  not  escape  impune :  that 
God,  who  hinders  the  action  in  his  mercy,  will  j)unish 
the  intention  in  his  justice.  But  that  happy  con- 
quest whetted  them  to  a  more  eager  desire  of  this  just 
execution. 

Certainly,  of  all  nations  in  the  world,  wc  have 
cause  to  despise  the  despisers  of  our  government. 
We  that  have  a  king,  not  more  noble  than  wise,  not 
more  wise  than  good,  how  can  we  wish  other  than 
punishment  to  his  contemners  ?  We  have  the  bene- 
fit of  peace,  dwelling  safely  under  our  own  vines, 
1  Kings  iv.  25 ;  the  benefit  of  those  riches  which 
make  a  well-governed  state  glorious.  What  do  we 
wanttotheconsummationofourprosperity,but  thank- 
ful hearts  ?  For  me  to  measure  it,  were  to  show  you 
the  image  of  a  great  mountain  in  a  small  ring.  Re- 
ligion, peace,  honour,  security ;  those  four  cardinal 
blessings  to  uphold  a  state,  as  the  four  cardinal  vir- 
tues uphold  a  man.  Now  to  disgrace  authority,  is 
the  means  to  overthrow  all  felicity.  Tribute  is  given 
to  tyrants,  commendation  only  to  good  princes.  The 
justice  of  our  governor  hath  not  spared  the  greatest 
ofTenders ;  yet  his  mercy  hath  made  us  more  indebt- 
ed to  him  than  his  justice.  May  his  mercy  never 
hurt  himself,  we  have  no  cause  to  complain.  Even 
to  his  enemies  he  hath  been  pitiful,  striving  to  over- 
come their  malice  by  his  goodness.  Yet  like  those 
people,  that  in  a  daily  ceremony  go  out  of  their  doors 
with  their  faces  unto  the  east,  and  curse  the  sun, 
which  gives  them  light  and  preserving  influence  ; 
.so  his  adversaries,  beside  their  cursed  writings,  base 
calumnies  and  blasphemies  of  his  honour,  have  sought 
by  treachery  to  stock  up  the  root  whereon  themselves 
grow;  sacrificing  their  sacraments,  religion,  jjrayer, 
and  the  holiest  things  they  have,  to  execute  Satan's 
will,  and  expiate  antichrist's  fury.  They  have  turn- 
ed massing  into  massacring,  patres  in  palricidax, 
ghostly  fathers  into  bloody  murderers. 

The  huge  and  supereminent  colossus  of  all,  was  the 
powder-treason  ;  the  utmost  point  of  all  villany  ; 
beyond  which,  it  is  an  unknown  land ;  no  man  can 
devise  what  should  be  between  it  and  hell.  The 
butchery  over  all  France  of  above  sixty  thousand 
protcstants,  might  be  pictured  in  the  pope's  palace 
by  the  painter's  art;  but  what  colours  could  have 
expressed  this  confusion  ?  As  a  learned  divine  hath 
amplified  it :  What  stain  could  shadow  the  blood  of 
so  royal  princes?  What  red  describe  the  gore  of  so 
noble  Christians?  What  black,  the  darkness  of  that 
day  ?  AVhat  azure,  the  terribleness  of  that  fire  ? 
What  invention  imitate  the  noise  of  that  infernal 
blow,  louder  than  many  cannons  ;  and  the  shrieks  of 
so  many  innocents,  with  the  misery  of  infants  yet 
unborn?  This  was  a  death  never  to  be  painted  to 
the  life  :  nor  pen,  nor  pencil,  nor  art,  nor  heart  can 
comprehend  it.  What  an  infamy  strikes  upon  our 
age,  to  bear  the  dale  of  such  inii)ieties  !  To  have  it 
recorded  to  posterity,  in  such  a  time  was  such  a  trea- 
.son  !  The  earth  shall  not  hide  it  from  the  heavens, 
nor  the  heavens  abstract  it  from  the  earth ;  it  shall 
be  the  detestable  hatred  of  all  generations  to  the 
«nd  of  the  world. 

Yet  still  hath  the  Lord  protected  our  govennnent, 


by  preserving  our  governor,  even  against  the  malice 
of  our  enemies,  and  (which  is  worse)  the  wickedness 
of  ourselves.  Therefore  let  us  praise  God  for  our  go- 
vernment, and  we  praise  him  for  all :  let  us  love  and 
serve  our  governor,  and  we  love  and  serve  God  who 
hath  given  us  all.  Let  us  serve  him  with  our  fields 
and  vineyards  for  his  maintenance,  with  our  lives  and 
strengths  for  his  defence,  especially  with  our  prayers 
and  supplications  for  his  safety. 


Verse  10. 

Pie^umpluou)!  are  they,  ielf-icilled,  they  are  not  of  raid 
to  speali  evil  of  dignities. 

Presumption  is  a  deliberate  and  wilful  sinning, 
against  conscience,  example,  or  warning.  Deliberate, 
with  premeditation ;  for  eveiy  rash  act  or  word  is 
not  presumption,  Matt.  xxvi.  7'1-  Wilful ;  not  when 
we  are  overborne  by  compulsory  means,  2  Sara.  xv. 
11.  Against  conscience;  not  when  our  persuasion 
apprehends  the  thing  (that  is  evil)  for  good,  1  Tim. 
i.  13.  Against  example,  when  men  see  others  plagued 
for  such  offences,  2  Kings  i.  12.  Against  warning, 
as  Pharaoh  after  so  many  admonitions  would  not 
dismiss  Israel.  This  is  to  presume.  Some  man  sins, 
and  thinks  not  of  it ;  which  is  to  stumble  and  fall  on 
plain  ground.  Some  man  sins,  and  knows  not  of  it ; 
as  he  may  have  a  mole  on  his  back,  and  yet  think 
his  skin  clear.  Some  man  sins,  and  is  forced  to  it ; 
this  is,  as  when  he  rows  upward,  and  the  stream 
carries  him  downward.  Another  sins,  and  is  per- 
suaded he  does  well ;  as  children  are  sent  abroad  in 
such  frosty  mornings,  as  rather  obstruct  than  purify : 
so  the  silly  papist  does  his  devotions  before  a  cruci- 
fix; and  too  many  rob  the  church  to  relieve  thq 
poor.  There  is  a  mischief  done  on  set  purpose  :  He 
that  presumptuously  slays  his  neighbour,  tliou  shah 
fetch  him  from  mine  altar  that  he  may  die,  Exod. 
xxi.  14._  Pluck  him  from  the  altar,  his  book  shall 
not  save  him. 

Presumption  hath  been  no  rare  sin  among  men  : 
the  first  stone  of  which  demonstration,  we  lay  in  the 
tower  of  Babel ;  where  mortal  men,  in  the  face  of 
Heaven,  dared  to  the  combat  Omnipotency  itself. 
Multitudes  and  combination  give  encouragement  to 
presumptuous  attempts,  and  every  one  is  proud  to  be 
I'orwardest ;  Come,  let  us  build  us  a  tower,  whose  top 
may  reach  unto  heaven.  Gen.  si.  4.  They  were  but 
newly  come  down  from  the  hill  to  the  plain,  and  now 
in  the  plain  they  purpose  to  build  up  a  hill.  They 
were  as  near  to  heaven  in  the  mountain  of  Armenia, 
as  their  tower  could  make  them  in  the  valley  of 
Shinar;  but,  as  if  the  benefit  of  nature  were  too  con- 
temptible, their  ambition  must  have  an  artificial 
mountain  of  their  own  raising.  Come,  let  us  build : 
fondly  reckoning  without  God ;  as  if  nothing  coidd 
hinder  what  they  intended  to  do  ;  as  if  both  lime 
and  earth  had  been  theirs.  Build  a  city  :  if  they 
had  taken  God  with  them,  this  had  been  commend- 
able ;  a  city  is  the  seat  of  order,  and  so  could  not 
displease  the  God  of  order.  But  a  tower  reachable 
to  lieaven !  how  sottish  was  this  arrogance,  how- 
impious  this  presumption !  who  would  think,  that 
little  ants  creeping  on  this  greater  molehill,  should 
think  of  climbing  to  heaven  by  multiplying  of  earth  ? 

Korah  conspires  against  meek  Moses  :  he  had  seen 
others  fearfully  plagued  for  such  rebellions ;  himself 
had  particular  warning  to  decline  it ;  the  people 
were  charged  to  depart  from  their  tents,  Numb.  xvi. 
2G :  who  would  not  Iioue,  that  those  mutineers,  seeing 


Ver.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


429 


tlieir  adherents  fly  oflT,  as  from  monsters,  would  now 
relent?  Yea,  wlien  God  proclaims  a  strange  and 
immediate  vengeance,  howsoever  before  they  set  a 
face  on  the  matter,  one  would  think  their  hearts 
should  now  have  misgiven  them.  Yet,  as  if  Moses 
had  never  wrought  miracle  before  them,  as  if  no 
Israelite  had  perished  for  rebelling,  they  stand  in 
their  doors,  impudently  staring,  as  if  they  would 
outface  the  revenge  of  God.  Here  was  high  jirc- 
sumption.  So  dolli  pride  and  infidelity  obdure  and 
blind  the  heart,  that  those  who  are  naturally  cowards 
become  unnatural  rebels.  So  Pharaoh,  being  tired 
and  imdone  with  succession  of  judgments,  at  last  lets 
Israel  go.  Gone  they  are,  and  Egypt  seemed  so 
glad  to  be  rid  of  them,  that  they  hired  their  departure. 
Yet  no  sooner  were  their  backs  turned  to  go,  than 
Pharaoh's  heart  was  turned  to  fetch  ihem  bat-k  again. 
It  vcxeth  him  to  see  so  great  a  command,  so  much 
wealth,  cast  away  in  one  night ;  and  he  will  redeem  it 
though  with  more  ])lagues.  There  is  no  remedy, 
this  presumption  will  not  let  him  be  in  quiet ;  he 
must  after  them,  to  fetch  his  own  destruction.  Who 
would  not  have  looked,  that  the  hand  of  Benjamin 
should  have  been  first  upon  Gibeah,  and  requited  the 
morsels  of  the  abused  concubine,  with  the  heads  of 
the  ravishers?  yet,  instead  of  pursuing  the  sin,  they 
defend  the  sinners ;  and  will  rather  perish  in  resist- 
ing, than  live  in  doing  justice,  Judg.  xs.  13.  How 
horrible  was  this  presumption,  to  defend  a  rape  linto 
death,  with  arms  unto  blood!  As  if  they  were  in 
love  with  villany,  and  out  of  charity  with  God,  they 
are  champions  for  Belial. 

1.  There  be  some  that  presume  of  safety  in  sin, 
not  doubting  to  fare  well,  while  they  fear  not  to  do 
ill :  as  if  this  world  were  to  last  ever,  and  the  com 
and  tares  were  never  to  be  parted;  because  the  same 
ground  feeds,  and  wind  blows  on  them,  for  a  time, 
Eccl.  ix.  2.  But,  say  tlicy,  God  is  merciful.  He 
is  infinitely  merciful,  but  withal  infinitely  just.  He 
is  just  even  to  those  humble  souls  that  shall  be 
saved ;  and  he  will  be  merciful,  while  presumptuous 
sinners  go  to  hell.  It  is  to  be  feared,  tliat  many  die 
with  a  fond  presumption  of  mercy  in  their  minds,  as 
the  Israelites  with  meat  in  their  mouths.  But  Christ 
died  for  us,  we  put  all  on  his  reckoning.  Answ.  But 
they  for  whom  ho  pays,  will  not  presumptuously 
lavish  on  his  score ;  not  caring  what  they  spend,  be- 
cause he  is  able  to  pay  for  all.  His  blood  is  a  charter 
of  pardon,  but  withal  a  covenant  of  direction  :  Crux 
Christi  pendentis,  cathedra  magistri  docenlis,  The 
cross  of  a  Christ  hanging  there,  is  the  chair  of  a 
master  teaching  there.  He  that  rcfuseth  to  live  as 
that  covenant  prescribes,  he  may  perish  as  a  male- 
factor, that  is  hanged  with  his  pardon  about  his  neck. 
But  repentance  makes  all  even,  otherwise  God  is  not 
so  good  as  his  word :  At  what  time  soever  a  sinner  re- 
pents. This  the  common  people  make  their  neek- 
vcrsc.  Indeed  there  is  that  and  many  other  gracious 
promises  made  to  repentance :  but  in  the  whole  book 
of  God,  which  is  now  published  conipkte,  and  pro- 
mises  no  second  edition,  we  find  no  infallible  promise 
of  repentance.  He  that  hath  this  oil  in  his  lamp, 
shall  enter  in  with  the  Bridegroom;  but  he  that  for- 
gets this  oil,  and  can  buy  none,  must  be  shut  out. 
Joseph  and  Mary  lost  Christ  not  a  full  day  before 
ihey  missed  him,  yet  were  four  days  ere  they  could 
fiml  him :  some  lose  him  forty  or  fifty  years,  yet  when 
they  are  sick,  hope  to  find  him  in  half  an  hour. 

2.  Tliere  be  some  that  attempt  things  without 
warrant,  or  expect  things  without  promise';  this  is 
the  common  presumption  of  the  world.  And  they 
that  know  they  cannot  live  without  feeding,  nor 
change  places  without  moving,  yet  will  hope  to  be 
saved  without  practical  obedience.    Nor  let  us  secure 


ourselves  from  tliis  assault,  for  the  devil  hoped  to 
have  fastened  it  on  our  Saviour  himself;  persuading 
him  to  show  a  tumbling  trick,  for  the  winning  of  faith 
and  credit,  Matt.  iv.  6.  As  if  he  had  said.  Here  thou 
art  in  a  famous  city,  on  a  glorious  temple,  upon  an 
eminent  pinnacle ;  all  men's  eyes  are  fixed  on  thee  ; 
there  can  be  no  readier  way  to  spread  thy  glory,  and 
proclaim  thy  Deity,  than  by  this  precipitation'.  All 
the  world  shall  see  and  say,  there  is  more  in  thee 
than  a  man  :  and  for  danger,  there  can  be  none  ;  what 
can  hurt  the  Son  of  God  ?  have  not  the  angels  charge 
by  Divine  commission,  to  guard  thee  ?  Christ  scorns 
to  gratify  him  in  this  ;  but  beats  him  with  his  own 
weapon,  snatched  out  of  his  abusive  hands  ;  "  It  is 
written,  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord."  True,  God 
hath  taken  this  care,  and  given  this  charge  ;  he  will 
have  his  children  kept,  but  not  in  their  sins :  they 
may  trust  in  him,  tiicy  may  not  tempt  him  :  he 
meant  to  encourage  their  faith,  not  to  imbolden  their 
presumption.  Wlien  there  be  mediate  means,  to  cast 
ourselves  upon  an  immediate  Providence,  is  not  faith, 
but  audacious  disobedience. 

We  have  some  that  be  called  The  wits ;  they  dis- 
dain to  hear  a  sermon,  unless  the  preacher  can  teach 
them  some  abstruse  learning;  as  if  they  were  only  to 
be  made  philosophers,  not  Christians.  It  is  a  wonder 
if  they  ever  come  to  the  Lord's  supper,  because  they 
see  no  more  dainties  but  bread  and  wine.  Sure,  if 
they  had  known  of  it,  they  would  not  have  becnbai>- 
tized  in  the  church,  because  they  had  water  enough 
at  home.  Presumptuous  men,  are  they  wiser  than 
God  ?  Faith  comes  by  hearing,  and  salvation  by 
faith,  Rom.  x.  9,  17 ;  these  be  tlie  stairs  for  tliem  to 
climb  heaven,  or  all  their  wit  shall  never  bring  them 
thither.  They  know  a  shorter  cut,  have  found  out  a 
new  way  in  their  wisdom ;  but  God  keep  us  from 
that  wisdom.  Some  vulgars,  not  out  of  an  opinion  of 
their  own  knowledge  and  sufHciency,  but  for  mere 
tardily  and  averseness  from  the  labours  of  religion, 
make  their  chamber  or  the  field  their  church;  be- 
cause the  preacher  can  say  but  this.  Repent,  and  be- 
lieve ;  and  this  they  do,  therefore  hope  to  be  saved  as 
well  as  the  best.  Senseless  presumption  !  as  if  they 
hoped  to  keep,  what  they  willingly  cast  away :  as  if 
the  soul  which  hath  been  so  many  years  gathering 
rust,  should  be  found  bright  when  death  draws  it  out 
of  the  scabbard ;  or  that  land  could  bear  wheat,  which 
was  never  tilled.  Nay,  but  hear,  read,  pray,  medi- 
tate ;  and  that  with  frequency,  with  fervency  :  pre- 
sume not  to  be  good  by  any  other  way  than  God 
hath  jiromised  to  make  thee  good ;  lest  thy  soul  going 
out  of  thy  body,  find,  with  wonder  and  amazement, 
how  it  wasmistaken  in  the  body.  We  may  challenge 
God  on  his  promise,  we  may  not  strain  him  beyond 
it :  presumption  is  the  enemy  of  faitli. 

3.  There  be  some  that  take  their  salvation  without 
all  question,  and  are  so  sure  of  heaven  that  they 
never  doubt  the  contrary ;  and  this  is  presumption. 
Every  good  grace  hath  its  counterfeit :  if  in  the  faith- 
fill  there  be  a  modest  but  infallible  assurance  of  their 
blessedness  in  Christ,  the  carnal  will  be  blown  up 
with  an  impudent  arrogance,  as  if  their  footing  was 
as  sure  in  heaven  as  any  man's.  AVhich  way  went 
the  Spirit  of  God  from  me  to  thee?  said  a  false  pro- 
phet to  a  true,  and  smote  him  withal,  2  Chron.  xviii. 
23.  Which  way  ?  Even  by  that  injurious  blow,  by 
that  proud  speech,  it  departed,  if  it  had  been  there 
before.  "  God,  I  thank  thee,  that  I  am  not  as  other 
men,"  Luke  xviii.  1 1  :  as  if  there  were  no  question, 
but  the  Pharisee  was  one  of  God's  special  favourites. 
Will  he  accept  of  heaven  without  entreaty,  trow  we  ? 
or  change  places  with  any  saint  there  without  boot  ? 

That  we  may  not  be  cozened  with  this  imposture, 
obsen-e  some  difTercnces  betwixt  presumption  and 


430 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


assurance.  First,  j)resumption  is  natural,  tins  assur- 
ance is  supernatural :  we  were  bom  with  that,  we  are 
new-born  to  thi.s :  that  was  the  legacy  of  Adam,  this 
of  Christ.  Secondly,  presumption  submits  not  itself 
to  ordinary  means,  assurance  refuseth  no  means  of 
being  made  better.  Thirdly,  presumption  is  without 
all  doubting,  assurance  feels  many  perplexities :  he 
that  doubts  not  of  his  estate,  his  estate  is  much  to  be 
doubted  of.  Fourthly,  presumption  is  joined  with 
looseness  of  life,  persuasion,  with  a  tender  conscience : 
that  dares  sin  because  it  is  sure,  this  dares  not,  for 
fear  of  losing  assurance  :  that  makes  no  more  of  sin- 
ning, but  at  once  gets  a  pardon  for  the  old  and  a 
licence  for  the  new ;  this  is  like  some  sovereign 
waters,  which  not  only  cleanses  the  ulcer,  but  cools 
the  heat,  stays  the  infection,  and  by  degrees  heals  it. 
Persuasion  will  not  sin,  because  it  cost  her  Saviour 
so  dear ;  ])resumption  will  sin,  because  grace  doth 
abound.  The  one  turns  grace  into  wantonness,  the 
other  turns  from  wantonness  to  grace.  Humility 
is  the  way  to  heaven.  The  publican  went  away 
rather  justified  :  while  he  durst  not  open  his  eyes 
to  look  up  unto  heaven,  he  opened  the  eyes  of  Hea- 
ven to  look  down  upon  him.  They  that  are  proudly 
secure  of  their  going  to  heaven,  do  not  so  often 
come  thither,  as  they  that  are  afraid  of  their  going 
to  hell. 

Let  us  come  to  particulars,  that  pointing  the 
finger,  we  may  say.  This  is  a  presumptuous  man. 
Nathan's  parable  made  David  sensible  of  the  sin,  but 
he  found  not  the  sinner  in  his  own  bosom,  without 
a  "Thou  art  the  man."  Presumption  hath  neither 
the  fear  of  the  Lord,  nor  a  regard  for  the  world ;  it 
fears  nor  God  nor  man,  Luke  xviii.  2 ;  and  is  here 
fitly  ranked  with  despising  of  government.  If  Sam- 
son break  the  city  gates,  what  withs  can  hold  him  ? 
Those  whom  conscience  cannot  bind,  man's  law  will 
hardly  hamper.  God  knows  how,  when,  and  where 
to  revenge  his  own  cause ;  but  man,  whose  eyes  be 
limited,  must  be  informed  of  offences,  before  he  can 
find  matter  fur  justice :  therefore  preachers  are  not 
only  to  teach  men  obedience  to  God,  to  save  their 
souls,  but  also  to  governors,  to  save  their  bodies  and 
estates.  I  will  therefore,  for  a  taste,  single  out  some 
instances  of  presumption. 

1.  Incorrigible  beggars,  such  as  make  themselves 
a  noti  obslanle,  and,  in  spite  of  all  laws,  will  not 
be  confined  to  any  regular  course.  Presumptuous 
wretches,  that  have  set  themselves  both  without  the 
covenant  of  God  and  the  government  of  man.  Silly 
officers  are  afraid  to  meddle  with  them,  because  they 
are  poor  ;  but  they  be  deceived,  for  these  be  not  the 
poor,  but  the  worst  robbers  of  the  poor  that  be ;  we 
may  rank  them  with  usurers,  enclosers,  engrossers, 
and  oppressing  landlords.  This  is  the  reason  that 
the  poor  indeed  do  want  it,  because  these  counter- 
feits snatch  it ;  men  that  labour  hard,  often  lack 
bread  for  their  families,  whilst  these  that  refuse  all 
work,  are  full.  I  sjieak  not  against  the  poor,  but 
for  the  poor;  not  to  harden  your  hearts,  but  to  rec- 
tify your  hands  :  give,  and  be  blessed  for  it,  but  not 
to  maintain  impiety,  and  dishonour  to  your  country  ; 
give  to  the  poor,  not  to  them  that  rob  the  jioor. 
Let  me  dissect  this  carcass  of  presumption. 

(1.)  There  is  no  likelihood  that  many  of  them 
were  ever  christened ;  if  they  were,  scarce  any  of 
them  ever  come  to  know  what  Christianity  means. 
The  church  and  tlicy  are  everlasting  strangers  ; 
nearer  than  to  the  doors,  at  some  dole  or  funeral, 
you  shall  not  have  them.  They  name  not  Christ, 
but  when  they  beg  of  you,  and  know  it  not  for  any 
other  purpose.  Thoy  can  marry  without  a  priest, 
and  divorce  themselves  without  a  canonist.  There 
need  no  ecclesiastical  censures,  they  excommunicate  I 


themselves  from  all  churches.  No  minister  hath  the 
charge  of  their  souls,  for  they  are  of  no  parish :  all 
the  articles  of  their  faith  be  the  terms  of  their  cant- 
ing language.  Tlius  they  live  without  Christ  in  this 
world,  and,  without  him,  perish  in  the  world  to  come. 

(2.)  Vagrants  they  are,  and  will  so  remain;  it  is  a 
death  to  them  to  be  confined  to  any  set  dwelling : 
ask  them  where  they  dwell ;  alas,  they  say,  they 
have  small  dwelling ;  yet  they  have  the  largest 
dwelling  of  all,  for  they  dwell  every  where :  to  keep 
one  town,  is  their  bondage  ;  their  liberty,  to  roam 
abroad  :  worse  than  the  harlot,  she  cannot  abide 
long  in  her  own  house,  Prov.  vii.  II,  they  can  abide 
long  in  no  house.  Birds  fly  abroad  all  day,  but  so 
that  they  may  come  to  their  own  nests  at  night ;  the 
horse  knows  his  own  stable,  dogs  their  own  kennel ; 
these  beasts  only  take  up  the  next  bam :  no  men 
could  make  a  truer  description  of  the  kingdom,  were 
they  learned,  for  they  have  travelled  it  over  and  over. 

(3.)  Government  they  know  none,  but  a  rebellious 
one  of  their  own  ordaining :  to  pay  tribute  or  cus- 
tom to  the  grand  rogue  more  truly  than  subsidies 
are  paid  to  the  kin^:  to  swear  by  their  Solomon, 
and  then  not  to  break  their  oath  ;  but  to  tear  God's 
name  in  pieces,  is  no  breach  of  their  religion :  not 
to  beg  out  of  their  limits,  though  they  starve. 

(4.)  All  their  end  of  this  idle  life,  is  but  because 
they  find  profit  and  sweetness  in  it ;  therefore  they 
wander,  because  they  would  not  work.  He  that  be- 
fore he  gives  them  relief,  sets  them  to  labour,  shall 
never  after  find  them  at  his  door.  Now  considering 
God's  law,  that  ever)-  man  should  eat  his  own  bread, 
and  that  our  indulgence  is  the  nui'se  of  their  idle- 
ness, who  get  more  by  lying  still  in  a  corner  than  an 
honest  poor  man  doth  by  his  labour,  we  make  their 
sin  our  sin  in  maintaining  them.  Alms  are  good, 
but  they  must  not  be  given  to  the  dishonour  of 
Christ ;  he  commends  to  us  the  maimed,  the  lame, 
the  blind,  Luke  xiv.  13,  the  aged  and  impotent,  the 
widow  and  fatherless  ;  to  relieve  these  shall  make  us 
blessed.  But  they  that  look  for  a  reward  for  main- 
taining the  dissolute,  shall  be  answered  with,  "Who 
required  this  at  your  hands  ?  Where  find  they 
more  cherishing  than  in  popish  houses  ?  Not  to 
merit  of  God,  as  they  teach,  and  we  might  suppose ; 
but  to  make  them  their  own  against  a  day  of  rebel- 
lion, when  they  should  use  them.  But  as  a  finger 
being  cut  ofl'  from  the  hand  is  of  no  use,  so  no  pos- 
sible good  can  come  to  the  common  body  by  them. 
They  laugh  at  others,  who  take  great  pains  to  leave 
their  children  small  portions ;  whereas  these  leave 
theirs  all  the  world  to  rogue  in,  and  all  the  people 
for  their  fathers. 

(5.)  The  curse  of  God  is  visibly  upon  them,  where- 
by they  are  given  over  to  all  licentiousness.  To 
thievery:  they  come  to  pilfer,  not  to  be^;  and  only 
then  beg,  when  they  cannot  pilfer.  Toliorrible  un- 
clcanness:  they  have  not  peculiar  wives,  nor  range 
themselves  into  families.  To  be  a  vagabond  was 
Cain's  plague,  Gen.  iv.  12,  and  is  in  its  own  nature  a 
curse;  yet  these  turn  it  into  a  blessing.  "Let  his 
children  be  vagabonds,  and  beg ;  let  them  seek 
bread  out  of  their  desolate  places,"  Psal.  cix.  10. 
In  this  curse  they  bring  up  their  children.  This  is 
such  a  straggling  presumption,  as  will  not  be  con- 
fined but  in  hell.  They  delight  to  go  ragged  and 
naked,  not  so  much  in  a  voluntary  penance,  as  to 
move  compassion.  But  turn  your  charily  from  these, 
and  seek  out  God's  poor,  not  the  devil's ;  impotent 
poor,  not  impudent  poor;  and  rather  give  to  those 
that  work  and  beg  not,  than  to  those  that  beg  and 
work  not. 

2.  Popish  emissaries,  the  intelligencers  of  Rome, 
and  the  factors  of  antichrist;   that  know  themselves 


Ver.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


431 


sent  on  the  errand  of  hell,  designed  to  treacheries, 
set  in  the  vanguard  of  conspiracy,  like  lost  men  in  the 
forlorn  hope  ;  what  are  these  but  presumptuous  sin- 
ners ?  I  deny  not  other  attractives  and  inducements  ; 
but  they  are  all  the  handmaids  to  presumption.  Whe- 
ther it  be  the  opukncy  of  our  land,  or  the  beauty  of  our 
women,  or  the  malice  they  bear  our  nation,  or  the  fool- 
ish alfoctat  ion  of  niarly  rdom,  and  to  be  registered  in  the 
Roman  rubric:  it  is  not  unlikely,  they  are  tickled  with 
that  advantage,  which  the  friar  told  his  novice  their 
priests  had  over  theirlaity,  to  this  effect:  We  keep  their 
counsels,  they  keep  none  of  ours ;  w-e  have  part  of 
their  lands,  they  have  none  of  ours;  we  have  charity 
towards  their  wnvcs,  they  toward  none  of  ours;  they 
bring  up  our  children,  we  bring  up  none  of  theirs. 
It  is  reported  to  be  the  saying  of  a  great  marquis, 
that  he  had  in  his  country  three  monasteries,  which 
were  three  miracles :  one  of  the  Dominicans,  which 
had  abundance  of  com,  and  no  lands  ;  another  of  the 
Franciscans,  who  were  full  of  money,  and  received  no 
rents  ;  a  third  of  St.  Thomas,  whose  monks  had  many 
children,  and  no  wives.  But  what  temptation  soever 
brings  them,  treason  cannot  be  without  presumption. 
Their  supreme  head  sends  them  like  base  members 
on  such  desperate  services  ;  and  they  must  obey  him, 
whatsoever  Christ  says.  If  he  bid  them  seal  (heir 
treason  with  a  sacrament,  they  must  eat  their  God  upon 
a  bargain  of  blood.  St.  Peter  says,  "  Fear  God,  honour 
the  king,"  1  Pet.  ii.  17;  his  usurping  successor  says, 
FearGod.kill  theking.  All  theirlabourmust  bespent, 
to  make  Christ's  coat  fit  to  their  body  politic.  Their 
vows  may  seem  heavenly,  but  their  employment  is 
earthly  :  in  meddling  with  the  business  both  of  church 
and  state,  they  mingle  together  heaven  and  earth. 

What,  doth  their  conscience  warrant  them,  upon 
opinion  of  merit?  Can  this  bear  them  out  to  be  false 
keys  to  open  the  cabinets  of  princes,  and  pi-y  into 
their  counsels  ?  Did  ever  man  nope  to  deserve  thanks 
of  God,  by  doing  that  which  he  knows  will  offend 
him  ?  They  see  laws  made  against  their  pernicious 
attempts,  and  that  justly ;  for  there  is  no  law  made 
against  the  papists,  but  some  notorious  treason  went 
before,  to  cause  such  a  law.  They  that  venture  their 
bodies  and  souls  in  so  rotten  a  vessel  of  piracy,  are 
they  not  presumptuous?  He  that  runs  on  high  bat- 
tlements, gallops  down  steep  hills,  rides  over  narrow 
bridges,  walks  on  weak  ice ;  and  never  thinks,  What 
if  I  fall?  but.  What  if  I  nass  over  and  fall  not?  is 
he  not  presumptuous?  They  see  before  their  eyes 
such  designs  continually  cursed  of  God  and  plagued 
of  men;  yet  what  say  they  of  the  powder-traitors? 
Alas,  unfortunate  gentlemen ;  it  seems  they  blame 
the  ill  fortune, not  the  ill  attempt :  had  itsucceeded, 
it  had  been  commended.  Yet  they  will  on :  what 
can  discourage  senseless  presumption?  show  him  the 
way  where  any  foot  hath  trod,  he  dares  follow,  though 
he  knows  none  ever  returned.  What  if  a  thousand 
have  miscarried,  yet  why  may  he  not  escape  ? 

Thus  presumptuous  are  they  in  their  deeds,  but 
how  desperate  in  their  writings  !  They  mingle  them 
with  heresies,  as  Hannibal,  to  entrap  his  enemies, 
mixed  their  wine  with  mandrakes,  whose  operation 
isbetwixt  sleep  and  poison.  (Avcrroes.)  OrasAvicen 
was  made  away,  by  anointing  the  book  with  poison 
which  he  was  to  read.  (Greg.)  If  they  wrote  nothing 
bufliis,  all  would  reject  them  ;  if  nothing  but  truth, 
they  could  not  deceive  us.  All  their  blasphemies 
and  falsehoods  are  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  like  Ralj- 
shakch's,  2  Kings  xviii.  26;  but  the  gospel  of  salva- 
tion they  lock  up  safe  enough  from  the  pcoplp.  Let 
the  best  learned  use  their  writings,  as  Christ  did  his 
potion  of  gall  ;  he  tasted  and  refused.  Gentle 
writings  are  not  so  dangerous,  for  they  be  but  dead 
errors;  and  a  living  cur  will  do  more  harm  than  a 


dead  lion.  What  trust  should  be  given  to  those  men, 
that  will  presume  to  cast  away  themselves,  to  do  us 
a  mischief? 

3.  Duellists  or  single  combatants  ;  that  more  fear 
to  have  the  world  call  them  cowards  for  refusing, 
than  God  to  judge  them  rebels  for  undertaking:  blanch 
it  with  what  terms  of  honour  they  please,  the  court  of 
lieaven  will  censure  it  presumption.  Where  did  God 
ever  bid  a  man  hazard  his  life  for  his  name  ?  What 
seconds  soever  he  gets,  Christ  will  not  be  that  man's 
second.  Where  is  no  commandment,  no  promise, 
what  can  justify  that  act  from  presumption  ?  This 
is  to  cast  a  man's  self  out  of  his  Maker's  protection : 
he  takes  charge  of  us  but  when  we  are  in  our  ways, 
in  his  ways.  This  is  none  of  God's  ways,  therefore 
should  be  none  of  ours.  The  doctrine  of  Christ  doth 
most  strictly  forbid  it,  and  why  should  not  Christ  be 
heard  of  Christians  ?  Thou  shalt  not  revenge  thy- 
self.  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder.  Did  he  die  for  us, 
and  shall  we  not  hear  him  speak?  Men  maybe 
overcome  if  they  fight,  they  shall  overcome  if  they 
fight  not.  How  many  souls  had  escaped  going 
all  gore-blood  to  their  judgment,  if  Christ  might 
have  been  heard ! 

But  tliey  say.  We  fight  not  so  much  against  an 
enemy,  as  our  own  ignominy  ;  the  world  will  baffle  us. 
j^insw.  What  world  is  that,  whose  censure  or  baffling 
we  fear  ?  That,  which  God  says  shall  not  be  saved  ? 
That,  whereof  the  devil  is  prince  ?  That,  >\  hich  re- 
proached and  condemned  Jesus  Christ  ?  That,  which 
always  hated  and  persecuted  the  good?  Are  we  in 
amity  with  that,  which  is  at  enmity  with  God?  Do 
we  call  Christ  our  Captain,  and  march  under  the 
colours  of  this  world  ?  Have  we  not  in  baptism  for- 
sworn it  ?  Shall  we  care  more  to  discontent  the 
world,  than  to  wrong  our  Maker  ?  What  then  is  the 
ground  of  it  ?  Mere  opinion,  and  that  of  men  more 
gallant  than  wise,  that  have  more  heart  than  brain  : 
Facile  redimuni  qui  sanguine  famam,  says  Martial ; 
i.  e.  that  spend  their  cheap  "blood  to  recover  that 
which  wise  men  never  lost,  reputation.  They  have 
lost  some  credit  in  opinion,  and  send  their  souls  after 
in  earnest;  as  the  child  throws  away  his  bread,  be- 
cause one  hath  snatched  away  his  apple.  Wine  and 
choler  beget  a  brawl,  death  and  confusion  must  nurse 
it.  They  little  think  what  ransom  Christ  paid  for 
that  soul',  which  (without  his  call)  they  let  forth  at  a 
bloody  window. 

Oh' that  something  would  make  the  sons  of  men 
be  wise,  to  think  how  poor  a  recompence  the  fame  of 
a  brave  combat  is  for  everlasting  torment !  Whether 
they  thus  die  or  kill,  they  have  committed  murder: 
if  they  kill,  they  h,nve  murdered  another  ;  if  they  die, 
they  iiave  murdered  themselves.  Sui-viying,  there  is 
the  plague  of  conscience ;  dying,  there  is  the  plague 
of  torments.  If  they  both  escape,  yet  it  is  homicide 
that  they  meant  to  kill.  Whatsoever  be  the  success, 
there  is  presumption  in  the  offence.  If  men  knew 
how  sweet  was  heaven,  and  how  intolerable  hell, 
they  would  l)e  more  obedient  upon  earth.  But  what 
have  divines  to  do  with  the  matters  of  soldiers? 
Their  profession  is  peace.  True,  but  we  speak  from 
him,  that  is  not  only  the  Prince  of  peace,  but  also 
the  Lord  of  hosts.  He  is  the  God  of  peace  to  them 
that  seek  jjcace;  but  upon  them  that  follow  courses 
of  revenge,  he  will  revenge  too.  They  fight  one 
against  another,  God  will  fight  against  them  both. 
Who  is  the  valiant  man  ?  lie  that  dares  draw  his 
sword  against  the  command  of  his  Maker?  he  of 
whom  his  own  passion  makes  a  poor  slave?  No; 
but  he  that  can  pardon  an  injury,  do  good  to  an 
enemy,  despise  the  world,  obey  the  Lord ;  he  that 
can  master  himself,  and  loves  God's  honour,  not  his 
own  humour. 


432 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Cn.AP.  II. 


4.  I  could  single  out  many  others,  that  will  attempt 
hard  matters  because  they  be  great  and  rare,  that 
love  ventures  of  more  hazard  than  use.  You  have 
heard  of  some  that  undertake  a  long  journey  by  sea 
in  a  wherry ;  as  the  desperate  mariner  hoisteth  sail 
in  a  storm,  and  says,  none  of  his  ancestors  were  drown- 
ed. Some,  that  rush  fearlessly  into  infected  houses, 
and  say  the  plague  never  seizeth  on  valiant  blood,  it 
kills  none  but  cowards.  Some,  that  languishing  of 
sickness,  will  drink  away  their  diseases ;  and  so  make 
haste  to  despatch  both  body  and  soul  at  once.  Some, 
that  nm  headlong  into  danger,  and  fear  not ;  saying, 
it  comes  with  a  fear.  Some,  that  without  asking  leave 
of  God,  count  upon  trade,  and  gain,  and  purchasing, 
and  leaving  great  estates,  Jam.  iv.  13  ;  not  measuring 
their  intendments  by  their  powers,  but  wills.  If  all 
fall  right,  they  thank  themselves  ;  if  otherwise,  they 
do  not  blame  themselves.  No  man  promises  himself 
more,  nor  distrusts  himself  less,  than  the  presumptu- 
ous. Some,  tliat  have  distilled  away  their  estates  in 
alembics,  projecting  for  the  philosopher's  stone  ;  pre- 
suming they  shall  have  that  which  may  do  all  the 
world  good ;  and  promising  their  friends  beforehand 
gold  in  whole  scuttles  :  but  at  last  his  glass  breaks, 
and  himself  with  it.  Some,  that  presume  to  foretell 
the  changes  of  states,  the  event  of  all  the  great  under- 
takings of  princes,  the  fortunes  of  war,  what  weather 
we  shall  have  all  the  year ;  what  merchandise  will 
be  dear,  what  cheap  ;  (and  yet  for  all  this  knowledge, 
themselves  miserable  beggars ;)  so  familiarly,  as  if 
God  had  written  all  these  things  as  plain  in  the  stars, 
as  he  did  the  ten  commandments  on  the  two  tables. 

Some,  that  can  tell  the  secrets  of  kings,  the  myste- 
ries of  state,  and  yet  never  were  of  the  privy-council. 
Yea,  some  will  be  no  strangers  to  the  records  of 
heaven ;  as  if  that  great  Master  of  the  Rolls  had 
given  them  his  keys,  to  turn  over  his  books  and  copy 
them  out  at  their  pleasures.  This  is  a  diimken  pre- 
sumption of  our  times.  They  are  not  few  that  say 
in  their  hearts.  We  will  sin,  and  repent,  and  be  for- 
given :  if  we  do  well,  God  is  just  to  reward  us ;  if  ill, 
he  is  merciful  to  pardon  us.  Thus  it  is  a  question, 
whether  God  be  more  wronged  by  their  sins,  or  by 
their  praises;  whatsoever  they  undertake,  they  pre- 
sume God  will  defend  them.  But  while  we  want  his 
word,  in  vain  we  look  for  his  aid.  In  our  safest  and 
most  honest  courses,  we  need  his  providence ;  but  to 
run  into  confessed  dangers,  without  our  Keeper,  is 
sottish  presumption.  What  God  enjoins,  that  he 
undertakes,  that  he  maintains :  why  should  we  ex- 
pect him  a  guide  in  our  own  errors  ?  These  be  the 
worst  self-llatterers,  self-deceivers,  that  suggest  to 
their  own  hearts  the  false  hope  of  Never  too  late : 
as  if  they  could  make  time  stand  still,  who  waits 
not  the  leisure  of  princes  ;  or  command  repentance, 
which  knows  no  sovereign  but  the  King  of  heaven, 
and  goes  not  at  the  bidding  of  an  angel. 

How  desperately  presumptuous  are  they,  that  dare 
defer  the  prooirement  of  mercy  and  forgiveness,  till 
the  cxtremest  pinch,  as  it  were  betwixt  the  bridge 
and  the  brook  !  How  deploralile  is  the  false  confi- 
dence of  the  world,  when  to  make  their  reckoning  at 
the  last  day,  is  the  last  and  least  thing  that  they 
make  reckoning  of!  That  which  should  be  the 
whole  business  of  our  life,  these  hope  to  despatch  in 
half  an  hour.  Nothing  is  so  easy  with  them,  nothing 
so  dilTicult  with  all  others.  To  reconcile  God,  and 
make  him  their  friend  in  a  moment,  whom  they  have 
provoked,  and  kept  their  enemy  so  many  years,  this 
is  that  which  nothing  but  presumption  durst  ever  yet 
nndcrtake.  I  have  heard  of  castles  built  in  an  in- 
stant, by  enchantment ;  I  never  believed  it  :  such 
ca.stles  of  vain  hope  do  these  men  build  in  the  air  of 
their  own  empty  imaginations. 


Dehortations.  1.  It  is  a  sin  to  which  we  are  natu- 
rally prone ;  therefore  the  more  dangerous.  The 
house  of  Rimmon  was  Naaman's  fear ;  Lord,  keep 
me  there.  Soon  is  a  man  invited  to  make  much  of 
himself,  hardly  to  his  own  affliction.  Despair  is  a 
thing  grievous  to  trembling  nature ;  not  often  doth  that 
archer  of  hell  head  his  arrows  with  such  displeasing 
assaults.  Besides,  this  hath  often  turned  to  a  hearty 
conversion  :  like  a  violent  fever,  that  hath  boiled  up 
all  the  choler  and  corruption  of  sin,  so  that  a  man 
becomes  the  better  after  it.  But  to  presume,  this  is 
sweet  to  llesh  and  blood :  Ye  shall  be  as  gods,  foiled 
innocence  itself.  They  that  undertook  to  build  Ba- 
bel, did  it  to  get  them  a  name ;  not  affecting  the 
neighbourhood  of  heaven,  but  to  be  famous  on  earth  : 
their  aim  was  not  commodity,  or  safety,  but  glon,'. 
Satan  hath  not  a  more  tried  shaft  in  all  his  quiver, 
than  to  persuade  men  to  bear  themselves  boldly  upon 
the  favour  of  God.  Thou  art  elected,  redeemed,  as- 
sured; what  needest  thou  be  so  strict  in  thy  courses  ? 
Be  not  such  an  adversary  to  thy  own  liberty  :  thou 
mayst  sin,  and  be  safe.  As  if  the  grace  that  saves 
us,  and  the  obligation  of  duty  that  binds  us,  were  not 
several  parts  of  the  same  covenant.  Therefore  as  the 
wise  man  eats  moderately  of  the  dish  which  he  best 
likes,  because  he  knows  there  is  more  danger  of  sur- 
feit in  that  than  in  all  the  rest ;  so  let  us  be  most 
shy  and  heedful  of  that  sin,  which  we  know  will 
soonest  take  us,  and  take  God  from  us.  We  arc  all 
readier  to  laugh  with  the  merry  philosopher,  than  to 
weep  with  the  mourner.  Pleasure  never  knocks  twice 
at  our  door  without  entrance  ;  sorrow  shall  not  in,  so 
long  as  we  can  keep  it  out.  We  have  ten  fingers, 
and  but  two  eyes :  our  conversation  admits  ten  sins, 
before  our  contrition  lets  fall  two  tears.  Open  but 
the  door,  presumption  (like  a  bold  guest)  comes  in 
of  itself.  Repentance,  like  a  modest  virgin,  sits 
weeping  in  the  streets  for  want  of  harbour  ;  no  bosom 
hath  lodging  for  such  a  guest.  Only  when  we  feel 
ourselves  sick,  we  send  for  her  as  a  physician,  to  heal 
the  wounds  that  pleasure  hath  made.  But  rather  of 
the  two,  let  pleasure  be  shut  out  of  doors,  and  repent- 
ance be  laid  between  our  breasts. 

2.  God  especially  opposeth  this  sin,  because  this 
sin  especially  opposeth  him :  it  calls  the  Almighty 
forces  against  it,  because  it  bends  all  its  forces  against 
the  Almighty.  Diffidence  distrusts  him,  carelessness 
forgets  him,  unbelief  denies  him,  ignorance  does  not 
know  him,  infirmity  does  not  see  him,  wantonness 
passes  by  him ;  but  presumption  resists  him.  Herod 
is  blown  up  into  a  god:  he  did  but  take  that  title, he 
did  not  make  that  title ;  yet  because  he  did  not  re- 
pel the  applause  of  a  god,  the  worms  declare  him  a 
miserable  man.  There  be  sins  that  hurt  only  our- 
selves, sins  that  hurt  also  our  neighbours ;  but  this, 
as  if  it  had  the  Syrians'  charge,  1  Kings  xxii.  .'51, 
lets  drive  ;it  none'  but  the  King  of  all  the  world. 
Pride  ever  looks  at  the  highest;  "the  first  man  would 
know  as  God,  the  offspring  of  the  new  world  would 
dwell  as  God:  presumption  regards  no  limits.  What 
harm  could  be  in  laying  one  brick  upon  another;  in 
building  a  city  for  society,  a  tower  for  safety  ?  God 
had  not  indignation  at  the  matter,  but  the  manner  ; 
not  that  such  things  were  undertaken,  but  proudly 
undertaken.  "  The  soul  that  doeth  ought  presump- 
tuously, shall  be  cut  off,"  Numb.  xv.  30.  This  is  «he 
kindness  that  presumption  doth  a  man  j  it  will  never 
leave  him  till  it  hath  wrought  out  his  final  ruin. 
Though  Pharaoh's  back  were  sore  with  stripes,  yet 
he  must  still  presume  ;  he  cannot  be  quiet  without 
his  full  vengeance  :  as  filching  leaves  not  the  pilferer 
with  raw  sides,  but  brings  hira  to  a  broken  neck. 
Haman  can  be  content  with  no  advancement,  till  he 
be  lifted  up  fifty  cubits,  to  his  own  gallows.     Korah 


VtR.   10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


433 


will  not  disgorge  his  haughty  rebellion,  till  the  earth 
hiitli  swallowed  him  up  quick.  That  rich  man 
reckoned  up  a  hirge  bill  of  particulars,  great  barns, 
much  goods,  many  years;  but  the  sum  was  short, 
one  night,  Luke  xii.'lS — 20.  He  that  reckons  with- 
out God,  shall  be  sure  to  reckon  twice. 

.3.  It  is  a  foolish  sin.  Balaam  knew  that  lie  could 
not  cnrn  Balak's  gold;  yet  his  fingers  itched,  and  he 
will  go,  if  it  be  but  to  look  upon  it :  so  presumptuous 
is  avarice,  and  presumption  so  foolish!  Korah  knew 
by  exemplary  proof,  that  there  was  no  contesting 
with  Moses,  yet  his  proud  heart  will  venture  :  so  pre- 
sumptuous is  pride,  and  presumption  so  foolish  ! 
Aaron  and  Miriam  knew  themselves  short  of  Moses 
in  lionour,  yet  by  emulating  him  they  would  provoke 
God :  so  presumptuous  is  envy,  and  presumption  so 
foolish  !  Those  antique  builders  purjjose  a  tower  to 
reach  heaven,  and  what  if  the  height  had  answered 
their  desire?  some  hills  had  been  as  high  as  their 
hopes,  which  yet  are  no  whit  the  better.  The  nearer 
heaven,  the  more  subject  to  the  violences  of  heaven  ; 
Propius  ad  Jovem,  propius  ail  fulmen,  The  nearer  to 
Jupiter,  the  nearer  to  the  thunder.  Politic  wicked- 
ness would  keep  out  of  God's  fingers  ;  it  is  blockish 
im]>udence  that  runs  upon  his  pikes.  Yet  these 
aspirers  dare  venture  it :  so  presumptuous  is  vain- 
glory, and  presumption  so  foolish !  How  far  will 
men  presume  in  the  world  to  get  them  a  name  ;  and 
how  ridiculous  that  name  proves  when  it  is  gotten  ! 
Diana's  temple  was  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world  : 
one,  to  get  nim  a  name,  builtls  it ;  nnotlier,  to  get 
him  a  name,  burns  it.  Thus  Ahithophel  iiath  a 
name,  Judas  hath  a  name,  Beelzebub  hath  a  name, 
the  powder-traitors  have  got  them  a  name,  but  they 
are  famous  for  infamy.  It  were  some  happiness  for 
such  names  if  they  might  die,  for  they  will  stink 
while  they  live.  How  much  better  is  it  to  do  good 
works !  this  shall  make  our  names  good  and  honour- 
able on  earth.  To  believe  and  obey :  this  shall 
testify  our  names  written  in  heaven. 

Presumption  is  a  firework  made  up  of  pride  and 
fool-hardiness;  it  mounts  into  the  air  with  a  hissing 
noise,  and  the  matter  being  spent,  the  fool's  fire 
dies ;  it  comes  down  again  with  a  stink.  It  is  a  com- 
pound of  easy  credulity,  apt  to  believe  impossi- 
bilities ;  and  of  headlong  temerity,  apt  to  attempt 
unconceming  hazards;  and  of  blind  folly,  not  fore- 
seeing the  miserable  events.  Rash  in  undertaking, 
artless  in  proceeding,  desperate  in  the  ending.  It 
is  indeed  like  a  hca\-y  house  built  upon  slender 
crutches :  like  dust  which  men  throw  against  the 
wind,  it  flies  back  in  their  own  face,  and  makes 
th,.m  blind.  Wise  men  presume  nothing,  but  hope 
the  best;  but  presumption  is  hope  out  of  her  wits. 
The  presumptuous  man  begins  with  rashness,  gnd 
ends  with  shame;  like  one  that  gets  up  without  a 
bridle,  and  conies  down  without  a  stirrup.  It  de- 
lights to  sit  on  the  top  of  a  mast,  where  falling 
asleep,  the  downfal  is  confusion.  As  some  wild 
boy,  that  hath  gotten  a  horse  wilder  than  himself, 
with  much  ado  backs  him,  sits  him  in  fear,  and  comes 
down  with  a  mischief.  He  will  sail  upon  that  shelf, 
where  his  eyes  have  seen  another  ship  perish.  By 
arrogating  the  greatness  which  he  hath  not,  he  loseth 
the  goodness  wliich  he  had.  He  will  offer  to  teach 
them,  whose  office  is  to  teach  him ;  and  when  him- 
self is  wounded,  he  will  dress  his  surgeon.  He  looks 
for  reverence  from  his  belters;  and  that  when  he 
speaks,  three  women  .should  hold  their  peace;  and 
they,  for  noise,  are  suflicient  to  make  a  market. 

His   feet  carrv  his  heart,  and  his  tongue  carries 

his  feet,  and  botll  leave  out  the  head  in  their  project. 

He  does  not  care  to  do  good,  but  he  glories  in  having 

rule ;  he  presumes  himself  to  be  better  than  others, 

2F 


because  he  sees  himself  higher  than  others.  So  Inno- 
cent. He  forgets  those  to-day,  to  whom  he  was 
yesterday  beholden.  He  comes  to  council  uncalled, 
gives  his  opinion  unasked.  If  the  prince  motion, 
who  shall  do  such  business,  the  devil  could  not 
answer  more  roundly,  I  am  ready,  I  Kings  xxii.  21. 
He  censures  that  man  ignorant ;  and  calls  him 
(though  it  be  his  own  name)  audacious,  that  under- 
takes a  business  without  his  direction.  If  his  advice 
be  not  consulted,  the  design  is  given  for  lost.  He  is 
the  worst  Jesuit's  client  in  the  world,  for  he  will 
never  be  brought  to  confession.  Yet  pardon  the 
silence  of  his  tongue,  for  his  life  speaks  him.  When 
he  ofTers  to  shoot,  he  calls  for  no  bow  but  Robin 
Hood's. 

This  is  that  sin  which,  as  Cassian  says,  (Pquarc  an- 
f;c/um  Deo,  hominem  angelo  ;  i.  e.  would  have  deified 
angels,  and  angelized  men.  He  makes  laws  when 
he  should  learn  them,  and  vents  philosophy  ere  he 
have  read  his  grammar.  He  imagines  to  out  mount 
eagles  with  the  wings  of  a  bustard,  and  will  not  tarry 
till  he  be  fledged.  He  will  be  a  challenger  at  the 
Olympics;  and  there  he  leaves  his  carcass  and  a  base 
report  behind.  Xerxes  threatens  to  proclaim  war 
against  Greece;  one  of  his  presumptuous  fimiliars 
answers,  that  they  would  never  tany  the  message, 
but  he  should  find  empty  walls  when  he  came. 
.\nother,  that  they  wanted  sea-room  for  his  ships, 
and  land-room  for  his  soldiers.  Another,  that  his 
soldiers  there  would  grow  pursy  and  resty  for  want 
of  exercise.  But  Damaxatus  bade  him  not  presume ; 
Mulliludo  <]U(P  tibi  placet,  tibi  meluenda  est ;  i.  e.  Thy 
army  is  too  huge  to  manage  :  so  accordingly  he  re- 
tired with  dishonour  and  loss.  (Valerius  Maxim.) 
How  did  the  very  heathen  explode  this  \ncc  in  their 
proverbial  speeches  !  to  this  effect.  Either  less  mind, 
or  more  power.  Either  add  to  your  power,  or  sub- 
tract from  your  words.  Speak  not  great  things. 
(Plutarch.) 

Presumption  is  a  mischief  made  up  of  many  ingre- 
dients, to  which  every  vice  contributes  something, 
as  the  gods  did  to  Vulcan  toward  the  making  of  his 
Pandora,  -^s  many  vices  challenge  part  of  her,  as 
cities  did  of  Homer.  Ignorance  says.  She  is  mine. 
Pride  says,  She  is  mine.  Temerity  says.  She  is  mine. 
Vain-glory  says.  She  is  mine.  Cowardice  says.  She 
is  mine.  Impudence  says,  She  is  mine.  Profuseness 
says,  She  is  mine.  Either  presumption  is  beholden 
to  all  these  vices,  or  all  these  vices  are  beholden  to 

E resumption.     And  yet,  there  is  one  above  all,  that 
ath  more   right  to  her  than  all.    The  devil  says. 
She  is  mine ;  and  there  we  leave  her. 

"  Self-willed."  The  natural  and  unsanctificd  will 
of  man  is  hard  to  tame ;  worse  than  the  "  wild  ass, 
that  snuffs  up  the  wind  at  her  pleasure;  they  that 
seek  her  will  not  weary  themselves;  in  her  month 
they  shall  find  her,"  Jer.  ii.  24.  There  is  one  month 
in  the  year  to  take  her,  but  what  season  can  rectify 
this?  Other  creatures  God  hath  left  to  be  tamed 
by  man,  but  man  he  hath  reserved  to  be  tamed  by 
himself.  No  prince  can  tame  the  will :  he  may  load 
the  body  with  irons,  vex  the  sense  with  pains,  yea, 
surcharge  the  affections  with  sorrows;  yet  still  a 
man's  will  is  his  own  :  in  his  will  he  is  a  king,  even 
while  his  body  is  below  a  slave.  No  bonds  of  law 
can  hold  this  Samson  :  an  orator  here  is  more  potent 
than  an  emperor.  Temptation,  like  an  unhappy 
bride,  may  corrupt  the  will ;  when  power  may  com- 
mand, and  go  without.  I'alentior  fortuna  est  volun- 
tax,  says  Seneca ;  i.  c.  The  will  can  make  a  man's  life 
happy  or  wretched,  when  fortune  cannot  do  it.  It  is 
the  desire  of  our  will  only,  that  makes  us  miserable, 
and  so  much  the  more  miserable,  by  having  that 
desire  satisfied.   The  self-willed  man  needs  no  greater 


434 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  11. 


enemy  than  he  is  to  himself.  Suis  ipse  viribus  ruit. 
It  sets  itself  agoing ;  and  when  it  is  once  on  the 
wheels,  it  runs  faster  than  Satan  himself  can  drive  it. 

Stubborn,  obstinate,  such  as  will  break  before  they 
bow  ;  perverse,  curst-hearted,  that  will  do  evil  though 
they  be  sure  to  come  by  the  worst.  An  inflexible 
heart,  that  disdains  comparison  for  hardness  with 
the  nether  millstone.  A  delight  in  evil,  because  it  is 
evil;  an  habituating  of  errors  into  manners;  a  turn- 
ing of  infirmity  into  necessity,  by  a  desperate  cus- 
tom. Hugo  speaks  of  some  that  are  not  better  by 
correction,  some  that  are  worse  with  admonition, 
some  that  promise  amendment  and  never  mean  it ; 
as  if  they  could  flatter  and  delude  God  himself. 
_  It  is  distinguished  from  the  former  thus  :  Presump- 
tion was  never  before  cast  down ;  therefore  bears  up 
itself  proudly,  and  goes  on  to  do  evil.  But  this  is  a 
sin  that  hatli  been  formerly  corrected  ;  broken  before, 
yet  proceeds  in  wickedness.  That  was  wholly  pre- 
sumption ;  this  hath  not  a  little  of  desperation. 
When  a  man  hath  made  such  a  progress  in  sin,  that 
he  hopes  for  no  pardon,  he  cares  not  what  mischief 
he  doth.  As  a  desperate  malefactor,  that  fears  not 
to  multijily  villanous  acts,  because  he  knows  he  shall 
be  hanged  whensoever  he  is  taken. 

The  chief  cause  of  this  sin  lies  in  the  will  of  man. 
As  in  the  actions  of  God,  the  true  cause  is  to  be 
sought  for  in  himself;  and  of  the  works  of  Satan,  the 
cause  is  in  Satan  ;  so  man's  will  is  the  cause  of  man's 
wilfulness.  No  man  denies  but  God  hath  a  suffer- 
ing, forsaking,  disposing  hand  in  it,  Psal.  Ixxxi.  12 ; 
Acts  xiv.  16 ;  but  it  is  called  a  self-will,  because  it 
comes  immediately  from  a  man's  self,  regards  to 
please  nothing  but  himself,  and  fights  against  that 
which  opposeth  himself.  It  contradicts  the  will  of 
God,  with  a  Let  my  will  be  done.  The  fountain  of  all 
perverse  actions  is  man's  unholy  will.  This  is  the 
efficient  cause  of  evils  :  but  what  makes  the  will  so 
perverse  ?  what  is  the  efficient  cause  of  that  ?  The 
will  forsakes  the  Creator,  and  adheres  to  the  crea- 
ture, and  so  becomes  evil.  And,  as  Augustine  says, 
not  so  much  because  that  is  evil  to  wliich  it  turns 
itself,  but  because  the  very  turning  itself  is  depraved 
and  perverse.  Now  when  God  lets  go  the  will, 
Satan  catcheth  it ;  and  then  we  can  hardly  be  rid  of 
him,  who  is  both  willing  to  stay,  and  whom  we  are 
not  unwilling  to  keep. 

But  hath  not  every  man  a  will  to  be  saved?  Yes, 
a  confused  and  inconstant  will,  in  general  :  there 
are  none  but  wish  well  to  themselves  ;  and  they  that 
live  like  the  children  of  hell,  would  have  heaven 
when  they  die.  But  they  do  not  will  such  a  course 
of  life  as  may  bring  them  to  blessedness,  but  rather 
the  swing  of  their  own  lusts ;  therefore  when  they 
would  be  good  they  cannot.  When  it  wishes  it  can- 
not, because  when  it  could  it  would  not ;  therefore 
through  its  will  to  evil  it  lost  also  the  power  for  good. 
So  Augustine.  This  is  a  will  that  addicts  itself  to 
sin,  holds  it  with  all  the  powers;  that  does  mischief 
with  such  a  mind  as  is  ready  either  to  destroy  or  to 
perish ;  which  would  have  God  cither  not  to  know 
sins,  or  not  to  be  able  to  avenge  them,  as  Bernard 
expresses  it.  It  would  have  him  either  unable,  or 
unwise,  or  unjust,  and  indeed  no  God  at  all.  Rather 
than  he  will  leave  his  sensual  pleasure,  he  could 
wish  the  justice,  and  wisdom,  and  power  of  God  to 
pcrisli.  So  much  of  devil  is  in  tnis  will,  that  it 
would  ruin  the  infinite  Maker. 

This  sin  will  appear  in  the  full  malignity  of  it,  by 
the  remonslnince  of  some  instances.  I  will,  for  a 
taste,  cull  out  seven. 

1.  The  malicious  and  spiteful.  Observe  this  in 
Korah  and  his  confederates  against  Moses  and  Aaron : 
"  Yc  take  too  much  upon  you,  seeing  all  the  congre- 


gation are  holy :  wherefore  do  ye  lift  up  yourselves  ?  " 
Numb.  xvi.  3.  Eveiy  word  is  a  lie.  AH  Israel  holy ! 
In  so  much  infidelity,  idolatry,  mutiny,  disobedience, 
what  holiness  was  there  ?  If  this  were  sanctity, 
wliat  do  you  call  impiety  ?  They  had  scarce  wiped 
their  mouths,  or  washed  their  hands,  since  their  last 
rebellion ;  yet  these  pickthanks  say,  all  Israel  is 
holy.  And  for  Moses,  he  dejected  himself;  it  was 
God  that  lifted  him  up  :  he  was  as  far  from  ambition, 
as  they  were  from  sanctification  and  humility.  He 
sends  for  them,  they  come  not,  and  their  message  is 
worse  than  their  absence.  "  Is  it  a  small  thing  that 
thou  hast  brought  us  up  out  of  a  land  that  floweth 
with  milk  and  honey,  to  kill  us  in  the  wilderness, 
except  thou  make  thyself  a  prince  over  us  ?"  ver.  13. 
Egypt  shall  be  commended,  rather  than  Moses  shall 
want  reproach.  Injustice,  cruelly,  treachery,  usurp- 
ation, are  objected  to  him,  that  knew  none  of  these 
by  himself.  He  did  not  take  an  ass  from  them ;  was 
this  injustice?  He  prayed  for  them  while  they  re- 
belled against  him  ;  was  this  cruelly  ?  Of  slaves  he 
made  them  free;  was  this  treacheiy  ?  God  himself 
immediately  made  him  their  prince  ;  was  this  usurp- 
ation ?  Moses  could  not  be  faulted,  but  they  were 
self-willed.  Innocence  is  no  shelter  against  evil 
tongues  :  malice  never  regards  how  true  any  accusa- 
tion is,  but  how  spiteful.  Have  we  none  that  follow 
this  pattern?  none  that  with  venomous  teeth  break 
the  bag  of  poison  which  they  bear  in  their  mouths, 
till  it  nin  out  in  scandals  ?  If  the  mattCFwere  tnic, 
yet  such  a  report  is  uncharitable  ;  being  not  true,  it 
is  blasphemous.  Little  do  they  meditate  of  that 
quenchless  fire,  which  must  burn  that  tongue  that 
knows  no  other  language.  "  Thou  shall  not  curse 
the  deaf,  not  put  a  stumbling-block  before  the  blind," 
Lev.  xix.  14.  While  a  man  cozens  the  ignorant, 
he  stumbles  the  blind ;  and  he  that  slanders  the 
absent,  curseth  the  deaf:  there  is  little  hope  of 
mercy  for  either.  This  can  be  no  other  than  a  self- 
willed  vice. 

2.  They  that  despair  of  proffered  grace,  and  with 
both  hands  put  back  the  goodness  of  God,  arc  wilful 
sinners.  Repentance  is  set  before  us,  like  a  Simon 
of  Cyrcne,  to  ease  our  burdens:  desperation,  like  an 
Egyptian,  doth  aggravate  our  labours.  When  we 
are  plunged  into  the  inundation  of  sin,  hope  would 
hold  us  up  by  the  chin,  despair  would  sink  us  to  the 
bottom  :  he  tliat  rejects  his  upholder,  and  admits 
his  overwhelmer,  is  he  not  wilful?  Hope  makes  a 
gracious  concession.  Repent  and  be  saved.  Despair 
returns  a  wilful  answer;  No,  1  cannot  repent,  I  may 
not  be  saved.  O  miserable  Judas,  whom,  as  Leo  ex- 
presses, repentance  did  not  lead  back  to  God,  but 
despair  drew  on  to  the  halter. 

It  is  wicked  enough  to  presimie  upon  sin  by  the 
example  of  others  ;  sanctified  Inmiilily  argues  against 
it.  Because  David  fell  inloadultery  and  was  forgiven, 
therefore  may  I  commit  the  same  sin  on  hope  of  the 
same  success  ?  Pious  fear  concludes,  He  was  plagued, 
though  he  was  pardoned  :  if  I  sin  by  his  jirecedcnt,  I 
may  well  be  jilagued  with  him,  not  pardoned  with 
him.  The  unthritt  left  his  fallur's  house,  yet  at  last 
returned,  and  was  received  :  but  if  I  wilfully  forsake 
God,  it  is  doubtful  whether  I  shall  ever  return  ;  and 
if  I  would,  whether  I  be  ever  received.  Peter  de- 
nied Christ,  and  it  cost  him  many  bitter  tears ;  but 
should  I  deny  him,  what  rivers  were  able  to  wash 
me  clean  ?  To  presume,  is  bad;  but  being  fallen,  to 
despair  of  rising  again,  is  worse.  Others  have  been 
recovered,  why  not  1  ?  Is  not  Christ  the  same  ?  It 
comforts  a  diseased  man,  to  know  that  his  physician 
hath  cured  others  more  dangerously  sick  of  ine  same 
disease.  How  should  it  comfort  us,  to  remember  that 
God  hath  forgiven  sinners  as  grievous !     it  has  been 


Ver.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


435 


said,  the  misery  of  the  whole  world  is  not  so  great, 
as  is  the  mercy  of  God  alone.  His  bounty  is  not  shut, 
but  our  hand  of  faith  is  not  open.  Therefore  men  are 
not  cured,  as  one  expresses  it,  not  because  God  is  not 
merciful  nor  skilful,  but  because  the  patient  is  wil- 
ful. As  therefore  it  is  a  good  rule  in  all  our  under- 
takings, nee  letnere  nee  timide ;  i.  e.  to  be  neither 
too  bold  nor  too  cold  :  not  too  backward,  like  those 
timorous  Israelites,  There  be  the  sons  of  Anak,  Dcut. 
i.-  28;  nor  too  fonvard,  like  those  over-venturous 
Israelites,  that  went  against  their  enemies  without 
asking  leave,  ver.  43.  So  in  all  our  fallings,  not  to 
weigh  our  errors  in  the  balance  of  contempt,  lost 
they  appear  too  small,  and  not  worth  our  sorrow ; 
nor  yet  in  the  balance  of  despair,  lest  they  seem  too 
great,  and  beyond  pardon.  But  let  us  sorrow  in 
hope,  and  hope  in  sorrow,  and  we  shall  find  mercy  in 
both. 

3.  Contemners  of  the  word.  "  I  have  written  to 
him  the  great  things  of  my  law,  but  they  Were  count- 
ed as  a  strange  thing,"  Hos.  viii.  12.  They  were  not 
strange  or  hard  to  be  understood,  but  men  were  wil- 
ful, and  would  not  understand  them.  Preaching,  of 
all  professions,  hath  the  least  hope  to  prevail,  for  it 
deals  with  the  will  of  man.  The  lawyer  hath  only  to 
do  with  reason,  convincing  by  arguments;  the  phy- 
sician only  works  upon  the  body,  by  proper  medi- 
cines; the  tradesman  goes  no  further  tnan  the  eye, 
the  musician  takes  the  ear:  there  is  no  difficulty  in 
prevailing  with  any  of  these,  because  there  is  in  them 
a  natural  propcnsion  to  receive  that  is  good.  Sound 
reason,  lit  medicine,  fair  metals,  sweet  music,  every 
man  likes.  But  divinity  deals  with  the  will ;  and 
that  such  a  will,  as  hath  naturally  no  disposition  to 
goodness,  yea,  an  opposition  against  it ;  an  averse- 
ncss,  a  perverseness  in  evil :  yet  to  work  this  will 
to  goodness,  is  her  office.  This  is  a  hard  task, 
for  men  are  self-willed ;  stubborn  fishes,  which  when 
we  seek  to  catch,  they  catch  us. 

The  spider  was  weaving  a  curious  net  to  catch  the 
swallow :  she  comes,  and  bears  away  net  and  web 
and  weaver  too.  We  may  as  well  command  the  east 
wind  to  blow  west,  as  convert  the  will  from  her  na- 
tural course.  In  the  law  of  jealousies,  if  the  woman 
were  guilty,  that  drank  of  the  bitter  waters,  she  would 
presently  swell.  Numb.  v.  27;  if  otherwise,  she  was 
well  enough.  So  guilty  sinners,  after  a'  draught  of 
these  bitter  waters,  reprehensions,  will  swell  against 
the  prii'st ;  innocent  souls  are  cheered  and  cleared  bv 
it.  The  divine  eloquence  of  Paul  could  not  escape 
this  afirnnting;  Demetrius  and  the  craftsmen  made 
a  faction  against  him.  Acts  xix.  24.  Craftsmen  in- 
deed, and  so  most  citizens  may  be  called  craftsmen  ; 
too  crafty  for  the  poor  minister,  if  he  speak  against 
their  great  goddess  Diana,  saerdege.  What,  attempt 
to  convert  men  from  covetousness  ?  Persuade  the 
will  to  be  just,  and  charitable?  Nay,  ralher  perish 
religion,  fall  churches,  be  dumb  all  devotion,  be  for- 
feited all  the  treasures  and  conduits  of  grace,  to  the 
uttermost  work  of  salvation,  and  loss  of  heaven  to 
boot  :  men  will  have  their  wills.  Against  these  re- 
fractor)^ wills  hath  the  Lord  set  us  to  fight:  we  are 
warriors,  but  to  bear  a  rich  conqiVst  of  wills  on  the 
point  of  our  spears  to  heaven.  The  falcon  soaring 
m  the  air,  and  spying  her  game  below,  strikes  wing, 
and  comes  down  with  such  a  force,  that  the  air  suf- 
fers violence  :  the  nearer  she  comes,  the  swifter  she 
flies,  and  makes  her  point  bravely  when  she  stoops. 
Preachers  are  your  servants,  lo  halloo  the  game  to 
you,  the  humble  service  of  Christ,  and  subduing  your 
wills  to  his  :  lly  to  it.  follow  it  dose  ;  so  you  shall 
fly  well,  sloop  well,  stop  well,  live  well,  and  die  well, 
and  make  a  blessed  point. 

4.  Blasphemers.     No  excuse  shall  acquit  common 


swearers  from  being  wilful  sinners.  Custom  says 
much  for  it,  and  yet  that  much  is  nothing.  Children 
have  the  wit  lo  swear  rashly,  before  they  have  the 
discretion  to  speak  distinctly.  Oaths  in  young  men 
are  but  the  efl'ects  of  hot  bjood,  and  arguments  of  a 
brave  resolution.  Old  men  swear  in  choler,  to  main- 
lain  their  reputation  ;  what  they  utter  above  belief, 
they  borrow  an  oath  to  make  credible.  It  is  the 
common  opinion,  he  that  will  not  swear,  hath  not 
the  credit  of  a  man,  especiallv  not  the  spirit  of  a 
gentleman  ;  but  I  am  .sure,  he  tliat  doth,  hath  not  the 
spirit  of  a  Christian.  It  is  held  a  cold  and  dead  nar- 
ration, that  is  not  interlaced  with  some  blasphemous 
mention  of  our  Maker  and  Saviour.  If  his  life,  heart, 
and  blood  be  not  taken  to  grace  it,  there  is  no  blood, 
heart,  or  life  in  it. 

Is  not  this  wilfiil  ?  What  gain,  what  delight,  what 
advancement  doth  it  bring  us  ?  Yet  these  be  the 
common  incitements  of  sin.  Covetousness  gets  money, 
pride  bravery,  lust  sensual  pleasure ;  swearing  brings 
nothing  but  horror  and  distraction.  If  it  could  pro- 
cure credit  to  our  relations,  must  our  honour's  founda- 
tion needs  be  laid  in  the  dishonour  of  God  ?  Did  the 
Lord  Jesus  suflTer  such  variety  of  pains,  to  minister 
,  unto  men  variety  of  oaths,  or  to  satisfy  for  the  variety 
of  sins  ?  How  should  they  have  part  of  that  merit, 
which  in  every  part  they  have  so  abused  ?  Oh  that 
that  name,  which  is  reverend  to  angels,  and  terrible 
lo  devils,  should  be  tossed  about  among  the  sons  of 
men,  without  fear  or  reverence  !  A  complaint,  which 
we  have  cause  to  fill  up  with  tears,  more  than  words. 
Have  we  so  learned  Christ,  to  swear  by  him  only  ? 
Will  neither  the  benefits  received,  nor  those  we  ex- 
pect, charm  our  lips  from  such  rebellion  ?  It  is  a  sin, 
from  which  of  all  evils  we  have  most  power  of  ab- 
stinence, to  which  of  all  evils  we  have  the  fewest 
temptations,  therefore  what  can  it  be  but  wilfidness  ? 
Let  us  think,  first,  from  whence  it  ariseth ;  from  the 
first  cause  of  evil,  Satan.  Secondly,  what  it  bring- 
eth  ;  as  many  plagues  as  there  be  leaves  in  the  book 
of  God,  the  evil  of  temporal  punishments.  Thirdly, 
whither  it  tendeth;  unto  the  last  effect  of  evil, 
damnation. 

5.  Liars,  that  speak  against  their  own  conscience. 
Ever)'  lie  is  bad  enough,  yet  some  are  of  infirmity. 
So  Abraham  dissembled  his  wife,  to  save  his  life  : 
Isaac  was  taken  with  his  fathci-'s  fear,  and  lied  to 
Abimelech  :  David  to  Ahimelech,  being  hard  driven 
seeks  to  succour  himself  with  an  unwarrantable  shift : 
the  midwives  of  Egypt,  Rahab  of  Jericho,  lied.  All 
these  were  weaknesses.  But  to  lie,  with  a  set  pur- 
pose and  malicious  intent,  is  this  self-willed  sin.  A 
liar  is  one  practised  in  the  trade,  as  was  Ziba,  2  Sam. 
xvi.  3.  So  Paul  calls  the  Cretians  liars :  and  as 
much  hath  been  said  of  the  Grecians  ;  Gra-eia  mendax, 
i.  e.  lying  Greece.  The  spawn  of  Rome  hath  the 
))rimacy  for  lying;  truth  or  falsehood  is  all  one  to 
them,  so  it  may  make  for  their  turn.  The  Jesuit 
seems  to  be  ambitious  of  the  devil's  prerogative,  and 
fain  would  be  the  father  of  lies.  Among  the  Indians, 
he  that  told  a  lie  thrice,  was  condemned  to  perpetual 
silence  :  take  it  on  iElian's  credit.  Happy  were  it 
for  the  church,  if  such  ecclesiastical  liars  were 
so  silenced.  Now  a  simple  lie  is  so  evil,  that  it  can 
be  made  good  by  no  circumstance :  no,  not  by 
the  glory  of  God,  in  the  conversion  of  a  world.  What- 
soever tile  school  speaks  from  St.  Augustine,  of  their 
peccala  eompensativa,  compensative  sins ;  as  for  a  man 
to  tell  a  lie  to  prevent  a  rape  or  murder  :  as  the  two 
women  hid  the  spies  of  Israel,  and  intelligencers  of 
David ;  denying  them  whom  they  had  concealed,  to 
save  their  bloods.  Josh.  ii.  5;  2  Sam.  xvii.  20  :  these 
they  call  sins  that  make  amends,  or  recompense 
themselves.    But  shall  a  man  "  speak  wickedly  for 


436 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  1 1. 


God?"  Jobxiii.  "J.  Is  lie  ever  driven  to  such  a  pinch, 
that  he  stands  in  need  of  our  lie  ?  Even  this  is  evil ; 
but  to  lie  with  a  meretricious  forehead,  steeled  witli 
impudence;  this  is  that  self-willed  sin,  which  shall 
be  shut  out  of  heaven  among  the  dogs,  Rev.  sxii.  15. 
The  whelps  of  that  Roman  litter  have  thus  barked 
against  all  the  professors  of  the  gospel,  cast  frontless 
imputations  upon  them ;  traduced  the  living,  belied 
the  dead ;  against  the  truth,  against  the  evident 
truth,  against  the  truth  that  themselves  knew ;  so 
grossly,  that  some  of  their  own  blushing  pens  have 
confuted  their  shameless  calumniations.  Let  them 
have  the  meed  of  noted  liars,  not  to  be  believed 
speaking  true. 

6.  Perjurers.     To   lie  is  wicked,  to  swear  is  un- 

fodly ;  but  to  swear  a  lie,  most  execrable.  'J'hc 
ews'  oath  included  seven  things;.  Let  bread,  water, 
fire,  house,  wife,  league  of  grace,  and  scimlchre  be 
denied  me,  if  I  swear  not  the  truth.  Others,  with  a 
stone  in  their  hand,  throwing  it  against  the  wall,  and 
saying,  Hi  sciens  fallo,  sic  me  percuiial  Jupiter,  i.  e. 
If  I  wilfully  deceive,  thus  may  Jupiter  smite  me.  All 
judgments  created  are  too  narrow  to  conceive  the 
guilt  of  perjury.  It  dissolves  all  commerce  among 
men  ;  if  there  be  no  truth  in  us,  there  is  no  trust 
unto  us.  It  makes  God  an  idol,  ignorant  of  the 
truth,  or  else  a  patron  of  falsehood.  Yea,  it  sends  up 
to  heaven  a  desperate  challenge  of  atheistical  de- 
fiance, and  offers  to  take  God  and  truth  out  of  the 
world.  An  oath  is  the  end  of  all  disputes ;  he  that 
violates  that,  breaks  open  a  gap  for  ataxy  and  confu- 
sion to  invade  the  world.  Wilful  eveiy  way;  when 
a  man  either  swears  that  to  be  true,  which  is  false  ; 
or  that  to  be  false,  which  is  true ;  or  that  to  be  true, 
which  he  thinks  false  ;  or  that  to  be  false,  which  he 
thinks  true. 

Words  were  first  ordained  for  discovery,  not  for  con- 
cealment :  they  that  invert  the  formal  intent  of  words, 
do  wilfully  cheat.  An  oath  is  the  remedy  of  conten- 
tion, they  that  cancel  that  seal  of  confirmation,  are 
sworn  rebels  to  all  goodness.  Ye  that  be  so  mad  of 
running  to  Rome,  learn  this  art  before  you  go ;  inure 
your  stomachs  to  digest  perjury  ;  study  equivocations, 
as  young  scholars  do  fallacies:  or  else,  as  the  poet 
says,  Quid  n omw  facium  ?  mentiri  nescio,  AVhat  shall 
I  do  at  Rome  ?  I  cannot  lie.  How  intolerable  is  this 
before  a  judgment-scat  !  He  that  enters  into  a 
statute,  conceives  the  extent  of  it  to  be  executed  on 
his  body,  lands,  or  goods ;  therefore  sleeps  not  till  he 
be  sure  to  perform  the  defeisance  and  condition.  An 
oath  is  a  kind  of  stat\ite  entered  into  and  acknow- 
ledged before  the  high  Judge  of  all  the  world  ;  the 
condition  is,  to  say  the  whole  trath,  and  nothing  but 
the  truth  ;  this  is  to  be  extended  on  goods  and  lands, 
peace  and  liberty,  body  and  soul.  Oh  how  self- 
willed,  how  obstinately  mad  are  they,  that  cast  away 
all  these,  by  casting  away  the  truth! 

Though  Phalaris  command,  and  threaten  the 
brazen  bull,  no  ten'ors  sliould  drive  us  from  the  horns 
of  the  altar ;  still  let  us  hold  fast  the  truth.  The 
witness  serves,  as  Augustine  says,  thai  the  judge,  who 
is  not  a  discerncr  of  the  heart,  may  not  make  any 
mistake  in  judging.  If  he  be  false,  he  laughs  in  his 
sleeve  (o  think  now  many  wise  men  he  hath  deluded. 
Juvenal  thought  perjuiy  a  disgrace  for  Romans; 
Quamvi.s  Cappadoces  faciani,  etpiilesijue  lirilmnii. 
The  Asians  were  renowned  fiir  perjury,  and  it  seems 
by  the  poet,  there  were  such  knigh(s  among  the 
Britons  then.  Let  those  wilful  damners  of  them- 
selves take  any  base  course,  rathcT  than  this.  Any 
thing  is  better,  as  one  expresses  it,  than  to  say  before 
the  judge,  I  saw  what  you  did  not  see.  They  arc 
callid  post-knights  ;  whether  because  they  stand 
ready  at  some  noted  post  for  their  hire,  or  because 


their  names  are  set  upon  posts,  like  villains  on  re- 
cord, or  especially  because  they  ride  post  to  hell. 
Every  man  is  one  letter  in  the  alphabet,  one  element 
in  the  state.  Judges  are  as  vowels.  Witnesses  as  half 
vowels  or  consonants;  to  speak  when  others  speak  to 
them,  to  sound  something  with  others,  nothing  with 
themselves.  Mutes  be  such  as  cannot  jdead  for 
themselves,  for  whom  are  appointed  advocates.  But 
false  witnesses  are  diphthongs,  double-tongued,  that 
breathe  hot  or  cold,  as  you  bespeak  them  ;  these  m.Ti- 
the  sense,  and  are  to  be  thrown  out  of  Christ's  cross- 
row.  Oh  that  our  land  had  no  such  monsters,  that 
on  an  hour's  warning  can  lend  Jezebel  an  oath,  to  rob 
poor  Naboth  of  his  life  and  vineyard! 

Perjury  !  why,  all  disclaim  it  ;  but  I  would  to  God 
none  would  use  it.  How  do  subtle  tradesmen  insnare 
themselves,  when  they  swear  with  equivocation,  hav- 
ing some  secret  refurcnce  to  the  unknown  mysteries 
of  their  profession  I  Let  them  know,  there  is  a  perjury 
out  of  the  place  of  judgment,  and  this  is  it,  what 
shifts  soever  they  devise  to  juggle  with  their  own 
conscience.  This  is  an  infallible  rule,  what  cunning 
phrase  or  ambiguous  assertion  soever  they  swear 
withal ;  God,  who  is  the  witness  of  the  conscience,  so 
takes  it,  as  he  to  whom  they  swear,  by  common  con- 
struction understands  it.  And  the  buyer  departs 
nothing  so  loaden  with  the  injury,  as  the  seller's  soul 
is  with  the  weight  of  perjury.  Sacred  ever  and  in- 
violable be  the  religion  of  an  oath;  and  do  not  think 
men  are  to  be  cozened  with  oaths,  as  children  are 
with  counters.  The  false  swearer  hath  a  large  share 
in  all  the  plagues  and  curses  of  that  flying  roll,Zech. 
V.  A  share  !  yea,  it  is  marvel  that  he  doth  not  en- 
gross the  w'hole.  So  prodigious  is  this  sin,  that  if  it 
be  rewarded  aicording  to  its  merit,  it  scorns  any  pro- 
portion under  :\  whole  volume  of  punislmients.  "  I 
will  bring  it  f:  rth,  saith  the  Lord,"  ve-r.  4.  God's 
irill,  cuts  off  all  liope  of  impunity  ;  \as  forth,  cuts  off 
all  opinion  of  secrecy. 

"!■  Sacrilege  is  a  wilful  sin.  Against  knowledge, 
men  know  it  is  injustice;  against  conscience,  their 
own  heart  tells  them  they  do  ill ;  against  God,  who 
made  them;  against  their  pastor,  who  feeds  them  ; 
against  the  gospel,  that  sh.ould  save  them  :  every  way 
self-willed.  The  body  of  this  city  hears  this  often  at 
the  public  congregation.  AVhat  is  their  answer? 
Alas,  we  so  often  near  it,  that  we  never  mind  it. 
Desperate  wilfulness!  we  expect  that  God  should 
hear  us,  yet  we  will  not  hear  him  ;  that  he  should 
bless  and  prosper  our  estates,  when  we  purloin  his. 
Our  churches  be  full,  but  our  purses  be  empty.  Great 
audiences  and  small  benevolences,  are  like  many 
sheep  and  a  little  wool.  Men  give  us  the  hearing, 
and  that  is  all  they  give  us.  Wc  empty  our  books, 
we  empty  our  veins,  we  empty  our  brains ;  yet  we 
must  leave  our  posterity  beggars.  Is  it  your  praises 
that  we  hunt  for?  it  is  time  that  our  mouths  were 
stopped  with  earth,  if  we  should  think  of  any  other 
end  than  the  honour  of  God.  If  you  give  us  any 
glory,  you  endanger  us  to  vengeance,  and  so  requite 
us  evil  for  our  good.  But  God  forbid  you  should 
profit  so  little  by  us,  as  I  am  sure  we  do  by  you. 

But  sacrilege  shall  find  no  excuse  at  the  day  of 
judgment.  I  shall  relate  a  story,  on  the  credit  of  a 
reverend  bishop  of  this  land,  who  knew  and  saw  it. 
There  was  a  gentleman  that  had  the  tithes  of  a 
parsonage  impropriate,  by  right  whereof  he  demand- 
ed tilhe  wool  of  a  parishioner,  who  was  very  rich, 
and  the  owner  of  many  hundred  sheep.  He  sent  him 
a  very  small  ipiantity;  the  servants  showed  it  their 
masler,  the  master  his  neighbours,  who  all  acknow- 
ledged that  he  did  him  wrong.  He  demanded  more; 
(he  other  denied  more,  and  vowed  in  his  choler,  that 
if  he  were  driven  to  pay  more,  he  would  never  keep 


\er.  lO. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


437 


shecj)  more,  and  so  deprive  him  of  that  profit.  The 
law  compelled  him;  whereupon  he  put  away  his 
Bheep.  After  which,  he  presently  fell  into  such  de- 
cay, that  when  this  gentleman  was  buried,  (which 
was  not  long  after,)  he,  among  the  rest  of  the  poor 
people,  stood  to  receive  such  alms  as  were  given  at 
the  funeral.  (B.  Babington  upon  Levit.)  He  was 
not  alone  in  this  exemplary  punishment ;  thousands 
liave  fallen  to  poverty  for  this  very  sin  of  sacrilege. 
So  dearly  dotli  God  pay  himself  of  those  that  detain 
his  dues;  yea,  even  while  they  are  transmitted  into 
profane  hands.  From  them  that  will  not  pay  the 
tenth,  he  takes  away  all  the  nine.  But,  O  self-will- 
edness,  thou  cause  of  all  this  sin  and  ruin ;  that  dost 
still  harden  the  hearts  of  men,  and  puttest  equity 
out  of  all  hope  of  recovery;  when  politicians  turn 
good  Christians,  usurers  build  churches,  and  poets 
come  to  sermons,  then  we  will  hope  that  God  shall 
have  his  tithes. 

Considerations.  1.  Will  is  one  thing  which  dif- 
ferenceth  a  man  from  a  beast,  and  makes  nim  capable 
of  misery  or  blessedness.  Life,  sense,  appetite,  do 
not  of  themselves  make  a  man  either  wretched  or 
happy;  (Beni.)  but  only  llie  will:  therefore  if  the 
will  be  naught,  man  is  in  worse  case  than  the  beast ; 
as  by  a  good  will,  he  is  in  far  better. 

2.  Will  is  a  rational  motion,  presiding  over  sense 
and  appetite.  Reason  a  director;  so  man  had  it: 
reason  a  follower ;  so  man  hath  it :  reason  a  com- 
panion ;  so  man  should  have  it.  It  is  not  always 
moved  according  to  reason,  never  without  reason  i 
the  will  doth  many  things  by  reason,  and  yet  against 
reason ;  as  it  were  by  its  instrumentality,  contrary 
to  its  direction.  Reason  is  given  to  the  will  for  its 
instruction,  not  its  destruction  :  now  if  will  refustth 
the  counsel  of  reason,  what  can  hinder  ruin? 

3.  Nothing  can  offend  God  but  the  will,  and  the 
will  can  offend  him  without  any  thing  else.  The 
good  or  ill  which  infants,  men  either  distracted  or 
sleeping,  do,  shall  not  be  imputed  to  them  ;  because, 
says  Bernard,  they  are  neither  in  possession  of  their 
reason,  nor  retain  the  use  of  their  will ;  but  if  the 
will  transgress,  there  is  no  excuse :  since,  observes 
Augustine,  it  has  nothing  free  except  itself,  it  is  not 
justly  judged  except  from  itself.  A  dull  ingenuity, 
a  frail  memory,  an  unquiet  appetite,  a  heavy  sense, 
a  languishing  life  j  none  of  these  make  a  mati  guilty, 
nor  their  contraries  innocent;  because  these  come 
not  from  the  will.  But  a  man  wills  the  knowledge 
of  another's  wife ;  he  never  attains  it,  perhaps  never 
attempts  it ;  yet  is  he  iin  adulterer.  A  man  would 
steal  if  he  durst :  he  is  a  thief  though  he  have  stole 
nothing. 

4.  Nothing  can  please  God  but  the  will.  Praises 
are  but  stiniting  smoke,  except  the  will  be  good; 
that  can  make  them  sweet  perfumes.  Alms  are  neg- 
lected rubbish,  except  the  sanctified  will  makes  tiiem 
precious  jewels.  The  will  supplies  all  defects:  the 
tongue  cannot  pray,  the  will  is  heard;  the  hand  is 
lame  and  cannot  work,  the  will  performs  it :  accord- 
ing to  Augustine,  whatever  the  will  wishes  to  be 
done,  God  reckons  as  done;  nothing  whatever  is  so 
easy  to  a  good  will,  as  its  own  act,  viz.  to  will :  vet 
when  all  fail,  this  pleaselh  God.  But  where  ilie 
will  is  evil,  it  must  answer  for  all.  Whither  the  will 
driveth,  the  whole  man  llieth.  (Cas.  in  Psal.  xiii.) 
Let  us  then  abhor  self-willedness,  and  submit  our 
wills  to  his  will  that  made  them.  If  men  will  have 
their  will-:,  know  that  God  will  have  his  will  too; 
and  that  will  of  his,  which  men  would  not  fulfil  in 
obedience,  they  must  fulfil  in  vengeance.  'Oh  how 
much  better  is  it  fur  us,  that  his  will  be  obeyed,  who 
wills  all  men  to  be  saved  ? 

5.  Consider  the  virtues  opposed  to  these   vices; 


and  first  of  the  former.  Presumption  is  an  extreme, 
the  other  contrary  is  desperation  ;  betwixt  them  both 
the  mediate  virtue  is  hope.  Despair  is  hope  stark 
dead,  presumption  is  hope  stark  mad;  this  enragcth 
it,  the  other  strangles  it.  Presumption  does  more 
than  hope  allows,  desperation  does  that  which  hojio 
forbids.  Presumption  asks  no  leave  of  God,  despair 
fights  against  God,  hope  would  be  with  God.  Pre- 
sumption is  a  braggart,  despair  is  a  coward,  hope  is 
modestly  valiant.  Presumption  challenges  the  earth, 
desperation  sinks  to  hell,  nope  is  bound  for  heaven. 
Presumption  is  altogether  for  merit,  despair  is  alto- 
gether for  misery,  hope  is  altogether  for  mercy. 
Presumption  would  be  crowned,  desperation  would 
be  condcnnied,  hope  would  be  saved.  Presumption 
looks  forward,  despair  looks  downward,  hope  looks 
upward.  Let  us  not  presume,  because  God  is  just ; 
nor  despair,  because  God  is  kind ;  but  hope,  because 
God  is  good.  Desperation  takes  the  next  way  to 
hell,  presumption  goes  a  little  about,  but  both  these 
extremes  are  reconciled  in  hell. 

Hope  is  a  virgin  of  a  fair  and  clear  countenance ; 
her  proper  seat  is  upon  earth,  her  proper  object  is  in 
heaven;  of  a  quick  and  piercing  eye,  that  can  see 
the  glory  of  God,  the  mercy  of  Christ,  the  society  of 
saints  and  angels,  the  joys  of  paradise,  through  all 
the  clouds  and  orbs;  as  Stephen  saw  heaven  opened, 
and  Jesus  standing  in  the  holy  place.  Her  eye  is  so 
fixed  on  the  blessedness  above,  that  nothing  in  the 
world  can  remove  it.  Faith  is  her  attorney-general, 
prayer  her  solicitor,  patience  her  physician,  charity 
her  almoner,  Ihankfiilness  her  treasurer,  confidence 
her  vice-admiral,  the  promise  of  God  her  anchor, 
peace  her  chair  of  state,  and  eternal  glory  her  crown. 

6.  -Against  self-willedness  I  oppose  humility  and 
meekness  ;  a  submissive  heart,  yielding  to  be  disposed 
by  God's  wisdom,  and  to  be  governed  by  his  will ; 
throwing  a  man  out  of  himself,  and  laying  him  at 
the  feet  of  liis  Maker.  He  that  fights  against  his 
own  will,  as  against  his  worst  enemy  ;  and  liad  rather 
lose  his  own  heart,  than  liis  heart  should  lose  God  ; 
this  is  a  man  of  blessed  meekness.  It  is  not  pusil- 
lanimity, but  the  greatest  courage,  for  it  overcomes 
a  man's  self;  not  that  the  will  ceaseth  to  be,  but  to 
be  rigid  and  refractory.  It  is  better  to  have  passions 
well-ordered,  than  to  have  no  passions  at  all.  Bksscd 
are  (he  meek  ;  while  they  live  they  shall  be  quiet  on 
earth,  and  when  they  die  they  shall  be  safe  and  glo- 
rious in  heaven. 

The  self-willed  is  a  slave  to  the  worst  part  of  him- 
self, that  which  is  beast  in  him  governs  that  which 
is  man :  appetite  is  his  lord,  reason  his  servant,  re- 
ligion his  drudge.  His  five  senses  are  all  the  articles 
of  his  faith ;  and  lie  had  rather  be  a  famous  man 
upon  earth  than  a  saint  in  heaven.  He  likes  nothing 
for  any  goodness,  but  because  he  will  like  it ;  and  he 
will  like  it  because  others  do  not.  If  an  unseason- 
able shower  cross  his  recreation,  he  is  ready  to  fall 
out  with  heaven,  and  to  quarrel  with  God  himself; 
as  if  he  were  wronged,  because  God  did  not  take 
his  time,  wlien  to  rain,  and  when  to  shine.  He  is  ,i 
querulous  cur  that  barks  at  every  horse ;  and  in  the 
silent  night,  the  very  moonshine  opens  his  clamorous 
throat.  All  his  proceedings  are  so  many  precipices, 
and  his  attempts  peremptory.  He  hath  not  the  pa- 
tience to  consult  with  reason,  but  determines  all 
merely  by  affection  and  fancy.  There  is  no  part 
about  him,  but  often  smarts  for  his  will.  His  sides 
be  sore  with  stripes,  and  thank  his  will  for  it.  His 
bowels  are  empty,  and  complain  that  his  will  robs 
them  of  sustenance.  Yea,  not  seldom,  his  will  breaks 
the  covenant,  and  his  neck  pays  the  forfeit.  He  is 
the  lawyers'  best  client,  his  own  sycophant,  and  the 
devil's  wax,  to  take  what  impression  he  will  give 


433 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IT. 


him.  To  have  his  will  upon  his  neighbour  in  a  suit 
of  law,  he  will  hazard  his  salvation.  Saul  inquires 
of  the  Lord,  and  he  answered  him  not :  he  seeks  to 
a  witch,  and  she  answers  him,  I  Sam.  xxviii.  G,  7- 
He  must  have  his  will :  if  God  will  not  answer  him, 
Satan  shall.  Flectere  cum  nequeat  '^upeios,  Acher- 
vnia  movebit,  says  the  poet ;  i.  e.  When  he  cannot 
move  the  gods  above,  he  will  move  those  below. 
Wilfulness  hath  no  hope  to  prevail  with  the  Lord, 
therefore  solicits  the  devil. 

Though  we  be  sinful,  let  us  not  be  wilful.  Weak- 
ness finds  pity,  wilfulness  deserves  penalty.  We  sin 
too  often  against  our  wills,  too  often  beside  our 
wills,  too  often  \rith  our  wills ;  but  let  us  not  be  self- 
willed.  Let  us  subdue  our  lusts  to  our  will,  submit 
our  ^vill  to  reason,  our  reason  to  faith;  our  faith,  our 
reason,  our  wills,  ourselves,  to  the  will  of  God.  He 
chargeth  us  to  keep  his  laws;  we  have  not  kept 
them  :  having  sinned,  he  calls  us  to  repent,  and 
offers  pardon  :  how  gracious  is  this  goodness  !  O  let 
our  humble  sorrow,  and  answerable  faith,  at  least 
say.  Amen. 

When  God  first  made  man,  he  set  all  in  a  perfect 
harmony :  by  one  act  of  rebellion,  all  was  put  out  of 
fi-ame.  To  reduce  this  shattered  family  into  some 
order,  there  was  a  council  called ;  reason,  will, 
memory,  imagination,  affection,  and  sense.  Eveiy 
one  knew  his  office  :  sense  was  to  perceive  for  all  ; 
affection  to  like  or  dislike  for  all ;  will  to  desire  for 
all ;  imagination  to  invent  for  all ;  memory  to  re- 
cord for  all;  reason  to  judge  for  all.  Sense  was  to 
be  the  caterer ;  affection  the  taster  ;  imagination  the 
steward;  memory  the  secretary;  will  the  controller: 
reason  the  judge,  to  approve  or  disallow  for  all.  All 
the  rest  were  contented  with  their  places,  saving 
only  the  will ;  and  she  took  it  in  scorn  that  reason 
should  be  above  her.  Hereupon  they  began  to  con- 
test about  it,  and  the  contention  grew  hot.  Reason 
gave  many  reasons,  why  she  should  be  chief:  first, 
because  it  was  so  from  the  beginning,  and  innovation 
in  any  state  is  dangerous.  Secondly,  if  all  should 
not  be  ruled  by  reason,  there  would  soon  be  a  disso- 
lution and  confusion  of  the  family.  Sense  would  be 
out  of  taste ;  affection  would  mistake,  loving  where 
it  should  hate,  and  hating  where  it  should  love  ; 
imagination  would  provide  nothing  but  noxious 
things  ;  memory  would  set  down  nothing  but  bad 
items  ;  yea,  will  herself  would  employ  all  the  rest  to 
mischief,  should  not  reascm  direct.  But  for  all  this, 
will  would  not  be  disputed  out  of  her  usurped  regi- 
ment ;  so  they  fell  to  siding :  sense  and  affection 
presently  close  with  will  ;  memory  did  not  yield 
suddenly,  but  ))erceiving  what  pcAver  will  had  over 
her,  and  that  she  could  remember  no  more  than  will 
would  have  her,  she  also  takes  her  part. 

Reason  ha(h  now  none  left  but  imagination,  and 
that  stood  to  it  stoutly.  Still  the  quarrel  increased: 
crafty  imagination  finds  out  this  trick  ;  that  they 
two  should  reign  by  turns,  and  divide  the  life  be- 
tween them.  Will  should  rule  all  the  waking  part, 
and  reason  all  the  sleeping  part.  Will  was  content- 
ed with  this  motion,  but  reason  disdains  that  she 
should  have  nothing  to  do  but  when  man  was  asleep. 
Will  knew  there  was  no  way  to  win  imagination  by 
force,  yet  she  might  be  corrupted,  being  an  officer 
that  would  take  bribes.  Temptation  prevailed  with 
her  too;  so  that  now  by  a  general  consent,  will  is 
made  queen-regent,  and  reason  but  her  servant. 

Yet  reason  would  not  so  give  over  her  just  title; 
but  having  one  friend  that  was  not  called  to  council, 
she  solicits  her  to  plead  her  cause;  this  was  con- 
science. At  whose  approach  they  all  began  to 
tremble,  and  by  her  arguments  were  moved  to  dis- 
like their  choice.     But  when  will  saw  them  begin  to 


shrink,  with  an  austere  look  and  frowning  brow,  she 
commands  them  on  their  allegiance  to  obey  no  otlier 
princess  but  herself  Conscience  taxeth  her  of  pride 
and  usurpation  ;  because  the  high  Sovereign  had  ap- 
pointed reason  for  his  lieutenant  and  viceroy,  to 
govern  this  little  isle  of  man.  But  will  replies, 
Argue  as  long  as  you  please,  I  am  will,  and  I  will 
have  it  so.  Then  she  charged  sense  to  stop  the 
mouth  of  clamorous  conscience,  and  affection  to 
blind  the  eyes  of  reason.  Thus  while  honesty  can- 
not speak,  and  wisdom  cannot  see,  will  is  crowned 
absolute  queen. 

Ecce  voltmlatem  ;  Dominant  cognoscile  vestram. 
Sic  volo,  sic  jubeo,  stat  pro  ratione  voluntas  ; 

i.  c.  Behold  the  will,  acknowledge  yoiu-  mistress, 
who  says,  So  1  will,  so  I  command ;  the  will  is  in  the 
jUace  of  reason.  Where  reason  is  subjected  to  sense, 
and  appetite  sways  conscience,  and  tyrant  will  does, 
undoes  all  ;  that  state  unhappily  must  perish. 

This  is  that  self-will,  which  niles  in  all  men  by 
nature  :  but  the  Supreme  Emperor  takes  pity  on 
some,  and  sends  down  a  new  governess  to  them, 
grace.  She  at  once  opens  the  eyes  of  reason  and 
the  mouth  of  conscience ;  deposeth  will  from  her 
usurpation ;  degrades  both  her  favourites,  sense  and 
affection;  does  not  put  them  to  death,  but  makes 
them  good  and  serviceable  to  reason  ;  turns  vain 
imagination  into  divine  contemplation ;  changeth 
the  disposition  of  will ;  of  wild  and  haggard,  makes 
it  obedient  and  gentle.  Yet  is  will  thus  decrowned 
against  her  will  ;  often  she  rebels  even  against  grace, 
and  sometimes  gets  the  better  ;  and  will  always  make 
one,  though  she  cannot  be  alone,  and  chief  in  the 
regiment.  Diiisum  imperium  cum  Jove  CtPMr  liabet, 
as  Virgil  said;  i.  e.  Ca?sar  shares  the  empire  of  the 
world  along  with  Jove.  This  war  is  in  the  sancti- 
fied; in  the  rest,  will  herself,  or  self-will,  is  the  great 
mistress,  and  nales  all,  till  she  bring  all  to  ruin. 
How  can  it  be  otherwise,  when  the  feminine  powers 
are  more  potent  than  the  masculine  ?  From  all  our 
enemies,  especially  from  our  own  natural  wills,  good 
Lord,  deliver  us. 

"  They  are  not  afraid  to  speak  evil  of  dignities." 
There  is  no  one  absolute  king  among  men,  but  he 
that  is  the  King  of  all  gods.  Therefore  earthly 
monarchs  must  walk  by  a  rule  ;  which  if  they  trans- 
gress, they  shall  be  as  surely  accountable  to  him,  as 
they  are  accountable  to  none  but  him,  that  ordained 
them.  If  they  command  unlawful  things,  follow 
Augustine's  counsel.  Despise  the  power,  by  fearing  a 
power  that  is  greater.  The  devil  hath  power,  and 
power  from  God ;  but  it  is  a  power  of  permission, 
not  one  of  commission  ;  therefore  to  be  resisted. 
The  magistrate  hath  power;  which  if  he  abuse,  that 
is  by  permission ;  but  (he  power  itself  is  by  the  c<mi- 
mission  of  God.  Therefore  it  pleaseth  the  Lord  to 
ofliciate  his  ministers  in  this  employment  ;  with  due 
reverence  to  instruct  the  prince  in  goveniing,  as  by 
Divine  authority  to  conform  the  subjects  to  obedience. 
When  Saul  was  chosen,  because  the  observance  of  a 
king  was  uncouth,  Samuel  is  set  to  inform  them, 
1  Sam.  X.  25;  otherwise,  novelty  might  have  been  a 
warrant  for  ignorance,  and  ignorance  for  neglect. 
There  be  reciprocal  respects  between  the  prince  and 
his  subjects;  which  not  being  observed,  government 
languishcth  into  confusion;  these  Samuel  teacheth 
them.  He  was  their  judge,  he  is  still  their  prophet ; 
he  must  instruct,  though  he  may  not  rule,  yea,  he 
will  instruct  him  that  shall  rule.  Conscience  bmds 
every  Samuel's  endeavour,  to  keep  even  terms  be- 
twixt the  king  and  people;  prescribing  to  the  one 
moderation  and  equity,  to  the  other  hmnbleness  and 
loyalty.  Divinity  is  a  mistress  for  the  highest  masters 


Veb.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


439 


of  men  ;  and  the  Scripture  is  the  best  man  of  counsel 
fur  the  greatest  statesman  in  tlie  world. 

Now  because  ffuvirnment  is  then  best  wlien  it  hath 
one  head  and  many  liands,  the  supreme  hatli  need  of 
subordinate  ])o\\ers.  It  was  the  Egj-ptians'  emblem, 
whereby  tiny  figured  government,  an  eye  and  a 
Seeptre.  The  prince  is  but  a  man  ;  therefore  he  must 
sec  by  others'  eyes,  and  execute  by  inferior  hands. 
The  burden  of  authority  is  too  heavy  for  one  man's 
shoulders ;  "  I  am  not  able  to  bear  you  myself  alone," 
saith  Moses,  Deut.  i.  9.  Therefore  his  father-in-law 
casts  him  a  model  for  a  polity  in  Israel,  Esod.  xviii. 
21 ;  which,  howsoever  at  first  it  passed  under  God's 
correction,  yet  after  being  seen  and  allowed  by  him, 
and  being  practised  by  Moses,  it  became  of  good 
policy,  sound  divinity ;  of  private  counsel,  a  general 
oracle,  serving  for  substance  all  times  and  places. 
Solomon  was  the  wisest  king,  yet  lie  had  his  grave 
counsel,  sage,  experienced  men.  Ahasuerus  would 
do  nothing  in  the  removal  of  Tashti,  but  by  the  con- 
sent of  the  seven  princes.  The  house  will  not  stand 
without  these  pillars  ;  and  where  they  are  sound,  we 
may  say  of  that  kingdom,  as  the  traveller  reported 
that  he  had  seen,  in  England  a  beautiful  king,  in 
France  a  beautiful  kingdom,  in  Spain  a  beautiful 
senate.  There  may  be  a  great  sacrilege  committed 
in  Israel,  and  yet  Joshua  not  know  of  it ;  some  errors 
will  escape  his  best  vigilancy.  That  sin  is  not  half 
cunning  enough,  that  hath  not  learned  secrecy.  It  is 
no  blame  to  authority,  that  some  sins  are  committed 
privately.  Only  the  eye  of  Omniscience  is  able  to 
find  men  out  in  their  close  wickedness.  There  is  no 
family,  no  society,  so  holy,  but  it  may  be  blemished 
with  some  malefactors.  It  is  enough  for  the  magis- 
trate to  punish  manifest  offences  ;  we  cannot  expect 
that  the  sight  of  the  eye  or  reach  of  the  hand  should 
be  infinite. 

There  must  be  therefore  counsellors  of  state  and 
captains  of  war,  peers,  judges,  magistrates,  yea,  and 
inferior  officers ;  rulere  of  thousands,  of  hundreds,  of 
fifties,  and  of  tens,  Exod.  xviii.  21 :  as  we  have 
chancellor,  chief  justice,  judges  of  assize,  justices  of 
peace,  customers,  constables.  That  instrument  is  not 
in  tune,  where  any  of  these  strings  be  false.  Joseph 
was  Pharaoh's  right  hand,  Gen.  xli.  43.  Though  the 
prince,  like  the  sun,  yield  his  light  and  comfort  to 
the  state;  yet  bad  magistrates  under  him,  aiming  at 
their  own  private  ends,  like  clouds  or  malignant  stars, 
may  hinder  the  influence:  yea,  they  are  like  bad 
winds,  that  wither  that  part  of  the  state :  whereas 
the  errors  and  distempers  of  princes  have  been  quali- 
fied by  virtuous  deputies,  2  Kings  xii.  2.  Now,  be- 
cause there  is  no  power  but  from  God,  therefore  not 
the  least  of  these  subordinate  and  ministerial  govern- 
ors must  be  despised,  without  peril  of  his  displeasure. 

In  the  discharging  of  (his  artillery  of  hell,  against 
tlie  glories  and  jiowers  which  God  hath  ordained,  we 
may  consider  four  particulars  ;  the  bullet,  the  musket, 
the  powder,  and  the  mark.  The  musket  is  the 
malice  of  the  heart ;  the  powder,  the  spitcfulness  of 
the  tongue ;  the  bullet  is  blasphemy,  disgracing  of 
magistrates  ;  the  mark  or  butt  is  dignities. 

This  piece  is  charged  with  three  deadly  bullets ; 
libelling,  murmuring,  mutinying. 

1.  Libellers  think  it  a  point  of  wit  to  traduce 
magistracy  ;  and  what  they  dare  not  own  for  fear  of 
censure,  they  dare  invent  without  fear  of  hell.  Scan- 
dals of  great  men  have  seldom  any  fathers;  they  kill, 
and  make  no  report.  Like  the  Pasquin  in  Kome, 
the  image  on  Tiber  bridge ;  that  does  all.  .  It  is  a 
case  and  penurious  argument  of  wit,  to  disgrace  those 
in  private,  whose  innocency  they  may  envy,  cannot 
tax.  In  ancient  comedy,  the  persons  of  men  were 
represented  and  abused;  but  tiiey  were  barbarians. 


The  faults  of  great  ones  are  to  be  reproved  by  the 
reverend  fathers  of  the  church :  the  stage  and  poet, 
with  jests  and  satires,  may  not  attempt  it.  It  is 
dangerous  to  play  with  that  which  angers  God.  I 
know  that  some  vices  are  beside  their  malice,  ridicu- 
lous; and  the  sottish  humours  and  pasjions  of  men 
are  shamed  in  being  presented.  But  that  is  a 
treacherous  hand,  that  steals  away  from  statesmen 
their  reputation  ;  while  they  blemish  their  sufficiency, 
they  covertly  condemn  the  state  that  chose  them. 
Thus  may  the  council,  the  king,  yea,  the  King  of 
heaven,  be  wounded  through  the  sides  of  a  mean 
magistrate.  There  is  nothmg  that  the  law  allows, 
but  the  malcontent  censures  ;  what  it  forbids  as 
dangerous,  that  he  pumps  his  \rit  to  justify.  AVhcre 
the  gate  stands  open,  he  is  seeking  for  a  stile  :  and 
what  he  cannot  convince,  he  will  irritate.  Thus, 
like  a  grasshopper  at  Christmas,  he  looks  back  ujion 
han-est  with  a  lean  pair  of  cheeks,  and  curses  that 
which  he  never  had  the  grace  to  apprehend  as  a 
blessing. 

2.  Anirmurcrs,  though  they  disperse  not  written 
scandals  of  the  magistracy,  yet  mutter  out  repining 
exceptions  against  their  actions.  Such  were  in  Israel : 
the  people  want  water,  and  instead  of  praying  to 
God,  they  murmur  against  Moses,  Exod.  xvii.  3. 
Alas,  what  hath  the  righteous  done  ?  He  made  not 
the  wilderness  dr)-,  nor  the  waters  bitter.  But  he 
was  their  conductor ;  yet,  as  he  led  them,  so  God  led 
him:  the  pillar  guided  Moses,  as  Moses  guided  the 
people;  yet  they  murmur  at  Moses.  How  mad  is 
impatient  man,  when  he  wants  his  natural  desire, 
and  spiritual  grace  withal  !  If  men  cannot  have  their 
wills,  to  invade  the  inheritance  which  the  right  heir 
keeps  from  them ;  or  supi)ose  they  be  injured,  and 
may  not  have  redress  in  that  manner  and  measure 
themselves  prescribe ;  presently  they  murmur  against 
the  magistrate.  And  what  prince  can  hope  to  be 
free,  when  Moses  could  not  escape  ?  Never  prince 
so  merited  of  a  people :  he  endangered  himself  to 
Pharaoh's  utmost  cruelty ;  he  brought  them  from  a 
bondage  worse  than  death ;  he  interposed  himself 
betwixt  God's  anger  and  them:  one  would  think, 
that  no  death  could  have  opened  their  mouths  to 
speak  evil  of  Moses.  Yet  such  is  the  hard  condition 
of  authority,  that  if  men  fare  well,  they  apj>laiid  (hem- 
selves ;  if  ill,  they  repine  against  their  rulers.  Moses 
wanted  water  as  well  as  they,  yet  they  ask  Moses 
for  water;  What  shall  we  drink  ?  The  body  cannot 
be  distempered,  and  the  head  at  case;  the  king  must 
needs  feel  the  people's  misery.  If  they  had  seen 
him  furnished  with  full  vessels  of  sweet  water,  while 
they  were  turned  over  to  the  bitter,  there  had  been 
some  colour  for  murmuring;  but  the  ruler  wants 
water  no  less  than  themselves.  Murmur  not  ye,  as 
they  did,  lest  ye  be  destroyed  of  the  destroyer,  as 
they  were,  1  Cor.  x.  10:  let  their  vengeance  make 
us  tremble.  Be  silent  unto  the  Lord,  Psal.  xxxvii.  7, 
lest  he  answer  you  again  in  fury. 

3.  Mutineers  so  speak  evil  of  dignities,  that  they 
raise  up  evil  against  dignities.  Korah  stirs  up  a 
faction  against  Moses  ;  Why  dost  thou  make  thyself 
a  prince  over  us  ?  Numb.  xvi.  13.  A  man  could  not 
think  of  an  honour  less  worth  his  emularion,  than 
the  principality  of  Israel.  They  were  a  people  that 
could  give  nothing,  a  people  that  had  nothing,  a 
people  whom  their  leader  was  fain  to  feed  with  bread 
and  water;  they  paid  him  no  tribute  but  ill  words; 
his  command  was  only  a  burden  to  him,  yet  was  it  an 
eyesore  to  them;  "Ye  take  too  much  upon  you," 
ver.  3.  Nothing  can  be  more  pleasing  to  the  vulgar, 
than  to  hear  their  governors  taxed  and  themselves 
flattered.  This  mutiny  soon  brought  in  a  rout  of 
rebels.     He  that   poisons  the  people  with  a  mal- 


440 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


opinion  of  their  prince,  is  the  most  dangerous  traitor. 
To  rip  up  the  f;iults  of  kings,  is  bold  impiety  ;  but 
to  charge  them  with  faults  they  have  not,  is  shame- 
less blasphemy.  So  Absalom  spoke  evil  of  his 
own  father,  2  Sara.  xv.  3. 

No  music  is  so  sweet  to  the  ears  of  the  giddy  mul- 
titude, as  to  hear  well  of  themselves,  ill  of  their 
princes.  Absalom  neednot  wish  himself  on  the  bench  : 
every  man  says.  Oil  what  a  courteous  prince  is  Absa- 
lom !  What  a  just  ruler  would  Absalom  be  !  How 
happy  were  we,  if  we  might  be  judged  by  Absalom  ! 
"  Thy  matters  are  good."  It  might  be  some  monopoly, 
some  pestilent  patent  of  engrossing,  some  malicious 
accusation;  yet  all  is  good  matter  with  Absalom. 
"  There  is  none  to  hear."  Their  owni  eyes  saw  this 
to  be  false;  daily  were  causes  heard  and  judged, 
offences  heard  and  punished.  If  some  ofiicer  were  so 
corrupt,  that  an  appeal  was  just,  shall  the  king  be 
blamed  ?  must  the  prince  answer  for  eveiy  act  that 
his  subject  docs  ?  David  had  more  of  such  blasphem- 
ers :  Shimei  curseth  him  to  his  face,  2  Sam.  .'ivi.  7- 
Durst  he  do  thus  among  his  armed  troops?  yes,  it  is 
the  mark  which  our  apostle  sets  on  these  reprobate 
blasphemers ;  "  They  are  not  afraid  to  speak  evil  of 
dignities."  Doubtless,  that  clamorous  tongue  had 
secretly  traduced  the  good  king  long  before  ;  there- 
fore is  now  given  up  to  the  rage  of  frenzy ;  that  the 
mischief  it  did  owe  his  heart,  might  now  be  paid 
home.  What  can  they  look  for,  that  slander  the 
footsteps  of  God's  anointed,  but  the  name  and  doom 
of  Shimei  ? 

The  greater  the  persons,  the  more  censurable  be 
all  their  actions.  What  can  a  prince  do  so  accept- 
able to  the  good,  but  lewd  men  will  misinterpret  it  ? 
Eveiy  tongue  is  ready  to  speak  partially,  according 
to  the  interest  he  hath  in  the  cause  or  patient.  If  a 
statesman  have  done  a  private  person  some  but 
imagined  wrong,  how  doth  he  clap,  leap,  and  rejoice 
at  his  own  downfal !  It  is  not  possible  tliat  digni- 
ties should  be  free  from  imputations  ;  their  innocence 
can  no  more  protect  them  than  their  power.  This 
shot  flics  not  at  random,  like  the  Syrian's  arrow  at 
a  venture,  I  Kings  xsii.  34 ;  but  is  charged  and  dis- 
charged on  set  pui-jiose  to  dishonour  God,  in  wound- 
ing the  honour  of  his  anointed. 

The  engine  that  carries  this  mischievous  burden, 
is  the  tongue.  It  (lies  lightly,  but  it  injures  heavily, 
says  Bernard.  It  is  but  a  little  member,  but  the  nim- 
blest about  a  man ;  able  to  do  both  body  and  soul  too 
a  mischief.  How  many  on  account  of  free  tongues 
have  chained  feet !  If  you  ask  what  cast  such  a  man 
into  prison  ?  his  lavish  tongue.  Paul  tamed  his  whole 
body  :  he  that  undertakes  such  a  work  begins  at  the 
heart,  then  next  of  all  to  the  tongue.  Shall  I  think  that 
he  fears  God,  that  t  ears  God  ?  or  fears  God,  and  does  not 
honour  the  king?  Some  dogs  bark  not  for  malice,  so 
much  as-  for  custom ;  yet  tliis  at  best  is  but  a  currish 
quality.  To  toss  the  weaknesses  of  magistrates  in 
common  discourses,  though  they  wish  them  well  as 
they  say,  argues  a  proud  heart.  The  disease  some- 
times appears  not  to  the  patient  himself;  yet  when 
he  talks  idly,  the  physician  knows  he  is  sick.  A  man 
blasphemes  God  or  the  prince,  scandalizeth  the  no- 
bles ;  yet  says  he  means  well,  and  is  friends  with 
God  and  the  world :  but  docs  not  his  talking  idly  de- 
clare him  to  be  sick?  will  the  law  understand  him 
otherwise  in  trial,  or  the  Lord  in  jiidfjuicnt  ? 

"The  tongue  is  a  world  of  iniquity,"  Jam.  iii.  (i. 
If  so  little  a  ]>art  be  a  world  of  mischief,  what  is  the 
whole  !  Shall  a  man  discharge  his  piece  at  an  un- 
lawful mark,  and  then  say  he  meant  no  harm  ? 
''The  tongue  is  a  fire:"  like  fire  indeed;  for  heat, 
it  is  as  hot  as  fire ;  for  colour,  it  is  as  red  as  fire  ; 
for  agility,  it  is  as  nimble  as  fire ;  for  ambition,  it  is 


as  aspiring  as  fire,  it  hath  a  spite  at  what  is  above  it. 
Like  the  Italian  needle,  that  being  thrust  into  the 
body,  kills  invisibly.  Lord,  keep  my  lips  from  evil, 
and  my  tongue  that  it  speak  no  guile,  1  Pet.  iii.  10. 
Keep  it,  who  can  ?  None  but  the  Lord.  Let  the 
tongue  pray  that  the  tongue  be  tamed,  says  Austin. 
He  suffers  man  to  tame  all  the  creatures,  but  man 
himself  he  resen'cs  to  his  own  taming. 

The  powder  that  chargeth  the  tongue,  and  carries 
this  shot  of  blasphemy,  must  needs  be  malice ;  a  tu- 
mour of  curst-hcartedness,  the  saltpetre  of  a  rancorous 
hatred,  boiled  in  eholcr  to  an  extraction  of  mischief. 
Tliis  is  a  disease  that  tormenteth  all  abundance, 
and  imbittcrs  men's  contentments.  When  Haman 
reckoned  up  all  the  glory,  promotions,  riches,  ban- 
quets, graces  of  the  king,  favours  of  the  queen,  respect 
of  the  nobles,  that  were  done  him;  yet  he  concludes, 
All  is  nothing,  so  long  as  Mordecai  sits  in  the  king's 
gate,  Esth.v.  13.  Mordecai'scap  was  not  the  cause,  but 
fiaman's  malice  :  nothing  can  serve,  but  he  must  be 
his  enemy's  hangman ;  but  though  he  meant  it  not, 
he  built  his  own  gallows.  It  is  just,  that  malice 
should  first  hurt  a  man's  self,  as  tire  in  his  bosom 
burns  him  before  it  touch  others.  How  dares  the 
malicious  come  before  God  in  prayer,  that  judgeth 
hatred  manslaughter?  He  presents  himself,  if  not 
with  hands,  yet  with  a  heart  imbrued  in  blood. 
The  Jews  gnashed  at  Stephen  with  their  teeth.  Acts 
vii.  54.  This  is  to  show  the  tricks  of  hell  before- 
hand :  gnashing  of  teeth ;  they  shall  have  enough  of 
it  there. 

This  is  that  murderous  shot,  forged  in  the  furnace 
of  hell,  and  charged  in  the  stomachs  of  popish 
emissaries,  to  be  discharged  against  the  honour  of 
worthy  magistrates,  yea,  glorious  princes.  Who  can- 
not but  know,  that  their  tongues  are  full  of  this  viru- 
lency,  when  their  books  are  stuffed  with  little  else  ? 
As  if  they  would  proclaim  to  the  world,  how  villan- 
ous  that  religion  makes  them,  and  that  they  are 
bound  to  traduce  kings.  Instead  of  proposing  the 
lives  of  saints  to  imitation,  they  are  still  exposing  the 
lives  of  princes  to  suspicion,  yea,  to  conspiracy.  Do 
they  this  without  authority  ?  No,  but  in  the  name 
of  the  pope,  as  that  Philistine  cursed  David  by  liis 
gods,  1  Sam.  xvii.  43.  Yea,  hath  not  the  pope  in  his 
own  name  cursed  them  ?  His  excommunications, 
execrations,  rejection  of  princes,  what  is  this  but  to 
sjjcak  evil  of  dignities  ?  Indeed  this  hellish  zeal 
hath  been  so  hissed  at,  that  some  of  them  are  now 
somewhat  ashamed:  therefore,  like  the  devil  in  the 
serpent,  the  pope  makes  use  of  another's  tongue ;  the 
Jesuit  undertakes  it  for  him,  that  large  spoon  which 
the  Roman  hierarchy  devised  to  eat  with  the  devil : 
who  though  he  were  found  out  since  the  invention  of 
gunpowder,  hath  not  done  less  mischief.  The  whole 
trade,  study,  and  profession  of  that  order,  is  to  curse 
princes.  But,  Lord,  though  they  curse,  bless  thou, 
Psal.  cix.  28 :  thy  blessing  shall  do  us  good,  when 
their  curses  hurt  none  but  themselves.  Let  digni- 
ties comfort  themselves  against  these  evil  speakings, 
as  David  did  in  the  persecution  of  Shimei ;  "  It  may 
be  the  Lord  will  requite  me  good  for  his  cursing  this 
day,"  2  Sam.  xvi.  12.  It  may  be,  yea,  it  hath  been,  and 
we  trust  it  shall  be,  that  God  will  Idess  us  the  more 
for  their  cursing.  It  may  hitherto  be  written  as  a 
motto  on  the  king's  crown,  ridenlis  el  viienlii;  He 
sees  and  lives  ;  his  enemies  perish,  himself  prospers. 

The  butts  at  which  all  this  pestilent  ordnance  lets 
fly,  the  apostle  calls  dignities,  loiac,  glories.  They 
are  also  called  gods,  not  by  nature,  but  by  office  ; 
Kara  ti)v  tXi/oir,  for  their  calling;  icnnl  -i/v  rain;  for 
their  order  and  place  :  rani  rt'iv  ti/i/)i',  for  their  hon- 
our and  respect.  God  hath  not  only  set  them  as 
vicegerents  in  his  own  room,  but  also  enabled  ihcm 


Ver.  10. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


4-11 


with  gifts  for  so  great  a  dcsignment.  Though  not 
many  noble  and  great  be  called  to  the  grace  of  sanc- 
ti(ication,yet  they  are  to  the  grace  of  administration. 
When  God  called  Saul  to  be  a  king,  he  "  gave  him 
another  heart,"  1  Sam.  x.  9;  he  lifted  up  his  thoughts 
to  the  disposition  and  pitch  of  a  king.  The  calling 
of  God  never  leaves  a  man  unchanged  ;  nor  does  lie 
employ  any  in  his  service,  whom  he  docs  not  enaljle 
to  the  work  he  sets  them  about.  Especially,  when 
he  makes  dignities,  sets  them  to  supply  liis  own 
place,  and  to  the  representation  of  himself.  It  is  no 
wonder,  if  princes  excel  the  vulgar  in  gifls,  no  less 
than  in  honours :  their  crowns  and  hearts  are  both 
in  one  hand ;  and  if  that  did  not  add  to  their  spirits. 
Numb.  xi.  17,  as  well  as  to  their  states,  there  were 
no  equality. 

Yet  wlien  Saul  was  chosen,  "  and  all  the  people 
shouted,  God  save  the  king,"  there  were  some  sons 
of  Belial,  that  despised  him,  1  Sam.  x.  24,  27.  It  is 
a  vain  ambition  that  seeks  to  be  loved  of  all.  When 
God  commands  us  to  have  peace  with  all  men,  he 
adds,  "  if  it  be  possible,"  Rom.  xii.  18.  Favour  is 
more  hard  to  attain  than  peace :  many  forbear  to 
trouble  us,  that  yet  do  not  love  us.  Goodness  can- 
not be  without  exceptions ;  therefore  is  not  to  be 
sought  abroad,  but  in  ourselves,  and  the  conscience 
of  our  well  descr\-ings.  But  what  shall  we  say  to 
those  men,  that  will  be  scanning  of  kings,  and  censur- 
ing all  their  actions,  yea,  charging  their  innocence 
with  aberrations  ?  How  plainly  hath  God  inter- 
dicted it !  Exod.  xxii.  2S.  How  doth  St.  Paul  dis- 
claim it !  Acts  xxiii.  5.  How  did  Solomon  threaten 
it !  Eccl.  X.  20.  Rulers  were  no  Christians  in  Paul's 
time,  yet  how  earnestly  doth  he  persuade  to  obedi- 
ence !  With  what  reverence  did  he  appeal  to  C;csar  ! 
AVith  what  humility  and  apprccation  of  happiness. 
Let  the  king  live ;  with  what  deprecation  of  evil. 
This  dream  be  to  thine  enemies  ;  did  Daniel  sjjeak 
to  the  king  of  Babylon,  a  king  that  served  not  God! 
Dan.  iv.  It). 

How  are  we  blessed  of  God,  and  have  cause  to  bless 
God,  for  our  goveniment  ;  unparalleled  by  any  about 
us,  unexampled  by  any  before  us!  Good  kings  are 
no  ordinary  blessings:  a  worthy  general  is  worth 
half  an  army ;  such  as  Moses  and  Joshua  were,  whose 
faith  fought  more  for  the  camp  than  the  camp  fought 
for  them. 

Government  is  not  only  civil,  but  ecclesiastical  ; 
not  only  Moses  must  be  obeyed,  but  Aaron  must  not 
be  despised.  I  would  to  God,  these  dignities  did 
never  disgrace  themselves;  that  they  would  not  be 
forward  to  rob  the  church  who  are  set  to  patronize 
it,  and  make  themselves  examples  of  sacrilege.  Oli 
that  our  consciences  could  say  this  is  false,  or  that 
demonstration  made  it  not  too  true  !  Thus  they  that 
arc  set  in  judicatory  places,  grow  into  contempt,  by 
doing  things  contemptible.  Yet  may  not  their  dig- 
nity be  despised,  under  pain  of  a  higher  censure  than 
theirs,  even  of  God  himself.  The  Lord  hath  often 
done  good  to  his  church,  even  by  those  instniracnis 
whom  for  their  sins  he  means  to  cast  into  hell-firo. 
It  is  hard  indeed  to  find  boniim  judicem  and  malum 
hominem,  a  good  judge  and  a  bad  man,  under  one  skin  : 
if  they  could  be  joined,  yet  when  the  bad  man  goes  to 
•'  '11.  what  shall  become  of  the  good  judge?  But 
iinal  corruption  cannot  bar  primitive  institution, 
sins  of  governors  are  their  own,  the  government 
id's,  and  must  not  be  despised. 

'i  ■  a,  there  is  an  inferior  dignity,  yet  a  dignity; 
y  minister  is,  or  at  least  should  be,  a  govx^rnor  of 
lio  Hock.  But  now  the  sheep  are  such  perilous 
beasts,  that  they  will  govern  the  shepherd  ;  children 
will  teach  their  fathers  to  speak,  and  rectors  must 
be  regulated.     Such  is  the  contempt  of  this  dignity. 


that  it  is  a  high  favour  if  the  preacher  may  be  heard 
in  the  pulpit :  out  of  it,  there  is  not  the  most  illiter- 
ate mechanic,  but  thinks  himself  a  wiser  and  a  better 
man.  In  all  things  he  is  held  the  meanest  of  the 
parish,  till  it  come  to  any  payment  or  tax,  and  then 
they  will  honour  him  so  far  as  to  rank  him  with  an 
alderman.  But  for  his  government  over  his  charge, 
this  is  held  but  a  mockery  :  when  they  speak  of  a  mi- 
nister, the  ordinary-  question  is.  Where  doth  he  serve? 
But,  Where  doth  he  govern  ?  this  would  be  a  non- 
sense in  the  world's  opinion.  Indeed  we  are  your 
servants  for  Christ's  sake  ;  yea,  we  will  be  your  foot- 
stool, or  if  you  can,  devise  a  vassalage  lower.  But 
let  us  tell  you  the  truth ;  If  you  honour  Christ,  you 
cannot  despise  us  ;  and  if  ye  do  despise  us,  you  do  not 
honour  Christ ;  and  if  ye  honour  not  him,  he  will  never 
honour  you.  And  while  you  calumniate  our  persons, 
or  abridge  our  just  means,  you  are  so  far  from  honour- 
ing us,  that  you  rob  us ;  and  while  you  rob  us,  you  rob 
Christ  of  his  glory,  and  your  own  souls  of  comfort : 
and  you  shall  sooner  blow  up  hell  with  trains  of  pow- 
der, than  break  the  chain  of  this  dependent  truth. 

Inferences.  Glories  they  arc,  why  then  should 
they  not  be  glorious?  Let  their  pomp,  tlieir  ap- 
parel, their  diet,  their  dw-elling,  be  all  magnificent; 
let  nothing  be  wanting  to  tlieir  state,  upon  whom  de- 
pends the  state  of  all.  They  come  within  this  com- 
pass, that  speak  evil  of  these  things :  they  curse 
the  king,  who  curse  royalty.  Again,  dignities  they 
are,  therefore  should  be  worthy  ;  and  that  in  two  re- 
spects ;  worthy  of  their  admittance,  worthy  in  their 
performance. 

1.  Worthy  of  admittance:  when  they  be  chosen 
to  govern  others,  that  have  not  learned  to  govern 
themselves,  the  republic  rues  it.  "  Woe  to  thee,  O 
land,  when  thy  king  is  a  child!"  Eccl.  x.  IfJ.  "  I 
will  give  children  to  be  their  jirinces,  and  babes  shall 
rule  over  them,"  Isa.  iii.  4.  Children  in  understand- 
ing, not  in  respect  of  innoceiicy.  A  fool  cannot  be 
harmless  ;  they  arc  truly  good,  who  best  know  why. 
In  the  election  of  magistrates,  let  God  be  consulted  ; 
without  whom,  Samuel  himself  will  take  seven  wrong 
before  one  right.  Do  not  think  every  one  sufficient, 
that  thinks  himself  so.  Ambition  is  an  argument  of 
unv.orthiness :  the  olives,  vines,  and  fig-trees  refuse 
this  honour;  brambles  will  catch  hold  on  the  sleeve 
for  preferment,  Judg.  ix.  9 — 15.  Let  him  never 
speed  that  sues.  They  that  arc  worthy  must  be  sued 
to  ;  they  are  sooner  found  in  retirement,  than  popu- 
larity ;  as  Gideon  was  in  the  bam,  David  at  the  fold. 
They  know  offices  to  be  callings,  and  will  not  meddle 
with  them  till  they  be  called  to  them.  Let  such  be 
preferred,  not  as  would  have  places,  but  such  as  places 
wuild  have. 

But,  O  misery  of  our  times!  dignities  be  made,  not 
by  the  worth,  but  by  the  weight ;  not  who  deserve 
best,  but  who  bid  fairest.  Money  can  provide  a  man 
a  place,  no  matter  how  he  be  provided  for  the  place. 
If  you  ask  a  thief  in  an  office,  How  camest  tliou  in 
hither?  he  must  answer  with  that  Roman  burgess, 
With  a  great  sum  of  money.  Acts  xxii.  29.  Church- 
men are  condemned  for  buying  of  benefices,  and  that 
commonly  by  those  that  are  the  sellers  of  them.  They 
make  that  punishable  in  us,  which  they  hold  allow- 
able in  themselves  ;  as  if  they  would  compel  us  to  go 
to  heaven,  while  them.selves  arc  content  to  lake  the 
other  way.  I  know  it  is  fearful  enough,  to  have  the 
charge  of  souls  bought  and  sold,  with  a  Who  gives 
most  ?  But  is  the  fault  only  in  benefices  ?  do  not 
lawyers  buy  offices  and  civil  dignities  ?  This  is  not 
simony;  is  i  t  not  worse  ?  That  wicked  precedent  of 
corruption  had  two  names,  Simon  and  Magus :  if  the 
buying  of  benefices  be  simony,  the  buying  of  offices 
may  well  be  termed  magic.  These  places  prepare  for 


442 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II, 


judicature,  and  so  it  lies  in  them  to  hasten  or  delay 
justice,  to  guide  or  misguide  the  proceedings.  He 
that  hath  bought  his  place  dear,  will  hardly  afford 
the  client  a  reasonable  pennyworth  of  justice.  This 
is  not  to  come  in  at  God's  door,  but  at  the  deal's 
window.     Such  be  unworthy  dignities. 

2.  Worthy  in  their  performance,  and  executing  the 
place.  They  must  be,  first,  no  dastards  :  they  had 
need  be  heroical  spirits,  that  must  oppose  (he  cui-- 
rent,  yea,  the  torrent  of  vices,  and  do  justice  when  a 
great  man  says,  No.  How  was  Gideon's  anny  di- 
minished !  upon  the  proclamation,  Let  the  fearful  be 
gone,  two  and  twenty  thousand  slunk  away,  Judg. 
vii.  3.  Yet  this  is  not  enough  ;  more  cowards  must 
be  cashiered.  If  ours  were  so  served,  I  fear  of  so 
many  thousands  there  would  scarce  be  three  hundred 
left.  The  Athenian  judges  used  to  sit  in  Mars-street : 
to  show,  that  though  they  wore  Apollo's  robes,  yet 
they  had  martial  hearts.  Constantine  was  tciTncd 
that  man  child,  Rev.  xii.  5,  for  his  courage  and  re- 
solution for  the  truth.  A  soft  and  flexible  nature  is 
not  able  to  say  injustice  nay,  when  it  comes  M'ith  high 
looks.  Cowards  are  slaves  to  those  above  them, 
sycophants  to  those  equal  with  them,  tyrants  to  those 
under  them.  Commonly,  courage  comes  from  blood 
and  breeding;  eagles  produce  eagles.  Blessed  is  the 
land,  whose  princes  are  the  sons  of  nobles !  Eccl.  x. 
17-  Not  but  that  God  can  alter  this,  and  i-aise  as 
worthy  men  from  cottages  as  from  palaces.  Gideon 
was  a  thrasher,  David  a  shepherd,  yet  both  mirrors 
of  valour,  reckoned  among  the  worthies.  But  a 
timorous  magistrate  is  a  hare  in  a  lion's  seat  ;  the 
frown  or  cheek  of  a  great  one  is  able  to  fright  him 
from  liis  conscience.  So  we  have  seen  a  natural  tied 
to  a  post  with  a  straw,  which  he  durst  not  break. 
These  dare  meddle  with  none  that  dare  meddle  with 
them. 

Next,  not  proud  and  disdainful.  Some  when  they 
have  got  an  office,  look  big  upon  their  old  acquaint- 
ance ;  as  if  their  dignity  were  a  dropsy  to  puft'  them 
up.  Now  they  think,  they  may  swear  by  authority, 
and  oppress  by  licence ;  their  place  will  bear  them 
out  in  it.  When  we  sec  such  a  one  upon  the  bench, 
we  may  think  truly,  he  would  better  become  the  bar. 
These  hold  religion  a  disparagement  to  gentry,  and 
fear  nothing  more  than  to  have  a  name  that  they 
fear  God.  Their  place  to  such  is  held  a  chair  of 
honour,  and  a  stool  of  ease,  and  a  farm  of  commodity, 
and  a  sword  of  revenge ;  not  a  calling  of  labour, 
wherein  they  must  do  much  good,  or  receive  much 
blame. 

Lastly,  nor  must  they  be  covetous;  it  is  too  base 
and  sordid  for  honour  to  be  covetous.  What  is  not 
cheap  with  him,  to  whom  money  is  dear?  He  will 
sell  the  truth,  sell  his  friend,  sell  his  country,  with 
Ahab  sell  himself,  for  money.  Such,  if  tliey  be 
ofhccrs,  stud}'  new  pulleys  and  winches  to  derive 
larger  fees :  their  words  be  casting  nets,  no  fish 
escapes  them.  If  lawyers,  they  will  sell  both  their 
speech  and  silence,  their  clients'  causes  and  their  own 
consciences.  While  the  golden  stream  runneth,  the 
mill  grindeth  ;  when  that  spring  is  diy,  they  advise 
them  to  put  it  to  compromise,  and  let  their  neigh- 
bours end  it :  the  fools  might  have  done  so  before. 
(Bern,  to  Eugen.)  But  let  dignities  take  care  that 
the  people  may  grow  rich  by  tliem,  and  not  they  by 
the  people. 

The  good  magistrate  sits  on  the  judgment-seat,  with 
as  great  (though  not  so  slavish)  fear,  as  Olanes  did  on 
the  flayed  skin  of  his  father  Sylannes,  nailed  by 
Cambyscs  on  the  tribunal  ;  or  as  the  Mahometan 
council,  when  they  think  the  gi-eat  Turk  stands  be- 
hind the  arras,  or  at  the  dangerous  door.  When 
greatness  of  power,  or  nearness  of  friendship,  brings 


an  unjust  suit  before  him,  requesting  his  favour  in  it, 
his  heart  replies  within  him,  How  shall  I  judge  so, 
and  answer  the  Lord  when  he  comes  to  judge  me! 

Thus  should  dignities  walk  worthy ;  as  Paul  said 
to  Timothy,  See  that  no  man  despise  thee.  As  they 
would  not  be  contemned,  they  must  not  deserve  con- 
tempt ;  if  tlicy  do,  God  can  pour  contempt  upon 
princes.  The  lowest  officers  are  not  here  excused; 
for  if  the  inferior  fail  in  their  duties,  it  will  trou- 
ble the  supreme  to  repair  it.  The  fixed  stars  be 
the  greatest  and  highest,  and  have  their  light  and 
influence;  yet  is  it  the  sun  and  moon,  the  lowest  and 
nearest  orbs,  that  govern  the  world.  Be  the  bishop 
never  so  learned,  if  the  parishional  priest  be  negli- 
gent or  ignorant,  the  people  are  still  untaught.  What 
can  the  eye  do,  if  the  hand  be  unserviceable  ?  It  is 
the  ground-wind,  not  the  rack-wind,  that  drives 
mills  and  ships.  In  the  clock  of  justice,  the  least 
pin  or  wheel  being  irregular  disorders  all. 

Conclusion.  Dignities  be  difficulties:  and  tlie  rent 
of  labour  considered,  the  good  man  hath  but  a  hard 
bargain  of  his  honour.  I  wonder  not,  if  the  wise 
man  be  rather  haled  out  of  his  privacy  to  such  pre- 
ferment ;  for  he  wcigiis  the  charge  as  well  as  the 
credit,  the  danger  more  than  the  gain,  of  high  places ; 
knowing  the  chair  of  honour  to  be  as  ticklish  as  Eli's 
stool,  off  which  he  may  easily  break  his  neck.  I 
cannot  blame  Saul  for  hiding  himself  from  a  king- 
dom ;  especially  so  troublesome  a  one  as  Israel  then 
was.  Honour  is  hea\-y  enough  when  it  comes  on  the 
best  terms,  much  more  when  all  men's  cares  are  cast 
upon  one,  most  of  all  in  a  distempered  state.  To  put 
to  sea,  is  not  without  danger  at  any  time  :  but  what 
safety  can  he  expect  that  launcheth  out  in  a  storm? 
The  quietest  throne  is  full  of  cares,  the  unquiet  of 
perils.  These  drove  Saul  into  a  comer,  to  hide  his 
head  from  a  crown,  that  he  chose  rather  to  lie  ob- 
scure among  the  baggage  of  his  tent,  than  to  sit 
gloriously  in  a  chair  of  state.  Dignity  in  such  a 
condition  is  compelled  to  fear,  as  well  as  to  be  feared, 
as  Cyprian  saith.  They  often  drink  wormwood  in  a 
cup  of  gold,  and  lie  in  a  bed  of  ivoiy  upon  a  pillow  of 
fhoms ;  that  they  may  say  of  their  glorj",  as  ho  did  of 
his  robe,  O  nobilem  magis  qiiam  felicem  ■panmini  !  O 
noble  rather  than  lucky  rag!  If  the  ambitious  knew 
what  cares,  fears,  and  dangers  dwelt  within  the  hoop 
of  a  crown,  though  it  lay  at  their  foot,  they  ^^•ould 
not  stoop  to  take  it  up.  But  the  Divine  arm  that 
sets  the  diadem  on  their  heads,  doth  there  maintain 
it.  If  they  uphold  his  kingdom,  he  will  uphold 
theirs.  If  they  will  have  God  to  be  mindful  of  them 
in  his  mercies,  Neh.  xiii.  22,  they  must  be  mindful 
of  liim  in  their  business. 


Verse  11. 

Wherms  angels,  triitch  are  greater  in  pmrer  and  might, 
bring  not  railing  acaisalion  against  them  before  the 
Lord. 

Hehe  is  an  argument  a  fortiori,  against  them  that 
inveigh  against  authority  ;  in  that  they  take  more 
upon  them  than  the  very  angels  themselves.  Fii-st, 
they  are  weak  ;  the  angels  are  powerfiil.  Secondly, 
they  are  wicked;  the  angels  are  holy.  Tliirdly, 
they  are  bound  with  the  fetters  of  mortality;  the 
angels  cannot  die,  and  are  at  perfect  liberty.  Fourth- 
ly, God  hath  subjected  them  to  magistrates;  the 
angels  know  no  superior  but  Clirist  and  God  himself. 
Yet  these  men  rail  against  nilcrs,  the  angels  do  not ; 


Ver.  11. 


SECOND  EPISTI.E  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


these  dare,  the  angels  dare  not.  The  impotent  are 
most  audacious. 

But  this  seems  marvellous,  that  the  apostle  should 
acquit  the  angels  from  being  contumelious  against 
magistrates.  For  why  should  they  be  enemies  to  that 
sacred  order,  whereof  they  know  God  to  be  the 
Author?  Why  should  they  rise  up  against  that 
power,  which  is  joined  with  themselves  in  the  same 
ministrj-  and  deiiutation? 

These  doubts  have  made  some  of  opinion,  that  this 
is  meant  of  the  evil  angels.  But  that  exposition 
must  needs  be  full  of  absurdity;  for  why  should  he 
excuse  devils  from  blasphemy,  whom  he  knows  to  be 
the  fathers  of  blasphemy  ?  or  make  Satan  so  fa- 
vourable and  modest,  as  if  he  durst  not  meddle  with 
kings  ?  Whereas  his  malice  is  deadly  against  all 
men,  but  most  impetuous  and  violent  against  princes. 
EvciT  kingdom  on  earth  is  an  eyesore  to  the  king- 
dom of  hell.  Government  conforms  men  to  civil 
obedience  and  peace  ;  both  which  are  hateful  to  the 
fountain  of  sin  and  sedition.  It  is  his  main  policy, 
to  bring  in  anarchy  and  ataxy.  Give  him  but  way 
to  break  our  ranks,  he  will  soon  rout  and  vanquish  all 
our  forces.  He  fears  not  to  curse  nor  cross  any  king 
upon  earth,  that  is  not  afraid  to  blaspheme  the  King 
of  heaven. 

It  must  therefore  be  understood  of  the  good  angels. 
But  why  are  they  justified  from  the  blasphemy  of 
princes?  Kings  are  their  special  charge,  they  are 
the  invisible  guard  of  majesty :  protection  they  af- 
ford, never  malediction.  Answ.  Let  us  distinguish  of 
the  time,  and  all  will  be  easy.  In  those  times,  the 
magistrates  were  cruel,  bloody,  savage  wolves,  suck- 
ing the  gore  of  Christians,  haters  of  the  gospel, 
enemies  of  Jesus  Christ.  Now  the  holy  angels  had 
the  custody  of  the  church,  the  tuition  of  every  be- 
lieving soul.  Therefore  those  tyrants,  that  so  per- 
secuted their  charge,  must  needs  be  hateful  to  them. 
Yet  they  so  qualified  theii"  just  disj)leasure,  that 
while  they  abhorred  the  princes,  they  honoured  the 
principalities:  they  hated  the  men,  as  the  instru- 
ments of  the  devil  ;  reverenced  the  dominion,  as  the 
ordinance  of  God.  This  moderation  is  in  the  blessed 
ai^els ;  yet  such  fury  is  in  human,  or  rather  inhuman, 
beasts. 

This  I  take  to  be  true  sense.  For  the  power  and 
might  of  angels,  how  far  one  is  more  puissant  than 
many  men,  and  how  innumerable  those  armies  be,  I 
refer  you  to  some  of  my  former  tracts.  (On  Heb.  xii. 
22.)  Their  power  makes  for  our  comfort,  being 
exercised  in  our  protection.  In  our  infancy,  devils 
assault  our  cradles ;  but  angels  beat  them  off,  as 
Abraham  drove  the  fowls  from  the  sacrifice.  In  our 
strength,  devils  strive  to  pervert  our  goings ;  persuad- 
ing us  to  leap  from  pinnacles,  to  attempt  impossibili- 
ties or  dangers:  angels  then  keep  us  in  our  ways, 
Matt,  xviii.  10;  Psal.  xci.  II.  Devils  would  devour 
our  substance,  children,  servants,  as  they  did  spoil 
Job;  angels  defend  us  from  their  rage,  as  they  did 
defend  Jacob,  Gen.  xxxii.  1.  The  pestilence  rageth 
in  the  streets,  angels  keep  it  from  the  tabernacles  of 
the  righteous.  Devils  seek  the  ruin  of  kingdoms; 
i«  H  IS  Satan  that  tempted  David  to  number  his  pco- 
1>I<  .  by  which  he  lost  such  a  number  of  his  people: 
au^'els  tight  for  their  defence,  as  that  angel  did  for 
Israel  against  the  prince  of  Persia,  Dan.  x.  13. 
Angels  were  the  ministers  of  the  law,  an  art;hangel 
the  messenger  of  the  gospel ;  he  that  was  Gabriel, 
which  signilies,  the  strength  of  God,  came  to  bring 
news  of  the  God  of  strength.  One  angel  sle.w  one 
hundred  eighty-five  thousand  enemies  in  one  night ; 
one  angel  cIum  red  millions  of  souls  by  the  tidings  of 
one  day.  This  is  their  might,  and  this  is  their  mi- 
nistr\'  ordained  for  our  good  by  the  God  of  mercy. 


"  Whereas  angels,"  &c.  Angels  do  reverence  to 
tile  institution  of  God ;  and  are  so  far  from  accusing 
bad  governors  before  the  Lord,  that  they  honour 
their  principality  in  the  world.  Indeed  evil  magis- 
trates have  plagues  enough  waiting  upon  them  ; 
more  than  jileasures  or  flatterers.  Heliogabalus 
thought  by  the  policy  of  his  head,  to  prevent  the 
extraordinary  hand  of  God ;  he  provides  himself 
silken  ropes,  golden  swords,  poison  in  hyacinths,  a 
turret  plated  with  gold,  and  bmidcred  with  precious 
stones;  thinking  by  some  of  these  engines  to  have 
ended  his  irksome  life ;  yet  he  died  the  death  that 
God  had  appointed  him.  But  angels  are  not  enemies 
to  sovereignty ;  there  is  order  among  themselves, 
some  arc  higher,  some  lower;  and  they  obey  one 
another,  if  not  from  commandment,  yet  from  counsel. 

The  world  could  not  consist  without  order:  this 
sikblunaiy  globe  depends  on  the  celestial;  superior 
causes  guide  the  subordinate.  At  the  first  was  one 
confused  heap  of  materials,  but  then  it  could  scarce 
be  called  a  world.  God's  Jiat,  which  did  put  an 
order,  visibility,  and  harmony  to  things,  matlc  it  a 
world.  Inequality  is  the  ground  of  order ;  "  one  star 
difl'ers  from  another  star  in  gloiy,"  1  Cor.  xv.  41 ; 
and  this  was  with  God's  approbation  in  the  review. 
If  the  elements  were  of  equal  force,  none  more  ojicr- 
ative  than  another,  the  world  would  be  like  a  sea 
becalmed ;  fire  should  have  no  predominance ;  nor 
heat,  the  parent  of  generation,  above  unactive  moi.st- 
ure ;  nor  summer  be  distinguished  from  winter. 
There  must  be  a  disparity  among  men ;  all  may  not 
be  rich,  nor  all  rulers :  but  some  to  command,  some 
to  obey ;  some  for  the  throne,  some  for  the  mill. 
Unisons  make  no  good  music,  nor  is  equality  any 
degree  to  perfection.  The  host  of  heaven  knows 
and  keeps  the  rules  of  subjection  and  superiority : 
there  be  two  great  lights ;  the  sun  to  govern  the 
day,  and  the  moon  the  night.  But  for  this  orderly 
disposition,  all  would  fall  to  ruin. 

The  angels  "  bring  not  railing  accusation  against 
them  before  the  Lord."  Of  this  that  our  apostle  sets 
down  here  generally,  St.  Judc  gives  a  particular  in- 
stance :  "Michael  the  archangel,  when  contending 
with  the  devil  he  disputed  about  the  body  of  Moses, 
durst  not  bring  against  him  a  railing  accusation,  but 
said.  The  Lord  rebuke  thee,"  Jude  9.  Give  me  leave 
a  little  to  insist  on  this  example.  The  occasion  of 
this  strife  was  about  the  body  of  Closes.  Why,  what 
did  Satan  care  for  the  body  of  Moses,  when  his  soul 
was  gone  to  glory  ?  That  old  politician  had  a  reach 
in  it.  Moses,  though  he  were  often  despised  living, 
was  highly  reverenced  being  dead;  and  they  that 
said  of  him  while  he  was  in  the  mount,  "  As  for  this 
Moses,  we  know  not  what  is  become  of  him,"  Exod. 
xxxii.  1 ;  could  wish,  when  he  was  taken  to  the 
mount  of  heaven.  Would  we  had  our  Moses  again. 
If  therefore  the  devil  could  have  found  out  Moses' 
sepulchre,  he  would  have  brought  a  number  of  idol- 
aters to  the  worship  of  his  bones. 

From  hence  arose  this  disputation  betwixt  the  lost 
and  the  blest  angel;  Satan  examining  the  cause, 
why  the  body  of  God's  so  famous  ser^•ant  should  be 
buried  in  oblivion,  offering  himself  to  the  search  of 
that  holy  dust ;  Michael  withstands  him,  and  re- 
proves his  sauciness  in  seeking  for  that  which  God's 
infinite  wisdom  had  concealed. 

Moses,  doubtless,  was  buried  with  honour;  the 
same  God,  that  by  the  hand  of  his  angels  carried  up 
his  soul  to  glor\-,  did  also  by  their  hand  earPi"  his 
body  to  sepulture.  Angels  bear  up  innumerable 
souls  to  heaven ;  we  never  read  them  (unless  pro- 
bably here)  the  bearers  of  human  bodies  to  their 
graves.  Yet  thus  was  Moses  honoured  :  those  hands 
that  had  taken  the  law  from  God  himself,  those 


I 


444 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


eyes  that  had  seen  his  presence,  those  lips  that  had 
so  often  conferred  with  him,  that  face  which  did  so 
shine  with  the  reflection  of  his  glory;  may  not  now 
be  neglected,  when  the  soul  is  gone.  God  took 
chai-ge  of  him  enclosed  within  his  mother's  ribs,  kept 
him  from  those  Egyptian  butchers  in  her  arms,  pre- 
served him  among  the  bulrushes,  maintained  him  in 
the  world;  therefore  he  will  regard  the  carriage  of 
him  out  of  llic  world.  None  of  his  friends  shall 
be  troubled  about  his  funerals,  God  liimself  will  be 
at  all  the  cost.  Such  is  his  love  and  care  of  his  own, 
that  it  never  eeaseth,  neither  in  life,  nor  in  death, 
nor  after  it.  Herein  he  directs  us  by  his  own  ex- 
ample, to  bring  the  bodies  of  our  friends  to  the 
grave  with  honour.  Birds  die  ;  we  find  not  many  of 
their  bodies ;  it  is  likely  that  they  go  into  holes, 
and  there  end.     Nature  requires  burial. 

If  men  had  been  employed  in  making  this  grave 
of  Moses,  the  place  might  have  been  known.  But 
he  dies  in  the  mount  alone ;  angels  wrap  up  his 
corpse,  dig  his  grave,  cover  it  again ;  and,  it  is 
likely,  perform  his  obsequies  with  the  solemn  hymns 
of  heaven.  God  purposely  conceals  this  treasure, 
both  from  men  and  devils ;  that  he  might  both  cross 
their  curiosity,  and  prevent  their  superstition.  Yet 
that  Divine  hand,  which  locked  up  this  jewel,  keep- 
ing the  key  himself,  afterwards  brought  it  forth  glo- 
rious. When  Christ  was  transfigured,  this  body 
which  was  liid  in  the  valley  of  Moab,  appeared  on 
the  hill  of  Tabor,  Matt.  xvii.  3 :  to  give  us  assur- 
ance, that  the  bodies  of  saints,  when  they  are  de- 
posed, are  reposed  ;  and  shall  be  as  surely  raised  in 
glory,  as  they  were  laid  down  in  corruption.  Let  all 
this  teach  us  four  things. 

1.  That  Satan  is  so  far  from  having  power  over  us 
living,  that  he  cannot  touch  our  bodies  being  dead ; 
yea,  he  cannot  find  them,  when  God  will  conceal 
them.  How  tame  and  poor  a  thing  is  that  roaring 
lion,  when  the  Lamb  overawes  liim  !  He  cannot 
touch  a  beast  of  our  herds,  nor  a  hair  of  our  heads, 
nor  a  dust  of  our  bodies,  but  by  permission.  He  must 
first  beg  leave,  and  the  Lord  will  give  him  no  leave 
to  do  any  harm  to  his  chosen. 

2.  As  the  angels  did  wait  at  the  sepulchre  of  their 
and  our  Lord,  so  I  doubt  not  but,  for  his  sake,  they 
also  watch  over  our  graves.  With  how  joyful  arms 
do  they  take  up  our  souls,  that  have  care  of  our  in- 
sensible ashes !  O,  let  us  not  defile  these  our  bodies 
in  life,  which  even  in  death  are  thus  honoured. 

3.  Satan  is  the  author  of  superstition.  God  for- 
bids it,  liis  holy  angels  hinder  it;  who  be  they  that 
maintain  it  ?  If  the  Lord  had  liked  the  adoration  of 
his  servants'  relics,  he  would  never  have  hidden  the 
body  of  Moses.  There  could  not  have  been  a  fitter 
object  for  such  a  devotion  than  the  body  of  such  a 
saint.  Judge  then,  with  what  impudence  the  church 
of  Rome  defends  her  idolatiy  to  shrines  and  frag- 
ments. God  is  careful  to  keep  his  children  from  it, 
they  are  zealous  to  persuade  their  children  to  it. 
He  hides  the  whole  body  of  a  saint ;  but  if  they  can 
get  but  the  finger,  or  the  toe,  yea,  a  nail,  a  hair,  a 
very  straw,  they  call  in  their  blind  customers  as  to  a 
fair,  and  happy  be  those  lips  that  may  kiss  it.  How- 
ridiculous  is  it,  that  a  shaving  of  otir  Tyburn  should 
be  so  reverend  at  Tiber;  that  a  piece  of  the  con- 
temptible gallows  should  be  worshipped  at  Rome  ! 
Justly  herein  are  they  become  the  spectacles  of  folly 
to  all  the  world.  John  Baptist  hath  so  many  heads, 
that  tlicy  cannot  tell  whidi  is  the  right.  God  made 
him  but  one,  Ilcrod  left  him  none,  the  papists  (as  if 
he  were  another  Hydra)  have  furnished  him  with  a 
great  many.  Christ's  cross  is  so  multiplied,  that 
that  which  one  ordinary  man  might  bear,  if  the 
pieces  were  gathered  together,  would  now  build  a 


pinnace  of  a  hundred  ton.  Yet  they  will  tell  us,  that 
every  shiver  came  by  revelation,  and  hath  done 
miracles  :  but  this  to  me  appears  the  greatest  mira- 
cle, that  any  man  should  believe  them.  It  is  folly 
to  place  religion  in  those  things,  which  God  on  pur- 
pose hides  from  us.  It  is  not  his  properly  to  restrain 
us  from  good.  If  relics  had  been  allowable,  Moses' 
body  should  have  been  public  to  all  visitants. 

4.  After  all  this,  the  angel  does  not  revile  the 
devil,  nor  curse  him  with  execrations ;  but  remits 
revenge  to  the  o\mer,  puts  over  his  payment  to  his 
Maker  ;  "  The  Lord  rebuke  thee."  Now  if  an  angel 
will  not  curse  a  devil,  a  professed  and  malicious 
enemy  of  goodness,  of  whose  amendment  there  is  no 
possibility :  how  shall  we  dare  to  blaspheme  those, 
who  (though  for  the  present  sinful  enough)  may  be 
brought  to  repentance,  and  find  forgiveness! 

They  "  bring  not  railing  accusation  against  them 
before  the  Lord."  From  this  angelical  moderation, 
we  learn  three  things  :  First,  not  to  accuse.  Second- 
ly, not  to  rail.     Thirdly,  to  be  afraid  of  such  sins. 

1.  Not  to  accuse.  This  is  one  of  the  most  signifi- 
cant names  of  the  devil,  to  be  an  accuser  of  the  bre- 
thren. Love  covers  a  multitude  of  sins  ;  m.dice  dis- 
covers what  should  be  concealed.  Ham  makes  sport 
with  his  father's  nakedness;  Shem  and  Japheth  will 
liide  from  others  what  they  will  not  see  themselves. 
These  are  the  sons  of  Noah,  yea,  of  God :  Ham  is 
not  worthy  of  the  one,  and  hath  quite  lost  the  other. 
Not  content  only  to  be  a  witness  of  his  unnatural 
sight,  he  proclaims  it,  and  accuseth  his  own  father. 
Sin  doth  ill  in  the  eye,  but  worse  in  the  tongue. 
Cur  aliquid  vidi?  i.  e.  Why  saw  I  any  thing?  was 
the  poet's  complaint:  his  tongue  had  not  thus  com- 
plained of  his  eyes,  if  the  trust  of  his  eyes  had  not 
been  betrayed  by  his  tongue.  To  have  conscia  la- 
mina, i.  e.  conscious  eyes,  might  be  his  fate ;  but  to 
have  patu/a  labia,  i.  e.  open  lij.s,  was  his  fault.  Un- 
gracious Ham  saw,  and  laughed  :  his  father's  shame 
should  have  been  his.  He  is  a  graceless  man  that 
makes  sport  with  the  cause  of  his  sorrow.  This  was 
bad,  but  to  blab  it  was  far  worse  :  as  all  sin  is  a  deed 
of  darkness,  so  to  be  buried  in  darkness. 

Howsoever,  it  is  our  fashion  to  make  ourselves 
merry  with  the  sins  of  our  brethren,  yea,  (which'is 
more  unnatural  impiety  than  Ham's,)  to  publish  the 
nakedness  of  our  spiritual  fathers  to  their  enemies  ; 
and  it  is  a  rare  merriment  that  breaks  up  without 
some  jest  or  tale  of  a  priest :  yet  our  tongues  offend 
more  in  this,  than  did  their  hands;  the  report  of 
sin  is  often  as  bad  as  the  commission.  A  Christian 
sees  his  brother  fall  with  sorrow  and  silence.  Shun 
and  Japheth  hear  and  grieve,  but  dare  not  see  :  they 
will  not  go  forward  to  behold  it,  but  backward  to 
hide  it :  and  w'ithout  daring  to  look  back,  they  will 
rather  adventure  to  stumble  at  tlicir  father's  body, 
than  to  sec  his  shame.  Grieve  they  did  to  think  that 
they  who  had  so  often  come  to  their  holy  father  with 
reverence,  should  now  in  reverence  turn  their  backs 
ujion  him  ;  and  clothe  him  in  pity,  who  had  so  often 
in  love  clothed  them.  But  such  was  their  goodness; 
they  did  it,  and  said  nothing.  As  this  commends 
them,  so  let  it  teach  us.  The  sins  of  those  we  love 
and  honour,  we  must  hear  of  with  indignation,  be- 
lieve with  unwillingness,  acknowledge  with  grief, 
hide  with  honest  excuses,  and  buiy  in  silence.  For 
commonly  they  infect  others  by  example,  but  always 
prove  us  to  be  uncharitable. 

But  is  it  lawful  for  no  man  to  accuse  ?  Enormities 
may  then  pass  without  censure  among  us,  as  murders 
do  in  some  states  without  apprehension;  where  no  ( 
man  will  stop  the  homicide,  for  fear  of  being  counted 
a  hangman.  Yes,  there  be  some  deputed  for  this 
purpose.     Paul  mentions  the  house  of  Chloc,  from 


Ver.  11. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


445 


wlicnce  he  had  infurmntion  of  the  Corinthian  disor- 
ders, 1  Cor.  i.  11.  Answerable  to  which,  we  have  the 
oflice  of  churchwardens ;  they  are  the  house  of  Chloe, 
bound  by  oath  to  present  misdemeanours,  tliat  sin 
may  have  a  just  censure.  I  know  that  this  place 
may  be  abused,  not  only  by  connivance,  but  spleen. 
He  that  with  a  particular  heart-burning  presents  his 
neighbour,  though  his  accusation  be  just,  his  aflec- 
tion  is  unjust;  and  in  doing  that  he  sins,  which  he 
had  sinned  in  not  doing.  The  complaint  may  be 
true,  and  the  complainer  false.  The  one  is  punished, 
the  other  cannot  be  commended.  When  Paul  bade 
them  salute  with  a  holy  kiss,  he  implied,  there  is  a 
kiss  that  is  not  holy.  Informers  of  penal  statutes 
make  often  just  complaints  ;  but  because  their  end  is 
not  the  correction  of  faults,  but  fishing  for  the  mulcts, 
or  wreaking  their  spleens,  they  do  the  office  of 
devils.  Yea,  there  be  false  Zibas,  that  unjustly  ac- 
cuse honest  Mephibosheths,  to  get  away  their  lands 
and  places.     These  outdo  mischief  itself. 

But  let  them  accuse  to  whom  it  belongs;  yet  alas, 
there  is  an  All  is  well,  that  swallows  all  vanities. 
Drunkenness,  uncleanness,  swearing,  profanation  of 
the  sabbath,  go  abroad  all  the  year;  but  when  the 
visitation  comes,  they  are  locked  up  with  an  All  is 
well.  This  is  not  that  charily  which  covercth  sin, 
but  a  miserable  indulgence  that  cherishelh  sin.  In 
the  creation  there  was  an  Omnia  bene,  all  things  were 
exceeding  good :  in  our  redemption  was  an  Omnia 
bmie,  He  hath  done  all  things  well ;  he  hath  made 
the  blind  to  see,  and  the  lame  to  go:  here  was  an 
Omnia  bene  indeed;  but  there  never  was  an  Omnia 
bene  since.  But  for  private  men,  falsely  or  ma- 
liciously to  accuse  their  brethren,  is  to  be  Satan's 
deputies.  We  have  a  proverb,  It  is  a  shame  to  belie 
the  devil  ;  but  they  are  past  shame  that  belie  the 
saints.  If  we  will  accuse  any,  let  us  accuse  our- 
selves. It  is  for  a  Pharisee  to  accuse  the  publican, 
I  am  not  as  this  man  :  the  publican  doth  not  accuse 
the  Pharisee,  but  himself.  Satan  doth  continually 
accuse  us  to  God ;  if  we  humbly  accuse  ourselves, 
his  bill  shall  be  thrown  out  of  the  court. 

2.  Not  to  rail.     Tliis  is  indeed  propei-ly  the  lan- 

fuage  of  hell.  Angels  do  not  rail,  devils  do:  angels 
0  not  curse,  devils  do.  You  need  no  other  proof, 
who  be  the  children  of  Satan,  than  railing  invectives. 
You  may  know  what  countrj'men  they  are,  as  the 
maid  said  of  Peter,  for  their  speech  bewrayeth  them. 
The  language  of  heaven  is  praise  and  hallelujahs, 
no  execration  was  ever  heard  there.  The  language 
of  hell  is  cursing  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Alas,  that 
such  a  language  should  be  heard  upon  earth !  Think 
of  it,  ye  inhuman  scolds,  and  graceless  blasphemers  ; 
who  are  able  to  turn  the  calmest  Thames  to  a  tem- 
pest ;  who,  as  if  you  had  been  bred  only  among 
bears,  know  no  other  dialect  than  roaring,  cursing, 
and  banning  one  another :  it  is  the  tongue  of  hell 
you  speak,  as  men  beforehand  learn  the  language  of 
that  country  whither  they  mean  to  travel.  Ishmael 
Avas  a  foe  to  all  men,  and  no  man  was  Ishmael's 
friend.  You  have  abused  all ;  sworn  away  the  fear  of 
God,  the  love  of  man,  the  guard  of  angels ;  what 
friends  can  ye  now  expect,  but  they  that  speak  like 
you,  devils  ?  If  a  man  be  evil,  why  do  ye  curse  him  ? 
It  is  Satan's  desire  to  wish  a  man  worse ;  and  it  is 
your  own  common  saying.  Do  not  curse  him,  he  is 
bad  enough.  If  he  be  good,  why  then  do  ye  curse 
him  ?  Your  curse  is  an  arrow  shot  against  a  stone, 
it  shall  wound  yourselves.  Some  having  begun  to 
',■»  curse,  though  they  meant  it  at  man,  yet  suddenly 
divert  it  to  Satan ;  but  let  them  read  and  tremble, 
"  Vhen  the  ungodly  curseth  Satan,  he  curseth  his 
own  soul,"  Eeclus.  xxi.  27.  The  de\-il  delights  to  hear 
us  curse  himj  that  fox  never  fares  better  than  when 


he  is  cursed.  But  put  away  all  bitterness,  and  if  you 
must  be  bitter  to  some,  be  bitter  to  your  own  sins. 
Rend  your  hearts,  whose  tongues  have  rent  the  glo- 
rious name  of  your  Maker.  Remember  the  penitent 
publican,  Luke  xviii.  13;  because  he  had  thought 
sin,  he  smote  his  breast ;  because  he  had  spoke  sin, 
he  taught  his  tongiie  to  confess;  because  he  had 
acted  sin,  he  struck  with  his  hand,  the  instrament  of 
action. 

Now,  if  it  be  so  wicked  to  revile  equals,  what  is  it 
to  rail  at  princes!  which  is  the  heart  of  the  text. 
Will  you  see  the  odiousncss  of  this  sin  in  one  ex- 
ample ?  Shimei  cursed  David,  "  Come  out,  thou 
bloody  man,  and  thou  man  of  Belial,"  2  Sam.  xvi.  7. 
It  was  bad  to  curse,  worse  to  curse  a  king,  but  to 
cui'se  an  afflicted  king  worst  of  all;  to  add  weights 
to  him  that  was  weiglicd  down,  and  to  persecute  liim 
«hom  God  had  humbled.  Every  word  was  a  slander: 
he  calls  him  a  usurper,  a  man  of  blood,  and  that  of 
.Saul's  house;  how  false!  God  sent  for  him  out  of 
the  fields  to  be  anointed,  how  was  he  an  intruder  ? 
The  man  after  God's  own  heart,  is  branded  for  a  man 
of  Belial.  He  that  regretted  for  but  the  cutting  olV 
.Saul's  garment,  is  reproached  as  a  man  of  blood.  If 
his  hands  were  stained  with  blood,  it  was  not  of 
Saul's  house.  It  was  his  servant,  not  his  master, 
that  bled  by  him.  But  malicious  men  care  not  for 
truth,  but  for  spite.  Did  not  David  shed  the  blood 
of  that  Anialekite,  who  did  but  say  he  shed  Saul's? 
How  did  he  bewail  the  death  of  so  bad  a  master ; 
wishing  that  no  dew  miglit  fall  where  that  royal 
blood  was  poured  out !  2  Sam.  i.  21.  How  indulgent 
was  he  to  the  house  of  Saul !  How  did  he  honour 
Mephibosheth  at  his  own  table!  How  did  he  re- 
venge the  blood  of  Ishbosheth,  though  his  rival, 
upon  his  murderers  !  Who  could  less  deserve  these 
aspersions  than  David  ?  Had  Shimei  been  other 
than  a  dog,  he  had  never  so  rudely  barked  at  a 
harmless  passenger.  That  head  desen-ed  to  be 
tongueless,  that  body  to  be  headless,  that  thus  blas- 
phemed the  Lord's  anointed.  Cursing  is  for  hell ; 
but  let  all  those  learn  to  bless,  that  look  to  be  heirs 
of  the  blessing. 

3.  We  must  be  afraid  of  these  impieties,  as  being 
alway  before  the  Lord.  A  good  man  would  not  admit 
them,  were  he  sure  that  God  would  never  take  notice 
of  it ;  but  before  the  Lord,  who  dares  rail  on  his  de- 
lected image  ?  There  is  a  fear  from  entire  nature ; 
this  was  in  Christ :  every  creature  fears  the  ruin  of 
itself.  There  is  a  fear  from  corrupt  nature  ;  which  is 
a  slavish  dread  of  the  punishment,  not  of  the  sin: 
this  is  in  reprobates.  Tliere  is  a  fear  of  grace,  which 
works  in  all,  men  and  angels,  a  care  to  please  their 
Maker.  Corrupt  fear  dreads  the  penalty,  loves  the 
sin.  Gracious  fear  dreads  the  sin,  and  escapes  the 
penalty.  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  pure,  because  it 
keeps  the  heart  from  being  defiled.  When  God  said, 
Who  shall  seduce  Ahab?  1  Kings  xxii.  20,  not  one 
angel  in  the  whole  host  of  heaven  gave  him  an  ill 
w old,  though  he  were  a  wicked  prince ;  not  one  i.s 
willing  to  undertake  this  office.  Only  the  father  of 
lies  puts  himself  forward,  I  will  do  it. 

The  good  angels  fear  to  do  evil,  yea,  the  very 
devils  believe  and  tremble.  Jam.  ii.  19;  and  shall 
not  man  be  afraid  to  sin  ?  Shall  a  piece  of  mortal 
dust  be  thus  insolent  ?  0  we  want  their  eyes,  to 
behold  the  infinite  majesty  of  that  God  whom  we 
offend.  We  know  not  the  sweet  pleasures  of  heaven, 
and  the  beatifical  vision  of  the  Trinity,  as  the  angels 
do :  if  we  did,  how  would  we  fear  to  lose  it  by  our 
sins!  Wc  know  not  the  torments  of  hell,  the  eter- 
nity and  extremity  of  that  fire,  as  the  devils  do :  if 
we  did,  we  would  fear  to  incur  it  by  our  sins.  If 
the  king  threatens  a  malefactor  to  the  dungeon,  to 


446 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


the  ruck,  to  the  wheel,  his  bones  tremble,  a  terrible 
palsy  runs  through  all  his  joints.  But  let  God 
threaten  the  insufl'erablc  tortures  of  burning  Tophet, 
the  wicked  (as  if  either  they  were  just,  or  this  were 
false)  stand  unmoved.  Be  not  deceived,  "  It  is  a  fearful 
thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God,"  who 
is  even  "a  consuming  fire,"  Heb.  x.  31  ;  xii.  29. 
Hear  this,  ye  that  dare  rail,  and  not  be  afraid;  that 
dare  blaspheme,  and  not  tremble;  that  dare  rebel, 
oppress,  riot,  adulterate,  plot  revenge,  and  what  not, 
witliout  fear.  The  angels  are  afraid,  yet  they  arc 
in  heaven,  and  sure  of  the  best ;  the  devils  are  afraid, 
yet  they  are  in  hell,  and  know  the  worst  ;  you  are 
betwixt  both,  and  know  not  which  of  both  shall  be 
j-our  receptacle.  O  "  pass  the  time  of  your  sojourn- 
ing here  in  fear,"  1  Pet.  i.  17:  fear  the  works  of 
darkness,  as  you  fear  the  place  of  darkness  ;  fear  the 
Lord,  lliat  he  may  love  you,  and  love  him,  that  he 
may  delight  to  do  you  good. 


Verse  12. 

But  these,  as  natural  bru/e  beasts,  made  to  be  taken  and 
destroyed,  speak  evil  of  the  things  that  theij  under- 
stand not ;  and  shall  utterly  perish  in  their  own  cor- 
ruption. 

^yHEN  sin  grows  insolent,  it  is  time  for  preachers  to 
be  fervent ;  sinners  must  not  live  like  beasts,  and  be 
flattered  like  men.  If  the  princes  of  Israel  pamper 
their  flesh  with  the  food  of  riot,  the  prophet  will  not 
stick  to  call  them  the  fat  bulls  of  Bashan.  The 
apostle  is  not  afraid  to  put  the  deseiTcd  title  of  brutes 
upon  these  graceless  deceivers.  Never  was  that  man 
mealy-mouthed,  that  was  full  of  the  Loi'd's  errand. 
Do  we  herein  displease  any  ?  Should  we  please  men, 
we  were  not  the  sei"vants  of  God,  Gal.  i.  10 :  should 
we  please  beasts  in  the  shapes  of  men,  we  were  the 
servants  of  Satan.  Shall  we  walk  in  the  spirit  of 
falsehood,  and  prophesy  of  wine  and  strong  drink  ? 
Micah  ii.  11  :  this  were  to  be  a  beast  for  company. 
But,  as  we  hope  you  have  no  will  to  be  such  hearers  ; 
so,  blessed  be  God,  we  have  no  skill  to  be  such 
preachers.  Bishop  liatimer  in  his  ultimum  vale  to 
the  court,  protested  that  if  he  should  say  nothing 
the  whole  hour  together,  but  the  very  words  of  his 
text,  Beware  of  covetousness,  his  sermon  might  be 
thought  witless,  not  needless.  We  may  say  the  like 
of  (he  vice  in  my  text,  intemperance;  it  were  not 
lost  labour,  nor  mispent  time,  to  say  nothing  else, 
till  we  had  all  amended  that.  But  as  some  seed  is 
sown  among  thorns,  which  prick  the  sides  of  the 
sower ;  so,  much  by  the  high-way,  which,  for  want 
of  mould  and  root,  the  fowls  of  the  air,  boon  com- 
panions, peck  up.  "  The  bellows  are  burned,"  Jer. 
vi.  '2d,  but  the  wicked  are  not  turned.  It  seems,  the 
prophet  had  bunied  a  hole  in  his  bellows,  gotten  the 
consumption  of  the  lungs,  spent  his  spirits,  and  lost 
his  labours.  This  is  our  unhappincss,  but  more 
yours.  Ministers  (as  Christ  did  to  the  Jews)  olTer 
the  world  wine ;  and  the  world  (as  the  Jews  did  to 
Christ)  return  them  vinegar.  What  we  give  with 
the  right  hand,  they  take  with  the  left :  we  are  born 
for  the  good  of  many,  few  are  born  for  the  good  of 
us.  But  howsoever  we  speed,  God's  message  must 
be  delivered :  we  dare  not  but  call  sinners  by  their 
names,  unnatural  men,  natural  beasts. 

These  damnable  seducers  are  here  described  fur- 
ther, by 

Their  resemblance.  As  natural  bnite  beasts. 

Their  ordinance,  Made  to  be  taken  and  destroyed. 


Their  ignorance,  Speak  evil  of  things  they  under- 
stand not. 

Their  vengeance,  Shall  perish  in  their  own  cor- 
ruj)tion. 

First,  for  their  resemblance :  wherein  I  consider 
two  things  ;  what  they  are  like,  Beasts ;  wherein 
they  are  like  them.  In  sensuality. 

1.  What  they  are  like.  Beasts.  The  w'icked  have 
many  homely  comparisons  in  the  Scripture.  Some- 
times to  reprobate  silver,  Jer.  vi.  30,  which  will  buy 
no  commodity:  sometimes  to  doted  ti-ces,  good  for 
nothing  but  the  fire,  Judc  12.  To  dung;  yea,  they 
are  not  so  useful ;  for  it  serves  to  manure  the  ground, 
they  to  infect  it.  Often  to  beasts ;  wherein  the  Di- 
vine justice  shames  them,  flinging  filth  in  the  faces 
of  his  digenerate  creatures.  Pejus  ita  comparari, 
quam  esse,  as  it  is  said  ;  i.  e.  it  is  better  to  be  a  beast, 
than  a  man  compared  with  beasts.  The  spirit  of 
beasts  is  made  of  the  air,  and  into  air  it  resolved) ; 
it  knows  nothing  but  the  present,  makes  no  reckon- 
ing of  hereafter,  nor  shall  hereafter  be  called  to  a 
reckoning  fur  it.  They  have  grovelling  faces,  earth 
is  their  ultimum,  or  final  end.  Man's  body  is  of  a 
nobler  fabric,  his  verj-  constitution  naturally  erects 
him  to  a  higher  aim.  Besides,  his  soul,  a  particle 
of  (he  Divine  breath,  is  able  to  discourse,  argue,  con- 
clude, infer;  conceives  by  reason  a  future  life,  to 
which  this  but  prepares,  and  which  it  begins. 

Let  a  beast  do  a  mischief;  suppose  a  lion  kills  his 
prey,  he  retires  to  his  den,  and  quietly  feeds,  without 
fear  of  answ'ering  for  this  fact.  When  man  hath 
done  a  murder,  there  is  a  fuiy  within  him,  lo  der 
than  cracks  of  thunder,  sharper  than  stings  of  scor- 
pions, a  conscience  awaked  by  the  cr)-  of  blood  :  no 
beast  ever  knew  what  conscience  was.  Thus  man, 
having  more  noble  endowments,  shames  his  creation 
by  living  like  beasts.  You  have  read  many  fables  r.nd 
apologues,  wherein  beasts  are  feigned  to  speak  like 
men  ;  but  who  would  endure  that  theatre,  where 
men  be  seen  to  play  the  beasts  ?  Such  is  the  power 
of  sin,  it  can  transform  men  into  beasts :  so,  i  n  a 
moral  sense,  are  all  those  metamorphoses  to  be  un- 
derstood, wherein  the  poets  transshaped  men  into 
beasts.  AVhile  idolaters  turn  beasts  into  gods,  they 
turn  themselves  into  beasts. 

2.  They  want  not  their  rcsemUanees,  and  the 
similitude  holds  both  generally  and  specially.  Ge- 
nerally, in  three  things. 

(1.)  The  whole  intendment  of  the  beast  is  sen- 
suality; so  wicked  men  are  wholly  led  by  sensuality. 
Their  soul  is  made  a  slave  to  their  sense  ;  and  while 
this  rebels,  she  that  worst  may,  must  hold  the  candle. 
She  thinks  of  praying  ;  but  if  the  Hesh  will  have  it 
so,  there  must  be  singing  and  dancing:  she  per- 
suades to  fasting,  but  the  flesh  hales  on  to  rioting. 
All  her  morning  care  must  be  to  provide  (he  body  a 
dinner  :  nor  is  she  only  made  the  body's  caterer,  but 
even  too  often  his  pander. 

(2.)  Beasts  cannot  foresee  the  future,  nor  provide 
for  the  future ;  they  have  no  proWdence ;  but  the 
expectation  of  the  day  enils  with  it :  they  count  not 
of  weeks  and  years,  but  only  rise  and  roost  with  the 
sun.  So  these  brutish  animals  make  no  other  pro- 
vision. If  you  say,  they  can  lay  u])  victuals  for  to- 
morrow; so  do  divers  beasts ;  the  little  ant  fills  her 
granaries  in  harvest  for  the  winter  store.  In  tlis 
they  arc  but  even  with  beasts  ;  and  for  the  foresight  ■ 
of  vengeance  to  come,  they  are  no  better.  Yea,  % 
some  beasts  can  prognosticate  a  storm,  and  nm  to 
shelter :  these  men  provide  no  refuge,  but  think  to 
bear  olT  the  judgments  of  God  with  head  and  should- 
ers. Hares  have  their  muses,  and  foxes  foreaccjuaint 
lluniselvcs  with  burrows,  whidier  being  hunted  they 
run  for  succour ;  these  have  not  a  hole  to  hide  their 


Ver.  12. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


447 


heads.  Therefore  when  conscience  begins  to  thun- 
der, and  the  torrent  roars  with  an  inundation  of  sor- 
rows, they  fly  to  llie  tiddle,  lo  the  tavern;  which  is 
as  if,  when  it  rains,  a  man  should  run  into  the  Thames 
to  keep  him  ilrj-.  They  know  no  more  how  their 
time  passelh  away,  than  a  beast  is  able  to  tell  the 
clock.  Therefore  commonly  their  departure  is  so 
sudden,  that  when  they  look  for  a  pleasant  peal,  be- 
hold it  is  their  passing-bell. 

(3.)  Bciists  are  not  ashamed  of  their  deeds :  where 
is  no  re;ison,  there  is  no  sin ;  and  where  is  no  sin, 
there  can  be  no  shame.  These  have  reason,  yet  are 
not  ashamed  of  their  abominations,  Jer.  viii.  12 ;  and 
therein  are  beasts,  or  worse.  Yea,  the  very  dog, 
though  lie  cannot  blush,  will  go  away  as  if  he  were 
ashamed,  when  he  lialh  done  a  slirewd  turn,  and  is 
taken  in  the  manner.  But  these  have  a  mere- 
tricious forehead,  stupid  and  steeled  witli  impudence, 
shame-proof:  there  is  not  so  much  blood  of  grace  in 
their  hearts,  as  will  serve  to  make  half  a  bhish  in 
their  checks.  Their  end  will  be  worse  tlian  front- 
less  Gehazi's :  for  want  of  red,  his  skin  was  spotted 
with  white  :  he  strove  to  outface  Elisha,  let  him  try 
to  outface  the  leprosy. 

Specially,  for  some  particulars ;  there  is  a  near 
similitude  of  their  conditions.  As  they  have  match- 
ed themselves,  so  take  them  by  couples. 

(1.)  The  goat  and  the  whoremonger,  a  pair  of  un- 
clean beasts,  fit  for  no  place  but  the  ragged  moun- 
tains and  deserts.  They  think  wantonness  nothing 
else  but  the  mere  appetite  of  nature.  But  who  be 
they  that  shall  be  set  on  the  left  hand,  with  a  Go, 
ye  cursed  ?     Goats. 

(2.)  The  hog  and  the  covetous,  a  pair  of  odious 
beasts.  They  are  both  rooting  in  the  earth,  that  is 
their  felicity;  both  rooting  up  the  earth,  that  is 
their  mischief;  both  love  to  wallow  in  the  mire; 
none  so  sordid  as  the  avaricious :  both  will  break 
through  all  fences,  if  they  be  not  yoked  :  both  are 
gruntmg  and  insatiate:  neither  of  them  both  do 
good  while  they  live,  some  good  may  be  got  from 
them  both  when  they  are  dead. 

(3.)  The  wolf  and  the  op|iressor,  a  pair  of  raven- 
ous beasts.  Both  love  lo  suck  (he  warm  blood  of  inno- 
cent lambs,  both  to  fill  their  holes  with  rapine  ;  both 
bark  at  the  moon,  any  light  that  may  discover  their 
mischiefs ;  both  are  greedy  lo  swallow  more  than 
they  can  digest ;  both  howl  when  their  hopes  are  dis- 
appointed; both  live  by  the  spoil,  the  wolf  of  other 
beasts,  the  oppressor  of  his  own  kind:  both  do  so 
well  match  together,  that  it  was  good  for  the  land  if 
they  were  both  hanged  together. 

(4.)  The  palfrey  and  the  swaggerer,  a  pair  of  un- 
bridled beasts,  Psal.  xxxii.  9.     The  horse  will  cast 
his  rider,  and  being  down,  give  him  a  farewell  with 
his  heels.     For  men  being  reproved,  to  kick  at  the 
messengers  of  God,  is  a  gallant,  yet  but  a  jadish, 
quality.     When  a  bridle  of  prohibition  is  put  into 
his  jaws,  he  frets  and  fumes,  as  if  he  were  so  great 
that  God  must  not  cross  him.     But  all  he  gets  by  it 
I     is,  that  when  a  snaffle  cannot  nile  him,  a  stronger 
,    bit  shall  be  put  into  his  mouth.     As  we  have  seen  a 
,     proud  horse,  that  will  not  be  stopped  in  his  career 
I    with  the  sharpest  bit ;    but  runs  on  hcadily  till  he 
comes  to  some  wall  or  ditch,  and  then  stands  still 
imd  trembles.     Death  is  that  terrible  ditch  which 
will  slay  his  fury;   he  is  a  headstrong  beast  whom 
'1    '  ijhastly  foe  cannot  break. 

"I  The  fox  and  the  cheater,  a  pair  of  crafty 
-ts.  Both  love  to  do  mischief,  neitlier  loves  to 
■  ■■  II  it :  robbery  is  both  their  trades  ;  they  live  by  it, 
neither  indeed  can  they  live  without  it'.  The  fox 
will  stand  by  the  river,  and  let  his  tail  play  in  the 
water,  till  the  fishes  come  flocking  about  it,  and  then 


with  a  jerk  he  swoops  them  out.  His  hole  is  his 
study,  and  the  fold  his  stage,  where  he  plays  his 
part,  llerod  was  such  a  fox,  but  Christ  could  hunt 
iiim  out.  The  Jesuits  are  such  foxes;  they  will  not 
look  towards  the  booty  they  aim  at ;  yet  all  their 
labour  about  your  conscience  is  but  to  get  a  benison 
to  their  own  college.  There  should  be  no  robbing 
of  the  living,  to  give  the  dead ;  (Chrysost.  in  Luke  xi.) 
but  these  foxes  will  allow  you  no  rest,  till  you  give 
something  for  requiems:  if  a  rich  papist  do  not  buy 
some  souls  out  of  purgatory,  they  doom  him  to  hell. 
This  with  them  is  a  pious  fraud,  but  by  the  same 
reason  the  fox  is  a  pious  beast.  Would  many  of  our 
shops  were  not  the  burrows  of  such  foxes:  there  is 
no  subtlety  like  that,  which  deceives  a  man,  and 
hath  tlianks  for  the  labour. 

(6.)  The  bear  and  the  harlot,  a  pair  of  cruel 
beasts.  Both  lie  at  stake,  both  are  to  be  baited  by 
oflicers  of  justice  :  both  their  flesh  is  sold  for  money, 
both  arc  to  be  avoided  as  dangerous  to  society  ;  the 
poor  beasts  have  but  abused  bodies,  the  one  withal 
a  torn  conscience,  for  their  pains.  A  harlot  in  her 
malice,  is  worse  than  a  she-  bear  robbed  of  her  whelps. 
She  is  a  thief  in  her  pleasure,  but  a  devil  in  her 
anger.  She  sets  a  price  on  her  body,  she  sets  no 
price  on  her  soul :  that  she  sells,  this  she  gives  away 
for  nought.  Both  these  beasts  stand  in  fear  of 
punishment. 

(7.)  The  viper  and  the  traitor,  a  pair  of  pestilent 
beasts.  Such  a  generation  of  vipers  were  the  Pharisees, 
who  wounded  the  church  with  their  stings,  wherein 
they  were  bred.  Jesuited  emissaries  had  first  their 
birth  and  breeding  in  the  indulgent  bosom  of  Eng- 
land ;  yet,  most  unnaturally,  they  betray  their  own 
mother  to  misery  and  ruin.  They  are  infectious 
plagues  to  the  families  that  harbour  them ;  the  bane 
of  many  poor  souls,  beside  their  own. 

(8.)  The  asp  and  the  slanderer,  a  pair  of  stinging 
beasts.  So  the  Psalm  matchcth  them,  "  The  poison 
of  asps  is  under  their  lips,"  Rom.  iii.  13.  The  asp 
sucks  not  her  cacoehymical  poison  from  her  food,  but 
hath  it  bred  in  her  own  nature.  The  calumner  de- 
rives not  his  railing  venom  from  the  object,  for  that 
is  commonly  good ;  but  makes  it  in  his  own  bosom. 
Slanderers  are  also  compared  to  scorpions  :  to  avoid 
whom,  men  use  to  place  their  beds  in  water  ;  yet  the 
politic  serpents  have  a  device  to  reach  them.  They 
get  up  to  the  top  of  the  house,  where  one  takes  hold, 
the  next  hangs  at  the  end  of  him,  a  third  upon  a 
second,  a  fourth  upon  the  third;  and  so  making  a 
rope  of  scorpions,  they  at  last  wound  tlie  man. 
(^•Elian.)  Among  seandalizers,  one  begins  a  whisper, 
another  makes  it  a  report,  a  third  enlargeth  it  to  a 
dangerous  calumny,  a  fourth  divulges  it  for  truth. 
So  the  innocent  man's  credit  is  maimed,  and  he  can- 
not find  out  the  villain  that  did  it. 

(9.)  The  frog  and  the  murmurer,  a  pair  of  croaking 
things.  Both  of  them  are  bred  of  the  mud,  they 
come  from  no  noble  matter.  Some  write  that  it  rain- 
cth  frogs  :  we  might  think  so  too  by  the  number  of 
our  malcontents;  men  that  will  find  fault  with  every 
thing,  whom  God  himself  scarce  knows  how  to  please. 
No  fair  weather  nor  rain,  peace  nor  war,  can  satisfy 
them.  There  is  no  work  of  God,  but  opens  their 
clamorous  throats.  When  Bacchus  was  sent  to  fetch 
the  worthier  of  Euripedes  or  .fischylus  out  of  hell,  as 
he  j>assed  in  Charon's  wherry,  he  heard  nothing  but 
the  croaking  of  frogs:  whereby  the  poets  insinuate 
what  a  number  of  querulous  and  litigious  persons  be 
in  hell. 

I  might  add  many  more ;  as,  first,  the  spaniel  and 
the  flatterer,  a  pair  of  dissembling  beasts  :  both  feed 
their  master's  humour,  that  he  may  feed  their  hun- 
ger j  both  bcmire  a  man  with  fawning  on  him.     But 


4^ 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IL 


let  the  great  one  use  his  sycophant,  as  he  does  his 
spaniel,  and  tiy  if  he  will  love  him  the  better  for 
beating  him.  Secondly,  the  squirrel  and  the  busy- 
body, a  pair  of  nimble  and  pragmatical  beasts  ;  but 
the  scjuirrel  is  the  nimbler  and  wittier :  some  write 
of  her,  that  because  she  cannot  swim  well,  wlien  she 
would  cross  a  brook,  she  gets  a  piece  of  the  bark  of  a 
tree,  puis  it  into  the  water,  and  herself  into  it  as  in 
a  boat  ;  and  then  holds  uj)  her  bushy  tail  instead  of 
a  sail,  that  so  the  witid  may  drive  her  over.  The 
pragmatical  hath  an  oar  in  eveiy  man's  boat,  an  eye 
in  ever)-  man's  window  ;  is  here,  and  there,  and  evury 
where,  but  where  he  should  be  ;  is  still  busy,  yet 
never  hath  thanks  for  his  labour.  Thirdly,  llie 
civet-cat  and  perfumed  gull,  a  pair  of  sweet  beasts : 
only  this  scent  is  natural  in  the  one,  in  the  other  ar- 
tificial ;  and  what  the  one  beast  disburdens  in  scorn, 
the  other  takes  up  in  pride. 

I  might  couple  the  tiger  and  the  persecutor,  the 
boar  and  the  church  robber;  or  tell  you  of  tumblers, 
beasts  that  have  brought  up  their  bodies  to  show 
tricks;  of  lurchers,  that  live  by  pilfering  ;  of  setters, 
that  will  bring  the  booty  to  the  thieves'  hand,  pan- 
ders of  filthiness.  There  be  moles,  blind,  earthy 
muckworms;  weasels  and  vermin,  and  innumerable 
human  beasts,  or  bestial  men.  But  who  would  dwell 
long  among  beasts  ?  I  am  weary  of  this  brutish  com- 
parison. Only  there  is  one  among  men,  for  whom  I 
can  find  no  sample  among  beasts  ;  the  drunkard.  I 
know  not  with  what  beast  to  match  him  ;  he  is  such 
a  beast,  that  no  beast  will  keep  him  company.  The 
nearest  to  him  is  the  swine,  let  them  two  be  yoked 
together. 

Now  if  men  think  scorn  thus  to  be  compared,  let 
them  forbear  to  deserve  such  a  comparison.  Yea, 
let  me  further  aggravate  their  shame :  there  be  men 
that  exceed  even  beasts  in  sensuality.  Beasts  drink 
not  but  when  they  are  dry :  the  drunkard  never  tar- 
ries till  he  be  athirst.  What  beast,  but  he,  pours  in 
more,  when  he  hath  already  too  much  ?  Incontinent 
man  knows  no  limits,  but  is  infinite  in  his  desires. 
In  many  things  men  are  so  much  worse  than  beasts, 
as  they  ought  to  be  better. 

How  well  soever  we  think  of  ourselves,  the  Scrip- 
ture sends  us  to  divers  beasts  for  our  learning.  The 
verj'  ants  are  our  schoolmasters,  to  teach  us  provi- 
dence. The  dog  is  loving  to  his  master,  and  watch- 
ful for  his  safety.  The  horse  is  valiant,  start  less  at 
the  drum,  neighs  at  the  trumpet,  is  forward  to  the 
battle ;  to  shame  our  cowardice.  The  lion  is  a  pre- 
cedent of  temperance  ;  after  a  full  meal  he  ties  him- 
self to  a  three  days'  abstinence :  he  is  liberal,  and 
leaves  part  of  his  prey  for  inferior  beasts  ;  condemn- 
ing those  churlish  men  that  eat  their  morsels  alone, 
and  put  the  reversion  in  their  cupboards.  He  is  full 
of  nobleness,  he  scorns  to  seize  upon  the  yielding  ; 
whereas  men  prey  on  prostrate  fortunes.  So  moder- 
ate in  his  revenge,  that  he  will  do  a  man  no  more 
injury  than  he  receives  from  him,  as  some  write. 
The  ape  is  quick  of  apprehension,  apt  for  imitation : 
lewd  men  will  not  learn  to  do  good  either  by  precept 
or  precedent.  The  elephant  is  kind ;  if  he  meet  a 
man  that  hath  lost  his  way,  he  will  both  guide  him, 
and  defend  him.  (Plin.)  "The  ox  knows  his  feeder, 
to  teach  us  thankfulness.  Thus,  if  they  may  not  be 
guides,  to  direct  us ;  they  shall  be,  after  a  sort, 
judges,  to  condemn  us;  as  the  dogs  condemned  that 
rich  man,  who  were  less  costive  of  their  kindness 
than  their  master,  Luke  xvi. 

Sensuality  is  the  vice  here  condemned ;  a  brutish 
conversation  of  men;  who  only  desire  to  live,  that 
they  may  cat  and  drink;  which  is  indeed  to  live 
more  belluino.  He  that  hoards  corn  in  the  time  of 
dearth,  shall  be  cursed,  and  he  deserves  it ;  yet  his 


winnowed  store  shall  at  last  break  forth :  but  drunk- 
en engrossers  diminish  our  plenty,  and  stow  it  where 
it  shall  never  do  good.  How  many  thousands,  hard 
driven  with  poverty,  or  by  the  exigence  of  war,  might 
be  relieved  with  that  which  these  spend  like  beasts. 
How  just  a  punishment  is  famine  after  such  a  satiety, 
and  pestilence  after  famine  ;  turning  the  sanctu- 
ary of  life  into  the  shambles  of  death!  Lam.  iv.  10. 
Lycurgus,  to  cure  the  people's  drunkenness,  caused 
all  the  vines  to  be  cut  down ;  he  might  better  have 
made  a  well  in  every  vineyard,  and  married  in  eveiy 
cup  a  wateiT  nymph  to  fiery  Bacchus.  Immodera- 
tion makes  wine  poison  ;  yea,  worse ;  for  the  worst 
poison  helps  some,  but  the  drunkard's  potion  hurts  all. 
Some  plead  that  they  are  able  to  bear  it  out ;  but 
to  be  a  strong  drinker  is  but  to  be  a  stronger  beast. 
The  excess  is  a  sin,  whatsoever  the  success  be.  What- 
ever be  the  purpose  before,  or  the  event  after,  yet 
not  the  strength  in  bearing  it,  but  the  abstinence 
from  taking  it,  is  praiseworthy.  How  foolish  is  it, 
for  a  little  tickling  of  the  palate,  for  a  running  ban- 
quet, to  hazard  eternal  comfort ! 

"  iSIade  to  be  taken  and  destroyed."  A  fearful 
saying  !  what,  created  to  be  destroyed  ?  If  we  under- 
stand it  only  of  beasts,  the  matter  is  not  great ;  for 
they  can  perish  but  once,  and  from  tlttir  destruction 
ariseth  our  preservation.  If  they  be  noxious,  we  are 
preser\'ed  from  their  mischief;  if  edible,  by  their 
nourishment.  When  they  spend  their  lives  in  our 
service,  this  was  but  their  end;  they  were  made  for 
the  purpose.  But  that  man  shoidd  be  made  to  be 
marred,  created  for  destruction;  this  is  terrible,  and 
(if  not  warily  understood)  uncomfortable.  .Some 
beasts  arc  made  to  be  taken,  not  destroyed;  some  to 
be  destroyed,  and  not  taken ;  some  both  to  be  taken 
and  destroyed.  1.  We  take  the  horse  and  ass,  we 
destroy  them  not ;  but  teach  them  to  earn,-  us,  or 
provision  for  us.  We  put  their  backs  to  the  bur- 
den, not  their  throats  to  the  knife.  2.  There  be  ra- 
venous beasts  and  venomous  serpents,  hostile  to  man, 
malicious  dangers  of  our  life;  we  seek  to  destroy 
them,  not  to  take  them.  We  send  our  bullets  and 
arrows,  the  messengers  of  death,  into  their  bowels  ; 
we  abhor  their  carcasses.  3.  There  be  beasts  for 
eating  and  using,  as  sheep  and  kine ;  these  we  take 
and  kill :  the  pasture  fats  and  fits  them  for  the  table  ; 
we  feed  them,  to  feed  on  them.  Reprobates  are  or- 
dained for  both  :  when  they  have  done  the  devil 
special  service,  drawn  in  his  yoke,  wrought  out  their 
own  perdition  ;  then  that  merciless  butcher  cuts  their 
throats,  and  makes  himself  a  meal  of  their  souls. 

But  let  us  hold  this  conclusion;  as  God  made  no 
man  for  sin,  so  nor  immediately  for  hell.  As  one 
says,  Deus  lioiniiwm  condil,  homo  se  prrclil :  i.  e.  God 
creates  man,  mail  destroys  himself.  But  how  then 
is  it  said  here,  "  made  to  be  taken  and  destroyed?" 
This  is  a  point  that  I  did  not  willingly  seek,  nor  un- 
willingly  find;  it  stands  in  my  way,  and  I  durst  not 
pass  it  by  unnoticed.  For  method,  1.  I  will  lay  do\m 
some  infallible  grounds.  2.  Answer  the  objections 
that  quarrel  with  them.  3.  Give  the  sum  or  clear 
conclusion.     4.  Lastly,  apply  it  to  ourselves. 

Grounds.  I.  God  is  an  absolute  Lord  over  his 
creatures,  and  hath  as  just  right  of  their  disposition, 
as  he  had  power  of  their  creation.  Is  it  not  lawful 
for  him  to  do  what  he  will  with  his  own  ?  Matt.  xx. 
15.  Man  challengeth  authority  over  his  goods,  and 
he  may  set  this  vessel  on  his  cupboard,  that  other  on 
the  dunghill.  We  are  God's  vessels,  he  made  us,  he 
owes  us,  hath  an  incomparable  right  over  ns ;  may  he 
not  then  dispose  us?  Man  in  nis  family,  takes  in 
this  servant,  turns  that  out  of  doors;  and  this,  be- 
cause he  will  do  so :  it  were  then  desperate  boldness 
to  dcnv  God  the  same  faculty  in  his  own  house.     In 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GEXERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


449 


tlic  world,  ninn  kills  this  beast,  lets  alone  the  other, 
yet  is  not  counted  unjust :  now  a  fly  is  more  worth 
in  respect  of  us,  than  wc  can  be  in  respect  of  God. 
In  a  neap  of  clay,  the  potter  sits  working,  and 
makes  of  the  same  lump  in  his  hand,  one  part  a  cup 
for  honour,  the  other  for  dishonour.  Far  greater  is 
the  liberty  of  God's  perfection,  and  tlie  perfection  of 
his  liberty. 

2.  God  is  always  njost  just,  nor  can  he  do  other 
than  what  is  perfectly  good.  Goodness  is  not  the 
rule  of  his  will,  but  his  will  is  the  rule  of  goodness. 
As  a  father  expresses  it,  lie  does  not  will  a  thing 
because  it  is  good,  but  for  this  reason  it  is  good,  be- 
cause he  wills  it.  His  judgments  arc  sometimes 
manifest,  often  secret,  always  wonderful,  never  unjust. 

3.  The  will  of  God  is  the  cause  of  all  causes,  in 
which  we  must  make  a  stand ;  and  neither  beyond 
it,  nor  without  it,  seek  for  any  reason.  It  is  so  ; 
why  ?  because  he  would  have  it  so.  Why  would  he 
so  nave  it  ?  there  is  no  cause  of  the  first  cause.  The 
sea,  be  it  never  so  deep,  hath  a  bottom ;  the  heavens, 
be  they  never  so  high,  have  a  top ;  but  of  the  will  of 
God  there  are  no  limits,  no  confines.  God  in  all  his 
works  seeks  for  no  cause  out  of  liimsclf.  The  rich 
man  chooscth  the  object  of  his  charity  at  his  own 
pleasure ;  this  beggar  he  makes  his  heir,  not  that ; 
and  without  injury.  Yet  here  may  be  some  cause 
out  of  himself;  the  person  whom  he  adopts,  may  be 
more  pleasing  to  his  eye,  or  obsequious  to  his  com- 
mands. But  the  Lord's  choosing  hath  no  impulsive 
cause  out  of  himself;  he  did  not  elect  men  because 
he  foresaw  they  would  be  good,  but  they  arc  made 
good  by  his  election.  Nor  did  he  reject  others  without 
respect  to  their  sins. 

4.  The  Lord  hath  purposed  to  pass  by  some  men, 
for  the  manifestation  of  nis  justice  in  their  deser\'ed 
ruin :  it  is  his  will  to  sufTer  some  to  fall  into  sin,  and 
for  their  sin  to  condemn  them,  1  Pet.  ii.  8.  That 
which  is  against  the  will  of  God,  comes  not  to  pass 
without  the  will  of  God :  he  willeth  that  to  be,  which 
he  willeth  not  to  do  ;  and  though  he  esteem  not  evil 
to  be  good,  yet  he  esteemeth  it  good  that  there  should 
be  evil. 

5.  He  hath  not  ordained  any  to  destruction  with- 
out the  respect  of  sin ;  for  look  what  condemneth 
men  in  the  world,  for  that  did  God  purpose  to  con- 
demn them  before  the  world.  Not  that  sin  is  the 
cause  of  this  decree,  but  that  this  decree  is  not  separ- 
ated from  the  regard  of  sin.  He  doth  not  simply 
and  absolutely  ordain  his  creature  to  hell,  but  he  de- 
creeth  punishment  with  relation  unto  sin.  So  then 
this  conclusion  is  firm,  Man  is  not  condemned  be- 
cause of  God's  decree,  but  because  of  his  own  sin. 

Objections.  I.  If  the  will  of  God  be  the  energeti- 
cal, operative  beginning  of  all  things,  then  also  the 
beginning  of  sin.  Ansir.  God's  will  is  the  cause  of 
all  things  being  and  existent,  Eph.  i.  11  :  a  thing  is 
not  first,  and  afterwards  God  wills  it ;  but  he  de- 
crees it  first,  and  therefore  it  is.  Now  sin  is  not  pro- 
"lerly  an  existence,  being,  or  action ;  but  a  defect. 
There  is  a  being,  or  existence,  really  and  positively ; 
nnd  one  that  is  in  reason  only ;  under  which  are  con- 
tained not  only  notions  and  relations,  but  also  priva- 
tions. Sin  hath  not  a  positive  being,  yet  is  it  not 
notliing;  but  necessarily  follows  the  absence  of  right- 
eousness. God  made  not  sin,  yet  he  justly  condemn- 
eth for  sin. 

2.  But  if  God  suffers  man  to  do  evil,  is  he  not  the 
author  of  that  evil  ?  ^4nsir.  No,  for  he  is  not  bound 
to  hinder  it.  He  doth  not  give  grace ;  who  can  chal- 
lenge him?  Is  it  not  his  own ?  He  doth  not  infuse 
corruption ;  he  doth  not  withhold  the  occasion.  The 
rider  gives  his  fiery  horse  the  reins,  we  say  he  puts 
him  on  :  the  hunter  lets  slip  his  dog,  we  say  he  puts 
2  o 


T 


him  on  the  game.  A  house  is  ready  to  fall,  leans  on 
some  outward  sui)portcrs  ;  take  away  these,  the  house 
falls  of  itself.  God  forbids  sin,  the  wicked  are  the 
more  eager  on  it.  As  in  the  middle  region  of  the 
air,  the  neat  grows  stronger  by  the  antiperistasis  or 
revulsion  on  every  part,  and  from  hence  proceed  the 
thunder  and  lightnings  ;  the  clouds  being  condcns- 
ated  by  the  heat  round  encompassed.  So  the  wicked 
heart,  struggling  with  the  good  law,  becomes  more 
turbulent  and  fiery  in  sin. 

3.  If  God  have  decreed  some  to  destruction,  it 
must  follow  of  necessity,  and  so  man  is  condemned 
against  his  will.  Answ.  No,  for  God's  decree  doth 
not  impose  a  necessity  upon  the  will  of  man.  In- 
deed there  is  a  hypothetical  necessity,  of  conse- 
quence :  if  God  deny  men  his  grace,  they  will  sin 
nnd  perish ;  but  this  is  their  own  will :  those  whom 
he  hath  chosen,  shall  never  be  damned ;  yet  with 
their  own  will  they  are  saved.  The  elect  angels  do 
necessarily  obey  God,  yet  not  by  constraint,  but 
willingly.  It  is  one  thing  to  throw  a  sheep  into  the 
river,  another  thing  to  show  her  grass  on  the  other 
side,  and  allure  her  to  swim  to  it.  God,  says  one, 
does  not  compel  that  to  be  done,  which  he  condemns 
when  done.  God's  decree  doth  altogether  order 
cvciy  event  ;  by  inclining  the  will  gently  in  things 
that  be  good,  and  forsaking  it  in  things  that  be  evil. 
If  men  will  offend,  he  is  just  to  punish ;  if  they  will 
return,  he  is  merciful  to  forgive.  As  he  saves  none 
but  in  respect  of  Christ,  so  he  condemneth  none  but 
in  regard  of  sin.  That  all  mankind  was  lost,  we 
may  thank  ourselves  ;  blessed  be  the  goodness  of 
God,  that  any  be  saved  in  Jesus  Christ. 

4.  The  Scripture  speaks  of  the  salvation  of  all 
men ;  how  then  are  some  made  to  be  destroyed  ? 
They  urge  these  places,  John  i.  29 ;  iii.  17 ;  2  Cor.  r. 
19 ;  1  John  ii.  2.  To  which  we  oppose,  1  John  v.  19 ; 
John  xvii.  9.  These  we  reconcile  out  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, The  "  whole  world"  is  the  church,  and  the  whole 
world  hateth  the  church.  The  world  hateth  the  world ; 
the  malignant  world  hates  the  reconciled  world ;  the 
damned  world  the  saved  world.  But  "  God  will 
have  all  men  to  be  saved,"  1  Tim.  ii.  4.  Ansiv.  All 
is  taken  either  distributively ;  then  it  signifies  eveiy 
particular  person.  "All,"  that  is,  ever)'  one,  2  Thess. 
i.  3.  Or  collectively,  and  then  it  signifies  any  one, 
not  every  one.  Christ  healed  every  disease.  Matt, 
ix.  35,  that  is,  any  disease,  or  every  kind  of  disease. 
Ever)-  man  is  a  liar,  saith  the  prophet :  now  if  every 
man  be  a  liar,  then  is  he  a  liar  that  speaks  it;  and  if 
he  be  a  liar  that  speaks  it,  then  is  it  not  true  which 
he  speaks ;  so,  in  that  sense,  to  say  that  even,-  man 
is  a  liar,  must  be  a  lie  itself.  Or,  God  wills  all  to  be 
saved,  that  is,  of  those  that  are  saved ;  for  none  are 
saved  but  by  his  willing  it.  (Hieron.  in  Eph.  I.  Com.) 
Or  Paul  in  this,  and  such  other  places,  speaks  ac- 
cording to  his  own  affection,  and  charitable  judg- 
ment ;  as  he  calls  them  in  divers  churches,  men 
elected ;  which  was  his  charity,  not  his  certainty. 
But  still  God  hath  his  peculiar  people.  Tit.  ii.  14; 
therefore  the  rest  are  common  :  and  at  the  last  day 
many  shall  be  turned  back  with  an  I  know  you  not, 
Matt.  vii.  23.  He  is  lost  who  is  bom ;  no  one  is 
-saved  who  is  not  born  again.  (Austin.)  Hell  was  not 
made  for  nothing;  some  must  perish. 

Conclusion.  This  then  be  tlie  sum;  God  did  not 
make  any  man  for  the  only  purpose  to  destroy  him ; 
but  these  speeches  must  be  understood  by  way  of 
consequence  and  effect.  I  came  not  to  send  peace, 
but  a  sword,  and  fire,  upon  earth,  saith  Christ ;  and 
to  set  men  at  variance.  Matt.  x.  34,  35;  Luke  xii. 
49.  Yet,  certainly,  this  was  not  the  end  of  his  com- 
ing; neither  sword  nor  fire  was  his  intent,  but  peace: 
these  are  produced  by  accident  ■   and  tlirough  the 


450 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


malice  of  Satan  and  men,  do  necessarily  follow  it ; 
therefore  he  s  ath,  I  came  to  send  fire.  So  the 
apostle,  seeing  men  so  desperately  wicked,  speaks 
of  their  making,  according  to  their  present  being : 
as  when  we  see  a  man  perishing,  we  say,  he  was 
born  to  this  fortune;  yet  his  mother  did  not  bear 
him  to  such  a  purpose.  This  ordinance  he  setteth 
down  either  by  revelation,  the  Spirit  of  God  .so  in- 
forming him ;  or  by  probable  conclusion,  reason  so 
leading  liim :  "  They  that  do  such  things,  shall  not 
inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,"  Gal.  v.  21.  But  for 
us,  we  must  not  peremptorily  conclude  the  destruc- 
tion of  any  man,  though  obstinately  wicked ;  because 
God  is  so  indulgent  to  the  intervention  of  repent- 
ance. In  those  dreadful  thunders  of  the  law,  where 
every  sentence  sounds  like  tlie  sentence  of  death, 
every  line  is  an  axe  laid  to  the  root  of  the  tree,  every 
word  able  to  affright  the  reader ;  even  there,  repent- 
ance creeps  into  the  text,  and  makes  room  for  herself 
among  all  those  terrors.  In  the  midst  of  all  those 
astonishing  curses,  she  finds  a  merciful  place.  Slie 
turns  the  stream  of  anger,  the  torrent  of  plagues ; 
and  like  a  strong  east  wind,  divides  the  Red  Sea  of 
God's  wrath,  till  his  judgments,  like  those  waters, 
stand  on  heaps,  while  repentance  walks  through  tlie 
midst,  and  escapes.  This  is  that  secret  reservation, 
which  the  Divine  mercy  hath  wrapped  up  in  his  me- 
naces ;  an  exception  to  the  general  rule  of  his  justice. 
This  suspended  Nineveh's  doom,  Jer.  xviii.  8,  and 
stretched  out  her  respite  of  forty  days  to  the  allow- 
ance of  forty  years.  A  prophet  tcUs  a  king,  "  Thou 
shalt  die,  and  not  live,"  Isa.  xssviii.  1  ;  a  Hebrew 
pleonasm,  for  sureness'  sake :  who  could  conceive  a 
more  absolute  speech  ?  Yet  w'as  there  a  condition 
involved,  and  liis  days  were  lengthened.  God  said 
to  Abimelech,  "  Behold,  thou  art  but  a  dead  man, 
for  the  woman  which  thou  hast  taken,"  Gen.  sx.  3. 
Yet  the  event  was  otherwise,  to  show  that  there  was 
an  exception  enclosed,  Unless  thou  restore  her  unde- 
filed.     To  apply  all  to  ourselves : 

1.  We  were  never  admitted  into  God's  registrj-,  to 
turn  over  his  rolls,  and  to  see  what  names  he  hath 
wiitten  for  death,  and  what  for  life.  Therefore  be- 
cause we  know  the  doom  of  none,  let  us  pray  for  all. 
And  (to  show  how  mercifully  our  Maker  means  to 
comfort  our  hearts)  we  may  be  sure  of  our  o\ni  elec- 
tion, sure  of  others'  salvation  ;  we  can  be  sure  of  no 
man's  reprobation.  We  cannot  say,  Tliis  man  is  or- 
dained to  be  destroyed:  we  may  say  of  him  that 
brings  forth  good  fruits.  This  man  is  ordained  to  be 
saved.  We  may  be  sure  of  others'  salvation  by 
charity,  of  our  own  by  faith;  of  others'  by  their 
fruits,  of  our  own  by  the  witness  of  the  Holy'  Spirit. 
It  is  ti-ue  indeed,  that  neither  can  apostacy,  or  turn- 
ing unto  sin,  alter  God's  decree  for  evil ;  as  the 
papists  make  God's  election  to  depend  on  man's 
work  :  as  if  he  should  say.  Indeed  I  determined  you 
to  salvation,  but  had  I  known  you  would  have  proved 
so  wicked,  I  would  never  have  done  it ;  now  I  reverse 
it.  Nor  can  repentance  or  turning  from  sin  alter  his 
decree  for  good :  I  meant  you  lost  men,  but  now  I 
see  you  return,  I  will  accept  you  to  mercy.  Far  be 
both  these  thoughts  from  us.  True  conversion  may 
change  his  sentence,  it  can  never  change  his  purpose. 

2.  Let  this  humble  our  proud  hearts,  and  teach  us 
to  pass  the  time  of  our  sojourning  here  in  fear.  "  They 
were  broken  off  because  of  unbelief,  thou  standest 
by  faith.  Be  not  higli-minded,  but  fear,"  Rom.  xi. 
20.  Thou  spcedest  w-ell,  insult  not  over  him  that 
speeds  otherwise.  Ulcrque  meruere  vi7>dicla7n,  lu  non 
meruisli  gloriam  ;  i.  e.  Both  have  deserved  vengeance, 
thou  hast  not  desen-ed  honour  or  mercy :  if  either 
be  spared,  it  is  altogctlu'r  of  mercy,  without  merit. 
Charity  is  the  fruit  that  grows  on  tlie  tree  of  election. 


"  Put  on,  as  the  elect  of  God,  holy  and  beloved, 
bowels  of  mercies,"  Col.  iii.  12.  We  are  adjured  by 
our  election,  selection,  dileetion,  to  be  merciful : 
elect  before  time,  holy  in  time,  beloved  at  all  times. 
God  hath  chosen  the  humble :  "  He  regarded  the 
low  estate  of  his  handmaiden,"  Luke  i.  48.  Humility 
was  not  the  cause  of  this  choice,  but  this  choice 
comes  not  without  humility.  I  will  mistrust  that 
lieart,  which  in  a  haughty  contempt  of  others,  mag- 
nifies himself:  it  is  likely,  that  man  hath  chosen 
himself,  not  that  God  hath  chosen  him.  When  the 
lots  were  cast  for  a  kingdom,  many  an  Israelite 
stood  fair,  and  flattered  himself,  Why  not  I  ?  Modest 
Saul  hid  himself,  yet  God  gave  him  the  crown.  It 
ill  becomes  a  man,  even  that  hath  merited  honour, 
to  be  proud  of  either  liis  honour  or  merit.  But  when 
an  undeserving  beggar  is  picked  out,  and  graced 
above  his  fellows,  if  he  be  proud,  his  honour  will  sit 
unhandsomely  on  him,  because  his  beggarly  heart  is 
still  in  him.  Generally,  he  that  presumes  most, 
speeds  worst. 

"  Work  out  your  salvation  with  fear  and  trem- 
bling," Phil.  ii.  12 :  not  with  pride  and  insulting, 
nor  with  horror  and  despairing ;  but  with  fear  and 
trembling.  By  humility  in  good  deeds,  and  fear  of 
evil  deeds,  a  man  may  work  out  salvation  :  the  other 
will  work  him  out  of  salvation.  It  is  the  devil's 
most  dangerous  assault ;  You  are  sure  of  your  elec- 
tion, know  your  own  name  to  be  WTitten  in  heaven, 
and  by  that  title  are  better  than  princes ;  why  do 
you  not  take  it  more  upon  you,  and  bear  up  your 
head  higher  ?  No,  Satan,  pride  cast  thee  down  from 
heaven,  it  will  never  lift  me  up  to  heaven.  "  Blessed 
arc  the  poor  in  spirit ;  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,"  Matt.  v.  3 :  the  proud  in  spirit  have  no 
such  interest ;  yea,  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  hell.  "  I 
am  not  as  other  men  are,"  saith  the  Pharisee,  Luke 
xviii.  II ;  and  the  clock  of  his  tongue  went  truer 
than  the  dial  of  his  heart :  not  like  other  men  in- 
deed, for  he  was  like  none  that  should  be  saved.  God 
hath  chosen  the  w-eak  to  confound  the  mighty,  I  Cor. 
i.  27,  not  the  mighty  to  domineer  over  the  weak. 
An  angel  was  sent  to  a  ciiy  of  Galilee,  Luke  i.  26 : 
tliis  is  God's  fashion,  to  seek  out  the  most  despised, 
on  whom  to  bestow  his  favours  and  honours :  the 
cottages  of  Galilee  are  preferred  to  the  palaces  of 
Jerusalem.  Pride  hatcbeth  its  own  ruin ;  there  is 
never  any  danger  in  humility.  (Bern.)  A  tall  man 
comes  in  at  a  high  door,  and  he  stoops  :  the  door  is 
far  higher  than  the  man,  yet  he  stoops  :  you  will  say, 
he  needs  not  stoop  :  but  I  hope  there  is  no  harm  in 
his  stooping.  A  man  may  easily  bear  himself  too 
high  upon  God's  favour,  but  his  humility  shall  never 
hurt  lum.  "  The  foundation  of  God  standeth  sure, 
having  this  seal.  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are 
his,"  2  Tim.  ii.  19 :  and  upon  this  foundation  thou 
standest;  yet  "let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth 
take  heed  lest  he  fall,"  1  Cor.  x.  12. 

3.  Let  us  shun  the  means  that  may  bring  us  to 
condemnation.  Let  God  alone  with  his  counsels, 
look  we  to  his  oracles.  What  he  wills  us  to  do,  let 
us  do  it :  what  he  wills  us  not  to  know,  let  us  not 
seek  it.  There  be  throe  courses  which  may  bring  a 
man  to  the  sentence  of  reprobation.  I  speak  not  so 
much  of  God's  purjiose  before  the  world  began,  as  of 
his  sentence  w'hen  the  world  shall  end.  First,  infi- 
delity :  he  that  will  not  believe,  deprives  himself  of 
all  possibility  to  be  saved.  Nor  is  it  enough  to  be- 
lieve that  God  sent  Christ  to  save  the  world,  but  also 
to  save  me.  Historical  faith  may  overcome  ignorance, 
but  it  is  applying  faith  that  can  deliver  us  from 
vengeance.  Every  one  that  says  he  belicveth,  is  not 
sure  to  be  saved ;  but  he  that  never  will  believe, 
is  sure  to  be  damned.     Secondly,  impenitence :  even 


Ver.  12. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


451 


bolievcrs  do  sin,  but  repentance  is  always  bkst  with 
forgiveness.  But  they  that  live  in  known  sin~:,  with- 
out relenting  htarts,  cut  themselves  off  from  the 
hope  of  mercy,  lie  that  plays  on  purpose  to  lose, 
is  not  likely  to  win.  Be  resolved  against  transgres- 
sion, as  you  would  be  resolved  of  your  salvation.  We 
are  chosen  to  be  holy ;  they  that  never  come  to  be 
holj',  were  not  chosen.  Thirdly,  apostacy :  if  men 
turn  wholly  from  God,  it  is  an  argument  that  God 
did  never  wholly  turn  to  them.  There  is  a  double 
apostacy  :  first,  of  faith  ;  and  this  is  desperate  ;  that 
man  was  made  to  be  destroyed.  There  remains  no 
more  sacrifice  for  his  sins,  Heb.  x.  26  ;  because  he 
hath  sacrificed  his  sacrifice,  abandoned  his  expiation. 
Secondly,  of  obedience ;  and  of  this  backsliding  who 
is  not  guilty  ? 

There  be  three  forsakings  condemned  by  the 
canons  and  councils.  When  a  soldier  forsakes  his 
cai)fain,  n  wife  her  liusband,  and  a  priest  his  charge. 
Wiiich  made  St.  Ambrose  and  Augustine  resolve, 
that  they  would  never  commend  a  wife  to  a  man,  nor 
a  soldier  to  a  war.  Now  we  are  all  these  respects  to 
God.  Clirist  is  our  Captain,  we  his  sworn  soldiers, 
that  have  in  baptism  took  his  press-money :  if  we 
forsake  his  colours,  we  are  perfidious,  and  worthy  of 
martial  law.  He  is  our  Husband,  we  his  spouse, 
solemnly  betrothed  before  men  and  angels  ;  we  have 
vowed  our  loves  to  him,  and  to  him  only :  if  we 
break  this  covenant,  and  admit  adulterous  embraces, 
we  have  merited  a  divorce.  His  commandments  are 
our  charge,  he  hath  made  us  spiritual  priests  to  his 
Father.  Now  if,  instead  of  tliis  holy  sacrifice,  the 
calves  of  our  lips,  the  incense  of  our  hearts,  the  cha- 
rity of  our  hands,  we  shall  offer  to  other  gods ;  either 
idols  of  the  water,  sensual  lusts ;  or  idols  of  the  fire, 
malice  and  revenge  ;  or  idols  of  the  air,  vain  honours 
and  secular  glories ;  or  idols  of  the  earth,  worldly 
riches ;  how  fearful  is  the  end,  even  to  be  destroyed ! 
But  let  us  hold  our  colours,  keep  our  vows,  be  faith- 
ful in  our  charges ;  so  (surely)  we  are  made  to  be 
saved. 

4.  Let  us  be  charitable  in  all  our  censures  of  all 
Christians,  yea,  even  of  living  pagans,  for  they  may 
be  called.  Paul  was  guilty  of  Stephen's  innocent 
blood ;  the  church  had  then  small  hope  of  his  con- 
version. Yet  even  he  that  sent  Stephen  before,  was 
ordained  to  follow  after.  For  this  Stephen  jjraycd, 
"  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge,"  Acts  vii."  CO. 
This  prayer  was  heard,  that  St.  Augustine  is  bold  to 
say,  If  God  had  not  been  so  entreated  by  Stephen, 
the  church  had  not  been  so  blessed  with  Paul.  And 
Fulgentius:  Whither  Stephen  went  before,  killed  by 
the  stones  of  Paul,  tliither  Paul  followed,  aided  by 
the  prayers  of  Stephen.  Paul  helped  to  make  "a 
martyr,  and  he  was  made  a  martyr :  he  that  consent- 
ed to  another's  blood  in  zeal  against  Christ,  did  after 
jrield  his  own  blood  to  be  shed  in  zeal  for  Christ. 
Of  whom  then  should  we  despair  ?  we  know  not  a 
greater  sinner  than  Paul  was  by  nature,  wc  know  not 
a  better  saint  than  Paul  was  made  by  grace.  The 
foulest  rags  on  the  dunghill  may  be  made  white  paper. 
A  leprous  sinner,  more  spotted  than  Naaman,  may, 
bv  washing  in  the  Jordan  of  penitent  tears,  become 
like  an  innocent  child.  The  barren  fig-tree  may  be 
recovered  j  the  wild  olive,  by  a  new  grafting,  may 
bear  excellent  fruit;  the  unliappy  boy  may  make  a 

food  man  ;  a  foul  morning  may  prove  a  fair  day. 
here  is  no  wound  so  desperate,  but  it  may  be  healed, 
if  the  Physician  of  heaven  will  undertake  it.  Lord, 
make  them  good  that  are  not,  and  them  better  that 
are,  through  the  goodness  of  him  that  is  best  of  all, 
and  sufficient  for  all,  even  Jesus  Christ. 

5.  Let  us  make  sure  our  owti  election,  and  we  are 
happy.     This  we  cannot  do  without  a  gracious  life. 


and  the  holy  fruits  of  obedience  :  other  persuasion  is 
but  presumption,  and  all  certainty  but  a  stupid  secu- 
rity without  this.  Esau  hath  killed  venison,  and 
now  comes  in  blowing  and  sweating  for  his  reward  : 
he  makes  himself  sure  of  the  blessing,  as  if  he  had  it 
before  he  kneeled  for  it.  What  cares  he  now  for 
selling  away  his  birthright,  which  he  shall  doubly 
redeem  with  the  blessing  ?  He  sold  that  in  hunger, 
he  shall  buy  this  with  pleasure  :  he  parted  with  that 
for  pottage,  he  shall  recover  this  with  venison.  But 
what  does  all  this  blustering  confidence  come  to  ? 
where  is  his  rccompence  ?  His  father's  answer  is  no 
more  but  "  Who  art  thou  ?"  He  looks  for  a  bene- 
diction, and  finds  nothing  but  a  repulse.  Wicked 
men,  when  they  think  they  have  earned  God,  and 
come  proudly  to  challenge  favour,  receive  no  answer 
but  Who  art  thou  ?  The  hopes  of  the  wicked  fail 
them  when  they  are  at  the  highest ;  whereas  God's 
humble  children  find  those  comforts  in  extremity, 
which  they  durst  not  expect.  An  Esau  may  come  in 
full  of  the  hope  of  the  blessing,  but  Jacob  goes  away 
full  of  the  joy  of  the  blessing.  When  Joseph  brought 
his  two  sons  to  his  father  for  a  blessing ;  and  set  the 
elder  by  his  right  hand,  the  younger  by  his  left ;  he 
wittingly  stretched  his  right  hand  to  the  younger, 
his  left  to  the  elder.  Gen.  xlviii.  14.  The  wicked, 
like  Manasseh,  press  to  God's  right  hand ;  but  he, 
like  Jacob,  crosseth  his  hands.  So  God  dislikes  a 
peremptory  presumption,  so  he  blesseth  a  humble 
persuasion.  No  man  can  be  perfectly  confident ;  as 
no  righteousness  can  be  perfect  without  sin,  so  no 
assurance  can  be  perfect  without  doubting.  Take  the 
evencst  balances,  and  the  most  equal  weights  ;  yet  at 
the  first  putting  in  there  will  be  some  inequality, 
though  presently  after  they  settle  themselves  in  a 
just  poise.  Sin  is  a  cloud  that  often  hinders  the  sun 
from  our  eyes,  yet  is  it  still  a  sun  :  the  vision  or  feel- 
ing of  this  comfort  may  be  sometimes  suspended,  the 
union  with  Christ  is  never  dissolved.  God  will  make 
us  feel  that  we  have  offended  him ;  but  after  that 
sense  and  humiliation,  he  will  show  himself  pleased 
with  us  in  Jesus  Christ. 

They  "  speak  evil  of  the  things  that  they  under- 
stand not."  Not  to  understand,  is  the  infirmity  of  a 
man ;  to  speak  of  that  he  understands  not,  is  the  part 
of  a  fool  ;  but  to  speak  maliciously  evil,  is  the  part  of 
a  devil.  They  will  not  understand,  they  will  not  be 
silent,  they  will  not  speak  well.  If  they  will  not 
know,  let  them  hold  their  peace ;  nay,  they  will 
speak  :  but  then  let  them  give  good  words ;  nay,  they 
will  speak  evil.  To  be  ignorant,  and  to  speak  evil ; 
these  be  both  bad  single  and  asunder ;  but  much  worse 
in  composition,  when  tlicy  are  found  together.  First, 
I  will  consider  them  apart. 

1.  Ignorance.  AVhat  is  there  that  differenceth 
a  man  from  a  beast,  but  reason  ?  No  wonder,  then, 
if  these  be  here  called  beasts  by  the  apostle;  they 
were  so  termed  long  before  by  the  prophet :  "Man 
that  is  in  honour,  and  uuderstandetn  not,  is  like  the 
beasts  that  perish,"  Psal.  xlix.  20.  He  had  the  hon- 
our of  a  man ;  but  by  losing  his  knowledge  he  be- 
comes like  a  perishing  beast ;  when  his  knowledge 
degenerates  from  reason  to  sense,  from  man  to 
beast.  Knowledge  is  threefold.  First,  natural, 
which  is  common  to  man  and  beast :  this  consists  in 
seeing,  feeling,  and  such  sensitive  ai)prehensions. 
By  this  the  beast  hath  as  prudent  an  election  as 
man:  he  skills  his  own  diet,  liis  own  physic,  builds 
his  own  house,  avoids  noxious  things,  always  as  well, 
often  better  than  men.  Secondly,  rational,  wliich  is 
proper  to  man ;  a  light  of  understanding,  joined  with 
an  election  of  will ;  by  which  he  is  not  only  able  to 
choose  or  refuse,  but  also  to  discern  the  civil  or  un- 
civil use  of  things.     Thirdly,  spiritual,  which  hath  a 


452 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


higher  fountain,  even  the  Spirit  of  God.  Sense  is  a 
mere  beast's,  reason  a  mere  man's,  divine  know- 
ledge is  t]ie  Christian's.  This  man  clearly  knows  tlie 
Author  of  his  creation,  the  means  of  his  redemption, 
distinguishcth  temporal  fr.  in  eternal  things;  and 
there  sets  his  heart,  where  time  is  no  more  able  to  re- 
move it,  than  the  things  of  time  are  able  to  fill  it. 

Supernatural  things  are  far  from  these  men's  un- 
derstanding ;  and  because  they  are  unwilling  to  un- 
derstand the  things  of  grace,  they  shall  foil  to  ap- 
prehend those  of  nature.  A  just  plague  !  He  that 
refuseth  the  wisdom  of  a  Christian,  shall  lose  the 
lirudcnce  of  a  man.  These  foolish  monsters  are  not 
rare  :  often  do  we  see  asses,  whose  backs  be  laden 
with  gold,  feed  upon  thistles.  A  beast  (I  dare  not  call 
him  man)  hath  thousands  in  his  purse,  yet  stints  him- 
self to  a  threepenny  meal,  and  stai-ves  his  family  ; 
that  instead  of  their  living,  they  have  their  dying 
from  him  ;  they  are  famished.  Yet  no  beast  will 
pine  while  his  den  is  full  of  meat.  How  horrible  is 
this  curse  !  because  he  would  not  know  as  a  Christian, 
he  shall  become  more  sottish  than  a  man,  yea,  than  a 
beast.  The  philosopher  being  asked,  what  was  the 
heaviest  jiart  of  the  earth  ?  answered.  That  which 
bears  an  ignorant  person.  Better  iinbom  than  un- 
taught. Come  that  ye  may  hear,  hear  that  ye  may 
leaiTi,  learn  that  ye  may  practise,  and  pray  that  ye 
may  do  all. 

2.  Evil  speaking.  Good  words  never  hurt  the 
tongue ;  and  this  is  a  proverb  even  in  their  mouths 
that  have  not  many  more  good  words  to  say.  Evil 
speaking  discovers  an  evil  heart,  as  the  striking  of 
the  clapper  doth  a  broken  bell.  In  much  speaking 
there  is  foolish  speaking  :  a  fool  can  never  be  conceal- 
ed but  by  holding  his  peace.  But  the  dog  that  snarls 
and  barks  where  he  should  fawn,  is  beaten  out  of 
doors  for  a  cur.  David  sent  messengers  to  salute 
Nabal,  and  he  railed  on  them,  1  Sam.  xxv.  14 ; 
"  Who  is  David  ?  "  Good  words,  Nabal ;  there  is 
nothing  more  cheap.  But  how  should  Nabal  ap- 
]iear  what  he  was,  but  by  his  foul  language  ?  He 
that  considers  the  quality  of  David's  followers,  must 
grant  it  worthy  of  a  fee,  that  Nabal's  flock  lay  safe 
in  Carmel ;  but  more,  that  David's  soldiers  were 
Nabal's  shepherds.  That  his  sheep  were  safe,  he 
might  thank  his  shepherds ;  but  that  his  shepherds 
were  safe,  he  might  thank  David's  soldiers.  This 
kindness  deserved  part  of  the  feast ;  yea,  even  to 
be  set  at  the  upper  end  of  the  table,  as  his 
principal  guest.  Not  to  touch  his  flocks,  was  a  fa- 
vour ;  but  to  keep  them,  a  merit.  Our  preservers 
are  a  second  kind  of  creators  ;  and  well  may 
we  aflbrd  our  superfluities,  where  we  owe  ourselves. 
Yet  Nabal  refuseth  to  give  any  thing  but  what  he 
was  wont,  bad  words.  David  asks  him  bread,  and 
he  gives  him  stones.  If  he  would  not  part  witli  his 
riches,  yet  he  might  have  yielded  fair  speeches,  and 
been  never  the  poorer.  But  how  should  he  speak 
any  other  language,  to  whom  blasphemy  is  his 
mother  tongue  ?  When  poor  wretches  beg'  of  such 
men,  this  is  all  their  alms.  Yet  better  fare'lhey  that 
can  say,  Be  warmed,  be  filled.  Jam.  ii.  IG.  But  if 
those  verbal  almoners  shall  hardly  answer  for  their 
uneharitableness,  what  shall  become  of  them  that 
curse  and  rate  the  needy  souls  ;  whose  charity  is 
cruelty,  tramplingupon  those  that  God  hath  hum- 
bled ?  If  they  be  thus  pnni-shed  that  heal  only  with 
good  words,  how  shall  they  bo  tormented  that  wound 
with  evil  ! 

.3.  Combined :  they  are  both  bad  enough  asunder, 
but  together  most  mischievous.  Bitter  censurers  are 
either  proud,  or  guiltv,  or  fools.  Proud:  I  am  not 
as  this  jiubliean,  Luke  xviii.  11.  What  had  the  Pha- 
risee to  do  with  the  publican  ?     O,  his  own  jewel  of 


sanctity  wanted  the  due  lustre,  till  such  a  foil  set  it 
off".  Guilty  :  they  that  accused  the  woman  dcpre- 
hended  in  adultery,  had  not  been  so  hot,  had  them- 
selves been  innocent,  John  viii.  9.  But  now,  their 
mouths  were  full  of  her  iniquity,  and  empty  of  their 
own  ;  till  Christ  wrote  them  deeper  in  their  con- 
sciences than  his  finger  did  those  characters  in  the 
dust.  Fools,  as  here,  blame  what  they  know  not. 
The  truth  of  God  shall  never  want  enemies,  while 
the  father  of  falsehood  wants  not  blasphemies.  Where 
did  Christ's  ministers  ever  set  their  feet,  but  the  de- 
vil also  landed  his  soldiers  to  encounter  them?  Old 
father  Simeon  might  truly  think,  that  as  all  eyes  be- 
fore had  not  been  like  his  eyes,  waiting  for  the  con- 
solation of  Israel :  so  nor  all  arms  afterward  should 
be  like  his  arms,  ready  in  the  temple  to  embrace  it. 
No,  Christ  was  appointed  tic  aiifiilov  uvrtXeyoiiivov ;  i.  e. 
a  sign  that  should  be  spoken  against,  for  a  mark  of 
contradictions.  This  was  no  news  in  Stephen's 
time  :  that  noble  Protesilaus  in  the  Grecian  fleet,  the 
foremost  champion  of  the  Christian  church,  that 
fought  for  the  name  of  Jesus  unto  blood,  told  them 
to  their  faces,  that  they  had  always  resisted  the  Holy 
Ghost,  Acts  vii.  51.  The  tongue  is  a  sword  still 
unsheathed  ;  and  many  will  speak  that  dare  not 
strike.     Take  here  two  observations. 

1.  The  nature  of  tiiith,  and  the  nature  of  man's  in- 
tellect, are  agreeable,  if  this  latter  be  not  forestalled 
with  prejudice.  But,  as  Augustine  says.  To  an  un- 
sound palate  bread  is  bitter,  which  to  a  sound  one  is 
sweet.  He  that  is  resolved  to  be  ill,  refuseth  to  un- 
derstand goodness ;  therefore  dislikes  it  before  he 
knows  it ;  as  one  censures  a  book  before  he  opens  it, 
or  reads  a  sentence.  These  deceivers  had  read 
the  rudiments  of  licentiousness  with  the  specta- 
cles of  self-love  ;  and  now  to  hear  of  authority  and 
civil  goveiTiment,  and  above  all,  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
should  sit  in  the  chair,  to  cross  and  unteach  their 
principles,  this  makes  them  fret  and  chafe.  Would 
they  but  yet  allow  it  a  day  of  hearing :  no  law  con- 
demns a  man  till  he  comes  to  his  answer :  no,  they 
will  speak  evil,  they  will  not  understand.  These  be 
they  that  stare  upon  tlie  ministers  of  the  gospel  as 
prodigious,  hiss  at  them  as  ridiculous,  shun  them  as 
infectious,  account  them  piacular,  pestilential,  exe- 
crable fellows:  "but  Wisdom  is  justified  of  her 
children,"  Matt.  xi.  19.  The  Lord  will  show,  with 
great  advantage  of  glor)',  through  all  this  reluct- 
ation,  how  little  he  needs  the  help  of  his  friends,  or 
cares  for  the  malice  of  his  enemies.  Those  who  are 
unwise  in  sin  shall  be  made  wise  enough  in  punish- 
ment :  the  eyes  that  wilful  malice  hath  shut,  hell- 
flames  shall  open  ;  and  the  tongue  that  would  con- 
demn what  it  knew  not,  shall  feel  what  it  would  not. 

2.  This  is  a  most  unhappy  fault,  when  the  tongue 
overruns  the  eyes,  speaks  and  never  takes  advice  of 
the  heart.  The  Jews  thought  the  gospel  a  stum- 
bling-block ;  the  Greeks  foolishness,  1  Cor.  i.  23: 
the  first,  that  it  did  block  up  their  way  ;  the  other, 
that  it  was  too  poor  for  their  learning  :  yet  neither 
of  them  knew  what  it  was.  The  golden  Indies  were 
offered  to  divers  princes  ;  they  vilipended  it,  and 
never  saw  it ;  yet  the  wealth  was  worth  their  labour 
that  undertook  it.  The  gospel  is  a  hidden  treasure, 
the  world  scorns  it  :  alas,  the  world  never  under- 
stood it  :  they  that  have  found  it,  do  justly  scorn  the 
world  in  comparison  of  it.  Some  think  it  will  im- 
|)iiverisli  them;  they  know  not  that,  beside  the  king- 
dom of  glory,  it  even  centuples  their  estate  here  on 
earth,  ^latt.'  xix.  29.  Others  think  it  makes  men 
melancholy  ;  they  know  not  that  it  rejoiceth  the 
liiart,  Prov.  xii.  25.  This  was  the  rashness  of  Rome, 
and  the  shame  of  their  Tridentine  council ;  that 
they  condemned  the  protcsianis  for  heretics,  and  yet 


Vrs.   12. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


453 


never  would  hear  what  they  could  say  for  them- 
selves. What  is  this,  but  to  speak  evil  of  the  things 
they  understand  not  ?  In  the  fourth  session  it  was 
decreed,  that  no  man  should  give  any  other  inter- 
pretation of  the  Scriptures,  than  what  was  consonant 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  Roman  church.  Thus  instead 
of  measuring  their  doctrine  by  the  rule,  they  mea- 
sured the  rule  by  their  doctrine ;  and  condemned 
they  knew  not  what.  When  we  teach,  that  it  is  im- 
possible for  man  to  merit  of  God,  or  before  him  to 
be  justified  by  his  works;  they  cry  out  that  we  con- 
demn all  good  works. 

Thus  sin  doth  not  want  entertainers  :  he  that  will 
be  sober  when  others  bezzle,  that  will  pray  when 
others  play,  or  reprove  a  swearer,  is  branded  with 
the  name  of  puritan :  alas,  they  speak  evil  of  that 
they  understand  not.  Shall  this  indignity  cast  upon 
holiness  make  it  vile  in  our  eyes  ?  No,  but  as  Ter- 
tullian  reasoned.  That  must  needs  be  good  which 
Nero  persecutes;  so,  it  must  needs  be  excellent  that 
such  malicious  fools  would  disgrace.  Thty  have 
sworn  to  keep  the  commandments,  and  to  deny  the 
world;  yet  are  not  content  with  their  own  dis- 
obedience, unless  they  cast  aspersions  upon  them 
that  obey.  God  either  open  their  eyes,  or  stop 
their  mouths,  that  they  may  cease  to  speak  evil  of 
the  things  which  they  understand  not.  Let  this 
teach  us, 

I.  To  seek  understanding  above  treasures.  In- 
deed doing  makes  a  man  blessed ;  and  though  he 
Were  able  to  dispute  about  cverj-  conceivable  thing 
in  existence,  knew  all  that  is  knowablc,  secrets  of 
state,  rules  of  policy,  mysteries  of  science  ;  yet  he 
might  bless  himself,  without  being  blessed  of  God. 
But  still  the  foundation  of  obedience  must  be  laid  in 
knowledge;  for  if  a  man  take  his  mark  amiss,  he 
niay  shoot  wrong  all  the  actions  of  his  life.  Hap- 
piness is  like  a  slake  set  up  in  the  midst  of  a  field, 
which  blinded  men  grope  after,  to  make  the  behold- 
ers sport  in  their  wanderings.  Knowledge  must  be 
the  pilot  of  devotion  ;  superstitious  works  are  but 
the  whelps  of  ignorant  zeal.  As  Christ  said  of  his 
murderers.  Lord,  they  know  not  what  they  do ;  so 
our  apostle  here  of  the  truth's  adversaries.  Lord,  they 
know  not  what  they  say.  He  that  knows  what  he 
does,  and  does  what  he  knows,  is  likeliest  to  be  ac- 
cepted with  God. 

Worldlings  cry  up  practice,  to  cry  down  know- 
ledge; as  cunning  papists  will  extol  St.  James  only 
to  disparage  St.  Paul,  or  as  idle  protestants  coni- 
mcnd  reading  to  disgrace  preaching :  they  talk  of  a 
good  meaning,  when  they  are  the  worst  doers  in  a 
country.  This  is  the  devil's  sophism  ;  if  he  can  put 
out  our  eye  of  knowledge,  the  more  we  do  the  better 
he  likes,  as  knowing  all  such  works  to  be  his  own 
service.  Knowledge  indeed  covers  our  earth,  as 
waters  the  sea;  but  yet  are  there  no  dry  rocks  in  the 
midst  of  the  sea?  The  greater  number  arc  not  un- 
like the  horse  in  the  story  ;  which  a  man  seeing  in 
the  market,  liked,  for  his  proportion,  his  pace,  his 
colour ;  and  having  bought  him,  desired  to  know 
what  fault  he  had.  The  cunning  courser  told  him, 
none  but  that  he  was  a  dark  grey  :  he  meant  that 
he  had  bad  eyes ;  his  colour  might  be  grey,  but  the 
horse  was  blind.  So  many  men  have  pace  enough, 
if  it  were  in  the  right  way:  their  feet  are  swift,  but 
to  shed  blood  ;  their  proiwrtion  is  answerable,  they 
are  able  to  do  well ;  their  riches  and  means  are  suf- 
ficient ;  and  they  colour  for  it,  having  a  form  of  god- 
liness, a  show  of  devotion:  but  their  eyes.be  bad, 
dark  and  mopish  to  understand  that  should  make 
them  truly  blessed. 

2.  Seeing  thty  speak  evil  of  that  they  know  not, 
let  us  speak  well  of  that  we  know.     It  is  a  shame 


that  our  zeal  should  not  be  as  courageous  to  defend 
the  truth,  as  their  malice  is  violent  to  oppose  it.  He 
is  a  coward,  that  lets  a  good  cause  fall,  when  he  sees 
another  resolute  in  a  bad.  A  reprobate  may  some- 
times lend  the  truth  his  voice;  but  either  he  higgks 
with  some  hollow  reservation,  or  lispcth  with  some 
faltering  equivocation ;  or  if  his  lips  be  of  liis  heart's 
opinion,  it  is  an  extorted  testimony ;  God  hath 
wrung  it  out  of  him,  by  some  conflict,  arrest,  racking, 
and  conviction  of  his  conscience.  So  the  magicians 
of  Egypt  were  forced  to  confess.  This  is  the  finger  of 
God :  so  Julian  was  compelled  to  cry,  Galilean,  thou 
hast  overcome.  They  that  will  speak  the  evil  they 
should  not,  shall  be  driven  to  speak  the  good  they 
would  not.  Caiaphas  shall  approve  that  Christ  in 
the  chair,  whom  he  condemns  on  the  bench.  Ba- 
laam shall  bless  those  for  nothing,  whom  he  was 
hired  to  curse.  Such  transient  revelations  may  glide 
through  them  ;  themselves  in  the  mean  time  as  wise 
as  trunks.  But  this  is  a  forced  confession,  the  Al- 
mighty's advantage :  "  For  their  rock  is  not  as  our 
Rock,  even  our  enemies  themselves  being  judges," 
Deut.  xxsii.  31.  If  they  speak  well  of  goodiuss,  it 
is  against  their  wills  ;  but  naturally  they  blaspheme 
it.  For  old  physic  to  find  ftiult  with  the  new  way  of 
Paracelsus,  or  the  old  astronomy  to  be  displeased  at 
the  opinions  of  Copernicus,  there  was  some  colour ; 
for  the  professors  of  the  former  understood  the  errors 
of  the  latter,  and  could  pick  just  (juarrels  against 
them.  But  for  corrupt  nature,  called  the  old  man, 
older  in  every  one  of  our  acquaintance  than  religion 
or  reason,  to  condemn  the  doctrine  of  salvation  be- 
fore it  be  examined;  this  is  that  brutish  malice  here 
worthily  exposed  to  contempt. 

A  free,  voluntary  acknowledgment  of  the  truth, 
becomes  the  mouth  of  a  Christian.  Such  as  Peter's 
was,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living 
God ; "  which  was  the  revelation  of  God,  not  of 
llesh  and  blood.  Matt.  xvi.  16,  1?.  He  that  opened 
Simon's  heart,  to  pour  iu  that  happy  learning,  un- 
tied Simon's  mouth,  to  pour  forth  tliat  happy  lan- 
guage. As  no  man  can  see  the  sun,  but  by  the 
light  of  the  sun ;  so  no  man  can  call  Jesus  the  Lord, 
but  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  I  Cor.  xii.  3. 

They  "shall  utterly  perish  in  their  own  corrup- 
tion." This  is  the  common  term  of  sin :  what  com- 
passes and  aberrations  soever  it  fetcheth,  this  is  the 
centre  of  it,  destruction.  There  be  divers  circuits, 
ihwartings,  and  contrarieties  in  sin;  yea,  all  wick- 
edness is  in  the  extremes.  Nothing  is  more  op- 
posite, than  gripulous  avarice  and  riotous  profuseness, 
than  cunning  hypocrisy  and  notorious  profanencss, 
than  pride  and  nastincss,  than  presumption  and 
despair,  levity  and  obstinacy ;  yet  are  all  these 
reconciled  in  one  place,  like  men  that  go  about 
several  businesses  in  the  morning,  yet  meet  to- 
gether at  night.  One  kingdom  is  too  narrow  for 
them  on  earth,  a  little  corner  of  a  dungeon  con- 
fines them  together  in  hell.  As  several  malefac- 
tors have  done  several  facts,  in  several  places;  one 
hath  stolen,  another  slain,  a  third  ravished ;  one 
robs  by  land,  another  by  sea ;  yet  they  are  all 
brought  to  one  prison,  and  executed  on  one  gallows ; 
the  same  destruction  devours  them  all.  There  is 
but  one,  and  that  a  narrow  path  to  heaven ;  innu- 
merable, and  those  broad  ways,  road  ways,  to  hell. 
One  of  these  iniquities  might  have  served  the  turn, 
to  bring  these  reprobates  to  perdition.  Unclcanncss 
would  have  done  it,  they  needed  not  have  been  re- 
bels :  presumption  would  have  done  it,  they  needed 
not  uncleanness:  self-will  was  sufficient,  without 
presumption  :  their  ignorance,  without  their  malice  : 
their  bmtishncss  would  have  spared  all  the  rest; 
any  one  was  enough  to  do  it.     Only  the  number  and 


454 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  I[. 


measure  of  torments  is  according  to  the  multitude 
and  magnitude  of  offences. 

Some  go  to  hell  upon  the  rack,  others  on  a  down- 
bed  :  the  former  suffer  much,  that  ihcy  may  suffer 
more ;  ;ts  bulls  are  first  baited,  that  afterward  they 
may  be  killed.  As  the  godly  through  many  tribula- 
tions enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Acts  xiv.  22, 
so  sometimes  the  wicked  tlu'ough  many  tribulations 

1  nter  into  the  kingdom  of  hell.  What  a  deal  of 
pains  doth  the  covetous  man  take  fur  his  own  damn- 
ation !  He  scarce  wears  a  good  garment,  or  eats  a 
liberal  meal,  or  lakes  a  quiet  sleep ;  but  torments  him- 
self to  get  that,  for  get  ting  whereof  he  shall  be  torment- 
ed. Some  slide  thither  on  a  bed  of  roses  ;  they  will 
pamper  their  bodies  while  they  have  them,  suffer  their 
affections  to  want  no  indulgence,  will  not  give  their 
conscience  leave  to  speak,  but  droAvn  it  with  the  noise 
of  joUity.  But  what  benefit  is  it,  to  have  one's  throat 
cut  with  diamonds,  or  to  be  shot  to  death  with  pearls, 
or  smothered  with  cassia.  Destruction  is  too  dear  a 
price  for  any  sin.  The  condemned  man  will  scarce 
eat  the  best  dinner  with  a  cheerful  stomach.  Yet  this 
is  the  impenitent  sinners'  dire  catastrophe,  utterly  to 
perish  in  their  own  corruption. 

All  I  purpose  to  observe  from  it,  may  be  reduced 
to  these  three  conclusions.  First,  that  sin  naturally 
begets  punishment ;  if  they  do  these  things,  they 
shall  be  destroyed.  Secondly,  that  forbearance  is 
no  acquittance ;  if  not  presently,  yet  they  shall 
perish.  Thirdly,  that  wickedness  makes  their  o^vn 
scourge  ;  they  shall  perish  in  their  own  corraption. 

1.  No  cause  doth  more  necessarily  produce  its 
proper  effect,  than  sin  doth  natui-ally  beget  punish- 
ment. This  David  could  easily  presuppose,  when 
tlie  land  was  plagued  mth  a  tlu-ee  years'  famine, 

2  Sam.  xxi.  I  ;  never  came  judgment  from  God,  but 
some  provocation  from  man  went  before :  therefore 
seeing  the  plague,  he  inquires  for  the  sin.  The  hand 
of  Divine  justice  never  makes  man  smart  without 
cause.  When  we  suffer,  our  question  should  be, 
^Vhat  have  we  done  ?  teaching  our  repentance  to  ex- 
amine the  foundation  of  all  our  evils.  When  famine  is 
upon  our  land,  one  complains  of  hoarding,  another 
of  transporting,  the  almanac  talks  of  planets  and 
conjunctions  ;  but  the  Christian  complains  of  sin. 
He  looks  higher  than  the  constellations,  and  sees  a 
just  hand  scourging  rebellious  wickedness,  over- 
ruling all  second  causes  to  be  his  executioners.  Na- 
tural men  are  moles  to  spiritual  objects;  but  the 
weakest  regenerate  eyes  can  pierce  the  heavens,  and 
espy  God  in  all  earthly  occurrences.  Famine  never 
cleansed  the  teeth,  that  were  not  before  furred  and 
fouled  with  excess.  The  pestilence  never  raged,  but 
blasphemy,  uncleaiiness,  and  such  noisome  sins  begun 
the  infection.  The  sword  never  prevailed,  but  sin 
did  set  an  edge  upon  it.  The  fire  never  consumed, 
but  sin  blew  the  coals.  God  indeed  is  the  Judge  of 
all,  but  sin  is  the  cause  of  all. 

The  wicked,  here,  are  the  beasts  to  be  hunted,  sin 
is  the  game ;  when  that  game  is  up,  the  takers  ai-e 
ready,  and  wait  but  the  word ;  those  blood-hounds 
are  under  collar,  if  God  let  them  slip,  they  are  in- 
stantly on. 

(1.)  Temporal  misery  is  one  taker ;  in  whose  terri- 
ble army  march  fear,  disquietness,  poverty,  sickness, 
and  innumerable  sorrows.  This  often  takes  a  man, 
when  it  does  not  destroy  him.  When  it  takes  an 
elect  vessel  in  hand,  it  scours  him  like  a  quartern 
ague,  shakes  every  joint,  tames  his  proud  heart ;  but 
withal  consumes  up  his  surfeits  and  corniption,  and 
restores  him  a  weaker  sinner,  but  a  better  man.  But 
it  takes  the  wicked,  like  the  stone  or  the  racking 
gout ;  and  that  without  both  strength  of  resistance, 
or  provision  of  patience. 


(2.)  Death  is  the  next  taker,  compared  to  a  horse. 
Rev.  vi.  8 ;  a  fierce,  strong,  warlike,  and  speedy 
creatiu'e  ;  whose  neck  is  clothed  with  thunder,  and 
he  swallows  the  ground  as  he  goes,  Job  xxxix.  19, 
24.  Hazael  could  not  outrun  him ;  Absalom  could 
not  outride  him  ;  Pharaoh's  chariot-wheels  fell  off  in 
the  chace.  Jonathan  and  Saul,  swift  as  eaglco, 
strong  as  lions,  yet  were  slain  by  this  taker.  He 
takes  any  man,  at  any  time,  in  any  place :  in  bed,  lie 
takes  men  before  they  can  rise ;  abroad,  and  gives 
them  not  leave  to  come  home :  he  often  takes  the 
drankard  at  his  cups,  the  worldling  telling  his  mo- 
nies :  and  these  he  takes  with  terror ;  even  by  the 
throats,  as  that  unmerciful  creditor  arrested  his  fel- 
low, "  iPay  that  thou  owest,"  Matt,  xviii.  28.  But 
yoti  say,  death  lakes  also  the  godly  :  indeed  they 
rather  take  him,  for  Clirist  hath  made  him  their 
vassal. 

(3.)  Satan  is  the  last  and  worst  taker.  Misery 
lakes  from  prosperous  sin,  sickness  takes  from  misery, 
death  takes  fiom  sickness,  Satan  takes  from  all. 
Thou  fool,  this  night  shall  they  take  thy  soul  from 
thee,  Luke  xii.  20.  Oh  who  can  tell  the  horror  and 
jistonishment  of  that  soul,  which  no  sooner  leaves  the 
body,  but  is  apprehended  by  this  taker.  If  we  could 
conceive  the  least  pang  of  that  fever,  how  odious 
would  our  most  pleasing  sins  appear  to  us !  For  a 
living  man  to  be  cast  into  a  nest  of  vipers,  asps,  or 
scorpions,  is  terrible  enough ;  yet,  alas,  all  their  stings 
be  but  as  gentle  ticklings  to  these  dragons.  This  is 
that  perishing,  that  utter  perishing,  which  is  here  the 
wages  of  obstinate  sin. 

2.  Forbearance  of  punishment  is  no  argument  o 
immunity  ;  though  not  presently,  they  shall  perish. 
The  judgments  of  God  are  sure,  if  they  be  late ;  and 
as  they  are  made  for  the  taking,  so  they  are  destined 
to  the  very  hour  of  taking,  which  they  shall  not 
escape.  David  made  a  road  upon  the  Geshurites 
and  Gezrites,  destroying  them  with  such  a  universal 
slaughter,  that  he  left  none  to  report  what  he  had 
done,  I  Sam.  xxvii.  9.  How  many  hundred  years 
had  that  brood  of  Canaanites  lived  securely  in  their 
country,  since  God  had  commanded  their  rooting 
out !  The  Israelites  had  their  hands  full,  and  could 
not  meddle  with  them  ;  the  Philistines  were  their 
friends,  and  would  not  meddle  with  them ;  and  now 
knowing  no  grudge  betwixt  them  and  their  neigh- 
bours, they  promise  themselves  a  certain  peace.  Lo 
even  then,  least  suspecting  it,  are  they  cut  off  by 
David's  sword,  and  none  left  alive  to  tell  the  news. 
When  the  oracle  of  God  was  inquired  for  the  reason 
of  that  long  famine,  the  answer  was,  "  It  is  for  Saul, 
and  his  bloody  house,  because  he  slew  the  Gibeon- 
ites,"  2  Sam.  xxi.  1.  Israel  was  full  of  sins  besides 
those  of  Saul's  house,  Saul's  house  was  full  of  sins 
besides  those  of  blood,  much  blood  was  shed  by  that 
liouse  besides  this  of  the  Gibeonitcs  :  where  the 
causes  be  infinite,  God  doth  justly  pitch  upon  some; 
it  is  favour  not  to  punish  for  all.  Joshua  had  sworn  a 
league  with  Gibeon  four  himdred  years  before  ;  Saul 
breaks  this  league  and  oath  :  Saul  dies,  and  forty 
years  have  passed  since  this  injury ;  yet  now  the 
Lord  calls  them  to  a  reckoning  for  it.  That  sin  is 
not  yet  expiated,  and  so  occasioneth  this  late 
vengeance. 

How  vainly  do  men  hope  to  go  away  with  their 
sins,  because  ^vrath  is  delayed  !  as  if  the  Ancient  of 
days,  to  whom  all  times  are  present,  could  forget 
them.  No,  when  we  have  forgotten  our  sins,  when 
the  world  hath  forgotten  us,  he  begins  the  suit  for 
our  arrears.  With  men,  delay  wears  things  out  of 
mcmoiy,  and  cools  the  heat  of  anger ;  violent  pas- 
sions, like  violent  motions,  are  weakest  at  the  fiir- 
thest;  but  with  God,  there  is  nothing  gained  by  pro 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OP  ST.  PETER. 


455 


traction.  Sinners  may  make  a  truce  with  heaven, 
and  a  league  with  licll  j  but  the  Lord  laugheth  at 
them,  for  he  secth  that  tlicir  day  is  coming,  Psal. 
xxxvii.  13 ;  and  is  not  the  further  off,  because  they 
do  not  look  for  it.  Sacrilege  steals,  and  goes  away 
merry  with  it :  it  never  troubles  men,  that  they  are 
privy  to  this  injury  ;  the  law  cannot  touch  them :  so 
they  live,  so  they  die.  But  doth  God  forget  it  ?  If 
they  can  blot  it  out  of  his  sight,  there  is  then  safely 
in  prorogation.  But  as  the  slaughter  of  the  Gibcon- 
ites  was  the  sin  of  one  generation,  yet  required  in 
another;  so  doth  God  often  make  the  posterity  pay 
for  the  iniquity  of  their  forefathers.  Therefore  our 
church  teacheth  us  to  pray,  "  Lord,  remember  not 
our  iniquities,  nor  the  iniquities  of  our  forefathers." 
When  these  God-robbers  are  dead,  and  mouldered  to 
dust,  this  shall  be  exacted  of  their  cllildren.  Men 
owe  us  money,  they  die  and  leave  it  unpaid ;  we  sue 
their  heirs  and  executors  for  those  debts,  and  do  not 
think  it  injustice  so  to  recover  them.  Take  heed,  ye 
parents,  at  least  you  that  have  grace  enough  to  love 
your  children ;  you  bequeath  them  legacies  of  min, 
while  you  make  up  their  portions  with  that  unright- 
eous mammon,  winch  you  have  gotten  fi'om  the  poor 
minister  or  neighbour.  The  torments  of  hell  God 
will  inHict  only  on  the  peccant  person,  but  with  tem- 
poral plagues  he  visits  the  succession. 

The  whole  family  of  Eli  was  threatened  with  sick- 
ness, short  life,  and  bcggarj',  1  Sam.  ii.  31).  This 
took  effect  apace,  yet  Abiathar  is  left;  through  the 
reigns  of  Saul  and  David  he  escapeth  :  hath  God 
forgotten  his  sentence  ?  No,  even  Abiathar  shall  be 
deposed  bv  Solomon,  and  sent  to  Anathoth,  and  it  is 
well  that  he  escapes  so,  I  Kings  ii.  26.  It  was  four- 
score years  since  that  sentence  was  denounced,  yet 
now  it  comes  to  execution.  Abiathar  is  the  last  of 
that  line ;  and  he  shall  find  that  the  sin  of  his  fathei-'s 
house  can  neither  be  purged  with  sacrifice  nor  obli- 
terated with  time.  Delay  of  the  judgment  that  shall 
come,  is  neither  any  hindcranee  to  God's  justice,  nor 
comfort  to  men's  miseries.  Shimei  had  reviled  David 
in  the  conspiracy  of  Absalom,  yet  he  pays  for  this  in 
the  reign  of  Solomon.  Abishai  would  have  requited 
him  while  the  wound  was  green,  and  might  not ; 
Benaiah  is  commanded  to  do  it  now  after  long  fes- 
tering. Still  the  stones  which  Shimei  threw  at 
David,  were  to  rebound  upon  Shimei,  and  split  his 
heart.  He  was  an  example  to  these,  as  these  are  to 
us  :  he  railed,  so  do  they  ;  he  blasphemed  the  king, 
these  speak  evil  of  dignities ;  he  i)erished  for  it,  so 
do  they.  And  if  God  so  plague  the  insolences 
against  his  deputies,  how  will  he  revenge  blasphemy 
against  himself!  Tremble,  ye  cursers  and  swearers ; 
so  execrable  is  your  sin,  that  God  hath  vowed  not  to 
hold  you  guiltless.  If  God  pay  slowly,  yet  he  will 
pay  sure. 

Sometimes  he  allows  iniquity  a  shorter  breatliing ; 
and  even  while  the  viols  call  to  dancing,  or  the 
trumpets  to  drinking  healths,  Belshazzar  hath  his 
sentence.  No  sooner  were  .^donijah's  guests  full  of 
meat,  but  their  ears  were  full  of  clangour,  their 
hearts  of  horror :  the  trumpets  at  once  proclaim 
Solomon's  triumph,  and  their  confusion.  Tiie  feasts 
of  the  wicked  end  in  terror ;  after  the  meal  is  done, 
■  "I"  comes  the  reckoning.  No  doubt  but  many  a 
lih  was  drunk  to  Adonijah,  many  a  confident 
,  l:iuse  of  their  prosperous  design,  many  a  scorn  of 
me  adverse  faction.  But  now  the  voider  that  tiikes 
all  away,  is  fearful  astonishment,  and  expectation  of 
just  revenge.  How  suddenly  are  all  their  he.-irts 
cold,  all  their  faces  pale !  every  man  hath  but  life 
enough  left  to  run  away,  1  Kings  i.  49.  God  can  as 
easily  prevent  the  mirth  of  the  wicked,  as  mar  it ; 
but  he  suffers  them  to  please  themselves  in  the  vanity 


of  their  own  courses  for  the  time,  that  their  conclu- 
sion may  be  more  grievous.  Bravery  is  but  a  poor 
target  to  bear  off  judgment. 

3.  Obstiuate  sin  would  make  its  own  rod,  were 
there  none  prepared.  He  that  enters  into  a  statute, 
and  performs  not  the  defeasance,  we  say,  his  own  hand 
hath  undone  him.  When  we  look  upon  the  sin  first, 
and  then  on  the  punishment,  we  confess  the  latter  to 
be  but  the  counterfeit  of  the  former  original.  This 
is  such  a  man's  own  child :  why  ?  it  is  so  like  him. 
Pharaoh  had  groaned  under  plagues  enough  ;  he  saw 
his  cattle  struck  dead  with  a  sudden  contagion,  he 
saw  his  sorcerers  (after  all  their  contestation)  struck 
with  a  scab  in  their  very  faces,  yet  his  heart  is  not 
struck  with  repentance.  Who  would  think  it  possi- 
ble, for  a  heart  of  tlesh  not  to  yield  at  these  judg- 
ments ?  AVe  cannot  tell  whether  to  wonder  more  at 
the  plagues  themselves,  or  their  success.  The  grace 
of  God  resisted,  turns  to  desperateness  ;  and  wicked 
men,  like  some  beasts,  grow  mad  with  baiting.  They 
cannot  be  quiet,  till  they  have  wrought  out  their  full 
destruction.  Therefore  the  fcarfuUcst  plagues  God 
reserves  for  the  upshot ;  all  the  former  do  but  make 
way  for  the  last.  Goliath  might  have  fought  in  the 
battle,  and  escaped ;  but  he  must  needs  challenge 
his  own  ruin,  by  defying  the  host  of  God,  yea,  the 
God  of  hosts.  His  own  sword  shall  serve  to  behead 
the  master.  What  need  David  load  himself  with  an 
unnecessary  weapon  ?  one  sword  can  ser\-e  both 
Goliath  and  him.  Goliath  had  a  man  to  bear  his 
target,  but  David  had  Goliath  to  bear  his  sword.  So 
just  is  God,  to  turn  wicked  men's  forces  against 
themselves,  and  to  make  liis  enemies  carry  about 
with  them  their  own  destructions. 

The  Amalekite,  a  picklhank,  thought  to  curry  fa- 
vour and  to  insinuate  himself  to  the  heir  apparent, 
by  bringing  the  news  of  Saul's  death,  2  Sam.  i.  His 
thoughts  project  thus:  To  report  the  fact  as  done  by 
another,  were  but  to  go  away  with  the  recompence 
of  a  lucky  post ;  whereas  to  take  the  action  upon 
myself,  to  say,  I  am  the  man,  must  needs  endear  me 
to  him :  David  is  beholden  to  me  for  the  kingdom ; 
my  requital  cannot  but  be  richly  honourable.  Thus 
he  laid  a  plot  to  destroy  himself :  his  hand  was  not 
guilty,  his  tongue  was  ;  and  he  dies  for  it.  If  he  did 
it,  his  fact  was  capital ;  if  he  did  it  not,  his  lie  was 
capital :  howsoever,  for  an  unjust  practice,  he  receiv- 
ed a  just  sentence  ;  yea,  his  own  mouth  condemned 
himself.  Men  think  it  a  dainty  cunning  to  beguile 
others,  the  fine  policy  of  a  pure  and  clean  wit  to  do 
unsuspected  mischief:  as  if  this  were  not  to  carry 
brimstone  to  their  own  fire,  and  to  make  their  own 
l)ed  in  hell.  As  the  godly  work  out  their  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling,  so  the  wicked  work  out 
their  own  confusion  with  lust  and  presuming.  Yea, 
naturally  all  run  on  to  their  own  ruin,  unless  they 
be  supcrnaturally  prevented  by  the  grace  of  God. 

To  conclude ;  as  we  tremble  at  these  judgments, 
let  us  abominate  the  sins.  These  reprobates  are  our 
examples;  if  we  do  as  bad,  we  shall  speed  worse: 
<ind  they  will  welcome  their  imitators  into  hell, 
You  come  after  us,  but  you  shall  be  preferred  before 
us ;  and  bear  so  much  more  torments  than  we  have, 
as  you  received  more  warnings  than  we  had.  First, 
they  were  proud ;  and  as  pride  is  the  highest  sin,  so 
it  shall  have  the  lowest  fall :  the  proud  scorn  to  be 
like  men,  therefore  make  themselves  like  the  apos- 
tate angels.  When  they  will  not  be  men,  tney 
become  devils,  saith  Chrysostom.  Are  there  none 
such  among  us  ?  Yes,  their  very  habit  discovers 
them  :  they  that  have  put  off  modesty,  will  put  on 
any  garb  of  apparel.  We  should  not  lie  in  our  words, 
but  painted  Jezebels  lie  in  their  very  faces.  As 
pride  is  the  first  step  downward  to  hell,  so  humility 


456 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II, 


fa  the  first  stair  upward  to  glory.  Secondly,  they 
were  rebellious  to  magistrates  ;  let  us  be  obedient. 
Even  the  highest  prelates  of  the  church  must  stoop 
to  him,  whom  God  hath  set  above  all.  The  Lord 
hath  committed  the  souls  of  princes  to  his  pastors, 
but  the  bodies  of  pastors  to  his  princes.  Thirdlv, 
they  were  di'unken  and  sensual  beasts  ;  let  us  be  civil 
men  at  least.  But,  alas,  happy  temperance,  whither 
art  thou  fled?  Sobriety  is  scarce  to  be  found  in  the 
world,  but  in  books.  Fourthly,  they  were  unclean  ; 
and  what  nitre  shall  wash  us  ?  were  every  river  of 
our  land  a  Jordan,  they  could  not  cleanse  it  from 
this  leprosy.  But,  alas,  we  can  but  plough  the  ground, 
if  is  God  that  must  sow  the  seed  :  we  do  but  soften 
the  wax,  it  is  he  that  sets  on  the  seal.  We  have  sin- 
ned, what  should  we  do  but  repent  ?  If  we  cannot, 
like  the  poor  woman  at  her  purification.  Lev.  xii.  8, 
ofTer  a  lamb,  innocency  of  life,  yet  let  us  bring  at 
least  a  pair  of  turtle  doves,  two  mourning  eyes. 
That  we  who  have  grievously  erred  by  multiplied 
sin,  may  be  received  again  to  mercy  by  unfeigned 
sorrow. 


Vekse  13. 

^nd  shall  receive  the  reward  of  wirig/ilemcsness,  as 
they  that  count  it  a  pleasure  to  riot  vn  the  day  time. 
Spots  they  are  and  blemishes,  sporting  themselves 
with  their  ow?i  deceivings  while  they  feast  with  you. 

God  is  a  just  Master,  and  will  pay  all  men  their 
wages  according  to  their  work.  They  that  do  tlie 
business  he  sets  them  about,  shall  have  a  blessed  re- 
compence  :  none  of  his  servants  were  ever  losers  by 
him.  The  ungodly  indeed  set  themselves  on  work  ; 
yet,  howsoever,  he  will  pay  them  their  wages,  but  it 
is  such  a  reward  (Rev.  xxii.  12)  as  they  would  thank 
him  to  go  without ;  a  righteous  wages,  for  an  un- 
righteous service.  God  shall  pay  all  :  Satan  may 
be  his  executioner,  but  God  is  the  Judge.  The  exe- 
cutioner cannot  lay  on  a  stroke  more  than  the  Judge 
appoints.  Wicked  men,  properly,  do  pay  when  they 
are  paid  :  when  God  pays  them,  he  pays  himself  of 
them  ;  and  this  shall  be  to  the  uttermost  farthing, 
Matt.  v.  26.  So  the  unmerciful  servant  was  bound 
over  till  he  should  pay  all  his  due.  Matt,  xviii.  34.  At 
once  they  both  receive  their  wages  and  pay  their 
debts. 

Wages  is  understood  to  be  an  equal  retribution,  a 
reward  proportionable  to  the  work  ;  and  is  either  ex 
pacto,  what  is  covenanted,  "  Didst  thou  not  agree 
with  me  for  a  penny  ?  "  INIatt.  xx.  13  ;  or  ex  merito. 
what  is  earned,  "  The  labourer  is  worthy  of  his  hire," 
Luke  X.  7-  Equality  of  recompence  defines  wages  : 
if  it  be  too  much,  and  above  desert,  it  is  munificence  ; 
if  too  little,  and  short  of  desert,  it  is  injustice.  The 
Jews  might  give  forty  stripes;  they  would  give  but 
nine  and  thirty,  for  fear  of  excess.  They  were  com- 
manded to  restore  fourfold ;  some  of  tli'em,  as  Zac- 
chcus,  did  quintuple  it,  for  fear  of  the  defect.  But 
there  is  neither  defect  nor  excess  in  a  just  reward. 
Man  may  fault  in  this,  God  cannot ;  he  pays  just 
wages,  not  a  dram  too  light,  not  a  scruple  too  heavy. 
Every  man  shall  receive  according  to  his  worl;s. 
"With  the  same  measure  that  ye  mete,  it  shall  be 
measured  to  you  again,"  Luke  vi.  .38. 

Tbis  wages  of  unrighteousness  must  be  considered: 
Sucli,  for  the  qualitv ;  So  much,  for  the  equalitv. 
Jn  congruo,  for  the  fitness;  /»  condigno,  for  the  fu'l- 
ness:  not  an  arithmetical  portion,  evcrv  man  alike; 
but  a  geometrical  proportion,  every  man  his  due.     So 


that  we  have  two  things ;  the  manner,  and  the  mea- 
sure, of  this  wages. 

The  Scripture  is  copious  in  these  retaliations. 
Nilus  was  instead  of  heaven  to  Egypt;  the  clouds 
did  not  so  much  favour  them,  as  the  river ;  this  did 
moisten  their  ground,  and  ([uench  their  thirst ;  and 
their  confidence  was  not  in  heaven,  but  in  Nilus. 
Lo,  Nilus  was  turned  into  blood,  Psal.  cv.  29 :  that 
which  was  their  succour  shall  be  their  horror.  He 
that  measures  the  sea  in  his  fist,  scorns  that  a  poor 
river  should  be  his  rival.  In  this  clement  was  the 
whole  trust  of  their  provision,  and  now  this  cannot  be 
endured  for  the  corruption.  AVhen  their  palates 
would  taste  it,  their  ryes  abhor  it.  Their  drought 
calls  for  the  moisture,  their  stomachs  cannot  brook 
the  annoyance.  They  are  thirsty,  yet  cannot  tell 
whether  they  should  die  or  drink  :  die  with  heat,  or 
cool  that  heat  with  blood.  How  fit  is  this  wages ! 
they  made  that  one  element  their  god,  and  by  the 
loss  of  that  one  element  they  become  miserable  men. 
The  fish  was  no  small  part  of  their  sustenance  ;  those 
die  with  infection,  and  infect  more  by  being  dead. 
But  was  this  all  the  similitude  ?  No,  they  had  pol- 
luted that  river  with  the  blood  of  infants,  and  now  it 
appears  to  them  in  this  colour.  As  if  it  should  say. 
Am  I  bloody  ?  thank  your  own  murderous  hands 
that  made  me  thus.  It  is  your  sin  that  hath  turned 
my  clear  streams  into  this  sanguine  hue.  The  very 
waters  will  no  longer  keep  tlieir  counsel.  Never 
any  man  wilfully  shed  blood,  but  he  had  enough  of 
it  ere  his  end.  If  they  look  upon  the  waters,  they 
see  nothing  but  blood  ;  when  they  drink,  they  taste 
nothing  but  blood.  They  shed  some  few  streams, 
but  are  requited  with  whole  rivers  of  blood.  As  if 
the  Divine  justice  had  said  to  them,  as  Tomyris  did 
(afterward)  to  Cyrus,  Sanguinem  sitisti,  sanguinem 
bibe,  Thou  hast  thirsted  for  blood,  drink  blood.  A 
red  river  was  one  plague,  but  a  Red  Sea,  the  greater. 
That  annoyed,  this  overwhelmed  them  ;  that  slew 
their  fishes,  this  drowned  themselves.  For  a  water 
bloodied  with  innocents,  to  have  a  river  turned  into 
bloody  waters,  a  Red  Sea  made  redder  by  the  whole 
host  of  Egypt,  how  fit  a  wages  of  unrighteousness 
was  this !  The  corrupted  river  was  both  a  monument 
of  their  former  sin,  and  an  image  of  their  future 
vengeance.  God  paid  them  in  specie,  their  own 
money. 

Such  another  instance  we  have  in  that  fat  king  of 
Moab,  Eglon,  whom  Ehud  slew,  Judg.  iii.  22.  He 
had  made  his  belly  his  god,  and  God  sends  a  message 
into  his  belly  :  "  I  have  a  message  from  God  unto 
thee."  This  he  thought  to  have  heard  with  his 
ears,  and  he  feels  it  in  his  bowels.  A  message  in- 
deed, but  such  a  one  as  did  neither  require  nor  admit 
an  answer :  no  reply,  but  a  groan  and  a  gasp,  and 
then  everlasting  silence.  His  sin  had  pampered  those 
parts,  and  swelled  them  to  an  unwieldy  grossness  :  _ 
in  those  parts  his  destruction  enters  to  let  out  life.  M 
Many  delicate  morsels,  and  choice  creatures,  had  ■ 
been  buried  in  that  bulky  vault:  Ehud's  dagger  is  a 
hard  and  cold  bit  to  close  up  his  stomach.  He  can 
never  digest  this:  now  he  pays  for  all  his  gluttony; 
this  was  the  wages  of  unrignteousness. 

This  law  of  retaliation  hath  fallen  upon  the  dear 
saints  of  God.  Samson's  eyes  were  the  first  offend- 
ers, and  they  are  first  pulled  out,  Judg.  xvi.  21 ;  they 
betrayed  him  to  lust,  and  lust  betrays  them  to  dark- 
ness. In  Gaza  he  w;is  first  captivated  by  a  woman, 
and  thither  he  is  led  captive  in  triumph.  He  that 
was  grown  blind  in  his  understanding  by  doling 
wantonness,  is  now  doomed  to  his  own  perpetual 
night.  Because  he  trusted  his  locks  in  the  lap  of  a 
harlot,  he  riseth  up  shorn  and  weakened.  He  that 
was  a  terror  to  armies,  becomes  a  scorn  to  boys.    Eli 


Yer.  13. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


457 


could  not  liave  devised  a  way  so  much  to  I'Inguc 
himself  and  his  sons,  as  by  his  partiality  to  tlicir 
sins.  He  receives  a  variety  of  judgments,  yet  every 
one  a  just  wages  for  his  faults.  First,  his  sons  had 
despised  God,  therefore  God  lightly  esteems  lliem. 
Secondly,  old  age  is  commonly  choleric,  old  Eli  was 
indulgent,  therefore  not  an  old  man  shall  be  left  of  his 
house  for  <'ver.  Because  he  had  been  faulty  in  his 
old  age,  therefore  all  his  family  shall  die  in  their 
youth.  Thirdly,  his  sons  were  enemies  to  God  in 
their  profession,  therefore  he  shall  see  his  enemy  in 
the  Lord's  habitation.  Fourthly,  because  he  so  mis- 
favoured  his  olfending  children,  as  not  to  punish 
them,  therefore  they  shall  be  to  consume  his  eyes, 
and  grieve  his  heart,  even  to  punish  him.  Fifilily, 
because  he  esteemed  their  life  above  his  Maker's 
gloiy,  therefore  they  shall  die  with  dishonour. 
Sixthly,  the  authority  which  he  had  abused  by  con- 
nivance, shall  be  translated  to  another.  Seventhly, 
because  his  sons  were  saucy,  and  of  so  wanton  an  ap- 
petite, that  they  durst  take  meat  from  off  God's  own 
trencher,  therefore  the  remainder  of  his  household 
shall  come  to  beggary.  Lastly,  because  he  forbore  to 
take  vengeance  on  their  iniquity,  God  shall  revenge 
himself  on  him  and  them,  and  that  severely,  1  Sam. 
ii.  30 — 36.  Consider  this,  ye  fond  parents,  that  pre- 
fer the  vanities  of  your  children  before  the  will  of 
your  heavenly  Father  ;  you  cannot  de\-ise  a  speedier 
way  to  ruin  them.  Thus  to  be  kind  to  them,  is  to  be 
cruel  to  yourselves  and  them ;  to  make  their  sins 
your  own.  God  might  have  pardoned  them,  had 
you  not  pardoned  them  ;  now  your  indulgence  makes 
way  for  his  vengeance.  We  read  not  of  any  fault 
Eli  had  but  this;  yet  which  of  the  notorious  offenders 
was  plagued  more  ?  A  man  needs  no  more  to  make 
himand  nis  posterity  miserable,  than  sparing  the  rod. 
How  just  is  this,  when  men  will  not  see  the  faults 
they  should,  to  feel  the  punishments  they  would  not ! 
Absalom  was  fair,  and  he  knew  it  well  enough ; 
the  glass  and  flattciy  had  made  him  acquainted  with 
his  own  comeliness.  His  beauty  was  the  matter  of 
his  pride,  and  his  hair  was  no  small  piece  of  his 
beauty.  Once  every  year  he  used  to  cut  it :  not  as 
weary  of  the  length,  but  of  the  weight :  his  pride 
could  have  brooked  it  longer,  his  neck  could  not. 
Now  those  locks  which  had  been  his  glon,',  become 
his  hangman.  He  had  curiously  plaited  those  tresses 
for  his  ornament,  therefore  God  makes  use  of  them 
for  his  halter.  The  part  which  man's  unrighteous- 
ness abuseth  to  sin,  God's  justice  employs  to  revenge. 
When  it  hath  served  our  turn  to  offend  God,  it  shall 
serve  his  turn  to  punish  us.  This  latter  service  makes 
amends  forthe  former  trespass.  The  dishevelled  hairs 
that  loosely  hung  on  Absalom's  shoulders,  shall  do 
him  the  oftice  to  hang  him.  He  came  out  of  his 
father's  loins,  yet  turned  traitor  to  him ;  his  hair 
grew  out  of  his  scalp,  and  turns  traitor  to  his  own 
head.  When  he  was  thus  mounted  to  his  unexpect- 
ed gallows,  his  beast  leaves  him :  it  had  done  him 
service  enough,  to  bring  him  to  the  tree  of  justice, 
and  there  resigns  that  unnatural  burden,  2  Sam. 
xviii.  9.  He  reared  a  pillar,  and  called  it  by  his 
own  name ;  either  because  he  had  no  sons,  no  living 
images  of  himself;  and  so  to  supply  nature,  he 
thought  to  survive  in  dead  stones.  '  But  it  had 
been  great  pity  there  should  have  been  any  of  his 
breed  :  he  that  robbed  his  father  of  a  son,  slew 
Amnon,  and  would  have  robbed  himself  of  a  father, 
his  father  of  a  kingdom,  deser\-ed  to  die  without 
issue.  Or  to  presene  the  memorial  of  himself;  that 
the  world,  when  it  saw  the  stately  pillar,  might  be 
occasioned  to  remember  the  goodly  person  of  Absa- 
lom ;  as  if  the  generations  to  come  v.ere  wronged  in 
losing  the  mention  of  Absalom.     The  world  esteem-  I 


ed  liim  highly  ;  and  he  had  a  higher  opinion  of  him- 
self;  and  he  was  famous,  but  for  infamy :  not  that 
arched  pile,  but  a  rude  heap  of  stones,  cover  his 
carcass.  One  death  is  not  enough  for  him ;  he  is 
hanged,  pierced,  mangled.  He  had  lifted  up  him- 
self against  his  own  royal  father,  therefore  was  lifted 
up  to  a  tree  of  execution.  He  had  pierced  his 
father's  heart  with  many  sorrows,  therefore  he  is 
pierced  with  many  darts.  He  had  dismembered 
and  divided  Israel,  therefore  he  is  mangled  and  torn 
in  pieces.  He  that  cursed  his  parents,  according  to 
the  law  was  stoned  to  death  :  he  had  done  worse, 
even  attempted  to  kill  his  father,  therefore  was 
buried  under  a  heap  of  stones.  Behold  with  terror 
the  just  wages  of  unrighteousness. 

How  righteous  art  thou,  O  God,  in  thy  retail- 
ations  !  Non  inveiiit  gullam,  qui  non  dedit  micain ; 
i.  e.  The  rich  man  would  not  give  Lazarus  a  cruml), 
Lazarus  shall  not  bring  him  a  drop,  Luke  xvi.  Saul 
slew  the  Gibeonites  :  nothing  can  expiate  the  blood 
of  these  heathen  fathers,  but  the  blood  of  the  per- 
secutor's children,  1  Sam.  xxi.  5.  Because  they 
knew  God,  and  would  not  glorify  him,  therefore 
their  foolisli  heart  was  darkened,  Rom.  i.  21.  Be- 
cause their  knowledge  would  not  retain  God,  tlicy 
shall  not  retain  their  knowledge.  Men  profane 
God's  name,  and  he  makes  their  names  to  stink. 
Why  should  they  bo  mentioned  with  honour,  that 
do  not  mention  their  Maker  but  to  his  dishonour  ? 
So  we  read  of  Lot's  wife.  Job's  wife,  the  rich  man, 
but  no  name ;  as  if  God  had  said,  "  Let  their  name  be 
blotted  out,"  Psal.  cix.  13.  Idolaters  will  set  up  a 
false  god  for  the  true,  therefore  the  true  God  gives 
them  over  to  the  false.  We  forget  duly  to  bless 
God  on  the  sabbath,  therefore  go  unblessed  all  the 
week.  "If  mine  heart  have  been  deceived  by  a 
woman,  then  let  my  wife  grind  unto  another,"  Job 
xxxi.  9,  10.  Few  dare  take  such  an  oath,  or  make 
such  a  wish.  We  rob  the  ministers,  and  therefore 
commonly  we  are  robbed  by  the  lawyers.  "  Whoso 
stoppeth  his  eai-s  at  the  cry  of  the  poor,  he  also  shall 
cry  himself,  but  shall  not  be  heard,"  Prov.  xxi.  13. 
In  vain  they  cry  to  us  for  charity,  and  for  mercy  we 
shall  cry  in  vain  to  God.  The  measure  we  mete  to 
others,  is  with  much  equity  remeasured  to  ourselves. 
In  every  grievance  of  your  sense,  read  the  characters 
of  the  cause.  When  you  receive  your  wages,  con- 
sider your  work  :  so  you  have  done,  so  you  are  undone. 
When  the  dropsy  invades  the  drunkard,  it  is  but  his 
wages.  When  the  pestilence  rageth  in  our  streets, 
blasphemy  and  execration  must  confess  that  they 
have  their  due  wages.  Poverty  is  the  wages  of  dis- 
honesty. Blasphemers  live  swearing,  and  die  raving ; 
it  is  but  their  wages.  These  things  if  we  preach,  we 
are  hated  ;  if  we  do  not,  we  shall  be  contfemned  :  it 
is  a  woeful  strait,  when  we  must  either  incur  the 
world's  mal-opinion,  or  the  Lord's  malediction.  But 
certainly,  if  men  do  these  unrighteous  works,  they 
must  expect  this  righteous  wages. 

The  measure  follows ;  no  temporary-  suffering  can 
be  a  sufficient  wages  of  sin.  Nothing  but  death  can 
expiate  some  offences  among  men,  blood  must  have 
blood;  but  death  itself  cannot  satisfy  God.  All  sin 
is  infinite  ;  not  in  respect  of  itself,  but  of  the  Majesty 
which  i:  offends:  now  an  infinite  work  must  have 
an  infinite  wages.  Through  the  creatures'  incapa- 
city, this  cannot  be  infinite  in  intension,  therefore 
must  be  so  in  duration.  The  quantity  of  this  wages 
is  begiui  in  death,  Rom.  vi.  23,  accomplished  in  tor- 
ment. Matt.  xx%-.  4fi. 

1.  In  death.  There  is  but  one  door  to  come  inta 
the  world,  a  thousand  to  go  forth.  Death  hath  his 
choice  of  ways  to  let  out  life ;  and  while  we  are 
busily  watching  at  one  door,  lie  comes  in  at  another. 


458 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II, 


A  furious  horseman,  with  a  pale  and  ghastly  look, 
Rev.  vi.  8 :  pallida  mors,  pale  death ;  symbolizing 
that  effect  which  he  works  both  on  the  living  and  on 
the  dead.  On  the  living.  I  know,  that  many  can 
talk  of  death  without  fear,  because  they  tliink  it  out 
of  hearing:  they  make  a  league  with  deatli;  as  the 
frantic  merchant  alone,  would  sell  this  commodity, 
and  buy  that,  and  make  matches  for  hundreds  and 
tliousands,  when  there  was  nobody  by  to  deal  with 
liim.  Thus  it  is  reported  of  an  earl  of  Kildare,  tliat 
playing  at  the  board's  end,  and  seeing  his  warrant  of 
execution  brought  in,  threw  his  cast,  and  said.  What- 
soever that  is,  this  is  for  a  hurdle.  Many  have 
feigned  to  die  in  jest;  but  I  doubt  whether  their 
heart  and  face  were  both  of  one  piece.  Some  call 
for  it,  as  the  poor  wearied  man  in  tlie  fable ;  but 
when  it  comes  in  good  earnest,  they  have  another 
errand  for  it,  and  are  not  able  to  look  it  in  the  face 
with  the  blood  in  their  cheeks.  When  it  gave  Bel- 
shazzar  that  fatal  summons,  all  his  courtiers  and  con- 
cubines could  not  cheer  his  heart,  nor  all  the  wine 
in  those  holy  bowls  fetch  colour  into  his  countenance, 
Dan.  V.  6.  Hnw  do  we  see  prisoners  at  the  bar  even 
die  at  the  sentence  of  death,  as  if  they  could  not  live 
to  the  execution !  Some  Stoic  would  fiiin  set  a  good 
face  on  the  matter,  and  says  in  a  bravado  to  his 
neiglibours,  he  fears  not  death ;  and  all,  that  tlie 
world  may  witness  he  is  no  •  coward.  So  Jezebel 
painted  her  face,  and  affronted  Jehu  out  of  the  win- 
dow ;  but  had  that  artificial  visage  been  off,  a  pale 
cheek  would  have  appeared  underneath  it.  Wliat- 
socvcr  is  pretended,  there  is  no  unrighteous  man  but 
is  afraid  of  tliis  wages. 

On  the  dead.  It  bereaves  the  body  of  blood  and 
colour,  spoils  the  complexion,  whether  it  be  of  art 
or  nature,  renders  a  lifeless  and  wan  carcass,  lays  it 
rotting  in  the  mould,  exposeth  it  a  feast  for  worms, 
alters  the  fashion,  consumes  the  beauty,  turns  the 
whole  proportion  into  deformed  rottenness.  There 
lies  the  body  in  blended  dust,  recei\"ing  that  insensi- 
ble wages,  which  the  sin  of  life  earned ;  till  the 
archangel's  trumpet,  together  with  the  summons  of 
the  Judge,  gives  it  a  "  Rise."  Even  this  is  a  fearful 
wages,  when  it  is  paid  in  the  proper  coin,  without 
the  allay  of  Christ's  death  to  qualify  it.  As  death  is 
the  contrary  to  life,  so  commonly  they  that  live  like 
Laban,  die  like  Nabal,  which  is  but  the  same  word 
inverted.  The  very  mention  of  death  is  irksome  to 
them ;  as  Louis  the  Eleventh  straitly  charged  his 
servants,  when  they  saw  him  sick,  not  to  dare  once 
so  much  as  name  that  bitter  and  unwelcome  woril, 
death.  Thus,  like  insensate  stones,  they  sink  down 
to  their  centre,  and  rather  choose  to  feel  wliat  they 
fear,  tlian  hibour  to  avoid  what  they  must  feel.  So 
cowards  wink  and  tight;  yea,  they  wink  and  sutler 
and  figlit  not :  a  dismal  wages ! 

2.  Hell,  and  that  in  the  worst  sense ;  not  the  grave 
of  the  body,  but  of  the  soul.  There  is  hell,  a  sinful 
life;  and  hell,  the  horror  of  conscience;  and  hell, 
which  is  hell  itself,  the  local  prison  of  the  damned, 
as  heaven  is  the  triumphant  mansion  of  the  blessed. 
This  is  the  full  wages  of  unrighteousness,  into  which 
the  desperate  madness  of  ungodly  men  doth  fall 
blindfold.  There  be  some,  that  thank  philosophy 
and  their  own  reasons,  they  fear  no  such  fable  as 
hell.  Socrates  and  Plato  were  great  philosophers, 
yet  they  believed  a  hell,  and  hissed  the  contrary 
opinions,  as  belluine,  out  of  their  schools.  Yea,  the 
very  savages  and  infidels  confess  it  :  the  instinct  of 
nature,  and  a  Uivinc  impression,  extorts  from  tliem 
this  acknowledgment,  that  souls  live  after  their 
bodies,  either  in  bliss  or  pain.  What  are  they  but 
monsters,  that  seek  to  obliterate  these  indelible  cha- 
racters, and  so  dance  hondwinked  into  perdition  ? 


0  were  it  allowed  to  the  desperate  rufiians  of  our 
days,  that  swear  and  curse,  as  if  heaven  were  deaf  to 
their  noise,  or  as  if  they  would  make  it  deaf  by  their 
noise,  to  liave  but  a  sight  of  hell;  how  would  it 
charm  their  mouths,  appal  their  spirits,  strike  fear 
and  astonishment  into  their  hearts!  The  church 
and  they  would  be  better  acquainted,  which  are  now 
perpetual  strangers.  Superstitious  recusants,  irreli- 
gious profaners  of  the  sabbath,  that  never  serve  God 
but  once  a  year ;  their  bed,  or  their  boat,  or  (he  tavern 
is  all  their  temple,  except  we  see  their  faces  at 
Easter;  would  they  do  thus  if  they  understood  this 
wages?  No,  could  we  forcsc^e  death  and  hell  in 
their  proper  shapes,  we  would  foreappoint  ourselves, 
not  to  avoid  the  first  death  which  we  cannot,  but  to 
escape  the  second,  which  wc  may,  through  repent- 
ance and  faith  in  Christ. 

The  devils  besought  Christ,  that  he  would  not  cast 
them  into  the  deep,  Luke  viii.  31.  What  is  this  deep, 
but  hell  ?  First,  for  the  utter  separation  from  the 
face  of  God,  never  to  see  his  favourable  countenance  ; 
then  for  the  impossibilities  of  passage  to  the  region 
of  rest  and  glory.  The  verj'  devils  fear  this  deep ; 
they  feel  themselves  bound  in  chains,  and  reserved 
to  this  torment,  expecting  a  further  degree  of  venge- 
ance. They  know  this  to  be  the  wages  of  unright- 
eousness :  now  the  wages  is  not  paid  till  the  work 
be  done.  Still  they  are  tempting  men  unto  sin,  and 
still  they  sin  in  that  tiiuptation ;  the  misleaders 
into  evil  sin  more  than  the  actors ;  therefore  the  full 
measure  of  their  damnation  remains  to  the  upshot  of 
their  wickedness :  the  day  of  judgment  shall  confine 
them  to  the  deep  for  ever.  This  day,  this  deep,  they 
tremble  at ;  yet  sottish  men  slight  it.  Were  their 
understandings  sensible  of  that  burning  lake,  where 
soul  and  body  must  be  crowded  into  a  fiery  dungeon, 
with  torments  intolerable  and  interminable,  which 
can  neither  be  endured  nor  avoided,  durst  they  so 
boldly  rush  into  sin?  Who  will  thuist  his  hand 
into  a  fiery  crucible,  to  fetch  out  the  gold  *  Can  the 
metal  recompense  the  burning  ?  We  dui-st  not  con- 
tinue our  licentious  and  wilful  sins,  if  we  did  truly 
believe  the  horrorof  those  infernal  and  etemal  flames. 

Believe  there  is  a  hell !  who  docs  not  ?  Yes,  vciy 
many  that  say  they  do :  it  is  hard  for  men  to  believe 
their  own  unbelief  They  that  be  most  dangerously 
sick,  are  least  sensible  of  their  o\\ti  sickness.  We 
their  physicians  perceive  it,  and  tell  them  of  it,  and 
(hey  hate  us  for  it.  But  as  when  the  seminari-  in 
Lancashire  lost  his  glove,  riding  in  his  disguise,  and 
one  (hat  found  it  rode  apace  after  him  to  restore  it ; 
he  mistrusting  him  for  a  pursuivant  by  his  speed, 
(but  most  pursued  by  a  guilty  conscience,)  quits  his 
horse,  leaps  over  a  hedge,  plungcth  into  an  unseen 
marl-pit  behind  it,  and  was  drowned :  so  men  fiee 
us  that  mean  them  no  harm,  and  rather  hazard  them- 
selves into  destruction,  than  suffer  the  word  of  c.x- 
hor(a(ion.  I  know  that  love  should  win  us  to  good- 
ness, rather  than  fear;  yet  fear  is  often  the  door  that 
lets  in  love,  as  love  casteth  fear  out  of  the  door, 

1  John  iv.  18.  Even  the  fear  of  hell  hath  made  way 
for  the  love  of  Christ,  and  the  love  of  Christ  hath 
taken  away  the  fear  of  hell.  There  is  a  story  of  one 
(hat  gave  a  young  gallant  a  curious  ring,  with  a 
death's  head  in  it,  upon  (his  condition,  that  for  a 
certain  time  he  should  spend  one  hour  every  day  in 
looking  and  thinking  on  it.  He  took  (he  ring  in 
wan(onness,  but  performing  the  condition  with  dili- 
gence, it  wrought  a  wonder  on  him ;  and  of  a  desper- 
ate rufhan,  he  became  a  conscionable  Chrisfian. 
Imagine  (his  discourse  a  ring,  the  wages  of  unright- 
eousness a  death's  head ;  yea  more,  a  map  of  hell,  an 
emblem  of  destruction :  spend  but  one  iialf-hour 
fixedly  every  day  on  these  inedilalions,  and  (I  doubt 


Ver.  13. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


459 


)  by  God's  j»racc  thou  shall  find  such  an  altcra- 
in  thy  heart  and  life,  that  there  shall  be  glad- 
~  in  the  church,  peace  in  thy  own  conscience,  and 
j'  '   before  the  anifels  in  heaven  for  thy  conversion. 
•  As  they  that  count  it  pleasure  to  riot  in  the  day 
I  iiie."     There   is  no  greater  danger  in  the  world, 
II  to  live  in  the  danger  of  the  world.     This  is  a 
that  troubles  but  few :  how  to  get  it,  not  how  to 
it,  is   the  common  study.     Many  waking  hours 
^pent  on  the  bed,  how  to  be  rich,  how  to  be  glo- 
^ ;  not  how  to  be  good.     God  hath  written  divers 
ks  of  holy  instructions,  and  they  are  able  to  make 
n  wise  to  salvation :  these  contain  rules  how  to 
loly   and   happy,   not  how   to   be  wanton  and 
iihy.     Solomon  had  his  ethics,  his  politics,  his 
omics;    for   the   government   of   behaviour,    of 
!  nonwealth,  of  family;  not  one  book  of  secular 
I  eries,   though  his   wisdom  were   incomparable 
I  in  that  kind  also.     Not  a  leaf  in  the  sacred 
.;ne  but  hath  matter  against  a  voluptuous  life  ; 
....lie  for  it.     To  please  flesh  and  blood  is  the  doc- 
trine of  the  devil;  this,  man  hath  learned  by  nature; 
he  is  born  with  this  knowledge  ;  and  the  whole  con- 
■    '"^  of  the  Scripture  is  by  the  law  to  forbid  it,  by 
,'ospel  to  mortify  it.     Certainly,  if  it  had  been 
I   to  live  in  sensual  pleasure,  among  so   many 
divine  rules,  some  direction  would  have  guided  us  to 
this.     But  all  that  God  says  about  it,  is  to  forbid  it, 
to  threaten  it,  to  condemn  it,  to  cast  it  into  hell. 
Indeed  he  neither  condemns  our  affections,  nor  these 
objects,  asunder  ;  but  their  composition,  as  they  are 
married  together.     A  man  may  covet  (so  as  it  be) 
best  gifts,  1   Cor.  xii.  .31.     Desire  more  grace, 
!;   more,  never  think  you  have  enough ;  be  still 
that  you  may  be  rich,  rich  that  you  may  be  full, 
that  you   may   be  glorious.     You  may  desire 
lly  things  long  enough  without  finding  any  con- 
i  :  but  covet  after  righteousness,  and  you  shall  be 
satisfied,  Eccl.  v.  10:  Matt.  v.  G.  Be  merr)-,  pleasant, 
rejoice,  but  in  the  Lord:  Christianity  does  not  take 
away  our  joy,  but  gives  it.     It  is  the  ram  that  dies, 
Isaac  (our  laughter)  escapes.  Be  ambitious  of  favour, 
of  honour,  of  a  kingdom  ;  but  of  God's  favour,  of  the 
honour  of  saints,  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.     But  to 
take  pleasure  in  riot,  as  if  a  man's  heaven  lay  in  his 
stomach,  and  paradise  were  nothing  but  the  delight 
of  his  sense;  this  is  that  brutish  opinion,  the  faith 
of  epicures,  which  sends  many,  with  that  rich  churl, 
from  their  delicate  tables  to  eternal  flames. 

To  riot  is  belluine ;  there  is  their  sensuality.  In 
the  day  time,  is  desperate,  for  that  is  a  work  of  the 
night ;  there  is  their  impudence.  To  count  this  a 
pleasure,  (many  have  been  overtaken  with  intem- 
perance, but  it  was  their  sorrow  and  vexation,  to 
these  it  is  a  pleiisure,)  there  is  their  voluptuousness. 
They  think  it  so,  they  do  but  think  it  so,  they  shall 
not  so  find  it ;  there  is  their  sottishncss.  Their 
wickedness  appears  here  like  a  conjuration.  First, 
the  spirit  raised  is  riot.  Secondly,  the  circle  wherein 
it  is  raised  is  the  day  time.  Thirdly,  the  sorceress 
that  raiseth  it  is  pleasure.  Fourthly,  the  charm  or 
illusion  is  conceit,  they  think  or  count  it  a  plea- 
sure, &c. 

"  Riot."  This  is  the  spirit :  the  grossest  devil  of 
all  is  the  eating  devil ;  surfeiting  stomachs  turn  men 
into  beasts.  We  borrow  pride  from  the  lion,  covet- 
ousncss  from  the  hedgcnog,  envy  from  the  dog, 
wrath  from  the  bear,  gormandize  from  the  wolf,  slotli 
fix)m  the  ass,  riot  and  sensuality  from  the  hog;  such 
be  called  boarish  men.  God  sent  them  inta  the 
world  men,  and  they  come  forth  beasts.  Only  the 
beasts  are  in  better  case ;  because  they  want  the 
Kason  of  election,  and  shall  receive  no  sentence  of 
condemnation.      Drunkenness  is  so   apt   to   misde- 


meanours, that  even  against  the  violence  of  men  not 
drunk,  there  lies  an  action  called  a  riot. 

There  is  riot  in  many  things.  First,  riot  in  drink, 
when  men  drink  in  measures,  without  measure.  We 
may  change  the  verse ; 

Non  habet  uUerius  quod  nostris  potibus  addat 
Posteritas  ; 

i.  e.  Posterity  has  nothing  more  which  it  can  add  to 
our  potations.  Peace  luith  made  many  countries 
sick  of  a  surfeit,  but  (were  the  assizes  come)  God 
would  find  this  whole  land  guilty  of  a  riot.  Crates 
threw  his  money  into  the  sea,  resolving  to  drown  it, 
lest  it  should  drown  him :  the  drunkard  casts  his 
money  into  a  deluge  of  drink,  both  drowning  it,  and 
himself  with  it.  Herein  the  miser  and  the  rioter  are 
opposites ;  the  one  so  loves  money  that  he  will  not 
afl'ord  himself  good  drink,  the  other  so  loves  good 
drink  that  he  scorns  money.  Cornua  Bacchus  fiabel, 
says  the  poet ;  i.  e.  Bacchus  has  horns :  the  riotous 
must  be  quarrelsome  ;  therefore  some  quarrels  are 
called  riots.  When  the  iron  is  hot,  the  smith  can 
fashion  it  to  his  pleasure :  wine  teinpers  the  heart 
like  wax  for  the  devil's  impression.  Secondly,  there 
is  riot  in  meats :  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to- 
morrow we  shall  die,"  saith  the  epicure,  Isa.  xxii. 
13:  one  would  think  it  should  rather  be,  Let  us  fast 
and  pray,  for  to-morrow  we  shall  die.  Tlie  poor 
man's  labour  is  to  get  him  meat  for  his  stomach; 
the  riotous  only  care  to  get  a  stomach  for  their  meat. 
Their  whole  vicissitude  of  studies  is  but  meat  for 
the  belly,  and  the  belly  for  meat;  as  brewers  pro- 
vide barrels  for  their  drink,  and  drink  for  their  bar- 
rels. What  wonder  is  it,  if  they  in  hell  be  most 
tormented  in  their  tongues,  that  have  most  oflended 
in  their  tastes  ? 

Riot  is  of  a  great  latitude.  To  abuse  any  riches 
of  nature  to  wantonness,  is  riot.  So  a  man  may 
riot  in  apparel :  divers  men  are  in  all  other  things 
miserable,  yet  prodigal  in  their  clothes ;  and  these 
shall  be  indicted  of  a  riot.  The  daw  values  himself 
by  his  cockscomb,  the  fool  by  his  garded  coat ;  and 
these  take  stale  upon  them  according  to  their  gar- 
ments ;  and  after  a  little  custom  persuade  themselves 
that  they  arc  such  indeed.  The  case  of  an  instru- 
ment keeps  it  from  soil,  the  cover  of  a  glass  from 
dust;  but  gorgeous  attire  can  neither  prevent  age, 
for  they  soon  wax  old  themselves;  nor  save  from 
soil,  for  sin  bred  them,  and  they  breed  sin.  Pagans 
over-giid  their  blocks,  that  they  may  be  worshipped  ; 
and  men  garnish  their  bodies  for  the  same  purpose. 
The  dress  of  proud  women  is  but  Democritus's  brazen 
shield  set  up  against  the  sun,  to  amaze  the  eyes  that 
behold  it ;  but  faggots  to  the  furnace  of  lascivious- 
ness :  in  their  best  interpretation,  they  are  but  bushes 
which  should  signify  beauty  to  sell ;  for  why  is  a 
sign  hung  out,  but  to  invite  men  to  buy  ?  as  in 
It<ily,  the  beasts  that  are  to  be  sold,  are  decked  with 
blossoms  and  garlands.  But  that  which  is  worse, 
the  plastering  of  their  faces,  ensparkling  their  eyes 
with  spiritualized  distillations,  touching  their  lips 
with  drinkable  gold,  filling  up  frets  with  fresh  colours, 
as  men  keep  roses  all  winter  in  covered  vaults;  this 
is  horrible  riot.  It  seems  they  think  God  was  a 
bungler,  not  his  crafts-master,  and  that  they  are  able 
to  correct  and  mend  his  workmanship.  But  do  they 
not  lay  on  their  colours  so  thick,  that  they  size  into 
their  souls?  Does  not  a  black  soul  often  dwell  under 
a  white  roof?  Methinks  they  should  be  jealous, 
lest  the  devil  should  come  to  them  in  the  disguise 
of  a  tailor,  tirewoman,  or  complexion-seller. 

There  is  riot  in  play,  where  the  greatest  winner  is 
in  danger  to  lose  the  g;ime.  The  Romans  built  a 
temple  to  ill  fortune  on  a  mountain  hard  by,  that  it 


460 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


should  not  plague  them  at  cards  and  dice.  God 
made  no  man  for  play,  but  all  for  work :  they  that 
play  when  they  should  work,  shall  work  when  they 
might  have  rested.  Not  seldom  doth  riot  break 
forth  into  wantonness  and  carnal  delights ;  a  sin  so 
trite  and  customary,  that  it  sciTCS  the  city  for  an 
afternoon's  recreation.  Common  strumpets  are  said 
to  have  no  common  patrons ;  and  if  lesser  magis- 
trates put  them  in  hold,  they  have  greater  persons 
to  fetch  them  out.  Either  authority  is  connivant, 
and  will  not  see  the  faults ;  or  corrupt,  and  loves  to 
feel  bribes  ;  or,  which  is  worse,  doth  not  punish  the 
sinner,  that  they  may  sin  witli  her ;  which  of  all 
bribes  is  the  basest.  There,  is  riot  in  any  excessive 
delicacy  ;  so  the  word  here  used  is,  to  enjoy,  not  to 
use,  pleasures  :  a  sin  hard  to  describe,  because  it  hath 
so  many  shapes.  In  women  it  reigns  most,  because 
they  have  least  to  do.  They  must  have  delicate 
houses,  rubbed  and  glazed,  as  if,  like  Abraham,  they 
were  to  entertain  angels;  whereas,  too  often,  it  is  but 
for  their  wanton  lovers.  The  floors  arc  so  glistering, 
as  if  they  would  walk  upon  looking-glasses.  They 
have  delicate  paces,  going  on  the  earth  as  if  they 
went  upon  snakes,  and  feared  to  tread  hard  lest  they 
should  turn  again,  Isa.  iii.  16.  This  is  truly  to  riot 
by  a  delicious  life  ;  when  every  thing  about  them  is 
so  resplendent  and  contentful,  that  they  have  no 
mind  to  go  to  heaven.  This  is  to  fortify  themselves, 
not  against  mortality,  but  against  the  thought  of 
mortality ;  to  quintessence  a  heaven  out  of  earth, 
yea,  to  exchange  a  true  heaven  for  a  counterfeit. 
How  many  souls  have  these  artificial  paradises  be- 
guiled! Through  a  hell  upon  earth  God  brings 
many  to  heaven,  and  through  a  heaven  upon  earth 
many  bring  themselves  to  hell.  In  the  forenoon  riot 
is  merry,  in  the  afternoon  drunk,  at  night  it  goes  to 
bed  stark  mad,  but  in  the  morning  it  riseth  sober,  in 
everlasting  sorrow  ;  that  is  the  farewell  of  it. 

"  In  the  day  time."  This  is  the  circle  ;  whether 
we  read  it,  per  dit'm,  ad  diem,  or  in  diem  :  here  be 
three  readings,  and  three  senses.  Per  diem,  that  is, 
continually,  day  by  day.  Day  and  night  is  often 
taken  for  incessantly,  Josh.  i.  8 ;  Psal.  i.  '2;  1  Thcss. 
ii.  9  :  now  the  day  includes  the  night ;  when  we  beg 
our  daily  bread,  we  desire  provision  both  for  day 
and  night.  It  was  a  foolish  superstition  of  them 
that  refused  the  Pater-noster  going  to  bed,  because 
they  thought  it  absurd  to  say,  "  Give  us  this  day," 
whenas  it  was  night.  "  Come,  we  will  fill  ourselves 
with  strong  drink  ;  and  to-morrow  shall  be  as  this 
day,  and  much  more  abundant,"  Isa.  Ivi.  12.  It  is 
never  night  with  them  while  the  drink  lasts,  or  their 
eyes  can  wake  to  guide  the  cup  to  their  mouths. 
There  is  great  difference  betwixt  infirmity  and  vice  : 
the  former  is  but  an  ague,  neither  mortal  nor  per- 
petual ;  the  other  dropsy,  that  drinks  till  it  rots,  and 
rots  till  it  dies.  There  be  sins  in  the  righteous  ; 
there  is  nothing  but  sin  in  the  riotous.  If  Xantip- 
pe's  scolding  so  troubled  Alcibiades,  that  heard  her 
but  seldom,  what  an  affliction  was  it  to  Socrates, 
her  husband,  that  must  bide  by  it  day  and  night ! 
When  a  citizen  complained  what  a  pitiful  journey 
he  had  in  a  moorish  fen-country,  a  countryman  re- 
plied, God  help  them  that  dwell  there,  as  I  do.  A 
traveller  often  drinks  that  liquor  with  offence  to 
him,  which  his  host  swallows  with  pleasure.  This 
made  the  friar,  that  had  drenched  himself  for  experi- 
ence, to  impose  it  as  a  sore  penance  on  them  that  had 
confessed  tiiat  sin.  Go  and  be  drunk  again.  Custom 
makes  that  a  pleasure,  which  is  a  torment :  many  do 
that  in  a  day,  for  which  they  weep  all  their  life. 

Or  ad  diem,  i.  e.  for  a  day ;  and  this  is  indeed  the 
term  of  all  sinful  pleasure;  it  is  but  a  flash,  a  puff, 
and  it  vanisheth.     It  is  expected  with  desire,  with 


delight  entertained,  and  departs  with  discontent. 
Like  some  sprightly  music,  that  advanceth  a  man's 
mind  while  it  sounds,  and  leaves  him  more  melan- 
choly when  it  is  done.  A  countryman  observing  the 
preparation  for  a  great  triumph,  among  many  other 
questions,  about  the  labour,  the  cost,  the  study,  de- 
mands how  long  it  should  last  :  he  was  answered, 
For  an  hour  :  but  he  replied,  Then  the  lease  is  very 
dear.  Could  they  drink,  with  Cleopatra,  the  riches 
of  Egypt  at  a  draught,  yet  it  is  but  a  draught,  and 
quickly  down  the  throat.  Turn  but  the  candle,  and 
that  which  keeps  me  in,  puis  me  out. 

1)1  diem,  i.  e.  during  the  day,  so  the  word  properly 
imports  :  this  is  impudent.  "  They  that  sleep  sleep 
in  the  night ;  and  they  that  be  drunken  are  drunken 
in  the  night,"  1  Thess.  v.  7-  And  he  that  doeth  evil 
hateth  the  light.  But,  alas,  that  is  cowardly  sin  with 
them,  that  is  ashamed  to  show  its  face.  They  dare 
the  day  to  witness  their  ungodliness,  and  do  their 
villanies,  as  the  Pharisees  gave  their  alms,  and  said 
their  prayers,  to  be  seen  of  men.  As  if  they  were 
ambitious  to  be  like  God,  to  whom  the  day  and  the 
night  is  all  one,  Psal.  cxsxix.  12.  The  apostle  intends 
it,  not  as  a  qualification  of  their  naughtiness,  but 
for  a  more  full  expression :  In  the  day  time,  when 
others  are  at  their  labours,  they  then  roar  with  riot. 
The  day  is  made  for  work,  the  night  for  sleep :  our 
lawful  work  in  the  day,  is  God's  service  ;  our  natural 
sleep  in  the  night,  is  our  own  indulgence  :  he  that 
steals  an  hour  from  his  sleep,  robs  but  himself ;  he 
that  trespasseth  upon  the  day,  injures  God.  If  you 
say,  rest  enables  us  for  work,  yet  work  is  the  end, 
and  the  end  is  more  noble  than  the  means. 

Again,  all  sin  is  the  work  of  darkness,  therefore 
most  proper  for  the  time  of  darkness :  the  riot  that 
is  bad  at  any  time,  is  worse  in  the  day  time.  In 
the  night  it  only  makes  the  devil  sport ;  none  but 
fiends  are  spectators  at  that  interlude ;  sin  is  then 
but  like  a  poor  watchman  in  his  night-gown.  In  the 
day  it  ruffles  it  like  a  swasher,  marches  with  drum 
and  fife,  and  bids  defiance  to  authority.  So  it  offends 
the  good,  e"nragcth  the  bad,  and  infects  the  indiffer- 
ent ;  and  that  which  might  have  escaped  with  forty 
stripes  for  the  mere  evil,  shall  have  a  hundred  for 
the  example.  Sin  at  first  was  a  single  woman,  and 
kept  home  ;  but  by  union  to  Satan  she  has  two  chil- 
children.  Temptation  and  Example.  Ever  since  she 
cannot  stir  out  of  doors,  but  these  imps  haunt  her : 
when  she  would  delight  herself,  either  Temptation 
gets  some  to  sin  with  lier,  or  Example  teaches  some 
to  sin  after  her. 

Lastly,  day  sins  are  done  with  less  shame,  there- 
fore more  impious.  Many  that  care  not  for  honesty, 
yet  stand  upon  their  credit,  and  would  not  be  de- 
tected of  that  they  love  to  commit.  But  they  are 
frontless  Zimris,  that  bring  harlots  to  their  tents  in 
the  face  of  all  Israel.  Noah  was  uncovered,  but  in 
the  midst  of  his  own  tent :  sin  is  bad  enough,  though 
no  eye  see  it ;  and  unknown  sins  are  attended  with 
known  punishments:  secret  faults  have  their  secret 
guilt  and  shame.  But  four  eyes  saw  the  adultery, 
ten  thousand  millions  shall  see  the  torment.  But 
that  man  is  past  all  goodness,  that  is  past  shame. 
Sin  bred  shame,  yet  the  mother  is  often  curbed  by 
the  daughter;  she  dares  not  play  her  pranks  so 
lioldly  while  shame  is  by.  Sin  would  kill  all  the 
agents  of  goodness  in  us,  but  that  .shame  hinders 
her.  Shame  holds  them  in,  though  sin  Iiolds  them 
under.  There  is  some  fear  to  ofl'end,  some  know- 
ledge of  good  and  evil,  some  remorse,  some  con- 
science, while  shame  lasts.  But  if  sl'.ame  once  de- 
parts, knowledge  goes,  and  fear  goes,  and  remorse 
goes,  and  conscience  goes ;  none  will  tarry  behind 
shame.     Alas,  for  our  age,  to  bear  the  dale  of  such 


Veb.  13. 


SKCOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


4.31 


Impiety,  that  it  should  be  said,  In  such  n  year,  when 
yet  there  was  no  plague,  Shame  died !  Honesty  died 
long  since,  and  was  buried  in  the  suburbs ;  Charity 
lived  not  long  after,  and  was  buried  in  the  eity  ;  Plain- 
dealing  died  then  too,  and  was  buried  in  the  countrj' ; 
and  now  Shame  is  dead  also:  the  sepulchres  of  suburbs, 
city,  and  country,  being  taken  up  by  Honesty,  Cliarity, 
Plain-dealing,  what  room  is  left  for  Shame's  grave, 
except  the  watei-s  ?  And  it  is  thought,  that  amongst 
the  watermen  she  first  caught  her  death.  If  any 
man  can  find  a  place  to  bur)-  her,  1  will  bestow  a 
sorry  epitaph  upon  her : 

If  any  man  require  my  name. 

Say,  blushing  tomb,  that  it  was  Shame. 

When  I  did  in  a  cheek  appear. 

Men  did  conclude  that  grace  was  there. 

I  many  kept  from  doing  ill. 

Therefore  ill-doing  did  me  kill. 

The  swearer,  liar,  whore,  may  lead 

A  bolder  life  ;  for  Shame  is  dead. 

But  when  all  dead  rise  from  their  places, 

I,  Shame,  shall  then  sit  on  their  faces. 

"  In  the  day  time."  Perhaps  tliey  slept  a-nights; 
and  followed  the  business  so  close  by  day,  that  they 
di.si)atclicd  it  before  night.  Or  it  may  be,  they 
would  husband  their  bodies,  that  they  might  hold 
(lilt ;  for  riot  is  a  soaker,  and  it  would  drench  them 
t(i  fallow  it  day  and  night  too.  Sin  is  the  greatest 
f  ily  in  the  world,  and  yet  there  must  be  some  art 
Mil  cunning  to  maintain  it.  The  house  that  grows 
.•-Lie,  needs  supporters.  But  now  have  we  none  worse 
llian  these?  The  day  contented  them  to  riot  in; 
(l;iy  and  night  too  is  too  little  for  some.  Often  do  they 
rinse  the  clock  for  haste,  never  blame  themselves 
I  :■  lingering  in  riot.  Revel  they  never  so  long,  their 
I  -I  dance  is  loth  to  depart.  They  are  angry, 
iluit  they  cannot,  with  Joshua,  make  the  sun  stand 
s'  ill,  or  keep  the  moon  from  going  down.  Josh.  x.  12, 
nut  till  they  confound  the  Amorites,  but  till  their 
Amorites  work  their  confusion.  They  wish  that  the 
day  might  be  corrupted,  and  that  the  night  would 
take  bribes.  There  be  some  feasts,  where  the  guests 
think  they  are  slighted,  if  they  be  not  sent  away 
drunk  ;  and  Time  is  no  pleasing  host  to  these  if  he 
will  not  allow  them  to  surfeit. 

But  the  night,  the  night  is  the  guilty  time ;  it 
would  be  a  long  assizes,  only  to  take  the  confession 
and  indictment  of  candle-light.  This  would  tell  of 
doors  ready  to  let  in  the  adulterer;  of  thieves  watch- 
ing to  break  into  houses ;  of  Fauxcs,  with  their  dark 
lanterns,  ready  to  blow  up  states;  of  unthrifts  re- 
velling and  drinking,  till  their  monies  and  their  wits 
be  both  spent  together;  of  age-decayed  dames  baking 
on  their  colours,  and  spending  many  pounds  of  can- 
dles in  pinning  and  trimming  their  dresses,  that  will 
not  bestow  one  minute's  liglit  in  reading  any  good 
book.  Murder,  treachery,  conspiracy,  lelony  now 
follow  their  business  vciy  close  :  many  owls  that  can- 
not endure  the  light,  now  flutter  abroad,  and  keep  a 
'">oting  and  routing  in  the  dark.  Those  dare  now 
[uent  taverns  and  brothels,  quarrel  in  the  streets, 

:-  and  domineer,  who  would  appear  contemptible 
he  day.  The  sun,  that  eye  of  heaven,  does  scarce 
so  much  villany  as  candle-light.     Wittily  con- 

\  J  was  that  Italian,  who  wrought  the  supi)lication 
ill  candle-light,  desiring  her  to  disclose  to  him  the 
rare  secrets  which  she  saw  in  her  enipery.  The  day 
would  scarce  believe  what  deeds  are  done  by  night. 

I  conclude.  Both  day  and  night  let  us  banish  in- 
temperance out  of  our  coasts :  it  will  beg  for  some 
indulgence,  but  let  a  shameless  beggar  have  a  strong 
denial.  If  we  will  not  grant  it  the  day,  it  will  crave 
but  the  night ;  sin  hatn  no  right  to'  a  moment  of 


time,  therefore  will  take  any ;  but  when  thou  hast 
once  allowed  it  a  part,  it  will  proudly  challenge  all. 
He  that  shall  duly  consider  his  sins,  will  find  that 
he  hath  time  little  enough  for  repentance,  none  to 
spare  for  intemperance.  Instead  of  rioting  ourselves, 
we  have  cause  to  mourn  for  the  riot  of  others.  But, 
alas,  all  mortification  is  censured  by  the  name  of 
superstition,  and  he  that  forbears  excess,  is  held  an 
irregular,  melancholy  person.  The  most  men's  sor- 
rows are  like  the  mournings  of  an  heir,  who  then 
smiles  in  his  heart,  when  his  eyes  let  fall  forced  tears. 
We  may  say  of  this  kind  of  evil,  as  Christ  said  of  that 
kind  of  devil,  it  will  not  out  with  prayer  alone,  but 
with  fasting  and  prayer.  It  is  not  only  human,  but 
heavenly  policy,  to  weaken  our  enemy  before  we 
fight  with  him.  The  lust  that  is  fed  with  riot,  will 
be  too  strong  for  us.  Inveterate  wounds  or  ulcers 
must  have  corrosives  to  eat  out  the  dead  flesh,  ere 
they  can  be  cured.  We  are  ordained  for  holiness, 
not  for  licentiousness :  the  jollity  of  this  world  is  so 
far  from  saving  us,  that  it  keeps  us  from  being  saved. 

0  let  not  all  the  showers  of  sermons  fall  like  rain  in 
the  horse-fair,  or  high-ways,  to  breed  nothing  but 
mire  and  puddles ;  hear  not  to  become  worse.  But 
judge  even,-  hour  worthy  thy  sorrow,  which  thou 
hast  mispent  in  vanity :  lice  the  sins  against  which 

1  have  spoken,  and  I  have  spoken  not  in  vain. 
They  "count  it  pleasure  to  riot."     Pleasure  is  the 

sorceress  that  raiseth  up  the  spirit  of  riot ;  that  spe- 
cial harlot  of  hell,  which  the  devil  hath  dressed  up 
to  tempt  the  sons  of  men.  She  hath  a  melodious 
tongue,  to  enchant ;  a  face  of  artificial  beauty,  to  al- 
lure ;  eyes  that  roll  with  invitations,  to  bewitch ; 
arms  of  wanton  provocations,  to  embrace.  She  courts 
all  men  in  the  language  of  Absalom,  but  her  heart  is 
full  of  treason ;  and  her  project  is  to  deceive  them  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Will  for  reason,  is  the 
usurper's  tyranny ;  and  pleasure  for  religion,  is  the 
epicure's  divinity,  whose  belly  is  their  god.  Plea- 
sure guides  them  in  all  their  actions  and  courses  :  de- 
mand of  a  voluptuous  man  the  reason  of  his  doings, 
he  will  answer.  It  is  my  pleasure.  Two  questions 
would  here  be  examined,  for  direction  of  our  minds 
about  j)lcasure. 

1.  Whether  a  man  may  take  any  pleasure  in  this 
world  or  no  ?  Yes,  certainly  ;  one  special  use  of  wis- 
dom stands  in  tempering  our  pleasures :  to  be  de- 
lighted is  not  evil,  but  to  be  delighted  in  evil.  As 
Paul  says,  "Be  angrj-,  and  sin  not;"  so.  Be  merry, 
and  sin  not.  Why  hath  God  given  man  such  choice 
of  earthly  commodities,  but  for  his  use  ?  The  whole 
world  is  a  well-furnished  table  ;  if  we  shall  wilfully 
fast,  we  shall  be  held  for  sullen  guests.  Some  (o 
avoid  the  danger  of  pleasure,  have  run  from  the 
world,  changing  populous  cities  forsolitarj-  mountains, 
and  the  society  of  men  for  beasts.  As  if  the  world 
were  not  in  the  desert,  or  the  desert  not  in  the  world: 
as  if  a  hermitage  could  hide  a  man  from  the  devil,  or 
he  could  not  be  tempted  while  he  was  alone,  or  an 
.-rstuant  desire  could  not  be  in  a  neglected  bod}-. 
Did  not  Hierome  find  Rome  in  his  heart,  when  no- 
thing but  rocks  and  bushes  were  in  his  eye  ?  Do 
we  not  naturally  more  aflfect  those  delights  which 
are  restrained  ?  Is  not  solitariness  a  main  help  to 
the  speed  of  a  temptation  ? 

There  is  certainly  a  nearer  and  a  fairer  way  than 
this.  The  wise  mail  will  be  a  hermit  at  home,  and 
seeks  rather  to  turn  the  world  out  of  himself,  than 
to  turn  himself  out  of  the  world.  He  can  distinguish 
between  the  love  of  pleasure  and  the  use  of  pleasure; 
and  while  others  serve  delight,  he  tcacheth  delight 
to  serve  him.  If  we  see  vanity,  must  we  needs  dote 
upon  it  ?  Our  Saviour  saw  the  glorj-  of  earthly  king- 
doms, yet  despised  it.    The  angels  see  the  affairs 


462 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II, 


and  proceedings  of  us  mortals,  but  as  strangers.  Lot 
reaped  profit  from  the  goodly  meadows  of  Sodom,  he 
meddled  not  with  their  sins.  Moses  was  in  the  court 
of  Pharaoh,  the  confluence  of  all  pleasures,  yet  his 
heart  was  suffering  with  his  afflicted  countrymen. 
Elisha  saw  the  secrets  of  the  Syrian  state,  but  as  an 
enemy.  David  is  in  the  court  of  Gath,  but  as  his  re- 
fuge ;  he  was  no  friend  to  the  Philistines.  The 
world  looked  upon  Abraham,  Job,  and  many  other 
saints,  and  they  contemned  it ;  and  cannot  we  look 
upon  it,  but  presently  we  are  bewitched  with  it? 
Can  we  not  warm  us  at  the  sun,  but  we  must  make  an 
idol  of  it  ?  Must  we  needs  either  hide  our  faces,  or  bow 
our  knees?  cither  renounce  all  pleasure,  or  be  the 
slaves  of  jileasure  ?  What  extremes  are  these !  we 
may  be  meny,  without  being  mad  :  let  these  content- 
ments go  and  come  like  strangers  :  true  pleasures  be 
ours,  if  wc  be  Christ's. 

2.  How  may  a  Christian  take  pleasure  in  the  w-orld  ? 
By  having  respect  to  three  things ;  whether  it  be 
lawful,  expedient,  or  becoming.  The  pleasure  must 
be  lawful,  there  can  be  no  safety  in  a  sinful  delight. 
That  which  is  absolutely  evil,  can  by  no  circum- 
stance be  made  good.  Poison  may  be  qualified,  and 
become  medicinal ;  there  is  use  to  be  made  of  an 
enemy ;  sickness  may  turn  to  our  better  health,  and 
death  itself  to  the  faithful  is  but  a  door  to  life  ;  but  sin 
can  never  be  made  good.  Pleasure  therefore  first  must 
have  the  warrant,  that  it  be  without  sin ;  then  the 
measure,  that  it  be  without  excess.  If  the  cup  be  evil, 
we  may  not  taste  it ;  though  good,  yet  not  carouse  it. 
Reason  forbids  us  both  to  touch  known  poison,  and  to 
be  dmnk  with  wholesome  wine.  Pleasure  is  like  sauce 
to  our  meat ;  we  must  not  be  too  saucy.  A  little 
honey  is  sweet,  much  fulsome.  Wc  are  not  bom  to  play 
or  sport.  Nor  is  the  lawfulness  only'  obseiTable,  but 
the  conveniency  ;  a  man  maj^  wear  good  clothes  un- 
handsomely. The  stuff  may  be  good,  yet  while  the 
fashion  of  the  garment  does  not  become  him,  it  ap- 
pears ridiculous.  The  place,  the  occasion,  the  com- 
pany, the  opportunity,  all  must  be  fit.  The  house 
of  mourning  is  not  for  mirth ;  soon  did  Christ  turn 
the  musicians  out  of  doors,  Matt.  is.  23.  In  the 
time  of  visitation,  while  the  plague  or  famine  lies 
sore  upon  our  neighbours,  shall  we  give  ourselves  to 
sport  and  jovisance  ?  Isa.  xsii.  12,  13.  Let  us  be 
sure  that  our  delights  exclude  not  the  presence  of 
God.  (We  love  the  medicine,  not  for  its  own  sake, 
but  for  the  health  it  brings  us.)  The  angels  are  sent 
about  God's  messages  to  this  earth ;  yet  they  are 
never  out  of  their  heaven,  never  without  the  vision 
of  blessedness.  We  may  be  merry,  though  God  be 
by ;  we  may  please  ourselves,  so  long  as  we  displease 
not  him.  He  that  desires  pleasure  for  itself,  and  is 
taken  up  with  the  sweetness  of  it,  is  already  drunk. 
Whereas  he  that  rests  not  in  if,  but  looks  through  it 
to  the  Giver,  referring  all  to  the  highest  good,  is 
safe,  and  as  far  from  sin  as  from  sorrow.  It  is  not 
the  use,  but  affectation  of  pleasure  that  offends  ; 
therelbre  all  the  danger  or  safety  is  from  within. 
The  body  may  be  a  recluse,  and  the  heart  a  wan- 
derer. I  have  observed  some  to  look  carelessly  and 
Strangely  on  such  objects  as  transport  others,  and 
answer  questions  far  from  the  purpose  ;  it  seems  they 
did  mind  some  other  thing:  it  is  happy  for  a  man 
not  to  mind  the  world.  We  cat  and  recreate,  not 
because  wc  would,  but  because  we  must ;  and  when 
we  are  best  jjleased,  let  us  be  most  suspicious.  Let  us 
use  pleasure  in  God,  from  God,  to  God :  in  God,  lawful- 
ly :  from  'God,  thankfully ;  to  God,  that  is,  to  his  glory. 

Now  there  are  also  two  other  queries  ;  Why  should 
men,  why  should  Christian  men,  riot  in  pleasures  ? 

1.  Why  should  reasonable  men  delight  in  riot  ? 
It  makes  them  the  worse,  the  unheal thfuller,  the 


poorer,  none  the  better.  It  is  every  way  expensive, 
and  cannot  quit  the  cost.  First,  to  the  estate,  voluj>- 
tuousness  is  a  waster :  that  merchant  is  likelier  to 
grow  rich,  that  turns  his  gallery  into  a  warehouse, 
than  he  that  turns  his  warehouse  into  a  gallery. 
Honesty,  Utility,  and  Cheerfulness,  keeping  house  to- 
gether. Honesty  was  to  govern  all,  Utility  to  provide  for 
all,  and  Cheerfulness  to  dress  or  prepare  all.  They  bad 
a  great  household,  yet  maintained  their  charge,  re- 
lieved the  poor,  and  laid  up  somewhat  for  their  pos- 
terity. All  things  went  sweetly  on,  while  Cheerful- 
ness was  the  cook,  Thriftiness  the  caterer,  and  Honesty 
the  steward.  If  any  of  the  family  were  disordered, 
Honesty  reformed  them ;  if  any  lavish  and  imthrifty. 
Frugality  recovered  them  ;  if  any  melancholy.  Cheer- 
fulness revived  and  cheered  them.  But  after  awhile, 
this  Cheerfulness  getting  a  little  head,  begins  to  ex- 
ceed in  mirth,  and  falls  out  with  Utility  for  short  pro- 
vision :  he  had  invited  a  number  of  fiddlers,  jesters, 
players,  tumblers,  dancers,  and  must  have  extraor- 
dinary cheer  for  them.  Utility  refused  to  allow  it. 
Cheerfulness  would  have  it,  and  the  quarrel  grew  hot : 
while  Honesty  was  called  to  moderate  the  matter, 
this  rabble  came  in,  took  Cheerfulness's  part,  snatch- 
ed the  keys  out  of  Utility's  hands,  ransacked  the 
coffers,  exhausted  the  treasure,  turned  Honesty  and 
Thrift  out  of  doors ;  sung,  danced,  and  drunk,  and 
threw  (as  they  say)  the  house  out  at  the  windows. 
Thus  the  family  broke ;  for  just  .is  Honesty  and  Utility 
went  out,  Beggaiy  came  in.  Only  these  two  ei'ected 
a  new  house,  repaired  their  estates ;  to  whom,  not 
long  after,  poor  Cheerfulness  came  a  begging ;  but 
miglit  not  be  admitted  as  one  of  the  family,  only  was 
sent  for  sometimes  to  make  them  merry,  and  lived  on 
their  alms.  You  see  the  moral  of  this  apologue. 
Cato  said,  that  was  a  pitiful  commonwealth,  where  a 
trout  was  dearer  than  an  ox;  and  I  may  say,  that  is 
a  lamentable  state,  where  a  fiddler  and  a  dancer  is 
better  maintained  than  a  preacher.  Not  a  few  fa- 
milies have  thus  been  ruined,  I  would  the  rest  would 
take  w^aming.  Secondly,  it  undoes  the  credit ;  who 
will  trust  an  unthrift  ?  As  it  is  true  of  spiritual,  so 
of  worldly  things.  To  him  that  hath,  shall  be  given. 
When  Death,  Love,  and  Credit  would  part,  they  ap- 
pointed places  to  find  one  another.  Death  says,  You 
shall  be  sure  to  find  me  in  great  battles  or  epidemi- 
cal plagues.  Love  says.  You  shall  find  me  among 
shepherds,  where  is  no  talk  of  dowries.  But  Credit 
told  them  plainly.  They  that  once  part  with  me,  shall 
never  find  me  again.  I  need  not  add,  how  it  over- 
throws the  health  ;  to  rot  and  to  riot,  dilfer  but 
one  small  letter.  Howsoever  the  voluptuous  flatter 
themselves  with  having  the  merrier  life,  I  am  sure 
they  have  the  shorter  life.  They  are  but  crazj',  that 
have  a  fen  about  them ;  how  rotten  are  they  that 
have  a  fen  within  them !  He  is  a  right  spend-all,  that 
besides  all  spends  himself  The  philosopher  that 
would  ask  of  the  frugal  citizen  but  a  penny,  begged 
of  the  prodigal  a  talent;  and  he  had  his  reason  for 
it ;  because  of  the  one  he  might  beg  often,  of  the 
other  he  was  like  to  receive  but  once,  so  soon  would 
his  estate  vanish.  The  temperate  may  die,  the 
riotous  cannot  live :  sickness  is  the  daughter  of  in- 
temperance. Yea,  the  inordinate  life  is  scai'ce  patient 
to  tarry  for  sickness,  but  perisheth  by  misfortune  ; 
often  in  a  brutish  manner  they  go  sleeping  and 
senseless  to  hell,  having  neither  reason,  grace,  nor 
time  to  repent,  or  so  much  as  cry,  Lord,  have  mercy 
on  us.  There  is  no  sin  which  hurts  not  the  sinner, 
but  of  all,  riot  is  the  most  despatching ;  so  soon  doth 
it  bring  men  to  theii-  end,  so  often  doth  it  kill  them 
in  the  act  of  sin  ! 

2.  But  more ;  why  should  Christians  seek  pleasure 
in  intemperance  ?    We  have  not  so  learned  Christ. 


Ver.  13. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


4BS 


St.  Paul  tells  us  of  them  weeping,  whose  belly  is 
their  god,  Phil.  iii.  18.  We  cannot  speak  of  them 
without  passion  and  compassion ;  oh  that  our  prayers 
and  tears  could  recover  tlicm !  Why  should  we  seek 
the  pleasures  of  tlie  world,  that  have  a  world  of 
pleasures  without  it  ?  One  delights  in  tuniing  over 
nis  white  and  red  dross,  another  glories  in  his  vain 
titles ;  one  takes  pleasure  in  a  dainty  dish,  another 
in  a  witty  jest ;  one  in  a  kite,  another  in  a  dog :  sliall 
these  pleasures  be  our  envy,  or  our  scorn  ?  \Vhy  do 
we  call  ourselves  Christians,  and  rejoice  like  world- 
lings? That  man  solaceth  himself  in  his  earthly 
possessions,  because  he  hath  not  a  foot  of  inheritance 
in  heaven ;  another  sports  with  liis  hawks  and  hounds, 
because  he  hath  no  fellowship  with  saints  and  angels  ; 
a  third  tells  over  his  bags  of  gold,  because  he  hath 
no  graces  to  number ;  another  studies  delicate  dishes, 
and  provides  him  sweet  wines,  because  he  never  tasted 
the  cup  of  salvation ;  another  prides  himself  in  his 
titular  dignity,  because  he  hatn  no  hope  of  future 
glory;  a  last'hunts  after  nothing  but  mirth,  and  is 
tnen  farthest  from  it,  when  he  thinks  himself  deepest 
in  it :  he  cares  not  how  vain  his  sport  is,  so  it  be  plea- 
sant ;  and  if  he  can  while  away  the  time,  and  chase 
off  melancholy,  he  thinks  that  day  spent  happily. 
If  the  world  be  a  man's  god,  pleasure  must  needs  be 
his  religion. 

But  shall  the  Christian  be  thus  cozened  ?  Shall 
not  we  disdain  these  frivolous  and  lawless  delights, 
that  have  solid  and  everlasting  comforts  ?  Far  better 
were  it  to  spend  our  time  in  tears,  than  thus  to  be 
transported  with  wanton  pleasures.  To  a  holy  soul, 
earthly  pleasure  is  like  an  importimate  fiddler,  that 
without  invitation  impudently  t nrusts  liimself  into  his 
chamber,  draws  and  plays,  and  will  not  be  denied. 
He  may  give  it  the  hearing,  and  that  is  a  high  favour, 
but  he  dares  neither  reward  nor  commend  it ;  yea,  he 
thinks  it  harsh  music,  and  in  his  heart  secretly  con- 
demns it,  because  he  hath  far  better  of  his  own.  When 
he  hath  tuned  his  soul  with  meditation,  he  feels  a  sweet 
consort  within,  betwixt  God  and  himself;  his  part 
being  praise  and  obedience,  and  God's  part  toward 
him  the  peace  of  conscience.  This  world  is  like  a  bad 
fool  in  a  play ;  the  gross  spectators  laugh  at  those  jests, 
whereat  the  wise  man  is  ready  to  hiss :  he  entertains 
that  with  scorn,  which  the  rest  do  with  applause. 
We  have  the  true  fountain  of  joy,  let  us  never  stoop 
10  these  riotous  puddles.  Our  ends  are  not  the  same, 
why  should  our  ways  be  so  ?  Some  have  God,  not 
the  world ;  some  have  the  world,  not  God ;  some 
iKive  neither  God  nor  the  world;  and  some  have 
both.  First,  some  have  God,  not  the  world,  as  Laza- 
rus ;  his  heart  was  full  of  divine  comforts,  while  his 
body  lacked  crumbs.  Secondly,  some  have  the  world 
and  not  God,  as  Nabal,  who  possessed  a  world  of 
wealth,  not  a  dram  of  comfort.  Thirdly,  some  have 
neither  God  nor  the  world,  nothing  but  misery  here, 
nothing  but  torment  hereafter.  Fourthly,  some  have 
both,  as  Abraham,  who  was  rich  while  he  lived  on 
earth,  and  dying  was  glorious  in  heaven.  Let  us 
use  the  world,  but  enjoy  the  Lord;  be  thankful  for 
these  blessings,  but  rest  our  hearts  on  Jesus  Christ. 

They  think  it  a  pleasure,  they  shall  not  find  it  so. 

inceit  is  the  charm.     Wicked  joys  are  like  those 

custs,  upon  whose  heads  were  (not  crowns,  but)  as  it 
were  crowns  (not  of  gold,  but)  like  gold;  their  faces 
were  (not,  but)  as  it  were  faces  of  men;  their  hair 
(not  indeed,  but)  as  the  hair  of  women ;  their  breast- 
plates, as  it  were  breastplates  of  iron,  Rev.  ix.  7 — 9  : 
all  these,  shadowy,  and  similitudinary :  tut,  there 
were  stings  in  their  tails,  ver.  10 ;  not  as  it  were,  but 
true  stings  indeed.  These  idolatrous  parasites  offer 
sacrifices  to  the  world,  as  the  Philistines  did  to  their 
Dagon ;  "  Our  god  hath  delivered  into  our  hands  our 


enemy,"  Judg.  xvi.  24:  they  did  but  think  it  was 
Dagon  that  helped  them,  it  was  not.  Let  us  resolve 
things  to  their  first  matter,  and  so  consider  them. 
What  is  a  sumptuous  building,  but  a  little  burnt 
earth,  or  hewed  timber?  What  is  a  beautiful  crea- 
ture, but  the  same  earth  we  tread  upon  better  tem- 
pered ?  What  is  gold,  but  a  vein  of  the  ground  better 
coloured?  What,  rich  apparel,  which  man  takes  up 
in  pride,  but  that  the  worm  hath  egested  in  scorn  ? 
Fame  is  but  smoke,  metal  but  dross,  and  pleasure 
but  a  short  vanity.  Howsoever  too  many  think  all 
this  to  be  bat  the  voice  of  a  melancholy  scholar,  yet 
they  shall  feel  and  confess  it  undeniable  truth.  The 
devil  is  like  a  juggler,  that  puts  the  world,  like  a  piece 
of  money,  into  thy  hand,  and  bids  thee  liold  fast; 
whereas  he  by  a  legerdemain  hath  formerly  got  it 
away,  and  when  thou  opencst  thy  hand  there  is  notliing. 
We  have  seen  some  as  happy  as  the  world  could 
make  them,  yet  of  all  men  the  most  discontented. 
Large  possessions,  goodly  houses,  beautiful  spouses, 
hopeful  children,  full  purses ;  yet  their  life  hath  been 
neither  the  longer  nor  the  sweeter,  nor  their  hearts 
the  lighter,  nor  their  meals  the  heartier,  nor  their 
nights  the  quieter,  nor  their  cares  the  fewer ;  yea, 
none  more  fiiU  of  compLiints.  Among  men  gener- 
ally, the  poorer  the  merrier.  While  I  see  men  at 
once  find  wealth  and  lose  their  mirth,  as  if  they  could 
not  cease  to  be  poor  but  withal  they  cease  to  be 
happy,  I  cannot  but  conclude,  that  riches  and  con- 
tent are  like  two  buckets,  while  one  comes  up  full, 
the  other  goes  down  empty.  Yea,  I  account  none 
so  miserable,  as  they  that  grow  rich  by  sin,  or  great 
by  flattery.  When  wealth  comes  on  the  best  terms, 
it  is  but  vain ;  when  upon  ill  conditions,  it  is  a  curse. 
What  is  a  silken  coat,  when  there  is  a  stinging  con- 
science within  ?  or  a  high  title  to  advance  the 
name,  when  there  is  a  hell  in  the  soul  ?  Oh  that 
men  could  see,  how  much  better  it  is  to  be  poor  than 
evil,  and  that  there  is  no  comparison  between  want 
and  sin !  It  was  a  Christian  choice  of  a  reverend 
man.  Let  me  rather  be  in  hell  without  sin,  than  glo- 
rious and  wicked  upon  earth.  Vain  pleasures,  if  tney 
could  be  sound,  yet  are  short ;  if  they  could  be  long, 
yet  they  are  not  sound.  Their  best  is  but  as  a  good 
day  between  two  agues,  or  a  sunshine  betwixt  two 
tempests.  Laughter  concludes  in  tears ;  a  little 
pleasure  for  so  much  repentance  is  but  a  hard  penny- 
worth. The  voluptuous  man's  ground  bears  no 
flowers,  but  either  they  prick  the  fingers  or  ofiend 
the  nostrils :  if  they  be  sweet,  they  have  their  thorns ; 
if  fair,  yet  not  without  annoyance.  The  worldling 
speaks  of  the  Christian,  Alas,  poor  beggar !  but  the 
Christian  finds  him  rather  worth  his  pity  than  his 
envy  ;  Alas,  poor  worldling !  Moses  rather  chose  to 
suffer  aflliction  with  the  people  of  God,  than  to  enjoy 
the  pleasure  of  sin  for  a  season,  Ileb.  xi.  25.  I  won- 
der at  the  faith  of  Moses ;  but  presupposing  his 
faith,  I  wonder  not  at  his  choice.  When  the  devil 
shall  make  this  proffer,  AH  these  will  I  give  thee; 
return  him  Peter's  answer,  Thy  gold  perish  with 
thee.  "  They  that  sow  in  tears  sliall  reap  in  joy," 
Psal.  cxxvi.  5;  but  a  world  of  sensual  joys  shall 
never  bring  man  a  good  harvest.  They  rejoice,  saith 
one,  in  false  pleasures,  they  perish  in  real  torments. 
Men  call  for  pleasure,  as  the  Philistines  did  for  Sam- 
son, to  make  them  spovt ;  and  it  pulls  down  the  house 
upon  their  heads.  Youth,  Health,  and  Wealth  being 
met,  would  have  a  dance ;  and  Pleasure  must  be  their 
minstrel :  but  in  the  first  change,  those  three  wanton 
damsels  were  taken  up  by  Uirec  unhappy  mates, 
Age,  Sickness,  and  Poverty  :  Youth  was  surprised  by 
Age,  Health  by  Sickness,  and  Wealth  by  Poverty ;  at 
which  sight.  Pleasure  fled  away,  and  Time  delivered 
them  over  to  Sorrow. 


434 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  H. 


Uses.  1.  Let  us  think  upon  this  world,  as  it  de- 
serves, with  contempt.  How  little  can  it  do  for  us, 
and  that  little  with  what  deceit!  What  is  tliy  heart 
the  better,  what  the  merrier,  for  all  these  pleasures 
wherewith  it  hath  befriended  thee?  W'lien  did  it 
offer  honey,  but  a  sting  witlial  ?  milk  and  slumber, 
without  a  nail  and  a  hammer?  Pleasure  is  like  a 
flattering  host,  that  promiseth  good  cheer,  but  the 
reckoning  pays  for  all.  He  that  compares  the  wel- 
come with  the  farewell,  shall  find  he  had  better  have 
fasted.  Believe  them  that  have  bought  their  experi- 
ence dear;  it  is  better  to  avoid  sin  before  we  have 
tasted,  than  after  we  have  surfeited.  Look  we  up  to 
tliat  heaven  wliich  God  hath  promised  and  Christ 
hath  purchased :  being  but  one-half  upon  earth,  let 
the  better  part  converse  above  ;  from  thence  it  came, 
and  thither  it  is  ordained  to  go.  Let  us  get  that  re- 
solution, that  we  are  only  willing  to  live,  because 
our  time  is  not  yet  come  to  die ;  pitching  our  desires 
upon  those  pleasures,  which  have  neither  bounds  nor 
end;  which  are  certain,  though  future  ;  while  these 
are  fickle,  though  present.  Man's  heart  will  not  be 
empty  of  thoughts;  if  heaven  have  taken  up  the 
rooms,  the  world  is  disappointed.  We  confess  the 
happiness  of  salvation,  and  wish  it ;  but  we  fasten  on 
this  world.  AVe  fill  our  mouths  with  heaven,  but 
our  hearts  and  hands  with  earth.  Paradise  is  a  joy- 
ful place  ;  j'et  when  death  comes,  we  are  loth  to  go 
thither.  But  if  a  man  were  travelling  a  miry  way, 
on  a  rainy  day,  in  tempestuous  weather,  were  he  not 
mad  that  had  rather  go  on  still,  than  yield  to  be  at 
home  ?  The  more  hold  we  take  of  this  world,  the 
more  we  lose  hold  of  the  Lord.  Tene  certum,  dimitle 
incertum ;  i.  e.  Hold  fast  what  is  certain,  let  go  what  is 
uncertain.  Let  us  turn  from  vain  pleasure  that  seeks 
us,  and  seek  that  pleasure  which  shall  for  ever  con- 
tent and  never  cloy  us. 

2.  Instead  of  taking  pleasure  in  riot,  let  us  rejoice 
in  Christ.  Worldlings  offend,  that  laugh  when  they 
should  mourn ;  and  Christians  offend  too,  if  they 
droop  when  they  should  be  cheerful.  God  hath  done 
great  things  for  us,  wherefore  we  rejoice  ;  and  we  sin 
if  we  rejoice  not.  Tliey  err  in  false  mirth,  and  we  in 
causeless  heaviness,  if,  while  we  enjoy  the  God  of 
salvation,  we  are  sorrowful.  Is  there  any  joy  without 
God?  And  where  can  God  be  without  joy  ?  When 
the  Lord  hath  made  us  happy,  he  will  not  thank  us  to 
make  ourselves  miserable.  Shall  we  freeze  by  a 
warm  fire,  or  starve  at  a  feast  ?  We  find  God  recon- 
ciled, Christ  our  Advocate,  the  Holy  Spirit  our  Com- 
forter; we  have  peace  in  our  conscience,  in  heaven 
an  inheritance ;  we  should  be  both  angry  and  ashamed 
at  ourselves,  to  ask  our  hearts  that  question,  Why  art 
thou  sad,  O  my  soul  ?  If  we  be  in  Christ,  our  veiy 
bread  is  a  symbol  of  the  bread  of  life  ;  and  our  wine, 
of  that  cup  we  shall  drink  in  heaven.  What  should 
discomfort  us  if  Christ  be  witli  us  ?  All  our  joy  is 
not  reseiTed  for  the  next  life,  some  is  afforded  us  on 
earth ;  God's  greater  light  doth  not  extinguish  the 
less.  Friends,  children,  wine,  oil,  health,  liberty, 
competency,  are  not  given  us  for  discontent.  AVe 
may  not  make  them  God's  rivals,  but  rejoice  in  them 
as  God's  blessings.  In  themselves  they  are  nothing, 
in  him  they  are  worth  our  joy.  If  God  had  not 
thought  them  blessings  he  had  not  bestowed  them  ; 
and  how  are  they  blessings  if  we  delight  not  in 
them  ?  Because  we  may  not  take  i)leasure  in  everj- 
tiling,  shall  we  therefore  take  pleasure  in  nothing? 
They  wrong  Christians  that  forbid  them  mirth  :  the 
gospel  is  not  such  dull  metal,  but  the  tidings  of  joy 
to  all  believers. 

"  Spots  they  are  and  blemishes."  Tn  every  sin 
tP.ere  is  not  only  guilt,  that  binds  over  to  punishment, 
but   defilement-  which   makes  the   sinner  not  less 


filthy  than  guilty;  and  even  when  the  guilt  is  remit- 
ted the  filth  remains  still.  A  child  by  his  own  un- 
ruliness  hath  gotten  a  hurt  or  maim ;  upon  his  prayers 
and  tears  he  is  spared  the  punishment ;  his  father 
may  forgive  him,  but  it  requires  time  before  the 
surgeon  can  h.cal  him :  the  hurt  is  not  so  soon  cured, 
as  tlic  fault  is  pardoned.  David  cries,  I  have  sinned, 
and  God  answers,  I  have  taken  away  thy  sin,  2  Sam. 
xii.  13;  yet  there  still  abides  a  spot  for  David's 
tears ;  wliich  he  must  weep  thoroughly  to  wash  off. 
Spots  and  blemishes  ;  the  words  are  but  two,  put  to- 
gether with  a  conjunction,  and  I  will  not  put  them 
asunder  with  a  division.  The  argument  of  my  dis- 
course is  con-uption,  putrefaction,  sores,  and  diseases  ; 
so  that  it  may  be  called  a  spiritual  sermon.  No  man 
looks  upon  ulcers  with  pleased  eyes,  yet  the  surgeon 
must  see  them.  We  love  to  behold  goldsmiths' 
stalls  well  adorned  with  choice  of  plate,  of  jewels; 
not  dunghills :  yet  the  cock  in  scraping  the  dung- 
hill found  a  jewel.  We  like  to  see  beautiful  crea- 
tures, not  horrid  beasts  and  serpents  ;  yet  the  painter 
made  a  famous  piece  of  Bucephalus,  and  the  croco- 
dile was  so  curiously  shadowed,  that  in  Egypt  it  was 
taken  for  a  god,  and  worshipped.  We  delight  to 
view  flowers  of  various  forms  and  colours,  not  weeds ; 
yet  to  paint  a  weed  to  the  life,  is  held  a  good  art. 
Whatsoever  I  want  of  the  art,  I  shall  do  my  endea- 
vour to  resolve  this  short  character  into  divers  con- 
clusions. 

1.  All  men  are  spotted,  originally  from  their  pa- 
rents ;  of  actual  spots  themselves  are  the  parents.  So 
foul  are  all  by  nature,  that  they  can  neither  be  good 
nor  see  good.  Tf  thou  ask  how  thou  earnest  by  it ; 
thou  art  beholden  for  it  to  thy  father,  he  to  his 
father,  all  to  Adam,  Adam  to  Eve,  and  Eve  to  the 
devil.  There  is  no  evil  which  our  natural  unclcan- 
ncss  would  not  admit,  if  God  restrained  not.  Every 
actual  sin  is  a  spot  to  the  soul ;  a  lustful  look  is  a 
spot  to  the  eye  ;  a  bribe  taken  is  a  spot  to  the  hand: 
he  that  unjustly  gets  or  keeps  away  another's  right, 
is  worse  than  a  thief  burned  in  the  hand.  Church 
dues  detained  is  a  spot  to  the  estate,  that  cannot  he 
washed  out  from  the  sacrilegious  man  or  his  heritage  ; 
every  oatli  or  lie  is  a  spot  on  the  tongue ;  every  ma- 
licious thought  is  a  spot  on  the  breast ;  everj'  riotous 
draught  is  a  spot  on  the  throat  ;  eveiy  idolatrous 
cringe  is  a  spot  on  the  knees.  You  will  say  these 
spots  are  not  visible,  not  seen  on  the  body.  No,  for 
hypocrisy  is  a  white  skin  drawn  over  them,  which 
from  our  dull  eyes  hides  their  appearance.  But  to 
God  they  are  visible,  to  whom  all  hearts  are  more 
transparent  than  any  diaphanous  glass  is  to  us.  And 
at  tlie  last  day,  all  these  spots  shall  show  themselves 
(when  all  secrets  shall  be  legible)  in  their  odious 
forms.  Now  as  it  is  in  some  mortal  infection,  the 
spots  appear  not  in  the  flesh,  but  strike  inward  to  the 
heart,  and  kill  it.  If  all  our  internal  spots  should 
break  out,  we  could  not  endure  one  another.  The 
whole  world  would  be  an  hospital,  and  every  man  a 
lazar.  God  calls  for  sacrifice,  the  jiriest  presents  it, 
but  it  must  be  without  blemish :  we  have  no  sacrifice 
to  offer  but  ourselves,  and  how  will  lie  accept  a  spot- 
led  man,  that  required  an  unspotted  beast?  This  is 
one  step. 

2.  The  wliole  world  is  spotted,  that  is  another  step : 
in  the  universal  blemishes  of  nature  let  us  read  our 
own.  When  I  consider  tlie  great  and  good  work  of 
God  in  the  creation,  making  all  things  fur  man,  and 
man  for  himself,  I  think  of  the  people's  acclamation 
to  the  same  Workman,  in  a  new  and  greater  work  of 
our  redemption;  "  He  hath  done  all  things  well," 
Mark  vii.  37.  He  hath  done,  such  is  his  power  ;  all 
things,  such  is  his  wisdom ;  well,  such  is  his  good- 
ness.   First,  we  have  the  work  of  Christ,  He  nath 


Ver.  13. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


465 


(lone ;  then  the  universality  of  the  work,  all  things ; 
lastly,  the  nature  of  tliat  universality,  well.  When 
I  look  upon  the  present  worhl,  I  find  a  great  alter- 
ation ;  foulness  and  corruption  in  those  creatures, 
which  were  from  God  of  so  pure  a  constitution.  He 
made  the  world  so  fair,  that  he  loved  it ;  but  when 
man  had  took  it  in  hand,  he  began  to  loathe  it. 
"All  flesh  had  corrupted  his  way,"  Gen.  vi.  12. 
Corrupted,  that  is  the  turpitude;  all  flesh,  that  is 
the  latitude.  The  morning  saw  all  things  very 
good,  the  evening  of  the  same  day  saw  spots  and 
blemishes  in  all  creatures.  To  charge  God  with 
this  degeneration,  is  the  highest  blasphemy :  cold- 
ness may  sooner  arise  from  fire,  than  any  evil  from 
the  fountain  of  goodness.  Indeed  there  is  a  penal 
evil ;  and  this  he  acknowledgeth  his  own,  Amos  iii. 
6  :  there  is  a  criminal  evi\,  which  we  call  a  radical, 
causal  one ;  this  is  ours.  This  last  is  an  unrighteous 
action,  which  pleaseth  man,  and  displeaseth  God  ; 
the  other  is  a  just  suflcring,  that  pleaseth  God,  and 
displeaseth  man.  The  punishment  of  sin  is  not  pro- 
perly an  evil,  l)ut  a  good  action  of  justice ;  dis- 
honouring the  guilty  creature,  to  honour  his  holy 
Maker.  As  wc  say  of  war.  It  is  a  destroyer  of 
nature  individuallv,  but  a  preserver  of  it  univers- 
ally. 

Of  this  foul  and  spotted  evil,  God  is  not  the 
author,  but  the  avenger.  How  then  came  these 
spots  ?  "  An  enemy  hath  done  this,"  Matt.  xiii. 
2S,  sowing  tares  upon  the  wheat.  Which  shows, 
first,  that  good  was  before  evil,  for  it  is  superseminalio, 
i.  e.  a  sowing  upon  :  good  had  the  priority,  though 
evil  hath  now  got  the  superiority.  Next,  that  evil  is 
an  accident,  not  a  nature  ;  but  such  an  accident  as 
hath  quite  spoiled  nature,  as  rust  mars  the  gold. 
That  as  we  say  of  a  prince,  though  he  be  a  god  on 
earth,  yet  he  is  but  an  earthly  god ;  thougli  a  god 
before  men,  yet  but  a  man  before  God  :  so  our 
whole  natural  condition,  which  was  angelical  in  re- 
spect of  the  beasts,  is  now  but  (as  it  were)  bestial  in 
respect  of  the  angels.  I  do  not  intend  by  this,  ac- 
cording to  the  dotage  of  some  new  philosophers,  that 
cv«ry  irregularity  on  earth  puts  a  star  out  of  order 
in  the  firmament ;  that  every  adulterous  act  here, 
sticks  a  blot  u])on  the  moon  there ;  that  our  pride 
and  ambition  hath  brought  the  sun  lower  than  it 
was,  that  he  either  slacks  or  mends  his  pace  as  we 
grow  dull  or  forward  in  God's  service.  For  the  stars 
keep  their  courses,  Judg.  v.  20 ;  the  moon  hath  no 
more  blemishes  than  she  had  a  thousand  years  ago ; 
the  sun  is  neither  come  nearer,  nor  gone  further  ofl'", 
but  keeps  the  same  line  wherein  God  bade  it  run  at 
the  first :  the  heavens  are  as  clear,  and  the  planets 
as  regular  in  their  courses,  as  ever;  the  celestial 
bodies  admit  of  no  qualities.  If  all  our  sins  were 
set  as  spots  on  the  sun,  it  had  been  as  black  as 
pitch  before  this  time.  But  this  I  say,  the  whole 
creature  groaneth  under  the  bondage  of  our  cor- 
ruption, Rom.  viii.  21,  22:  and  the  world  was  once 
so  foul  with  our  iniquities,  that  the  Maker  scoured 
it  with  an  inundation  of  water  ;  and  again,  it  is 
grown  so  filthy,  that  he  will  purify  it  with  a  deluge 
of  fire,  in  the  day  of  judgment. 

3.  But  if  every  man  be  spotted,  who  shall  then 
enter  into  heaven,  seeing  into  that  citv  no  unclean 
tiling  shall  come  ?  Rev.  xxi.  27.  This  is  true,  yet 
many  that  have  been  unclean  persons,  are  since  ad- 
mitted. They  went  not  in  impure ;  Such  ye  were, 
(as  could  not  enter,)  but  ye  are  cleansed,  saith  Paul 
to  his  Corinthians,  1  Cor!  vi.  II.  They  were  all  na- 
turally unclean,  yet  many  of  them  are  now  in  hea- 
ven ;  but  before  they  entered,  they  were  washed.  I 
list  not  to  uncover  the  spots  of  God's  saints;  let 
them  be  buried  in  the  dust  with  their  bodies :  yet 
2  n 


their  soiils  are  in  heaven;  how  got  ihty  thither? 
They  washed  them  and  made  them  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  Rev.  vii.  14.  Washed,  therefore 
they  had  been  foul ;  made  them  white,  therefore 
they  were  of  a  stained  colour  before.  If  God  should 
look  for  a  spotlessness  here,  whom  should  he  look 
upon  ?  Is  any  man's  heart  pure  ?  no,  he  shall  have 
cause  to  his  death-bed  of  redoubling  that  prayer, 
"  Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God,"  Psal.  li.  10. 
And  his  confessor  may  still  preach  to  him  that  text, 
"  Wash  thy  heart  from  wickedness,  that  thou  mayst 
be  saved,"  Jer.  iv.  14.  And  who  can  say  he  hath 
clean  hands  ?  Say  his  heart  were  clean,  say  his 
hands,  yet  be  his  feet  clean  ?  They  stand  ne.Nt  the 
earth,  therefore  are  aptcst  to  soil.  For  this  purpose 
Christ  washed  his  disciples'  feet,  and  thus  comment- 
ed on  it,  and  interpreted  his  own  action  ;  "  He  that 
is  washed  needeth  not  save  to  wash  his  feet,"  John 
xiii.  10.  Out  of  the  bath  a  man  comes  washed  all 
over,  yet  some  gravel  will  stick  on  his  feet. 

He  is  not  of  an  earthen  constitution,  that  hath  no 
earthly  affection.  Christ  took  our  flesh,  took  it 
without  spot,  without  spot  he  kept  it ;  no  man  else 
ever  received  it  so,  or  kept  it  so.  Hate  the  garment 
spotted  by  the  flesh,  Jude  23;  yet  the  flesh  itself  is 
this  garment,  and  it  spots  itself  with  itself.  Job  was 
a  holy  man ;  yet  he  confesseth  after  all  this  w^ashing, 
that  his  own  clothes  would  make  him  abhorred.  Job 
ix.  31.  David  holy,  yet  he  desired  to  be  purged 
with  hyssop,  Psal.  li".  7-  The  church  is  said  to 
have  no  spot.  Cant.  iv.  7 ;  yet  everj'  particular 
limb  of  that  fair  and  spotless  body,  every  soul  in 
that  church,  is  full  of  spots.  Yea',  Christ  himself 
hath  spots,  not  by  nature,  but  by  imputation ;  not 
his  own,  but  ours  ;  he  took  all  our  stains  and  de- 
formities ;  he  became  sin  for  us,  2  Cor.  v.  21  ;  for  us 
he  was  made  full  of  spots,  that  we  in  him  might  be 
spotless.  The  grace  of  God  may  go  a  great  way  in 
our  souls,  and  yet  not  leave  us  without  spots.  Mer- 
cies may  fall  in  abundant  showers  on  our  hearts, 
and  yet  not  mollify  all  our  hardness.  Those  holy 
fires  may  consume  a  great  deal  of  our  dross,  not  all. 
Corrections  are  a  bath  to  purge  us  from  the  foul 
corruptions  we  gather  by  walking  in  this  dirty  world  f 
yet  Israel  confesseth,  they  were  not  cleansed  from 
the  iniquity  of  Peor  to  this  day,  Josh.  xxii.  17.  God' 
may  heal  our  wounds,  and  yet  leave  scars ;  purge  our 
blood,  and  yet  leave  spots.  But  there  is  no  spot  so 
foul,  which  repentance  cannot  wash  off:  this  shall 
make  a  man  lift  up  his  face  without  spot,  Job  xi.  15. 
And  St.  Paul  prays  for  his  Thessalonians,  that  they 
might  be  presented  blameless  at  the  coming  of  Christ ; 
which  he  would  never  have  begged,  if  lie  knew  it 
never  could  be  granted.  Not  to  have  no  spot  here, 
but  to  have  no  spot  imputed  hereafter,  is  the  happi- 
ness.of  a  Christian. 

4.  We  have  all  spots,  but  these  are  spots;  for  the 
apostle  speaks  not  of  their  actions  here,  but  their 
persons;  not  the  blemishes  of  the  men,  but  that  the 
men  themselves  are  blemishes.  This  is  a  high  de- 
gree of  sin,  to  be  wholly  turned  into  sin.  The 
leopard  is  full  of  spots,  but  the  leopard  is  not  a  spot, 
nor  is  the  spot  a  leopard.  Many  a  body  is  diseased, 
but  the  body  is  one  thing,  the  disease  another ;  but 
when  the  whole  body  is  turned  into  a  disease,  it  in  a 
manner  ceaseth  to  be  a  body.  When  the  clouds  let 
fall  their  showers  by  drops,  we  call  it  a  rain ;  but 
when  all  those  drops  are  met  in  one  channel,  it  is  no 
more  a  rain  now,  but  a  flood.  Tliey  have  committed 
so  many  sins,  that  for  the  number  and  continuity  of 
them,  they  cease  to  be  sinners,  and  are  very  sins  : 
as  the  prophet  Micah  calls  it  not  the  idolatry  of 
Jerusalem,  but  the  Jerusalem  of  idolatn,-,  Micah  i.  5. 
The  case  seemed   desperate,  when  there  was   no 


466 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


soundness,  nothing  but  corruption ;  and  David  says, 
There  is  no  whole  part  in  my  flesh  ;  and  Job  is  said 
to  be  so  full  of  ulcers,  that  a  pin's  point  could  not  be 
thrust  between  them.  If  this  were  other  than  an 
cmphatical  expression  of  their  malady,  it  was  strange 
thiit  the  whole  llesh  should  be  one  coagulated  ulcer. 
Yet  was  this  bile  but  upon  the  tlesh,  and  there  was 
life  within;  but  here  the  whole  soul  and  body  be- 
comes one  botch:  as  Lucan  spake  of  a  wounded 
body,  Tolum  est  pro  vulnere  corpus ;  i.  e.  No  more  a 
body,  but  a  wound;  no  more  sinful  creatures,  but 
creatures  that  be  sins.  If  there  were  not  several  de- 
grees of  sin  on  earth,  there  should  not  be  several 
measures  of  torment  in  hell.  When  travellers  ride 
together  in  a  dirty  way,  all  are  dashed,  but  some 
more  or  less  than  others,  according  to  their  more  or 
less  circumspection  or  advantage.  Vice  is  said  (in 
the  fable)  to  have  in  her  garden  a  subterraneous 
vault ;  out  of  which  she  could  convey  foul  water,  to 
soil  the  curious  spectators  ;  which  was  of  different 
operations  in  the  staining.  They  that  were  defiled 
with  the  aspersions  of  wantonness,  were  sooner  dried ; 
they  that  with  pride,  covetousness,  ambition,  quite 
spoiled  their  garments  ;  they  that  with  env)',  trea- 
chery, homicide,  sacrilege,  could  never  get  out  the 
spots,  but  were  fain  to  cast  their  clothes  into  the  tire. 
Spots  may  be  sized  in  so  deep,  as  not  to  be  purged 
but  with  the  lire  of  hell. 

5.  To  whom  do  these  appear  spots  and  blemishes  ? 
(1.)  To  God,  who  hath  pure  eyes,  and  can  abide  no 
unclean  thing.  He  hates  filthiness  in  his  own, 
though  he  does  not  hate  his  own  for  filthiness,  be- 
cause he  respects  them  in  Christ ;  but  in  the  repro- 
bate he  so  abhors  the  sin,  that  he  hates  even  the 
sinner  for  it.  It  was  for  the  sin  of  man,  that  God 
repented  he  made  man :  thus  it  offends  the  First 
Person.  These  spots  drew  from  Christ  a  sweat  of 
blood  in  the  garden,  and  the  blood  of  his  life  on 
the  cross ;  so  they  offend  the  Second  Person.  They 
also  grieve  the  Holy  Ghost;  who  looking  for  the 
fruit  of  joy  and  peace,  and  such  sweet  perfiimes,  finds 
the  stc'uch  of  sordid  corruptions. 

(2.)  To  the  angels :  they  despise  not  a  diseased 
body,  nor  an  infected  house,  if  a  holy  soul  dwell 
there.  "  No  plague  shall  come  nigh  thy  dwelling, 
for  he  shall  give  his  angels  charge  over  thee,"  Psal. 
xci.  10,  11.  They  arc  set  not  only  to  keep  us  and 
the  plague  asunder,  but  still  to  keep  us  though  we 
light  in  a  house  together.  They  do  not  scorn  to 
take  Lazarus's  soul  out  of  an  ulcerous  body.  It  is 
not  sickness,  but  sin,  from  which  they  turn  their 
faces.  But  now,  should  angels  stand  by  sinners  in 
their  acts  of  unclearmess  ?  Must  an  angel  wait  upon 
a  proud  fop,  while  he  is  dressing  himself  by  the 
glass?  ArVliile  men  ply  their  di'unken  carouses  in 
tavenis,  do  they  look  that  their  angels  should  fly  up 
and  down  the  room  ?  Iniquities  be  sport  for  devils, 
but  an  eyesore  to  the  angels;  they  that  rejoice  at  a 
sinner's  conversion,  do  rather  grieve  at  his  aberration. 

(3.)  To  good  men,  whom  nothing  pleaseth  that 
displeaseth  their_Maker.  While  the  world  is  laugh- 
ing, David  is  mourning  for  them :  Mine  eyes  gush 
out  rivci's  of  waters,  because  they  keep  not  thy  law, 
Psal.  cxix.  136.  Men  turn  from  lazars  and  lepers, 
and  refuse  to  visit  visited  liouscs  ;  yet  Tutius  morbi, 
(juam  vitii  consortium:  it  is  better  dwelling  with 
good  men  in  an  unwholesome  climate,  than  in  the 
purest  air  with  unclean  persons;  as  Lot,  in  a  good 
land  with  a  bad  set. 

(4.)  To  bad  men  ;  for  howsoever  sinners  love  to 
be  evil  themselves,  yet  they  would  have  others  good 
to  them.  Nero,  that  took  such  pleasure  in  shed- 
ding blood,  when  his  own  turn  came,  complained. 
He  that  delights  in  polluting  the  marriage-bed  of 


others,  would  not  have  his  o«ti  abused.  The  thief 
would  not  have  his  own  goods  stolen;  the  proud 
man  is  said  to  carry  a  dagger,  to  stab  him  that  is 
prouder.  No  wicked  man  doth  wish  to  suffer  what 
he  takes  pleasure  to  do.  We  read  of  four  lepers  that 
kept  company  together,  2  Kings  vii.  3,  but  it  was 
upon  a  desperate  adventure ;  neither  could  endure 
the  other's  leprosy.  He  that  hath  the  most  corrupt 
lungs,  complains  of  another's  offensive  breath.  "  Na- 
aman,  the  captain  of  the  host  of  the  Syrian  king, 
was  a  great  man  with  his  mctster,  and  honourable, 
and  a  mighty  man  in  valour,  but  he  was  a  leper," 
2  Kings  V.  1.  A  great  warrior,  an  honourable 
courtier,  yet  a  leper !  The  leprosy  was  a  nasty  and 
loathsome  disease,  yet  this  odious  and  wearisome 
condition  lights  upon  a  great  person.  Now,  what 
was  all  his  gloiy  with  his  leprosy  ?  They  that 
honoured  him,  avoided  him ;  and  he  was  abhorred 
of  those  that  flattered  him.  The  basest  slave  of 
Syria  would  not  change  skins  with  him,  though  he 
might  have  his  honour  to  boot.  So  men  given  to 
\'illanies  are  shunned  of  those  that  are  little  other 
than  villanous.  These  spots  are  infectious,  more 
than  the  plague-tokens;  and  though  they  please 
other  dissolute  souls  here,  yet  they  shall  curse  them 
in  hell,  because  their  example  is  the  cause  of  their 
greater  torment. 

(5.)  To  the  creatures ;  for  God  made  them  to 
serve  man,  and  to  wait  upon  him  in  the  service  of 
God :  now  when  man  turns  himself  out  of  God's 
sen'iee,  all  the  creatures  in  sening  him  are  (as  it 
were)  turned  out  of  God's  service  too,  and  grieve 
tlwit  they  are  compelled  to  wait  upon  a  wTong  master. 

(6.)  They  are  offensive  to  the  veiy  damned  in 
hell ;  which  seemeth  strange,  but  it  is  true.  That 
rich  man,  Luke  xvi.,  not  out  of  charity  to  his  bre- 
thren, but  favour  to  himself,  requested  that  warning 
might  be  given  to  his  brethren ;  lest  as  his  example 
increased  their  sins,  their  sins  should  advance  his 
torments. 

(7.)  But  now,  lastly,  do  they  not  offend  them- 
selves ?  No,  the  sick  man  may  feel,  the  dead  docs 
not.  Who  knows  the  spots  on  his  own  face,  but 
either  by  the  reflection  of  a  glass,  or  by  the  relation 
of  others  ?  The  leper  cannot  choose  but  abhor  him- 
self: how  little  pleasure  did  that  Syrian  peer  take 
to  be  stooped  unto  by  others,  while  he  hated  to  see 
himself;  while  his  hand  could  not  move  to  his  mouth 
without  his  own  detestation !  But  this  is  a  spiritual 
disease,  festering  inwards :  when  the  conscience  is 
unclasped,  and  these  spots  break  forth ;  as  when  the 
bottomless  pit  was  opened  the  locusts  flew  out ;  and 
sin  shall  write  her  inscription  on  the  doors,  not  as  in 
visited  houses,  Lord,  have  mercy  on  us,  but  in  the 
chambers  of  despair.  All  mercy  is  fled  from  us ;  it 
will  be  fearfiil. 

6.  Sin  is  of  a  defiling  quality  ;  like  a  bemired  dog, 
when  it  fawns  upon  us  it  fouls  us.  It  may  in  this 
one  thing  be  compared  to  fire,  it  converts  matter 
into  itself.  Stain  a  cloth,  or  dye  it  into  another 
colour,  yet  still  it  remains  a  cloth :  the  body  turns 
meat  into  itself,  is  not  turned  into  the  meat :  only  as 
fire  can  convert  a  burning  material  into  fire,  so  sin 
turns  a  man  into  sin,  that  he  is  no  more  a  man,  but 
a  very  spot.  Corporal  leprosies  have  been  healed 
by  natural  means ;  and  blemishes  that  art  cannot 
cure,  yet  it  hath  devices  to  hide.  But  for  these 
blemis"hes,  there  is  nothing  in  nature  to  cure  them, 
nothing  in  art  to  cover  them.  If  honour  could  do  it, 
Naaman  had  been  no  leper.  A  noble  sinner  is  but 
a  noble  spot.  If  riches,  Nabal  had  not  been  branded 
for  a  churl :  lint  heaps  of  wealth  laid  upon  heaps  of 
wickedness,  make  but  a  great  dunghill.  Can  per- 
fumes ?      Civet  indeed  will  make  a  dog  smell  as 


Ver.  13. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


467 


sweet  a.s  his  master;  but  a  vicious  life  doth  more 
stink  through  a  garnished  body,  than  a  rotten  body 
doth  through  perfumed  garments.  Can  beauty  ? 
No,  even  when  there  appears  no  blemish  in  the  out- 
ward skin,  yet,  througli  a  lascivious  demeanour,  the 
beauty  itself  becomes  a  blemish.  Nay,  can  profession 
itself  hide  or  heal  the  spiritual  Ifprosies  ?  Rome 
dresseth  herself  in  the  robes  and  titles  of  the  chaste 
spouse  of  Christ,  yet  is  she  not  still  that  scarlet 
whore  ?  The  Jesuits  have  been  saucy  with  the  name 
of  Jesus,  are  they  not  still  that  mystery  of  iniquity  ? 
Saul  did  prophesy  in  the  college,  was  he  not  still  a 
blot  in  the  world?  Many  are  beautiful  as  the  sons 
of  the  morning  in  their  profession,  that  are  still  black 
birds,  children  of  the  night,  in  their  conversation. 
As  Sigismund  the  emperor  said  of  Julian  the  cardinal, 
legate  at  the  council  of  Basil,  when  he  was  highly 
commended  to  him,  Tameti  liomanus  est,  i.  c.  Yet  he  is 
a  Roman ;  so  we  may  say  of  a  hypocrite,  when  he 
is  praised  for  his  zealous  devotion,  Tamen  macula 
est,  i,  e.  Yet  he  is  a  blemish.  Men  of  foul  and  cor- 
rupt manners  shall  find  nothing  in  nature  or  art, 
that  shall  keep  them  from  being,  and  being  called, 
spots. 

7.  Open  and  notorious  offenders  ought  to  be  de- 
nied these  holy  feasts,  to  be  put  from  the  sacrament ; 
and  inslend  of  communicating  with  us,  to  pass  under 
the  censure  of  excommunication  from  us ;  till  in  peni- 
tent tears  they  have  cleansed  their  pollutions.  Spots 
in  the  life  are  worse  than  spots  in  the  face  :  if  such 
sluttish  aspersions  appear  on  the  skin,  will  any  man 
come  to  the  church  before  he  hath  washed  his  face  ? 
These  are  not  members,  but  spots  of  the  body ;  we 
pare  off  such  excrescent  blemishes  that  the  body 
may  be  perfect.  They  may  be  in  the  decree  of  God 
members  of  Christ,  they  are  not  so  yet  in  the  judg- 
ment of  man:  we  call  not  a  wart  on  the  flesh,  a  part 
of  the  body.  Indeed  it  is  true,  as  Augustine  says,  It 
belongs  to  the  servant  to  invite,  but  to  God  to  separ- 
ate J  yet  the  minister  calls  in  some,  whom  the  Master 
casts  out,  Matt.  xxii.  13.  We  may  not  put  the  sign  of 
Christ's  body  into  a  drunken  hand ;  nor  oiler  the 
symbol  of  his  blood  to  a  bloody  and  malicious  heart ; 
nor  the  sacrament  of  peace  and  love  to  them  that 
hate  both  love  and  peace.  We  do  not  only  say.  Come 
not  hither  if  ye  be  such;  but  we  must  not  suffer  you 
to  come  hither  if  we  know  you  to  be  such.  We  wash 
our  hands  before  we  take  our  temporal  food,  and  shall 
we  not  cleanse  our  hearts  before  we  receive  our 
spiritual  ?  The  dead  body  of  Christ  was  wrapped  in 
clean  linen,  and  is  not  his  living  body  worthy  of  a 
clean  conscience  ?  The  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord 
doth  make  us  holy,  and  is  it  not  our  default  if  the 
same  should  make  us  guilty  ?  Read  and  compare 
John  vi.  54,  with  1  Cor.  xi.  "29.  How  contrary  are 
these  effects  of  the  same  thing  in  divers  men  !  even 
as  life  and  death,  heaven  and  hell,  salvation  and  per- 
dition, eternal  joy  and  eternal  fire.  Oh  that  man 
for  a  little  filthy  lust,  the  pleasure  of  his  sense,  or  in- 
dulgence to  his  affections,  should  convert  heavenly 
food  to  his  own  bane !  He  that  comes  a  penitent,  de- 
parts an  innocent :  they  that  come  with  all  their  un- 
washed blemishes,  with  a  thousand  woes  return ;  the 
supper  of  life  is  to  them  a  bloody  banquet. 

Observe  what  preparation  was  required  for  receiv- 
ing of  the  law,  Exod.  xix.  10.  For  time,  three  days : 
if  so  much  time  must  be  spent  in  preparing  to  take 
it,  our  whole  life  is  short  enough  to  prepare  a  reckon- 
ing for  it.  That  was  the  word  of  a  command,  Paul 
calls  it  the  ministration  of  death ;  this  is  the  word  of 
promise,  the  promise  of  Christ  and  salvation  with 
nim.  If  that  required  three  days,  which  was  all  ter- 
ror, what  time  of  preparation  is  due  to  this  that  is  all 
eoinfort !  When  our  souls  arc  at  the  best,  vet  our  ap- 


proach to  God  requires  particular  addresses  and  new 
preparations ;  it  is  well  if  the  whole  Lent  can  prepare 
our  hearts  for  Easter ;  and  they  that  do  not  fit  them- 
selves before  they  come,  had  better  have  kept  away. 
For  matter,  all  Israel  must  be  sanctified:  what  was 
the  cause  ?  Seven  weeks  they  had  been  out  of 
Egypt,  yet  all  this  while  Egypt  was  not  gone  out  of 
them ;  the  Egyptian  vices,  together  with  their  flesh- 
pots,  stuck  still  in  their  memories,  in  their  appetites. 
They  had  passed  by  many  waters,  of  the  Red  Sea,  of 
Marah,  of  that  which  gushed  out  of  the  rock ;  yet 
the  infection  of  Egypt  was  not  washed  off;  therefore 
they  must  be  sanctified.  Doth  not  this  charge  lie 
as  close  upon  us  ?  Now  is  the  time  (Easter)  we  draw 
near  unto  God  in  a  special  manner :  he  often  preach- 
cth  to  us,  and  we  hear  him  ;  we  often  call  upon  him, 
and  ho  hears  us  ;  but  now  we  come  one  step  nearer, 
as  it  were  to  take  him  by  the  hand,  and  convey  him 
in  these  holy  symbols  to  our  heart.  Sin  is  never 
safe,  but  then  most  dangerous  when  we  bring  it  into 
the  presence  of  God.  If  it  comes  along  with  us  to 
the  communion  table,  it  shall  not  only  frustrate  what 
we  do,  but  endanger  us  to  a  worse  estate  than  we 
brought  thither.  At  all  times  we  must  be  holy,  but 
then  especially  when  we  present  ourselves  to  the 
holy  eyes  of  our  Maker.  Who  dares  kiss  the  king's 
hand  with  a  foul  mouth  ?  We  wash  before  our  pri- 
vate meals  at  home  daily  ;  but  when  we  arc  to  eat 
with  some  great  person,  we  scour  our  hands  with 
balls.  We  cannot  be  too  holy  when  we  come  to  feed 
with  our  Saviour,  Rev.  iii.  20,  yea,  to  feed  upon  him. 
When  he  is  a  Guest,  we  are  but  the  host ;  but  when 
we  are  his  guests,  he  is  both  the  Host  and  the  feast, 
even  the  cheer  itself.  Now  if  they  must  be  so  sanc- 
tified to  receive  the  law,  how  holy  should  we  be  to 
receive  the  grace  of  the  gospel !  Yea,  not  only  their 
persons,  but  their  verj'  clothes,  must  be  cleansed ;  as 
they  that  come  out  of  infected  houses  air  their  gar- 
ments :  their  clothes  smelt  of  Egj-pt,  and  must  be 
washed.  But  why  their  clothes  ?  and  why  washed  ? 
Garments  are  not  capable  of  sin ;  if  they  were, 
water  would  not  cleanse  them.  The  danger  was 
neither  in  their  skins,  nor  in  their  coats,  yet  they 
must  be  washed,  that  they  might  learn  by  the  clean- 
ness of  their  clothes,  with  what  souls  to  appear  before 
God.  Because  they  were  more  in  danger  of  being 
foul  than  of  being  bare,  they  are  washed  to  begin 
their  age  in  purity. 

At  this  solemn  time  men  use  to  put  on  their  best 
garments;  a  custom  which  we  approve,  rather  than 
reprove :  it  is  fit  our  reverence  to  the  presence  of 
God  should  be  seen  in  our  very  vestures.  Devotion 
takes  no  pleasure  to  dwell  slovenly ;  like  Galba's  wit, 
under  a  deformed  roof.  Christ  doth  not  condemn 
external  cleanness,  when  he  prefers  inward  holiness, 
Luke  xi.  39.  It  is  not  the  beauty  of  the  skin,  but  the 
uncleanness  of  the  heart,  that  comes  under  censure. 
A  crystal  glass  doth  well,  but  we  do  not  use  to  put 
mud  into  it.  But  what  is  a  neat  suit  with  foul  and 
ragged  linings,  a  white  skin  with  a  filthy  soul  ? 
Ratlier  than  not  to  have  the  face  fair,  too  many  use 
lotions  and  colours  to  blanch  it ;  as  one  says,  God 
made  the  face,  and  the  devil  paints  it.  Yet,  both 
within  and  without,  we  should  be  cleanly.  But 
especially  God  looks  to  the  purencss  of  th<it  part 
which  resembles  himself.  He  made  every  creature 
after  his  kind.  Gen.  i.  24;  man  in  the  image  of  liim- 
self.  A  wliited  or  adorned  clay  is  not  his  image ;  the 
God  of  spirits  looks  to  the  spirit,  that  that  be  holy 
and  humble,  both.  For  some  will  be  holy,  and  not 
humble ;  but  all  the  piu-eness  of  their  minds  will  not 
bear  out  the  stiffness  of  their  knees.  If  they  want 
reverence,  pretend  what  they  will,  I  shall  hardly 
credit  their  holiness.    Others  seem  humble,  but  they 


468 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IP. 


forget  to  be  holy  ;  so  some  guests  sit  down  with  the 
rest,  but  they  have  no  appetite. 

In  a  word,  receive  him  with  cleansed  hands  and 
joyful  hearts.  Let  not  Christ  be  forced  upon  you, 
but  stretch  out  a  thankful  hand  to  receive  him. 
If  thou  art  not  a  receiver,  thou  art  a  deceiver,  thou 
cozcncst  thine  own  soul.  And  let  Christ  be  present 
mentally,  when  he  cannot  be  had  sacramentally. 
But  when  the  feast  is  prepared,  and  we  invited,  let 
us  come.  Let  us  avoid  spots,  that  we  be  not  defiled ; 
bewail  our  spots,  that  they  may  be  pardoned ;  and 
resolve  against  all  spots  hereafter,  that  we  may  be 
comforted. 

8.  We  may  not  abstain  from  the  sacrament,  be- 
cause there  be  spots  and  blemishes  in  the  society. 
It  is  true,  these  spots  should  be  removed ;  say  they 
are  not,  shall  we  therefore  remove  ourselves  ?  To 
them  the  holy  bread  is  bane,  to  thee  it  is  salvation. 
The  unworthy  receiver  "  eateth  and  drinketh  damn- 
ation to  himself,"  I  Cor.  xi.  29 ;  to  himself,  not  to 
thee.  If  we  communicate  with  evil  men,  and  not  in 
evil  things,  we  have  no  harm.  Woe  were  us,  if  we 
should  live  in  the  danger  of  all  men's  sins  !  we  have 
enough  of  our  own,  we  need  not  borrow  of  others. 
Every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burden ;  ours  is  not  so 
light,  that  we  should  call  for  more  weight,  and  un- 
dertake what  God  never  imposed.  It  was  enough 
for  him  that  was  God  and  man,  to  bear  the  iniquity 
of  us  all ;  it  is  no  task  for  us  :  alas,  we  faint  under 
the  least  of  our  own.  Nor  can  others'  sins  become 
ours  by  toleration  or  connivance,  but  by  imitation 
and  indulgence.  If  each  man's  known  blemish  be 
every  man's,  then  is  every  son  of  Adam  as  public  a 
person  as  his  father  was.  We  were  all  in  Adam, 
stood  or  fell  in  him ;  there  must  be  some  difference 
between  the  root  and  the  branches.  My  fathei''s  sin 
is  not  mine,  much  less  my  neighbour's :  "  The  son 
shall  not  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  father,"  Ezek. 
xviii.  20.  Unless  a  spotted  soul  could  blemish  the 
sacrament,  it  is  to  my  believing  heart  the  bread  of 
life.  The  church  of  Thyatira  had  many  blots,  yet 
the  Holy  Ghost  lays  on  them  none  other  burden  but 
this,  "That  which  ye  have  ah-eady  hold  fast  till  I 
come,"  Rev.  ii.  24,  25.  He  bids  them  not  leave  the 
church,  but  hold  fast  their  own. 

But  "  a  little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole  lump," 
1  Cor.  V.  6.  It  is  true,  by  the  infection  of  it ;  but  it 
only  sourcth  them  that  partake  it,  not  those  that  dis- 
like it.  Am  I  become  an  adulterer,  because  an 
adulterer  communicates  with  me  ?  Am  I  guilty  of 
excess,  because  he  that  was  yesterday  drunk,  to-day 
eats  with  me  soberly  ?  Charitv  would  think  that  no 
man  brings  his  sin  along  with  him  to  the  sacrament ; 
but  rather,  hath  formerly  exonerated  his  soul  by  re- 
pentance. While  we  dislike,  resist,  reprove,  and 
mourn  for  it,  it  cannot  be  ours.  The  Corinthians 
had  these  love-feasts,  and  in  them  gross  and  sinful 
disorders  ;  yet  Paul  doth  not  say.  Abstain  from  the 
sacrament  till  they  be  reformed.  '  No,  he  corrects  the 
abuse,  but  he  commands  the  act :  That  you  come  to- 
gether for  the  worse,  I  praise  you  not ;  but  that  you 
come  together,  I  praise  you.  God  hath  commanded 
us  to  hear  and  receive  ;  where  did  he  ever  say.  Ex- 
cept you  must  come  among  sinners  ?  Their  unclean- 
ness  can  no  more  defile  us,  than  our  holiness  can 
excuse  them.  We  are  invited  to  a  feast ;  if  but  a  nap- 
kin or  a  trencher  be  misplaced,  or  a  dish  ill  carved, 
we  lly  off  from  the  table  in  a  fume,  and  never  stay  to 
thank  our  host.  Oh  that  men  would  be  but  sober, 
and  either  less  curious  or  more  charitable ! 

9.  As  all  sins  are  spots,  so  some  have  a  more  spe- 
cial resemblance,  as  carrying  in  them  a  natural  poi- 
son and  filthincss.  Such  particular  instances  we  find 
jn  the  Scriptures,  wherein  God  discovered  the  spots 


in  their  consciences,  by  sticking  spots  on  their  bo- 
dies. The  Egyptians  and  magicians  contest  with 
Moses,  and  are  struck  with  a  scab  on  their  faces, 
Exod.  ix.  11.  It  is  against  men's  lusts  that  we  fight, 
and  for  their  lusts  they  contend  against  us ;  spots 
they  would  defend,  and  therefore  God  lays  on  them 
such  spots  from  which  they  shall  not  defend  them- 
selves. I  never  knew  men  oppose  God's  messengers, 
but  once  before  their  death  tney  complained  of  their 
gettings.  Miriam's  foul  tongue  is  punished  with  a 
foul  face.  Numb.  xii.  10.  She  would  have  been  as 
glorious  as  her  brother  Moses  ;  now  every  Israelite 
sees  his  face  glorious,  hers  leprous.  The  venom  of 
her  tongue  would  have  eaten  into  the  reputation  of 
her  prince,  therefore  the  venom  of  leprosy  eats  into 
her  flesh.  Both  Moses  and  Miriam  had  need  of  veils, 
the  one  to  shadow  his  glory,  the  other  to  hide  her 
deformity.  And  indeed,  deformity  is  the  fit  cure  of 
pride :  she  scorned  Zipporah  the  Midianite  for  not 
being  so  fair  as  herself,  now  the  Midianite  will  not 
change  complexions  with  her.  Pride  and  envy  are 
two  fatal  spots,  they  seldom  escape  infamy  ;  the  Di- 
vine justice  will  cast  filth  in  their  faces.  Let  them 
that  be  proud  because  they  are  well-favoured,  think 
on  Miriam  :  the  beauty  that  is  held  with  affectation, 
shall  perish  with  contempt :  God  hath  spots  for  the 
proudest  face. 

Of  this  cup  drank  Gehazi ;  seeing  he  would  needs 
take  part  of  Naaman's  money,  he  shall  take  part 
with  him  in  his  leprosy,  2  Kings  v.  27.  These  were 
heavy  talents  for  Gehazi ;  he  had  far  better  have  kept 
a  light  purse  and  a  homely  coat,  with  a  sound  body 
and  a  clean  soul.  The  talents  were  never  heavy  till 
now ;  two  of  Naaman's  servants  bore  them  for  him 
before,  now  Gehazi  must  bear  them  himself  alone. 
He  desired  a  load  of  treasure,  and  he  hath  loaded  him- 
self with  a  curse:  he  would  have  two  suits,  and  he 
hath  got  a  third  to  boot;  one  more  than  he  looked 
for,  an  unchangeable  suit ;  that  shall  last  as  long  as 
his  skin,  that  shall  clothe  him  with  shame,  and  be 
ever  loathsomely  white,  noisomely  unclean.  The  sins 
of  Gehazi  were  covetousness,  fraud,  sacrilege  ;  and 
all  passengers  shall  read  these  in  leprous  charac- 
ters. What  be  more  truly  the  sins  of  this  city,  than 
these  three  of  Gehazi  ?  Sacrilege,  in  which  it  hath 
justified  all  the  world:  covetousness  in  our  hearts, 
fraud  in  our  hands,  who  complains  not  of?  These 
be  the  spots  of  our  souls ;  and  hath  not  God  answered 
them  all,  over  and  over  again,  with  spots  on  our 
bodies  ?  Have  we  not  been  plagued  for  these  inju- 
ries, with  stinging  leprosies  ?  Have  our  own  persons 
only  bore  the  punishment  ?  No,  but  as  Gehazi's 
sin  was  not  only  read  in  his  flesh,  but  in  his  pos- 
terity's; so  even  the  children  have  drunk  of  the 
fathers'  cup. 

Lastly,  for  application  :  our  land  is  too  full  of  these 
spots ;  it  is  more  populous  of  blemishes  than  of  in- 
habitants. There  is  a  tale  of  St.  Bridget,  that  she 
heard  the  blessed  Virgin  saying  to  her  Son,  Rome  is 
a  fruitful  land :  to  whom  he  answered.  It  is  so  indeed, 
only  fruitful  of  tares.  (Catal.  Test.  Verit.  torn.  ii.  pag. 
800.)  If  a  man  were  in  Tartan',  he  might  see  abund- 
ance of  men,  but  all  black-a-moors :  we  have  store 
of  Christians,  but  a  greater  number  of  them  be  spot- 
ted Christians  ;  yea,  not  a  few  be  rather  spots  tiian 
Christians.  Our  sins  multiply  faster  than  our  people. 
Oh  that  there  were  any  comparison  between  their 
numbers !  for  one  man  hath  a  great  number  of  sins. 
We  had  but  some  families  of  papists  ;  now  they  talk 
of  whole  colonics,  streets,  and  lanes,  and  parishes  of 
the  brood  of  that  spotted  harlot.  Drunkards  were  as 
rare  as  wolves,  now  they  are  as  common  as  hogs. 
Harlots  were  like  owls,  only  night-birds;  now  they 
keep  open  house,  pay  scot  and  lot  with  their  honest 


Vkr.  13. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


469 


neighbours.  With  spotted  lives  wc  profess  that  un- 
sjiottud  Lamb. 

We  know  there  is  a  spotted  fever  that  rageth  and 
rangeth  among  us,  (Ann.  16'24,)  in  which  we  may 
read  our  spotted  courses.  How  justly  doth  God  re- 
taliate to  us  our  sins ;  spot  for  spot,  blemish  for 
blemish ;  for  the  hidden  spots  of  our  souls,  these  visi- 
ble spots  on  our  bodies  !  I  do  not  censure  the  per- 
sons sick  of  that  disease ;  God  forbid  :  there  be 
greater  sinners  that  escape  than  some  that  suffer.  A 
good  man  may  die  of  that  plague  which  was  bred  by 
others'  sins.  Of  a  poisoned  fountain  in  the  way,  the 
innocent  passenger  may  miscany  as  well  as  the  guilty, 
the  true  man  as  the  thief.  Yet  from  a  general  visitation 
ve  may  gather  a  general  instruction.  By  a  fever  that 
discovers  itself  in  spots,  God  punisheth  our  undis- 
covered sins;  thus  he  cries  quittance  with  us.  The 
spots  declare  the  sickness  to  be  a  malignant  and  pes- 
tilential disease ;  and  by  these  tokens  the  physicians 
see  more  clearly  what  to  do.  You  will  say.  There  is 
comfort  in  that :  Vmt  most  commonly  all  they  can  do 
comes  to  nothing;  there  is  no  comfort  in  that.  It  is 
some  benefit  for  a  man  to  know  his  enemy ;  but 
withal  to  know  him  too  hard  for  him,  is  small  bene- 
fit. It  is  a  poor  step  toward  recovery,  when  our  spots 
do  only  tell  us  that  we  are  worse  than  we  thought 
ourselves.  Indeed  it  is  well,  if  God's  marks  upon  us 
can  be  our  marks  to  God,  and  like  symptoms  of  death 
direct  us  to  the  Fountain  of  life;  if  this  judgment 
can  make  way  for  mercy,  as  a  strong  wind  clears  the 
air  for  the  sunshine.  To  say,  the  liousc  is  visited, 
God's  tokens  and  marks  be  there,  the  sjiots  are  upon 
them,  keeps  off  friends ;  for  few  men  dare  visit  where 
God  hath  visited.  But  though  they  dare  not  come, 
under  pretence  of  being  pcstiducts  to  others,  yet  the 
Lord  mils  not  to  visit  his  with  compassion,  as  with 
affliction.  Many  a  man  hath  been  saved  that  had 
God's  marks  upon  him;  but  he  is  a  wanderer,  in  a 
woeful  state,  upon  whom  God  hath  not  set  his  marks. 
Paul  profcsseth  that  he  bore  about  in  his  body  the 
marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  Gal.  vi.  17,  and  this  was 
his  joy.  David  hath  it.  Show  some  good  token  on 
me  for  good,  Psal.  Ixxxvi.  17.  There  is  then  a  token 
for  good,  a  token  of  goodness ;  and  the  heat  of  a 
fever  working  on  the  body  may  be  but  the  chafing  of 
the  wax,  that  God  may  set  the  seal  of  salvation  upon 
it.  Howsoever,  let  us  pray  for  them  that  have  these 
spots  on  their  bodies,  God  comfort  them ;  and  no  less 
heartily  for  ourselves  that  have  these  spots  on  our 
souls,  God  amend  us. 

Uses.  I.  Learn  to  sec  thy  spots.  Many  have  un- 
known sins,  as  a  man  may  have  a  mole  on  his  back, 
and  himself  never  know  it.  Lord,  cleanse  me  from 
my  secret  faults,  Psal.  xix.  12.  But  have  we  not 
spots  whereof  we  are  not  ignorant?  In  diseases, 
sometimes  nature  is  strgng  enough  to  put  forth  spots, 
and  there  she  cries  to  us  by  these  outward  declara- 
tions, that  we  are  sick ;  sometimes  she  cannot  do  it 
but  by  the  force  of  cordials.  Sometimes  conscience 
of  herself  shows  us  our  sins  ;  sometimes  she  cannot 
but  by  medicines,  arguments  that  convince  us  out  of 
the  holy  word.  Some  can  see,  and  will  not,  as  Ba- 
laam; some  would  see,  and  cannot,  as  the  eunuch: 
some  neither  will  nor  can,  as  Pharaoh ;  some  both 
can  and  will,  as  David.  We  may  know  the  malice 
of  a  man  by  his  confession,  yet  we  do  not  know  whe- 
ther there  be  not  as  much  malice  remaining  in  him 
after  his  confession;  we  are  sure  of  his  hatred,  not 
of  his  repentance.  l^Iany  a  one  knows  his  fault,  yet 
loves  it.  It  is  poor  comfort  to  know  much  danger, 
and  not  to  know  that  that  is  the  worst.  A  woman 
is  eased  by  being  delivered,  and  she  forgets  her  pains 
at  the  birth  of  a  son ;  but  could  she  read  his  future 
Story,  how  ill  a  man,  perhaps  how  ill  a  son,  he  would 


prove,  I  doubt  whether  the  ease  of  her  body  would 
recompence  the  grief  of  her  mind.  What  am  I  the 
better  to  know  my  calamity,  if  I  know  not  the  way 
to  comfort  ?  Such  a  knowledge  would  but  increase 
sorrow,  and  be  a  purchase  clogged  with  more  encum- 
brances. 

Yet  is  it  the  first  degree  toward  recovery,  to  see 
our  spots,  though  upon  the  sight  we  have  a  touch  of 
despair.  There  be  some  virtues  that  cannot  be  exer- 
cised but  in  trouble.  We  must  be  poor  and  want, 
before  we  can  exercise  the  virtue  of  thankfulness  ; 
we  must  be  miserable  and  in  anguish,  before  we  can 
exercise  the  virtue  of  patience ;  so  we  must  be  sin- 
ners and  have  spots,  yea,  we  must  see  those  spots, 
and  feel  those  sins,  before  we  can  exercise  the  grace 
of  repentance.  If  we  did  not  crj-,  we  should  die, 
and  by  our  crying  we  come  to  live  :  though  we  dig 
deep,  yet  the  gold  is  worth  our  labour.  What  must 
we  do  next  ? 

2.  Confess  these  spots.  Our  corporal  blemishes 
we  hide  from  men's  sight,  and  that  with  modesty  : 
none  but  beggars  expose  their  sores,  to  move  com- 
passion. And  we  do  not  amiss  to  hide  our  infirmities 
also  from  public  view ;  seeing  every  sin  doubles  its 
own  malignity  by  being  ofl'ensive.  But  if  we  hide 
our  spots  from  God,  we  and  our  spots  shall  perish 
together.  The  spots  that  God  hatcth,  are  the  spots 
that  man  hidcth.  He  that  carveth  a  piece  of  wood, 
covers  the  spots,  Wisd.  xiii.  14;  as  the  painter  hid 
the  scar  in  Agamemnon's  face :  and  many  living 
pieces  are  painted  for  the  same  purpose.  Yea,  there 
be  some  that  study  to  be  spotted;  as  if  they  thought 
themselves  then  fairest  when  they  are  foulest.  Jacob 
practised  an  invention  to  procure  spots  on  his  sheep  ; 
and  these  invent,  meditate,  project  how  to  procure 
spots  in  their  souls.  And  yet  when  they  have  them, 
they  are  as  careful  to  hide  them ;  if  God  can  find 
them,  so  it  is ;  he  shall  not  know  it  from  their  mouth. 
These  are  idolaters  of  their  own  stains,  in  love  with 
their  own  foulnesses,  and  conceal  them  as  Rachel 
did  her  father's  gods.  But  "  he  that  covereth  his 
sins  shall  not  prosper,"  Prov.  xxviii.  13.  There  is  a 
voluntary  confession,  the  language  of  a  tender  con- 
science ;  and  there  is  a  confession  upon  the  rack, 
when  the  smart  of  our  sides  opens  our  lips.  Jacob 
sought  to  bring  spots  on  his  lambs,  and  God  did 
prosper  his  rods  :  when  affliction  can  bring  us  to  con- 
fess our  spots,  then  God  doth  prosper  his  own  rods. 
Until  we  tell  the  heavenly  Physician  our  spots,  he 
applies  no  medicine  ;  unless  we  call  that  a  medicine, 
which  drives  us  to  tell  them.  But  without  discovery 
of  our  disease,  how  should  there  be  a  recoveiy  of  our 
health  ?  In  the  courts  of  human  justice  the  safest 
plea  is,  Not  guilty;  but  in  the  court  of  conscience. 
Guilty  :  Lord,  have  mercy  on  me  a  sinner. 

3.  It  is  madness  to  confess  ourselves  foul,  and  not 
to  wash  ;  therefore  let  us  endeavour  our  own  cleans- 
ing :  that  as  our  apostacy  hath  blurred  our  pureness, 
so  our  renovation  may  put  out  our  apostacy ;  and  as 
sin  defiled  nature,  so  grace  may  destroy  sin.  In  our 
making  there  was  work  for  God  only ;  in  our  mar- 
ring there  was  work  for  ourselves  only;  in  our  re- 
storing there  is  work  for  God  and  ourselves  together. 
To  do  this,  sprinkling  will  not  serve  :  so  Agrippa 
stood  within  the  shower  of  Christianity,  and  had 
some  aspersions  of  it ;  he  was  almost  persuaded  to 
be  a  Christian:  as  the  dew  stands  in  drops  on  the 
blasted  grass.  If  sprinkling  could  make  a  cloth 
clean,  we  should  never  stand  to  wash  it.  Nor  is 
dipping  sutlicient :  so  Nicodemus  had  an  immersion 
in  the  river  of  grace ;  but  Christ  tells  him.  Except 
he  "  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,"  John  iii.  5  :  he  must 
have  a  better  scouring  ere  he  get  in.    Some  look 


470 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


into  the  church,  but  have  not  the  power  to  tarry  ; 
here  is  a  dip  and  away.  Nor  will  half-washine  do 
it,  or  washing  by  halves  ;  like  Ephraim's  cake,  half- 
turned,  dough-baked,  Hos.  vii.  8.  Men  may  be  wash- 
ed, and  not  clean.  Hypocrites  deceive  many,  but 
none  so  much  as  themselves.  Indeed  dipping  or 
sprinkling  shall  be  effectual,  when  the  Spirit  of  God 
applies  it.  Once  dipping  in  the  pool  of  Bethesda 
cured,  John  v.  4 ;  and  the  blood  of  the  new  covenant 
is  called  "  the  blood  of  sprinkling,"  Heb.  xii.  24. 
"  I  will  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye  shall 
be  clean,"  Ezek.  xxxvi.  25.  It  is  no  more  with  God, 
but  as  the  prophet  said  to  Naaman,  "  Wash,  and  be 
clean,"  2  Kings  v.  13.  But  for  us,  when  we  put  our 
souls  to  washing,  let  us  be  sure  there  is  water  enough  ; 
as  John  baptized  in  Enon,  "  because  there  was  mucli 
water,"  John  iii.  23.  Our  fonts  are  made  large 
enough  to  dip  the  infant,  but  charity  dispenseth  with 
ceremony.  Let  thine  eyes  gush  out  a  stream  of  peni- 
tent tears,  to  bathe  and  purge  thy  conscience  from 
these  spots.  I  wash  my  bed,  and  water  my  couch 
with  my  tears,  saith  David,  Psal.  vi.  6 ;  tears  enough 
to  run  down  from  his  bed  to  his  couch.  Many  guests 
were  invited  to  that  great  supper,  Luke  xiv.  22,  yet 
there  was  room :  he  sends  for  more,  takes  them  up 
from  the  hedges  and  highways,  and  rests  not  bidding 
till  the  rooms  were  full.  So  invite  graces  to  thy  soul;  bid 
repentance,  a  heart-easing  guest ;  bid  faith,  a  cheerful 
guest;  humility,  charity,  patience,  zeal,  till  thy  house 
be  filled.  Be  not  washed  without  and  foul  within :  hy- 
pocrites are  but  painted  tombs;  look  on  them,  they 
please  your  eyes ;  look  into  them,  they  offend  your 
nostrils.  Some  have  washed  their  faces,  not  their 
hands ;  so  Judas's  face  kisseth  Christ,  but  his  foul  hand 
betrays  him.  Some  have  washed  their  hands,  not  their 
faces ;  so  Pilate  washed  his  hands,  yet  with  his  mouth 
condemned  the  innocent.  Some  have  washed  their 
eyes,  not  their  ears ;  they  presume  to  understand  so 
much  of  their  own  judgments,  that  they  scorn  to  hear 
any  preacher.  Some  have  washed  their  ears,  not  their 
eyes  ;  they  come  to  hear,  but  their  eyes  are  full  of 
uncleaimess.  Some  have  washed  only  one  side ; 
like  plaices,  you  see  a  white  side,  turn  them  over, 
and  they  show  you  the  black.  Others  have  washed 
all  but  their  feet ;  and  those,  for  place  and  motion, 
are  foul  still.  But  let  us  leave  no  part  unwashed  on 
earth,  as  we  desire  that  no  part  should  be  excluded 
from  heaven. 

4.  To  conclude,  there  is  only  one  fountain  to  purge 
all  these  spots,  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  For  this  pur- 
pose was  Christ  baptized,  even  to  wash  us.  There 
was  ill  him  neither  foreskin  of  corruption,  to  need 
the  knife,  nor  filthiness,  to  need  the  water :  he  came 
not  to  be  his  own  Saviour,  but  ours.  We  were  all 
uncleanness ;  he  would  therefore  have  that  done  to 
his  most  pure  body,  which  might  be  of  force  to  cleanse 
our  most  impure  souls.  His  baptism  gives  virtue  to 
ours;  yea,  it  doth  not  only  wash  the  souls  of  men, 
but  it  washeth  that  very  water  whereby  we  are 
washed.  By  that  act  the  water  became  clean  and 
holy,  and  can  both  cleanse  and  hallow  us.  If  the 
handkerchiefs  that  touched  the  apostle  had  power 
of  euro,  how  much  more  that  water  which  the  sacred 
body  of  Clirist  touched  !  His  first  baptizing  was  with 
water,  his  last  with  blood;  both  of  them  wash  the 
world  from  their  sins.  If  we  manifest  them  to  him  by 
a  humble  confession,  he  will  take  them  from  us  to 
himself  by  a  merciful  translation.  The  spots  of  every 
believer  belong  to  the  body  of  his  Saviour ;  for  this 
purpose  he  came  to  the  earth,  even  to  assume  them. 
So  that  when  we  deplore  our  spots,  we  do  but  present 
hijn  with  his  own  ;  and  till  we  do  so,  we  withhold 
his  right.  He  doth  challenge  the  sins  of  all  humble 
penitents  to  be  his  by  imputation,  and  by  imputation 


we  challenge  in  faith  his  righteousness  to  be  ours. 
O  Christ,  take  from  us  that  foulness  of  our  own, 
which  would  condemn  us  ;  and  give  us  that  holiness 
of  thine,  which  is  only  able  to  save  us.     Amen. 

"  Sporting  themselves  with  their  deceivings." 
These  words  asunder  describe  to  us  a  varlet  and  a  fool, 
and  both  together  make  up  a  devil.  To  sin  in  deceiving 
is  the  part  of  a  lewd  wit ;  to  make  sport  with  sinning, 
is  the  part  of  a  foolish  heart.  It  is  easy  to  deceive, 
to  deceive  a  friend,  to  deceive  under  the  impression 
of  friendship  ;  to  make  this  a  sport,  is  most  wicked. 
We  have  an  Ahithophel  in  the  one,  a  Hanun  in  the 
other,  a  Belial  in  both.  First,  consider  them  asunder. 

"  Their  deceivings."  He  that  is  resolved  to  make 
no  matter  of  his  conscience,  may  easily  find  matter 
enough  for  his  deceiving.  But  is  there  no  deceit 
justifiable  ?  Be  there  not  pious  frauds,  compensative 
sins;  as  when  a  virgin  is  saved  from  ravishment,  a 
man  from  murder,  by  a  lie  ?  There  is  no  intentional 
good  can  bear  out  a  formal  evil.  I  know  it  is  good 
to  prevent  sin,  but  not  to  prevent  it  with  sin.  The 
Egyptian  midwives  were  taught  by  the  fear  of  God 
to  disobey  that  bloody  command :  to  say,  they  had 
warrant  for  so  foul  a  deed,  they  knew  would  be  no 
excuse.  God  had  said  to  their  hearts,  "  Thou  shall 
not  kill  :"  this  voice  was  louder  than  Pharaoh's. 
Thus  far  1  commend  their  obedience  in  disobeying  ; 
but  to  help  themselves  with  a  lie,  I  dare  not  com- 
mend their  excuse.  In  not  killing,  they  feared  God; 
in  dissembling,  they  feared  Pharaoh.  There  was 
weakness  in  their  pretence,  goodness  in  their  prac- 
tice. Yet  God  blessed  them,  and  rewards  with  good 
their  veiy  not  doing  of  evil.  But  here,  let  not  men 
lay  the  thanks  upon  the  sin  which  is  due  to  the  vir- 
tue. Let  us  ascribe  things  to  their  right  causes ; 
their  mercy  was  recompensed,  their  lie  or  deceiving 
was  but  pardoned.  Michal  delivered  David  tlu-ougn 
a  window ;  tlius  far  she  did  like  David's  wife.  Then 
answered  her  father,  that  he  threatened  to  kill  her, 
if  she  freed  him  not,  1  Sam.  xix.  17  ;  here  she  began 
to  be  Saul's  daughter.  In  keeping  him  from  the 
guilt  of  innocent  blood,  she  did  well ;  but  not  in 
closing  it  up  with  a  lie.  But  as  she  loved  her  hus- 
band Iietter  than  her  father,  so  she  loved  herself 
better  than  her  husband.  She  saved  her  husband 
by  a  wile,  and  now  she  saves  herself  by  a  lie.  Thus 
slie  loseth  half  the  thanks  of  her  good  service,  by 
devising  a  slander  of  her  husband,  to  quit  herself, 
and  delude  her  father. 

Thus  David  himself  deceived  Ahimelech,  1  Sam. 
xxi.  2 :  he  that  overcame  the  bear,  lion,  giant,  is 
overcome  with  fear.  Long  had  he  gone  upright,  yet 
now  begins  to  halt  with  the  priest  of  God,  and  draws 
from  him  by  a  falsehood  that  favour  that  shall  cost 
him  his  life.  Oh  what  would  he  have  given  after- 
wards to  redeem  this  oversight !  Thus  to  Achish  he 
feigned  himself  mad,  and  thought  it  the  best  use  of 
his  reason  to  dissemble  the  loss  of  the  use  of  his  rea- 
son. I  find  such  acts  of  deception  in  the  saints,  I  find 
infirmity  in  those  acts,  but  malice,  and  avarice,  and 
dishonest  fraud,  I  find  not. 

Wicked  deceit  is  another  thing ;  that  beguiles  men 
of  what  they  have,  with  a  vain  hope  of  that  they 
never  shall  liave.  When  the  simple  go  to  the  mar- 
ket, the  subtle  then  get  money.  Deceit  is  ever  bad 
enough,  but  then  worse  when  it  is  disguised  with  an 
oath.  They  that  cannot  tell  how  to  begin  praying, 
know  not  when  to  make  an  end  of  swearing.  The 
Jews  durst  scarce  mention  the  name  of  God  in  a 
truth,  oiu-  deceivers  stick  not  to  call  it  into  a  false- 
hood. Some  think  that  a\t)6iia  (truth)  comes  of 
\av9avu,  (to  lie  hid,)  for  truth  lies  hidden;  and  de- 
ceivers endeavour  all  possible  moans  to  keep  it  hid- 
den still.     Like  Potipliar's  wife,  they  have  only  the 


Ver.   13. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


471 


garment  of  an  honest  man,  to  prove  their  dishonest 
cause.  Whosoever  devised  the  sentence,  Rome  takes 
up  the  practice.  They  have  pictures  and  pageants 
to  deceive  some,  formal  gravity  to  deceive  others, 
false  oaths  to  deceive  all.  There  is  a  generation  of 
deceivers,  flatterers ;  whose  profession  is  to  catch  dot- 
terels :  these  by  maintaining  men's  works,  work  out 
their  own  maintenance:  the  devil's  special  agents, 
that  deform  men  I>y  commending  their  deformities. 
Ravens  feed  but  upon  dead  carcasses,  these  upon  living 
souls.  Of  all  wild  beasts,  the  tyrant  is  the  worst ;  of  all 
tame  beasts,  the  flatterer.  The  tradesman  deceives  me 
of  my  money,  but  the  flatterer  cheats  me  of  my  virtue, 
yea,  of  my  salvation.  They  are  summer  birds,  they 
never  sing  in  winter :  take  off  the  idol,  gold,  they 
kick  the  ass  with  their  heels,  instead  of  bending  their 
knees.  Vermin  run  not  away  faster  from  a  house  on 
fire,  than  they  from  poverty.  Alexander  Severus 
being  certified  how  one  Turinus,  under  colour  and 
pretence  of  his  interest  with  the  emperor,  had  abused 
the  people,  promising  things  he  never  performed  ; 
fastened  him  to  a  stake  in  the  market-place,  and 
smothered  him  to  death  with  smoke  ;  the  crier  pro- 
claiming, Fumo  pereat,  qui  f'limum  vendidit ;  i.  e.  Let 
him  die  by  smoke,  who  sold  smoke.  They  that  de- 
ceive men  of  their  estates  by  adulterate  wares  or  false 
promises,  are  the  brokers  of  falsehood ;  but  they  that 
obtrude  popish  trash  instead  of  God's  truth,  and  de- 
ceive men's  consciences,  are  the  special  agents  of 
antichrist.  The  former  have  lost  all  worth  of 
trust ;  but  from  the  other,  the  wisdom  of  heaven  de- 
liver us. 

"  Sporting  themselves."  It  is  hard  when  the  fool 
can  find  no  bauble  to  play  withal,  but  sin  ;  easting 
firebrands,  and  arrows,  and  death,  and  then  jeers  it, 
"  Am  not  I  in  sport  ?  "  Prov.  xxvi.  19.  If  Samson 
fire  the  shocks  of  the  Philistines,  Judg.  xv.  5,  and 
Absalom  Joab's  barley-fields,  2  Sam.  xiv.  .30,  is  this 
in  sport  ?  We  read,  2  Sam.  ii.  14,  both  the  com- 
manders were  cruel,  both  so  inured  to  blood,  that 
they  make  but  a  sport  of  killing.  Custom  brings  sin 
to  be  so  familiar,  that  the  horror  of  it  is  turned  into 
pleasure,  and  homicide  is  held  but  a  sport.  Cocks 
indeed,  and  dogs,  often  fight  and  tear  one  another, 
to  make  men  sport;  but  that  men  should  bruise  one 
another  to  make  sport  for  their  ow^n  kind,  is  no 
Christian,  if  it  could  be  a  rational  course.  Ham  de- 
rides his  father's  nakedness :  it  should  have  been  his 
sorrow,  he  makes  it  his  sport.  It  is  ill  for  a  man  to 
make  himself  merry  witn  that  which  angers  God. 
While  the  Philistines  will  find  nothing  to  play  upon 
but  Samson,  Samson  finds  nothing  to  revenge  him- 
self upon  but  the  Philistines.  When  the  wicked 
laugh  at  sins  with  delight,  God  laughs  at  them,  but 
with  scorn.  Yea,  such  sport  on  earth,  is  the  only 
sport  for  the  fiends  in  hell.  While  men  be  ham- 
mering sin,  the  tempter  stands  at  their  elbow  ;  while 
they  are  acting  sin,  he  sits  in  their  bosom ;  all  this 
wliile  he  is  a  working;  but  when  they  have  done 
it,  and  make  a  sport  of  it,  the  devil  himself  makes 
holiday.  The  common  pretence  for  the  foulest 
abuses,  is  but  sport.  The  sacred  word  of  God  is  pro- 
faned: tax  the  violaters  of  that  majesty;  alas,  it 
was  but  in  jest.  Business  of  state  may  not  be  made 
the  business  of  the  stage  ;  and  shall  that  which  God 
prizeth  like  himself,  be  sacrilegiously  turned  to  a 
jest  ?  More  safely  may  the  satyr  play  with  the  fire, 
or  the  fly  with  the  candle.  O  charm  your  mouths 
from  jesting  with  that  which  is  given  to  save  your 
souls.  No  fugitive  abroad  docs  so  much  harm,  as 
a  detracter  or  jeerer  at  home.  They  that  write  of 
creatures  naturally  disposed  to  the  ruin  of  man,  do 
as  well  mention  the  Ilea  as  the  viper ;  because 
though  the  flea  cannot  kill,  yet  it  doth  what  harm  it 


can :  so  these  licentious  jesters  utter  all  the  venom 
they  have. 

If  sin  were  rightly  considered,  it  were  more  worthy 
our  tears  than  our  sport ;  the  fool  laughs  at  it,  but 
the  saint  weeps  for  it.  David  wept  buckets  of  tears 
for  his  own  sins,  but  whole  rivers  for  others.  The 
world  is  like  Jonah ;  for  him  was  the  storm  raised, 
yet  he  only  was  asleep :  godly  mourners  are  like  the 
mariners,  crying  to  God  for  mercy.  Jerusalem  made 
a  sport  of  Christ,  Christ  wept  over  Jerusalem.  If  we 
weep  not  for  the  sins  of  the  land,  nobody  else  will : 
sinners  themselves  will  not  weep ;  they  spend  the 
evening  in  jollity,  go  to  bed  in  security,  and  rise 
again  without  any  further  repentance,  than  that  they 
call  a  cup  of  repentance,  small  drink  to  cool  their 
intemperate  heat.  For  their  sakes  judgments  are 
upon  us,  and  yet  they  of  all  men  are  least  sensible 
of  them.  The  fire  of  wrath  is  kindled,  and  they  do 
but  warm  themselves  at  the  flame.  Who  must  come 
with  pails  of  water  in  this  combustion,  but  they  that 
mourn  in  Zion,  and  for  Zion  ?  Turn  to  me,  saith 
the  Lord,  with  weeping,  Joel  ii.  12 ;  where  did  he 
ever  allow  us  to  come  laughing  ?  A  horrible  incest 
was  committed  among  the  Corinthians,  "  And  ye," 
saith  Paul,  "  are  puffed  up,  and  have  not  rather 
mourned,"  1  Cor.  v.  2.  Alas,  that  men  should  look 
merrily  on  that  sin,  which  heaven  beholds  mth  sore 
eyes  !  Though  Christ  forbade  the  daughters  of  Je- 
rusalem to  weep  for  him,  who  was  holy ;  yet  he 
commanded  them  to  weep  for  themselves,  who  were 
sinners,  Luke  xxiii.  28.  He  that  knew  what  sin 
was,  and  felt  it  so  sharply,  is  not  reported  ever  to 
have  laughed ;  often  you  have  him  weeping,  the 
chief  mourner.  When  he  came  to  Jerusalem  in 
triumph,  yet  he  "  wept  over  it,"  Luke  xix.  41. 
Neither  the  solemnity  of  time,  nor  joy  of  the  peo- 
ple, nor  those  loud  acclamations,  could  either  drown 
his  voice,  but  still  he  lifted  it  up  ;  nor  dry  his  eyes, 
but  still  he  w-epl.  If  we  truly  knew  our  sins,  our 
sport  would  be  turned  into  tears  ;  yea,  and  the  more 
we  weep,  the  better  we  know  our  sins.  As  Solomon 
said,  "  He  that  increaseth  knowledge  increaseth  sor- 
row," Eccl.  i.  18 ;  so  he  that  increaseth  sorrow  in- 
creaseth his  knowledge.  A  silver  penny  in  the 
bottom  of  a  bason  of  water  seems  as  big  as  a  shilling; 
it  seemeth  so,  it  is  not  so.  But  our  sins  steeped  in 
tears  seem  as  indeed  they  are ;  yea,  indeed  they  are 
greater  than  they  can  seem.  As  wine  dro^\Tis  cares, 
so  doth  sport  sins ;  they  are  little,  easy,  light,  and 
slight  to  those  that  are  merry  with  them ;  but  when, 
instead  of  sport  in  our  deceivings,  we  begin  to  bleed 
for  that  sport,  then  the  remembrance  of  them  is 
grievous  unto  us,  the  burden  of  them  is  intolerable. 
Now  we  that  have  turned  our  grace  into  sin,  and  our 
sin  into  sport,  let  us  turn  our  sport  into  sorrow,  that 
God  may  turn  our  sorrow  into  joy. 

Thus  we  have  considered  them  asunder,  now  both 
togither;  where  we  have  two  principal  observations: 
\.k\\  deceit  is  sinful.  2.  Religious  deceit  is  in- 
tolerable. 

1.  Fraud  is  no  laughing  matter,  and  he  that  de- 
ceives another  doth  much  more  deceive  himself ;  nor 
could  he  think  it  a  sport,  did  he  foresee  who  should 
have  the  w-orst  in  the  end.  Show  me  that  false- 
hearted politician,  that  hath  not  consulted  shame  to 
his  own  house.  Look  upon  Ahithophel,  whose  coun- 
sel was  as  the  oracle  of  God ;  see  him  advising  Absa- 
lom to  abuse  his  father's  concubines,  2  Sam.  xvi.  21. 
What  a  hellish  depth  was  in  the  advice  of  that 
Israelitish  Machiavcl !  If  Absalom  be  a  traitor,  yet 
he  is  a  son;  nature  may  return  to  itself;  Absalom 
may  relent,  David  may  remit,  what  then  shall  be- 
come of  us  ?  Therefore  he  finds  him  out  an  act  in- 
capable  of  forgiveness,   to   secure   the   conspiracy. 


472 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


Who  would  think  that  so  lewd  a  man  had  ever  sat 
at  King  David's  council-table  ?  Yet  was  he  wise 
enough  to  advise  others,  not  to  be  good  to  himself. 
Policy  and  grace  have  one  Author,  but  they  do  not 
always  go  upon  one  errand,  nor  to  one  person. 
David  fails  to  his  prayers,  Lord,  turn  the  wisdom  of 
Aliithophel  into  foolishness ;  and  lo,  one  short  ejacu- 
lation of  innocency  shall  overturn  this  deep  found- 
ation of  policy.  God  hath  furnished  his  creatures 
with  power  to  war,  even  against  himself;  but  he  is 
wise  enough  to  confound  their  devices ;  and  while  they 
reap  shame  by  the  abuse,  he  will  have  honour  by 
the  gift.  Vainly  doth  Ahithophel  hope  to  strengthen 
evil  with  worse,  to  make  treason  fortunate  by  incest. 
He  was  one  of  David's  deepest  counsellors,  yet  one 
of  David's  shallowest  fools,  that  said  in  his  heart, 
"  There  is  no  God."  Now  what  was  the  success  ? 
he  meant  to  deceive  David,  he  shall  deceive  himself. 
He  strove  for  the  highest  renown  of  wisdom,  and 
runs  into  the  grossest  extremity  of  madness.  Hu- 
shai's  counsel  is  allowed  for  better;  and  now  Ahitho- 
phel is  beaten  at  his  own  weapon,  he  can  live  no 
longer.  He  goes  home  a  worse  ass  than  that  which 
earned  him,  and  puts  the  halter  about  his  own  neck. 
In  this  glass  let  politic  sinners  read  their  own  des- 
tiny ;  they  are  to  themselves  the  most  desperate 
fools.  If  the  Supreme  Judge  could  be  deceived, 
fraud  had  some  hope  ;  but  seeing  he  is  just,  it  makes 
its  own  mittimus  to  hell. 

Had  Judas  any  better  success  in  his  deceiving, 
that  betrayed  Clirist  with  a  kiss  ?  Luke  xxii.  48 
As  Augustine  saith,  The  war  begins  with  a  kiss,  and 
by  a  token  of  peace  the  sacrament  of  peace  is  broken. 
From  the  fairest  flower  of  courtesy,  this  spider  sucks 
the  deadliest  poison  of  treacherj'.  Joab's  kiss  was  a 
preface  to  a  stab,  2  Sam.  xx.  9 ;  and  Nero  kissed  his 
mother  even  when  he  meant  to  bathe  his  hands  in 
her  blood ;  and  Judas  hath  the  same  key  to  his  hor- 
rid treason.  It  is  bad  to  deceive  the  deceiver,  how- 
soever some  blanch  it :  for  another's  sin  may  hurt  us, 
it  is  our  own  sin  that  condemns  us ;  and  because 
another  man  would  do  me  a  mischief,  must  I  there- 
fore do  myself  one  ?  bum  myself  to  keep  him  from 
tlie  heat  of  the  fire  ?  But  Judas  thought  to  deceive 
him,  who  cannot  either  be  deceived  or  deceive,  that 
was  both  God  and  man :  a  man  most  innocent,  and 
therefore  would  not  deceive  ;  a  God  omniscient,  and 
therefore  would  not  be  deceived.  To  beguile  a  harm- 
less man,  was  doli  improbilas,  i.  e.  dishonesty  of  de- 
ceit ;  but  to  offer  this  to  the  all-seeing  God,  was  doli 
impietoi,  i.  c.  impiety  of  deceit.  But  w  hat  was  the 
end  of  this  deceit  ?  he  redelivers  the  hire  of  his 
treachery-,  and  saves  the  hangman  a  labour,  by 
making  away  himself  Christ  was  well  acquainted 
with  such  deceivers :  "  Master,"  saith  a  Pharisee, 
"we  know  thou  art  true,"  Matt.  xxii.  16;  when  he 
could  have  silenced  him.  Hypocrite,  I  know  thou  art 
false.  Satan  is  that  old  deceiver ;  and  was  so  suc- 
cessful with  the  fust  Adam,  that  he  durst  set  upon 
the  Second.  He  saw  him  depend  upon  his  Father's 
])rovidence  in  the  matter  of  nourishment,  therefore 
tries  him  in  a  matter  of  miraculous  preservation  : 
Throw  thyself  down,  (S:c.  Matt.  iv.  C.  He  that  can 
sustain  thee  without  bread,  can  preser\e  thee  in  this 
precipice.  The  roof  of  the  temple  was  a  hundred 
and  thirty  cubits  high ;  this  was  a  pinnacle  above 
tile  roof  From  this  pyramid  the  cunning  sophister 
jiersuades  him  to  make  proof  of  his  Godhead,  by  the 
break-neck  of  his  manhood.  The  gloss  of  the  deceit 
was  to  show  a  miracle,  that  he  might  believe  him ; 
the  meaning  was  to  break  his  neck,  that  he  might 
laugh  at  him.  This  is  the  waji  to  proclaim  tin- 
Deity,  lo  get  credit  in  the  world ;  men's  eyes  shall 
teach  their  faith,  that  there  is  more  in  thee  than  a 


man  :  and  for  danger,  there  is  none ;  what  can  hurt 
the  Son  of  God  ?  Wherefore  serves  the  guard  of 
angels,  charged  with  thy  safety?  Thus  in  one  act 
thou  mayst  be  both  safe  and  famous  :  trusting  thy 
Father's  pro\-idence,  and  those  serviceable  spirits, 
cast  thyself  down.  How  strong  was  this  deceit,  if  it 
had  lighted  upon  a  son  of  Adam,  that  was  not  the 
Son  of  God ! 

2.  But  deceits  are  then  most  abominable,  when 
they  shroud  themselves  under  the  wing  of  religion; 
for  such  we  shall  prove  these.  There  is  no  such 
devil,  as  he  that  looks  like  an  angel.  Copper  would 
never  deceive  us,  if  it  had  not  the  tincture  of  gold. 
Thus  the  sons  of  Jacob  dealt  with  Hamor,  Gen. 
xxxiv.  13.  Revenge  is  their  meaning,  that  is  bad 
enough;  to  hide  their  cruelty  with  craft,  worse;  but 
to  hide  their  craft  with  religion,  worst  of  all.  Tb« 
smiling  malice  is  most  deadly ;  and  hatred  glossed 
with  dissimulation  discovers  itself  in  the  most  pro- 
digious mischief.  We  will  agree  with  you,  if  you 
will  be  circumcised.  Here  was  God  in  "the  mouth, 
in  the  heart  a  devil.  Never  was  any  project  so 
bloody,  as  that  which  is  coloured  with  religion.  The 
better  vice  shows,  the  worse  it  is ;  and  the  worse  it  is, 
the  better  it  desires  to  show.  A  sacrament  is  in- 
tended, not  to  the  good  of  the  soul,  but  to  the  mur- 
der of  the  body.  O  religious  deceit !  Did  the  sons 
of  Jacob  deceive  alone  ?  no,  they  dissemble  with 
Shechem,  and  Shechem  ivith  his  people ;  Shall  not 
their  wealth  be  ours  ?  ver.  23.  The  one  pretended 
religion,  and  meant  murder ;  the  other  pretended  pro- 
fit, and  meant  pleasure.  They  prevail  with  Shechem, 
and  Shechem  with  the  city.  The  conceit  of  com- 
modity is  a  powerful  oratory :  not  any  love  to  the 
sacrament,  no,  not  to  Shechem,  but  the  hope  of  gain, 
makes  them  prodigal  of  their  blood  in  so  painful  a 
condition :  they  are  content  to  smart,  so  tney  may 
gain.  AVhat  was  the  end  of  this  deceit  ?  They  re- 
ceive a  sacrament,  and  their  bane  withal ;  and  their 
first  drops  of  blood  are  a  preparative  to  the  whole 
stream.  Thus  they  are  paid  for  a  purpose  of  deceiv- 
ing. Do  the  other  escape  ?  no,  their  sin  lived  after 
the  city  was  spoiled.  It  was  a  horrible  impiety,  in- 
stead of  honouring  a  holy  sign,  to  take  advantage  by 
it.  How  did  those  deceived  Hivites  die  cursing  that 
sacrament  which  had  betrayed  them  !  even  their 
curses  were  the  others'  sins.  I  would  the  children 
of  Rome  were  like  the  children  of  Jacob  in  any  thing 
else  but  this  ;  but  in  tliis  only  they  are  like  them, 
and  in  nothing  else.  Did  they  not  eat  their  sacrament 
upon  a  bargain  of  blood  ?  Do  not  their  bloody  prac- 
lices  make  all  reasonable  souls  abhor  their  religion  ? 
Is  not  religion  their  pretence,  and  murder  their  end? 
Why  then  is  all  this  killing  of  kings,  ruining  of 
countries,  massacring  of  cities,  blowing  up  of  states  ? 
For  the  catholic  cause,  they  confess ;  and  by  the 
catholic  authority,  they  cannot  deny.  O  who  can 
more  than  pity  them,  that  forsake  Christ  the  Prince 
of  peace,  and  cither  choose  no  God,  or  a  bloody  one  ? 
Take  another  example.  Abner  revolts  from  Ish- 
bosheth  in  a  discontent,  and  persuades  Israel  to  the 
change  ;  and  fetcheth  his  motive  from  the  oracle  of 
God,  2  Sam.  iii.  18.  He  knew  this  well  enough  be- 
fore, and  smothered  it  for  his  own  turn  ;  now  for  his 
own  turn  he  publisheth  it.  He  knew  this  decree  for 
David  while  he  opposed  him  ;  now  he  wins  the  heart 
of  Israel  by  showing  God's  charter  for  him.  If  Ish- 
bosheth's  title  to  the  crown  were  bad,  why  did  Abner 
maintain  it  ?  if  good,  why  did  he  forsake  it  ?  Was 
his  conscience  better  informed  ?  No,  but  his  mind 
was  changed.  Saul's  son  had  disgraced  him,  there- 
fore now  he  is  for  David :  he  is  become  loyal  for 
David's  sake,  and  become  David's  for  God's  sake. 
No  man  ever  heard  Abner  godly  till  then ;  and  he  had 


Ver.  13. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


473 


not  been  so  then  for  any  conscience  of  goodness,  but 
for  opportunity  of  revenge.  Pride  hath  made  many 
English  malcontents  the  almsmen  of  Rome  :  here 
their  ambitious  desires  are  crossed,  therefore  they  fly 
hence  in  a  snufl":  treachery  is  their  aim,  and  hither 
they  bring  it  in  the  shape  of  religion.  Oh  that  they 
could  see  how  odious  it  is,  to  malce  devotion  a  stalk- 
ing-horse for  policy  !  What  was  Abner's  end  ?  Whom 
David  dismisseth  in  peace.  Job  repays  with  death. 
Of  all  men,  the  religious  dissembler  shall  be  sure  of 
plagues. 

Thus  Absalom  first  deceives  the  people,  and  therein 
his  father,  2  Sam.  xv.  6.  The  people  by  insinua- 
tions ;  that  considering  his  godly  person  and  magni- 
ficent state,  how  affable  he  was  to  suitors,  how  hum- 
ble in  his  greatness,  how  diligent  in  searching  their 
causes,  how  full  of  j)ity  to  their  complaints,  how 
great  his  love  of  justice,  and  care  of  the  common- 
wealth was ;  they  conclude,  the  world  hath  not  so  com- 
plete a  prince  as  Absalom.  Thus  like  a  close  traitor, 
ne  stole  not  his  father's  goods,  but  his  father's  people's 
hearts.  He  deceived  his  father  by  a  vow,  made  forty 
years  before,  to  be  paid  in  Hebron,  ver.  ".  He  car- 
ried peace  in  his  name,  war  in  his  heart;  and  to 
perfect  his  treacher)-,  nothing  will  serve  but  a  cloak 
of  religion.  The  devout  man  hath  made  a  vow  a 
great  while  ago,  and  now  the  toy  takes  him,  he  must 
perform  it.  The  good  old  king  blesseth  God  for 
blessing  him  with  so  godly  a  son ;  who  indeed  had 
never  more  deeply  renounced  all  goodness,  than  now 
he  talks  of  religion.  This  guilt  of  piety  set  on  the 
rough  metal  of  his  conspiracy,  takes  with  his  father 
against  his  father,  with  the  people  against  their  king  ; 
so  his  father  sends  him  away  with  one  blessing,  and 
they  entertain  him  with  another.  What  is  the  end 
of  this  deceit  ?  The  just  meed  of  all  traitors :  his 
mule  and  his  treason  leave  him  hanging  between 
heaven  and  earth.  "  Bring  me  word,  that  I  may 
come  and  worship  him,"  saith  Herod  to  the  sages, 
Matt.  ii.  8 :  another  devout  Machiavel,  like  the 
devil  confessing  Christ.  How  horrible  was  this  vil- 
lany,  to  mask  itself  under  a  show  of  piety  !  Herod  will 
worship  him,  that  is  the  pretence :  Herod  will  worry 
him,  that  is  the  meaning.  The  cunning  hypocrite 
never  intends  so  ill,  as  when  he  speaks  fairest.  What 
was  the  event  of  this  politic  deceiving  ?  First,  God 
mocks  him,  then  the  sages  mock  him.  God  besots 
him,  that  he  could  not  find  the  way  to  so  h  rrible  a 
mischief  Why  else  did  he  not  send  some  of  liis 
bloody  assassins  to  Bethlehem?  AVhy  did  he  not 
employ  his  courtiers,  rather  than  trust  strangers  ? 
Why,  seeing  the  matter  so  nearly  concerned  him  in 
his  opinion,  and  the  journey  was  so  small  from  Jeru- 
salem, did  he  not  go  himself  in  person?  why  did  he 
not  rather  prevent  their  journey,  than  hazard  their 
disappointment  ?  All  the  courtesy  he  meant  that 
new-bom  King,  was  but  to  cut  his  throat ;  and  will 
he  trust  foreigners  with  this  inquiry?  Such  a  fool 
is  the  craftiest  politician,  when  God  will  blind  him. 
These  messengers  come  no  more  back  to  Herod  with 
their  news.  He  had  mocked  the  wise  men,  and  now 
God  makes  the  wise  men  to  mock  him,  ver.  16.  He 
sends  to  inquire  of  them,  whom  he  sent  to  inquire 
of  Christ,  and  they  are  gone.  How  doth  he  rage, 
and  fret,  and  curse  himself,  for  trusting  strangers  in 
so  important  a  business !  How  would  he  revenge 
their  false  play,  how  would  he  torment  them,  if  he 
could  catch  them!  Thus  he  palpably  finds  himself 
gulled  by  those  whom  he  meant  to  deceive. 

Thus  doth  God's  justice  often  punish  illusion  with 
illusion;  they  that  nourish  a  purpose  fo  deceive, 
shall  be  deceived  indeed.  Think  of  these  examples, 
ye  that  make  religion  your  messenger,  and  mischief 
your  ciTand.    It  is  a  disease  whereof  this  generation 


is  sick  at  the  very  heart.  Hypocrites  make  use  of 
God  for  their  own  purposes :  they  frequent  the  church 
with  the  devoutcst  saints,  but  it  is  that  the  saints 


may  take  them  for  devout ;  they  pray  with  the  godly, 

but  to  prey  upon  the   godly.    Vc       "    '" 

him  at  the  lecture  in  the  forenoon,  but  it  is  in  hope  to 


find  some  of  you  at  his  shop  in  the  afternoon ;  and 
then,  he  that  received  in  so  much  truth  at  his  ears, 
hath  not  one  word  of  truth  in  his  mouth.  Alas,  too 
many  make  that  divine  business  but  a  colour  for  their 
own  designs.  Over-fair  shows  are  a  just  argument 
of  unsoundness ;  no  natural  face  hath  so  fair  a  white 
and  clear  a  red,  as  that  which  is  painted.  While 
we  see  men  notoriously  zealous,  we  may  be  charita- 
bly suspicious.  For  wicked  hypocrites  care  not  to 
play  with  God,  that  they  may  mock  men.  The  more 
foul  a  project  is,  the  fairer  visor  it  seeks :  those  mo- 
nopolies that  undo  the  commonwealth,  have  the  most 
colourable  pretences  to  benefit  it.  But  as  Christ 
said,  "  He  that  receiveth  you  receiveth  me,"  Matt. 
X.  40 ;  so  in  effect,  he  that  deceiveth  you  deceiveth 
me :  and  he  must  rise  betimes  that  overreaches  his 
Maker.  Let  me  shut  up  all  with  discovering  to  you 
three  sorts  of  deceivers. 

1.  The  deceivers  of  souls.  Such  arc  the  Romish 
seminaries.  They  tell  you  of  a  Saviour  called  Christ, 
but  they  mean  the  pope;  for  his  word  must  stand, 
when  Christ's  word  is  thrust  behind  the  door.  They 
say,  his  judgment  is  infallible :  yet  Pope  John  the 
Twelfth  made  deacons  in  a  stable,  a  boy  often  years 
old  a  bishop,  the  Lateran  a  stew,  degraded  his  pre- 
decessor's shavelings,  made  each  of  them  confess. 
My  bishop  had  nothing  for  himself,  and  gave  nothing 
to  me,  prayed  to  Jupiter  and  Venus,  and  drank  a 
health  to  the  devil.  (Luitprand.)  Not  a  few  of  that 
race  were  as  bad,  yet  papists  will  believe  they  can- 
not err;  are  they  not  worthy  to  be  deceived?  They 
say,  that  the  church  cannot  subsist  without  the  pope 
her  head;  yet  was  that  chair  ten  years  empty. 
(Bodin.)  We  use  to  say.  Great  head,  little  wit;  but 
certainly,  no  head,  no  wit.  Whence  should  their 
church  have  her  wit,  when  she  was  bereaved  of  her 
head  ?  The  Irish  men  are  not  troubled  with  venom- 
ous beasts,  for  this  they  must  be  beholden  to  St. 
Patrick ;  yea,  he  is  said  to  have  obtained  of  God, 
that  no  Irishman  should  abide  the  coming  of  anti- 
christ :  (Legend.)  yet  their  great  masters  are  ashamed 
of  it,  and  never  allege  it  to  clear  the  pope  from  being 
antichrist.  They  will  show  pilgrims  that  go  to  Jeru- 
salem a  three-cornered  stune,  and  make  them  believe 
it  is  that  very  stone  spoken  of  in  the  Psalm,  "  The 
stone  which  the  builders  refused,"  &c.  Psal.  cxviii. 
"22.  (Bibloni.)  A  monk,  among  other  relics,  boasted 
that  he  could  show  some  of  the  hairs  that  fell  from 
the  seraphical  angel,  when  he  imprinted  the  five 
wounds  of  Christ  on  the  body  of  St.  Francis;  yea, 
gave  out,  that  he  had  brought  from  the  East  some 
of  the  sound  of  the  bells  that  hung  in  Solomon's 
temple.  (Verger.)  Be  not  these  pretty  deceivings? 
But  too  gross  to  deceive  us,  too  bungling  for  these 
times :  therefore  (as  old  tricks  of  cheating  can  do  no 
good)  they  find  out  new ;  which  is  a  short  cut,  an 
absolute  denial  of  all  truth  that  is  not  for  them. 
They  do  not  dethrone  kings,  nor  suborn  parricides, 
nor  pardon  incests  and  murders,  nor  worship  images, 
nor  disgrace  the  Scriptures,  nor  forswear  by  equivo- 
cations, nor  prefer  the  mother  to  the  Son,  nor  set 
states  in  combustion,  nor  make  the  eating  of  flesh  on 
forbidden  days  damnable,  and  uncleanness  every  day 
venial ;  not  they  :  though  we  know  they  do  all  this, 
yet  when  they  deny  it,  they  look  we  should  believe 
them.  A  reverend  bishop  of  this  land  dies  an  ortho- 
dox catholic,  a  professed  protcstant,  as  he  lived;  yet 
they  chsperse  books,  and  tell  the  world,  he  died  in 


474 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  11. 


the  Romish  faith.  A  common  liar  should  not  be  be- 
lieved ;  men  know  them  so,  yet  trust  them.  O  ye 
besotted  English,  wliy  will  you  be  thus  deceived? 
The  devil's  hand  is  in  it,  their  hand  is  in  it,  your  own 
hand  is  in  it ;  but  above  all,  God  hath  a  hand  in  it ; 
who  justly  gives  them  up  to  believe  a  lie,  that  would 
not  receive  the  truth,  2  Thess.  ii.  11. 

2.  The  deceivers  of  the  church,  that  make  it  no- 
thing to  defraud  their  Maker.  J^eph  was  twice 
stripped  of  his  garments ;  fii-st  by  tlie  violence  of 
envy,  then  of  lust;  the  first  time  of  necessity,  the 
next  of  choice  in  convenience.  His  brethren  took 
away  his  coat,  to  deceive  his  father;  his  mistress 
kept  his  coat,  to  deceive  his  miister.  First,  the 
policy  of  Rome  took  one  garment  from  us,  which  the 
policy  of  slate  took  again  from  them.  We  had  still 
a  poor  coat  left,  the  remainder  that  escaped  imjjro- 
priating:  now  sacrilege  keeps  away  that  too.  The 
tirst  we  could  not  save  by  law,  this  last  we  cannot 
redeem  without  law :  and  that  is  a  remedy  worse 
than  the  disease.  That  first  rent  had  the  colour  of 
pleasing  God;  this  other,  of  punishing  us.  The  world 
doth  charge  us  with  pride  and  covetousness,  and 
therefore  surchargcth  us  with  beggary  and  empti- 
ness. Joseph  may  plead,  but  is  not  heard  :  and  our 
case  is  as  bad;  we  may  deny  the  justice  of  the  fact, 
but  we  scarce  dare  accuse  the  ofi'enders.  Hanun 
misused  David's  ambassadors,  and  shaved  off  one 
half  of  their  beards,  and  cut  off  their  garments  to 
the  middle,  exposing  them  to  the  derision  of  all  be- 
holders, 2  Sam.  X.  4.  The  Israelites  were  forbidden 
a  shaven  beard,  or  a  short  garment;  to  despite  their 
law,  they  are  sent  away  with  both.  Man  hath  a 
double  ornament  to  his  body,  one  of  nature,  the  other 
of  art ;  the  natural  ornament  is  the  hair,  the  artificial 
is  apparel :  in  both  these  are  David's  servants  abused. 
But  is  not  David  sensible  of  it  ?  Doth  he  not  feel 
himself  dishonoured  in  their  persons  ?  Will  he  only 
hide  it,  and  not  revenge  it?  We  are  God's  messen- 
gers to  the  world,  and  the  world  returns  us  so  to 
God.  Surely,  as  David  could  not  but  feel  his  own 
cheeks  shaven,  liis  own  coat  cut,  in  liis  ambassadors  ; 
so  the  Lord  cannot  but  appi'opriate  that  injury  to 
himself,  which  is  olfered  to  his  ministers.  By  the 
universal  law  of  nations,  ambassadors  are  free  ;  (hat 
ofl^ce  hath  in  the  name  sufficient  protection,  nor  was 
it  ever  wronged  without  a  revenge.  Do  not  the  no- 
torious contempts  cast  upon  us  below,  concern  our 
great  Master  above?  Is  it  possible  he  should  not 
feel  them,  not  revenge  them?  Yes,  David  rcvengeth 
it  on  Ammon  to  the  full ;  for  cutting  his  messengers' 
coats,  Joab  and  his  army  cut  their  throats  :  and  cer- 
tainly, God  will  not  let  such  indignity  pass  unpun- 
ished. 

3.  The  deceivers  of  men,  in  regard  of  their  estates  ; 
contrary  to  God's  flat  prohibition.  Defraud  no  man, 
1  Thess.  iv.  C.  Wherein  and  how  far  any  man  hath 
thus  deceived,  his  conscience  will  tell  him  ;  unless 
by  the  long  habit  of  deceit,  he  halh  also  learned  to 
deceive  his  conscience.  Fraud  is  tlieft,  and  a  thief 
(we  say)  no  man  can  endure  to  be  any  long  time,  for 
his  conscience;  out  how  if  his  conscience  itself  be 
turned  thief?  Howsoever  deceivers  think  to  get  a 
patrimony  of  riches  by  fraud,  as  Ihey  pretend  Jacob 
got  the  birthright ;  yet  it  will  not  be  so  lucky  to  them 
as  Rebekali's  pasty,  they  shall  not  (with  Jacob) 
get  the  blessing  by  it.  The  crafty  fox  hugged  him- 
self to  tliink  how  he  had  cheated  the  crow  of  her 
breakfast ;  but  when  he  had  eaten  it,  and  found  him- 
self poisoned  with  it,  he  wished  the  crow  lier  own 
again.  Wealth  got  by  deceit  is  like  a  piece  of  but- 
tered spunge,  (an  Italian  trick,)  it  goes  down  glib, 
but  in  the  stomach  swells,  and  will  never  be  gotten 
out  again.     It  is  not  stable ;  it  will  either  be  lost  bv 


the  gainers,  or  be  squandered  by  their  heirs.  Tur- 
nus  had  been  spared,  but  for  his  belt :  when  that  was 
found  about  him,  it  cost  him  his  life.  So  when  other 
s-ins  might  find  mercy,  Christ  seeing  the  cognizance 
of  fraud,  begins  to  strike ;  as  .Sneas  said  to  Tumus, 
Pal/as,  le  hoc  vulnere  Pa/las  immolat,  Pallas  with  this 
stroke  kills  thee,  Pallas  immolates  thee  ;  one  torture 
more  for  that.  It  is  an  observation  set  upon  the 
house  of  Desmond  in  Ireland,  that  Maurice  Tliomas 
the  fii-st  earl  raised  it  by  injustice,  and  by  injustice 
Girald  the  last  earl  of  that  race  ruined  it.  The  gains 
a  man  gels  by  deceiving,  at  last  he  may  put  in  his 
eye,  and  yet  see  himself  miserable.  Sin  is  the  great- 
est cheater  in  the  world,  for  it  deceives  the  deceiver; 
yea,  as  Haman  built  his  own  gallows,  it  makes  a  snare 
to  entrap  others,  but  is  sure  to  confound  the  sinner. 
The  seed  of  this  sin,  as  of  all  other,  is  in  every  man 
by  nature  ;  the  heart  of  man  is  deceitful :  and  while 
he  thinks  there  is  no  deceit  in  it,  even  in  that  he 
is  most  of  all  deceived. 

Find  out  this  thief,  apprehend  him,  convict  him, 
condemn  him,  yea,  execute  him;  yea,  bury  him,  lest 
his  very  death  deceive  tl;ee.  It  is  one  brand  of  the 
wicked,  "When  thou  sawest  a  thief,  thou  consentedst 
with  him,"  Psal.  1.  18.  Many  see  a  thief  abroad, 
and  consent  not;  but  the  most  dangerous  thief  is  at 
home,  within  us,  there  we  consent.  Elisha  had  a 
thief  to  his  servant,  but  he  followed  him  at  an  inch, 
and  found  out  his  brokage.  Thus  pursue  thy  fraud, 
meet  it  at  every  turning,  cross  it  with  resolution, 
plague  it  with  restitution ;  wish  thy  heart,  as  that 
Roman  built  his  house,  not  close  to  do  things  unseen, 
but  open  to  the  view  of  passengers,  to  show  that 
lionest  dealing  dwells  there.  Fraud  is  both  a  rob- 
ber, and  robbery  itself,  a  theft  to  others,  a  thief  to 
a  man's  self :  as/a/.SMS  in  Latin  signifies  both  the  de- 
ceived and  the  deceiver.  It  steals  away  his  grace, 
his  peace,  his  conscience,  his  blessing  in  this  life, 
and  his  hope  of  gloiy  in  the  life  to  come.  The  day 
of  the  Lord  shall  come  as  a  thief  too ;  and  if  it  take  a 
man  with  his  thefts  about  him,  no  heart  can  think 
how  terribly  it  will  handle  him.  "  We  have  wronged 
no  man,  we  have  corrupted  no  man,  we  have  de- 
frauded no  man,"  2  Cor.  vii.  2.  Thrice  happy  con- 
science that  can  speak  this  in  sincerity!  That  stew- 
ard hath  not  deceived  God  in  his  trust,  and  God 
will  not  deceive  him  of  his  reward,  eternal  blessed- 
ness in  Jesus  Christ. 

"  While  they  feast  with  you."  A  certain  kind  of 
feasts  is  much  spoken  of  by  the  apostles  Paul,  Peter, 
Jude ;  love-feasts.  This  is  a  festival  time,  yea,  the 
greatest  of  all  Christian  feasts  (Easter)  :  every  sal)- 
bath  is  a  feast;  this,  as  it  is  a  sabbath  of  sabbaths, 
so  a  feast  of  feasts.  The  day  of  the  sabbath  was 
changed  for  the  honour  of  Christ's  resurrection  ;  and 
this  is  the  day  for  whose  honour  the  sabbath  was 
changed.  Something  therefore  I  take  liberty  to 
speak  of  this  occasion.  Feasts  may  be  distinguished 
into  three  kinds,  holy,  civil,  and  profane.  The 
former  must  be,  the  next  may  be,  the  last  should  not 
be.  The  first  are  commanded,  the  second  allowed, 
the  third  prohibited.  The  first  is  a  feast  to  God, 
the  next  for  man,  the  third  to  Satan. 

I  begin  with  holy  feasts.  Religion  is  not  tied  to 
lime,  yet  cannot  religion  be  publicly  exercised  with- 
out a  due  time  allotted  for  it.  It  is  necessary  to  con- 
sider cverj-  great  blessing  of  God,  and  it  is  kindly  and 
convenient  to  consider  it  in  the  day  it  was  wrought : 
then  to  repeat  it  with  thankfulness,  is  to  do  Ofnts  diei 
in  die  siio.  Otherwise  the  revoUilion  of  lime  would 
eat  out  the  memory  of  these  precious  benefits.  The 
Jews,  among  many,  had  three  solemn  festivals  every 
year,  by  God's  institution;  the  passover,  pentecost, 
and  feast  of  tabernacles,  Deut.  xvi.    1.  Of  tabernacles, 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


Ver.  13. 

in  remembering  that  Israel  dwelt  in  tents  forty 
years.  Even  that  walk  of  theirs  most  not  be 
forgotten  in  their  rest.  So  much  memory  of  our 
weary  pilgrimage  here,  as  may  stand  with  the  per- 
fection of  our  joy  in  heaven,  shall  be  reserved.  2. 
The  passover,  to  remember  them  of  their  deliverance 
from  the  Egj^ptian  bondage:  freedom  from  such  a 
servitude  deserves  a  solemn  and  set  time  of  gratitude. 
3.  Pentecost,  in  remembrance  of  the  law  given  on 
Mount  Sinai.  God  wrote  it,  that  it  might  be  legible ; 
wrote  it  in  stone,  that  it  might  be  durable ;  honoured 
the  day  with  an  annual  feast,  that  it  might  be  me- 
morable. Thus  the  Christian  church,  among  the 
rest,  celebrates  three  principal  feasts.  Christmas, 
in  honour  of  Christ's  nativity,  then  was  he  born  to 
the  earth.  Easter,  in  honour  of  his  resurrection, 
then  was  he  borne  from  the  earth.  Whitsuntide,  in 
honour  of  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  whom 
we  are  new-born  to  the  kingdom  of  lieaven.  And 
we  still  retain  two  names  of  the  three,  passover  and 
pentccost.  Such  is  the  accordance  of  the  two  Testa- 
ments, that  those  two  Jewish  feasts  and  our  two 
Christian  agree,  both  in  signification  and  in  time. 

1.  For  signification ;  their  passover  and  penteeost 
are  types  of  our  Easter  and  Whitsuntide.  For  the 
former,  God  did  pass  over  the  doors  where  the  blood 
of  the  paschal  lamb  was  sprinkled.  What  signifies 
it  ?  That  God  will  pass  over  our  sins  in  the  day  of 
wrath,  if  he  find  our  souls  sprinkled  with  the  blood 
of  Christ,  that  "Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world,"  John  i.  29.  That  night  Moses  led 
Israel  out  of  Eg)-pt,  this  day  Christ  brings  us  out  of 
the  house  of  bondage.  When  he  rose  from  the 
grave,  this  was  the  full  conquest  of  all  our  enemies, 
for  the  last  enemy  is  death.  For  their  penteeost,  it 
was  a  memorial  of  the  law,  which  is  a  hidden  gospel. 
And  our  Whitsuntide  is  a  memorial  of  the  gospel, 
which  is  a  revealed  law.  The  law  was  given  on 
Mount  Sinai,  the  gospel  on  Mount  Zion  :  the  law 
written  in  tables  of  stone,  the  gospel  in  tables  of 
flesh :  I  will  write  my  law  in  their  hearts,  Heb.  viii. 
10;  so  run  the  terms  of  the  new  covenant.  On  their 
penteeost,  the  law  was  given  in  fire  and  smoke,  ob- 
scurity was  mingled  with  terror.  On  our  penteeost, 
the  gospel  was  given  in  fire  without  smoke,  befitting 
the  light  and  clearness  of  the  troth.  Fire,  not  in 
flashes,  but  in  tongues ;  not  to  terrify,  but  to  teach. 
Thus  the  promulgation  of  the  law  makes  way  for  the 
gospel :  first  we  must  feel  the  terrors  of  Sinai,  before 
we  nave  the  comforts  of  Zion,  the  gracious  consola- 
tions of  the  Holy  Ghost.  If  therefore  they  had  a 
festival  for  the  law,  the  ministry  of  death;  good 
reason  we  should  have  one  for  the  gospel,  which  is 
the  power  of  God  to  salvation.  Christmas  is  a  merry 
time,  then  we  sing  and  feast.  Easter  is  a  solemn 
time,  then  we  communicate  and  feast  spiritually. 
Whitsuntide  is  a  triumphant  and  flourishing  time, 
not  only  for  height  of  the  season,  but  for  the  church's 
confirmation  by  the  descension  of  the  Holy  Ghost : 
Because,  says  Augustine,  we  have  not  lost  a  depart- 
ing Christ,  and  we  possess  a  coming  Spirit. 

2.  As  they  agree  for  substance,  so  for  the  very  time 
of  delivery  ;  the  ancient  Jews  kept  our  feasts,  and 
we  still  keep  theirs.  First,  their  passover  and  our 
Easter  is  kept  at  the  same  time :  so  fitly  to  their 
coming  from  the  bondage  of  Egypt,  doth  answer 
Christ's  coming  from  under  the  bondage  of  death. 
"  Even  Christ  our  Passover  is  sacrificed  for  us,"  1  Cor. 
V.  7 ;  that  spotless  Lamb,  whereof  one  bone  might  not 
be  broken.  Next,  their  penteeost  and  our  Whitsun- 
tide, on  the  very  same  day.  Their  penteeost  was 
fifty  days  after  their  passover,  and  our  Whitsuntide  is 
fifty  days  after  our  Easter;  from  which  number  of 
days  it   hath    the  name,  pentccost.     The  very  day 


475 


that  God  came  down  in  fire  and  thunder  to  deliver  the 
law,  the  Holy  Ghost  came  down  upon  the  apostles  in 
fiery  tongues,  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel. 
Now  as  our  feasts  be  the  same,  so  be  our  sacraments. 
We  do  all  eat  of  the  same  spiritual  meat,  and  drink  of 
the  same  spiritual  drink,  I  Cor.  x.  3,  4.  The  same, 
1.  In  object;  the  same  Christ  in  both:  not  one  God 
in  tile  law,  another  in  the  gosj>el  ;  not  a  bloody  one 
there,  a  merciful  one  here,  as  Marcion  blasphemed. 
But  "  Jesus  Christ  the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day, 
and  for  ever,"  Heb.  xiii.  8.  Only  a  darker  Christ 
there,  a  clearer  Christ  here,  but  still  the  same.  2. 
The  same  not  in  the  signs,  but  in  the  things  signified. 
(August.)  In  the  passover  the  Lamb  of  God  was 
prefigured,  in  the  Lord's  supper  he  is  exhibited  :  they 
saw  him,  we  have  him.  3.  In  identity  of  name.  So 
circumcision  is  called  baptism,  and  baptism  circum- 
cision, and  the  Lord's  supper  the  pcissover.  4.  The 
same  in  efficacy.  Their  effect  is  all  one ;  their  faith 
received  Christ  before  he  came,  in  as  full  virtue  as 
we  do  now  he  is  come.  But  if  the  body  of  Christ  be 
really  in  the  supper,  why  was  not  the  lamb  so  tran- 
substantiated in  the  passover  ?  for  Paul  says,  it  was 
the  same.  They  never  say,  in  baptism,  the  water  is 
turned  into  blood  ;  why  then  say  they  so  of  the  wine 
in  the  eueharist  ?  "  This  is  my  body,  which  is  broken 
for  you,"  I  Cor.  xi.  24.  There  is  the  logical  subject, 
this,  this  bread ;  the  predicate,  my  body  ;  the  copula, 
is ;  and  the  exposition,  ?(7ii'cA  is  broken  for  you.  There 
is  bread,  and  there  is  the  body :  the  bread  is  not  the 
body,  therefore  a  holy  sign  of  it.  We  receive  a  mys- 
tical, yet  the  true,  body  of  Christ ;  not  in  the  truth  or 
substance  of  the  thing,  but  in  the  mystery  significant 
of  it.  Thus  be  our  sacraments  the  same.  Indeed 
they  had  also  manna,  and  water  from  the  rock  ;  both 
which  signified  Christ :  they  were  fed  with  sacra- 
ments. "Their  bread  was  sacramental,  whereof  they 
communicated  every  day :  who  complains  of  receiv- 
ing often,  when  the  Israelites  received  daily  ?  Their 
drink  was  sacramental :  surely  from  them  the  church 
of  Rome  never  learned  a  dry  communion.  Twice 
hath  the  rock  yielded  them  water  of  refreshing:  the 
tiiic  Rock  is  Christ,  and  he  yields  it  always.  Out  of 
his  side  issued  that  bloody  stream,  whereby  the  thirst 
of  all  believers  is  comfortably  quenched.  They 
thirsted  with  repining,  let  us  thirst  with  faith :  our 
spiritual  Rock  shall  abundantly  satisfy  our  souls ;  yea, 
even  sustain  us,  till  this  water  be  changed  into  that 
new  wine  which  we  shall  drink  with  him  in  his 
Father's  kingdom. 

We  have  seen  the  harmony  and  accordance  between 
both  the  Testaments,  now  let  us  return  to  the  feast 
of  the  day.  Some  difference  may  seem  to  be  in  the 
evangelists,  about  the  time  when  Christ  did  eat  the 
passover.  Three  of  them  say,  on  the  first  day  of  the 
passover  ;  but  we  read  in  St.  John's  Gospel,  "before 
the  feast  of  the  passover,"  John  xiii.  I.  To  recon- 
cile these,  first,  some  say,  that  Christ  did  not  eat  the 
passover  that  year;  and  their  reason  is  glorious,  be- 
cause himself  was  the  paschal  Lamb  then  to  be  offer- 
ed. But  this  is  frivolous,  for  it  is  manifest  he  did  eat 
it.  Secondly,  some  say,  the  passover  is  taken  for  the 
whole  time  of  seven  days,  and  that  he  did  eat  it  one 
of  the  seven.  But  this  is  apparently  false;  for  after 
the  Jews  had  apprehended  him,  they  would  not  enter 
into  the  judgment  hall,  for  fear  of  being  defiled,  "but 
that  they  might  eat  the  passover,"  John  xviii.  28. 
Christ  had  that  day  (before)  eaten  it,  therefore  be- 
fore the  seven.  Thirdly,  others  say,  he  did  eat  it  one 
night  before  the  Jews ;  and  that  he  did  so,  to  thrust  a 
sword  into  Judas's  hand,  to  accuse  him  for  an  inno- 
vator and  law-breaker.  But  they  that  were  fain  to 
take  up  a  false  accusation  against  him,  rather  than 
none,  would  have  triumphed  in  (his.    Besides,  the 


470 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


disciples  would  have  questioned  the  reason  of  such  an 
alteration,  and  the  master  of  the  house  would  have 
found  some  fault.  And,  which  is  above  all,  the  Ful- 
fiUer  of  the  law,  and  that  so  punctually,  would  not 
have  failed  in  a  chief  point,  so  main  a  circumstance, 
and  that  so  immediately  before  his  death:  and  this 
supposition  still  is  objected  to  by  the  Jews. 

Briefly  then  we  conclude  thus :  He  did  eat  it  on  the 
due  and  true  day,  the  fourteenth  of  the  month.  But 
then  how  failed  the  Jews  ?  for  both  cannot  stand, 
seeing  Christ  and  they  did  eat  it  on  several  days.  It 
is  answered  thus  :  Since  the  captivity,  when  the  pass- 
over  fell  on  the  sabbath  eve,  they  put  it  oif  to  the 
sabbath  day ;  so  it  was  called  a  high  day,  because 
that  feast  fell  upon  it.  For  this  reason  they  took 
down  the  dead  bodies  from  the  crosses  ;  for  if  these 
two  feasts  had  fallen  immediately  together  on  several 
days,  they  had  had  no  opportunity  to  bury  their  dead. 
But  why  did  not  Judas  accuse  him  of  this  ?  God  so 
disposed  it,  that  liis  heart  being  fraught  with  malice 
did  not  observe  it.  Some  think  it  was  left  arbitrar)-, 
that  whoso  would,  might  eat  it  on  the  even,  or  put 
it  off  to  the  sabbath.  Thus  are  the  evangelists  re- 
conciled. "  Before  the  passover,"  saith  John ;  that 
is,  before  the  people  did  cat  it  by  their  tradition. 
"  At  the  passover,"  say  the  rest,  that  is,  on  the  day 
of  institution,  when  Moses  commanded  it.  So  Christ 
died  in  the  feast  of  passover,  that  the  type  and  the 
truth  might  agree  together.  They  took  him  at  night ; 
arraigned,  condemned,  afllicted,  and  crucified  him 
before  the  end  of  the  next  day :  this  was  strange 
haste  ;  but  what  bounds  are  there  to  desperate  mad- 
ness ?  They  meant  nothing  but  death  to  him,  but 
God  hath  this  day  turned  it  into  life  to  us. 

Surely,  even  the  angels  in  heaven  keep  these 
paschal  solemnities  with  joy  :  the  gloiy  of  that  vic- 
torious Lion,  who  hatli  triumphed  over  death  and 
hell,  is  even  to  them  matter  of  rejoicing.  It  is  the 
sabbath  of  the  new  world,  our  passover  from  ever- 
lasting death  to  life;  our  true  jubilee,  the  first  day 
of  our  week,  and  the  chief  in  our  calendar.  Herein 
our  Phenix  rose  from  his  ashes,  our  Eagle  renewed 
iiis  feathers,  the  First-begotten  of  the  dead  was  born 
from  the  womb  of  the  earth.  Chi-ist,  like  the  sun 
eclipsed  by  the  moon,  got  himself  out  by  his  resur- 
rection ;  and,  as  the  sun  by  the  moon,  he  was  dark- 
ened by  them  to  whom  he  gave  light.  His  death 
did  justify  us,  his  resurrection  did  justify  his  death. 
He  buried  the  law  with  himself,  and  both  with 
honour;  he  raised  up  the  gospel  with  himself,  and 
both  with  glory.  His  resurrection  was  the  first 
stone  of  the  foundation,  "  In  Christ  shall  all  be  made 
alive,"  1  Cor.  xv.  22 ;  and  the  last  stone  of  the  roof, 
for  God  assures  us  he  shall  come  to  judgment,  by 
this  token,  that  he  raised  him  up  from  the  dead, 
Acts  xvii.  31.  Satan  danced  on  his  grave  for  joy; 
when  he  had  him  there  once,  he  thought  him  sure 
enough :  but  he  rose  again,  and  trampled  on  the 
devil's  throne  with  triumph.  This  is  the  faith  pecu- 
liar to  Christians :  the  Jews  believe  him  dead,  not 
living;  we  believe  that  he  is  risen,  and  sits  at  the 
right  hand  of  God.  As  Moses  led  the  people  to 
Canaan  through  the  wilderness,  so  Christ  led  us  to 
heaven  through  the  grave.  His  resurrection  is  not 
only  the  object  of  our  faith,  but  the  example  of  our 
hope.  We  all  carry  mortality  about  us,  and  the 
strongest  man  is  but  like  Nebuchadnezzar's  image ; 
tliougli  his  head  be  of  gold,  and  his  ribs  of  brass,  yet 
his  feet  are  of  clay :  a  stone  thrown  at  the  feet  over- 
turns this  great  image,  and  down  falls  man.  But, 
"O  death,  I  will  be  thv  death."  Durst  death  kill 
Christ?  Christ  tncrcforc  shall  kill  death.  "If  in 
this  life  only  we  have  hope  in  Christ,  we  arc  of  all 
men  most  miserable,"  1  Cor.  xv.  19.     But  spes  vita; 


immorlalis  est  vita  vitm  morlalis,  as  one  saith,  the 
liope  of  life  immortal  is  the  life  of  our  life  mortal. 
Death  and  the  grave  swallow  all,  and  then  burst ;  as 
crammed  covetousness  disgorgeth  itself  by  a  pro- 
digal heir. 

The  Jews  craved  a  sign,  and  had  it.  Matt.  xii.  38, 
39 ;  yet  then  spake  against  it,  or  wondered  at  it. 
To  us  it  shall  be  more  than  a  sign,  it  shall  have 
wonder,  and  wonder  enough  ;  but  we  will  not  lose 
our  fruit  or  part  therein  for  a  world.  Him,  that  this 
day  rose  from  the  clods,  we  expect  from  the  clouds, 
to  raise  our  bodies,  to  perform  his  promises,  to  finish 
our  faith,  to  perfect  our  glorj",  and  to  draw  us  unto 
himself.  I  do  not  say.  Come,  see  the  place  where 
they  laid  him,  that  is  empty ;  but.  Come,  see  the 
place  where  he  is ;  Here  is  the  Lord.  I  say  not 
with  Marj-,  They  have  taken  away  the  Lord,  and  I 
know  not  w'here  they  have  laid  him  :  he  is  personally 
in  heaven,  he  is  mystically,  sacramentally,  yea,  in  a 
spiritual  sense,  he  is  really  here.  Himself  said,  I 
have  earnestly  desired  to  cat  this  passover  with  you : 
let  us  earnestly  desire  to  eat  this  sacrament  with 
him.  God  said  once,  Take  and  eat  of  every  tree  but 
one ;  but  man  then  mistook  the  fruit,  he  did  eat  and 
fell.  He  now  says  again.  Take  and  eat ;  this  is  my 
body,  which  is  given  for  you :  let  us  not  mistake,  but 
eat  and  live  for  ever.  And  the  body  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  which  was  given  for  us,  preseiTe  our 
bodies  and  souls  into  everlasting  life. 

As  God  spake  to  the  fish,  and  it  cast  up  Jonah, 
commanded  the  earth,  and  it  delivered  up  Jesus;  so 
he  will  speak  to  all  creatures,  and  they  shall  not  de- 
tain one  dust  of  our  bodies.  There  shall  be  a  dry 
ground  for  this  valley  of  tears,  a  land  of  the  living 
for  this  Golgotha  of  the  dead,  a  settled  mansion  for 
this  movable  pavilion.  Christ  had  his  Easter-day 
by  himself;  there  shall  be  one  general  Easter-day 
for  us  all,  when  the  wicked  shall  rise  to  contempt, 
the  faithful  to  eternity  of  days.  Here  shall  be  no 
terror  to  aflfright  us,  no  sorrow  to  afflict  us,  no  sick- 
ness to  distemper  us,  no  death  to  dissolve  us,  no  sin 
to  endanger,  for  evermore. 

2.  The  next  arc  civil  feasts  :  when  the  soul  hath 
been  feasted  with  God,  the  body  may  be  feasted  with 
the  creatures  of  God;  when  the  mistress  hath  dined, 
the  servant  may  sit  down.  Every  sabbath  is  a  feast, 
but  this  is  an  exceeding  day.  When  we  hear  the 
word,  we  have  a  good  spiritual  meal :  but  the  sacra- 
ment is  an  extraordinary  banquet  ;  wherein  the  best 
cheer  of  heaven  is  set  on  the  table,  and  the  faithful 
soul  feeds  more  liberally  on  Jesus  Christ.  We  do 
not  feast  every  day;  that  was  the  epicure's  brand, 
he  "  fared  sumptuously  every  day,"  Luke  xvi.  19  j  so 
nor  eveiy  day  communicate  :  there  may  be  satiety 
even  in  sacred  things,  and  the  soul  cloyed  as  well  as 
the  body.  Those  love-feasts  were  before  the  Lord's 
supper,  where  the  communicants  brought  ever)-  man 
his  provision  to  one  place,  and  they  did  eat  together; 
giving  thanks  to  God,  and  bestowing  the  remainder 
on  the  poor.  Thus  were  they  intended  for  the  in- 
crease of  love :  but  what  foul  abuses  crept  in,  St. 
Paul  notes  and  condemns ;  "  one  is  hungrj-,  and  an- 
other is  drunken,"  1  Cor.  xi.  21.  Riot  and  intem- 
perance is  an  ill  preparation  for  so  holy  a  business. 

First,  therefore,  begin  with  God  :  a  full  body 
makes  an  luiwieldy  soul,  but  a  feasted  soul  will  keep 
a  temperate  body.  First  drink  at  Christ's  wine 
cellar,  before  thou  touch  thine  own.  Not  that  I  ob- 
trude the  popish  custom  upon  you,  which  puts  a 
necessity  of  fasting  before  ;  because  forsooth  they 
would  receive  their  God  into  a  clear  stomach,  next 
Iheir  heart.  Cannot  Christ  come  into  the  heart  if 
there  be  meat  in  the  stomach  ?  This  is  as  if  a  man 
could  not  come  to  the  steeple  for  the  sound  of  the 


Ver.  13. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


■177 


bells.  Or  as  the  merry  cardinal  said  to  his  fellows 
in  the  conclave,  when  they  could  not  agree  about 
the  election  of  the  pope  ;  Let  us  untile  the  house,  be- 
cause the  Holy  Ghost  cannot  get  in  to  us  through  so 
many  tiles.  (Onup.  in  Plat.)  A  weak  stomach 
helped  by  refection  is  as  capable  of  Christ  as  a  fast- 
ing superstition.  Indeed  if  men  can  forbear,  it  were 
best  to  have  the  first  morsel  sacramental :  but  it  is 
the  soul,  not  the  body,  that  receives  Christ  himself 
In  this  point  I  praise  this  city,  that  they  begin  their 
feasts  with  a  sermon,  as  Jethro  began  his  with  a 
sacrifice,  Exod.  xviii.  12.  First  serve  the  Lord,  then 
eat  the  fat  and  drink  the  sweet,  and  give  the  rest  to 
the  poor.  Some  have  been  as  fond  on  the  other  side  j 
they  will  eat  nothing  that  whole  day  after  the  sacra- 
ment ;  as  if  they  wronged  that  holy  food,  if  they 
thought  it  would  not  keep  them  a  whole  day.  In 
former  times,  some  would  not  wasli  a  wliole  week 
after  their  baptizing  j  as  if  men  should  refuse  to 
wash  a  day  or  two  after  their  trimming  by  the  barber. 
But  these  be  fond  singularities :  let  us  keep  the  day 
holy,  keep  ourselves  holy,  in  the  strength  of  the  Most 
Holy  ;  that  we  may  confess  the  virtue  of  this  blessed 
sacrament  in  the  sanctity  of  our  future  deportment 
and  conversation. 

Feasts  have  their  seasonable  allowance  :  the  bounty 
of  God  reacheth  not  only  to  our  life,  but  to  our  con- 
tentment; nor  doth  he  afford  us  only  the  bread  of 
sufliciency,  but  of  pleasure,  that  we  may  more  than 
live,  even  live  happy.  The  blessed  Virgin,  at  the 
marriage  in  Cana,  perceived  a  defect  of  wine,  and 
she  tells  Christ,  John  ii.  3.  They  liad  wine  enough 
for  a  meal,  not  enough  for  a  feast :  and  if  there  was  not 
wine  enough,  there  was  enough  water:  walerto  quench 
thirst,  if  not  wine  to  cheer  the  spirits.  Yet  she  com- 
plains the  want  of  wine,  and  is  troubled  with  the 
very  lack  of  superfluity.  Christ  gives  her  rough 
words,  but  answers  her  faith  with  gracious  deeds ; 
the  feast  shall  be  supplied  with  wine,  if  six  pots  full 
(of  two  or  three  firkins  a-piece)  can  do  it.  To  turn 
one  of  these  vessels  of  water  into  wine  had  been  a 
sufficient  proof  of  his  power,  and  perhaps  enough  for 
the  present  necessity  ;  yet  he  makes  wine  enough  to 
ser\'e  above  a  hundred  guests,  had  they  been  then  but 
newly  sat  down.  It  was  a  feast ;  that  quantity  at 
another  time  had  been  superfluous,  which  is  now  but 
necessary.  That  hand  of  infinite  munificence  regards 
not  only  our  need,  but  our  honest  affluence.  We  are  sul- 
len guests,  if  we  scant  ourselves  where  God  hath  been 
liberal,  and  from  the  table  of  his  bounty  depart  hun- 
gry. We  are  unworthy  guests,  if  we  riot  upon  his 
abundanoe,  and  turn  his  plenty  into  wantonness. 
To  fast  when  he  invites  us  to  feed,  is  our  sin  ;  to  be 
fuller  than  he  allows  us,  is  our  sin  and  our  shame ;  to 
be  pleased  no  ways,  neither  full  nor  fasting,  is  our  sin, 
our  shame,  and  unhappiness.  The  Philistines  in  their 
feast  called  for  Samson  to  make  them  sport :  take  heed 
tliat  Samson  be  not  your  mirth ;  make  not  religion 
your  fiddle.  God  doth  not  therefore  so  liberally  give 
us  temporal  things,  that  we  being  full  should  abuse 
spiritual  things.  David  vowed  tliat  he  would  not 
forget  Jerusalem  in  his  mirth;  and  in  their  mirth 
there  be  some  that  remember  Jerusalem,  but  it  is 
with  a  sacrilegious  frump.  Yea,  too  often,  they  do 
not  only  in  their  mirth  remember  Jerusalem,  but 
they  make  Jerusalem  their  mirth ;  and  holiness  is 
wounded  through  the  name  of  puritan.  Call  godli- 
ness by  what  name  they  will,  it  is  too  good  to  be 
jested  with ;  and  when  profane  men  are  tints  in  jest, 
God  will  be  in  earnest.     And  here  we  fitly,  fall  upon, 

3.  Profane  feasts:  I  call  them  so,  where  God  is 
not  placed  at  the  upper  end  of  the  table  ;  where  he 
is  forgotten  in  the  beginning,  neglected  in  the  midst, 
at  the  latter  end  dishonoured.     We  find  such  feasts 


in  former  times ;  we  find  them  all  concluding  in  hor- 
ror. The  house  fell  down  upon  Job's  children,  while 
they  were  feasting.  Job  i.  19.  Their  sin  is  not 
specified,  yet  their  father  feared,  sanctified  them, 
and  interceded  for  them,  after  their  meetings.  The 
upshot  of  their  last  feast  was  destruction;  I  mean, 
on  their  bodies,  I  dare  not  say  so  of  their  souls.  The 
fathers  think  other\vise  ;  and  allege  for  it  this  observ- 
ation. At  the  first  Job  had  "  seven  thousand  sheep, 
three  thousand  camels,  five  hundred  yoke  of  oxen, 
and  five  hundred  she-asses,"  Job  i.  3.  After  his  re- 
paration, "  he  had  fourteen  thousand  sheep,  six  thou- 
sand camels,  a  thousand  yoke  of  oxen,  and  a  thousand 
she-asses,"  Job  xlii.  12.  But  in  his  first  estate,  and 
his  last  too,  he  had  but  seven  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters. The  number  of  liis  cattle  was  doubled,  the 
number  of  his  children  remained  the  same.  Children 
arc  dearer  than  riches;  why  then  is  his  wealth  dou- 
bled, and  not  his  progeny  ?  They  say,  his  beasts,  ac- 
cording to  the  condition  of  beasts,  utterly  perished  ; 
but  the  souls  of  his  children  were  saved.  So  then, 
as  he  had  twice  as  much  substance,  he  had  twice  as 
many  children  also ;  ten  whereof  were  with  him  on 
earth,  and  the  other  ten  with  God  in  heaven. 

Nabal  "  held  a  feast  in  his  house  like  the  feast  of  a 
king,"  1  Sam.  xxv.  36.  Commonly  there  is  nothing 
more  plentiful  than  a  churl's  feast.  He  was  merry, 
and  feared  no  mischief;  as  if  he  had  never  angered 
David.  That  mighty  champion  was  at  the  foot  of 
the  hill,  coming  to  avenge  himself;  yet  Nabal  was 
feasting  without  fear  or  wit,  and  drinking  drunk  with 
his  sheei>-shcarers.  Full  little  do  sinners  know,  how 
near  their  jollity  is  to  perdition.  Judgment  is  often 
at  the  threshold,  while  drunkenness  and  surfeit 
are  at  the  table.  Abigail's  wisdom  suspended  the 
present  ruin,  but  this  feast  would  not  off'  of  Nabal's 
stomach :  the  report  of  his  wife  puts  him  into  a 
swoon  the  next  morning,  and  within  ten  days  after 
tliat  swoon  ends  in  death  :  and  that  heart,  which 
wine  had  made  as  light  as  a  feather,  dies  as  heavy 
as  a  stone.  Belshazzar  made  a  feast  for  his  lords, 
and  drunk  wine  to  it.  On  a  sudden,  his  countenance 
was  changed,  and  his  knees  smote  one  against 
another,  Dan.  v.  1,  6.  What  an  alteration  wasliere  I 
a  sumptuous  and  presumptuous  banquet  ends  in  trem- 
bling and  astonisnmcnt.  He  had  the  most  glorious 
cupboard  of  plate  in  the  world,  for  which  he  might 
thank  the  spoils  of  the  temple  :  we  read  of  many 
bowls,  not  of  much  wine  ;  but  in  our  feasts,  a  great 
deal  of  wine  is  turned  over  with  a  few  bowls.  Nabal 
cannot  abound,  but  he  must  be  drunk  :  excess  is  a 
true  argument  of  folly.  We  use  to  say.  When  drink 
is  in  wit  is  out :  but  if  wit  were  not  first  out,  so  much 
drink  would  not  be  let  in.  But  I  have  held  you  too 
long  at  a  feast,  unless  my  cheer  were  better.  The 
Jews  by  a  custom  did  challenge  at  their  feast  of  pass- 
over  the  release  of  one  malefactor,  Matt,  xxvii.  15 ; 
whereupon  they  chose  Barabbas,  and  refused  Christ. 
So  do  you  at  this  feast,  turn  out  Barabbas,  lust,  riot, 
malice,  injustice,  covetousness,  uncharitableness,  pro- 
faneness,  and  all  those  sins  which  make  up  a  male- 
factor, a  Barabbas ;  and  then  in  another  sense  than 
Pilate  meant,  I  shall  deliver  to  you  the  Lord  Jesus, 
not  to  be  crucified  by  you,  but  presented  in  this  holy 
sacrament  as  crucified  before  you.  Thus  you  shall 
see  his  body  broken,  his  blood  poured  out,  not  to  his 
pain,  but  your  comfort ;  not  his  death,  but  the  re- 
membrance of  his  death.  He  took  the  bitterness  of 
that,  that  wc  might  have  the  sweetness  of  this;  he 
died  for  us  once,  that  we  by  him  might  live  for  ever. 

"  Deceiving  while  they  feast  with  you."  Feasting 
hath  ever  been  held  a  note  of  fncndship  ;  we  invite 
none  to  our  tables,  but  either  such  as  are,  or  such  as 
we  would  make,  our  friends.     David  speaks  of  a  won- 


478 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


der,  of  a.  monster  :  My  friend  that  did  eat  of  my 
bread,  hath  lift  up  his  heel  against  me,  Psal.  xli.  9. 
Elijah  would  not  do  violence  to  the  very  raven  that  was 
his  purveyor.  But  for  a  man  to  feed  upon  his  neigh- 
bour's moat,  and  to  cat  his  host  in  his  heart,  it  is 
such  a  prodigy  of  unthankfulness,  that  nature  herself 
is  sick  of  him.  Some  sly  politician,  as  Absalom,  may 
make  a  feast  for  him  whom  he  means  to  kill ;  some 
cunning  usurer  may  make  a  feast  for  those  prodigal 
heirs  whom  he  means  to  undo ;  some  ambitious 
aspirer,  for  them  whom  he  means  to  undermine. 
"  A  feast  is  made  for  laughter,"  saith  Solomon,  Eecl. 
X.  19  :  yet  all  feasts  are  not  for  laughter,  yea,  some 
are  for  slaughter ;  not  for  society,  but  for  satiety ; 
not  for  delight,  but  deceit ;  not  for  love,  but  for  lust. 
So  the  luxurious  makes  a  feast,  that  he  may  lay  his 
guests  on  the  floor.  The  end  of  a  feast  is  not  sel- 
dom the  beginning  of  a  fray  :  therefore  some  inter- 
pret our  English  phrase,  "  To  pledge,"  To  defend; 
the  drinker  supposed  to  be  in  danger,  and  he  to 
whom  he  drinks  engaging  or  interposing  himself 
betwixt  him  and  harm.  Feasts  are  not  always 
safe;  for  if  a  man  have  no  other  enemy,  he  hath 
himself;  his  own  riot  may  do  him  that  mischief 
which  another  forbears.  These  were  called  love- 
feasts  ;  their  intent  was  feasting  for  love,  yet  some 
came  for  love  of  feasting  :  one  was  hungry,  and 
another  was  drunken,  I  Cor.  xi.  21.  In  these  last 
was  not  the  fulness  of  love,  but  the  love  of  fulness. 
Thus  the  first  institution  did  languish  into  corrup- 
tion ;  and  they  became  luxurious,  some  were  drunk- 
en :  uncharitable,  others  were  hungrj' ;  the  poor  got 
nothing  :  and  fraudulent ;  they  had  thieves  among 
themselves,  whose  plausible  insinuation  made  way 
for  their  pestilent  circumvention.  The  hypocrite 
would  bring  his  dish ;  but  it  was  either  to  tempt  a 
woman  to  his  lust,  or  to  deceive  a  man  of  his  goods, 
or  to  spoil  him  of  his  wits.  Let  me  conclude  all 
with  three  observations. 

1.  It  is  odious  to  feast  with  men  on  purpose  to 
make  them  drunk.  It  is  usually  said  that  we  taught 
the  Germans  to  fight,  and  they  taught  us  to  drink  : 
and  we  have  both  proved  apt  scholars,  too  forward 
proficients  ;  if  they  be  tall  fighters,  we  are  stout 
drinkers.  But  shall  men  be  so  desperate,  as  not  to 
think  themselves  welcome  to  a  feast,  unless  they  be 
sent  home  drunk  ?  Many  have  lost  their  lives",  be- 
cause they  would  not  be  drunk  ;  noble  Uriah  w-as 
made  drunk,  yet  could  not  save  his,  2  Sam.  xi.  13. 
King  David  had  abused  his  wife,  and  his  project  was 
to  shelter  it  with  the  name  of  her  husband.  Uriah 
had  protested  against  feasting  at  home,  against 
uxorious  delights :  he  could  not  be  won  with  words, 
therefore  now  the  courtiers  must  try  him  with  wine. 
A  king  begins  to  him,  and  he  must  pledge  it.  I  do 
not  think  that  he  intended  any  excess,  but  to  obey. 
But  wrjne  is  a  mocker,  it  goes  plausibly  in,  but  who 
can  imagine  how  it  will  work  ?  It  steals  in  like  a 
lamb,  but  then  rageth  like  a  lion :  he  that  admits 
that  traitor,  shall  complain  of  a  surprisal  too  late. 
Well,  even  good  Uriah  is  made  drunk ;  the  holiest  soul 
may  be  overtaken  ;  he  is  a  rare  Rechabite  that  never 
drank  but  when  he  was  thirsty.  There  is  hope  now 
that  these  cups  will  send  him  home ;  so  common  is 
it  for  wine  fo  prepare  men  to  lust.  Uriah  was  made 
drunk,  that  he  might  desire  his  own  wife.  What  was 
the  issue?  The  aim  fails,  grace  is  stronger  than 
wine,  the  fury  of  the  grape  cannot  carry  Uriah  to 
his  own  bed.  The  graceless  tempter  sometimes  fails 
in  his  project.  David  meant  by  procuring  the  sin  of 
another,  to  hide  his  own ;  he  shall  not.  Often  have 
we  heard  of  those  that  sought  to  overthrow  others, 
soonest  overtaken  themselves.  Whose  is  the  chief 
otTence?     Uriah's  drunkenness  is  more  David's  sin 


than  his  own  :  sober  David  is  worse  than  drunken 
Uriah.  Woe  to  him  that  gives  his  neighbour  drink 
to  discover  his  shame  !  yea,  he  shall  discover  his  own 
shame.  He  that  gives  a  man  wine  to  deceive  him,  is 
first  drunk  in  soul,  before  he  can  procure  the  other's 
bodily  distemper.  If  we  should  compare  them,  the 
one  is  as  a  sinner,  the  other  as  the  tempter ;  the  one 
yields  weakly,  the  other  intends  wilfully.  Lot's 
daughters  gave  their  father  wine  to  provoke  him, 
but  themselves  were  first  drunk  with  that  lust  of 
provocation.  The  husband  is  drenched,  that  his  bed 
may  be  polluted ;  the  adulterer  is  more  intoxicate 
with  sin,  than  the  other  can  be  with  wine.  Even  the 
drunken  temperance  of  some  abhors  that  wickedness, 
which  the  sober  intemperance  of  others  desires.  Say 
other  purposes  be  left  out,  and  nothing  is  intended 
but  victoiy ;  is  he  the  valiant  man  that  can  drink 
most?  David's  worthies  were  honoured  for  their 
deeds  of  arms,  not  for  their  great  draughts.  He  that 
makes  a  man  drunk  to  deceive  him,  to  turn  another 
into  a  beast,  makes  himself  a  devil. 

2.  To  cheat  men  under  the  colour  of  amity,  is  the 
most  execrable  vUlany.  Feasting  implies  friendship, 
friendship  admits  of  no  deceit.  Boetius  says,  No 
more  deadly  pest  than  a  household  foe,  or  an  enemy 
among  your  friends.  Nothing  is  more  easy  than  this 
deceit,  nothing  more  unpardonable.  Nothing  more 
easy  :  my  fi'iend  may  sooner  mischief  me  than  I  can 
mistrust  my  friend.  Nothing  more  hateful,  because 
he  doth  that  as  a  friend,  which  he  could  not  have 
done  as  an  enemy.  The  manner  of  doing  specificates 
and  aggravates  moral  actions,  saith  the  school ;  so 
doth  the  veiy  instrument.  If  I  strike  a  man  with  a 
sword,  it  is  presumed  that  I  meant  to  kill  him ;  not 
so,  if  I  strike  him  with  a  reed ;  because  a  reed  is  no 
probable  instrument  of  death.  He  that  deceives  me 
under  the  name  of  a  friend,  shows  that  he  took  that 
name  only  to  deceive  me.  There  is  no  fence  for  the 
pistol  that  is  charged  with  the  bullet  of  friendship. 
Hilary  compares  it  to  a  razor  in  the  hand  of  a 
counterfeit  barber ;  Prepared  for  ornament,  says  he, 
it  is  turned  to  murder.  Uriah  must  be  set  in  the 
forefront  of  the  battle,  2  Sam.  xi.  15  :  honour  is  pre- 
tended to  him,  murder  is  meant.  He  was  a  valiant 
soldier,  and  before  he  had  the  title  of  David's  worthy, 
he  dearly  earned  it.  It  was  not  a  great  lady's  letter, 
nor  that  which  got  the  captain  his  burgcsship.  Acts 
xxii.  2S,  that  gave  him  that  reputation  ;  but  a  noble 
courage  in  difficult  exploits.  David  sent  for  him,  made 
him  royally  welcome,  and  he  was  worthy  of  it ;  worthy 
indeed  to  have  leaned  his  head  near  the  golden  sceptre, 
and  to  have  died  in  his  prince's  bosom,  not  by  his 
prince's  prodition.  But  now  that  all  this  seeming  fa- 
vour and  honour  should  tend  to  his  ruin,  oh  how  foul  a 
deed  was  it  even  of  that  holy  saint !  His  renown  was 
as  great  as  had  been  his  dangers,  and  his  valour  beyond 
them  both  ;  and  even  in  this  last  attempt  that  cost  him 
his  life,  if  his  followers  had  not  been  more  treacher- 
ous than  his  enemies  were  numerous,  he  had  come 
off  with  victory.  Now  poor  Uriah  is  not  so  much 
conquered,  as  betrayed ;  nor  fell  he  by  his  enemies, 
but  by  his  friends.  Yet  is  he  neither  the  first,  nor 
the  last,  that  hath  thus  perished. 

David  himself  had  such  a  plot  put  upon  him  by- 
Saul:  Be  thou  valiant,  and  fight  the  Lord's  battles, 
and  I  will  give  thee  my  elder  daughter  Merab  to 
wife ;  for  he  said,  My  hand  shall  not  be  upon  him, 
&c.  1  Sam.  xviii.  17.  David  was  grown  so  gracious 
with  the  people,  that  the  king  durst  not  offer  him 
personal  violence ;  therefore  he  hires  him  into  the 
jaws  of  death,  by  no  less  a  price  than  his  eldest 
daughter.  What  could  be  spoken  more  honourably, 
more  graciously  ?  A  king  could  not  offer  a  more 
noble  gift  than  his  own  daughter,  nor  desire  a  more 


Ver.  13. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


479 


gracious  recompcncc,  than  to  fight  the  Lord's  battles. 
What  a  saint,  what  a  friend  was  Saul !  yet  he  did 
never  mean  so  much  mischief  to  David,  so  much  un- 
unfaithl'ulncss  to  God,  as  in  this  ofl'er.  A  good  man 
IS  never  safe  from  the  false-hearted;  for  wMien  they 
make  the  fairest  weather,  then  is  the  greatest  dan- 
ger. Whatsoever  the  colour  was,  Saul  meant  nothing 
to  David  but  death.  Yet  doth  this  falsehood  dis- 
cover itself,  for  Merab  was  not  given  to  David,  but 
to  Adriel.  Seeing  all  these  dangers  could  not  cftcct 
what  Saul  desired,  himself  will  not  etfect  what  he 
j)romised.  Yet  still  he  will  be  a  friend,  and  he  hath 
now  another  daughter  for  David;  though  the  younger, 
yet  the  more  affectionate ;  she  was  as  sick  of  love, 
as  her  father  was  of  hate,  toward  him.  Saul  is  glad 
of  this,  his  daughter  could  never  live  to  do  him  bet- 
ter service  :  if  she  can  betray  David,  Da\4d  shall 
have  his  good  will  to  marrj'  her,  ver.  '20,  21.  Thus 
doth  this  false-hearted  king  sacrifice  his  own  child 
to  his  envy ;  and  hopes  that  her  honest  and  sincere 
love  shall  betray  her  worthy  and  innocent  husband. 
It  is  so  storied  of  a  late  emperor  of  Turkey,  that  he 
married  his  own  daughter  to  a  bashaw  on  the  one 
day,  and  then,  after  a  night's  pleasure,  sent  for  his 
head  the  next  morning.  Are  there  none  that  care 
not  to  cast  away  a  daughter  on  their  friend,  for  their 
own  ends  ?  Such  is  the  rage  of  desperate  malice, 
that  rather  than  not  ruin  those  they  hate,  they  will 
do  it  through  the  sides  of  their  own  children. 
"  Faithful  are  the  wounds  of  a  friend ;  but  the  kisses 
of  an  enemy  arc  deceitful,"  Prov.  xxvii.  6.  No  man 
so  much  hates  his  professed  foe,  as  he  does  his  dis- 
sembling friend,  when  that  shadowed  villany  declares 
itself.  We  pray,  from  the  hands  of  all  our  enemies, 
and  (of  all  our  enemies)  from  the  hands  of  our  de- 
ceitful friends,  good  Lord,  deliver  us. 

3.  To  boast  of  all  this  mischief,  when  it  is  done, 
doubles  the  wickedness ;  to  glory  in  their  shame, 
Phil.  iii.  19.  Wicked  men  gloiy  in  that  which  shall 
everlastingly  cast  them  from  glory ;  and  make  that 
their  sport  on  earth,  which  in  hell  shall  be  their  tor- 
ment. One  glories  in  his  strange  attire,  as  if  that 
were  matter  of  pride,  which  makes  him  ridiculous. 
What  glory  takes  the  owl,  that  she  is  not  fashioned 
like  other  birds?  Another  glories  in  his  perfumed 
garments,  and  thinks  every  one  that  sees  him  or 
smells  him,  must  needs  be  in  love  with  him.  Another, 
to  hear  himself  talk,  or  to  read  his  own  lines ;  though 
he  bungle  up  such  stuff  as  tires  the  most  patient  ear. 
Yet  the  ass  takes  no  pleasure  in  his  own  braying. 
.\nother,  to  bring  out  an  oath  with  a  grace,  as  if  to 
offend  God,  and  to  poison  his  own  mouth,  were  an 
honour  to  him.  Another,  to  tell  of  his  cheats,  and 
how  many  he  hath  gulled;  and  yet  the  gull  knows 
not  that  he  hath  most  of  all  cheated  himself.  An- 
other, to  tell  of  his  adulteries;  and  every  time  he 
boasts,  he  again  commits  the  sin ;  yea,  this  report 
shall  have  a  worse  vengeance  than  the  act.  Heros- 
tratus  burnt  the  temple  of  Diana  in  a  bravery,  and 
for  a  bravery  he  relates  it.  You  shall  hear  the  gallant 
swear  that  such  a  one  is  a  brave,  valiant  gentleman: 
why  ?  he  killed  such  a  man.  So  Cain  was  a  brave, 
valiant  gentleman,  because  he  slew  his  brother  Abel. 
Another,  in  giving  weak  brains  a  drench,  to  see 
them  wallow  in  their  filthiness:  this  is  to  boast  how 
far  they  are  become  Satan's  children. 

Alas,  that  a  man  should  make  sport  at  sin  !  Doth 
the  peacock  glory  in  his  foul  feet  ?  Do  not  his  proud 
feathers  come  down  when  they  are  in  his  eyes? 
Every  vice,  for  this  verj'  reason,  its  being  a  vice,  is 
against  nature:  so  Augustine.  And  arc  we  enamoured 
of  that  which  the  very  beasts  hate  ?  Takes  the  devil 
a  pride  or  glory,  that  he  is  banished  out  of  heaven  ? 
Doth  he  make  a  sport  of  his  torment,  or  play  with  his 


chain  ?  No,  but  he  rather  curseth  God,  angels,  and 
men,  who  live  in  the  kingdom  of  light,  while  he  is 
confined  to  the  dungeon  of  darkness.  What  coward 
is  there,  that  will  brag  or  glory  that  he  was  bcalen  ? 
If  we  could  see  the  baseness  of  sin,  we  would  have 
little  desire  to  make  sport  with  it.  Now  the  Lord 
open  our  eyes  to  see,  and  sanctify  our  hearts  to  de- 
test it.     Amen. 


Verse  14. 

Having  eyes  full  of  adullerij,  and  that  cannot  ceanefrom 
mil;  beguiling  unstable  souls:  a  heart  they  have 
exercised  with  coictous practices:  cursed  children. 

Long  and  late  I  am  got  out  of  that  troublesome  laby- 
rinth :  and  now,  like  a  traveller  that  hath  spent  some 
time  in  a  bad  country,  where  the  conditions  of  the 
people  displease  him,  he  embarks  himself,  andhoist- 
eth  sails  for  another  coast,  hoping  to  speed  better ; 
and  yet,  alas,  finds  his  progress  from  bad  to  woree ; 
so,  where  am  I  now  landed?  Is  the  climate  more 
temperate,  arc  the  inhabitants  more  civil,  am  I  con- 
tented in  my  change?  No,  I  have  left  the  Sybarites, 
and  lighted  upon  the  cannibals;  I  am  come  (with 
Lot)  from  Egypt  unto  Sodom ;  from  a  knot  of  loose 
companions,  to  a  rabble  of  adulterers.  Before  I 
found  a  land  of  deceivers,  Jer.  ix.  5,  now  I  am  fallen 
upon  a  land  of  adulterers,  Jer.  xxiii.  10 :  thus  is  the 
matter  well  mended.  The  sixth  commandment  for- 
bids to  kill;  the  seventh,  to  commit  adultery;  the 
eighth,  to  steal :  a  man's  life  is  more  precious  than 
his  wife,  his  wife  than  his  goods.  So  the  apostle's 
argument  riseth  a  minore  ad  majus ;  before  they  did 
but  cheat  men  of  their  purses,  now  of  their  spouses. 

"  Having  eyes  full  of  adultery."  The  theme  riseth 
in  full  strength  to  the  condemnation  of  adultery. 
For  the  particulars,  we  may  compare  them  to  a  hunt- 
ing :  these  graceless  deceivers  being  granted  the 
huntsmen,  we  have  three  occurrences.  First,  the 
hounds  be  their  eyes.  Secondly,  the  beast  they  hunt 
after,  is  the  adulteress.  Thirdly,  the  game  is  pursued, 
the  dogs  are  at  full  cr)';  their  eyes  be  full  of  adul- 
tery. Before  I  uncouple  the  hounds,  or  examine  the 
particulars,  let  me  say  something  to  the  matter  in 
general.  And  that  not  much,  because  I  have  former- 
ly handled  this  argument.  It  is  a  conquering  sin,  a 
cheating  sin,  a  commandingsin,  and  a  condemning  sin. 

1.  It  is  a  conquering  sin,  for  it  hath  overcome  the 
strongest.  Some  man  perhaps  says  presently.  Why 
then  hath  it  not  overcome  me?  Nay  rather,  why 
should  it  therefore  overcome  thee  ?  even  their  falls 
should  teach  thee  to  stand.  Bathsheba  was  no  sooner 
washed  from  her  unclcanness,  but  she  goes  into  a 
forbidden  bed,  2  Sam.  xi.  4:  she  was  never  so  foul, 
as  when  she  was  newly  washed :  yea,  if  she  had  not 
been  washed,  she  had  been  clean  :  the  worst  foulness 
of  the  body  is  cleanliness  to  the  best  of  sin.  We 
read  not  of  any  fault  of  Bathsheba's  cither  before  or 
after,  but  that  she  was  a  good  woman  :  yet  she  was  a 
woman ;  the  importunity  of  a  king,  and  infirmity  of 
sex,  may  plead  for  her.  But  what  can  be  said  for 
that  prophetic  king,  and  royal  prophet  ?  God  hath 
not  left  It  a  blank,  but  a  blemish  in  King  David's 
chronicle ;  that  every  passenger  may  shun  that  rock, 
and  steer  his  course  another  way.  Oilurwise  what 
hope  hast  thou  but  to  be  drowned,  when  God's  own 
favourite  so  narrowly  escaped  ?  Did  not  his  holy 
profession  teach  him  to  abhor  such  a  sin  more  than 
death  ?  Did  not  his  justice  punish  this  sin  in  others 
with  no  less  than  death  ?     Did  not  his  place  require 


480 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


him  to  protect  the  chastity  of  his  subjects  ?  Did  not 
tlie  countenance  of  his  majesty  imboUlcn  the  others' 
<!ishonesty  ?  A  princely  tempter  is  like  to  prevail. 
Great  pereons  should  make  their  commands  conscion- 
ablc.  their  demands  reasonable ;  for  they  sin  by 
authority  that  are  solicited  by  the  mighty.  Thus 
deeply  might  we  accuse  him,  but  that  he  did  more 
deeply  accuse  himself.  Be  there  any  profane  eyes 
that  look  upon  this  woeful  example  with  content,  as 
their  pattern,  or  their  excuse  for  adultery  ?  (As  some 
think  of  Ham,  that  he  meant  to  take  advantage  of 
his  fathers  nakedness,  thereby  to  excuse  himself  for 
his  continual  drunkenness.)  O  those  be  dissolute 
eyes,  and  such  as  shall  one  day  see  David  in  joy,  and 
themselves  in  torment.  Good  eyes  behold  it  with 
fears  and  tears,  as  the  woeful  spectacle  of  human 
frailty.  God  notes  it,  and  we  repeat  it,  for  a  terror. 
■\\"fcat  a  powerful  sin  is  that,  which  could  overcome  a 
Da\-id !  If  any  man  could  have  beaten  Samson,  how 
terrible  would  he  have  been  to  the  world !  One  Joseph 
shunned  his  tempting  mistress ;  now  he  would  be  a 
rare  man.  If  thou  be  that  Joseph,  I  will  apply  to 
thee  that  text  of  Solomon,  "  One  man  among  a 
thousand  have  I  found;  but  a  woman  among  all 
those  have  I  not  found,"  Eccl.  vii.  28.  But  if  thou 
hast  not  been  an  innocent  Joseph,  yet  now  at  least 
become  a  penitent  David. 

2.  It  is  a  cheating  sin;  for  instead  of  repentance, 
it  works  the  adulterer  to  labour  a  concealment.  His 
study  is  not  how  to  abandon  the  lewdness,  but  how 
to  hide  it  from  notice.  He  fears  shame,  not  sin ;  the 
commissary,  not  God ;  the  churchwardens  more  than 
the  angels;  and  the  apparitor  worse  than  Satan. 
He  seeks  a  rag  to  cover  his  sin,  rather  than  a  plaster 
to  heal  it.  Bathsheba  conceives  a  cliild  in  sin,  2 
Sam.  xi.  5,  and  ^4-ithal  conceives  a  trouble  how  to 
hide  the  shame.  He  that  did  the  fact,  must  cover  it. 
Marriage  is  a  common  recompence  and  shelter  for 
fornication;  but  adultery  always  breaks  out  like  a 
desperate  plague,  that  knows  no  cure.  Therefore  it 
makes  the  offenders  such  hypocrites,  that  they  rather 
seek  to  conceal  their  wickedness  from  the  eyes  of 
men,  than  to  pull  the  sting  of  sin  out  of  their  own 
consciences.  As  there  be  some  acts  wherein  the 
hypocrite  appears  a  saint,  so  there  be  some  wherein 
tlie  greatest  mortal  saint  may  be  a  hypocrite.  Com- 
punction and  tenderness  is  turned  into  circumspec- 
tion and  care  of  secrecy.  Instead  of  clearing  their 
sin,  they  labour  to  cloak  it ;  and  spend  those  thoughts 
in  concealing  it,  which  they  should  have  bestowed  in 
preventing  it  before,  or  in  repenting  it  afterward. 
As  if  a  client  should  be  tedious  and  curious  in  making 
his  cause  good  to  his  neighbour,  and  never  think  of 
a  lawyer  to  plead  it  for  him.  Siimers  endeavour  to 
make  all  fair  with  the  world,  and  forget  their  advo- 
cate, Christ.  Not  unlike  the  soldier,  that  was  very 
diligent  in  scouring  his  musket,  preparing  his  match, 
practising  his  postures,  and  fitting  his  furniture ;  and 
when  he  came  into  the  field,  had  forgot  his  powder. 
Their  thoughts  are  so  taken  up  with  the  sweetness  of 
fruition,  and  policy  of  contriving,  that  they  quite  for- 
get the  main,  which  is  repentance. 

3.  It  is  a  commanding  sin;  no  iniquity  that  stands 
in  the  way  must  be  refused,  if  adultery  be  once  ad- 
mitted. All  the  witnesses  must  be  corrupted,  yea, 
Lnd  allowed  to  fake  their  own  pleasure  the  same  or 
any  other  way ;  the  pander  must  not  ask  a  reward,  and 
have  a  repute.  Other  maids  stand  in  fear  of  their 
mistresses,  but  here  the  mistress  stands  in  fear  of  her 
conscious  maid.  The  servant's  lips  must  be  locked  up 
with  a  golden  key:  if  those  setters  once  quest,  the 
game  is  marred.  The  husband  must  be  watched, 
dishonoured,  impoverished,  yea,  perhaps  butchered ; 
for  if  blood  stands  in  the  way  of  lust,  it  is  not  spared. 


There  are  no  conditions  so  hard,  to  which  the  adul- 
terer must  not  subscribe.  David  hath  abused  Bath- 
sheba, the  Ilittite  (her  husband)  is  sent  for  from  the 
wars ;  and  after  some  needless  and  far-fetched  ques- 
tions, receives  a  royal  present,  and  so  is  dismissed 
home,  to  cloak  another's  sin,  2  Sam.  si.  6 — 8.  That 
train  will  not  take,  the  good  soldier  is  so  used  to  his 
field-bed,  that  he  rather  chooseth  a  stony  pillow 
under  the  canopy  of  heaven,  than  the  delicate  cham- 
ber of  his  wife,  whom  he  thought  as  honest  as  he 
knew  fair.  David's  wanton  heart  does  not  yet  melt, 
by  comparing  his  servant's  chaste  resolution  with  his 
o\\-n  light  incontinence ;  but  he  tries  another  trick. 
He  that  cannot  be  stirred  with  words,  shall  be  heat 
with  wine:  this  fire  (he  presumes)  will  send  him 
home  to  his  remedy.  Here  is  a  new  plot,  with  a  new 
sin ;  but  it  does  not  take.  Drunkenness  hath  made 
many  adulterers,  yet  sliall  it  not  move  Uriah  to  law- 
ful pleasures.  What  then  ?  there  must  be  another 
project.  Where.  O  where  will  this  mischief  end? 
Adultery  cannot  be  hidden  without  murder,  murder 
shall  be  employed  to  liide  adultery.  The  fact  which 
wine  cannot  conceal,  the  sword  shall.  MTiat  a  brood 
of  sins  hath  the  devil  hatched  out  of  this  one  egg  of 
adultery !  Uriah  shall  bear  his  own  mittimus  to  Joab, 
and  be  the  messenger  of  his  own  death.  Joab  must  be 
a  traitor  to  his  friend,  the  host  of  God  must  shamefully 
turn  their  backs  upon  their  enemies,  much  blood  of 
Israel  must  be  spilt,  many  a  good  soldier  cast  away, 
that  murder  must  be  seconded  with  dissimulation ; 
and  all  this  to  hide  one  adultery.  Who  knows  how 
far  he  shall  fall,  tliat  hath  once  fallen  thus  far  ?  Let 
him  not  flatter  himself,  This  sin  and  no  mere;  for 
when  Satan  hath  him  at  that  advantage,  he  will  com- 
mand him  further  service.  Oh  how  happy  is  it  for  us 
never  to  begin  the  evil,  whereof  we  know  not  when 
we  shall  male  an  end !  Now  the  preventing  grace  of 
God  keep  us  from  the  sin,  that  we  be  never  delivered 
over  to  the  shame ! 

4.  It  is  a  condemning  sin,  and  carries  its  own  sen- 
tence about  it.  It  must  needs  abandon  all  love  of  God, 
for  that  and  the  love  of  a  harlot  cannot  stand  together. 
There  be  three  sorts  of  love ;  the  first  is  ever  good, 
the  second  is  ever  bad,  the  last  is  good  naturally,  ac- 
cidentally evil.  First,  the  love  of  God  is  ever  good, 
nor  is  it'  possible  to  sin  in  the  excess ;  there  be  no 
limits  or  boundaries  set  to  this  love.  Secondlv,  the 
Ifive  of  any  sin,  as  of  adultery,  is  always  bad.  Thirdly, 
the  love  of  sustenance,  recreation,  &c.  (as  they  say  of 
Mercury,  that  joined  with  a  good  planet  it  is  auspi- 
cious, noxious  with  a  bad  one,)  is  good  by  nature,  bad 
by  intemperance.  This  love  by  the  love  of  God  is 
stmted,  that  it  may  satisfy  necessity,  not  curiosity. 
A  proud  stomach  that  quickens  itself  by  artificial  re- 
ceipts, it  will  not  endure,  but  confines  it  to  medi- 
ocrity. But  unlawful  love  is  allowed  no  mediocrity  ; 
a  man  must  not  be  an  adulterer  by  measure.  "  The 
fear  of  the  Lord  is  clean,"  Psal.  xix.  9 ;  that  and  foul 
thoughts  will  no  more  stand  together  than  the  ark 
and  Dagon :  if  the  ark  be  there,  Dagon  must  dowTi ; 
Dagon  may  stand  when  the  ark  is  gone.  No  idol 
must  be  in  the  temple  of  God,  but  of  all  idols  not 
Baal-peor.  As  malice  is  damnable,  because  it  is  so 
diametrically  repugnant  to  God  who  is  love ;  so  God 
is  also  purity,  and  therefore  nothing  more  directly 
contrary  to  him  than  uncleanness.  There  is  no  adul- 
terer hilt  will  say,  yea  and  not  stick  to  swear,  that 
he  loves  God ;  yet  if  he  have  but  a  crown  in  his  purse, 
his  harlot  shall  sooner  have  half  of  it,  than  he  will  lend 
God  one  sixpence :  this  the  poor  find  too  true.  Per- 
haps after  the  cooling  of  his  heat,  loss  of  spirits,  and 
abatement  of  courage,  he  may  be  a  little  sorry ;  but 
it  is  like  a  cold  thaw  at  noon,  that  is  congealed  worse 
at  night.     "Though  it  takes  away  present  s  rcngfh, 


Vf.r.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


491 


yet  it  leaves  a  desire ;  whereas  grace  takes  away  de- 
sire, though  it  leaves  strength.  It  is  like  fire,  that 
purgeth  out  the  filth  of  uncleanness;  like  the  sun, 
that  deads  these  embers  by  his  greater  force ;  like 
pure  water  put  into  a  vessel,  that  thrusts  out  the 
stinking  air  whereof  it  was  full  before.  Love  God 
therefore,  know  him  that  you  may  love  him,  read 
that  you  may  know  him,  pray  that  you  may  do  all. 
Augustine,  the  famous  doctor,  was  anxious  to  become 
a  Christian ;  only  this  troubled  him,  that  he  must 
leave  his  fornication.  (Confes.  lib.  8.  cap.  8.)  As  he 
sat  in  a  garden,  he  heard  a  voice,  saying,  TMe,  lege. 
Take  the  book  and  read ;  and  at  the  first  opening  of 
it,  he  was  presented  with  that  text,  "  Let  us  walk 
honestly,  as  in  the  day,"  &-c.  Rom.  xiii.  13.  This 
was  enough ;  it  wrought  his  heart  to  piety  :  whose 
soever  the  voice  was,  tne  conversion  was  tlie  work  of 
God. 

"  Having  eyes  full  of  adultery."  Their  eyes  be 
the  beagles  that  hunt  after  this  game  ;  where  we 
have  five  observations. 

1.  There  is  no  sense  which  is  not  at  the  heart's 
command ;  but  the  principality  of  those  servants  is 
varied  according  to  the  disposition  of  their  mistress. 
If  the  heart  be  gracious,  the  ear  hath  the  superiority ; 
if  \"icious,  the  eye.  Faith  comes  by  hearing,  to  make 
the  soul  good ;  faith  is  confirmed  by  hearing,  to  make 
the  soul  belter.  Lust  comes  in  by  seeing,  to  corrupt 
the  heart,  and  make  it  evil ;  lust  is  inflamed  by 
seeing,  to  make  it  worse.  Unless  God  come  in  by 
the  ear,  you  shall  not  find  him  in  the  heart.  So  the 
harlot  takes  the  heart  by  the  eye.  The  blind  is  in 
better  case  than  the  deaf;  for  the  former  hath  but 
lost  the  sense  that  might  undo  him,  the  other  hath 
lost  the  sense  that  should  save  him.  In  the  market 
a  man's  eyes  do  him  more  service  than  his  ears :  in 
the  church,  no  matter  though  his  eyes  be  shut,  so 
his  ears  be  open.  "  Mine  ears  thou  hast  opened," 
saith  David,  Psal.  xl.  6,  not  mine  eyes ;  yea,  he  prays 
rather  for  their  shutting,  "  Turn  away  mine  eyes 
from  vanity,"  Psal.  cxix.  3".  In  the  temple,  a  run- 
ning or  roving  eye  is  a  dangerous  thief  to  steal  away 
the  soul.  The  popish  ser^■ice  was  only  invented  to 
take  the  eye :  the  deaf  man  may  be  one  of  their  best 
catholics ;  there  is  nothing  to  do  for  his  ears,  unless 
he  can  understand  Latin,  or  have  some  skill  in  music 
to  distinguish  tones  of  the  organs.  .Ml  is  a  pageant 
for  the  eye,  as  St.  Paul  hath  fitted  it  with  a  word, 
^^oX/io^ovXeui,  eye-service :  which  brings  so  many 
fools  into  their  paradise.  This  makes  it  perilous  to 
see  their  histrionical  idolatries,  because  the  soul  is 
surprised  by  the  eye. 

If  any  object,  that  Paul  was  present  at  the  pagan 
devotions,  .\cls  xvii.  23 :  but  we  are  not  all  Pauls, 
we  have  not  all  Paul's  constancy ;  yea,  rather,  how- 
many  Peters  there  are !  how  many  are  guilty  of 
Peter's  flexibleness!  But  is  truth  then  loo  cmel, 
•1  forbid  our  bodily  presence  at  superstitious  serv- 

-.  for  the  preservation  of  our  lives  and  liberties? 

y.  rather  admire  the  bounty  of  this  mistress:  you 

i:i  at  the  company  of  men,  she  tells  you  of  a  society 

\iitli  angels;  you  think  of  your  rotten  tenements, 

-  ;■  wisheth  you  eternal  mansions;   you  would  be 

■tent  with  under-offices,  she  offers  you  dominion 
r  cities;  you  plead  for  provinces,  she  for  king- 

;as;  you  are  indulgent  to  a  life  that  leads  unto 
;h,  she  counsels  you  rather  to  accept  of  a  death 

.:  leads  unto  life.     We  read  not.  By  seeing  you 

ill  be  saved,  but  by  hearing. 

2.  The  eye  is  of  all  senses  the  quickest  of  appre- 
hension ;  a  port  to  land  the  commodities  of  neU, 
before  the  soul  have  warning.  It  goes  out  for  prey, 
and  brings  it  home  in  an  instant.  If  that  of  Plato 
had  been  true  philosophv,  that  the  sight  is  formed 

2  I 


by  darting  out  the  visive  faculties  to  the  object, 
there  had  been  hope  of  better  safety.  But  seeing 
exerciseth  itself  by  bringing  the  object  within,  ac- 
cording to  Aristotle,  and  thus  is  the  baneful  impres- 
sion made.  That  is  a  rare  eye,  like  a  pure  beam  of 
the  sun,  that  can  mingle  itself  with  sordid  corrup- 
tions, and  receive  no  taintment.  It  is  a  most  sharp- 
sighted  faculty  or  sense,  it  can  see  the  sky  and  stars 
so  remote.  Most  efficacious ;  no  sense  so  firmly  im- 
printeth  forms  in  the  imagination ;  what  it  sees  once 
intentively,  it  sees  many  days  after.  Most  sure  or 
certain;  I»airiV;  an  evident  testimony.  One  eye- 
witness is  better  than  ten  ear-witnesses.  No  sense 
is  so  ranging ;  now  it  is  on  the  eanh,  in  a  moment  at 
the  moon.  Therefore  the  suddenness  of  the  last 
judgment  is  compared  to  the  twinkling  of  an  eye. 
None  hath  such  variety  of  objects,  and  continual 
business ;  none  is  so  often  put  in  action,  none  is  so 
quick  of  motion ;  indeed  none  so  serviceable  to  rea- 
son :  well  guided,  none  so  commodious ;  and  none  so 
pernicious,  if  corrupted. 

The  visible  instruction  is  most  potent :  young 
King  Philip,  being  but  carried  in  his  cradle  to  the 
wars,  did  greatly  animate  the  soldiers.  The  visible 
temptation  is  most  prevalent.  Imagination  in  ab- 
sence represents  the  pleasure  afar  off,  and  not  pre- 
pared; before  the  eye,  it  enrageth  the  desire,  and 
nothing  wants  but  execution.  Therefore  the  way  to 
root  a  bad  impression  out  of  the  heart,  is  to  remove 
the  object  from  the  eye :  out  of  sight  out  of  mind. 
We  tmnk  on  absent  tiling  with  colder  affections. 
Indeed  well-grounded  love  is  more  constant,  and 
lovers  have  a  secret  cabinet  in  their  memories, 
whereby  they  confer;  yet  unless  the  intercourse  of 
messengers,  letters,  tokens,  revive  the  affections, 
even  their  thoughts  will  grow  remiss.  How  easily 
then  may  loose  love,  which  hath  no  other  nerves  but 
blood  and  sense,  be  dissolved  by  a  separation !  Many 
a  bitten  lover  says  of  his  harlot.  Would  I  had  never 
seen  her  face:  but  he  says  not,  I  will  never  more 
see  her  fece.  He  vainly  wrisheth  what  cannot  be, 
and  yet  does  not  conscientiously  resolve  what  may  be. 

3.  The  eye  is  the  pander  of  a  lustful  heart ;  the 
window  that  lets  in  the  infection,  the  first  betrayer 
of  the  fort.  To  say  nothing  of  the  sons  of  God,  al- 
lured to  the  daughters  of  men  by  their  eyes ;  nor  of 
Potipliar's  wife,  that  by  a  cast  of  her  eye  drew  Joseph 
into  her  heart :  nor  of  David,  the  glance  of  whose 
wanton  eye  wrought  so  many  mischiefs :  Ahab's  eye 
was  sick  of  Naboth's  vineyard,  his  heart  was  drunk 
with  the  grapes  whereof  he  never  tasted.  Adultery 
sets  her  chair  in  the  eye :  they  say,  the  master's  eye 
feeds  the  beast ;  but  here  the  beast's  eye  feeds  the 
master.  In  the  eye  itself  there  is  no  such  virtue ; 
yet  the  master's  eye  is  said  to  govern  the  family. 
Here  the  eye  doth  engender  lust,  lust  adultery,  and 
adultery-  (if  nothing  else)  engenders  vengeance. 
"  Let  her  not  take  thee  with  her  eyelids,"  Prov.  vi. 
25.  Oculi  sunt  in  amore  duces,  sailh  a  poet ;  i.  e. 
In  love  the  eyes  are  the  leaders.  Upon  this  ground 
it  seems  Zeleucus  imposed  that  law  on  the  Locrenses, 
that  the  adulterers  eyes  should  be  pulled  out :  sin 
entered  at  those  casements,  therefore  he  would  stop 
up  the  windows  ;  and  when  the  steed  was  stolen, 
shut  up  the  stable  door.  Pliny  writes  of  a  chalky 
brimstone,  that  draws  to  itself  distant  5re :  the 
wanton  eye  attracts  this  adulterous  fire  to  the  heart. 
All  shapes,  all  colours  are  alike  to  darkness  ;  no 
sense  can  distinguish  betwixt  foul  and  fair,  but  the 
eye.  Dinah  was  a  maid,  and  went  to  see  virgins  of 
her  own  sex;  her  eye  was  chaste,  though  idle;  but 
Shechem's  eye  was  both  idle  and  unchaste.  That 
great  soldier  called  the  Persian  maids,  DcJores  oculo- 
rum ;  i.  e.  The  torments,  or  pains,  of  the  eyes :  there- 


482 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


fore  the  same  Alexander  refused  so  much  as  to  sec 
Darius's  wife,  a  lady  of  incomparable  beauly  ;  fear- 
ing lest  he  that  had  conquered  the  husband,  should 
be  overcome  by  the  wife.  What  abundance  of  offices 
doth  the  eye  bear  in  this  little  family  of  man! 
First,  it  is  the  body's  watchman,  and  guides  the 
hand  to  defend  it.  Secondly,  it  is  the  understand- 
ing's informer,  whereupon  she  determines  of  sub- 
stances true  or  false.  Thirdly,  the  stomach's  taster  ; 
for  if  the  eye  do  not  like  the  morsel,  that  refuseth  it. 
Fourthly,  the  afl'ections'  purveyor,  to  bring  in  their 
desires.  Fifthly,  the  heart's  messenger,  that  runs  on 
her  errand  almost  as  quick  as  thought.  Sixthly, 
the  fancy's  hitelligencer  ;  the  painter  must  see,  be- 
fore he  can  counterfeit.  Lastly,  a  scout  to  the  whole 
soul,  and  a  sentinel  to  the  whole  body  ;  and  corrupt- 
ed, a  traitor  to  them  both. 

4.  Satan's  first  project  is  to  take  the  eye;  if  that 
be  once  his  friend,  he  hopes  well  of  all  the  rest.  In- 
deed, if  the  door  stand  open  to  the  thief,  what  safety 
can  be  in  the  house  ?  The  devil  took  Christ  into  an 
exceeding  high  mountain,  and  showed  him  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the  glory  of  them.  Matt. 
iv.  8.  AVhy  so  high,  but  for  prospect?  If  all  this 
glory  were  only  represented  to  his  imagination,  a 
valley  would  have  served;  if  only  to  the  sense,  no 
hill  were  high  enough.  Circular  bodies,  though 
small,  cannot  be  seen  at  once.  This  show  was  made 
to  both  ;  the  kingdoms  about  Judea  to  his  eye,  the 
glory  of  them  to  his  imagination.  A  cunning  devil 
in  all  ;  he  meant  that  this  glory  should  tempt  the 
eye,  the  eye  the  fancy,  and  tne  fancy  should  tempt 
the  will.  If  that  sense  be  viciously  employed,  re- 
member the  devil  is  there.  How  many  thousand 
souls  have  died  of  the  wound  in  the  eye  !  If  sin  be 
not  lei  in  at  that  window,  nor  the  door  of  the  car,  it 
can  find  no  way  into  the  heart.  Death  comes  through 
the  windows:  when  a  man  opens  his  eye  lustfully, 
he  caimot  think  what  a  train  of  sins  will  crowd  in 
upon  him.  Had  Satan  come  to  David  in  the  most 
lovely  form  of  Bathsheba  herself,  and  at  the  tirst  in 
direct  terms  told  him,  he  should  enjoy  her  if  he 
would  murder  her  husband  ;  without  question,  he 
would  have  spit  scorn  on  that  face,  on  which  he  so 
much  doted.  Now  from  the  glance  of  his  eye  arose 
all  that  succession  of  mischiefs.  He  sins ;  and  no 
less  sin  would  serve  his  turn  than  adulterj';  and  that 
is  not  enough,  without  the  addition  of  blood.  Yea, 
he  is  not  only  a  sinner,  but  a  tempter ;  he  solicits 
Bathsheba  to  offend  God,  to  break  her  faith,  to  dis- 
honour her  husband,  to  dishonest  her  body,  to  wound 
her  soul,  to  put  an  asp  to  the  breast  of  her  con- 
science :  and  all  this  begun  with  a  look.  The  man 
that  was  so  heart-smitten  for  cutting  off  a  piece  of 
his  master's  garment,  is  now  lavish  of  a  noble  serv- 
ant's blood.  Yea,  because  that  worthy  commander 
cannot  fall  alone,  he  grudgeth  not  the  blood  of  his 
innocent  people  to  accompany  him.  Could  he  have 
expiated  that  sin  with  his  own  blood,  it  had  been 
but  well  spent ;  but  to  cover  it  with  the  blood  of 
his  faithful  soldiers,  was  a  crime  above  astonishment. 
How  did  the  Spirit  of  God  retire  at  a  wanton  look ! 
Oh  the  deep  fetches  of  sin !  Satan  were  not  that  old 
serpent,  if  he  had  lost  his  windings;  liis  craft  is  of 
as  long  standing  as  his  malice.  That  sin  at  the  first 
present  ment  would  atTright  a  man,  which  he  juggles 
on  by  degrees.  When  the  prophet  told  Hazael  of 
the  horrible  mischief  he  should  do  to  Israel,  he  re- 
plied. Am  I  a  dog,  that  I  should  do  this  ?  "2  Kings 
viii.  13.  Not  yet;  but  in  time  the  devil  will  screw 
him  up  to  it.  He  that  willingly  runs  into  a  known 
wiekeilucss,  knows  not  where  he  shall  slop.  Set  a 
man  on  the  top  of  some  high  lower,  and  bid  him  leap 
down,  he  finds  horror  in  the  precipice.     Yet  you  may 


persuade  him  to  go  down  by  the  stairs  to  the  very 
bottom.  If  we  do  not  prevent  this  assault  in  our  eyes, 
we  shall  too  late  complain  of  the  horror  and  anguish 
of  it  in  our  hearts. 

5.  Where  be  the  eyes  that  have  not  been  faulty  ? 
If  the  eyes  have  sinned,  why  should  not  the  eyes  be 
l)unished?  Punished  they  must  be,  with  rottenness 
in  the  dust,  with  horrid  and  astonishing  visions  in 
hill,  if  some  former  penalty  be  not  set  on  them  here. 
The  rich  man  in  hell  saw  Lazarus  in  Abraham's 
bosom,  Luke  svi.  23:  that  sight  was  his  torment. 
How  must  the  eyes  be  corrected  for  this  wantonness  ? 
By  tasking  them  unto  tears  :  for  ranging  eyes,  we 
must  get  mourning  eyes;  for  eyes  lifted  up  with 
pride,  eyes  dejected  with  shame  and  sorrow ;  for  eyes 
full  of  incontinence,  eyes  full  of  repentance.  How 
else  shall  we  dare  to  lift  up  those  eyes  to  heaven, 
which  have  been  the  brokers  of  hell,  polluted  with 
the  aspersions  of  lust  ?  O  let  those  eyes,  that  have 
been  the  cisterns  of  corruption,  become  the  fountains 
of  compunction.  Mary  ^lagdalene's  eyes  had  offend- 
ed, her  eyes  shall  pay  for  it,  Luke  vii.  38.  She  had 
been  a  notorious  sti'umpet,  a  woman  of  a  mercenary 
condition :  if  her  eyes  had  not  invited  her  to  love 
others,  yet  they  had  bewitched  others  to  dote  on 
her.  Lo,  she  would  not  look  on  that  world  but 
through  a  shower  of  tears,  which  she  had  so  enamour- 
ed with  her  wanton  looks.  These  organs  have  made 
our  bodies  stinking  lepers,  let  them  be  turned  into  a 
Jordan  or  Siloam  to  cure  our  leprosies. 

We  magnify  some  waters  distilled  out  of  herbs  and 
flowers,  bectiuse  they  are  good  to  heal  sore  eyes;  but 
there  is  no  water  so  virtual  to  cure  the  lust  of  the 
eyes,  as  the  penitent  water,  which  the  limbec  of 
sorrow  draws  from  those  eyes.  Some  of  the  ancients 
have  thought,  that  God  did  endue  us  with  this  dew 
of  tears  for  no  other  end,  but  to  wash  away  our  sins. 
Because  when  we  weep  for  any  losses  or  crosses,  we 
do  not  lessen  our  grief,  but  increase  it :  but  when  we 
weep  for  our  sins,  we  do  not  increase  them,  but  take 
them  quite  away.  No  tears  can  raise  my  friend  up 
from  the  grave,  they  may  raise  my  soul  from  the 
death  of  sin.  From  the  bitter  flowers  of  wormwood, 
the  heat  of  fire  distilleth  sweet  and  wholesome  water : 
the  grace  of  God's  Spirit,  from  the  bitter  remem- 
brance of  our  sins,  distilleth  tears  able  to  comfort  our 
souls.  When  we  are  thirsty,  we  run  to  the  well ; 
when  otir  houses  be  on  fire,  we  run  to  the  river:  the 
sight  of  our  eyes  hath  procured  both  these  mischiefs 
lo  our  hearts  ;  the  tears  of  our  eyes  must  help  them  ; 
they  are  able  both  to  allay  our  thirst  and  cool  our 
lust.  This  is  not  an  eye  full  of  adultery,  but  full  of 
grief  for  adultery  :  such  an  eye  shall  look  upon  thy 
harlot  with  indignation  and  detestation  ;  that  in 
those  tears  she  shall  read  at  once  thy  present  sorrow 
and  her  former  sin.  A  graceless  woman  that  had 
long  insnared  a  young  man  who  was  now  converted, 
saluted  him  in  the  old  familiarity  as  he  went  by. 
He  regarded  her  not.  She  replied.  It  is  I.  He  an- 
swered, I  am  not  as  I  was,  I  was  not  as  I  am. 
(Ambrose.)  Blessed  souls,  that  have  got  the  mas- 
tery of  their  own  eyes  ! 

"Adultery."  This  is  the  game,  the  beast  they 
hunt;  where  I  observe  three  Gradations. 

1.  The  main  attractive  of  tne  eye  is  beauly  ;  and 
of  this  the  fancy  is  informed  by  the  eye:  yet  being 
so  informed,  then  the  eye  is  ruled  by  the  fancy ;  and 
as  that  imagines  her,  so  the  eye  sees  her.  Beauly  is 
the  glory  of  nature,  a  glimpse  of  the  soul,  a  beam 
of  the  Maker's  brightness;  so  ravishing  the  heart, 
that  it  is  more  present  with  the  body  it  lovelh  than 
in  the  body  where  it  liveth.  Yel  as  the  meat  which 
pleaseth  the  taste,  is  but  a  mixture  of  well-com- 
pounded materials  ;  the  music  thai  delights  our  ear. 


Ver.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


483 


is  but  a  harmony  of  proportionable  voices  or  instru- 
ments ;  BO  the  beauty  which  so  takes  the  eye,  is  but 
a  just  correspondence  of  the  parts  and  coloiii-s  of 
visible  bodies.  NVhy  should  not  that  spirilu.Tl 
beauty  be  far  dearer  to  us,  which  is  the  image  of  God, 
the  elements  or  lineaments  whereof  be  righteous- 
ness and  holiness  ?  The  body's  beauty  is  but  super- 
ficial, skin-deep,  hiding  (hat  within  which  we  cannot 
look  upon  without  horror.  Spiritual  beauty  is  like  a 
diamond,  fair  to  the  centre.  Time  will  iiiough  fur- 
rows on  the  fairest  face,  and  fill  it  with  wrinkles ;  but 
the  wrinkles  of  a  beauteous  soul  arc  done  away  with 
time;  the  older,  the  fairer.  Many  a  woman's  beauty 
hath  been  her  ruin;  but  blessing  never  forsook  a 
beautiful  soul.  When  thou  comest  near  to  a  fair 
face,  thou  becomest  never  the  fairer  for  it ;  nay, 
thou  appearest  the  fouler  by  being  near  it.  But  a 
virtuous  soul,  by  a  kind  of  exemplary  inlluenee,  dif- 
fiiscth  into  thee  some  ornaments ;  and  is  indeed,  as 
they  talk  of  that  imaginary  stone,  by  the  touch  of 
that  pure  metal,  so  diffusive  of  goodness,  that  thou 
shalt  be  the  better  for  it.  No  miseries  can  blemish 
this  beauty:  "  I  am  black,  but  comely,"  Cant.  i.  5; 
tanned  and  sun-burnt  witli  persecutions,  yet  still 
amiable  in  the  beauty  of  holiness.  In  this,  Sai'ah 
was  a  figure  of  the  church ;  who  was  as  fair  at  a  hun- 
dred years  old  as  she  was  at  twenty ;  and  then,  the 
fairest  woman  of  the  world.  It  is  said  of  Christ,  that 
he  was  without  form  or  comeliness,  or  beauty  to  be 
desired,  Isa.  liii.  2;  yet  even  then,  he  was  "fairer 
than  the  children  of  men,"  Psal.  xlv.  2.  Clean 
through  a  corporal  beauty,  a  spiritual  eye  can  see 
the  very  image  of  the  devil ;  but  a  gracious  soul  in 
her  worst  estate  is  but  like  a  slubbered  diamond, 
which  after  a  little  polishing  shines  with  a  radiant 
lustre.  "The  king's  daughter  is  all  glorious  within," 
Psal.  xlv.  13:  but  who  can  ])ersuade  carnal  minds  to 
this?  It  is  the  image  of  Adam  they  dote  upon,  not 
the  image  of  God.  A  fair  skin  surpriseth  a  fleshly 
heart ;  and  he  thinks  there  is  no  other  beauty  in  the 
world,  but  tliat  which  touchcth  his  sensual  desires. 

2.  But  if  a  man's  eye  be  delighted  with  beauty, 
may  he  not  enjoy  it  with  chastity  ?  Why  may  he 
not  think  his  own  wife  the  fairest  upon  earth  ?  She 
is  so  to  him,  if  lie  so  imagine  her :  opinion  cannot  err 
in  matter  of  opinion.  He  sees  her  daily  with  the 
same  eyes  he  liist  chose  her.  But  the  ranging  eye 
cannot  be  so  limited.  Propriety  in  other  things  is  a 
content,  here  it  is  a  burden:  and  were  not  the  adul- 
terer's fair  wife  his  own,  he  W'ould  give  much  to  en- 
joy her  ;  but  being  his  own,  he  cares  not  for  her. 
"Stolen  waters  are  sweet,"  Prov.  ix.  17:  but  will  a 
man  leave  his  own  delicious  wine,  to  steal  a  draught 
of  his  poor  neighbour's  water  ?  It  is  a  wife  that  he 
loves,  but  not  his  own  :  and  this  aggravates  his 
wickedness,  that  the  adulteress  is  not  her  own  woman, 
but  another's,  under  covert  baron ;  not  a  straggling 
deer  of  the  herd,  a  beast  of  the  common,  but  one  upon 
whom  be  set  the  marks  of  propriety.  God  hath  set 
his  mark,  and  resolves  not  to  know  her,  if  she  knows 
another  man.  The  church  hath  set  her  mark  of 
solemn  marriage,  refusing  to  be  the  mother  of  that 
daughter  which  defiles  the  marriage-bed.  The  hus- 
band hath  his  mark  of  a  holy  covenant  made  before 
men  and  angels ;  and  is  allowed  a  divorce  u])on  such 

'  iiifragous  forfeiture.     To  pick  this  threefold  lock 

I  a  false  kev,  to  undo  a  knot   thus  tied  before 

vrn  and  earll),  will  call  God  and  man,  heaven  and 

c:irili,  not  only  to  witness  it,  but  to  take  vengeance 

of  it. 

What  a  laborious,  what  a  dangerous  way  the  lust- 
ful finds  out  to  his  pleasure  !  as  if  no  water  could 
please  David,  but  what  is  brought  through  a  host  of 
enemies :  no  content  was  worth  their  desiring,  but 


what  was  fetched  from  the  gates  of  hell,  snatched 
out  of  the  devil's  teeth,  handed  out  of  that  burning 
furnace  of  unquenchable  flames.  Those  delights  are 
not  esteemed,  that  are  not  troublesome :  the  malice 
of  lust  supposcth  all  ways  of  obtaining  better  than 
the  lawful.  Suppose  the  two  sinners  forgive  one 
another  on  earth,  will  they  not  curse  one  another  in 
hell  ?  Suppose  the  churcli  pass  it  over,  either  through 
ignorance  or  connivance,  will  not  the  Judge  of  all  the 
world  plague  it  ?  Say  he  is  patient,  will  the  wronged 
husband,  brother,  friend  put  it  up?  Doth  not  Ab- 
salom pay  Aninon  the  wages  of  his  sister's  constu- 
pralion?  2  Sam.  xiii.  28.  Two  whole  years  that  sly 
courtier  smothered  his  revenge;  but  it  was  not  for 
nothing;  it  was  so  much  the  more  exquisite,  by  being 
longer  protracted.  If  David  will  not  punish  it,  Ab- 
salom shall ;  not  that  he  cared  for  justice,  but  for 
revenge.  Absalom  did  it  wickedly,  but  God  right- 
eously ;  human  partiality  hath  neglected  it,  inhuman 
malice  shall  punish  it.  God  punishcth  sin  with  sin, 
while  Absalom  punishcth  sin  with  death.  If  either 
David  had  called  Amnoii,  or  Amnon  called  himself, 
to  account  for  it,  the  revenge  had  not  been  so  des- 
perate. How  often  hath  the  adulterer  been  slain  by 
the  abused  husband,  when  he  least  suspected  it ; 
righting  himself  unjustly,  as  he  had  been  secretly 
injured!  Abimeleeh  was  the  son  of  a  concubine,  yet 
he  murders  all  his  father's  legitimate  children.  If 
Gideon  had  lived  to  see  that  bloody  day,  how  would 
he  have  cursed  the  knowledge  of  a  luxurious  bed ! 
So  some  write,  that  Ulysses  was  slain  by  his  own 
base  son.  The  adultery  of  Paris  was  the  desolation 
of  all  Troy. 

I  will  not  tire  you  with  examples.  It  is  an  adul- 
teress their  eye  is  full  of,  they  seek  a  like  to  them- 
selves. These  lusts  they  conceive  by  the  methation 
of  the  eyes,  as  Laban's  sheep  did  their  young,  at  the 
sight  of  the  pilled  rods,  which  Jacob  laid  in  the 
watering  troughs.  Placet  inlerdicia  fotuplas  ;  i.  e. 
forbidden  pleasure  is  pleasant ;  they  slight  the  fruit 
of  tlie  tree  that  is  easily  climbed.  What  is  Ahab's 
kingdom  to  him,  while  Naboth  hath  a  ])rctty  vine- 
yard ?  The  cloyed  husband  sits  carelessly  looking 
on  that  wife,  for  which  another  languishclh.  Herein 
David's  plot  failed  him,  when  he  had  sent  for  Uriah; 
he  imagined  that  the  beauty  of  Bathsheba  must 
needs  attract  a  husband  so  long  absent,  that  it  was 
his  grief  to  be  detained  from  so  pleasing  a  bed.  Be- 
cause that  face,  those  eyes  and  breasts,  had  so  en- 
chanted him,  and  stolen  his  heart,  that  they  could 
make  him  sin  ;  he  thought  it  could  not  be  possible, 
but  Uriah  must  be  allured  by  them  to  a  safe  and  war- 
rantable fruition.  He  was  deceived,  though  Uriah 
had  another  end  :  many  a  wanton  stomach  jilayswith 
that  meat,  which  to  the  hungry  affecter  would  be 
above  all  dainties.  Nabal  is  churlish  to  that  wife,  whom 
holy  David  thinks  himself  happy  in,  and  makes  his 
queen.  Oh  the  boundless  vagrancy  of  irregular  lust ! 
whilher  will  it  go,  where  will  it  end?  Will  one  har- 
lot serve  the  adulterer's  turn  ?  No,  could  he  renew 
his  strength  as  fast  as  his  desires,  and  multiply  ob- 
jects to  both,  a  nation  of  women  would  scarce  suf- 
fice one  adulterer.  It  is  a  sin  that  seres  up  the  con- 
science with  the  blood,  dries  up  grace  with  the 
marrow  ;  and  when  it  can  sin  no  more,  yet  it  cannot 
repent.  Happy  soul  that  never  knew  it !  and  next 
happy  that  for  ever  after  detests  it ! 

3.  La.stly,  it  is  an  adulteress  they  love,  and  that  is 
but  one  bow  short  of  Satan.  Some  have  mistrusted, 
that  it  is  not  a  reasonable  soul,  but  an  infernal  spirit, 
that  enlivcneth  such  a  licentious  shape  ;  to  do  that 
by  a  fair  woman,  which  he  could  never  do  by  his  foul 
self  What  hath  not  a  guilty  conscience  cause  to  dread  ! 
The  soul  of  the  adulteress  cost  Christ  his  precious 


4S4 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IT. 


Maoa;  yet  half  a  crown,  or  little  more,  or  sometimes 
less,  is  the  set  price  of  it.  AVliat  need  Satan  tempt 
licr,  when  for  so  small  a  value  he  may  have  her? 
AVe  hate  the  Turks  for  selling  Christians  as  slaves ; 
how  odious  are  they  that  sell  themselves  !  Soon  is 
their  lively  colour  wasted,  their  blood  parboiled;  that 
were  it  not  for  superfieialized  cheeks,  and  enticing 
dresses,  the  most  graceless  lecher  would  abhor  them. 
13ut  it  is  the  devil's  special  care  to  keep  them  gor- 
geous. A  soldier  having  a  sword  which  he  hath  well 
jiroved  in  divers  combats,  and  knows  he  may  surely 
trust  it,  will  be  careful  to  scour  and  polish  it.  Woman 
liath  done  Satan  singular  good  ser\-iee  ;  by  her 
he  overthrew  the  first  man,  by  her  the  wisest  n:an, 
by  her  the  strongest  man,  by  her  many  millions  of 
men  :  no  marvel  therefore  if  he  be  curious  in  dressing 
lier  with  ornaments,  in  dishevelling  her  hair,  and  fit- 
ting her  with  all  conducemenls  ;  that  she  may  still 
help  to  people  his  infernal  kingdom.  Fowls  of  the 
air,  though  with  never  so  empty  craws,  fly  not  for 
food  into  ojjen  pitfalls.  Quit  nimin  apparent  retia, 
vilat  avix,  says  the  poet.  The  bird  avoids  the  nets 
which  show  too  much.  An  adulteress  is  the  devil's 
pitfall,  a  trap  to  catch  our  souls  ;  let  us  not  run  into 
the  gin  with  open  eyes.  Now  the  Sjiirit  of  grace 
keep  us  from  the  strange  woman,  that  we  may  be  no 
strangers  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

"  Full  of  adultery."  This  is  the  jjursuit  of  llie 
game,  full  cry.  The  eyes  do  not  engross  all  their  un- 
cleanness ;  they  are  not  only  full,  and  the  other  parts 
empty.  The  caterer  fills  his  basket  with  provision  ; 
but  this  serves  afterward  to  fill  the  mouth,  and  to  fill 
the  stomach.  The  eyes  be  first  full,  as  the  cistern ;  but 
the  cistern  serves  all  other  offices  of  the  house.  Nor 
is  I  his  a  fulness  of  satisfaction  ;  for  as  "  he  that  loveth 
silver  shall  never  be  satisfied  with  silver,"  Eeel.  v. 
10,  so  lie  that  loves  women  shall  never  be  satisfied 
with  women.  Unnatural  desires  are  infinite :  hun- 
ger is  soon  a]>pcased  with  meat,  and  thirst  allayed 
\>  ith  drink  ;  but  in  burning  fevers,  the  more  water  is 
drank,  the  more  it  is  thirsted  for.  They  still  love 
with  the  love  of  eonenpiseence,  not  with  the  love  of 
I  omplacency.  The  hunter  hath  killed  to-day,  he  is 
fresh  again  for  the  game  to-morrow.  This  guiltiness 
first  takes  the  eye,  but  stays  not  there  ;  the  procurer 
provides  for  another,  not  for  himself.  The  lustful 
lieart  is  the  great  commander,  that  assigns  all  mem- 
bers their  several  ofliees.  So  the  ear  is  full  of  luxu- 
rious discourses,  the  eye  full  of  provoking  pictures  : 
both  full,  at  an  obscene  interlude,  of  exemplaiy  and 
visible  carnalities.  The  bones  arc  hill  of  idleness : 
they  rest  on  that  pillow  of  vices.  The  thoughts  fidl 
of  contemplative  uncleanness  ;  for  it  is  not  hard  to 
be  an  adulterer  by  speculation.  The  mouth  is  full  of 
filthy  jests.  They  come  to  do  evil  by  these  accessa- 
ries; yea,  the  evil  is  already  in  those  accessaries. 
Some  flatter  themselves  that  they  are  chaste 
of  body;  but  their  eyes,  their  ears,  their  thoughts 
have  committed  adulterj-.  Therefore  if  thine  eye 
ofi'end  thee,  pluck  it  ont.  '  What  the  substance  ?  No, 
but  the  vice  of  the  substance.  The  liver  is  obstructed, 
and  makes  the  body  sick ;  what  then,  shall  we  pluck 
out  the  liver  ?  No,  but  let  the  arm  blood,  take  some 
course  to  draw  out  the  corruption.  Lust  is  a  fire  ;  if 
it  be  inflamed  in  the  heart,  there  is  no  part  of  the 
body  but  shall  feel  the  heat. 

"  Full."  There  is  no  medioority  in  sin :  in  ex- 
1  lemes  can  be  no  mean  ;  and  every  sin  is  an  extreme, 
either  deficient  or  excessive.  The  heart  of  man  af- 
fects fulness  ;  and  if  it  be  not  fiill  of  (iod,  it  seeks  to 
be  fiill  of  something  else.  The  wicked  are  full  of 
unrighteousness,  full  of  envy,  Rom.  i.  29  ;  their  hands 
are  fiill  of  blood,  their  houses  fiill  of  spoil,  their  lips 
full  of  deceit,  their  mouths  full  of  cursing  and  bitter- 


ness, their  throats  full  of  slander,  their  bellies  full  of 
new  wine,  their  loins  full  of  lust,  their  inward  parts 
full  of  malice  ;  let  me  add,  their  heads  full  of  mis- 
chief, their  hearts  full  of  rancour,  their  ears  full  of 
pclulancy,  their  eyes  full  of  adultery.  These  be  the 
fulnesses  that  shall  bring  the  fulness  of  torments. 
Sin  will  not  leave  a  graceless  soul  empty  :  the  house 
is  no  sooner  swept,  but  it  is  filled  with  seven  worse 
spirits.  The  drunkard  cannot  give  over  till  he  be 
full  of  wine;  the  swearer  delights  to  fill  his  mouth 
with  a  monstrous  oath  ;  the  covetous  never  feels  him- 
self full  though  he  enlarjre  his  belly  like  hell ;  all, 
like  Pharaoh's  lean  kine,  tliough  they  have  devoured 
the  fat,  are  lean  still.  Ambition,  like  the  grave,  is 
never  full.  What  a  thing  is  the  heart  of  man,  that 
it  should  swell  as  big  as  the  world!  Alexander  was 
but  a  little  man,  yet  a  hundred  worlds  could  not  have 
filled  him.  The  babbling  tongue  is  not  weary,  though 
full  of  prattle,  and  is  scarce  silenced  with  sleep.  A 
full  wardrobe  cannot  content  pride,  it  is  still  longing 
for  new  suits.  All  Hainan's  honour  could  not  fill 
him  ;  he  would  swallow  Mordecai's  head,  and  that 
choked  him.  Oh  the  insatiate  desire  of  sin!  when  will 
it  be  full?  When  the  eyes  be  full  of  soreness,  the 
hands  full  of  palsies,  the  houses  full  of  misery,  the 
faces  full  of  infamy,  the  bones  full  of  aches,  the  mouth 
full  of  cries  and  roarings,  the  loins  full  of  diseases, 
the  head  full  of  pangs,  the  heart  full  of  distractions. 
Yea,  their  mouths  must  first  be  full  of  earth,  their 
souls  full  of  torments:  this  world  could  not,  hell 
shall,  render  them  full  enough. 

But  for  us,  there  is  another  fulness.  Be  ye  filled 
with  the  Spirit,  full  of  good  works,  full  of  fruits ;  our 
mouths  full  of  Messing,  our  hands  full  of  charity,  our 
eyes  fiill  of  moii  -sty,  our  bowels  full  of  pity,  our  looks 
fiill  of  humility,  our  hearts  full  of  honesty,  our  souls 
full  of  God  ;  that  we  may  lie  down  full  of  peace,  and 
rise  again  full  of  glory. 

I  conclude.  Adulteiy  is  an  epidemical  disease ; 
almost  the  whole  world  is  infected  with  it.  That  if 
Christ  should  now  come  down,  and  call  none  to  follow 
him  but  they  that  have  not  been  defiled  with  women. 
Rev.  xiv.  4,  his  court  would  be  verj"  thin.  Rome 
hath  been  notoriously  branded  for  this  execrable 
vice  ;  especially  since  the  popes  have  bound  them  to 
contain,  to  whom  God  gave  not  the  power  of  con- 
tinency. 

But  enough  of  their  filthiness,  let  us  look  to  reform 
our  own.  Some  (who,  it  may  be,  speak  of  their 
knowledge)  tell  us  of  whole  houses  of  harlots  in  this 
city ;  by  whose  allurements,  servants  rob  their  mas- 
ters, sons  their  own  fathers.  They  are  the  sink  of 
the  world,  the  common  sewer  of  all  corruptions,  not 
for  passage,  but  for  confluence ;  the  standing  pool, 
the  vault  that  sucks  in  all  odiousness.  They  have 
excellent  gifts  of  wit  and  beauty,  which  they  con- 
vert to  pestilent  uses  of  turpitude  and  brothelry.  To 
church  they  never  come,  not  in  their  whole  life  would 
they  ever  hear  of  God,  but  for  their  fearful  swearing 
and  blaspheming  his  holy  name.  The  souls  they 
bring  forth,  shall  stand  up  at  the  latter  day,  and 
give  evidence  against  them.  Indeed  God  never  said 
to  Adam  and  Eve,  Increase  and  multiply,  till  they 
were  married;  to  show  that  he  hath  a  curse,  not  a 
blessing,  for  that  increase  which  is  not  lawful.  But 
even  to  destroy  that  fruit  which  was  unlawfully  be- 
gotten, before  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  world 
will  be  found  murder.  That  God,  who  knows  how- 
to  raise  good  out  of  evil,  doth  sometimes  bless  an 
adulterous  intercourse  with  increase  ;  and  sometimes 
to  the  chaste  embraces  of  honest  wedlock  he  denies 
it.  The  honest  wife  hopes  to  be  a  joyful  mother; 
the  harlot  feai-s  that  title,  and  therefore  hides  adultery 
with  murder. 


Ver.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


485 


Whom  God  hath  joined,  let  no  man  separate;  yet 
the  adulterer  does  what  he  can  to  separate  them. 
For  virgins:  when  virginity  is  gone,  tne  virgin  is 
gone  too :  Wlien  God  can  do  all  things  else,  saitli 
one,  he  cannot  restore  a  detloiired  virgin.  Our  flcsli 
will  corrupt  fast  enough,  though  we  never  admit 
these  corruptive  forwardings.  ^\  e  have  sins  enough 
of  our  own,  though  wc  liring  not  upon  us  the  sin  of 
another.  By  other  sins  a  man  goes  to  hell  alone,  but 
in  this  he  rides  double.  Our  Saviour  speaks  of 
bundles  that  shall  be  cast  into  the  fire,  Malt.  xiii.  30. 
The  proud  man  burns  single,  the  homicide  burns 
single ;  but  the  adulterer  and  his  harlot  shall  make 
one  bundle,  and  bum  together.  Like  Zimri  and 
Cozbi,  as  they  were  conjoined  in  the  sin,  they  shall 
not  be  parted  in  the  torment.  When  two  be  bound 
together,  and  thrown  into  the  sea,  they  have  less 
power  to  help  themselves.  Marriage  liath  made 
one  of  two,  that  they  might  fructify  together,  like 
Aaron's  rod.  Palms  are  the  emblem  of  marriage, 
that  do  not  bear  fruit  divided.  Cursed  is  that  heat 
which  shall  make  two  of  one,  and  dissolve  so  sacred 
a  union. 

"  That  cannot  cease  from  sin."  All  sin  is  a  laby- 
rinth, whercinto  the  entrance  is  ea.sy,  but  it  is  hard 
to  get  out.  Possession  is  eleven  points  of  the  law,  we 
say ;  and  that  which  begim  by  an  unjust  title,  fortifies 
itself  by  custom.  Stamp  garlicrk  in  a  new  earthen  pot, 
it  will  never  out.  I  do  not  wonder  at  the  continu- 
ance of  sin  ;  to  break  it  off  by  repentance  is  the 
matter  admirable.  The  descent  is  easy,  but  to  re- 
trace the  steps — that  is  it.  Down-stream  the  boat 
goes  fiist  enough ;  to  stop  it  is  the  cimning,  before  it 
strike  on  a  shelf.  I  do  not  say  tliat  the  greatest 
sinner  is  evermore  in  the  act  of  wickedness ;  yet  so 
long  as  the  habit  is  unmortified  in  him,  he  does  not 
cease  from  sin:  the  slave  asleep  discontinues  the 
acting  of  his  master's  business,  yet  he  is  still  in 
service. 

Sin,  like  the  sun,  runs  his  continual  course,  Psal. 
xix.  5;  though  sometimes  clouds  by  day,  and  always 
the  interposition  of  earth  by  night,  hide  him  from 
otir  eyes.  Yea,  and  sin  hath  liis  circle  and  line,  as 
the  sun  his  orb  and  ecliptic  :  if  we  may  compare  the 
real  passages  below,  with  these  imaginary  signs 
above  :  and  let  us  compare  them. 

1.  Wantonness.  Conceive  sin  to  begin  with  Aries, 
the  Ram;  in  petulancy  and  youthful  wantonness, 
ready  to  butt  at  every  passenger.  "  Remember  not 
the  sins  of  my  youth,"  Psal.  xxv.  7. 

2.  Obstinacy.  Thence  it  proceeds  to  Taurus,  the 
Bull;  to  strength  and  tyranny  in  evil;  a  stiff-necked 
disobedience.  The  prophet  calls  them  the  bulls  of 
Bashan,  Psal.  xjcii.  12,  goring  with  the  horns  of  op- 
pression 

.3.  Confederacy.  It  comes  to  Gemini,  the  Twins : 
it  can  no  longer  continue  single,  but  must  have  a 
partner  in  transgression.  Tlie  adulterer  must  have 
his  harlot,  the  drunkard  his  boon  companion  :  Babel 
cannot  be  built  alone.  Society  makes  good  men 
cheerful  jn  good  things ;  and  assistance  makes  evil 
men  confident  in  their  evil  attempts.  It  is  rare  to 
see  single  sins,  or  single  sinners. 

4.  Hypocrisy.  Then  to  Cancer,  the  Crab ;  a  crook- 
ed, irregular  course,  anfractuous,  full  of  subtle  wind- 
ings ;  circumventing  his  ncisjhbour.s,  as  the  crab  doth 
the  unmisi  rusting  oyster.  "Here  sinners  get  them- 
.selves  hardened  ribs,  a  shell  not  to  be  pierced  by  any 
reproof. 

5.  Tyranny.  Next  to  Leo,  the  Lion ;  a  raging 
and  roaring  kind  of  life.  Thus  they  grow  on  from 
petulancy  to  obstinacy,  then  to  conspiracy,  from  that 
to  hypocrisy,  now  to  cruelty.  The  lion  fills  his  d^n 
with  prey,  his  hole  with  rapine,  Nah.  ii.   12.     He 


contemns  all  admonition,  and  without  respect  of 
justice,  will  be  his  o^^'n  carver.  This  is  the  height 
of  ungodliness. 

6.  I'ncleanness.  He  comes  to  Vir^o,  the  Virgin; 
a  sign  which  astronomers  ascribe  to  the  belly.  Now 
he  gives  himself  to  rapes  and  adulteries,  and  looseth 
the  reins  to  his  brutish  and  boundless  appetite ;  that 
Mere  his  power  equal  to  his  desire,  he  would  not 
leave  a  virgin  in  the  world. 

7.  Justice.  Then  to  Libra,  the  Balance;  and 
there  is  a  demur  in  his  proceedings.  Human  justice 
begins  to  examine  him,  to  curl)  liis  impetuous  vio- 
lence: and  in  this  house  sometimes  he  slays  longer 
than  the  sun  does  in  that  sign.  For  if  lewd  men 
should  not  fear  the  magistrate,  more  tlian  they  do 
Ood  or  the  devil,  there  were  no  living  among  them. 
Now  Libra  delivers  him  over  to 

8.  Conscience.  Scorpio,  the  Serjicnt.  Wiien  he 
hath  been  corrected  by  moral  justice,  he  is  then 
taken  in  hand  by  conscience ;  a  tormentcr  that  hath 
a  worse  sting  than  scorpions.  This  haunts  him  like 
a  curst  wife  at  home,  like  a  querulous  scold  abroad; 
no  wliere  can  he  be  quiet.  No  entreaties  can  persuade 
her,  no  bribes  can  corrupt  her,  no  music  can  charm 
her,  no  noise  can  drown  her  thunder.  He  talked 
his  pleasure  while  she  said  nothing;  now  she  roars 
as  fast,  and  he  knows  not  what  to  say.  This  the 
prophet  calls  the  Lord's  rod  of  scorpions,  wherewith 
he  scourgelh  wild  offenders.  This  happily  sends 
him  to 

9.  Prayer.  Sagillariict,  the  Archer:  he  takes  the 
bow  of  devotion  in  his  hand,  and  shoots  up  his 
prayers  to  the  throne  of  grace.  The  fathers  have 
called  our  prayers,  the  church's  artillciy,  arrows  of 
zeal ;  which  if  wc  draw  up  to  the  iiead,  and  send  up 
from  the  heart,  they  shall  pierce  the  very  heavens, 
and  wound  the  Lord  of  hosts  with  pity;  and  he  will 
have  compassion  on  us.  The  bow  is  repentance,  the 
string  is  faith,  the  arrow  is  prayer,  the  hand  th;it 
draws  and  looseth  it  is  zeal,  the  mark  is  God,  and 
the  errand  it  goes  for  is  mercy.  At  this  sign  he 
would  dwell  longer,  but  because  he  must  go  on,  ho 
lights  upon 

10.  Infirmity.  Capricornus,  the  Gont.  Even  after 
his  humble  devotion,  and  jiious  resolution,  he  falls 
into  sin.  The  Ram,  and  Bull,  and  Lion  may  l)e 
mortified  in  him;  pride,  obstinacy,  cruelty:  yea,  the 
Twins  and  the  Crab,  double-dealing  and  liypocrisy, 
may  be  abhorred  of  him  :  to  I'irgo  he  will  offer  lio 
more  violence  ;  he  loathes  all  constuprations  and  tur- 
pitudes :  yet  still  he  smells  of  the  Goat ;  some  tang 
of  the  old  corruption  remains,  the  beast  is  not  quite 
worn  out  of  him.  But  it  is  fallen  down  as  low  as 
the  knees,  to  which  place  they  assign  Capricortiiis ; 
it  is  far  from  the  heart,  out  of  the  rc.nch  of  any  vital 
part.  But  in  this  house  he  is  but  a  passenger;  the 
sun  does  not  make  more  haste  than  he  from  it :  and 
now  having  sinned,  he  posts  to 

11.  Repentance.  ^/(/Hari'iw,  the  Water-bearer:  he 
knows  no  sin,  which  he  endeavours  not  to  wash  offwiih 
his  penitent  tears.  This  fountain  he  hath  always 
about  him  ;  ;uid  if  the  air  of  bad  company  hath  made 
him  sin  with  Peter,  yet  he  can  go  forth  and  weep 
with  Peter.  Marj-'s  tears  did  not  more  wash  the  dust 
from  our  Sa^Hour's  feet,  than  the  sm  from  her  own 
soul.  If  Capricomus  have  made  thee  offend,  let 
.tquarius  be  ready  with  this  repentant  water;  that 
Clirist  may  answer  thee  as  he  did  Man,-,  "  Thy  sins 
are  forgiven,"  Luke  vii.  4S.  So  well  the  devout  soul 
loves  to  dwell  in  this  watery  sign,  that  he  conclude? 
his  journev  in  the  very  clement  of  water,  with  the 
Fishes. 

12.  Perseverance.  /"iVce*,  the  Fishes:  thisislhefoot 
of  the  song,  as  they  appropriate  Pisces  to  the  feet 


496 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


in  their  anatomy.  They  be  clear  and  cleanly  crea- 
tures, delighting  to  swim  in  the  crystal  streams:  if 
they  strike  into  the  mud,  it  is  but  to  avoid  the  net ; 
and  when  the  danger  is  past,  they  soon  cleanse  them- 
selves. True  converts,  if  they  cannot  be  always  pure, 
yet  are  quickly  purified.  First,  as  fishes  are  beaten 
by  the  waves,  but  do  not  yield;  so  the  billows  of 
temptation  beat  upon  the  godly,  yet  they  fail  not. 
Secondly,  as  fishes  swim  thrice,  in  water,  in  vinegar, 
and  in  wine;  so  doth  the  Christian,  in  the  water  of 
baptism,  the  vinegar  of  affliction,  and  the  wine  of 
consolation,  the  sacrament,  which  cheers  the  heart. 
Thirdly,  fishes,  being  wounded,  have  recourse  to  the 
tench,  the  physician  of  fishes,  whom  if  they  but 
touch,  they  are  healed.  Souls  wounded  with  sin  re- 
pair to  Christ,  the  Physician  of  kings,  the  King  of 
physicians  ;  and  touching  him  by  faith,  they  ai'e 
cured:  as  the  woman  with  the  bloody  issue  did  but 
touch  the  hem  of  his  garment,  and  was  presently  as 
whole  as  a  fish,  Luke  viii.  4-t.  Thus  swimming  in 
the  pure  streams  of  grace,  removed  fi'om  the  sordid 
and  dreggish  curniption  of  earth,  we  shall  at  last  be 
translated  higher  than  that  sidereal  sign  in  the 
zodiac,  even  to  the  heaven  of  heavens,  the  kingdom 
of  Christ. 

But  now,  alas,  how  have  I  lost  my  theme !  The 
argument  nf  my  discourse  is  sinners'  obstinacy,  and 
I  have  concluded  with  their  salvation.  Pardon  me, 
it  w-as  a  merciful  mistake :  I  wish  it  should  be  so, 
though  I  find  it  otherwise  of  these  in  my  text  ;  for 
they  are  w-retched  adulterers,  "  that  cannot  cease 
from  sin."  Well,  then,  it  is  but  bringing  you  some 
way  back  again :  if  you  remember  where  I  turned 
the  sinner  out  of  his  road  of  condenmation,  you  find 
it  in  Scorpio.  Libra,  that  is,  public  authority,  had 
him  under  the  scourge ;  but  suppose  that  favour  dis- 
misscth  him,  and  so  gets  out  of  the  hands  of  justice, 
yet  Scorpio  will  have  a  bout  with  him,  conscience 
will  trounce  him.  This,  like  some  ghastly  appari- 
tion to  a  soul  forlorn,  upon  the  threshold  of  despera- 
tion, with  a  show  of  fresh  bleeding  wounds,  and  an 
astonishing  countenance,  presents  itself  in  unexpress- 
ilde  terror :  how  will  he  pass  this  sign  ?  Yes,  he 
will  stupify  his  conscience  with  a  deluge  of  wine, 
never  allow  himself  to  be  sober  ;  and  with  a  vicissi- 
tude of  sensual  delights,  lust  and  drink,  as  with  two 
hot  irons,  quite  sear  up  his  conscience;  and  is  then 
confident  that  the  dead  dog  will  never  bark. 

Thus  he  passeth  from  that  dismal  house  of  cor- 
l-ection,  a  veiy  bedlam  to  his  soul  :  but  now  Sagitla- 
riu.i  comes  ;  justice  shoots  at  him  from  heaven,  that 
unerring  archer  who  never  missed  his  mark :  the  ar- 
row of  sickness  sticks  in  his  ribs.  Now  his  down-bed 
is  troublesome,  and  after  many  changed  sides  he 
complains  of  uncased  pangs.  What  now' ?  this  will 
be  a  tedious  sign  to  him,  perhaps  the  end  of  his  voy- 
age. Physicians  arc  sent  for,  who  receive  gold,  and 
give  drugs  ;  keeping  him  sick  the  longer,  that  them- 
selves may  fare  the  better.  But  at  last  he  recovers; 
after  many  promises  to  God,  and  vows  which  he 
never  means  to  keep,  he  is  enlarged  from  his  bed; 
up  he  gets. 

And  now  he  posts  to  the  next  sign,  to  try  what 
better  cheer  Capricornus  will  make  liim.  He  finds 
him  like  some  goatish  host,  close  at  his  cups  and 
ribaldry  ;  and  here  he  falls  in,  relapsing  to  his  former 
sensuality:  riot  and  intemperance  renew  tlieir  old 
acquaintance  with  him  ;  whoredom  and  new  wine 
take  away  his  heart ;  and  thus  being  intoxicated 
with  sin,  ho  lays  himself  down  to  sleep.  Thus  many 
passages  of  execrable  wickedness  he  hath  got  througli ; 
pride,  inJMsiiee,  hypocrisy,  oppression,  uncleanness, 
and  volnptuciiwuess,  without  any  interruption,  saving 
those  short  disturbances  of  sickness  and  conscience ; 


and  now  he  slumbers  in  security.     But  yet  his  race 
is  not  done,  he  hath  two  more  signs  to  pass. 

From  this  sleep,  ^Iquarius,  or  the  world,  calls  hittt 
up ;  and  whispers  in  his  ear  a  golden  word,  Be  rich. 
Now  age  and  covctousness  seize  on  him  at  once,  and 
he  projects  to  fill  his  barns  with  corn,  with  monev 
his  coffers,  and  therel)y  his  heart  with  joy.  To  do 
this,  he  refuseth  no  course,  be  it  never  so  unjust ; 
neither  friend  nor  father  must  stand  in  his  way,  now 
he  is  set  upon  it  to  be  rich.  He  will  starve  his  fami- 
ly, perhaps  his  own  body,  to  be  rich.  He  will  be  an 
.Iquariux  indeed ;  the  devil's  water-bearer,  u  water- 
drinker,  so  he  may  be  rich.  The  law  reproves  him,  his 
neighbours  hate  him,  the  poor  curse  him,  God  threatens 
to  condemn  him  ;  he  cares  for  none  of  all  these,  so 
he  may  be  rich.  Well  now,  rich  he  is,  a  rich  beggar, 
or  a  beggar  in  the  midst  of  his  riches ;  for  upon  all 
his  estate  there  is  set  a  spell,  "  Touch  not,  taste  not, 
handle  not,"  Col.  ii.  21.  Touch  me  not,  says  his 
wealth  to  him  :  Leave  me  not,  says  he  to  his  wealth. 
It  is  good  to  be  here ;  in  this  house  he  would  dwell 
for  ever.  But  he  must  not ;  there  is  a  bell  that  tolls 
him  into  another  sign,  the  last  of  his  ecliptic,  that 
shall  eclipse  his  glory  for  ever;  the  grave  and  hell  ; 
the  one  to  devour  his  body,  the  other  to  swallow  his 
soul. 

Pisces  looks  for  him,  and  thither  he  must  come. 
Thou  fool,  this  night  shall  they  fetch  thy  soul  from 
thee,  Luke  xii.  20.  Pisces  are  placed  at  the  feet  of 
man  ;  this  is  the  la-st  foot  of  his  journey,  the  stand- 
ing house  at  the  end  of  his  progress,  the  period  or 
full  point  of  his  travels.  Swimming  in  the  Dead 
Sea  of  this  world,  he  hath  swallowed  the  bait  of 
riches,  and  now  is  caught  with  the  hook  of  death  ; 
and  lie  that  never  ceased  from  sinning,  shall  never 
rest  from  sufTering.  Though  we  sin  often,  and  nntch  ; 
too  often,  too  much  ;  yet  let  us  break  oft"  our  sins  by 
repentance,  and  cease  from  sin  that  we  may  be  saved. 

"  Beguiling  unstable  souls."  The  wicked  cannot 
be  quiet,  till  their  vicious  desires  be  accomplished ; 
they  have  e^'es  that  are  unea.sy  and  restless  for  sin, 
as  Calvin  renders  it.  Their  meat  and  drink  is  to  do 
their  father's  will,  that  is,  Satan's :  restrain  them 
from  w  ickedness,  and  they  comjilain  of  famishment : 
cither  they  call  for  poison,  or  no  food.  Ahab  is  sick, 
because  he  is  denied  Naboth's  vineyard.  Whether 
more  in  anger  or  in  grief,  it  is  hard  to  say,  but  he 
keeps  his  bed,  and  refuseth  his  meat,  as  if  he  should 
die  no  other  death,  1  Kings  xxi.  4.  Because  he  can- 
not have  his  will  on  Naboth,  he  will  take  it  on  him- 
self; as  the  madman  tears  his  own  hair,  because  he 
cannot  come  at  his  enemy's.  The  wicked  cannot 
sleep  till  they  have  done  mischief.  Saul  will  not 
give  over  the  chase  of  David,  but  hunts  him  dry-foot 
through  every  wilderness.  The  very  desert  is  held 
too  good  a  refuge  for  innocence;  the  hills  .and  rocks 
are  searched  in  an  angry  jealousy :  the  very  wild 
goats  of  the  mountains  were  not  allowed  to  be  com- 
panions for  him,  that  had  no  other  fault  but  his 
virtue.  Still  David's  success  is  Saul's  vexation. 
Where  shall  that  man  rest,  who  seeks  i-cst  in  sin  ? 
In  this  life  he  cannot,  for  he  walks  all  round,  and 
grinds  in  Satan's  mill.  ShalUhe  rest  hereafter?  No, 
then  he  shall  cat  of  his  own  grist,  and  labour  in  tor- 
ment. Only  there  is  some  difference  in  the  manner 
of  their  working,  and  of  the  time;  herewith  plea- 
sure, there  with  horror ;  for  a  while  here,  there  for 
ever.  Still  these  obstinate  seducers  go  on,  from 
strength  in  sin  to  strength  of  sinning,  till  cvciy  one 
appear  before  their  master  in  Topliet. 

"Beguiling  unstable  .souls."  This  verse  yields  us 
a  fourfold  description:  First,  of  their  filthin'ess.  Eyes 
lull  of  adultery.  Secondly,  of  their  craftiness.  Be- 
guiling unstable  souls.    Thirdly,  of  their  worldliness, 


Vbr.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


487 


Exercised  with  covetous  practices.  Fourthly,  of  their 
wretchedness,  They  are  cursed  children.  In  tliis 
branch  we  have  two  jiarticulars :  the  fish,  souls  ;  the 
net,  fraud  ;  beguiling  unstable  souls. 

1.  The  fishes  tiny  take  are  souls:  the  prince  of 
darkness  says,  as  did  the  king  of  Sodom,  Give  me 
the  souls,  take  thou  llie  rest.  Gen.  xiv.  21.  There  is 
no  taking  the  body,  without  a  former  winning  of  the 
soul;  nor  can  they  make  those  bodies  tractable  to 
(heir  lust,  whose  souls  be  not  first  prostituted.  And 
if  the  liesh  could  be  abused  without  the  consent  of 
the  mind,  they  might  make  themselves  meriy  with 
the  case  without  the  instrument.  In  vain  does  the 
thief  look  in  at  the  window,  when  he  sees  the  master 
standing  on  his  guard  in  tlie  house.  Joseph's  gar- 
ment may  be  rent,  his  body  escapes,  because  his 
mind  was  whole. 

The  soul  is  their  fish,  and  so  they  are  compared 
by  Him,  who  gave  his  apostles  that  office.  Matt.  iv. 
19,  to  draw  men  out  of  the  sea  of  this  world  by  the 
cars,  that  they  may  be  served  in  to  his  own  table. 
The  poets  tell  us  that  Bacchus  began  his  empire 
with  the  transmutation  of  mariners  into  fishes;  the 
moral  whereof  may  be,  that  when  mariners  come  to 
shore,  they  drink  like  fishes.  Christ,  God  of  his 
Father's  substance,  begotten  before  the  world  ;  and 
man  of  his  mother's  substance,  born  in  the  world; 
began  his  spiritual  kingdom  by  converting  souls : 
that  as  fishes  are  caught  lineix  ieali's,  with  a  net  of 
twisted  lines ;  so  men  are  taken  li'neis  ex  Scriptuia 
contextis,  by  nets  made  out  of  Scripture,  by  the  holy 
word,  Rom.  x.  17;  not  sea-fish,  but  land-fish. 

But  these  be  none  of  Christ's  fishermen ;  they  do 
not  fish  for  him,  they  rather  fish  from  him.  The 
element  that  preserves  fishes,  is  the  pure  stream  of 
the  water  of  life  :  out  of  this  they  labour  to  fetch  them 
that  they  may  perish.  No  fish  with  them  so  sweet 
as  the  soul.  \et  as  they  do  not  catch  the  body  but 
for  their  lust's  sake,  so  nor  the  soul  but  for  the 
body's  sake,  and  neither  but  for  gain's  sake.  Indeed 
there  is  difierence  between  God's  spiritual  fishing, 
and  the  taking  of  material  fishes ;  for  when  fishes  be 
taken  it  is  death  to  them,  but  when  men  are  taken 
it  is  life  to  them.  Fishes  arc  taken  to  be  devoured 
by  the  jaws  of  men  ;  men  are  taken  to  be  delivered 
from  the  jaws  of  hell.  But  these  deceivers  catch 
souls  for  their  own  ends,  that  tliey  may  pickle  tliem 
up  in  vices,  and  make  them  the  food  of  their  in- 
satiate lusts. 

2.  The  souls  which  they  beguile,  be  unstable,  un- 
conslant,  tottering.  If  they  were  firm,  they  could 
not ;  if  apostatized,  they  need  not ;  but  in  this 
wavering  plight  they  are  fit  subjects  to  work  upon  : 
the  weathercock  will  be  nded  by  the  wind.  To- 
day the  unstable  sold  is  for  a  mass,  next  Sunday  for 
a  communion,  the  next  week  for  neither.  Rome 
thinks  him  theirs,  we  think  him  ours,  his  own  con- 
science finds  him  neithev's:  this  make  him  waxy  to 
persuasion,  servile  in  imitation.  His  heart  is  in  such 
an  equilibrium  tiiat  the  next  scruple  turns  the  scale. 
Now  comes  the  tempter  with  a  bait,  and  this  foolish 
fish  is  caught.  This  Laodicean  temper  is  far  worse 
then  the  extremes.  Rev.  iii.  IG:  heat  and  cold  have 
their  uses,  lukewarmness  is  good  for  nothing  but  to 
trouble  the  stomach.  Spiritual  heat  hath  God's  pro- 
mise of  acceptance  ;  stone-cold  hath  an  easier  reckon- 
ing; that  wliich  is  betwixt  both  procures  sickness: 
the  nearer  it  comes  to  heat,  and  is  not  hot,  the  more 
odious  the  Lord  holds  it.  Why  do  ye  halt  betwixt 
two  opinions?  I  Kings  xviii.  'l\.  The  prophet  doth 
not  so  nuich  rate  tliein  for  their  superstition,  as  for 
their  irresolution  ;  not  so  much  for  being  unsancti- 
fied.as  for  being  unsettled.  One  Israelite  serves  God, 
anothei  Baal ;  yea,  perliaps  the  same  Israelite  serves 


both  God  and  Baal.  How  long  will  you  halt  in  this 
indifferency  ?  God  is  less  ofl'ended  with  going  up- 
riglit  in  a  wrong  way,  than  with  halting  betwixt  tlie 
wrong  and  the  right  way.  I  yidd  that  in  ceremonial 
or  circumstantial  diirt-reiices,  indilferency  is  the  safest, 
both  for  opinion  and  practice  ;  but  in  the  oppositions 
between  God  and  Baal,  woe  be  to  him  that  is  a  neuter ! 

Curse  ye  Meroz,  Ijccausu  they  took  not  the  Lord's 
part  in  tlie  day  of  battle,  Judg.  v.  23.  Here,  even 
to  stand  and  but  look  on,  is  treason;  to  take  jmrt 
with  neither,  is  to  be  an  enemy  to  both.  God  doth 
not  hold  them  so  capital  foes  that  serve  him  not  at 
all,  as  those  that  sen-e  him  with  a  rival.  There  are 
points  which  the  passions  of  men  have  set  further 
asunder  than  needs,  wherein  the  persons  indeed  fight 
more  than  the  things :  it  is  charity  to  reconcile 
these ;  or  at  least,  better  to  stale  the  questions.  But 
when  the  quan^el  is  betwixt  .Jerusalem  and  Babylon, 
truth  and  falsehood,  woe  to  the  unstable  soul !  \Ve 
may  sit  at  home  and  weep,  bless  God  that  we  are  in 
the  right,  pray  for  them  that  are  in  the  wrong;  but 
to  labour  a  peace  between  them,  is  to  bring  a  curse 
upon  ourselves;  to  work,  not  a  satisfaction,  but  a 
stupefaction,  upon  our  conscience.  Some  things  may 
adnut  I'cconeiliation,  as  diflerenccs  between  men  and 
men ;  some  are  in  their  nature  irreconcilable,  as  the 
dilferences  wherein  men  differ  from  God.  Every 
man  is  a  little  world,  yea,  evciy  man  is  a  little 
church ;  wherein  there  be  two  factions,  two  armies 
that  fight  continually  :  nothing  but  a  lethargy  of 
conscience  can  cease  this  war.  It  is  a  civil  war,  yea, 
rather  a  rebellion  than  a  war  ;  yet  cannot  it  be  ab- 
solutely quenched.  To  make  these  two  friends, 
were  a  labour  not  less  vain  than  impossible.  Every 
militant  soul  is  a  soldier  in  that  general  war  between 
Christ  and  Belial :  now  as  what  God  hath  joined,  let 
no  man  put  asunder,  so  what  God  hath  put  asiuider, 
let  no  man  join.  To  set  \\\t  the  ark  and  Dagon  under 
one  roof,  is  an  impiety  that  ends  in  scorn.  "I  will 
put  enmity,"  saith  the  Lord :  we  and  Satan  should 
never  have  fallen  out,  we  agree  but  too  well,  but  that 
God  hath  put  an  enmity  between  us.  This  quarrel 
presently  showed  itself,  and  begun  between  Cain 
and  Abel,  and  it  is  not  yet  taken  up.  The  truth  of 
the  gospel,  and  the  errant  wickedness  of  idolatn,', 
are  so  diametrically  contrary  ;  that  whilst  we  would 
reconcile  them,  or  by  any  colourable  modifications 
bring  them  together,  we  fight  against  our  Maker. 
For  he  hath  infused  such  an  incompatibility,  and 
imprinted  such  an  implacability,  between  truth  and 
falsehood,  that  they  can  never  fiow  into  one  another. 

In  quarrels  betwixt  brethren,  in  quarrels  betwixt 
Christian  princes,  blessed  arc  the  peace-makers:  but 
in  the  wars  betwixt  Christ  and  Belial,  cursed  arc 
they  that  go  about  to  make  peace.  "  Ye  cannot 
serve  God  and  mammon,"  Mall.  vi.  24.  The  wit  of 
tlie  world,  and  the  pestilent  wit  of  hell  to  boot,  hath 
long  laboured  to  bring  these  two  lords  together,  to 
dwell  in  one  house,  and  to  feed  at  one  table;  that 
they  might  do  them  service  lioth  at  once.  But  how 
vainly!  Ye  cannot :  we  will  Iry  :  you  may,  but  ye 
cannot  do  it.  Day  and  night  may  join  and  meet  ; 
yea,  they  do  so  twice  every  four  and  twenty  hours, 
in  the  dawn  and  in  the  twilight;  the  dawning  of  the 
day  in  the  morning,  and  the  shutting  in  of  the  day 
in  the  evening,  make  day  and  night  so  much  one  that 
we  cannot  tell  which  to  call  them.  But  light  and 
darkness,  midnight  and  noon,  never  met,  were  never 
joined  together.  "  AVh.it  communion  hath  light 
with  darkness  ?"  2  Cor.  vi.  14.  M'hat  do  you  call  that 
between  grace  and  sin  ?  Iialh  it  a  name?  Almost  a 
Christian,  saith  Agrippn.  Acts  xxvi.  28.  What  is 
that  ?  One  neither  with  Christ  nor  without  Christ, 
neither  holy  nor  unsanctified  :  sure  there  is  no  such 


488 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II, 


creature.  But  it  is  plain,  "  He  that  is  not  with  me 
is  against  me,"  Watt.  xii.  ,30.  If  a  man  be  almost  a 
Christian,  God  will  almost  pardon  his  sins,  but  he 
will  not  pardon  them  ;  he  will  almost  save  him,  but 
he  will  condemn  him.  For  him  that  is  neither  man 
nor  woman,  we  have  a  name,  hermaphrodite  ;  but 
we  have  no  name  for  him  that  is  neither  a  believer 
nor  an  unbeliever,  neither  true  nor  false,  neither  for 
God  nor  for  Belial.  There  is  a  Christian,  and  thore 
is  an  infidel ;  there  is  a  heaven  and  a  hell :  he  that 
finds  a  third  kind  of  creature,  may  fool  himself  with 
the  belief  of  a  third  place,  purgatoiy. 

"  Unstable  souls."  Here  first  let  me  give  you  a 
character,  then  an  application. 

1.  The  unstable  man  is  in  an  evil  case;  for  while 
he  professeth  neither  side,  he  is  hated  on  both  sides. 
He  is  still  asking  for  news,  and  scarce  thinks  it  news 
as  soon  as  he  knows  it.  Quid  ran',  chari,  vihi?  i.  e. 
What  are  rare  men,  dear  men,  and  wondrous  men  ? 
To  whom  it  was  well  answered,  I'ir  sapiens  rarus,  vir 
bovus  dianis,  vir  pins  minis,  The  wise  man  is  a  rare 
man,  the  good  is  a  dear  man,  the  pious  is  a  wondrous 
man.  He  may  well  be  compared  to  the  wave,  for  he 
is  ever  wavering.  He  now  says  it,  in  an  anger  swears 
it,  and  within  lialf  an  hour  renounceth  it ;  as  if  his 
understanding  did  write  upon  his  will,  as  a  man 
writes  upon  water;  it  tarries  not  long  enough  for  an 
impression.  All  his  resolutions  be  but  flashes,  fiery, 
and  momentary.  AVlicn  he  begins  a  business,  he 
goes  about  it  hotly  ;  ere  you  can  say  a  Pater-nostcr,  he 
is  weary.  Yet  (by  way  of  paradox)  we  may  com- 
mend him  for  a  good  commonwealth's  man,  for  he 
sets  many  on  work  ;  Diruil,  adi/icol,  nndat  quadrala 
rotundis,  as  Horace  says,  i.  e.  He  pulls  down,  he  builds 
up,  he  exchanges  square  things  for  round,  or  round 
for  square  :  you  shall  never  have  him  but  either 
building,  or  pulling  down,  or  altering  ;  as  if  he  meant 
to  make  more  business  than  time  itself.  Commend 
him  also  for  this,  he  is  a  professed  enemy  to  idleness; 
for  he  is  never  out  of  action,  though  what  he  doth  is 
to  no  purpose.  His  heels  carry  his  wit,  neither  his 
wit  nor  his  heels  know  whither.  His  feet,  like  the 
harlot's,  cannot  keep  within  doors ;  he  loves  to  be  a 
guest  in  his  own  house.  Propriety  is  a  disease  to 
him;  he  likes  every  thing  better  than  his  own.  He 
longs  for  every  rare  thing  he  sees  ;  and  his  purse 
gives  it  him,  like  a  rattle  to  still  him;  and  before 
night  the  child  is  weary  of  it.  He  is  a  piece  of  clay 
tempered  with  running  water,  which  keeps  his  wit 
in  a  perpetual  motion.  He  is  any  thing,  or  every 
thing-,  in  possibility  ;  but  for  the  present  he  is 
nothmg. 

He  is  no  dangerous  enemy,  for  his  hate  cannot  be 
more  constant  than  himself;  but  the  worst  friend 
that  can  be  chosen,  for  he  is  never  the  same.  He 
were  good  to  inhabit  the  fleeting  islands,  for  he  treads 
upon  moving  earth  ;  and  like  some  ill-broken  horse, 
he  hath  no  pace.  In  what  a  wretched  ease  is  the 
unstable  man,  whose  religion  is  yet  to  choose!  He 
knows  he  shall  die,  yet  he  will  not  know  what  faith 
he  should  die  in.  If  he  should  die  in  that  doubt, 
there  were  great  doubt  of  his  eternal  slate.  His  re- 
ligion (it  may  be)  lies  in  wait  for  the  inclination  of 
his  prince;  as  a  spaniel  hunts  according  to  the  face 
of  his  master.  Of  all  creatures,  he  is  like  the  bat, 
which  hatli  both  wings  and  teeth  ;  if  he  could  cast 
off  one  of  them,  he  might  show  himself  either  a  bird 
or  a  beast.  The  unstable  man  shall  receive  nothing 
of  the  Lord,  Jam.  i.  /.  Hear  this,  ye  neuters,  that 
hold  Christ  with  one  hand,  wilh  (he  other  antichrist, 
and  know  not  whether  you  should  choose  or  let  ga; 
that  would  fain  mingle  the  colours  of  St.  George  and 
St.  James  in  one  scutcheon ;  while  you  are  not  set- 
tled in  religion,  in  irreligion  you  are  settled.     Christ 


will  not  save  you,  because  you  were  not  wholly  his : 
Rome  cannot  save  you,  though  you  had  been  wholly 
hers.  If  you  must  settle,  when  begin  you?  if  you 
must  begin,  why  not  now?  Choose,  therefore,  and 
choose  right,  and  cleave  to  it.  It  is  not  enough  to 
resolve,  but  we  must  rather  lose  ourselves,  than  the 
truth  of  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  We  have  chosen,  and  blessed  may  we  be  in  our 
choice.  It  is  happy  for  us,  that  God  hath  put  the 
meat  into  our  mouths;  that  we  are  baptized,  cate- 
chised, and  confirmed  in  the  truth.  Many  thousands 
would  have  been  more  thankful  to  him,  who  exceed 
us  in  devotion,  more  than  we  do  them  in  illumination. 
Are  there  no  unstable  souls  among  us  ?  They  write 
of  a  place  in  the  isle  of  Paphos,  where  never  fell 
rain ;  the  island  wants  not  showers,  but  none  falls 
there.  There  is  a  ]ilace  within  us,  our  heart,  so 
roofed  with  hardened  lusts,  that  no  dew  of  grace  can 
have  access.  With  what  fear  and  unwillingness  do  I 
think  of  the  slate  of  a  great  multitude ;  so  unstable 
in  their  devotions,  that  it  is  a  high  extent  of  charity 
to  believe  them  Christians.  The  lawyer  )irofesseth 
Christ,  yet  a  round  fee  can  tempt  him  to  plead 
against  Christ :  he  doth  sell  his  speech,  and  he  will 
not  give  his  silence  :  as  he  said,  Aon  omnibus  dormio, 
I  do  not  sleep  for  all;  so  this,  Non  omnibus  laceo,  I 
do  not  keep  silence  for  all  :  you  must  hire  him  to 
hold  his  peace,  if  you  do  not  to  speak.  So  in- 
different and  irresolute  are  such  advocates  in  their 
religion,  as  they  are  in  expectation  of  judgments  ; 
they  hear  both  sides,  yet  know  not  on  which  side  the 
cause  will  go.  Indeed  too  many  deal  with  Chris- 
tianity, as  they  do  with  a  suit  at  law  ;  the  matter 
is  plain  enough,  but  they  cloud  and  puzzle  it  with 
their  wranglings.  So  papists  dispute,  not  from  a 
wish  to  learn,  but  from  a  desire  to  contradict.  As 
Cyprian  speaks  of  one  in  his  days,  that  challenged 
him  to  dispute,  and  used  to  amaze  the  people  by 
holding  the  conclusion.  The  preacher  would  boldly 
reprove  some  vices,  but  then  his  parish  withdraw 
their  benevolence  ;  are  not  these  unstable  souls  ? 
The  magistrate  would  do  justice,  but  then  a  great 
man's  letter  conjures  his  forbearance;  is  he  not  un- 
stable ?  Some  go  to  mass,  yet  flatter  themselves  that 
their  hearts  are  right  to  God  :  a  man  does  not  walk 
in  the  sun  with  a  purpose  to  be  tanned,  yet  he  cannot 
but  know  that  he  shall  be  tanned  with  walking  in 
the  sun.  Et  agcre el  pati,  Jiomaiiuni  est,  said  Scevola, 
Both  to  do  and  to  sufler  is  Roman :  we  are  naught 
at  agere,  at  doing;  but  when  it  comes  to puli,  siifl'er- 
ing,  we  are  gone.  We  are  glad  that  Christ  suflered 
all  for  us  ;  but  we  will  suffer  nothing  for  him.  It  is 
the  happiness  of  these  cold  times,  that  we  are  not 
put  to  the  hot  fire,  for  trial  of  our  faith  and  love.  If 
the  wheel  were  turned,  which  the  mercy  of  God  for- 
bid, how  many  would  turn  from  Christ,  rather  than 
burn  for  Christ !  But  if  there  be  a  recompence  for  a 
cup  of  cold  Avater  in  Christ's  name.  Matt.  x.  4'2,  how 
shall  a  cup  of  warm  blood  yielded  for  that  name  be 
rewarded !  yet  such  is  the  niggardly  devotion  of 
men's  unstable  hearts,  that  they  will  scarce  afibrd  the 
poor  even  a  cup  of  water  from  their  cisterns.  The 
distressed  have  God's  mandatorj-  and  commendatoiy 
letters  for  them,  yet  toward  the  advancing  of  a  col- 
lection, some  great  man's  letter  doth  them  more  good. 
We  all  love  to  be  of  the  taking  hand,  but  will  part 
wilh  nothing:  we  would  receive  Christ's  bounty,  yet 
grudge  our  duly  ;  we  would  be  like  him  in  glory,  not 
in  grace.  If  man's  law  should  not  prevail  more  than 
conscience,  what  order  would  be  oliserved  ?  Too 
many  fear  an  obligarion  more  than  religion,  and  are 
more  careful  of  a  recognisance  than  of  their  c<  n- 
seience. 

It  were  easy  to  find  among  us  the  faults  and  fates 


Ver.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


4S9 


of  the  twelve  tribes,  praised  be  God  that  we  have 
also  their  blessings.  The  very  first  puts  me  in  mind 
of  all  the  rest.  Reuben  unstable  as  water,  thou 
shall  not  excel,  Gen.  xlix.  4.  Such  a  bar  in  the  arms 
of  great  houses  is  inconstancy.  Reuben  was  tlio 
first-bom,  yet  he  lost  the  principality :  and  you  can 
say.  This  hath  been  the  fortune  of  many  an  elder 
brother.  Simeon  and  Levi,  brethren  in  evil,  ver.  5 : 
the  papist  and  seminary,  in  mischief  against  the  gos- 
pel, sworn  brothers.  He  that  calls  to  mind  tlie  fifth 
of  November,  shall  find  instruments  of  cruelly  in 
their  habitations,  and  see  them  digging  down  a  wall. 
"  I  will  divide  them  in  Jacob,  and  scatter  thom  in 
Israel,"  ver.  7  :  vea,  ()  Lord,  divide  them  from  Israel. 
Judah  hath  the  crown  and  the  blessing,  and  the 
crown  of  blessing  be  upon  Judah,  our  gracious  sove- 
reign :  let  him  and  his  hold  the  sceptre,  till  Shiloh 
come  again,  ver.  10.  "  Zcbuliin  shall  dwell  at  the 
haven  of  the  sea,"  ver.  13.  Merchants  are  for  the 
sea ;  but  let  them  remember,  it  is  a  wavering  element, 
governed  by  the  inconstant  moon  ;  and  that  all  their 
voyages  are  but  adventures,  their  ships  but  reeling 
vessels;  all  unstable.  If  their  conscience  should  be 
infected  with  this  staggering  disease,  that  were  the 
worst  shipwreck. 

"  Issachar  is  a  strong  ass  couching  down  between 
two  burdens,"  ver.  14.  Issachar,  the  usurer;  an  a.ss 
that  feeds  upon  thistles,  while  he  stoops  his  back  to 
the  burden  of  riches.  Let  them  be  made  servants 
to  tribute :  they  are  the  fittest  subjects  for  subsidies. 
Poor  men  labour  for  a  little;  they  grow  rich  with 
ease:  it  is  but  walking  out  six  months;  then  sit 
down  and  tell  their  monies. 

Dan's  place  is  to  "judge  his  people,"  ver.  16 ;  and 
far  be  unstableness  from  the  place  of  judgment.  Yet, 
alas,  there  is  nothing  more  unstable:  the  cause  that 
goes  on  this  side  to-day,  is  to-moiTow  judged  on  the 
contrar)-.  But  wc  dare  not  say,  the  fault  is  in  the 
judge,  but  in  the  law:  just  as  the  pcrcmptoiy  sexton 
said.  Howsoever  the  day  goes,  I  am  sure  the  clock 
goes  true:  the  law  is  difficult,  but  (here  is  no  fault 
in  the  judge.  Aye,  but  Dan  hath  officers  imder  him  ; 
bad  lawyers,  crafty  serpents,  adders  that  bite  the 
horse's  heels  in  the  path  of  his  journey,  ver.  17 ;  and 
that  so  sore,  that  no  leech  can  cure  it.  The  client 
comes  riding  up  in  haste  to  his  lawyer;  but  by  that 
time  the  suit  is  ended,  he  may  walk  n-foot  home  at 
leisure. 

"  Gad,  a  troop  shall  overcome  him  :  but  he  shall 
overcome  at  last,"  ver.  19.  He  had  his  name  of  a 
troop,  Gen.  xxx.  11,  he  is  overcome  by  a  troop,  and 
at  last  shall  overcome  a  troop.  \Ve  have  nianv 
troops  of  them,  abundance  of  the  tribe  of  Gad;  some 
gad  to  Rome,  others  to  Amsterdam :  it  is  still  (ac- 
cording to  my  argument)  an  unstable  soul  that  sets 
them  a  gadding. 

I  find  no  fault  in  Asher,  unless  plenty  be  one.  He 
yields  bread,  and  fat  bread ;  dainties,  and  for  kings ; 
royal  dainties,  ver.  20:  his  emblem  is  a  cup  or  bowl 
of  delicatcs.  But  as  Noah  was  dmnk  with  his  own 
wine,  so  the  cupof  prosperity  hath  intoxicated  many 
a  soul.  And  God  hath  no  worse  servants  in  our  land, 
than  they  that  can  live  on  their  lands,  and  care  for 
nothing  else. 

Napntali  "  giveth  goodlv  words,"  ver.  21  :  we 
have  too  many  of  this  tribe,  fiypoeritcs,  that  can  give 
nothing  but  goodly  words.  "They  will  speak  so  fair, 
and  deal  so  foully,  that  you  would  not  believe  they 
are  made  all  of  a  piece.  But  when  the  wind  sings, 
and  whistles  in  the  leaves,  look  for  a  storm. 

"  Joseph  is  a  fruitful  bough,"  ver.  22  :  and  blessed 
be  God,  we  have  also  a  tribe  of  Joseph,  fruitful  if 
good  works.  Though  he  be  the  butt  of  contradiction. 
and  "  the  archers  have  shot  at  him,  and  hated  him ;" 


yet  he  is  "  made  strong  by  the  hands  of  the  mighty 
God  :"  and  a  universality  of  blessings  from  heaven, 
enrih,  the  womb  and  breasts,  and  the  everlasting  hills,, 
shall  be  on  the  crown  of  his  head  that  was  separated 
from  his  brethren. 

"  Benjamin  shall  ravin  as  a  wolf,"  ver.  27.  The 
last  is  a  wolf,  the  merciless  oppressor,  that  from 
morning  to  evening  doth  prey  upon  the  poor,  and 
divide  the  spoil :  but  at  last  they  shall  be  divided  j 
their  names  to  infamy,  their  weallli  to  the  world, 
their  bodies  to  the  dust,  and  their  cruel  souls  a  prey 
for  those  more  cruel  spirits  of  diu-kness.  Reuben 
had  his  divisions,  Judg.  v.  15,  and  the  rest  their 
waverings  and  infirmities;  only  we  have  Judah  and 
Joseph  among  us,  that  faithfully  adhere  to  the  truth 
of  Jesus  Clirist. 

They  beguile.  The  net  wherewith  they  catch 
these  trouts  is  fraud.  If  we  continue  the  sense  from 
the  foregoing  words,  they  charm  them  with  the 
wilcheral't  of  the  eye.  That  is  a  silent  oratory,  and 
discourseth  the  meaning  of  the  heart  in  a  dumb 
motion.  The  tongue  is  a  speaking  eye,  and  the  eye 
is  a  silent  tongue :  and  by  this  dumb  language,  lovers 
understand  one  anolhei-'s  mind,  thougli  their  lips 
open  not.  But  I  rather  take  this  net  to  be  the  tongue, 
a  subtle  persuasion  to  lewdness.  A  deadly  net,  like 
tliat  in  Suidas,  which  in  single  combats  one  did  east 
over  another,  and  being  so  insnared  slew  him.  "  They 
hunt  every  man  his  brother  with  a  net,"  Micah  vii, 
2 ;  a  bloody  net.  Not  a  fantastical,  imaginary  net, 
such  as  purgatory  ;  which  Szegedin  calls,  .Implissi- 
miim  rele  ad  capiendas  animas,  A  large  net  to  cateh 
souls :  he  should  have  said,  A  large  net  to  catch 
fools  ;  a  net  wherewith  the  pope  catcheth  fish  cnougli 
to  serve  his  kitchen. 

Fraud  hath  a  thousand  tricks  of  cheating ;  but  of 
all  instruments,  the  chief  is  the  tongue.  A  hand- 
some tale  drunk  in  at  a  thirsty  ear,  is  a  philter  to 
the  soul.  The  tongue  is  either  a  man's  glory,  or  hi& 
shame.  When  it  is  the  servant  of  an  honest  heart,  it 
is  an  especial  organ  to  glorify  the  Maker.  If  other- 
wise, Satan  is  more  beholden  to  it,  than  to  all  the 
body  besides.  It  hath  a  thousand  ways  to  do  good, 
and  as  many  to  do  hurt.  When  Satan  had  stripped 
Job  of  his  riches,  children,  health  ;  and  laid  him  so 
full  of  sores,  that  no  part  of  his  body  was  free  ;  yet  all 
this  while  he  spared  his  tongue.  The  reason  might 
be,  because  the  devil  looked  that  that  should  do  him 
some  ser\-ice ;  even  such  as  his  wife  prompted  him 
to,  blasi)heme  God  and  die.  Still  he  expected  when 
all  his  vexation  should  break  out  at  his  lips.  He  lh.it 
offends  not  in  word,  he  is  a  perfect  man,  Jam.  iii.  2. 
But  where  is  that  man  ?  The  Lord  sanctify  our  ears, 
that  they  be  not  seduced  by  others'  tongues ;  and  sanc- 
tify our  tongues,  that  they  offend  not  the  ears  of  otliers. 

"  An  heart  they  have  exercised  with  covetous  prac- 
tices." ■  There  is  not  a  more  dangerous  vice  in  all  ilie 
storehouse  of  hell,  than  covetousness.  To  other  sins 
Satan  tempts  a  man  often  ;  but  covetousness  is  a  fine 
and  recoven,- upon  the  purchase;  then  he  is  sure  of 
him  :  as  when  the  jailer  halh  locked  up  his  prisoner 
safe  in  a  dungeon,  he  may  go  play.  It  is  an  imperi- 
ous sin ;  and  sits  like  a  justice  in  his  chair,  while  reli- 
gion must  stand  cap  in  hand  to  it.  Heaven  is  the  high- 
est place,  earth  the  lowest ;  yet  covetousness  sets  the 
lowest  in  the  highest  esteem,  and  llie  higliest  it  un- 
dervalues to  the  lowest.  He  respects  heaven  but  on 
the  by,  for  recreation ;  his  main  game  is  the  world. 
While  Christ  was  preaching,  a  covetous  younger 
brother  interrupts  him  with  the  division  of  an  in- 
heritance, Luke  xii.  13.  Make  an  end  of  your  ser- 
mon, and  come  and  end  a  difference  betwixt  me  and 
my  brother;  you  shall  do  a  deed  of  charity,  a  neigh- 
bourly office,  and  s;ive  a  great  deal  that'  would  be 


490 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IL 


idly  spent  in  law.  AVe  have  many  of  his  religion, 
that  think  we  do  God  better  service  in  composing 
their  'luarrels,  than  in  preaching  heavenly  doctrines. 
Tliis  is  to  call  Christ  from  dividing  the  word,  to  divide 
tlie  inheritance.  I  know  there  is  no  Christian  hut 
condemns  this  vice,  and  j^et  this  vice  shall  condemn 
many  Christians.  The  difficulty  here,  is  not  so  much 
to  win  consent  of  judgment  to  the  point,  as  conform- 
ity of  practice  to  the  judgment.  There  may  be  a 
conviction  of  conscience  without  any  preparation  of 
obedience;  and  tnith  will  l)e  sooner  confessed  than 
practised.  If  every  man  were  his  own  judge,  lliere 
is  not  a  covetous  man  among  us ;  but  the  Judge  of  all 
the  world  will  find  many,  that  flatter  themselves  with 
Not  guilty.  The  world'  hath  very  ill  luck  ;  for  many 
aflTcct  it,  admire  it,  adore  it,  yet  will  not  be  known 
of  it.  But  God  hath  more  injury  ;  for  they  profess 
to  love,  serve,  trust  in  liim,  yet  indeed  care  not  for 
him.  The  world  hath  many  servants,  but  they  wear 
not  his  livery  :  God  hath  many  that  wear  his  livcrj-, 
but  they  are  none  of  his  servants. 

"  An  lieart  they  have  exercised  with  covetous 
practices."  Methinks  here  be  four  words  not  unlike 
the  fimr  elements.  First,  the  heart,  like  the  earth  : 
it  being  the  centre  of  man,  as  the  other  is  of  the 
world.  Secondly,  covctousncss,  like  water,  soaks 
into  it,  and  makes  it  hydropical,  yea,  turns  it  into 
dirt.  Thirdly,  exercise,  like  the  air;  which  is  an 
element  movable  and  circumambient,  full  of  exercise. 
Fourthly,  practice,  like  fire,  active  and  devouring. 
Or  covetousness  is  the  child  born  ;  the  house  it  is 
bred  and  brought  up  in  is  the  heart ;  her  education 
is  the  exercise  of  cruelty  ;  and  her  whole  course  is 
the  practice  of  iniquity. 

But  covetousness  must  formally  be  defined,  that 
we  may  not  lose  ourselves  at  the  first  setting  forth. 
Some  say,  it  is  a  desire  of  having  more  ;  but  we  must 
have  more  in  the  definition  of  it  than  so:  he  that 
hath  not  enough,  may  desire  more,  and  yet  l)e  free 
from  covetousness.  Others  say,  it  is  a  desire  of  having 
more  by  unjust  means:  but  covetousness  is  beholden 
to  them  for  so  favourable  an  expression :  this  were 
rather  to  confine  it  than  define  it.  Avarilia  est  plus 
Telle  quam  sat  est,  says  Austin,  Covetousness  is  ii 
desire  of  more  than  enough.  But  now  what  is  that 
enough  ?  There  is  no  such  word  in  the  worldling's 
dictionaiy.  "It  is  enough;"  Israel  said  so.  Gen. 
xlv.  28  :  it  is  a  word  only  known  in  Israel.  Enougii 
is  both  necessary  for  being,  and  competent  for  well- 
being.  "  Having  food  and  raiment  let  us  be  there- 
with content,"  1  Tim.  vi.  8.  In  those  boundaries 
doth  (iod  hedge  up  our  desires,  like  wild  bucks  in  a 
park.  If  we  have  money  enough  to  bear  our  charges 
to  our  journey's  end,  to  desire  more  is  covetousness. 

But  who  then  is  not  covetous  ?  It  is  a  disease  of 
nature  :  but  here  is  the  difference  ;  some  give  it  phy- 
sic, and  no  sustenance  ;  others  give  it  sustenance,  and 
no  physic.  Some  would  destroy  it,  and  those  it 
molests,  but  kills  not ;  the  other  maintain  it,  and 
those  it  kills,  but  molests  not.  These  latter  are  the 
covetous.  T)ie  good  man  feels  it  as  his  enemy,  the 
bad  loves  it  as  his  friend.  If  you  see  a  man  that  halh 
sufficient  for  his  family,  yet  scraping  for  more,  know 
him  for  covetous. 

Covetousness  is,  like  the  father  of  it,  of  many  names, 
but  never  a  good  one.  As  the  same  soul,  in  the 
several  faculties,  hath  several  titles  ;  or  as  the  same 
river,  passing  tlirough  divers  regions,  hatli  divers 
appellations;  so  hath  avarice.  In  the  church,  it  is 
sacrilege  ;  in  a  churchman,  simony  ;  in  the  place  of 
government,  it  is  oppression  and  tyranny  ;  in  the 
place  of  judgment,  it  is  corruption  and  briberv  ;  and 
when  this  river  swells  up  to  the  l)ank.  it  is'usui-v. 
First,  it  is  called  idolatrv,  Col.  iii.  5.     All  idolatrv  'is 


not  covetousness,  but  all  covetousness  is  idolatry. 
Secondly,  adultery  ;  as  a  man  forsiikes  a  wife  peerless 
for  beauty  and  virtue,  to  embrace  a  harlot,  so  doth 
t  he  covetous  man  relinquish  piety  for  gain,  God  for 
the  world.  Thirdly,  homicide,  Zeph.  iii.  3 :  for  be- 
twixt life  and  living  there  is  no  such  wide  difference. 
Cut  the  poor  man's  purse,  he  thinks  you  cut  his 
throat,  and  the  throats  of  all  his  children:  such  a 
merciless  cut-throat  is  opiiression.  The  prophet 
speaks  of  princes  that  were  such  butchers,  Micah  iiL 
2,  .3.  The  thief  steals  to  satisfy  his  Imngry  soul,  Prov. 
vi.  .30 :  but  they  can  plead  in  themselves  no  necessity, 
for  they  are  princes;  in  the  other  no  superfluity,  for 
they  rob  the  poor.  This  is  a  sin  which  the  poor  man 
cannot  commit  though  he  would ;  the  rich  man  doth, 
because  he  can.  The  high  rate  and  port  that  divers 
live  at,  can  be  maintained  by  no  driblets  :  but  in  the 
eountr)-,  by  racking  tenants,  enclosing  commons ;  in 
the  city,  by  diminishing  quantities,  corrupting  quali- 
ties, taking  advantages,  falsifying  balances  or  mea- 
sures, by  mixtures,  blcndings,  and  such  sharking 
sophistications :  a  small  booty  will  not  serve  their 
turns.  Mice  may  be  nibblers,  and  live  ;  but  the  cat 
that  keeps  them  in  awe,  is  of  the  eating  kind :  she 
devours  more  at  one  bit,  than  the  poor  mouse  would 
have  done  at  twenty.  This  sin  is  the  rich  man's  pe- 
culiar. Lastly,  it  is  theft.  There  is  a  flying  roll 
that  "  shall  enter  into  the  house  of  the  thief,"  Zcch. 
V.  4.  Are  none  thieves  but  they  that  scour  the  plains? 
Yes,  there  is  a  thief  that  dwells  in  a  house,  a  house 
of  his  own ;  and  that  commonly  one  of  the  fairest  and 
stateliest,  for  it  is  built  with  blood.  Thieves?  rich 
men  scorn  the  name  :  a  thief  is  the  only  man  they 
are  afraid  of.  Yet  they  that  lie  in  itinerant  ambush- 
ments,  shall  in  comparison  of  oppressors  be  justified 
as  no  thieves.  Alas,  they  be  poor  shallow  fools,  soon 
■taken  and  clapped  up  in  chains  of  iron  ;  whereas  the 
other  walk  like  senators  in  chains  of  gold  :  the  great 
thieves  are  a  terror  to  the  little  ones.  Without  par- 
tiality, to  take  men  as  we  find  them,  the  universal 
practices  of  covetousness  occasion  me  to  make  a 
humble  suit  to  free  men,  and  rich  men,  and  gentle- 
men, to  lawyers,  and  judges,  and  magistrates,  that 
they  would  think  it  no  scorn  to  be  no  thieves.  Let 
not  the  motion  seem  harsh,  that  you  would  not  disdain 
the  commendation  of  being  no  thieves.  As  portly 
and  stately  as  they  bear  their  heads,  were  they  but 
stripped  of  that  pomp  wherewith  injustice  hath 
clothed  them,  and  to  begin  the  world  anew,  those 
poor  people  whom  they  now  despise,  would  scarce 
be  bound  for  their  truth  and  honesty.  Thus  the 
covetous  man  may  be  called  an  idolater,  an  adulterer, 
a  murderer,  a  robber. 

But  some  will  not  believe  the  i)lague,  till  they  see 
the  tokens.  Take  therefore  some  concomitant  signs. 
First,  solicitous  care  for  the  future;  as  if  God  that 
was  here  yesterdav,  and  is  to-day.  would  be  gone  to- 
morrow-. What  s^iall  I  do  when  I  am  old?  So  he 
breaks  his  sleep  while  he  livi'S,  to  think  what  shall 
happen  to  him  hereafter,  j)erhaps  when  he  is  dead. 
This  is  an  extreme  folly  of  avarice,  when  a  man  makes 
himself  miserable  for  the  present,  for  fear  of  being 
miserable  afterwards ;  not  suffering  himself  to  be 
free  from  a  burden  while  he  may,  because  he  doubts 
he  shall  not  be  free  when  he  would.  Thus  the  fool 
leaps  into  the  water,  for  fear  of  being  drowned  in  the 
boat.  Secondly,  engrossing  of  too  much  business: 
they  censure  churchmen  for  pluralities;  but  there 
be  temporal  jduralists  ;  and  many  have  made  them- 
selves so  much  to  do  in  the  world,  as  if  they  had 
nothing  lo  do  with  the  world  to  come.  They  only 
say  th.U  they  love  eternal  life;  but  if  you  marli  their 
employment,  you  will  confess  they  prefer  the  tem- 
poral.    Thirdly,  no  business  at  all;  when  they  give 


Ver.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


491 


over  their  profcs.si<in,  to  live  with  less  faith,  and  more 
security;  and  make  themselves  of  that  desperate 
nuiiiber,  whereof  ten  in  the  hundred  go  not  to  heaven. 
Fourllily,  religion  must  not  stand  in  their  way  to 
riches,  without  contempt,  without  violence.  Moses 
hroke  the  tables  of  the  law  in  pieces  for  anger  at  the 
golden  calf:  these  men  would  have  broken  them  in 
fillers  for  the  gold  that  made  the  calf.  In  their  con- 
science there  is  kept  a  court  of  faculties ;  whereby 
they  can  give  themselves  a  dispensation  for  any  sin 
at  pleasure.  Fifthly,  their  discourse  is  of  nothing 
but  riches.  He  that  is  earthly  talks  of  the  earth, 
John  iii.  31  :  his  breath,  like  a  dying  man,  is  of  an 
earthy  savour.  "  The  mouth  of  the  righteous  speak- 
elh  wisdom  :"  why  ?  because  "  the  law  of  God  is  in 
his  heart,"  Psal.  xxxvii.  '30.  So  the  covetous  hath 
earth  in  his  heart,  and  his  vcit  breath  smells  of  it. 
Take  off  his  tongue  from  the  market,  it  walks  to  the 
exchange,  then  to  the  key  or  wharf,  and  from  the 
eustom-nouse  to  the  warehouse ;  it  never  comes  near 
the  church.     These  be  the  signs. 

The  heart ;  that  is  the  throne  of  covetousness.  It 
is  bad  enough  in  the  eyes;  so  Achan  took  the  infec- 
tion that  cost  him  his  life.  Worse  in  the  tongue; 
Let  not  covetousness  be  once  named  among  saints, 
Eph.  V.  3.  As  if  that  world,  which  many  prefer  be- 
fore heaven,  were  not  worth  talking  of  I  will  not 
take  their  name  into  my  lips,  saith  David,  Psal.  xvi.  4. 
The  worldlings  worship  those  idols  which  the  saints 
will  not  so  nuich  as  honour  with  a  mention.  But 
the  covetous  man's  mouth  is  full  of  carlh  while  he 
li%-es,  and  shall  be  fuller  when  he  is  dead.  Yet  worse 
in  life;  "  Let  your  conversation  be  without  covetous- 
ness," Heb.  xiii.  5.  But  worst  of  all  in  the  heart : 
alas,  that  any  disease  should  come  near  the  heart ! 
and  yet  any  disease  less  dangerously  than  avarice. 
Lord,  "  incline  my  heart  unto  thy  testimonies,  and 
not  to  covetousness,"  Psal.  cxix.  3(i.  Our  contempla- 
tion, our  conversation,  our  communication,  yea,  our 
very  cogitations,  should  be  clear  from  covetousness. 

Exercised  Willi  covetousness.  The  worldling  will 
acknowledge  covetousness  to  be  a  sin,  but  he  will 
not  acknowledge  himself  to  be  covetous.  Adulterj' 
and  blasi)lu-niy  arc  notoriously  convinced;  they  wear 
their  Master's  known  liverj'.  But  avarice,  like  hy- 
pocrisy, will  needs  be  a  virtuous  vice,  a  gracious  sin. 
It  wears  the  cognisance  of  frugality,  the  complexion 
of  good  husbandry,  and  would  be  called  by  the 
honcstcst  names  that  are.  There  is  no  text  against 
intemperance,  but  they  think  it  makes  for  them.  Be- 
cause the  drunkard  spills  the  wine  in  wantonness, 
doth  this  excuse  the  miser  that  grudgeth  himself  a 
draught  in  necessity  ?  A  man  may  sin  damnably, 
though  he  never  come  at  the  tavern;  as  at  the  tavern 
a  good  man  may  be  merry  and  guiltless.  The  covet- 
ous wretch,  that  locks  up  his  cupboard,  and  rageth 
at  his  servant  for  eating  a  poor  crust  more  than 
allowance,  cries  out  against  riot ;  the  times  are  pro- 
digal ;  and  rails  at  him  for  lavishness,  whose  snuffs 
lie  is  orlad  to  drink  of  in  private.  He  tells  his  chil- 
dren how  thirsty  our  predecessors  were :  how  long 
one  gown  sers'ed  his  grandfather:  and  himself  is 
still  known  by  his  forefather's  coat,  which  with  his 
blessing  he  bequeaths  to  his  posterity,  that  thev  may 
be  known  by  it  too,  for  many  generations.     Thus  he 

Sraisoth  plainness,  not  for  less  sin,  but  for  less  cost ; 
ecause  it  is  cheaper,  not  because  it  is  better.  He  per- 
suades his  family  into  meanness,  as  the  tyrant  ser\-ed 
the  idols ;  he  took  away  their  golden  robes,  which 
were  too  cold  for  winter,  and  too  heavy  for  siimmer, 
and  made  them  linsey-woolsey  coats,  that  might  serve 
them  better  for  both'  .seasons.  He  condemns  others 
for  wasting  time,  and  never  blames  himself  for  sell- 
ing time;  which  he  doth  so  punctually,  that  he  wifl 


neither  prevent  his  day  nor  defer  it.  Bring  him 
principal  and  interest  before  his  day,  he  fears  you 
nave  law  against  him;  after  his  day,  he  halli  law 
against  you.  Some  gratuities  in  the  mean  time  are 
morsels  to  stay  his  stomach.  He  grudgeth  a  coal 
of  his  lire,  a  bucket  of  his  water  ;  and  of  all  things 
next  .stealing,  he  hates  borrowing. 

Divers  sins  have  the  saints  of  God  been  taxed 
with,  never  with  covetousness.  Once  Noah  was 
drunk  with  wine,  never  drunk  with  the  world.  Lot 
was  twice  incestuous,  never  covetous.  Peter  denied 
his  Master  thrice;  it  was  not  the  love  of  the  world, 
but  rather  the  fear  of  the  world,  that  brought  him 
to  it :  for  he  had  denied  the  world  before  he  denied 
his  Master.  Once  David  was  overcome  with  the 
flesh,  never  with  the  world.  Grace  may  stand  with 
some  transient  acts  of  naughtiness,  but  never  with 
covetousness ;  those  were  acts,  avarice  is  a  habit : 
grace  is  not  overthrown  by  every  act,  but  by  the 
habit  of  sin.  Therefore  of  all  sins,  the  children  of 
God  have  cleared  themselves  from  covetousness, 
when  they  would  approve  their  integrity  before  God 
and  men.  So  Samuel ;  "  Whose  ox  or  ass  have  I 
taken?"  1  Sam.  xii.  3.  He  that  was  the  judge  of 
Israel,  would  not  now  judge  himself,  but  be  judged 
by  Israel :  they  shall  acquit  him,  and  of  all  sins, 
from  covetousness.  So  Jeremiah;  I  have  neither 
lent  on  usun,',  nor  on  usury  borrowed;  yet  they  curse 
me,  Jer.  xv.  10:  as  if  that  practice  had  deserved  a 
curse.  So  Paul ;  "  I  have  coveted  no  man's  .silver 
or  gold,"  Acts  XX.  3.3.  He  was  covetous  of  nothing, 
but  of  their  souls  for  Christ.  Why  did  they  not 
purge  themselves  from  adultery,  anger,  contention, 
and  the  like?  Because  into  these  sins  the  infirmity 
of  a  saint  may  fall;  but  if  once  into  covetousness, 
there  is  nothing  of  a  saint  left,  not  the  very  name. 
A  guest  may  lodge  in  my  house  all  night,  yet  leave 
me  master  of  it  still  in  the  morning ;  but  avarice, 
when  it  gets  admission,  turns  grace  quite  out  of 
doors.  Exercise  facilitates  things  in  their  own  na- 
ture troublesome :  the  old  cart  goes  quietly  under  a 
heavy  load,  when  the  new  cannot  away  without 
creaking.  This  makes  them  call  their  wealth,  their 
substance;  while  themselves  wait  on  it  like  base 
circumstances  and  servile  accessaries.  Their  heart 
is  obdurate,  like  rammed  earlh,  to  be  the  foundation 
of  mischiefs,  and  bear  the  weight  of  all  villanies. 

"  With  covetous  practices."  He  that  prescribes 
medicines,  and  undertakes  cures,  professelh  himself 
at  least  a  practitioner  in  physic.  The  covetous  are 
not  without  their  practices,  yet  they  deny  the  name. 
When  Christ  preached  against  covetousness,  Luke 
xii.  15,  one  man  gave  the  hint  or  occasion  of  the 
text,  the  whole  multitude  heard  the  sermon.  Good 
reason,  for  from  the  least  to  the  greatest,  they  were 
all  given  to  covetousness,  Jer.  vi.  13.  Some  sins  are 
peculiar  to  some  ])laces  and  conditions;  but  covet- 
ousness is  an  epidemical  disease,  infecting  all  per- 
sons. Let  me  discover  to  you  some  of  these  prac- 
tices. 

1.  According  to  the  rule  of  charity,  I  begin  at 
home,  with  the  church.  If  we  should  love  the 
world,  that  teach  others  to  contemn  it,  this  were  like 
the  fox,  to  dispraise  the  grapes  wo  keep  for  our  own 
tooth.  There  is  much  art  to  elude  the  law :  as  a 
wager  to  be  lost,  that  the  living  may  be  gotten  :  a 
poor  jade  bought  at  a  hundred  pieces,  and  a  benefice 
at  the  tail  of  nim;  as  one  wittily  said.  The  case  is 
clear;  the  benefice  is  cheap,  the  horse  was  dear. 
Such  a  simonist  applauds  his  own  wit,  that  he  is  no 
bungler  in  earn,-ing  on  a  business.  What  follows  ? 
He  that  bought  dear,  cannot  sell  cheap;  unless  he 
means  to  live  by  the  loss ;  and  he  that  so  buys,  hath 
no  such  meaning.     I  do  not  deny,  but  the  patron 


492 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


hath  as  condemnable  a  share  in  this  bargain ;  for  he 
sells  what  he  should  give,  and  the  other  is  fain  to 
buy  his  own.  Again,  to  take  God's  wages,  and  not 
to  do  his  work,  is  a  legal  sacrilege.  We  find  "men 
of  the  world"  mentioned  in  holy  writ,  Psal.  xvii.  14, 
and  their  worldly  practices,  Luke  xii.  30.  "  But 
thou,  O  man  of  God,  flee  these  things,"  I  Tim.  vi. 
1 1  :  man  of  God,  stands  in  opposition  to  those.  Let 
fishes  love  salt-waters,  birds  of  the  air  fly  up  towards 
heaven :  God  and  mammon  are  two  contrary  cures ; 
and  they  be  so  infinitely  distant,  that  no  court  of 
faculties  can  give  a  dispensation  to  serve  botli.  Ber- 
nard observes  of  St.  Paul ;  All  that  the  world  love, 
was  as  a  cross  to  him.  But  indeed,  all  the  charity 
of  the  world  is  put  upon  us,  other  men  rid  their 
hands  of  it ;  as  if  we  only  were  bound  to  do  all 
things  for  God-have-mercy.  If  the  least  recompence 
be  afforded  to  our  pains,  they  think  it  is  their 
courtesy,  not  our  merit.  God  is  much  beholden  to 
such  men,  and  without  question  at  the  last  day  he 
will  thank  them  to  their  faces  ;  but  they  had  better 
be  without  it.  In  this  city,  for  the  tenth,  they  have 
scarce  left  us  the  fortieth  part ;  yet  if  we  demand 
but  that,  we  are  censured  covetous.  But  let  not 
sheep  judge  the  shepherd.  God  made  thee,  thy 
parents  begot  thee,  thy  preacher  saves  thee ;  where 
is  the  fourth  equivalent  to  these  ?  Yet  as  if  God  and 
the  preacher  had  nothing  to  do  with  us,  and  nothing 
had  done  for  us,  there  is  none  whom  we  so  boldly 
defraud.  There  was  an  order  and  custom  in  St. 
Augustine's  time,  that  the  poor  should  beg  of  none 
but  the  priest ;  and  if  he  had  not  wherewithal  to  re- 
lieve them,  they  might  exclaim  against  him,  for  not 
more  eflectually  moving  the  people.  Then  the  poor 
came  to  us  for  succour,  now  all  the  succour  we  have 
comes  from  the  poor.  The  rich  rob  us,  only  the 
poor  are  more  willing  than  able  to  bestead  us.  We 
dare  not  plead  for  our  own,  then  sacrilege  would  not 
hear  US;  tlie  law  must  not  help  us,  their  evil  con- 
science will  not  help  us,  the  poor  cannot  help  us; 
now  the  Lord  help  us. 

There  be  some  that  have  brought  down  the  price 
of  our  function;  and  for  the  bettering  of  their  own 
severals,  have  inveighed  against  the  church's  com- 
mons, in  the  language  of  Judas,  To  what  purpose  is 
this  waste  ?  John  xii.  5.  Crafty  cub,  he  would  have 
had  it  himself.  Oh  how  these  preachers  tickle  tlie 
people's  ears,  that  can  fit  them  with  a  cheap  re- 
ligion !  If  I  should  prophesy  of  wine  and  strong 
drink,  I  were  a  iirophet  fit  for  this  people,  saith 
Micah,  chap.  ii.  11.  Now  it  is  but  turning  wiue  into 
water,  and  strong  driuk  into  small  charges,  and  then 
he  is  an  excellent  prophet.  Faith,  and  all  faith,  and 
no  good  works,  but  to  the  household  of  faitli,  by 
wliieh  they  mean  themselves.  I  could  also  mentiou 
non-residents  and  self-silencers ;  but  they  are  my 
brethren,  and  I  will  not  accuse  my  brethren ;  my 
fathers,  and  I  will  not  lay  open  the  nakedness  of  my 
fathers  :  only  jn-ay  for  them,  as  Noah  did  for  Japhelli, 
Gen.  ix.  27 :  God  persuade  them  to  dwell  in  tiieir 
own  tents  ;  and  purge  all  avarice  from  the  house  of 
Levi.  You  see  I  have  not  spared  ourselves,  shall  I 
flatter  I  he  rest?     God  forbid. 

2.  Ciiurch  patrons ;  who  instead  of  Lcvites  to 
divide  the  word,  jnit  in  Gibeonites  not  worthy  to 
divide  wood.  Their  question  to  him  that  moves 
them  for  a  living,  is  Judas's,  What  wilt  thou  give  ? 
Let  tlicir  end  be  .ludas's,  despair  and  a  halter.  God 
gave  him  a  halter.  They  that  ask  lite  same  ques- 
tion, why  sliould  they  not  receive  the  same  answer? 
Sacrilege  is  the  highest  theft  ;  and  by  their  own 
confession,  the  thief  is  worthy  of  a  halter.  Tluy 
are  in  some  kind  worse  tliaii  Judas:  he  sold  the 
body,  they  sell  souls  ;  his  barter  bought  but  a  pot- 


ter's field  for  burial ;  theirs  dolh  make  the  church 
Aceldama,  a  field  of  blood,  for  slaughter.  Besides 
all  their  other  condemnable  traffic,  they  shall  answer 
for  soul-blood  at  the  day  of  judgment.  Rev.  sviii.  13. 

3.  For  magistrates  and  judges,  they  have  their 
practices  too.  Isaiah  calls  the  unjust  ones,  the 
"  companions  of  thieves,"  Isa.  i.  2:3.  Why  ?  for 
taking  purses  of  travellers  ?  No,  but  for  taking 
brUjcs  in  their  chambers.  The  thief  hath  as  much 
right  to  (he  one,  as  the  judge  to  the  other.  They 
plead  gift ;  and  what  is  freer  ?  So  the  true  man 
gives  his  purse  to  the  thief,  to  save  his  life ;  and  the 
client  gives  his  money  to  the  judge,  to  save  his 
living.  This  sin  is  able  to  turn  Guild  Hall  into 
Shooters  Hill,  and  make  AVesfminster  Hall  more 
dangerous  than  Salisbury  Plain.  They  cry.  Give, 
Hos.  iv.  18 ;  and  the  thief  says  but.  Deliver ;  and 
what  is  the  difference  betwixt  Give  and  Deliver  ? 
Yet  Give  sits  on  the  bench,  while  poor  Deliver  stands 
at  the  bar.  If  places  of  judicature  were  to  be  bought 
for  money,  (and  I  would  to  God  they  never  had  been 
so,)  we  have  them  among  us,  that  would  buy  thcni 
up  by  the  wholesale,  and  make  them  away  again  by 
retail. 

4.  Covetous  lawyers  have  their  practices  too.  See, 
thy  matters  are  good:  so  Absalom  stole  the  people's 
hearts,  so  these  steal  their  purses.  Shall  I  say  with 
the  apostle,  "  Such  were  some  of  you  ?  "  I  Cor.  vi. 
II.     No,  such  arc  some  of  you. 

He  is  a  dissembling  chapman,  that  says  of  a  good 
commodity.  It  is  naught ;  and  he  is  a  dissembling 
lawyer  that  says  of  a  naughty  cause.  It  is  good. 
TertuUists  will  plead  against  Paul,  and  Abiezrites 
for  Baal ;  such  lawyers  are  advocates  against  Christ, 
and  Christ  will  be  no  Advocate  for  them.  It  is  a 
proverb  not  more  old  than  true  :  Logic,  the  law,  and 
the  Switzers  may  be  hired  to  fight  for  any  body. 

I  must  omit  m:iny  practices  of  covetousness.  As 
that  of  the  covetous  gamester;  who  when  he  wins, 
plays  the  thief  with  another,  and  losing  is  a  thief  to 
himself.  Or  the  oppressing  landlord,  who  while  he 
makes  his  tenants  beggars,  makes  liimself  a  fool : 
Thou  fool,  when  thy  soul  is  snatched  away,  whose 
shall  these  things  be  ?  Luke  xii.  20.  Yea,  worse  ; 
for  if  he  be  a  fool  that  lays  up  but  his  own  goods, 
find  out  a  name  for  him  tliat  takes  away  other  men's. 
Or  the  severe  creditor,  that  useth  his  debtors  as 
Darius  did  Daniel ;  first  cast  him  into  the  lions'  den, 
and  then  solicit  God  for  his  deliverance  ;  Thy  God 
deliver  thee,  Dan.  vi.  16:  so  he  casts  them  into 
prison,  and  prays  God  to  help  them  out.  I  have 
heard  of  prisoners,  that  on  their  death-bed,  when 
they  had  scarce  one  hour  to  pray  for  themselves, 
have  spent  h;xlf  of  it  in  cursing  their  creditors ;  and 
insteatt  of  their  own  pardon,  have  desired  their 
vengeance.  It  was  a  fearful  condition,  yet  remark- 
able ;  the  parties  thus  cursed  falling  into  such  insuf- 
ferable diseases,  that  they  have  been  desperately 
ready  to  blaspheme  God  and  die. 

Or  the  sacrilegious  purloincrs  of  tithes ;  who  fed 
the  rich  gluttons  of  Rome  with  the  fat  of  bread,  and 
will  not  allow  poor  Lazarus  of  the  gospel  the  very 
crumbs.  Nor  is  it  the  fault  only  of  impropriator?, 
some  of  which  number  are  cured  for  reaping  where 
they  never  sowed;  and  do  not  value  a  minister  so 
much  as  they  do  their  horse;  with  whom,  as  with 
men  given  over  to  a  reprobate  sense,  there  is  nothing 
more  to  do :  for  no  voice  of  God  can  awake  them  out 
of  their  dream,  nothing  but  the  archangel's  truuip : 
;\t  which  day  they  will  lie  found  to  have  impropriated 
their  own  souls  from  Christ.  Thieves  arc  broke  in 
upon  the  remainder.  The  world  is  busy  about  the 
disquisition  of  the  tenure  of  tithes:  and  many  are 
euiniiusi-er  in  this,  than  in  the  ;u-:icles  of  their  ruli- 


Veb.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


493 


gion.  But  why  docs  custom  ovcrlicar  God's  law, 
man's  law,  and  all  ?  Let  this  jioint  be  argued  in  the 
court  of  conscience ;  and  if  God  determine  on  their 
sides,  wc  have  done,  much  good  do  it  them.  I  pay 
tithes  of  all  that  I  have,  s;iith  the  Pharisee,  Luke 
xviii.  12.  I  should  have  feared  he  had  lied,  but  that 
our  Saviour  justifies  him,  even  to  mint  and  cummin. 
A  Pharisee  of  Jerusalem  was  in  this  an  honest  man 
to  many  a  citizen  of  London  ;  yet  the  Pharisee  went 
to  liell.  The  least  sheaf  the  covetous  man  culls  out 
for  God,  and  what  he  steals  from  him  he  thinks  tlie 
clearest  gain. 

1.  If  tne  usurer  were  not  desperate,  I  would  say 
something  of  his  practices  too;  but  the  very  name  is 
enough  to  condenm  him.  He  breeds  of  money  to 
tlie  third  generation;  and  a  shilling  is  not  sooner 
his,  than  he  sets  it  to  beget  another.  Tlie  bear  can- 
not drink,  but  he  must  bite  the  water;  the  usurer 
never  cools  his  thirst,  but  his  draught  is  a  poor  man's 
estate.  St.  Augustine  felt  a  heavy  burden  on  his 
conscience,  for  robbing  of  a  pear-tree  in  his  younger 
days ;  he  calls  it  his  i)erishing,  his  falling  from  the 
the  firmament.  (Confess,  lib.  2.  c.  4.)  Usurers  rob 
men  of  whole  orchards,  and  never  grudge  at  it.  A 
gentleman  in  the  countr)-  takes  in  the  commons, 
which  in  the  city  he  takes  out  in  commodities  ;  and 
for  his  racked  rents,  he  is  furnished  with  rattles. 
The  devil  had  a  serpent  to  tempt  Eve,  and  the 
usui-cr  hath  a  parasite  to  tempt  the  young  heir:  bring 
hini  but  once  to  riot,  and  then  he  will  want  powder; 
and  who  should  supply  him  but  the  usurer  ?  Thus 
his  mind  is  quite  transposed  from  his  original  :  the 
usurer  furnisnes  him  for  the  tavern,  the  tavern  for 
the  harlot,  the  harlot  for  Satan.  If  one  entice  an 
apprentice  to  rob  his  master,  the  law  makes  it  felony ; 
if  he  maintain  him  being  run  away,  there  is  a  penal- 
ty ;  and  is  there  no  law  for  him  that  entieeth  a  son 
to  rob  his  father,  yea,  that  shall  rob  a  father  of  his 
.son,  rob  God  of  a  soul  ?  Methinks,  such  injured 
fathers  should  put  u])  a  bill  in  parliament  against 
such  caterpillars.  "  This  is  the  heir ;  come,  let  us 
kill  him.  and  the  inheritance  shall  be  ours,"  Mark 
xii.  7.  They  are  like  foxes,  that  use  their  wits  and 
their  teeth  together;  they  never  talk,  but  they  take 
hold.  Bees,  of  all  creatures,  cannot  abide  sheep  ; 
because  being  once  got  into  their  wool,  they  are  so 
entangled  that  they  cannot  get  out  again.  Usurers 
have  the  countenance  of  sheep,  they  look  simple, 
and  go  plain  ;  you  would  take  them  for  sheep,  but 
they  arc  shcei>-biters.  They  make  no  otheruse  of  their 
wool,  that  is,  their  wealth,  but  to  snarl  and  inwrap 
men ;  and  once  in  their  books,  it  is  liard  getting  out. 

2.  For  practices  of  avarice  in  trade;  preventions,  in- 
terventions, circumventions,  adulterate  wares,  blended 
mixtiu'cs,  a  weight  for  the  hall  and  a  weight  for  the 
stall,  a  measure  to  buy  with  and  a  measure  to  sell  with ; 
Ihcy  transcend  all  numeration.  There  be  certain 
mystical  princijiles  in  everj'  science,  which  cannot  be 
declared ;  wherein  caveat  emptor,  i.  e.  let  the  purchaser 
be  on  his  guard.  Call  them  what  they  will,  they  may 
all  be  reduced  to  fraud,  that  is  the  formal,  yea,  and 
practical  part  of  them.  Geliazi  rims  after  Naaman 
for  a  talent  of  silver  and  two  changes  of  raiment, 
with  a  lie,  2  Kings  v.  22.  The  good  Syrian  greets 
the  ser\-ant  in  that  language  wherewith  he  was  dis- 
missed of  his  master;  "  Is  all  well  ?"  So  sudden  a 
messenger  might  seem  to  argue  some  strange  news ; 
but  the  breathless  Gehazi  soon  satisfies  him,  if  he 
will  as  soon  satisfy  Gehazi.  Had  he  come,  for  this 
reward  in  his  own  name,  as  a  fee  for  the  prophet's 
servant,  as  his  gain,  so  his  sin  had  been  less  ;  but  he 
must  have  a  greater  sum.  Light  profit  will  not  con- 
tent a  covetous  tradesman  :  therefore  he  stretcheth 
his  conscicncej  as  Gehazi  belied  his  master,  robbed 


Naaman,  burdened  his  own  soul.  Avarice  is  ever 
cunning,  as  having  the  mother-wit,  and  the  fatlier's 
wit  to  litlp.  '-Two  young  men  of  the  sons  of  the 
prophets  be  come  from  >Iount  Ephraim."  What  a 
sound  and  formal  tale  hath  he  devised,  of  the  num- 
ber, the  place,  the  quality,  the  age  of  his  master's 
guests !  The  value  of  his  demand  was  so  propor- 
tioned, that  it  might  not  be  unlikely  of  his  master, 
and  yet  well  enrich  himself.  I  ask  you  but  reason, 
saith  the  shopkeeper.  But  the  love  of  money  can 
never  keep  good  quarter  with  honesty  ;  there  is  a 
mint  of  fraud  in  the  worldly  breast,  and  it  can  coin 
lies  as  fast  as  utterance.  Covetousness  never  lodged 
in  the  heart  alone:  if  it  do  not  find,  it  will  breed, 
base  companions.  We  are  not  to  do  evil,  that  good 
may  come  of  it,  Rom.  iii.  8 ;  but  tliere  is  no  evil 
which  they  will  not  do,  that  goods  may  come  of  it. 

But  now  what  is  the  end  or  project  of  all  these 
practices  ?  To  be  rich  ;  an  impatient  desire  to  be 
rich.  "  They  that  will  be  rich  fall  into  temptation," 
&e.  1  Tim.  vi.  9.  One  says,  He  who  wishes  to  be- 
come rich,  wishes  also  to  become  rich  soon.  "  He 
that  makelh  haste  to  be  rich  shall  not  be  innocent," 
Prov.  xxviii.  20;  yea,  sometimes,  he  shall  not  be  rich ; 
the  more  haste,  the  worst  speed.  Cushi  runs  apace, 
but  through  chubby  and  rough  grounds,  uneven  dis- 
advantages :  Ahimaaz  outruns  him,  because  he  takes 
tlic  way  of  the  plain.  Plain-dealing  doth  not  seldom 
get  more  riches,  it  ever  gets  more  happiness.  The 
spurred  horse  soonest  tires :  many  a  one  is  so  hasty, 
that  he  loseth  the  game.  When  the  wind  is  strong, 
and  the  sails  full,  then  let  the  mariner  beware  the 
rocks.  How  many  had  been  rich,  if  they  had  tarried 
God's  leisure  !  If  Saul  will  not  stay  for  Samuel,  his 
sacrifice  shall  do  him  no  good.  But  now  when  they 
will  be  rich,  and  God  shall  not  know  of  it ;  rich,  and 
never  trouble  him  about  it ;  when  fraud  is  employed 
as  a  co-agent  of  trade,  to  ripen  and  forward  it,  as  art 
helps  to  improve  nature;  when  the  spring  of  con- 
science is  screwed  up  to  the  highest  pin,  that  it  is 
ready  to  crack  ;  w  hen  religion  is  locked  up  in  an  out- 
room,  and  forbidden  on  pain  of  death  to  look  into  the 
shop  or  warehouse:  then  is  covetousness  in  the  full 
practice.  The  poets  feigned  Pluto  to  be  the  god  of 
riches  and  of  hell,  (as  if  hell  and  riches  had  both  one 
master,)  and  to  be  lame  ;  yet  withal,  swift  and  nim- 
ble as  fire.  When  Jupiter  sent  him  to  a  soldier  or 
scholar,  he  went  limping;  but  when  to  one  of  his 
mistresses,  he  flew  like  lightning.  The  moral  was, 
The  riches  that  come  in  God's  name,  and  are  sent  to 
honest  men,  come  slowly  ;  but  they  that  come  by 
unjust  dealing,  fiow  in  apace.  He  that  resolves  to 
be  evil,  may  soon  be  rich.  AH  the  wealth  which  the 
worst  man  liath,  is  for  the  matter  the  gift  of  heaven; 
yet  for  the  manner  of  getting  it,  millions  go  to  hell. 
Health  cannot  come  but  from  God ;  yet  how  many 
have  sought  and  obtained  health  of  the  devil  !  But 
more  safe  and  welcome  is  the  gain  that  comes  in  the 
slow  wain  of  honesty,  than  that  which  comes  hurry- 
ing in  the  swift  chariot  of  iniquity. 

Thus  I  have  discovered  some  practices  of  avarice ; 
but  who  can  declare  them  all?  Not  ho  that  hath 
done  them,  the  covetous ;  not  he  that  is  undone  by 
them,  the  guiltless;  not  he  that  teaches  them,  Satan 
himself;  but  only  he  that  shall  judge  them,  the  om- 
niscient God.  But  to  what  purpose  is  all  this,  if  the 
covetous  man  will  not  be  found?  While  the  preacher 
walks  in  generals,  declares  the  nature  of  avarice, 
every  man  can  be  the  master  of  his  own  patience. 
But  descending  to  particular  application,  "Thou  art 
the  man  ;  then  he  is  held  to  leave  his  text,  and  to 
mistake  his  auditory.  For  my  own  part  I  profess, 
that  I  should  be  far  from  Jonah's  passion,  to  vex  or 
fret  at  it,  should  God's  mercy  and  your  innocence 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


make  me  this  day  a  liar,  and  prove  all  my  speeches 
impertinent  ;  yea,  I  will  pray  that  it  may  be  so. 
But  when  the  Pharisees  came  to  Christ  with  an 
errand  of  accusation,  John  viii.  3,  there  were  at  first 
many  sinners ;  when  they  had  charged  the  woman 
with  adulter)',  there  appeared  but  one,  ver.  4:  but 
when  they  all  went  away  convicted  by  their  own 
consciences,  there  appeared  never  a  one,  ver.  9  :  but 
this  did  plainly  show  that  they  were  all  sinners.  Oh 
that  men  would  ransack  their  own  consciences,  and 
make  a  stricter  inquisition  into  all  the  suspected  pas- 
sages and  practices  of  their  lives  !  You  shall  find  this 
sin  full  of  fetches,  pretences,  excuses  :  believe  it  not, 
spare  it  not;  shrive  it  to  the  proof,  arraign  it,  con- 
demn it,  punish  it.  Ptmish  it  in  the  body  by  fasting 
and  mortification,  punish  it  in  the  soul  by  repentance 
and  contrition,  punish  it  in  the  purse  by  works  of 
charily  and  restitution.  Break  open  your  con- 
sciences, more  nisty  than  your  cofl'ers.  The  law  will 
not  allow  of  the  defendant's  bare  negation,  without 
witnesses.  Thy  own  word  will  not  be  taken  before 
God  ;  let  the  poor  witness  for  thee  that  thou  art  not 
covetous.  Their  prayers  shall  unlock  the  gates  of 
heaven  for  thy  soul,  and  their  testimony  avail  llice, 
when  no  riches  shall,  in  the  day  of  Christ. 

"  An  heart  exercised  with  covetous  practices."  Tliis 
is  the  disease;  now  let  me  ask  thy  soul  two  questions. 
First,  wouldst  thou  perceive  the  danger  of  it  ? 
Secondly,  and  then,  wouldst  thou  be  cured  of  it  ?  If 
so,  first  consider  the  effects,  then  the  remedies.  The 
eflects  are  many,  and  mortal. 

1.  It  ineffectuatcs  the  instruments  of  salvation: 
covetous  thorns  choke  the  seed,  it  is  but  cast  aw'ay. 
It  may  breed  a  swimming,  but  not  a  saving  know- 
ledge ;  furnish  the  head,  but  not  better  the  heart. 
Nabal  is  his  name,  and  fool  is  his  surname  ;  the  wis- 
dom of  God  is  shut  out  of  doors,  while  this  folly 
keeps  the  house.  We  wonder  that  our  sermons  take 
no  better  effect ;  that  among  so  many  arrows,  none 
should  hit  the  mark.  But  God  tells  us  the  reason ; 
"  They  sit  before  thee,  and  hear  thy  words,  but  their 
heart  goelh  after  their  covetousness,"  Ezek.  xxxiii. 
31.  The  damps  of  the  earth  do  not  more  quench 
fire,  than  the  love  of  the  earth  stifles  grace.  Neither 
trees  nor  grass  grow  above,  where  the  golden  mines 
are  below.  If  money  be  centred  in  the  heart,  no 
fruits  of  goodness  can  appear  in  the  life.  What, 
look  for  grace  in  the  covetous  ?  We  may  as  well  look 
for  a  harvest  in  a  hedge.  They  do  but  serve  us  as 
they  did  Christ;  when  we  preach  against  covetous- 
ness, they  laugh  at  us,  Luke  xvi.  14. 

2.  It  impossibilitates  the  entrance  into  heaven. 
Where  the  treasure  is,  there  is  the  heart :  no  man 
hath  two  hearts,  or  two  treasures  ;  the  one  is  but 
counterfeit,  if  any  at  all.  The  world  indeed  some- 
times falls  into  men's  mouths,  but  God  doth  not  spill 
his  heavenly  riches  ;  he  parts  not  with  them  without 
suit,  without  thanks.  He  must  strive  to  enter  into 
heaven  that  misseth  not,  and  he  shall  miss  of  en- 
trance that  striveth  not.  The  covetous  is  like  a 
camel,  with  a  great  bunch  on  his  back  ;  heaven-gate 
must  be  made  higher  and  broader,  or  he  will  hardly 
get  in. 

3.  It  disposeth  a  man  to  all  sins,  be  they  never  so 
horrid :  he  is  a  fit  piece  of  timber  for  any  place  in  the 
building  of  hell :  this  mercenary  soldier  will  refuse 
no  ofiice  in  Satan's  camp,  for  booty.  Any  sin  dulh 
prejiare  and  habitually  dispose  the  mind  to  every 
sin ;  but  this  doth  actually  transgress  the  whole 
decalogue. 

1st  Commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  h.ave  no  other 
gods  but  me."  If  the  covetous  have  not  another  god, 
why  docs  Paul  call  him  an  idolater  ?  Eitlur  he  doth 
offer  sacrifice  to  his  gold,  Job  xxyi  24;  Hab.  i.  16; 


or  if  he  docs  not,  yet  he  refuseth  no  desperate  ad- 
venture it  puts  him  upon;  and  obedience  is  better 
than  sacrifice.  One  of  Jupiter's  many  names  was 
Money:  (August.  Civit.  Dei,  lib.  7.  cap.  12.)  pagans 
gave  unto  their  god  the  name  of  Money  ;  and  the 
covetous  give  unto  money  the  worship  of  God.  The 
Romans  had  a  god  which  they  called  Terminus:  I 
fear  we  have  made  it  a  London  god  and  a  West- 
minster god  too.  The  Israelites  made  a  calf,  and 
then  danced  about  it,  one  calf  about  another:  with  no 
less  joy  do  the  covetous  adore  gohl. 

2nd,  "  Thou  shalt  not  worship  an  image."  But 
mark  how  the  prophet  joins  them  ;  "  Their  land  is 
full  of  silver  and  gold  ;"  and  presently,  "  their  land  is 
full  of  idols,"  Isa.  ii.  7,  8.  It  was  gain  that  made 
Diana  so  great,  and  Demetrius  to  roar  and  make  so 
great  a  noise  for  her.  They  be  the  cofler-doctrines 
that  Rome  is  most  violent  to  justify :  masses,  which 
bring  in  masses  of  wealth ;  praying  for  the  dead, 
which  is  a  trick  to  prey  upon  the  living;  they  are 
somewhat  colder  for  those  tenants  that  do  not  warm 
their  kitchen  :  yea,  I  would  that  covetousness  had 
not  robbed  God  of  his  worship  among  us.  How  many 
churches  of  this  land  have  no  belter  than  a  ten 
pound  stipendiary,  that  hath  less  learning  than  living, 
whilst  one  of  another  coat  goes  away  with  the 
church's  salary ! 

3rd,  "  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  God  in 
vain."  Tliis  the  covetous  thinks  a  verj-  vain  com- 
mandment. What  equivocation,  oath,  lie,  blasphemy, 
perjury,  will  not  he  swallow  in  the  sweet  broth  of 
commodity?  It  is  a  principle  in  his  catechism,  Gain 
is  godliness ;  and  he  never  likes  godliness,  but  when 
it  brings  in  gain.  Sometimes  covetousness  strips  off 
all  religion,  at  other  times  religion  must  be  the  cloak 
of  covetousness,  I  Thess.  ii.  5.  '"  Shall  not  their 
substance  be  ours?"  saith  Shechem,  Gen.  xxxiv.  23. 
So,  shall  not  their  custom  be  ours?  Are  we  brothers 
at  the  church,  and  shall  we  not  be  cousins  at  the  shop. 

4th,  "  Remember  to  keep  holy  my  sabbath."  But 
the  covetous  thinks,  religion  makes  men  idle ;  the 
sabbath  is  one  day  lost  in  a  week  ;  above  seven  weeks 
lost  in  a  year.  The  people  are  idle,  saith  Pharaoh, 
therefore  they  cry.  Let  us  go  sacrifice,  Exod.  v.  8 ;  as  if 
men  would  never  think  of  sacrifice,  unless  they  were 
idle.  Sacrilege  hath  impropriated  God's  tenths  al- 
ready; and  now  covetousness  would  impropriate  his 
sevenths  too.  Christ  should  have  neither  tithe  nor 
time,  if  avarice  might  have  her  will.  Not  to  speak 
of  some  lawyers'  chambers,  which  on  a  sabbath  after- 
noon are  fuller  of  clients  than  some  country  churches 
are  of  suppliants.  We  read  that  on  the  sabbath  days 
Jerusalem  was  troubled  with  fish-merchants,  Neh.  xiii. 
16;  and  does  not  London  abound  with  drink-mer- 
chants? Suppose  that  these  temples  of  Bacchus  are 
better  visited  among  us,  yet  what  are  the  suburbs  and 
adjacent  villages?  When  will  the  sabbath  begone,  that 
we  may  sell  corn  ?  Amos  viii.  5.  There  was  some  hon- 
esty yet  in  that  covetousness  ;  tluy  had  the  patience 
to  tarry  so  long.  But  our  borderers  cry.  When  will 
the  sabbath  come,  that  we  nuiy  have  our  houses  full 
of  citizens,  and  vent  our  tippling  commodities  ? 
So  they  turn  God's  sabbath  into  the  sabbath  of 
Bacchus;  and  make  it  both  a  selling  day  and  a 
swilling  day. 

5th,  "  Honour  thy  parents."  The  father  says  of 
his  child,  as  Abraham  did.  Oh  that  Ishmacl  might 
live  !  the  covetous  son,  like  Esau,  Oh  that  the  days  of 
mourning  for  my  father  were  come  !  H<predis  lachry- 
m<p,  The  heir's  tears,  are  grown  into  a  proverb.  This 
is  one  practice  among  the  Romish  orders,  like  that 
of  the  Pharisees,  Mark  vii.  II;  they  must  give  all 
their  goods  to  the  college,  and  go  as  naked  into  the 
cloister  as  they  came  into  the  world.     Thus  their 


Vek.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


4<i5 


poor  parents,  that  depend  on  their  maintenance, 
must  be  empty,  that  the  others'  corban  may  be  full  ; 
as  if  the  very  smell  or  steam  of  the  sacrifice  were 
enough  to  give  them  their  dinners.  Did  we  never 
liear  of  such  unnatural  prodigies,  that  have  denied 
relief  to  their  ovm  parents? 

6th,  "  Thou  shall  not  kill."  Yet  this  is  a  common 
effect  of  covctousntbS.  He  that  is  greedy  of  gain, 
takes  away  the  life  of  the  owners,  Prov.  i.  19.  The 
lamp  is  nut  only  put  out  by  pouring  on  of  water,  but 
by  not  |)ouring  in  of  oil.  Was  not  the  rich  man 
guilty  of  Lazjuus's  blood,  while  he  relieved  him  not  ? 
It  will  grieve  those  churls,  that  have  either  made 
beggars  or  not  comforted  them,  to  be  found  at  tlic  last 
day  murderers.  Dishonest  gain  is  accompanied  with 
blood,  saith  the  prophet,  Ezek.  xxii.  13.  Judas  did 
not  so  much  hate  his  Master  as  love  the  money ;  yet 
the  love  of  the  money  moved  him  to  betray  his  Master. 
Naboth  will  not  part  with  his  vineyard,  he  shall  there- 
fore part  with  his  life.  He  is  accused,  condemned, 
stoned,  1  Kings  xxi.  13;  here  is  a  ready  payment  for 
a  rich  vineyard  :  Ahab  will  drink  his  blood,  that  he 
may  come  to  taste  his  wine,  ^\'hat  makes  Rome  give 
toleration  of  murder,  by  ordaining  refuges  for  wilful 
blood,  but  avarice  ?  Murder  is  condemned  by  the  light 
of  nature,  as  the  barbarians  concluded  upon  Paul,  Acts 
xxviii.  4;  yet  to  the  golden  shore  how  many  fear  not 
to  swim  through  a  stream  of  blood  ! 

7th,  "  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery."  The 
purse  hath  often  prevailed  more  than  the  person. 
Do  not  too  many -gallants  plot  how  to  get  into  the 
merchant's  bed,  rather  than  how  to  get  out  of  the 
merchant's  book?  Some  force  themselves  to  a  sin- 
gle life,  merely  to  avoid  the  charges  of  the  married 
condition.  They  that  had  rather  burn  in  their  own 
sensuality,  than  quench  that  fire  with  an  allowed 
remedy,  do  (as  it  were)  otTer  up  themselves  to  Molotli 
in  the  burning  flames  of  lust.  Thus  a  covetous  father 
in  the  marriage  of  his  child,  inquires  not  after  virtues, 
but  riches.  Abigail  signifies,  her  father's  joy,  yet  she 
was  matched  with  Nabal  and  sorrow  together.  If 
her  father  had  meant  her  joy,  either  in  herself  or  in 
her  life,  so  unworthy  a  churl  had  wooed  in  vain.  But 
he  married  her  niimmo,  non  viro :  i.  e.  to  money,  not 
to  a  husband.  Oh  how  many  a  child  is  thus  cast 
away  upon  riches  ! 

8th,  "Thou  shalt  not  steal."  AU  cozenage  is 
theft ;  and  as  one  siiys,  Show  me  a  covetous  man,  and 
I  will  in  return  show  you  back  a  thief.  Extortions, 
depopulations,  impropriations,  enclosures,  engross- 
ings,  monopolies,  with  that  whole  litter  of  vipers,  are 
bred  in  the  dunghill  of  covetousness.  Now  the  covet- 
ous man  may  be  counselled  by  his  lawyer,  that  he 
hath  an  action  against  me.  for  calling  him  thief.  But 
if  we  sliduld  come  to  trial,  there  is  a  witness  within 
him  that  would  crj',  A  thief,  a  thief;  his  conscience 
would  attach  a  thief  in  his  own  bosom.  I  could  tell 
you  of  a  eulogy  made  by  an  orator  of  a  magistrate, 
wherein  he  commended  him  for  being  no  thief.  This, 
replied  another,  were  a  good  commendation  for  a 
servant ;  if,  besides,  he  be  no  runagate.  But  at  the 
great  assizes,  he  is  no  lover  of  riches  that  shall  clear 
himself  from  being  a  thief. 

9th,  "Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness."  But  lie 
that  scruples  not  at  false  dealing,  will  never  stick  at 
false  accusing.  The  tongue  is  an  ill  apprentice  (o 
the  covetous  heart,  if  it  cannot  lend  the  false  hand  a 
lie  or  an  oai  h.  1  know  there  be  hackney  consciences, 
knights  of  the  post,  and  flatterers  that  admire  persons 
for  advantage,  Jude  16,  as  dogs  fawn  for  a  crnst.  But 
does  not  the  tradesman,  that  tells  me  a  tale  in  my 
ear,  while  he  cuts  a  hole  in  my  purse,  deceive  me 
with  a  false  testimony  ?  "  Lest  I  be  poor,  and  steal, 
and  take  the  name  of  my  God  in  vain,"  Prov.  xxx. 


9.  Poor  and  steal  :  poverty  brings  in  robberj'. 
Steal,  and  take  the  name  of  God  in  vain:  robbery 
brings  on  perjury.  The  lawyer  that  pleads  his  client's 
cause  against  his  own  conscience,  is  hired  by  covet- 
ousness to  bear  a  false  witness. 

lOlh,  "Thou  shalt  not  covet  that  which  is  thy 
neighbour's."  But  if  the  covetous  man's  hands  were 
as  able  as  his  wishes  be  nimble,  like  another  Adam, 
he  would  have  the  whole  world  to  himself.  They 
talk  of  the  philosopher's  stone,  but  there  is  no  such 
thing  in  the  nature  of  things,  unless  it  be  a  covetous 
man's  heart.  That  is  of  a  cTiymieal  virtue,  and  would 
turn  all  into  gold,  a  perpetual  limbec  that  labours  of 
projection ;  till  on  the  sudden  the  glass  breaks  and 
all  flies  out  in  smoke.  He  doth  wisli  the  whole 
earth  were  mines  and  Indies  ;  the  ocean  a  sea  of  gold, 
as  St.  John  calls  it  a  sea  of  glass.  If  every  fish  had 
as  much  money  in  it  as  St.  Peter's,  he  would  quickly 
turn  fisherman.  Heaven  itself  cannot  tempt  him, 
unless  it  were  all  gold,  and  ever\'  star  a  diamond. 
Pope  Benedict  XII.  refused  to  make  another  cardi- 
nal, unless  he  could  make  another  world ;  for  as 
that  was  not  suflicient  for  his  cardinal,  so  one  is  too 
little  for  the  covetous.  If  the  whole  world  were 
thrown  as  a  sop  into  their  mouths,  it  would  not  con- 
tent avarice. 

Thus  is  he  a  transgressor  of  every  law.  Go  now, 
ye  fools,  and  flatter  yourselves  that  you  are  no  atheists, 
no  idolaters,  no  blasphemers,  no  sabbath  profaners, 
no  parent  contemners,  no  murderers,  adulterers, 
thieves,  nor  liars;  you  have  been  all  these,  are  all 
these,  or  may  be  all  these,  or  whatsoever  else  Satan 
will,  if  you  continue  covetous.  The  opinion  of  hon- 
esty is  put  on  this  sin  through  the  world,  An  honest 
man,  but  something  hard ;  but  yet  in  the  Judge's 
sentence,  the  adulterer  and  thief  are  as  honest  men. 
Read  I  Cor.  vi.  10,  and  Eph.  v.  5.  There  you  may 
learn  what  to  think  of  his  honesty.  He  is  got  into 
the  midst  of  that  desperate  throng,  that  shall  never 
see  the  face  of  God.  We  rank  him  with  aldermen 
and  gentlemen,  give  him  the  best  oflices,  the  highest 
room  at  the  table  and  pew  in  the  church  :  God 
reckons  him  amongst  harlot.s,  and  blasphemers,  and 
thieves,  and  dogs,  which  be  indeed  his  companions. 
Certainly,  if  such  a  man  be  honest,  there  are  abund- 
ance of  honest  men  in  hell.  We  are  loth  to  keep 
company  with  swearers,  and  harlots,  and  drunkards ; 
but  we  have  as  great  a  charge  of  sepai-ation  from  the 
covetous.  Eat  not  with  him,  1  Cor.  v.  1 1  :  and  .Solo- 
mon gives  the  reason;  because  he  hath  an  evil  eye, 
Prov,  xxiii.  7,  that  wisheth  a  man  choked  when  he 
bids  much  good  do  it  him  :  when  his  guests  are  gone, 
he  talks  how  much  this  man  did  cat,  and  how  fast 
the  other  called  for  drink;  and  feeds  his  family  with 
the  mouldy  remnants  a  month  after.  If  such  muck- 
worms were  as  odious  to  the  rest  as  they  are  to  me, 
they  should  appear  in  the  street  like  owls,  with  whom 
no  honest  man  will  converse.  Why  should  I  prefer 
him  before  a  piece  of  copper,  that  prefers  a  piece  of 
gold  before  my  Maker. 

It  is  time  to  come  to  the  remedies  of  this  desperate 
disease  ;  and  to  stop  that  violence  and  precipitation, 
wherewith  we  are  transported  to  these  rotten  incon- 
stancies. 

1.  Faith  overcomes  the  world,  1  John  v.  4.  What, 
doth  it  bring  the  riches  of  it  into  our  coflTers?  No, 
but  it  casts  the  love  of  it  out  of  our  hearts.  The 
world  is  not  overcome  by  gaining,  but  by  despising 
it.  As  covetousness  is  an  alchymist,  that  turns  gold 
into  God,  so  faith  makes  Christ  unto  our  souls  All  in 
all.  The  more  hold  a  man  takes  of  the  world,  the 
more  he  loseth  hold  of  the  Lord.  Covetous  men 
cleave  to  the  world  as  long  as  they  can ;  but  when 
that  staff  breaks,  then  to  the  Lord.    Extremity  ol 


496 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPOX  THE 


Chap.  IF. 


distress  will  send  the  profanest  to  God ;  as  the  drown- 
ing man  stretchcth  out  his  hand  to  that  bough,  which 
he  contemned  while  he  stood  safe  on  shore.  So  Saul 
retired  himself  to  inquire  of  the  Lord,  but  he  an- 
swered him  not,  1  Sam.  xxviii.  6.  It  is  an  unreason- 
able inequality,  to  hope  to  find  God  at  our  command 
when  we  would  not  be  at  his ;  to  look  that  he  should 
regard  our  voice  in  trouble,  that  would  not  regard 
his  voice  in  peace.  "  Let  your  conversation  be  with- 
out covctousncss."  Why  ?  Because  "  he  hath  said, 
I  will  never  leave  thee,  nor  forsake  thee,"  lieb.  xiii. 
5.  We  credit  the  promise  of  a  wealthy  and  trusiy 
friend;  yet  man  may  lie,  man  may  die,  man  may  be 
unable  to  help  himself.  God  is  too  constant  to  be 
changed,  too  potent  to  be  crossed,  too  wise  to  be  de- 
ceived. 1  will  never  leave  thee ;  not  in  a  dear  year, 
not  in  age,  not  in  sickness,  not  in  death:  they  that 
believe  this  cannot  be  covetous.  The  wealth  thou 
keenest,  is  not  thine  own,  but  God's :  he  must  give 
it  thee  out  of  thine  own  chest ;  and  if  thou  hast  lit- 
tle, cannot  he  give  it  thee  out  of  another's  chest  as 
well  ? 

2.  Content  with  our  own  condition :  he  that  hath 
wrought  his  heart  to  this  happy  resolution,  hath  dis- 
fumished  Satan  of  a  deadly  weapon.  The  king  is 
forbidden  to  multiply  tohimsclf  silver  and  gold,  Deut. 
xvii.  17;  yet  who  hath  greater  uses,  or  fairer  pre- 
tences, for  this  multiplying,  than  a  king  ?  Solomon 
says  there  be  four  things  that  cry  Never  enough,  Prov. 
XXX.  15;  and  we  may  add  a  fifth,  the  covetous  heart, 
that  shall  eat  with  them  all  four,  and  yet  rise  up 
with  a  Never  enough.  Esau  was  an  honest  man  to 
thousands  of  these  ;  for  Esau  had  enough.  Gen. 
xxxiii.  9.  Naboth's  vineyard  lay  too  near  Jezebel's 
court,  1  Kings  xxi.  2,  it  had  been  better  for  him  in 
the  wilderness.  The  vicinity  did  not  make  it  more 
commodious  to  the  owner  than  envious  to  tlie  be- 
holder. It  was  now  the  perpetual  object  of  an  evil 
eye ;  his  vines  grew  too  near  the  smoke  of  that  ty- 
rant's chimneys,  too  much  within  the  prospect  of 
Allah's  window.  The  sight  of  it  breeds  those  desires, 
that  can  neither  safely  be  denied  nor  honestly  satis- 
fied. Eminence  is  still  joined  with  peril,  obscurity 
with  peace.  An  inheritance  needs  no  worse  incon- 
venience, than  the  covetous  eye  of  a  great  neighbour. 
There  is  no  such  annoyance  belongs  to  a  house,  as 
an  Ahab's  avarice.  He  had  vineyards  enough  of  liis 
own,  but  all  their  grapes  were  sour  to  Naboth's. 
His  heart  covets  it,  his  tongue  demands  it,  the  pos- 
sessor denies  it,  he  grows  sick  upon  it,  Naboth  must 
bleed  for  it,  and  then  he  will  have  it.  Ahab  was 
sick  of  a  pleurisy,  and  Naboth  must  be  let  blood  to 
cure  him.  Oh  the  impotent  and  insatiate  desire  of 
avarice !  what  is  there  that  can  make  a  man  rich, 
but  content !  Ahab  was  lord  and  king  of  all  the  ter- 
ritories of  Israel ;  Naboth  is  the  owner  of  one  poor 
vineyard;  yet  Ahab  can  have  no  joy  of  all  Israel,  if 
Naboth  enjoy  his  vineyard.  Besides  Samaria,  Ahab 
was  lord  paramount  of  Damascus,  and  all  Syria  ; 
conqueror  of  him  that  was  attended  with  two  and 
thirty  kings.  Naboth  was  a  plain  townsman  of  Jez- 
recl;  the  good  husband  of  a  little  vineyard.  Whe- 
ther is  the  richer?  Naboth  wisheth  for  nothing  of 
Ahab's;  Ahab  longeth  for  something  of  Nabotn's, 
and  cannot  brook  a  repulse.  Riches  and  poverty  is 
more  in  the  heart  than  in  the  hand:  he  is  wealthy 
that  is  contented,  he  is  poor  that  wants  it.  O  poor 
Ahab,  that  caresl  not  for  thine  own  large  posses- 
sions, because  thou  mayst  not  have  another's.  0  rich 
Naboth,  that  carest  not  for  all  the  dominions  of 
Ahab,  so  thou  mayst  enjoy  thine  own. 

3.  Look  up  to  the  promised  land ;  if  but  one 
glimpse  of  those  heavenly  treasures  were  jjresented 
to  our  eyes,  how  scornfully  would  we  behold  the 


world,  and  call  it,  as  Hiram  did  the  cities  given  liim 
by  Solomon,  in  indignation,  Cabul,  1  Kings  ix.  13,  a 
miry  or  dirty  land!  Thou  lovest  gold;  tliere  is  a 
city  whose  streets  be  gold.  Rev.  xxi.  21.  Who  would 
be  raking  in  the  kennels  of  the  earth,  that  might 
gather  pearls  out  of  those  crystalline  streams  of  joy  ? 
Our  Head  is  in  heaven  ;  what  makes  our  hearts  upon 
earth?  It  is  fit  the  head  and  the  heart  sliould  go 
together.  As  her  Head  went  before  the  church,  so 
his  heart  should  go  before  the  Christian.  (August.) 
We  cannot  yet  get  up  our  bodies,  let  us  send  up 
our  hearts.  The  whole  of  us  will  follow,  wliilher 
some  part  of  us  has  gone  before.  The  way  to  mor- 
tify covctousncss,  is  to  "lay  hold  on  eternal  life," 
1  Tim.  vi.  19.  The  looser  hold  we  have  of  the 
world,  the  less  hold  the  world  shall  have  of  us  ; 
and  the  more  we  fasten  above,  we  loosen  below. 
•■  Men  of  the  world  have  their  portion  in  this  life," 
Psal.  xvii.  14 ;  but  my  teeth  shall  not  water  at  their 
dainties. 

4.  Let  us  free  oui-selvcs  from  a  false  opinion  of 
riches :  we  think  they  will  satisfy  us,  and  they  can- 
not. The  heart  shall  be  satisfied  with  gold,  when 
the  body  is  contented  with  wind  ;  yea,  does  not  auruin, 
gold,  rather  make  avarum,  a  covetous  man  ?  St. 
Augustine  (Confess.  1.  6.  c.  6.)  tells  of  an  oration 
which  he  made  to  the  emperor;  wherein  he  exceed- 
ingly pleased  him,  because  he  exceedingly  praised 
hira;  and  was  so  eloquent  in  his  commendation,  that 
all  the  hearers  fell  into  commendation  of  that  elo- 
quence. But  for  his  reward,  it  was  like  ours;  for 
our  good  words,  the  people  return  us  only  good  words 
again :  as  when  a  poet  presented  Augustus  with 
Greek  verses,  he  for  his  reward  gave  him  Greek  verses 
again.  Home  he  came,  and  by  the  way  in  a  green 
meadow  he  spied  a  poor  beggar,  well  lined  with 
strong  drink,  frisking,  and  singing,  and  dancing,  and 
taking  care  for  nothing;  Whereupon  he  thus  sighed  ; 
What  is  riches,  that  it  should  not  give  so  much  con- 
tent as  beggary  !  Miserable  is  Uiat  life,  wlierein 
none  are  happy  but  the  miserable.  All  our  labour 
for  wealtli,  is  but  care  and  travail,  for  travail  and 
care.  He  that  hunts  this  game  in  the  world's  forest 
puts  up  more  beasts  than  lie  well  knows  how  to  be 
shut  of.  This  beggar  hath  not  burnt  candles  all 
night  a  month  together,  he  made  no  oration  to  the 
emperor  to-day,  yet  he  is  meny.  His  purse  hath  no 
crowns,  his  flesh  wears  rags,  yet  he  is  jocund:  sure 
there  is  no  art  leading  to  felicity,  but  the  art  of  beg- 
gary. The  meditation  of  this  beggarly  content 
wrought  that  leanied  man  to  provide  for  the  posterity 
of  his  soul  unpcrishing  riches.  Thus  though  the 
beggar  had  more  joy  than  Augustine,  yet  St.  Augus- 
tine had  more  joy  than  the  beggar.  With  how  dif- 
ferent aspects  and  affects  do  diverse  men  look  upon 
the  world !  The  prophet  and  his  man  did  not  look 
upon  the  Syrian  treasure  with  the  same  eyes,  2  Kings 
V.  The  one  with  the  eye  of  contempt,  the  other  of 
admiration  :  the  one  refuseth  it  offered,  the  other 
runs  after  it  forbidden.  I  will  destroy  the  whole 
land,  and  seckest  thou  great  things  for  thyself?  Jcr. 
xlv.  5.  Alas,  they  arc,  as  one  calls  them,  but  splen- 
did punishments,  the  vomitings  of  fortune.  If  they, 
like  true  servants,  could  contnme,  yet  we,  like  frail 
masters,  must  vanish. 

5.  Lastly,  charity.  The  sheep  is  overladen  with 
wool  if  it  be  never  shorn  ;  and  no  coat  is  made  for 
the  child  while  it  grows  there.  The  worldling's 
wealth  is  too  heavy  a  burden  for  him ;  let  him  be 
clipped,  and  his  wool  then  may  do  much  good.  Do 
good,  and  (hstribute,  I  Tim.  vi.  18.  Call  your  riches 
what  you  will,  you  shall  never  find  Ihem  to  be  goods 
till  you  do  good  with  them.  Men  are  mistaken  in 
riches :    God  is  called  rich,  not  for  his  money,  but 


Yer.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLK  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


497 


for  his  mercy;  not  for  having  good,  but  for  doing 
good.  "  The  same  Lord  over  all  is  rich  unto  all 
that  call  upon  him,"  Rom.  x.  12.  Wherein  rich? 
not  in  being  Lord  of  all,  so  much  as  in  doing  good 
to  all.  Thus  covet  to  ho  rich ;  rich  in  faith,  rich  in 
God,  rich  in  good  works.  It  was  the  worldling's 
folly,  to  think  that  wealth  consisted  in  having  goods, 
not  in  doing  good.  "  So  is  he  that  layeth  up  treasure 
for  himself,  and  is  not  rich  toward  God,"  Luke  xii. 
21  :  so,  that  is,  as  very  a  fool  as  he  was.  Covetous- 
ness  is  that  iniquity,'  which  hath  cast  upon  riches 
that  reproachful  title,  to  be  called,  The  riches  of 
iniquity.  This  inconvenience  can  only  be  helped  by 
charity ;  make  you  friends  of  that  mammon.  Other- 
wise, a  treasure  of  riches  gathered  and  hoarded  this 
day,  is  but  a  treasure  of  vengeance  gathered  and 
hoarded  against  the  last  day.  Jam.  v.  3.  Whereas 
he  that  gets  to  give,  doth  give  to  keep.  Thou  fcarest 
to  lose  thy  money  by  giving  it,  and  yet  fcarest  not 
to  lose  thyself  by  keeping  it.  Every  man  shall  leave 
his  riches  behind  him,  and  every  man  shall  find  them 
again.  They  that  have  done  good  with  them,  shall 
find  them  safe  in  heaven,  with  the  advantage  of 
glory ;  they  that  hoarded  thcra  here,  shall  find 
them  again  too,  and  with  usury ;  but  the  superad- 
dition  is  the  plague  of  conscience,  and  eternity  of 
torments. 

God  hath  appointed  himself  the  rewarder  of  alms, 
even  to  a  cup  of  water.  Matt.  x.  42;  and  a  pnnishcr 
of  covctousncss,  even  to  the  want  of  a  drop  of  water, 
Luke  xvi.  24.  Dives  would  not  give  Lazarus  a 
crumb  of  bread,  though  it  might  save  his  life ;  and 
Lazarus  must  not  bring  Dives  a  drop  of  water,  though 
it  might  save  his  soul.  Di-^uscd  riches  do  not  more 
rust  in  the  colTer,  than  in  the  conscience,  they  be  not 
only  corrupted,  but  corrupting.  Moisture  was  not 
given  to  the  springs,  that  they  should  remain  in  the 
places  where  they  were  bred ;  but  lo  nm  along  in 
their  watcrv'  channels,  and  to  spend  themselves  upon 
the  dry  and  barren  grounds.  Plato  had  a  conceit,  tliat 
nature  at  first  was  delivered  of  two  daughters.  Plenty 
and  Poverty:  that  Need  might  be  beholden  to 
Plenty,  for  supply  to  her  indigence ;  and  Fulness 
to  Poverty,  for  ease  of  her  abundance.  The  rich 
man  was  made  for  the  poor,  and  the  poor  for  the 
rich.  It  belongs  to  the  poor  to  ask,  the  rich  to  be- 
stow. (August.)  Rich  niggards  are  like  blessed 
thistles ;  when  death  hath  cropped  them,  some  water 
may  be  distilled  out  of  them,  medicinal  to  the  disease 
of  iK)verty. 

Rich  men  should  imitate  Job,  as  he  did  the  eagle, 
who  is  so  honourable,  that  he  will  not  eat  his  prey 
alone.  The  conceit  that  keeps  rich  men  from  giving, 
is  a  faithless  fear  that  they  shall  want  before  they 
die.  Therefore  God  often  takes  them  away  in  the 
midst  of  their  mammon  :  and  so  rids  them  of  what 
they  were  afraid,  and  provides  for  others  whereof 
they  have  need.  It  is  easy  for  avarice  to  find  an 
excuse  to  save  the  purse :  the  widow  of  Sarepta 
could  have  answered  the  prophet,  with  her  own 
want ;  as  the  Macedonians  could  the  apostle,  that 
they  had  poor  enough  of  their  own,  to  tAe  up  their 
relief;  yet  they  did  not.  "  God  loveth  a  cheerful 
giver,"  2  Cor.  ix.  7-  An  alms  given  with  a  grudging 
hand,  doth  not  only  lose  all  reward,  but  deser\-cth 
no  pardon.  By  laying  out  your  money,  you  shall  in- 
crease your  righteousness :  thy  righteousness  shall 
shine  forth  as  the  sun,  when  the  Sun  of  righteousness 
shines  forth  in  his  glory.  Otherwise,  Audianl  irro- 
gare  svi'pticia,  qui  nohtui  erosore  subsidia,  as  one 
saith.  Let  them  look  for  the  infliction  of  punish- 
ments, that  will  not  apply  themselves  to  the  bestowal 
of  relief.  Men  receive  but  ten  for  the  surplusage  of 
a  hundred  below :  there  shall  be  a  hundred  for  ten 
2  R 


repaid  hereafter.  What  do  we  give,  but  that  which 
was  first  given  us,  and  wc  cannot  keep?  "lie  hath 
dispersed,  he  hath  given  to  the  poor;  his  righteous- 
ness endureth  for  ever,"  P.sal.  cxii.  9.  The  good  man 
hath  both  riches  and  righteousness;  he  gives  his 
riches,  his  righteousness  he  shall  keep  for  ever. 
Good  deeds  derived  from  faith,  are  fortifications 
against  Satan :  what  shall  become  of  those  cities, 
that  have  no  such  walls  ?  They  are  a  tribute  we 
owe  unto  God,  for  defending  us  from  our  enemies, 
and  planting  peace  incur  consciences:  he  requires 
now  no  burnt-offerings  nor  sacrifices,  but  the  fruits  of 
mercy.  Thus  our  religion  affords  us  more,  and  costs 
us  less;  yet  when  the  Lord  gives  us  the  whole  h.ar- 
vest,  we  scarce  allow  him  the  very  gleanings.  The 
idolatrous  Gentiles  shall  condemn  us;  for  they  be- 
stowed their  wealth  in  fanes,  and  shrines,  and  images ; 
whereas  we  to  the  living  images  of  the  true  God  will 
not  give  our  superfluities.  Our  devotion  can  away 
with  any  thing,  rather  than  this  same  pharisaieal 
almsgiving.  Yet  the  cart  that  is  overladen  and 
crammed  too  full  of  sheaves,  hath  a  tail  that  will 
scatter :  let  those  full-gorged  worldlings  take  heed, 
lest  hogs  come  to  glean  after  tlieir  cart's  tail,  and 
their  heirs  be  made  wards  to  usurers.  "  Let  the  ex- 
tortioner catch  all  that  he  hath,"  Psal.  cix.  11.  It 
may  be  for  his  soul,  he  gives  it  gone  ;  but  his  goods, 
he  hopes,  shall  last:  the  extortioner  says  nay  to 
that ;  and  his  children  shall  not  have  enough  left  to 
keep  them  in  prison.  The  miser  is  the  thieves' 
mark;  if  he  would  prevent  robbing,  let  him  be 
bountiful.     The  carle  comes  to  distress,  and  no  man 

Eities  him.  Be  charitable,  that  you  may  save  your 
cirs  from  undoing.  If  there  be  in  your  bags  but 
one  shilling  that  should  have  been  the  poor's,  that 
shilling  shall  be  the  consumption  of  all  its  fellows. 

But  after  all  this,  he  will  build  an  hospital.  Will 
he?  Now  blessing  on  him:  when  he  hath  taken 
away  a  man's  land  and  inheritance,  he  will  give  him 
a  staff  to  walk  withal.  By  oppression  he  hath  hedged 
in  to  himself  great  pastures,  and  now  he  will  allow 
the  owner  the  running  of  a  nag.  When  I  pass  by  an 
hospital  built  by  a  moneymonger,  methinks  I  see  the 
goodly  momnnent  of  a  cruel  devotion.  He  sets  a 
dozen  beggars  to  pray  for  him,  that  God  would  for- 
give him  the  making  of  a  thousand.  And  not  seldom 
lewd  persons  are  chosen  into  those  places;  whose 
prayers  in  the  chapel  cannot  so  much  avail  him,  as 
their  curses  out  of  it  make  against  him.  In  the  law, 
God  abhorred  that  offering,  which  was  the  price  of  a 
dog,  or  the  hire  of  a  harlot.  He  that  thinks  to  be 
excused  by  giving  part  of  his  robberies,  goes  about 
to  corrupt  God  witn  presents,  and  calls  him  in  to 
take  part  of  the  spoil.  But  why  doth  Christ  then 
say.  Make  you  friends  of  your  unrighteous  mammon  ? 
Luke  xvi.  9.  I  answer ;  He  calls  them  not  evil,  be- 
cause they  were  so  much  gotten  by  evil  means,  as 
were  the  baits  of  evil  motions  ;  otherwise,  first 
wrongs  should  be  satisfied,  before  friends  be  pur- 
chased. The  apostle's  rule  is,  first  to  labour  honestly 
for  wealth,  and  then  to  give  to  him  that  needcth, 
Eph.  iv.  2S.  Quamii.1  de  parvo,  lanicit  de  justo,  de 
propria,  says  one;  i.  e.  Although  out  of  a  little,  yet 
out  of  what  is  honestly  got,  and  is  your  own.  It  is 
true,  that  a  pound  does  the  poor  more  good  than  a 
penny;  yet  a  well-earned  penny  shall  do  the  giver 
more  good  than  ill-gotten  thousands. 

But  there  be  some  that  hold  it  idle  to  do  but  so 
well,  with  what  they  got  so  ill.  He  that  hath  nothing 
to  do  with  his  money  but  build  churches,  they  count 
him  a  fool.  Or  if  the  bench  of  penny-fathers  do  not 
censure  his  wisdom,  yet  they  will  term  him  a  vain- 
glorious fellow.  Tut,  almshouses  will  make  good 
stables  ;  and  being  let  out  in  tenements,  yield  a  round 


498 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


sum  by  the  year.  A  strong  closet,  and  a  good  iron 
hutch,  is  worth  twenty  of  your  hospitals.  These 
chuffs  will  contribute  something  toward  the  building 
of  a  jail,  to  deter  thieves  ;  or  of  a  gallows,  to  execute 
them ;  but  for  a  church  or  an  almshouse,  they  see  no 
need  of  those.  Thus  do  they  teach  God  to  deny 
themselves  mercy  ;  for  he  that  demands  mercy,  and 
shows  none,  ruins  the  bridge  over  which  himself  is  to 
pass.  We  read  of  a  lad  tliat  had  five  barley  loaves  in 
a  basket,  which  Jesus  took  and  distributed  to  the 
jieople,  John  vi.  9.  Much  goods  are  too  heavy  for 
the  covetous,  as  the  loaves  were  for  the  boy.  Bcini; 
shut  uj)  they  will  burden,  being  opened  they  will  re- 
lieve :  let  them  open  the  basket,  and  divide  them 
among  the  poor.  This  is  a  special  medicine,  to 
breathe  out  the  coiTU[it  blood  of  covetousness. 

"  C'ui-sed  children."  Children  of  cursing,  a  Hebra- 
ism, which  may  be  taken  either  actively  or  passively; 
for  they  carrj'  a  curse  about  them,  wheresoever  they 
go ;  and  they  bring  a  curse  along  with  them,  whither- 
soever they  come.  Covetousness  is  the  root  of  all 
evils,  not  only  criminal,  but  penal.  There  be  innu- 
merable woes  against  it,  and  sooner  or  later  they 
shall  overtake  it.  "  I  have  smitten  mine  hand  at 
thy  dishonest  gain,"  Ezek.  xxii.  13;  there  the  covet- 
ous man  is  but  threatened.  "For  the  iniquity  of  his 
covetousness  was  I  wroth,  and  smote  him,"  Isa.  Ivii. 
17  ;  there  he  is  plagued.  God  doth  not  only  smite 
his  hands  at  him,  but  he  smites  at  him  with  his  hands. 
He  is  in  Laodicca's  case.  Rev.  iii.  17;  wretched  in 
getting,  poor  in  not  using,  blind  in  keeping,  naked 
in  leaving,  miserable  in  accounting. 

I.  Cursed  not  seldom  in  his  body.  Job  xx.  20 ; 
which  restless  calamity  is  but  a  whip  of  his  own 
making.  I  might  instance  Achan's  heap  of  stones, 
Balaam's  sword  in  his  bowels,  Judas's  halter  about 
his  neck,  one  piece  more  to  his  thirty  ;  but  look  upon 
Gehazi  for  all,  2  Kings  v.  20.  The  prophet  and  the 
Syrian  are  parted ;  only  Gehazi  could  not  so  take  his 
leave ;  his  heart  was  mailed  uji  in  one  of  Nanman's 
portmanteaus,  and  he  must  after  to  fetch  it.  He 
thinks  his  master  too  kind,  or  too  simple,  in  refusing 
so  just  a  present :  himself  will  be  wiser,  thriftier. 
Desire  hastens  his  pace ;  he  does  not  go,  but  run 
after  his  booty.  He  hath  it  with  advantage,  two  for 
one ;  and  now  jilcaseth  himself  with  the  waking 
dreams  of  what  land  he  might  purchase,  how  well 
he  was  provided  for,  to  live  at  ease.  What  says  his 
master  to  it  ?  "  The  leprosy  of  Naaman  cleave  unto 
thee,  and  to  thy  seed  for  ever;"  the  act  overtakes 
the  word ;  "  he  went  out  from  his  presence  a  leper 
as  white  as  snow,"  ver.  27.  A  woeful  change  hath 
Gehazi  made  with  Naaman.  Naaman  came  a  leper, 
returned  a  disciple  ;  Gehazi  came  a  disciple,  returned 
a  leper.  Naaman  left  behind  him  his  disease  and 
his  money ;  Gehazi  takes  up  both  his  money  and  his 
disease.  The  rest  of  his  days  he  shall  wear  out  in 
pain,  and  shame,  and  sorrow.  He  hath  two  changes 
of  raiment  for  his  body  ;  but  is  not  the  body  better 
than  raiment  ?  He  wears  Naaman's  double  livery, 
both  of  apparel  and  leprosy.  He  shall  never  look 
upon  himself,  but  think  on  Naaman  ;  and,  O  j'c 
covetous,  when  you  see  yourselves,  think  upon  Ge- 
hazi. 

2.  Ciu'sed  in  his  goods,  which  are  his  gods.  First, 
he  shall  never  have  comfort  in  them  :  the  curse  of 
that  unbelieving  prince  shall  fall  upon  him,  2  Kings 
yii.  19;  he  shall  see  his  own  abundance,  never  taste 
it.  Like  the  Indians  that  are  slaved  to  the  Spanish 
mines,  he  is  a  man  condemned  to  the  mines.  "  In 
the  fulness  of  his  sufficiency  he  shall  be  in  straits," 
Job  XX.  22.  Dh-e-i  in  miseriis,  miser  in  diviliis ;  i.  e. 
Rich  in  miseries,  miserable  in  riches.  Other  sinners 
that  have  forfeited  heaven,  yet  receive  some  pleasure  | 


on  earth ;  but  the  covetous  deprives  himself  of  this 
world,  and  God  will  deprive  him  of  the  world  to  come ; 
so  he  enjoys  neither:  is  not  this  a  curse?  But  sup- 
pose the  fool  thinks  it  none ;  therefore,  secondly,  he 
shall  not  long  keep  his  wealth.  "  He  shall  leave  it 
in  the  midst  of  his  days,  and  at  his  end  shall  be  a 
fool,"  Jer.  xvii.  II.  It  is  a  hell  to  him  to  leave  his 
riches  at  the  end  of  his  days ;  what  is  it  then  to  lose 
them  in  the  midst !  The  Sapies  of  Africa  are  buried 
with  all  their  gold  about  them ;  and  worldlings  would 
either  not  die  at  all,  or  else  be  buried  so.  If  ne  must 
be  a  beggar  in  the  midst,  what  shall  he  be  at  the  end 
of  his  days?  A  fool ;  he  shall  lose  both  his  goods  and 
his  wits.  Thus  saith  Augustine,  Prtprfo  minoris  eril 
prfpdamajorin;  i.  e.  The  preyer  on  the  lesser  will  be 
theprei/  of  the  greater.  "  There  shall  none  of  his  meat 
be  left,  therefore  shall  no  man  look  for  his  goods," 
Job  XX.  21. 

3.  Cursed  in  his  posterity.  All  his  project  and 
drift  is  to  leave  his  children  an  inheritance  on  earth, 
though  he  forfeit  his  own  in  heaven :  lo,  even  this 
also  God  disappoints.  As  the  father  was  a  rich  beg- 
gar, the  children  shall  be  poor  gentlemen.  'What 
got  Gehazi's  posterity  by  their  father's  covetousness, 
but  an  hereditar>-  leprosy.  He  "covets  an  evil 
covetousness  to  his  house,"  Hab.  ii.  9.  Indeed 
his  desire  is  of  good,  but  the  event  of  that  desire 
turns  to  evil ;  and  he  consults  shame  to  his  house, 
vor.  10,  not,  as  he  supposed,  honour.  "  His  children 
shall  seek  to  please  the  poor,"  Job  xx.  10 ;  flatter 
the  needy,  and  beg  even  of  beggars :  see  now  what 
his  gentlemen  come  to.  "  God  hath  given  him 
riches,"  saith  Solomon,  but  not  "  power  to  eat  there- 
of," Eecl.  vi.  2.  It  may  be  so,  but  the  more  he 
spares,  the  more  he  leaves  for  his  children:  no,  but 
a  stranger  shall  eat  it.  Parents,  be  good  to  your 
children  ;  let  not  my  breath  seem  strange  to  you,  (to 
speak  in  Job's  phrase,)  that  entreat  for  the  children 
of  your  o^NTi  loins.  Job  xix.  17-  Do  not  covet  to  leave 
them  so  much,  that  you  disinherit  them  of  all.  There 
is  no  surer  way  to  undo  them,  than  by  undoing  others 
for  them. 

4.  Cursed  in  his  soul :  he  is  in  little  better  case  on 
earth,  than  that  rich  miser  was  in  hell,  burning  in 
desire  of  that  dmp  of  water,  which  never  shall  be 
granted  him,  content.  The  covetous  hath  no  in- 
heritance in  the  kingdom  of  God,  Eph.  v.  5.  No 
inheritance  there  ?  and  none  here  neither  ?  In  what 
country  then  lies  this  man's  purchase  ?  In  a  place 
which  is  called,  "without,"  Rev.  xxii.  15,  the  terri- 
toiy  of  hell.  After  all  his  comings-in,  he  shall  be 
sure  of  that  to  come  into  the  bargain  :  this  is  that 
which  makes  up  his  revenues. 

Now  he  that  is  so  well  practised  in  casting  up  par- 
cels, so  much  in  his  counting-house,  let  him  look 
over  these  particulars,  and  sum  up  his  gains.  A  curse 
npon  his  body,  upon  his  goods,  a  curse  upon  his  chil- 
dren, upon  his  own  soul ;  here  is  his  profit :  would 
not  this  gain  make  a  man  covetous?  A  man's  soul 
in  exchange  for  the  whole  world,  were  but  a  hard 
bargain,  Matt.  xvi.  26.  Thou  fool,  they  shall  fetch 
away  thy  soul  from  thee  ;  and  then  whose  shall 
these  be?  Luke  xii.  20  ;  yea,  whose  shalt  thou  be  ? 
Lord,  give  us  nothing  in  this  world  that  may  prevent 
our  happiness  in  the  world  to  come  ;  let  us  rather  be 
beggars  than  not  saints. 

To  take  yet  a  fuller  view  of  this  curse,  let  me  gfi^e 
you  a  short  character  of  the  covetous  man.  He  is 
cursed  to  be  a  servant  of  servants;  the  saints'  drudge 
is  his  s;iint.  He  shrines  his  god  in  his  coffer,  and 
there  locks  up  his  heart  for  a  perpetual  sacrifice  to 
it.  Whereas  the  true  God  kecpoth  his,  he  will  keep 
his  god;  and  gives  lo  a  piece  of  earth  that  venera- 
tion which  he  denies  to  his  Maker.     Yet  he  dares 


Ver.  14. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


499 


not  trust  either  any  other  god,  or  his  own ;  but  fears 
lest  thieves  should  put  him  to  Micah's  complaint, 
"  Ye  have  taken  away  my  gods,  and  what  have  I 
more?"  Judg.  xviii.  24.  O  poor  god,  that  cannot 
keep  itself  from  stealing !  He  fears  a  thief  worse 
than  Satan ;  yea,  he  will  be  beholden  to  Satan  for 
a  spell  to  save  him  from  the  thief.  In  his  unquiet 
sleep  he  dreams  of  burglary ;  and  is  not  sure  that 
even  now  he  l)arred  the  door.  If  his  conscience  ever 
go  about  (o  prejudice  his  profit,  he  condemns  it  for 
a  common  barrator.  He  laughs  at  poor  men's  curses  ; 
and  before  lie  dies,  curseth  himself  to  boot. 

The  ancients  have  compared  covetous  men  to 
swine ;  of  all  beasts,  the  ejected  demons  chose  to 
enter  into  them  ;  and  still  they  affect  those  swinish 
churls,  that  insatiately  swill  up  the  dralfof  the  world. 
One  wittily  observes,  that  if  the  Jews  had  not  been 
forbidden  by  the  law,  yet  nature  itself  would  have 
dissuaded  them  from  eating  swine's  flesh ;  lest  one 
hog  should  eat  another.  Worldlings  are  swine, 
carrying  their  faces  downward,  not  looking  up  to  the 
tree  whence  comes  their  mast ;  wallowing  in  muck, 
digging  up  the  earth,  if  they  be  not  ringed  by  the 
law  for  rooting;  insatiable  in  devouring,  hoinish  and 
grunting,  and  grudging  any  neighbourhood.  The 
unthrift  witli  his  riotous  courses,  doth  but  still  feed 
swine.  It  is  not  meet  to  give  the  children's  bread  to 
dogs,  Matt.  XV.  2(5 ;  much  less  to  hogs.  By  their 
unnatural  dealing  in  the  world,  you  would  not  think 
they  came  naturally  into  the  world.  Their  sin  is  so 
impatient  of  the  delay  of  vengeance,  as  if  they  would 

Eluck  the  stem  of  the  world  out  of  God's  hand,  till 
e  had  confounded  them.  Oppression  is  the  price 
of  blood :  the  Jews  would  not  put  it  into  their 
treasury;  these  dare  put  it  into  their  patrimony. 
There  is  no  religion  in  them,  but  the  love  of  money : 
by  fraud  and  perjurj-  they  had  confiscated  their  souls 
long  ago.  Any  doctrine  is  welcome  to  them,  but  that 
which  beats  upon  good  works.  They  stick  not,  with 
the  sages,  to  fall  down  and  worship  Clirist,  but  they 
cannot  abide  to  present  him  with  their  gold.  Not  to 
meddle  or  make  with  a  man,  is  a  high  favour,  for 
which  (they  look)  God  and  the  world  should  be  be- 
holden to  them.  They  think  all  charity  to  their 
neighbour  consists  in  bidding  him  Good  morrow. 
How  grossly  do  they  cheat  themselves !  The  prince 
requires  not  only  that  his  laws  be  not  contradicted, 
but  not  violated.  Go,  ye  cursed,  because  ye  did  not 
give.  Matt.  xxv.  41,  42:  you  do  not  hear  I'hem  taxed 
for  condemning  charity  in  others,  but  for  not  per- 
forming it  themselves. 

All  their  devotion  consists  in  a  few  abrupt  graces  ; 
God  be  praised,  Much  good  do  it  you.  And  if  any 
man  speak  against  unjust  dealing,  they  stand  not  to 
maintain  their  copyhold ;  but,  We  are  all  naught, 
God  amend  us:  and  stop  the  preacher's  mouth  with, 
Sir,  I  drink  to  you  :  but  God's  mouth  will  not  be 
stopped  so.  Being  asked  at  the  day  of  judgment. 
From  whence  come  you  ?  they  must  answer  in  Sa- 
tan's language.  From  compa.ssing  the  earth ;  for  hea- 
ven they  have  not  compassed.  All  their  good  deeds 
be  only  good  words,  but  God's  words  are  deeds  :  Go, 
ye  cursed.  He  that  spake  the  word,  and  made  hea- 
ven and  earth,  shall  but  speak  the  word,  and  send 
them  to  hell.  AVc  rnlunt  etxe  paiiperes;  nee  liaberi 
diiyite.s :  i.  e.  They  would  neither  be  poor,  nor  yet 
be  accounted  ricli.  To  avoid  a  sul)sidy,  t liey  complain 
of  poverty;  and  when  they  complain  of  want,  they 
most  fear  that  which  they  complain  to  have.  Thus 
do  they  live  in  anguish,  to  die  upon  the  rack,  and  to 
finish  their  course  in  everlasting  unhappiness.  Now 
as  you  like  this  cursedness,  you  may  go  on  in  covct- 
ousness.  It  is  pity  but  the  world  should  love  him, 
that  will  love  the  world  upon  these  conditions.    But 


for  ourselves,  let  us  impartially  scourge  this  mammon 
out  of  our  temples :  Christ  did  not  die  to  purchase 
this  world  for  us  ;  let  us  not  lose  that  which  he  pur- 
chased, to  purchase  that  which  he  contemned.  No, 
Lord,  thou  hast  prepared  mansions  for  us,  prepare  us 
for  those  mansions ;  that  by  being  rich  in  grace,  we 
may  come  to  be  rich  in  glory.     Amen. 


Verse  15. 

Which  have  forsaken  the  right  way,  and  are  gone  astray, 
foltouing  the  nay  of  Jiulaarn  the  sott  of  Jiosor,  u-ho 
loved  the  trages  of  unrighteousness. 

As  a  man  hath  but  two  hands,  and  but  two  feet ;  so 
he  hath  but  two  kinds  of  ways  for  those  feet,  but 
two  sorts  of  works  for  those  hands.  His  deeds  be 
either  good  or  bad,  his  way  is  either  right  or  wrong, 
and  his  end  will  be  either  heaven  or  hell.  The 
right  way  is  hard  to  pass,  and  not  easy  to  find ; 
therefore  God  gives  us  his  word  for  a  guide,  and  his 
grace  for  an  assistant.  But  the  wrong  way  is  so 
familiar,  that  we  know  it  from  our  childhood ;  and 
so  easy,  that  we  run  it  by  nature.  AVe  need  not  be 
taught  it,  for  if  we  be  not  taught  the  other,  we  will 
never  forsake  it.  Besides  the  easiness,  that  it  is 
without  difficulty;  the  smoothness,  without  rubs; 
the  advantage,  down  a  hill,  without  pains;  it  is 
numerous,  and  multiplies  itself  into  great  variety. 
The  evil  of  sin :  sin  is  the  head  or  beginning  of  it ; 
and  this  divides  itself  into  three,  "the  lust  of  the 
flesh,  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  pride  of  life,"  1  John  ii. 
16;  and  those  three  into  three  thousand.  Now  the 
concluding  term  where  they  all  meet,  is  the  evil  of 
punishment.  So  that  if  a  sinner  doth  not  like  one 
way,  he  may  take  another  ;  if  he  cares  not  for  excess, 
he  may  admit  oppression  ;  there  is  choice  enough: 
any  of  all  those  millions  of  obliquities  is  able  to 
bring  him  to  hell ;  that  rendezvous  and  common  term 
where  all  transgressions  have  appointed  to  meet. 
Satan  is  called  the  god  of  this  world,  as  it  were, 
lord  of  the  soil,  having  a  commission  to  take  up 
those  wefts  and  strays,  that  wilfully  straggle  from 
the  way  of  truth,  and  keep  not  the  precincts  wherein 
God  hath  bounded  them. 

First,  these  sorcerers,  like  vagabonds,  abjure  all 
honest  callings,  and  turn  their  backs  upon  the  place 
where  they  are  set  to  work ;  refusing  the  path  of 
God's  commandments,  they  forsake  the  right  way. 
Secondly,  next,  being  set  a  wandering,  all  the  world 
is  their  scope :  which  way  soever  they  travel,  they 
cannot  be  out  of  their  way ;  be  it  treachery,  blas- 
phemy, uncleanness,  what  it  will,  all  is  their  own. 
They  balk  no  wrong  way,  all  their  care  is  to  miss 
the  right ;  they  are  gone  astray.  Thirdly,  then 
they  have  their  captain,  whose  exemplary  steps  they 
must  follow;  Balaam  the  grand  rogue,  the  master 
rebel,  the  king  of  outlaws;  this  is  their  leader; 
following  Balaam.  Fourthly,  and  lastly,  though  the 
great  commander  of  all  be  not  expressed,  yet  he  is 
insinuated,  Satan  ;  under  whose  colours  they  all 
march,  move,  and  remove  as  he  appoints :  and  the 
reward,  which  this  black  guard,  this  tattered  regi- 
ment, serve  him  for,  is  wages ;  and  that  not  bare 
pay,  so  much  wages  for  so  much  work,  but  above 
just  allowance,  it  must  be  the  wages  of  unrighteous- 
ness. Thus  now  they  have  taken  press-money,  and 
put  themselves  into  the  army;  let  us  see  how  they 
follow  their  captain,  and  he  his  commander;  they 
Balaam,  and  Balaam  Satan. 

They  "  have  forsaken  the  right  way."    This  is  their 


500 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


aposfacy.  The  riglit  way  is  the  signified  will  of 
God  ;  and  whritsocvcr  rcpiigncth  that,  is  the  wrong. 
The  will  of  God  is  either  co/i/ti/ium  cordis,  or  rerbum 
oris:  i.  c.  the  counsel  of  his  heart,  or  the  word  of  his 
mouth  :  the  former,  quod  vult  fieri  de  nobis  :  the 
other,  quod  vult  Jieri  a  nobis  ;  i.  e.  what  he  wills  to  he 
done  with  us,  and  what  he  wills  to  be  done  by  us. 
The  first  we  cannot  break,  the  latter  we  now  cannot 
keep.  This  manifest  will  of  God  was  first  dictated 
to  man  by  nature,  when  God  engraved  his  image  in 
the  tabic  of  his  heart.  Adam  oliscured  this  image, 
but  (through  God's  mercy)  saved  the  tablet.  But 
now  because  the  letters  which  he  had  written  in  our 
tables  of  tlcsh,  were  almost  grown  out,  like  some 
ancient  characters  in  the  barks  of  trees,  he  saw 
it  time  to  write  them  in  tables  of  stone,  whose 
hardness  should  not  be  capable  of  alteration.  It  was 
plain,  that  the  squared  stone  would  be  more  faithful 
and  retentive,  than  our  unsquared  heart.  There 
never  was  so  precious  a  monument,  as  the  law  writ- 
ten with  God's  own  hand.  They  that  so  dole  on  the 
beggarly  relics  of  their  imaginary  sainis,  how  would 
they  have  adored  this!  If  we  did  see  but  the  stone 
that  was  Jacob's  pillow,  or  one  of  those  upon  which 
Jesus  sat,  a  piece  of  Jacob's  well,  we  would  look  upon 
it  with  more  than  ordinary  respect.  With  what  ad- 
miration then  should  we  have  beheld  that  stone, 
which  was  hewn  and  written  with  the  very  finger  of 
God !  If  we  have  but  a  manuscript  written  by  the 
Iiand  of  some  famous  man,  we  lay  it  up  among  our 
choicest  jewels;  w'hat  reverence  then  should  we  have 
given  to  the  hand-writing  of  the  Almighty !  The 
stone  is  lost,  the  hand-writing  remains  ;  yea,  even  the 
liand-wriling  is  nailed  to  the  cross,  so  that  it  hath 
lost  the  condemning  power,  though  not  the  com- 
manding power.  The  book  is  miscarried,  the  con- 
tents are  left  as  a  royal  law;  whereby  the  whole 
world  should  be  governed,  whereby  the  whole  world 
shall  be  judged. 

This  is  the  right  way  ;  from  which  they  that  per- 
versely wander,  destroy  their  own  souls.  We  read 
of  the  wicked,  that  they  cast  the  law  of  God  behind 
them,  Psal.  1.  17;  and  we  read  of  Closes,  that  he 
did  cast  the  law  of  God  from  him,  and  broke  the 
tables.  Yet  God  forgave  the  latter,  and  condemns 
the  former.  Moses  in  a  lioly  zeal  broke  but  the 
material  books,  they  in  a  rcbeilious  malice  break  the 
spiritual  contents.  The  law  then  is  the  right  way; 
Thy  commandments  are  right,  Psal.  xix.  8 ;  there- 
fore given  us  as  infallible  rules  to  guide  all  our  ac- 
tions by.  Inquire  for  the  old  way,  which  is  the  good 
way,  and  walk  in  it,  Jcr.  vi.  16.  The  will  of  God  is 
the  rule  of  rectitude ;  whatsoever  swerves  from  that 
is  erratic,  whether  in  opinion  or  practice.  "  Where- 
withal shall  a  young  man  cleanse  his  way  ?  "  or  an 
old  man  his  ;  prince  or  subject,  theirs;  noble  or  vul- 
gar, rich  or  poor,  thcii-s  ?  Even  by  ruling  themselves 
after  thy  word,  Psal.  cxix.  9.  But,  alas,  who  is  able 
to  keep  this  way  without  some  deviations  ?  It  is  for 
ihcse  sacred  cherubims,  to  have  "straight  feet," 
Ezek.  i.  7.  We  have  a  right  way,  but  not  straight 
feel  ;  in  many  things  we  sin  all.  "Thou  hast  com- 
manded us  to  keep  thy  precepts  diligently,"  Psal. 
•  xix.  4 :  this  is  God's  imperative.  "  O  that  my  ways 
were  directed  to  keep  thy  statutes!"  ver.  5:  this 
should  be  our  optative.  But  how  if  wo  endeavour  lo 
go  right,  and  cannot,  is  there  no  help?  Yes,  there  is 
a  way  within  the  way,  (like  the  ecliptic  line  within 
the  zodiac,)  an  evangelical  way  of  mercy  to  correct 
the  rigour  of  the  legal.  "  I  am  the  way,"  sailh 
(-Christ,  John  xiv.  6:  this  is  the  right  way  indeed. 
M  e  cannot  walk  in  the  law,  unless  the  gospel  help 
us  ;  and  the  gospel  will  do  \is  no  good,  unless  wo 
strive  to  walk  in  the  law,  Gal.  iii.  21,  22.     Christ  is 


both  our  Saviour  and  our  King:  first,  we  must  be- 
lieve in  that  promise  which  he  hath  given  to  save 
us ;  and  next,  give  obedience  to  that  law  whereby  he 
will  govern  us.  This  is  that  entire  rule;  "and  as 
many  as  walk  according  to  this  rule,  peace  be  on 
them,  and  mercy,"  Gal.  vi.  Ki.  "  Lord,  to  whom  shall 
we  go  ?  thou  hast  the  word  of  eternal  life,"  John 
vi.  G8  :.  not  only  the  word  of  authority  to  command, 
nor  the  word  of  wisdom  to  direct,  nor  the  word  of 
power  to  convert,  nor  the  word  of  grace  to  comfort, 
but  also  the  word  of  eternal  life  to  make  us  perfectly 
blessed. 

They  "have  forsaken  the  right  way."  Therefore 
they  once  had  it ;  no  man  can  be  said  to  leave  that 
thing  which  he  never  knew.  To  refuse  a  thiug, 
implies  a  pi-esent  offer;  but  to  forsake  it,  argues  a 
former  acceptation.  So  the  i»rodigal  forsook  his 
father's  house  for  a  strange  coimtni-,  his  father's 
household  for  strange  company,  his  father's  favour 
for  a  bag  of  money,  his  father's  bread  for  the  husks 
of  beans:  these  if  he  had  not  enjoyed,  he  could  not 
have  forsaken.  Here  is  an  image  of  apostacy, 
whether  of  faith  or  of  manners  ;  which  after  a  know- 
ledge and  approbation  of  the  right  way,  is  a  deliber- 
ate election  of  the  wrong.  To  begin  is  the  lot  of 
many,  to  finish,  the  lot  of  few,  says  Chrj'sostom. 
There  be  some  that  go  forward  in  the  ways  of  obe- 
dience ;  that  in  spite  of  all  crosses  and  bruises,  like 
good  ships,  maintain  their  course ;  that  are  not  dis- 
heartened through  the  ill  success  of  one  adventure  ; 
hut  redit  ad  tumtdas  naufroga  punpis  aquas;  i.  e.  the 
shipwrecked  vessel  returns  to  the  swelling  wavts. 
In  Gideon's  army,  all  the  faint-hearted  were  com- 
manded to  stay  at  home,  Judg.  vii.  .3:  no  cowards  get 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Some  are  in  many 
minds  and  moods,  now  forward,  then  backward;  full 
of  motions  and  commotions,  ebbing  and  fiowing,  like 
Euripus,  seven  times  a  day.  Some  make  neither 
forward  nor  backward ;  neither  ebb  nor  flow,  like 
the  Dead  Sea  ;  but  are  betwixt  the  religious  and  the 
irreligious,  just  standing  water.  But  these  go  alto- 
gether backward,  and  forsake  the  right  way,  as  their 
most  offensive  eyesore :  so,  like  a  man  out  of  the  way, 
the  faster  they  run,  the  further  off. 

They  "have  forsaken  the  right  way."  Persever- 
ance is  the  crown  of  all  graces.  Aaron's  garment 
had  pomegranates  in  the  skirt ;  the  pomegranate  halh 
the  form  of  a  crown,  above  all  fruits;  and  this  hung 
at  the  end  of  his  vesture,  to  show  that  the  end  crowns 
all.  The  righteous  man's  "  leaf  shall  not  willier," 
Psal.  i.  3  :  it  is  the  note  of  the  gloss,  Lapsus  foliorum, 
morlijicatio  arborum,  The  fall  of  the  leaves  is  the 
killing  of  the  trees.  Happy  repentance  is  sorry  for 
ill  beginnings ;  but  to  dislike  good  beginnings  is  an 
unhappy  repentance.  To  divert  ourselves  from  vir- 
tue, as  the  Jew  put  away  his  wife,  without  cause,  is 
base  ingratitude.  Virtue  seems  to  give  a  man  this 
charge,  when  she  first  offers  herself.  Either  never 
choose  me,  or  never  lose  me.  Not  to  know  the 
right  way,  is  an  unblcst  ignorance;  but  it  is  a  cursed 
disobedience,  after  knowledge  to  forsake  it.  To  be- 
gin in  the  Spirit,  and  end  in  the  flesh,  was,  in  Paul's 
sense,  folly,  Gal.  iii.  3 ;  but  to  begin  with  grace,  and 
end  with  wickedness,  is  malicious  impiety.  Yet  how 
many  have  begun  and  proceeded  well,  that  have 
shamed  the  stage  with  their  last  act !  Solomon's 
younger  years  were  studious  and  full  of  wisdom;  his 
age  was  licentious  and  full  of  misgovernment,  1  Kings 
xi.  4.  The  jihilosopher  could  say,  If  every  man  must 
have  a  fit  of  madness,  it  is  less  unhappy  to  fall  in 
youth ;  but  certainly  it  is  best  not  to  be  mad  at  all. 
Youth  is  petulant,  wherein  as  lo  fall  is  easy,  so  these 
falls  are  relieved  with  pily.  But  inordinate  errors  arc 
both  most  unseasonable  and  most  intolerable  in  old 


Ver.  15. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


501 


a<;c.  The  childhood  of  old  men  is  the  sport  of 
the  young,  one  Sciys.  Solomon  was  the  beloved  of 
God,  tlie  oracle,  the  miracle  of  wisdom,  in  youth : 
who  would  not  have  expected,  that, the  blossoms  of 
so  hopeful  a  spring  should  have  yi'  ded  goodly  and 
pleasant  fruit  in  the  autumn?  Yet/je,  in  his  old  age 
he  forsook  the  right  way.  Theri/.s  no  time  that  can 
have  security  from  sin,  while  it  carries  the  sin  of  se- 
curity about  it.  If  any  age  were  siife  from  this 
danger,  it  is  the  last.  If  any  man's  last  days  were 
.safe,  old  David  had  not  fallen.  Youth  is  impetuous, 
middle  age  stubborn,  old  age  covetous,  all  danger- 
ous. It  is  no  presuming  upon  time,  or  means,  or 
strength  :  if  God  uphold  us  not,  we  cannot  stand  ;  if 
he  do  uphold  us,  we  cannot  fall.  ^Vhen  we  are^at  our 
full  strength,  it  is  good  to  be  weak  in  ourselves ;  wlien 
at  our  weakest,  to  be  strong  in  Him,  in  whom  we  can 
do  all  things.  O  blessed  conscience  in  which  is  found 
this  testimouy,  we  have  not  forsaken  the  way  of  the 
Lord  !  All  virtues  run  in  the  race,  one  only  reeoiv- 
cth  the  garland,  the  image  of  most  happy  eternity, 
happv  continuance.  He  that  continues  unto  the  end 
shall'be  saved,  Matt.  x.  22. 

They  "  have  forsaken."  This  is  more  than  a  mere 
aberration,  of  weakness;  even  a  resolute,  dissolute, 
absolute  renouncing  of  the  right  way  ;  without  so 
much  as  a  farewell  to  it,  or  a  vouchsafing  so  much 
as  once  to  look  back  upon  it:  not  an  aberration 
from,  but  rather  an  abjuration  of,  piety.  When  the 
wicked  fall  out  with  God,  they  betake  themselves  to 
new  saints,  or  rather  new  devils  ;  hardness  of  heart, 
contempt  of  God,  neglect  of  salvation.  "  Behold, 
this  evil  is  of  the  Lord;  what  should  I  wait  for  the 
Lord  any  longer  ?  "  2  Kings  vi.  33.  Oh  the  desperate 
resolution  of  impatient  minds!  Tlicy  will  stint  God, 
both  for  his  time  and  measure;  if  he  fail  their  de- 
sires in  either,  they  turn  their  backs  upon  him,  or  (ly 
in  his  face.  It  is  one  thing  to  forsake,  another  to 
propose  and  prepense  a  forsaking  :  nor  is  their  fault 
a  simple  transgression  of  the  law,  but  a  proud  and 
wilful  contempt  of  it. 

In  how  full  strength  doth  this  example  arise  to 
the  conviction  of  the  Romists,  who  have  indeed  for- 
saken the  right  way,  not  only  in  regard  of  manners, 
hut  of  doctrines  !  they  have  practically  rejected  it, 
and  dogmatically  taught  against  it. 

For  the  law,  they  have  made  it  of  none  effect 
through  their  traditions.  First,  for  the  first  com- 
mandment, they  make  an  unjust  God,  which  is  worse 
than  none  at  all  ;  wiiile  they  teach  that  he  quits  the 
debt,  but  not  the  payment  of  the  debt.  As  if  the 
creditor  should  tell  Iiis  debtor,  I  do  forgive  thee,  but 
withal  I  will  arrest  thee.  To  pardon  the  fault,  and 
not  the  punishment,  is  but  a  mockery.  Secondly, 
the  second  they  have  nised  quite  out  :  because  that 
commandment  stands  plainly  forbidding  images, 
therefore,  that  imajfcs  may  stand,  they  forbid  the  com- 
mandment. Thirdly,  by  declaring  that  men  are  not 
bound  to  keep  oath  with  heretics,  tiiey  take  the 
namcof  Gud  in  vain,  and  teach  flat  iierjury.  Fourthly, 
the  Lord's  sabbath  hath  not  so  much  respect  among 
them,  as  a  saint's  holiday.  Fifthly,  they  disj)ense  with 
aflegiance  to  princes ;  yea,  give  remission  of  sins  upon 
condition  to  become  traitors;  and  so  make  the  grace 
1  of  God  the  reward  of  disloyalty.  They  absolve  chil- 
I  dren  from  all  obedience  to  their  own  parents,  by  ad- 
mitting them  into  their  monasteries.  ^Vhat  hast 
thou  to  do  with  a  father?  the  pope  is  tiiy  father,  the 
church  thy  mother,  friars  thy  brethren,  and  nuns  thy 
sisters.  Sixthly,  lliey  make  him  no  murderer,  that 
kills  a  jierson  whom  they  have  excommunicated  ; 
and  tolerate  murder  by  ordaining  refuges  for  wilful 
blood.  Seventhly,  they  have  e>tablished  and  per- 
mitted fornication.     So  they  may  have  silver,  tliey 


care  not  to  rake  it  out  of  the  devil's  sink.  Hence  it 
comes  to  pass  as  the  prophet  said;  It  came  by  the 
hire  of  a  harlot,  and  to  the  hire  of  a  harlot  it  shall 
riluni,  Micali  i.  /.  Eighthly,  sacrilege  is  the  great- 
est theft,  and  of  this  they  make  the  least  conscience. 
They  make  sale  of  all  things;  heaven,  hell,  earth, 
liardons,  purgatory  ;  which  is  flat  robbery,  and  the 
greatest  deceit.  Ninthly,  their  spurious  and  jug- 
gling equivocations  have  made  the  whole  world  hiss 
at  them  for  false  witnesses.  If  the  priest  be  examin- 
ed by  the  magistrate  in  any  dangerous  article,  he 
answers,  I  know  it  not ;  that  is,  with  this  reservation, 
to  tell  it  thee:  grounding  it  upon  a  senseless  exposi- 
tion of  Christ's  words,  The  Son  of  man  knoweth  not 
the  day  or  hour  of  the  Inst  judgment,  Mark  xiii.  32 ; 
that  is,  say  they,  to  reveal  it  to  others.  Tenthly, 
the  tenth  they  have  restrained  to  the  consent  of  will, 
and  make  lust  or  the  first  motion  no  sin.  One  com- 
mandment they  have  taken  out ;  and  to  make  up  the 
number,  cut  the  last  into  twain  :  as  he  that  out  of  ten 
bags  of  money  stealcth  one,  divides  one  of  the  nine 
left  into  two,  that  his  theft  may  not  be  perceived. 
And  yet  this  last  they  disannul  again  by  their  wrong 
interpretation.  So  that  one  while  they  make  two  of 
one,  another  while  of  those  two  they  make  none. 
Considering  all  this,  it  was  no  wonder  in  the  first 
session  of  the  last  council  of  Lateran,  to  see  the  pope 
lay  the  Scriptures  at  his  feet.  We  find  the  true 
church  with  a  crowii  of  twelve  stars  on  her  head, 
Rev.  xu.  I  ;  while  that  counterfeit  head  of  the  church 
throws  the  crown  and  twelve  stars,  the  doctrine  of 
the  twelve  apostles,  at  his  profane  feet. 

To  the  gospel  they  have  been  no  less  injurious  j 
laying  another  foundation  than  Christ,  and  ascribing 
his  prerogative  to  a  man  of  sin.  To  him  they  give 
power  to  create  new  articles  of  faith ;  albeit  these 
overthrow  the  old.  AVhcreas  God  hath  subjected  all 
men  to  the  Scripture,  they  subject  the  Scripture  to 
themselves,  and  bind  it  to  an  uncertain  dependence 
upon  their  church.  For  the  fathers  and  most  illumi- 
nate writers,  if  there  be  any  thing  makes  against  the 
policy  of  Rome,  away  with  it;  their  expurgations 
shall  cast  it  out  at  the  window. 

Who  can  then  blame  us  for  forsaking  them,  that 
have  forsaken  the  right  way  ?  O  but  they  are  still 
the  church,  and  we  leave  the  church  in  leaving  them. 
This  tliey  utter  loudly,  and  think  to  carrj-  it  away  with 
a  noise.  Take  a  reverend  divine's  comparison  :  Sup- 
pose a  man  hath  a  fair  pool  of  water  in  his  grounds, 
wliich  in  time  becomes  corrupted;  weeds  grow,  mud 
incrcaseth,  and  frogs  creep  into  it.  To  help  this,  the 
owner  cuts  a  new  channel ;  and  so  drains  out  the 
water  to  this  otlier  place,  that  he  leaves  the  filth  and 
corruption  beliind.  Shall  the  remaining  frogs  cora- 
jdain  that  the  water  is  theirs,  because  the  pit  where- 
in it  formerly  stood  is  theirs  ?  SluiU  they  croak  and 
foam  as  if  they  had  wrong  done  them  ?  or  condemn 
all  those  fishes  for  heretics,  that  refuse  their  sink  for 
the  other  pure  streams  ?  We  have  forsaken  Rome  : 
what,  have  we  left  tlic  crystal  waters,  the  pure  doc- 
trine that  was  first  in  that  pool?  no,  we  have  only 
left  the  weeds,  the  mud,  and  the  frogs.  God  hath 
given  us  the  water  clear,  which  was  tlieirs  till  they 
))i)lluted  it  by  their  errors.  And  therefore  have  we 
forsaken  them,  because  they  succeed  in  the  church, 
as  the  frogs  did  in  the  pool.  If  they  forsake  the 
right  way,  we  must  forsake  them,  or  Christ  will  for- 
sake us  ;  which  his  mercy  and  our  holy  faith  forbid. 

"  And  are  gone  astray."  Truth  is  one,  errors  are 
infinite.  God  chargelh  us  to  refuse  all  ways  but 
one  ;  Satan  bills  us  refuse  that  one,  and  take  which 
way  we  please.  All  the  paths  of  the  wicked  be 
crooked  and  irregular  ways :  they  walk  not  forward 
to  the  prize  that  is  set  before  them,  and  therefore 


502 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


lose  both  pains  and  reward.  Herein  they  truly  fol- 
low their  father,  who  testifies  of  himself,  that  he  had 
compassed  the  earth.  So  confused  and  anfractuous 
are  their  goings,  as  if  they  cared  not  which  way  they 
went,  so  they  went  not  with  God.  The  ways  of  the 
wicked  arc  crooked  ;  they  go  wheeling  to  hell.  "We 
are  all  apt  enough  to  stray,  if  preventing  grace  did 
not  rectify  us.  Pliilosophers  hold,  if  the  inferior 
spheres  were  not  ruled,  and  in  a  manner  corrected 
by  the  highest,  the  swiftness  of  their  motion  would 
quickly  fire  the  world.  Certainly,  if  the  afleetions 
of  men  were  not  moderated  by  the  all-guiding  Spirit, 
this  little  world  would  soon  destroy  itself.  He  tliat 
once  forsakes  the  right  way,  and  does  not  walk  up- 
rightly.  Gal.  ii.  14,  quickly  goes  astray,  and  the  first 
step  he  takes  is  toward  hell.  And  he  that  hath  be- 
gun that  dangerous  race,  knows  not  where  to  stop : 
like  an  unbridled  horse  upon  his  speed;  or  a  ship 
with  a  full  wind,  even  when  you  strike  sails,  yet  it 
will  go  some  deal  further  by  the  force  it  had  former- 
ly won.  He  that  lays  the  reins  on  the  neck  of  his 
carnal  ajipetite,  cannot  promise  where  he  will  rest. 
To  say,  This  sin  and  no  more,  is  as  if  a  man  should 
throw  a  stone  into  a  pond,  with  a  purpose  to  make 
one  circle  and  no  more  ;  but  that  one  will  beget  two, 
and  those  two  multiply  to  a  hundred. 

When  a  man  hath  erred  from  the  right  way  of 
charity,  into  what  a  number  of  mischievous  courses 
doth  he  run!  Here  he  takes  up  with  injury,  there 
he  lays  out  with  usury;  this  man  he  scandalizeth 
with  malice,  with  fraud  he  robs  another,  a  third  he 
kills  with  oppression:  every  unrighteous  action  that 
Satan  puts  in  his  way,  he  is  ready  to  embrace,  be  it 
as  foul  as  deformity  itself  Like  that  free  citizen, 
that  so  doted  on  a  female  slave,  that  he  would  needs 
many  her,  though  by  that, match  he  were  sure  (bv 
the  law)  to  become  a  slave  with  her.  God's  charge  was 
ever  against  bigamy  :  Solomon  first  takes  two  wives, 
then  three,  then  hundreds  ;  and  having  once  gone 
beyond  the  stakes  of  the  law,  he  is  ready  to  lose  him- 
self amongst  a  thousand  bed-fellows.  "King  Solo- 
mon loved  many  strange  women,"  1  Kings  xi.  Here 
was  enough  to  overthrow  the  wisest  king  of  the  eartli : 
women,  many  women,  strange  women,  idolatrous 
women.  First,  women.  He  that  made  one  woman 
for  one  man,  saw  that  one  woman  was  enough  for  that 
one  man.  "  Let  every  man  have  his  own  wife,"  2  Cor. 
vii.  2  :  a  w'ife,  not  a  concubine  ;  his  own,  not  another 
man's  ;  his  wife,  not  wives.  One  ;  for  the  charge  of 
our  wife  is  like  the  charge  of  our  words  :  whatsoever 
is  more  than  yea  and  nay  in  the  one,  or  more  than 
husband  and  wife  in  the  other,  comes  of  evil,  and 
evil  will  couie  of  it.  Secondly,  many  women.  Two 
is  more  than  God  allows  ;  bigamy  is  unlawful  :  but 
polygamy,  many  women,  is  the  practice  of  a  Maho- 
metan. No  marvel  if  many  women  did  ruin  Solomon  : 
Adam  had  but  one,  and  that  a  good  one  ;  and  yet  she 
lost  the  game.  If  one  woman  was  enough  to  undo 
all  men,  there  is  no  wonder  that  many  women  shouhl 
undo  one  man.  Thirdly,  strange  women.  Strange, 
because  not  sealed  with  the  holy  signet  of  matri- 
mony ;  for  otherwise  they  are  too  familiar.  Four!  li- 
ly, idolatrous  women.  Otliers  only  tempt  to  lust, 
these  to  misdevotion  ;  if  they  can  join  our  heart  to 
theirs,  they  will  disjoin  it  from  God. 

Hell  is  down-stairs  ;  and  if  a  man  have  descended  a 
step  or  two,  it  is  a  miracle  if  he  stop  before  he  comes  to 
the  bottom.  He  that  hath  strayed  into  these  thickets, 
will  lie  so  mazed  with  intricate  circumvolutions,  that 
he  sliall  hardly  unwind  himself  This  bad  desire  must 
be  gralilied  with  a  lewd  act,  that  act  seconded  with  a 
lie,  that  lie  credited  with  an  oath.  To  do  evil  is  a  sin ; 
to  hide  it  with  a  lie,  doubles  the  sin  ;  to  bind  that 
lie  with  an  oath,  trebles  it.     So  error  begets  error- 


as  a  man  of  sunk  estate,  borrows  of  one  to  pay  another, 
till  finding  Ills  credit  past  soldering  up,  he  runs  in 
every  where  as  far  as  he  can,  and  tnen  breaks.  So 
the  sinner,  whose  conscience  lies  perdu,  rcfuseth  no 
action  that  may  at  once  satisfy  his  desire  and  con- 
ser\e  his  reputation.  At  last  he  liath  gone  so  far 
WTong,  that  he  thinks  himself  in  the  right,  and  vice 
is  counted  virtue.  lu  bodily  diseases,  where  the  be- 
ginnings are  doubtful,  and  cannot  denominate  the 
sickness,  yet  the  proceedings  are  evident,  and  the 
more  keenly  the  disease  is  felt,  the  more  certainly  is 
it  discovered.  In  spiritual  diseases  it  is  otherwise  ; 
for  the  first  entrances  are  manifest ;  they  trouble  the 
conscience,  and  the  sinner  condemns  himself:  but 
the  more  he  multiplies  transgression,  the  less  is  he 
sensible  of  any  compunction.  No  man  is  so  mad  as 
to  call  a  fever  health,  or  the  gout  swift  footmanship, 
or  the  green-sickness  beauty,  or  the  consumption  a 
good  Slate  of  body.  Yet  these  far-strayed  sinners 
miscall  the  right  way ;  while  they  call  lust  love,  rage 
fortitude,  envy  emulation,  pride  magnanimity,  sloth 
wariness,  covetousness  frugality,  and  rank  dishonesty 
but  mere  policy.  Who  shall  rectify  that  luxate 
member,  which  denies  itself  to  be  out  of  joint  ?  Come, 
cast  in  thy  lot  among  us,  we  shall  find  precious  sulj- 
stance,  saith  the  ungodly,  Prov.  i.  13,  14.  If  he 
might  appoint  the  way,  this  should  be  the  right ;  if 
he  might  determine  the  end,  all  should  be  peace  ; 
but  he  is  mistaken  in  both.  "  Woe  unto  them  that 
call  evil  good,  and  good  evil !"  &c.  Isa.  v.  20.  Woe 
indeed ;  woe  for  refusing  the  right,  woe  for  approving 
the  wrong,  woe  for  that  they  have  erred,  and  woe 
because  they  will  not  be  converted. 

I  conclude.  It  is  said  of  Israel,  that  they  journey- 
ed and  pitched  at  the  commandment  of  the  Lord, 
Numb.  ix.  18.  O  blessed  obedience,  that  in  all  busi- 
ness follows  this  direction !  But,  alas,  "  all  we  like 
sheep  have  gone  astray,"  Isa.  liii.  6.  Like  sheep  ? 
yea,  like  goats  and  dromedaries.  The  breasts  of  Eve 
gave  no  other  milk  to  her  children,  Adam  left  no 
other  inheritance  to  his  posterity,  than  disobedience. 
Even  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  this  bitter  root  grew 
too  near  the  goodliest  trees  of  life  and  knowledge ; 
whereof  our  parents  tasting,  not  only  infected  their 
own  blood,  but  diflused  their  corruption  into  their 
whole  succeeding  lineage.  God  forbade  but  one 
tree,  granting  all  the  rest :  Satan  slighting  all  the 
rest,  persuaded  to  this  one.  Yet  how  did  Eve  be- 
lieve a  murderer  before  her  Maker,  the  father  of  lies 
above  the  God  of  truth  !  Aaron's  rod  was  laid  up  in 
the  ark,  as  a  token  of  Israel's  rebellion.  Numb.  xvii. 
10.  The  whole  world  is  an  ark  or  court  of  rolls,  to 
record  the  monuments  of  our  disobedience.  Moses 
sets  down  a  catalogue  of  their  rebellions,  Deut.  ix.  ; 
but,  alas,  ours  be  beyond  all  numeration.  If  the 
Lord  forsook  them  for  forsaking  his  truth,  can  we 
look  to  escape  ? 

Christ  sent  two  disciples  to  bring  him  the  ass  and 
her  colt,  I*Iaft.  xxi.  2.  Some  by  the  ass  understand 
the  Jews,  by  the  colt  the  Gentiles.  First,  he  chose 
the  ass,  he  oftered  himself  to  the  Jews;  but  they 
proving  resty,  he  takes  up  the  colt,  the  Gentiles. 
And  now  having  been  almost  KiOO  years  a  breaking 
and  backing  us,  and  managing  us  to  his  hand,  even 
when  he  thought  to  have  found  us  fit  for  the  saddle, 
we  are  grown  wilder  and  more  untamed  than  we 
were  before.  We  kick,  and  wince,  and  fling,  and 
will  by  no  means  endure  the  reins  of  his  blessed 
government.  Thus  now  God  is  wearied  with  us 
both  :  his  old  obstinate  ass,  the  Jews,  tired  him  with 
continual  beating  :  his  unbridled  colt,  the  Gentiles, 
vex  him  with  their  rambling.  The  former  was  a 
slow  beast,  and  couhl  not  be  gotten  forward  ;  this 
other  runs  fast  enougli,  but  will  not  keep  the  way. 


Ver.  15. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


503 


But  if  the  colt  will  not  be  ruled,  the  Lord  will  take 
his  ass  attain,  as  the  fitter  of  the  two  to  do  him 
service.  O  let  us  confess  our  errors,  and  return  to 
the  right  way.  Return,  for  you  have  erred;  willi 
weeping,  for  you  have  sinned,  Joel  ii.  12.  Lord, 
"thou  tellest  my  wanderings,"  Psal.  Ivi.  8:  he  tells 
them  one  by  one,  knows  their  just  weight  and  num- 
ber; for  God  is  so  wise  that  he  can  east  a  man  up  to 
a  hair.  Your  hairs  are  numbered,  do  not  think  thai 
your  sins  shall  pass  unnumbered.  O  let  the  Lonl 
also  number  our  penitent  sorrows;  for  as  he  doth 
book  our  sins,  so  he  doth  bottle  up  our  teare.  Our 
iniquities  are  not  written  in  so  deep  characters,  but 
our  repentant  tears  shall  be  able  to  blot  them  out. 

Let  us  therefore  come  home  with  sorrow,  that 
have  wandered  with  shame ;  seeking  our  Father's 
house,  by  doing  our  Father's  will.  Why  should  «  c 
run  on  this  senseless  and  endless  race  of  ini<iuily, 
till  the  days  of  our  gracious  visitation  be  out  of  date, 
when  it  will  be  hard  to  determine  what  the  end  will 
be  ?  Let  us  follow  the  counsel  of  St.  Chrysostoin, 
alluding  to  the  policy  of  the  sages,  who  returned  into 
their  own  country  another  way.  Matt.  ii.  12.  Have 
we  erred  by  the  way  of  adultery  ?  Let  us  go  back 
by  the  way  of  chastity.  Have  we  erred  by  the  way 
of  covetousness  ?  Let  us  go  back  by  the  way  of 
mercy.  If  we  return  the  same  way  we  went,  we  are 
still  under  the  kingdom  of  Herod.  No  less  in  the 
sickness  of  the  soul  than  of  the  body,  there  be 
critical  days ;  whereby  God  obser\-cs  in  what  likeli- 
hood we  are  to  recover  health.  Smite  thy  breast 
and  say.  Where  am  I  ?  Wliither  go  I  ?  We  are  all 
stray-sheep ;  now  the  great  She])herd  of  our  souls 
bring  us  home  to  himself,  and  the  fold  of  eternal 
peace.     Amen. 

"Following  the  w.iy  of  Balaam."  Custom  is  the 
principal  magistrate  of  man's  life,  the  guide  of  his 
actions ;  and  as  we  have  inured  ourselves  at  the  first 
setting  out  in  this  world,  so  commonly  we  go  on,  un- 
less we  be  turned  by  miracle,  and  changed  by  that 
which  is  only  able  to  do  it,  the  grace  of  God.  Our 
thoughts  are  according  to  oiu'  inclinations,  our  dis- 
course according  to  our  acquired  and  infused  opinions, 
our  deeds  be  according  to  our  customs,  and  our 
customs  generally  follow  after  our  precedents.  So 
they  that  propound  a  Balaam  for  their  master,  are 
sure  of  vice  for  their  mistress,  and  dcsti-uction  for 
their  wages.  The  apostle  here  speaks  of  sorcerers ; 
and  whom  should  sorcerers  imitate  but  that  grand 
magician,  Balaam,  the  prince  of  false  prophets,  tlie 
eldest  son  of  Satan  ?  The  general  points  are  two ; 
what,  and  wherein.  First,  what  they  do.  They 
follow  Balaam.  Secondly,  wherein  they  follow  him, 
In  his  way,  with  all  the  passages;  and  in  his  end, 
which  is  the  wages  of  unrighteousness.  In  the 
former  I  have  three  circumstances  ;  a  description, 
an  observation,  and  a  caution. 

1.  A  description  of  Balaam,  who  had  taught  evil, 
and  done  evil ;  and  in  doing  evil,  he  taught  it.  He 
was  two  ways  a  master  of  wickedness ;  preceptoiy, 
and  exemplary :  Qutp  docuit  lingun,  facilitavit  vita, 
says  one  ;  i.  e.  What  he  taught  with"  his  tongue,  he 
illustrated  by  his  life.  He  had  his  damnable  doc- 
trine, whereof  we  read,  Rev.  ii.  14  ;  a  doctrine  which 
will  never  die  so  long  as  there  is  a  pope  living.  Let 
us  observe  the  parallel ;  the  fitness  invites  me  to  the 
comparison.  First,  Balaam  was  great  with  kings; 
the  pope  will  be  great  over  kings.  Secondly,  Ba- 
laam woidd  do  any  thing  for  money  ;  and  what  prac- 
tice doth  tlic  pope  refuse  to  fill  his  exchequer?  In- 
cest shall  be  dispensed,  murder  refuged,  uncleanncss 
tolerated ;  all  for  gain.  You  may  buy  heaven,  buy 
out  hell,  for  money.  For  this,  indulgences  be  his 
wares,  and  purgatory  his  market   town.     He  will, 


with  Balaam,  curse  tlie  very  Israel  of  God  for  money. 
Thirdly,  Balaam  was  a  hidden  hypocrite,  a  close 
villain,  with  a  corrupt  heart  under  a  clear  skin.  The 
pope  IS  such  a  glorious  saint  in  show ;  no  matter 
what  stufl'  his  conscience  be  made  of,  all  his  doings 
must  be  justified  :  his  murders  are  excused  like  Sam- 
son's, his  thefts  like  the  Hebrews',  his  adulteries 
like  Jacob's.  Nothing  doth  he  amiss,  though  the 
devil  himself  would  scarce  wish  him  to  do  worse. 
Fourthly,  Balaam  had  some  true  oracles,  and  by  the 
colour  of  them,  he  vented  his  own  sorceries.  If  the 
pope  should  not  confess  some  truths,  the  world  would 
never  admit  his  many  falsehoods.  He  must  have 
two  or  three  pieces  of  right  gold  that  would  get  off 
his  bag  of  counterfeits.  Lastly,  Balaam  persuades 
the  Moabites  to  tempt  Israel ;  first,  to  fornication, 
and  by  that  to  niisdevotion.  It  is  the  papal  indul- 
gence to  a  fieslily  life,  that  wins  so  many  to  his 
su[ierstition.  They  will  worship  the  pope's  God, 
upon  condition  he  will  let  them  also  worship  their 
own.  AVhat  is  a  harlot,  but  a  pleasing  idol  ?  What 
is  an  idol,  but  a  spiritual  harlot  ?  If  the  pope  will 
allow  them  the  one,  they  will  not  stick  with  him  for 
the  other.  Idolatry  was  Balaam's  sport;  and  who 
can  but  think  that  antichrist  laughs  in  his  sleeve,  to 
see  superstitious  fools  down  on  their  knees  to  beauti- 
fied puppets  ?  Cornelius  Agrippa,  a  great  learned 
papist,  hath  left  it  written,  that  certain  of  the  school- 
men, meaning  Aquinas  and  Aureolus,  defended,  that 
the  very  stars  in  the  firmament  might  be  worshipped, 
but  only  for  doubt  of  giving  occasion  to  idolatry. 
Not  that  it  were  idolatry,  but  that  it  might  give 
occasion  of  idolatry.  Just  as  when  a  thief  cuts  a 
passenger's  throat,  he  gives  occasion  of  murder. 
But  as  Balaam  was  crafty  to  do  mischief  underhand ; 
so  the  pope  doth  but  plot,  and  contrive,  and  com- 
mand in  his  consistory,  what  must  be  performed  by 
his  officious  emissaries.  Treasons  and  conspiracies 
against  anointed  sovereigns,  blowing  up  of  parlia- 
ments, ruin  of  countries  by  war  and  invasions,  all 
fetch  their  original  from  his  sacred  and  unerring 
breast ;  yet  the  Romish  Bidaam  is  innocent,  he  hath 
no  hand  in  it.  Let  the  actors  on  the  stage  answer 
it,  the  poet  is  close  behind  the  curtain. 

But  now  shall  not  this  Balaam  answer  for  all  those 
conspirators  whom  he  hath  suborned  ?  Suppose  he 
did  not  give  every  one  of  them  his  particular  errand, 
doth  not  his  general  warrant  bid  tnemgo?  While 
they  teach  men  to  earn  the  kingdom  of  heaven  bj- 
shedding  the  blood  of  an  heretical  prince,  and  pro- 
mise the  forgiveness  of  many  sins  for  the  committing 
of  one,  what  is  this  but  to  hire  instruments  to  their 
damnable  designs  ?  Machiavel's  doctrine  is  quite 
fooled  and  shamed  by  the  Jesuits :  he  taught  that 
no  man  was  fit  for  a  desperate  conspiracy,  but  one 
wliose  hands  had  been  formerly  dipped  in  blood, 
Alas,  he  knew  not  of  a  Friar  Clement,  or  a  Ravillac ; 
he  knew  not,  that  superstition  hath  so  well  advanced 
mischief,  that  the  first  blood  which  a  murderer  sheds 
shall  be  no  worse  than  a  king's ;  and  that  by  votive 
resolution,  he  shall  be  as  merciless  as  butchers  by 
occupation. 

The  Moabites  were  persuaded  that  Balaam  could 
not  err;  and  do  the  Romists  think  any  less  of  their 
papal  god?  "He  whom  thou  cursest  is  cursed,  and 
he  whiim  thou  blesscst  is  blessed,"  Numb.  xxii.  6. 
They  think  if  the  pope  put  a  traitor  into  the  rubric, 
he  is  presently  a  saint  in  heaven ;  if  he  curse  or  ex- 
communicate a  Christian,  he  must  needs  be  enrolled 
in  hell.  This  being  sized  into  their  souls,  no  wonder 
if  they  become  as  dead  engines,  moved  only  by  the 
Spirit  he  puts  into  them.  Thus  the  way  of  the 
Lord  is  no  more  stood  upon ;  but  the  way  of  Thomas, 
as  the  Dominicans  speak  ;  and  the  way  of  Scotus,  as 


504 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II, 


the  Franciscans  ;  and  the  way  of  Loyola,  as  tlic 
Jesuits  ;  and  indeed  the  way  of  the  devil,  for  lie 
comes  in  for  his  share:  while  treasons,  perjuries,  un- 
cleannesses  be  the  doctrines,  what  man  of  sense  will 
look  for  any  other  but  Satan  in  the  pulpit?  At  the 
best,  we  find  not  an  apostle  to  be  the  master  of  their 
sentences,  but  Peter  Lombard  grows  to  be  the  text, 
and  the  hierarchy  of  Rome  the  expositors ;  and  what 
will  become  of  the  i)oor  lambs  when  such  wolves  be 
the  pastors  ? 

For  observation,  They  follow  Balaam.  There  was 
never  any  man  so  desperately  wicked  but  he  had 
some  fellows  and  followers.  Beelzebub  fell  not  alone 
from  heaven;  thousands  of  angels  ftll  with  him  in 
that  confederacy.  AVe  read  of  three  conspirators, 
Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram,  that  prevailed  with  two 
hundred  and  fifty  rulers,  men  of  renown,  and  famous 
in  the  congregation.  Numb.  xvi.  Those  seditious 
leaders  could  not  err  without  followers.  Shall  an 
Absalom  rebel  without  seconds?  No,  two  hundred 
men  went  out  with  him  in  their  simplicity  and  knew 
nothing,  2  Sam.  xv.  II  :  even  the  innocent  are  won 
to  wait  upon  a  conspirator.  It  is  no  hard  matter  to  be- 
guile harmless  intentions :  yea,  the  true-hearted  lie 
most  open  to  credulity  ;  and  while  they  mean  nothing 
but  faithfulness,  are  brought  into  rebellion.  The 
name  of  David's  son  carries  them  against  .Absalom's 
father :  and  while  they  purpose  only  attendance  to 
the  prince,  they  become  loyal  rebels  to  their  king. 
But  were  there  none  that  embraced  tliis  innovation 
for  their  own  turns?  Yes,  it  grew  a  strong  rebellion. 
Can  Jeroboam  be  an  idolater  alone  ?  No,  he  no 
sooner  sets  up  his  calves,  but  Israel  is  down  on  their 
knees.  If  he  cause  such  an  impious  erection,  they 
presently  follow  him  with  their  superstitious  devo- 
tion. One  man  may  kindle  such  a  fire,  as  thousands 
are  not  able  to  quench.  One  plague-sore  may  infect 
a  whole  nation,  and  all  the  venom  of  sin  is  not  spent 
in  the  act.  The  deed  may  be  past  and  gone,  but  the 
pernicious  example  remains,  and  spi'cads  to  a  woeful 
contagion.  Like  Goodwin  sands,  which  not  only 
sviallowed  up  his  patrimony,  but  still  continues  a 
dangerous  place,  where  too  many  have  miscarried. 
He  is  a  veiy  mean  person,  that  dr.'iws  not  some 
clients  after  him  :  even  Tlieudas  and  Judas  had  their 
four  hundreds  to  accompany  them. 

It  hath  ever  been  the  dangerous  policy  of  Satan  to 
assault  the  best ;  he  knows  the  multitude,  as  we  say 
of  bees,  will  follow  their  master.  The  unstable  vul- 
gar are  soon  carried  with  tl'.e  religion  of  authority. 
What  Hushai  said  in  policy,  they  speak  in  simplicity  ; 
AVhom  Israel  choose  for  their  king,  his  will  I  be, 
2  Sa:n.  xvi.  18.  Hypocrites  will  be  of  the  king's 
faith,  as  papists  are  bound  to  be  of  the  pope's.  Let 
Korah  kindle  the  fire,  two  hundred  and  fifty  captains 
will  bring  sticks  to  it,  and  all  Israel  are  ready  to 
warm  themselves  at  it.  The  weathercock  will  look 
vhich  way  soever  the  wind  blows.  Jeroboam  shall 
be  sure  of  brutish  subjects,  while  he  sets  uji  calvish 
deities.  Simon  had  so  bewitched  the  people,  that  they 
all  took  him  for  the  great  power  of  God,  Acts  viii. 
10.     A  sorcerer  shall  not  be  without  clients. 

It  is  an  imhappy  degree  of  wickedness,  to  be  the 
ringleader  of  sin :  every  aecessaiy  is  faulty  enough, 
but  the  first  author  is  aliominable.  Therefore  is  Je- 
roboam so  often  branded  in  those  sacred  leaves  ; 
therefore  do  all  ages  ring  of  his  fact,  with  the  accent 
of  dishonour  and  indignation,  "Jeroboam  the  son  of 
Nebat,  that  made  Israel  to  sin."  It  was  a  shame  for 
Israel,  that  they  could  be  made  to  sin  by  a  Jeroboam  ; 
but  O  cursed  name  of  Jeroljoam,  that  drew  Israel  to 
sin  !  Jeroboam  was  a  wicked  king,  and  miserably 
accursed  ;  they  of  liis  house  that  die  in  the  city  tl/e 
(logs  shall  eat ;  they  that  die  in  the  field  the  f  iwls  of 


the  air  shall  cat,  1  Kings  xiv.  II.  Yet  Nadab  his 
son,  and  Baaslia  his  successor,  Zimri,  and  Oniri,  and 
Ahab,  and  Ahaziah,  and  Jehoram,  they  all  walked  in 
the  way  of  Jeroboam,  which  made  Israel  to  sin.  So 
easy  is  it  for  a  man's  sin  to  live  when  himself  is  dead ; 
and  to  lead  that  exemplary  way  to  hell,  which  by 
the  number  of  his  followers  shall  continually  aggra- 
vate his  torments.  The  imitators  of  evil  desen-e 
[lunishment,  the  abettors  more ;  but  there  is  no  hell 
deep  enough  for  the  leaders  of  public  wickedness. 
He  that  invents  a  new  way  of  serving  Satan,  hath 
purchased  for  himself  a  large  patrimony  of  unquench- 
able fire.  Shall  not  the  pontificians  answer  for  all 
that  blood,  which  miscai-ried  by  their  superstition? 
Suppose  they  think  best  to  die  with  Christ,  and 
nothing  but  Christ,  in  their  mouths;  shall  they  not 
answer  for  teaching  others  to  live  and  die  otherwise  ? 
How  fearfully  do  the  seducer  and  seduced  greet  one 
another  in  hell ;  where  the  one  sailh,  Thou  hast  been 
the  occasion  of  my  sin ;  and  the  other.  Thou  art  the 
oceasionof  my  more  grievous  torment  !  What  infinite 
tortures  doth  Mahomet  endure  ;  when  every  Turk 
that  perisheth  by  his  juggling,  doth  daily  add  to  his 
unspeakable  horrors!  The  devil  himself  by  tempt- 
ing and  deceiving  souls,  doth  advance  his  own  damn- 
ation. Nor  was  it  any  charity,  but  mei'c  fear  of 
greater  burden,  that  made  the  rich  man  in  hell  so 
respective  of  his  brethren,  Luke  xvi.  2S.  Many  a 
man  sins  only  for  himself,  he  shall  be  plagued  for  the 
sins  of  others. 

3.  The  caution.  Let  eminent  persons  fake  heed 
of  eminent  sins:  they  do,  with  Samson,  pull  down 
those  pillars  of  goodness,  that  shall  not  only  quash 
themselves,  but  be  the  ruin  of  thousands.  Their  facts 
become  examples,  those  examples  laws;  and  it  is 
natural  to  men  to  follow  the  law  of  fact,  before  the 
law  of  faith ;  a  visible  pattern,  rather  than  a  mere 
audible  doctrine.  We  were  wont  to  say.  Evil  man- 
ners occasion  good  laws;  but  here  it  is  true,  corrup- 
tion of  manners  is  become  the  birth  of  laws :  the 
leader's  example  is  a  law  to  the  followers.  Divers 
customs  are  no  less  than  ridiculous  and  pestilent, 
that  have  had  their  birth  from  a  great  man's  prece- 
dent. From  this  root  hath  grown  all  our  strange 
disguises,  transformations  of  apparel,  painted  faces, 
apish,  brutish  gestures.  Usury  had  still  lain  like 
neglected  ware  in  the  devil's  shop,  if  some  great 
rabbin  had  not  brought  it  forth.  The  excuse  of  such 
pernicious  customers  to  the  followers  of  them,  is  as 
Pilate  said  to  Christ,  Thine  own  nation  hath  deliver- 
ed thee  unto  me;  and  sin  will  conclude  against  those 
authors,  Thei'efore  he  that  delivered  me  unto  thee 
hath  the  greater  sin. 

Let  this  first  warn  us  of  the  ministry,  that  we  teach 
you  that  way,  whereof  you  shall  never  repent  the 
travel  ;  which  is  only  Christ,  "  the  way,  the  truth, 
and  the  life,"  John  xiv.  fi.  "  Let  him  that  heareth 
say.  Come,"  Rev.  xxii.  17.  He  that  inwardly  hear- 
eth the  voice  of  sanetificaticm,  let  him  outwardly  call 
men  by  the  voice  of  exhortation.  It  was  a  law 
among  the  Jews,  "  If  a  man  die,  having  no  children, 
his  brother  shall  marry  his  wife,  and  raise  up  seed 
unto  his  brother,  Matt.  xxii.  24.  Christ  being  dead, 
risen,  and  gone  up  into  heaven,  we  are  bound  to  raise 
up  seed  to  our  elder  Brother;  begetting  children  to 
Jesus,  Gal.  iv.  19.  No  other  way  dare  we  teach,  lest 
we  perish.  For  (juid  proderit  iion  ptniiri  suo  peccalo, 
qui  iiiDiieiidits  est  a/ievoi'  sailh  Prosper;  i.  e.  What 
comfort  is  it  to  escape  with  our  own  sins,  if  wc  must 
be  punished  for  the  sins  of  others  ? 

For  vou ;  go  not  into  the  ways  of  sin,  though  you  fol- 
low a  Balaam.  If  we  see  n  great  oflender  led  to  exe- 
ceution,  we  are  not  so  forward  as  to  say.  Let  us  die 
with  him:  yet  while  he  goes  on  in  pride,  we  follow 


Ver.  Ij. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


5o; 


him  in  a  hurry,  Let  us  sin  with  him.  If  he  travels 
with  vanity,  we  are  for  him ;  if  he  sails  to  Rome,  we 
venture  ourselves  in  the  same  bottom  with  him  ; 
only  when  he  comes  to  hell,  we  would  then  leave 
him.  But  if  men  will  be  followers  in  sin,  they  must 
not  look  to  be  separated  in  punishment.  They  that 
pursue  the  way  \uiieh  Balaam  went,  shall  arrive  at 
the  place  where  Balaam  is.  The  Lord  turn  our  steps 
fiom  such  a  following,  that  we  may  have  a  more 
comfortable  ending. 

"  Following  the  way  of  Balaam."  They  (hat  pro- 
pound examples,  whether  for  imitation  or  detestation, 
Imve  respect  both  to  the  way  and  the  end.  Let  me 
present  you  ,with  both  these  out  of  the  sacred  his- 
tory. Here  suppose,  the  scone  lies  in  Moab,  time  is 
the  stacQ,  all  that  read  or  hoar  the  story  be  (as  it 
were)  tne  spectators.  Balak  plays  the  king,  Balaam 
the  conjurer,  princes  the  ambassadors,  gold  and 
honour  are  the  properties  ;  yea,  you  have  an  ass 
playing  her  part  too ;  these  be  the  actors  :  the  Israel- 
ites arc  the  mutes:  let  me  stand  for  the  chorus. 
The  conclusion  will  be  the  ruin  of  the  ungodly,  the 
reward  of  the  righteous.  Let  no  man  think  me  pro- 
fp.ne,  in  borrowing  such  a  comparison:  the  fathers 
have  called  the  whole  world  but  a  theatre.  Our 
Saviour  borrowed  a  comparison  from  pipers  and 
dancere,  as  I  from  players :  players  shall  get  no  more 
by  my  comparison,  than  pipers  and  dancers  did  by 
his.  Christ  chargeth  the  slothful  servant  for  not 
putting  his  talent  to  usury  ;  yet  he  tliat  puts  his 
money  to  usurj'  by  the  waiTant  of  that  text,  is  like 
to  be  ruined  at  the  day  of  reckoning,  and  shall 
wish  that  he  had  better  understood  his  Masters 
meaning.  The  passages  are  divers,  and  useful  to 
onr  observation. 

1.  The  occasion.  Moab  and  Midian  saw  their 
neighbours  fall  under  the  victorious  sword  of  Israel, 
and  expected  with  fear  when  their  own  turns  should 
come  to  bleed.  Could  they  have  secured  themselves, 
those  bordering  calamities  liad  not  moved  thoin. 
Kp.ttiral  men  ai-e  not  sensible  of  others'  woes,  while 
safely  fenceth  in  their  own  estates.  Thoy  that  drink 
wine  in  bowls,  mind  not  the  affliction  of  Joseph, 
Amos  vi.  G.  The  burning  of  a  neighbour's  house 
would  not  startle  them,  but  for  the  danger  of  their 
own.  But  peril  is  come  to  the  doors  of  Moab,  and 
they  begin  to  be  frighted:  to  overcome  or  repel  this, 
Moab  is  not  able  alone,  therefore  requires  tlie  con- 
federacy of  Midian.  Yea,  both  Moab  and  Midian 
find  themselves  too  weak,  without  the  assistance  of 
Balaam.  They  put  more  confidence  in  his  tongue 
than  their  own  swords,  and  will  not  fight,  but  con- 
jure. What  needs  the  levying  of  forces,  mustering 
of  soldiers,  emptying  their  treasures,  endangering 
their  persons,  when  all  this  trouble  may  be  saved 
with  one  curse?  They  had  only  wit  enough  to  fear, 
but  knew  not  how  to  take  the  right  course  for  safety. 
Otherwise  they  that  saw  the  unresistible  power  of 
Israel,  why  did  they  not  treat,  and  entreat,  yea,  buy 
th"  conditions  of  peace?  They  might  easily  think, 
Either  the  God  of  Israel  is  stronger  than  we,  or  he 
is  weaker.  If  weaker,  why  are  we  afraid  of  him  ?  If 
Rtrot.ger,  why  do  we  not  serve  him  ?  If  he  be  greater, 
then  down  with  Baal-peor;  if  not,  then  Baal-peor  is 
sufficient  without  Balaam.  But  he  that  can  make 
Israel  victorious  over  othocs,  is  able  to  keep  us  safe 
from  Israel :  let  us  make  him  our  friend,  whom  we 
crnnot  escape  as  an  enemy.  But  wicked  men  are 
not  more  jocund  in  prosperity,  than  in  disasters  thcv 
are  amazed.  As  the  voluptuous  man,  that  hath 
taken  such  pleasure  in  his  own  house,  when  suddenly 
he  finds  it  a-fire,  knows  not  which  way  to  turn  him, 
but  runs  forth  at  the  wrong  door. 

'2.  The  invitation;  "  Come,  curse  me  this  people," 


Numb.  xxii.  6.  A  devilish  errand  for  the  elders  of 
Midian  to  carry.  Sihon  willi  his  Amorites,  Og  the 
giant  with  his  Bashaniles,  were  destroyed ;  there  is 
no  hope  of  resistance  left  in  man;  therefore  they 
will  try  what  the  magician  can  do.  How  desperate 
is  that  wickedness,  when  Satan  must  be  implored  to 
undertake  what  God  refuseth !  They  are  likely  to 
have  good  counsel  that  fee  the  devil.  What  can 
Balaam  do  without  him?  What  can  he  do  for  Ba- 
laam? Curse:  alas,  as  if  all  the  world  were  under 
the  power  of  an  enchanter's  tongue ;  as  if  that  little 
engine,  fired  at  the  furnace  of  hell,  had  a  kind  of 
omnipotency  in  it.  But,  doubtless,  Satan  doth  more 
through  our  credulity  than  by  his  own  efllcaey  ;  that 
beggarly  spirit  is  more  beholden  to  our  iuiagiuatiou 
than  to  his  own  riches.  "  He  whom  thou  cursesi, 
is  cursed."  If  Balaam  were  a  famous  prophet,  yet 
Balak  was  a  veiy  credulous  king  ;  he  believes  that 
the  sorcerer  could  do  any  thing  beneath  the  moon. 
C'onunodities  far-fetched  and  dear-bought  are  diet 
for  ladies;  and  so  this  design  proved,  fur  the  ladies 
of  Midian  must  manage  the  plot  of  Balaam. 

Superstitious  dotards  think  nature  itself  under  the 
spell  of  their  charms;  but  they  are  deceived.  For 
if  either  the  curses  of  men,  or  the  malice  of  devils, 
could  take  effect,  how  soon  would  all  be  liell !  Could 
either  power  or  jjolicy  prevail,  the  church  of  Christ 
should  not  stand.  But  there  is  a  strengtli  so  far 
above  Balaam,  that  neither  the  prophet  nor  the  po- 
tentate shall  avoid  that  curse  on  themselves  which 
they  wished  to  others.  From  their  evil  let  us  learn 
this  good,  to  bear  as  fair  a  respect  to  the  tme  pro- 
phets of  God,  as  they  had  confidence  in  the  false. 
Why  should  they  expect  more  comfort  from  God's 
enemies,  than  we  from  his  deputed  servants?  Why 
do  we  not  more  seek  their  blessings,  and  stand  in 
fear  of  their  curses ;  seeing  they  have  the  ratification 
of  God  in  heaven  to  their  sentences  upon  earth? 
John  XX.  23.  If  Moab  have  so  bold  assurance  of  a 
Balaam,  how  choice  should  we  be  of  a  Moses !  Ba- 
laam's tongue  cannot  hurt  us,  Piloses'  lips  can  bless 
us.  It  was  not  the  hand  of  Israel,  but  the  hand  of 
Moses,  lliat  got  the  day  :  as  one  expresses  it.  It  was 
not  the  hand  which  fought,  but  the  hand  which  did 
not  fight,  that  prevailed.  Shall  we  give  less  credit 
to  God's  instruments,  than  they  do  to  Satan's?  How 
miserable  is  the  darkness  of  some  souls  in  this  glo- 
rious day-light !  To  the  chamber  of  a  fortune-teller, 
a  juggling  mountebank,  or  some  suspected  conjurer, 
liock  many  clients ;  not  only  of  the  vulgar,  but  even 
of  those  that  come  in  coaches,  and  the  gayest  ca- 
parisons. The  door  of  the  devoutcst  preacher  is 
empty  enough;  few  visitants  trouble  him,  either  for 
direction  of  their  lives,  or  comfort  of  their  con- 
sciences. Alas,  for  such  children  of  perdition ;  that 
thoy  should  take  the  forbidden  way  of  hell,  and  neg- 
lect the  gracious  invitations  of  God  ! 

"  Curse  me  this  people."  Why  did  they  not 
rather  desire  Balaam  to  bless  themselves  than  to 
curse  Israel  ?  that  had  been  the  easier  task  of  the 
two,  and  more  likely  to  prevail.  Defensive  war  is 
sunr  than  invasive;  we  may  better  fortify  ourselves 
at  home,  than  offend  our  enemies  abroad.  Israel 
did  not  trouble  them,  why  would  they  trou'ule  Israel? 
who  would  wake  a  sleeping  lion,  that  had  not  first 
fettered  his  claws  ?  Moab  might  have  rested  in 
peace,  and  Israel  in  peace :  why  then  should  Moab 
curse  Israel  ?  It  is  a  most  malicious  pride,  that  cares 
not  to  fare  well  itself,  unless  it  go  ill  with  othci"S ; 
as  Moab  did  not  care  for  safety,  unless  they  might 
have  victory.  Yet  it  is  worth  a  good  man's  thanks, 
to  have  his  own  blood  spared,  though  the  same 
favour  be  allowed  to  others.  Is  my  own  prosperity 
nothing,  because  my  neighbours  also  prosper  about 


506 


AN  EXPOSITION   LPON  THE 


Chap.  II, 


me  ?  Ltl  such  a  conceit  be  harboured  in  the  breasts 
of  pagans,  or  those  antichristian  Christians,  tliat  con- 
tent not  themselves  to  extend  their  bloody  dominion 
to  the  Indies,  unless  they  may  also  ruin  their  adja- 
cent countries;  whose  envy  is  not  satisfied  with 
escaping  us,  if  we  escape  them.  They  eat  their  own 
hearts  in  anger,  that  they  cannot  eat  ours  in  revenge. 
Wc  pray  for  the  opening  of  their  eyes,  and  they 
pray  for  the  pulling  out  of  ours.  We  desire  the 
turning  of  their  hearts,  and  they  wish  the  cutting  of 
our  throats.  There  is  a  great  dearth  of  reason  and 
charity  in  that  man,  who  would  be  happy  alone. 
Society  is  no  small  part  of  the  verj'  joys  of  heaven. 
They  desire  the  blessedness  of  others,  that  are  of 
the  communion  of  saints. 

3.  The  prohibition.  Balaam  had  a  mind  to  go, 
God  hath  no  mind  to  suffer  him.  The  elders  of 
Moab  have  not  sooner  delivered  their  message,  than 
the  fingers  of  that  leaden  prophet  tingle  for  the 
golden  wages ;  yet  he  appears  not  rash  and  peremp- 
tory, but  pretends  serious  advice  and  deliberation. 
That  night  he  will  give  them  hospitable  entertain- 
ment, the  next  morning  shall  give  tlicra  their  answer. 
Lodging  and  good  cheer  they  shall  have,  but  their 
host  means  to  make  them  pay  for  it  in  the  reckon- 
ing.  Yea,  they  deserved  to  be  welcome,  for  they 
brought  the  reward  of  divination.  An  answer  he 
promiscth  them,  but  such  a  one  as  God  shall  give 
him.  Now  the  Lord  prevents  his  inquiry,  by  inquir- 
ing first  of  Balaam,  "  What  men  are  these  with 
thee?"  Numb.  xxii.  9.  Did  not  God  know  them? 
Yes,  they  that  could  not  move  but  in  him,  could  be  no 
strangers  to  him.  He  knew  them  well  enough,  but 
he  would  have  Balaam  know  them  better.  Before 
his  question  was,  "Where  art  thou?"  God  had 
found  Adam,  but  he  would  have  Adam  find  himself. 
When  we  lay  open  our  wants,  and  confess  our  sins, 
we  tell  him  no  news  ;  alas,  he  knows  all  better  than 
our  own  hearts.  Yet  he  chooseth  to  deal  with  us 
from  our  own  mouths.  AVhen  we  harbour  foul  lusts, 
he  seems  to  ask  us.  What  thoughts  are  these  ?  Is  it 
fit  for  you  to  give  lodging  or  house-room  to  such 
messengers  as  Moab,  of  hell  ?  Are  these  guests  fit 
for  the  men  of  God  to  entertain  ? 

Balaam  liath  admitted  them,  and  now  waits  what 
God  will  do  for  him,  what  he  will  suffer  him  to  do 
for  them.  He  receives  a  plain  oracle  of  inhibilion  ; 
"  Thou  shalt  not  curse  the  people,  for  they  are  bless- 
ed," ver.  12.  Balak  had  a  confident  opinion  of  Ba- 
laam's power.  Either  he  thought  him  a  notable 
conjurer,  that  could  do  much  with  the  devil  ;  or  a 
true  prophet,  that  had  interest  in  God.  Balaam 
shall  not  be  suffered  to  gratify  him  either  ways.  I^et 
him  be  a  sorcerer,  he  shall  not  give  Moab  the  least 
encouragement  in  the  conceit  of  this  help.  Let  him 
be  a  prophet,  God  will  not  have  his  name  scanda- 
lized, no  not  in  the  opinion  of  those  pagans.  Why 
should  his  name  be  usurped  to  curse,  where  his  will 
halh  intended  to  bless  ?     "  Thou  shall  not  go." 

Yet  what  if  Balaam  had  been  granted  the  liberty 
of  his  feet  and  tongue  ?  say,  he  had  gone,  and  cursed  ; 
how  forceless  had  all  his  maledictions  been  !  Could 
not  the  breath  of  God  have  dispersed  them  all  into 
air,  or  beat  them  back  on  the  curser's  own  head  ? 
"  The  curse  causeless  shall  not  come,"  Prov.  xxvi.  2  ; 
or,  at  least,  it  shall  not  come  where  the  curser  meant 
It.  He  gives  just  cause  to  make  himself  accursed, 
that  without  just  cause  curseth  another.  How  often 
hath  the  Balaam  of  Home  cursed  the  church  of  Eng- 
land !  How  often  hath  he  roared  out  the  direst 
execrations  against  us  !  How  often  have  those  Sauls, 
with  letters  of  commission  from  the  high  priest  of 
that  synagogue,  like  pirates  with  letters  of  mart  from 
the    Great    Turk,    breathed   out    thrcatcnings    and 


slaughter ;  using  the  ordinances  of  their  church  like 
the  ordnance  of  a  man  of  war,  spitting  fire  and  thun- 
der against  the  bark  of  Christ !  \\  hat  have  they 
done,  but  sunk  themselves  in  the  skirmish  ?  Let 
them  look  back  upon  their  invincible  navy,  their 
inevitable  powder-plot ;  and  confess  with  blushing 
cheeks,  to  the  glory  of  God,  that  they  would  have 
more  than  cursed  Israel,  but  they  could  not.  How 
many  bulls  of  theirs  have  bellowed  out  execrations 
against  us,  endeavouring  to  gore  us,  and  let  out  our 
veiy  bowels !  yet  God  hath  sent  those  curst  beasts 
short  horns ;  blessed  be  his  name,  they  did  us  no 
harm.  How  many  blustering  tempests  have  those 
enraged  sorcerers  raised  against  our  prince  and  coun- 
try !  yet  all  this  wind  hath  shaken  no  corn.  Were 
we  the  worse  ?  Nay,  I  rather  think  we  had  not  sped 
so  well,  had  not  these  Balaamitish  curses  been  spent 
upon  us.  For  them ;  I  read  of  certain  Africans, 
who  being  troubled  with  the  north  wind,  driving 
heaps  of  sand  upon  their  fields,  mustered  an  army  of 
soldiers  to  fight  against  it;  but  with  so  ill  success, 
that  themselves  were  buried  under  those  sandy  mo- 
numents. They  that  arm  themselves  against  the 
church,  shall  fall  by  their  own  weapons.  Malice 
shall  do  the  nature  of  malice;  drink  up  the  marrow 
and  moisture  of  them  that  foster  it,  and  bring  their 
curses  upon  their  own  souls ;  as  Nadab  and  Abihu 
were  consumed  by  as  strange  a  fire  as  they  had  in 
their  censers.  As  we  may  say  of  that  blind  man 
whom  Christ  cured,  and  the  Jews  excommunicated, 
that  he  was  never  fully  in  till  he  was  cast  out,  John 
ix.  34  ;  so  if  antichrist  had  not  cursed  us,  we  had  not 
been  so  thoroughly  blessed.  Though  they  curse,  0 
Lord,  yet  bless  thou ;  and  so  thou  hast  done  with  a 
merciful  advantage. 

The  Israelites  sat  still  in  their  tents ;  they  little 
knew  what  mischief  was  brewing  against  them.  The 
goodly  plains  of  Moab  gave  such  refreshing  to  their 
minds  and  bodies,  that  they  securely  embraced  this 
dear-purchased  rest.  They  neither  felt  nor  saw  any 
opposition;  yet  even  then  the  most  dangerous  plot 
was  hammering  against  them.  Our  adversaries  never 
mean  us  more  hurt,  than  wlien  they  cry  Truce.  Yil- 
lanous  policy  then  multiplies  her  pledges,  when  she 
purpose!  h  to  destroy  us.  What  trust  should  be  given 
lo  them,  even  when  they  swear,  whose  religion 
allows  them  to  break  all  oaths  for  advantage  ?  Only 
that  God,  who  (without  making  Israel  of  his  counsel) 
crossed  the  design  of  the  Moabites,  still  sees,  and 
(we  hope)  will  prevent  all  the  stratagems  of  our  ene- 
mies ;  or  else,  like  another  Parisian  Vigils,  we  should 
feel  their  swords  before  wc  heard  their  alarms.  But 
the  jirovidence  of  our  Maker  restrains  many  evils, 
which  w'e  never  dreamed  to  be  near  us.  He  that 
keeps  Israel,  slumbers  not ;  he  is  botlt  a  sure  and  se- 
cret Friend.  Why  are  not  our  sanctuaries  turned 
into  shambles,  and  our  beds  made  to  swim  with  our 
bloods,  long  before  this,  but  that  the  God  of  Israel 
had  crossed  the  conspiracy  of  Balaam  ?  It  is  no 
thanks  to  wicked  men,  that  their  wickedness  doth 
not  prosper.  The  world  would  soon  be  overrun  with 
evils,  if  men  might  be  so  ill  as  they  would. 

4.  We  have  their  answer  and  dismission.  The 
reward  was  so  sweet  a  taste  of  a  rich  banquet,  that 
the  teeth  of  Balaam  began  to  water.  Yet  he  pre- 
tends that  God  must  inform  him,  before  he  can  tell 
what  to  say.  He  waits  on  the  Lord,  they  wait  on 
him.  Yet  he  falters  in  the  repetition  of  God's  an- 
swer, He  refuseth  to  let  me  go,  Numb.  xxii.  13.  Had 
he  spoke  the  downright  truth,  it  may  be  they  had 
solicited  him  no  further.  But  he  higgles,  and  dodges, 
and  conceals  half  of  it,  which  was  little  less  faulty 
than  the  denying  of  all.  From  this  niggardly  rela- 
tion of  God's  message  St.  Paul  most  accurately  clears 


Veh.  15. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


507 


himself,  Acts  xx.  20,  27 ;  to  the  condemnation  of 
those  lisping  and  curtailed  doctrines  of  Rome,  that 
show  no  more  truth  than  that  which  concerns  their 
own  profit :  like  a  subtle  artist,  that  tcacheth  his 
scholars  only  the  rind,  concealing  the  sap ;  that  so 
at  once  he  may  keep  them  the  longer  and  himself 
the  better. 

Here  was  Balaam's  hypocrisy;  to  hold  in  with 
God,  lie  refuseth  to  go  with  Moab  ;  to  hold  in  with 
Moab,  he  lays  the  blame  upon  God.  So  did  he  deny, 
as  one  that  wished  to  be  sent  for  again.  How  often 
do  we  look  on  the  temptation  with  one  eye,  with  the 
other  on  the  penally !  fain  we  would,  but  we  dare 
not.  So  the  unhappy  child  would  be  fingering  the 
knife,  but  looks  on  his  father,  and  fears  the  lash. 
And  instead  of  being  angry  with  ourselves  and  our 
loose  desires,  wc  grumble  at  the  good  law  of  our 
Maker ;  as  if  he  liad  done  us  an  unkindness,  in  that 
he  will  not  suffer  us  to  perish.  Yea,  rather  than 
abridge  our  own  pleasures,  we  will  hazanl  the  dis- 
pleasure of  God ;  we  will  do  what  he  forbids,  and  yet 
hope  to  escape  what  he  threatens.  But  let  us  know 
that  while  we  bluster  against  his  precepts,  we  do 
but  raise  a  tempest  against  our  own  souls.  It  will 
never  be  right,  till  we  can  heartily  say,  Lord,  thy 
will  be  done,  though  ours  be  crossed. 

5.  The  elders  of  Moab  are  returned  with  Balaam's 
refusal ;  and  now  the  impotent  king  frets  and  rageth 
with  a  furious  passion,  that  so  potent  a  monarch,  the 
lord  of  so  fair  territories,  of  such  viceroys  and  under- 
ling princes,  should  be  denied.  Graceless  sovereignty 
scorns  a  repulse,  in  the  most  unreasonable  demand. 
Chafe  he  may,  and  vex  himself;  but  still  the  sorcerer 
is  tied  at  home,  Israel  lies  safe  in  the  plain,  no  re- 
venge is  found  out  for  Moab  and  Midian.  Oh  what  a 
scene  was  here !  a  malicious  king  rejected,  a  covet- 
ous proi)hcl'llampered,  an  innocent  people  secured, 
and  in  all  a  blessed  God  honoured !  Still  there  is  no 
hope  but  in  the  conjurer;  again  he  sends  to  Balaam. 
It  may  be  the  former  were  not  worthy  to  wait  on  so 
famous  a  sorcerer,  therefore  he  sends  more  noble 
ambassadors.  Numb.  xxii.  15.  No  messenger  is 
honourable  enough  to  wait  at  the  door  of  a  mounte- 
bank ;  every  lackey  is  good  enough  to  fetch  the 
preacher.  Like  the  first  Indians,  that  hung  bugles 
at  their  ears,  while  they  left  their  gold  on  the  dung- 
hills. 

Balak  is  not  discouraged  with  one  denial :  oh  that 
we  could  be  so  importunate  for  our  good,  and  double 
our  knocks  at  the  gate  of  heaven,  as  he  did  at  the 
gates  of  hell !  Denials  do  but  whet  the  desires  of  ve- 
hement suitors.  The  repercussive  blast  brings  out 
the  fire  wiih  more  violence.  Much  time  and  wit  is 
spent  in  compassing  that,  which  after  a  short  fruition 
wearies  the  obtainer.  So  do  worldly  objects  enchant 
us,  that  the  more  they  fly  us,  the  more  impatiently 
wc  pursue  them.  But  when  it  conies  to  spiritual 
things,  which  we  cannot  want  and  be  blessed,  we 
beg  them  as  gluttons  do  their  daily  bread,  whereof 
they  are  full  even  to  surfeit.  Balak  was  denied,  and 
became  more  eager  :  God  doth  not  deny  us,  but  delay 
us ;  and  we  give  over  at  the  first  repulse,  yea,  even 
before  we  have  an  answer ;  spare  to  speak,  and  despair 
to  speed.  It  is  true  that  God  gives  us  more  than  we 
desire,  but  without  our  desiring  he  makes  no  pro- 
mise to  give.  If  many  had  all  they  desired,  it  would 
be  very  little  ;  if  some  good  ones  had  no  more  than 
they  desired,  it  would  not  be  very  much ;  but  if  the 
best  had  no  more  than  they  deserved,  it  would  be 
nothing  at  all.  There  is  an  impost  set  upon  the 
favours  of  nun  :  Balaam  will  not  gratify  the  king  of 
Moab  willujut  a  reward.  God  gives  liberally,  and 
upbraids  not,  .lam.  i.  5.  The  trees  bow  down  their 
heads,  as  if  they  would  ask  moisture  of  the  rivers ;  the 


thankful  flowers  open  their  dumb  mouths  to  the  sun  ; 
tlic  eagles  and  young  lions  seek  their  prey  at  God; 
and  he  feeds  not  the  young  ravens,  till,  in  their  lan- 
guage, they  call  upon  him.  And  shall  man  be  silent 
at  the  bountiful  gate  of  his  Maker,  when  it  is  no  more 
but  ask  and  have  ?  If  we  have  not  all  that  we  ask, 
yet  we  must  ask  all  that  we  would  have.  Why  do 
we  hold  our  peace,  that  have  such  a  command  to 
pray,  and  such  a  promise  to  speed  in  Jesus  Clirist  ? 

6.  Next  comet  li  to  our  observation,  the  sorcerer* .s 
lure,  the  prostration  of  wealth  and  honour  at  his  feet. 
I  will  promote  thee;  let  nothing  hinder  thee.  Numb, 
xxii.  Hi,  17.  O  fools,  is  there  nothing  to  hinder  a 
man  in  his  way  to  promotion?  Doth  not  the  swiftest 
eagle  stoop  a  hundred  times  to  her  prey,  and  rise 
without  it  ?  "  The  race  is  not  to  the  swift,  nor  the 
battle  to  the  strong,"  Eecl.  ix.  11.  He  that  sits  in 
heaven,  and  disposeth  all  things  in  the  world,  can 
disappoint  the  huge  host  of  ^lidian  by  a  dream, 
Judg.  vii.  13,  of  the  Syrians  by  a  noise,  2  Kings  vii. 
C.  What  needs  he  employ  angels  or  thunders,  or 
awake  the  winds  and  tempests,  when  he  can  make  a 
man  hinder  himself  ?  Or  suppose  they  spake  like  a 
king's  orators,  not  so  much  (juestioning  the  possi- 
bility of  impediments,  as  persuading  an  inclination 
to  consent ;  they  show  their  tempting  bait,  presum- 
ing that  if  they  could  once  fasten  this  hook  in  his 
nostrils,  then  nothing  should  hinder  (hem  from  draw- 
ing him  all  the  world  over.  Once  mentioning  pro- 
motion, they  hoped  to  have  struck  it  dead.  This 
vanity  had  transported  themselves ;  and  they  knew 
no  man  living  that  could  hold  out  against  those  as- 
saults, wherewith  their  own  hearts  had  been  so 
easily  conquered.  Who  would  be  poor,  that  might 
be  rich  on  such  tenns?  who  would  toil  in  common 
drudgeries,  that  might  for  one  curse  be  set  among 
princes  ?  what  is  a  poor  word  to  their  pains,  that 
have  broke  many  sleeps,  flattered  many  fools,  swal- 
lowed many  sins,  spent  their  time  and  means  to  get 
one  favour,  honour,  or  grace  from  him  tliat  sits  on  the 
throne  ?  and  yet,  after  all  this,  might  say  of  their 
courtship,  as  that  captain  did  of  his  burgesship, 
With  a  great  sum  we  have  obtained  it.  Acts  xxii.  28. 
Balaam's  honour  comes  at  an  easier  rate ;  Do  but 
curse  Israel,  and  be  a  statesman  of  Moab. 

Thus  was  their  persuasion,  that  all  the  world  would 
be  glad  to  run  a  madding  after  tlieir  bait,  or  adoring 
their  idol.  They  that  are  all  fle»li  and  blood,  think 
it  impossible  to  despise  wealth  and  dignity ;  and  be- 
cause innumerable  souls  are  thus  inveigled,  they  can- 
not believe  that  any  would  escape.  The  swine  thinks 
no  garden  so  pleasant  as  the  dunghill  wherein  he 
wallows.  But  they  are  deceived  ;  t^iat  which  seems 
a  heaven  to  one  mind,  to  another  is  little  better  than 
a  hell.  Two  men  see  a  mass  together;  one  is  trans- 
ported with  admiration  and  delight,  the  other  looks 
on  it  with  indignation  and  scorn ;  one  thinks  it 
heavenly,  the  other  knows  it  blasphemy.  Let  covet- 
ous hearts  confess,  there  be  those  that  can  despise  the 
world  and  say,  Thy  gold  and  silver  perish  with  thee  ; 
that  liad  rather  be  masters  of  themselves,  than  of  the 
Indies  ;  that  tread  under  feet  with  disdain  the  best 
proffers  of  this  world,  in  comparison  of  a  good  con- 
science. Fetch  them  from  beneath  the  burden  of 
their  sins,  and  let  them  feel  the  ease  of  an  assured 
forgiveness ;  and  then  tempt  them  to  their  former 
condition  with  the  gain  of  the  whole  world,  and  llu-y 
will  scorn  it.  What  are  riches  in  themselves,  but  the 
mere  baggage  to  goodness  ?  The  baggage  of  an 
army  cannot  well  be  spared,  yet  doth  it  hinder  the 
march,  yea,  and  not  seldom  the  care  of  that  losetli 
the  vielory.  So  poor  is  the  value  of  riches,  when 
they  rome  upon  the  best  terms  ;  but  if  they  be  gotten 
like  Balaam's,  with  a  curse,  a  curse  shall  light  on 


508 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


ihc-m.  That  God  who  aUows  men  to  be  rich,  doth 
not  allow  them  all  means  to  be  so.  They  that  are 
gotten  up  to  the  top,  let  them  look  down  again  to 
the  stairs  by  wliicli  they  ascended  :  if  those  were 
crooked  and  rotten,  their  wealth  at  the  height  shall 
be  but  a  burden  to  break  their  own  necks.  There  is 
.1  golden  prize  set  up  for  all  runners ;  but  they  must 
keep  the  right  road,  of  honesty,  charity,  equity, 
truth  :  if,  with  Balaam,  they  leave  this  regular  path, 
and  will  be  crossing  over  through  by-ways,  with  a 
shorter  cut  of  their  own,  they  may  be  rich  with  a 
vengeance. 

7.  The  sorcerer  returns  his  answers  to  this  golden 
and  honourable  invitation.  " If  Balak  v.ould  give  me 
his  house  full  of  silver  and  gold,  I  cannot  go  beyond 
the  word  of  the  Lord,"  Numb.  xxii.  18.  AVIiat  saint 
could  speak  better?  who  would  not  think  this  man 
mortilicd  to  the  world?  lie  talks  of  a  round  quan- 
tity ;  no  bags,  nor  chests,  but  a  whole  house  full, 
and  that  house  no  less  than  a  king's  :  now  the  more 
he  mentioned,  the  less  cormpt  he  appeared.  He 
was  not  yet  of  the  mind  of  our  ignorant  votaries, 
that  place  holiness  in  want,  and  think  to  merit  by 
having  nothing.  They  would  make  good  the  old 
rule  in  a  w-rong  sense.  It  is  better  to  give  than  to 
receive ;  they  give  away  to  some  convent  all  they  have 
at  once,  for  but  a  licence  to  beg  for  ever.  Crosses 
they  call  holy,  yet  abandon  money  ;  as  if  the  very 
crosses  could  not  sanctify  the  coin,  and  keep  it  from 
.sin.  But  for  all  their  ridiculous  paradox  of  money- 
hating,  a  wise  man  would  be  loth  to  trust  them  with 
a  house  full  of  gold  and  silver.  But  did  Balaam 
in  very  deed  mean  as  he  said  ?  Dissimulation  is  able 
to  deceive  thousands.  Good  words,  conjurer,  no  such 
matter  in  earnest.  Such  godliness  inight  come  no 
further  than  his  lips,  and  there  the  covetousness  of 
his  heart  stopped  it  out.  Balak  by  this  refusal  may 
think  the  worse  of  his  gold,  Balaam  doth  not.  A 
house  full  may  not  buy  his  tongue,  a  far  less  sum 
hath  won  his  heart.  A  house  full,  sorcerer !  alas,  a 
■closet  full,  a  coffer  full,  yea,  rather  than  fail,  a  purse 
full  shall  do  it.  Avarice  will  play  at  small  game, 
ere  it  quite  sit  out.  If  Balaam  were  not  covetous, 
why  did  he  say  nay  with  a  desire  to  take  it  ?  why 
did  lie  solicit  God  for  that  which  was  so  peremptorily 
<lenied  him  ?  why  did  he  hope  that  his  Maker's  mind 
wovdd  change,  but  that  he  longed  for  the  reward? 
why  did  he  delay  the  messengers,  and  feed  them  witli 
hope  of  success,  that  had  fed  him  with  hope  of  re- 
compcnce,  but  that  his  heart  was  formerly  bribed  ? 

Once  forbidding  is  enough  for  an  obedient  child. 
When  we  petition  God  for  some  useful  things,  all 
the  while  he  holds  us  in  suspense,  and  says  nothing 
to  us,  we  may  redouble  our  prayers.  But  when  he 
resolutely  denies  us,  and  signifies  plainly  that  we 
ask  not  according  to  his  liking,  therefore  he  will  not 
give  us  according  to  our  asking,  it  is  time  to  hold 
our  ))eace.  Thrice  did  Paul  repeat  his  suit,  2  Cor. 
xii.  8 ;  all  this  while  God  gave  him  no  direct  an- 
-swcr;  but  when  he  heard,  "My  grace  is  suflicient 
for  thee,"  he  gave  over  in  that  particular.  We  grow 
saucy  with  God  when  we  solicit  him  for  that  which 
he  hath  said  he  will  not  grant  us.  Let  our  requests  be 
lawful,  and  then  the  more  earnest  the  better  welcome  ; 
sucli  holy  violence  shall  make  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven yield  to  our  conquest.  But  when  wc  beg  pro- 
hibited favours  we  are  troublesome.  Should  the 
malicious  pray  for  a  place  of  authority,  to  carve  his 
own  revenge  ?  or  shall  another  beg  riches  to  accom- 
modate his  pride,  that  he  may  overtop  his  neigh- 
bours ?  It  is  wretched  presumption  to  ask  that 
JiUowance,  which  God's  word  hatli  expressly  forbid- 
<len.  Shall  Balaam  beg  leave  to  curse  ?  shall  he  re- 
peat that  postulation  ?  was  not  one  answer  suflicient  ? 


No  honest  heart  will  endure  to  be  forbidden  twice. 
But  oil  the  powerful  enchantment  of  money !  this 
can  charm  the  very  charmer,  and  command  him  that 
thinks  he  can  command  hell.  When  we  are  resolved 
to  sin  for  profit,  we  do  even  then  turn  our  backs  upon 
heaven.  Nor  is  it  now  enough,  in  cold  blood,  while 
we  are  reading  this,  to  disclaim  this  unrighteous 
mammon:  (and  yet  there  be  some  stony  hearts,  that 
let  God  preach  till  doomsday,  life  and  the  world 
shall  part  from  them  both  together  j  that  think  all 
this  as  needless  as  a  shower  of  rain  in  harvest :)  but 
when  the  temptation  comes,  and  the  king  of  jiloab 
or  hell  offers  the  golden  bait,  then  to  resist,  then  to 
contemn  his  offers,  this  is  the  noble  trial  of  Christians. 

8.  Bala.im  longs,  \)rays,  and  obtains,  Numb.  xxii. 
20;  permitted  he  is  to  go,  but  this  permission  was 
worse  than  a  denial.  This  is  not  the  first  thing  that 
God  hath  granted  in  anger.  He  gave  murnmring 
Israel  dainty  meat,  quails ;  but  they  had  little  joy  of 
it,  when  that  they  put  in  at  their  mouths  came 
loathsomely  out  at  their  nostrils.  They  had  better 
have  had  no  meat,  than  such  sauce.  I  gave  them  a 
king  in  my  wrath,  Hos.  xiii.  1 1  ;  they  had  better 
have  been  without  him.  It  is  one  thing  to  like,  an- 
other to  permit :  God  suffers  a  thousand  evils  in  the 
world,  he  never  took  pleasure  in  any.  Moses  toler- 
ated those  legal  divorces,  he  never  approved  them. 
God  liked  not  Balaam's  journey,  yet  in  his  judgment 
he  gives  way  to  it;  as  if  he  had  said,  Well,  since 
thou  art  so  hot  upon  gold,  set  on  thy  journey,  be 
gone.  So  he  bids  him  go,  as  Solomon  bids  the  young 
man  rejoice,  Eccl.  xi.  9  ;  whereupon  would  follow  a 
sorry  reckoning.  This  Balaam  could  not  deny  ;  for 
when  God  crossed  him  in  his  journey,  he  did  not 
say,  Thou  commandcdst  me;  which  (had  not  his 
conscience  known  the  contrary)  had  been  a  ready 
answer.  The  Lord  rather  deny  us  oub  requests  in 
love,  than  grant  them  in  anger. 

Be  we  content  with  what  God  sends  us;  and  let 
neither  purses  full  nor  houses  full  of  gold  hire  us  to 
transgress  his  laws.  If  we  keep  the  bounds  of  obe- 
dience, he  will  both  give  us  the  bread  of  sufliciency 
on  earth,  and  a  whole  city  of  gold  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

We  are  got  through  the  better  half  of  Balaam's 
way;  there  is  but  one  mile  further,  of  eight  short 
furlongs,  and  we  have  overcome  it. 

I.  Such  was  his  forwardness,  that  no  sooner  did 
God  answer  his  importunity  with  a  Go,  but  he  takes 
the  first  hint,  and  longs  to  be  gone.  He  was  busy 
with  God  before  ;  but  now  he  hath  his  fade,  (Go,) 
not  a  word  more,  there  is  no  need  to  bid  him 
hasten.  He  gets  up  betimes  in  the  mornmg.  Numb, 
xxii.  21  :  the  night  seemed  tedious  to  him,  and  he 
taxelh  it  of  lazy  minutes  ;  but  the  morning  is  wel- 
come. Covetousness  needs  neither  clock  nor  bell 
to  waken  it ;  its  own  desires  will  not  allow  it  to  take 
rest.  AVant  does  not  break  so  many  sleeps  for  pro- 
vision the  next  day,  as  abundance  doth  for  increase. 
Where  shall  we  find  men  thus  eager  after  spiritual 
Wealth,  which  alone  can  make  them  happy  ?  We 
seek  for  tluit,  as  the  Israelites  did  for  Canaan,  when 
they  made  forty  years'  travel  of  a  forty  days'  journey: 
so  softly  do  we  pursue  the  blessings  of  our  tlcrnal 
peace,  that  if  wc  can  reach  home  by  tnat  time  we  come 
to  threescore,  we  think  it  time  enough.  But  in  the 
pursuit  of  profit  and  pleasure,  we  drive  Jehu's  pace, 
as  if  we  were  mad.  Under  religion  men  travel  a 
pack-horse  motion,  as  if  they  were  weary  of  their 
burden;  but  nm  after  vanity,  like  horses  with  an 
empty  coach.  We  woidd  be  strong  at  twenty,  rich 
at  thirty,  wo  would  be  wise  at  forty,  but  to  be  holy  we 
can  tariy  till  fifty.  When  our  own  business  wakens 
us,  what  common  day  in  the  week  finds  us  tardy  ?    But 


Ver.  15. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


509 


on  the  sabbath,  when  God's  special  service  calls  us 
up,  we  take  our  case,  and  mate  bold  to  lie  in  bed. 
Nature  and  our  vain  misconstruction  of  God  hath 
taught  us,  that  if  any  work  he  left  undone,  it  shall 
be  his. 

2.  Balaam  if  up  and  onwards  his  way,  and  now 
flatters  himself  with  assured  success.  His  corrupt 
heart  prompts  liim ;  ^Vhy  should  God  let  me  go,  but 
that  he  means  to  let  me  do  the  thing  I  go  about  ? 
God  had  (irst  charged  him  neither  to  curse  nor  to  go ; 
now  he  hopes,  he  that  had  given  him  licence  to  go, 
would  also  give  liim  leave  to  curse.  He  that  relented  in 
the  one,  why  may  he  not  as  well  relent  in  the  other  ? 
He  saw  how  this  curse  might  bless  himself:  and 
therefore  chooscth  rather  to  undo  so  many  millions 
of  souls,  than  to  prejudice  his  own  fortune  in  so  gal- 
lant a  promotion.  How  Satanic  is  that  mind,  which 
would  make  way  to  his  own  particular  benefit,  witli 
the  ruin  of  so  many  thousands !  that  would  set  a 
whole  city  on  fire,  and  it  were  but  for  light  to  tell 
his  money  !  How  should  tliey  escape  the  plague  of 
Balaam,  that  liave  more  than  cursed,  even  depo- 
pulated, whole  towns,  to  build  up  their  own  smoke- 
Il'ss  chimneys  ?  Would  God  such  men  had  only 
cursed  the  people,  and  not  given  the  people  so  just 
cause  to  curse  them.  They  cannot  escape  woes, 
wiiile  there  is  an  orphan  left  to  cry,  or  a  widow  to 
weep. 

But  now,  confident  sorcerer,  is  there  no  stop  to  be 
feared  in  the  way  ?  Yes,  "  God's  anger  was  kindled 
because  he  went,"  Numb.  xxii.  22.  First  God  said. 
Neither  go,  nor  curse ;  next  he  says.  Go,  but  curse 
not;  and  now  he  is  angry  that  he  did  go  at  all.  Why 
did  God  suffer  him  to  do  what  he  prohibited,  if  he  be 
angiy  with  him  for  doing  that  which  he  suffered  ? 
The  Lord  saw  his  covetous  desires  grow  hotter,  his 
wicked  hopes  stronger,  and  his  heart  worse  with  this 
last  allowance ;  therefore  it  was  high  time  to  cross 
his  wicked  intendments.  Men  know  us  only  by  our 
external  motions,  God  judgeth  us  according  to  our 
inward  dispositions.  The  life  of  all  our  works  lies 
in  our  heart  :  if  the  fountain  stink,  no  matter  how 
clear  the  channel  looks.  Tlie  difference  of  all  actions 
in  God's  sight,  is  fetched  from  the  will.  He  bade 
Moses  smite  the  rock  ;  he  smote  it  twice,  and  is 
blamed  for  doing  it  so  often.  Elisha  bids  the  king 
of  Israel  smite  the  earth ;  he  doth  it  thrice,  and  is 
blamed  for  not  doing  it  oftener:  all  the  difference  of 
the  fault  was  in  the  different  heart.  Moses  numbers 
the  people,  and  is  praised  ;  David  numbers  them,  and 
is  punished.  Not  that  one  man  may  better  play  the 
thief  than  another  look  on  ;  as  if  God  were  indulgent 
to  any  sin  ;  but  he  finds  in  some  men's  inwards  that 
malice,  whereof  another  is  less  guilty.  Com  that 
grows  on  a  liousc-side,  often  shoots  up  higher,  and 
looks  fairer,  than  that  of  the  tilled  field;  yet  this  we 
gather,  that  we  neglect,  because  we  know  the  root  is 
naught.  Though  our  persons  shall  be  judged  ac- 
cording to  our  works,  yet  our  works  shall  be  judged 
according  to  our  hearts. 

3.  An  angel  is  despatched  to  resist  Balaam  :  this 
is  one  of  the  noble  employments  nf  those  glorious 
spirits,  to  give  a  strong  and  invisible  opposition  to 
wicked  enterprises.  Many  a  treacherous  act  have 
they  hindered,  without  the  knowledge  of  the  traitor. 
Among  the  divers  conspiracies  against  Queen  Eliza- 
bctli,  some,  by  the  adversaries'  own  confession,  were 
prevented  by  miracle  ;  they  knew  not  how.  It 
pleased  their  malice  to  give  out  that  they  were  cross- 
ed by  tile  devil ;  but  we  acknowledge  with  thanks- 
•jiving,  it  was  the  hand  of  God  ;  and  say,  with  Daniel, 
Our  God  hath  sent  his  angel,  and  delivered  us  from 
those  merciless  lions,  Dan.  vi.  22.  How  often  hath 
the  murderer  prepared  his  weapon,  the  thief  clotted 


his  robber)-,  the  enemy  set  his  ambush,  and  been  dis- 
appointed above  their  imagination  !  Sure  there  was 
a  secret  resistance,  God  sent  his  angel  to  cross  the 
designs  of  Baalam.  It  is  our  honour,  that  God  hath 
set  us  on  work  for  this  purpose;  therefore  also  are 
preachers  called  angels.  As  God  hath  made  his  an- 
gels ministers,  so  he  hath  made  his  ministers  angels  : 
the  whole  scope  of  our  labour  is  to  stop  sinners  in  their 
way  of  disobedience.  To  stay  the  course  of  evil, 
whether  ministers  do  it  by  the  word,  or  magistrates 
by  the  sword,  is  in  both  their  hands  angelical  service. 
Yea,  and  to  prosper  this  work,  both  the  tribunals  of 
the  one,  and  pulpits  of  the  other,  are  protected  by 
angels,  or  they  could  not  stand. 

But  now  in  what  case  are  the  wicked,  that  have 
God's  angels  for  their  opposites  !  How  deplorable 
and  desperate  is  their  estate  !  God  they  have  made 
their  enemy,  angels  they  cannot  call  their  friends, 
devils  labour  to  destroy  them,  the  world  cannot 
save  them ;  whither,  oh  whither  should  they  i-un 
for  refuge  ?  Balaam  goes  away  from  God,  (for 
he  leaves  him  that  does  not  ask  leave  of  him.) 
Satan  provokes  him,  a  good  angel  resists  liini, 
what  shall  become  of  him  ?  How  should  those 
heavenly  spirits  bear  that  man  in  their  arms,  like 
nurses,  upon  earth  living ;  or  bear  up  his  soul  to 
heaven,  like  winged  porters,  wlien  he  dies;  that  re- 
fuseth  the  right  way  ?  They  shall  keep  us  in  our 
ways,  Psal.  xci.  11.  Out  of  the  way  it  is  tlicir  charge 
to  oppose  us,  as  to  preserve  us  in  the  way.  Nor  is 
this  more  a  terror  to  the  ungodly,  than  to  the  right- 
eous a  comfort.  For  if  an  angel  would  keep  even  a 
Balaam  from  sinning,  how  much  more  careful  are  all 
those  glorious  powers  to  prevent  the  miscarriages  of 
God's  children !  From  how  many  falls  and  bruises 
have  they  saved  us!  In  how  many  inclinations  to 
evil  have  they  turned  us,  either  by  removing  occa- 
sions, or  by  casting  in  secretly  good  motions !  We 
sin  too  often,  and  should  catch  many  more  falls,  if 
those  holy  guardians  did  not  uphold  us.  Satan  is 
ready  to  divert  us,  when  we  endeavour  to  do  well ; 
when  to  do  ill,  angels  are  as  ready  to  prevent  us. 
We  are  in  Joshua  the  high  priest's  case ;  with  Satan 
on  the  one  hand,  on  the  other  an  angel,  Zech.  iii.  1 : 
without  this,  our  danger  wei'c  greater  than  our  de- 
fence, and  we  could  neither  stand  nor  rise. 

4.  The  angel  stops  Balaam,  not  strikes  him.  Why 
doth  not  God  confound  him,  as  well  as  withstand 
him  ?  Why  did  he  withstand  him,  yet  so  as  to  let 
him  pass  ?  God  is  pleased  to  warn  the  very  wicked, 
before  he  destroy  them  ;  they  shall  see  his  dislike, 
ere  they  feel  his  wrath  ;  that  so  at  once  he  may  be 
glorified,  and  the  mouth  of  all  wickedness  stopped. 
If  all  God's  warnings  were  laid  to  heart,  how'  few 
should  perish !  So  he  spares  Balaam,  because  he 
had  more  to  do  with  him:  that  tongue  shall  get  him 
honour  in  Moab,  which  meant  there  to  dishonour 
him.  God  sees  it  more  for  his  glory  to  fetch  good 
out  of  evil,  than  to  suffer  no  evil  at  all.  Pharaoli 
shall  be  soundly  knocked,  before  he  be  slain.  Why  ? 
"I  will  get  me  honour  upon  Pliaraoh,"  saith  the 
Lord,  Exod.  xiv.  17.  He  could  soon  rid  the  world  of 
bad  members,  but  then  he  should  lose  the  praise 
of  working  good  by  evil  instnmients.  The  bad 
man's  sin  is  the  good  man's  sorrow :  he  must  grieve 
for  if,  he  may  not  repine  at  it.  The  wicked  do  not 
sin  behind  God's  back,  he  sees  it,  and  suffers  it;  and 
though  for  a  time  he  hold  his  peace,  he  will  call 
them  to  a  strict  account  for  if,  Psal.  1.  21.  It  is  no 
good  sign  for  a  man  to  prosper  in  his  ungracious 
courses  :  God  owes  him  a  payment ;  and  it  shall  be  the 
greater,  when  he  comes  to  reckon  with  him  for  all  his 
faults  together.  Do  you  mark  none  worldly  and 
wealthy,  that  are  rich  in  goods,  and  penurious  in  good 


510 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


deeds?  That  man  doth  not  more  treasure  up  gold 
than  wrath  ;  and  while  he  gi-udgeth  his  superfluity 
to  the  poor,  he  grudgcth  mercy  to  his  own  soul. 

5.  After  all  oppositions,  the  conjurer  is  arrived  in 
Moab.  He  had  seen  an  angel  against  him,  heard  a 
beast  speak  under  him ;  and  if  the  former  were  fa- 
miliar, yet  this  last  was  strange  and  uncouth ;  yet 
he  is  not  afraid  to  ride  on  that  ass,  whose  voice  was 
still  in  his  ears.  News  goes  post  to  the  court ;  the 
long-expected  guest  is  come.  Now  as  if  he  had 
been  some  great  monarch,  the  king  sets  out  to  meet 
him :  he  that  to  fetch  him  sent  princes,  goes  himself 
in  person  to  welcome  him.  They  both  look  for  pro- 
motion, either  from  the  other;  and  he  that  said, 
"  Am  I  not  able  to  promote  thee?"  insinuates  a  con- 
fession withal,  Thou  art  able  to  promote  me.  Two 
would  be  raised,  and  both  with  the  downfal  of  a 
third.  Now  the  bargain  is  sure  on  both  sides  ;  the 
very  sight  of  the  pSiysician  hath  half  cured  the 
disease. 

But  who  can  wonder  enough  at  this,  that  a  lung 
thus  graceth  a  prophet  ?  Such  respect  have  even 
pagans  borne  to  those  that  were  but  reputed  pro- 
phets ;  their  purses,  their  palaces,  were  not  held  too 
dear  for  them.  How  should  this  cast  a  bUish  upon 
the  checks  of  Cliristians  !  Those  showed  false  gods, 
we  teach  the  tme ;  they  brought  poison,  we  bring 
the  food  of  life  ;  they  flattered  men  to  destruction,  ours 
is  the  tidings  of  salvation  :  yet  they  were  honoured, 
we  are  despised ;  we  are  defrauded,  they  are  reward- 
ed. So  that  if  Barbaiy  wring  her  hands  for  mistak- 
ing, Christendom  shall  rend  her  heart  for  abusing, 
the  messengers  of  God.  Our  names  come  into  few 
mouths,  out  of  which  they  return  but  with  reproaches. 
Among  the  rest  of  our  sins,  0  God,  be  merciful  to  the 
contempt  of  thy  servants. 

6.  The  superstitious  king  hugs  Balaam,  and  his 
hopes  in  Balaam ;  and  confident  of  the  success,  he 
feasts  his  gods,  his  princes,  his  prophet,  and  spares 
for  no  cost.  Next  morning  they  all  visit  the  high 
places  of  Baal,  altars  are  erected,  sacrifices  prepared, 
the  number  designed ;  seven  altars,  seven  oxen,  seven 
rams.  What  a  glorious  business  was  here  !  AVhy 
seven  ?  Would  not  one  have  served  the  turn  ?  The 
true  God  is  but  one,  and  he  required  but  one  altar  at 
once  :  did  he  now  stand  upon  numbers  ?  There  is 
nothing  more  magnificent  than  false  devotion.  Idol- 
aters in  all  ages  have  made  more  pompous  shows 
than  the  tnie  worshippers.  Religion  seldom  hath  so 
fair  a  flourish  as  superstition.  The  harlot  affects 
gaudy  dressings,  the  sober  matron  does  not.  Truth 
had  rather  go  naked,  than  wear  the  caparisons  of 
hypocrisy.  We  paint  old  rotten  houses;  sound  and 
substantial  buildings  honour  themselves  with  their 
own  bare  worth.  What  a  world  of  plausible  devices 
hath  the  church  of  Rome  invented  to  hold  up  her 
credit  in  the  world  !  To  say  nothing  of  their  proud 
vaunts  of  antiquity,  universality,  succession,  name  of 
forefathers,  which  amaze  and  besot  an  ignorant  heart ; 
the  glorious  shows  of  their  piocessions,  the  gaudy 
ornaments  of  their  altars,  the  rich  robes  of  their 
images,  the  pomp  and  magnificence  of  their  places, 
llie  triumphs  of  their  great  festivals  ;  these  transport 
simple  and  shallow  spectators.  Nature  is  led  by 
sense  :  children  and  fools  cannot  well  be  of  any 
other  religion.  Alas,  they  see  not  the  inside ;  tlie 
doctrine  that  maintiiins  idolatry,  justifies  treason, 
commends  lying,  rcfugeth  murder,  disgracelh  the 
word  of  God,  dishonours  the  Mediatorship  of  Christ. 
It  is  but  the  face  they  behold,  not  the  heart ;  yea,  it 
is  the  i)aint,  not  the  face.  I  have  heard  of  a  travel- 
ler, that  could  get  no  lodging  in  his  inn,  unless  lie 
were  bed-fellow  to  a  stranger,  that  seemed  a  goodly 
jierson.     Tluy  slept  together  all  night.     This  pas- 


senger waking  first  in  the  morning,  draws  the  cur- 
tain, and  seeing  a  deformed,  stigmalical,  and  mis- 
shapen creature  in  the  bed,  cries  out  tliat  he  had 
lodged  with  the  devil.  Yet  when  this  ngly  hetero- 
clite  had  put  on  an  artificial  nose,  a  glass  eye,  covered 
his  bald  head  with  borrowed  hairs,  and  clapped  a 
rich  suit  on  his  back  to  hide  his  other  deformities, 
he  appeared  a  brave,  proper  man  again.  If  you 
should  see  the  church  of  Rome  naked,  without  her 
disguise,  you  would  loathe  her  ;  but  stay  till  she  put 
on  her  dressing,  her  artificial  head  the  pope,  her  arti- 
ficial hands  the  Jesuits,  her  garish  apparel  of  pomp 
and  ceremonies,  she  will  tempt  you  to  love  her.  If 
a  pagan  should  ask  a  papist.  What  god  do  you  wor- 
ship ?  and  he  should  truly  answer,  A  god  that  de- 
lights in  blood,  that  rewards  treason,  that  commands 
dissembling,  how  homble  would  liis  religion  appear ! 
But  clothe  all  these  with  arguments,  and  neat  dis- 
tinctions, and  pompous  ostentation  ;  and  then  how 
many  unblest  understandings  are  bewitched  with  it  I 
Terror  had  need  be  gorgeously  set  out,  or  else  truth 
wouhl  soon  mar  her  market. 

7.  Balaam's  altars  are  smoking,  the  king  expect- 
ing, the  prophet  desiring;  but  all  will  not  do;  God 
will  not  give  him  leave  to  curse  Israel.  Again  they 
renew  the  sacrifice,  and  change  the  station;  like  an 
unlucky  gamester,  that  looks  for  better  success  in 
another  place.  Yet  if  Balaam  be  constant  in  solicit- 
ing, God  will  be  more  constant  in  denying.  How 
shameless  was  that  forehead,  which  durst  importune 
God  after  so  many  denials!  Yet  still  the  love  of 
earth  over-masters  the  fear  of  heaven  ;  and  as  if  the  in- 
finite Deity  were  not  every  where,  he  chooseth  a  new 
place  for  sacrifice,  and  dares  rather  hope  a  change 
than  change  his  hope.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  dis- 
traction, his  tongue  blesseth  against  his  heart,  and 
his  heart  curseth  against  his  tongue. 

Balak  hearing  this  unlooked-for  news,  first  expos- 
tulates, "  I  took  thee  to  curse  mine  enemies,  and,  l)e- 
hold,  thou  hast  blessed  them  altogether,"  Numb, 
xxiii.  II.  Next  he  entreats,  "Neither  curse  them  at 
all,  nor  bless  them  at  all,"  ver.  25.  Lastly,  he  chides, 
"  I  thought  to  promote  thee,  but  the  Lord  hath  kept 
thee  back  from  honour,"  Numb.  xxiv.  II  :  as  if  he 
would  make  him  curse  (jod,  for  not  suffering  him  to 
curse  Israel.  Doth  God  hinder  Balaam's  promotion  ? 
No,  he  hinders  Balaam's  destruction  ;  in  that  he 
will  not  let  him  be  so  bad  as  he  would.  Many  a  man 
goes  to  hell  for  getting  what  he  should  not;  Balaam 
must  thither  for  desiring  to  get  what  he  could  not. 
Unjust  gains  may  be  honey  in  the  mouth,  but  they  are 
gravel  in  the  throat,  poison  in  the  soul.  It  is  to  be  fear- 
ed, that  many  tradesmen  have  not  a  little  to  answer 
for  about  this  reckoning.  Let  them  search  their 
chests,  search  their  hearts;  and  if  they  find  any  of  this 
adulterate  gold  among  their  heaps,  away  with  it ;  as 
Ihey  love  their  .souls,  away  with  it.  For  else  they  have 
locked  a  thief  in  their  coffers,  which  will  carry  away 
all,  and  at  the  last  themselves  with  it,  Prov.  xxi.  "J. 

8.  The  king  may  fret,  but  the  prophet  goes  on ; 
and  instead  of  cursing  Israel,  he  curseth  Moab,  "  A 
scejitre  shall  rise  out  of  Israel,  and  shall  smite  the 
coniers  of  ^loab,  and  destroy  all  the  children  of 
Shelh,"  Numb.  xxiv.  17.  As  if  he  did  protest,  I 
may  curse,  but  I  dare  not ;  I  would  curse,  but  I  can- 
not. The  king  is  angry  with  his  sorcerer,  the  sor- 
cerer is  angiy  with  God:  Balaam  hath  his  dismis- 
sion, yea,  command  to  be  gone.  Yet  rather  than 
lose  all  his  hopes,  he  will  now  speak  worse  than 
curses.  He  falls  in  with  the  council  of  Moab,  and 
adviseth  them  a  way  how  to  make  God  curse  them 
liimself.  It  is  not  for  lack  of  desire  that  I  do  not 
curse  Israel;  thou  dost  not  more  \vi.4i  their  ruin, 
than  I  wish  thy  recompencc.     Now  so  long  as  they 


Ver.  15. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


511 


keep  in  with  God,  "  there  is  no  enchantment  against 
Jacob,  nor  divination  against  Israel,"  Numb,  xxiii. 
23.  Get  them  but  once  into  rebellion,  and  they 
shall  curse  themselves.  There  is  no  withdrawing 
God  from  them,  but  by  withdrawing  them  from  God: 
procure  them  to  sin,  they  shall  fall  alone.  Tliey 
will  adroit  no  sin  sooner  than  wantonness  ;  this  will 
be  wrought  ujion  them  by  fair  faces :  adultery  will 
draw  on  idolalry,  and  both  fetcli  down  God's  anger 
upon  them.  Beauty  shall  tempt  them  to  gaze,  their 
sight  shall  draw  ihcm  to  lust,  their  lust  to  folly,  folly 
to  superstition,  and  so  God  shall  curse  them  for  thee 
unasked.  Here  was  policy  derived  from  the  conclave 
of  hell.  As  it  has  been  said,  Ubi  bene,  nemo  melius  ;  ubi 
male,  nemo  pejus ;  i.  e.  Where  Balaam  spake  well,  never 
any  prophet  spake  more  divinely;  where  ill,  never 
any  devil  spaxe  more  desperately.  This  project 
took  too  well :  ill  counsel  prospers  faster  than  good. 
Kindly  seed  falls  often  out  of  the  way,  and  roots  not ; 
but  the  tares  never  light  amiss.  They  look,  and  lust, 
and  sin,  and  perish.  The  Balaam  of  Rome,  the 
Balak  of  hell,  sit  in  council  against  us;  but  if  we  do 
not  yield  to  sin,  they  shall  never  hurt  us. 

"  Who  loved  the  wages  of  unrighteousness." 
Wliere  we  have  three  things  propounded  to  our  in- 
struction. First,  what  this  wages  is,  riches.  Se- 
condly, how  they  become  the  wages  of  unrighteous- 
ness. Thirdly,  the  baseness  of  the  covetous  heart, 
that  sets  his  aflection  on  this  wages,  that  loves  such 
riches. 

1.  There  have  been  some  busy  humours  and  stir- 
ring wits  in  the  world,  that  with  bitter  declamations 
have  inveighed  aijainst  riches :  like  foxes,  disprais- 
ing the  grapes  \viiich  they  could  not  reach  ;  and 
because  they  might  not  be  rich  themselves,  would 
needs  persuade  the  rest  to  be  poor  with  them  for 
company.  Eustathius,  Pelagius,  the  illuminate  elders 
of  Munstcr,  some  ignorant  votaries  of  Rome,  have 
taught  and  practised  these  absurdities ;  fit  for  none 
but  rebels  and  banknipts,  or  (if  you  will)  idle  and 
unuseful  beggars.  But  the  crown  of  the  wise  is  their 
wealth,  and  the  blessing  of  God  maketh  rich.  "  The 
rich  and  the  poor  meet  together ;  the  Lord  is  the 
maker  of  them  all,"  Prov.  xxii.  2.  I  should  not  fear, 
if  the  best  of  those  mendicants  should  preach  you  a 
sermon  against  riches,  that  you  would  presently  be 
out  of  love  with  them  :  I  rather  fear,  you  would  be 

f  reedy  of  this  unrighteous  mammon,  whosoever  con- 
emns  it.  Therefore  for  your  satisfaction,  you  may 
be  rich  and  happy,  if  you  will  be  rich  and  godly. 
It  is  the  bad  alTeetion,  not  the  lawful  possession,  of 
riches,  that  we  blame.  The  substance  is  good,  if 
there  be  not  sin  in  the  conscience,  Ecclus.  xiii.  24. 
God  doth  not  charge  us  to  renounce  riches,  but  to 
avoid  the  dangers  incident  to  them.  When  they 
come  in  God's  name,  in  God's  name  let  them  be  ac- 
cepted; otherwise  the  saints  would  none  of  them. 
Abram  refused  the  king  of  Sodom's  liberal  offer,  lest 
he  should  say,  "  I  have  made  Abram  rich,"  Gen.  xiv. 
23.  God  had  promised  to  be  his  great  reward :  the 
King  of  heaven  shall  make  him  rich,  the  king  of 
Sodom  shall  not.  "  Moses  refused  to  be  called  the 
son  of  Pharaoh's  daugliter,"  Heb.  xi.  24;  not  that 
he  thought  it  unlawful ;  for  when  God  called  him  to 
honour,  he  behaved  himself  as  a  worthy  prince. 
Daniel  refusing  the  king's  portion  for  pulse,  yet 
thought  it  no  sin  to  fare  well ;  therefore  being  ad- 
vanred  to  honour,  he  kept  a  table  befitting  his  estate. 
But  those  that  are  God's  sworn  pensioners,  will  not 
live  at  men's  finding.  What  he  gives  bountifully, 
they  take  thankfully.  As  Achsah,  when  her  father 
had  given  her  a  portion  desired  also  a  blessing ;  so 
where  God  gives  a  portion,  (here  is  always  a  blessing 
vnth  it.     Otherwise,  as  at  a  funeral  dinner  there  are 


many  guests,  and  great  cheer,  but  no  mirth,  because 
he  is  dead  that  should  make  it ;  so  in  a  full  estate 
there  is  variety  and  abundance,  but  no  joy  of  con- 
science, because  that  is  wanting  which  should  give  it, 
the  love  of  God  in  Christ. 

All  things  are  not  to  be  blended  in  a  community. 
The  Christian  hath  a  double  right  to  the  things  of 
this  life.  First,  a  spiritual  right.  Man  came  naked 
out  of  the  earth,  yet  was  he  then  so  rich  as  to  be  lord 
of  all.  Heaven  was  his  roof,  earth  his  floor,  the  sea 
his  pond,  the  sun  and  moon  his  torches,  all  creatures 
his  vassals.  This  though  God's  earthly  son  lost  to 
his  posterity,  yet  his  heavenly  Son  recovered  for  his 
cliosen ;  in  whom  all  things  are  ours,  and  we  are  his, 
and  he  is  God's,  1  Cor.  iii.  22, 2.3.  Secondly,  a  civil  or 
human  right:  for  it  is  false  to  say,  there  is  no  tenure  but 
grace,  no  title  but  charity.  By  the  rule  of  grace,  the 
civil  owner  may  be  a  spiritual  usurper,  and  the  spirit- 
ual owner  may  be  a  civil  beggar.  But  there  is  another 
law,  yu*  gentium,  or  the  law  of  nations,  whereby  God 
divides  to  every  man  his  own  propriety ;  otherwise 
that  were  a  superfluous  commandment,  "  Thou  shall 
not  steal ;"  for  no  man  can  steal  his  own.  In  a  word, 
Paul  chargeth  Timothy  to  charge  the  rich  in  this 
world,  that  they  be  not  high-minded,  &c.  1  Tim.  vi. 
17.  He  says  not.  Charge  men  that  they  be  not  rich, 
but  charge  the  rich  that  they  be  not  proud.  Your 
riches  shall  do  you  good,  when  you  do  good  with 
your  riches.  But  many  a  man  may  say  of  his  wealth, 
as  it  was  epitaphcd  on  that  pope.  He  got  it  like  a 
fox,  held  it  like  a  lion,  and  left  it  like  a  dog:  as  the 
boat  drowns  the  passenger,  yet  afterward  comes  itself 
safe  to  the  shore.  Riches  too  often  do  worldlings 
the  kindness  to  help  them  unto  hell,  and  that  when 
they  are, 

2.  The  wages  of  unrighteousness.  The  gain  that 
comes  in  by  unwarrantable  means,  defineth  this 
wages.  God  hath  set  certain  bounds  and  limits,  be- 
yond which  if  men  step  to  get  wealth,  they  may  get 
it  with  a  vengeance.  Every  man  hath  his  orb  or 
compass,  justice,  integrity,  innocence :  if  he  can  be 
rich  witliin  that  allowed  sphere,  much  good  do  it 
him.  Balaam  would  have  built  himself  a  fortune 
upon  the  ruins  of  Israel,  and  got  wealth  by  a  curse: 
the  curse  indeed  he  got,  but  the  wealth  he  missed. 
So  it  becomes  the  wages  of  unrighteousness.  Not 
to  mention  those  two  trusty  servants  of  mammon, 
use  and  brokage,  which  have  been  so  anciently,  so 
universally  condemned ;  there  be  some  trades  that 
live  altogether  by  this  wages,  and  so  reconcile  at 
once  lucrum  in  area  and  damnum  in  cmiscienlia ;  i.  e. 
gain  in  the  chest  and  loss  in  the  conscience.  They 
have  two  evasions :  First,  every  thing  is  worth  what 
it  may  be  sold  for.  But  as  a  rigorous  price  is  the 
breach  of  charity,  so  an  excessive  price  is  the  viola- 
tion of  justice.  It  is  no  matter  how  they  honest  it 
with  fair  profit,  when  God  shall  judge  it  foul  theft; 
or  how  they  esteem  that  lawful  gains,  which  they 
shall  find  unrighteous  wages.  Secondly,  let  it  be 
at  the  buyer's  peril :  though  the  measure  be  defect- 
ive, the  matter  vicious,  all  insufficient ;  yet  still  let 
the  buyer  look  to  it.  No  man  can  wrong  liimself, 
none  are  bound  to  buy.  But  do  they  not  both  con- 
ceal the  faults  in  their  knowledge,  and  protest  the 
goodness  against  their  knowledge.  Is  not  deficiency 
of  worth  their  chief  apprentice,  and  excess  of  price 
their  best  factor?  Whatsoever  comes  by  force  or  by 
fraud,  falls  under  this  term,  the  wages  of  unright- 
eousness, and  will  fall  heavy  upon  the  gainers.  It  is 
an  unhappy  j)rofit  that  ariscth  from  another's  loss: 
he  that  cares  not  who  doth  lose  so  he  may  gain,  shall 
be  sure  that  whosoever  gains  heaven  he  shall  lose  it. 
The  oppressor  will  hedge  in  his  poor  neighbour's 
estate,  though  it  be  to  "his  utter  undoing;  as  the 


512 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IL 


thief  cuts  ofT  the  travellei-'s  finger,  and  it  be  but  to 
have  his  ring.  Let  me  have  thy  vineyard,  saith 
Ahab,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  better  for  it,  or  the  price 
of  it  in  money,  1  Kings  xxi.  2.  One  would  think 
here  was  square  dealing ;  no  extorting  it  by  force, 
but  requiring  it  by  a  fair  composition,  either  the 
value  in  money  or  in  exchange.  Yet  was  there 
iniquity  under  this  pretence  :  for  God  had  forbidden 
the  Israelites  to  alienate  their  inheritances :  this 
Ahab  knew;  and  therefore  what  Naboth  might  not 
lawfully  do,  he  might  not  lawfully  require.  It  was 
well  that  he  did  not  wrest  it,  it  was  not  well  that  lie 
did  desire  it ;  yet  now,  against  all  justice,  he  will 
have  it.  Being  denied,  he  falls  sick  of  the  sullens, 
and  is  ready  to  break  his  heart,  because  God's  law 
might  not  be  broken.  In  this  fit  Satan  sends  him  a 
physician  ;  Jezebel  casts  cold  water  on  his  face,  and 
puts  .spirits  into  him  of  her  own  extraction :  "  Let 
thy  heart  be  merry,  I  will  give  thee  the  vineyard  of 
Naboth,"  ver.  7.  Satan  knew  of  old,  when  mischief 
was  to  be  done,  where  to  find  a  helper.  A  fast  is 
warned,  the  city  assembled,  Naboth  conventcd,  con- 
fronted, accused,  sentenced,  stoned ;  and  now  his 
vineyard  is  esclieatcd  to  the  crown.  The  false  wit- 
nesses have  their  wages  out  of  Jezebel's  purse,  the 
judges  have  their  wages  out  of  Ahab's  favour,  Ahab 
and  Jezebel  have  their  wages  out  of  Naboth's  vine- 
yard; but  Naboth  speeds  the  best,  for  he  changcth 
a  vineyard  on  earth  for  a  glorious  inheritance  in 
heaven.  Here  W'as  the  diflerence;  Ahab  shall  lose 
a  kingdom  for  a  vineyard,  Naboth  shall  lose  a  vine- 
yard for  a  kingdom.  Thus  Gehazi  runs  after  Naanian 
for  this  nnrigliteous  wages  :  his  master  was  careful 
to  win  honour  to  God,  and  credit  to  his  profession, 
by  denying  those  Syrian  presents  ;  the  man  will  mar 
all  in  requiring,  in  receiving  them.  He  will  enrich 
himself  by  belying  his  master,  and  disparage  that 
holy  function  in  the  eyes  of  a  new  convert ;  and  all 
for  a  little  of  this  cursed  trash.  Yea,  Judas  w-ill  be- 
tray his  Master,  his  Saviour,  himself,  for  this  un- 
righteous wages.  Oh  how  execrable  is  that  gain 
which  doth  lose  the  soul  !  how  desperate  is  that 
soul  which  will  be  lost  for  gain !  Did  not  Satan  first 
make  sots  of  worldlings,  he  could  never  persuade 
them  to  venture  their  eternal  blessedness  for  these 
transitory  vanities:  yet  still  they  love  this  wages; 
which  is  the  next  point. 

3.  The  baseness  of  the  covetous  heart,  to  love  the 
wages  of  unrighteousness.  There  is  no  man  that 
loves  evil  for  itself,  but  for  some  imaginary  good  he 
expects  from  it.  Something  is  proposed,  either  pro- 
fit, or  pleasure,  or  some  kind  of  wages,  that  tempt 
men  to  love  sin,  else  they  never  would  embrace  it. 
Achan  would  not  have  sacrileged,  nor  Gehazi  have 
disgraced  the  prophet,  but  for  the  wages  of  gain. 
The  most  wicked  do  not  love  evil  simply  for  itself, 
but  for  some  other  respects,  which  is  their  pro- 
pounded wages.  To  discover  this  folly,  let  me  de- 
scribe riches  to  you  by  their  three  properties. 

(1.)  By  their  foundation,  or  the  garden  where  they 
grow  ;  this  W'orld.  All  is  but  earth ;  they  consist  in 
acres  of  earth,  bowels  of  earth,  beasts  of  the  earth; 
and  all  are  valued  by  pieces  of  earth.  They  all 
come  from  the  earth,  tend  to  the  earth,  and  one 
mouthful  of  earth  makes  an  end  of  them  all.  The 
earth  is  the  basest  part  of  the  world;  yet  earth  is 
the  end  of  all  this  wages,  except  (which  is  worse) 
some  of  it  be  taken  out  in  hell.  They  are  like 
Nebuchadnezzar's  image,  a  composition  of  metals ; 
but  the  foot  is  clay.  God  hath  laid  heaven  open  lo 
our  eyes,  and  placed  our  heads  next  heav(  n ;  but 
gold  and  silver  he  hath  hid  from  onr  eyes,  and  placed 
them  under  our  feet.  Yet  worldlings  invert  all  ; 
and,  like  tumblers,  stand  upon  their  heads,  and  kick 


at  heaven  with  their  heels.  They  subject  their 
hearts  to  that,  which  God  hath  subjected  to  their 
feet.  Covetousness  is  idolatrj- ;  St.  Paul  puts  them 
both  in  a  bag :  now  how  sordid  is  that  idolatry  which 
shall  worship  deum  lu/ulenlmn,  i.  e.  a  dirty  god! 

As  riches  grow  in  the  world,  so  they  go  not  out  of 
the  world.  It  is  but  a  pagan  folly,  to  put  money  in 
the  dead  man's  hand  at  his  burial,  to  defray  his 
charges  in  another  world.  Of  all  our  hoards  and 
heaps  we  shall  not  carry  one  single  penny  with  us. 
Among  the  Indians,  belts,  bracelets,  and  rattles  were 
of  high  esteem ;  yet  we  despise  them.  Their  gold 
and  silver  is  precious  in  Europe,  which  was  there 
contemptible.  Things  are  as  they  are  used  or  valued: 
the  monies  that  pass  in  divers  countries  are  not  cur- 
rent here,  nor  much  of  ours  there.  All  our  pieces  of 
gold  are  but  current  to  the  grave ;  none  of  them  will 
pass  in  the  future  world.  Therefore  as  merchants 
when  they  travel  make  over  their  monies  here,  to 
receive  them  by  bills  of  exchange  in  another  countiy ; 
let  us  do  good  with  our  goods  while  we  live,  tliat 
when  we  die,  by  a  blessed  bill  of  exchange,  we  may 
receive  them  again  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  Luke 
xvi.  9.  To  part  with  that  we  cannot  keep,  that  we 
may  get  that  we  cannot  lose,  is  a  good  bargain. 
Wealth  can  do  us  no  good,  unless  it  help  us  toward 
heaven. 

(2.)  By  their  uncertainty.  The  form  of  money 
agrees  well  with  the  condition  of  it ;  it  is  stamped 
round,  because  it  is  so  apt  to  run  away.  Could  we 
be  rich  so  long  as  we  live,  yet  that  were  uncertain 
enough;  for  life  itself  is  but  a  dream,  a  shadow,  but 
a  dream  of  a  shadow.  (August.)  Rich  men  are  but 
like  hailstones  ;  they  make  a  noise  in  the  world,  as 
the  other  rattle  on  the  tiles  of  a  house ;  down  they 
fall,  lie  still,  and  melt  away.  So  that  if  riches  could 
stay  by  a  man,  yet  he  cannot  stay  by  them.  Spile  of 
his  teeth,  he  shall  carry  away  nothing  when  he  dies, 
P.sal.  xlix.  17.  Life  and  goods  are  both  in  a  vessel, 
both  cast  away  at  once ;  yea,  of  the  two,  life  hath 
the  more  likelihood  of  continuance.  Let  it  lly  never 
so  fast  away,  riches  have  eagles'  wings,  and  will  outfly 
it.  There  be  thieves  in  the  high-ways,  that  will  lake 
our  monies  and  spare  our  lives.  In  our  penal  laws, 
there  be  not  so  many  ways  to  forfeit  our  lives  as  our 
goods.  Rich  Job  lived  to  sec  himself  poor  lo  a  i)ro- 
verb.  How  many  in  this  city  reputed  rich,  yet  have 
broken  for  thousands!  There  are  innumerable  ways 
lo  be  poor ;  a  fire,  a  thief,  a  false  servant,  surctiship, 
trusting  of  bad  customers,  an  unfaithful  factor,  a 
pirate,  an  unskilful  pilot,  hath  brought  rich  men  to 
poverty.  One  gale  of  wind  is  able  to  make  merchants 
rich  or  beggars.  Man's  life  is  like  the  banks  of  a  river, 
his  temporal  estate  is  the  stream:  time  will  moulder 
away  the  banks,  but  the  stream  stays  not  for  that,  it 
glides  away  continually.  Life  is  the  tree,  riches  are 
the  fruit,  or  rather  the  leaves ;  the  leaves  will  fall, 
the  fruit  is  plucked,  and  yet  the  tree  stands.  Some 
write  of  the  pine-tree ;  that  if  the  bark  be  pulled  ofi", 
it  lasts  long;  being  on,  it  rots.  If  the  worldling's 
bark  were  stripped  off,  he  might  perhaps  live  tlie 
longer,  there  is  great  hope  he  would  live  the  better. 

Why  should  we  dote  upon  this  world,  which  hath 
so  many  doors  to  let  out  wealth  ?  Why  love  wealth, 
that  when  the  doors  are  .shut,  and  all  the  windows, 
can  yet  creep  out  at  a  quari-y,  at  a  cranny  ?  Who 
would  stake  or  wager  his  mansion-house  against  a 
booth  ?  Curious  glasses  are  pleasing  vessels  ;  yet 
because  they  arc  brilllc,  we  do  not  think  them  pre- 
cious. Solomon's  royally  was  not  comparable  10  a 
lily,  nor  the  crown  on  his  head  to  the  coronation- 
flower  in  the  garden :  yet  because  they  are  flowers, 
whose  time  is  but  for  a  month,  necessitated  to  fading, 
we  respect  them  thereafter;  to-day  they  are  for  the 


Ver.  15. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


513 


bosom,  to-morrow  for  the  besom.  There  is  nothing 
laudable  that  is  not  durable ;  nor  doth  it  afford  us 
so  much  joy  in  the  welcome,  as  sorrow  in  the  fare- 
well. It  is  with  the  rich  man  at  his  death,  as  with 
a  sleeping  man  when  he  wakes  out  of  his  dream.  In 
life  the  worldling  hath  much;  all  this  while  he 
dreams;  when  he  dies  and  wakes,  he  is  not  worth  one 
groat.  Alas,  that  we  should  set  our  hearts  and 
hazard  our  souls  on  that,  which  is  so  certain  to  vanish 
and  so  imcertain  to  slay!  It  was  the  speech  of  a 
worthy  father,  This  is  all  I  have  got  by  my  riches 
and  honour ;  I  had  something  to  WMiich  I  could  pre- 
fer my  Saviour.  Happy  arc  we,  when  we  care  not  to 
call  any  thing  our  own  but  Jesus  Christ. 

(3.)  By  their  mischief.  Many  think  themselves 
undone  by  losing  them,  but  too  many  are  undone  by 
keeping  them.  Our  Saviour  calls  them  thonis.  First, 
for  their  sharpness  ;  they  prick  and  pierce  the  lieart 
through  with  many  sorrows,  1  Tim.  vi.  10.  They 
expose  men  to  dangers ;  the  fat  booty  invites  the 
thief:  they  are  but  spunges,  that  suck  up  much  for 
one  squeezing.  Children  inquire  into  the  age  of 
their  parents,  executors  long  to  close  up  their  eyes ; 
sometimes  the  pillow  is  pulled  from  under  their 
heads  a  d.ay  before  their  times.  Weapons  of  iron 
hunt  after  wedges  of  gold.  Still  gold  is  the  most 
perilous  metal.  Secondly,  thorns  arc  the  shelter  for 
serpents,  and  riches  the  den  of  many  sins.  They  are 
haunted  with  temptations  and  snares,  with  foolish 
and  hurtful  lusts,  that  drown  men  in  destruction, 
I  Tim.  vi.  9.  The  foulest  fact  that  ever  was  done  in 
the  world,  was  done  for  money;  even  the  betraying 
of  Christ.  Thirdly,  they  hinder  the  growth  of  com, 
and  the  path-way  of  passengers ;  but  not  more  than 
riches  do  choke  the  seed  of  the  word,  and  of  all  grace; 
and  bar  up  the  way  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  But 
the  greatest  mischief  of  all  is,  they  steal  away  our 
hearts  from  God.  That  joy  and  content  which  we 
should  find  in  our  Maker,  we  seek  in  our  drudge. 
Yea,  even  the  faith  of  good  men  is  invaded  with  tne 
fear  of  want.  Indeed  the  dissolute  make  it  none  of 
their  fear ;  and  shall  we  ?  Will  God  be  worse  to  them 
that  follow  him,  than  he  is  to  them  that  forsake  him  ? 
Yet,  alas,  how  doth  wealth  engross  men's  confidence  ! 
What  is  there  that  the  rich  man  hopes  not  to  do  ? 
lie  can  buy  honours  and  offices,  he  can  buy  out  faults 
and  offences;  yea,  foolish  Magus  thought  the  Holy 
Ghost  himself  might  be  had  for  money  ;  and  Satan 
presumed  that  this  bait  would  even  catch  the  Son  of 
God.  Yet  what  can  riches  do  ?  Can  they  put  off  the 
gout,  assuage  grief,  thrust  out  cares,  suspend  death, 
I)revcnt  hell,  or  bribe  Satan?  A  satin  sleeve  can  as 
well  heal  a  broken  arm.  Indeed  this  they  can  do ; 
they  can  anger  God,  hurt  men,  bar  the  gates  of 
heaven,  open  the  gates  of  hell,  and  for\vard  souls  to 
confusion.  They  are  false  friends,  that  will  be  sure 
never  to  fail  men  but  when  they  have  need  of  them. 
Sickness  will  besiege  thee,  death  will  summon  thee, 
God  will  pass  his  doom  on  thee :  in  all  this,  what 
can  riches  avail  thee  ?  our  manifold  receipts  shall  but 
/  greaten  our  accounts  ;  and  the  moderate  estate  will 
"•  nave  the  easier  reckoning.  Riches  arc  a  pit,  whcrein- 
to  we  soon  slip,  but  can  hardly  scramble  out.  Msop 
hath  a  fable  of  the  two  frogs,  that  in  the  time  of 
drought,  when  the  marshes  were  dn,-,  consulted  what 
was  best  to  be  done.  One  advised  to  go  down  into 
a  deep  well,  because  it  was  likely  the  wafer  would 
not  fail  there.  The  otlicr  answered.  But  if  it  do  fail, 
how  shall  we  get  up  again?  Small  puddles,  light 
gains,  will  not  serve  .some ;  they  must  plunge  into 
deep  wtIIs,  excessive  profits;  but  they  do  not  con- 
sider how  they  should  get  out  again.  So  it  comes  to 
pass,  that  cither  they  are  famished  for  want  of  grace, 
or  drowned  in  a  deluge  of  riches.  If  this  world  be  a 
2  L 


sea,  over  which  we  must  swim  to  the  land  of  promise, 
I  do  not  see  what  use  there  is  of  this  abundant  lug- 
gage, unless  it  be  to  sink  us  in  the  waters. 

To  conclude.  We  are  here  like  unexperienced 
young  travellers  in  an  inn :  the  host  bids  us  cheer- 
fully welcome ;  we  How  and  frolic,  and  spend  with 
mirth  while  our  stock  lasts:  that  once  gone,  the 
host's  changed  countenance  drives  us  out  of  doors 
with  shame  and  nakedness.  We  exhaust  the  virtues 
and  powers  of  our  souls,  in  satisfying  our  covetous 
and  carnal  lusts ;  but  then  at  last  we  must  depart 
away  sad  and  melancholy,  bankrupt  of  all  goodness, 
clothed  only  with  scorn  and  sinfulness.  Our  joys 
are  like  fire,  cither  durable  or  transient  according  to 
their  subjects.  Fire  in  straw  is  a  blaze  and  away ; 
in  solid  wood,  lasting.  Joy  in  heavenly  things  is 
everlasting;  in  the  stubble  of  earth,  but  a  flash.  We 
find  keys  of  iron  and  of  gold ;  we  know  not  to  what 
locks  they  will  guide  us,  therefore  we  choose  the 
golden  ones.  At  last  we  see  by  experience,  that  the 
richer  metal  brings  us  to  the  poorer  purchase,  it 
opens  only  a  cabinet  of  toys  and  bracelets ;  but  the 
iron  keys  of  labour,  repentance,  and  mortification, 
which  we  slighted,  do  open  the  doors  of  heaven,  and 
let  us  into  those  invaluable  treasures.  The  blood 
being  poisoned,  hath  recourse  to  the  heart,  as  the 
principal  fort  and  refuge ;  but  while  there  it  seeks 
remedy,  it  thither  brings  instant  death.  Our  desires 
infected  with  the  world,  run  to  the  heart ;  and  while 
they  call  it  to  rejoice  with  them,  they  bring  it  to  de- 
struction. Drowning  men  catch  hold  of  any  thing 
that  comes  next  to  hand,  though  it  be  the  root  of  a 
weed ;  yea,  they  will  lay  hold  on  them  that  lay  hold 
on  others.  They  that  are  plunged  into  the  gulf  of 
avarice,  for  want  of  better  stay,  rest  upon  the  rotten 
sticks  of  wealth,  and  so  perish.  Man's  heart  is  so 
conscious  of  its  own  weakness,  that  it  must  have  some- 
what to  trust  upon;  it  cannot  move  without  a  prop  : 
now  a  weak  stay  is  held  better  than  none  at  all. 
Politicians  say.  Better  a  tyrant  than  no  king:  but 
who  would  refuse  a  good  king  for  a  tyrant  ?  Who 
would  trust  in  riches,  that  might  trust  in  God? 
1  Tim.  vi.  17.  Riches  are  but  for  this  world;  God 
is  Lord  of  this  world,  and  of  that  also  to  come. 
Where  the  glory  of  this  world  ends,  the  glory  of 
heaven  begins.  Riches  are  here  to-day  and  gone  to- 
morrow; but  Christ  is  "the  same  yesterday,  and  to- 
day, and  for  ever,"  Hcb.  xiii.  8.  He  is  the  first  and 
the  last ;  blessing  our  beginning,  crowning  our  end, 
and  never  forsaking  us  in  the  midst.  Riches  are  but 
lifeless  and  senseless  things ;  merely  passive  in  gift ; 
they  cannot  so  much  as  bestow  themselves,  much 
less  other  things.  The  Lord  is  a  living  God  and  a 
giving  God ;  unchangeable  iu  his  goodness,  most 
bountiful  in  his  beneficence.  It  is  good  to  trust  in 
the  Lord.  Some  trust  in  their  horses,  and  some  in 
their  swords ;  some  trust  in  their  lands,  and  some  in 
their  wits ;  some  trust  in  their  friends,  and  some  in 
their  monies ;  but  let  us  trust  in  the  Lord  :  the  rest 
may  have  their  uses,  only  God  shall  have  the  con- 
fidence of  our  hearts  for  ever. 

Take  the  sum  of  all :  the  mischief  of  this  wages  of 
unrighteousness  is  not  confined  to  this  life;  the  full 
payment  of  it  is  in  hell.  Balaam  desired  one  wages, 
but  ho  found  another :  gold  he  coveted,  as  the  re- 
ward of  sin ;  this  he  required,  and  had  not.  Judg- 
ment he  found,  the  reward  of  sin  indeed ;  this  he  had, 
though  he  required  it  not.  He  went  not  away  with- 
out wages;  what  the  treasure  of  Moab  denied  him, 
the  sword  of  Israel  paid  him.  Unjust  gains  never 
escaped  just  vengeance.  A  man  may  come  honestly 
by  his  wealth,  and  yet  dishonestly  use  it,  by  making 
his  table  a  snare.  So  God  sends  meat,  but  there  is 
another  that  brings  cooks  j  a  good  estate  is  dressed  to 


514 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II.- 


an  ill  purpose.  But  that  which  is  unjustly  acquired 
will  be  justly  required.  "  He  that  hath  swallowed 
down  riches,  shall  vomit  them  up  again ;  God  shall 
east  them  out  of  his  belly,"  Job  xx.  15.  God  had 
reserved  to  himself  the  treasure  of  Jericho ;  the 
blood  of  that  wicked  city  shall  be  spilt  to  his  honour, 
the  riches  kept  for  his  use.  Who  but  a  miscreant 
can  grudge  that  God  should  serve  himself  of  his 
own  P  Achan  spies  a  booty,  and  filcheth  it  ; 
Israel  knows  not  of  it ;  they  go  on  in  their  wars, 
and  are  beaten  by  a  little  town.  Joshua  ex- 
postulates, "  O  Lord,  what  shall  I  say,  when  Israel 
turneth  their  backs  before  their  enemies,"  Josh.  vii. 
8.  God  answers,  "  Israel  hath  sinned:"  that  people 
which  prevailed  for  their  faith,  are  beaten  for  their 
sin.  A  fault  is  committed,  Ijut  by  whom  ?  The 
crime  is  spoken  of,  not  tlie  man.  What  shall  dis- 
cover him?  A  lot.  Achan  thought  he  might  have 
lain  as  close  in  all  the  throng  of  Israel,  as  the 
wedge  of  gold  lay  in  his  tent.  This  hope  of  secrecy 
first  moved  him  to  sin,  and  now  arms  him  with  con- 
fidence against  fear  of  shame.  But  when  he  saw  the 
lot  fall  on  his  tribe,  he  began  to  startle ;  when  upon 
his  family,  he  changes  countenance ;  when  upon  his 
household,  he  quakes  with  amazement ;  and  is  no 
less  than  confounded,  when  himself  is  designed  the 
man.  With  what  eyes  did  Achan  look  on  that  spoU, 
which  his  fellows  saw  and  contemned?  The  over- 
j)rizing  of  riches  will  make  men  transgress  for  a  piece 
of  bread.  They  that  admire  the  glory  of  metals  or 
brave  clothes,  shall  not  be  innocent.  But  what  was 
the  reward  of  all  tliis?  The  lot  discovers  him,  the 
stones  kill  him,  liis  family  and  substance  perish  with 
him.  Lo,  ye  that  fear  not  to  rob  God  of  his  conse- 
crated things,  what  shall  be  the  wages  of  your  un- 
righteous sacrilege :  you  cannot  go  to  the  grave  in 
peace. 

Gehazi  derives  from  Naaman  a  rich  gift,  lays  it  up, 
wipes  his  mouth,  and  stands  before  his  master,  whom 
ho  had  so  foully  abused,  2  Kings  v.  25;  as  if  he 
thought  to  blind  the  eyes  of  a  seer.  All  his  attend- 
ance on  that  wonder-working  prophet  had  not  wrought 
so  much  on  his  heart,  as  to  know  that  the  undecciv- 
able  eye  of  Divine  Providence  discerned  his  works, 
his  words,  Iiis  thoughts.  He  runs,  fetches,  disbur- 
dens, conceals  ;  but  where  did  he  think  God  was  all 
this  while  ?  To  convince  his  hypocrisy,  his  master 
asks  him,  "  Whence  comest  thou,  Gehazi  ?  "  to  let 
hiiu  know,  that  he  knew  he  had  been  where  he  should 
not.  "  Thy  servant  went  no  whither."  He  had  got 
the  booty  with  a  lie,  and  with  a  lie  he  would  keep  it. 
Whosoever  loves  this  wages,  must  not  stick  with  the 
devil  for  such  a  service ;  if  a  man  will  steal,  it  is  ne- 
cessary he  should  lie.  In  those  days,  to  lie  unto 
the  prophets  was  as  much  as  now  to  outface  our 
senses  ;  yea,  our  eyes  see  not  half  so  clearly  as  did  their 
minds.  This  Gehazi  might  have  considered  afore  ; 
that  prophets  have  spiritual  eyes,  not  confined  to 
bodily  objects ;  that  their  hearts  went  abroad,  when 
themselves  sat  still  at  home.  Went  not  mine  heart 
with  thee  ?  Hear  then,  and  be  convinced  :  Is 
this  a  time  to  receive  money  and  garments,  olive- 
yards  and  vineyards,  sheep  and  oxen,  men-servants 
and  maid-servants,  ver.  26 ;  which  in  thy  conceit 
thou  hast  already  purchased?  Hither  thou  went- 
est,  this  thou  saidst,  thus  thou  didst,  and  thus 
thou  speddest.  How  pale  now  did  this  guilty  thief 
stand  before  the  tribunal  of  his  master!  With  what 
a  trembling  heart  did  he  expect  some  heavy  judg- 
ment !  Hear  this,  ye  lovers  of  wealth ;  all  your  ways 
be  overlooked  by  invisible  witnesses ;  and  when  you 
have  gotten  riches,  and  forgotten  the  unrighteous 
means,  the  Divine  justice  shall  call  you  to  a  reckon- 
ing, perhaps  worse  than  Gehazi's.     Yet  his  talents 


could  not  buy  off  his  sores,  nor  his  garments  hide  his 
shame :  his  tears  might  wash  ofif  the  guilt  of  his  sin; 
not  they  and  another  Jordan  shall  cleanse  his  leprosy. 
That  shall  remain  as  an  hereditary  monument  of 
God's  wrath  upon  fraud,  avarice,  sacrilege :  and  he 
sliall  more  lively  proclaim  to  the  world  by  his  face, 
than  others  by  their  lips,  the  cursed  wages  of  un- 
righteousness. 

Take  one  instance  more  :  Ahab  promiseth  Naboth 
very  reasonable  composition  for  his  vineyard,  1  Kings 
xxi.  2.  This  seemed  a  fair  motion,  yet  Naboth  saw 
violence  under  this  plausiblcness,  and  refuseth  to 
bargain.  He  did  not  so  much  slick  at  the  land,  as 
at  the  law ;  one  earth  might  be  as  good  as  another, 
and  money  as  good  as  either.  Naboth  did  not  fear 
loss,  but  sin;  he  would  gladly  be  quit  of  his  patri- 
mony, if  God  would  acquit  him  of  iniquity.  Yet 
Ahab  falls  sick,  and  takes  a  strange  surfeit  of  those 
grapes  he  never  tasted.  Jezebel  undertakes  to  cure 
him;  "I  will  give  thee  the  vineyard  of  Naboth," 
ver.  7.  Ahab  wanted  neither  wit  nor  wickedness, 
yet  he  was  a  mere  novice  to  Jezebel ;  there  needed 
no  other  devil  to  plot  and  execute  this  miscliief. 
What,  shall  a  subject  deny  his  king  ?  I  will  soon 
rid  the  king  of  such  a  subject.  She  suborns  false 
witnesses,  and  con-upts  the  senators ;  those  accuse 
Naboth  of  blasphemy,  these  judge  him  to  die,  the 
people  stone  him:  here  was  a  quick  despatch,  an 
easy  payment  for  a  rich  vineyard.  All  this  while 
God  sits  still,  and  says  nothing.  Much  good  do  it 
thee,  O  king,  with  thy  vineyard;  many  fair  flowers 
and  sweet  grapes  may  it  yield  thee  :  applaud  thy 
Jezebel  for  her  cunning,  triumph  over  the  blood  of  a 
harmless  subject,  please  thyself  with  thy  wages  of 
unrighteousness ;  yet  let  me  rather  die  the  death  of 
Naboth,  than  do  the  deed  of  Ahab.  Naboth's  turn  was 
over,  when  Ahab's  was  to  come.  Naboth  and  Ahab  shall 
both  bleed;  the  one  by  tlie  stones  of  the  Jczreelites, 
the  other  by  the  shafts'  of  the  Aramitcs.  Ahab  dealt 
cruelly  with  Naboth,  God  shall  deal  severely  with 
Ahab.  The  dogs  shall  lick  his  guilty  blood,  that  to 
the  dogs  had  given  the  blood  of  the  innocent.  Only 
the  cause  and  the  end  makes  the  difference :  Naboth 
lives  holy,  and  dies  happy ;  Ahab  lives  in  wickedness, 
and  dies  in  vengeance.  Naboth  bleeds  as  a  martyr, 
Ahab  as  a  murderer.  Consider  this  just  retaliation, 
ye  whose  covetousness  hath  made  beggars,  and  then 
not  relieved  them ;  your  children  shall  beg,  and  none 
give  them.  Read  Psal.  cix.  10 — 12.  Or  perhaps 
God  will  take  order  for  your  wives  and  children,  as 
he  did  for  Ahab's :  whether  they  die  in  the  city  or  in 
the  fields,  the  dogs  or  the  fowls  shall  cat  them, 
1  Kings  xxi.  24.  You  shall  not  need  to  take  thought 
for  your  posterity,  or  study  to  traduce  your  ill-got 
riches ;  God  will  ease  you  of  that  care,  by  depriving 
you  of  heirs.  You  have  made  youi-  children  not 
more  heirs  of  your  body  than  of  your  curse  ;  the 
cui'se  shall  remain  theirs,  but  God  shall  dispose  of 
the  riches.  Ahab's  cruelty  to  Naboth  hath  made 
both  the  mother  and  the  children  dogs'  meat.  God 
will  recompense  the  slowness  with  the  sharpness  of 
his  revenges.  A  Syrian  draws  a  bow,  wounds  Ahab, 
his  blood  flows  in  the  chariot,  and  pays  Naboth  Ills 
arrears.  The  chariot  is  washed  in  the  pool  of  Sa- 
maria, the  dogs  come  to  claim  their  due.  Jezebel  is 
thrown  out  of  a  window,  and  brained :  for  their  due, 
the  dogs  come  again.  They  lick  the  blood  of  Ahab, 
they  eat  the  flesh  of  Jezebel :  the  tongues  of  those 
brute  creatures  make  good  the  tongue  of  God's  pro- 
phet. I  hope  you  will  now  say,  that  Naboth's  vine- 
yard is  thoroughly  paid  for. 

Let  me  conclude  with  Balaam.  The  king  dismiss- 
ed liini,  and  he  pretended  haste  homewards;  but  he 
lingered  so  long,  that  he  left  his  bones  in  Midian, 


Vkr.  16. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERiVL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


515 


Numb.  xxxi.  8.  His  tongue  had  insensibly  slain 
many  thousands  of  them,  ineir  sword  shall  kill  liim 
for  it.  Nor  is  it  mentioned  for  his  honour,  that  lie 
fell  among  the  kings ;  but  for  special  notice,  that  all 
his  sorcery  could  not  save  his  life.  Moses  seeing 
that  they  had  slain  the  men,  and  reserved  the  women, 
grew  angry.  These  caused  Israel  to  sin,  by  the 
counsel  of  Balaam ;  therefore  kill  every  woman  that 
hath  known  man,  ver.  16,  17-  They  that  had  tempt- 
ed the  lust  of  Israel  with  their  faces,  shall  feel  tne 
revenge  of  Israel  in  their  bloods.  How  happy  was 
she  that  had  not  played  the  harlot ;  her  maiden- 
head was  her  ransom !  whereas  she  that  had  lost 
her  virginity,  must  lose  her  life.  Righteous  are  all 
thy  judgments,  O  God. 

Now  as  men  seriously  love  this  wages,  let  them 
accept  of  such  a  service.  What  shall  it  do  you 
good,  that  you  have  scraped,  and  heaped,  and  hoard- 
ed, when  God  shall  come  to  reckon  with  you  for  all 
these  ?  I  would  not  have  one  widow  w"cep,  nor  one 
orphan  cry  against  me,  for  all  the  wealth  of  the  In- 
dies. Nor  is  it  enough  to  clear  thee,  that  tliou  didst 
not  injuriously  get  what  thou  hast  penuriously  kept. 
The  thief  is  not  worse  than  the  receiver,  nor  tiie 
hoarder  any  better  than  a.  purloiner.  Some  get  their 
wealth  with  a  false  key,  others  keep  it  with  a  msty 
lock;  both  shall  be  convinced  of  uncharitableness. 
The  fox  and  badger  (in  the  fable)  come  to  the  lion's 
court,  to  present  their  new-year's  gifts.  The  fox  had 
nothing  but  from  hand  to  mouth,  yet  he  gave  liber- 
ally ;  the  badger  had  store  lying  by  him,  yet  plead- 
ed poverty,  and  gave  sparingly.  But  the  lion  cen- 
sured them  both  to  death,  because  the  one  did  steal 
to  pay  tribute,  the  other  would  not  pay  tribute  of 
what  he  had  stolen.  The  politic  worldling  deceives, 
gains,  and  gives  somewhat :  the  hoarder  scratches, 
multiplies,  and  keeps  all :  God  shuts  them  both  out 
of  heaven,  by  the  warrant  of  two  texts.  The  one, 
"Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more:  but  rather  let 
him  labour,  working  with  his  hands  the  thing  which 
is  good,  that  he  mav  have  to  give  to  him  that  need- 
eth,"  Eph.  iv.  28.  The  Lord  will  take  no  bribes; 
we  must  honestly  get  what  we  charitably  give.  The 
other,  "So  is  he  that  layeth  up  treasure  for  liim- 
self,"  Luke  sii.  21 ;  even  like  that  wretched  churl, 
who  purposes  to  fill  his  bams  and  famish  his  soul : 
so,  that  is,  as  very  a  fool  as  he  was.  They  may  think 
themselves  the  only  wise  men,  fit  for  honours  and 
offices  ;  but  they  are  fools  on  earth,  and  no  fools 
shall  enter  into  heaven.  This  is  indeed  the  wages 
of  imrighteousness;  now  ■grace  keep  us  from  such  a 
service,  and  mercy  deliver  us  from  such  wages. 


Verse  16. 

But  icas  rebuked  far  his  iniquity :  the  dumb  ass  speaking 
with  man's  voice  forbad  the  madness  of  the  prophet. 

God  in  the  Old  Testament,  Christ  in  the  New,  an- 
gels, the  prophets,  the  apostles,  the  fathers,  all 
preachers,  all  Christians  that  have  hope  of  heaven, 
yea,  all  reasonable  men  that  discern  the  vanity  of  the 
earth,  have  spoken  against  covetousness.  Now  we 
shall  come  a  step  lower,  and  hear  what  an  unreason- 
able beast  doth  say  against  it.  So  we  have  it  con- 
demned from  the  mouth  of  the  Lord,  from  the  mouth 
of  Clirist,  from  that  of  angels,  prophets,  apostles, 
preachers,  wise  men,  and  last  and  lowest  from  the 
mouth  of  an  ass ;  and  if  all  this  prevail  not,  we  shall 
hear  it  from  the  mouths  of  them  that  have  no 
mouths  at  all :  "  The  stone  shall  cry  out  of  the  wall, 


and  the  beam  out  of  the  timber,"  Hab.  iu  11  ;  the 
silver  and  gold  shall  cry;  even  riches  themselves 
shall  cry  out  against  the  love  of  riches.  Beasts  have 
mouths,  but  not  to  speak;  stones  shall  speak,  yet 
they  have  no  mouths.  To  prove  it  a  worse  than 
beastly  sin,  God  hath  enabled  a  beast  to  condemn  it. 
We  have  these  particulars :  first,  the  scholar,  a  pro- 
phet. Secondly,  the  schoolmaster,  or  rather  school- 
dame  ;  for  it  is  asina,  an  ass.  Thirdly,  the  lesson, 
which  is  reprehensive ;  she  rebuked,  she  forbad. 
Fourthly,  the  manner  of  her  teaching;  which  is  not 
emblematical,  nor  enigmatical,  but  plain ;  with  man's 
voice.  Fifthly,  the  fault  for  which  she  corrected  him, 
was  iniquity,  and  madness. 

I.  The  scholar  was  a  prophet,  but  what  kind  of 
one  ?  First,  we  find  him  sacrificing  in  the  mount  of 
Baal  :  had  he  been  from  the  true  God,  he  would 
rather  have  said.  Pull  down  these  altars,  than  built 
up  new  ones :  the  very  place  and  number  convince 
him  of  idolatiy.  Seeing  his  seven  bullocks  and 
seven  rains  smoking  on  his  seven  altars,  he  goes  up 
higher  into  the  mount  to  receive  God's  answer. 
This  haply  he  had  learned  of  Moses :  so  nearly  a 
false  prophet  can  counterfeit  a  true  one.  An  answer 
he  hath,  and  that  from  God;  but  will  God  meet  a 
sorcerer  ?  AVill  he  put  prophecies  into  the  lips  of  a 
magician  ?  O  man,  who  shall  teach  God  the  choice 
of  his  instruments?  He  knows  how  to  employ  not 
only  saints  and  angels,  but  even  wicked  men,  beasts, 
and  deWls,  to  his  gloiy.  Why  should  we  wonder 
that  Balaam  receives  visions,  when  his  verj'  ass  hath 
her  eyes  and  mouth  opened  ;  those  to  see  the  angel, 
this  to  reason  with  her  master.  Those  words  were 
bi:t  transient,  gliding  through  him,  and  could  not  be 
defiled  because  they  were  none  of  his.  His  heart  did 
not  conceive  them,  though  his  tongue  uttered  them. 
The  trunk  through  whicli  a  man  speaks,  is  not  the 
more  eloquent  for  that  speech.  The  looking-glass 
shows  us  our  faces,  yet  is  itself  blind.  The  bells  that 
ring  us  to  church  hear  not  their  own  noise.  The 
wax  that  seals  up  the  letter  knows  not  the  contents 
of  it.  A  book  of  morality  may  teach  us  good  be- 
hariour,  wliilc  itself  becomes  mouldy  or  ragged. 
Balaam's  tongue  shall  convince  Moab,  and  do  good 
to  Israel,  not  better  himself.  Many  shall  say.  We 
have  prophesied  in  thy  name  ;  and  speak  it  for  their 
honour;  to  whom  Christ  replies,  Depart  from  me, 
ye  wicked.  Matt.  vii.  22,  23;  turning  it  to  their 
shame.  How  divine  w-ere  the  parables  that  God 
uttered  by  Balaam  !  Stay  but  a  while  and  you  shall 
find  Satan  in  the  same  mouth.  That  which  came 
from  God  was  sweet  and  heavenly  ;  that  mere  villany 
which  came  from  Satan  :  the  good  was  God's,  the 
evil  was  his  own.  Nor  was  he  saved  for  his  excel- 
lent prophecy,  but  lost  by  his  hellish  policy.  There 
was  no  thank's  to  him  for  his  good  parable,  but  many 
plagues  for  his  bad  counsel.  It  is  no  wonder  to  heai- 
God  speak  with  a  false  prophet :  Pharaoh,  Abime- 
leeh,  Nebuchadnezzar  had  visions;  Caiaphas  had 
his  inspiration ;  none  of  them  had  his  gracious  bene- 
diction. Yea,  God  spake  unto  Satan,  and  that  in  a 
familiar  question,  "Whence  comest  thou?"  Job  i. 
7.  Men  will  bestow  words  where  they  will  not  be- 
stow favour;  the  argument  of  God's  love  is  not  the 
sound  of  his  voice,"  but  the  matter  of  his  speech. 
"The  Lord  will  speak  peace  unto  his  people,"  Psal. 
Ixxsv.  8.  He  may  speak  to  his  enemies,  he  will 
speak  \ieace  to  none  but  his  saints.  It  is  a  poor  brag 
of  the  undeserving  subject.  The  king  hath  spoken  to 
me :  but  what  did  he  say  ?  The  judge  speaks  to  thi- 
malefactor,  when  he  gives  him  his  sentence.  Hath 
God  spoken  to  thee  ?  so  he  hath  done  to  reprobates 
and  devils  :  but  what  said  he  ?  Did  he  say  to  thy 
soul,  I  am  thy  salvation?     Did  he  say,  I  am  thy 


516 


AN  EXPOSTTION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


God,  thou  art  my  son  ?  Thou  canst  not  hear  tliis 
voice  and  perish. 

Use.  Bahiam  was  a  bad  man,  shall  we  therefore 
reject  his  good  propliecy  ?  God  forbid.  If  men  be 
mortally  sick,  will  they  refuse  to  be  cured  by  a  sick 
physician  ?  A  lame  steward  may  give  a  good  alms 
from  the  purse  of  his  rich  master.  Shall  we  think, 
the  Sjiirit  of  God  hath  so  tied  himself  to  the  good- 
ness of  the  speaker,  that  he  will  not  open  the  heart 
of  the  hearer,  unless  he  hear  a  holy  teacher?  How 
doth  this  absurdity  meet  with  popery  at  the  back- 
door! Why  does  the  novelist  rail  at  the  papist, 
v.hen  they  both  shake  hands  in  the  same  opinion. 
That  the  goodness  of  the  priest  blesseth  the  word  or 
sacraments?  What,  shall  not  I  be  saved  by  hearing, 
unless  the  preacher  be  saved  whom  I  hear  ?  Is  the 
grace  of  God  tied  to  the  ministiy  of  man  ?  Shall  the 
servant  share  the  honour  with  his  Tilaster?  Christ 
charged  the  people  to  obsen-e  their  doctrines  that 
sat  in  Moses'  scat,  Watt,  xxiii.  3;  yet  were  they  such 
as  he  termed  hypocrites,  and  on  whom  he  heaped 
woes.  Paul  rejoiced  that  Christ  was  preached, 
whether  in  pretence  or  in  truth,  Phil.  i.  18  ;  yet  they 
that  preached  him  in  pretence  were  not  likely  to  be 
sanctified.  What  Christ  commanded,  and  Paul  com- 
mended, these  men  censure.  The  picture  may  be 
excellent  and  lively,  representing  the  person  whereof 
it  is  a  counterfeit  ;  and  yet  the  painter  be  no  hand- 
some man.  If  the  limner  be  unlike  his  piece,  the 
beauty  of  that  disgraceth  him,  but  itself  is  lovely. 
Thou  art  condemned,  and  the  prince  sends  thee  a 
pardon  by  another  that  is  condemned ;  wilt  thou  none 
of  it  therefore  ?  The  religious  eye  looks  to  the  com- 
fort of  the  message,  not  to  the  misery  of  the  mes- 
senger. A  bad  man  may  bring  good  news,  as  God 
sent  blessings  to  Israel  by  the  mouth  of  accursed 
Balaam.  Samson  did  not  disdain  the  sweets  because 
he  found  them  uncleanly  laid,  in  the  lion's  carcass. 
His  diet  was  strict  enough ;  he  might  not  cat  that 
which  savoured  of  legal  impurity ;  yet  he  ventures 
on  the  honeycomb  in  the  belly  of  a  dead  beast. 
Good  should  not  be  refused  because  the  means  are 
accidentally  evil ;  honey  is  honey,  though  in  a  dead 
lion.  They  are  more  scnipulous  and  less  wise  than 
Samson,  that  abhor  the  graces  of  God,  because  they 
find  them  in  ill  vessels.  One  will  not  take  a  good 
receipt  from  the  hand  of  a  physician,  because  he  is 
given  to  unlawful  studies.  Another  will  not  receive 
a  deserved  contribtition  from  the  hand  of  a  usurer. 
A  third  will  not  hear  the  sermon,  liecause  he  hath 
found  some  fault  with  the  preacher.  How  sullen  is 
this  neglect,  not  to  accept  the  honey  because  we  hate 
the  lion  !  as  if  Elijah  should  have  scorned  his  break- 
fast because  it  was  brought  him  by  a  raven.  God's 
children  have  right  to  their  Father's  blessings  where- 
soever they  find  them.  Let  the  doctrine  be  good, 
and  the  heart  good ;  this  shall  save  the  hearer, 
whatsoever  becomes  of  the  preacher. 

2.  Tlie  school-dame  is  asitia,  an  ass.  This  is  not 
the  first  time  that  God  bath  taught  men  by  beasts, 
though  it  may  be  the  first  beast  that  ever  he  taught 
to  speak  unto  man.  And  what  if  the  Maker  of  all 
will  teach  one  creature  by  another,  the  better  by  the 
inferior?  there  is  none  so  contemptible  which  is  not 
useful.  Howsoever  the  ass,  among  all  beasts,  hath 
the  most  despised  name;  yet  there  be  somethings 
in  liitu  not  unworthy  of  imitation.  Some  have  made 
him  an  image  of  thriftincss,  some  an  emblem  of  pain- 
fulness,  some  a  pattern  of  temperance,  otliers  a 
miracle  of  patience.  And  be  not  frugality,  industry, 
moderation,  and  long-sulTerance,  lessons  worth  our 
learning?  For  innocency  ;  he  is  not  harmful  as  the 
horse  or  ox.  For  usefulness;  some  few  particular 
labours  are  exacted  of  other  beasts,  the  ass  is  good 


for  all.  For  moderation  ;  he  will  live  upon  thistles. 
For  patience  ;  he  endures  hunger,  thirst,  and  stripes 
without  murmuring.  Their  milk  is  precious  against 
consumptions ;  and  famine  thought  their  flesh  sweet, 
when  "  an  ass's  head  was  sold  for  fourscore  pieces  of 
silver,"  2  Kings  vi.  25.  It  was  with  the  new  jaw- 
bone of  an  ass  that  Samson  revenged  God  on  a  thou- 
sand Philistines ;  nor  could  all  their  forces  w  ithstand 
that  contemptible  engine,  till  it  had  left  ten  hundred 
bodies  as  dead  as  that  carcass  whose  bone  it  was. 
With  that  base  instnmient  Samson  gave  death  to 
the  Philistines,  and  from  the  same  God  gave  Samson 
refreshing.  One  bone  yields  him  both  conquest  and 
life,  and  was  both  a  weapon  of  war  and  a  well  of 
water. 

Thus  useful  hath  this  poor  beast  been  ;  now  indeed 
corruption  hath  made  the  name  ignominious,  and 
to  all  ridiculous  purposes  our  common  talk  applies 
the  ass :  As  ingenious  as  an  ass,  as  courteous  as  an 
ass,  as  stupid  as  an  ass,  &c. 

But  now  the  more  despisable  this  beast  is,  the  more 
shame  ic  it  for  man  to  be  set  under  such  a  tutor.  As 
there  be  some  good  things  in  the  ass  to  be  imitated  ; 
so  she  is  an  emblem  of  some  vices  to  be  shunned. 
We  do  not  approve  the  folly,  the  stupidity,  the 
miseiy,  the  slaven,-  of  the  ass.  Therefore  was  the 
teacher  fitted  for  the  scholar  :  a  foolish  beast  to 
teach  a  man  that  was  self-conceited ;  a  stupid  beast 
to  teach  him  that  was  too  precipitated  ;  a  miserable 
beast  to  teach  him  that  placed  happiness  in  riches; 
a  slavish  beast  to  teach  him  that  was  so  basely  sub- 
jected to  his  own  affections. 

(1.)  For  folly ;  when  we  speak  of  a  defective  imder- 
standing,  we  say.  As  wise  as  an  ass.  But  no  ass  can  be 
so  foolish  as  the  covetous.  He  lays  up  for  to-morrow, 
and  is  not  sure  to  live  out  this  night ;  is  not  this  a  fool  ? 
He  provides  for  himself,  w-ithout  any  faith  to  depend 
upon  God's  finding;  surely  the  fowls  of  the  air  and 
flowers  of  the  field  are  not  such  fools.  To  work  him- 
self into  a  rich  fortune,  he  neglects  to  work  out  his 
own  salvation;  is  not  this  a  fool  ?  He  refuseth  God's 
service,  which  would  save  him,  for  mammon's  sers'ice, 
that  will  confound  him ;  is  not  this  a  fool  ?  O  wealth, 
how  many  fools  dost  thou  make  in  a  year !  The  eagles 
are  about  carcasses,  bears  about  honey,  bees  about 
oil,  wolves  about  sheep,  and  fools  about  riches. 
iMany  of  them  arc  worse  than  asses;  for  the  ass  doth 
not  use  to  bite,  they  pinch  to  death.  To  end  all 
controversy,  God  himself  calls  them  fools,  Luke  xii. 
20 :  and  what  is  it  for  men  to  deem  them  wily  foxes, 
when  the  Judge  hath  pronounced  them  foolish  asses? 

(2.)  For  stupidity ;  the  ass  is  a  dull  and  blockish 
creature,  and  in  one  sense,  so  are  the  covetous ;  fit 
for  nothing  but  taxes  and  subsidies,  to  bear  the  com- 
monwealth's burdens.  The  strength  of  the  boar  is 
in  his  tusk,  of  the  elephant  in  his  trunk,  of  the  lion 
in  his  paws,  of  the  ass  in  his  back,  of  the  covetous  in 
his  back-burden.  Where  the  treasure  is,  there  will 
the  heart  be  also :  now  the  heart  of  a  usurer  is  to  be 
found  where  his  money  lies ;  if  that  be  in  danger 
abroad,  he  is  heavy  and  heartless  at  home.  He  so 
loads  himself  with  thick  clay,  Hab.  ii.  6,  that  he  can- 
not stir  a  foot  toward  heaven.  He  flies  with  no 
other  wings,  walks  with  no  other  stafl",  fights  with  no 
other  sword,  minds  no  other  business,  but  his  riches. 
Indeed,  what  hath  he  to  do  ?  He  needs  not  sweat  for 
his  bread,  others  sweat  for  him.  He  needs  not  go  ' 
to  the  market,  the  market  will  come  to  him.  "To 
visit  the  poor,  he  hath  little  inclination;  to  spend 
his  time  in  prayer,  less.  He  is  both  like  the  mill 
and  the  mill-horse;  turning  and  toiling  within  his 
compass;  grinding  the  bones  of  the  poor;  still  there 
at  night  where  he  begun  in  the  morning.  If  he  be 
a  lay-man,  his  journey  is  always  for  a  purchase;  if 


Ver.  16. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


5J7 


of  the  clergy,  he  will  switch  and  spur  for  a  benefice. 
Bees  make  the  honey,  and  drones  suck  the  hive; 
oxen  plough  the  ground,  and  asses  reap  the  harvest. 
It  is  said  in  Job,  "  The  oxen  were  ploughing,  and 
the  asses  feeding  beside  them,"  Job  i.  14.  Laborious 
oxen,  painful  preachers,  spend  their  time  in  plough- 
ing; and  lazy  asses  eat  up  tlieir  labours,  being  always 
feeding.  Great  revenues  belong  to  the  contemplative 
convent,  while  the  devout  and  active  preacher  is  a 
mendicant.  God  ai>pointed  the  ark  to  be  carried 
only  by  Levites,  yet  was  it  once  carried  by  oxen, 
and  then  it  was  ready  to  fall,  2  Sam.  vi.  6 ;  but  when  it 
is  carried  by  ignorant  asses,  how  should  it  stand  ? 

(3.)  For  misery  ;  the  ass  is  the  poorest  beast :  he 
carries  his  master,  and  meat  for  his  master,  but  fasts 
himself.  He  endures  sore  labours  and  shaip  blows 
all  day;  at  night  he  is  turned  forth  to  seek  his  suj)- 
per  on  the  bare  commons.  The  worldling  is  vexed 
with  many  cares;  yet,  after  all,  hath  not  the  power 
to  give  himself  one  comfortable  meal.  He  abates 
from  his  stomach,  to  add  unto  his  coffers  ;  and,  just 
like  the  ass,  having  borne  a  burden  of  gold  all  day, 
all  night  he  feeds  upon  thistles.  He  thinks  himself 
admired  for  his  wealth  ;  and  therein  he  is  an  ass  too  : 
for  as  the  ass  that  carried  the  goddess,  seeing  the 
people  bow  in  reverence  as  he  passed  by,  did  tnink 
that  homage  was  done  to  him  which  was  meant  to 
his  burden ;  so  the  respect  that  is  given,  is  not  to  the 
man,  but  to  his  riches.  "  Wealth  maketh  many 
friends,"  Prov.  xix.  4  ;  they  arc  friends  to  the  wealth, 
not  to  the  man.  Now  can  there  be  greater  miserj', 
than  to  starve  in  the  midst  of  abundance?  Alas,  he 
is  but  the  jailer  of  his  estate,  to  keep  the  keys  ;  till 
at  last  death  opens  the  doors,  dischargeth  the  pri- 
soner, and  commits  the  keeper,  and  that  to  a  strong 
and  woeful  dungeon.  He  is  thirsty  by  the  spring, 
and  dares  not  drink  for  fear  the  fountain  should 
fail  him  ;  yea,  he  cannot  drink,  that  is  God's  curse 
upon  him, 

(4.)  For  slavery  ;  the  ass  is  not  only  a  slave  to 
man,  but  even  to  other  beasts :  the  lion  toils  him,  the 
ox  gores  him,  the  horse  beats  him,  the  fox  cheats 
him ;  all  are  too  hard  for  him ;  he  dares  deny  none 
of  them  his  service.  He  is  animal  subjugate,  the 
word  our  apostle  here  useth,  i.  e.  ordained  for  the 
yoke.  The  worldling  is  not  only  a  slave  to  his  mam- 
mon, but  even  to  all  the  brokers  and  panders  of  filthy 
lucre.  He  rides  his  ass,  and  Satan  rides  him;  he 
spurs  his  ass,  and  Satan  spurs  him  ;  he  bridles  his 
ass,  and  Satan  may  post  hmi  to  hell  with  a  golden 
bit.  There  is  no  sin  he  will  deny,  no  baseness  he 
can  refuse,  to  be  rich.  The  ass  is  servile  against  his 
will ;  the  covetous  gives  his  full  consent  to  this 
slavery.  Justly  therefore  is  one  ass  set  to  school 
another:  and  if  this  latter  will  not  be  schooled,  they 
shall  change  names  and  natures;  the  ass  shall  be  the 
man,  and  tlie  man  shall  be  the  ass.  If  there  be  a 
fountain,  the  beasts  of  the  forest  will  drink,  and  the 
wild  asses  quench  their  thirst ;  but  if  a  man  will  be 
miserable  here,  to  become  everlastingly  wretched 
hereafter,  oh  what  an  ass  is  he  I  Now  the  grace  of 
God  direct  us  a  better  course,  that  we  may  find  a 
better  rccompcnce  ;  and  by  despising  this  world 
which  Balaam  sought,  we  may  have  treasure  in  that 
world  which  Balaam  lost. 

:}.  The  lesson  is  reprehensivc ;  she  rebuked,  she 
forbad.  A  prophet,  and  come  to  be  reproved  ?  this 
was  preposterous.  A  teacher  taught,  a  rebuker  re- 
buked, is  but  a  harsh  hearing.  Yet  hath  it  been  no 
strange  thing:  the  praise  of  the  centurion  was  the 
shame  of  Israel ;  tne  mercy  of  the  Samaritan  the 
condemnation  of  the  uncharil.^ble  Levite  ;  the  thank- 
ful returning  of  the  strange  kper  an  exprobration  lo 
all  the  nine,  when  God  had  his  tithe  from  a  pci'son 


where  he  least  expected  it.  "  What  meanest  thou, 
O  sleeper  ?  arise,  call  upon  thy  God,"  saith  the  ship- 
master to  Jonah,  Jonah  i.  6.  What  an  astonishment 
was  this !  An  infidel  leads  an  Israelite  to  his  prayers : 
the  preacher  is  become  an  auditor,  the  seaman  a 
preacher ;  the  patient  heals  the  physician.  Yet 
truth  is  truth,  wheresoever  we  find  it :  "  Call  upon 
thy  God,"  was  good  counsel,  though  it  came  from  a 
Gentile.  He  says  again,  "  Why  hast  thou  done 
this?"  ver.  10.  They  worshipped  a  false  god,  he 
the  true  ;  yet  was  he  colder  in  his  devotion  to  the 
true  than  they  were  to  the  false.  How  pitiful  is  it, 
when  a  babe  must  catechise  a  man,  when  a  Turk 
shall  find  a  Christian  false,  and  say  to  him,  Wliy  hast 
thou  done  this?  A  child  may  think,  speak,  do  as  a 
child;  but  of  a  man  there  is  more  required.  If  dark- 
ness be  on  the  hill,  what  light  is  in  the  valley  ? 
Errors  of  the  eminent  are  eminent  errors.  The  tat- 
tered beggar  can  spy  a  small  rent  in  a  silken  coar. 
It  is  ill  to  deserve  the  censure  of  inferiors  ;  fearful,  of 
beasts:  when  Israel  shall  bo  taught  thankfulness  by 
the  ox;  when  the  dngs  shall  be  mentioned  to  the 
confutation  of  the  rich  churl ;  when  the  rash  prophet 
shall  be  disputed  with  by  his  ass.  It  was  a  shame  for 
Sarah,  and  no  great  praise  for  Abraham,  when  an 
Abimeleeh  shall  say.  Thy  husband  is  to  thee  the 
covering  of  the  eyes,  &c.  Gen.  xx.  10.  Let  prophet* 
take  heed  how  they  give  a  theme  to  atheists ;  they 
will  quarrel  at  our  good  actions,  much  more  at  our 
manifest  criminations.  Our  faults  be  their  sport:  if 
Samson  stumble,  the  Philistines  shout  and  triumph. 
Indeed  God  useth  their  declamations  as  a  rod  to  whip 
his  children  with  .shame,  to  save  their  souls  by  the 
bargain.  But  yet  still  it  is  i)reposterous  to  come  be- 
hind them  in  goodness,  whom  we  go  before  in  know- 
ledge. Balaam's  book  cannot  save  him.  They  tell 
Christ  of  their  prophesying,  casting  out  devils,  and 
doing  wonderful  works,  in  nis  name.  Matt.  vii.  22; 
yet  are  answered  with  an  I  know  you  not,  depart  from 
me.  In  vain  have  they  prophesied  to  others,  unless 
they  had  also  prophesied  to  themselves,  and  lived  like 
projihets.  In  vain  have  they  cast  devils  out  of  others, 
retaining  one  in  their  own  bosoms.  In  vain  have  they 
eaten  in  his  presence,  Luke  xiii.  26,  when  neither 
the  example  of  his  life  nor  the  doctrine  of  his  lips 
hath  amended  them.  Indeed  all  faults  are  not  to  be 
taxed,  all  be  not  faults  that  are  taxed.  God  openeth 
that  ass's  mouth  to  reprove  a  manifest  error;  we  have 
asses  that  open  their  mouths  to  censure  they  know 
not  what.  They  will  blame  their  pastor  for  no  other 
fault,  but  because  he  is  so,  or  because  he  doth  not 
humour  their  fancies.  It  were  better  that  such  beasts 
would  hold  their  peace. 

Slie  rebuked  him.  Among  all  God's  preventions 
and  stoppings  of  us  in  our  ways  of  sin,  rci)rehcnsion 
hath  a  wholesome  and  necessary  place.  Our  ini- 
quities would  be  like  rottenness  in  our  bones,  fester- 
ing in  our  bowels  to  the  dr.y  of  judgment,  but  for  this 
medicine.  So  Wisdom  begins  her  lore,  reproving 
simple  ones,  scorners,  and  fools,  Prov.  i.  22  ;  giving 
us  names  according  to  our  corrupt  natures.  God, 
like  a  most  accurate  musician,  hatli  variety  of  notes 
and  tunes:  he  hath  spoken  by  a  burning  bush,  by 
a  cloud  of  water,  by  a  pillar  of  fire,  by  visions,  by 
dreams,  by  miracles,  by  angels ;  and  by  some  nearer 
to  us,  men  ;  and  by  one  nearest  to  himself,  above  all, 
Jesus  Christ,  Heb.  i.  1,2.  Sometimes  he  speaks  by 
sensible  judgments :  Miriam's  foul  leprosy  was  a  fair 
warning:  Zaeharias's  dumbness  was  no  dumb  teacher 
to  him ;  Paul's  blindness  took  away  his  blindness, 
and  made  him  see  more  into  the  way  of  life,  than 
could  ail  his  learning  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel.  Why 
may  not  Balaam  be  reproved  by  his  own  beast  ?  The 
reprehension  was  not  the  beast's,  but  the  Lord's, 


518 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


He  is  a  wretched  man  whom  God  never  chides  ; 
the  first  messenger  to  liini  is  the  first-bom  of  deatli. 
This  is  our  ministerial  business ;  not  only  to  teach, 
but  to  reprove.  Other^vise  we  offer  red,  not  scarlet ; 
the  tincture  and  dye  of  our  preaching  is  not  in  grain, 
nor  penetrating  into  the  soul.  Our  fire  gives  light 
and  sliining,  but  kindles  not  in  the  conscience.  It 
is  oil  without  wine  to  the  wounded ;  a  crutch  to  walk 
withal,  when  the  leg  is  out  of  joint,  and  should  be 
set ;  holy-days  without  eves ;  a  passover  without  sour 
herbs  ;  continual  feasting  without  sweeping  the 
house.  As  there  is  a  dicile  of  joy,  "  Tell  the  daugh- 
ter of  Zion,  Behold,  thy  King  comcth,"  Matt.  xxi.  5 ; 
so  there  is  a  dicite  of  sorrow  too,  "  Tell  my  people 
their  transgression,  and  the  house  of  Jacob  their 
sins,"  Isa.  Iviii.  1.  But  most  of  our  hearers  are  like 
wanton  children,  that  care  not  to  be  mended,  but  to 
be  commended  ;  he  that  praiseth  them,  pleaseth 
them.  They  are  all  apt  to  conceit  well  of  themselves ; 
but  this  self-love  is  (in  effect)  self-hatred.  If  we 
reprove  not  oui-  brother,  God  says,  we  hate  him  in 
our  heart :  and  if  we  suffer  not  our  brother  to  re- 

grove  us,  do  we  not  hate  our  o\(ti  hearts  ?  How  often 
ath  a  horse  in  his  full  speed  miscarried  by  a 
precipice,  whereas  one  check  had  saved  him !  Yes, 
I  would  be  reprehended,  saith  one  ;  but  I  would  not 
have  an  ass  to  do  it :  as  the  satirist  said,  Quis  lulen't 
Gracchum  de  sedilione  loquenlem?  Wlio  would  endure 
a  Gracchus  spcakin^  of  sedition  ?  But  as  when  God 
speaks,  we  regard  who,  without  examining  the  what ; 
we  do  it  because  he  commands  it ;  so  when  man 
speaks,  we  regard  what  more  than  who :  What  am  I 
the  worse,  if  the  admonition  of  a  fool  can  make  mc 
wiser  ?  Our  Maker,  that  sees  our  proncncss  ro  evil, 
thinks  it  best  to  hedge  up  our  sinful  ways  with  pro- 
hibitions. The  first  precept  that  ever  was  given  to 
man,  was  a  prohibition ;  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  the 
tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  Gen.  ii.  17. 
Among  those  ten  laws,  the  ground  of  all  other,  there 
are  but  two  affirmative ;  the  last  of  the  first  table, 
and  the  first  of  the  last :  the  other  eight  are  nega- 
tive, leading  us  to  good  by  the  forbidding  of  evil.  He 
that  will  not  omit  to  judge  us  for  omitting  the  good 
commanded,  for  the  doing  of  forbidden  evil  will  not 
fail  to  punish  us,  if  he  have  not  punished  Christ  for  us. 
4.  The  fault  corrected  is  twofold ;  iniquity,  and 
madness.  His  iniquity  is  discovered  in  three  par- 
ticulars. 

(1.)  He  had  a  desire  to  curse;  and  the  brand  of 
the  desperately  wicked  is  to  love  cursing.  He  loved 
to  send  it  abroad,  he  shall  feel  it  at  home ;  he  wore 
it  about  him,  he  shall  have  it  within  him.  "  Let  it 
come  into  his  bowels  like  water,  and  like  oil  into 
his  bones,"  Psal.  cix.  17,  18.  When  David's  misery 
deserved  compassion,  Shimei's  foul  mouth  loaded 
him  with  malediction.  Hereof  he  complained ;  They 
persecute  him  whom  thou  hast  smitten,  and  vex  him 
whom  thou  hast  wounded,  Psal.  Ixix.  26.  The  pick- 
ing out  of  such  an  opportunity  doubled  his  malicious 
rancour.  Such  words  would  have  galled  at  another 
time,  which  now  are  ready  to  kill.  Let  an  arrow  fly 
against  the  wind,  it  will  hardly  stick  upright ;  with 
the  wind,  it  piercelh  deep.  While  thy  enemy  stands, 
he  may  ward  thy  blows ;  but  once  fallen  on  his  back, 
he  is  at  thy  mercy :  and  how  base  is  that  spirit  which 
will  prey  on  prostrate  fortunes !  Little  cliildren 
have  so  much  valour  and  justice,  as  to  call  him  a 
coward  that  strikes  his  adversaiy  when  he  is  down. 
To  insult  upon  those  whom  God  hath  humbled,  and 
to  draw  blood  of  that  back  which  is  yet  blue  from 
the  Maker's  stripes,  is  even  the  murder  of  a  virulent 
tongue.  Nor  will  it  be  any  rare  thing  at  the  day  of 
judgment,  for  cursers  to  be  indicted  of  murder.  Thev 
would  kill,  if  they  durst ;  they  do  kill  as  far  as  they 


can.  I  would  be  loth  to  trust  his  hand,  that  bans 
me  with  his  lips.  Balaam  would  soon  have  been  the 
death  of  all  Israel,  if  either  tongue  or  sword  could ' 
have  effected  his  will. 

Hear  this,  ye  whose  tongues  run  so  fast  on  Satan's 
errand;  you  love  cursing,  you  are  not  heirs  of  the 
blessing.  Christians  are  charged  to  bless  their  ene- 
mies ;  what  are  they  that  curse  their  friends  ?  If 
every  curse  should  stick  a  visible  blister  on  the 
tongue,  as  it  doth  an  insensible  one  on  the  soul,  how 
many  men's  tongues  would  be  too  big  for  their  mouths ! 
In  the  discharge  of  a  gim,  the  fire  is  given  at  one 
end,  the  report  is  heard  at  the  other.  In  the  charg- 
ing of  the  heart  with  malice,  tire  is  taken  at  the  ears 
or  eyes,  and  presently  the  noise  of  cursing  and  rail- 
ing breaks  out  at  the  mouth.  Therefore  have  we 
been  cursed  and  plagued,  because  our  mouths  were  so 
full  of  cursing  and  bitterness.  Why  should  we  not 
expect  that  on  our  bodies,  which  proceeds  so  continu- 
ally forth  of  our  lips  ?  Who  can  set  his  neighbour's 
house  on  fire,  and  be  secure  of  his  own  ?  Yea,  curs- 
ing mouths  be  like  ill-made  pieces ;  which  while  men 
discharge  at  others,  they  recoil  in  splinters  on  their 
own  faces.  Curse  not  the  king  in  thy  thought,  nor 
the  rich  in  thy  bed-chamber,  Eccl.  x.  20 ;  for  these 
arrows  will  return  on  thy  own  soul.  Some  men's 
maledictions  are  shot  like  fools'  bolts,  without  re- 
garding where  they  light.  In  this  throng  not  sel- 
dom they  hurt  their  friends,  their  children :  as  Dio- 
genes warned  the  bastard,  when  he  saw  him  throw- 
ing stones  at  random  among  the  people,  to  take  heed 
he  did  not  hit  his  oi\-n  father.  The  wicked  do  not 
shoot  directly  at  God;  yet  God  shoots  at  them,  and 
sendeth  out  his  arrows  as  against  persecutors,  Psal. 
vii.  13.  Blessing  becomes  Christians:  Christ's  heart 
was  meek,  he  repined  not ;  his  tongue  meek,  he  re- 
viled not;  his  hand  meek,  he  revenged  not.  The 
good  man  wronged,  shoots  not  again ;  neither  with 
the  arrow  of  the  head,  nor  head  of  the  arrow;  nei- 
ther with  the  mouth  of  the  sword,  nor  sword  of  the 
mouth.  If  this  life  prepares  us  for  the  next,  then 
the  mouth  of  bitterness  shall  be  plagued  with  bitter- 
ness of  mouth ;  but  the  lips  accustomed  to  bless, 
shall  be  blessed  with  songs  of  joy  for  ever. 

(2.)  He  had  a  mercenary  tongue.  He  that  had 
mortgaged  his  soul  for  gold,  would  not  stick  for  his 
tongue  into  the  bargain.  There  be  not  many  acts 
of  sin,  wherein  the  tongue  hath  not  a  part  to  play ; 
that  little  engine  is  seldom  ever  left  out.  For  un- 
elcanncss,  the  tongue  woos ;  for  dissimulation,  the 
tongue  walks;  for  ambition,  the  tongue  flatters;  to 
hide  faults,  the  tongue  lies :  what  business  hath  sin 
wherein  the  tongue  finds  no  employment?  But  a 
vendible  tongue,  that  may  be  hired  for  a  bribe  to 
contradict  the  truth,  is  rooted  in  a  most  wicked  heart. 
For  the  mouth  is  but  the  bell,  and  the  tongue  the 
clapper ;  the  heart  is  the  spring  that  sets  all  a-going. 
For  a  man  to  sell  his  speech,  is  bad  enough,  but 
worse  to  sell  his  silence.  He  that  speaks,  does 
something  for  his  reward ;  the  other  is  feed  for  no- 
thing. Christ  said,  "  He  that  is  not  with  me  is 
against  me  ;"  but  many  a  client  says  of  a  famous  ad- 
vocate. If  he  be  not  against  me  he  is  with  me.  So 
the  just  cause  may  be  lost  both  ways;  by  speech,  or 
silence.  But  he  that  farms  out  his  tongue,  shall 
receive  but  a  sorry  rent  at  the  last. 

(3.)  He  did  strike  his  beast  for  doing  him  good. 
She  saw  the  angel,  and  would  not  go  on ;  for  this  he 
bestowed  his  fuiy  and  stripes  upon  her.  If  she  had 
gone  on  he  had  perished,  yet  he  strikes  her  that  kept 
him  from  being  stricken.  How  often  do  men  wish 
for  those  things,  which  it  is  mercy  to  go  without ! 
They  find  fault  to  be  stayed  in  the  ways  of  death, 
and  fly  upon  those  that  oppose  their  perdition.     It 


Vek.   IG. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


5li) 


is  our  office  and  endeavour  to  save  you  from  destruc- 
tion, to  guide  you  along  through  this  wilderness  unto 
Canaan,  to  discover  your  dangers,  to  clear  your  eyes, 
and  deliver  your  souls :  do  not  you,  like  Balaam,  re- 
quite us  with  hlows,  and  use  us  worse  than  hcasts  for 
our  service.  An  ape  seeing  himself  in  a  looking- 
glass,  whether  through  wantonness  or  dislike  of  his 
ova  visage,  doth  often  break  the  glass  a-pieces. 
Preachers  are  like  crystal  glasses,  declaring  to  sin- 
ners their  spots  and  deformities ;  and  these,  like  apes, 
requite  them  with  injuries  and  abuses.  We  would 
fain  save  you,  why  should  you  mischief  us  ?  Travel- 
lers make  much  of  their  guides ;  so  let  us  have  your 
loving  company  in  the  way  of  obedience,  that  we 
may  all  arrive  at  the  land  of  promise. 

Balaam's  madness  will  appear  in  four  fits ;  a  foolish 
fit,  a  frantic  fit,  a  desperate  fit,  a  raving  fit. 

(1.)  He  knew  the  danger,  yet  incurs  it ;  was  not 
this  madness  ?  Until  the  will  of  God  be  knowTi,  we 
may  dissent  from  it  without  sin.  St.  Paul,  by  virtue 
of  his  apostolical  commission,  would  have  preached  in 
Bithynia,  but  the  Spirit  hindered  him ;  yet  herein  he 
sinned  not.  Samuel  prayed  for  Saul's  good,  otherwise 
than  the  secret  counsel  of  God  had  determined;  and 
this  without  sin :  but  when  the  decree  was  manifested, 
he  ceased  that  duty.  One  good  thing  may  differ  from 
another ;  and  the  creature  may  will  a  good,  which  God 
in  his  secret  purpose  willeth  not :  yet  the  will  is  good, 
if  it  leave  not  out  Thy  will  be  done,  submitting  it- 
self to  a  better :  as  the  child  prays  for  his  father's 
life,  when  God  hath  determined  him  to  die  of  that 
sickness ;  yet  without  sin.  But  when  Balaam  is  for- 
bidden to  go,  and  opposed  in  going,  still  to  persist, 
this  was  madness.  What  prophet  ever  spoke  better, 
what  reprobate  ever  did  worse,  than  Balaam?  It  is 
no  less  than  madness,  for  prophets  to  give  light  to 
others,  and  walk  themselves  in  darkness;  to  distri- 
bute portions  of  meat  to  the  family,  and  starve  their 
own  souls ;  to  rescue  others  from  the  enemy,  and  suf- 
fer themselves  to  be  taken  ;  to  forewarn  others  of 
that  pit,  whereinto  themselves  run  headlong.  If  we 
hear  a  mountebank  undertake  to  cure  the  distempered 
heat  of  the  liver,  while  himself  hath  a  fien,-  face,  will 
we  believe  him  ?  If  prophets  dress  heavenly  feasts, 
made  up  of  God's  gracious  promises  and  infinite  mer- 
cies, yet  fast  themselves,  surely  the  very  ass  may  con- 
vince them  of  madness. 

Now  as  there  be  mad  prophets,  so  there  are  mad 
people  too ;  such  as  will  not  live  as  their  pastor 
teacheth,  but  as  their  pastor  liveth.  St.  Paul  tells 
us  that  faith  cometh  by  hearing ;  he  does  not  say,  it 
comes  by  seeing.  We  live  by  precepts,  not  by  ex- 
amples. But  these  nice  patients  neglect  the  diet 
which  their  physician  prescribeth,  and  follow  the 
diet  which  he  uscth.  I  deny  not  but  good  examples 
have  their  profit ;  and  to  see  others  feed  heartily, 
betters  our  appetite.  But  it  is  not  their  example, 
but  our  own  meat,  that  doth  nourish  iw  :  no  man  is 
the  fatter  for  another's  feeding.  The  common  cx- 
probration  is,  Physician,  heal  thyself  Yet  suppose 
those  prophets  warn  us  of  the  tide,  and  lose  it  them- 
selves ;  that  they  arc  careless  of  their  own  sores,  so  our 
wounds  be  healed ;  that  they  become  infatuate  salt, 
so  we  be  seasoned ;  that  they  are  cast  into  darkness, 
so  we  be  enlightened  ;  we  have  no  cause  to  complain. 
Have  they  built  us  an  ark,  though  themselves  be 
drowned  ?  have  they  shone  to  us  like  tapers,  though 
themselves  go  out  in  stench  ?  have  they  brought  us 
to  the  land  of  promise,  though  themselves  die  short 
of  it  ?  have  they  served  us  in  the  temple  as- vessels  of 
gold  and  silver,  though  themselves  be  carried  into 
Babylon  ?  have  they  sown  our  fields,  and  miss  their 
own  harvest  ?  have  they  planted  us  vineyards,  and 
none  fur  themselves  ?     Be  it  unto  them  as  thev  have 


deserved :  let  us  take  our  own  portions,  and  be  thank- 
ful. Indeed  prophets  are  in  your  mouths,  as  you 
will  be  pleased  to  take  them  ;  and  every  one  speaks, 
not  as  he  sees,  but  as  he  suspects.  What  arc  we 
more  than  you  ?  All  are  men  of  the  like  passions, 
Acts  xiv.  15.  Do  you  look  for  no  passion  in  us,  and 
find  so  much  in  yourselves?  We  bring  you  heavenly 
treasure,  yet  are  still  earthen  vessels.  Among  the 
apostles,  one  was  a  devil,  and  another  was  a  Satan  in 
his  kind,  none  were  angels.  We  are  the  men  of  God, 
yet  men  ;  prophets,  but  yet  (as  Moses  said)  like  our 
brethren.  Acts  iii.  22  :  not  in  the  similitude  of  sinful 
flesh,  as  Christ  was,  Rom.  viii.  3;  but  sinful  flesh  in- 
deed. We  are  stars,  yet,  saith  Job,  the  ver>-  stars 
are  not  pure  in  God's  sight.  Job  xxv.  5.  We  are 
angels,  by  a  more  honourable  style  than  our  natures 
can  bear ;  yet  God  hath  not  found  stedfastness  in  the 
angels.  Our  profession  gives  us  no  immunity  from 
sin.  But  if  we  know  the  right,  and  bend  our  whole 
course  the  wrong,  we  are  then  mad  indeed ;  and  if 
you  neglect  our  doctrine,  and  follow  altogether  our 
example,  certainly  you  are  as  mad  as  we.  This  was 
his  foolish  fit. 

(2.)  Hehears  the  beast  speak  under  him,  yet  slights 
it :  this  was  a  frantic  fit.  Who  would  not  look  that 
his  hairs  should  stand  upright,  his  blood  forsake 
his  cheeks,  that  he  should  alight  from  that  strange 
kind  of  beast,  and  stand  amazed  at  the  miracle  ? 
But  such  was  his  madness ;  as  the  frantic  hath  sense 
to  hear  a  voice,  but  no  use  of  reason  to  distinguish 
it ;  that  as  if  no  new  thing  had  happened,  he  talks 
with  his  ass,  and  gives  her  words  again,  not  more 
full  of  anger  than  void  of  discretion.  Who  docs 
not  wonder  that  this  magician  wondered  not  ?  Two 
reasons  may  be  alleged  for  it ;  though  indeed  there 
was  no  reason  in  it. 

[1.]  It  might  be,  this  was  his  trade.  So  custom 
might  take  away  strangeness,  if  he  had  been  wonted 
to  this  before.  But  suppose  Satan  and  he  were  so  well 
acquainted  at  this  device  ;  yet  he  knew  his  own  ass; 
she  had  long  groaned  under  so  unworthy  a  burden, 
Numb.  xxii.  30 :  he  knew  this  voice  came  not  from 
Satan ;  for  then  it  should  have  been  an  encouragement 
to  persist,  whereas  this  voice  sounded  a  retreat :  yet 
still  he  puts  her  on,  whose  tongue  had  forbidden  him 
to  move  further. 

[2.]  It  might  be,  his  rage  and  covetousncss  had  so 
transported  Yiim,  that  he  did  not  observe  this  unusual 
and  unnatural  accident.  If  a  man  had  as  many  eyes 
as  the  poets  feigned  of  Argus,  the  melody  of  gain 
would  play  them  all  asleep,  or  make  them  blind.  He 
that  looks  through  a  green  glass,  sees  no  other  co- 
lour. The  worldling  is  like  a  man  in  a  dream  ;  you 
may  talk  what  you  will  to  him,  but  his  dream  goes 
on.  Balaam's  mind  did  so  run  on  the  gold  of  Moab, 
that  he  could  hear  a  beast  speak,  and  never  regard  it. 
One  man  passeth  by  that  with  contcmpt,which  another 
receives  with  astonishment.  In  dreadful  thunders, 
when  good  men  be  at  their  prayers,  some  still  ply 
their  sports.  They  are  as  mad  as  Balaam,  whom  ex- 
traordinary judgments  cannot  move.  God  made  all 
his  works  to  be  observed ;  but  they  that  do  not  won- 
der at  his  miracles,  are  miracles  to  be  wondered  at. 
The  papists  feign  a  world  of  miracles,  and  they  have 
men  mad  enough  to  believe  them.  Daily  we  see 
God's  judgments ;  if  we  do  not  lay  them  to  heart,  we 
are  as  mad  as  they. 

(3.)  After  all  this  interruption,  still  he  drives  on, 
and  runs  upon  that  sword  which  was  brandished 
against  him  :  this  was  a  desperate  fit.  The  ass  saw 
the  angel,  and  gave  back  ;  common  sense  had  taught 
her  to  avoid  that  danger,  which  reason  could  not 
work  in  her  master.  "The  sword  was  drawn  against 
him,  not  her  ;  yet  she  would  decline  it,  he  rusheth 


520 


AN  EXPOSITION  LTON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


upon  it.  Evils  were  as  good  not  seen,  as  not  avoid- 
ed ;  our  happiness  is  in  the  prevention,  not  prevision 
of  them.  "  The  prudent  man  foresecth  the  evil,  and 
hideth  himself;  but  the  simple  pass  on,  and  are 
punished,"  Prov.  xxii.  3.  We  pity  him  that  is  hurt 
through  want  of  circumspection ;  but  he  that  sees  the 
snare,  and  flies  into  it,  scarce  deserves  compassion. 
The  revenging  angel  stands  before  us  in  the  ways  of 
disobedience ;  and  though  we  know  we  shall  as  surely 
die  as  sin,  yet  we  have  neither  the  wit  nor  the  grace 
to  give  back  ;  though  it  were  with  the  hurt  of  a  foot 
to  save  the  body,  with  the  pain  of  the  body  to  save 
the  soul.  Sin  is  a  labyrinth,  whereinto  the  entrance 
is  easy,  the  extrication  difficult.  The  Turk  making 
an  expedition  into  Persia,  founiihe  Straits  of  Ar- 
menia somewhat  troublesome  fuMns  passage  ;  there- 
fore they  consulted  which  way  to  get  in.  But  one 
among  the  rest,  and  he  none  of  the  wisest,  said. 
Here  is  much  ado  how  you  should  get  in,  but  I  hear 
nobody  take  care  how  you  should  get  out.  Sud- 
denly doth  a  wicked  Balaam  set  upon  his  mischiev- 
ous design ;  but  no  persuasions  can  make  him  break 
off.  How  often  doth  the  adulterer's  conscience  check 
him  with  the  law,  and  dread  of  plagues;  yet  still  he 
persists,  and  resolves  desperately,  as  Esther  did  re- 
ligiously. If  I  perish,  I  perish.  Or  as  Pompey  said 
in  another  sense,  when  he  was  to  bring  grain  to 
Rome  in  a  great  dearth,  and  coming  to  the  sea, 
found  it  tempestuous  and  dangerous,  insomuch  that 
he  was  dissuaded  to  embark.  It  is  necessaiy  that  I 
go,  not  that  I  live.  So  they  make  a  necessity  of 
their  sinning,  and  put  it  to  the  venture  for  their 
salvation. 

Do  we  resolve  ever  to  give  over  the  course  of 
wickedness  ?  Yes,  one  day.  If  one  day,  why  not 
this  day,  why  not  now  ?  We  are  not  sure  to  live 
out  this  day.  Pyrrhus  opened  himself  to  his  friend 
Cineas,  that  he  first  intended  a  war  upon  Italy.  And 
what  then  ?  saith  Cineas.  Then  we  will  attempt 
Sicily.  And  what  then  ?  Then  we  may  conquer 
Carthage  and  Africa.  And  what  theij,  sir?  Then 
•we  may  rest,  and  feast,  and  sacrifice,  and  make 
merry  with  our  friends.  Cineas  replied.  And  may 
we  not  enjoy  this  sweetness  now,  without  all  this 
ado?  Vain  man  fancies  divers  projects;  as  first  how 
to  be  rich  :  and  what  then  ?  next  to  gild  his  gold 
with  honour :  and  what  then  ?  then  to  take  his 
ylcasure  according  to  his  sensual  appetite :  and 
what  then  ?  at  last  to  repent,  and  prepare  for  hea- 
ven. O  madman,  and  why  not  so  now  ?  Ho  that 
calls  thee  now,  will  not  call  ever.  He  that  calls 
thee  now,  will  now  i-eceive  thee  :  will  he  receive  thee 
■when  he  does  not  call  thee  ?  Cast  away  thy  lusts, 
that  they  may  not  cast  away  thee.  If  the  perverse- 
ness  of  our  stomachs  break  through  all  oppositions, 
Balaam  himself  was  not  more  mad  than  we. 

(4.)  His  unmcrcifulness  to  the  poor  beast  is  a  re- 
monstrance of  his  raving  fit.  What  did  the  ass  de- 
serve ?  All  the  hurt  she  did  him,  was  to  turn  him, 
to  serve  him,  to  save  him  :  this  he  requites  with 
blows.  This  was  her  first  fault  all  her  time  with 
him,  if  it  had  been  one ;  therefore  she  deserved  not 
so  cruel  a  revenge.  We  little  think  of  it,  but  God 
will  call  us  to  account  for  all  the  unkind  usages  of 
his  mute  creatures.  Of  this  the  angel  first  takes 
notice  ;  of  this  wrong  he  first  expostulates,  "Where- 
fore hast  thou  smitten  tliine  ass  these  three  times?" 
Numb.  xxii.  32.  One  blow  had  been  unjust,  three 
was  madness.  God  hath  made  us  lords  of  them,  not 
tyrants;  owners,  not  tormenters :  ho  hath  given  us 
leave  to  kill  them  for  our  use,  not  to  torment  thetn 
for  our  pleasiu'e.  As  they  arc  our  drudges  by  con- 
stitution, so  they  are  our  fellows  by  creation.  "  Un- 
less she  had  turned  from  me,"  saith  the  angel,  "  surely 


I  had  slain  thee,"  ver.  33 :  that  was  somewhat ;  she 
was  a  means  of  saving  thy  life.  Yea,  "  I  had  slain 
thee,  and  saved  her  alive ; "  that  was  more.  To  show 
that  I  resjjeet  an  innocent  beast  more  than  a  per-  ■ 
verse  man,  her  safety  should  have  aggravated  the 
woe  of  thy  ruin.  Canst  thou  tell,  O  man,  whether 
thy  ver>-  beast  may  not  be  a  means  of  thy  preserv-  ' 
ation,  that  thou  madly  spendest  thy  furj'  where  thou 
findest  matter  of  mercy  ? 

Beasts  have  been  a  means  of  the  deliverance  of 
men ;  not  seldom  hath  a  dog  prevented  thieves,  the 
swiftness  of  a  horse  saved  the  rider's  purse  or  life  ; 
many  of  them  have  done  more  than  ordinarj-  service, 
all  wliich  pleads  for  them  against  our  tyranny.  Yet 
so  bloody  was  this  magician,  that  he  wisheth  for  a 
sword  to  slay  his  harmless  beast.  A  wand  had  been 
too  much,  yet  he  desires  a  sword.  Whose  beast 
would  he  have  killed?  was  it  not  his  own?  and  if 
he  had  killed  his  own  beast,  who  should  have  been 
the  loser  by  it  ?  How  impotent  was  this  madness ! 
The  good  man  is  merciful  to  his  beast.  They  cannot 
declare  their  wants,  nor  tell  their  grievances  ;  other- 
wise than  by  moaning  in  their  several  kinds:  to  an 
honest  heart  their  very  dumbness  is  a  loud  language. 
David  will  venture  on  a  bear,  rather  than  lose  a 
lamb ;  Jacob  will  endure  heat  by  day,  and  cold  by 
night,  rather  than  neglect  his  flocks;  Moses  will 
figlit  with  odds,  rather  than  the  cattle  shall  perish 
with  thirst;  only  a  Balaam  wants  this  mercy.  It 
was  a  sign  that  he  would  fain  have  smitten  Israel 
with  a  curse,  that  wished  a  sword  in  the  sides  of  his 
faultless  beast.  It  is  ill  falling  into  those  hands, 
which  the  very  beasts  find  unmerciful.  While  they 
live,  it  is  mercy  to  supply  them;  when  they  must 
die,  it  is  mercy  to  despatch  them :  in  all  things 
mercy  becomes  the  servants  of  God. 

5.  "  With  man's  voice."  This  was  the  manner  of 
her  disputing.  Balaam's  madness  had  turned  him 
into  a  beast ;  and  why  might  not  one  beast  teach 
another  ?  In  some  things  the  ass  excelled  hei 
master.  First,  she  saw  the  judgment,  he  was  blind : 
common  sense  better  instructed  her,  than  reason  and 
religion  had  enlightened  him.  Beasts  cannot  ex- 
amine the  occasion  of  their  employments,  their  mas- 
ters should.  Secondly,  the  ass  had  a  tongue  of 
equity ;  the  prophet  a  tongue,  hand,  and  heart  of 
iniquity :  he  would  do  ill,  she  labours  to  prevent  him  ; 
he  intends  Israel's  destruction,  she  means  his  preserv- 
ation. Not  seldom  have  we  seen  a  drunken  rider 
on  the  back  of  a  sober  beast ;  insomuch  that  one  said 
wittily,  the  horses  stand  at  the  tavern  door  like  men, 
while  their  masters  are  playing  the  beasts  witlun. 
Thirdly,  the  ass  was  not  capable  of  sin,  and  did  there- 
fore justify  herself;  the  master  was  so  mad  upon  sin, 
that  he  would  needs  ruin  himself. 

Observations.  1.  The  weaker  vessel  may  hold  the 
better  liquor.  The  unlearned  lay  hold  on  heaven, 
whereas  men  of  knowledge  often  wallow  in  the  lusts 
of  fiesh  and  blood.  (August.)  We  are  ordained  to 
judge  the  angels  ;  but  if  we  degenerate  from  our 
prerogative,  angels,  men,  infidels,  harlots,  yea,  even 
beasts  and  stones,  shall  be  our  judges.  Because 
when  we  ask  in  our  daily  prayers,  that  the  will  of 
God  may  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  lieaven ;  we 
are  so  far  from  matching  this  proportion,  that  there 
is  not  the  poorest  creature  in  the  air,  earth,  or  deep, 
but  in  their  kinds  go  beyond  us.  (Bern.)  But  let  us 
know,  though  we  have  the  beasts  our  servants  in  the 
labours  of  this  world,  they  shall  not  be  our  com- 
panions i  .  suffering  the  torments  of  hell.  Howso- 
ever tht  ,.1-ofane  epicure  in  the  pleasures  of  life 
would  rather  be  a  man  than  beast ;  yet  coming  to 
his  answer,  he  would  rather  be  a  beast  than  a  man. 
How  willingly   after    death    would    Balaam    have 


Ver.  16. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


521 


changed  conditions  with  his  beast ;  vainly  wishing 
that  himself  had  been  the  ass,  and  that  ass  the 
prophet ! 

2.  As  Balaam  proceeds  in  frowardness,  so  doth  the 
ass  in  rcprcliension.  First,  he  went  aside  out  of 
God's  way,  and  she  went  aside  out  of  his  way ;  so 
her  error  was  a  reproof  of  his.  Wlicn  things  go 
cross  with  us,  let  us  consider  our  crossness  to  tlie 
will  of  our  Maker.  Secondly,  as  he  went  forward  with 
his  wicked  intendments,  so  she  dashed  his  fool 
against  the  wall,  to  put  him  in  mind  of  liis  malicious 
projects,  and,  if  it  were  possible,  by  the  bruising  of 
u  limb  to  save  the  whole  body  and  soul.  Thirdly, 
because  he  was  carried  headlong  with  the  hope  of 
wages,  she  lay  down  to  stay  his  course.  Had  there 
been  the  least  spark  of  grace  in  him,  this  falling 
down  of  his  beast  might  have  taught  him  to  fall 
down  on  his  knees,  and  to  deprecate  that  danger 
which  an  ordinary  capacity  would  have  suspected. 
In  sin  there  may  be  security,  there  can  be  no  safety. 
Wickedness  makes  guilty  men  fear  where  is  no  cause ; 
Balaam  had  cause  enough,  but  no  grace  to  fear. 
Fourthly,  because  in  his  anger  he  smote  her  for  stop- 
ping his  haste,  she  opened  her  mouth  to  reprove 
his  injustice.  Thus  at  every  turn  she  answered 
him,  in  every  passage  she  was  quit  with  him.  We 
cannot  run  so  fast,  but  God  can  overtake  us ;  nor  be 
so  cunning,  but  he  can  teach  even  a  beast  to  over- 
reach us. 

3.  The  sensual  creatures  are, set  to  condemn  our 
sins,  and  to  reflect  our  evils  upon  us.  Peter  hath  a 
cock  to  tell  him  his  cowardice,  and  Balaam  an  ass  to 
reprove  his  avarice.  There  is  no  creature  dumb, 
when  God  bids  it  speak :  if  there  were  no  preachers 
to  declaim,  no  conscience  to  accuse,  the  verj-  crea- 
tures themselves  would  cry ;  the  beds,  boards,  walls, 
windows,  markets,  closets  should  have  tongues  to 
condemn  us.  We  need  not  wish  for  angels  from 
heaven,  or  the  dead  from  hell,  to  warn  us ;  for  besides 
Moses  and  the  prophets,  besides  Christ  and  the 
apostles,  besides  ihe  gospel  and  a  multitude  of 
preachers,  the  very  stones  would  speak  against  us. 
Whither  can  we  turn  our  eyes,  and  not  see  an  object 
rebuking  our  iniquities  ?  In  their  rebellion  against 
us,  they  are  dumb  interjircters  of  our  rebellion  against 
our  Maker.  In  their  mute  inability  to  declare  their 
grievances,  they  tax  our  stubbornness,  that  have 
tongues  to  speak,  and  yet  will  not  confess  our  sins. 
When  they  pine  for  want  of  meat,  they  show  us  our 
demerits,  that  have  brought  a  curse  upon  them  and 
ourselves,  and  that  we  suffer  in  their  ruin.  We  can 
take  signals  by  ravens  and  screech-owls,  and  pre- 
sently talk  of  graves  and  corpses:  superstition  hath 
taught  fools  to  understand  tne  language  of  birds; 
Would  devotion  could  teach  us  to  understand  the 
groaning  of  all  creatures  under  the  bondage  of  our 
corruption,  Rom.  viii.  22. 

There  is  a  divine  voice,  that  cries  against  our  sins; 
The  Lord  gave  liis  voice  from  heaven,  "and  that  a 
mighty  voice,"  Psal.  Ixviii.  33.  There  is  an  angelic 
voice  ;  an  angel  cried  "  with  a  loud  voice.  Woe,  woe, 
woe  to  the  inhabiters  of  the  earth ! "  Rev.  viii.  13. 
There  is  a  human  voice,  the  dictation  of  reason;  every 
man's  conscience  condemneth  sin :  a  voice  within 
thee,  which  is  against  thee  ;  a  loud  voice  to  every 
one's  self,  though  not  heard  of  others.  And  there  is 
a  dumb  voice  :  so  Abel's  blood  had  a  tongue  to  cry 
against  murder;  the  walls  and  beams  have  a  tongue 
against  oppression  ;  the  fields  and  vineyards  have  a 
tongue  against  drunkenness  and  excess.  -Stephen 
had  as  many  mouths  as  he  had  wounds,  calling  for 
justice;  and  there  be  as  many  tongties  as  there  are 
creatures.  Yea,  there  is  an  infernal  voice :  the  devils 
have  thundering  voices;  they  become  (as  it  were) 


hoarse  with  accusing  us ;  day  and  niglit  they  cease 
not  to  put  up  bills  and  declarations  against  us.  Yet 
there  is  a  penitentiary  voice.  How  ought  we  to  lift 
a\>  our  voices  and  weep  for  our  sins,  lift  up  our  voices 
and  cry  for  forgiveness,  when  so  many  thousand 
voices  cry  against  us!  All  our  comfort  is,  there  is 
a  saving  voice,  the  voice  of  a  Mediator  that  speaks 
for  us  :  and  it  is  a  voice  of  blood  too ;  but  such  a  voice 
as  "speakcth  better  things  than  the  blood  of  Abel,'' 
Hcb.  xii.  24.  This  voice  God  will  hear,  when  he 
stops  his  ears  to  all  the  rest.  It  is  a  voice  that  cries 
for  mercy,  and  may  it  obtain  mercy  for  us  all. 

4.  There  is  no  beast  deserves  so  much  wonder  as 
this  of  Balaam  ;  and  that  for  three  things:  first,  her 
common  sense  was  advanced  above  the  reason  of  her 
rider;  so  that  for  the  time,  the  beast  was  the  man, 
and  the  man  was  the  beast :  not  by  any  transmigra- 
tion or  permutation  of  souls,  after  the  fancy  of  the 
Pythagoreans  ;  but  by  Satan's  hand  over  the  one,  and 
God's  power  in  the  other,  the  prophet  became  brutish, 
and  tlie  beast  prophetical.  Secondly,  her  eye  was 
enlightened  to  be  capable  of  seeing  an  angel.  Among 
all  the  properties  of  this  beast,  I  do  not  read  any 
commendation  of  his  sight ;  but  rather  find  it  to  be 
dull  and  heavy,  scarce  apprehending  a  bodily  object 
that  is  not  too  apparent.  But  to  see  a  spirit,  and  that 
spirit  which  his  rider  could  not  discern,  was  far  above 
nature.  Thirdly,  her  mouth  was  opened  to  speak  : 
now  to  hear  a  word  come  from  that  tongue,  which 
was  only  used  to  bray,  was  strange  and  uncouth. 
Who  could  but  stand  amazed  at  such  a  sight,  at  such 
a  voice,  at  such  a  discourse,  from  so  silly  a  creature  ! 
That  a  beast  whose  nature  is  noted  for  incapacity, 
should  out-reason  a  man,  her  master,  a  professed  pro- 
phet, was  in  the  height  of  miracles. 

But  what  can  hinder  the  will  of  the  Almighty, 
that  doth  all  things  with  the  same  facility  ?  Non 
laborat  in  maximis  Deus,  non  fastidit  in  minimis, 
says  Ambrose ;  i.  c.  God  spends  no  labour  in  the 
greatest,  and  does  not  feel  disdain  in  the  least,  things. 
There  is  no  impossibility,  where  he  is  pleased  to 
give  a  dispensation.  Yea,  as  all  extraordinary  things 
are  only  done  by  him,  so  what  ordinary  thing  can  be 
done  without  him  ?  Our  eye  could  no  more  see  a 
beast,  than  a  beast  can  see  an  angel,  had  he  not  thus 
enabled  it.  He  that  made  all  eyes,  can  easily  make 
them  dim  or  clear  at  his  pleasure.  The  Syrians  had 
eyes  good  enough,  yet  God  so  held  them  that  they 
could  not  see  the  man  that  led  them,  2  Kings  vi.  18. 
The  ass  had  a  dull  eye,  yet  saw  a  spirit :  he  that  shut 
the  one,  opened  the  other.  If  his  power  can  make 
stones  to  speak,  how  much  more  creatures  of  sense ! 
That  evil  spirit  spake  in  a  serpent ;  why  is  it  more 
that  a  good  spirit  should  speak  in  the  mouth  of  a 
beast?  We  do  teach  birds  to  speak  those  sentences 
Ihey  understand  not :  if  man  can  do  this,  how  far  can 
his  Maker  go!  He  can  as  easily  create  a  voice  without 
a  body,  as  a  body  without  a  voice.  We  may  not  dis- 
trust, we  may  wonder ;  let  us  compare  the  act  with 
the  Author,  and  all  is  easy. 

5.  We  read  but  of  one  beast  in  the  Scripture  upon 
which  God  wrought  such  a  miracle.  One,  to  witness 
his  power ;  and  but  one,  to  show  his  wisdom ;  for  won- 
ders ceas^to  be  wonders  when  they  are  common.  The 
antichristian  church  hath  made  them  superfluously 
frequent ;  and  for  this  one,  they  have  many  beasts 
that  speak  and  do  strange  things,  if  we  will  believe 
them.  As  that  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua's  horse,  that 
kneeled  down  to  worship  the  holy  host :  yet  we  had 
a  man  in  England  that  taught  his  horse  neater  tricks, 
and  we  had  not  the  faith  to  think  it  a  miracle.  They 
tell  us  how  St.  Francis  commanded  a  wolf  to  hurt  no 
more  lambs ;  and  the  wolf  came  to  him,  and  put  his 
paw  into  St  Francis's  hand,  and  thereby  made  him 


522 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


a  promise;  many  he  said  nothing.  Not  to  speak 
of  their  parrot,  that  being  pursued  by  the  hawk,  and 
flying  over  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury's  tomb,  cried 
to  him  for  help;  wliereupon  the  hawk  fell  down  dead, 
and  tlie  bird  escaped.  Nor  of  St.  Francis's  preach- 
ing to  the  birds,  and  their  attentive  patience,  yea, 
thanks  to  him  for  his  good  sermon :  or  the  swallows 
holding  their  peace  at  his  rebuke.  They  tell  us  of 
Bishop  Trian,  who  having  killed  his  cow  and  calf  to 
entertain  St.  Patrick,  found  them  both  feeding  in 
his  meadow  the  next  morning ;  only  we  do  not  read 
of  aught  they  said  to  him.  And  of  a  woman,  that  to 
make  her  bees  fruitful,  did  put  a  consecrated  host 
into  the  hive ;  where  the  bees  built  a  chapel  with  an 
altar,  doors  and  windows,  a  steeple  with  bells,  and 
sung  their  canonical  hours,  and  kept  watch  like 
monks  in  their  cloisters:  and  was  not  here  a  goodly 
convent  made  in  a  bee-hive  ?  It  is  no  wonder  that 
beasts  speak  words,  when  bees  can  say  their  prayers 
and  receive  the  communion.  Yea,  they  profess  more, 
even  to  give  language  to  images,  blocks  and  stones. 
Beasts  have  tongues,  though  no  speech ;  sense,  though 
they  want  reason :  images  have  neither  reason,  nor 
tongues,  nor  sense.  So  the  image  of  the  blessed 
Virgin  is  reported  to  bid  St.  Bernard  good  morrow  ; 
and  to  charge  Hyacinth,  when  he  fled  from  the  Tar- 
tarians,  to  take  her  and  her  Son  along  with  him : 
to  bid  the  sexton  open  the  church  door,  and  let  in 
Alexius  ;  and  thus  to  encourage  Thomas  Aquinas, 
Thou  hast  written  well  of  me,  what  reward  wilt  thou 
have  ?    Were  not  these  very  proper  miracles  ? 

They  refuse  Christ  speakiiig  in  his  word,  and  listen 
to  his  speaking  in  a  rood.  But,  as  when  Agesilaus 
was  told  of  one  that  did  excellently  counterfeit  the 
nightingale,  and  was  entreated  to  hear  him,  he  re- 
plied, AVhy  I  have  heard  the  nightingale  herself; 
so  what  need  we  listen  to  these  counterfeit  voices  of 
Christ,  when  we  have  heard  the  Word  of  God  him- 
self? He  is  too  prodigal  n  spendthrift  of  the  stock 
of  his  faith,  that  shall  give  credit  to  their  forgeries. 
I  had  rather  be  of  his  mind,  who  when  his  friend 
told  him  of  a  strange  matter,  and  added  withal  that 
he  would  not  have  believed  it  had  he  not  seen  it  ; 
answered.  And  no  more  will  I.  This  we  find,  tliat 
since  the  brightness  of  the  gospel,  God  doth  rarely 
work  miracles,  but  Satan  is  often  permitted  to  do 
signs  and  wonders.  We  are  not  bid  to  expect  mira- 
cles from  heaven,  we  are  to  suspect  the  delusions  of 
hell. 

There  be  yet  remaining  certain  metaphorical  al- 
lusions and  moral  observations,  wheremth  I  conclude. 

1.  This  beast  never  spake  before,  never  after;  only 
this  once,  and  that  was  but  an  ex]iostulation  and  a 
reply.  Some  dissolute  sinners  are  like  this  ass;  their 
eyes  are  never  opened,  nor  their  tongues  unloosed,  but 
once  ;  they  see  not  the  sword  of  God's  vengeance, 
nor  fall  to  their  devout  prayers,  till  they  come  to 
their  death-beds.  These  fools  would  buy  knowledge, 
when  Wisdom  hath  shut  up  her  shop.  Never  to  spare 
till  we  come  to  the  bottom  of  the  purse,  is  a  frugality 
next  to  beggary.  Men  sing  and  take  their  pleasure 
inprosperity,  and  open  not  their  mouths  to  Heaven,  vm- 
less  in  blasphemy :  in  the  day  of  trouble  they  cry  for 
help ;  but  if  they  will  not  speak  to  God  in  their 
health,  can  they  hope  he  should  speak  to  them  in 
their  sickness. 

But  God  hath  said.  Call  uj)on  me  in  the  day  of 
trouble,  and  I  will  hear  thee,  Psal.  1.  15.  True,  but 
this  must  be  such  a  voice  as  he  is  acquainted  withal. 
Hath  he  heard  it  daily  in  petitions  and  praises  ?  then 
he  will  know  it  familiarly  in  distress.  Otherwise  he 
will  count  it  a  strange  voice,  and  none  of  his  family's. 
Strangers  hear  not  Uio  voice  of  Christ,  nor  will  Christ 
hear  the  voice  of  strangers.     He  that  never  would 


learn  to  read,  and  yet  hopes  at  last  push  to  be  prompt- 
ed with  a  psalm  of  mercy,  shall  be  put  away  witn  a. 
non  legit.  God  is  fain  to  deal  with  wicked  men,  as 
we  do  with  skittish  horses  in  a  pasture,  which  we 
cannot  take  till  we  get  them  at  a  gate  ;  even  to 
bring  them  to  the  gates  of  death  before  they  ^^^ll 
be  tamed.  Pray  continually,  saith  the  apostle, 
1  Thess.  V.  17;  mind  that  exercise  that  you  may  be 
pci'fect  in  it  ?  Other  duties  have  their  several  sea- 
sons :  there  is  a  time  to  weep,  and  a  time  to  rejoice ; 
a  time  to  love,  and  a  time  to  hate ;  a  time  to  speak, 
and  a  time  to  hold  our  peace,  Eccl.  iii.  2,  &c. :  but 
pray  continually.  Let  us  pray  while  we  can  speak, 
that  God,  like  a  kind  Father,  may  hear  our  groans 
and  pity  us  when  we  cannot  speak. 

2.  The  ass  spake  to  better  her  master,  not  herself: 
and  so  do  many,  that  have  heaven  in  their  lips,  and 
the  image  of  hell  in  their  lives  ;  that  are  excellent  at 
the  muses,  but  have  no  acquaintance  with  the  graces. 
We  may  say  of  their  learning,  as  it  was  of  Galba's  wit, 
Male  liabi/al,  It  dwells  HI.  They  are  like  some  un- 
fortunate swimmers,  that  save  their  endangered  fel- 
lows and  drown  themselves.  Or  oculists,  that  make 
others  see  clearly,  while  themselves  have  sore  eyes. 
Or  physicians,  that  prescribe  a  good  diet,  and  keep  a 
bad.  Or  the  Israelites  in  captivity,  that  made  bricks 
to  build  the  Eg>'ptians'  houses,  and  had  none  of  their 
own.  Or  the  Indians,  that  enrich  the  Spaniards  out 
of  their  golden  mines,  and  yet  are  themselves  the 
most  beggarly  people  of  the  earth.  They  use  their 
gifts,  as  if  a  man  should  use  monies  only  to  count 
them.  Plutarch  writes  of  an  old  man  that  foimd 
reverence  of  children  in  Lacedemon,  and  contempt 
in  all  Greece  besides :  All  the  Greeks,  said  he,  know 
what  is  right  and  proper,  but  the  Lacedemonians 
alone  practise  it.  He  is  a  monster,  that  hath  a  tongue 
larger  than  his  hand  ;  many  good  words,  and  no  good 
deeds.  Thus  the  salt  of  the  earth,  after  it  hath' sea- 
soned others,  may  lose  its  own  savour.  They  that 
are  the  light  of  the  world,  may  carry  the  light  be- 
hind them,  guiding  others,  not  their  own  feet.  They 
minister  occasion  of  their  o«ti  sentence  :  Out  of  thine 
o^\Ti  mouth,  thou  w-icked  ser%ant.  They  make  their 
learning  a  mercenary  art,  who  live  themselves  differ- 
ently to  what  they  instruct  others  to  live.  The  good 
commander  says  not  to  his  soldiers.  Go,  but,  Let  us 
go ;  what  you  see  me  do,  do  likewise ;  as  Gideon, 
Judg.  vii.  17. 

Yet  might  the  ass's  counsel  have  done  Balaam 
good,  though  not  herself.  Let  not  the  hearer  be- 
come a  judge,  and  tiun  his  pew  into  a  trihunal. 
What  would  such  men  have  said,  if  they  had  heard 
Solomon  preach  after  all  his  scandalous  sins  ?  Say 
thou  with  Samuel,  "  Speak,  Lord,  for  thy  servant 
heareth,"  1  Sam.  iii.  9;  and  not.  Hear,  Lord,  for  thy 
servant  speaketh  :  and  what  speaks  he,  but  judgment 
on  the  preacher?  It  is  enough  for  me  to  cat  my 
own  dinner,  not  to  mark  how  much  he  eats  that 
dressed  it.  Indeed  I  would  have  every  prophet's  life 
a  martyrdom  to  his  doctrine  ;  for  though  his  goodness 
gives  not  salvation,  yet  it  may  give  the  sweetness: 
this  is  to  preach  with  a  witness.  Wlicre  the  Spirit 
speaketh  twice,  by  illumination  and  sanctification, 
he  is  more  heard  than  where  he  speaketh  but  once  : 
and  guests  mistrust  that  cheer,  whereof  the  host  re- 
fuseth  to  taste. 

3.  Let  no  man  plead  simplicity,  when  a  beast  sees 
an  angel ;  nor  inability  to  speak,  when  an  ass  opens 
her  mouth.  Who  can  complain  his  own  rudeness 
and  slowness  of  speech,  when  a  beast  is  enabled  to 
convince  her  master  ?  We  excuse  our  own  coldness, 
when  we  are  occasioned  to  reprove  impiety,  by  the 
want  of  eloquence;  yet  an  ass  could  do  it.  There  is 
no  mouth  whereinto  God  cannot  put  words ;  yea,  so 


Ver.  16. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


523 


doth  he  glorify  the  wisdom  of  his  own  election,  in 
confounding  the  prudent  of  tliis  world  by  the  foolish, 
I  Cor.  i.  27.  Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes  he  will  de- 
rive praise  to  his  name.  He  hides  those  things  from 
the  wise,  which  he  reveals  to  babes,  Matt.  xi.  25. 
He  that  can  cx:ilt  the  eyes  of  a  beast  to  see  a  spirit, 
can  advance  the  dullest  apprcliensions,  and  make 
them  capable  of  the  mysteries  of  life.  He  chose  his 
apostles  among  none  of  the  great  rabbins,  yet  who 
ever  saw  further  into  the  secrets  of  heaven?  The 
word  of  the  Lord  is  able  to  make  wise  the  simple, 
Psal.  xix.  7.  Some  have  capacity  without  honesty, 
and  they  have  eyes  without  uands ;  some  have  hon- 
esty and  small  capacity,  and  they  have  better  hands 
than  eyes;  some  liave  both  ;  but  miserable  are  they 
that  have  neither.  Say  not,  I  hear  and  profit  not, 
because  I  understand  not :  for  thou  art  promised  to 
have  wisdom  for  tlte  asking.  Jam.  i.  5.  He  that  will 
not  pray  to  be  wise,  may  sit  still  and  be  a  fool. 

4.  When  the  ass  had  done  this  miraculous  service, 
she  remained  an  ass  still ;  her  skin  was  no  better  after 
it  than  the  rest  of  her  kind.  Many  men  have  done 
God  scri'ice,  without  any  blessed  rccompence.  Ashur 
was  his  rod  to  scourge  Israel ;  that  dcme,  they  fell 
under  a  sharper  lash  themselves.  We  use  rub- 
bish to  scour  our  vessels;  when  those  vessels  arc 
clean,  we  fling  away  the  rubbish.  Ahilhophel  could 
advise  David  well ;  he  was  tlic  worst  counsellor  to 
himself  that  might  be.  His  words  were  the  oracles 
of  God  to  the  state,  to  his  own  heart  mere  paradoxes. 
So  we  have  heard  some  very  judiciously  discourse  of 
good  husbandry  ;  meanwhile  themselves  arc  the 
worst  husbands  in  a  countrj-.  They  are  like  bridges 
that  help  men  over  the  stream,  at  last  themselves 
rot  and  sink  in.  When  this  beast  had  done  speak- 
ing with  man's  voice,  she  lived  an  ass,  and  died  an 
ass.  So  many  an  unholy  Machiavel,  that  hath  been 
admired  for  policy,  falls  under  Jehoiakim's  curse, 
to  be  buried  with  the  burial  of  an  ass,  Jer.  xxii.  19  : 
he  lived  a  fox,  but  dies  an  ass. 

5.  This  ass  spake  the  truth :  no  matter  who  speaks, 
so  he  speaks  good  matter.  Sometimes  a  jewel  is 
found  in  a  dunghill ;  and  wisdom  is  most  applauded 
where  it  is  least  expected.  The  fathers  have  com- 
pared human  learning  to  Balaam's  ass :  it  may 
sometimes  speak  to  purpose ;  and  bring  men  to 
church,  as  the  ass  carried  Christ  to  the  temple.  Not 
the  Lord,  but  we  have  need  of  it,  Mark  xi.  3.  Is 
there  nothing  but  the  temple  of  the  Lord  with  the 
Jews,  but  the  word  of  the  Lord  with  us?  Is  there 
no  water  to  be  found  in  the  jawbone  of  a  Philistine 
ass  ?  May  not  the  crown  of  the  king  of  Ammon  be 
set  on  the  head  of  the  king  of  Jerusalem?  2  Sam. 
xii.  30.  St.  Paul  says.  Be  not  spoiled  with  j)hiloso- 
phy.  Col.  ii.  8 :  some  are  spoiled  for  want  of  philoso- 
phy. Nor  does  he  condemn  all  eloquence,  but  a 
sophisticate  and  meretricious  eloquence.  Would  not 
the  eloquence  of  Tally  or  Seneca  have  done  good 
service  in  the  cause  of  Zion  ?  Indeed,  that  w-hich 
is  against  Zion,  is  a  poisonous  eloquence.  Nor  doth 
he  dislike  philosophers  simply,  but  the  philosophers 
of  this  world.  The  slavery  of  the  Gibeoniles  is  an 
CHSe  to  the  frce-bom  Israelites.  Not  Jews  only,  but 
Gentiles  had  a  hand  in  the  building  of  God's  temple. 
Even  pagans  have  their  arts  from  heaven,  and  there- 
fore may  justly  be  improved  to  the  honour  of  the 
Giver.  If  there  be  a  Tyrian  that  can  work  more 
curiously  in  gold,  silk,  or  purple,  than  an  Israelite, 
why  should  he  not  be  emj)loyed  about  the  sanctuary  ? 
Their  heathenism  is  their  own,  their  skill  is  their 
Maker's.  Many  a  one  works  for  the  church  of  God, 
which  yet  hath  no  part  in  it.  Wherever  truth  is, 
she  is  mine,  saith  Austin.  We  may  salute  Athens  in 
our  way  to  Jerusalem,  as  St.  Paul  did.     The  vessel 


of  water,  that  is,  human  knowledge,  may  be  turned 
into  wine,  that  is,  divine  knowledge.  Indeed  Sic 
Ircaisiendum,  non  hie  luerendum ;  i.  e.  We  pass  by  this 
knowledge,  we  dwell  not  on  it.  What  Aristippus  said 
of  other  sciences  and  philosophy,  is  more  tnie  of  all 
other  arts  and  divinity :  they  that  study  the  other, 
and  neglect  this,  are  like  Penelope's  wooers,  that 
made  love  to  the  waiting-women.  Whatsoever  we 
learn  or  know,  we  submit  and  refer  all  to  the  know- 
ledge of  Jesus  Christ. 

6.  But  one  ass  spake  ;  this  is  no  privilege  for 
others ;  the  rest  can  do  no  more  than  bray.  One 
swallow  makes  no  summer ;  nor  do  singular  exam- 
ples constitute  general  rules.  Presumption  encou- 
rageth  itself  by  one  of  a  thousand;  and  despair  will 
not  take  a  thousand  for  one.  If  a  thousand  men  be 
assured  to  pass  over  a  ford  safe,  and  but  one  to  mis- 
carry, desperation  says,  I  am  that  one.  If  a  thou- 
sand vessels  must  needs  miscarry  in  a  gulf,  and  but 
one  escape,  presumption  says,  I  shall  be  that  one. 
\ic  read  but  of  one  sinner  that  was  converted  at  his 
last  hour  of  life  :  millions  that  had  less  iniquity,  yet 
have  found  less  mercy.  The  dissolute  flatters  him- 
self, If  one,  why  not  I  ?  Other  beasts  have  not  at- 
tempted to  speak,  because  this  one  did.  Yet  brutish 
men  look  for  heaven  dying,  that  never  looked  toward 
it  living,  because  one  sinner  sped  so  happily.  Christ 
was  then  upon  the  cross  fast  by  him ;  art  thou  sure 
he  will  be  so  near  thy  death-bed?  Lazarus  and 
some  few  others  were  raised  from  their  graves  j 
the  whole  world  else  must  sleep  till  doomsday. 
Enoch  and  Elias  were  translated,  and  did  not  see 
death ;  which  of  all  the  sons  of  Adam  had  this  pri- 
vilege besides  ?  Paul  was  rapt  up  to  the  third  hea- 
ven before  his  dissolution ;  none  were  so  before  him, 
none  so  after  him.  It  is  no  trusting  upon  precedents, 
where  we  have  manifest  nUes.  "rhe  rule  is,  "  Re- 
member thy  Creator  in  the  days  of  thy  youth,"  Eccl. 
xii.  1  ;  lest  he  forget  thee  in  thy  age.  "  Seek  the 
Lord  while  he  may  be  found,"  Isa.  Iv.  6  :  this  were 
but  slender  counsel,  if  he  might  be  found  at  any  time. 
AVe  use  to  mend  our  ships  in  the  harbour,  and  not 
let  their  leaks  alone  till  we  come  into  the  main. 
We  harness  ourselves  before  we  go  to  war,  and  not 
have  it  to  provide  in  the  battle.  'The  walls  of  a  city 
that  are  not  repaired  in  peace,  will  hardly  be  mended 
in  a  siege.  Let  us  speak  when  we  should,  or  not 
look  to  be  heard  when  we  would. 

One  ass  spake  in  her  life,  one  sinner  was  saved  in 
his  death :  there  was  one,  why  should  we  despair  ? 
there  was  but  one,  why  should  we  presume  ?  In  the 
mean  time,  we  can  never  make  that  too  sure,  whereof 
while  we  live  we  can  never  be  sure  enough.  Grace 
to  repent,  without  space,  is  uncomfortable  to  our 
friends.  Space  to  repent,  without  grace,  is  unprofit- 
able to  ourselves.  Grace  and  space,  shall  both  com- 
fort them  and  save  us. 


Verse  17. 

These  are  trells  uilhotU  trater,  clouds  lliat  are  carried 
with  a  tempest ;  lo  whom  the  mist  of  darkness  is  re- 
served Jor  ever. 

From  many  things  doth  the  word  of  God  draw 
comparisons,  that  it  might  speak  according  to  our 
capacities.  Every  creature  hath  this  emergent  use, 
to  teach  us.  "  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of 
God,"  Psal.  xix.  1 :  how  can  we  look  upon  them, 
and  forget  their  Maker?  The  stars  not  being  pure 
in  his  sight,  may  put  us  in  mind  of  our  iincleanness, 


524 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


which  reached  so  far  as  even  to  blemish  their  glory. 
The  sun  gives  us  beams  of  obedience,  while  he  keeps 
his  course,  knows  his  rising  and  going  down.  The 
wind  breathes  upon  us  a  similitude  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  John  iii.  8,  which  comes  and  goes,  and  no 
man  knows  whence  or  whither.  The  dews  drop 
upon  us  the  memory  of  that  dew  of  Hermon  which 
fell  upon  the  hill  of  Zion.  The  hen  gathering  her 
chickens  doth,  as  it  were,  cluck  us  under  the  wings 
of  Christ.  The  crane  chatters  to  us  how  poorly  we 
shall  speak  in  death,  Isa.  xxxviii.  14.  The  lilies 
and  ravens  forbid  our  solicitousness  for  apparel  or 
food.  The  camel  at  the  needle's  eye,  is  an  image  of 
the  covetous  man  at  heaven-gates.  In  the  last  verse, 
a  beast  taught  a  prophet  to  obey  :  a  wondrous  one  ; 
some  have  assigned  her  a  place  in  the  zodiac,  in  the 
sign  of  Cancer.  Whereat  other  astronomers  storming, 
they  were  asked,  whether  they  would  have  Noah's 
raven,  or  Samson's  foxes,  or  David's  lion,  or  Elisha's 
bears,  or  Babel's  dragon,  jilaced  there,  rather  than 
Balaam's  wondei-ful  ass  ?  Now  we  are  come  to  cer- 
tain wells ;  out  of  which,  if  they  were  full  of  water, 
we  might  draw  to  quench  our  tliirst ;  but  they 
are  empty,  and  without  comfort :  "  wells  without 
water,"  &c. 

These  ungodly  deceivers  are  here  described  by 

Their  unprofitableness,  Wells  without  water. 

Their  unstableness.  Clouds  carried  with  a  tempest. 

Their  unhappiness,  To  whom  the  mist  of  dark- 
ness, &c. 

Their  punishment  is  proportioned  to  their  wicked- 
ness. A  well,  if  it  be  empty  of  water,  will  be  full  of 
fog ;  a  tempestuous  cloud  is  but  a  blustering  mist  : 
here  is  all  mist  and  darkness  ;  therefore  the  penalty 
is  the  mist  of  darkness.  They  have  shadowed  the 
light  in  this  world,  therefore  no  light  but  an  uncom- 
fortable shadow  belongs  to  them  in  (he  world  to  come. 

"  Wells  without  water."  A  fountain  to  a  thirsty 
traveller  is  a  welcome  sight ;  but  if  it  be  without 
water,  it  is  a  grievous  moclcery.  Pastors  are  like  to 
wells  in  divei's  regards. 

1.  They  are  wells  for  constancy  :  they  keep  their 
residence,  men  know  where  to  find  them.  Passen- 
gers may  abuse  the  fountains,  they  cannot  remove 
them.  You  fetch  water  at  tliese  wells  every  sabbath, 
yea,  even  on  common  days  when  your  thirst  calls  for 
it  :  we  teach  you  on  the  Lord's  day ;  there  is  no  day 
wherein  we  are  not  ready  to  comfort  you.  Indeed 
you  should  give  us  leave  "to  fill  our  fountains  :  if  we 
do  perpetually  draw,  and  not  suffer  the  springs  to 
have  their  time  of  supplying,  we  must  be  empty. 
You  sometimes  shut  up  your  conduits  on  the  week- 
days, or  else  they  would  lack  water;  they  arc  so  full 
on  Sundays,  that  they  run  over.  Therefore  we  study 
all  the  week,  and  fill  our  cisterns,  that  on  the  sab- 
bath you  may  fill  your  pitchers.  Fishers  are  allowed 
time  to  mend  their  nets;  mowers  to  whet  their 
scythes  ;  bees  to  gather  sweetness,  before  we  eat 
their  honey.  God's  temples  are  our  hives ;  there 
you  are  sure  of  our  honey ;  yet  you  must  not  deny 
us  the  flowers,  the  Holy  Scripture's,  fathers,  and  other 
good  books,  together  w'ith  our  own  meditations,  out 
of  which  we  suck  it :  and  to  do  all  this  requires  lime. 
But  still  we  keep  our  orbs,  and  therefore  are  called 
stars ;  we  have  our  stations,  and  therein  are  wells. 
It  is  true,  that  our  waters  do  good  as  they  run  in  the 
channels  ;  but  they  are  best  drawn  from  the  well- 
head. They  that  content  themselves  with  reading 
at  home,  and  neglect  the  public  ministry  in  the 
church,  omit  the  spring,  to  quench  their,  thirst  at  the 
channel. 

2.  They  are  wells  of  piety  ;  the  water  of  life, 
the  word  of  salvation,  is  in  them.  We  must  distin- 
guish the  waters  that  be  above  the  heavens  from 


the  waters  that  are  below  the  heavens,  Gen.  i.  7. 
The  well  above  is  the  fountain  of  glory ;  a  spring  that 
multiplies  itself  into  a  river ;  that  "  pure  river  of  the 
water  of  life,  clear  as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the 
throne  of  God,"  Rev.  xxii.  1.  The  well  below  is  the 
fountain  of  grace  ;  and  this  is  "  a  well  of  water 
springing  up  into  everlasting  life,"  John  iv.  14. 
Either  of  them  is  a  well  of  life ;  the  one  inchoate,  the 
other  consummate ;  the  one  preparatory,  the  other 
satisfactory;  the  former  a  prelibation,  the  latter  a 
fruition  ;  that  a  well  of  comfort,  this  a  river  of  plea- 
sure, Psal.  xxxvi.  8.  Indeed  Christ  is  the  well  of 
life,  without  whom  our  thirst  can  never  be  quenched ; 
that  "fountain  opened  to  the  house  of  David,"  Zeeh. 
xih.  1,  that  well  of  Jacob,  John  iv.  G,  watering  the 
whole  face  of  the  ground,  Gen.  ii.  6.  A  well  of  in- 
finite depth,  without  bottom  ;  of  everlasting  abund- 
ance, for  it  hath  eternal  springs ;  of  satisfying  vir- 
tue, for  he  that  drinks  of  it  shall  never  thirst  more. 
This  is  that  fountain  which  supplies  all  the  W'ells, 
which  fills  all  our  cisterns;  of  whose  fulness  we  have  all 
received,  John  i.  16.  It  never  failed  the  thirsty  pas- 
senger, never  offended  a  humble  receiver,  never  was 
shut  up  or  denied  to  the  faithful  seeker.  We  are  His 
wells  ;  and  the  water  he  puts  into  us,  is  the  word  of 
the  gospel.  "  With  joy  shall  ye  draw  water  out  of 
the  wells  of  salvation,"  Isa.  xii.  3.  We  are  earthen 
vessels,  yet  do  hold  a  heavenly  ti'easure  ;  wells  of 
clay,  yet  full  of  the  water  of  life.  He  that  rcfuseth 
the  water  for  the  well's  sake,  shall  perish  for  that 
contempt'  sake. 

3.  They  are  wells  of  sanctity,  and  therefore  must 
be  clean.  Indeed  their  uneleanness  cannot  defile  the 
water;  it  is  of  its  own  nature  so  pure,  that  it  will 
work  itself  from  all  infection.  Yet  may  the  foulness 
of  the  glass  cause  men  to  dislike  the  good  liquor. 
For  the  sin  of  Eli's  sons  "men  abhorred  the  offering 
of  the  Lord,"  I  Sam.  ii.  17.  If  they  had  not  been 
sons  of  Eli,  yet  being  priests  of  God,  their  verj-  call- 
ing (one  would  think)  should  have  infused  some 
holiness  into  them.  Yet  may  the  white  ephod  cover 
black  sins  ;  and  vices,  like  those  spies,  2  Sam.  xvii. 
19,  may  be  hid  in  the  well,  while  there  is  wheat 
spread  over  the  mouth  of  it.  Who  are  devils,  but 
they  that  were  once  glorious  angels  ?  If  the  lantern 
be  broken,  an  easy  wind  will  blow  out  the  light. 
There  be  commonly  two  buckets  belonging  to  a  well : 
the  one  bucket  draws  doctrine,  the  otlicr  example ; 
and  this  latter  is  more  employed.  As  it  has  been 
said.  While  they  neglect  what  we  say,  they  imitate 
what  we  do.  1  have  heard  of  here  and  there  a  pas- 
tor, that  hath  outlived  all  the  people  of  his  parish  : 
I  never  heard  of  any  that  hath  outlived  all  the  sins 
of  his  parish  Yet  must  not  the  infirmities  of  the 
wells  bring  the  water  into  contempt  :  let  none  dis- 
like the  service  of  God  for  the  sin  of  man.  This 
were  to  make  holy  things  guilty  of  our  profaneness, 
and  to  offend  God  because  he  hath  been  offended. 

4.  They  are  wells  of  knowledge  ;  and  of  sufficient 
depth;  skilled  in  the  mysteries  of  salvation.  Shal- 
low pits  are  full  of  mud  and  frogs ;  they  may  make 
a  noise  in  the  pulpit,  but  it  is  a  harsh  sound,  which 
rather  offends  the  car  than  profits  the  soul ;  nothing 
but  frothy  stuff  comes  from  them.  Wells  are  deep : 
the  priests'  lips  preserv-e  knowledge;  they  can  fell 
how  to  resolve  the  doubtful,  to  hearten  the  fearful,  to 
convince  the  wilful,  to  comfort  the  sorrowfid.  They 
are  good  physicians,  and  have  medicines  for  all  dis- 
eases. Tlicy  are  able  to  clear  difficulties,  to  recon- 
cile antilogies,  to  answer  objections,  to  confute  er- 
rors, to  apply  their  discourse  to  all  occasions.  So 
St.  Augustine  professeth  of  St.  Ambrose,  who  went 
from  Africa  to  Milan  to  hear  him ;  that  while 
he  was  penetrated  with  the  eloquence  of  his  discourse. 


Ver.  17. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


525 


he  was  penetrated  also  with  the  truth  of  it.  He  is 
no  babbler ;  neither  spermologiis,  qui  mera  vox  est ; 
nor  mattpologus,  qui  mera  nox  est ;  i.  e.  neither  a 
talker,  who  is  mere  voice ;  nor  a  vain  talker,  who  is 
mere  darkness.  But  he  hath  a  key  to  fit  every  lock, 
a  gracious  faculty  to  take  even,"  ear,  to  pierce  every 
soul.  Moses  was  a  prophet  learned ;  none  like  him 
in  Israel,  Deut.  xxxiv.  10.  Indeed  I  do  not  like  the 
wells  that  are  so  deep,  that  we  can  draw  no  water 
out  of  them ;  men  that  have  excellent  talents,  but 
they  lie  buried ;  that  know  much  themselves,  and 
impart  little  to  others.  A  man  of  meaner  gifts,  by 
his  assiduity  of  preaching,  shall  do  more  good,  than 
he  that  breeds  a  sermon,  like  etephanti  partum,  a 
year's  conception,  which  being  bom,  only  amazeth 
the  hearers,  and  makes  them  at  their  wits'  end  with 
admiration.  We  put  down  the  bucket  into  these 
wells,  hoping  to  draw  water,  and  bring  up  nothing 
but  air.  Concealed  learning  is  but  like  a  candle  in 
a  dark  lantern,  or  the  fowler's  light,  to  see  which 
way  this  game  lies.  The  good  pastor  is  light  in  a 
crj-stal  glass,  that  shines  every  way,  to  the  good  of 
men  and  glory  of  God. 

5.  They  are  wells  of  pity,  full  of  compassion ; 
bowels  that  yearn  for  the  danger  of  men's  souls. 
Jeremiah  had  such  a  well  in  his  head,  or  at  least  he 
wished  such  a  well  in  his  heart :  "  Oh  that  my  head 
were  waters,  and  mine  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears ! " 
Jcr.  ix.  1.  The  prophet  before  him  is  not  in  this  be- 
hind him :  "  I  will  weep  bitterly,  labour  not  to  com- 
fort me,"  Isa.  xxii.  4.  David  contends  with  them 
both  who  shall  weep  most ;  "  Rivers  of  waters  nm 
down  mine  eyes,  because  they  keep  not  thy  law," 
Psal.  cxix.  13G.  Among  all,  our  Lord  Jesus  is  the 
chief  mourner;  who  having  no  sin  of  his  own,  wept 
and  bled  for  the  sins  of  others.  Obstinate  offenders 
are  dry  pits;  nothing  can  pump  the  water  of  repent- 
ance out  of  their  eyes.  For  their  wickedness  God 
plagues  the  land ;  that  thousands  cry  in  pain.  Our 
bowels,  our  heads,  our  hearts :  thus  they  give  others 
cause  to  mourn,  while  their  own  mouths  are  filled 
with  laughter.  All  that  tempest  was  for  Jonah,  yet 
Jonah  alone  is  fast  asleep  :  that  unspeakable  agony 
of  Christ  was  for  the  sins  of  his  disciples  and  chosen, 
yet  even  then  the  disciples  were  asleep.  The  de- 
stroying angel's  sword  lays  heaps  upon  heaps,  and 
multiplieth  nis  deadly  wounds;  and  arc  we  still  dry 
wells,  that  have  no  tears  to  spend  for  our  sins? 
The  fire  is  kindled,  and  what  shall  quench  it,  if 
these  fountains  be  without  water?  If  there  were 
not  some  Ezras  and  Joshuas,  Isaiahs,  Joels,  and  Jere- 
miahs among  us,  pouring  out  their  souls  before  God 
in  erics  and  lamentations  for  our  iniquities,  what 
should  become  of  us?  The  Lord  hatli  marked  the 
houses  where  these  mourning  wells  be,  Ezek.  ix.  4; 
and  if  we  would  not  only  escape  the  judgment  our- 
selves, but  even  turn  away  wrath  from  others,  let 
our  heads  be  fountains,  and  our  eyes  conduits,  send- 
ing out  floods  of  tears,  not  so  much  for  the  punish- 
ments we  feel,  as  for  the  cause  of  those  punishments 
which  too  many  feel  not.  The  crown  of  preachers 
is  the  tears  of  their  hearers:  when  we  find  you  with 
moist  eyes,  we  then  hope  there  is  good  wrought  on 
your  souls. 

6.  They  are  wells  of  peace  and  amity,  such  as  re- 
concile feuds  and  appease  discords;  as  the  water  of 
a  well  serves  to  quench  flames.  In  such  a  combus- 
tion, for  want  of  rivers,  we  nm  to  wells  and  conduits; 
yet,  alas,  for  the  quieting  of  jars  and  controversies, 
you  seldom  appeal  to  your  pastors :  a  fault  which 
St.  Paul  long  ago  condemned  in  his  Corinthians,  that 
they  were  too  apt  to  consult  la«->-ers,  I  Cor.  vi.  7. 
And  yet  many  of  them,  like  Laehesis,  wind  oflf  more 
in  one  turn  than  they  span  in  five.     Were  your  wells 


full  to  the  brim,  there  be  buckets  enough  belonging 
to  the  law  to  drench  you.  There  is  a  holy  water 
able  to  put  out  the  fire  of  contention,  the  gospel  of 
peace,  or  of  the  covenant :  so  was  the  well  of  Beer- 
sheba  called.  The  well  of  an  oath.  Indeed  when  this 
water  is  offered  to  a  peevish  and  perverse  stomach, 
it  turns  into  bitterness;  and  makes  him  swell  yet 
more  against  his  neighbour,  yea,  against  his  teacher. 
If  the  suspected  wife  were  guilty,  she  would  swell 
after  a  draught  of  those  waters  of  trial.  Numb.  v. :  so 
dissolute  souls  swell  against  their  reprehcnder.  Our 
message  is  the  message  of  peace,  our  doctrine  is  the 
gospel  of  peace,  our  office  is  to  make  peace ;  we  are 
all  for  reconciliation  ;  reconciling  God  to  you,  you 
to  God,  2  Cor.  v.  19,  one  with  anotlaer,  all  with  every 
one,  every  one  with  all.  We  speak  peace,  we  speak 
for  peace,  we  wish  you  peace;  peace  with  your 
neighbours,  peace  in  your  houses,  peace  in  your 
hearts,  peace  in  your  consciences,  and  above  all,  that 
peace  which  passeth  all  understanding. 

7.  They  are  wells  of  charity ;  that  do  not  only 
give  good  counsel  with  their  lips,  but  good  relief 
with  their  hands.  The  loins  of  the  poor  bless  them. 
Job  xxxi.  20 :  they  arc  fountains  where  the  beasts  of 
the  forest  drink,  and  the  wild  asses  quench  their 
thirst,  Psal.  civ.  II.  Charity  becomes  all  men,  but 
above  all,  the  men  of  God.  Yet,  alas,  in  these  times, 
we  want  wherewithal.  What  quantity  of  spiritual 
water  soever  be  in  us,  there  is  little  enough  of  tem- 
poral. Our  springs  be  cut  off:  sacrilege  hath  be- 
sieged us,  as  Holofernes  did  Bethulia,  and  taken 
away  our  springs.  While  you  had  wells  that  yielded 
you  nothing  but  foul  puddle-waters,  superstitious 
ceremonies  mstead  of  pure  doctrines,  all  your  chan- 
nels ran  into  those  pools,  and  swelled  them  to  the 
brinks.  Now  you  confess  in  your  consciences  that 
you  draw  from  us  the  water  of  life,  yet  you  deny  us 
the  water  of  livelihood,  whereby  we  may  subsist. 
We  sit  like  disconsolate  Elijah,  by  the  brook  Cherith ; 
and  if  we  have  sustenance  it  must  be  by  miracle, 
and  for  want  of  your  just  supply  the  brook  is  dried  up, 
1  Kings  xvii.  5 — 7-  If  we  have  sown  unto  you  spirit- 
ual things,  is  it  any  great  matter  to  reap  your  carnal 
things?  1  Cor.  ix.  11.  Will  you  not  give  the  water 
of  your  wells  for  the  water  of  life  ?  The  tenth  of 
your  increase  is  God's  portion ;  do  you  look  he  should 
give  you  the  cup  of  salvation,  that  deny  him  the  cup 
of  retribution?  Do  you  live  in  him,  and  yet  fear  not 
to  defraud  him?  The  priest  was  wont  to  give  alms, 
now  he  must  be  glad  to  receive  it.  If  all  nis  means 
can  reach  above  necessity,  to  buy  but  one  book  to 
his  study,  one  spring  to  his  well,  when  that  fails,  he 
must  sell  it  to  buy  another:  his  cloth  is  ever  too 
short  for  two  coats,  the  world  will  not  allow  him  two 
springs.  If  the  poor  do  not  find  our  charit}-,  it  is  be- 
cause we  are  sick  of  their  own  disease,  poverty.  We 
may  ask  with  one.  How  can  they  be  beneficent,  who 
are  forced  to  be  indigent  ?  Yet  howsoever  our  tem- 
poral waters  fail,  God  grant  our  springs  of  grace  to 
hold,  that  you  may  be  saved. 

"  Without  water."  Thus  pastors  should  be  like 
wells,  but  these  false  teachers  are  wells  without 
water.  A  blind  guide,  an  ignorant  physician,  a  can- 
dlestick without  light,  a  penuar)'  without  provision, 
a  well  without  water,  is  a  miserable  privation.  When 
the  thirsty  traveller,  after  much  labour  and  grief, 
spies  a  fountain,  he  rejoicelh ;  but  coming  to  it,  and 
finding  it  dry,  his  joy  is  turned  into  sorrow,  and  he 
is  ready  to  curse  it  for  such  a  mockery ;  as  our 
Saviour  did  the  fruitless  fig-tree,  when  he  was  hun- 
gry.  Suppose  we  are  thirsty  and  would  drink,  foul 
and  would  wash,  hot  and  would  be  cooled,  our  houses 
are  on  fire  and  we  would  have  them  quenched;  if  we 
come  to  the  well  with  our  buckets,  and  find  it  empty, 


AN  EXPOSITION    LPO.N  UHK 


ClIAF.    II. 


we  know  not  whether  our  grief  or  indignation  be 
greater.  When  we  are  to  build  a  house,  we  first  look 
to  the  convenience  of  water,  and  refuse  to  dwell  in 
a  dr)^  land.  Yet  whether  the  pastor  that  should 
moisten  our  souls,  be  a  well  without  water,  a  formal 
fountain  with  never  a  spring  to  feed  it,  we  examine 
not.  We  love  a  physician  with  abundance  of  medi- 
cines, a  lawyer  with  variety  of  knowledge,  a  mer- 
chant with  choice  of  wares,  a  rich  man  fall  of  mo- 
nies ;  we  affect  abundance  in  all  perishable  things : 
but  for  the  water  of  life,  so  little  serves  us,  that  we  do 
not  mind  whether  the  well  be  full  or  empty.  But 
indeed,  while  the  clouds  above  are  restrained,  the 
wells  below  will  be  soon  dried.  Unless  the  Spirit  of 
grace  distil  down  his  holy  dews  into  the  hearts  of 
his  ministers,  all  will  turn  to  barrenness,  and  the 
visible  church  appear  like  a  wilderness. 

1 .  Let  all  this  teach  us  to  thirst  for  the  water  of 
these  wells,  as  the  hart  pants  for  the  river  when  he 
is  embost :  or  as  David  longed,  "Oh  that  one  would 
give  me  drinkof  the  water  of  the  well  of  Bethlehem!" 
2  Sam.  xxiii.  15 :  or  as  the  woman  of  Samaria  did,  for 
the  water,  not  of  Jacob's  well,  but  of  Jesus'  well ; 
Lord,  "give  me  this  water,  that  I  thirst  not,"  John 
iv.  15.  There  is  no  corporal  appetite  so  violent  as 
thirst,  when  the  extremity  of  heat  hath  wrought 
upon  the  radical  moisture.  Victorious  Samson  com- 
plains of  it ;  yea,  even  that  almighty  Samson,  Christ 
himself  on  the  cross,  cries,  "  I  thirst."  How  sensible 
are  we  of  this  want  in  our  bodies  !  yet  our  souls  are 
dry,  and  we  neither  moisten  them,  nor  pity  their 
thirst.  He  is  a  rare  man  that  never  drinks  till  he  be 
thirsty:  nay,  it  is  too  common  a  fault,  not  to  stay  for 
any  such  occasion.  Men  drink  before  they  are  diy, 
they  drink  imtil  they  become  dry ;  and  thirst  over- 
takes dnmkenness  ;  as  fools  iim  into  the  river  to 
avoid  a  shower  of  rain.  But  for  this  living  water,  a 
little  draught  on  the  sabbath  is  enough  for  all  the 
week.  My  soul  longeth  for  thee,  saith  David,  as  the 
thirsty  land  ;  that  opens  itself  in  rifts  and  crannies, 
as  if  it  would  devour  the  clouds ;  so  many  chops,  so 
many  mouths,  as  it  were  crying  to  heaven  for  moist- 
ure. Blessed  are  they  that  thirst  after  righteous- 
ness, for  they  shall  be  satisfied. 

2.  Let  us  duly  prize  and  esteem  the  water  of  these 
wells.  It  is  an  unhappy  way  of  learning,  when  we 
will  not  know  the  worth  of  a  benefit,  but  only  by  the 
want  of  it.  Three  kings  were  confederated  to  make 
war  upon  Moab  ;  and  they  were  not  sooner  come  into 
the  parching  wilds  of  Edom,  than  they  arc  ready  to 
die  for  thirst,  2  Kings  iii.  9.  If  there  were  channels, 
yet  no  wafers ;  the  scorching  beams  of  the  sun  had 
dried  them  up,  and  left  them  rather  ditches  than 
rivers.  How  precious  now  had  a  cup  of  cold  water 
been  !  There  is  a  season,  when  so  poor  a  benefit  will 
not  be  poorly  valued.  Even  with  this  may  a  soul  be 
comforted,  even  for  this  shall  a  soul  be  rewarded. 
Matt.  X.  42.  We  read  of  a  king,  that  sold  himself 
and  his  city  for  a  draught  of  water.  This  caused 
three  kings  to  walk  down  and  visit  one  poor  prophet. 
Religion  and  necessity  are  (cither  of  them)  able  to 
humble  the  stoutest  heart :  cither  zeal  or  need  will 
make  a  prophet  honoured.  Oh  what  are  the  greatest 
monarchs  of  the  world,  if  they  want  but  water  to 
their  mouths  !  What  can  their  crowns,  and  i)lumes, 
and  rich  arms  avail  them,  when  they  are  abridged  of 
that  which  is  but  the  drink  of  beasts?  Therefore 
with  dry  tongues  and  lips  do  these  three  princes  con- 
fer of  their  common  misery.  So  highly  is  water 
esteemed,  that  some  philosophers  have  thought  it  a 
kind  of  seminal  jn-inciple :  aqua,  as  if  it  were  a  qua, 
i.  e.  from  which  all  things  spring. 

Now  what  is  elemental  water  to  the  water  of  life  ? 
What  is  a  corporal  thirst  to  tlic  soul's  necessity  ? 


The  Jews  smarted  for  despising  it,  when  they  were 
driven  to  wander  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  north  to 
east,  to  seek  it ;  iheii-  young  men  and  fairest  virgins 
fainting  for  thirst,  Amos  viii.  12, 13.  Our  forefathers 
would  have  been  glad  of  a  concealed  fountain,  some 
few  drops  of  this  water :  we  have  full  wells,  yea, 
rivers  and  streams,  yet  let  it  run  at  waste.  We  come 
to  Jacob's  well,  but  bring  no  pitchers  with  us,  John 
iv.  1 1  :  our  ears  are  at  church,  our  hearts  are  at  home. 
The  waters  of  the  sanctuary  grow  and  flow,  from  the 
ankles  to  the  knees,  from  the  knees  to  the  loins,  from 
the  loins  up  to  the  neck,  Ezek.  xlvii. ;  but  we  have 
not  vessels  to  receive  it.  Either  to  this  well  you 
come  not,  or  come  and  drink  not,  or  drink  and  digest 
not ;  but  aut  bibendum,  uut  abeundum,  i.  e.  you  must 
either  drink  or  depart.  This  fountain  is  the  word  of 
comfort ;  but  many  can  find  no  sweetness  in  it,  because 
their  palates  are  so  out  of  taste  by  the  world.  Christ 
refused  the  vinegar,  because  it  was  vinegar  ;  these 
men  taste  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  and  will 
none  of  if,  though  it  be  the  water  of  life.  As  David 
would  not  drink  the  water  of  Bethlehem,  because  it 
was  the  price  of  blood ;  and  yet  this  did  cost  no  blood, 
but  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 

3.  Do  not  abuse  these  wells,  nor  defile  the  waters : 
a  troubled  fountain  cannot  look  clear.  Of  all  men, 
the  minister  should  be  suffered  to  lead  a  quiet  life, 
uncUsturbed,  free  from  vexations.  There  is  a  woe 
due  to  him  that  poUuteth  the  fountain,  that  shall 
cast  aspersions  on  liis  pastor,  to  disable  him  in  the 
hearts  of  his  hearers.  When  Homer  had  spent  many 
lines  in  dispraising  the  body  of  Thirsytes,  he  briefly 
describes  his  soul  thus,  that  he  was  an  enemy  to 
Ulysses.  We  need  say  no  more  of  a  bad  man  ;  he  is 
an  enemy  to  his  pastor  ;  that  is  enough  to  brand 
him.  While  thy  preacher  is  studying  to  apply  the 
warm  blood  of  Christ  to  thy  heart,  thou  art  studj-ing 
to  vex  the  best  blood  in  his  heart.  A^'e  take  care  to 
save  your  souls,  and  many  of  you  take  care  to  molest 
our  souls.  While  you  deny  us  due  maintenance,  re- 
spect, and  peace,  you  put  us  to  spend  that  time  in 
temporal  provision  for  our  bodies,  which  we  should 
and  would  spend  ia  spiritual  comfort  for  your  con- 
sciences. Supply  us  with  springs,  hearten  us  with 
encouragements,  trouble  not  our  waters,  and  we  shall 
be  to  you  the  wells  of  salvation. 

"  Clouds  that  are  carried  with  a  tempest."  In  this 
comparison  is  shadowed  out  their  variableness ; 
where  we  have  three  considerations.  First,  the  fit- 
ness of  the  metaphor.  Secondly,  the  levity  of  these 
hypocrites,  that  are  carried  with  a  puff.  Thirdly, 
the  event  of  their  dealing,  which  is  to  promise  a 
shower,  and  yield  nothing  but  a  tempest. 

For  the  metaphor,  it  is  frequent  in  Holy  Scripture. 
"Drop  thy  word  toward  the  south,"  Ezek.  xx.  46. 
My  doctrine  shall  drop  as  the  rain  upon  the  tender 
herb,  my  speech  distil  as  the  dew  and  showers  upon 
the  grass,  Deut.  xxxii.  2.  First,  clouds  are  made  to 
contain  water,  and  preachers  should  be  fitted  and 
filled  with  wholesome  doctrine.  Secondly,  clouds 
are  drawn  up  by  the  sun,  and  teachers  called  to  that 
holy  profession  by  the  Sun  of  righteousness.  Thirdly, 
clouds  are  nearer  to  heaven  than  common  waters,  and 
ministers  are  advanced  nearer  to  the  secrets  of  God 
than  other  men.  Fourthly,  clouds  hang  in  the  air 
after  a  strange  manner,  and  preachers  live  in  the 
world  in  a  wondrous  sort ;  all  tne  winds  of  the  earth, 
and  furies  of  hell,  band  against  them,  yet  still  they 
are  supported  by  their  Ordainer.  Fifthly,  clouds  are 
set  to  distil  rain  upon  the  drj-  places  of  earth,  and 
preachers  to  satisfy  the  thirsty  soul.  To  give  drink 
to  the  thirsty,  is  in  other  men  a  debt  of  charity,  in  us 
a  debt  of  justice.  A  necessity  is  laid  upon  us,  and 
woe  unto  us,  if  we  yield  not  the  former  and  the  l*ttcr 


Ver.  17. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


527 


rain,  that  God's  ground  may  fructify !  The  rain 
coming  down,  rctunicth  not  again,  "  but  watereth  the 
earth,  that  it  may  give  seed  to  the  sower,  and  bread 
to  the  eater,"  Isa'.  Iv.  10.  So  the  word  of  God  shall 
never  return  void,  but  accomplish  the  thing  whereto 
it  is  sent :  not  a  drop  from  these  clouds  shall  be  lost ; 
but  will  either  work  to  the  confusion  of  them  that 
resist  it,  or  to  the  conversion  of  them  that  embrace 
it.  The  ground  where  these  showers  fall,  must 
yield  either  flowers  or  weeds ;  and  so  be  either  bless- 
ed, or  nigh  unto  cursing,  Heb.  vi.  7,  8.  If  they  fall 
upon  a  proud  heart,  like  some  great  mountain,  off 
they  glide,  and  leave  it  barren;  if  in  the  valley,  a 
humble  heart,  they  dwell  there,  and  make  it  fruitful. 
As  that  royal  prophet  sings.  Thy  waters  stand  in  the 
valleys,  and  they  grow  thick  with  corn. 

But  how  can  it  be  conceived,  that  the  clouds 
above,  being  heavy  with  water,  should  not  fall  to 
the  earth  suddenly,  seeing  ever)'  heavy  thing  de- 
scendeth  ?  It  cannot  be  denied  but  the  clouds  are 
heavy,  Job  xxvi.  8 ;  yea,  the  very  winds,  which  are 
lighter  than  clouds,  have  their  weight.  Job  ssviii. 
25.  Philosophy  is  here  too  defective ;  all  the  human 
learning  in  the  world  cannot  give  a  sufficient  reason 
for  this.  Only  the  word  of  God  decides  it:  "Let 
there  be  a  firmament  in  the  midst  of  the  waters,  and 
let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the  waters,"  Gen.  i.  C. 
This  was  God's  ordinance  in  the  creation  ;  and  such 
is  his  providence  in  the  disposition  of  the  clouds. 
"  He  bindctli  up  the  waters  in  his  thick  clouds,  and 
the  cloud  is  not  rent  under  them."  There  he  bade 
them  hang,  till  he  that  called  them  up,  sent  them 
down.  There  are  those  bottles  of  rain,  as  it  were  /« 
orbe  noil  suo,  i.  c.  in  a  sphere  not  their  own,  thin  as 
the  licjuor  they  contain:  there  they  move  up  and 
down ;  and  when  his  finger  crusheth  them,  they 
drop  again  to  their  own  place.  By  virtue  of  this 
command,  the  waters  hang  in  the  clouds,  and  the 
clouds  in  the  air,  and  need  no  supporters.  He  can 
as  easily  hang  water  in  the  air,  as  ue  can  hang  the 
earth  upon  nothing.  Some  by  that  firmamentary 
division  of  the  waters,  have  dreamt  of  a  watery  hea- 
ven above  tlic  stars,  for  the  better  mitigation  of  their 
heat.  But  the  celestial  bodies  are  of  no  fiery  or 
elemental  nature ;  nor  have  they  such  heat  in  them, 
as  needs  to  be  refrigerated.  By  the  firmament  is 
meant  the  air ;  the  waters  below  it  arc  seas  and 
floods,  the  waters  above  it  are  the  clouds.  Which 
helps  us  to  understand  that  of  the  Psalm,  "  Praise 
the  Lord,  ye  waters  that  be  above  the  heavens," 
Psal.  cslviii.  4;  that  is,  above  the  lower  region  of 
the  air.  So,  "  The  Lord  thundered  in  the  heavens, 
with  hailstones  and  coals  of  fire,"  Psal.  xviii.  13. 
Now  thunder,  lightning,  and  hail,  come  not  properly 
from  heaven,  but  from  the  air. 

In  sum,  priests  are  clouds;  this  is  no  ignoble  title. 
How  often  did  the  Lord  appear  to  Moses  in  a  cloud  ! 
How  long  did  he  walk  with  Israel  in  the  pillar  of  a 
cloud !  "  I  will  appear  in  the  cloud  upon  the  mercy- 
seat,"  Lev.  xvi.  2.  The  cloud  was  a  figure  of  Christ ; 
without  whom  we  should  never  have  seen  God  ai>- 
Iiear  in  the  mercy-seat.  When  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
filled  the  tabernacle,  the  tent  was  covered  with  a 
cloud,  Exod.  xl.  34.  Our  glorious  Saviour  sits  upon 
a  white  cloud.  Rev.  xiv.  14.  St.  Paul  speaks  of  a 
"cloud  of  witnesses,"  Heb.  xii.  1.  It  is  a  happy 
church  that  is  encompassed  with  a  cloud  of  preach- 
ers. Man's  heart  is  a  plot  of  ground ;  wliich,  before 
it  be  fruitful,  must  suffer  a  spiritual  husbandry. 
First,  it  must  be  ploughed  and  broken  up ;  -it  is  so 
cold  and  stiff  a  clay,  that  it  needs  undergo  the 
coulter.  God  was  fain  to  shake  the  earth  belore  he 
could  move  the  jailer's  heart.  When  the  terror  of 
sin  and  judgment  works  upon  the  natural  conscience, 


then  the  ploughshare  reacheth  the  quick.  Secondly, 
once  ploughing  is  not  sufficient,  for  it  will  quickly 
harden  again  of  itself;  there  must  be  a  second  stir- 
ring. In  prosperity  it  will  never  tell  truth,  but 
rather  Hatter  tliat  it  may  be  flattered.  But  when 
the  ground  is  softened,  then  put  in  the  plough;  the 
heart  broken  by  affliction  is  fit  to  be  tilled  with  the 
word.  Thirdly,  cast  in  the  seed  with  joy  and  hope 
of  a  blessed  liarvest ;  sow  it  with  the  precious  pro- 
mises of  Jesus  Clirist.  Fourthly,  then  come  the 
clouds,  and  they  do  their  seasonable  office,  in  pour- 
ing down  kindly  showers,  both  to  raise  and  ripen  the 
fruits  of  grace.  Fifthly,  after  all  this,  weeds  will 
grow ;  therefore  we  must  fall  to  weeding,  and  hook 
out  our  lusts  with  the  sickle  of  repentance.  Thi« 
the  valleys  shall  stand  thick  with  com,  till  we  re- 
joice and  sing,  Psal.  Ixv.  13. 

The  next  point  is  their  levity.  Carried  with  a 
wind.  Some  are  not  stable  in  the  truth,  but  it  is  not 
possible  for  any  man  to  be  constant  in  errors,  for  the 
next  fancy  will  take  him  off  from  the  former.  As 
wanton  children  are  won  to  be  quiet  with  change  of 
toys,  so  the  devil  is  fain  to  please  such  men  with 
variety  of  crotchets.  He  forgets  w  hat  he  hath  been, 
understands  not  what  he  is,  and  knows  not  what  he 
will  be.  But  like  a  banished  man,  when  his  back  is 
upon  his  own  countrj',  all  the  world  is  his  way.  He 
is  fled,  with  Jonah,  from  the  word  of  God,  and  now 
it  matters  not  whither  he  makes  his  voyage.  From 
a  Browuist  to  Anabaptism,  from  an  Anabaptist  to 
Arianism,  from  an  Arian  to  the  Family  of  love  :  still 
he  is  "  carried  with  a  tempest ; "  and  does  not  more 
eagerly  embrace  the  air  wliere  he  is  first  a  cloud 
gendered,  than  he  rails  on  it  when  he  is  removed. 
He  is  water,  and  water  hath  ever  been  an  emblem 
of  inconstancy.  So  Jacob  called  his  son  Reuben, 
"  unstable  as  water,"  Gen.  xlix.  4.  Whether  it  be  a 
cloud  above  or  a  billow  below,  it  is  carried  with  the 
wind.  There  is  a  rack-wind,  and  that  drives  the 
clouds :  there  is  a  ground-wind,  and  that  tosseth  the 
waves.  So  St.  James  compares  the  inconstant  to  a 
wave  driven  and  tossed  with  the  wind,  Jam.  i.  6. 

To  exemplify  this  unstableness.  First,  water  is 
continually  running  from  coast  to  coast,  and  as  it 
changeth  currents,  it  changcth  names  and  colours. 
Names,  according  to  the  countries  it  salutes.  Colours ; 
for  in  puddles  it  is  black,  against  rocks  foamy,  in  the 
sea  green,  in  sweet  rivers  clear.  Such  a  cloud  as 
here  is  meant,  is  at  Rome  a  papist,  at  Munster  an 
Anabaptist,  in  England  a  protestant.  Indeed  he  tar- 
ries no  where  ;  for  his  heart  is  but  an  inn,  and  all 
his  thoughts  travellers ;  if  they  lodge  for  a  night, 
they  are  gone  in  the  morning,  and  leave  him  with- 
out taking  leave  of  him.  Secondly,  water  runs  to  the 
lowest  parts,  seeking  out  holes  and  receptacles  where 
to  hide  itself.  So  these  wavering  clouds  love  cor- 
ners and  private  conventicles,  and  leave  the  beaten 
way,  though  it  lead  directly  to  heaven.  They  scorn 
with  every  common  imderstanding  to  go  through  the 
gate,  and  therefore  will  climb  over  the  wall.  Tliirdly, 
water  poured  out  leaves  nothing beliind in  the  vessel: 
oil  and  wine  will  leave  their  savour,  and  milk  its 
colour;  but  there  is  no  remaining  sign  of  water  that  it 
was  there.  So  their  steps  be  fluid,  and  no  more  stable 
is  their  memory  ;  either  buried  in  oblivion,  or  famous 
for  infamy.  A  cloud  both  alters  the  shape  with  the 
wind,  now^  appearing  like  a  house,  then  like  a  camel ; 
and  the  seat  with  the  wind,  now  hovering  over  this 
climate,  then  over  that.  They  are  wax  ready  temper- 
ed, that  soon  taketh  a  new  impression.  Or  chaff, 
which  when  the  good  grain  sinks  down  and  is  saved, 
becomes  the  sport  of  the  wind,  Psal.  i.  4.  Their 
plague  is  answerable ;  they  "  shall  be  chased  as  the 
chaiff  of  the  moimtains  before  the  wind,  or  like  a 


528 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


rolling  thing  before  the  whirlwind,"  Isa.  xvii.  13. 
The  tempest  hath  driven  them  to  and  fro  upon  earth, 
at  last  it  shall  blow  them  to  hell.  They  are  like 
loose  teeth  in  the  mandible,  of  more  trouble  than 
use.  They  set  themselves  for  so  many  things,  that 
<hey  are  good  for  nothing.  A  pluralist  in  religion  is 
indeed  a  neutralist,  and  seeks  the  truth  by  all  ways 
but  that  where  he  is  sure  to  find  it.  The  Moon  spake 
to  her  mother  to  get  her  a  coat  made ;  but  no  tailor 
could  fit  her:  for  if  he  made  it  fit  for  her  in  the 
change,  it  would  be  too  little  in  the  full ;  if  it  were 
fit  for  the  full,  it  would  be  too  large  for  the  wane : 
60  we  must  have  for  eveiy  day  a  new  coat,  or  none. 
The  inconstant  soul  is  as  hard  to  suit ;  only,  after 
the  change  of  many  places,  there  is  one  that  will 
hold,  the  place  of  darkness ;  after  the  change  of 
many  fashions,  there  is  one  that  will  last,  a  coat  of  tor- 
ment. But  for  us,  let  us  stand  fast  in  the  faith,  and 
hold  that  we  have,  that  we  may  never  lose  our  crown, 
Rev.  iii.  11. 

"  Carried  with  a  tempest."  They  promise  a  shower, 
and  bring  a  stonn.  This  is  their  mockery  :  they  have 
four  inconveniences  of  the  clouds. 

1.  They  hinder  the  sun  from  so  clearly  extending 
his  beams  to  comfort  the  earth.  An  antichristian 
priest  is  a  cloud  gotten  before  the  sun,  whose  very 
doctrine  tends  to  darken  the  light.  That  "  ignorance 
makes  saints,"  how  much  is  hell  beholdento  them 
for  such  an  opinion !  They  call  that  the  mother  of 
devotion,  which  was  indeed  the  daughter  of  trans- 
gression. We  use  to  say  for  the  body  ;  If  nature  lose 
some  vigour  or  virtue  in  one  sense,  she  recompenseth 
and  mends  it  in  another;  they  that  see  ill,  hear  the 
better ;  and  he  that  wants  his  smelling,  hath  the 
better  taste.  But  if  the  soul  lose  her  eyes,  she  will 
hardly  find  the  way  to  heaven ;  nor  can  "we  say,  any 
faculty  is  improved,  any  grace  advanced  in  her,  for 
being  blind.  There  is  a  woe  to  them  that  withhold 
the  truth  in  unrighteousness,  Rom.  i.  18.  Not  sanc- 
tity, but  iniquity,  is  the  child  of  darkness.  Sin  was 
begot  in  secret,  betwixt  Satan  and  Eve ;  and  Vice  is 
the  brood  of  Nox  and  Acheron,  say  the  poets. 

2.  Clouds  are  unthankful :  for  they  are  drawn  up  by 
the  sun,  and  set  in  the  lower  region  of  the  air ;  there 
being  placed,  they  not  seldom  dishonour  that  sun 
which  exhaled  them,  by  darkening  his  refulgent 
beams.  I  do  not  say  that  false  teachers  are  called 
by  Christ;  they  rather  prefer  themselves  without 
mvitation,  making  the  church  a  market,  and  buying 
their  places,  and  those,  too  often,  of  eniinency  ;  which 
they  fill,  like  clouds,  with  a  blustering  and  stormy 
presence.  But  in  the  mean  time  they  obscure  that 
light,  which  the  Sun  of  righteousness  would  give  to 
his  church  by  better  instruments.  Thus  they  have 
the  places  of  Christ,  and  the  arms  of  antichrist ;  and 
most  ungratefully  dishonour  that  name  by  which 
they  would  be  called. 

3.  Clouds  do  harm  when  they  vent  themselves  in 
n  tempest ;  their  moisture  is  not  so  profitable,  as  their 
violence  is  hurtful.  They  that  never  preach  but  in 
thunder,  whose  words  be  flashes  of  lightning,  hell 
and  damnation  being  almost  the  period  of  every  sen- 
tence, are  black,  pitchy,  and  pernicious  clouds ;  pre- 
senting the  face  of  God  tempestuous,  and  the  brow 
of  heaven  cloudy :  for  so  we  call  the  frowning,  a 
cloudy  forehead.  These  are  engendered  of  clouds, 
as  poets  write  of  the  centaurs.  They  that  hang  their 
faith  on  such  men's  lips,  do  but,  like  Ixion,  embrace 
a  cloud  instead  of  Juno.  Fabius  Maximus  resolving 
to  prolong  the  war,  waited  on  Hannibal's  progress, 
and  encamped  himself  on  the  high  grounds.  Teren- 
tius  gave  Hannibal  battle,  and  was  put  to  the  worst; 
but  then  Fabius  came  down  the  high  grounds,  and 
got  the  day.     Whereupon  Hannibal  said,  he  ever 


thought  that  same  cloud  which  hanged  on  the  hills 
would  at  one  time  or  other  give  a  tempest.  So  these 
clouds  never  spend  themselves,  but  with  a  storm  to 
the  church  of  God. 

4.  They  are  unprofitable  clouds  ;  "  clouds  without 
water,"  as  Judc  calls  them,  ver.  12 ;  empty  bottles, 
which  promise  the  thirsty  earth  relief,  and  have  never 
a  drop  in  them.  Or  if  they  have  any  water,  they  let  it 
fall  where  it  can  do  no  good.  As  sometimes  we  have 
seen  drj-  pastures  and  chopped  grounds,  as  it  were 
with  open  mouths  calling  upon  the  clouds  for  rain  : 
anon  a  cloud  gathers,  and  comes  down  ;  but  where  ? 
It  misseth  the  needy  fields,  and  falls  in  a  dirty  lane; 
balking  the  place  where  it  is  expected,  and  fouling 
the  way  where  it  might  be  spared.  This  the  natural 
clouds  do  by  God's  disposing  ;  but  I  speak  of  rational, 
wilful,  spiteful  clouds.  Many  rich  men  are  such 
conditioned  clouds  :  they  have  store  of  wealth,  and 
some  they  will  part  with ;  but  it  shall  be  to  such  as 
have  no  need  of  it ;  and  that  either  for  fear,  or  favour, 
or  in  hope  of  honour ;  which  is  in  the  proverb,  pour- 
ing water  into  the  sea.  Bat  to  the  poor,  distressed, 
and  thirsty  souls,  they  will  not  aftbrd  a  drop.  While 
they  live,  they  will  empty  a  bag  to  the  lawyer; 
which  is  to  fall  in  a  dirty  lane.  When  they  die, 
they  make  rich  men  their  heirs  and  executors ;  not 
in  imitation  of  God,  To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given  ; 
but  to  witness  their  dear  regard  of  money,  which 
when  they  can  keep  no  longer,  they  bequeath  to 
them  that  will  keep  it :  as  if  they  durst  trust  any 
thing  sooner  than  their  Maker.  So  do  they  love  the 
world,  that  they  love  all  them  that  love  it:  and 
when  the  hand  of  death  crusheth  these  clouds,  they 
fall  into  a  quagmire. 

You  see  by  this  time  what  clouds  they  are,  against 
which  our  apostle  inveighs.  Tempestuous  clouds, 
that  raise  storms  and  factions,  and  trouble  the  peace 
of  the  air.  Black  clouds,  that  turn  day  into  night 
by  their  errors.  Wandering  clouds,  that  never  keep 
any  station.  Dissembling  clouds,  that  promise 
moisture  and  have  none.  Malicious  clouds,  that  in- 
tend nothing  but  mischief.  Foolish  clouds,  that 
make  mire  rather  than  cause  fertility. 

But  withal,  there  be  commendable  clouds.  There 
is  difference  between  a  shadowing  cloud  and  a  shower- 
ing cloud.  There  is  a  bright,  azure,  sky-coloured 
cloud;  like  that  heaven  to  which  it  is  near;  whose 
life  is  in  heaven,  Phil.  iii.  20:  a  fraitful  cloud,  that 
causeth  the  earth  to  fructify,  Hos.  ii.  21,  22.  The 
Lord  fills  these  clouds  with  his  holy  dews,  which 
they  let  fall  in  due  time  and  place.  They  water  the 
earth,  and  come  down  like  showers  upon  the  mown 
grass.  In  their  days  shall  the  righteous  flourish, 
and  abundance  of  peace  so  long  as  the  moon  endur- 
cth,  Psal.  Ixxii.  G,  7. 

Besides  the  former  resemblances,  preachers  are 
clouds  in  spending  themselves  upon  tlie  drj'  earth. 
When  a  cloud  hath  emptied  itself  of  water,  it  ceaseth 
to  be  :  so  we  consume  ourselves  to  do  you  good.  Love 
turns  us  into  lamps,  that  we  waste  ourselves  to  give 
light  imto  others ;  into  silkworms,  that  we  spin  out 
our  own  bowels,  to  make  you  garments.  The  olive 
would  not  leave  her  fatness,  nor  the  fig-tree  her 
sweetness,  nor  the  vine  her  cheerful  liquor,  Judg. 
ix.  S — 13  :  we  refuse  not  to  part  with  our  fatness  and 
sweetness,  our  blood  and  maiTow,  our  rest  and  quiet 
for  your  sakes.  Yea,  like  clouds,  we  willingly  con- 
sume ourselves  in  showers,  that  you  may  bring  forth 
fruit  unto  Jesus  Christ.  This  riseth  to  the  convic- 
tion of  them  that  will  not  be  bettered  by  the  good 
clouds. 

1.  Some  refuse  to  come  under  the  clouds,  and  of 
all  places  love  not  the  orb  of  the  church.  The  fruit- 
ful grounds  are  covered  with  clouds;  they  that  shun 


Ver.  17. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


529 


this  rain  for  fear  of  being  wet,  shall  have  barren 
souls.  There  is  a  double  heaven,  one  of  gloiy,  the 
other  of  the  church.  The  church  is  a  heaven  uiion 
earth  ;  her  priests  be  the  clouds  of  heaven :  she  de- 
nies not  her  showers  to  them  that  seek  it ;  the  rest 
must  remain  a  wilderness.  The  Jews,  while  the 
church  of  God  was  national,  were  commanded  in 
their  devotions  to  look  toward  the  temple,  when  they 
could  not  come  to  it.  We  have  those  that  may  come 
to  it,  but  will  not  look  toward  it.  "  In  this  place  will 
I  give  peace,  saith  the  Lord,"  Hag.  ii.  9.  Not  any 
where,  not  every  where,  but  in  his  own  house :  as  if  this 
blessing  were  confined  to  his  holy  walls,  "  In  this  place 
will  I  give  peace."  I  know  not  whether  the  blessing 
dotli  more  lionour  the  place,  or  the  place  the  bless- 
ing ;  both  grace  each  other,  and  make  God's  people 
hapjiy  :  "In  this  place  I  will  give  peace."  This 
flower  grows  not  in  ever)-  garden,  but  only  in  that 
which  these  clouds  have  watered.  If  ever  we  would 
liave  peace,  outward,  inward,  private,  public,  secular, 
spiritual ;  peace  in  our  land,  peace  in  our  church, 
peace  in  our  state,  peace  in  our  own  souls;  wc  must 
pray  for  it :  and  if  ever  we  will  pray  for  it,  we  must 
pray  here;  for  "  In  this  place  will  I  give  peace,  saith 
tlic  Lord."  It  is  true  indeed,  that  we  are  bidden 
every  where  to  lift  up  pure  hands  unto  God  :  but 
those  hands  cannot  be  pure  that  are  profane ;  and 
they  cannot  be  other  than  profane,  tiiat  contemn 
the  church,  the  clouds,  and  showers,  and  ordinances 
of  God.  If  ever  men  would  have  their  prayers  heard 
at  home,  let  them  pray  at  church ;  else  their  devo- 
tion is  but  tlio  sacrifice  of  fools.  For  he  hath  said  it, 
wiio  hath  good  reason  to  appoint  the  circumstances  of 
his  own  beneficence,  "  In  this  place,"  where  those 
holy  clouds  are,  "  I  will  give  peace." 

2.  Some  bring  fortli  no  fruit  at  all,  though  they 
dwell  under  the  clouds.  They  are  barren  and  beaten 
grounds,like  the  streetsor  high-ways,  over  which  such 
a  throng  of  lusts  fetch  their  continual  walk,  that  no- 
thing can  rise  or  prosper.  The  more  rain  falls,  the 
more  dirt.  Or  if  they  produce  any  fruit,  it  is  weeds 
instead  of  herbs ;  stinking  weeds ;  yea,  even  briers 
and  thorns,  to  scratch  and  wound  the  husbandman 
that  tills  them.  If  a  displeasing  drop  falls  from  the 
clouds,  they  rage  and  swell ;  as  Pharaoh  did  when  he 
received  a  command  of  Israel's  dismission.  The 
showers  and  monitions  of  God  make  ill  men  worse. 
Corruption,  when  it  is  checked,  grows  frantic  ;  as  the 
waves  do  not  beat  or  roar  any  where  so  much  as  at 
the  bank  that  restrains  them ;  or  as  the  vapour  in  a 
cloud  would  not  make  that  fearful  report  if  it  mei 
not  with  opposition.  A  good  heart  yields  at  the 
stillest  voice  of  God  ;  but  his  most  gracious  motions 
harden  the  wicked.  Some  would  not  have  been  so 
desperately  settled  in  their  sins,  if  the  word  had  not 
controlled  them.  But  that  ground  is  resenxd  for  tlie 
fire,  which  would  not  be  bettered  with  the  water. 
What  the  element  of  mercy  could  not  mollify,  the 
element  of  wrath  shall  cruciate.  For  the  earth's 
sake  which  we  bear,  the  earth  that  bears  us  is  often 
cursed :  therefore  our  works  are  weeds,  because  we 
concoct  the  moisture  of  the  clouds  into  venom.  So, 
We  bear  thorns  and  briers  as  fuel  for  the  fire,  says 
one :  they  are  fit  fuel  for  the  fire :  and  another,  Ac- 
cording to  those  things  which  the  wicked  bring  forth, 
will  they  tliemselves  be  hereafter  moulded.  If  the 
lustful  limbs  burn  in  flames,  it  was  lust  that  made 
them  fit  matter  for  those  flames. 

3.  Others  look  after  the  infirmities  of  the  clouds, 
and  never  mind  their  virtue  or  benefits.  They  will 
follow  their  teacher's  own  way,  not  that  which  God 
teacheth  by  him.  Israel  indeed  did  follow  the  cloud 
in  the  wilderness;  when  it  stood  still  two  years  to- 
gether, they  moved  not ;  only  then  they  went  on, 


when  that  went  before  them.  And  we  do  well  to 
follow  the  pattern  of  those  holy  clouds,  that  direct 
us  the  way  to  Canaan.  Yet  this,  not  absolutely,  but 
with  limitation.  The  cloud  that  guided  them  had 
two  parts,  a  light  part  and  a  dark  one.  The  Egyp- 
tians, wlio  were  God's  enemies,  had  only  the  dark 
part ;  which  following,  they  rushed  into  the  Red  Sea, 
and  were  drowned.  The  Israelites  had  the  light 
part,  the  direction  whereof  safely  delivered  them. 
Wicked  eyes  see  only  the  dark  part,  the  infirmities 
of  these  clouds  ;  that  example  they  follow,  and 
perish.  Faithful  souls  look  upon  the  light  part,  the 
graces  of  God  in  them;  this  doctrine  they  follow,  and 
are  saved. 

To  conclude.  Be  thankful  (o  these  clouds,  in  re- 
turning answerable  fruits.  If  showers  fall  on  a 
dunghill,  they  make  but  dirt ;  if  in  a  kennel,  they 
make  but  stink ;  if  in  desolate  places,  they  spring  up 
weeds :  but  in  the  garden,  they  raise  up  herbs  and 
flowers  ;  in  the  tilled  field,  corn  ;  in  the  meadows, 
grass;  in  the  groves  and  orchards,  plants  and  fruits. 
If  the  ground  of  your  hearts  be  foul  with  unclean- 
ncss,  rank  with  covetousness,  or  sown  with  lusts,  our 
rain  will  cause  the  appearance  of  weeds.  But  the 
mind  that  comes  hither  like  a  well-tilled  field,  re- 
ceives tliese  showers  with  comfort,  and  recompenseth 
them  with  increase.  "Then  shall  the  earth  yield 
her  increase ;  and  God,  even  our  own  God,  shall  bless 
us,"  Psal.  Ixvii.  6. 

This  lieart  of  ours  is  the  best  or  the  worst  ground 
that  lies  between  heaven  and  earth.  The  worst,  if  it 
be  thorny,  weedy,  mirj- ;  but  if  fair,  pleasant,  fniit- 
ful,  it  is  the  best.  Thci'ebe  two  that  lay  claim  to  it ; 
and  howsoever  the  propriety  be  God's,  for  he  made 
it,  yet  Satan  will  try  his  title,  and  sues  to  have  it. 
First,  let  us  weed  this  ground,  and  that  betimes,  for 
old  weeds  will  hardly  be  destroyed.  Sins  are  weeds, 
the  weeding-hook  is  repentance :  let  not  a  weed  ap- 
pear, but  presently  by  contrition  cut  it  down.  God 
indeed  said  of  another  field,  and  in  another  sense, 
"  Let  both  grow  together  until  tlie  harvest,"  Matt, 
xiii.  30  ;  but  it  must  not  be  so  here,  for  then  the 
weeds  will  eat  out  the  corn.  Secondly,  keep  it  in 
heart ;  for  if  the  soul  have  not  her  cheerings,  slie  will 
grow  faint  and  barren.  The  way  to  keep  thy  heart 
in  heart,  is  by  devout  prayers,  meditation,  hearing 
the  word,  and  receiving  that  which  is  the  food  of  the 
soul,  the  blessed  sacrament.  Thirdly,  look  to  the 
expiration  of  thy  farm,  and  be  sure  to  leave  it  in 
good  case ;  that  when  the  great  Landlord  shall  call 
the  tenant  out  of  tlie  tenement,  the  soul  from  the 
body,  it  may  be  entertained  into  his  own  house,  the 
glorious  court  of  heaven.  Fourthly  and  lastly,  be 
sure  to  pay  thy  rent  always,  and  that  is  thankfulness. 
For  temporal  farms  we  pay  our  rents  by  quarters 
and  half-years ;  but  this  rent  is  due  every  month, 
week,  day,  hour.  Seven  times  a  day,  yea,  seven 
limes  an  hour,  will  I  praise  thee,  Psal.  cxix.  IC4.  We 
forfeit  many  of  God's  favours,  for  not  paying  the  rent 
of  thankfulness.  It  is  an  easy  rent,  it  costs  us  no 
labour.  It  is  a  cheap  rent,  we  are  not  out  of  purse 
for  it.  It  is  a  ready  rent,  never  to  seek.  If  it  be 
easy,  ready,  cheap,  why  do  we  grudge  it  ?  We  can  do 
little,  if  we  cannot  thank  God  for  his  goodness.  Yet 
fur  the  ground  itself,  for  the  seeds  that  sow  the 
ground,  for  the  clouds  that  water  the  seeds,  for  the 
sun  that  draws  up  the  clouds,  for  the  influences  of 
licavenly  grace  that  bless  all,  God  requires  no  rent 
but  our  thanks.  Nothing  is  more  easy  to  be  spoken, 
or  more  comfortable  to  be  heard,  or  more  acceptable 
to  be  understood,  or  more  fmitful  to  be  done,  than 
thankfulness  :  so  Augustine.  If  we  cannot  requite 
gifts,  yet  let  us  return  thanks.  And  even  Seneca 
writes  thus:  I  can  never  give  unto  God  sufficient 


530 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


thanks;  yet  I  will  ever  acknowledge  that  I  cannot 
give  him  thanks  sufficient.  He  that  returns  this  to 
man,  makes  half  the  amends  ;  to  God,  it  is  all  the 
amends  we  can  make. 

But  the  least  gratitude  lies  in  the  tongue  ;  when 
the  heart,  when  the  life  is  thankful,  this  is  better 
than  the  sacrilice  that  hath  horns  and  hoofs.  Then 
is  tlie  earth  thankful  to  the  clouds,  when  it  returns 
answerable  fruits,  when  it  docs  confess  and  recom- 
pense the  good  it  hath  received;  when  the  valleys 
stand  thick  with  corn,  the  meadows  yield  fat  pasture, 
the  trees  flourish  witli  fruits,  that  the  birds  sit  anel 
sing  in  the  branches.  We  call  a  barren  earth,  an 
untliankful  eartli.  AVhat  is  the  worst  fruit  that  the 
earth  bears  ?  I  find  a  great  complaint  of  tares,  Matt, 
xiii.  27,  of  thorns,  Hcb.  vi.  S,  of  thistles,  Gen.  iii.  18, 
of  venomous  creatures,  noxious  and  baneful  plants; 
yet  all  these  are  good  in  their  kinds,  and  useful  to 
the  wise.  But  tlie  W'Orst  thing  that  the  groaning 
earth  bears,  be  ourselves,  our  sinful  and  unprofitable 
selves;  teUuris  inutile  pondus,  i.  e.  a  useless  burden 
to  the  earth.  Therefore  God  more  than  threatened 
to  desti'oy  both  man  and  beast  from  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Gen.  vi.  7-  The  earth,  as  a  good  mother,  re- 
joicelh  in  good  children  ;  but  she  mourneth  for  them 
that  dishonour  their  Father,  and  are  a  shame  to  their 
mother.  She  does  not  take  pleasure  in  wild  animals, 
and  beasts  of  prey,  but  in  men,  tame  and  gentle  crea- 
tures. So  long  as  there  is  pride  in  us,  contention 
among  us;  while  covetousncss  and  cruelty  in  our 
hands,  unmercifulness  in  our  hearts,  and  lust  in  our 
loins,  remain  unweeded  out ;  we  arc  those  wild 
beasts.  Is  this  our  thankfulness  to  the  clouds  ?  Is 
this  our  requital  for  all  their  showers  ?  Do  we  rain 
down  holy  dews,  and  find  you  springing  up  profane 
weeds?  Alas,  for  the  sins  of  the  land!  for  this  cause 
the  cloiuls  melt  themselves  into  tears.  As  all  our 
sermons  be  public  showers,  to  refresh  your  thirsty 
souls ;  so  we  have  also  our  private  showers,  dissolv- 
ing ourselves  into  tears  for  the  obstinacy  of  your 
hearts.  We  weep  in  secret  for  your  pride,  Jer.  xiii. 
17,  and  are  still  dropping  this  rain  from  our  eyes, 
together  with  the  exhortation  of  our  lips,  Acts  xx. 
.31.  Remember  that  God  who  gives  you  the  former 
and  tlic  latter  rain ;  showers  to  soften  the  earth  be- 
fore the  seed  be  cast  in ;  showers  when  it  is  cast  in, 
to  bring  it  forth ;  showers  to  ear  it,  and  showers  to 
ripen  it.  If  all  this  v.  ill  not  make  you  fructify,  the 
clouds  weep  again,  because  they  have  laboured  in 
vain,  and  spent  their  strength  for  nought,  Isa.  xlix.  4. 

Moilales  quoniam  nolunl  sua  criminaflere, 
Cw/iim  pro  nobis  i:o/vitur  in  lachrymas. 

When  men  for  their  own  crimes  no  tears  will  shed. 
The  heavens  above  melt  into  tears  instead. 

Oh  that  it  would  fall  out  by  you,  as  the  bishop  com- 
forted Monica  concerning  her  son  Augustine :  The 
cliildren  of  so  many  showers  and  tears  shall  never 
perish. 

Open  therefore  your  breasts  to  receive  these  holy 
dews  ;  lest  with  that  rich  churl,  you  ciy  hereafter  for 
some  of  this  water,  when  you  cannot  have  it.  How 
many  showers  and  buckets  of  grace  hud  he  despised 
in  his  jollity  !  now  he  calls  out  pitifully,  for  one  drop 
to  cool  his  tongue,  Luke  xvi.  24.  Do  not  neglect 
the  least  drop  of  grace  when  it  falls,  lest  you  be 
driven  to  beg  one  drop  of  mercy  when  it  must  not 
fall  for  ever.  Now  God  draws  near  unto  you,  draw 
you  near  un'o  God,  and  be  enlightened :  so  shall  you 
no  more  be  a  dry  land,  but  a  fruitful  land,  bearing 
fruit  for  the  Lord's  harvest.  Thus  you  shall  restore 
(he  golden  age,  and  make  the  place  you  live  in,  were 
it  woi-se  than  it  is,  a  very  earthly  paradise.     Earth 


shall  return  to  earth ;  but  such  fruitful  earth  shall 
possess  the  earth,  and  be  possessed  of  heaven.  Now 
the  grace  of  God  make  us  the  one,  and  the  glorj'  of 
God  crown  us  with  the  other. 

"  To  whom  the  mist  of  darkness  is  resen-ed  for 
evei'."  Private  offenders  are  not  so  much  plagued 
as  public.  He  doubly  sins,  who  sins  by  example ; 
for  he  teacheth  evil  by  doing  it,  and  so  again  does 
evil  by  teaching  it.  The  exemplary  sin  is  a  mis- 
chievous sin :  he  that  gives  bad  example,  shall 
be  made  an  example  himself.  A  sinner,  by  his  true 
contrition  and  hearty  repentance,  may  get  pardon  for 
his  oTOTi  sin ;  but  how  shall  he  procure  it  for  them 
whom  he  hath  taught  to  sin  ?  Nothing  more  troubles 
the  mind  of  a  good  man,  than  his  tempting  of  others 
to  ofi'end  God.  Thou  hast  been  a  blasphemer,  and 
art  converted;  but  how  shall  this  medicine  cure  the 
infection  which  thy  foul  breath  hath  conveyed  to 
others?  Thy  excesses  may  be  forgiven  thee,  but 
how  art  thou  sure  of  those  Uriahs  whom  thou  hast 
inebriated  ?  The  adulterer,  after  the  fact,  may  re- 
pent of  his  own  wickedness,  yet  it  cannot  but  trouble 
him  to  think  what  may  become  of  his  harlot.  So 
grievous  and  dangerous  is  it  to  be  guilty  of  others' 
sins.  An  eminent  offender  draws  many  with  him 
into  evil.  When  David  fell  in  with  Bathshcba,  many 
of  her  servants  and  his  courtiers  must  needs  be  con- 
scious of  that  adulteiy.  When  Uriah  must  die,  Joab 
must  be  fetched  in  as  aecessarj-  to  the  murder :  how 
did  that  example  harden  his  heart  against  the  con- 
science of  Abner's  blood!  He  might  well  think, 
how  can  my  master  revenge  that  on  me,  which  he 
acts  himself?  Great  men's  sins  are  seldom  secret, 
and  no  less  secret  shall  be  their  shame.  These 
heretical  teachers  have  brought  on  men's  souls  a 
mist  of  darkness,  and  done  what  in  them  lies  to  send 
them  blindfold  to  hell ;  now  therefore  such  a  lot 
abides  them,  even  a  mist  of  darkness  for  ever.  In 
which  punishment  observe  tluee  things. 

1.  The  quality  of  it.  The  mist  of  darkness. 

2.  The  congruity  of  it,  It  is  prepared  or  reserved 
for  them;  and  they  were  such  as  loved  darkness 
more  than  light. 

.3.  The  eternity  or  duration  of  it.  For  ever. 

First,  the  nature  or  quality  of  it,  A  mist  of  dark- 
ness. If  hell  had  no  other  anguish  in  it  but  the  very 
dai'kness,  it  were  a  formidable  place.  How  uncom- 
fortable would  that  night  be,  which  had  no  hope  or 
possibility  of  day !  But  as  it  is  said  of  heaven,  the 
gates  of  it  are  not  shut  by  day,  and  there  shall  be  no 
night  there,  Rev.  xsi.  25;  so  it  is  contrary  of  hell, 
the  gates  of  it  are  not  open  by  night,  and  there  shall 
be  no  day  there.  Night  is  feigned  to  be  the  daughter 
of  the  Earth;  and  that  is  dark  enough:  so  Job  calls 
the  grave,  "  a  land  of  a  darkness,  and  of  the  shadow 
of  death,"  Job  x.  22.  If  our  bodies  had  any  sense 
when  they  lie  in  that  dark  bed,  how  tedious,  how 
odious  would  it  be  unto  them !  But  there  is  that 
which  Christ  calls  "  ou^er  darkncs.s,"  Matt.  viii.  12 ; 
uncomfortable,  unlightable.  The  Hebrews,  by  light, 
understand  joy  and  felicity;  by  darkness,  sorrow  and 
confusion.  "  To  give  light  to  them  that  sit  in  dark- 
ness," Luke  i.  79-  Such  a  mist  shall  be  on  their 
souls,  as  comes  upon  a  swooning  man ;  who  cannot 
see  though  his  eyes  be  open,  the  organs  being  (for 
the  time)  incapable  of  illumination.  So  lie  the 
damned,  as  dying  men  in  the  very  pangs  of  death, 
with  a  mist  of  darkness  over  their  understandings, 
vet  cannot  die. 

But  there  is  fire  in  hell ;  shall  not  this  give  light  ? 
No,  it  differs  from  elemental  fire.  First,  for  violence, 
it  is  more  subtile  and  searching.  Secondly,  for  du- 
rance, it  is  a  wildfire  that  cannot  ue  quenched.  Third- 
ly, for  operation,  it   consumes  not  what   it   burns. 


Ver.  17. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


531 


Fourthly,  for  obscurity,  though  it  flame  terribly  to 
the  vexation  of  the  wicked,  yet  it  shines  not  to  their 
comfort.  It  lias  burning,  but  no  light,  says  Gregory. 
John  "  was  a  burning  and  a  shining  light,"  John  v. 
35.  There  is  a  tire  tliat  shines  without  burning,  and 
a  fire  that  burnb  witliout  shining.  It  is  as  easy  for 
God  to  make  fire  without  light,  as  light  without  fire. 
All  the  prisons  and  dungeons  devised  by  man  are 
palaces  in  respect  of  hell ;  as  all  pains  mortal  are 
a  mere  shadow  to  these  torments.  (Chn,-sost.  ad  Pop. 
Antioch.  Horn.  49.)  Tlie  darkness  of  Egypt  was 
wonderful  and  fearful :  wonderful,  in  that  it  was  so 
thick  that  it  might  be  felt ;  fearful,  therefore  reserv- 
ed for  the  ninth  of  the  ten  plagues.  But  this  far  ex- 
ceeds ;  "the  blackness  of  darkness,"  Jude  13:  so 
doth  the  Hebrew  idiom  express  it  in  the  uttermost 
extract  of  darkness.  If  thou  couldst  see  in  a  dark 
prison  some  looking  pale  and  ghastly,  others  Imund 
in  chains  and  fetters,  others  tormented  with  famine, 
all  shut  up  in  a  loathsome  dungeon,  howling  with 
lamentation  ;  how  would  it  friglit  thee  from  such  a 
course  as  miglit  endanger  thee  to  such  a  jilace  !  Thus 
let  us  meditate  of  this  darkness  liere,  that  we  may 
never  feel  it  hereafter.  Tlic  body  that  is  surfeited  with 
repletion  of  pleasant  meats,  must  be  purged  with  bitter 
pills.  Let  the  due  consideration  of  those  insufferable 
horrors  cleanse  our  hearts  from  all  (illhy  lusts ;  and 
let  us  follow  the  way  which  the  light  of  grace  leads 
us,  that  the  light  of  glory  may  crown  us. 

Reserved  for  them :  this  is  the  proportionableness 
of  it.  The  punishments  which  God's  justice  inflicts 
ui>on  sinners,  have  always  a  respect  of  condignity, 
not  seldom  of  eongruity ;  so  that  we  may  read  the 
matter  of  the  offence  in  the  characters  of  the  penalty. 
These  black  clouds  did  wholly  endeavour  to  super- 
induce darkness  on  the  church,  therefore  the  mist  of 
darkness  is  reserved  for  them  for  ercr.  Some  read, 
is  prepared ;  and  this  refers  us  to  God's  decree,  who 
had  preordained  the  darkness  of  hell  for  such  cloudy 
soids :  not  in  preparing,  but  prepared;  as  a  king 
prepares  a  prison  for  such  of  his  subjects  as  siiall 
prove  rebellious.  But  God  made  not  darkness ;  and 
whereas  in  the  beginning  of  the  creation  it  is  said, 
"  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,"  Gen.  i. 
2;  this  was  not  a  thing  created,  but  a  mere  privation, 
or  absence,  or  not  being,  of  that  light  which  was 
made  afterward.  Nor  do  we  think  this  mist  of  dark- 
ness a  positive  tiling;  but  as  when  the  sun  is  hidden, 
darkness  necessarily  follows.  Not  a  beam  of  God's 
countenance,  not  a  spark  of  his  light,  comes  into  hell, 
and  thereupon  follows  this  intolerable  darkness. 

"  Tophet  is  ordained  of  old,"  Isa.  xxx.  33  ;  not 
by  chance,  not  on  a  sudden,  but  with  deliberate  judg- 
ment. For  the  antiquity  of  hell,  1  refer  you  to  the 
fourth  verse  of  this  chapter,  where  the  lost  angels  are 
said  to  be  cast  down  into  hell :  now  they  could  not 
he  cast  into  that  which  was  not.  God  hath  ordained 
but  two  places  to  receive  all,  whether  angels  or  men. 
For  those  fustian-weavers  of  Rome  with  their  inter- 
mediate places,  they  make  but  chimeras,  and  imagine 
places  without  a  foundation.  As  the  limbo  of  the 
fathers,  where  (they  tell  us)  there  is  punishment  of 
loss,  not  of  sense ;  and  the  limbo  of  infants,  for  chil- 
dren dying  without  baptism,  where  they  likewise  say 
is  punishment,  not  of  sense,  but  of  loss.  The  former 
whereof  they  would  have  dissolved  by  Christ's  de- 
scension  into  hell,  the  other  to  last  for  ever.  And 
their  purgatory,  where  is  the  punishment  both  of 
loss  and  sense;  which  shall  cease  at  Christ's  coming 
to  judgment ;  unless  some  better  informed  and  more 
merciful  ])opc  unlock  the  doors,  and  let  them  out  for 
money  beforehand.  These  be  pretty  talcs  for  a  winter's 
night,  and  not  unlike  their  legends.  The  Holy  Scrip- 
ture hath  this  plain  tnith  :  'There  is  but  election  and 


reprobation,  grace  and  sin,  the  narrow  gate  and  the 
broad  way ;  but  two  places,  light  and  darkness,  joy 
and  pain;  but  two  ends,  heaven  and  hell,  to  one  of 
these  must  all  flesh  come.  Tiiey  that  tell  you  other- 
wise, flatter  you  with  error:  we  tell  you  the  truth, 
though  it  be  with  terror  ;  and  testify  to  you  our  bre- 
thren, (albeit  with  another  mind,)  that  you  come  not 
into  that  place  of  torment,  Luke  xvi.  28.  And  how- 
soever you  may  storm  against  us,  for  disquieting  your 
security  with  such  menaces;  yet  we  had  rather  you 
should  be  offended  with  us  for  preaching  hell  to  you 
here,  than  that  for  not  preaching  it  you  should  curse 
us  in  hell  hereafter. 

But  I  rather  read  it,  is  reserved;  and  then  it  de- 
notes the  fltnessof  the  plague  to  their  sin  :  darkness 
to  darkness,  inward  to  outward,  temporal  to  eternal 
darkness.  The  Egyptians  drowned  the  males  of 
Israel,  themselves  were  drowned  for  it.  They  had 
bloodied  the  waters  from  those  innocent  veins,  their 
waters  are  turned  into  blood.  That  law  of  retalia- 
tion which  God  will  not  allow  us,  because  we  are 
fellow  creatures,  he  justly  practiseth  on  us.  He 
would  have  us  read  our  sins  in  our  judgments,  that 
we  might  both  repent  of  our  sins  and  give  glory  to 
his  justice.  Ham  sinned  against  his  father,  and 
therefore  is  punished  in  his  children  ;  whereas  Ja- 
pheth  was  dutiful  to  his  father,  and  finds  it  in  his 
posterity.  Because  Ham  was  an  ill  son  to  his  fatlier, 
therefore  his  children  sh;\ll  be  servants  to  his  brethren. 
But  because  Japheth  joined  himself  with  Shem 
in  bearing  the  cloak  of  shame,  therefore  he  shall 
dwell  in  tne  tents  of  Shem,  and  partalic  of  the  bless- 
ing. Samson  abuseth  his  strength  among  women, 
therefore  he  lost  his  strength  by  a  woman.  Saul  di- 
vides himself  from  God,  God  divides  the  kingdom 
from  Saul.  David  committed  three  sins  in  the  busi- 
ness of  Uriah,  adulten,',  murder,  and  dissimulation ; 
for  all  these  he  receives  just  payment :  for  adultery, 
in  the  deflouringof  his  daughter  Tamar;  for  murder, 
in  the  stabbing  of  his  son  Aranon  ;  for  dissimulation, 
in  the  contriving  of  both.  "  Did  not  ye  hate  me,  and 
expel  me  out  of  my  father's  house?  and  why  are  ye 
come  to  me  now  when  ye  arc  in  distress  ?  saith 
Jeplithah  to  the  elders  of  Gilcad,  Judg.  xi.  /•  The 
suits  of  necessity  are  justly  upbraided  with  the  errors 
of  prosperity.  'The  same  expostulation  that  Jephthah 
makes  with  Gilead,  God  at  the  same  time  makes  with 
Israel ;  "You havefoi'sakenme,andscrvedother  gods, 
wherefore  should  I  dcliveryou  ?  Go  and  cry  unto  the 
gods  ye  have  chosen,"  Judg.  x.  13,  14.  God  tells  his 
children  of  their  faults  while  he  is  whipping  them.  It 
is  a  wise  and  safe  course,  to  make  much  of  those  in  our 
peace  whom  we  must  make  use  of  in  our  extremity  ; 
otherwise  it  is  but  just  that  we  should  be  rejected  of 
those  whom  we  have  rejected.  We  call  upon  God  in 
our  trouble,  and  are  not  heard.  AVhy  ?  Because  he 
was  not  heard  when  he  called  to  us  in  our  prosperity. 
He  will  say.  Did  you  not  drive  me  out  of  your  houses, 
out  of  your  hearts,  in  time  of  health  ?  did  ye  not 
plead  the  strictness  of  my  charge,  the  weight  of  my 
yoke?  did  not  your  wilful  sins  expel  me  from  your 
souls  ?  what  do  you  now  crouching  and  creeping  to 
mc  in  the  evil  day  ?  It  is  but  justice,  if  God  be  not 
found  of  those  that  were  content  to  lose  him. 

Thus  he  once  plagued  the  inundation  of  sins  with 
an  inundation  of  waters :  Sodom's  unnatural  lust  with 
unnatural  fire.  He  proceetls  still  in  the  same  course: 
the  dearth  of  charity  he  punisheth  with  the  dearth 
of  plenty  ;  the  surfeits  of  peace,  with  the  sharp  phy- 
sic of  war ;  malice  and  wrath,  those  burning  sins, 
with  burning  fevers  ;  the  languishing  of  piety,  with 
consumptions  of  body  ;  whoredom  and  uncleanness, 
with  loathsome  diseases ;  riot  and  profuseness,  with 
fluxes ;  drunkenness  and  excess,  with  dropsies ;  pride 


532 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


and  swelling,  with  tumours ;  curses  and  blasphemies, 
with  the  plague  and  pestilence.  That  which  men 
liave  so  many  years  tossed  in  their  mouths,  is  now 
fallen  upon  their  loins  ;  the  plague  hath  been  their 
imprecation,  the  plague  is  become  their  common  de- 
struction. What  is  it  that  infects  the  air,  but  the 
contagious  breath  of  oaths  and  curses,  vented  every 
moment  from  the  lips  of  men  and  children  ?  Everj- 
sinner  teacheth  God  how  to  punish  him,  out  of  his 
own  mouth.  And  there  is  no  particular  wickedness, 
but  God  hath  a  particular  rod  to  scourge  it  on  earth, 
and  a  particular  torment  to  vex  it  in  hell.  Only 
they  escape,  that  have  answered  all  the  variety  of 
their  sins  in  the  variety  of  the  sufferings  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

"For  ever."  Such  is  the  perpetuity  of  this  dark- 
ness. And  tliis  is  also  a  just  recompence,  that  they 
which  might  have  found  life,  and  would  not  seek  it, 
should  at  last  seek  for  death,  and  not  find  it.  Tliere 
is  a  shame  never  covered,  a  worm  never  dying,  a  cry- 
never  ceasing,  a  fire  never  wasting,  an  intolerable 
pain,  an  interminable  time.  They  "shall  desire  to 
die,  and  death  shall  flee  from  them,"  Rev.  ix.  6.  A 
good  day  makes  amends  for  a  bad  night ;  but  to  this 
night  belongs  no  day ;  it  is  everlasting  darkness. 
The  roughest  tempest,  the  weariest  journey,  is  not 
without  comfort,  because  there  is  hope  of  an  end  ; 
but  these  pains  be  as  endless  in  quantity  as  they  are 
easeless  in  quality.  Joshua  had  a  long  day  when 
the  sun  stood  still.  Josh.  x.  13  ;  yet  that  day  had  an 
end  ;  the  sun  did  go  on  his  course  again,  and  set : 
but  here  the  sun  and  moon  shall  utterly  cease  to 
measure  time  by  their  motion.  That  is  a  long  sen- 
tence that  hatli  no  period,  a  doleful  night  which 
shall  have  no  morning  ;  a  woeful  darkness,  where 
no  star  shall  give  a  glimpse,  no  taper  burn  for  the 
damps  and  foggy  mists.  Thus  they  lie  like  a  male- 
factor pressing  to  death,  calling  for  more  weight  to 
despatch  them,  even  rocks  and  moimtains.  Rev.  vi. 
16,  and  cannot  get  it.  They  are  those  serpents  that 
will  not  be  charmed,  Jer.  viii.  17,  those  tormentors 
that  will  never  be  entreated.  It  is  to  no  end  to  com- 
pare them  with  piles  of  grass,  sands,  or  stars:  if  a 
million  of  years  should  stand  for  every  dust  of  the 
earth,  there  might  be  an  end;  but  this  is,  as  Gre- 
gory expresses  it.  Death  without  death,  and  without 
end:  time  shall  be  no  more;  and  after  time,  it  is  as 
possible  for  that  damnation  to  be  temporal,  as  it  is 
for  God  not  to  be  eternal. 

Sinners  greedily  hear  that  the  mercy  of  God  en- 
dures for  ever;  but  they  shall  as  sensibly  feel  that 
the  wrath  of  God  also  endures  for  ever.  It  was  a 
pitiful  complaint,  "  Will  the  Lord  cast  off  for  ever  ? 
is  his  mercy  clean  gone  for  evermore  ?"  Psal.  Ixxvii. 
7,  8.  God  did  not  deal  so  with  David,  he  will  deal 
so  with  the  damned.  Let  this  meditation  touch 
thee  now,  that  the  matter  itself  may  never  hurt  thee 
hereafter.  Tliat  heart  is  hard  frozen,  which  nothing 
can  thaw  but  hell-firc.  If  a  rebellious  city  were 
threatened  by  the  king  to  be  tithed  for  their  con- 
spiracy ;  that  one  of  ten  should  die  in  justice,  though 
nine  were  spared  in  mercy ;  would  not  every  one 
tremble,  lest  the  lot  should  fall  upon  himself?  If 
among  ten  passing  over  a  bridge,  one  were  assured 
to  fall  in,  would  not  cveiy  one  look  to  his  feet  ?  The 
Supreme  Judge  in  liis  last  great  assizes,  will  execute 
his  wrath  npon  many ;  not  one  of  ten,  but  rather 
nine  of  ten,  are  in  danger;  "  for  all  have  sinned,  and 
come  short  of  the  glory  of  God,"  Rom.  iii.  23,  de- 
serving ever-burning  fire  in  everlasting  darkness  ; 
shall  we  not  make  sure  our  Advocate  to  i)lead  for  us ; 
even  Him  alone,  whose  plea  is  imanswcrable,  be- 
cause he  died  for  us  ?  He  that  is  for  ever,  suffered 
that  we  might  not  suffer  for  ever.    But  will  lie  plead 


for  those  above,  that  care  not  to  be  his  below  ? 
Shall  they  challenge  his  covenant  then,  and  trample 
on  it  now  ?  Do  tliey  not  abuse  that  covenant,  while 
they  break  tlie  conditions,  faith  and  obedience  ?  Let 
not  men  flatter  themselves,  that  they  may  sin  in 
their  own  eternity,  so  long  as  they  can  ;  and  yet  that 
God  will  not  punish  them  with  his  own  eternity,  so 
long  as  he  can.  Hell  was  not  made  for  nothing; 
there  be  two  fatal  engines,  the  devil  and  sin,  that 
will  supply  and  furnish  if,  and  keep  it  from  being 
empty. 

Thou  art  sick,  think  how  uncomfortable  it  would  be, 
to  be  confined  to  that  bed  and  that  pain,  if  no  worse, 
for  a  thousand  years ;  where  thy  friends  are  fiends, 
and  thy  pliysicians  tormentors.  Consider  them  that 
are  shut  up  for  the  plague ;  how  irksome  it  is  ta 
want  help  and  society,  to  lie  fearfully  expecting 
death  every  hour ;  and  the  prayers  of  thousands  sent 
up  to  heaven  for  their  comfort.  Who  would  for  the 
pleasure  of  an  hour,  be  racked  a  whole  year?  or 
for  a  mass  of  gold,  lie  burning  in  the  fire  one  day  ? 
Yet  how  many  for  the  satisfaction  of  a  lust,  hazard 
themselves,  souls  and  bodies,  to  more  exquisite  tor- 
tures and  endless  flames  !  Let  us  not  pass  over  this 
meditation  superficially,  but  in  time  make  an  end  of 
sinning;  otherwise  beyond  all  time  there  will  be  no 
end  of  our  suffering.  For  our  Creator's  sake  that 
made  us,  for  our  Redeemer's  sake  that  with  his 
own  blood  bought  us,  for  that  Comforter's  sake  who 
would  heal  us,  for  the  angels'  sake  that  guard  us,  for 
the  church's  sake,  our  mother  that  mourns  for  us, 
for  our  o^^^l  soul's  sake,  that  should  be  dear  unto  us ; 
let  us  l)reak  oft"  our  sins  by  repentance,  and  live  the 
life  of  grace  and  obedience,  that  we  perish  not  in 
this  mist  of  darkness  for  ever. 


Verse  18. 

For  ii!ie»  llteij  speak  great  sirelli7ig  trords  of  vanili/, 
they  allure  through  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  through 
much  ncmtomiess,  those  that  were  clean  escaped  from 
them  2iho  live  in  error. 

Flesh  and  blood  is  pleased  either  with  no  religion, 
or  with  a  carnal  one ;  yea,  with  a  carnal  religion 
rather  than  none  at  all.  For  without  some  bounda- 
ries to  the  unlimited  ra^e  of  sensuality,  they  could 
neither  enjoy  their  goods  nor  their  sins  in  peace. 
Therefore  among  the  heathen  politics,  that  state 
where  nothing  was  lawful,  was  preferred  to  the  state 
where  all  things  were  lawful.  He  would  be  loth  to 
have  his  own  goods  stolen,  that  makes  no  conscience 
of  robbing  others.  The  wicked  are  neither  sensible 
of  doing  injurj-,  nor  patient  of  suffering  it.  Unjust 
tradesmen  will  have  the  law  open  to  fetch  in  their 
debts,  and  that  with  rigour;  but  for  payment  of 
their  creditors,  they  would  have  the  law  shut,  and 
o|)pose  them  under  a  protection.  Thus  if  they  can 
shuftle  out  for  this  world,  they  never  dream  of  any 
reckoning  in  the  world  to  come.  That  religion, 
therefore,  which  can  humour  llesh  and  blood,  and 
give  corrupt  nature  leave  to  be  herself,  proud  or 
wanton,  is  the  only  plausible  doctrine,  .and  sure  of 
entertainment.  Every  bad  man  would  have  all 
others  bound,  and  himself  free ;  and  he  easily  con- 
nives at  that  in  himself,  which  he  severely  censures 
under  another  skin.  Silly  understandings  adhere  to 
that  rule,  which  is  indulgent  to  their  c.-imal  affec- 
tions ;  as  fishes  are  taken  with  the  bait  that  is  agree- 
able to  their  natures.  Wanton  souls  are  caught  with 
wanton  allurements.     "  When  they  speak,"  &c. 


Ver.  18. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETEB. 


53J 


This  verse  is  spent  upon  two  sorts  of  men ;  the 
seducers,  and  the  seduced :  the  subtle,  and  the 
simple  ;  the  thieves,  and  their  booty.  In  the  de- 
ceivers we  have, 

Their  posture,  They  speak  great  swelling  words  of 
vanity. 

Their  imposture,  They  allure  or  beguile  souls. 

For  the  deceived,  we  have  three  circumstances ; 

1.  What  they  were  for  their  former  condition. 
Escaped,  &c. 

2.  ^Vhat  they  are  for  their  present  estate.  Wrapped 
in  error. 

3.  How  they  become  so ;  which  is  their  own  weak- 
ness, or  proneness  to  sin,  whereby  the  temptation 
works  upon  them,  here  called  w'antonness. 

The  posture  of  the  seducers  appears  in  three  pas- 
sages : 

In  many  words. 

In  vain  words. 

In  great  swelling  words. 

For  the  first,  they  think  to  carry  it  away  with  words. 
That  is  aver)'  ill  cause,  which  wants  colourable  rea- 
son for  it ;  that  is  a  ver)-  ill  reason,  which  wants  a 
TertuUus  to  plead  it ;  and  he  is  an  ill  Tertullus,  that 
wants  words  to  defend  it.  Yea,  error  hath  always 
most  words ;  like  a  rotten  house,  that  needs  most 
props  and  cnitehcs  to  uphold  it.  Simple  truth  ever- 
more requires  least  cost ;  like  a  beautiful  face,  that 
needs  no  painting;  or  a  comely  body,  which  any  de- 
cent apparel  becomes.  We  plaster  over  rotten  posts 
and  ragged  walls  ;  substantuil  buildings  are  able  to 
grace  themselves.  We  cannot  but  suspect  that  cause, 
whereon  the  lawyer  wastes  so  much  of  his  time  and 
tongue.  Multitude  of  words  is  not  unlike  the  thick 
painting  in  some  popish  church  windows,  a  mere 
device  to  keep  out  the  light.  Why  doth  the  hare 
use  so  many  doublings,  but  to  frustrate  the  scent  of 
the  hounds?  Falsehood  is  a  gaudy  harlot;  strip 
her  of  her  borrowed  garments,  she  will  appear,  we 
know  not  whether  more  hateful  or  ridiculous.  Lo- 
quacity hath  ever  been  a  note  of  folly  ;  In  mu/liloquio 
stiUliloqiiiuin  ;  i.  e.  In  much  speaking  is  foolish  speak- 
ing: it  is  very  difficult  to  spe:ik  much  and  well. 
The  ship  that  hath  more  rigging  and  sail  than 
ballast,  will  never  make  a  good  voyage.  The  tree 
that  wanted  fruit,  might  have  abundance  of  leaves; 
and  commonly  they  nave  the  worst  course  of  life, 
that  have  the  most  voluble tongii,'.  "They  think  to 
be  heard  for  their  much  speaking,"  Matt.  vi.  7:  as 
if  God  could  not  hear  them  at  lirst ;  as  if  he  could 
not  understand  them  at  once;  as  if  the  blessing  of 
Heaven  depended  on  the  labour  of  the  tongue  : 
whereas  indeed,  it  is  not  many  words,  but  hearty  de- 
sires, that  can  fetch  down  heavenly  blessings.  No 
prince  will  grant  a  suit  ever  the  sooner  for  a  long 
petition.  Certainly,  if  twenty  Avc-Marias  and  five 
Paler-nosters  were  all  that  God  required,  many  a  pa- 
pist hath  done  his  duty.  But,  alas,  how  can  they 
nojie  to  merit  by  that,  for  which  God  hath  said,  they 
shall  not  be  heard,  much  babbling  ?  Tiie  publican 
used  not  so  many  words  as  the  Pharisee,  the  Phari- 
see had  not  such  commendation  as  the  publican,  Luke 
xviii.  14.  It  is  vain  to  do  by  many  words,  what  can 
be  done  by  fewer.  There  is  little  of  a  long-winded 
exercise,  except  to  bring  men  asleep.  Many  words 
must  not  carry  it;  for  then  tlie  brawling  woman 
would  have  the  better,  who  will  not  give  over  with- 
out the  last  word.  But  not  to  catch  the  disease 
which  I  declaim  against,  prolixity  of  speech,  I  pass 
to  the  next,  which  is, 

Tlieir  full-mouthed  speeches,  "  great  swelling 
words."  Nothin"  is  more  loud  than  error;  the  more 
false  the  matter,  the  greater  noise  to  uphold  it.  Paul 
can  have  no  audience,  the  truth  must  not  be  heard ; 


but  they  all  cr)-  out  for  Diana,  Acts  xix.  34.  In  that 
bloodiest  and  most  unnatural  custom  of  idolatrj-  that 
ever  the  sun  beheld,  the  sacrificing  of  their  children 
in  burning  fire  to  Moloch,  it  was  the  noise  of  the 
instruments  that  drowned  all  sense  of  the  madness. 
Thus  Ahab  shall  be  deluded  with  grc  t  words  and 
numbers,  1  Kings  xxii. ;  the  clergy  of  four  hundred 
prophets  conspire  to  his  destruction :  one  single  Mi- 
caiah  can  do  no  good,  they  bear  him  down  with  mul- 
titudes. Four  hundred  to  one  is  odds  ;  every  one  will 
have  as  much  talk  as  he.  Yet  indeed,  one  prophet 
speaking  from  the  oracle  of  God,  is  more  worth  than 
four  hundred  Baalites.  Truth  is  not  ever  to  be 
measured  by  the  poll  ;  it  is  not  number,  but  weight, 
that  sliould  cany  it.  Solid  verity  in  one  mouth  is 
worthy  to  preponderate  light  falsehood  in  a  thou- 
sand. '  But  falsehood  hath  the  more  swelling  words, 
the  louder  noise  :  as  Cyprian  mentions  one  that 
challenged  him  to  dispute  ;  who  thou  h  he  wanted 
learning  to  urge  any  argument,  yet  he  amazed  the 
people  by  engrossing  all  the  talk,  and  holding  the 
conclusion. 

False  Zcdekiah  not  only  speaks,  but  acts  his  pre- 
diction, with  swelling  words,  yea, presumptuous  signs; 
horns  of  iron,  and  Tluis  shaft  thou  push  the  Syrians, 
1  Kings  xxii.  1 1 .  The  horn  is  forcible,  the  iron  ir- 
resistible ;  by  an  irresistible  force  shall  Ahab  do 
this:  as  if  the  certainty  of  his  tongue  were  not  enough 
without  his  hands.  He  had  a  forehead  of  brass,  a 
heart  of  lead  ;  the  one  for  impudence,  the  other  for 
llexibleness  to  humouvs  and  times  ;  therefore  he 
devised  horns  to  gore  his  king  unto  death.  One  silly 
prophet  affronts  t lie  four  hundred ;  whereupon  Zede- 
kiah,  having  swoln  first  into  words,  now  swells  into 
blows,  and  smites  God's  prophet  on  the  face,  ver.  24. 
Micaiah  gave  him  the  lie,  and  he  gives  Micaiah  the 
fist  ;  and  with  the  blow  expostulates.  Before  two 
kings,  the  guardians  of  peace  and  justice,  swaggering 
Zedekiah  falls  to  blows.  For  a  prophet  to  strike  a 
prophet,  in  the  face  of  two  princes,  was  intolerably 
insolent ;  the  act  was  much  unbeseeming  the  person, 
more  the  presence.  Prophets  may  reprove,  they  may 
not  strike.  It  was  enough  for  Ahab  to  punish  with 
the  hand  ;  no  weapon  was  for  Zedekiah  but  his 
tongue.  And  if  Ahab  had  not  been  well  content  to 
see  that  liated  mouth  beaten  by  any  hand,  if  malice 
had  not  made  authority  insensible  of  such  a  usurp- 
ation, this  rude  presumption  had  not  passed  unre- 
venge.  Falsehood  doth  not  more  bewray  itself  in 
any  thing,  than  in  swelling  words,  in  unjust  blows. 
Nor  is  it  any  new  condition  of  God's  servants  to 
smart  for  speaking  true.  Ti-uth  suffers,  while  error 
persecutes.  None  are  more  ready  to  boast  of  God's 
Spirit  than  they  that  have  it  not'.  The  full  vessels 
are  evermore  silent.  Brass  makes  a  great  sound 
when  it  is  beaten :  the  gold  is  more  malleable  with 
less  noise.  A  fool's  voice  is  heard  in  the  streets,  but 
wisdom  speaks  low.  Therefore  hath  luxurious  be- 
haviour been  called  roaring,  for  the  dissolute  cannot 
rule  their  tongues.  As  Bias  was  sailing,  there  fell 
out  a  great  tempest,  and  the  mariners  (who  were 
lewd  persons)  cried  to  their  gods:  but  Bias  said. 
Peace,  make  not  such  a  noise  ;  for  if  the  gods  know 
ve  are  here,  we  are  all  like  to  perish.  Peacocks  have 
a  louder  voice  than  nightingales;  no  man  thinks  a 
sweeter.  Empty  casks  in  the  cellar  return  the 
greater  sound  ;  the  good  liquor  lies  in  them  that  are 
dull.  The  light  housewife  is  the  scold,  and  can  put 
down  the  grave  matron  in  words,  no  less  than  the  other 
excels  her  in  honesty.  The  frogs  of  Egypt  were  no 
small  i)laguc  ;  who  besides  the  annoyance  to  their 
nostrils,  and  trouble  to  their  besoms,  with  a  dismal 
din  filled  their  ears.  Swelling  words  are  like  the  re- 
ports of  ordnance ;  they  blaze,  and  crack,  and  smoke. 


534 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


and  stink,  and  vanish.     They  proceed  from  divers 
causes  ;  there  be  in  the  soul  six  swelling  diseases. 

1.  Pride,  which  is  an  unnatural  tumour,  jiufTs  a 
man  up.  And  indeed,  pride  is  a  poison,  and  the  na- 
ture of  poison  is  to  cause  a  swelling.  He  swells  for 
j.lare,  not  only  above  his  fellows,  The  man  with  the 
gold  ring  looks  to  sit  uppermost,  Jam.  ii.  2;  but  even 
above  the  angels ;  and,  "  I  will  be  like  the  Most 
High,"  Isa.  xiv.  14.  He  that  rides  on  his  foot- 
cloth,  or  in  his  caroche,  how  big  does  he  look  on  the 
inferior  passengers !  We  wonder ;  it  was  not  so  with 
him  the  other  day.  Alas,  since  that  time,  he  hath 
swallowed  the  venom  of  pride  in  a  pill  of  wealth, 
and  now  you  may  see  it  by  his  swelling.  He  fears 
an  affront  more  than  he  fears  hell  ;  if  by  his  equal, 
he  puffs  like  one  out  of  brealli ;  if  by  his  inferior,  he 
swells  like  the  sea  in  a  storm.  The  proud  man  is  a 
kind  of  madman;  he  thinks  himself  brave  in  another's 
clothes,  and  glories  in  that  which  is  none  of  his.  He 
is  sick  of  a  swelling  in  the  brain. 

2.  Malice,  which  is  a  higher  degree  of  poison, 
swelling  inwardly  ;  and  when  it  cannot  vent  itself  in 
revenge,  bursts  "the  entrails.  How  did  Joab  swell 
against  Amasa !  Jezebel  against  Elijah !  Nothing 
but  a  poultice  of  their  warm  innocent  blood  can 
abate  the  tumour.  After  the  defeat  of  that  great 
armada,  the  Duke  of  Ossuna  presented  himself  to  the 
king  of  Spain,  with  a  distafl'  at  his  side,  antl  a  spin- 
dle at  his  back  instead  of  sword  and  dagger  :  the 
king  hereby  understanding  (hat  a  woman  had  foiled 
them,  hastily  stepped  to  the  altar,  and  taking  a  silver 
candlestick  in  his  hand,  swore  a  monstrous  oath,  that 
he  would  waste  all  Spain,  yea,  his  whole  Indies,  to 
that  candlestick,  but  he  woidd  be  revenged  on  Eng- 
land. But  God  be  praised,  those  swelling  words 
were  but  the  effect  of  his  own  malice,  without  our 
ruin.  Rttmpantur  et  ilia  Coilri.  as  the  poet  saitli ;  i.  e. 
Let  the  bowels  of  Codrus  (an  envious  person)  burst. 
The  malicious  is  troubled  with  a  swelling  of  the 
sjdeen. 

3.  Vain-glory,  which  is  a  kind  of  venomous  froth, 
that  swells  men  with  a  rank  opinion  of  their  own 
worths.  So  the  fly  that  sat  on  the  axletree  of  the 
chariot  wheel,  gave  out  that  the  made  that  glorious 
dust.  Things  that  move  upim  greater  means,  they 
ascribe  to  themselves ;  and  strut  like  Colossus,  that 
the  world  may  not  escape  their  notice.  Mighty  are 
their  words,  as  if  they  would  shake  mountains,  and 
speak  thunder-claps.  "  Come,"  saith  the  Philistine 
to  David,  "  and  I  will  give  thy  flesh  unto  the  fowls 
of  the  air,  and  to  the  beasts  of  the  field,"  1  Sam. 
xvii.  44.  What  big  words  were  here !  But  how 
seldom  ever  was  there  a  good  end  of  ostentation! 
Presumption  at  once  is  the  presage  and  the  cause  of 
ruin.  He  is  a  weak  adversary  that  will  be  killed 
with  words.  Swell  on,  proud  giant  ;  a  small  pebble 
from  the  brook  shall  confute  thee.  "  Hath  any  of 
the  gods  of  the  nations  delivered  his  land  from  the 
king  of  Assyria?"  Isa.  xxxvi.  18.  Swell  on,  Sen- 
nacherib: an  angel  shall  confute  a  hundred  and 
eighty-five  thousandof  thy  soldiers  with  Ihe  argument 
of  death  in  one  night.  Many  a  foe  hath  spoke 
bravely,  who  in  the  push  hath  made  more  use  of 
his  heels  than  of  his  hands.  When  one  vaunted  of 
hurts  received  on  his  face,  Julius  CUesar  knowing 
him  to  be  a  coward,  bade  him  take  heed  the  next 
time  he  ran  away,  how  he  did  look  back.  This  is  a 
swelling  in  the  throat. 

4.  Hypocrisy,  which  is  a  malignant  humour,  swell- 
ing the  parts  affected  or  corrupted  with  it,  as  some 
kind  of  grass  doth  the  kine,  or  sweet  wort  swine. 
Methinks  the  hypocrite  should  smile  at  himself, 
being  so  conscious  how  he  rails  at  the  world  which 
he  worships;  how  he  condemns  the  belly  which  he 


serves ;  how  he  persuades  men  to  contemn  the  gold, 
which  is  dear  to  him" as  his  life;  how  he  commends 
the  cross  to  others,  which  himself  abhors.  How,  like 
tlie  kite,  he  flies  aloft,  but  is  ever  looking  down  to 
the  earth  for  his  prey.  "  God,  1  thank  thee,  that  I 
am  not  as  other  men,"  Luke  xviii.  U.  Hypocrite, 
so  thou  saycst,  so  thou  swellcst ;  but  what  a  famine 
of  goodness  there  is  within,  thou  dost  not,  thou  darest 
not  ask  thy  conscience.  Like  a  decayed  merchant, 
that  studies  tricks  to  uphold  the  credit  of  his  wealth  ; 
and  still  the  nearer  he  comes  to  poverty,  the  more 
show  he  makes  of  sufliciency  ;  till  at  last  the  bladder 
is  pricked,  and  the  wind  flies  out,  and  there  is  rather 
a  merchant's  case  than  a  merchant.  Still  the  more 
a  man  swells  in  pretence,  the  less  he  is  to  be  trusted 
in  deed.     This  swelling  is  a  tympany. 

5.  Blasphemy,  which  is  the  highest  excess  of  words, 
when  they  sw  ell  against  God  himself.  "  Am  I  a  dog, 
that  thou  comest  to  me  with  staves  ?  "  1  Sam.  xvii.  43. 
The  last  words  that  ever  the  Philistine  shall  speak, 
are  boasts  and  curses.  How  truly  he  spoke  himself! 
Had  he  been  any  other  than  a  dog,  he  would  not  have 
opened  his  foul  mouth  against  the  host  of  God,  and  the 
God  of  hosts.  And  as  he  calls  himself  a  dog,  so  it 
seems  David  thought  him,  else  he  had  never  come  to 
him  only  with  a  staff  and  a  stone.  Jezebel  hath  lost 
her  jirophets;  and  she  swears  and  stamps  at  that, 
wheieat  she  should  have  trembled.  She  swears  by 
those  gods  of  hers,  which  were  not  able  to  save 
their  prophets,  that  she  would  kill  that  prophet  of 
God  which  had  slain  her  prophets,  and  scorned  her 
gods,  1  Kings  xix.  2.  O  foolish  dust,  wilt  thou  swell 
against  tliy  Maker? 

G.  Success  in  wickedness,  which  is  like  hemlock 
taken  for  diet-drink.  To  prosper  in  ill  designs,  is 
the  greatest  unhappiness,  the  hea\'iest  curse ;  for  he 
that  useth  to  do  evil,  and  speeds  well,  never  rests  till 
he  come  to  that  evil  from  which  there  is  no  redemption. 
Joab  kills  Abner,  and  escapes ;  again  he  embrues  his 
hands  in  the  blood  of  Amasa,  and  is  not  indicted  for 
it :  now  David  is  old,  and  Adonijah  towardly,  he  fur- 
thers him  in  the  usurpation ;  and  big  with  assurance 
of  his  own  command,  he  thinks  to  carry  it ;  but  this 
carried  him  to  his  grave.  Fair  Absalom  was  proud 
and  ambitious,  yet  he  flourisheth ;  he  kills  his  own 
brother,  yet  escapes ;  he  insinuates  himself  into  the 
affections  of  the  people,  and  bold  of  their  fidelity  to 
him,  he  swells  even  against  his  own  royal  father,  and 
becomes  a  disloyal  traitor.  God  owes  that  man  a 
grievous  payment,  whom  he  suffers  to  run  on  so  long 
unquestioned.  Prosperous  wickedness  is  one  of  the 
devil's  strongest  chains.  A  man  feels  a  little  sweet- 
ness of  wealth,  this  makes  him  swell  for  more  ;  when 
his  stalk  is  so  stiff  that  it  bears  up  above  the  rest  of 
liis  ridge,  presently  he  swells  for  honour;  the  first 
draught  doth  not  quench  his  thirst,  he  swells  for  a 
higher  degree ;  thus  honoured,  he  swells  into  some 
pI.Tce  of  authority,  and  still  his  insatiate  dropsy  calls 
for  larger  draughts,  till  at  last  he  is  inebriated  :  like 
the  toad  in  iEsop,  that  would  needs  swell  in  ambi- 
tion to  be  as  big  as  the  ox ;  and  then  he  bursts. 
Such  tongues  shall  be  swoln  with  the  infernal  fire, 
till  they  be  not  able  to  cull  fur  a  drop  of  water  to 
cool  them. 

The  last  attribute  of  their  speech  is  vain,  "words 
of  vanity."  If  the  matter  were  good,  yet  many  words 
were  vain,  great  words  were  vain ;  but  here  both  the 
matter  and  words  and  all  are  not  only  vain,  but  vanity 
itself.  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  not  in  word,  but  in 
power,"  1  Cor.  iv.  20.  How  justly  doth  the  Lord 
infatuate  these  magnificent  talkers,  in  frustrating 
their  boasts!  Thev  have  a  show  of  wisdom,  but 
that  show  ends  in 'folly.  What  hath  been  said  of 
two  nations,  is  true  between  two  sorts  of  men:   The 


Ver.  18. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


5.35 


French  are  wiser  tlian  tlicy  seem,  tlie  Spaniards  sccin 
wiser  than  they  are.  He  that  says  little,  is  thought 
by  some  to  understand  less  ;  and  those  great  scholars, 
that  are  confident  talkers.  But  to  make  superficies 
seem  body,  with  depth  and  bulk,  the  plenlifiiUcst 
speaker  will  scarce  devise  sufficient  shifts.  It  is  ac- 
cording to  the  French  proverb,  Mucli  bruit,  little 
fruit ;  or,  as  we  say  in  Englisli,  A  great  deal  of  crj-, 
but  no  wool.  Deiiiades  the  orator  in  his  age  was 
talkative,  and  would  feed  much ;  therefore  Antipater 
would  say  of  liim,  that  lie  was  like  a  sacrifice,  wnerc- 
of  nothing  was  left  but  the  tongue  and  the  paunch. 
Alexander  in  his  Persian  expedition,  caused  his 
soldiers  to  leave  scalteringly  behind  them,  as  for- 
gotten, larger  and  heavier  pieces  of  armour  than  they 
were  used  to  wear;  the  Macedonians  being  not  such 
portly  men  :  it  was  his  policy  to  scare  and  fright  the 
Persian.  So  mighty  words  terrify  weak  hearts ;  but 
wise  judgments  make  small  account  of  their  vain 
words,  whereof  one  day  they  must  make  a  strict  ac- 
count themselves.  .Tezebel  swears  by  her  gods  to  be 
revenged  on  Elijah,  I  Kings  xis.  2  :  it  was  well  that 
tyranness  could  not  keep  her  own  counsel.  She 
meant  to  kill  him,  and  the  disclosing  of  that  purpose 
was  a  means  to  prescr\e  him.  The  wisdom  and 
power  of  God  could  liave  foimd  evasions  enough  for 
his  prophet  in  her  greatest  secrecy  ;  but  now  he  needs 
no  other  thi.n  the  warning-piece  from  her  own  lips. 
Here  were  swelling  words,  but  the  words  of  vanity  ; 
she  is  no  less  vain  tlian  the  gods  slie  swears  by.  In 
spite  of  her  fury,  and  her  oath,  and  her  gods,  Elijah 
shall  live  ;  at  once  she  shall  find  herself  frustrate  and 
forsworn.  And  now  she  is  ready  to  bite  her  tongue, 
and  to  cat  her  heart  for  anger  at  the  disappointment 
of  her  cruel  vow.  It  were  no  living  for  godly  men,  if 
the  hands  of  tyrants  were  allowed  to  be  as  bloody  as 
their  hearts.  Men  and  devils  are  under  the  restraint 
of  the  Almighty  :  neither  are  their  words  more 
swelling,  or  their  designs  more  lavish,  than  their 
achievements  are  vain  and  their  executions  short. 
Benhadad  sends  great  words  to  the  king  of  Israel,  as 
if  it  were  nothing  to  conquer  liini,  1  Kings  sx.  10 : 
stay  the  proof;  Benhadad  flees,  and  Israel  pursues. 
The  heathen  rage,  the  kings  combine,  and  the  people 
imagine  a  vain  thing,  Psal.  ii.  I,  2.  Though  for 
power  they  be  kings ;  though  for  policy,  counsellors ; 
though  for  furj-they  be  Gentiles ;  though  for  number, 
all  the  people,  multitudes ;  yet  they  study  but 
vanity  :  they  imagine  a  thing  vain  impossibly,  vain 
unprofitably. 

No  wrestling  of  man  can  evacuate  the  purpose  of 
God.  While  he  struggles,  he  is  caught ;  and  by  re- 
sisting the  will  of  God,  he  doth  fulfil  it.  The  divine 
purpose,  while  man  attempts  to  avoid  it,  is  fulfilled; 
human  wisdom,  while  it  resists,  is  caught  and  led 
captive :  so  Gregory.  Second  causes  are  suscepti- 
ble of  impediments ;  as  the  burning  of  fire,  by  the 
action  of  water;  but  there  is  no  evasion  to  shun  the 
decree  of  Heaven.  These  swelling  intendments  are 
like  Caligula's  enterprises,  who  never  took  any  thing 
in  hand  if  there  was  hope  to  effect  it :  it  is  vain  im- 
possibly. Neither  doth  any  profit  arise  from  it.  To 
count  evil  for  gain,  is  unjust,  but  human  ;  but  niiscliief 
intended  for  mischiefs  sake  is  devilish.  The  old 
way  of  wickedness  began  at,  What  shall  it  profit  us? 
But  that  is  a  new  way  of  malicious  sin,  when  men 
cannot  be  pleased  lo  live  in  quiet  themselves,  unless 
they  disturb  the  tranquillity  of  others:  as  vipers  and 
the  venomous  cantharides  and  slinging  spiders  are 
more  detestable  than  bears  and  wolves,  because  they 
sting  folk  to  death  without  any  benefit.  That  is  an 
odious  mischief,  which  is  vain  unprofitably. 

The  apostate  church  swells  in  words,  both  in  re- 
spect   of  her   promises,   and   of  her   menaces :    but 


QiiitI  fei'el  hie  dignum  tatilo  piomiawr  hialu  ?  i.  c. 

What  can  this  promiscr  bestow. 
That's  worthy  of  so  great  a  show  ? 

mere  words  of  vanity.  That  when  the  sin  is  forgiven, 
the  penalty  remains :  the  poet  could  say,  Pwnu 
/miest  tolli,  culpa  pereiinis  crit,  The  punishment  may 
be  removed,  but  the  guilt  will  be  perpetual  :  they 
say,  Culpa  poles!  lolli,  poena  perennis  erit,  Tlie  guilt 
can  be  removed,  but  the  punishment  will  be  per- 
petual ;  at  least  during  their  purgatory.  Kings  are 
the  anointed  of  God,  to  whom  only  they  are  inferior ; 
hide  Mis  poteslas,  iinde  Spiritut,  Their  jiower  proceeds 
from  that  source,  from  which  is  the  Spirit,  as  one 
says.  And  by  whose  will  they  are  bom  men,  by  the 
same  they  are  made  princes.  Yet  how  big  is  the 
noise,  that  the  pope  is  above  them,  may  dethrone 
them,  that  his  assassins  may  kill  them !  these  be 
swelling  words,  not  only  of  vanity,  but  of  treachery. 
That  we  may  merit  heaven  by  our  good  works,  or  at 
least  bear  half  the  charges  of  our  own  salvation  : 
these  be  mighty  words,  but  they  arc  vain  men  that 
trust  them.  I  know  not  what  trick  they  have  to  pay 
God,  but  I  am  sure  I  am  infinitely  in  his  debt,  and 
no  ways  can  pay  him  but  by  his  own  coin,  the  blood 
of  his  own  Son.  So  innumerable  are  their  swelling 
tenets,  that  their  very  mention  would  swell  to  a 
volume ;  but  I  leave  them  to  their  conclusion,  mere 
vanity. 

Let  mc  conclude  with  this  summar)-  observation. 
Harmony  is  the  sound  of  the  gospel,  unity  the  band 
of  the  church:  her  true  members  know  no  discords; 
with  one  mouth,  with  one  heart,  they  praise  God, 
and  love  one  another.  All  the  noise  and  jars  come 
in  by  broken  instruments,  such  as  the  sower  of  con- 
tention hath  put  out  of  tune.  He  fills  the  lips  of  his 
engines  with  repining.  ca\"ils,  and  wranglings,  which 
are  the  right  sounds  of  hell.  "  If  any  seem  lo  be 
contentious,  we  have  no  such  custom,  nor  the  churches 
of  God,"  1  Cor.  xi.  16:  there  is  no  such  voice  in  the 
quire  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Indeed  Christ  came  "  to 
send  fire  on  the  earth,"  Luke  xii.  49 ;  but  he  never 
meant  such  a  fire  as  comes  out  of  two  flints  by  reper- 
cussion, or  out  of  steel  by  hard-edge.  But  rather 
such  a  fire  as  he  sent  down  in  disparted  tongues  upon 
the  apostolical  assembly  at  penteeost  ;  a  fire  that 
shall  enlighten  the  understanding,  warm  the  heart 
with  grace,  and  consume  the  stubble  of  iniquity  ;  this 
is  the  fii-c  that  bums  in  Jesus'  name.  They  grossly 
mistake,  that  think  Christ  is  come  to  his  spouse  in 
whirlwind  and  thunder,  (sucli  is  the  coming  of  anti- 
christ,) for  Christ  comes  whispering,  as  it  were,  in 
the  light  breeze ;  in  silence,  as  the  dew  upon  the 
tender  grass,  and  the  fruit  of  his  coming  is  peace, 
Psal.  Ixxii.  6,  /.  There  came  a  strong  wind,  that 
rent  the  mountains,  and  brake  the  rocks,  but  the 
Lord  was  not  in  the  wind,  I  Kings  xix.  II.  That 
tearing  blast  was  from  God,  God  was  not  in  it :  so  in 
it  as  in  his  other  extraordinary  works,  not  so  in  it  as 
to  impart  himself  to  Elijah  by  it.  It  was  the  usher, 
not  the  carriage  of  God.  Then  came  an  eartlvjuake, 
more  fearful  than  the  wind:  that  did  but  move  the 
air,  lliis  the  earlh  ;  that  beat  upon  some  prominences 
of  the  earth,  tiiis  shook  it  from  the  centre:  but  God 
was  not  in  the  earthquake.  Then  a  fire,  more  fearful 
than  cither.  The  first  affected  the  car,  the  next  the 
feeling,  this  last  lets  in  horror  to  the  soul  by  the  eye, 
the  quickest  and  most  apprehensive  of  the  senses : 
but  the  Lord  was  not  in  the  fire.  The  prophet  shall 
see  God's  mighty  )iowcr  in  the  earth,  air,  fire,  before 
he  hear  him  in  the  soft  voice;  all  these  are  but 
boisterous  harbingers  of  a  meek  and  still  word.  In 
that  God  was ;  he  came  in  the  gentle  voice  of  mercy : 


536 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


how  are  they  his  messengers,  that  come  in  the  great 
words  of  vanity  ? 

Observe  this,  ye  thunderers  of  Rome,  who  come 
with  roaring  bulls,  and  teach  the  ordinances  of  your 
church  to  speak  louder  than  the  ordnance  of  war ; 
there  is  not  the  greatest  efficacy  where  is  the  greatest 
noise.  God  showed  but  his  powerfulness  in  those 
fierce  representations;  he  loves  to  make  way  for  him- 
self in  terror,  but  he  conveys  himself  to  us  in  sweet- 
ness, in  that  mild  breath  of  mercy.  Those  Boanerges, 
the  sons  of  thunder,  first  tame  our  proud  natures 
with  the  gusts  and  flashes  of  the  law ;  but  then  the 
soft  voice  of  evangelical  grace  doth  comfort  and  con- 
firm us.  But  for  those  Jesuits,  that  preach  unto  us 
with  the  word  in  one  hand  and  the  sword  in  the 
other,  threatening  blood  and  min,  let  them  read  Isa. 
liii.  7,  and  see  whether  they  be  like  that  Jesus,  whose 
name  they  usurp.  Examine  their  books,  and  you 
shall  find  many  of  them  so  fraught  with  boisterous 
invectives  and  despeiate  untruths,  that  it  is  a  ques- 
tion whether  the  father  of  lies  could  outdo  them  ;  as 
if  they  meant  plainly  to  write,  not  in  the  defence, 
but  in  the  defiance  of  truth,  of  modesty,  honesty, 
God,  and  all  goodness.  The  scope  of  their  disputa- 
tions, is  rather  to  vent  their  own  passions  and  uphold 
a  side,  than  in  zeal  to  holiness  and  to  maintain  the 
truth.  Themselves  would  have  the  conquest,  with 
out  respect  of  the  truth.  They  cannot  yield  either 
to  truth  or  to  peace ;  as  Augustine  said  of  the  Roga- 
tians.  But  where  there  is  no  mind  of  yielding,  there 
is  no  end  of  disputing. 

To  conclude  against  these  high,  swelling  terms  ; 
we  have  reason,  as  lo  suspect  the  cause  that  needs 
them,  so  the  men  that  use  them.  Even  in  moral  or 
civil  demeanour,  a  loud  tongue  is  commonly  a  lewd 
tongue.  "  We  are  in  danger  to  be  called  in  question 
for  this  day's  uproar,  there  being  no  cause,"  says  the 
town  clerk  of  Ephesus,  Acts  xix.  40.  If  no  cause, 
why  all  this  noise  ?  Why  be  many  of  our  courts  of 
justice  turned  into  a  Babel,  if  there  were  not  more 
confidence  in  a  lawyer's  tongue  than  desire  of  truth? 
Why  are  those  railings  and  invectives  among  men? 
Why  instead  of  the  voice  of  the  turtle,  is  the  voice  of 
the  screech-owl  heard  in  our  land?  O  there  is  a 
swelling  heart  in  unmortified  breasts,  which  cannot 
be  suppressed,  but  would  like  new  wine  burst  the 
vessels,  if  it  were  not  broached  and  vented  by  foul 
language.  What  swelling  words  did  Rabshakeh 
utter  against  the  living  God,  and  his  Israel !  yet 
Hezekiah  held  his  peace,  2  Kings  xviii.  3G.  How 
contumelious  and  false  were  the  accusations  of  Christ ! 
yet  even  his  silence  was  their  conviction.  Matt.  xxvi. 
63 ;  xxvii.  14.  The  best  confutation  of  their  slanders, 
is  not  by  our  great  words,  but  by  our  good  works, 
I  Pet.  ii.  12.  .Sophocles  being  accused  by  his  own 
children,  that  he  grew  dotard,  and  spent  their  patri- 
monies idly  ;  when  he  was  summoned  did  not  person- 
ally appear  before  the  magistrates,  but  sent  one  of 
his  new  tragedies  to  their  perusal  ;  which  being 
read,  made  them  confess.  This  is  not  the  work  of  a 
a  man  that  dotes.  Against  all  clamours  and  swell- 
ing opprobi-ies,  set  thy  innocency  and  good  life: 
and,  Sic  vrrhom  lacet  clamoni  lurba  sopliista  :  i.  c.  The 
noisy  crowd  of  talkers  hold  their  peace  :  they  shall 
be  driven  to  acknowledge  that  tncse  be  not  the 
courses  of  a  dissolute  sinner.  Thus  iMtience  shall 
overcome  clamour,  and  thy  quiet  heart  shall  be  ac- 
cepted of  God. 

In  a  word,  the  church  of  God  is  not  built  up  with 
noise.  There  was  no  axe  nor  hammer  heard  in  the 
building  of  the  temple  ;  the  frame  was  made  in 
Lebanon,  and  set  up  in  Zion  ;  there  was  no  noise  in 
the  rearing,  whatsoever  was  in  the  preparing.  Leb.a- 
non  might  be  loud,  all  is  quiet  in  Zion.     So  doth  the 


church  love  peace,  so  do  all  seek  peace  that  love  the 
church.  Quarrels  and  contentions  are  for  the  world ; 
let  those  dogs  snarl  and  fight  whose  portion  lies 
without,  peace  and  concord  becometh  the  house  of 
God.  Schisms  and  wranglings,  like  axes  and  ham- 
mers, are  the  weapons  of  pride ;  cudgels  thrown  in 
by  the  devil,  and  taken  up  by  malcontents,  who  baste 
one  another  while  he  stands  by  and  laughs.  All 
Christians,  especially  pastors,  should  be  men  of 
meekness  ;  otherwise  while  they  pretend  to  take 
birds  with  their  nets,  they  drive  them  away  with 
their  noise.  The  house  of  God  is  not  built  up  with 
blows,  with  blows  it  is  beaten  down.  God  loves  to 
see  holiness  and  peace,  and  without  peace  and  holi- 
ness no  man  shall  see  God,  Heb.  xii.  14.  It  follows, 
"  They  allure."  This  is  their  imposture.  The 
metaphor  is  taken  from  fishing  or  fowling.  Those 
fishes  that  were  taken  out  of  the  feculent  pond  of 
this  world,  and  put  into  the  crystal  streams  of  the 
church,  are  by  these  seducers  again  drawn  out  of  the 
streams  of  the  church  into  the  pool  of  the  world. 
The  hook  whereby  they  perform  this,  is  fraud :  the 
same  devil  teacheth  his  trade  to  all  his  followers; 
by  fraud  he  overthrew  our  parents,  and  the  same 
train  he  lays  for  their  children :  the  lion  is  strong 
enough,  but  the  serpent  doth  the  mischief.  While 
Satan  appears  like  a  roaring  lion,  we  are  ready  to 
run  from  him ;  but  when  he  transshapes  himself  into 
a  familiar  form,  we  admit  him  too  often,  and  suspect 
not  the  danger.  They  be  the  foxes  that  spoil  our 
grapes,  that  woriy  our  lambs.  First,  foxes  prey  far 
from  home,  and  do  not  mischief  too  near  their  own 
dens;  so  these  compass  sea  and  land,  and  will  sail 
to  the  Indies  to  beguile  souls.  Secondly,  foxes  range 
in  the  night,  and  keep  their  holes  in  the  day ;  so 
these  seducers  abide  not  the  day-light,  but  wander  in 
shades,  masked  with  visors,  to  eflx'ct  their  purposes. 
Thirdly,  these  foxes  fasten  upon  young  lambs,  such 
as  are  poor  in  knowledge  and  weak  in  faith ;  en- 
ticing simple  women,  that  they  may  entice  their 
husbands ;  after  the  practise  of  that  old  reynard,  who 
wrought  Eve  to  work  Adam.  Fourthly,  hungry 
foxes  will  prey  upon  slight  purchase,  rather  than 
fast ;  so  they  will  stoop  to  cozen  the  meanest,  where 
the  great  ones  are  too  wise  for  them.  Yea,  desperate 
fortunes  have  been  the  pope's  special  engines.  The 
ivy  creeping  along  the  ground,  begins  at  first  to 
compass  the  lowest  part  of  the  oak  ;  but  works  itself 
upwards  by  degrees,  till  it  overtop  the  highest  branch, 
sucks  the  sap,  pierceth  the  pith,  and  ruins  the  whole 
trunk.  Fifthly,  these  foxes  will  tell  some  truths, 
where  it  may  win  credit  and  advantage  to  their  lying. 
If  they  spake  nothing  but  true,  they  could  not  de- 
ceive us ;  if  nothing  but  false,  we  would  not  believe 
them.  "Therefore  they  have  some  few  truths  at  first, 
like  three  or  four  good  strawberries  at  the  top,  to 
help  away  the  rest,  even  their  sophisticate  tra.sh.  A 
thief  lighting  into  true-meaning  company  by  the 
way,  can  talk  of  sincere  dealing  and  uprightness, 
ag.-iinst  robbery  and  oppression,  to  take  oft"  suspicion, 
till  he  spies  his  opportunity.  The  decoy  will  suffer 
the  simple  man  to  win  for  a  while,  till  he  hath 
whetted  him  on,  then  he  leaves  him  in  the  lurch. 
If  fraudulent  merchants  had  not  some  good  wares, 
their  base  ones  would  not  be  -saleable.  But  Paul 
cast  out  the  foul  spirit,  that  confessed  him  to  be  the 
servant  of  the  most  high  God,  and  to  teach  the  way 
of  salvation,  though  he  spake  true,  Acts  xvi.  17,  IS; 
for  he  knew  to  what  hellish  purpose  he  spake  it. 
The  devil  acknowledged  Jesus,  yet  he  commanded  him 
to  come  out,  though  his  testimony  were  true,  Mark 
v.  7,  8  ;  whereby  he  taught  us,  not  to  give  car  to 
Satan,  though  lie  tell  the  truth.  Thus  they  cast 
dust  in  our  eyes,  that  we  might  not  see  our  way,  and 


Ver.  18. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


537 


strike  a  hook  in  our  nostrils,  to  lead  us  their  own 
way  :  but  it  is  no  hard  matter  to  spy  out  their  jug- 
gling :  though  the  ass  have  put  on  the  lion's  skin, 
he  may  be  discerned  by  the  length  of  his  ears.  But 
in  the  mean  time,  if  they  be  conscious  of  their  own 
frauds  (and  I  am  so  persuaded  of  many  of  them)  and 
still  persist,  what  hell  is  deep  enough  for  them,  that 
seek  and  study  to  fill  hell  with  souls  ?  You  will  say, 
that  is  but  my  persuasion  ;  and  so  well  I  wish  them, 
lliat  I  would'  for  their  own  eternal  state's  sake  it 
were  not  true. 

That  they  may  not  too  unperccivedly  catch  us,  let 
me  a  little  bare  their  hook,  and  discover  some  of 
their  wiles. 

First,  they  tell  us,  the  church  agrees,  the  church 
cannot  err ;  all  which  in  their  language  is  the  church 
of  Rome.  Take  it  so,  and  we  may  as  soon  find  para- 
dise in  hell,  as  any  text  in  Scripture  for  it.  The 
seat  of  abomination,  the  city  of  tlie  beast,  it  calls 
her,  not  the  chair  of  the  church  of  God.  That  the 
apostate  Rome  is  the  catholic  church,  the  wit  of 
earth  and  hell  shall  never  be  able  to  prove. 

Secondly,  that  the  pope  sits  successively  in  Peter's 
chair.  If  we  should  grant  it,  for  they  cannot  prove 
it ;  so  did  the  Pharisees  in  Moses'  seat,  yet  neither 
the  better  nor  the  holier  for  all  that.  A  Seriphian 
told  Themistocles,  that  his  gloiy  arose  rather  from 
the  renown  of  his  country  than  from  tlie  merit  of  his 
virtue.  Not  so,  says  Themistocles ;  for  if  I  were  a 
Seriphian,  I  would  not  live  without  honour;  and  if 
thou  wert  an  Athenian,  thou  couldst  not  live  without 
shame.  For  qua  non  fecimu.i  ipai,  ri.r  ea  nostra 
voco;  i.  e.  what  we  do  not,  we  hardly  call  our  own. 
If  St.  Peter  were  at  Rome,  he  neither  taught  nor 
lived  like  the  pope  :  if  the  pope  sit  in  the  same  chair, 
he  neither  lives  nor  teaches  like  St.  Peter.  Neanthus, 
a  bungler,  having  got  Orpheus'  harp,  so  jangled  and 
jarred  with  it,  that  while  he  looked  for  listening 
beasts  and  dancing  trees,  he  brought  the  dogs  about 
his  ears.  The  jiope  hath  so  long  boasted  the  name 
of  Peter,  that  the  world  sees  he  hath  nothing  left 
but  the  bare  name  to  boast  of. 

Thirdly,  the  consent  of  councils ;  a  glorious  gull 
and  guile ;  as  if  no  council  had  ever  condemned  both 
their  popes  and  opinions.  As  if  the  council  of  Basil 
had  not  decreed,  That  one  simple  man  alleging  plain 
Scripture,  was  more  to  be  believed,  than  a  whole 
council  to  the  contrary.  As  if  the  last  Trident 
council  were  any  other  than  the  pope's  notary  or 
secretary,  to  engross  that  in  fair  characters,  which 
he  had  before  written  in  a  foul  copy.  One  saith 
truly  of  them.  Whereas  they  should  have  brought 
their  doctrine  to  the  nile,  they  forced  the  nile  to 
their  doctrine ;  and  did  not  mean  to  say  as  Christ 
taught  them,  but  to  expound  Christ's  words  as  they 
would  have  them. 

Fourthly,  the  harmony  and  consent  of  the  fathers. 
Indeed  they  were  holy  men,  but  men,  not  privileged 
from  errors.  Besides,  the  fathers  are  to  be  heard 
as  witnesses,  not  as  judges.  Yet  were  they  heard 
speak  their  own  meaning,  none  of  them  would  ever 
have  been  a  papist,  sure  not  a  Jesuit.  I  hope  they 
do  not  mean  those  holy  ancients,  as  father  Moses, 
father  David,  father  Isaiah ;  no,  nor  father  Paul, 
father  Peter  :  for  impudence  itself  cannot  deny  that 
our  faith  is  built  upon  those  fathers,  the  foundation 
of  the  prophets  and  apostles  j  which  they,  for  theirs, 
are  scarce  able  to  pretend,  never  to  prove.  What 
fathers  then  ?  Father  Lombard,  father  Thomas, 
father  Scolus,  father  Cajetan,  father  Bellarmine  ;  all 
the  pope's  tme-born  children :  who,  though  in  many 
things  they  agree  no  better  than  Herod  and  Pilate, 
yet  they  all  conspire  to  degrade  Christ  from  his 
office,  as  the  other  consented  to  bereave  him  of  his 


life.  Abraham  is  our  father,  is  a  vain  brag  for  the 
Gentiles. 

Fifthly,  the  Scriptures,  say  they,  are  deep  myste- 
ries, dangerous  for  common  eyes  ;  it  is  sufficient  to 
credit  their  teachers.  Pestilent  subtlety !  so  men 
shall  never  understand  what  the  Lord  says,  but  as 
they  are  pleased  to  report  it.  This  is  called  yfrfe* 
carioHari'n,  or  the  collier's  faith;  and  it  shall  leave 
aninias  carbonariai;  souls  as  black  as  ever  fire  left 
coals.  "Search  the  Scriptures,"  saith  Christ.  You 
sliall  not,  saith  antichrist.  He  saith,  there  is  lively 
food ;  this  saith,  there  is  deadly  poison.  Whether  of 
these  shall  we  believe  ? 

Sixthly,  universality.  All  ages  speak  as  we  do :  a 
gallant  flourish,  not  unlike  to  varnish,  which  makes 
seelingsnot  only  shine,  but  last.  To  discern  the  true 
church  (whereof  we  must  be,  if  we  will  be  saved) 
from  the  false,  (from  which  we  must  separate,  unless 
we  will  be  damned,)  they  wholly  stand  upon  multi- 
tudes. But  if  in  secular  aflairs  there  be  more  fools 
than  wise  men,  what  is  there  in  spiritual  ?  As  if  it 
were  not  the  broad  way  which  leads  to  destruction, 
through  which  many  pass;  and  the  narrow  way  that 
leads  to  life,  which  few  do  find.  When  the  deluge 
came   upon   the   world,   whether  was  multitude  or 

Eaucily  a  mark  of  the  church  ?  What  was  Abra- 
am's  family  in  comparison  of  the  Canaanites  ? 
What  was  Israel,  and  take  in  all  her  hypocrites,  to 
the  whole  world?  How  was  the  church  discenied 
by  nudlitudcs,  when  the  rulers  and  multitude  reject- 
ed Christ's  own  person;  "Away  with  him,  crucify 
him!"  John  xix.  15.  What  be  the  largest  dimen- 
sions of  popery  to  the  extent  of  paganism  ?  either 
for  multitude  they  are  not  better  than  we,  or  for 
multitude  the  pagans  are  better  than  they. 

Seventhly,  antiquity  of  religion ;  a  fraudulent  os- 
tentation. He  is  a  shallow  herald,  who  when  he 
must  give  honour  of  the  first  head,  cannot  fashion 
a  sound  of  ancestors.  The  Jew'S  taxed  Christ  of 
novelty,  Mark  i.  2/ ;  I  hope  no  papist  will  tax  him 
of  falsity.  We  derive  our  doctrine  from  the  blessed 
apostles ;  one  would  think  that  were  ancient  enough : 
will  they  go  further  ?  We  have  better  proved  our- 
selves the  true  church  before  Luther,  than  they 
can  ever  vindicate  themselves  from  being  a  false 
church  since  Luther.  Let  them  look  to  their  invo- 
cation of  saints,  purgatory,  prayer  for  the  dead;  I 
hope  they  will  pretend  no  antiquity  for  these.  Their 
mass,  like  a  monster,  was  not  begot  all  at  once  ;  but 
here  a  limb,  there  a  member.  God  hath  not  built 
us  a  new  church,  but  reformed  the  old,  by  taking 
away  their  corruptions ;  whereas  they  will  rather  be 
confotmded  than  reformed. 

Eighthly,  unity  is  a  good  argument,  if  it  were  true. 
But  where  is  that  church  which  knows  no  division? 
There  must  be  seels,  that  the  approved  may  be 
known,  1  Cor.  xi.  19.  What  unity  can  Rome  brag 
of,  when  Canus  is  against  Cajetan,  and  Bellarmine 
against  them  both  ?  To  say  nothing  of  Thomisfs 
against  Scotists,  the  Black  friars  against  the  Grey, 
the  Dominicans  against  the  Franciscans,  and  the 
Jesuits  against  them  botli.  We  have  some  petty 
jars  about  the  lace  of  Christ's  coat,  they  rent  the 
coat  itself.  When  was  the  whole  church  of  God  so 
happy,  as  to  know  no  contention  ?  Yea,  rather  such 
miserable  dif-'raction  doth  it  sufl'er,  that  not  only 
Christ's  gaiment  is  divi  ed,  as  it  was  by  th.e  sol- 
diers ;  but  his  own  blessed  body  is  torn,  as  if  it  were 
no  better  than  the  body  of  the  Levitc's  concubine, 
which  was  chopped  in  pieces,  flesh  and  bones,  and 
the  twelve  pieces  sent  into  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel,  Judg.  xix.  29.  Such  is  the  faction  and  frac- 
tion, schism  and  separation,  in  the  body  of  Christ; 
church  against  church,  altar  against  altar,  priest; 


538 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


against  priest,  religion  against  religion,  Christian 
against  Christian ;  yea,  Satan  sends  his  instruments 
with  Clirist  against  Christ,  and  opjioseth  the  truth  of 
divinity  under  the  colour  of  divine  authority.  So 
that  religion  is  in  a  manner  lost  in  the  questions  of 
reli^fion ;  and  speeds  in  the  world,  as  she  did  in  Plu- 
tarch, who  had  many  suitors  ;  when  every  one  could 
not  have  her  to  himself,  they  pulled  her  in  pieces,  that 
so  none  might  have  her.  Because  all  men  do  not 
like  their  religion,  they  will  refuse  all.  So  distrac- 
tion in  religion  is  the  dcstmction  of  religion ;  for 
while  they  say,  I  am  of  Paul,  I  am  of  ApoUos,  I  am 
of  Cephas,  I  am  of  Calvin,  I  am  of  Luther,  I  am  of 
Arminius,  I  am  of  Dominick,  I  am  of  Francis,  I  am 
of  Jesus,  almost  none  are  of  Christ.  Thus  the  con- 
science of  religion  is  lost  in  the  controversies  of  re- 
ligion, and  men  rather  strive  to  have  a  subtle  head 
than  a  sanctified  heart ;  they  had  rather  dispute  than 
live:  .^o  little  is  the  hope  of  unity. 

We  partly  see  their  nets  to  insnare  us;  which 
allurements  if  we  have  light  to  discern,  they  do  not 
so  give  us  over.  Yea,  they  will  rather  mood  all  their 
syllogisms  in  a  blow,  and  turn  their  arguments  into 
armadas;  and  whom  they  cannot  subdue  with  the 
sword  of  the  mouth,  they  assault  with  the  mouth  of 
the  sword  :  their  fraud  sliall  betray  itself  into  force, 
the  devil  puts  off  the  fox,  and  puts  on  the  lion. 
Antichrist  thunders  out  his  excomn^unications,  com- 
mends our  throals  to  any  knife,  esteems  our  blood 
more  vile  than  beasts,  and  accounts  us  as  dogs  ;  but 
it  is  only  for  baiting  his  bulls.  Swelling  words  de- 
clare tliemselves  in  wounding  blows,  so  their  villany 
comes  out;  and  that  religion  which  pretended  no- 
thing but  holiness,  discovers  itself  in  the  highest 
degree  of  wickedness.  True  religion  is  defended 
with  prayers,  not  with  violence :  Feninl,  von  feriunt 
Chrisliani,i.e.  Christians  bear,  not  strike.  So  Christ 
conquered  by  dying,  not  by  killing,  as  it  was  said. 

But  oh,  to  what  execrable  impiety  will  not  mis- 
religion  drive !  The  king  of  Moab  will  sacrifice  his 
eldest  son,  2  Kings  iii.  27:  as  if  he  would  win  his 
cruel  gods  with  so  dear  an  oblation,  he  sends  up  the 
blood  of  his  heir-apparent  in  smoke  to  those  hellish 
deities.  Such  wa.s  the  act  of  Agamemnon,  assisting 
at  the  immolation  of  his  own  daughter,  Tantum 
rcb'uio  poteral  suudere  7>ialorum,  says  Lucretius ;  i,  e. 
Such  mighty  ills  religion  would  persuade.  That 
massacres,  homicides,  parricides,  jiowdcr-treasons, 
should  be  a  proof  of  religion,  is  an  argument  fetched 
from  the  pit  of  hell,  whereof  the  devil  himself,  if  he 
could  blush,  would  Ije  ashamed.  It  was  a  great 
blasphemy  when  the  devil  said,  I  will  ascend,  I  will 
be  like  the  Most  High:  but  a  greater  blasphemy, 
when  God  is  feigned  to  say,  I  will  descend,  and  I  will 
be  like  the  prince  of  darkness.  To  make  religion 
stoop  to  such  abominable  actions,  as  the  murdering 
of  princes,  firing  of  states,  butchering  of  innocents, 
is  such  a  doctrine,  as  is  not  to  be  found  in  Liician, 
Maehiavel,  or  the  most  desperate  patrons  of  atheism. 
Certainly,  it  is  the  nearest  sin  to  that  against  the 
person  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  instead  of  the  likeness 
of  a  dove,  to  bring  him  down  in  the  likeness  of  a 
vulture,  or  a  raven  :  nor  can  there  be  a  greater  scan- 
dal to  their  nsuiiied  apostolical  see,  than  out  of  the 
bark  of  St.  Peter  to  set  forth  the  (lag  of  a  bark  of 
pirates  and  assassins.  Wise  men  observe,  that  there 
is  no  knot  of  thieves  so  dangerous,  as  when  there  is 
a  harlot  in  the  company  ;  that  robbery  is  seldom 
without  bloodshed:  Naboth  cannot  lose  liis  vineyard 
without  his  life,  if  Jezebel  have  a  hand  in  it.  Now 
there  is  not  so  mischievous  a  harlot  in  the  world  as 
"the  whore  of  Babylon:"  to  what  crueltv  cannot 
she  exasperate  her  besotted  amorists !  Whi'ther  she 
can  stretch  her  arm,  she  fdls  the  church's  back  with 


furrows,  and  her  heart  with  sorrows.  But  force  never 
got  ground  of  truth  :  all  attempters  of  that  kind  shall 
be  driven  to  confess  with  that  cruel  queen,  Egoprosum 
solu  iiocemlo ;  i.  e.  By  doing  ill  alone  I  get  my  good. 

I  conclude.  The  law  of  nature,  and  the  conscience 
of  every  man,  must  needs  secretly  condemn  fraud; 
how  much  more  doth  it  misbecome  Christians !  Let 
us  look  to  that  absolute  Pattern,  in  whose  mouth  was 
found  no  guile,  1  Pet.  ii.  22  ;  and  to  that  true  Israel- 
ite, whom  he  commended,  John  i.  47.  The  wit  of 
man  finds  out  many  tricks  and  shifts  in  the  world, 
either  to  do  mischief,  or  to  avoid  it:  there  is  one 
worth  them  all,  simplicity  of  heart  and  plain-dealing. 
Themistocles  being  entreated  to  play  on  an  instru- 
ment, answered,  that  he  could  not  fiddle  :  but  asked 
again,  what  he  could  do  then  ?  answered,  that  he 
could  make  a  great  city  of  a  little  one.  St.  Augus- 
tine applies  it  to  points  of  subtlety  and  perplexity: 
answer,  that  thou  knowest  not  what  to  answer:  thy 
learning  liesnot  that  way.  If  further  urged  wherein  thy 
learninglies,  answer,  in  knowing  how  without  all  these 
thou  mayst  be  saved.  (Ep.  56.)  Let  others  be  full  of 
the  politics,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  well  habited  in  the 
morals.  l^Iartha,  Martha,  thou  art  troubled  about 
many  things,  but  one  thing  is  necessarj- ;  integrity  of 
heart.  When  the  fox  boasted  what  a  number  of 
shifts  and  devices  he  had  to  get  from  the  hounds,  the 
cat  said,  she  had  but  one ;  which  was,  to  climb  a 
tree.  But  when  it  came  to  the  proof,  this  one  was 
better  worth  than  all  the  rest.  Many  a  man's  brait; 
is  a  forge  of  frauds,  wherein  there  are  more  engines 
of  craft  than  cords  in  a  bark.  But  there  is  one  worth 
a  thousand  of  them,  sincerity  of  dealing,  and  the  in- 
tegrity of  a  good  conscience.  "Lord,  remember  how 
I  have  walked  before  thee  \vith  a  perfect  heart,"  Isa. 
xxxriii.  3.  I  have  not  deceived  for  any  reward  on 
earth,  and  the  Lord  will  not  deceive  me  of  my  reward 
in  heaven.  A  plain  heart,  through  a  plain  conversa- 
tion, finds  a  plain  way  to  everlasting  benediction. 

"Through  the  lusts  of  the  flesh."  Nothing  sooner 
wins  flesh  and  blood  than  a  doctrine  that  tends  to  li- 
centiousness. This  is  one  especial  cause  of  the  increase 
of  popery,  the  plausibleness  of  it  to  carnal  disposi- 
tions. Every  religion  bears  in  her  lineaments  the 
image  of  her  parent.  True  religion  is  spiritual,  and 
looks  like  God  in  her  purity.  False  religion  is  car- 
nal, and  carries  the  face  of  nature,  her  mother;  and 
of  him  whose  illusion  begot  it,  Satan.  The  fonner 
would  kill  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  the  other  would  feed 
the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  and  make  both  a  wanton  mind 
and  a  wanton  body. 

1.  It  advanceth  the  pride  of  nature,  by  telling  her, 
that  she  can  merit  her  own  glory,  without  being 
nuich  beholden  to  God's  mercy  ;  that  she  can  fulfil 
the  royal  law,  and  so  brave  God  in  his  judgment,  as 
if  she  needed  no  pardon.  Yea,  that  she  hath  more 
works  than  she  needs,  and  can  (for  money)  help  her 
neighbours;  that  some  of  her  sins  be  venial  in 
their  nature,  and  not  worthy  of  death.  Oh  how 
sweet  a  ksson  this  is  to  flesh  and  blood,  even  enough 
to  make  her  nm  mad  of  self-conceit !  Now  hear  the 
voice  of  truth :  we  say,  that  we  have  no  good  of  onr 
own,  nor  can  do  good  t>f  ourselves  ;  that  we  are  not 
sick,  but  dead  in  sins,  and  move  not  more  tlian  we 
are  moved;  that  our  best  works  are  faulty,  all  our 
sins  deadly,  all  our  natures  corrupted  originally  ; 
that  we  have  no  merit  but  the  mercy  that  saves  us  ; 
that  nothing  but  the  blood  of  Christ  can  cleanse  us; 
that  his  mediation  is  more  than  sufficient  to  save  us, 
his  suflerings  to  redeem  us,  his  obedience  to  enrich  us. 
Now  come  to  the  trial ;  which  of  these  gives  the 
gloiy  to  God,  and  which  the  reins  to  concupiscence  ? 
If  nature  be  honoured,  is  not  God  dishonoured?  Is 
not  all  that  braveiy  stolen  from  grace,  which  is  put 


Veu.  18. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


539 


ui)on  the  back  of  nature  ?  Will  Sarah  take  it  well, 
that  Hagar  should  usurj)  her  freedom  ?  No,  God 
teachcth  us  to  abase  nature,  to  tread  her  in  the  dust, 
to  spoil  her  of  her  proud  rags,  to  load  her  with  re- 
proaches ;  and  to  give  that  glory  to  Him,  who  says  he 
will  not  give  it  to  another.  This  is  to  give  nature 
what  is  nature's,  and  to  God  what  is  God's. 

2.  It  lends  to  dissoluteness,  while  they  teach  that 
it  is  both  easy  and  safe  to  believe  with  the  catholic 
at  a  venture  :  that  they  mav  spare  the  labour  of 
searching,  and  need  not  much  knowledge  to  salva- 
tion ;  that  the  mere  sign  of  the  cross  can  drive  away 
devils ;   that  a  little  alms   can  make  amends  for  a 

freat  deal  of  injustice;  that  I  hey  may  have  an  in- 
ulgenee  to  dispense  with  a  sin  before  they  do  it  : 
that  a  man  may  buy  himself  out  of  hell  while  he  lives, 
and  his  executors  or  friends  may  buy  him  out  of  pur- 
gatory when  he  is  dead.  O  doctrine  deleclable  to 
ilesh  and  blood!  What  matters  it  how  unsound  his 
devotions  be,  how  lewd  his  life,  how  heinous  his  sins, 
that  knows  these  refuges?  Hear  the  truth,  that 
teacheth  us  (against  nature)  to  strive  unto  sincere 
faith,  without  which  we  have  no  part  in  Christ,  no 
benefit  by  his  sufferings,  no  comfort  in  our  own  good 
works;  that  our  heart  must  be  zealously  active  in 
all  our  devotions,  and  without  it  the  hand  and  tongue 
are  but  hypocrites  ;  that  the  hand  must  do  good 
deeds,  or  cist  the  presuming  heart  is  but  a  hypocrite  ; 
that  we  must  expect  no  pardon  for  sin  before  we 
commit  it,  and  from  Christ  alone  when  we  have  com- 
mitted it,  and  to  repent  before  we  expect  it  ;  that 
life  is  the  time  of  mercy,  death  of  retribution.  I 
hope  flesh  and  blood  takes  no  pleasure  in  such  a 
message.  So  clearly  manifest  is  it,  which  of  these 
two  religions  is  framed  to  the  humour  of  nature,  and 
is  indulgent  to  the  lusts  of  the  flesh.  From  all  which, 
let  me  deduce  these  two  conclusions  : 

I.  It  is  a  very  easy  thing  to  be  a  papist ;  for  what 
injunction  hath  it,  which  a  libertine  will  not  admit  ? 
To  sin  and  confess,  to  confess  and  sin ;  to  be  drunk 
and  vomit,  to  vomit  and  again  be  drunk,  what  true 
Trojan  dislikes  ?  But  they  have  strait  rules,  as  fast- 
ings, scourgings,  hair-cloths,  weary  pilgrimages, 
blushing  confessions,  wilful  beggary,  and  perpetual 
contineney  by  solemn  vow :  what  a  fair  pretence  is 
here  of  mortification,  by  them  that  love  it  as  dear- 
ly as  a  dog  doth  a  cudgel !  But  is  all  this  true  ?  To 
be  lodged  like  princes,  and  clothed  like  Dives,  in 
fine  linen,  is  this  hair-cloth  ?  To  abstain  from  coarse 
flesh,  and  feed  on  choice  dainties,  is  this  fasting? 
or  to  drink  the  strongest  wines,  till  their  faces  dis- 
cover their  hyjwcrisies  ?  When  the  world  is  toge- 
ther by  the  ears,  who  shall  bestow  most  upon  them, 
is  this  their  wilful  poverty  ?  Surely  they  take  great 
pains,  to  tell  over  so  many  thousand  erowns,  as  come 
yearly  tumbling  into  their  coffers.  For  the  poj>e  to 
ride  on  men's  shoulders,  is  this  humility  ?  or  to 
think  he  does  the  man  a  grace,  whom  he  admits  to 
kiss  his  pantofle  ?  To  forbear  allowed  matrimony, 
and  admit  forbidden  adultery,  is  this  their  vow  of 
continence  ?  Oh  that  these  criminal  doings  were 
not  more  true  than  their  penal  sufferings  !  And 
what  if  ihey  should  perform  all  that  they  pretend, 
■'"'1  in  the  austerity  of  their  will-worship  go  beyond 
yet  let  them  not  insult  in  the  victoiy,  for  the 
-N  of  Baal  went  beyond  Ihein.  1  hear  much  of  the 
■  ..■inauisls'  whips,  I  hear  nothing  of  their  knives;  they 
may  scourge,  they  will  not  lance  and  carve  their  fli^ii 
in  their  devotions.  The  Baaliles  did  it,  yet  were  never 
the  wiser,  never  the  better, never  the  nearer.-  What 
thendothey  get  by  this  self-devised  rigour?  Eitherit 
makes  them  not  better  than  us,  or  it  makes  the  priests 
of  Baal  better  than  them ;  let  them  take  their  choice. 
In  all  these,  the  flesh  is  served,  the  soul  is  starved  : 


a  small  difficulty  is  admitted,  that  a  greater  miglit  be 
avoided  ;  they  leave  that  which  God  commands  tliein, 
to  do  that  for  which  he  will  never  thank  them. 

2.  To  be  a  good  Christian,  is  a  far  harder  task, 
and  lies  in  anotlicr  kind  of  combat ;  not  in  macerating 
the  flesh,  but  in  mortifying  the  lusts  of  the  flesh. 
I  do  not  find  that  God  ever  required  or  accepted  the 
self-tortures  of  his  servants;  he  takes  no  pleasure  in 
our  blood:  they  mistake  him,  that  think  to  please 
him  by  destroying  that  nature  which  he  hath  made, 
and  measure  tnith  by  the  rigour  of  outward  extremi- 
ties. Elijah  drew  no  blood  of  himself,  the  priests  of 
Baal  did.  It  is  true,  inward  crucifying  of  our  cor- 
ruptions, (he  subduing  our  spiritual  msurreetions,  by 
the  noble  exercises  of  severe  restraint,  that  he  com- 
mands and  accepts.  To  work  our  stubborn  wills  to 
an  awful  subjection,  to  draw  this  untoward  flesh 
to  a  sincere  cheerfulness  in  God's  service,  to  reach 
unto  a  sound  belief  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  pray  with  a 
true  heart,  without  distraction,  without  distrust,  to 
keep  ourselves  in  the  continual  fear  of  God;  these 
be  the  tasks  of  a  Christian,  worthy  of  our  pains,  wor- 
thy of  our  comfort.  The  rest  is  but  a  careless  fashion- 
ableness,  as  if  it  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  soul. 
Give  us  obedience,  let  them  take  sacrifice.  For  men 
to  walk  with  God,  so  long  as  plenty  doth  walk  with 
them,  and  while  they  may  stretch  their  limbs  on  a. 
peaceable  couch,  eating  the  fruits  of  their  own  vine- 
yards, is  not  worth  either  reward  or  thaidis.  The 
v.-ilour  of  such  men  will  faint  when  it  comes  to  the 
jiush;  and,  with  Ai-chilochus,  they  will  rather  cast 
away  their  shield  than  perish.  But  to  love  that 
God  who  crosseth  us,  to  kiss  that  hand  which  strikes 
us,  to  Inist  in  that  power  which  kills  us  ;  this  is 
the  honourable  proof  of  a  Christian.  It  is  a  vain 
consideration.  Will  Jerusalem  yield  me  the  same 
delights  that  I  enjoy  in  Eg)-pt  ?  Is  there  such  store 
of  flesh-pots  in  that  country,  as  we  have  in  ours  ? 
Will  religion  allow  me  this  wild  liberty  of  my  actions, 
this  loose  mirth,  these  carnal  pleasures  ?  Can  I  be 
a  Christian,  and  not  live  sullenly  ?  None  but  a  re- 
generate heart  can  choose  rather  to  suffer  affliction 
with  God's  people,  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin 
for  a  season.  An  easy  importunity  will  persuade 
Orpah  to  retuni,  from  a  mother-in-law  to  a  mother  in 
nature,  from  a  toilsome  jouniey  to  rest,  from  stran- 
gers to  her  kindred,  from  a  hopeless  condition  to  like- 
lihoods of  contentment,  Ruth  i.  14.  A  little  entreaty 
will  serve  to  move  nature  to  be  good  to  itself.  But 
to  hamper  our  extravagant  lusts,  to  subdue  our  rebel- 
lious desires,  to  cross  nature  in  her  affected  delights, 
this  is  the  business  of  a  Christian.  To  persist  in  the 
actions  of  goodness,  though  tyranny,  tonnent,  death, 
and  hell  stood  in  our  way,  this  is  that  conquest  which 
shall  be  crowned  with  glory. 

"  Those  that  were  clean  escaped."  Some  read, 
for  a  little,  or,  for  a  little  while  ;  the  one  translation 
having  respect  to  the  degree  of  their  escaping,  the 
other  to  the  time ;  for  a  small  measure,  or  for  a  short 
space.  We  read  it,  "  clean  esrapcd : "  they  were 
not  quite  delivered  from  sin,  but  from  the  external 
profession  of  sin,  and  from  the  doctrine  that  main- 
tains sin.  The  people  that  escaped  from  perishing  in 
the  conspiracy  of  Korah,  were  not  all  holy  :  for  the 
next  day  fourteen  thousand  and  seven  hundred  died 
in  the  ])lague  for  murmuring  against  their  governor. 
Numb.  xvi.  49.  "They  went  out  from  us,  but  they 
were  not  of  us,"  I  John  ii.  19.  The  children  of  the 
world  may  outwardly  be  gathered  to  the  congrega- 
tion of  Israel,  yet  not  be  of  Israel.  When  it  was  re- 
presented to  Alexander,  to  the  advantage  of  Antipa- 
ter.  who  was  a  stem  and  imperious  man,  that  he  only 
of  all  his  lieutenants  wore  no  purple,  but  kept  the 
Macedonian  habit  of  black  ;  Alexander  replied.  Yes, 


540 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


but  Antipater  is  <ill  purple  within.  Divers  good  men 
do  not  pretend  so  much  strictness  outwardly,  but 
they  are  pure  within  ;  "  The  King's  daughter  is  all 
glorious  within,"  Psal.  xlv.  13.  Whereas  hypocrites 
Wear  not  the  colour  of  mischief  in  their  external 
habits,  but  they  are  all  purple  within.  "  Inwardly 
tliey  are  ravening  wolves,"  Matt.  vii.  15:  their  in- 
wards are  rotten  ;  "  their  inward  part  is  very  wicked- 
ness," Psal.  v.  9.  They  are  escaped,  as  a  man  from 
some  dangerous  sickness,  but  not  fortified  against 
death  :  as  a  man  flees  from  a  lion,  and  a  bear  meets 
him,  or  leans  his  hand  on  the  wall,  and  a  serpent 
bites  him,  Amos  v.  19.  They  are  escaped  from  the 
lion  and  the  bear,  gross  and  raging  impiety  and  idola- 
try; but  in  the  house  of  God  they  are  bitten  by  a 
serpent,  sly  hypocrisy.  Escaped,  as  a  vagabond  from 
a  shoal  of  beggars,  reformed  to  some  civility  ;  yet 
tempted  again  to  wander  with  a  new  doxy.  Oh  how 
far  may  a  man  go  in  the  outward  profession  of  truth, 
and  yet  be  a  hypocrite,  be  an  apostate,  be  a  repro- 
bate !     This  is  discerned  by  their  next  estate. 

They  are  again  returned  to  error.  What  a  poor 
way  w-ent  they  toward  heaven,  so  soon  to  turn 
back  !  Even  so  faras  Orpah  with  her  mother  Naomi 
toward  Canaan,  a  mile  or  two,  and  then  back  again 
to  Moab.  The  devotion  of  worldlings  is  all  for  a 
gird ;  they  will  run  apace  for  a  spurt,  and  then  after- 
ward stand  still  and  breathe  them.  They  were  but 
equivocal  members  of  the  visible  incorporation  ;  and 
when  their  consciences  shall  be  wounded  with  God's 
judgments,  they  shall  cry  as  he  did  in  Homer,  This 
is  the  blood  of  a  man,  not  such  as  issueth  from  the 
gods :  this  was  at  the  first  and  best  but  flesh  and 
blood,  not  the  unloseable  grace  of  sanctification. 
It  is  but  Ephraim's  morning  dew ;  let  the  sun  of 
prosperity  rise  but  two  hours  high,  the  dew  is  gone. 
A  Galatian  humour,  to  begin  in  the  spirit,  and  to  end 
in  the  flesh  :  like  a  meteor  or  gliding  star,  that  seem- 
ed in  heaven,  shot  through  the  air,  and  lighted  on  a 
dunghill.  Or  like  a  bowl  thrown  up  a  hill,  which 
climbs  according  to  the  strength  that  forced  it  ;  and 
when  it  is  come  to  the  furthest,  returns  down  to  its 
own  place.  These  violent  motions  have  ever  the  less 
perpetuity.  Their  cloth  hath  a  fair  gloss,  but  when 
the  iron  of  trial  is  put  to  it,  presently  it  shrinks.  As 
the  Samaritans  sought  bread  for  their  life,  not  the 
bread  of  life  ;  and  when  that  bread  failed,  Christ 
might  sit  long  enough  ere  they  sought  him.  But 
good  Christians  seek  not,  as  Musculus  saith,  the  bread 
of  multitude,  but  the  multitude  of  bread,  Christ  liim- 
self.  They  that  adhere  to  God  for  any  second  cause 
out  of  himself,  shall  soon  lose  him,  and  all  good 
things  with  him.  Beasts  will  suspect  the  train,  and 
birds  the  snare,  out  of  which  they  are  escaped  :  have 
rational  creatures  less  wit  than  beasts  or  fowls  ?  Lu- 
cuUus  having  entertained  Pompey  in  one  of  his  mag- 
nificent houses,  Pompey  commended  it  for  a  stately 
house  in  the  summer,  but  he  thought  it  would  be  too 
cold  for  the  winter.  Whereto  Lueullus  ;  Do  you  not 
think  me  as  wise  as  divers  fowls  are,  to  remove  wiih 
(he  season  ?  Have  we  less  j)rovidencc  than  birds,  to 
fall  into  that  trap  out  of  which  we  h;.ve  been  delivei'- 
ed  ?  Alas,  that  there  should  be  any  among  us,  who 
from  the  midst  of  our  salt  waves  should  come  out 
fresh  and  unseasoned  !  that  all  these  heavenly  show- 
ers shall  fall  beside  them,  while  they,  like  Gideon's 
fleece,  want  moisture  !  that  being  by  a  mighty  hand 
delivered  out  of  E<,n-i)t,  tliey  should  again  fall  down 
before  that  calf,  whose  power  they  so  confounded  ! 
that  being  haled  out  of  the  lake  of  iniquity,  they 
should  again  plunge  themselves  into  it,  to  their  own 
everlasting  ruin!  "Now  the  Lord  lay  hold  upon  us, 
Jhat  we  may  lay  hold  ujion  him,  aiid  never  let  go 
lliat  hold  till  we  come  to  heaven. 


1.  Wrapped  in  error.  Some  notice  is  lobe  taken  of 
the  phrase,  dvaarpupoiiiviic,  involutos,  intriccUos,  involv- 
ed, entangled.  AH  sin  is  a  labyrinth ;  the  entrance  is 
easy,  all  the  difficulty  is  to  get  out  again.  Jael  invites 
Sisera  to  her  tent,  and  wraps  him  warm,  but  he  shall 
never  return  through  those  doors  alive.  A  bird  is 
so  wrapped  in  the  net,  that  the  more  she  strives  the 
faster  she  sticks.  The  fly  entangled  in  the  web,  soon 
becomes  the  spider's  breakfast.  Sin  hath  such  a 
clinging  quality,  that  if  it  once  embrace  and  take 
hold  of  the  soul,  it  binds  it  up  in  pleasing  fetters;  as 
Samson  was  tied  with  Delilah's  tresses,  more  than 
with  the  cords  of  the  Philistines.  Therefore  they 
are  called  ropes  of  sins,  Prov.  v.  22,  nets  of  hell,  and 
chains  of  the  soul ;  the  worst  obligation,  where- 
out  the  boundcn  shall  never  get,  till  Christ  have 
discharged  the  debt.  Suppose  the  sinner  walks 
abroad,  yet  he  is  not  at  liberty,  because  he  carries 
his  jail  about  with  him.  Other  malefactors  are  with- 
in their  prison,  he  hath  his  prison  within  himself : 
and  whithersoever  he  runs,  like  the  stricken  deer, 
lucret  laleri  lelhalis  arundo,  i.  c.  sticks  to  his  side  the 
deadly  shaft.  All  his  honours  and  pleasures  cannot 
free  him  from  his  bonds  ;  only  he  is  in  the  number  of 
those  jail-birds,  that  have  the  favour  to  beg  in  their 
chains.  Why  cannot  we  persuade  rich  men  to  be 
charitable  ?  Alas,  they  are  so  wrapped  up  in  their 
covetous  desires  and  insatiate  lusts,  that  you  may 
with  as  good  success  stand  in  the  street,  and  bid  a 
prisoner  come  out  of  his  dungeon.  As  Lazarus  in  his 
grave  was  wrapped  up  with  his  towel  and  winding- 
sheet,  so  are  dead  sinners  folded  up  in  their  sensu- 
ality; and  nothing  can  loose  them,  but  that  same  "La- 
zarus, come  forth,"  from  the  mouth  of  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  The  practice  of  these  deceivers  is  upon  them  that 
are  escaped  from  their  errors.  As  the  good  shepherd 
leaves  the  ninety-nine  that  are  safe,  and  seeks  that 
which  is  lost  ;  so  the  malignant  jailer,  without  any 
strict  watch  upon  the  malefactors  in  safe  custody, 
pursues  after  him  that  hath  broke  prison.  Sensual 
men  have  the  least  trouble ;  they  are  as  sure  as 
temptation  can  make  them;  they  are  rebels,  not  pa- 
rasites, against  whom  the  tyrant  bends  his  forces. 
They  that  are  wedded  to  the  world  as  to  a  wife,  and 
count  pleasure  their  harlot,  seldom  hear  the  roaring 
noise  of  the  enemy.  It  is  the  fort  of  holiness  that  is 
most  besieged  with  assaults  and  stratagems.  There 
is  some  satisfaction  and  comfort  in  this,  that  Satan 
will  not  let  us  alone ;  it  is  a  sign  we  are  not  his,  when 
ho  is  so  busy  about  us.  Even  this  just  war  is  a  thou- 
sand times  better  than  an  unjust  peace.  It  was  the 
spouse's  charge  concerning  her  beloved.  Waken  him 
not  till  he  please.  Cant.  viii.  4.  No  other  is  Satan's 
command  to  his  officious  spirits  concerning  his  sleepy 
followers  ;  Do  not  waken  them,  let  them  sleep  their 
last.  But  for  those  that  have  renounced  his  sove- 
reignty, and  denied  him  allegiance,  let  them  sit  fast ; 
if  all  the  winds  from  the  smoky  comers  of  hell,  or  all 
the  gentle  airs  of  the  pleasures  on  earth ;  if  either 
the  blandishment  of  fair  words,  or  the  brandishment 
of  keen  swords,  can  prevail  against  them,  they  shall 
fall.  But  asa  gallant  soldier  said.  Let  me  be  a  Cartha- 
ginian, though  I  have  Rome  mine  enemy ;  so,  let  me 
be  a  Christian,  an  escaped  soul,  reformed  from  error 
and  sin,  though  Rome  and  hell,  man  and  devil,  con- 
spire against  me.  There  is  one  able  enough  to  save 
me,  in  whom  I  trust. 

"  Tlirough  much  wantonness."  This  is  that  little 
postern  set  open,  to  which  Satan  is  so  much  beholden 
for  liis  readmiltancc.  Wantonness,  whether  of  soul 
or  body,  makes  way  for  him.  There  be  such  as  love 
crotchets  and  divisions,  not  caring  for  the  plain  song  ; 
stomachs  that  within  one  month  arc  weary  of  manna; 
that  set  more  by  salads  and  sauces  and  kickshaws, 


Ver.  18. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


541 


flashes  of  wit,  than  substantial  food,  the  word  of 
God.  These  indeed  turn  grace  into  wantonness, 
while  they  turn  the  word  of  grace  into  curiousncss, 
verity  into  vanity.  How  easily  are  these  wanton 
minds  wrought  upon  !  What  wind  is  so  weak,  as  not 
to  move  the  fane !  What  toy  will  not  win  a  child  ! 
A  mind  forestalled  with  levity,  is  like  a  vessel  with- 
out ballast,  soon  overset.  The  advantage  of  seducers, 
is  the  lightness  of  those  who  are  to  be  seduced.  At 
this  hint  Mahomet  begun  his  religion,  compounding 
it  of  all  opinions,  to  allure  and  gratify  all  nations. 
If  the  Sabellians  had  lost  the  distmction  of  [icrsons, 
or  the  Arians  Christ's  Divinity,  or  the  Marcionites 
his  humanity,  or  the  followers  of  Macedonius  tlie 
Deity  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  the  Jews  their  circum- 
cision, or  the  rabbins  their  Talmud,  they  arc  sure  to 
find  it  all  in  Turcism.  Because  the  Arabians  were 
thieves,  he  allowed  theft ;  because  his  soldiers,  espe- 
cially those  of  Heraclius,  were  malicious,  he  allowed 
revenge:  hurt  him  that  hurls  you:  he  that  killclh 
his  enemy,  or  is  killed  by  his  enemy,  shall  not  fail 
of  entering  into  paradise.  To  satisfy  lust,  he  permits 
the  multitude  of  wives,  and  divorcement  for  trifling 
causes.  Now  what  a  potent  king,  and  of  what  large 
command,  is  he  grown  by  this  indulgence  to  men's 
wantonness  ? 

I  would  we  had  no  parallel  for  him  in  Christen- 
dom. But  alas,  what  is  papism,  but  a  truss  of  schisms, 
a  bundle  of  heresies,  a  religion  many  ways  compound- 
ed, that  all  might  be  pleased  ?  If  old  men  be  covet- 
ous, young  men  voluptuous,  nobles  ambitious,  com- 
mon persons  ceremonious,  whosoever  is  led  with  any 
kind  of  wantonness,  they  have  allurements  for  all. 
For  the  avaricious,  that  follow  riches  with  craft  and 
cruelty,  they  have  devised  a  purgatoiy ;  by  which 
trick,  they  will  get  one  half,  the  offender  shall  keep 
the  other  half,  and  the  poor  shall  have  never  a  doit. 
To  draw  on  the  dissolute,  they  have  ordained  many 
odd  holidays,  and  half-holidays,  wherein  they  may 
ring,  sing,  and  dance.  To  win  ambitious  spirits, 
they  teach  that  the  pope  can  give  kingdoms  (to  such 
as  can  get  them);  they  dispense  with  loyalty,  and 
bestow  a  crown  in  heaven  on  those  that  can  pluck  a 
crown  from  any  excommunicate  king's  head  on  earth. 
Lest  men  should  be  disheartened  with  the  greatness 
of  their  sins,  they  have  abundance  of  venials,  to  be 
washed  off  with  a  sprinkling  of  holy  water;  a  con- 
nivance for  the  least,  a  pardon  for  the  greatest,  to  all 
them  that  will  pay  for  it.  Because  knowledge  is  a 
trouble  in  the  getting,  and  men  naturally  love  to  be 
lazy,  they  fit  their  humours,  with  devotion  as  the  seed 
of  ignorance,  images  are  lay-men's  books,  reading  the 
Scriptures  makes  heretics,  and  that  faith  is  sufficient 
which  is  folded  up  in  the  common  bundle.  Lastly, 
that  poverty  of  truth  may  not  breed  contempt,  they 
have  mimic  and  comical  actions  in  those  mysteries 
which  should  be  sacred ;  clerical  shavings,  uncleanly 
unctions,  crossings,  creepings,  censings,  sprinklings, 
cheating  miracles,  garish  processions,  tossing  of 
beads,  christening  of  bells,  hallowing  of  candles, 
wax,  chrism,  ashes,  palms,  garments,  swords,  water, 
salt,' and  what  not?  So  easily  do  these  pontifical 
solemnities  allure  to  wantonness,  and  work  upon 
petulant  affections. 

I  conclude.  We  see  here  the  danger  of  wanton- 
ness, of  dallying  with  our  conscience,  and  viclding 
the  reins  to  our  inordinate  affections.  There  be 
three  goodly  sights,  a  penitent  sinner,  a  patient  suf- 
ferer, and  a  thankful  receiver.  And  there  be  three 
other  as  ill-favoured  and  scandalous ;  a  proud'beggar, 
a  rich  robber,  and  a  wanton  professor.  Of  all  con- 
ditions there  is  none  more  culpable  llian  a  wanton 
Christian.  That  heavenly  Pattern  of  ours,  in  the 
days  of  his  humiliation,  is  never  read   to   laugh. 


I  do  not  bid  you  follow  him  in  that  altogether;  for 
there  is  a  season  for  us  to  be  merry  in  him,  who 
could  never  have  been  hajjpily  merry  without  him. 
But  when  our  laughter  shall  turn  into  profaneness, 
our  mirth  into  lasciviousness,  this  is  a  demeanour 
unbeseeming  Clu-istians.  But  wanton  children  play 
with  their  meat :  we  come  with  fear  and  reverence 
to  deliver  to  you  these  holy  mysteries;  as  it  was  told 
the  vestal,  that  holy  things  were  to  be  handled  mo^ii 
xancle,  quain  scile,  rather  holily,  than  knowingly. 
O  let  the  fruits  answer  the  seed :  "  Serve  the  Lord 
with  fear,  and  rejoice  with  trembling,"  Psai.  ii.  II. 
Otherwise,  they  that  drown  all  tlicir  devotion  in  wan- 
tonness, shall  at  last  lose  all  their  jovially  in  wretch- 
edness. Death  will  set  a  period  to  all  joy,  if  sorrow 
have  not  prepared  an  antidote  for  death.  Let  us- 
mourn  here  ;  this  is  the  way  to  be  meny  hereafter. 
Our  tears  are  but  temporal ;  when  God  hath  wiped 
them  off,  our  joys  shall  be  eternal.  Now  the  Sjiirit 
of  God  keep  us  in  tlie  sobriety  of  grace,  that  the  Son 
of  God  may  admit  us  into  the  court  of  glory. 


Verse  19. 


While  they  promise  them  liberty,  they  themselves  are 
the  servants  of  corruption :  for  of  whom  a  man  is 
overcome,  of  the  same  is  he  brought  in  bondage. 


The  common  pretence  for  the  most  unbounded  licen- 
tiousness, hath  been  liberty.  In  that  nefarious  and 
disloyal  conspiracy  and  murder  of  Julius  Coesar,  the 
general  dispensation  of  their  conscience  was  liberty. 
Cataline's  foul  treachery  was  set  off  with  the  colours 
of  liberty.  When  Sheba  would  invite  Israel  from  a 
just  and  lawful  subjection,  to  the  bondage  of  a 
usuiper,  he  proclaims  a  liberty,  "  Every  man  to  his 
tents,"  2  Sam.  xx.  I  ;  he  meant  even,-  man  to  his 
own  tent.  And  that  people,  which  had  but  as  yester- 
day fallen  into  the  design  of  Absalom,  a  son  of  their 
king  ;  are  now  again  up  in  arms  under  Sheba,  a  sub- 
ject of  their  king,  a  rebel  against  their  king.  As 
bees  when  they  are  up  in  a  swarm,  are  ready  to  light 
on  eveiy  bough ;  so  the  Israelites  being  stirred  by 
the  late  commotion,  are  apt  to  follow  the  head  of  any 
faction.  When  the  rulers  conspire  against  Christ, 
they  project  liberty  ;  "  Let  us  break  their  bands," 
Psal.  ii.  3.  Laws  are  bands ;  for  the  wild,  to  cicure 
and  humble  them ;  for  the  weak,  to  secure  and  keep 
them  :  they  that  would  oppress  their  inferiors,  and 
never  be  called  in  question  for  it  by  their  betters, 
would  break  the  bands.  Pride,  idleness,  dninken- 
ncss,  and  all  manner  of  dissoluteness,  cannot  range 
their  voluptuous  chaccs,  till  the  boundaries  be  re- 
moved :  let  them  dissolve  the  cords  of  morality,  and 
then  they  proclaim  liberty.  So  doth  corrupt  nature 
abhor  restraint,  that  it  embraceth  any  doctnne  which 
shall  but  promise  liberty.  "  While  they  promise 
them  liberty,"  Sec. 

The  parts  of  this  test  have  a  chain  of  dependence. 
First,  the  main  scope  is  the  allurement  of  the  weak, 
in  general.  Secondly,  the  way  of  this  allurement  is 
by  promise.  Thirdly,  the  force  of  that  promise  is 
liberty.  Fourthly,  the  conviction  of  that  force ;  the 
promisers  are  bound.  Themselves  are  the  sers-ants  of 
corruptions.  Fifthly,  the  proof  of  that  conviction. 
For  of  whom  a  man  is  overcome,  of  the  same  he  is 
brought  in  bondage. 

First,  for  the  main  scope,  the  seducement  of  the 
weak.  It  was  Christ's  charge  to  Peter,  "  When  thou 
art  converted,  convert  thy  brethren,"  Luke  xxii.  32. 
It  is  Satan's  charge  to  his  agents.  Now  you  are  con- 


54Q 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


founded,  confound  your  brethren.  He  that  is  not 
cross  to  Christ,  cannot  be  antichrist.  "  There  be 
many  antichrists,"  saith  St.  John:  there  is  a  mean 
antichrist,  and  a  main  antichrist ;  every  false  teacher 
is  a  mean  one,  but  there  is  another  tliat  is  the 
main  antichrist.  The  old  fox  hath  abundance  of 
cubs  ;  and  as  Christ  said  to  Peter  and  the  apos- 
tles, "  Feed  my  lambs  ; "  so  he  to  these  instru- 
ments. Fleece,  tlay,  worry  the  lambs.  Clirist  came 
to  heal  the  wounded,  to  bring  deliverance  to  cajv 
lives  ;  they  come  to  wound  the  whole,  to  bring 
the  delivered  into  captivity.  He  to  call  sinners  to 
repentance  ;  they  to  call  the  righteous  into  wicked- 
ness. He  to  save  that  which  was  lost ;  they  to  spill 
that  which  might  be  saved.  Such  is  the  implacable 
enmity  of  the  prince  of  darkness  against  the  children 
of  light,  that  he  will  rather  make  his  own  fire  hotter, 
than  not  labour  to  bring  them  to  the  participation  of 
his  torments. 

But  oh  what  shall  we  say  to  the  ringleaders  of  this 
infernal  conspiracy  ?  "  Many  sorrows  shall  be  to  the 
wicked,"  Psal.  xxxii.  10 ;  but  how  infinite  is  their  por- 
tion tliat  make  men  wicked !  "  Let  him  know,  that  he 
which  converteth  the  sinner  from  tlie  error  of  his 
way  shall  save  a  soul  from  death,  and  shall  hide  a 
multitude  of  sins,"  Jam.  v.  20.  So  let  him  know, 
that  perverteth  the  righteous  from  the  truth  of  his 
way,  that  he  dotli  bring  a  soul  unto  death,  and  occa- 
sion a  multitude  of  sins.  If  they  that  turn  men  to 
righteousness,  shall  shine  as  the  stars  in  heaven, 
Dan.  xii.  3;  then  they  that  turn  the  just  to  error, 
shall  burn  as  everlasting  coals  in  the  furnace  of  hell. 
He  that  doth  ill,  and  tcacheth  so,  shall  be  the  least 
in  heaven.  Matt.  v.  19,  but  the  greatest  in  hell.  Even 
to  infect  men  by  bad  example,  is  a  mischief  intoler- 
able ;  and  cormpt  patterns  shall  find  an  unanswerable 
indictment  for  the  filthy  copies  that  have  been  taken 
fi'om  them,  though  they  neither  forced,  nor  temi)ted, 
nor  persuaded  to  them.  That  which  custom  hath 
made  honourable,  will  by  great  men's  refusal  grow 
contemptible.  Young  gentlemen  in  Athens  used  to 
play  on  the  recorder  ;  but  when  Alcibiades,  viewing 
his  face  in  a  glass,  as  his  cheeks  were  puffed  up  with 
blowing  the  instrument,  threw  away  the  pipe  with  in- 
dignation, all  the  gallants  presently  cashiered  that 
kind  of  music.  (Aul.  Gell.  lib.  15,  i70  And  when 
eminent  persons  take  up  things  contemptible,  their 
followers  think  them  honourable.  AVhat  was  more 
vile  than  the  office  of  scavengers,  the  charge  of  scour- 
ing the  sinks  and  gutters?  Yet  when  worthy  Epa- 
minondas  had  once  borne  the  office,  it  was  sought  for 
among  other  preferments.  (Plutarch.)  Exemplary 
evils  be  bad  enough,  but  how  deep  a  place  is  pre- 
pared for  them  in  Tophet,  that  wilfully  seduce  others 
to  dishonour  their  Maker  !  It  is  dreadful  to  think, 
horrible  to  feel,  the  bitterness  of  their  damnation. 

Secondly,  the  way  of  this  allurement  is  by  pro- 
mise ;  where  w'e  have  divers  considerations. 

I.  Promises  are  the  cheapest  things  men  can  ]Kirt 
withal,  and  yet  the  strongest  enchantments.  The 
cheapest ;  therefore  he  that  is  poor  in  ever)-  other 
thing,  can  be  rich  in  promises.  Of  all  members,  the 
tongue  decays  least  and  last ;  there  is  no  fear  of  wear- 
ing out  that.  The  legs  decay  with  travel,  the  arms 
with  labour,  all  with  age ;  but  the  tongue  holds  out, 
unless  the  palsy  or  such  accident  seizeth  on  it.  It 
is  commonly  two  years  after  we  are  born,  ere  we  can 
speak  with  it ;  but  it  is  scarce  two  hours  before  we 
die,  that  we  lose  it.  Still  that  little  film  or  flesh  re- 
tains the  vigour,  when  the  rest  languish  into  impo- 
tcncy,  as  one  clapper  will  wear  out  divers  bells. 
"  Naphtali  giveth  goodly  words,"  Gen.  xlix.  21 ;  this 
is  every  man's  bounty:  what  a  Nabal  is  that,  which 
will  neither  hear  good  words  nor  give  them !  He  did 


not  only  give  David's  servants  nothing,  but  that 
which  was  worse  than  nothing,  bad  language,  1  Sam. 
XXV.  10,  17-  All  Israel  knew  and  honoured  their 
deliverer ;  yet  this  clown,  to  save  his  victuals,  will 
needs  cither  make  him  a  man  of  no  merits,  or  of  ill ; 
either  an  obscure  one,  or  a  fugitive.  Suppose  he 
feared  Saul's  revenge,  and  therefore  resolved  to  shut 
his  hands,  yet  he  might  have  so  tempered  his  denial, 
that  the  repulse  might  have  been  free  from  offence; 
but  now  liis  foul  mouth  doth  not  only  deny,  but  re- 
vile. It  should  have  been  Nabal's  glory,  that  his 
tribe  yielded  such  a  successor  to  the  throne  of  Israel : 
now  his  envy  stirs  him  up  to  disgrace  that  man  who 
surpassed  him  in  honour  and  virtue,  more  than  he 
was  surpassed  by  him  in  wealth  and  ease. 

Fair  words,  we  say,  never  hurt  the  tongue;  they 
do  less  hurt  the  purse.  Never  man  was  the  worse 
or  the  poorer  for  good  language.  St.  James  speaks 
of  some  verbal  benefactors.  Jam.  ii.  Ifi:  now'  to  say. 
Be  warmed,  doth  not  cost  them  one  stick  from  their 
wood-piles  ;  Be  clothed,  fetches  not  one  cast  garment 
from  their  wardi'obes;  Be  filled,  derives  not  a  crust 
from  their  cupboards  :  yet  such  hypocrites  arc  con- 
dennied  of  uncharitableness.  How  fearful  then  shall 
be  the  account  of  savage  cruelty;  that  doth  lay  bur- 
dens on  the  already  burdened,  trampling  upon  them 
witli  scorn,  whom  God  hath  humbled  with  miseiy  ; 
and  instead  of  healing  their  w'ounds,  set  them  afresh 
bleeding  by  their  reproaches !  AVith  the  same  ease 
men  may  speak  well,  that  they  do  speak  ill ;  yea,  of 
the  two",  bad  words  are  commonly  the  loudest,  and 
put  the  organs  of  speech  to  more  stress :  therefore 
Paul  calls  cursing,  a  crying.  It  is  a  question,  whether 
the  flatterer  or  blasphemer  shall  have  the  upper  hand 
in  the  kingdom  of  hell ;  unless  we  moderate  it  thus, 
that  the  hypocrite's  tongue  shall  be  everlastingly 
bitten  with  "scorpions,  and  the  blasphemer's  burn  in 
unquenchable  flames.  By  how  much  easier  the  law, 
Ijy  so  much  sorer  the  punishment  for  breaking  that 
law.  Now  there  is  nothing  easier  than  to  speak  fail- ; 
as  the  beggar  told  the  bishop,  when  instead  of  an 
alms  he  gave  him  his  blessing,  that  if  that  blessing 
had  been  worth  a  penny,  he  would  not  have  been  so 
boimtiful.  They  be  uncharitable  passengers,  that  will 
not  bless  the  reapers,  Psal.  cxxix. ;  luce  our  hide- 
bound, heart-bound,  tongue-bound,  peevish  sectaries, 
that  will  not  vouchsafe  a  Good  day  or  a  Good  speed 
to  their  neighbours.  As  they  delight  not  in  blessing, 
so  it  will  be  f;u-  from  them,  I?  sal.  cis.  17. 

2.  Fair  promises  are  strong  snares  to  entangle 
fools.  Every  one  is  not  a  Joab  to  be  fetched  home 
to  us  w'ith  firing  his  fields ;  as  they  say,  witches  are 
brought  to  the  house  where  they  have  done  mischief, 
by  casting  some  relics  into  the  fire.  The  devil  did  not 
appear  to  Christ  in  a  terrible  form,  threatening  the 
calamities  of  earth,  or  torments  of  hell ;  but  by  fair 
promises  of  many  kingdoms.  Ho\y  impudent  was 
that  presumption,  even  such  as  hell  itself  might  well 
have  been  ashamed  of!  A  beggarly  spirit  that  hath 
not  an  inch  of  earth,  offers  the  world  to  the  Maker 
of  it,  to  the  Owner  of  it ;  God's  slave  would  be 
adored  of  his  Creator.  But  let  tins  teach  us,  that  he 
will  not  be  sparing  of  false  boasts,  and  unreasonable 
promises  to  us,  that  dares  offer  him  kingdoms,  by 
whom  alone  are  made  all  kings.  Promises;  this 
was  his  way  at  the  beginning;  "  Ye  shall  be  as 
gods,"  to  our  fii-st  parents :  tliis  is  the  proceeding 
with  all  their  children;  honour,  and  wealth,  and 
ease,  are  the  proposed  rewards  of  unrighteousness. 
If  the  king  of  Moab  promise  gold  and  promotion, 
the  covetous  prophet  cannot  hold  off.  "  Shall  not 
their  substance  be  ours?"  Gen.  xxxiv.  23.  That 
jiromisc  won  the  Shechemites  to  so  painful  a  eon- 
ilition,  to  so  bloody  a  conclusion.    Temptations  on 


Ver.  1j. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


543 


the  right  hand  are  most  dangerous:  how  many  that 
were  nardcned  willt  fear,  yet  have  melted  with 
honour !  There  is  no  doubt  of  that  soul,  that  will 
not  bite  at  the  golden  hook.  Some  indeed  are  so 
iiinning,  that  they  will  do  more  for  a  small  present 
benefit,  than  for  the  promise  of  a  tenfold  value. 
Satan  is  fain  to  stop  their  mouths  with  ready  money ; 
(iehazi  shall  have  the  talents,  Achan  the  golden 
wedge.  Oh  that  man  were  but  so  wary  as  to  say, 
with  the  poet,  Timeo  Danaos  et  dona  ferenles :  i.  e.  I 
fear  the  Greeks,  e'en  when  they  offer  gifts. 

3.  It  is  ill  to  promise  and  to  deceive;  but  it  is 
worse  to  promise  with  a  purpose  to  deceive.  Even 
to  renew  or  delay  just  promises,  is  faulty  :  to  add 
term  to  term,  is  not  only  the  craftiness  of  denial,  but 
worse  than  denial.  We  may  safely  doubt  whether 
that  be  a  kindness,  the  putting  off  which  torments 
the  expectant.  The  God  of  truth  dwells  in  heaven, 
lie  hath  made  no  room  there  for  the  children  of 
falsehood.  Truth  is  the  column  of  commerce,  the 
bond  of  society,  the  seal  of  equity ;  and  where  that 
fails,  the  very  foundation  is  east  down.  Yea,  it  is 
I  he  obligation  of  conscience,  to  which  we  set  our 
tongues  as  hands,  and  our  fidelity  as  seals  :  if  not  an 
:\et  and  deed,  yet  the  first  act  of  a  seasonable  deed ; 
which  he  that  wilfully  breaks,  shall  be  in  the  end 
as  bankrupt  of  credit  as  he  is  already  of  grace.  I 
know  there  be  some  faulty  promises  better  broken 
tlian  kept ;  In  evil  promises  do  not  keep  faith ;  con- 
cerning which  a  man  is  foolish  in  making  them, 
wicked  in  keeping  them.  But  the  good  man  breaks 
not  his  promise,  though  he  be  damaged  by  the  per- 
formance. Udislaus  king  of  Hungary  falsifying  his 
promise  and  oath,  at  the  earnest  instance  of  two 
cardinals,  set  upon  Amurath  llie  Turk  unawares ; 
who  perceiving  his  soldiers  falling,  and  victorj'  flying 
from  his  side,  pulled  a  copy  of  the  truce  out  of  his 
bosom,  and  lifting  up  his  eyes  toward  heaven,  uttered 
words  to  this  purpose:  O  Jesus  Christ,  lo  these  are 
leagues  which  thy  servants  have  broken,  after  con- 
firmation of  them  by  thy  name  :  if  thou  be  a  God,  as 
they  say  thou  art,  revenge  this  injurj'  done  to  thee 
and  me,  by  plaguing  these  perjured  miscreants. 
Scarce  had  he  ended  this  strange  petition,  but  the 
success  of  the  battle  turned,  the  king  was  slain,  his 
irmy  discomfited,  and  his  people  pitifully  butchered. 
This  hath  been  one  of  Rome's  old  tricks.  John 
Huss  had  a  promise,  and  (more)  a  safe-conduet  to 
the  council  of  Constance  ;  yet  those  forsworn  perse- 
cutors put  him  to  death  :  a  foul  fact,  not  only  against 
the  law  of  Christians,  but  of  nations.  Yet  how  have 
they  blanched  it?  First,  that  the  safe-conduct  was 
not  granted  by  the  council,  but  by  Sigismund  ;  as  if 
these  could  bo  distinguished ;  in  which  the  fault  is 
not  discharged,  but  translated.  Secondly,  that  it  was 
a  protection  against  unlawful  violence,  not  against 
lawful  execution.  How  absurd !  when  he  suffered 
■  ■  "hat  very  cau.se,  for  which  he  received  warrant  of 
1  ily.  Thirdly,  he  had  it  to  come,  but  not  to  re- 
:  but  this  is  an  evasion  that  may  wrest  laughter 
.1  the  spleen  of  gravity  itself;  as  if  where  access 
ouiised,  recess  were  not  always  included;  as  if 
aderstanding  man  would  move  one  foot  out  of 
-  upon  such  weak  terms  of  assurance.  Such  hath 
tlie  conscience  of  Romish  promises  :  we  expect 
iiy  from  papistr,-,  as  Britain  expects  her  own 
ur  again,  as  the  Jews  a  new  Mcssiali.  Only  we 
ure  of  one  tiling  ;  if  we  never  trust  them,  they 
i  never  deceive  us.  Therefore  when  the  deputies 
'if  tlie  reformed  religion  in  France,  after  the  massacre 
tliat  was  on  St.  Bartholomew's  day,  treated  with  the 
king  and  queen-mother,  and  .some  other  of  the  coun- 
cil, for  peace,  and  both  sides  were  agreed  upon  the 
articles;  the  sole  question  was,  the  security  of  per- 


formance. After  some  particulars  propounded  and 
rejected,  the  queen-mother  said,  Why,  is  not  the 
word  of  a  king  sufficient  security  ?  One  of  the  de- 
puties answered,  No,  by  St.  Bartholomew,  madam. 
They  that  encourage  their  proselytes  to  promise 
great  matters  to  us,  whom  they  account  heretics, 
and  by  their  doctrine  absolve  them  from  all  perform- 
ance, deserve  no  better  trust  or  credit  than  very 
devils.  How  like  are  they  to  those  two  sons  of 
Jacob,  Gen.  xxxiv.  25,  bloodily  breaking  their  pro- 
mise to  the  Shechemitts,  whose  act  their  own  father 
cursed !  Gen.  xlix.  7-  To  execute  rigour  upon  a 
submiss  olTender,  was  more  merciless  than  just ;  to 
inflict  a  punishment  so  far  exceeding  tlie  fault,  was 
cruel.  If  they  had  been  fit  judges,  who  were  bloody 
executioners;  or  if  the  penalty  had  been  proportion- 
able from  another;  yet  in  them  that  had  vowed 
peace,  and  promised  affinity,  it  was  shamefully  in- 
jurious. To  disappoint  the  trust  of  another,  to  neg- 
lect our  own  word  and  fidelity  for  private  jiurposes, 
adds  faithlessness  to  cruelty.  They  never  mean  us 
so  deadly  a  storm,  as  when  they  make  fair  weather, 
and  bear  us  in  hand,  all  is  peace.  The  Spanish  pro- 
verb is  true  in  them,  Come  santo,  y  caga  diabolo, 
They  have  eaten  down  saints,  and  void  forth  devils. 
Alas,  how  woeful  a  complaint  have  I  here  just  cause 
to  take  up ! 

Truth  faints  and  swoons  in  the  street,  Isa.  lix.  14, 
and  nobody  will  so  much  as  give  it  a  little  aqua-vilce, 
to  recover  it.  There  is  a  decay  and  declination,  as 
of  the  strength  of  the  world,  so  of  all  goodness.  We 
are  the  dross,  the  refuse,  the  fag-end  of  mankind; 
upon  whom,  not  the  end,  but  the  ends,  not  of  the 
world,  but  of  worlds  and  ages  forepassed,  are  not  to 
come,  but  met  together,  in  an  unhappy  conjunction. 
The  alacrity  and  vigour  of  the  whole  creature  is  worn 
away :  justice  draws  her  breath  faint  and  short ; 
equity  is  knocked  down  with  the  beams  of  the 
balance ;  charity  hath  caught  an  everlasting  cold  ; 
conscience  is  taken  with  a  lethargy ;  and  fidelity, 
like  a  little  gold,  is  so  lost  in  the  sophisticate  mass 
of  self-love  and  policy,  that  when  the  great  Judge 
comes,  he  will  scarce  find  it  upon  earth.  This  daily 
defection  grows  still  upon  us,  which  was  projihcsicd 
above  fifteen  hundred  years  ago,  That  in  the  last 
days  there  should  be  promise-breakers,  2  Tim.  iii.  3. 
All  sin  spreads,  and,  like  the  plague,  disperseth  it- 
self: thus  pride  is  gone  from  the  court  to  the  coun- 
try, and  covetonsness  from  the  country  to  the  court ; 
swearing  from  the  gentleman  to  the  beggar,  and 
drunkenness  from  the  beggar  to  the  gentleman.  If 
some  sin  be  more  predominant  in  some  places ;  as 
high-mindedness  is  busy  about  riches  ;  malice,  or  pri- 
vate revenge,  about  authority  ;  unfaithfulness  fills  all 
places.  Rich  misers  hoard  it  up  with  their  gold,  and 
poverty  makes  it  her  staff  to  walk  withal ;  the  syco- 
phant lives  by  it,  as  his  daily  bread ;  and  great  men 
do  not  scorn  it,  for  an  advantage ;  the  young  learn  it 
for  their  first  lesson,  and  the  old  keep  it  to  the  last. 
This  false  core  rots  us  at  the  heart,  while  our  skins 
be  fair  and  unblemished.  Now  from  what  source  is 
derived  the  calamity  ?  we  have  broken  our  promise 
with  God,  and  how  should  men  trust  us? 

There  is  a  book  written  against  them,  a  (lying,  a 
burning  roll,  that  shall  destroy  their  houses  and  them- 
selves, Zech.  V.  4.  God  will  one  day  bring  it  forth  : 
it  may  be  while  the  words  are  in  their  memory,  the 
vision  may  cross  their  brains,  and  the  wings  of  this 
book  flutter  over  their  drowsy  consciences ;  till  out 
of  a  furious  paroxysm,  they  vent  this  hideous  excla- 
mation. The  book,  the  book !  amongst  the  rest  of 
their  frantic  imaginations.  A  terrible  supposition, 
may  some  say :  but  terrors  are  no  wonders,  when 
God  comes  to  judgment.     Certainly,  the  guiltiness  of 


544 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  11. 


this  infidelity  and  wilful  cozenage,  is  like  a  match 
laid  to  fire  a  train  of  powder ;  it  bums  dimly  on  to 
the  appointed  time,  and  then  at  one  fearful  blow  it 
blows  up  all.  A  detestable  sin,  a  deprecable  punish- 
ment ! 

4.  Seducers  refuse  no  way,  so  they  may  deceive  ; 
they  swear,  they  forswear,  promise  and  lie,  propose 
and  interpose,  to  make  strong  their  party.  Absalom 
stood  at  the  court  gates,  and  having  first  taken  the 
eyes  and  tongues  of  the  people  with  his  expensive 
braven,',  lays  also  snares  for  their  hearts,  by  liberal 
jiromises  and  courtly  policy,  what  he  would  do  for 
them  were  he  a  judge,  2  Sam.  xv.  4.  His  car  is  open 
to  all  plaintiffs,  all  petitioners ;  there  is  no  cause 
which  he  flatters  not;  his  hand  welcomes  every  man 
with  a  salutation,  his  lips  with  a  kiss.  O  courteous, 
beauteous,  bounteous  Absalom  !  this  was  the  com- 
mon acclamation.  But  the  promises  of  tyrants  end 
in  the  ruin  of  those  who  trust  thera.  Indeed  they 
have  arguments  in  all  moods  and  figures.  It  is  re- 
corded of  Cacus,  a  notorious  thief,  tliat  when  he  had 
stolen  beasts,  he  would  drag  them  into  his  cave  back- 
ward, by  their  tails;  that  by  the  contrary  track  of 
their  feet  he  might  be  freed  from  the  suspicion  of 
thievery.  So  to  their  holes  of  rapine  and  mischief  they 
drag  backwards,  that  the  innocents  may  rather  seem 
to  have  freely  passed  from  them,  than  to  be  surprised 
by  flicm.  Our  English  papists,  smarting  under  the 
hand  of  justice,  which  they  call  persecution,  some  of 
them  seeing  both  the  promises  of  Rome  and  their 
present  fortunes  at  home  failing  together,  began  to 
totter,  and  make  show  of  turning  to  the  gospel. 
Wlicrcupon  the  pope  hath  been  fain  more  than  once 
to  send  them  a  token,  wherein  were  printed  the  five 
wounds  of  Christ,  with  this  motto  or  posy,  Fili  da 
mihi  cor  liium,  "  My  son,  give  me  thy  heart."  Thus 
by  maintaining  their  dissimulation  to  us,  he  main- 
tained his  own  dissimulation  to  them.  Ever  since 
they  have  learned  to  temporize,  having  one  heart  for 
God,  and  another  for  Baal ;  one  for  the  prince,  and 
another  for  the  pope;  one  for  the  communion,  and 
another  for  the  mass.  So  that  neither  protestants 
nor  papists  can  tell  whose  they  be,  nor  themselves 
whose  they  shall  be. 

O  this  heart  of  man,  how  deceitful  it  is  upon  the 
weights !  how  like  a  close,  dark  vault,  without  any 
crevice  to  look  into  it !  The  poets  feim,  that  when 
Jupiter  had  made  man,  and  was  delighted  with  his 
own  beauteous  fabric,  he  asked  Momus,  what  fault 
he  could  espy  in  that  curious  piece,  what  out  of 
square,  or  worthy  blame.  Momus  commended  the 
proportion,  the  complexion,  the  disposition  of  the 
lineaments,  the  correspondence  and  dependence  of 
the  parts ;  and  in  a  word,  the  harmony  of  the  whole. 
He  would  see  him  go,  and  liked  the  motion;  he 
would  hear  hira  speak,  and  praised  his  voice  and 
expression.  But  at  last  he  found  a  fault,  and  asked 
Jupiter,  whereabouts  his  heart  lay  ?  He  told  him, 
within  a  secret  chamber,  like  a  queen  in  her  privy 
lodging;  wliither  they  that  come,  must  first  pass  the 
great  chamber,  and  the  presence.  There  is  the  court 
of  guard,  forces  and  fortifications  to  save  it,  shadows 
to  liide  it,  that  it  might  not  be  visible.  There  then  is 
the  fault,  saith  Momus ;  thou  hast  forgotten  to  make 
a  window  into  this  chamber,  that  men  might  look 
in,  and  see  what  tlie  heart  is  doing  ;  and  whether 
her  recorder,  the  tongue,  do  agree  with  her  meaning. 
If  a  window  were  framed  into  tlie  breasts  of  these 
deceivers,  how  would  the  black  devices  wliich  they 
contrive  in  secret,  be  palpably  odious;  how  would 
the  coals  of  festering  malice  blister  their  tongues 
and  scald  their  lips  !  Then  we  should  see  how  they 
pack  and  shufljle,  and  mean  in  their  time  to  cut 
also,  cr  to  deal  a  poor  game  to  the  innocent.     But 


that  privy  chamber  hath  a  window  only  to  God's, 
not  man's  or  angels'  inspection. 

I  conclude.  It  is  the  sweetest  thing  in  the  world 
to  be  innocent,  to  be  freed  from  the  check  of  an  im- 
partial conscience  ;  which  will  as  surely  tell  us  our 
unfaithfulness,  as  ever  we  durst  be  unfaithful.  There 
is  not  the  least  promise  made,  but  there  it  is  entered : 
if  it  be  performed,  the  book  is  crossed ;  if  not,  it  re- 
mains upon  record,  an  evidence  against  us.  A  man 
passeth  by  the  poor,  promiseth  to  give  them  some- 
thing as  he  comes  back  ;  this  promise  is  written  in 
heaven,  and  it  is  not  safe  to  mock  God,  who  in  all 
lawful  things  binds  us  to  our  word.  If  the  good  man 
promise  to  his  own  hurt,  yet  he  changeth  not,  Psal. 
XV.  4.  If  he  be  spare  in  promising,  yet  he  will  be  sure 
in  performing.  How  welcome  is  sleep,  when  we  lay 
down  our  heads  u])on  the  pillow  that  bears  not  the 
burden  of  unfaithfulness !  Let  the  cunning  men  of 
the  world  triumph  in  their  riches,  overlook  all  their 
injuries,  make  themselves  merry  with  their  witty  de- 
ceivings ;  this  and  that  we  have  gotten  by  cleanly 
tricks.  When  they  come  to  die,  and  their  awaked 
conscience  represents  all  these  impostures  in  their 
true  faces,  they  would  give  a  thousand  worlds  for  this 
one  testimony,  "  We  have  wronged  no  man,  we  have 
defrauded  no  man,"  2  Cor.  vii.  2.  I  have  kept  my 
promise  with  men,  God  will  keep  his  promise  with 
3ne,  for  salvation  in  Jesus  Christ. 

"  While  they  promise  them  liberty."  This  is  the 
force  of  their  promise.  Now  liberty  is  fourfold ;  cor- 
poral, consciential,  spiritual,  and  sensual. 

1.  Corporal,  which  consists  in  a  freedom  of  action : 
when  men  are  not  slaves  bound  to  the  mines  or  gal- 
leys to  row  (their  lords  in  case)  with  strokes  and 
stripes  ;  or  to  dig  gold  from  that  earth  which  scarce 
yields  them  salads  :  when  the  feet  of  Joseph  are  not 
hurt  in  the  stocks,  neither  do  his  children  sweat  in 
the  brick-furnaces  :  when  the  mured-up  debtor  sits 
not  in  a  melancholy  consideration  of  his  unmerciful 
creditor.  To  move  only  the  length  of  his  tether,  or 
but  by  the  allowance  of  his  keeper,  is  a  man's  cap- 
tivity. Yea,  even  to  be  confined  to  a  sick-bed,  is  a 
miserable  thraldom.  Those  anchorites  that  have 
barked  up  themselves  in  hollow  trees,  or  walls,  had 
yet  some  room.  That  perverse  cynic,  who  barreled 
himself  up  in  a  tub,  could  stand  or  sit,  or  enjoy  some 
kind  of  posture.  Scarce  any  jail  is  so  close,  that  it 
affords  not  the  prisoner  two  or  three  steps.  But  the 
bed  of  languishing  sickness  is  of  a  narrow  compass, 
Job  vii.  4.  David  sware  that  he  would  not  go  up 
unto  his  bed,  &c.  Psal.  cxxxii.  3.  To  go  up  unto  the 
bed,  denotes  strength,  promiseth  ease.  But  when 
God  saith  of  Jezebel,  "  I  will  cast  her  into  a  bed," 
he  makes  his  own  comment  upon  that,  calling  it  the 
bed  of  tribulation.  Rev.  ii.  22.  Their  thraldom  is 
grievous,  whom  God  hath  nailed  to  their  bed:  they 
are  not  hindered  from  the  church  by  a  recusancy,  as 
if  they  would  not  come  ;  but  as  it  were  by  an  excom- 
munication, they  cannot  come.  The  sick-bed  is  a  soli- 
tude :  when  the  centurion's  servant  lay  sick  at  home, 
his  master  was  fain  to  come  to  Christ,  the  sick  man 
could  not.  Their  friend  lay  sick  of  the  palsy,  and 
the  four  charitable  men  brought  him  to  Christ;  he 
could  not  come.  Peter's  wife's  mother  lay  sick  of 
a  fever,  and  Christ  came  to  her ;  she  could  not  come 
to  him.  The  bonds  of  mortality  are  so  much  the 
stronger,  by  being  weaker  ;  the  ligaments  of  the  arms 
arc  the  looser  at  the  point  of  death,  yet  then  they 
bind  the  arm  from  motion,  and  abridge  it  of  freedom. 
There  was  a  woman  bowed  down  with  a  spirit  of  in- 
firmity, Luke  xiii.  1 1  :  her  body  was  not  more  a  jail 
to  her  soul,  than  her  disease  was  a  jailer  to  her  body, 
and  Satan  to  her  disease  ;  who  had  thereby  inverted 
the  posture  of  her  creation,  and  turned  that  counte- 


Ver.  19. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


545 


nance  to  the  cartli,  which  was  made  to  look  up  to- 
ward heaven. 

This  then  is  a  liberty  of  the  body  ;  when  neither 
debts,  the  diseases  of  estate,  nor  diseases,  the  debts 
of  nature,  do  hinder  the  freedom  of  action.  Even  a 
civil  freedom  liatli  been  held  honourable  :  how  am- 
bitious were  tlie  tributaries  of  Rome  to  become  her 
denizens  !  The  burgess  confessed  tliat  he  obtained  it 
with  a  great  simi,  Acts  xxii.  "i^i.  The  honour  of  Je- 
rusalem was  far  greater,  therefore  so  much  the  more 
grievous  the  expulsion.  Their  banishment  and  loss 
of  their  sweet  country,  their  servitude  and  loss  of 
their  sweet  liberty;  and  the  loss  of  the  sweetness  of 
all  sweetnesses,  among  them  that  had  any  spark  of 
religion,  the  scr%'ice  of  God,  might  teach  them  to 
hang  up  their  harps  and  weep,  remembering  Zion, 
Psai.  cxxxvii.  Had  a  Gentile  been  banished  thither, 
he  had  not  been  an  exile,  but  a  proselyte  ;  but  for  a 
Jew  to  be  banished  from  thence,  it  was  lamentable 
captivity. 

•2.  Conscientiai,  when  nothing  is  imposed  on  us, 
but  that  may  stand  witli  the  persuasion  of  our  recti- 
fied mind.  That  religion  which  would  bind  the  con- 
science, where  God  hath  not  bound  it,  brings  snares 
and  fetters,  and  takes  away  due  liberty.  Indeed 
lliose  civil  laws  do  bind,  that  tend  to  good;  as  for- 
bidding to  frequent  tippling  houses,  for  the  avoiding 
of  drunkenness ;  or  to  wear  dangerous  weapons,  for 
the  preventing  of  homicides.  But  those  which  are 
for  civil  orders,  whose  intention  is  not  obligare  ad  cul- 
pam,  sed  ad  paenam;  i.  e.  to  bind  to  the  guilf,  but  to 
the  penalty  ;  the  breach  whereof  is  sufficiently  satis- 
fied with  the  mulct;  do  not  bind  the  conscience,  nor 
is  the  omission  of  them  a  moral  or  mortal  sin.  But 
to  entangle  the  soul  with  a  multitude  of  traditions, 
ceremonies,  and  unconceming  rites,  is  condemned,  as 
taking  away  the  liberty  of  conscience.  Matt,  xxiii.  4. 
Such  is  celibate  to  the  pampered  flesh,  or  abstinence 
to  the  raging  appetite.  They  may  as  well  put  a  match 
to  dry  powder,  and  forbid  it  to  take  fire. 

There  is  indeed  a  scrupulous  conscience,  like  a  little 
stone  got  into  the  shoe,  that  galls  the  foot.  This 
ariseth,  first,  from  ignorance ;  the  purblind  cannot  dis- 
cern colours,  though  they  be  dyed  in  grain.  Second- 
ly, from  that  we  call  morbum  maniacum,  the  effect  of 
melancholy,  or  of  some  tedious  sickness  ;  or  from 
melancholy  itself,  for  the  mind  follows  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  body,  and  scruples  are  most  incident  to 
crazed  brains.  Thirdly,  from  factious  teachers,  which 
leave  the  harmony  of  the  truth,  and  broach  vain 
janglings ;  which  is  indeed  to  turn  the  grace  of  God 
into  wantonness.  And  it  is  strange  to  see,  how  mad- 
ly they  are  affected  to  such  crotchets ;  like  peevish 
stomachs,  which  cannot  away  with  solid  meat,  but 
love  to  be  picking  of  bones,  or  feeding  on  kickshaws. 
Fourthly,  from  a  WTangling  disposition,  which  makes 
the  business  of  the  hand  to  become  only  the  business 
of  the  tongue.  Hence  it  comes,  that  so  many  rheu- 
matic pens  blot  innocent  papers,  and  trouble  the 
world,  not  for  what  is  to  be  done,  but  what  is  to  be 
thought.  They  come  like  petulant  children  into  the 
vineyard  to  gather  grapes,  and  spying  the  gaudy  but- 
terflies, only  run  up  and  down  to  catch  them.  These 
men  take  away  their  own  liberty,  freely  give  away 
thoir  freedom,  and  betray  their  consciences.  But  if 
'A  iter  had  been  good  to  drink  with  wine,  quoth  a 
.1  fellow,  God  nimself  would  have  put  it  into  the 
'.pe;  but  every  simple  is  best.  So  if  such  ordi- 
uces  of  men  had  been  good  to  join  with  the  word 
of  God,  Col.  ii.  20, 21,  that  great  Law-giver  would  not 
have  left  them  out.  But  let  me  obey  all  God's  com- 
mandments, and  believe  all  his  promises  ;  and  for 
other  things,  my  conscience  hath  a  sweet  liberty 
granted  to  it  by  Jesus  Christ. 
2  N 


3.  Spiritual,  which  frees  us  from  the  bondage  of 
the  law,  and  the  everlasting  curse  of  God's  wratli. 
"If  the  Son  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed," 
John  viii.  .3G. 

(1.)  Free  from  the  ceremonial  law,  which  took  its 
mortal  wound  by  the  death  of  Christ :  for  that  death 
was  to  the  moral  law  Jinis  consummates,  or  an  end 
completing;  to  the  ceremonial,y/H(.v  conjumen*,  or  an 
end  abolishing  :  to  the  latter,  rfi.i«o/re7w,  dissolving; 
to  the  former,  absoluens,  absolving.  Indeed  this  dead 
law  was  not  presently  thrown  into  the  grave ;  but 
according  to  the  seemly  burial  of  human  bodies, 
which  are  not  instantly  after  the  soul's  departure 
cast  forth  as  carrion,  but  have  their  decent  funer- 
als, and  are  brought  with  solemnity  to  their  sepul- 
chres. So  to  put  some  diflerence  betwixt  God's  in- 
stitutions and  human  inventions,  those  ceremonies 
which  died  with  Christ,  were  honourably  brought  to 
the  grave.  Now  he  that  revives  them,  shall  not  be 
a  devout  solemnizer  of  the  funeral,  but  a  profane 
raker  in  the  grave,  and  violater  of  the  quiet  sepul- 
ture. (August.  Epist.  19.  ad  Hier.) 

(2.)  Free  from  the  moral  law;  and  that  both  as 
to  its  power  of  condemning,  for  there  is  no  condemn- 
ation to  them  that  are  in  Christ,  Rom.  viii.  1 ;  and  as 
to  its  power  of  ruling,  that  sin  should  not  reign  in 
our  moi'tal  bodies,  Rom.  vi.  12.  Our  sins  are  remit- 
ted, our  imperfect  obedience  is  accepted.  They  that 
look  to  be  justified  by  the  works  of  the  law,  are  not 
under  grace.  Such  peremptory  travellers,  mounted 
on  (he  back  of  their  own  conceited  righteousness, 
will  needs  post  to-hcavcn,  and  not  take  Christ  along 
with  them.  Whereas  indeed  they  are  but  like  oxen, 
that  a  great  while  draw  in  the  yoke  for  pasture,  and 
are  at  last  for  slaughter.  Truth  is,  we  are  not  freed 
from  obedience  to  the  law  :  Christ  met  tt-ilh  none 
on  the  mount  in  his  glory,  but  Moses  and  Elias,  the 
law-giver  and  the  law-restorer ;  to  show,  that  he  did 
not  only  come  to  fulfil  the  law  and  institute  the  gos- 
Jiel,  but  even  to  reconcile  the  law  and  the  gospel. 
We  must  obey  what  God  commanded  by  Moses,  and 
what  we  cannot  perform,  is  supplied  to  us  by  our  be- 
lief in  Jesus.  St.  Augustine  makes  four  states  of  men: 
first,  before  the  law,  when  we  do  not  so  much  as  fight 
or  strive  aqainst  sin  at  all.  Secondly,  under  the 
law;  we  fight,  but  are  overcome.  Thirdly,  under 
grace ;  we  fight  and  conquer.  Fourthly,  in  peace  or 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  where  is  no  occasion  to 
fight,  there  being  no  enemies.  We  have  now  two 
good  encouragements  to  fight  :  first,  from  the  good- 
ness of  the  cause ;  we  take  God's  part.  Secondly, 
from  the  easiness  of  the  victoiy ;  God  takes  our  part. 

(3.)  Free  from  the  slavery  of  sin  :  before  it  reign- 
ed over  us  as  a  tyrant,  now  it  can  but  dwell  in  us  as  a 
tenant.  It  never  gives  us  a  foil  by  any  act  of  disobe- 
dience, but  we  give  it  a  mortal  wound  by  the  sword 
of  repentance.  How  sweet  is  that  liberty  which 
avoids  the  shackles  of  sin  !  It  is  the  most  common 
and  troublesome  guest  that  belongs  to  man  ;  it  trou- 
bles us  both  in  the  solicitation  of  it,  and  remorse  for 
it.  Before  the  act,  it  wearies  us  with  importunate 
violence  ;  after  the  act.  it  torments  us  with  fear  and 
the  painful  gnawings  of  an  accusing  conscience.  And 
if  it  be  thus  irksome  to  men,  how  odious  is  it  to  God ! 
He  indeed  never  hated  any  thing  but  it,  and  for  it 
any  thing.  It  is  the  happiness  of  heaven,  an  immu- 
nity from  sin ;  but  we  must  content  ourselves  with 
the  happiness  of  grace,  a  liberty  not  to  be  captivated 
by  sin.  The  body  of  sin  and  death  goes  about  with 
us  ;  but  it  shall  not  cany  us,  though  we  carrj-  it.  It 
must  dwell  with  us,  but  with  no  command,  yea,  with 
no  peace.  We  grudge  to  give  it  house-room,  we  hate 
to  give  it  service. 
(4.)  Free  from  all  the  miserable  effects  of  sin ;  as 


546 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


the  horror  of  a  troubled  conscience,  which  makes  a 
man  fly  from  his  own  heart ;  like  one  sea-sick,  that 
runs  from  deck  to  deck,  from  the  stern  to  the  fore- 
ship,  from  hold  to  hatches,  from  the  sliij)  to  the  boat, 
and  last  from  the  boat  to  the  main.  Or  like  those 
fondly  impatient  fishes,  that  leai>  out  of  the  boiling 
caldron  into  the  burning  flame.  You  know  not  wliom 
you  fly  from,  and  therefore  it  is  you  fly.  All  these 
storms  are  allayed  by  Christ.  Or  from  the  dread  of 
temporal  jmlgmcnts ;  the  sword  that  destroyeth 
without,  the  famine  within,  or  the  ])lague  tliat  spar- 
eth  not  either  without  or  within.  Either  the  sun  of 
mercy  shall  shine  upon  us,  and  disperse  these  lem- 
pesls,  or  God  shall  shelter  us  under  the  shadow  of 
his  wings,  Psal.  sci.  1.  Death  itself  is  but  a  bottom 
to  tran.sport  us  to  the  land  of  promise ;  and  Satan, 
our  old  sworn  enemy,  shall  be  trampled  under  our 
victorious  feet ;  and  we  shall  sing  to  him  that  hath 
given  us  this  liberty.  Glory  and  praise  be  to  the 
Lamb  for  ever  and  ever. 

4.  Sensual,  when  the  boundaries  of  God  and  laws 
of  man  are  broken  through,  and  excess  knows  no 
limits  but  the  want  of  power.  This  indeed  is  not 
properly  liberty,  but  licentiousness ;  an  exorbitant, 
luxurious  violence,  the  greatest  slavery  of  the  world : 
but  this  discourse  I  reserve  to  the  due  place.  Here 
only  note  this  sum  of  the  text. 

Sensuality  and  a  carnal  freedom  is  the  spell  that 
conjures  these  wild  spirits,  and  brings  them  in  sub- 
jection to  their  heretical  teachers.  They  may  pro- 
mise them  civil  libert)';  this  they  are  not  sure  to 
perform  :  or  consciential ;  this  they  will  not  perform  : 
or  spiritual ;  this  they  cannot  perform :  but  profane 
excess,  riotous  intemperance,  the  uncontrollable 
swing  of  their  lusts,  this  they  will  endeavour  to  per- 
form. This  is  the  lure  of  wanton  souls :  who  can 
wonder  that  so  many  turn  to  papistiy,  when  men 
may  be  at  once  Roman  Catholics  and  human  devils  ? 
They  say,  their  religion  daily  winneth ;  yet  let  them 
not  boast  of  their  gain ;  they  neither  need,  nor  can,  if 
they  consider  how  it  gets,  and  whom.  How,  but  by 
base  forgeries,  frontless  untruths,  plausible  persua- 
sions, and  flattering  promises ;  which  easily  prevail 
with  a  pleasure-disposed  soul.  Whom,  but  such  as 
are  either  most  unable  to  resist,  or  most  like  to  be- 
stead them.  Unsettled  heads,  in  their  unseasonable 
travels,  like  fond  and  idle  Dinahs,  have  come  ravished 
home.  These  impostors  besiege  the  fiery  wits,  or  the 
great  heir  of  some  noble  family,  whose  greatness  of 
example  may  be  persuasory  and  commanding.  Mal- 
contents, whom  envy  makes  desirous  of  a  change; 
loose  livers,  men  necessitous,  whose  penurj'  of  estate 
and  judgement  compels  them  to  base  things;  volup- 
tuous epicures,  who  for  all  their  filthy  uneleanness 
have  a  shift,  that  is,  a  shrift ;  that  having  first  by 
their  adulteries  made  work  for  confession,  now  again 
by  confession  prepare  for  more  adulteries.  These 
unclean  birds  are  insnared  by  the  nets  and  calls  of 
such  fowlers. 

But  alas  for  that  other  sex !  still  Satan  begins  with 
Eve  ;  still  his  assaults  are  strongest  where  is  weakest 
resistance.  How  few  grand  heretics  do  we  read  of 
without  their  mistresses!  Magus  had  his  Helena, 
Donatus  his  Lucilla,  Apelles  his  Philumena,  Monta- 
nus  his  Prisea,  Priscillian  his  Galla;  every  one  his 
factoress :  as  the  Jesuits  are  not  without  their  col- 
lajised  ladies  ;  not  only  dead  images  to  worship,  but 
even  living  instruments  to  court  and  employ.  "  Silly 
women,  laden  with  sins,  and  led  away  with  divers 
hists,"  2  Tim.  iii.6;  these  must  be  the  stalls  of  their 
spiritual,  if  not  corporal,  fornication.  More  politic 
than  Balaam  ;  when  they  could  not  blow  up  religion 
with  powder  into  heaven,  they  try  the  old  Moabilish 
l)lot,  to  sink  it  down  to  hell.     Such  is  the  public 


liberty  of  their  dispensations,  whether  for  dissembled 
religion,  or  not  unprofitable  filthincss. 

Here  is  even  a  spoil  fit  for  such  a  conquest,  for 
such  victors;  this  fetches  them  in  so  many  notori- 
ously dissolute  persons.  Malefactors,  that  for  hor- 
rible misdemeanours  are  committed  to  prison,  be- 
there  wrought  upon  by  these  instruments;  and  so 
they  that  were  convicted  thieves,  robbers,  strumpets, 
homicides,  are  turned  off  from  the  gallows  Roman 
Catholics.  Who  can  marvel,  to  see  them  that  lived 
like  atheists,  to  die  papists  ?  Drowning  men  catch 
hold  on  a  weed,  rather  than  nothing;  dying  patients 
embrace  an  empyrie,  a  leech,  rather  than  no  physi- 
cian. They  can  teach  them  to  be  saved  in  a  moment, 
if  they  will  but  hang  as  fast  upon  their  foundation 
as  they  must  on  Tyburn  ;  that  is,  on  the  holy  mother, 
the  church  of  Rome  ;  which  can  no  more  stumble, 
than  a  man  when  both  his  eyes  are  out.  Who  would 
en\y  them  this  purchase  ?  We  are  the  fewer,  not 
the  worse.  If  all  our  harlots,  and  thieves,  and  mur- 
derers, and  hypocrites  were  theirs,  we  should  not 
complain  :  they  might  be  the  prouder,  not  the  better. 
Let  them  triumph  in  their  conquest,  so  long  as  we 
know  we  have  lost  none  worth  our  credit,  and  they 
have  got  none  worth  their  honour.  They  daily  forego 
more  in  a  better  exchange  :  the  sea  never  encroach- 
eth  upon  our  shore,  but  it  loseth  elsewhere.  Many 
have  we  fetched  out  of  their  wastes  into  the  fold  of 
the  church  ;  and  those  not  Catholic  colliers,  and 
cobblers ;  but  such  as  were  able  to  render  a  reason, 
both  of  the  just  dislike  of  their  idolatries,  and  the 
sincerity  of  our  doctrine. 

I  conclude  this  point.  Most  men  take  that  liberty 
which  justice  never  granted ;  but  justice  did  never 
grant  a  liberty  which  men  do  not  greedily  take. 
Nature  affects  that  which  is  pleasing  to  nature;  no- 
thing better  pleaseth  it,  than  the  freedom  of  its  own 
will.  As  it  has  been  expressed,  Few  men  seek  to  un- 
derstand what  is  allowable,  very  many  what  is  de- 
lectable. Lord,  keep  us  from  such  a  liberty,  as  is 
the  running  of  our  own  ways,  after  our  transjiortive 
fancies,  and  the  baneful  allurements  of  wantonness. 

"  They  themselves  are  the  servants  of  coruption." 
All  sin  is  a  servitude ;  and  that  which  flatters  men 
with  the  greatest  opinion  of  liberty,  malies  them  the 
most  miserable  vassals,  2  Tim.  ii.  2G.  They  may 
think,  that  they  have  the  world  at  command,  and  not 
the  world  them  ;  as  conjurers,  after  their  contract 
made  with  hell,  think  they  have  power  over  Satan, 
whereas  indeed  Satan  hath  power  over  them.  They 
have  a  secret  and  insensible  tether,  which  that  enemy 
ties  to  their  heels,  and  holds  in  his  hand:  while  they 
run  whither  he  allows  them,  they  shall  have  scope 
enough ;  but  if  they  ofl"er  towards  goodness,  he  m- 
stantly  snatches  them  up.  They  think  themselves 
the  freest  men  in  the  world;  and  let  them  be  their 
own  judges,  as  they  will  be  their  own  carvers,  they 
are  so.  No  cords,  whether  of  law  or  conscience,  can 
hold  them :  Samson  did  not  more  easily  break  the 
bonds  of  the  Philistines,  than  they  dissolve  the  ties 
of  government,  Psal.  ii.  '.i.  The  commonwealth  is  a 
tabernacle  or  lent,  pitched  up  to  shelter  men  from 
wrong,  and  that  they  may  live  happily  together. 
Laws  are  the  cords  of  it :  break  the  cords,  the  tent 
falls  :  "  My  tabernacle  is  spoiled,  my  cords  are 
broken,"  Jer.  x.  20.  Vines  are  underpropped  and 
bound  up,  to  make  them  fruitful;  vessels  are  hooped, 
to  contain  the  liquor  :  so  laws  are  bonds,  to  keep  the 
evil  in  awe,  the  good  in  safety.  But  these  flies  will 
not  be  caught  in  such  cobwebs :  unruly  and  head- 
strong beasts,  no  mounds  can  kec])  them  out  or  hold 
them  in.  Laws  bind  all,  without  exception  :  I  speak 
not  of  princes ;  as  it  is  said.  No  one  writes  laws  for 
a  prince.     They  do  not,  like  death,  lay  sceptres  level 


Ver.  19. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


547 


with  spades.  Yet,  as  it  was  said  of  the  blessed  Vii-- 
"•in,  oflering  her  legal  sacrifice  for  lier  purification, 
Grace  had  set  her  above  the  law,  btlt  humility 
jilaced  her  under  it ;  so  of  good  princes,  their  lii{,'h 
calling  makes  them  above  the  law,  their  humility 
respects  it. 

But  they  that  dare  force  and  ravish  the  law,  and 
make  it  lioth  the  instrument  of  their  revenge  and 
patronage  of  tlieir  mischiefs,  think  they  may  well 
plead  iheir  liberty.  Oh  what  a  poor  slave  do  tliey 
hold  the  man  of' a  tender  conscience!  They  dare 
swear  and  blaspheme*;  we  fear  an  oath.  They  dare 
spend  tlieir  days  in  uncleanness ;  we  dare  not  make 
the  members  of  Christ  the  limbs  of  a  harlot.  They 
dare  pollute  the  marriage-bed  by  adultery,  and  make 
it  the  mirth  of  the  company  ;  we  dare  not,  fearing 
lest  heaven  should  be  shut  against  us  for  the  sin,  and 
hell  swallow  us  for  boasting  of  tlie  sin.  They  dare 
wager  for  lying,  with  that  grandfather  of  lies  and 
liars;  why,  their  tongues  are  their  own,  Psal.  xii.  4: 
W'C  dare  not,  though  it  were  to  save  ourselves,  to  re- 
lieve the  poor,  to  honour  God.  They  dare  kill  a 
man  in  their  anger,  yea,  for  their  pleasure  ;  we  dare 
not  deface  the  image  of  our  Maker,  knowing  that  no 
river  can  wash  oft'  that  blood.  Th(  y  date  drink 
themselves  into  beasts ;  we  dare  not,  lest  we  should 
never  be  recovered  again  \mto  men.  They  dare  op- 
press the  poor;  we  dare  not,  knowing  that  thereby 
we  reproach  their  Maker.  They  dare  revenge 
all  wrongs  done  them,  and  earx'C  it  with  a  large 
measure;  we  dare  not  wring  God's  weapon  out  of 
his  hand,  but  remit  all  vengeance  to  him.  The  devil 
cannot  hurt  a  good  man,  without  letters  ))atent  ;  yet 
the  wicked  would  harm  him,  against  all  laws  and 
prohibitions.  They  dare  sin  God  in  the  face,  and 
presume  upon  his  patience ;  we  fear  him,  as  a  con- 
suming fire.  It  is  all ;  they  dare  hazard  the  breaking 
of  their  necks,  we  would  not  willingly  break  our 
shins. 

Now,  do  not  these  appear  the  more  free  and  mag- 
nanimous ?  Alas,  we  are  curbed  and  hampered :  so 
many  interdictions  lie  in  our  way.  Thou  shall  not  do 
this  ;  so  many  impositions  lie  on  our  backs,  Thou 
shall  do  this  ;  that  we  seem  the  most  miserable  serv- 
ants upon  earth.  Whereas  they  know  no  law,  but 
the  latitude  of  their  will ;  no  limits,  but  the  extremity 
of  their  power:  yet  for  all  this,  they  are  no  better 
than  slaves,  yea,  the  very  vassals  of  the  most  con- 
temptible masters.  He  that  serves  a  papist,  yet  serves 
a  Christian;  he  that  serves  a  Turk,  yet  serves  a  man. 
But  he  that  serves  the  world,  serves  nature's  slave; 
he  that  serves  the  devil,  serves  God's  slave;  he  that 
serves  lust,  serves  his  own  slave.  Some  have  served 
one  another  by  turns,  in  mutual  and  reciprocal 
offices  ;  and  that  might  be  a  service  of  love.  Some 
have  yielded  service  to  men  of  meaner  degree  and 
quality  than  themselves:  but  that  might  be  a  service 
for  gain,  which  were  base  enough  ;  or  for  fear,  which 
is  baser;  or  for  Hattery,  which  is  the  basest  of  all. 
Some  masters  have  come  to  serve  their  own  appren- 
tices ;  but  that  was  a  woeful  turn  of  fortune's  wheel ; 
a  necessitous,  piteous  service.  But  for  a  man  to 
"ovve  his  dog,  this  is  wondrous  low :  his  lusts  are  his 
' 'ijs ;  as  Acteon,  given  over  to  his  pleasures,  was 
■>  voured  of  his  own  hounds.  Such  may  be  well 
called  here.  The  servants  of  corruption. 

Is  this  their  liberty,  this  their  magnanimous  for- 
titude; to  obey  every  petty  slave,  every  common 
soldier  in  that  camp,  whereof  themselves  arc  the 
general  ?  The  dog  runs  at  the  master's  whistling  ;  but 
for  the  master  to  go  at  the  dog's  commanding,  is  a 
preposterous  servility.  If  lust  but  say.  Get  me  such 
a  beauty  for  my  delight,  the  man  hath  no  jiower  to  de- 
ny it ;  no  means  is  refused,  that  makes  to  this  brutish 


fruition :  is  not  this  to  be  the  servant  of  corruption  ? 
If  covetousness  say.  Get  me  such  a  commodity ;  the 
man  instantly  obeys,  plots,  studies,  contrives,  breaks 
his  peace,  his  sleep,  his  brains,  to  compass  it  :  though 
he  plough  furrows  on  the  backs  of  the  poor,  and  run 
through  the  blood  of  orphans,  though  he  ventures  his 
ears,  his  neck,  his  soul,  he  dares  not  deny  his  slave, 
his  dog,  his  devil,  avarice.  Call  you  this  freedom, 
when  a  man  cannot  choose  but  sin  ?  When  I  may 
drink  wine,  or  refuse  it,  this  is  my  freedom;  but  to 
be  compelled  to  drink  it,  by  a  dry  sjiirit  within,  if 
this  be  liberty  there  is  no  bondage.  Therefore  is 
God  almighty,  because  he  cannot  err,  nor  lie,  nor  do 
evil ;  for  these  are  the  works  of  impotency.  The 
saints  in  heaven  cannot  sin,  yet  sure  they  enjoy  the 
fullest  liberty.  Libet-i,  quia  liberuii,  i.  e.  delivered 
from  the  necessity  of  sinning,  therefore  free.  If  to 
sin  be  the  only  liberty,  they  have  no  liberty  in 
heaven.  No  ;  this  is  the  service  of  corruption ;  a 
thraldom,  not  a  freedom;  the  tyranny  of  sin,  not  the 
kingdom  of  righteousness. 

Every  man  is  the  servant  of  as  many  tyrants  as  he 
has  vices.  When  Alexander  found  Diogenes  in  his 
tub,  and  disputed  with  him,  w-hether  was  the  freer 
estate,  with  .Alexander  to  command  llie  world,  or 
with  Diogenes  to  be  confined  to  a  barrel  ?  the  cynic 
answered,  Thou  comniandest  others,  I  command  my- 
self: I  am  a  servant  to  the  king,  the  king  is  a  serv- 
ant to  his  slave  ;  yea,  even  to  my  slave:  I  am  em- 
peror over  those  atfections,  that  exercise  n  dominion 
over  thee.  But  as  Nabal's  ser^'ant  was  weary  of  so 
unaffable,  uncharitable,  unreasonable  a  master,  the 
very  son  of  Belial ;  so  we  have  just  cause  to  abandon 
that  service,  which  must  be  obsequious  to  the  vilest, 
proudest,  basest  grooms  in  our  family,  our  own  carnal 
lusts ;  which  are  no  better  (though  they  dwell  with 
us)  than  the  limbs  of  Belial.  The  acolaust  loathes 
the  service  of  that  churl,  that  allowed  him  no  better 
diet  than  husks,  and  thereof  not  enough  to  satisfy 
him  :  such  is  the  wages  of  corruption.  Gal.  vi.  8. 
Therefore  let  us  return  with  humbled  and  penitent 
souls  to  our  Father's  house,  where  all  the  servants 
have  bread,  good  for  the  quality  ;  bread  enough,  suf- 
ficient for  the  quantity;  and  to  spare,  abundant,  even 
to  satiety  :  where  the  fatted  calf  shall  feast  us  ;  royal 
a]iparel.  the  best  robe  of  glory,  shall  adorn  us  ; 
heavenly  music  shall  cheer  us,  and  eternal  peace  and 
mercy  shall  receive  us,  Luke  xv. 

"  For  of  whom  a  man  is  overcome,  of  the  same  is 
he  brought  in  bondage."  The  metaphor  seems  to  be 
taken  from  war  ;  where  the  conqueror  brings  the 
vanquished  into  captivity,  making  them  slaves  and 
drudges,  imposing  on  them  vile  and  servile  offices. 
And  this  misery  of  the  captive  diflers  according  to 
the  disposition  of  the  victor;  if  he  be  imperious,  and 
given  to  cruelty,  he  doth  so  much  the  more  imbittcr 
the  slavery.  Pharaoh  is  not  content  to  set  Israel 
possible  tasks  ;  so  long  there  was  comfort ;  their  dili- 
gence might  save  their  backs  from  stripes.  What 
with  conceit  of  benefit  to  the  commander,  and  hope 
of  impunity  to  the  labourer,  they  might  take  heart  to 
venture  on  great  difficulties.  But  tliose  tyrants  did 
measure  their  commands  by  their  own  wills,  not  by 
the  strength  of  their  inferiors.  To  require  more  of  a 
bca-st  than  he  can  do,  is  inhuman;  yet  Pharaoh  ex- 
acteth  bricks  where  he  hath  allowed  no  straw.  This 
was  cruel  enough  :  but  what  is  the  swart  ly  king  of 
Egj'pt  to  the  black  j)rince  of  darkness?  his  com- 
mands are  less  reasonable,  his  stripes  more  unmerci- 
ful :  the  former  are  not  more  plausible  to  the  flesh 
on  earth,  than  the  other  are  terrible  to  the  soul  in 
hell.  This  is  St.  Peter's  infallible  doctrine,  "Of 
whom  a  man  is  overcome,"  &c. ;  St.  Paul's  everlast- 
ing rule,  "  Ye  are  his  servants  to  whom  you  obey," 


543 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


Horn.  vi.  IG.  Yc;i,  he  that  was  liefore  them,  above 
tlieni,  and  from  whom  they  spake,  pronounced  it  a 
firm  les.son  out  of  the  school  of  heaven,  "  Whosoever 
committcth  sin  is  the  servant  of  sin,"  John  viii.  34. 
For  mctliod  ;  first,  let  us  view  Satan's  victory  over 
tile  wicked,  and  their  slavery  under  Satan;  then, 
how  Christ  overcomes  the  elect,  and  the  freedom  of 
tlieir  service  under  him. 

1.  Thrice  did  the  devil  set  upon  the  Son  of  God, 
and  fashioned  his  temptations  to  this  method;  "  the 
lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride 
of  life,"  1  John  ii.  IG.  To  all  these  the  first  Adam 
was  tempted,  and  in  all  miscarried;  the  Sec'tid 
Adam  is  tempted  to  them  all,  and  overcometh.  'J'iie 
former  Adam  was  tempted,  first,  to  a  carnal  appetite, 
by  the  forbidden  fruit ;  secondly,  to  pride,  by  the 
suggestion  of  being  as  God  ;  thirdly,  to  eovetousness, 
in  the  ambitious  desire  of  knowing  good  and  evil. 
Satan  having  found  all  these  motions  so  successful 
with  the  first  Adam,  in  his  innocent  estate,  treads 
the  same  steps  in  his  temptations  of  the  Second  : 
first,  the  stones  must  be  made  bread  ;  there  is  the 
motion  to  a  carnal  appetite  :  secondly,  the  guard  and 
attendance  of  angels  must  be  presumed  on  ;  there  is 
the  motion  to  pride  :  thirdly,  the  kingdoms  of  tlie 
earth  must  be  olTered,  and  their  gloiy  ;  there  he  is 
moved  to  eovetousness  and  ambition.  In  eveiy  one 
there  is  an  appearance  of  good,  whether  of  body, 
mind,  or  estate.  Once  and  a  second  time  lie  is  re- 
pelled, yet  again  he  assaults  :  Satan  is  not  foiled, 
when  he  is  resisted.  If  neither  the  lust  of  the  flesh 
nor  lust  of  the  eyes  can  overcome  us,  he  will  try  us 
ivith  the  pride  of  life ;  as  when  neither  diffidence 
nor  presumption  could  fasten  on  Christ,  he  tempts 
him  with  honour.  Matt.  iv.  8.  He  is  a  cunning 
fencer,  expert  at  all  weapons  :  in  vain  shall  we  be 
skilful  in  some,  if  we  fail  in  any.  When  he  makes 
the  challenge,  it  is  not  left  to  us  (as  in  terms  of  duel) 
to  appoint  the  ground,  or  the  weapon  ;  we  must  be 
prepared  for  all  assaults,  for  all  places.  They  that 
hold  towers  and  forts  of  garrison,  do  not  only  defend 
themselves  from  incursions,  but  from  the  cannon  and 
the  pioneer.  Still  doth  this  subtle  enemy  traverse 
his  ground  for  an  advantage.  When  the  M'ilderncss 
speeds  not,  he  hopes  for  some  better  luck  in  the 
temple  ;  there  failing,  he  climbs  higher,  to  the  top  of 
a  mountain  :  as  foes  in  pitched  fields,  strive  for  the 
benefit  of  the  hill,  or  river,  or  wind,  or  .sun.  He 
doth  himself,  as  he  taught  his  servant  Balaam, 
change  places,  in  hope  of  prevailing.  If  the  obscure 
country  cannot  move  us,  he  tries  what  the  court  can 
do  ;  if  not  our  home,  the  tavern ;  if  not  the  field, 
our  closet. 

How  many  hath  he  wounded  in  one  place,  that 
■were  fenced  in  another  !  He  would  not  only  put 
some  evil  into  all,  nor  all  into  some,  but  all  into  all. 
Nor  does  he  prevail  so  much  by  his  own  power,  as 
by  our  negligence.  Therefore  as  no  place  is  left  free 
from  his  malice,  so  no  place  should  be  made  pre- 
judicial by  our  carelessness.  Some  he  overcomes 
with  superstition;  and  they  die  the  death  of  Gali- 
leans ;  for  he,  like  Pilate,  will  mingle  their  blood 
with  their  owni  sacrifices,  Luke  xiii.  1.  Some  he 
overcomes  with  vain-glory  ;  and  they  die  the  death 
of  Philistines,  killed  with  the  jawbone  of  an  ass. 
Some  with  drunkenness;  and  they  die  the  death  of 
Nabal ;  yesterday  as  beasts,  to-day  as  stones;  then, 
over-merry  and  light  as  feathers,  in  death  dull  and 
lumpish.  Others  with  the  world ;  and  they  fall 
under  their  own  burden ;  the  world,  like  the  tower 
in  Siloam,  falls  on  them,  and  quasheth  them  to 
jiieccs.  How  great  is  his  conquest,  when  he  can  set 
reasonable  men  to  worship  a  little  coloured  dirt ! 
Some  with  filthy  lust  ;   and  they  die  the  death  of 


Sodomites;  if  not  with  fire  from  heaven,  yet  with 
fire  from  hell.  Still  this  conqueror  proceeds;  and 
some  he  overcomes  with  a  multitude  of  small  sins  : 
one  hair  will  not  hang  a  man,  many  will,  as  Absalom 
was  served.  Or  with  some  special  dear  sin,  which 
is  like  a  conspirator  within,  that  will  betray  him  the 
town.  Either  he  disarms  men  of  their  sword,  the 
word  of  God ;  and  then  who  can  fight  without  a 
weapon  ?  or  gets  away  their  buckler,  the  shield  of 
faith;  and  who  can  defend  himself  without  a  tar- 
get ?  Faith  is  the  foundation  of  a  Christian :  that 
once  lost,  all  is  desperate.  An  enemy,  after  long 
siege  of  a  city,  upon  entreaty  made,  condescended  to 
terms  of  peace  ;  and  this  was  his  condition,  that,  in 
sign  of  homage,  they  should  quietly  suffer  him  to 
take  from  their  city  walls  one  row  of  stones  round 
about :  to  this  they  yielded ;  and  he  laid  hands  on 
the  lowest  row,  the  foundation,  and  so  left  them  no 
walls  at  all.  It  is  a  weak  city  without  walls,  there 
can  be  no  walls  without  a  foundation,  city  and  walls 
are  feeble  without  munition  :  where  men  have  neither 
the  grace,  nor  the  wit,  nor  the  will  to  resist,  it  is 
cas)'  for  Satan  to  overcome. 

2.  But  now  wliat  is  the  event  of  this  conquest  ? 
Bondage  ;  "Of  the  same  is  he  brought  in  bondage." 
The  unhappiness  of  which  estate  appears  in  these 
conditions. 

(1.)  It  is  an  ignominious  state;  the  hangman's 
servant  is  an  honour  to  it.  Such  was  Matthew's 
first  condition,  a  farmer  of  the  miseries  of  his  own 
nation.  Informers,  that,  like  crows,  live  upon  car- 
rion ;  and  dorrs,  that  pass  the  meadow  or  garden  to 
light  on  a  du:  ghill;  or  those  wingless  flies,  that 
suck  a  living  ;  ut  of  corrupt  blood;  all  hear  ill 
enough,  and  are  odious  in  their  offices.  But  to  wear 
the  livery  of  Satan,  to  be  the  pensioner  of  hell,  at 
the  command  of  that  malignant  and  degenerate 
spirit,  is  the  most  dishonourable  name  and  shame. 
Let  them  be  lords  of  the  earth,  yet  their  report  is 
fouler  than  clods  of  the  earth;  by  the  base  indul- 
gence to  their  own  lusts,  their  names  stink  above- 
ground.  Their  memory  shall  rot ;  yea,  it  is  well  if 
their  memories  do  rot  with  their  carcasses,  and  their 
vices  be  buried  with  them  in  their  graves.  So 
basely  ignoble,  so  inhuman,  is  it  for  a  man  to  be  the 
slave  of  his  own  afTections. 

(2.)  A  hard  and  troublesome  condition.  Both  for 
the  multitude  of  business,  and,  not  seldom,  con- 
trariety of  commands :  as  pride  asks  cost,  whereas 
eovetousness  denies  necessaries ;  envy  makes  a  sullen 
face,  whereas  ambition  sets  it  in  the  smiling  posture 
of  flattery  ;  so  the  mind  is  distracted  with  cross  ad- 
dresses. And  for  the  hardness  of  their  labour;  like 
beasts,  they  are  set  to  draw  in  Satan's  team;  sin 
with  cart  ropes,  and  iniquity  with  cords  of  vanity, 
Isa.  v.  18.  Cords  are  at  first  twisted  of  small 
threads ;  but  once  combined,  they  can  bind  heavy 
burdens,  and  hold  great  ships.  As  one  says.  Sins 
come  easily,  but  they  bind  strongly.  They  are  de- 
ceived that  think  the  commands  of  Satan  easy.  Sin 
is  no  niggard  of  her  pains  ;  seldom  ever  do  we  find 
goodness  so  industrious.  It  is  not  Absalom's  beauty 
and  royal  attendance  that  can  make  strong  his 
parly  ;  but  he  must  neglect  himself,  sit  continually 
at  the  gate,  giving  his  hand  to  kiss,  and  kissing 
their  lips  that  did  it ;  he  must  take  pains  to  further 
his  treason. 

Unmly  affections  are  like  wild  horses,  that  carry 
us  over  hills  and  rocks,  till  they  be  breatliless.  Yea, 
they  soon  recover  breath  and  speed ;  and  if  they  be 
restrained  by  a  sudden  violence,  they  plunge  and 
career,  and  cease  not  till  the  saddle  be  empty,  and 
then  strike  at  the  prostrate  rider.  Wliere  sin  hath 
once  gotten  a  dominion,  it  sconis  to  be  repelled,  but 


Ver.  19. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


549 


hath  recourse  to  the  haunt,  as  humours  fall  toward 
their  old  issue.  Iniquity  is  laborious ;  the  poet  was 
deceived  when  he  said,  Facilis  descensus  amtii,  i.  e. 
Easy  is  the  descent  to  hell.  The  covetous  make 
their  passage  through  stony  rocks  of  hardship  and 
penury  :  to  rise  early,  and  rest  late,  and  eat  the 
bread  of  sorrows,  Psal.  cxxvii.  2 ;  I  hope  this  is  not 
easy.  The  ambitious  clambers  up  steep  hills  and 
craggy  mountains,  to  get  a  place  as  tickle  and  slip- 
pery as  the  stool  of  Eli.  Shall  we  say  it  sleeps  in 
them  ?  Nay,  it  will  not  let  them  sleep.  The  volup- 
tuous tramples  in  dirt  and  mire,  Isa.  Ivii.  20,  be- 
smearing himself  with  infamy  and  turpitudes  ;  is  not 
this  a  molestation  ?  The  revengeful  breaks  tlu-ough 
licdgcs  stuck  with  thorns,  whicli  makes  him  all  gore 
and  bloody.  The  envious  walks  in  dark  and  shady 
)'Iaccs,  that  he  may  not  sec  another's  happiness  : 
As  many  as  are  the  blessings  of  the  happy,  so 
many  arc  the  torments  of  the  envious,  saitli  Seneca. 
He  wastes  his  own  marrow,  and  with  suUon  malice 
gnaws  the  llesh  from  his  own  bones:  is  not  this  a 
sad  and  a  hard  slavery  ?  The  drunkard  jiains  his 
stomach  in  the  devouring,  his  head  in  the  digesting, 
his  throat  and  heart  in  the  returning,  of  his  over- 
laden cups.  But  especially  the  sin  of  mischief  is 
a  vigilant,  painful,  indefatigable  sin.  Judas  will 
be  awake,  when  Peter  is  asleep;  the  tare-sower  in 
the  field,  when  the  husbandman  is  in  his  bed. 
They  that  worship  the  beast  never  rest,  day  nor 
night. 

3.  It  is  intolerable :  we  have  heard  of  many  poor 
souls  condemned  to  llie  galleys,  under  the  merciless 
tyranny  of  Turks  and  infidels.  But  what  is  tlic  Turk 
to  the  devil  ?  what  a  galley  to  hell  ?  what  the  labour 
of  oars  to  the  toil  of  an  alllicting  conscience?  Of  all 
servants,  they  are  in  the  worst  case  that  are  sold  ;  of 
those  that  be  sold,  they  are  the  worst  that  must  do 
service  in  prison  ;  of  them  in  prison,  their  state  is  most 
lamentable  that  are  bound  with  fetters.  Such  is  the 
condition  of  the  ungodly :  they  are  the  sen-ants  of  sin, 
and  sold  under  sin,  and  chained  in  prison.  The  jail  is 
infidelity,  they  are  shut  up  under  unbelief:  the  jailer, 
Satan,  so  strait  and  tyrannous,  that  they  cannot  so 
much  as  lift  up  their  head,  or  look  to  heaven  for  any  de- 
liverance. Pride  is  one  chain,  Psal.  Ixxiii.  G ;  though 
they  wear  it  for  an  ornament  of  braverj-,  they  shall 
find  it  the  ligament  of  infelicity.  Concupiscence  is 
another  cliain,  that  binds  them  faster  to  the  service 
of  Satan,  than  ever  the  virgin  was  to  the  rock,  to  be 
devoured  by  llie  monster.  Every  sin  strives  for  the 
regency:  Within  me  they  strive  about  me,  whose  I 
should  be,  saith  Bernard.  Other  tyrants  have  some 
intermission  in  their  commands  ;  Pharaoh  denies  not 
Israel  a  season  to  eat,  drink,  and  sleep ;  but  these 
miserable  captives  are  always  in  an  habitual  service, 
seldom  out  of  actual.  They  nnist  neither  do,  nor 
speak,  nor  think,  but  according  to  their  master's  in- 
unctions. He  labours  to  snare  the  children  of  God 
'  their  sleeps;  r.s  Augustine  saith.  He  acts  in  them 
- mietimes  when  asleep,  what  he  cannot  do  when 
ilicy  are  awake;  suggesting  unclean  I houghts  when 
their  wills  cannot  resist  them  :  how  much  more  doth 
lie  turmoil  his  slaves  !  If  Judas's  heart  be  wrought 
)  the  treason,  he  shall  not  rest  till  his  hand  have 
lie  it,  and  undone  himself  by  it.  He  would  not  so 
1  inch  as  suflcr  him  to  cat  his  supper,  but  hastened 
!iim  from  that  sacramental  bread  to  his  bloody  de- 
sign. .\mnon,  enamoured  on  that  incestuous  act, 
r.iells  away  till  lie  have  committed  it.  Lust  is  not  a 
t'.ir,  but  a  furious  mistress,  impatient  of  delay  in  her 
,  ivice.  (Ambr.  de  Fuga  .Sxculi,  cap.  4.) 

Oh  tliat  men  would  free  themselves  from  this  in- 
tolerable burden ;  where  one  is  a  slave  to  lust, 
another  to  ambition,  another  to  fear!  (Sen.  Ep.  .J7-) 


Sin  is  a  cowardly  thing ;  Eve  had  no  sooner  offended, 
but  she  sought  out  a  fellow  and  companion.  When 
Cain  was  stained  with  his  brothei-'s  blood,  how  he 
tiembled  and  quaked !  there  being  none  in  the  world 
to  see  him  but  his  parents  and  sisters,  yet  in  every 
bush  he  suspects  an  ambush.  Satan  is  so  cruel  a 
master,  and  so  niggardly  a  rcwardcr,  that  all  his 
servants  be  timorous.  Men  of  honest  conscience, 
observers  of  order,  as  they  are  fearful  to  oflend,  so 
most  courageous  in  a  just  cause  :  the  servants  of  God 
are  bold  as  lions.  But  guiltiness  and  conspiracy  is  of 
so  ugly  a  shape,  and  horrid  a  representation,  that  the 
ofVendcr  never  dares  look  upon  himself  single  and 
alone,  but  still  runs  as  a  deer  to  the  herd. 

4.  It  is  useless,  no  good  comes  of  it.  It  is  both  a 
servile,  compulsory  labour;  and  a  dishonest,  unjusti- 
fiable labour:  and  idle,  fruitless,  a  mere  labour  in 
vain.  "  What  fruit  had  yc  then  in  those  things 
whereof  yc  are  now  ashamed?"  Rom.  vi.  21.  The 
root  is  sin,  the  stock  blame,  the  fruit  shame,  the  end 
death,  to  be  cut  up  and  cast  into  the  fire.  There  be 
some  that  sin,  and  shame  not :  "  Wei'c  they  ashamed 
when  they  had  committed  abomination?"  Jer.  vi. 
15.  No,  they  had  gotten  a  meretricious  front,  the 
look  of  an  impudent  harlot,  Jer.  iii.  .3.  There  be 
some  that  shame,  and  amend  not;  "  As  the  thief  is 
ashamed  when  he  is  found,"  Jer.  ii.  20.  Being  taken 
in  the  manner,  he  is  more  ashamed  of  his  apprehen- 
sion than  of  his  transgression  :  he  losctli  all  that 
modesty  when  he  gains  secrecy,  and  ceaseth  not  to 
be  a  thief  It  is  good  when  shame  for  sin  is  joined 
with  sorrov.-,  and  sorrow  with  amendment  of  life, 
Jer.  xxsi.  19. 

This  is  one  discommodity  of  such  service,  a  sliame 
before  men  ;  but  there  is  a  worse  behind,  even  a 
shame  before  all  the  angels  of  God.  But  is  there  no 
benefit  by  it  ?  Doth  not  the  covetous  store  up  gold? 
the  voluptuous  please  his  wanton  flesh?  the  am- 
bitious mount  to  honour?  As  Satan  said.  Doth  Job 
sen-e  God  for  nought  ?  so,  do  these  serve  Satan  for 
nought?  They  do;  and  .as  witches  take  apparitions 
for  substances  ;  are  promised  golden  mountains,  yet 
remain  beggarly  wretches;  so  these  embrace  a  cloud 
instead  of  Juno,  a  di-eam  for  reality,  and  are  in  all 
their  glory  like  a  fool  in  a  comedy,  crowned  with  a 
coronet  of  painted  paper,  a  bauble  for  a  sceptre,  a 
table  spread  with  counterfeit  cheer,  and  when  the 
play  is  done,  he  may  go  seek  his  supper.  It  was 
never  in  any  condition  so  true,  as  here,  A  young 
serving-man,  an  old  beggar. 

5.  It  is  irretrievable,  sold  to  sin  with  small  hope 
of  recovery.  That  powerful  tyrant  will  keep  his 
captives,  till  a  stronger  than  he  comes  to  ransom 
them.  Some  may  haply  have  their  faint  reluctations 
against  this  bondage ;  and  Satan's  commands  are  so 
foul,  that  it  grudgeth  their  conscience  to  fulfil  them. 
To  do  injuiT  where  they  have  received  courtesy,  to 
fight  in  an  unconcerning  quarrel,  to  shed  blood  where 
they  may  have  money  to  spare  it,  doth  a  little  stum- 
lile  thcni ;  and  they  have  some  languid  wishes.  Oh 
lliat  we  were  free  I  But  while  they  seek  not  con- 
stantly the  means  of  their  release,  their  captivity  is 
the  sorer,  as  the  jailer  lays  more  irons  upon  him  that 
hath  attempted  to  break  prison.  Lyciirgus  could 
say,  that  often  assaulting  tlie  enemy  without  con- 
quest, would  at  last  encourage  them  to  set  upon  us. 
"They  are  presumptuous  fools  that  tliink  they  can  re- 
pent at  pleasure;  as  if  the  weathercock  could  turn 
the  wind,  and  not  the  wind  the  weathercock ;  as  if 
because  man  can  tame  birds  and  beasts,  therefore  he 
could  also  lame  himself;  yea,  as  if  a  piece  of  clay 
fishioned  to  the  picture  of  a  man,  could  make  itself 
living,  and  animate  that  lump  with  a  reasonable  soul. 
Tlicy  are  deceived;  sin  never  made  such  a  bargain 


550 


AN  EXPOSITION  IPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


with  them,  as  to  be  turned  off  at  an  hour's  warning, 
or  to  be  discharged  with  a  Miserere  mci,  Have  mercy 
upon  me.  No,  that  landlord  will  hold  his  own,  ex- 
cept He  comes  that  hath  a  stronger  power  and  a 
better  title :  and  w^hen  it  must  out,  it  will  rend  the 
heart,  as  Satan  tore  the  child,  and  do  what  he  can  to 
make  the  house  untenantable.  It  is  more  easy  to 
exclude,  than  to  expel.  They  will  say  with  Pharaoli, 
"  Why  have  we  done  this,  that  we  have  let  Israel 
go  from  serving  us  ?  "  Exod.  xiv.  5. 

6.  It  is  pitiable,  the  grief  of  eveiy  Christian.  Even 
such  a  temporary  condition  may  well  move  compas- 
sion. Stood  we  upon  a  high  mountain,  and  had  as 
clear  eyes  to  behold  this  large  valley  of  tears  and 
miseries,  as  our  Saviour  had  to  see  the  glory  of  king- 
doms :  did  we  perceive  the  lamentable  cries  of  the 
famished  for  want  of  bread,  the  distressed  shifts  of 
the  poor  for  want  of  harbour,  the  tortures  and  rack- 
ings  of  seasible  limbs,  both  by  the  hand  of  justice  and 
of  injustice ;  the  disconsolate  sorrows  of  parents  for 
their  children,  widows  for  their  husbands,  friends  for 
all  relations;  or  Ihe  exigents  of  besieged  cities,  the 
sound  of  trumpets,  noise  of  drums,  roaring  of  cannons, 
the  pitiful  groans  of  the  dying  and  wallowing  in  their 
bloods,  or  swooning  in  the  streets  of  famine,  fathers 
and  husbands  mourning  for  the  barbarous  ravish- 
ment of  their  wives  and  daughters  ;  or  their  anguish 
that  are  condemned  to  row  in  galleys,  turn  in  mills, 
work  in  minerals;  how  they  eat  nothing  but  tlic 
bread  of  sorrow  by  weight,  and  drink  nothing  but 
the  water  of  affliction  by  measure ;  their  unpitied 
cries  at  the  smart  of  their  unmerciful  lashings  :  surely 
tears  were  the  poorest  obsequies  we  could  spend  at 
these  woeful  funerals.  The  cheeks  that  are  now 
dimpled  with  laughter,  would  change  their  posi- 
tion ;  the  resty  souls  that  sing  now  nothing  but 
peace,  would  change  their  disposition,  at  these  sad 
spectacles. 

But  now,  by  how  much  the  soul  is  more  dear  than 
the  body,  more  precious,  more  eternal,  let  our  bowels 
yearn  for  these  spiritual  calamities.  All  outward 
sufferings  are  determined  by  death ;  as  when  it  was 
told  Anaxagoras,  The  Athenians  have  condemned 
you  to  die,  he  said  again.  And  nature  them.  But 
the  intolerable  service  of  sin,  Ihe  works  of  darkness, 
commanded  by  the  prince  of  darkness,  in  the  place 
of  darkness ;  the  gashes  of  a  wounded  conscience, 
fresh  bleeding  hurls  plastered  with  corrosives,  over- 
burdened souls,  neither  able  nor  willing  to  ease 
themselves;  if  we  have  not  sucked  the  breasts  of 
tigers,  these  things  will  make  us  mourn  and  pray, 
Lord,  have  mercy  on  such  miserable  sinners. 

Oh  that  men  would  consider,  what  they  have  been, 
what  they  are,  what  they  hope  to  be!  First,  what 
they  were  ;  the  images  of  God ;  that  is  their  original 
glory.  Thou  that  shouldst  rule  over  all  beasts  aljout 
thee,  art  overruled  by  those  beasts  that  are  within 
thee.  (Basil.  Hex.  Ho'mil.  10.)  Secondly,  what  they 
are,  at  least  in  invitation  :  the  Son  of  God  offers  to 
make  us  free,  and  to  restore  all  our  forfeited  privileges ; 
and  shall  we  neglect  so  fair  an  occasion  ?  Show  this 
favour  to  the  captives  at  Algiers,  and  see  if  they  will 
refuse  it.  When  Cyi'us  king  of  Persia  proclaimed 
liberty  to  the  Jews,  only  those  went  from  Babel,  the 
place  of  their  captivity,  to  Jerusalem,  the  city  of 
their  ancient  liberty,  "  whose  .spirits  God  had  raised 
up,"  Ezra  i.  5.  Clirist  came  to  proclaim  freedom  to 
captives,  Luke  iv.  18,  yet  none  follow  this  gracious 
call,  but  only  fliey  whose  spirits  the  Spirit  of  God 
raiseth  up.  Thirdly,  what  they  hope  to  be,  even  kings 
in  heaven  ;  and  will  they  be  slaves  on  earth  ?  Is  not 
the  kingdom  above  begun  below  ?  Is  not  the  suburbs 
of  grace  the  way  to  the  city  of  glory?  Doth  Ihe 
kingdom  of  sin  reign  in  our  mortal  bodies,  and  shall 


the  kingdom  of  rest  be  given  to  our  immortal  souls  ? 
Have  we  (he  promise  of  Canaan,  and  of  God's  arm 
to  ccmijuer  it,  and  do  we  stick  at  Ihe  sons  of  Anak  ? 
Cerlainly,  if  through  grace  we  do  not  prepare  our- 
selves for  that  heavenly  kingdom,  we  can  never  say 
with  a  warrant  that  God  hath  prepared  that  heavenly 
kingdom  fur  us.  (Bem.  de.  Persecut.  Suslinenda, 
cap.  11.) 

7.  It  is  destructive;  the  end  of  every  service  is 
wages,  and  this  is  a  wages  without  end,  even  ever- 
lasting ])ain.  O  horrible  reward,  to  sow  trouble,  and 
reap  vexation ;  still  to  bring  fuel  unto  that  fire, 
which  must  burn  themselves;  to  plough  with  rods, 
and  cat  with  scorpions  ;  to  be  wearied  in  the  ways  of 
sin,  and  then  to  be  worried  with  plagues  of  sin! 
"  The  wages  of  sin  is  death,"  Rom.  vi.  23  ;  a  toilsome 
sen'ice,  an  irksome  wages.  "  Sin,  when  it  is  finished, 
bi'ingeth  forth  death,"  Jam.  i.  15.  He  that  was  the 
tempter,  becomes  the  tormentor ;  then  he  promised 
pleasures,  now  he  inflicts  tortures.  First,  he  enticelh 
men  to  sin,  and  then  accuseth  them  to  God  for  the 
sins  they  have  done  by  his  enticement.  Be  assured 
of  this,  he  that  without  cessation  doth  tempt  thee  to 
sin,  will  without  intermission  toi'mcnt  thee  because 
thou  hast  sinned.  Still  the  reprobates  shall  serve 
under  their  old  master,  but  their  work  shall  be 
changed,  and  the  place :  here  they  work  actively,  there 
passively ;  here  Satan  works  by  them,  there  he  works 
upon  them;  here  they  are  in  a  free  air,  with  light 
and  delight,  there  in  a  dungeon,  with  sores  and  sor- 
rows. As  Charles  king  of  Sweden,  a  great  enemy 
of  the  Jesuits,  when  he  took  any  of  their  colleges, 
would  first  hang  up  the  old  Jesuits,  and  then  put  the 
rest  into  his  mines,  saying.  That  since  ihey  had 
wrought  so  hard  above  ground,  he  would  try  how  they 
could  work  under  ground ;  so  when  the  wicked  have 
done  the  devil  what  service  they  could  on  earth,  he 
will  confine  them  to  his  dark  vaults  in  hell.  O  Lord, 
come  down,  cast  out  this  tyrant  and  usurper,  repos- 
sess thine  own  kingdom,  erect  a  throne  to  thyself  in 
all  our  hearts,  that  thou  mayst  here  reign  in  us  as 
our  King,  and  wc  may  at  last  reign  with  thee  in  thy 
kingdom.     Amen. 

"Of whom  a  man  is  overcome,  of  the  same  is  he 
brought  in  bondage."  The  service  of  Satan  is  so  full 
of  troubles  and  perplexities,  so  destitute  of  comforts 
and  relavations,  that  there  is  no  wonder  if  it  be  tedi- 
ous to  the  sufferer,  when  it  displeaseth  the  hearer  or 
looker-on.  Therefore  as  they  that  have  visited  hos- 
pitals, and  smelt  the  offensive  ulcers  of  lepers,  are 
glad  of  a  sweet  air  and  healthful  society ;  so  after 
the  view  of  that  incurable  slavery,  the  bondage  of 
sin  and  Satan,  now  let  us  refresh  ourselves  with  the 
liberty  of  the  servants  of  God.  For  we  cannot  deny 
God  (in  so  general  a  proposition)  to  have  his  victory 
also.  Let  not  Satan  bear  away  the  glory  as  if  there 
was  no  king,  no  conqueror  but  he  :  for  this  master  of 
slaves  is  but  a  slave  to  a  higher  Master;  and  as  he 
can  exercise  no  dominion  over  his  sei-vants  but  by 
God's  permission,  so  (iod  holds  him  in  the  strongest 
subjection,  so  hampered  with  invincible  chains  of  ser- 
viliule,  that  he  cannot  touch  one  of  his  servants,  not 
one  limb  of  their  bodies,  not  one  hair  of  their  heads, 
not  one  beast  of  their  herds,  till  God  hath  given 
him  leave,  and  he  will  never  give  him  leave  to  hurt 
their  souls.  You  have  seen  the  cari'iagc  of  an  inhu- 
man tyrant  over  his  slaves  ;  come  now  to  the  court  of 
a  King,  and  see  Ihe  usage  of  his  free  servants  ;  yea, 
see  a  court  of  kings,  Rev.  i.  fi,  for  all  God's  servants 
lie  no  less  than  princes.  Where  we  have  two  ge- 
neral occurrences.  First,  the  conquest  of  some  that 
stand  out.  Secondly,  the  happiness  of  them  that  arc 
overcome. 

1.  God  is  sure  to  be  Victor,  for  what  force  can 


Ver.  19. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


551 


withstand  him  ?  But  he  frames  the  manner  of  his 
victories  to  the  nature  of  his  enemies  ;  them  that  re- 
sist he  overcomes  by  subversion;  them  that  yield,  by 
conversion.  His  conquest  here  is  not  by  fury,  but  by 
mercy.  "Furj-  is  not  in  me  :"  the  briers  and  thorns 
shall  be  consumed  in  his  flame ;  but  they  that  lay 
hold  on  his  arm,  shall  hold  back  his  arm  ;  humble 
and  faithful  ]>ri)stration  shall  m.nke  their  {)eacc,  Isa. 
xxvii.  4,  5.  This  war  on  his  i>arl  is  all  of  love:  the 
intention  is  the  desire  of  peace.  By  preventing 
grace  the  war  is  undertaken;  by  operating  grace 
tne  battle  is  begun ;  by  finishing  grace  the  victory  is 
gotten.  When  God  gives  us  repentance,  he  hath 
then  overcome  ns.  We  were  rebels  by  nature,  and 
enemies  to  the  grace  of  God ;  we  must  be  vanquished, 
or  we  cannot  be  saved.  They  are  "led  by  the  ."spirit 
of  G<xl,"  Rom.  viii.  14.  So  gentle  is  this  conciueniig, 
that  it  is  called  a  leading:  Ducendo  viiicimiir,  lincendo 
ducimur,  says  one ;  i.  e.  We  are  conquered  by  leading, 
we  are  led  by  conquering.  Led  by  a  superior  instinct, 
not  furiously,  but  familiarly.  Nor  is  this  conquest  a 
necessitating  of  our  salvation.  Thus  Augustine,  He 
who  is  acted  upon,  is  not  properly  understood  to  act 
any  thing  himself.  Nay,  thou  art  both  acted  upon 
and  tliou  actcst;  men  are  acted  on,  that  they  may 
act.  God  gives  the  first  motion  or  inclination,  and 
so  we  begin:  and  by  his  continual  help  we  follow  on. 
We  are  not  willing  before  we  be  overcome,  but  in 
the  vcrj-  conquest  we  are  made  willing  to  be  over- 
come.    The  will  acted  on,  becomes  active. 

(!.■)  This  conquest  is  not  sudden.  Man's  heart  is 
naturally  stubborn  :  this  Jericho  will  not  be  won 
under  seven  days'  siege,  and  then  the  walls  must 
down  too,  worldly  forces  must  fail  us.  Not  seldom 
it  holds  out  longer  than  Ostend  or  Troy ;  God  is  many 
years  assaulting  it  with  his  spiritual  weapons,  his 
word,  ordinances,  favours,  frowns,  stripes,  before  it 
yields.  Few  arc  converted  in  an  hour,  or  can  tell 
that  hour  wherein  they  were  converted.  It  is  not 
here,  to  come  and  overcome.  God  doth  weaken  us 
before  he  vanqtiish  us,  taking  from  corruption  hero  a 
fort  and  there  a  bulwark,  now  a  trench,  t^un  a  mine, 
together  with  the  victuals  and  provision,  even  the 
magazine  whei'con  sin  feeds  and  lives.  When  the 
nnthrift  had  no  provant  left,  he  must  yield  and  hum- 
ble himself  to  his  Father. 

(2.)  It  is  not  hostile,  as  nation  against  nation  with 
a  deadly  feud,  but  with  terms  of  love.  Tlicre  is  a 
drj'  wounding,  a  conquest  without  blows.  Thou  hast 
wounded  me  with  one  of  thine  eyes.  Cant.  iv.  9. 
And,  Turn  away  thine  eyes,  for  they  overcome  me, 
chap.  vi.  ,5.  Of  all  victories,  love  is  the  greatest,  to 
"overcome  evil  with  good,"  Rom.  xii. 21.  This  is  to 
be  like  God,  whose  image  we  bear  in  our  creation, 
and  to  whose  image  we  are  restored  in  our  redemp- 
tion. Christ  hath  commanded  nothing  which  he 
does  not  enable  us  to  perform.  If  he  had  not  over- 
come all  our  malice  with  kindness,  he  would  never 
have  charged  us  with  such  a  practice.  Saul  hunts 
for  the  life  of  David  ;  David  halli  a  way  to  the  life  of 
Saul,  and  spares  it.  Such  a  feeling  oratory  did  Saul 
find  in  the  lips  of  David,  and  lap  of  his  garment,  that 
it  lies  not  in  the  power  of  his  envy,  ill  nature,  and 
curst  heart,  to  hold  out  from  tears.  He  whose  harp 
had  wont  to  quiet  Saul's  frenzy,  now  by  liis  kindness 
doth  calm  his  fury;  so  that  now  he  sheds  tears  in- 
stead of  blood.  Here  was  a  victory  gotten,  and  no 
blow  stricken.  Phocion,  that  noble  Athenian,  being 
condemned  to  die,  and  lifting  the  deadly,  cup  to 
his  lips,  was  asked  by  his  friends,  what  message  he 
would  send  to  his  son :  he  answered,  I  charge  him 
never  to  revenge  this  draught  upon  the  Athenians. 
(.Blian.  lib.  12.)  Baldwin,  king  of  Jern.salem.  having 
spoiled  the  Arabian  Saracens,  and  put  them  to  flight. 


found  in  his  return  homewards  a  w^oman  ready  to 
travail,  wife  unto  a  chief  prince  of  the  Arabians,  left 
behin<l  in  the  pursuit;  whom  he  covered  with  his 
own  mantle,  appointing  both  attendance  and  suste- 
nance. This  kindness  was  not  lost;  for  afterward 
being  besieged  by  the  same  Arabians,  and  put  to 
great  distress,  he  was  delivered  by  that  captain  whose 
wife  he  had  prcseiTed.  Yea,  take  an  example  nearer 
home  :  A  malefactor,  in  birth  and  person  a  comely 
gentleman,  was  sentenced  by  a  judge  deformed  in 
body.  Hereupon  he  turned  all  his  prayers  to  Heaven 
into  cursings  and  rcvilings  of  tlie  judge,  calling  him 
a  stigmatieal  and  bloody  man.  The  patient  judge 
for  that  time  reprieved  him  :  still  he  continued  in  the 
.same  language  of  invectives  and  blasphemies  against 
him.  The  next  session,  being  produced,  the  judge 
asked  him  if  his  choler  were  any  thing  boiled  away 
and  spent:  but  then  he  redoubled  his  railings:  yet 
he  reprieved  him  again,  as  loth  to  let  him  die  in  so 
uncharitable  and  desperate  a  condition  of  soul.  Be- 
fore the  third  assizes,  he  sent  for  him  to  his  chamber 
in  London,  and  asked  him  if  he  were  yet  more  paci- 
fied: still  nothing  came  from  him  but  words  of  in- 
veterate rancour.  Whereupon  said  the  judge,  God 
forgive  thee,  I  do;  and  withal  threw  him  his  pardon. 
Whereat  he  was  so  astonished,  that  being  but  hardly 
recovered  from  his  swoon,  he  refused  the  queen's 
jiardon  for  his  life,  unless  the  judge  would  both  par- 
don his  malice,  and  admit  him  into  his  service.  He 
did  so,  and  found  him  so  faithful,  that  dying  he  gave 
liim  the  greatest  part  of  his  estate.  Here  was  ex- 
treme evil  overcome  with  extraordinary  goodness. 
The  Judge  of  all  the  world  deals  yet  more  mercifully 
with  us  :  the  law  hath  condemned  us  to  die,  we  daily 
provoke  him  ;  he  could  presently  sentence  us,  but  he 
spares  us ;  still  we  anger  him  :  he  feeds,  finds  us, 
gives  us  all  we  have  ;  yet  still  we  rebel  against  him. 
At  last,  to  overcome  us  by  the  gentlest  war  that 
ever  was  heard  of,  he  seals  us  our  pardon  in  Jesus 
Christ,  through  whom  he  accepts  us  into  bis  ser- 
vice, and  makes  us  his  own  heirs.  Lo,  then  he  over- 
comes us. 

(3.)  It  is  not  violent,  he  uscth  no  boisterous  force 
against  ns.  Indeed  his  ordnance  be  his  ordinances, 
his  cannons  be  his  canons  and  laws.  But  against 
what  does  he  plant  them  .'  Not  against  ourselves,  but 
against  our  sins :  as  if  he  would  not  fight  with  us,  but 
fight  with  our  enemies  for  us.  We  have  no  foes  but 
our  faults  ;  upon  these  he  plays  with  his  shot,  and 
batters  them  down  before  us.  He  knows,  that  unless 
tliese  die,  we  cannot  live.  He  hath  his  sword,  a  two- 
edged  one,  keen  on  both  sides  :  with  this  he  wonnds. 
not  our  spirit,  but  our  flesh  ;  not  our  flesh,  but  the 
lusts  of  our  flesh;  yea,  not  so  much  our  lusts,  as  the 
corruption  of  our  lusts,  lancing  the  ulcer  that  would 
kill  us.  He  hath  his  mines;  but  lo  blow  up  our 
jiriile,  vain-glory,  ambition,  and  such  piles  of  vanities. 
He  hath  his  fire-works;  but  to  bum  up  our  rotten 
alfections  of  covetousness  and  unclcanness.  This 
strict  siege  is  but  to  famish  our  riot,  intemperance, 
drunkenness,  and  all  those  perdues,  .soldiers  that  de- 
serve no  pay,  the  forlorn  tatterdemalion  of  our  sins. 
His  ambushes  serve  but  to  resist  our  excursions,  fly- 
ings-out, ramblings,  and  such  extravagances  of  dis- 
obedience. Here  is  no  boisterous  turbulency  in  this 
war ;  all  the  violence  is  on  our  side  :  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  suffers  violence,  not  offers  it.  No  man  is 
saved  against  his  will ;  but  even  in  the  act  of  our 
overcoming,  we  are  willing  to  be  overcome.  We  feel 
pain  in  the  resistance,  nothing  but  peace  and  sweet- 
ness in  the  conquest.  I  had  rather  thus  be  conquered 
of  the  Lord,  than  be  conqueror  of  all  the  world.  O 
poor  Cicsars,  poor  Alexanders,  poor  Tamerlanes,  that 
won  so  many  victories,  and  lost  the  best,  in  not  being 


.'i52 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  lU 


overcome  by  GoiVs  mercies.     Thus  God  overcomes 
us,  by  overcoming  them  that  captived  us. 

(4.)  It  is  not  cruel,  like  Saul's  charge  for  Amalek, 
or  Israel's  execution  upon  Benjamin  :  there  none 
were  left  alive,  here  all  are  preserved  from  slaughter. 
As  he  said,  Pen'eram  nisi  periisnem,  i.  c.  I  should 
have  perished  if  I  had  not  been  undone :  so  we  had 
been  butchered  if  we  had  not  been  conquered.  If  we 
had  escaped  from  the  Captain  of  mercy,  we  had 
fallen  upon  the  captain  of  cruelly.  For  they  that 
will  not  be  overcome  of  God,  shall  be  overcome  of 
Satan.  The  Lord  goes  through  every  street,  here 
he  sets  his  mark  upon  a  house,  there  upon  a  person : 
these  be  his,  he  hath  fairly  won  them,  and  they  con- 
sent to  be  his  subjects ;  the  rest  he  leaves  to  the  de- 
stroyer, Ezek.  ix.  4,  5.  Those  he  hath  conquei-ed,  he 
hath  saved;  and  they  that  yield  not  to  so  gracious  a 
subduer,  perish  by  a  pitiless  destroyer.  As  a  man 
seeing  a  tumult  or  quarrel,  where  enraged  swords 
make  gashing  wounds,  and  through  those  breaches 
let  out  souls  ;  spies  one  in  this  hurlyburly  whom  he 
loves,  lays  hold  on  him,  and  being  stronger  than  he, 
bears  him  to  his  house,  and  locks  him  up  fast  as  in 
ward,  till  all  be  quiet :  so  doth  God  snatch  his 
chosen  out  of  the  broils  of  sin,  binds  them  with  the 
cords  of  obedience ;  and  though  they  struggle  for 
liberty,  keeps  them  sure  till  this  mutiny  be  over-past. 
Or  as  the  shepherd  in  a  tempest,  finds  a  lamb,  catch- 
cth  it  in  his  arms,  and  shelters  it,  till  the  storm  be 
blown  over.  The  lamb  strives,  and  thinks  itself 
going  to  death,  while  indeed  from  death  it  is  pre- 
served. 

So  graciously  doth  this  Conqueror  deal  v.  ilh  us : 
we  kick  at  his  precepts,  fret  at  our  restraint,  and  are 
impatient  of  our  suflerings :  whereas  "  we  are  chast- 
ened of  the  Lord,  that  we  should  not  be  condemned 
with  the  world,"  1  Cor.  xi.  32.  Two  had  appointed 
to  meet  in  the  field  of  blood ;  the  quarrel  was  bad, 
the  prosecution  worse  :  the  friend  of  one  of  them  not 
being  able  to  persuade  him  by  reason,  caused  him  to 
be  arrested  into  prison ;  better  a  short  bondage,  than 
unredeemable  death.  This  was  a  merciful  cruelty, 
the  other  had  been  a  cruel  mercy.  It  is  happy  if  a 
sickness  can  keep  us  from  sin.  When  a  wild  horse 
hath  got  the  head  of  his  rider,  and  runs  him  with 
fury  into  deadly  dangers,  he  does  him  no  wrong,  that 
kills  the  horse  to  save  the  man.  They  are  the 
beasts,  our  lusts,  that  draw  us  in  the  coach  of  licen- 
tiousness, headlong  to  hell,  as  Pharaoh's  chariot 
drew  him  into  the  Red  Sea,  against  which  God  is 
severe  and  cruel ;  and  when  there  is  no  other  reme- 
dy, he  will  kill  those  beasts  to  save  our  souls.  Here 
be  then  no  lamentable  cries,  no  merciless  blows,  no 
gaping  wounds,  no  channels  streaming  with  blood, 
in  this  conquest.  No  blood  is  shed  liere,  but  the 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  All  the  blood  and  life  this 
victory  cost,  was  spilt  on  the  victor's  part,  not  on 
the  conquered.  If  God  were  cruel  to  any,  it  was  to 
himself.  To  spare  our  blood,  he  shed  the  blood  of 
his  own  dear  Son. 

2.  Their  hajipincss  that  be  thus  overcome,  is  seen 
in  these  two  privileges. 

(I.)  They  are  the  only  free-men  in  the  world  :  this 
bondage  is  the  most  royal  liberty.  This  stands  both, 
first,  in  the  deliverance  from  evil;  that  neither  the 
bond  of  the  law  to  bring  perfect  obedience  in  our 
own  person,  obligelh  us ;  nor  the  breach  of  that  law, 
for  want  of  that  righteousness,  condemneth  us,  Rom. 
viii.  1.  AVhen  the  king  hath  signed  a  transgressor 
his  pardon,  all  his  malicious  enemies  and  accusers 
cannot  injure  him.  Secondly,  and  in  the  abilitv  to 
good,  even  to  serve  the  Lord  without  fear,  Luke  i. 
74.  It  is  true  indeed,  still  we  sin,  and  alas,  that  we 
must  !     We  are  made  "  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and 


death,"  Rom.  viii.  2 :  not  simply  from  sin  and  death, 
but  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.  Not  so  delivered', 
that  we  can  neither  sin  nor  die ;  but  that  neither  sia 
shall  captive  us,  nor  death  confound  us.  Indeed  we 
sigh,  and  fight,  and  fain  would  be  delivered  fron\  all 
assaults  of  sin :  but  beggars  must  not  choose  (heir 
alms  ;  we  must  be  contented  with  our  measure  :  we 
have  this  to  humble  us,  not  to  condemn  us.  It  is 
comfort  sufficient,  though  sin  disturb  us,  it  shall 
never  destroy  us.  We  abhor  a  snake,  for  the  nature 
of  it ;  to  touch  it,  is  our  fear  ;  and  it  is  but  our  fear, 
when  all  the  malignity  and  venom  is  gone.  Sin 
doth  hiss  at  us,  but  cannot  harm  us :  Idessed  be  God, 
the  fear  is  more  than  the  hurt.  Our  life  lies  in  cur 
Head :  if  this  serpent  with  all  his  sting  could  not 
hurt  the  Head,  it  shall  never  kill  any  member. 

Indeed  where  it  domineers,  it  damns.  If  a  man 
sick  on  his  bed,  burning  of  a  fever,  fetching  his 
breath  \rith  straitness  and  shortness,  looking  like 
earth,  say  he  is  well  in  health,  we  do  not  believe  him  : 
so  if  we  sec  men  swelling  with  pride,  flaming  with 
lust,  looking  earthy  with  covetousness,  and  yet  flat- 
tering themselves  with  hope  of  salvation,  we  cannot 
credit  them,  all  the  world  cannot  save  them.  Here 
the  condition  is  not  kept,  therefore  the  obligation  is 
in  force ;  they  do  not  serve  God,  they  are  not  free. 
But  where  is  an  endeavour  to  obey  him,  and  a  faith 
in  Christ  to  supply  the  defects  of  that  obedience, 
there  the  covenant  is  kept,  the  bond  is  void.  Sin 
oflers  many  assaults ;  but  still  we  "  stand  fast  in  the 
liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free,"  Gal.  v. 
1.  Death  shall  wholly  quit  us  from  these  solicita- 
tions. Death  is  the  burial  of  our  sins,  saith  Ambrose. 
It  is  not  so  much  the  death  of  the  man,  as  the  death 
of  sin  in  the  man.  As  the  worm  bred  in  the  tree, 
at  last  consumes  the  tree  ;  so  death  is  bred  by  s'.n, 
and  sin  shall  be  destroyed  by  death.  This  is  the  full 
accomplishment  of  our  freedom,  when  that  filthy 
flux  of  sin  is  dried  up  in  an  instant.  Whatsoever 
depraved  nature  suggests,  it  is.  not  in  vain  to  serve 
the  Lord,  for  we  are  made  kings  by  this  service, 
Rev.  i.  C.  We  may  better  say  of  heaven,  than  of  th.at 
city,  "  whose  merchants  are  princes,"  Isa.  xsiii.  8,  all 
God's  subjects  be  kings:  not  kings  born,  but  born 
again;  not  of  a  piece  of  earth,  but  of  heaven ;  not  of 
a  mortal  principality,  but  of  an  immortal  kingdom. 
Courtiers  may  fiiil  of  preferment;  they  may  be  near 
high  places  and  offices,  and  miss  them:  one  com- 
pared them  to  fasting-days ;  they  were  next  the  holi- 
days, but  in  themselves  the  most  meagre  and  leanest 
days  of  the  week:  but  God's  servants  are  sure.  In- 
ferior men  rise  to  honours  and  places  by  the  dciLth 
of  others;  these  by  their  own  deaths  ascend  to  the 
glory  of  heaven. 

But  Christianity  seems  to  afford  veiy  small  liberty : 
is  it  not  a  yoke,  and  a  burden  ?  "  Take  my  yoke 
upon  you,"  Matt.  xi.  29.  Take  a  i/oke,  there  is  the 
condition  of  humanity ;  labour.  Take  my  yoke, 
there  is  the  condition  of  Christianity ;  an  especial 
labour.  And,  Take  upon  i/ou :  which  implies  both 
patience,  willingly  ;  and  obedience,  servingly  :  not  to 
touch  it  with  one  finger,  but  to  bear  it  on  our  should- 
ers ;  submit  all  our  actions  and  affections  to  it.  Pride 
and  ambition  are  above  the  yoke,  and  tread  tiiat 
inider  their  heels  which  they  should  bear  upon  their 
necks.  Indeed  this  is  true ;  but  still  it  is  an  easy 
yoke,  a  light  burden.  First,  this  yoke  is  not  made 
of  green  wood,  then  it  would  be  heavy  ;  but  of  dry, 
therefore  it  is  portable  and  easy.  Secondly,  it  is  not 
a  new  yoke,  but  hath  been  borne  and  worn  before  by 
Christ  himself,  to  make  it  easy  for  us.  Thirdly,  it 
is  oiled  and  lined  with  sweet  comforts  :  God  hath  so 
softened  it  with  pillows  of  mercy,  that  it  cann.it 
offend  us.     Fourthly,  wc  draw  in  it  with  p:i:irnce. 


Ver.  19. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


553 


Oxen  tliat  slniggle  and  be  unruly  with  their  yokes, 
put  tlu-msclvcs  to  pain ;  God  hath  given  us  the 
shoulders  of  patience,  before  he  puts  on  the  yoke  of 
obedience.  Fiflhly,  we  do  not  draw  alone,  nor  does 
the  weight  of  tlie  load  lie  upon  our  backs ;  we 
should  then  sink  and  shrink  under  it.  But  a  yoke  is 
made  for  two,  and  Christ  is  one  of  the  two ;  his  om- 
nipotence assists  our  weakness;  the  greatest  burden 
lies  upon  him.  Sixthly  and  lastly,  it  is  not  perpetual ; 
we  draw  it  but  during  a  short  life.  And  if  it  be 
painful  for  the  day,  we  are  unyoked  at  night,  when 
we  go  to  bed,  in  death.  But  the  wicked  have  a  sorer 
yoke  for  the  present,  whereof  the  wood  is  green  and 
ponderous;  all  sin  is  heavy.  And  though  it  seem 
qualified  with  pleasure  and  content,  and  is  commonly 
drawn  with  a  companion  ;  as  the  broker  and  usurer 
both  in  a  yoke,  drankard  and  drunkard  bath  in  a 
yoke,  adulterer  and  harlot  both  in  a  yoke :  and 
where  a  yoke-fellow  fails,  as  the  proud  man  loves  no 
partner,  no  partner  loves  him,  here  the  devil  puts  in 
a  shouldei-,  to  ease  him  and  help  it  on.  Yet  still 
they  draw  with  tyranny,  pain,  impatience,  and  feel 
many  a  prick  of  Satan's  goad,  that  charioteer  of 
hell,  to  set  them  forward.  And  last  of  all,  at  night, 
when  they  sliould  put  ofl'  one  yoke,  another,  a  lu'a- 
vier,  a  sorer  is  put  on  them,  which  they  must  bear 
for  ever.  But  when  the  faithful  sIkiU  be  uncoupled 
from  Ihc  yoke,  there  is  ease  and  eternal  rest,  ^Iatt. 
XXV.  21.  The  mouth  of  the  ox  that  draws  in  the 
yoke,  is  not  muzzled  on  earth,  and  the  soul  shall 
find  everlasting  reward  in  heaven. 

I  do  not  exempt  Christianity  from  all  difficulty : 
it  is  no  easy  labour  to  serve  God  ;  yea,  they  that  do 
it  best,  feel  it  hardest,  and  complain  that  they  can 
do  it  no  better.  There  be  hot  encounters,  potent  ad- 
versaries, and  many  adversities,  against  them  that 
would  go  to  heaven ;  malicious  and  subtle  spirits,  an 
alluring  world,  a  vicious  and  stubborn  nature.  Some- 
times we  see  them  not,  and  complain  of  feeling  them 
too  late :  sometimes  we  see  them  with  amazement, 
fear  them,  and  are  ready  to  flee  from  them  with  an 
Israelitish  cowardice;  "Who  can  stand  before  the 
children  of  Anak  ?  "  Dent.  ix.  2.  Another  time  we 
stand,  and  resist  as  well  as  we  can,  but  arc  foiled 
with  indignation  and  shame.  Up  we  get  again, 
take  heart,  and  renew  the  combat ;  yea,  even  jire- 
vail,  and  triumph.  Oh  how  glad  we  are,  if  either 
we  have  not  been  thrown  down  by  the  temptation, 
or  recovered  ourselves  from  the  fall,  by  compunction. 
In  the  height  of  this  joy,  we  are  again  surprised  with 
a  sudden  assault ;  whereof  as  we  had  no  warning,  we 
have  no  power  of  resisting.  Thus  are  we  hurried  into 
sin,  overruled  to  displease  our  Maker :  yea,  some- 
times we  can  iiardly  struggle  out  of  the  snare  for 
some  hours  or  days ;  and  when  we  escape,  not  with- 
out many  wounds  and  bruises;  so  that  coming  to 
the  surgeiT  of  repentance,  we  find  a  bleeding  con- 
science. We  look  not  that  God  should  strew  carpels 
for  our  nice  feet  to  walk  into  our  heaven ;  or  make 
that  way  smooth  for  us,  which  all  patriarchs,  pro- 
phets, apostles,  confessore,  Christ  himself,  have  found 
rugged  and  bloody  ;  or  to  fare  better  than  all  Ihc 
saints.  Yet  still  we  will  not  change  conditions  with 
the  worldly:  Paul  was  happier  in  his  chain  of  iron, 
tlKiu  Agrippa  in  his  chain  of  gold.  One  rag  of  a 
s;iint  is  worth  the  whole  wardrobe  of  a  sinner:  and 
that  for  the  next  privilege. 

(•2.)  Their  reward  is  infinite.  We  may  well  con- 
temn the  difficulty,  when  we  respect  the  advantage. 
We  serve  a  good  Master,  who  not  only  pays,  but 
gives  ;  not  after  the  proportion  of  our  earnings,  but 
of  his  own  mercies.  Hell  cannot  touch  us,  death 
cannot  hurt  us;  if  any  evil  do  assault  us,  it  presently 
brines  us  more  good.    Besides  this  freedom,  how- 


large  is  our  possession !  all  good  things  are  ours,  to 
claim,  to  enjoy :  we  cannot  look  beyond  our  own, 
nor  beside  it :  we  have  right  to  the  things  we  see, 
and  no  less  to  the  things  we  see  not.  The  heaven 
that  rolls  so  gloriously  over  our  heads,  is  ours :  those 
celestial  spirits,  the  better  part  of  that  high  creation, 
are  ours ;  they  watch  us  in  our  beds,  guard  us  in 
our  ways,  shelter  us  from  dangers,  comfort  us  in 
troubles ;  and  as  living  they  have  kept,  so  dying 
they  gladly  receive,  our  souls.  Yea,  above  all,  the 
God  of  spirits  is  ours;  and  by  a  sweet  and  secret 
union,  we  are  become  heirs  of  his  glorj',  and  as  it 
were  limbs  of  himself.  How  incomprehensible  is 
this  blessedness !  when  we  look  to  the  reward,  we 
could  not  wish  the  work  easier.  If  eveiy  pain  we 
sutler  were  a  death,  and  every  cross  a  hell,  we  have 
amends  enough.  It  were  injurious  to  complain  of 
the  service,  when  we  acknowledge  the  recompcnce. 
What  thou  wilt,  O  Lord,  so  I  may  be  thine,  what 
thou  wilt :  though  I  should  buy  it  dearer,  I  would 
be  thy  servant,  a  Christian. 

"Our  light  affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  moment, 
worketh  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory,"  2  Cor.  iv.  17.  Where  we  have  a. 
threefold  opposition;  light  and  weighty,  momentary 
and  eternal,  affliction  and  glory.  What  comparison, 
what  proportion  of  the  recompcnce  to  the  service? 
I  may  justly  bo  out  of  love  with  myself;  nothing 
shall  make  me  out  of  love  with  my  profession  : 
herein  alone  are  we  safe,  herein  blessed.  "  God  for- 
bid that  I  should  glory,  sa%'e  in  the  cross  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  Gal.  vi.  14:  if  we  should  prefer  any  worldly 
joys  before  it,  we  were  unworthy  of  it.  Gold  may 
make  a  man  the  richer,  not  the  better  ;  honour  may 
make  him  the  higher,  not  the  happier ;  and  all 
temporal  pleasures  are  but  flowers,  they  have  but 
their  month,  and  are  gone ;  this  morning  in  the 
bosom,  the  next  to  the  besom:  "All  flesh  is  as 
grass,  and  the  glory  of  man  as  the  flower,"  1  Pet.  i.  24. 
Grace  is  like  the  sun,  which  shines  comfortably  in 
this  world,  shall  shine  sevenfold  more  gloriously  in 
the  world  to  come,  Prov.  iv.  18 ;  an  honour  not  cloud- 
ed, not  envied,  not  exceeded ;  and  such  honour  have 
all  the  saints,  Psal.  exlix.  9. 

To  conclude  with  the  sum  of  the  verse.  Deceitful 
promises  are  the  bane,  both  of  the  forger  and  of  the 
believer.  They  promise  others  liberty,  while  "  ihcm- 
selvcsare  the  servants  of  corruption."  As  if  a  male- 
factor, that  is  himself  chained  in  the  dungeon, 
should  promise  his  fellow  to  open  him  the  prison- 
door,  and  let  him  out.  Fair  promises  are  the  devil's 
bait,  and  it  must  be  our  wisdom  to  discern  betwixt 
the  deceit  of  sin  present,  and  the  fruit  of  sin  to  come. 
What  a  liberty  did  Satan  promise  our  first  parents 
that  they  should  have,  and  so  indeed  stole  from  them 
the  liberty  that  they  had.  As  Laban  promised  Jacob 
beautiful  Rachel,  but  in  the  dark  gave  him  blear- 
eyed  Leah.  Or  as  Hamor  promised  the  Shechemitcss 
that  by  their  circumcision  all  the  goods  of  the  house 
of  Israel  should  be  theirs,  whereas  indeed  the  goods 
of  the  Shechemiles  fell  to  the  house  of  Israel.  The 
devil,  says  Cyprian,  lies,  in  order  to  deceive ;  he 
promises  life,  in  order  to  destroy.  The  wages  that 
Satan  promiseth,  and  the  sinner  would  have, lie  shall 
not  get ;  but  the  wages  that  God  threateneth,  and 
man  would  not  have,  this  shall  be  assuredly  paid 
him.  The  gain  they  sin  for  they  shall  leave  behind 
them ;  but  their  sins  they  shall  carry  with  them. 
"What  fruit  had  ye  then  in  those  things  whereof  ye 
are  now  ashamed  ?  for  the  end  of  those  things  is 
death,"  Rom.  vi.  21.  Surely  there  is  no  fruit  but 
shame  and  death  to  be  gathered  from  the  forbidden 
tree.  False  promisers  and  vain-glorious  boasters  are 
the  children  of  Satan,  this  is  the  top  of  their  pcdi- 


554 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IT. 


gree  :  yea,  the  devil  doth  borrow  the  use  of  their 
tongues  for  a  time.  But  faithful  is  He  that  hath 
promised,  who  will  also  do  it.  Fidelity  and  truth  is 
the  issue  of  heaven. 


Verse  20. 

For  if  after  the;/  have  escaped  the  poUutionn  of  the 
ti-orld  through  the  kiiouledge  of  the  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  they  are  again  entangled  therein,  and 
overcome,  the  latter  end  is  worse  with  them  than  the 
beginning. 

It  is  not  the  least  happiness  in  this  world,  not  to  be 
taken  with  the  happiness  of  this  world.  Pliny  the 
younger  could  say,  I  take  some  pleasure  from  this 
(consideration'),  that  I  am  not  taken  with  this  plea- 
sure. To  walk  daily  through  this  garden  of  tempta- 
tions, and  pluck  none  of  the  forbidden  fruits  or  (lowers, 
is  a  temperance  so  for  above  nature,  that  no  man,  but 
He  that  was  more  than  man,  ever  attained  it.  If  a 
mere  stranger  passeth  alone  through  the  streets  of  a 
populous  city,  and  follows  his  affairs  close,  he  may 
return  uninfected,  because  unsaluled.  But  for  a 
known  citizen  to  do  so,  to  blanch  all  his  acquaint- 
ance with  prejudice,  to  deny  all  those  friends  tliat 
offer  their  cruel  courtesies  at  the  next  tavern,  to  re- 
fuse all  the  invitations  of  profit  or  pleasure,  requires 
a  well-resolved  abstinence.  Christ  was  a  stranger 
upon  earth,  so  should  every  Christian  be :  but  this  is 
the  country  wherein  we  are  born,  (though  it  be  not 
the  country  whereto  we  are  boi-n,)  and  it  is  hard  for 
a  man  to  deny  his  country.  The  world  allures,  af- 
fects, infects  us ;  and  though  we  pretend  for  heaven, 
yet  still  we  bear  about  us  a  twang  of  our  native  coun- 
try. Even  they  that  would  fiiin  get  out  of  the  world, 
yet  cannot  get  the  world  quite  out  of  them.  They 
purpose  well  ;  and  if  those  thoughts  (not  theirs)  be- 
gin to  lift  them  up  from  their  earth,  presently  he 
that  rules  in  the  air,  stoops  upon  them  with  his 
powerful  temptations,  or  the  world  pulls  them  down 
aeain  with  a  sweet  violence ;  so  as  they  know  not 
whether  they  be  compelled  or  persuaded  to  yield. 
There  is  in  the  best  such  a  deal  of  infirmity,  but  a 
great  deal  more  of  treachery.  How  willing  are  we 
to  be  deceived,  how  loth  to  be  altered !  If,  says  one, 
the  world  has  somuch  power  over  those  who  belong  not 
to  it,  what  sort  of  power  does  it  exercise  over  its  own  ? 
But  now  when  a  man  is  pulled  out  of  these  briers  and 
thorns  with  a  bleeding  skin,  and  made  sensible  of 
those  wounds  which  he  hath  received  in  this  forest, 
and  is  in  time  healed  of  those  hurts  ;  if  he  rush  again 
into  that  daTigerous  wilderness,  and  hazard  new  mis- 
chiefs, he  falls  (almost  unjiitied)  into  the  hands  of 
robbers  and  murderers,  destitute  of  both  rescue  and 
resistance.  To  be  recovered  from  the  ways  of  death, 
to  walk  awhile  in  the  ways  of  life  ;  and  after  all  this, 
to  turn  from  the  land  of  the  living  to  the  Golgotha 
of  the  dead,  from  the  forsaking  of  sin  to  the  sin  of 
forsaking  religion  and  goodness ;  this  is  the  fearful 
condition  of  the  apostates  in  my  text,  whose  latter 
end  is  worse  than  their  beginning. 

We  have  three  general  parts  : 

A  proposition,  They  have  escaped,  &c. 

A  supposition.  If  again  they  be  entangled. 

A  conclusion,  Their  latter  end  is  worse. 

In  the  proposition  are  three  particulars  :  lirst, 
what  ?  viz.  They  have  escaped.  Secondly,  from 
what?  From  the  pollutions  of  the  world.  Tliirdlv, 
how,  or  in  what  way  ?  By  the  knowledge  of  Christ. 
In  the  supposition  observe  two  particulars  :  first,  the 


easiness  of  felling  back ;  If  again ;  it  may  be  so,  it  is 
no  ways  impossible.  Secondly,  the  hardness  of  re- 
covering them,  which  ap}>ears  by  the  two  phrases  ; 
entangled,  it  will  cost  labour  to  unsnare  them  ;  over- 
come, it  will  cost  a  price  to  redeem  them;  neither 
of  both  which  is  afforded  them.  But  lastly,  the  con- 
clusion follows.  The  latter  end  with  them  is  worse 
than  the  beginning.  The  text  begins  with  hope. 
They  have  escaped ;  goes  on  with  fear.  They  are 
again  entangled  ;  and  concludes  in  despair,  Their 
latter  end  is  worse  tlian  their  beginning. 

"  They  have  escaped."  Next  to  the  finding  an  un- 
expected benefit,  it  is  a  great  happiness  to  escape  an 
unsuspected  danger ;  yea,  the  escaping  of  a  great 
danger,  is  more  joy  than  the  receiving  of  an  ordinary 
benefit.  David  did  not  so  much  bless  Abigail  for 
relieving  the  hunger  of  liis  body,  as  for  preventing 
the  sin  of  his  soul,  1  Sam.  xx%-.  33.  She  saved  him 
from  spilling  the  blood  of  another,  he  thanks  her  as 
much  as  if  she  had  hindered  another  from  spilling 
his  blood.  Nabal  did  not  more  rejoice  in  escaping 
death,  than  David  in  that  he  was  kept  from  being  the 
author  of  it.  Never  was  a  good  man  delivered  from 
a  known  peril,  but  he  blessed  his  deliverer.  "  Our 
soul  is  escaped  as  a  bird  out  of  the  snare  :  the  snare 
is  broken,  and  we  are  escaped,"  Psal.  cxxiv.  /  :  the 
church  doubles  the  memory  of  that  mercy;  there  it 
was  mentioned  but  twice.  He  speaks  thrice  of  com- 
passing, of  dangers,  of  enemies,  of  multitudes  like 
swarms  of  bees,  Psal.  cxviii.  10 — 12  ;  still  he  blessed 
God  for  escaping,  even  with  the  destruction  of  his 
foes  :  there  it  is  thrice.  How  worthy  is  lie  to  perish 
in  the  next  danger,  that  is  not  thankful  for  escaping 
the  former  !  "  They  that  are  delivered  from  the 
noise  of  archers  in  the  places  of  drawing  water, 
there  shall  they  rehearse  the  righteous  acts  of  the 
Lord,"  Judg.  v.  11.  They  had  set  a  song  of  thanks- 
giving for  that  deliverance.  My  soul  is  escaped  from 
the  lions,  saith  David,  therefore  will  I  praise  thee. 
In  that  dreadful  tragedy  of  Egypt,  when  every  house 
had  a  dead  body  in  it,  and  that  of  the  first-born,  Is- 
rael escaped:  and  shall  the  remembrance  of  this 
mercy  vanish  ?  No,  every  year  they  shall  keep  that 
day  holy  to  the  Lord,  with  the  great  feast  of  their 
passover.  That  treason  which  should  have  been 
done  with  a  match,  that  matchless  conspiracy,  where- 
of the  scene  was  laid  at  Westminster,  the  stage  was 
the  parliament  house,  the  plot  contrived  at  Roine, 
tile  intention  was  the  confusion  of  a  whole  state; 
.Iras  et  focos,  regalia,  sacra,  velusta ;  i.  e.  Altars  and 
hearths",  things  royal,  sacred,  old:  yet  betwixt  the 
lire  and  the  powder,  that  short  distance,  we  escaped. 
Shall  that  deliverance  escape  without  our  tliajiks  ? 
No,  unblest  shall  be  tlwt  year,  where  the  fifth  of 
November  is  not  rubricked  in  the  calendar,  where  our 
escaping  is  not  acknowledged  with  thankful  hearts. 
Our  late  king  of  happy  memopi-,  escaping  the  danger 
of  a  conspiracy  in  Scotland,  cimtentcd  not  himself 
with  a  commemoration  of  it  once  a  year :  his  subjects 
had  the  fifth  of  August ;  himself  kept  one  day  every 
week.  He  that  escapeth  a  peril  widiout  thankful 
acknowledgment,  is  indebted  for  his  deliverance. 
Now  there  is  no  danger  like  sin ;  for  there  could 
have  been  no  danger  hut  for  sin;  and  the  greater  the 
danger  the  greater  praise  belongs  to  the  deliverance. 
Daniel  was  among  the  lions;  they  could  but  have 
torn  his  flesh,  and  sent  his  soul  to  heaven  through 
those  painful  breaches.  But  to  escape  from  that 
roaring  lion,  whose  teeth  water  at  men's  souls,  as 
being  too  dainty  to  feed  on  flesh,  how  great  is  this 
happiness !  Three  servants  of  (iod  were  cast  into 
that  seven  times  heated  furnace:  all  those  flames 
could  not  scorch  their  souls,  whatsoever  they  had 
done  to  their  bodies.    But  t  he  tire  of  hell  hath  a 


Ver.  20. 


SKCOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


555 


secret  and  siipemaluml  property  to  torment  the  soul : 
"  I  am  tormented  in  this  flame,"  saith  the  rich  churl, 
Luke  xvi.  '24 ;  that  I  must  be  his  soul,  his  body  was 
in  the  grave ;  and  that  with  a  fervour  not  less  violent 
than  everlasting.  To  escape  that,  may  well  chal- 
lenge thanks  from  cither  men  or  angels.  ^ 

If  we  escape  a  dangerous  sickness,  and  do  not  bless 
God  with  heart,  voice,  and  life  for  our  recovery,  we 
rise  from  our  beds,  and  owe  for  our  physic.  Halh 
God's  angel  forborne  to  sheath  his  sword  in  ou  r  liowels, 
when  thousands  have  fallen  under  his  impartial  hand  ? 
Let  us  be  humbly  thankful  ;  otherwise  there  is  a 
worse  plague  left  behind  for  us,  yea,  in  us.  Argue 
with  all  the  world,  tliey  will  conclude,  there  is  no 
vice  like  to  ingratitude.  "  Thou  art  made  whole  ; 
sin  no  more,  lest  a  worse  thing  come  unto  thee," 
John  v.  14.  We  commit  new  sins  while  we  are 
thankless  for  escaping  the  punishment  of  our  old 
ones.  God  justly,  for  tlie  first  sin,  liad  concluded  all 
the  world  under  sin;  some  through  his  grace  in 
Christ  are  escaped  from  this  condemnation ;  shall 
they  tear  the  instrument  of  their  pardon  ?  No  ;  we 
see  it  done,  let  us  kiss  the  seal,  and  confess  his  mercy. 
We  were  overwhelmed  with  sin  and  ignorance  ;  God 
hath  called  us  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous 
light ;  shall  we  put  out  the  lamp  whereby  we  are 
escaped  ?     No;  we  must  be  thankful, 

^\  e  make  vows  to  God  in  our  dangers ;  shall  we 
not  pay  them  after  our  dangers?  Our  obedience  is  a 
debt,  though  we  had  never  revowed  it;  shall  we  for- 
feit all  these  bonds  ?  Thou  owest  thy  service  to  God 
for  escaping  sin  and  hell;  pay,  pay.  Thou  hast  re- 
ceived all,  thou  owest  all:  think  of  i>ayment.  They 
are  infamous  that  get  the  goods  of  othere  into  their 
hands,  and  then  break.  The  subject  that  is  intrusted 
by  his  prince  with  keeping  of  a  fort,  and  shall  give  it 
up  to  the  enemy,  is  a  desperate  traitor.  Our  tongues, 
eyes,  hands,  bodies,  and  souls  are  delivered  from  the 
prince  of  darkness,  by  the  Son  of  righteousness,  and 
deposited  to  our  keeping:  if  we  yield  them  back  to 
their  old  usurper,  by  blasphemy,  pride,  uncleanness, 
we  shall  die  the  death  of  traitors.  Thou  slightest  an 
offended  neighbour;  I  care  not  for  him,  I  owe  him 
nothing:  sure  we  owe  Satan  nothing,  but  our  detest- 
ation ;  why  then  should  we  do  him  any  service  ? 
We  owe  all  to  God,  both  for  escaping  hell,  and  for 
our  hope  of  heaven.  What  shall  we  render  to  him 
for  all  ?  Thankfulness  and  obedience  are  our  vows, 
and  we  will  pay  our  vows  unto  him,  Psal.  cxvi. 
12,  14. 

But  we  say,  Alas,  we  have  not  wherewithal,  Matt, 
xviii.  25.  Men  that  are  run  far  in  debt,  and  pay,  and 
pay,  yet  see  small  hope  of  coming  out,  often  grow- 
desperate.  Not  so:  we  owe  an  infinite  sum,  and  we 
have  an  infinite  sum  to  pay  it  withal,  the  infinite 
obedience  and  merit  of  Jesus  Christ ;  this  is  able  to 
discharge  all,  were  the  debt  greater.  For  our  own 
actual  obedience,  let  us  pay  so  far  as  we  can.  This 
is  the  difference  between  debts  owing  to  God,  and  to 
men.  The  more  of  our  debts  we  pay  unto  men,  the 
less  we  have  remaining  of  our  own ;  but  the  more  we 
pay  to  G<i(l,  the  more  we  have,  and  are  the  better 
able  to  i)ay.  God  hath  delivered  us  from  the  bond- 
age of  Satan,  to  wliom  (by  reason  of  sin)  we  owed 
our  souls:  Christ  halh  discharged  that  debt,  and  we 
are  escaped;  yet  still  we  are  debtors,  Rom.  viii.  12: 
this  dclit  is  not  cancelled,  but  translated  ;  every  bene- 
fit is  a  new  obligation.  Only  we  are  delivered  from 
those  scattering  debts  to  that  merciless  creditor, 
Satan :  and  God  hath  taken  it  into  his  own  hand : 
now  all  that  we  owe  is  to  him.  The  principal  we 
pay  him  in  his  own  coin.tlie  blood  of  his  Sou;  the 
interest  is  our  thankful  ser\icc  and  obedience.  We 
are  escaped  from  the  captivity  of  that  tyrant ;  Christ 


hath  paid  our  ransom :  only  we  will  pay  him  our 
praises,  our  service,  ourselves. 

"  The  pollutions  of  the  world."  Delivered  from 
the  world  ?  PerhajJS  this  was  none  of  their  heart's 
desire.  They  found  no  danger  in  it :  and  he  tliat 
should  promise  them  eternal  riches,  taking  away  tlie 
present  possession  of  these  temporals,  they  would 
think  made  them  losers.  Matt.  xix.  21.  They  are  so 
far  from  contending  to  escape  the  world,  that  the 
world  shall  not  escape  them.  They  court  it  as  their 
chief  paragon,  the  mistress  of  their  affections.  Tell 
them  of  any  blemishes  or  defects  in  it ;  as  the  cares, 
thorns,  stings,  treacheiy,  and  a  thousand  such  incon- 
veniences, which  are  nourished  in  the  heart  of  this 
harlot;  no  matter,  they  will  take  her  with  all  faults. 
Samson  will  have  his  Philistine  cockatrice,  though 
he  lose  both  his  eyes. 

It  is  true  indeed,  the  world  itself  doth  no  harm; 
for  He  made  it,  and  all  things  in  it,  that  could 
make  nothing  amiss.  And  that  the  good  things 
there,  are  turned  into  pollutions  here,  it  may  blame 
sin,  and  sin  may  blame  man,  and  man  may  blame 
woman,  and  woman  may  blame  the  devil.  Nor  yet 
docs  it  defile  us  necessarily,  as  pitch  defiles  the 
handler  ;  but  accidentally,  as  an  unskilful  mechanic 
cuts  liis  fingers  with  good  and  useful  tools.  The  pol- 
lutions of  tile  world  be  even  a  world  of  pollutions ; 
they  contend  for  number  with  the  very  creatures. 
Tliere  is  scarce  any  thing  made  for  man,  whereby 
man  doth  not  mar  himself.  Who  would  think  that 
a  spider  should  fetch  venom  out  of  a  rose  ?  Woman 
was  made  a  helper  for  man  ;  wliat  a  multitude  of  nun 
have  fallen  by  woman!  Bread  and  sustenance  are 
neccssan,'  for  tlie  preservation  of  life  ;  yet  how  many 
have  made  their  table  a  snare !  Here  is  field-room 
enough,  and  it  were  hard  not  to  expatiate  ;  for  it  may 
be  said  of  this  land,  as  it  was  of  Carthage,  It  is  as 
full  of  pollutions  as  of  people :  or  as  Augustine  of 
Lazarus,  So  many  sores,  so  many  mouths,  crying  out 
for  redress.     But  I  reduce  all  unto  three. 

I.  The  pollutions  which  we  contract  from  the 
riches  of  the  world :  not  that  riches  are  noxious  in 
themselves,  for  then  no  good  man  would  not  have 
renounced  them.  "  Charge  them  that  are  rich  in 
this  world,"  1  Tim.  vi.  1/.  As  St.  John  distin- 
guisheth  of  being  in  the  church,  and  being  of  the 
church;  so  men  may  be  rich  in  the  world,  yet  inno- 
cent and  happy;  for  while  their  estates  are  below, 
thrir  hearts  are  above.  But  those  are  rich  of  the 
world,  that  are  worldlings  in  heart  as  well  as  in 
estate ;  whose  affections  have  devoured  as  much  of  the 
world  as  they  can,  and  are  sony  that  they  cannot 
swallow  it  all.  The  rich  of  the  world  are  in  it,  but 
the  rich  in  the  world  are  not  of  it.  The  world  is  in 
men's  ears,  the  world  is  in  their  hearts ;  and  they  are 
not  in  it  only,  but  of  it.  And  there  can  be  nothing 
in  them  that  are  of  the  world,  but  enmity  to  God, 
and  that  which  God  repays  with  enmity ;  so  as  there 
is  no  way  for  them  but  perishing  with  the  world.  It 
is  not  for  nothing,  that  the  same  word  in  the  Hebrew 
signifies  both  riches  and  unrighteousness  :  "  The 
man  that  strengthened  himself  in  his  wickedness," 
or,  in  his  substance,  Psal.  Hi.  T;  so  closely  doth 
wickedness  cleave  to  many  men's  substjince. 

There  be  too  many  that  sell  the  poor  to  slaughter, 
and  yet  thank  God  for  the  price;  but  God  will  never 
thank  them  for  it.  Those  butchers  say,  "Blessed  be 
the  Lord  ;  for  I  am  rich,"  Zech.  xi.  5.  This  is  a  pol- 
lution that  will  hardly  ever  be  washed  off;  no,  not 
expiated  with  building  of  an  alms-house ;  for  God 
will  not  be  bribed  with  an  hospital.  There  is  not  a 
penny  got  by  such  unjust  courses,  but  it  sticks  a  foul 
spot  on  the  soul :  therefore  the  apostle  calls  it  "filthy 
lucre,"  1  Pet.  v.  2 ;  and  Zephaniah  for  this  cried  out 


556 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Ciur.  II. 


against  Jerusalem,  Woe  to  the  filthy  and  polluted 
city  !  Zciili.  iii.  1.  Many  prophets  have  denounced 
the  same  woe  to  this  city  :  they  meant  the  men  moi-e 
than  the  walls,  though  pcradventure  the  walls  did  as 
much  observe  them.  Were  your  Thames  ten  Jor- 
dans,  it  could  not  wash  off  this  leprosy.  The  covet- 
ous ride  through  plashes  and  puddles,  through  bogs, 
and  sloughs,  and  quagmires :  it  is  impossible  they 
should  escape  the  badges  of  their  travel,  the  asper- 
sions of  mire.  With  what  delight  soever  they  hunt 
after  riches,  I  am  sure  they  have  but  a  dirty  way  of 
it.  At  last  they  fall  into  the  quicksand  of  all-swal- 
lowing death;  and  then  they  vainly  wish  that  they 
were  to  begin  a  new  pilgrimage,  on  condition  they 
had  lost  all  the  pleasure  of  their  former  joumey. 

"  Is  not  the  life  better  than  meat?"  Matt.  Vi.  25. 
Yea,  is  not  the  soul  better  than  dirt,  that  for  dirt 
they  pollute  the  soul  ?  But  alas,  they  are  so  rooted 
in  the  earth,  that  they  are  quite  turned  into  (he 
nature  of  the  soil.  Others  may  have  a  taste,  a  dash 
of  the  foul  earth,  by  travelling  through  it  to  their 
home;  but  worldlings  are  rooted- in  the  earth,  and 
therefore  not  to  be  plucked  up  without  violence. 
Satan  showed  Christ  the  crowns  of  the  earth,  but  not 
the  thorns  of  (hose  crowns;  so  the  covetous  show 
their  heaps  and  mounds  of  money,  but  not  their 
stings  of  conscience.  It  is  the  honour  of  the  holy, 
they  are  all  glorious  within,  what  outward  wants  so- 
ever would  disgrace  them.  It  is  the  disgrace  of  the 
worldly,  they  are  all  filthy  within,  what  outward 
abundance  soever  doth  honour  them.  God  requires 
"  truth  in  the  inward  parts,"  Psal.  li.  6;  but  alas, 
we  may  say  too  truly  of  these,  that  "  their  inward 
parts  are  very  wickedness,"  Psal.  v.  9.  When  God 
sees  the  rich  man's  house  kept  neat  and  clean,  the 
doors  swept,  the  walls  hung,  the  vessels  scoured, 
his  apparel  bi-ushed,  his  body  adorned,  all  carefully 
arranged;  only  his  heart  filthy  and  polluted;  cer- 
tainly he  will  spit  his  contempt  upon  that  heart. 
Therefore,  "  O  Jerusalem,  wash  thy  heart  from  wick- 
edness, that  thou  mayst  be  saved,"  Jer.  iv.  14. 

2.  The  pollutions  we  derive  from  the  honours  and 
dignities  of  the  world.  Pride  here  challengeth  (he 
first  place  ;  and  let  her  have  it ;  even  to  be  the  queen 
of  all  soi-did  filthiness.  This  not  only  lifts  men  up 
above  others,  but  above  themselves.  Nor  is  it  any 
wonder,  that  they  should  not  know  their  neighbours, 
that  have  forgotten  themselves.  This  is  a  coagulated 
ulcer,  spreading  over  the  whole  soul ;  like  a  cloth 
that  is  taken  from  a  leper ;  stifl'  indeed,  but  only  stifl' 
with  corruption.  The  bush  that  hangs  out,  shows 
what  we  may  look  for  within;  a  painted  face  argues 
a  defiled  heart.  Every  colour  that  art  lays  on  the 
cheeks,  sizeth  into  the  soul,  and  dyes  that  in  grain  : 
quite  of  another  hue  than  God  ever  made,  or  will 
own.  For  surely  he  will  never  acknowledge  that 
face  he  never  made,  nor  that  hair  he  never  made 
theirs,  nor  that  body  that  is  ashamed  of  the  Maker, 
nor  that  soul  that  disguises  the  body.  Let  me  lell 
them  one  thing  which  perhaps  they  never  noted  be- 
fore. The  first  painted  woman  W'c  read  of  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, was  a  witch  and  a  harlot.  So  Jehu  told  Joram 
of  the  whoredoms  and  the  witchcrafts  of  his  mother 
Jezebel,  2  Kings  ix.  22.  And  the  first  painted  woman 
wc  read  of  in  profane  stories,  was  a  harlot  and  a 
witch  too,  Medea :  the  end  of  them  both  was  destruc- 
tion, and  a  destruction  without  end,  for  the  terror  of 
all  their  proud  followers.  From  hence  ariseth  the 
boil  of  burning  malice,  the  carbuncle  of  envy,  the 
plnguc-lokens  of  raging  madness;  yea,  even  the  hor- 
rid and  frightful  aspersions  of  blood-guil(ines.s,  a  sin 
that  thunders  in  the  ears  of  justice.  The  homicide, 
through  a  killing  favour,  is  pardoned,  and  granted 
his  life:    God  draws  his  sword,  and  by  his  plague 


spills  a  thousand  lives  for  it.  Water  comes  down  to 
moisten  the  earth,  but  blood  flies  upward  to  bedtw 
heaven. 

It  is  the  misery  of  greatness,  to  be  lawless :  how 
many  had  been  good,  if  they  never  had  been  great ! 
All  the  soot  in  the  house  is  to  be  found  in  the 
chimneys.  It  was  a  grave  and  smart  answer  of  a 
great  statesman  in  the  land,  when  he  was  consulted 
by  the  queen  about  the  lawfulness  of  monopoly 
licences ;  We  are  all  the  worse  for  a  licence.  Place 
gives  a  licence  to  do  ill ;  and  in  evil,  the  best  con- 
dition is  non  telle,  no  will  to  it ;  the  next,  non  poise, 
no  ability  to  do  it.  Nor  do  they  admit  of  reproof: 
when  that  wind  riseth,  we  may  well  look  for  a  tem- 
pest. "  Touch  the  mountains,  and  they  shall  smoke," 
saith  the  j)salmist,  Psal.  cxliv.  5.  Great  men  are 
like  mountains;  when  I  he  word  of  God  touches 
them,  they  presently  smoke  with  passion.  .Mas,  who 
shall  show  them  their  pollutions  ?  Their  own  eyes 
cannot  tell  them,  and  the  eyes  of  their  parasites  v.ill 
not  tell  them.  They  have  glasses  to  see  all  the  dis- 
orders of  their  external  habits ;  even  to  the  ruflling 
of  a  purl,  or  the  misplacing  of  a  hair.  But  there  is 
another  glass  which  they  seldom  use,  the  word  of 
God,  that  alone  shows  the  spots  of  conscience. 
Therefore,  as  it  was  said  of  Naaman,  that  he  was 
"  captain  of  the  king  of  Syria's  host,  a  great  man 
with  his  master,  honourable"  for  his  many  achieve- 
ments, and  "  a  mighly  man  in  valour;  but  he  was  h 
leper,"  2  Kings  v.  1.  Here  were  divers  noble  privi- 
leges, but  one  thing  dishonoured  all  the  rest :  But  lie 
was  a  leper.  There  may  be  great  dignities,  power- 
ful offices,  high  commands,  popularity,  and  applause; 
yea,  even  policy,  and  some  good  acts  to  the  countiy. 
But  if  there  be  a  stench  of  inward  pollutions,  a  false 
heart  to  religion  and  innocency;  this  is  a  but,  a  bar 
in  their  arms,  a  blemish  in  their  noble  scutcheons, 
an  indelible  motto,  But  he  was  a  leper. 

.3.  The  pollutions  we  deduce  from  the  pleasures 
of  the  world.  Oh  what  a  torrent  of  turpitudes  here 
stream  in  upon  us !  Immoderate  diet,  or  rather  sur- 
feit ;  all  the  varieties  and  delicacies  of  nature,  cooked 
with  the  most  studious  art,  stand  on  our  tables,  like 
the  goodly  buildings  of  a  fortified  city.  To  this  we 
lay  fiery  siege ;  where  our  sensual  appetite  is  the 
great  general,  and  our  teeth  the  common  soldiers: 
here  we  scale  the  walls,  there  we  raze  the  foundations : 
our  knives  are  the  weapons,  and  the  instruments  of 
war  are  the  instruments  of  music,  Amos  vi.  5;  bowls 
of  wine  the  coloure,  innocent  creatures  the  spoil,  and 
songs  of  wantonness  croMn  the  triumphant  victory. 
All  which  concludes  in  sleep,  if  that  be  not  prevented 
by  unclcanncss.  The  people  of  Israel  required  meat 
for  their  lust,  and  the  people  of  England  nourish  lust 
for  their  meat.  Inebriety  is  akin  to  the  former  ; 
both  are  sins  ambitious  to  prevent  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, fnr  then  God  will  destroy  both  meat  and  the 
belly,  1  Cor.  vi.  13;  these  will  not  stay  so  long,  but 
beforehand  destroy  both  the  belly  and  meat.  The 
honour  of  man  is  the  image  of  God ;  but  this  vice 
flies  at  the  very  face  of  this  image,  and  scrafchelh  it 
out  of  the  soul.  The  drunkai'd  is  a  certain  thing 
that  hath  been  a  man ;  but  now  most  prodigiously 
he  hath  swallowed  down  himself  through  his  Ihroai. 
So  he  lies  entombed  with  the  drink  in  his  own 
bowels ;  and  that  doth  bury  him,  which  is  buried 
in  him. 

Both  these  pollutions  prepare  for  a  third;  ih ■■ 
blood  that  is  fired  with  Bacchus,  must  be  cooled  wi- 
Venus.  The  devil  should  forget  both  his  oflico  ar 
malice,  if  he  did  not  play  the  pander  to  coneupi:^ 
cence.  Idleness  makes  way  for  loose  company,  loose 
company  makes  way  for  wine,  w'ine  makes  wt^rk  for 
lusl,  and  lust  makes  work  for  Satan.     No  inavvel  if 


Ver.  20. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GEN'ERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


557 


the  i)oefs  called  it  a  pegasus ;  for  it  is  a  winged 
horse,  wherewi  many  ride  post  to  hell.  Our  climate, 
and  therefore  our  natural  constitution,  is  not  so  hot, 
that  it  needs  popish  indulgence  to  the  tlesh;  unless 
this  artificial  heal  were  unnaturally  added  to  it.  It 
is  intemperance  that  prepares  fuel  for  the  fire  of 
vengeance.  Oh  that  our  luxurious  sirumpeteers 
could  read  in  their  diseased  bodies  the  estate  of 
their  leprous  souls  ! 

But  the  tongue  of  the  soul  is  conscience,  the  voice 
with  which  she  is  best  acquainted :  this  (when  all 
the  doors  are  shut  to  the  voices  of  men)  speaks 
within;  and  that  with  a  language  loud  enough  to  be 
heard,  easy  enough  to  be  understood.  But  tlie  com- 
mon coui-se  of  such  dissolute  sinners,  is  to  drown 
her  voice  with  a  louder:  as  he  that  was  troubled 
with  a  scolding  wife,  made  way  to  his  quiet  by  out- 
scolding  her.  Who  shall  tell  the  family  of  their 
faults,  when  the  monitor  is  dumb  ?  They  have 
stopped  the  mouth,  and  taken  away  the  voice  of 
their  conscience,  by  loud  and  roaring  excess;  and 
who  is  left  to  reprove  ?  John  Baptist  was  called  the 
voice  of  Christ,  "The  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wil- 
derness," John  i.  23.  Herod  did  cut  ofl'  his  head. 
Now  Christ  spake  not  many  words  to  his  apprehend- 
crs  and  accusers  ;  not  many  to  the  high  priest,  nor 
to  the  judge,  Pilate  ;  but  when  he  came  before 
Herod,  he  spake  never  a  word  at  all.  Among  other 
reasons,  this  is  wittily  given;  he  spake  not  a  word 
to  Herod,  because  Herod  had  taken  away  his  voice, 
in  beheading  John ;  and  how  should  he  speak  with- 
out a  voice  ?  There  may  be  a  voice  without  speech, 
there  cannot  be  speech  without  a  voice.  So  they 
have  tongue-tied  their  conscience,  taken  away  her 
voice,  and  who  shall  control  them  ?  But  when  God 
shall  untie  those  strings,  and  unmuzzle  their  eon- 
science,  she  will  be  heard ;  and  ten  concerts  of 
niiiiic  shall  not  drown  her  clamorous  erics.  Now 
their  conscience  is  bound,  and  they  are  loose ;  but 
in  the  day  of  trouble  themselves  shall  be  bound,  and 
God  shall  let  loose  their  conscience.  It  shall  be  hard 
for  them,  with  that  frantic  musician,  to  fall  a  tuning 
their  viols,  when  their  house  is  on  fire  about  their 
cars :  oh  then,  rather,  one  drop  of  mercy,  yea,  floods 
of  pity,  to  cool  the  flame,  and  mitigate  their  sorrows. 

AH  wise  men  aflfect  the  conclusion  to  be  best :  to 
ride  two  or  three  miles  of  fair  way,  and  to  have  a 
hundred  deep  and  foul  ones  to  pass  afterward,  is  un- 
comfortable; especially  when  the  end  is  worse  than 
the  way.  But  let  the  beginning  be  troublesome,  the 
progress  somewhat  more  easy,  and  the  journey's  end 
happy,  and  there  is  fair  amends.  "Mark  the  per- 
fect man,  and  behold  the  upright ;  for  the  end  of 
that  man  is  peace,"  Psal.  xxxvii.  37.  Mark  him  in 
the  setting  out,  he  hath  many  oppositions ;  mark 
him  in  the  journey,  he  is  full  of  tribulations;  but 
mark  him  in  the  conclusion,  and  the  end  of  that  man 
is  peace. 

"  Through  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ."  Wherein  I  desire  to  touch  upon  these 
four  observations  or  conclusions.  First,  that  there  is 
no  knowledge  to  do  good  in  corrupted  nature  and 
<<''!'iness  of  the  flesh.  Secondly,  there  is  no  escaping 
"f  this  filthiness  and  corruption,  but  by  know- 
Thirdly,  no  knowledge  can  deliver  us,  but 
<nai  of  our  Saviour  Christ.  Fourthly,  no  knowledge 
of  oiir  Saviour  can  effect  this,  but  that  which  is  sanc- 
tified with  faith  and  repentance. 

1.  Miserable  is  the  estate  of  man,  before  he  hath 
escaped  from  the  world.  As  Adam's  body  was  ea.st 
out  of  Paradise,  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  wide  and 
wild  earth ;  or  as  Nebuchadnezzar  was  turned  off, 
from  being  a  king  among  men,  to  become  a  com- 
panion of  beasts  :    so  by  the  corruption  of  nature, 


man  is  debarred  the  society  of  God,  and  put  out  of 
the  enclosure  into  the  common,  lo  shift  for  himself  in 
the  broad  world,  where  sins  and  sorrows  strive  for 
number.  This  was  the  poets'  meaning  by  their 
Pandora ;  a  beautiful  woman,  framed  by  Vulcan ;  to 
whose  making  uji,  every  god  and  goddess  gave  a 
contribution.  They  put  into  the  hand  of  this  fair 
enchantress  a  goodly  box,  fraught  and  stuffed  with 
all  woes  and  miseries ;  only  in  the  bottom  of  it  they 
placed  hope.  It  was  presented  to  Prometheus,  but 
Providence  refused  it  ;  then  to  Epimetheus,  and 
Afterwits  accepted  it.  Which  he  no  sooner  rashly 
opened,  but  there  came  out  a  swarm  of  calamities, 
fluttering  about  his  cars.  This  he  perceiving,  claji- 
ped  on  the  cover  with  all  possible  speed;  and  so 
with  much  ado  saved  hope,  sitting  alone  in  the  bot- 
tom. Such  an  anny  of  miseries,  like  the  troop  issu- 
ing from  the  Trojan  horse,  invaded  the  world,  by 
opening  the  box  of  Pandora,  by  tasting  the  apple  of 
Eve  ;  that  if  the  mercy  of  God  had  not  left  us  hope, 
comforting  hope,  in  the  bottom,  we  had  all  perished. 
The  precious  sons  of  Zion,  comparable  to  line  gold, 
whose  Nazarites  were  purer  than  snow,  whiter  than 
milk,  and  more  ruddy  than  rubies,  and  their  polish- 
ing of  sapphire,  now  have  visages  blacker  than  coals, 
Lam.  iv.  2,  7,  8.  The  body,  that  is  made  of  earth, 
can  stand  upright,  and  look  toward  heaveil ;  the  soul, 
that  came  from  heaven,  is  become  crooked,  and  looks 
toward  earth. 

All  are  miserable,  only  some  know  it,  and  others 
know  it  not.  As  Socrates  put  from  himself  the  re- 
pute of  wisdom  which  the  Delphic  oracle  had 
ascribed  to  him  ;  saying  that  here  was  all  the  difl'er- 
enec  betwixt  him  and  others,  He  was  not  wise,  and 
knew  it ;  others  were  not  wise,  and  knew  it  not. 
He  that  is  escaped  from  the  world,  knows  their  un- 
happiness  that  be  entangled  with  it,  because  he  was 
so.  But  they  that  are  entangled  with  it,  know  not 
the  happiness  of  him  that  hath  escaped  it,  because 
they  never  were  so.  Such  were  ye ;  but  ye  are  sanc- 
tified, 1  Cor.  vi.  II. 

2.  The  way  to  escape  the  woidd's  filthiness,  is 
through  knowledge.  There  is  nothing  in  the  world 
both  more  esteemed  and  disestcemed,  than  know- 
ledge ;  valued  by  them  that  have  some,  contemned 
by  them  that  have  none.  When  the  cynic  philo- 
sopher was  asked  in  a  kind  of  scorn,  what  was  the 
reason  that  philosophers  haunted  rich  men,  and  not 
rich  men  philosophers  ;  he  answered,  Because  the 
one  knew  what  they  wanted,  the  other  did  not. 
Wise  men  want  wealth,  and  feel  it ;  rich  men  want 
wisdom,  and  are  not  sensible  of  it.  Yet  knowledge 
hath  their  well-wishes,  and  faint  desires,  though  not 
their  endeavours.  "Wisdom  is  justified  of  her  chil- 
dren," Matt.  xi.  19  ;  yea,  even  of  the  eliildren  of 
folly.  So  a  Pharaoh  could  say,  "Come,  let  us  deal 
wisely,"  Exod.  i.  10.  Even  fools  would  pretend  wis- 
dom, and  have  their  cunning  absurdities  pass  for 
mature  prudence,  and  the  success  for  happiness. 
Herein  Satan  is  subtler  than  they,  who  lays  the  plot 
to  make  them  fools,  by  mistaking  villany  for  virtue. 
There  is  no  poverty  of  estate,  or  consumption  of 
body,  to  a  lean,  starved  soul,  which  neither  knows 
nor  cares  to  know. 

The  small  love  which  the  world  bears  to  wisdom, 
appears  by  their  usage  of  the  children  of  wisdom. 
They  will  give  moi-e  to  a  rider  for  breaking  their 
horses,  or  to  a  dancer  for  teaching  them  the  mea- 
sures, than  to  any  professor  of  learning  for  informing 
their  souls.  So  Aristipjius  answered  him,  that  W'on- 
dercd  why  men  should  rather  give  to  the  poor  than 
to  scholars ;  because  they  think  themselves  may 
come  to  be  poor,  never  to  be  scholars.  Of  all  tho 
wants  in  the  world,  fewest  complain  the  want  of 


558 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  11. 


knowledge.  The  ojiinion  of  having  enough,  is  one 
of  the  greatest  causes  of  having  so  little.  Yet  the 
very  philosophers,  by  that  knowledge  of  the  world 
which  they  got  from  the  light  of  nature,  learned  to 
contemn  it ;  yea,  they  despised  him  that  did  not  de- 
spise it.  They  did  not  envy  the  rich  and  potent, 
nor  covet  abundance  ;  but  rather,  they  saw  enough 
to  hate  this  world,  though  they  saw  not  where  to 
find  a  better. 

3.  Indeed  no  knowledge  can  do  this,  but  only  that 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  "  I  determined  not  lo 
know  any  thing  among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ,  and 
him  crucified,"  1  Cor.  ii.  2.  Paul  was  enriched  with 
all  manner  of  knowledge  ;  he  knew  as  much  as  the 
most  Icamed  Jew  or  pagan;  nothing  could  deliver 
him  from  the  pollutions  of  the  world,  till  he  became 
a  Christian.  Alas,  the  reason  of  man  doth  but  op- 
pose the  wisdom  of  God.  Mocking  the  apostles, 
they  said,  "  These  men  are  full  of  new  wine  : "  which 
Peter  confutes  by  afhi-ming  it  to  be  but  "  the  third 
hour  of  the  day,"  Acts  ii.  13,  15 ;  it  was  too  early  to 
be  drunk.  Yet  that  is  not  all ;  for  fulness  of  wine 
doth  take  away  speech  and  disable  the  tongue  :  we 
liave  known  it  spoil  men  of  the  use  of  their  mother 
tongue,  we  never  knew  it  teach  men  to  speak  lan- 
guages which  they  never  learned.  Pythagoras,  Plato, 
Aristotle,  travelled  and  sought  into  every  corner  of 
the  world,  to  confer  with  learned  men :  we  never 
read  that  they  went  into  Jewry  ;  yet  there  the  best 
knowledge  was  to  be  had.  They  knew  not  that ; 
how  could  they  ?  The  wandering  sheep  do  not  seek 
the  shepherd,  but  the  shepherd  them.  The  lost  piece 
of  silver  did  not  seek  the  woman,  but  the  woman  it. 
Paul  indeed  was  seeking  for  Christ ;  but  how  ?  to  per- 
secute him,  not  to  believe  on  him.  Christ  must 
reveal  himself  to  us,  before  we  can  set  ourselves  to 
seek  him.  And  till  that  High  Sheriff  of  the  King  of 
heaven  comes  with  a  writ  of  ejection  the  world  will 
hold  his  possession,  Luke  xi.  22.  The  bands  defiled 
with  raking  in  the  kennel  of  this  world,  cannot  be 
cleansed  but  by  washing  them  in  the  laver  of  rege- 
neration. Nor  can  we  wash  in  Christ's  fountain  till 
we  know  where  he  dwells,  where  that  fountain  runs. 
This  is  the  only  means  of  escaping  the  pollutions  of 
the  world,  through  the  knowledge  of  Christ :  he 
must  wash  us.  "  If  I  wash  thee  not,  thou  hast  no 
part  with  me,"  John  siii.  8.  God  hath  ever  showed 
himself  a  lover  of  cleanliness,  as  it  appears  by  all 
those  legal  ablutions.  He  never  showed  it  so  much 
as  when  he  vouchsafed  to  wash  us  himself,  with  his 
own  royal  hands ;  the  bath  being  his  own  royal  blood. 
Rev.  i.  5.  This,  and  nothing  but  this,  could  get  out 
the  long-contracted  stains  of  our  souls.  Corruption 
had  so  sized  into  the  very  grain  of  our  natm-es  and 
whole  compositions,  that  it  must  be  blood,  and  warm 
blood,  and  the  warm  blood  not  of  a  mere  man,  but 
of  him  that  is  also  God,  that  could  fetch  it  out.  None 
would  wash  us,  we  were  so  loathsome  ;  none  could 
purge  us,  we  were  so  leprous;  but  only  Christ.  Elisha 
bade  Naaman,  "  Go  and  wash :"  Christ  came  himself 
to  wash  us. 

Here  then  we  learn  that  only  means,  whereby  we 
can  escape  the  pollutions  of  the  world,  the  filthiness 
of  sin;  the  sole  fountain  of  the  Lamb  of  God.  Not  all 
the  mysteries  of  nature,  not  all  the  secretaries,  the 
philosojihers  of  the  world,  with  their  best  princii>les 
of  morality,  could  do  this  cure.  No  knowledge  can 
purge  the  soul,  but  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
"  Go  and  wash  in  Jordan  seven  times,  and  thou  shalt 
be  clean,"  2  Kings  v.  10.  How  did  this  appear  to 
that  natural  Syrian  as  a  mere  scorn  and  mockery ! 
Go  wash  !  alas,  what  can  water  do  ?  It  can  cleanse 
from  foulness,  not  from  leprosy.  And  why  in  Jordan  ? 
what  differs  that  from  other  streams?     And  why 


just  seven  times?  What  virtue  is  either  in  that 
channel,  or  in  that  number?  In  what  a  chafe  did 
he  fling  from  the  prophet's  door!  Am  I  come  thus 
far  to  be  mocked  ?  Could  the  prophet  find  no  man 
to  play  upon  but  me  ?  Thus  doth  the  reason  of  man 
fight  against  the  ordinances  of  God.  What  is  baptism 
to  purge  the  conscience?  What  is  the  sprinkling  of 
a  few  drops  on  the  face,  to  wash  away  corruption 
from  the  soul  ?  One  hath  shed  guiltless  blood  with 
his  hands  ;  let  liim  wash  those  hands  ten  times  a  day 
in  fresh  waters,  will  it  get  out  that  murderous  tincture 
from  his  conscience  ?  Thus  carnal  minds  desj>ise  the 
foolishness  of  preaching,  the  simplicity  of  the  sacra- 
ments, the  homeliness  of  ceremonies,  the  seeming 
inefficacy  of  censures ;  they  look  upon  Jordan  with 
Syrian  eyes.  So  Naaman  goes  on  :  If  water  would 
do  it,  what  needed  I  to  come  so  far  for  this  remedy  ? 
Have  I  not  often  done  this  in  vain?  Have  we  not 
better  streams  at  home,  than  any  can  be  afforded  in 
Israel  ?  "  Are  not  Abana  and  Pharpar,  rivers  of 
Damascus,  better  than  all  the  waters  of  Israel?" 
Abana  and  Pharpar,  two  for  one  ;  rivers,  not  waters  ; 
of  Damascus,  a  stately  and  incomparable  city  :  they 
are,  who  dares  deny  it  ?  better,  not  as  good ;  than 
the  waters,  not  the  rivers;  all  the  waters,  Jordan  and 
all  the  rest ;  of  Israel,  a  beggarly  region  to  Damas- 
cus. Alas,  how  wretched  be  the  devices  of  men  to 
the  institutions  of  God  !  How  odious  and  damnable 
is  it  to  make  any  comparison  between  them  1  One 
drop  of  Jordan,  set  apart  by  Divine  ordination,  hath 
more  virtue  than  all  the  streams  of  the  world.  In- 
deed Naaman  might  have  washed  there  long  enough 
in  vain,  if  the  prophet  had  not  sent  him.  Many  a 
leper  had  bathed  in  that  stream,  and  come  forth  no 
less  unclean  than  he  went  in.  It  is  the  word,  the 
ordinance  of  God,  that  puts  efficacy  into  those  means, 
which  of  themselves  could  do  nothing.  Ista  non 
Iribuunt,  quod  per  isla  Iribuilur,  as  it  has  been  ex- 
pressed. They  do  not  themselves  bestow,  what  is 
bestowed  through  them.  His  institution  hath  put 
that  virtue  into  the  sacramental  font,  that  it  shall 
not  more  wash  the  face  than  purge  the  soul. 

Let  us  therefore  get  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  if  we 
would  be  happy  ;  and  wash  off  our  sins  in  his  blood, 
that  we  may  be  holy.  He  that  knows  Christ,  knows 
that  the  pardon  of  sins,  the  ablution  of  uncleanness, 
the  perfection  of  righteousness,  the  peace  of  con- 
science, and  the  heavenly  inheritance,  come  along 
with  him  :  he  cannot  dote  on  the  world,  that  knows 
Christ.  Can  we  unfcignedly  say  with  Peter,  Lord 
Jesus,  "  we  have  forsaken  all  and  followed  thee ;" 
we  need  not  ask,  "what  shall  we  have  therefore?" 
Matt.  xix.  27.  For  God  tells  us,  that  he  hath  given 
us  his  Son,  and  with  him  all  things,  Rom.  viii.  .32. 
How  sweetly  do  those  scriptures  answer  and  satisfy 
one  another',  and  both  satisfy  the  heart  of  a  Chris- 
tian !  Christ  never  comes  alone,  never  empty,  but 
his  reward  is  with  him.  The  shadow  doth  not  more 
inseparably  follow  the  body,  than  all  blessings  fol- 
low Christ.  First  seek  tlie  kingdom  of  God,  and 
these  things  shall  be  added  to  you.  Matt.  vi.  33 ; 
like  an  et  ca-lera  in  the  end  of  a  sentence.  Yet  alas, 
though  we  know  this,  we  do  not  seek  Christ  in  the 
first  and  chiefest  place.  In  this  drought,  one  seeks 
rain  in  the  new  moon,  another  in  the  turning  of  the 
wind,  a  third  in  this  or  that  sign  ;  none  almost  seek 
it  in  Christ ;  therefore  God  hath  confounded  all  our 
signs  and  observations.  Men  may  have  temporal 
good  things  without  Christ;  but  as  the  thief  hath 
the  true  man's  purse,  or  dogs  the  bread  of  the  chil- 
dren. But  we  can  want  nothing,  if  we  want  not 
Christ ;  the  prodigal  doubteth  not  of  bread  enough, 
if  he  can  regain  nis  father.  John  of  Alexandria, 
surnamed  the  almoner,  did  use  yearly  to  make  even 


Ver.  20. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


559 


with  his  revenues,  and  when  he  had  distributed  all  to 
tlie  poor,  he  thanked  God  tliat  he  had  now  nothing  left 
him  but  his  Lord  and  Master  Jesus  Christ ;  to  wliom 
he  longed  to  fly  with  unlimcd  and  unentangled  wings. 
When  Alexander  the  Great  passed  into  Asia,  he  gave 
large  donatives  to  his  captains  and  men  of  merit ; 
insomuch  that  Parmenio  asked  him,  Sir,  wliat  do 
you  keep  for  yourself?  He  answered,  Ho])e.  Crosses, 
calamities,  poverty  may  take  from  us  all  the  goods 
of  this  world,  or  our  charily  may  give  them  away ; 
the  worldlings  ask  us  what  we  have  left  for  ourselves ; 
we  answer.  Only  Jesus  Christ. 

4.  That  knowledge  of  Christ  which  is  not  joined 
with  faith  and  obedience,  repentance  and  amendment 
of  life,  cannot  deliver  us  from  perishing  with  the 
world.  If  it  were  enough  to  know,  Satan  would  lose 
abundance  of  clients  and  customers.  There  is  a  lloat- 
ing  knowledge  swimming  in  the  brain,  like  a  piece 
of  cork  on  the  top  of  the  water.  Wicked  men  under- 
stand good  things,  but  not  in  their  true  forms :  they 
are  sent  them  as  Pharaoh's  dream,  which  they  shall 
never  be  able  to  understand.  The  mysteries  of  re- 
ligion appear  to  them  like  a  dim  taper,  whereof  tluy 
are  still  disputing,  picking  out  problems,  and  para- 
doxes, and  subtleties;  ana  so  darken  the  truth  by 
discoursing  of  it,  like  a  man  that  puts  out  the  candle 
with  snuffing  it.  They  read  and  mind  not,  or  mind 
and  understand  not,  or  understand  and  remember 
not,  or  remember  and  practise  not.  There  be  some 
whose  speeches  be  witty,  while  their  carriage  is 
weak  ;  whose  deeds  ai'e  incongruities,  while  their 
words  are  apophthegms.  It  is  not  worth  the  name 
of  knowledge,  that  may  be  heard  only,  and  not  seen. 
Good  discourse  is  but  the  froth  of  wisdom;  the  pure 
and  solid  substance  of  it  is  in  well-framed  actions. 
"  If  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do 
them,"  John  xiii.  17.  Knowledge  is  but  a  prere- 
quisite to  the  main  of  obedience,  a  stair  to  the  turret 
of  happiness.  That  was  Christ's  farewell-close,  witli 
a  deep  impression  driving  home  his  former  counsels; 
like  the  last  strong  and  loud  knoll  of  a  bell,  that  puis 
an  end  to  all  the  foregoing  peals  :  a  sermon  that  did 
put  life  into  all  his  other  sermons,  urging  the  life 
and  practice  of  them;  like  that,  "  Blessed  are  they 
that  hear  the  word  of  God,  and  keep  it,"  Luke  xi. 
'2fi,  with  which  we  commonly  conclude  our  sermons. 
We  say  of  statutes  and  proclamations.  There  is  a 
multitude  of  them;  hat  there  should  he  one  statute, 
one  proclamation  made,  to  enforce  the  keeping  of  all 
the  rest :  so  that  one  text  binds  us  to  the  observation 
of  all  others.  Therefore  he  washed  the  disciples' 
feet,  John  xiii.  5,  and  showed  them  an  example  of 
doing ;  as  if  there  was  not  so  much  need  of  teaching 
them  what  they  knew  not,  as  of  pressing  them  to  do 
what  they  knew.  Because  knowledge  would  not 
serve  the  turn,  he  first  does  the  things,  and  then  cx- 
presseth  his  intent.  These  things  it  is  not  enough 
to  know,  hut  to  do. 

KnowledTC  and  practice  together  bless  a  Christian, 
both  in  his  cardinal  virtues  and  arch-mysteries 
of  faith,  far  more  than  the  knowing  and  doing  of  all 
the  natural,  moral,  or  manual  sciences  in  the  world. 
Knowledge  separated  from  obedience,  doth  but  in- 
flame a  man's  reckoning,  and  help  him  to  a  greater 
measure  of  condemnation.  "  If  I  had  not  come  and 
spoken  unto  them,  Ihey  had  not  had  sin  :  but  now 
tliey  have  no  cloak  for  their  sin,"  John  xv.  2:2.  Ig- 
norance may  seem  to  be  a  cloak  for  errors ;  but  know- 
ledge takes  away  that  cloak,  and  leaves  them  naked 
of  all  excuses.  Not  that  ignorance  can  acquitmen  ; 
Excusat  a  tanto,  non  a  toto ;  i.  e.  It  excuses  from  so 
much,  but  not  from  the  whole.  It  will  not  justify  me, 
to  say  I  did  not  know  that  I  did  sin,  when  I  sinned  in 
neglecting  to  know.    Antecedent  ignorance  will  not 


save  a  man ;  much  more  will  consequent  ignorance 
condenm  him.  God  will  not  favour  a  man,  because 
he  hath  studied  hard  and  known  much ;  but  rather 
the  more  punish  him,  because  he  hath  known  good 
and  done  evil. 

I  deny  not  that  many  sins  arc  committed  after 
knowledge  :  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  like  the  vapours  of 
a  replete  stomach  rising  up  and  damping  the  brain, 
often  obscure  the  beams  of  knowledge  ;  during  which 
violence  and  distemper,  David  and  Peter  fall  into 
fearful  sins.  But  the  willing  practice  of  known  sins, 
and  repentance,  can  never  stand  together,  no  more 
than  fire  and  water  can  agree  in  the  same  subject. 
As  a  hot  liver  commonly  makes  a  cold  stomach,  so 
the  unnatural  heat  of  continued  sins  makes  but  a  cold 
repentance.  There  is  a  deep  well  in  the  yard;  shall 
a  man  therefore  wilfully  set  his  house  on  fire,  because 
he  knows  where  to  fetch  water  to  quench  it?  Alas, 
the  fire  suddenly  takes,  and  ragingly  goes  on ;  but 
"  the  well  is  deep,"  John  iv.  11,  or  the  bucket  is  small, 
and  can  bring  up  a  little  at  once.  The  well  of  thy 
heart  is  deep,  it  is  a  great  way  to  fetch  it  ;  the  screw 
or  pulley  is  unwieldy,  there  is  much  labour  to  draw 
it.  Yea,  God  must  both  put  water  into  the  well,  sor- 
row into  the  heart ;  and  help  thee  to  pump  it  out, 
extract  tears  from  thine  eyes;  as  he  did  supply  Da- 
vid and  Peter  from  his  infinite  springs  of  grace ;  or 
this  burning  will  not  be  quenched. 

Rather  let  us  labour  to  avoid  sin  by  our  know- 
ledge, than  venture  to  sin  upon  the  conceit  of  repent- 
ance. No  wise  man  will  make  himself  sick,  though 
he  knows  he  hath  a  ver)'  good  medicine.  They  be 
desperate  mountebanks  that  wound  their  own  flesh, 
to  advance  the  sale  of  their  balsams.  Alas,  that  men 
should  be  skilful  in  the  histor)'  of  Christ,  and  wilful 
in  their  rebellions  against  Christ ;  that  they  should 
have  the  Bible  in  their  brains,  and  blasphemy  in 
their  lips  !  like  posts,  that  bring  truth  in  their  letters, 
and  lies  in  their  mouths.  Alas,  that  men  should  fre- 
quent the  temples,  and  flock  to  sennons,  and  yet  be 
never  the  better  in  their  lives  !  as  boys  go  into  the 
water,  to  play  and  paddle  there  only,  not  to  wash 
and  be  clean.  But  let  all  them  that  have  the  know- 
ledge of  Christ,  give  obedience  to  him,  that  they  may 
be  saved  by  him. 

If  they  are  again  entangled.  This  is  the  suppo- 
sition ;  where  I  considered,  the  easiness  of  relapsing. 
If;  it  is  no  impossible  thing.  Yea,  the  commonness 
proves  it  too  easy.  How  many  have  given  up  their 
names  to  Christ,  and  slunk  away  from  his  service  ! 
How  many  be  Satan's  subjects,  and  yet  God's  pen- 
sioners! How  many  have  taken  his  press-money, 
and  revolted  to  the  enemy  !  Demas  had  been  with 
Paul,  professed  with  Paul,  laboured  with  Paul ;  yet 
for  this  present  world  he  forsook  Paul,  2  Tim.  iv. 
10,  and  gospel,  and  Christ  himself.  Indeed  he  that 
loves  God  for  himself,  and  goodness  because  it  is 
goodness,  can  never  turn  from  that  goodness,  from 
that  fountain  of  goodness,  God.  Turn  him  loose  into 
the  world,  trust  him  in  the  throng  of  temptations  ; 
his  heart  is  so  filled  with  Christ,  that  there  is  no  room 
for  a  strange  love  to  enter.  But  they  that  loved  God 
only  for  his  temporal  blessings,  fail  him,  when  those 
blessings  fail  them.  Mutinous  soldiers;  no  longer 
pay,  no  longer  fight ;  as  that  desperate  mercenary- 
said,  he  came  not  to  fight  for  his  country,  he  came 
to  fight  for  his  money.  Like  the  law,  logic,  and  the 
Swilzcrs  ;  they  arc  for  his  service,  that  gives  them 
the  best  ready  wages.  Here  Satan  takes lus  hint,  to 
usurp  upon  the  children  of  perdition.  Religion 
brings  crosses;  The  church  is  heir  to  the  cross,  says 
Gregory :  they  find  their  devotion  answered  with 
tribulation  ;  and  cannot  be  quiet,  because  they  seem 
to  be  good.    Now  steps  in  Satan  :  Why  should  you 


5G0 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  II. 


Ijuy  misen-  with  want,  when  you  may  want  niisciy  ? 
Why  will  you  embrace  certain  cares,  in  hope  of  un- 
certain comforts  ?  AVhy  do  you  take  pains  to  he  poor, 
when  you  may  be  rich  with  ease?  Here  they  that 
have  not  tlie  grace,  nor  the  face,  to  give  Satan  the  lie, 
throw  the  plough  into  the  hedge,  and  will  not  wait 
till  harvest ;  but  lay  hold  on  these  new  offers  of  the 
ivorld,  and  for  a  mess  of  pottage  sell  their  patrimony. 

There  be  some  to  whom  God  doth  not  so  much  as 
give  an  evangelical  call,  and  they  never  look  toward 
heaven.  For  where  he  takes  away  the  key,  it  is  a 
sign  that  he  never  means  to  open  the  door.  There 
be  some  that  have  been  called,  and  answered  that 
call,  and  made  a  show  of  following  it,  bearing  up  to- 
wards the  celestial  kingdom ;  when  on  a  sudden  the 
world  whistles,  shows  them  their  old  love,  newly 
dressed  and  painted,  and  tricked  up  with  fresh  co- 
lours. Back  the  fool  runs,  llings  by  counsel,  treads 
upon  conscience,  trijis  up  the  feet  of  reason,  and 
shows  religion  hislieels,  if  he  does  not  kick  at  it  with 
contempt.  "Wherefore  let  him  that  thinkcth  he 
standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall,"  1  Cor.  x.  12.  Some 
think  they  stand,  but  do  not ;  they  look  to  be  saved, 
and  scarce  can  tell  who  should  save  them.  They 
examine  their  conscience,  as  a  favourable  judge  doth 
the  malefactor  whom  he  means  to  acquit ;  his  very 
■questions  are  so  indulgent,  that  they  teach  him  an 
answer;  and  then  he  concludes,  I  find  no  fault  in 
this  man,  let  him  pay  his  fees  and  be  gone.  Thus 
they  are  like  a  man  in  a  dream,  that  thinks  he  is 
travelling  abroad,  doing  this  or  that  business;  but 
»vaking,  he  finds  himself  fast  in  his  bed.  AVe  all 
dwell  in  a  house  ready  to  fall,  sail  in  a  ship  full  of 
leaks.  Perhaps  we  do  not  stand ;  or  have  stood,  and 
are  fallen ;  are  fallen,  and  know  not  how  to  rise ;  rise, 
and  are  ready  to  fall  again.  Am  I  a  dog,  that  I 
should  do  thus  ?  saith  Hazael  to  the  prophet,  2  Kings 
viii.  13.  As  if  he  would  never  do  it  while  he  con- 
tinued man  ;  count  him  a  dog,  when  it  comes  to  that. 
Yet  by  his  leave,  whether  man  or  dog,  he  did  it. 
None  know  what  they  shall  be,  few  know  what  they 
are.  There  is  no  salt  but  may  lose  its  savour;  no 
flower  but  may  lose  its  scent ;  no  beauty  but  may  be 
defaced ;  no  fruit  but  may  be  blasted ;  no  light  but 
may  be  eclipsed ;  no  state  but  may  bo  changed  ;  no 
soul  but  may  be  corrapted. 

Man  goes  forth  in  the  morning  weak  and  unarmed, 
to  encounter  with  powers  and  principalities.  To 
fight  this  combat,  he  takes  a  second  with  him,  and 
that  is  his  flesh  ;  a  familiar  enemy,  a  friendly  traitor  : 
the  deWl  comes  against  him  with  his  second  too,  and 
that  is  the  world.  Soon  doth  the  flesh  revolt  to  the 
world,  and  both  stick  to  Satan :  so  here  is  terrible 
odds;  three  to  one.  Besides  all  this,  the  enemy  hath 
gotten  all  the  advantages  ;  as  the  hill,  the  sun,  the 
wind.  The  hill  ;  for  man  is  climbing  upwards  to 
heaven,  and  Satan  comes  down  upon  him  with  the 
stronger  violence.  The  sun  ;  for  all  the  glorious 
heams  of  honoui-,  pleasure,  wealth,  are  on  his  side, 
dazzling  the  eyes  of  man.  The  wind;  storms  and 
blasts  of  raging  persecution  march  under  his  banner, 
all  against  poor  man.  Now  if  he  have  no  other  suc- 
cour but  himself,  he  is  surprised  in  an  instant,  and 
the  adversary  gets  the  day.  But  he  that  truly 
knowcth  Christ,  comes  not  into  tlie  field  without  this 
Captain :  and  then,  if  God  be  with  us,  who  can  be 
against  us  ?  Rom.  viii.  31.  Besides,  he  hath  a  shield 
that  is  armour  of  proof,  darts  of  fire  cannot  pierce  it ; 
an  invincible  faith  :  if  he  do  but  lie  under  this  target, 
lie  is  safe.  Divers  cannot  cunningly  handle  the 
sword,  yet  they  can  hold  up  the  buckler.  If  thou  be 
not  able  to  give  Satan  blow  for  blow,  yet  hold  up  thy 
shield;  that  shall  ward  all  his  blows.  But  when  a 
man  is  besieged  in  an  impregnable  fort,  where  he 


hath  enough  both  of  ])rovision  to  subsist,  and  muni- 
tion and  furniture  to  defend ;  yet  if,  through  a  cow- 
ard pusillanimity,  lie  shall  leave  his  hold,  and  think 
to  save  himself  by  flight,  he  worthily  falls  into  their 
hands,  who  otherwise  had  fallen  under  his.  "  He 
shall  cover  thee  with  his  feathers,  and  under  his 
wings  shall  thou  trust  :  his  truth  shall  be  thy  shield 
and  buckler,"  Psal.  xci.  4.  That  is  a  fort  sure 
enough :  he  that  forsakes  it,  deserves  to  be  forsaken 
of  it. 

I  conclude.  If  we  forsake  not  Christ,  he  will  never 
forsake  us;  it  can  never  be  showed  by  any  observa- 
tion, that  he  fell  ofl"  first :  the  first  in  love,  the  last 
in  hatred.  But  that  it  is  easy  to  forsake  him,  for  the 
present  sweetness  of  gain  and  pleasure  in  this  world, 
too  lamentable  experience  proves.  Thousands  for 
scores  follow  after  temporals,  with  neglect  of  eternal 
things  ;  and  souls  that  came  from  heaven,  that  .sliouhl 
return  to  heaven,  are  bent  to  the  earth.  As  if  nature 
were  become  preposterous,  the  world  turned  upside 
down,  and  Satan  had  got  the  day  of  Christ.  This 
Diogenes  happily  expressed,  when  he  was  asked  how 
he  would  be  buried:  he  answered,  with  his  face 
downward  ;  for  within  a  while,  he  said,  the  world 
would  be  turned  upside  down,  and  then  he  should  lie 
right.  Let  it  be  our  endeavour  to  turn  the  right  side 
upward  again,  to  set  our  souls  in  the  due  position, 
trampling  the  world  under  the  feet  of  disdain,  ancl 
lifting  up  our  spirits  to  heaven,  which  was  made  to 
receive  all  those  that  seek  and  love  the  Lord  Jesus. 

The  difficulty  of  recovering  them,  after  their  re- 
lapse, follows;  and  is  expressed  by  two  metaphors: 
They  are  entangled,  and  overcome. 

1.  "  They  are  entangled:"  as  birds  are  caught  in 
an  evil  net ;  where  the  more  they  straggle  to  get  out, 
the  faster  they  stick.  Or  be  taken  witli  lime-bushes ; 
where  those  feathers  insnare  their  bodies,  which  be- 
fore did  carry  their  bodies :  nor  can  they  save  their 
lives,  but  by  losing  their  feathers.  The  world  sticks 
fast  to  men's  hearts,  and  by  embracing,  imprisons 
them :  the  lime  that  holds  them,  is  Satan's  tempta- 
tion ;  the  feathers  by  which  it  holds  them,  are  their 
own  covetous  aflections.  These  loose  wings  betray 
their  souls :  and  if  ever  they  save  their  souls,  it  must 
be  by  parting  with  their  feathers,  by  being  stripped 
of  their  riches.  Give  all  thou  hast  to  the  poor,  and 
thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven.  Matt.  xis.  21. 
Alas,  his  feathers  were  limed,  his  soul  so  entangled 
with  the  world,  that  he  could  not  possibly  mount  up 
so  high.  "  I  have  married  a  wife,  and  I  cannot  come," 
Luke  xiv.  20.  No  wonder;  he  was  wedded  to  the 
world,  tied  in  the  conjugal  bonds  of  alFection  to  sin, 
the  strongest  contract  on  earth  ;  he  cannot  come. 
You  may  as  well  call  a  deer  out  of  his  toil,  a  prisoner 
out  of  his  jail,  yea,  a  dead  man  out  of  his  grave  ;  lie 
cannot  come. 

Satan  hath  several  ties  for  several  sinners.  The 
adulterer  is  tied  by  the  eye,  his  mistress's  looks  en- 
chant him.  The  drunkard  is  tied  by  the  throat,  he 
cannot  come  till  he  have  his  load ;  and  then  he  is  so 
loaden,  that  he  cannot  come.  The  swearer  is  tied  by 
the  tongue;  it  were  well  if  he  were  tongue-tied. 
The  epicure  is  tied  by  the  teeth ;  a  disease  he  had 
from  his  grandmother.  The  slothful  is  tied  by  the 
foot ;  the  lazy  gout  hath  bound  him  to  the  chair  of 
wickedness.  "The  covetous  is  tied  by  the  purse- 
strings  ;  and  he  would  hate  even  pleasure  itself,  if  he 
should  find  it  a  cut-purse.  The  superstitious  image- 
worshipper  is  tied  by  the  knees,  and  he  cannot  rise 
from  his  puppet  deities.  The  treacherous  Jesuit  is 
liod  by  the  neck  with  a  Romish  chain  ;  it  were  well 
iflijsneck  were  tied  to  the  due  place.  The  volup- 
tuous is  tied  with  a  twine-thread  of  vanity,  as  a 
natural  is  tied  with  a  rush,  and  thinks  himself  in 


Veb.  20. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


5G1 


durance.  Satan  hath  entangled  these  with  the 
world,  that  you  may  as  well  bid  mountains  remove, 
or  bid  them  remove  mountains,  as  forsake  worldli- 
ness :  they  cannot  come.  The  devil  ties  worldly 
things  to  the  alTections,  wliich  are  the  feet  of  the 
soul :  as  the  falconer,  when  he  hath  manned  his 
hawk  to  his  service,  hangs  bells  at  her  lees,  that 
whithersoever  they  fly  out,  he  may  know  wTiere  to 
find  them  again :  it  is  but  casting  up  his  lure,  and 
they  stoop  to  his  fist,  he  presently  hath  them.  "  I 
have  bought  five  yoke  of  oxen,  and  I  go  to  prove 
them,"  Luke  xiv.  19:  as  if  himself  had  been  one  of 
the  team,  tied  up  in  the  gears  of  his  oxen  j  he  must 
be  excused.  It  is  St.  Gregory's  counsel.  So  hold  the 
things  of  the  world,  that  you  be  not  held  by  tlicm 
yourself.  Good  men  will  not  bind  the  world  to  them- 
selves, and  bad  men  bind  themselves  to  the  world. 
Terrena  res  posxideatur,  non  possideat ;  sitil  lemporali'a 
in  usu,  (Plerna  iti  desiderio;  ilia  in  ilinere,  h<ec  ut  in 
lermino,  Let  earthly  things  be  possessed,  not  possess 
you  ;  let  temporal  things  be  used,  things  eternal 
desired;  let  the  former  be  used  as  in  the  way,  the 
latter  as  in  the  end.  Gchazi's  soul  is  bound  up  in 
the  bags  of  Naaman's  money  :  but  what  followed  ? 
Gchazi's  flesh  shall  be  bound  up  in  the  scurf  of 
Naaman's  leprosy.  The  sinner  hath  travail,  Eccl. 
ii.  26,  labour,  sorrow,  and  care ;  these  be  the  strings 
of  his  purse,  and  he  keeps  them :  but  for  the  purse 
itself,  the  riches  he  hath  gathered,  these  God  will 
give  to  another;  even  the  purse  itself. 

Bonavcnture  compares  him  to  the  mole,  in  four 
respects.  (DJKta  Salut.  cap.  G.)  First,  he  is  black, 
as  a  mole :  white  is  the  colour  of  innocence  ;  the 
faithful  have  white  garments  :  black  is  the  contrary, 
even  the  colour  of  iniquity.  Secondly,  he  is  blind, 
as  a  mole;  ignorance  liath  deprived  him  of  his  sight. 
In  a  contrariety  to  God,  who  sees  clearly  in  all  places, 
"The  darkness  and  the  liglitare  both  alike  to  thee," 
Psal.  cxxxix.  12;  night  and  day  are  all  one,  for  he 
sees  in  neither.  Thirdly,  he  is  buried,  as  a  mole: 
all  his  hoards  and  heaps  of  wealth  are  so  many  se- 
pulchres to  his  soul,  wherein  he  digs  his  own  grave. 
Fourthly,  he  is  preposterous,  as  a  mole ;  which  is 
Still  casting  up  the  earth,  that  it  may  fall  on  her 
back,  and  cover  her  from  the  sun.  So  he  lays  him- 
self under  his  riches,  and  interposeth  the  earth  be- 
twixt his  soul  and  heaven  ;  all  his  goods  are  so  many 
strong  terriers  to  him.  When  the  serpent  catcheth 
his  prey,  he  so  clasps  and  winds  about  it  with  his 
flexile  and  folding  body,  that  he  holds  it  sui-e.  Satan, 
that  old  serpent,  so  twines  himself  about  the  world- 
addicted  soul,  and  his  spirits  like  a  bed  of  snakes  so 
entangle  it,  that  nothing  but  thunder  can  dissolve 
them.  There  is  no  evasion  out  of  this  labyrinth, 
except  the  Spirit  of  God  give  us  the  clew  of  grace. 
With  pleasure  and  case  sinners  come  in ;  but  no  pains, 
no  industry,  no  wisdom  of  man  can  find  the  way  out. 

The  poor  sheep  follows  her  pasture,  and  suspects 
no  danger  ;  but  on  the  sudden  she  is  so  entangled 
with  the  briers  and  brambles,  that  she  is  glad,  with 
some  loss  of  her  wool,  yea,  scratches  of  her  skin,  to 
be  gone ;  and  not  seldom  cannot  do  so,  without  the 
help  of  tlie  shepherd.  It  is  happy  for  us,  if  with 
loss  of  our  fleece,  of  our  flesh,  we  can  be  extricated 
from  these  temptations,  and  foolish  lusts,  which 
drown  so  many  in  perdition,  1  Tim.  vi.  9.  The  Is- 
raelites were  set  by  Pharaoh  to  gather  straw  for 
themselves,  but  not  to  make  bricks  for  themselves ; 
and  when  they  had  done  their  best,  were  beaten  for 
not  doing  belter.  So  Satan,  that  merciless  tyrant, 
and  swarthy  Egyptian,  employs  his  slaves  to  gather 
straw  and  thatch,  the  trash  of  this  world;  with  all 
which  they  shall  never  build  a  house  of  rest  or  har- 
bour for  themselves,  and  at  last  be  scourged  with 
2  0 


impartial  torments.  A  great  fish  devours  a  less ;  a 
greater,  him  ;  and  he  again  becomes  food  for  the 
greatest:  yet  at  last  this  greatest  is  caught,  with 
nook  or  net.  They  be  fools,  that  sacrifice  to  their 
own  nets,  Hab.  i.  16,  with  wliich  they  have  caught 
others ;  but  they  are  madmen,  that  sacrifice  to  the 
nets  of  others,  with  which  they  are  caught  them- 
selves. Yet  these  desperate  prisoners  love  their 
bondage,  and  find  such  sweetness  in  their  entangling, 
that  tTiey  desire  not  to  be  delivered.  Only  when 
aught  of  their  sensual  delights  is  taken  from  them, 
they  nioum  and  blubber;  and  bestow  that  sorrow 
upon  their  shame,  which  they  should  have  spent  on 
their  sin.  I  have  heard,  that  when  a  man  is  wcundcd 
with  a  sword,  look  what  medicine  is  proper  to  the 
patient,  if  it  be  applied  to  the  sword,  it  shall  cure 
him :  anoint  the  weajwn,  and  heal  the  wound.  (I 
will  not  rack  my  faith,  to  believe  it.)  The  weapon 
that  hath  wounded  us,  is  the  world;  the  medicine 
that  can  only  cure  it,  is  hearty  sorrow.  Shall  we  grieve 
for  worldly  losses?  This  were  to  apply  the  medi- 
cine to  the  wrong  place  ;  barely  to  anoint  the  weapon, 
while  the  wound  rankles  to  death ;  for  worldly  sor- 
row causeth  death.  No ;  let  us  apply  it  to  our  heart, 
mourn  for  our  sin,  detest  and  abandon  the  world,  and 
fix  our  confidence  in  God;  then  shall  we  be  healed 
through  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  "  And  overcome."  Some  may  say,  this  theme 
of  entangling  hath  almost  entangled  me,  as  if  I  could 
not  tell  now  to  get  you  out  of  this  argument:  lo, 
now  we  are  delivered.  And  yet  methinlis  I  am  not 
sooner  out  of  this  forest,  but  presently  I  see  a  lion, 
even  that  roaring  lion,  with  extended  jaws,  ready  to 
devour;  a  malicious  and  merciless  enemy  marching 
forward,  lo  the  conquest  of  souls  :  and  my  very  next 
step  falls  ujion  that  conquest,  with  the  subversion  of 
worldlings,  They  are  overcome. 

That  which  puts  a  man  from  the  use  of  his  reason, 
or  a  Christian  from  his  exercise  of  religion,  over- 
comes him.  So  we  say  of  the  drunkard,  he  is  over- 
come with  wine,  when  it  shall  get  the  better  and 
upper  hand  of  his  wit.  The  doting  lover  is  overcome 
with  fancy,  when  it  hath  blinded  his  reason.  The 
ambitious  are  overcome  with  the  desire  of  honour; 
so  that  they  are  not  their  own  men.  Of  all,  the 
worldlings  are  basely  overcome ;  for  they  think  they 
have  the  world  in  a  string,  when  the  world  hath 
them  in  a  strong  chain.  This  worse  than  beastly 
appetite  (for  not  many  beasts  desire  more  than  will 
serve  their  turns)  is  like  a  violent  stream,  which  be- 
ginning from  a  small  current,  vires  acquiril  exindo, 
takes  in  many  emergent  waters  by  the  way,  till  it 
becomes  a  mighty  torrent,  bearing  down  all  before 
it;  yet  at  last  itself  is  swallowed  up  into  the  sea. 
"  No  man  that  warreth  entangleth  himself  with  the 
affairs  of  this  life,"  2  Tim.  ii.  4.  For  as  it  has  been 
expressed,  By  being  entangled  he  is  involved,  by 
being  involved  he  is  'detained,  by  being  detained  he 
is  overcome.  No  wonder  if  he  that  is  entangled  be 
soon  overcome.  David  being  to  encounter  with  Go- 
liath, in  that  unequal  combat,  is  arrayed  with  the 
warlike  habit  of  a  king:  thus  furnished,  he  might 
look  upon  himself,  and  think  his  outside  glorious. 
But  when  he  offered  to  walk  and  move,  he  found 
these  arms  not  so  strong  as  unwieldy,  more  for  show 
than  use,  that  they  rather  hindered  than  advantaged 
him.  Off  he  puts  those  accoutrements  of  honour, 
and  craves  pardon  to  go  in  no  clothes  but  his  own  : 
he  had  rather  be  a  homely  conqueror,  than  a  glori- 
ous spoil.  He  takes  his  staff  instead  of  the  spear, 
his  shepherd's  scrip  for  a  brigandine ;  instead  of  the 
sword,  lie  takes  his  sling ;  and  for  darts  and  javelins, 
five  smooth  stones  out  of  the  brook :  thus  got  he  the 
victory.     So  "  the  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  not 


562 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IL 


carnal,  but  mighty  through  God,'  2  Cor.  x.  4.  Not 
the  policy,  tht  succours,  the  abundance  of  earthly 
things ;  these  do  but  entangle  us,  and  rather  disal)le 
our  resistance,  than  help  us  to  the  conquest.  But 
the  wisdom,  the  comfort,  the  powerful  grace  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  these  be  our  arms  ;  with  these  we  shall 
beat  down  our  enemies. 

Cyrus  said,  that  his  poor  soldiers  were  his  best  sol- 
diers ;  for  they  had  nothing  to  lose,  but  there  was 
something  they  hoped  to  gain.  Wealth  is  the  rich 
man's  strong  castle,  yet  that  castle  will  not  hold  out 
a  long  siege ;  death  will  demolish  it,  if  it  be  not 
done  to  his  hands  before  he  comes.  Hezekiah  show- 
ed the  ambassadors  of  Babylon  his  treasure :  what 
came  of  it  ?  Behold,  all  shall  be  carried  away,  Isa. 
xxxix.  6.  It  was  the  incredible  wealth  which  Cleo- 
patra showed  Cffisar,  whereby  she  thought  to  over- 
come him,  that  brought  Ctcsar  into  Egypt,  to  make 
himself  master  of  it.  As  when  Croesus,  for  his  glory, 
showed  Solon  his  huge  mass  of  gold ;  Solon  told 
him,  If  another  come  that  hath  better  iron  than  you, 
he  will  be  master  of  all  this  gold.  Any  man  that 
travels  toward  Jericho  may  fall  among  thieves,  Luke 
X.  30;  yea,  how  should  he  avoid  them?  Poverty  is 
a  thief,  to  steal  away  wealth ;  sickness  is  a  thief,  to 
steal  away  health ;  death  is  a  thief,  to  steal  away 
life ;  the  world  itself  is  a  thief,  to  steal  away  the 
world.  But  we  must  thank  God  for  that  which  so 
overcomes  us,  that  it  overcomes  the  love  of  the 
world  in  us. 

There  are  some  that  profess  an  utter  abdication  of 
the  world,  as  if  it  and  they  were  not  cousins ;  ignor- 
ant votaries,  and  patched  Cistertians  ;  who  so  want 
holiness,  that  they  place  holiness  in  want.  Yet  the 
receivers  of  their  rents,  revenues,  and  incomes,  know 
full  well  they  are  no  beggars.  Jesuits  indeed  pro- 
fess no  wilful  poverty ;  yea,  their  main  end  is,  next 
being  mischievous,  to  be  rich.  It  is  their  indigna- 
tion, that  they  cannot  persuade  all  men  to  abjure  all 
earthly  felicity,  that  they  might  engross  it  to  them- 
selves. They  have  gulled  many  rich  men  out  of 
their  estates,  many  nobles  out  of  their  honours, 
many  wise  men  out  of  their  wits ;  yea,  they  have 
attempted  to  persuade  princes  out  of  their  royalties  ; 
they  would  be  kings  themselves  ;  but  they  have  not 
yet  prevailed  with  them.  Greatly  may  religion  swav 
a  prmce,  yet  not  so  as  to  leave  a  crown.  We  read 
of  divers  that  have  transgressed,  yea,  left  all  religion 
for  a  crown  ;  but  of  veiy  few  that  have  left  a  crown 
for  religion.  Yea,  most  princes  hold  it  a  point  of 
religion,  never  to  leave  a  crown,  till  a  crown  leaves 
them.  Such  devout  beggars  be  these  mortified  pa- 
pists, that  they  would  beggar  all  the  world. 

"Entangled  and  overcome;"  put  them  both  to- 
gether. It  is  the  depth  of  misery  to  fall  under  the 
curse  of  Ham,  a  servant  of  servants.  We  remember 
how  Israel  blessed  Issachar ;  comparing  him  to  a 
strong  ass,  Gen.  xlix.  14.  When  one  wished  the 
child  like  the  father,  Cato  replied.  Is  this  a  bless- 
ing, or  a  curse  ?  So,  was  this  of  Jacob  a  blessing  or 
a  curse  ?  Some  Hebrews  understand  it  of  their  great 
labour  and  study  in  the  law,  1  Chron.  xii.  32 ;  but 
we  find  few  such  asses  among  our  lawyers.  Others 
thus:  they  saw  they  dwelt  in  a  fat  soil,"  without  lack 
of  pleasures,  and  therefore,  like  asses,  only  plied  with 
provender,  without  minding  their  burdens.  Sucli 
asses  be  they  that  are  overcome  with  the  world ; 
they  refuse  no  burden  that  Satan  can  lay  on  their 
backs,  not  the  most  unreasonable  sins,  so  he  do  not 
abridge  them  of  their  provender,  the  unbounded 
swing  of  their  sensual  appetites.  It  is  true,  indeed, 
that  Satan  doth  too  often  even  win  the  godly  to  com- 
mit sin,  but  never  to  love  sin ;  and  when  he  hath 
done  but  that,  he  may  put  all  his  gains  in  his  eye. 


For  their  very  falls  make  them  afterward  stand  the 
surer;  and  their  yielding  to  one  assault,  for  scorn 
and  indignation  of  the  foil,  redoubles  their  valour  to 
the  resisting  of  a  thousand ;  so  that  at  once  he  is 
g^own  weaker,  and  they  stronger.  That  which  was 
sent  and  suborned  by  our  spiritual  adverearics  to  be- 
tray us,  in  a  happy  change  fights  for  us  ;  and  is 
driven  rather  to  rebel,  than  wrong  us.  All  things 
W'Ork  for  our  good,  Horn.  viii.  28  ;  and  through  our 
Maker's  grace,  we  come  to  gain  by  our  sins.  That 
which,  wnile  we  were  a  repenting,  we  would  have 
expiated  with  our  blood,  now,  after  our  repentance, 
we  find  matter  of  comfort ;  the  fruit  of  unhappy  sin, 
happy  repentance.  "This  is  the  victory  that  over- 
cometh  the  world,  even  our  faith,"  I  John  v.  4. 
There  is  no  overcoming  but  this  way,  and  this  is  a 
way  that  shall  never  fail.  Faith  is  our  buckler: 
Satan,  the  world,  sin,  death,  are  in  the  field;  their 
shafts  are  fire  ;  yet  this  shield  shall  quench  them. 
Let  me  conclude  this  argument,  with  some  motives 
to  resist  the  world,  and  means  to  overcome  it. 

1.  When  a  man  is  bidden  to  some  excellent  cheer, 
he  were  an  uncivil  and  ungrateful  guest,  if  he  should 
fill  his  stomach  beforehand  with  ofiensive  garlick. 
We  are  invited  to  the  heavenly  banquet,  the  manna 
of  blessedness :  shall  we  first  gorge  ourselves  with 
the  garlick  and  onions  of  Egypt,  the  unwholesome 
lusts  of  this  world  ?  Neither  can  these  things  satisfy 
us :  if  a  man  eat  and  drink,  and  tlu-ive  not  with  it, 
he  must  confess  some  error  and  defect  in  nature,  and 
should  consult  the  physician  for  remedy.  Let  the 
covetous  feed,  devour,  swallow,  and  ravin  all ;  this 
neither  improves  his  content,  nor  satisfies  his  appe- 
tite :  yet  this  man  doth  not  feel  himself  sick  of  a 
foolish  dropsy,  or  canine  stomach,  or  to  stand  in  any 
need  of  physic.  But  reason  saith,  he  that  labours  of 
such  an  unnatural  grief,  has  no  need  of  repletion,  but 
of  purgation :  there  is  no  way  to  cure  him,  but  by 
letting  blood  of  his  rank  and  superfluous  veins. 
Plato  could  advise  such  a  one  to  take  care,  not  to 
increase  his  possessions,  but  to  lessen  his  desires. 

2.  If  a  man  should  dream  of  flying  with  waxen 
wings,  would  he  attempt  this  project  waking  ?  Would 
he  not  rather  be  ashamed  of  so  fond  an  impossibility  ? 
It  is  easier  for  the  body  of  a  man  to  fly  over  the  seas 
with  artificial  wings,  than  for  his  soul  to  mount  up  to 
heaven  by  the  strength  of  temporal  riches.  (Chiysost.) 
Trees,  beasts,  men  grow  up  to  their  full  stature  and 
measure,  and  then  stick  till  they  decline  :  only 
worldliness  grows  always,  and  most  at  last.  There- 
fore is  covetousness  called  the  root  of  all  evil ;  be- 
cause when  the  branches  grow  old  and  sere  for  want 
of  moisture,  and  there  is  nothing  but  dr)-ness  in  the 
arms,  yet  there  is  sap  in  the  root  :  that  lives,  till 
they  both  die  together :  one  grave  must  hold  them; 
there  only  they  shall  be  sure  to  find  enough. 

3.  In  vain  do  they  flatter  themselves  with  the 
name  of  God's  servants.  When  we  see  two  men 
walking  in  the  way,  and  one  dog  following  them, 
we  cannot  tell  which  is  his  master  while  they  keep 
together ;  but  when  they  part,  then  the  dog  dis- 
covers his  master,  by  forsaking  the  stranger.  Piety 
and  prosperity  sometimes  walk  together  like  friendly 
neighbours,  and  then  you  cannot  tell  to  whether  the 
follower  of  them  both  behmgs.  But  when  these 
two  fall  out,  when  persecution  separates  them,  then 
farewell  piety,  the  worldling  will  after  prosperity. 
The  good  man  scorns  such  baseness  :  though  Ne- 
buchadnezzar's image  be  made  of  gold;  though  it  be 
attended  with  instruments  of  music,  Dan.  iii.  5,  a 
consort  of  wealth,  honour,  pleasure,  and  prosperity, 
which  bewitch  the  soul  ;  all  this  cannot  move  the 
sen-ants  of  God.  They  have  vowed  in  an  heroical 
disposition  with  Abraham,  that  the  king  of  Sodom 


Ver.  20. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


563 


shall  not  make  them  rich,  Gen.  xiv.  22,  23  ;  no 
crooked  or  indirect  means  shall  bring  them  in  profit : 
they  will  not  be  beholden  to  the  king  of  hell  for  a 
shoe-tie.  Slilicus  the  tyrant  was  slain  by  the  sol- 
diers for  his  avarice  ;  and  when  they  had  fastened 
his  head  and  right  hand  to  the  point  of  a  spear,  they 
caased  a  crier  to  proclaim  in  the  army,  Give  an 
alms  to  this  insiitiably  covetous  man. 

4.  Love  not  the  world ;  Love  not,  saith  St.  John, 
not,  Have  not.  Wcallh  may  be  a  palace  of  plea- 
sure for  our  oU'spring,  a  fortress  of  defence  for  our 
posterity  ;  and  it  may  be  a  tower  for  the  records  of 
vengeance,  a  library  for  that  flying  book,  which  is 
threatened  to  destroy  men  and  houses,  Zech.  v.  4. 
I  should  think  myself  blest  in  this  day's  errand,  if 
every  man  would  vouchsafe  by  the  trial  of  his  heart, 
to  try  the  foundations  of  his  house,  whether  they  tot- 
ter upon  sand  near  unto  destruction;  or  rest  upon 
the  rock,  able  to  withstand  the  tempest  of  God's  in- 
dignation. The  danger  of  my  profession,  a  burden 
under  which  the  shoulders  of  angels  may  justly 
shrink,  calls  upon  me  to  call  upon  you  for  this  ex- 
amination ;  whether  the  world  hath  overcome  you, 
or  you  can  say  with  Christ,  "  I  have  overcome  the 
world,"  John  xvi.  33. 

5.  He  that  directs  an  awful  eye  toward  his  last 
account,  will  by  many  degrees  be  more  careful  of  the 
manner,  than  of  the  matter  of  his  gains ;  how  he  gets, 
than  what  it  is  he  gets.  The  matter  of  his  unjust 
profit  he  shall  leave  behind,  perhaps  to  those  that 
will  never  thank  him  for  it  j  an  instrument  of  their 
sin,  and  an  occasion  of  their  ruin.  But  the  unlawful 
manner  will  either  bring  a  judgment  home  to  his  doors 
here,  or  at  least  follow  him  to  judgment  hereafter. 
Most  men  are  too  forward  admirers  of  them  that 
swell  with  riches,  and  swim  in  pleasures ;  as  if  they 
were  the  only  darlings  of  Heaven  :  who  are  the  happy 
men  but  they  ?  But  as  Paul  saith  of  his  shipwreck. 
We  should  not  have  gained  this  loss.  Acts  xxvii.  21  ; 
so  we  lose  by  our  gains,  when  those  gains  come  from 
wickedness,  wherein  a  good  conscience  suffers  sliip- 
wreck. 

6.  Yea,  worse ;  for  a  temporal  loss  a  man  grieves 
but  once,  but  for  his  unlawful  gains  he  must  grieve 
for  ever.  It  seemed  to  be  a  less  matter  for  which 
that  worldling  forfeited  his  soul,  Luke  xii.  20.  There- 
fore as  you  tender  your  barns  and  dearest  dwelling- 
places  ;  as  you  would  not  have  the  stones  and  timber 
destroyed  ;  alas,  what  hath  timber  and  stones  de- 
served ?  yet  because  the  vulture  hath  carried  all  to 
her  nest,  nest  and  all  must  be  set  on  fire.  As  you 
tender  the  fruit  of  your  loins,  and  would  not  consult 
shame  to  your  own  house,  nor  wrap  up  your  posteri- 
ty in  the  same  destruction  with  yourselves  ;  be  not 
entangled,  be  not  overcome  with  this  world.  We 
abhor  the  beast  that  kills  her  young  ones  with  too 
much  indulgence  ;  let  not  us  then  destroy  a  child  in 
the  gain  of  a  chihl's  portion,  iis  if  a  man  should  sell 
his  liorse  to  buy  him  provender. 

7.  Alas,  they  know  not  the  price  of  a  soul,  that 
chaffer  it  away  in  the  market  of  this  world ;  they 
bear  that  rich  treasure  in  their  bodies,  as  a  toad  doth 
a  precious  stone  in  his  head,  and  knows  it  not.  O 
then  liiy  not  up  your  hearts  there,  where  riches  abound 
and  multiply;  lay  not  up  riches  there,  where  thieves 
break  through  and  steal ;  lay  not  up  thieves  there, 
where  vengeance  may  break  in  and  consume  ;  lay  not 
up  vengeance  there,  where  is  no  hope  of  redemption 
for  ever. 

8.  There  be  other  riches,  if  our  hearts  could 
light  on  them :  as  Augustine  distinguishcth  o( pauper 
in  animo  and  pauper  in  sacculo,  poor  in  mind  and  in 
purse ;  so  may  we  of  the  rich  :  there  is  a  spiritual 
wealth  as  well  as  a  secular ;  and  so  true  and  precious 


is  the  spiritual,  that  the  secular  wealth  is  but  stark 
beggary  to  it.  The  cabinet  of  it  is  the  soul,  and  the 
treasure  in  it  God  himself.  O  happy  resolution  of 
that  blessed  father.  All  my  wealth,  besides  my  God, 
is  penury.  (August.)  Let  them  seek  after  the  earth, 
that  have  no  right  to  heaven  :  let  them  desire  the  pre- 
sent, which  believe  not  the  future.  The  Christian's 
wealth  is  his  Saviour:  can  he  complain  the  lack  of 
any  thing,  that  hath  the  Author  of  all  ?  "  The  Lord 
is  my  shepherd,  I  shall  not  want,"  Psal.  xxiii.  1. 
He  is  rich  in  God,  and  may  well  sing  that  contented 
ditty,  "  The  lines  are  fallen  unto  me  in  pleasant  places, 
I  have  a  goodly  heritage,"  Psal.  xvi.  6.  God  gave 
the  water  to  fishes,  the  air  to  fowls,  to  beasts  the 
earth,  the  heaven  to  angels  ;  but  he  gave  himself  to 
man :  "  Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  thee  ?  and  there 
is  none  upon  earth  that  I  desire  beside  thee,"  Psal. 
Ixxiii.  25.  Let  us  give  ourselves  to  God,  and  God 
will  give  himself  to  us,  and  nothing  shall  be  wanting 
to  our  blessedness. 

"  The  latter  end  is  worse  with  them  than  the  be- 
ginning." Where  two  states  are  compared,  and  one 
of  them  preferred,  they  both  must  be  considered. 
We  must  see  how  bad  the  beginning  is,  before  we 
can  perceive  the  latter  end  to  be  worse  than  it. 

The  beginning  is  a  state  of  sin,  and  that  is  bad 
enough  :  let  us  investigate  the  infelicity  of  it.  liec- 
litm  eil  index  sui  et  obliqui — the  warps  and  crookedness 
of  a  table  are  discerned  by  the  rule.  Sin  is  a  want 
of  rectitude,  and  must  be  brought  to  the  rule  for  de- 
monstration. Good  is  honest,  profitable,  pleasant. 
Some  things  are  honest,  not  profitable,  nor  pleasant : 
as  to  be  simple  as  a  dove,  and  not  wise  as  a  serpent, 
is  honest ;  but  there  is  both  loss  and  displeasure  in  it. 
Some  things  are  profitable,  not  honest,  nor  pleasant ; 
as  the  gains  of  unrighteousness,  which  both  make  a 
dishonest  soul  and  a  melancholy  conscience.  Other 
things  are  pleasant,  not  profitable,  nor  honest;  as 
wanton  and  luxurious  mirth,  which  neither  becomes 
the  person,  nor  is  commodious  to  the  estate.  A  bitter 
medicinal  potion,  though  it  be  not  pleasant,  puts  on 
the  name  of  goodness,  because  it  benefits  the  liealth. 
Good  is  all  these,  and  sin  is  contrary  to  all  these ; 
which  discovers  the  unhappy  condition  of  it. 

1.  It  is  vile  and  dishonourable,  therefore  it  seeks 
corners  and  lurking-places :  it  is  so  conscious  of  its 
deformity,  that  it  is  loth  to  be  seen  ;  as  the  woman 
that  hath  a  blemish  on  her  face,  would  still  be  hiding 
it.  Adam  was  ashamed  as  soon  as  he  had  sinned, 
when  there  was  yet  none  to  look  upon  him,  but  only 
she  that  was  in  the  same  predicament.  How  did 
David  seek  to  palliate  his  sin !  first  with  a  tawny 
cloak;  the  husband  must  shelter  his  dishonesty  with 
the  wife :  when  that  would  not  serve,  then  with  a 
scarlet  cloak  ;  through  the  blood  of  the  husband 
making  way  to  the  bed  of  his  wife.  Why  did  he  put 
himself  to  these  shifts?  was  he  not  a  king?  who 
durst  accuse  him  ?  who  durst  whisper  against  him  ? 
O  but  the  sin  of  greatness  is  the  greatness  of  sin,  and 
hatli  evermore  a  proportionable  shame. 

2.  Sin  is  grievous  and  irksome,  "an  evil  thing  and 
bitter,"  Jer.  ii.  19  ;  like  some  wine  that  pleaselli  the 
palate,  but  hath  a  harsli  farewell.  That  which  tasted 
pleasant  to  concupiscence,  lies  bitter  on  the  stomach 
of  conscience  ;  for  this  monitor  is  left  behind  when 
all  the  rest  raiscarr)'.  As  the  devil  spared  one  of 
Job's  servants  on  purpose  to  affright  him  with  the 
news,  and  torment  him  with  the  relation,  "I  only 
am  escaped,"  Job  i.  15  ;  so  conscience  is  reserved  to 
afflict  tile  heart  of  a  sinner,  when  the  other  faculties 
are  suspended  from  executing  their  functions ;  I 
alone  am  escaped  to  tell  thee.  There  is  also  in  it  a 
guilty  fear;  sin  is  the  executioner  of  the  sinner;  as  a 
malefactor  changeth  countenance  before  the  judge. 


564 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Chap.  IF. 


The  wicked  flccth,  and  no  man  pursueth.  The  semi- 
nary suspects  even'  tiavilk-r  for  a  pursuivant;  the 
thieii  every  man  for  an  ollicer.  Add  to  all  this  the 
servility  of  a  sinner,  tliat  dares  not  displease  his  slave. 
For  whom  he  hath  admitted  as  a  slave,  he  tinds  to  be 
a  tyrant ;  tliose  rude  and  barbarous  retainers  whom 
he  hath  fed  with  indulgence,  are  ready  to  cut  his 
throat.  Poison  hath  been  put  in  a  cu))  of  gold  ;  yet 
you  may  wash  it  so  clean,  that  you  shall  drink  out  of 
it  without  danger.  But  sin  so  infects  the  vessel,  body 
and  soul,  that  nothing  but  the  blood  of  Christ  can 
cleanse  it.  The  viper,  the  basilisk,  or  whatsoever 
serpent,  is  not  killed  with  its  own  proper  venom  ;  but 
sin  destroys  the  subject  wherein  it  is  bred.  This  is 
bad  enough,  but  not  the  worst  of  it. 

3.  Besides  all  this,  it  is  deadly  and  damnable.  It 
repels  God  himself;  not  as  the  stronger  does  the 
weak,  or  the  greater  the  lesser,  but  as  the  filthiness 
of  the  house  does  the  inhabitants  of  it ;  it  does  not 
bid  him  go,  but  so  offends  him  that  he  will  not  stay. 
When  the  wife  that  hath  a  noble  and  kind  husband, 
gives  those  conjugal  rights  to  another  which  she  owes 
to  him  ;  yea,  doth  her  endeavour  to  make  her  lord  wait 
upon  his  slave;  this  cannot  command  his  separation, 
but  gives  just  cause  of  a  divorce.  If  a  man  sojourns 
with  his  tenant,  and  finds  by  his  wilful  neglect  of 
him,  the  unwholcsomeness  of  his  diet,  unhandsome- 
ness  of  his  lodging,  and  sluttish  carelessness  of  all 
service  to  him,  that  he  would  be  glad  to  be  rid  of 
him  ;  it  is  time  to  be  gone.  Jacob  left  Laban  when 
he  saw  his  countenance  change  upon  him.  Gen.  xxxi. 
5.  How  grievous  is  it  upon  such  terms  to  lose  our 
Maker's  society  !  Every  sinful  hand  is  ready  to  wrong 
the  widow,  because  she  wants  a  friend  to  defend  and 
plead  her  cause  :  her  husband  is  gone.  All  our  ma- 
licious enemies  let  drive  at  us  with  deadly  violence, 
when  God  (our  Husband  and  Head)  hath  forsaken 
us :  they  presently  conclude,  "  God  hath  forsaken 
him ;  persecute  and  take  him,  for  there  is  none  to 
deliver  him,"  Psal.  Ixxi.  II.  The  hairs  of  a  man's 
face  or  head  do  grace  him,  for  even  these  excrescences 
are  ornaments ;  but  when  they  are  clipped  off,  they 
are  trodden  under  feet.  He  that  is  joined  to  God,  is 
so  long  honoured ;  but  when  a  separation  is  made, 
there  is  nothing  more  contemjitible  than  that  man. 

Now  lay  all  this  together,  and  ve  shall  find  the 
former  condition  woeful  enough  :  can  there  be  a 
worse  ?  Yes,  there  is  a  worse.  If  I  had  not  spoken 
to  them,  saith  our  Saviour,  they  had  had  no  sin, 
John  XV.  22.  That  is,  no  sin  respectively,  or  in  eom- 
j>arison  of  that  sin  whereof  they  are  now  guilty. 
God  made  us  able  to  continue  holy  and  happy,  but 
we  soon  forfeited  all ;  he  did  put  us  in  a  fair  way  by 
nature ,  but  we  went  out  of  it  at  the  town's  end. 
Again,  he  calls  us  in  Christ;  (for  we  were  another's, 
and  are  God's  but  at  the  second  hand;)  if  after  this 
we  fall  away,  our  latter  end  is  worse  than  our  begin- 
ning.    Worse  in  divers  respects. 

1.  Their  sins  are  worse  now  tlian  they  were  at 
first,  therefore  their  estates  must  needs  be  so.  As 
nothing  can  make  a  man  bad  but  sin,  so  nothing  can 
make  him  worse  but  the  greater  measure  of  sin. 
When  is  a  reprobate  at  the  best  ?  only  when  lie  is 
born:  then  as  his  sins  be  fewest,  so  his  judgment 
were  easiest.  "  They  proceed  from  evil  to  evil,"  saith 
the  prophet,  Jer.  ix.  3:  yea,  they  "wax  worse  and 
worse,"  saith  the  apostle,  2  'Tim.  iii.  13:  as  a  river  is 
small  and  fordable  at  the  head,  but  greatcns  as  it 
runs  on,  by  the  accession  of  new  waters.  It  had  been 
best  for  them  not  to  liave  been  at  all ;  or  if  they 
must  have  a  being,  to  be  abortive;  or  if  thev  must 
be  born,  not  to  live  to  know  that  they  are  boin,  but 
to  bate  of  those  months  in  the  world  which  thev  had 
in  the  wombj  or  if  they  must  live,  never  to  die,  for 


death,  that  ends  others'  miseries,  begins  theirs.  Ati- 
gustus  and  Severus  did  much  mischief  in  their  be- 
ginnings of  reign,  much  good  towards  their  ends ; 
therefore  it  was  said  of  them.  That  it  was  pity  for  the 
commonwealth,  that  cither  they  had  never  been 
bom,  or  never  died.  So  it  had  been  less  unhappy  for 
these  apostates,  if  either  they  had  had  no  beginning, 
or  no  end,  whose  end  is  worse  than  their  beginning. 
Nor  be  their  sins  only  worse  because  of  their  number, 
as  two  evils  are  worse  than  one ;  but  worse  for  the 
nature,  more  malicious,  and  full  of  venom,  than  the 
other  were.  An  old  serpent  casts  forth  the  more 
deadly  poison  ;  an  old  dog  bites  sore,  and  rankles  the 
flesh ;  an  old  fox  hath  the  more  odious  stink ;  a 
bloodied  robber  is  more  merciless ;  a  long-festered 
ulcer  is  almost  incapable  of  cure ;  an  inveterate  sin- 
ner commits  the  more  execrable  villany. 

Parity  of  sins  is  an  idle  dream,  fit  for  those  old 
Stoics  and  Jovinian  heretics.  It  were  superfluous  to 
say,  that  God  will  reward  sinners  according  to  their 
works,  if  all  their  works  were  equal;  as  if  Judas  had 
not  done  a  fouler  act  than  Pilate.  There  be  twofold 
worse ;  as  the  Pharisee  made  his  ])roselyte  twofold 
more  the  child  of  hell  than  himself.  Matt,  xxiii.  15. 
There  be  threefold,  fourfold  worse  ;  "  For  three  trans- 
gressions, and  for  four,"  Amos  i.  and  ii.  There  be 
sevenfold  worse  :  such  was  Mary  Magdalene,  before 
the  seven  devils  came  out  of  her  ;  and  such  was  that 
other  sinner,  when  the  seven  fresh  devils  entered  into 
him.  Matt.  xii.  45.  There  be  tenfold  worse ;  They 
have  provoked  me  ten  times,  Numb.  xiv.  22:  cveiy 
provocation  made  them  worse  than  they  were,  be- 
cause it  was  a  worse  sin  than  the  former.  Yea,  re- 
probates aged  in  sin,  die  a  thousandfold  worse  than 
they  were  born.  St.  Jude  speaks  of  some  that  are 
twice  dead ;  and  we  say  of  the  cheating  bankrupt,  that 
dies  without  repentance,  or  any  conscience  of  satis- 
faction, that  he  is  five  times  dead.  First,  dead  in 
honesty  and  conscience ;  that  was  long  before  putri- 
fied  flesh.  Secondly,  dead  in  estate  ;  which  is  either 
drowned  in  riot,  or  smothered  in  cheating.  Thirdly, 
dead  in  credit ;  his  name  stinks  worse  than  a  new- 
opened  grave.  Fourthly,  dead  in  body,  the  common 
debt  of  nature.  Fifthly,  and  lastly,  dead  in  soul,  and 
that  for  ever,  the  worst  death  of  all.  Thus  their  state, 
like  their  sin,  is  worse  in  the  end  than  the  beginning. 

2.  Besides  all  their  other  sins,  they  have  the  sin 
of  unthankfulness  to  answer  for.  While  they  were 
bond-men,  God  contented  himself  with  such  works 
from  them  as  became  bond-men ;  if  they  neglected 
their  service,  it  was  but  according  to  the  nature  of 
slaves,  who  will  do  nothing  without  blows.  But 
when  they  are  emancipated,  and  by  God's  grace 
taken  into  the  number  of  his  free  servants,  from  the 
bondage  of  Satan,  now  their  rebellion  becomes  trea- 
son. Before,  their  opposition  to  God  was  but  hos- 
tility, now  it  is  treachery.  And  their  end  is  accord- 
ingly, worse  ;  because  the  Lord  fights  against  them, 
not  as  against  enemies,  but  against  rebels.  One 
enemy  may  find  mercy  of  another,  but  destruction  is 
the  due  meed  of  a  traitor.  A  man  is  poor,  and  cannot 
subsist :  a  rich  friend  lends  him  money  to  stock  him- 
self, and  drive  a  trade :  he  mispends  this  portion  in 
riot ;  so  loseth  both  his  fortune  and  his  friend,  and 
becomes  of  a  poor  beginner,  a  wretched  beggar.  We 
had  nothing  to  set  up  withal,  were  not  worth  the 
ground  we  trod  on ;  our  whole  estate  being  forfeited 
in  Adam :  God,  who  is  rich  in  mercy,  took  pity  on 
us,  forgave  that  infinite  debt  we  owed  him,  soldered 
up  our  broken  subsistence,  trusted  us  with  a  new 
talent  of  grace,  trying  whether  we  would  thrive  bet- 
ter witilj  that.  And  when  we  could  put  him  in  no 
security  for  it,  he  took  bond  of  his  own  Son  for  us  ; 
who  sealed  the  covenant  with  his  own  precious  blood. 


Veb.  20. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


565 


If  after  all  this  favour,  we  shall  cither  bury  our 
talent  in  the  dark  earth  of  supine  carelessness,  or 
waste  it  in  ovcrchargcablc  licentiousness,  we  worthily 
again  become  bankrupts,  and  lose  all  hope  of  repara- 
tion. Then  will  our  Almighty  Creditor  begin  to 
call  in  our  debts,  both  principal  and  interest,  to- 
gether with  the  former  arrears ;  and  when  it  is  found, 
that  we  have  neither  wherewith  to  pay  nor  whereof 
to  live,  what  will  follow  but  miserable  imprisonment, 
till  we  liave  paid  the  uttermost  ftirthing,  that  have 
not  one  farthing  towards  it? 

Here  is  indeed  a  latter  end  worse  than  the  begin- 
ning ;  for  then  we  had  some  credit,  now  God  will 
trust  us  no  further.  To  him  that  hath,  shall  be 
given  :  but  from  him  that  hath  not,  shall  be  taken 
away  even  that  he  hath,  Matt.  xiii.  12.  Then  we 
had  a  Surety,  now  we  have  nobody  to  undertake  for 
lis :  "  There  reniaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for  sins," 
Hcb.  X.  26.  Before  there  was  possibility  of  recover- 
ing ourselves,  by  repentance  ;  now  we  cannot  be  re- 
newed by  repentance,  Heb.  vi.  6.  Now  come  those 
old  sins  to  be  required,  which  before  we  thought 
pardoned,  and  that  God  had  as  fully  buried  them  in 
remission  as  we  had  in  oblivion.  But  remember  that 
unmerciful  servant.  Matt,  xviii.  32,  who  had  his  par- 
don cancelled,  because  he  would  not  forgive  his  fel- 
low. This  new  sin  calls  all  the  rest  to  remembrance, 
and  the  book  is  found  uncrossed ;  so  he  that  yester- 
day thought  his  estate  good,  sufficient  to  pay  every 
man  his  own,  and  to  live  on  besides,  is  to-uay  worse 
than  nought.  So  severely  doth  God  plague  ingrati- 
tude ;  yea,  in  effect  he  plagues  men  for  nothing  else. 
lie  doth  not  condemn  Chnstians  for  sin,  but  for  the 
habit  and  obdurateness  in  sin ;  not  for  impurity,  but 
for  iinpenitency  j  not  so  much  because  they  have 
sinned,  but  because  they  have  not  repented.  "  I 
gave  her  space  to  repent,  and  she  repented  not," 
Re^■.  ii.  21  :  this  is  the  indictment  that  shall  cast  her 
at  the  great  assizes.  A  man  may  be  pardoned  that 
wants  innocence,  but  he  can  never  be  pardoned  that 
wants  penitence.  Not  the  weakness  of  faith,  for 
Christ  will  not  quench  the  smoking  flax,  but  the 
want  of  faith,  excludes  from  heaven.  The  world 
shall  be  convinced  of  sin,  "  because  they  believe  not 
on  me,"  saith  onr  Redeemer,  John  xvi.  9.  The  soul 
is  not  without  sin,  that  believes  on  Christ;  but  the 
soul  shall  not  perish  for  sin,  that  believes  on  Christ. 
Not  because  tliey  have  done  some  works  of  darkness 
are  they  condemned ;  but  because  they  have  loved 
darkness  more  than  the  light,  this  is  the  condemna- 
tion, John  iii.  lU.  The  tenants  are  put  out  of  the 
vineyard,  not  so  much  for  non-payment  of  their  rent, 
as  for  abusing  their  landlord's  servants,  and  killing 
his  son.  Matt.  xxi.  41  ;  for  their  unthank fulness  they 
are  displaced.  It  is  not  one  breach  of  charity  that 
sends  men  to  hell ;  but  it  is  uncharitablencss  that  is 
turned  away  with  that  malediction.  Go,  ye  cursed, 
Matt.  XXV.  41.  The  wise  judge  at  once  pardons  him 
that  hath  done  a  great  rolibcry,  and  condemns  an- 
other for  cutting  a  purse  of  small  value;  and  both 
with  equity.  The  former  is  spared,  because  it  was 
his  first  olience,  and  there  is  nope  of  amendment ; 
the  other  hath  made  it  his  trade  and  desperate  dis- 
ease, not  to  be  cured  but  by  the  halter.  Seeing 
therefore  that  the  mercy  of  God  doth  not  condemn 
us  for  our  faults,  but  for  our  impenitency  in  those 
faults;  not  for  contracting  spots,  but  because,  being 
spotted,  we  will  not  make  ourselves  clean  ;  not  for 
casual  wanderings,  but  wilful  declining  the  way ;  not 
for  sometimes  leaving  olT  our  innocency,  but  for 
never  wearing  it,  yea,  wearing  nocenoe  instead  of 
it:  therefore  let  us  say  with  that  good  old  hermit, 
Though  I  cannot  hinder  birds  from  flying  over  my 
head,  yet  1  will  keep  them  from  making  their  nests 


in  my  hair :  though  we  cannot  avoid  all  sins,  we  will 
be  truly  soiTOwfuf  for  the  sins  we  have  not  avoided, 
and  hereafter  strive  against  the  sins  for  which  we 
have  sorrowed. 

An  ungracious  soul  may  be  burdened  with  many 
sins ;  but  she  never  makes  up  her  full  load,  till  she 
hath  added  the  sin  of  unthankfulness.  He  leaves 
out  no  evil  in  a  man,  that  calls  him  unthankful.  In- 
gratitude dissolves  the  joints  of  the  whole  world.  A 
barren  ground  is  less  blamed,  because  it  hath  not 
been  dressed.  But  till  it  with  the  plough,  trust  it 
with  seed;  let  the  clouds  bless  it  with  their  rain,  the 
sun  with  his  heat,  the  heavens  with  their  influence; 
and  then  if  it  be  unfertile,  the  condition  is  worse: 
before  it  was  contemned,  now  it  is  cursed,  Heb.  vi.  8. 
Take  an  offending  scr\ant,  chide  him,  chastise  himj 
then  second  this  with  encouragements  to  goodness, 
the  iiromise  of  favour,  honour,  reward ;  if  after  all 
this  ne  mend  not,  turn  him  out  of  doors,  let  his  end 
be  worse  than  his  beginning.  (Chrysost.  Hom.  5.  in 
2  Tim.)  No  wonder,  if  God  that  is  not  praised  for 
so  much,  hold  his  hand  from  giving  more ;  if  when 
his  good  is  requited  with  evil,  he  proportion  his  re- 
ward to  that  evil.  The  dunghill  will  stink  worse 
after  it  is  heated  with  the  beams  of  the  sun;  the 
wicked  are  the  worse  for  all  God's  favours ;  and  the 
worse  they  grow  toward  the  end,  the  worse  it  shall 
be  for  them  in  the  end. 

3.  Because  custom  in  sin  hath  deaded  all  remorse 
for  sin.  ^lan  first  goes  into  sin,  as  a  young  swimmer 
into  the  water;  not  plunging  himself  over  head 
and  ears  at  the  first  dash,  but  by  degrees,  till  he 
come  into  deep  water,  and  then  he  cares  not  for  it. 
Samson  is  bound  with  green  withs,  they  will  not 
hold  him;  with  new  ropes,  they  will  not  hold  him; 
with  the  woof  of  his  own  hair,  none  of  these  can 
hold  him.  But  he  was  fettered  with  the  invisible 
chains  of  a  harlot's  love  ;  and  these  hold  him.  She 
cuts  off  his  locks,  deprives  him  of  God,  enervates  his 
strength,  plucks  out  his  eyes,  makes  him  a  scorn  to 
boys,  casts  him  into  prison,  and  condemns  him  to  a 
perpetual  mill.  Thus  doth  sin  (insensibly)  weaken 
grace,  darken  knowledge,  dishonour  abilities,  cast 
into  the  dungeon  of  hell,  and  bind  to  the  mill  of  ever- 
lasting pains.  When  a  man  comes  first  to  dwell  by 
a  pcwterer  or  hammer-smith,  the  beating  mallet 
upon  the  brawling  metal  so  disquiets  him,  that  he 
can  neither  take  his  rest  by  night  nor  enjoy  his 
thoughts  by  day.  After  a  while  he  is  so  used  to  it, 
thatlic  finds  no  trouble  in  it,  but  can  sleep  supinely 
in  the  midst  of  those  tliundering  peals ;  yea,  even 
that  harsh  music  of  Tubal-cain  rocks  him  asleep :  as 
we  say,  When  his  master  knocks  loudest,  the  smith's 
dog  sleeps  soundest.  This  renders  his  last  condition 
the  worst :  before  he  committed  foul  acts  but  some- 
times, and  had  his  lucid  intervals,  sober  thoughts 
and  modest  recollections ;  that  reprover  within  him, 
who  is  always  known  by  her  tongue,  conscience,  was 
like  the  prophet  to  David,  or  the  cock  to  Peter,  dis- 
turbing his  unjust  peace  ;  but  now  either  she  speaks 
not,  or  she  speaks  and  he  hears  not,  or  he  hears  and 
cares  not.  So  his  end  is  worse,  God  giving  him  over, 
as  the  physician  does  a  desperate  patient.  Before 
his  wounds  were  green  and  smarted ;  now  they  are 
all  dead  flesh,  insensible,  therefore  incurable. 

4.  Because  their  hypocrisy  prevents  all  ways  of 
remedy.  For  known  diseases  there  be  known  medi- 
cines: he  that  tells  his  grief  is  not  always  cured,  but 
he  can  never  be  cured  that  tells  it  not.  AVhen  winter 
comes,  the  viper  vomits  out  her  poison,  and  hides  it 
in  the  earth ;  but  in  the  spring,  there  is  bred  in  her 
a  new  and  more  pernicious  venom  than  the  former. 
(Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  8.  cap.  39.)  In  some  foul 
weather  or  sharp  storm  of  affliction,  hypocrites  seem 


566 


AX  EXPOSITION  UPOX  THE 


Chap.  II. 


to  lay  aside  their  rancour ;  but  the  summer  of  pros- 
perity breeds  a  worse  in  them.  Now  God  aljhors  all 
sin  as  we  do  venom ;  and  where  lie  finds  it  worse 
than  it  seems,  he  leaves  it  worse  than  it  is.  They 
are  like  men  that  walking  the  streets  of  a  city  in 
the  night,  and  hearing  the  bell  that  warns  all  to  lay 
by  their  weapons,  leave  their  swords  with  some 
friend  for  a  time,  as  if  they  (of  all  men)  meant  no 
harm ;  but  they  know  when  to  fL-tch  them  again. 
They  can  make  a  shift  to  fast,  and  pray,  and  weep 
for  the  season,  or  at  least  dissemble  these,  that  they 
may  assume  the  more  unsuspected  liberty  to  their 
sins.  As  you  have  seen  a  company  of  children  di- 
viding themselves  (as  it  were)  into  two  armies, 
whereof  one  is  held  the  other's  enemy  :  they  make  a 
show  of  fighting,  and  running,  and  wrestling,  and  con- 
tending for  the  victorj- ;  but  when  the  play  is  done, 
they  go  home  hand  in  hand,  and  laugh  at  their  skir- 
mishes. Or  as  advocates,  that  wrangle  bitterly  in 
the  courts,  and  embrace  one  another  friendly  in  their 
chambers;  all  their  quarrel  was  but  to  get  their 
clients'  purses.  So  these  hypocrites  loudly  contest 
against  those  sins,  which  they  secretly  embrace  with 
all  their  hearts.  Their  beginning  was  only  sin,  which 
is  a  single  iniquity  ;  their  end  is  hypocrisy,  which  is 
a  double  iniquity.  Therefore  their  latter  end  is 
worse. 

5.  Because  they  wilfully  destroy  themselves,  by 
forsaking  and  renouncing  all  gracious  remedies.  They 
are  so  much  the  worse,  as  they  might  have  been  bet- 
ter. Relapses  arc  held  by  physicians  to  be  our  own 
faults  ;  imputed  to  ourselves,  as  occasioned  by  some 
disorder  in  us  ;  and  so  we  are  not  only  passive,  but 
active  in  our  own  ruin.  For  their  bad  beginning 
they  may  thank  their  parents;  for  their  worse  ending 
they  must  blame  themselves.  Th/y  were  bora  sinners, 
they  have  made  themselves  relicls.  They  do  not 
only  stand  under  a  falling  house,  but  pull  it  down  on 
their  own  heads.  They  are  not  only  executed,  that 
implies  guiltiness;  but  executioners,  and  that  im- 
plies dishonour ;  and  executioners  of  themselves,  and 
that  implies  impiety.  To  be  born  in  sin,  is  bad  ;  but 
there  were  some  noble  faculties  of  the  soul  left  ;  to 
deface  these,  is  worse  :  yet  Christ  is  offered  to  re- 
cover all;  to  reject  him,  this  is  worst  of  all.  In  their 
first  estate  there  was  some  comfort  derived  from  the 
universality  :  All  men  are  sinners ;  and  it  is  some  de- 
gree of  comfort  to  be  but  in  the  state  common  to  all. 
But  by  this  backsliding  they  fall  from  that  comfort 
into  self-condemning  despair ;  charging  themselves 
Willi  improvident  carelessness,  and  unthankful  wick- 
edness, in  destroying  that  with  their  own  hands, 
which  the  hand  of  God  offered  to  preserve.  Many  a 
one  loseth  his  life,  but  these  cast  it  away  ;  and  who 
can  help  him  that  will  needs  perish  ? 

"Thou  art  made  whole  :  sin  no  more,  lest  a  worse 
thing  come  unto  thee,"  John  v.  14.  There  is  then  a 
worse  thing  behind ;  and  yet  the  foi-mer  evil  was  sore 
enough,  even  a  sickness  of  thirty-eight  years  long. 
But  what  is  a  diseased  body  to  a  condemned  soul  ? 
What  is  the  lying  in  rags  to  being  wrapped  in  tor- 
ments ?  There  was  a  pool  or  bath  of  healing,  some 
hope  of  recovery,  \vitli  an  angel  to  move  the  water. 
But  in  hell  there  is  no  angel,  no  pool,  not  a  drop  of 
water  ;  neither  room  for  a  physician,  nor  liope  of  a 
remedy.  Therefore  observe  the  prescript,  (what  is 
prescribed,  or  written  before,)  that  you  may  not  rush 
into  the  postscript  (what  is  written  after) :  if  thou 
sin  again,  there  is  a  worse  evil  to  come.  A  tedious 
sickness  tires  the  physician  ;  especially  when  the 
patient  will  not  observe  his  prescribed  diet.  It  hath 
been  said,  that  in  sickness  there  be  three  things 
material  ;  the  physician,  the  patient,  the  disease. 
When  any   two  of  these  join,  they  have  the   vic- 


toiT  ;  the  third  cannot  prevail.  If  the  physician 
and  the  disease  join,  down  then  goes  the  patient : 
if  the  cure  be  mistaken,  the  very  medicine  ad- 
vanceth  the  malady.  If  the  patient  and  the  disease 
join,  then  down  goes  the  jiliysician ;  for  he  is  dis- 
credited, though  he  could  not  help  it.  But  if  the 
physician  and  the  patient  join,  then  down  goes  the 
disease;  for  the  sick  person  recovers.  Sin  is  the 
soul's  sickness,  whereof  ever)'  man  is  a  patient  and 
God  the  Physician.  Now  if  the  Physician,  for  the 
patient's  frowardness,  join  with  the  disease,  justly 
punishing  sin  with  sin,  the  soul  is  lost.  If  the  patient 
join  with  the  disease,  if  the  sinner  make  much  of  his 
sin,  and  will  by  no  means  forego  it,  here  the  Phy- 
sician is  dishonoured  so  far  as  in  man  lies  :  not  be- 
cause God  is  not  skilful,  but  the  patient  is  wilful. 
"  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  clean,"  Matt, 
viii.  2:  he  can,  but  the  other  will  not.  But  if  the 
Physician  and  the  patient  join  ;  if  Christ  preaches, 
and  Mary  Magdalene  repents  ;  if  Christ  promises, 
and  the  sinner  believes;  hereout  goes  the  disease, 
though  it  were  as  strong  as  seven  devils, and  the  pa- 
tient is  restored.  Something  lies  in  the  patient :  if 
we  take  our  sins'  part  against  Christ,  we  perish  ;  but 
if  we  take  Christ's  part  against  our  sins,  we  shall  be 
saved. 

6.  Because  a  relapse  is  ever  more  dangerous  than 
the  first  sickness  ;  sooner  incurred,  more  hardly 
cured. 

(1.)  Sooner  incurred,  and  that  for  divers  reasons. 
First,  as  when  the  body  is  recovered  of  a  disease, 
there  still  remain  some  embers,  and  coals,  and  fuel  of 
that  disease ;  the  branches  are  cut  down  by  projier 
physic,  the  root  and  occasion  is  left  behind.  So 
ruinous  a  farm  did  man  take,  when  he  took  himself; 
all  the  ground  being  overspread  with  weeds :  every 
turf,  every  stone,  every  muscle  of  the  flesh,  and  bone 
of  the  body,  hath  some  infirmity  belonging  to  it;  not 
a  tooth  in  the  head  is  privileged;  so  that  the  house 
is  still  ready  to  fall  down.  Yet  the  soul  is  in  worse 
case;  not  a  faculty,  not  an  affection,  without  dis- 
temper. To  undertake  the  cure  of  it,  man  being  the 
physician,  were  but  to  perfume  filth ;  to  drain,  not  a 
marsh  where  earth  is  mingled  with  water,  but  a 
moat  where  all  is  water ;  where  sin  hath  not  invaded 
a  i)art,  but  possessed  the  whole  substance  :  )'ea,  even 
to  raise  the  dead,  for  we  are  naturally  dead  in  sins. 
To  cure  the  accidents,  even  actual  sins,  is  a  great 
work  ;  yet  civil  education  and  goodness  of  disposition 
may  do  something  to  that.  To  cure  the  strength  of 
sin  is  greater,  yet  the  grace  of  Christ  doth  that.  But 
to  cure  the  root  of  sin  is  the  greatest  work,  re- 
served only  for  that  great  Physician  ;  and  he  doth  it 
by  a  strange  medicine,  even  by  death.  By  death  he 
gives  this  perfect  life;  so  that  the  body  of  death  is 
only  helped  by  the  death  of  the  body.  Till  then,  the 
action  of  sin  may  be  restrained,  and  the  body  of  it 
mortified,  but  the  root  remains.  We  are  laid  as  it 
were  upon  a  pile  of  faggots,  and  ourselves  (if  there 
were  no  other)  are  the  bellows.  Ignorance  blows 
this  coal :  for  even  for  sins  of  ignorance  was  a  sacri- 
fice required.  Numb.  xv.  24,  therefore  a  sin  imputed. 
Knowledge  much  more  blows  this  fire.  They  know 
the  judgment  of  God  awarding  death  to  such  things, 
yet  they  do  them,  Rom.  i.  32.  Nature  blows  this 
coal ;  that  disposeth  us  to  sin  :  and  the  law  blows  it ; 
sin  took  occasion  by  the  commandment,  Rom.  vii.  1 1  ; 
as  if  we  did  some  things  because  they  are  forbidden. 
Original  sin  is  another  bellows,  whereby  that  first 
imprinted  seed  infuseth  a  spring  of  sin  into  us;  and 
We  have  done  worse  than  our  fathers,  Jer.  vii.  26. 
Temptation  is  another  bellows,  that  continually 
blows  this  spark :  and  as  though  we  yet  wanted  wind, 
we  tempt  ourselves,  and  blow  it  with  our  own  lusts. 


Veh.  20 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


567 


Jam.i.  14.  Not  yet  satisfied,  as  if  we  were  not  cunning 
and  able  enough  to  undermine  and  demolish  ourselves, 
we  suffer  others  to  be  our  bellows,  and  even  sin  for 
their  sakcs.  So  Adam  sinned  for  Eve's  sake,  and 
Solomon  to  gratify  his  wives.  The  judges  sinned  for 
Jezebel's  sake,  and  Joab  to  please  David  in  the  loss  of 
Uriah,  which  was  a  slavish  and  bloody  sin.  Pihite 
sinned  to  humour  the  jicople,  and  Herod  to  give 
further  contentment  to  the  Jews,  Acts  xii.  3  ;  w-hicli 
was  a  popular  sin.  So  easy  is  it  to  sin  upon  sin,  to 
sin  upon  the  recovery  of  a  sin. 

Secondly,  when  a  man  is  a  little  restored  from  a 
grievous  fit,  he  thinks  the  danger  past ;  that  he  is 
able  to  cat  and  walk;  and  therefore  will  be  going 
abroad  into  the  air,  while  his  weakness  is  too  pene- 
trable ;  and  chooseth  repast  not  easily  digestible  : 
hereupon  he  rclapseth.  Thus  the  soul  rising  from  a 
sin,  presumes  too  much  of  its  own  strength  ;  and  does 
not  feed  upon  those  delicate  cordials  whereby  the 
heart  may  be  fortified ;  but  falls  to  gross  meats,  un- 
examined actions,  dangerous  courses.  The  Israelites 
were  so  fleshed  with  two  or  three  victories,  that  they 
let  fly  upon  Ai,  as  confident  of  the  victory,  and  con- 
temning the  enemy.  Josh.  vii.  3j  but  they  were 
beaten  for  their  labour.  It  was  a  good  preparation 
of  mind  ; 

■Si  modo  victuji  eras',  ad  crasttna  bella  parato  ; 
Si  modo  victor  eras,  ad  crastitia  bella  pavelo. 

If  conquer'd,  for  to-morrow's  fight  prepare; 
If  conquer'd,  of  to-morrow's  fight  beware. 

The  counsel  is  good ;  After  propitiation,  yet  be  not 
without  fear  of  sin,  Ecclus.  v.  5. 

Thirdly,  if  the  recovered  patient,  besides  the  choice 
of  his  diet,  do  not  also  addict  himself  to  moderate 
exercise,  a  worse  disease  may  breed  on  him  ;  as  the 
jaundice  follows  an  ague,  and  the  gout  becomes  the 
effect  of  a  surfeit.  So  speeds  the  soul,  that  doth  not 
exercise  itself  in  good  works  and  religious  duties. 
So  the  unclean  spirit  returning  found  his  house  swept 
indeed,  but  empty  of  faith  and  good  works.  Matt.  xii. 
44.  Alas,  what  is  sweeping  only  ?  The  besom  can- 
not get  up  the  dirt  that  is  baked  on  the  floor ;  it  can- 
not reach  the  cobwebs  in  the  roof:  here  is  work  for 
the  paring-shovel ;  repentance  must  cleanse  the  bot- 
tom, humility  must  rectify  the  foundation,  and  prayer, 
that  is  of  an  ascending  quality,  must  purge  the  roof, 
the  higher  faculties  of  the  soul.  And  when  all  this 
is  done,  if  the  rooms  be  left  empty  of  positive  good- 
ness, there  is  entertainment  for  seven  worse  spirits. 
Thus  is  a  relapse  sooner  procured. 

(2.)  It  is  more  hardly  cured.  Among  the  many 
weights  that  aggravate  a  relapse,  this  is  one;  that  it 
proceeds  with  a  more  violent  despatch,  and  gives  an 
irremediable  wound,  because  it  meets  with  no  de- 
fence nor  prevention.  When  a  disease  first  invades  a 
strong  constitution,  it  finds  something  to  wrestle 
withal;  and  as  it  weakens  the  body,  so  the  body 
weakens  it ;  both  their  forces  spend  together,  one 
upon  another  :  and  here  is  a  battle  fought  hand  to 
hand,  upon  some  terms  of  equality.  Suppose  the 
body  gets  the  victory,  and  the  disease  yields  and  de- 
parts ;  yet  being  as  it  were  left  breathless,  if  a  new 
adversary-,  a  new  sickness,  sets  upon  it,  here  is  great 
odds;  for  the  one  is  fresh,  tlte  other  quite  out  of 
heart.  Before  it  could  endure  the  opening  of  a  vein, 
the  correction  of  proud  humours,  and  expulsion  of 
superfluous  matter.  Now  it  is  so  weak,  that  it  lies 
at  the  disease's  mercy,  and  hatli  changed  all  resist- 
ance into  patience.  In  the  former  estate,  the  soul 
did  grapple  with  sin;  and  if  it  were  foiled,  yet  not 
without  reluctance ;  sometimes  it  got  the  better, 
never  willingly  the  worse.     It  could  then  bear  the 


correction  of  pride  by  discipline;  the  evacuation  of 
tough  humours,  stubborn  affections :  all  which  might 
bring  it  low,  but  not  take  away  the  life  of  it;  yea, 
indeed,  rather  quicken  life  in  it.  But  being  thus  far 
hopefully  restored,  if  it  again  wilfully  admit  a  habit 
of  sin,  this  will  so  enervate  all  the  strength  and  vir- 
tue, tliat  it  resists  no  more,  but  yields  patiently  to 
so  pleasing  a  captivity.  The  enemy  comes  upon  it, 
and  is  not  withstood;  as  upon  a  country  that  was 
weakened  and  depopulated  before.  Now  it  quite 
disarms  the  soul  of  all  weapons,  and  munition,  and 
possibility  of  resistance.  As  Iphicrates  tlie  Athenian, 
when  he  treated  with  the  Lacedemonians  for  peace, 
stood  so  hard  upon  security  of  performing  the  articles 
agreed,  that  he  refused  any  but  this :  That  the  Lace- 
demonians should  yield  up  to  them  all  those  things 
whereby  it  might  be  manifest,  not  that  they  would  not 
hurt  them  though  they  could,  but  that  they  could  not 
hurt  them  though  they  would.  Thus  the  relapse  is 
more  dangerous,  not  only  because  of  the  potency  of 
the  disease,  but  also  on  account  of  the  impoteney  of 
the  subject ;  because  sin  is  stronger,  and  man  is 
weaker. 

Lastly,  the  Litter  end  is  worse  with  them  than  the 
beginning,  in  respect  to  the  church,  in  respect  to 
themselves,  in  respect  to  God,  and  in  respect  to 
Satan. 

(I.)  In  respect  of  the  church.  While  they  carried 
a  face  of  respect  to  the  church,  they  were  wrapped 
U])  in  the  general  prayers  of  the  church  ;  and  seemed 
to  be  of  that  number,  for  whom,  as  the  friends  of  God, 
there  was  a  continual  remembrance  in  good  men's 
intercessions.  "There  is  a  sin  unto  death  :  1  do  not 
say  that  he  shall  pray  for  it,"  1  John  v.  16.  Samuel 
will  pray  for  .Saul,  till  he  perceive  that  he  hath  given 
over  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  hira.  "  How  long  wilt 
thou  mourn  for  Saul,  seeing  I  have  rejected  him?" 
I  Sam.  xvi.  1.  If  Samuel  mourn,  because  Saul  hath 
cast  away  God  by  his  sin ;  yet  Samuel  must  cease 
mourning,  because  God  hath  cast  away  Saul  by  his 
just  punisliment.  To  be  deprived  of  the  benefit  of 
good  men's  prayers,  is  a  heavy  loss.  Such  a  one  is 
singled  out  for  one  of  God's  enemies,  and  his  judg- 
ment hastened  by  the  entreaty  of  God's  seiTants. 
"  So  let  all  thine  enemies  perish,  O  Lord,"  Judg.  v. 
31 :  this  is  the  prayer  for  him.  They  that  despise 
the  chaste  love  of  their  Saviour's  spouse,  and  are  be- 
witched with  the  painted  but  ill-favoured  harlot  of 
Rome,  are  no  longer  reputed  friends,  but  adversaries, 
and  apostates.  The  cnurch  may  lament  for  them, 
not  because  she  fears  she  shall  miss  them,  but  for 
that  she  knows  they  shall  want  her.  They  have  her 
compassion,  they  have  lost  her  benediction.  And  if 
any  sparks  of  goodness  lie  covered  under  their  cold 
ashes,  it  shall  but  show  them  a  glimmering,  of  how 
happy  they  might  have  been,  how  wretched  they 
are.  But  as  those  that  are  suddenly  come  from  a 
bright  candle  into  a  dark  room,  are  so  much  the  more 
blind  as  their  light  was  clearer;  or  as  the  purest 
ivory  turns  with  fire  into  the  deepest  black :  so  at 
once  their  eyes  are  taken  away,  with  their  hearts ; 
and  those  souls  that  seemed  white,  as  rinsed  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  become  as  black  ns  hell,  or  the 
black  prince  that  rules  it.  Before  they  sat  in  the 
congregation  of  saints  ;  now  neither  sermons,  sacra- 
ments, nor  iirayers  shall  do  them  more  good,  than  a 
meal  of  meat  put  into  a  dead  man's  mouth. 

(2.)  In  respect  of  themselves.  They  were  at  first 
stated  in  sin,  then  put  into  a  fair  way  of  deliverance  ; 
if  after  this  they  go  back  to  their  first  imprisonment, 
they  have  destroyed  themselves.  This  is  done  three 
ways.  First,  they  have  steeled  their  foreheads. 
When  a  man  for  his  first  theft  is  cast  into  prison,  he 
becomes   disconsolate   and    melancholy;    he    looks 


568 


AX  EXPOSITION   UPON  THi, 


Chap.  II. 


upon  his  friends  with  shame,  upon  his  accusers  with 
fear,  uiion  the  judge  with  awe  and  trembling:  but 
through  frequent  imprisoning  he  casts  aside  the 
shame  of  imprisonment,  he  blusluth  not  for  his  foul 
facts,  nor  is  sensible  of  his  bondage  ;  but  drinks, 
riots,  blasphemes,  as  if  his  jail  were  a  tavern ;  and 
that  without  thought  of  calling  or  being  called  to 
the  bar  for  a  reckoning.  "  Thou  hast  a  whore's  fore- 
head, thou  refusedst  to  be  ashamed,"  Jer.  iii.  3. 
Secondly,  they  have  putrified  their  hearts,  that  or- 
dinaiy  stripes  will  not  reach  to  the  quick.  "  Why 
should  ye  be  stricken  any  more  ?  ye  will  revolt  more 
and  more,"  Isa.  i.  5.  Their  long  tugging  at  Satan's 
oars,  and  wearing  his  shackles,  hath  so  tanned  their 
flesh,  that  they  are  not  sensible  of  the  servitude. 
"A  stubborn  heart  shall  fare  evil  at  last;  and  he 
that  lovclh  danger  shall  perish  therein,"  Ecclus.  iii. 
26 :  not  he  that  runs  into  danger,  that  is  every  man's 
case ;  but  if  men  love  dangers,  it  is  fit  they  should 
perish.  A  garment  may  be  so  old  and  near  worn, 
that  being  rent,  it  cannot  again  be  sewed  together; 
it  is  not  capable  of  the  needle  and  thread.  No  com- 
punction can  enter  into  such  a  heart,  nor  make  way 
for  the  thread  of  comfort,  to  heal  the  breaches. 
They  have  need  to  beg  for,  not,  with  David,  a  clean 
heart,  but  a  new  heart ;  for  the  old  one  is  quite  past 
mending.  'NVc  did  cast  three  men  bound  into  the 
fire,  said  that  tyrant ;  and  lo,  I  see  four  men  loose, 
walking  without  hurt,  and  the  form  of  the  fourth  is 
like  the  Son  of  God,  Dan.  iii.  25.  Other  sinners 
have  but  three  enemies  to  deal  withal,  the  devil,  the 
world,  and  the  flesh ;  but  these  have  a  fourth  foe, 
and  that  the  most  inveterate,  a  hard  heart :  and  the 
form  of  the  fourth  is  like  the  son  of  perdition. 
Thirdly,  they  have  stupificd  their  conscience,  dis- 
graced it  as  a  scold,  and  condemned  it  fur  a  common 
wrangler.  Before  they  carried  their  clock  about 
with  them  ;  now  they  have  left  it  off,  that  tliey 
might  not  know  how  their  time  passeth.  But  at  last 
God  shall  set  it  a-going,  and  to  their  horror  on  their 
death-bod,  they  shall  hear  it  strike  their  last  hour, 
with  a  dismal  sound  and  heavy  knell ;  when  Satan, 
that  long  held  them  in  the  pleasant  gallery  of  hope, 
shall  take  them  aside,  and  show  them  the  dark 
dungeon  of  despair.  If  their  old  festered  ulcers 
come  but  to  a  new  incision,  they  shall  confess  their 
end  worse  than  their  beginning. 

(3.)  In  respect  of  God ;  who  will  no  longer  ac- 
knowledge them  for  his  people,  that  have  rejected 
him  for  their  God.  "I  will  provoke  you  to  jealousy 
by  tliem  that  are  no  people,  and  by  a  foolish  nation 
I  will  anger  you,"  Rom.  x.  19.  The  Jews  counted 
the  Gentiles  dogs,  such  as  would  be  glad  of  their 
crumbs:  now,  for  the  others'  apostacy,  the  Gentiles 
are  come  to  their  full  tables,  and  the  Jews  are  turn- 
ed out  of  doors.  As  a  mother  sometimes,  for  a  fault 
done  by  her  little  one,  thrusts  it  from  her,  and  saith 
it  shall  be  her  child  no  longer  ;  withal  taking  up  a 
stranger's  child  into  her  bosom.  This  she  does  not 
seriously  ;  but  God  did  so  indeed,  rejecting  the  Jews, 
and  embracing  the  Gentiles.  Or  as  a  man  divorceth 
his  wife  for  adultery,  and  before  her  face  marries 
her  handmaid,  clothing  her  with  the  rich  robes  and 
jewels  of  his  forsaken  spouse  ;  saying  to  her.  You 
iiave  chosen  another  lover,  I  will  choose  me  another 
wife.  So  the  Lord  to  Israel  :  You  have  taken  an- 
other god,  even  your  idols ;  I,  another  people,  even 
the  Gentiles.  You  have  angered  me,  by  giving  my 
honour  to  idols  ;  I  will  anger  you,  by  giving  your 
prerogatives  to  strangers. 

The  bondage  of  this  land  was  lamentable,  under 
the  tyranny  of  antichrist  ;  when  we  were  driven  to 
eat  the  bread  of  superstition,  and  to  drink  the  wine 
of  fornication,  or  fast.     God  hath  delivered  and  con- 


firmed us  under  the  hands  of  three  gracious  princes ; 
if  we  shall  now  apostate  and  revolt  from  the  inte- 
grity of  his  service,  our  latter  end  will  be  worse  than 
our  beginning.  Instead  of  popery,  we  shall  find 
Turcism,  yea,  atheism,  and  infidelity  ;  till  we  can 
only  say.  Here  was  the  church  of  God.  Why  should 
we  wonder,  that  God  forgets  Shiloh,  when  Shiloh 
hath  forgotten  God  ?  Indeed,  this  is  the  ground  of 
tears;  to  see  theTurkcastingout,not  only  Christians, 
but  Christ,  and  placing  his  Mahomet  in  the  room; 
proudly  blaspheming,  that  his  law  is  above  cither 
Moses'  or  Christ's;  as  being  after  (hem  both,  and 
none  (say  they)  to  come  after  it.  Not  unlike  the 
Jesuits,  who  interpret  the  smallncss  of  their  society 
to  be  an  honour  above  the  ancientness  of  all  other 
orders.  To  sec  the  prevailing  papists  not  only  cast- 
ing out  the  true  professors  of  the  gosjiel,  but  even 
the  gospel  itself;  and  setting  up  their  idol,  the  mass, 
in  God's  temple  !  Remember  old  Eli  sitting  by  the 
way-side,  and  seeing  a  messenger  coming  with  his 
clothes  rent,  ashes  on  his  head,  all  his  face  covered 
with  tears,  so  that  he  might  read  the  heavy  news  in 
his  countenance  :  yet  he  had  strength  to  ask  him, 
"  What  is  there  done,  my  son  ?  "  He  answers, 
"  Israel  is  fled  before  the  Philistines  :  "  that  troubled 
him;  yet  he  sat  still:  what  more?  "There  hath 
been  a  great  slaughter  among  the  people  : "  that 
came  near  him  ;  yet  he  sat  still :  what  more?  "Thy 
two  sons,  Hojihni  and  Phinehas,  are  dead : "  that 
made  a  deep  gash  in  the  heart  of  (so  kind)  a  father; 
yet  he  sat  still  :  what  more  ?  Can  there  be  any 
worse  than  this?  Yes,  saith  the  messenger,  the 
worst  of  all  is  behind  :  "  the  ark  of  God  is  taken  : " 
lliat  word  struck  him  dead,  1  Sam.  iv.  16 — 18.  He 
that  had  power  to  hear  all  the  rest;  Israel  turning 
their  backs  before  their  enemies,  the  people  massa- 
cred, his  own  sons  slain  ;  yet  no  sooner  heard  this, 
but  his  strength  forsook  him,  he  expires  with  a 
groan  ;  he  fell  down  and  died.  The  report  comes 
to  his  daughter-in-law,  being  great  with  child,  and 
near  her  travail :  she  hears  the  news  of  so  many 
deaths ;  of  the  people,  of  her  brother-in-law,  of  her 
father-in-law,  of  her  own  husband,  with  the  sur- 
prisal  of  the  ark  of  God  :  these  griefs  were  above  the 
griefs  of  child-birth ;  she  presently  falls  in  labour, 
and  yields  out  a  son.  The  women  about  her  cheer 
her  with  this  comfort;  "  Fear  not,  thou  hast  home  a 
son  ;  "  which  digests  the  sorrows  of  the  former  pains, 
John  xvi.  '21.  But  she  answered  not,  nor  regarded 
it,  but  cried  out,  "The  glory  is  departed  from  Israel: 
because  the  ark  of  God  was  taken,  and  because  of 
her  father-in-law  and  her  husband."  And  lest  the 
standers-by  should  think  that  her  grief  for  all  these 
losses  was  alike,  she  as  it  were  corrected  herself,  and 
insisted  only  in  lamenting  the  loss  of  the  ark,  and 
died  with  that  in  her  mouth :  these  were  her  last 
words,  "The  glory  is  departed  from  Israel  ;  for  the 
nrk  of  God  is  taken  :  "  and  so  she  died,  ver.  19 — 22. 
In  the  cause  of  Christ  we  have  lost  much  people; 
perhaps  some  of  us  our  fathers,  some  our  brothers, 
some  our  sons,  others  their  husbands  and  friends  j 
many  worthy  soldiers,  whose  finierals  we  bedew  with 
our  just  tears.  But  if  the  ark  of  God  should  be 
taken,  our  candlestick  removed,  the  gospel  darkened, 
we  have  too  woeful  cause  of  weeping  out  our  very 
eyes,  and  eiying.  Our  latter  end  is  worse  than  our 
beginning. 

(-1.)  In  respect  of  the  devil,  who  losing  a  soul 
which  he  deemed  his  own,  rageth,  and  "  walks 
through  Avy  places,  seeking  rest,  but  findeth  none," 
Matt.  xii.  4,'i.  iVoM  i^kiVi  yiusijuam  a/ibi  coHsislere 
jtottxl,  Sid  quia  nusquam  alibi  counislere  ciipil.  Not  be- 
cause he  cannot  find  a  footing  any  where,  but  because 
lie  docs  not  desire  to  find  it.     But  when  lie  recovers 


Ver.  20. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENEHAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


5C9 


if,  tanquam  pra-dam  e  nwtiibnx,  rel  botium  e  faucibus 
ereptum,  as  a  ii''"-)'  siiiitched  from  his  hands,  or  a  mor- 
sel from  his  jaws,  ho  hampers  it  wilh  greater  cniclty. 
A  prisoner,  for  his  fair  and  noble  carriage,  and  round 
payment,  hath  the  favour  to  be  allowed  the  liberty 
of  the  prison  ;  to  have  those  chains  and  fetters  for- 
borne him,  wherewith  other  malefactors  are  bound. 
But  through  their  negligence  or  indulgence,  he 
breaks  prison:  now  let  him  look  well  to  himself;  if 
ever  the  jailer  catch  him  again,  he  will  make  him 
fast  enough.  Taken  he  is ;  and  now  wliat  can  he 
look  for  but  cruel  usage  ?  Before  he  had  no  shackle, 
now  he  is  bound  with  two  chains  for  failing.  Before 
he  had  the  freedom  of  the  prison,  now^  he  is  cast  into 
the  dungeon.  Before  he  might  sleep  in  the  night 
and  not  be  disturbed,  now  day  and  night  he  is 
watched.  Before  one  lock  was  thought  enough  to 
hold  him,  now  many  doors,  and  locks,  and  bars  are 
shut  upon  him.  Before  he  had  but  one  keeper,  now 
he  hath  seven  worse  to  inthral  and  vex  him :  so  far 
is  this  last  durance  worse  than  the  former.  They 
that  have  escaped  the  servitude  of  Satan,  by  the 
revelation  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  adhere  to  a 
new  Master,  their  ^lakcr,  are  safe  under  his  almighty 
protection.  But  if  ihey  shall  again  revolt,  and  forego 
the  bounds  of  obedience,  till  they  be  reapprehended 
by  their  old  jailer,  how  grievous  is  tlieir  miserj- ! 
Now  w  ill  he  blind  the  eyes  of  their  souls,  stop  their 
ears  from  hearing  seimons,  feed  them  with  nothing 
but  temptations,  harden  their  hearts,  sear  nj>  their 
consciences,  and  at  last  hale  their  souls  to  everlasting 
torments.  For  where  the  sorrows  of  this  world  end, 
the  pains  of  hell  begin,  and  (which  is  most  fearful) 
shall  never  end.  Oh  then  the  latter  end  with  them 
is  worse  than  the  beginning! 

If  this  be  their  end  that  relapse  from  God  to  the 
world,  then  the  contraiy  holds  in  them  that  are 
wholly  recovered  from  the  world  to  God;  tlie  latter 
end  with  them  shall  be  better  than  the  beginning. 
Better  in  regard  of  holiness ;  good  ever,  and  best  at 
last :  "  The  path  of  the  just  is  as  the  shining  light, 
that  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day," 
Prov.  iv.  18.  Better  in  regard  of  happiness  :  "  Mark 
the  perfect  man,  and  behold  the  upright ;  for  the 
end  of  that  man  is  peace,"  Psal.  xxxvii.  3".  The 
wicked  begin  \)leasantly,  and  go  on  without  inter- 
niption ;  but  the  end  pays  for  all.  Rejoice  in  thy 
youth,  follow  thy  delights ;  spare  for  no  cost,  want 
no  jovially  ;  but  when  the  Host  comes  in  with  the 
reckoning,  all  is  dashed;  "for  all  these  God  will 
bring  thee  into  judgment,"  Eccl.  xi.  9.  So  Abner 
to  Joab  concerning  that  unkindly  war  ;  "  Knowest 
thou  not  that  it  will  be  bitterness  in  the  latter  end?" 
2  Sam.  ii.  2(5.  Yea,  such  a  war  had  bitterness 
enough  in  the  beginning.  Lazarus  began  with  pains, 
and  the  rich  man  went  on  with  pleasures;  but  now 
the  one  is  comforted,  and  the  other  tormented,  Luke 
xvi.  25.  Sin  and  punishment  are  like  the  twins  of 
Hippocrates,  they  are  bom  together,  they  go  toge- 
ther, and  they  grow  together  :  but  they  neither 
laugh  together,  nor  cry  together;  for  sin  rejoiccth 
while  misery  weeps  to  see  it,  and  miserj-  will  laugh 
at  sin  while  it  weeps  to  feel  it,  Prov.  i.  26.  As  Naomi 
said  to  her  two  young  daughters.  Leave  me,  my 
daughters,  leave  me ;  whereupon  Orpah  kisses  and 
parts,  but  Ruth  clave  to  her,  Ruth  i.  14.  So  the 
soul  in  distress  dismisseth  her  two  children.  Pleasure 
and  Pain  ;  Let  me  alone,  forsake  me  :  Pleasure  will 
be  g(me  ;  yea,  even  leave  her,  without  taking  leave 
of  lier;  Imt  Pain  sticks  by  her:  for  where  sin  is  let 
in,  jiunishment  will  not  be  kept  out.  .  Sin  hath  a 
forenoon's  face  and  an  afternoon's  face.  (Bern.)  It 
looks  lovely  to  ill-affected  eyes,  painted  wilh  glorious 
colours,  decked  with  roses  and  lilies,  all  the  day. 


But  it  changeth  countenance  in  the  evcnin"  ;  like  a 
painted  harlot,  that  when  she  washeth  off  her  com- 
plexion, looks  full  of  horror.  To  lie  upon  beds  of 
ivory,  and  to  tumble  ujxjn  soft  couches;  to  eat  the 
lamijs  out  of  the  flock,  and  calves  out  of  the  stall ; 
to  sing  and  dance  to  the  viols,  and  drink  wine  in 
bowls,  Amos  vi.  4 — 6 ;  this  is  the  forenoon's  coun- 
tenance of  sin.  Cast  the  unprofitable  servant  into 
outer  darkness,  where  is  %veeping  and  gniushing  of 
teelh.  Matt.  xxv.  30;  that  is  the  evening  face. 

But  to  the  children  of  God  there  is  llrst  sorrow, 
then  joy;  the  best  last.  There  is  "  more  kindness 
in  the  latter  end  than  at  the  beginning,"  Ruth  iii. 
10.  The  Christian  begins  in  crying,  and  goes  on  in 
mournim;,  but  this  shall  bring  him  peace  at  the  last. 
"  They  that  sow  in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy,"  Psal. 
cxxvi.  5.  The  Israelites  were  first  brought  to  the 
bitter  waters  of  Marah,  before  thev  might  taste  the 
pleasant  fountains,  the  milk  and  honey  of  Canaan. 
In  vain  do  we  expect  the  river  of  God's  pleasures, 
before  we  have  pledged  Christ  in  the  cup  of  bitterness. 
There  must  go  a  wind  before  us,  blustering  persecu- 
tions ;  and  an  earthquake,  strong  temptations;  and 
a  fire,  even  a  fieiy  trial;  before  we  hear  that  still 
voice  of  comfort,  1  Kings  xix.  II,  12.  Joseph  dealt 
roughly  w  ilh  his  brethren  at  the  first ;  he  bound  one, 
he  sent  for  another,  he  troubled  them  all ;  but  at  last 
he  breaks  forth  in  compassion,  I  am  Joseph,  fear  not, 
I  am  Joseph  your  brother.  So  Christ  first  lays  his 
cross  on  our  shoulders,  to  see  how  we  will  move 
under  it  with  patience;  he  ehaslisethus  with  scourges, 
to  prove  our  obedience  :  and  when  we  begin  to  think 
him  angry  with  us,  he  appears  to  our  souls  in  another 
face,  in  another  voice  ;  I  am  Jesus,  fear  not,  I  am 
Jesus  your  Brother.  AVhen  we  have  pledged  him  in 
his  gall  and  vinegar,  then  he  will  drink  to  us  in  the 
new  wine  of  his  kingdom.  He  that  is  the  Door  and 
the  Way,  hath  taught  ns  that  there  is  but  one  way, 
but  one  door,  but  one  passage  to  heaven,  and  that 
a  strait  one  :  though  with  nnich  pressure  we  get 
through,  lca%-ing  our  superfluous  rags  behind,  as  torn 
from  us  in  the  crowd,  we  are  hajipy.  He  that  made 
lieaven,  did  on  pui-jiosc  make  it  thus ;  narrow  and 
hard  in  the  entrance ;  when  we  are  entered,  wide  and 
glorious ;  that  after  our  pain,  our  joy  might  be  the 
sweeter.  Through  many  tribulations  we  enter  into 
heaven;  but  we  shall  enter,  and  into  no  worse  a  place 
tlian  heaven.  Not  unlike  the  way  by  which  Jona- 
than and  his  armour-bearer  ascended  to  the  garrison 
of  the  Philistines,  between  two  rocks,  Bozez  and 
Seneh,  foul  and  thorny  ;  but  when  they  were  got  up, 
they  obtained  victory.  By  what  hard  shifts  soever 
we  climb  up  to  heaven,  we  have  abundant  recompence 
in  the  triumph  and  glory.  After  the  roaring  of 
watci's,  flashes  of  lightning,  and  noise  of  thunder, 
comes  the  delightful  music  of  harps  and  songs,  Rev. 
xiv.  2. 

Tlie  devil  serves  men  as  Jael  did  Siscra :  she  speaks 
peaceably  to  him,  "  Turn  in,  my  lord,  turn  in :"  he 
asks  her  water,  she  gives  him  milk  :  she  covers  him 
witli  a  mantle,  keeps  him  close  and  warm  ;  gets  him 
asleep,  and  then  she  kills  him,  Judg.  iv.  18 — 21.  So 
Satan  gives  sinners  the  kisses  and  language  of  peace; 
Turn  in  to  me,  I  will  secure  you :  "  Therefore  bis 
people  return  thither,  and  waters  of  a  full  cup  are 
wrung  out  to  them,"  Psal.  Ixxiii.  10.  He  surpjisseth 
their  desires  in  kindness  ;•"  They  have  more  than 
heart  could  wish,"  ver.  /.  He  wraps  them  up  in 
riches  and  sins  together,  that  they  know  not  whether 
they  are  more  safe  or  secret ;  lulls  them  asleep  with 
mirlh  and  prosperity  :  but  when  all  is  done,  ne  de- 
stroys them.  But  Christ  choosetli  us,  as  the  Israel- 
ite was  to  choose  a  captive  woman :  first  he  sets  her  a 
mourning  forty  days,  cuts  her  hair  and  nails,  pre- 


570 


AN  EXPOSITION  UPON  THE 


Crap.  II. 


pares  her  with  humiliation,  then  takes  her  home,  and 
makes  her  his  wife.  Christ  first  taxeth  us  with 
severe  repentance,  exerciselh  our  patience,  and  shaves 
off  our  superfluous  lusts ;  which  though  they  were 
but  the  excretions  of  the  soul,  we  held  dear  as  the 
vital  parts :  but  when  this  is  done,  he  takes  our  souls 
home  to  his  own  kingdom,  and  marries  us  to  himself 
in  eternal  blessedness.  At  the  marriage  in  Cana  of 
Galilee,  he  turned  their  water  into  wine;  much  more 
at  his  o\vn  royal  wedding  will  he  turn  all  the  water 
of  our  tears  into  the  wine  of  endless  comforts.  The 
weeping  soul  shall  never  go  to  the  place  of  weeping  : 
but  what  then  shall  become  of  the  laughing  ?  Luke 
vi.  25.  There  is  provided  for  them  a  dismal  place 
of  weeping,  howling,  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Weep 
here,  and  weep  never :  mourn  not  here,  and  mourn 
for  ever.  Thus  while  the  beginning  of  the  ungodly 
doth  seem  a  paradise,  and  their  end  is  hell;  our  be- 
ginning might  be  a  kind  of  purgatory,  but  our  latter 
end  is  heaven. 


Verse  21. 

For  it  had  been  belter  for  them  not  to  have  hioirn  the 
rcaij  of  righteousness,  than,  after  tliey  liaise  known  it, 
to  turn  from  the  holy  commandme)it  delivered  unto 
them. 

Backsliding  hath  ever  been  a  sin  most  odious  to 
God ;  yea,  it  is  a  pack  or  bundle  of  sins  trussed  up 
together,  all  derogatory  to  his  honour,  and  conlrar)- 
to  his  nature.  For  there  is  in  it,  first,  hypocrisy : 
which  is  adverse  to  him,  as  he  is  the  God  of  truth. 
Secondly,  inconstancy  ;  which  is  opposite  to  him 
whose  motto  is,  "  I  am  the  Lord,  I  change  not," 
Mai.  iii.  6;  "with  whom  is  no  variableness,  neither 
shadow  of  turning,"  Jam.  i.  17.  Thirdly,  infidelity; 
which  is  held  the  highest  disparagement  to  his  good- 
ness. Disobedience  breaks  his  word,  infidelity  will 
not  take  his  word.  Fourthly,  ingratitude  ;  to  which 
all  sins  give  way,  and  make  room  for  in  the  highest 
place  of  damnation.  Fifthly,  impcnitency ;  which 
seals  up  the  impossibility  of  forgiveness.  Saith  Am- 
brose, 1  have  more  readily  found  those  who presencd 
their  integrity,  than  those  who  exercised  a  suitable 
penitence.  It  is  better  sleeping  in  a  whole  skin, 
than  hazarding  wounds  to  tiy  the  virtue  of  an  aj> 
proved  medicine.  All  hurts  are  not  recovered;  but 
where  no  hurt  is  done,  there  needs  no  remedy.  Well 
therefore  may  our  apostle  further  aggravate  this  im- 
piety. It  had  been  better  for  them  if  they  had  not 
known,  &c. 

God  did  easily  pass  over  many  sins  in  his  Israel ; 
yet  he  vehemently  insists  in  those,  into  which  they 
so  often  relapsed.  Such  were  their  murmurings 
against  him  in  his  ministers  and  instruments:  their 
turning  upon  other  gods,  and  embracing  the  idolatry 
of  their  neighbours.  Murmuring  is  a  slijipery  way 
to  an  irrecoverable  bottom ;  and  he  cimies  near  to 
God  himself,  that  murmurs  against  him  (hat  comes 
from  God.  The  magistrate  is  the  garment  in  which 
God  apparels  himself;  and  he  that  shoots  at  the 
clothes,  cannot  say  he  meant  no  ill  to  the  man. 
Idolatry  is  the  next  slip  to  this  fearful  preci|)ice  and 
downfal.  Their  murmuring  against  God's  ministers 
did  too  often  end  in  a  departing  from  God  himself: 
when  they  would  have  other  officers,  they  would 
have  other  gods ;  and  still  to-day's  murmuring  was 
to-morrow's  idolatry.  Their  murmuring  induced 
their  idolatry,  and  they  often  relapsed  into  them  both. 
Not  so  much  their  murmuring  and  their  idolatry,  as 


their  relapsing  into  those  sins,  did  seem  to  affect  the 
Lord.  "They  turned  back  and  tempted  God,  and 
limited  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,"  Psal.  Ixxviii.  41. 
That  was  their  sin:  but  before  he  chargeth  them 
with  the  sin  itself,  in  the  same  place  he  chargeth 
them  with  reiterating,  with  redoubling  of  the  sin  : 
"  How  oft  did  they  provoke  him  in  the  wilderness  ! " 
ver.  40.  How  often !  This  was  that  sin  which  so  ex- 
asperated the  Lord  against  them.  Their  driving  out 
of  God  whom  they  promised  to  serve,  did  cause  him 
to  bring  in  the  nations  whom  he  promised  to  drive 
out,  Josii.  xxiii.  12, 13.  They  have  seen  my  wonders, 
and  yet  provoked  me  these  ten  times ;  therefore  they 
shall  not  see  the  land  which  I  sware  unto  their 
fathers.  Numb.  xiv.  22,  23.  Though  God  had  sworn 
it,  he  will  rather  break  his  oath  than  leave  them 
unpunished.  Why  ?  because  they  had  so  often 
grieved  him :  ten  times.  No  tongue  but  God's  ovra 
can  express  his  indignation  against  a  relapsing  people. 
Every  general  disobedience  in  a  nation  is  deadly  ;  but 
when  the  disease  is  complicated  with  a  relapse,  after 
knowledge  and  profession  of  a  former  recovery,  it  is 
desperate.  Nor  is  God's  anger  only  incensed,  where 
the  evidence  is  complete,  and  without  exception  ; 
but  where  there  is  but  a  rumour,  a  suspicion  of  such 
a  relapse  to  idolatry,  Dcut.  xiii.  12,  &c.  Hereupon 
that  message  was  sent  by  Israel  to  the  Reubenites: 
"  Is  the  iniquity  of  Peor  too  little  for  us,  from  which 
we  are  not  cleansed  until  this  day?"  Josh.  xxii.  17. 
Wherein  they  object  to  them,  not  so  much  their  pre- 
sent declination  to  idolatry,  as  their  relapse  into  a  sin 
formerly  committed,  and  punished  with  the  slaughter 
of  four  and  twenty  thousand  delinquents.  At  last 
they  are  satisfied,  that  altar  was  not  built  for  idolatiy, 
but  for  a  testimony;  a  monument,  whereby  they  pro- 
fessed themselves  the  servants  of  the  same  God:  and 
the  army  returned  without  blood.  It  came  not  near 
a  relapse  ;  but  because  there  was  a  suspicion,  and 
fear  of  it,  they  were  jealous.  So  odious  to  God,  and 
so  aggravating  a  weight  of  sin  lies  upon  a  relapse. 
Admit  therefore  our  apostle's  fuither  declaiming 
against  it.  It  is  better,  &e. 

The  text  is  comparative,  or  an  argument  from  bad 
to  worse,  from  what  is  dangerous  to  what  is  more 
dangerous,  between  what  is  simply  ruinous  and  what 
is  more  so  :  wherein  we  have  two  states  specified,  and 
the  worse  of  them  remonstrated.  First,  the  state  of 
iniquity,  before  illumination.  Secondly,  the  state  of 
apostacy,  after  illumination.  Thirdly,  the  worse  of 
these  decided  by  the  comparison.  First,  the  con- 
dition of  nature  and  sin.  They  knew  not  the  way  of 
righteousness.  Secondly,  the  tergiversation  after 
knowledge,  They  turn  from  the  holy  commandment. 
Thirdly,  there  is  a  weighing  of  both  these  in  the 
balance,  to  try  which  is  the  heavier;  and  certainly, 
the  former  condition  is  found  to  be  the  lighter  bur- 
den ;  sin  in  ignorance  hath  not  so  much  to  answer 
for,  as  impiety  after  knowledge ;  It  had  been  better 
for  them.  First,  consider  we  wherein  the  fonner 
state  is  defective :  they  knew  not  the  way  of  right- 
eousness ;  a  blindness  of  heart,  an  averseness  from 
the  truth.  Next,  wherein  the  pravity  of  the  latter 
state  consists  :  and  this  is  discerned  in  two  things. 
First,  the  excellency  of  the  direction;  a  holy  com- 
mandment given  them.  Secondly,  the  obstinacy  of 
their  turning  away;  they  wilfully  turn  from  it.  The 
rule  or  direction  hath  three  conveniencies :  first,  it  is 
a  commandment  ;  therefore  they  are  bound  to  obey 
it.  But  a  command  may  be  defective  or  redundant, 
and  so  fail  of  integrity.  Therefore,  secondly,  this  is 
a  holy  commandment  ;  perfect,  without  weakness ; 
safe,  without  danger.  But  a  command  may  be  holy 
iind  good,  and  yet  not  known  :  and  who  can  fulfil  an 
unrevealed  law  ?  Therefore,  thirdly,  it  was  delivered 


Ver.  21. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  ST.  PETER. 


571 


unto  them.  Though  ihcy  were  bound  to  take  notice 
of  it,  and  ignorance  will  not  excuse;  yet  this  is  de- 
livered to  them,  and  ihcy  have  known  it;  that  the 
mouth  of  all  wickedness  might  be  stopped.  The 
last  point,  is  the  trial  of  both  these  estates,  and  a  ver- 
dict given,  which  is  the  better,  which  the  worse. 
The  last  is  found  the  heavier;  and  if  they  had 
perished  in  the  former,  without  being  guilty  of 
the  latter,  this  for  them  had  been  the  better. 
The  better,  that  is,  the  easier;  or  the  better,  the 
less  evil :  both  conditions  are  bad  enough ;  one  is 
the  worse. 

They  have  not  "  known  the  way  of  righteousness." 
Wherein  we  have  two  things.  First,  the  happiness 
of  the  object.  The  way  of  righteousness.  Secondly, 
their  unhappiness,  in  being  ignorant  of  it,  They  have 
not  known  it.  "The  way  of  peace  they  have  not 
known,"  Rom.  iii.  17. 

The  way  of  righteousness  is  so  called,  because  both 
formally,  it  is  a  righteous  way  ;  and  effectively,  it 
makes  the  walkers  in  it  righteous.  Certainly,  there 
is  but  one  way  to  heaven,  and  this  is  it.  There  be 
many  ways  to  some  famous  city  upon  earth,  many 
gates  into  it ;  the  east  gate,  and  the  north  gate,  &e. 
But  to  the  city  of  salvation  and  glory,  there  is  but 
one  way,  but  one  gate,  and  that  is  a  narrow  one  too, 
the  way  of  righteousness.  There  was  away  at  the 
first ;  the  way  of  the  law,  or  rather  of  nature  :  Adam 
was  put  into  it,  but  he  quickly  went  out  of  it.  Of  all 
his  nine  hundred  and  thirty  years,  he  kept  not  this 
path  one  whole  day.  Since  that,  no  man  ever  kept 
it  one  hour;  but  only  he  that  knew  the  way,  that 
made  the  way,  that  is  the  way,  even  the  new  way  of 
righteousness,  Jesus  Christ.  Now  this  way  is  not 
demolished ;  but  we  are  all  weak,  and  not  able  to 
travel  it ;  except  it  be  some  Romish  Pharisee  that 
undertakes  it.  And  yet  St.  Paul  will  lay  no  less  a 
wager  than  the  credit  of  his  doctrine  upon  it,  that  he 
never  goes  through  with  it:  Being  ignorant  of  t  lie 
righteousness  of  God,  they  go  about  to  establish  their 
own  righteousness,  Rom.  x.  3.  Silly  men,  they  blow 
at  a  glow-worm,  instead  of  a  coal  of  fire  ;  and  when  all 
is  done,  they  find  a  cold  squalid  matter,  far  unable  to 
heat  them.  The  metaphor  is  there  taken  fi-om  shor- 
ing up  an  old  rotten  house,  which  no  props  can  up- 
hold; or  setting  a  dead  man  upon  his  feet,  to  make 
him  stand.  They  go  about  it,  as  the  Nimrodians 
went  about  their  tower,  emulating  heaven ;  but  left 
it  a  rude  heap  of  confusion,  and  a  monument  of  their 
impious  presumption.  And,  their  own  righteousness, 
as  if  they  would  not  be  beholden  to  God  for  a  right- 
eousness of  his  appointing. 

What  then  is  the  way  of  righteousness  ?  "  God  so 
loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son, 
that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish." 
John  iii.  16  :  this  is  the  way,  walk  in  it.  If  the 
righteousness  of  the  law,  that  is,  our  righteousness  in 
observing  the  law,  could  have  justified  us,  God  had 
been  too  prodigal  of  a  needless  blood;  all  those  un- 
conceivable agonies  and  sufTerings  of  Christ  had  been 
superfluous ;  he  needed  no  Peter  to  say  to  him,  Master, 
favour  thyself.  Matt.  xvi.  22,  for  he  would  have 
spared  those  pains.  But  if  our  infinite  Creditor  took 
no  other  way  to  satisfy  and  pay  himself,  than  in  that 
precious  coin,  the  dear  blood  of  his  only  beloved 
Son  ;  sure  we  shall  find  no  way  to  g